And when he knew that these verses were interconnected until they became one verse, and he concluded that the meaning of his saying: ﴿Indeed, they have denied the truth when it came to them﴾ [Al-An'am: 5] is a description of them that has become established until it appeared on the Day of Gathering, the division of those marked by what that verse was a reason for, which is turning away from the verses mentioned in his saying: ﴿Except they were turning away from it﴾ [Al-An'am: 4]. It was as if it was said: So among them are those who turned away entirely, and he followed that with his saying: ﴿And among them are those who listen to you﴾, meaning: they listen attentively as in the narration about Abu Jahl ibn Hisham and Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and Al-Akhnas ibn Shurayq that each of them sat by the house of the Prophet ﷺ at night listening to the Quran.

No one among them knew of his companion's sitting, so when dawn broke, they departed and the road gathered them, and they reproached each other and said: If your weak ones had seen you, they would have rushed to him. They made a pact not to return, then they returned after three complete nights. Then Al-Akhnas asked Abu Sufyan about what he heard, and he said: I heard things I recognized and understood their meaning, and things I did not recognize and did not understand their meaning. He said: And I am the same. Then he asked Abu Jahl, and he responded with what he knew of it, that he knew its truth but left believing in it out of envy and stubbornness. And that is the meaning of His saying: ﴿And We have placed﴾, meaning: while We have placed ﴿upon their hearts coverings﴾, meaning: coverings, the plural of kinan, meaning: a cover ﴿that﴾, meaning: out of dislike that ﴿they may understand it﴾, meaning: the Quran ﴿and in their ears deafness﴾, meaning: a weight that prevents them from hearing the truth of hearing; because it prevents them from the understanding which is the ultimate goal of hearing. They do not believe in what is heard from you for that reason.

And when He mentioned what relates to hearing, He mentioned what appears to the eye, expressing what encompasses hearing and other causes of knowledge. He said: ﴿And if they see﴾, meaning: with sight or insight ﴿every sign﴾, meaning: of Our signs other than it ﴿they will not believe in it﴾ due to what they have of stubbornness and pride in following their forefathers and ancestors ﴿until﴾ their ultimate goal in this nature upon their hearts is that they, with their lack of understanding, ﴿when they come to you, they argue with you﴾, meaning: by action or by force, and the ultimate is included. It is as if it was said in astonishment: What do they say in their argument? So he said, manifesting the description that led them to that: ﴿Those who disbelieved say﴾, meaning: they covered what is apparent to their minds, and that is the meaning of being sealed ﴿Indeed, this﴾, meaning: what has reached us ﴿is nothing but legends﴾, the plural of suture and sutur, the plural of suture, and it is also the plural of istar and istir with their kasras and ustur, and with the ha in all of it ﴿of the ancients﴾. And this was said by Al-Nadr ibn Al-Harith, and the statement of this verse confirmed his saying.