You cannot make the dead to listen nor the deaf hear the call when they have turned back and retreated,
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (for verily thou (muhammad) canst not make the dead to hear) you cannot make someone who is like a dead man hear, (nor canst thou make the deaf) the person who pretends to be deaf (to hear the call) your call to the truth and guidance (when they have turned to flee) from the truth and guidance.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and so you cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when (read al-du‘ā’a idhā, pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second one [that comes] between it and the yā’) they go away with their backs turned.
