And when the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was intensely eager for their acceptance, he was almost killing himself out of grief for their turning away. This admonition, which no one with even the slightest intellect could hear except that it would cause his heart to be torn from his delusion and return to his guidance, he recited to them, but they did not benefit from it. It was as if it was said: Indeed, these are deaf and blind, surrounded by misguidance that envelops them from every side. No one can reach them to make them hear, nor to give them insight, nor to guide them. He said, building upon this, as a means of alleviating the distress upon the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in what he was enduring from the sorrows of excessively conveying to them, out of eagerness for their acceptance and the grief from their turning away, with the emphatic denial indicating the negation of what was intended: 'Are you alone, without the will of Allah, able to make the deaf hear?' And we have made them deaf by what we poured into the ears of their understanding from the bullets of misery. 'Or can you guide the blind?' Those whom we have made blind by what has covered their sight from the veils of dullness and loss. So what they have chosen for themselves from blindness is coupled with their deafness. 'And whoever was,' meaning by nature and disposition, 'in clear misguidance,' meaning evident in himself that he is misguided and that he is surrounded by misguidance, making it apparent to everyone, such that it does not remain hidden from anyone. The meaning is: None of that is for you, but it is for Allah, the Able over all things. As for you, your duty is only to convey the message.