“Indeed, it is a guidance and mercy for the believers. (77) Indeed, your Lord will judge between them by His judgment, and He is the Almighty, the All-Knowing. (78) So put your trust in Allah, for you are upon the clear truth. (79) Indeed, you cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn away in retreat. (80) Nor can you guide the blind away from their error. You can make none hear except those who believe in Our signs; thus they are Muslims. (81)”
“That” refers to the Quran: it is guidance and mercy for the believers. “Indeed, your Lord will judge”—that is, He will decide (1)—“between them”: between those who differ concerning religion on the Day of Resurrection, “by His true judgment.” “And He is the Almighty”: the One beyond all resistance, whose command none can repel; “the All-Knowing”: He knows their circumstances, and nothing is hidden from Him.
“So put your trust in Allah, for you are upon the clear truth,” the manifest truth. “Indeed, you cannot make the dead hear,” meaning the disbelievers, “nor can you make the deaf hear the call.” Ibn Kathir recited this in the third person, “the deaf do not hear,” making “the deaf” nominative; he recited it likewise in Surah al-Rum. The others recited it in the second person, “you cannot make the deaf hear,” making “the deaf” accusative. “When they turn away in retreat,” that is, turning away.
If it is asked: What is the meaning of His saying, “when they turn away in retreat,” when, being deaf, they cannot hear (2) whether they turn away or not? It is said: this is mentioned for emphasis and intensification. It is also said: when a deaf person is present, he may hear if the voice is raised and may understand through gestures; but when he turns away, he neither hears nor understands. Qatadah said: “When a deaf person turns away in retreat and you then call him, he does not hear. Likewise, the disbeliever does not hear the call to faith.”
The meaning of the verse is that, because of the intensity of their turning away from that to which they are called, they are like the dead, whom there is no way to make hear, and like the deaf, who cannot hear.
“Nor can you guide the blind”: al-A'mash and Hamzah recited it as a verb, “you guide the blind,” with “the blind” accusative, here and in Surah al-Rum. The others recited it as a noun, “you are not a guide for the blind,” with “the blind” genitive. “Away from their error”: that is, you cannot guide one whom Allah has blinded from guidance and whose heart He has blinded to faith. “You can make none hear” means: you make none hear, “except those who believe in Our signs”: except those who affirm that the Quran is from Allah. “Thus they are Muslims”: sincere in their submission.