And when the estimation was made: Their example then is like one who follows a blind man on a difficult and hidden path in vast and dangerous places. He added to it what guides to his estimation by saying, warning that they have become by this like animals, rather more astray, because although they do not understand, they hear and see, so they find their way to their benefits. And the example clarified the description that led them to this ignorance by saying: 'Those who disbelieved,' meaning: they concealed what they know of the greatness of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and His power, knowledge, and wisdom, by what they have of desires, in that they do not hear from the call except the sound of the melody and the noise of the voice without paying attention or understanding. The example, as al-Harali said, is what is obtained in the inner perception from the realities of the tangible things, so it is subtler than the tangible thing, and for that reason, it becomes clear in meaning like the meaning that is understood. The more apparent of the two is an example for the more hidden. Therefore, the clarification of the example comes with the example, so that there is a refinement of the apparent tangible and a descent of the absent known; in this verse, the clarification occurs between the two examples, not between the exemplified, due to the closeness of the two examples, meaning the aspect of similarity, and the distance of the exemplified. In mentioning these two examples, there is a contrast that conveys two other examples; thus, it necessitated two representations in one example, as if the fulfillment of the word that I understand. This brevity is the example of those who disbelieved, and the example of their shepherd is like the example of the shepherd and the example of what is herded from animals. This is from the highest discourse of the eloquent Arabs, and whoever does not reach understanding to combine the two examples, he limits himself to interpreting it with one example and estimates in the speech: And the example of the caller of those who disbelieved is like the example of one who calls out, meaning: he shouts. This is because the interpretation is carried on the implicit and the estimation, and understanding prevents him from that and necessitates understanding the presentation of the Qur'an on its limit and its aspect. And he said: 'Because of something from the animals that have no understanding,' so he hears only a call, meaning: from the speaker in what he is called to regarding the sustenance of his food and offspring. And a call in what he is led to in the place of his call, in that the call indicates distance and the invitation indicates the beginning of the intention.

So the disbelievers, in their state, do not return from their misguidance due to what they hear of the evidence. They are people of reason, hearing, and sight, like the dumb animals that hear and see, but because they do not comprehend, they do not return by the words. This is because they only hear the surface of the sound and do not understand what is beneath it, rather they respond only to the stone and the stick. For when the shepherd wants them to return from a direction, he calls to them and throws a stone in front of them, and they return. Thus, they are an example of those who lack understanding. The dumb animals do not respond to the call but only to a blow, like the deaf-mute blind person who does not return except by a blow that strikes him in the face, causing him to retreat. This is an example of them. Their caller, in his speaking, does not have an effect, even with exaggeration in it, like the shepherd of the dumb animals, so this is the place of his example. The shepherd of the dumb animals, in that their dumbness does not respond except by a strike with a stone or something else, like the whip that is used to strike the deaf or like the striker of the mentioned deaf person, this is the place of his example. Therefore, the result of the comparison is His saying: ﴿Deaf﴾ meaning: they do not hear, ﴿Mute﴾ meaning: they do not speak, ﴿Blind﴾ meaning: they do not see. It has been understood from this that the verse is from the intertwining, where the example of the caller has been omitted from the first for the indication of the caller upon him, and from the second, the called upon for the indication of those being called upon. And since the existence of the understanding of reason is the realities of the perceived, and He has negated from them the sense that perceives the perceived, it follows from that His saying: ﴿So they﴾ with the letter 'fa' for connection, succession, and causation ﴿do not understand﴾ because they do not benefit from their minds, just as this deaf person does not. And He negated it without the negator for the one who is prevented, and the present tense indicates continuity, as al-Harali said.