—the very thing they had been mocking.

The Almighty also says:

“Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing, and over their eyes is a veil.” (Qur’an 2:7)

He further says:

“They are deaf, dumb, and blind, and so they do not return.” (Qur’an 2:18)

This is said regarding the hypocrites, whereas concerning the outright disbelievers He says:

“…so they do not reason.” (Qur’an 8:22)

And He says:

“They say, ‘Our hearts are veiled from that to which you call us, our ears are heavy, and between us and you is a barrier.’” (Qur’an 41:5)

He, exalted is He, also says:

“When you recite the Qur’an We place between you and those who do not believe in the Hereafter a hidden barrier. We lay coverings over their hearts lest they understand it, and a heaviness in their ears; and when you mention your Lord alone in the Qur’an, they turn their backs in aversion.” (Qur’an 17:45-46)

There are many passages of this kind.

As for smell, taste, and touch, they are purely sensory and occur only through the creature’s direct contact with the object; the three therefore belong to one class. Allah, the Exalted, says:

“On the Day when the enemies of Allah are herded toward the Fire in ranks, and when they reach it, their hearing, their sight, and their skins will bear witness against them regarding what they used to do. They will say to their skins, ‘Why did you testify against us?’ The skins will reply, ‘Allah, who has made everything speak, has made us speak; He created you the first time, and to Him you will be returned.’” (Qur’an 41:19-21)

Because the Qur’an singles out the skins in connection with touch, smell and taste are not included in them—though some have claimed otherwise, supposing that the reference embraces all three senses. In reality, they are distinguished from touch because they are confined to particular organs and to a specific category of perceptible qualities, namely flavors and odors. The rest of the body cannot tell one taste from another, or one scent from another; it merely distinguishes hot from cold, soft from hard, and rough from smooth.