(19–24) “The blind and the seeing are not equal, nor are darkness and light, nor shade and scorching heat. Nor are the living and the dead equal. Indeed, Allah causes whomever He wills to hear, but you cannot make those in the graves hear. You are only a warner. Indeed, We have sent you with the truth as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner. There has never been a nation among whom a warner did not pass.”
Allah Most High informs us that opposites are not equal in His wisdom or in the innate dispositions He has instilled in His servants. “The blind”—the one deprived of sight—“and the seeing are not equal, nor are darkness and light, nor shade and scorching heat. Nor are the living and the dead equal.” Just as it is firmly established among you, beyond any doubt, that these things are not equal, you should know all the more that opposing spiritual states cannot be equal.
The believer is not equal to the disbeliever, nor the rightly guided to the misguided, nor the learned to the ignorant, nor the people of Paradise to the people of the Fire, nor those whose hearts are alive to those whose hearts are dead. The disparity and difference between them are known only to Allah Most High. Once the differing ranks are recognized, things are distinguished from one another, and it becomes clear which of two opposites deserves to be eagerly pursued, the prudent person should choose for himself what is most fitting and most deserving of preference.
“Indeed, Allah causes whomever He wills to hear”—with the hearing of understanding and acceptance—for He Most High is the One who guides and grants success. “But you cannot make those in the graves hear.” That is, those whose hearts are dead. Just as your call is of no benefit to the inhabitants of the graves, so too it is of no benefit to one who obstinately turns away. Your duty, however, is only to warn and convey that with which you were sent, whether it is accepted from you or not.
Hence He says: “You are only a warner. Indeed, We have sent you with the truth.” That is, the very act of Our sending you was founded on truth and wisdom, for Allah Most High raised you at a time when there had been a long interval without messengers, the paths had become obscured, knowledge had faded, and there was an immense need for your mission. Allah therefore raised you as a mercy to all creation.
Likewise, the upright religion and straight path with which We sent you are truth, not falsehood. So too, the glorious Quran with which We sent you, and all the wise admonition it contains, is true and truthful. You were sent “as a bearer of glad tidings” to those who obey you, promising Allah’s reward in this life and the Hereafter, “and a warner” to those who disobey you, warning them of Allah’s punishment in this life and the Hereafter. Nor are you unprecedented among the messengers.
For there has never been “a nation” among the bygone nations and past generations “among whom a warner did not pass,” establishing Allah’s proof against them, “so that whoever perishes may perish upon clear evidence, and whoever lives may live upon clear evidence.”