'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' Allah, the Exalted, says: "And when you recite the Qur'an, We place between you and those who do not believe in the Hereafter a concealed barrier. And We have placed upon their hearts coverings so they do not understand it, and in their ears is deafness. And when you mention your Lord alone in the Qur'an, they turn away in aversion." "We know best what they listen to when they listen to you, and when they are in secret conversation, when the wrongdoers say, 'You follow only a man bewitched.'" This verse has two meanings: one of them is that Allah, the Exalted, informed His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that He protects him from the disbelievers; the people of Makkah who used to harm him while he was reciting the Qur'an and praying in the mosque, and they wanted to reach out to him, and their conditions in this regard are well-known. The other meaning is that He, the Exalted, informed him that He places a barrier between the disbelievers and understanding what Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, recites. So, this verse - according to this interpretation - is in the meaning of the one that follows it, and according to the first interpretation, they are two verses for two meanings. And His saying: "concealed" indicates that it may be an adjective for the barrier, meaning concealed from the eyes of creation, so no one perceives it by sight like other barriers. Rather, it is from the power of Allah and His sufficiency and misguidance according to the two interpretations mentioned. It has also been said that the meaning is: concealed by it, with the antecedent omitted. Al-Akhfash said: "concealed" means: covering, like 'mash'oom' and 'maymoon', meaning: 'ill-omened' and 'safe'. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this - for no reason leading to it - is an overreach, and its example is not accepted. It has been said that it is in the sense of exaggeration, as they say: 'poetry is poetic'. This is objected to because exaggeration is always with the active participle and from the first term. If he had said 'a barrier that blocks', the analogy would have been correct. And His saying, the Exalted: "And We have placed upon their hearts coverings" - the verse. "Coverings" is the plural of 'kinan', which is what covers something, and from it is 'kinana' of arrows. And "deafness" is the heaviness in the ear that prevents hearing, so it is deafness. All of these are metaphors for the misguidance that Allah has surrounded them with, expressing the abundance and magnitude of it by saying that they are like one whose heart is covered and whose ear is deafened. And His saying, the Exalted: "And when you mention your Lord" - the verse, means: when the places of monotheism come in the Qur'an during your recitation, the disbelievers of Makkah fled from hearing that in denial and disgust; for it contains a rejection of their deities and their abandonment. Some scholars said: 'When the leaders of Quraysh entered upon Abu Talib to visit him, the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, entered upon them, and he recited and passed by the monotheism, then he said: O assembly of Quraysh, say: 'There is no god but Allah' and you will dominate the Arabs by it, and the non-Arabs will submit to you.' So they turned away and fled.' Thus, the verse was revealed. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And that the verse describes the state of those fleeing from it at the time of His monotheism in his recitation is clearer and more in line with the wording.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Nufuran" can be correct as a source in the place of a state, and it can also be correct as a plural of 'nafir', like 'shahid' and 'shuhud'; because 'fa'ul' is from the structures of 'fa'il' in attributes, and its being in the accusative is as a state, meaning: 'nafirin'. And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿an yafqahuhu﴾, "an" is in the accusative as a direct object, meaning: the dislike of 'an', or it was prevented from 'an', and the pronoun in "yafqahuhu" refers back to the Qur'an. And Al-Tabari reported from a group that they said: He meant by His saying: ﴿wallow 'ala adbarihim nufuran﴾ the devils, and that they flee from the recitation of the Qur'an.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

He means that the meaning indicates them even if there is no mention of them in the wording. This is akin to the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "When the call to prayer is made, the devil turns away with a sound."

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Nahnu a'lamu bima yastami'oon bihi﴾, this is as you say: So-and-so listens with eagerness and attentiveness, or with aversion and negligence and disdain. The pronoun in "bihi" refers back to "ma" which means "that which", and what is meant by "that which" is what we mentioned of negligence and aversion. So it is as if He said: We know of the disdain and mockery with which they listen, meaning it is accompanying them. Allah exposes their secret with this verse, and the subject of "idh" in the first and in the one that is conjoined to it is "yastami'oon" in the first. And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Wa idh hum najwa﴾ describes them with the source, as they say: a people of pleasure and justice. And it was said: (p-489) what is meant by His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Wa idh hum najwa﴾ is their gathering in the house of consultation, then it spread from them.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Mashooran" the apparent meaning of it is that it is from magic, so they likened the madness that he has by their claim and his grievous words to that of the one who is bewitched, whose mind has been confused by magic and his speech has been corrupted. And the verse - on this - is similar to the saying of some of them: "There is madness in him" and such. And Abu Ubaidah said: "Mashooran" means: one who has magic, and it is the lungs, it is said to be: "sihr" and "sahr" with the 's' being pronounced. And from it is the saying of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her: "The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, passed away between my magic and my neck." And from it is their saying to the coward: "His magic has inflated" because the fearful person's lungs inflate. So it is as if the intent of the disbelievers with this comparison is that he is human, meaning: one with lungs. He said: And from this it is said to everyone who eats and drinks from humans and others: "Mashoor and musahhar", and from it is the saying of Imru' al-Qais:

And we are enchanted by food and drink.

And the saying of Labid:

If you ask us about what we are, then we are * * birds from this enchanted creation.

(p-490) And from it: the suhoor, which is closer to this word than to magic, and it seems that it is from magic like 'sabah' is from 'sabah'. And the verse that follows strengthens that the wording in the verse is from magic with the 's' being broken, because (......) at that time in their saying a parable was struck for him. And as for it being from the magic which is the lungs, and from nourishment, and that the indication is that he is human, then no parable was struck for him in that, rather it is a true attribute of him.