The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 721
FĂŢIR PT. 22 20. "Not alike are the blind and the seeing;3192 21. Nor the darkness and light, 3193 22. Nor the shade and heat. CH. 35 وَمَا يَسْتَوِي الْأَعْمَى وَالْبَصِيرُن وَلَا الظلمتُ وَلَا النُّورُة وَلَا الظَّلُّ وَلَا الْحَرُورُة وَمَا يَسْتَوِي الْأَحْيَاءُ وَلَا الْأَمْوَاتُ اِنَّ Nor alike are the living and. 23 the dead. Surely, Allah causes him اللهَ يُسْمِعُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَا أَنْتَ بِمُسْمِع to hear whom He pleases; and مَّنْ فِي الْقُبُورِ thou canst not make those to hear who are in the graves. 3194 on 11:25; 13:17; 40:59. which the whole fabric of Christianity stands. The verse purports to say that no person can relieve any other person of his grief or sorrow, nor can he share with him the remorse or regret that afflicts his conscience after he has committed a crime. Evidently as these feelings have their origin in the heart of man, they cannot be transferred to or shared by another person. The punishments of Hell are only the spiritual embodiments of man's evil actions done in this life and the person who committed the evil deeds quite clearly will not share these spiritual embodiments of his actions with another person who had not committed those evil deeds. 3192. Commentary: Whenever a Prophet comes into the world the people to whom he preaches his Message become split up into two groups: (1) those who accept his Message and follow his lead; (2) those who reject and oppose him. These two groups of men are likened in the present verse to "the seeing" i. e. those who having been endowed with spiritual eyes see the heavenly light, and "the blind" i. e. those who are afflicted with spiritual blindness as the result of their refusal to see the light. These two classes of men have been further likened to "the living" and "the dead" in verse 23 below. The believers have been called "the living" because by accepting the truth they receive new life, and the disbelievers are called "the dead" because by rejecting truth which is the elixir of life eternal they bring spiritual death upon themselves. 2635 3193. Commentary: In this and the next verse truth and falsehood have been respectively compared to light and pleasantness of the cool shade, and to darkness and scorching heat. There could be no better description of truth and falsehood than this. 3194. Commentary: The words "who are in the graves"