Surah Al-Baqarah 2:18
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 18 of 286
صُمٌّۢ بُكْمٌ عُمْىٌۭ فَهُمْ لَا يَرْجِعُونَ
Translation
deaf, dumb, and blind: they will never return.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Deaf, dumb, and blind, so they will not return.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the total sensory shutdown to guidance, having rejected the light, they lose the faculties that could bring them back: unable to hear truth, speak it, or see it, and so 'they will not return'. Ask yourself: the verse describes not physical disability but a chosen deafness, muteness, and blindness toward God, the organs work perfectly for everything else. It is the self-inflicted numbness that follows abandoning light: I can still hear music and gossip, but not the reminder; still speak of everything, but not the truth; still see the world, but not its signs. The final phrase is the saddest, 'they will not return'. Which of my spiritual senses have I let go numb, tuned only away from God, and am I letting the numbness reach the point of no return?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:18 is discussed in 6 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Baqarah 2:18 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.