If it is read as أَوَلَمْ يَهْدِ with the letter 'ya', then it means that if We willed, it would be raised because of its doer. This means: or did He not guide those who succeed those before them in their homes and inherit their land this matter? And it is that if We willed, We would have afflicted them with their sins, just as We afflicted those before them, and We destroyed the inheritors as We destroyed the predecessors. And if it is read with the letter 'nun', then it is in the accusative as if it were said: or did Allah not guide the inheritors this matter? This means: did We not clarify to them that if We willed, We would have afflicted them with their sins just as We afflicted those before them. The action of guidance is connected with 'lam' because it means clarification. If you say: what does the saying of Allah, وَنَطْبَعُ عَلى قُلُوبِهِمْ, relate to? [Mahmood said: 'If you say what does the saying وَنَطْبَعُ عَلى قُلُوبِهِمْ relate to... etc.' Ahmad said: 'Rather, it is permissible, and by Allah, it can be connected to it, and it is not necessary for the addressed to be described by being sealed, nor does it harm them if they are disbelievers or have committed sins. For sealing is not a necessary consequence of committing sin, for sealing is the persistence in disbelief and the insistence and extremism in determination, until the one described by it is despaired of accepting the truth. And it is not necessary for every disbeliever to be of this kind. Rather, the disbeliever is threatened from persisting in their disbelief that Allah will seal upon their heart, so they will never believe, and this is implied by the connection to 'We afflicted them.' Thus, the verse has threatened them with two matters: one is the affliction with some of their sins, and the other is the sealing upon their hearts. This second matter is more severe than the first, and it is also a type of affliction with sins or punishment for them, but it is the most painful of punishments and the most severe of penalties. Often, Allah punishes for a sin by causing one to fall into a greater sin, and for disbelief by increasing persistence in it and extremism in it, as Allah said: فَزادَتْهُمْ رِجْساً إِلَى رِجْسِهِمْ just as He increased the believers in faith to their faith. This type of reward and punishment is appropriate to what was the cause of it and a recompense for it. The reward for faith is faith, and the reward for disbelief is disbelief. Al-Zamakhshari is cautious of this aspect of sealing being within the will of Allah, and that is impossible for him, because it is ugly, and Allah is exalted above that, and how can one escape from the truth? And how many verses have explicitly stated the occurrence of sealing from Allah, let alone its connection to His will?] I said: there are several aspects, that it could be connected to what the meaning of أَوَلَمْ يَهْدِ indicates, as if it were said: they are heedless of guidance, and We seal upon their hearts. Or it could be connected to inheriting the earth, or it could be separate in meaning: and We seal upon their hearts. If you say: is it permissible for وَنَطْبَعُ to mean 'and We have sealed,' just as لَوْ نَشاءُ means 'if We willed,' and it is connected to 'We afflicted them'? I said: the meaning does not support that, because the people were described as having their hearts sealed, characterized by a trait from before them of committing sins and being afflicted by them. And this interpretation leads to their being devoid of this trait, and that if Allah willed, they would not be described by it.