﴿36–37﴾ “Only those who hear will respond. As for the dead, Allah will resurrect them, and then to Him they will be returned. They say, ‘Why has no sign been sent down to him from his Lord?’ Say, ‘Allah certainly has the power to send down a sign, but most of them do not know.’”
Allah Most High says to His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: “Only those who hear will respond” to your call, embrace your message, and submit to your commands and prohibitions—those who hear with their hearts what benefits them. They are people of understanding and receptive hearing.
What is meant by hearing here is the hearing of the heart that leads to acceptance. Mere hearing with the ears is shared by the righteous and the wicked alike. Allah Most High has therefore established His proof against all morally accountable people by enabling them to hear His verses, leaving them no excuse for failing to accept them.
“As for the dead, Allah will resurrect them, and then to Him they will be returned.” This may be intended as a contrast to the meaning just mentioned. In other words, only those whose hearts are alive respond to you. Those whose hearts are dead, who are unaware of what would bring them happiness and cannot perceive what would save them, will neither respond to you nor submit. Their appointed time is the Resurrection: Allah will raise them, and then to Him they will be returned.
The verse may also be understood according to its apparent meaning: Allah Most High is affirming the Resurrection and declaring that He will raise the dead on the Day of Resurrection, then inform them of what they used to do. This includes encouragement to respond to Allah and His Messenger, as well as a warning against failing to do so.
“They say”—that is, those who deny the Messenger, speaking out of obstinacy and defiance—“Why has no sign been sent down to him from his Lord?” By this they mean the particular signs they demand according to their corrupt reasoning and worthless opinions, as in their words:
“We will never believe you until you cause a spring to burst forth for us from the earth; or until you have a garden of date palms and grapes and cause rivers to gush forth abundantly through its midst; or cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces, as you have claimed, or bring Allah and the angels before us”—and the succeeding verses.
“Say,” in answer to their demand, “Allah certainly has the power to send down a sign.” There is no deficiency in His power to do so. How could there be, when all things submit to His might and yield to His authority?
“But most people do not know.” Because of their ignorance and lack of knowledge, they demand signs that would only be harmful to them; for if such signs came to them and they still did not believe, their punishment would be hastened, in accordance with Allah’s unalterable way.
Nevertheless, if they seek signs that make the truth clear to them and illuminate the path, then Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, has brought every decisive sign and luminous proof demonstrating the truth of his message. In every matter of religion, a person can find in what he brought numerous rational and transmitted proofs that leave not the slightest doubt or uncertainty in the heart.
Blessed is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, and supported him with clear signs, so that whoever perishes might perish upon clear proof, and whoever lives might live upon clear proof. Indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.