﴿He hears the verses of Allah﴾ meaning: the signs of the Greatest King that are apparent while they are being ﴿recited﴾ meaning: he continues to listen to them with the tongue of speech or the state of any reciter, elevated ﴿above him﴾ with all that is in it of ease of understanding, sweetness of words, clarity of meanings, and grandeur of purposes along with the miraculous nature. So how would it be if the reciter were the noblest of creation.

And since his recitation necessitates his cessation, his persistence despite his distant rank in disgrace makes it unlikely that he would say: ﴿Then he persists﴾ meaning: he continues greatly in the vile state he is in while he is ﴿arrogantly﴾ meaning: seeking arrogance against submission and creating it. And since, along with what has been mentioned of his state, it is possible that his hearing of it is lightened from his exaggeration in disbelief, it is clarified that it did not affect him in any way. Thus, his heart is harder than stone [he said]: ﴿As if﴾ meaning: as if he ﴿did not hear it﴾. It is known from this and from his persistence and what is associated with it of arrogance that his state at the time of hearing and before it and after it is the same. And it is known by this description that anyone who is not turned back by the verses of Allah, the Exalted, is greatly sinful and deceitful, so he has woe.

And since persistence means the controlling continuation, he did not mention the deafness which is one of the established diseases as he mentioned in Surah Luqman. Ibn al-Qatta' and Ibn Dhareef said in their actions, he persisted in sin and what is disliked: he established. And Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi said in al-Majma': I persisted in something meaning I remained and continued in it. And Ibn Faris said in al-Mujmal: Persistence is the determination on something and steadfastness upon it. And Abu Abdillah al-Qazzaz in his diwan and he transmitted it from Abd al-Haqq in his wa'iya: The root of persistence is holding on, and from it it is said: So-and-so persisted in such-and-such, meaning he remained upon it and held it in himself and bound it because he may say what is not in himself and what he does not believe. And the man is persistent in sin meaning he is holding onto it and believing in it. Then he said: From persistence upon it is the determination not to cease from it. And al-Asfahani, following the author of al-Kashaf, said: Its origin is from the donkey persisting on the burden, which is that it bends over it, pressing its ears.

And when he informed about his steadfastness upon wickedness, he caused a threat from it in a style indicative - with what is in it of mockery - of the intensity of anger and that if he has good news, it is punishment, so there is no good news for him at all. So Allah, the Exalted, said: ﴿So give him glad tidings﴾ meaning: for this vile act ﴿of a punishment﴾ that leaves no sweetness for him at all ﴿painful﴾ meaning: of great pain.