Surah al-Jāthiyah

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

[Surah al-Jāthiyah (45): verse 23]

“Have you seen the one who takes his own desire as his god, whom Allah has left astray with knowledge, whose hearing and heart He has sealed, and over whose sight He has placed a covering? Who, then, can guide him after Allah? Will you not take heed?” (23)

The covering is a veil. This veil extends to the eyes from the veil over the heart, for whatever good or evil lies in the heart appears in the eyes. The eyes mirror the heart, revealing what it contains. When you hate someone intensely, you also hate his speech and his company, and you find a veil over your eyes when you see him and associate with him. This is the effect of hatred and aversion towards him.

The covering over the disbelievers grew thick as punishment for their turning away from, and their aversion to, the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the guidance and truth he brought. Placing a covering over their eyes suggests that it envelops what lies beneath it, like a cloud. When they became blind to His Reminder, which He sent down, that blindness became a covering over their eyes, so that they could not see where guidance lay.