⦗16–17⦘ “Among them are those who listen to you, but when they leave your presence, they ask those who have been given knowledge, ‘What did he just say?’ Those are the ones whose hearts Allah has sealed and who follow their desires. As for those who are rightly guided, He increases them in guidance and grants them their piety.”

Allah Most High says: Among the hypocrites are those “who listen to you” as you speak, but they do not listen with acceptance and submission. Rather, their hearts turn away from it. Hence He says, “But when they leave your presence, they ask those who have been given knowledge”—inquiring about what you said and what they heard, since they had no interest in it—“What did he just say?” That is, what did he say a short while ago? This is an expression of the utmost condemnation of them. Had they been eager for what is good, they would have lent ⦗787⦘ their ears to it, their hearts would have understood it, and their limbs would have submitted to it. But their condition was precisely the opposite. Hence He says, “Those are the ones whose hearts Allah has sealed”—that is, He has sealed their hearts and closed the doors through which goodness could reach them because they followed their desires, which incline only toward falsehood.

He then describes the condition of those who are rightly guided, saying, “As for those who are rightly guided” through faith, submission, and following what pleases Allah, “He increases them in guidance” as a reward from Him Most High for doing so, “and grants them their piety”—that is, He enables them to do good and protects them from evil. Thus, He mentions two rewards for those who are rightly guided: beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds.