Allah says that these antonyms are clearly not equal, the blind and the
seeing are not equal, there is a difference and a huge gap between them.
Darkness and light are not equal, neither are shade and the sun's heat. By the
same token, the living and the dead are not equal. This is the parable Allah
makes of the believers who are the living, and the disbelievers who are the
dead. This is like the Ayat:
[أَوَمَن كَانَ
مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَـهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِى النَّاسِ كَمَن
مَّثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَـتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِّنْهَا كَذَلِكَ]
(Is he who was dead and We gave him life and set for him a light (of belief)
whereby he can walk amongst men -- like him who is in the (depths of) darkness
from which he can never come out) (6:122),
[مَثَلُ
الْفَرِيقَيْنِ كَالاٌّعْمَى وَالاٌّصَمِّ وَالْبَصِيرِ وَالسَّمِيعِ هَلْ
يَسْتَوِيَانِ مَثَلاً]
(The parable of the two parties is as that of the blind and the deaf and the
seer and the hearer. Are they equal when compared) (11:24) The believer sees and
hears, and walks in the light upon a straight path in this world and the
Hereafter, until he comes to settle in Gardens (Paradise) wherein is shade and
springs. The disbeliever is blind and deaf, walking in darkness from which he
cannot escape, he is lost in his misguidance in this world and the Hereafter,
until he ends up in fierce hot wind and boiling water, and shadow of black
smoke, neither cool nor good.
[إِنَّ اللَّهَ
يُسْمِعُ مَن يَشَآءُ]
(Verily, Allah makes whom He wills to hear,) means. He guides them to listen
to the proof and accept it and adhere it.
[وَمَآ أَنتَ
بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِى الْقُبُورِ]
(but you cannot make hear those who are in graves.) means, `just as the dead
cannot benefit from guidance and the call to truth after they have died as
disbelievers and ended up in the graves, so too you cannot help these idolators
who are decreed to be doomed, and you cannot guide them.'
[إِنْ أَنتَ إِلاَّ
نَذِيرٌ ]
You are only a warner means, all you have to do is to convey the Message and
warn them, and Alla0h leaves astray whomsoever He wills and guides whomsoever He
wills.
[إِنَّا
أَرْسَلْنَـكَ بِالْحَقِّ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا]
(Verily, We have sent you with the truth, a bearer of glad tidings and a
warner.) means, a bearer of glad tidings to the believers and a warner to the
disbelievers.
[وَإِن مِّنْ أُمَّةٍ
إِلاَّ خَلاَ فِيهَا نَذِيرٌ]
(And there never was a nation but a warner had passed among them.) means,
there was never any nation among the sons of Adam but Allah sent warners to
them, and left them with no excuse. This is like the Ayat:
[إِنَّمَآ أَنتَ
مُنذِرٌ وَلِكُلِّ قَوْمٍ هَادٍ]
(You are only a warner, and to every people there is a guide) (13:7).
[وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا
فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولاً أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُواْ الْطَّـغُوتَ
فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ هَدَى اللَّهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ
الضَّلَـلَةُ]
(And verily, We have sent among every Ummah a Messenger (proclaiming):
"Worship Allah, and avoid all false deities.'' Then of them were some whom Allah
guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified) (16:36). And
there are many similar Ayat.
[وَإِن يُكَذِّبُوكَ
فَقَدْ كَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم
بِالْبَيِّنَـتِ]
(And if they deny you, those before them also denied. Their Messengers came
to them with clear signs,) means, clear miracles and definitive proofs.
[وَبِالزُّبُرِ]
(and with the Scriptures,) means, the Books.
[وَبِالْكِتَـبِ
الْمُنِيرِ]
(and with the Book giving light.) means, clear and obvious.
[ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُ
الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ]
(Then I took hold of those who disbelieved,) means, `despite all of this,
they denied the Messengers and the Message they brought, so I seized them, i.e.,
with My punishment.'
[فَكَيْفَ كَانَ
نَكِيرِ]
and how terrible was My denial! means, how great and intense and terrible do
you think My punishment was؟ And Alla0h knows best.
[أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ
اللَّهَ أنَزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِ ثَمَرَاتٍ مُّخْتَلِفاً
أَلْوَانُهَا وَمِنَ الْجِبَالِ جُدَدٌ بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَنُهَا
وَغَرَابِيبُ سُودٌ - وَمِنَ النَّاسِ وَالدَّوَآبِّ وَالاٌّنْعَـمِ مُخْتَلِفٌ
أَلْوَنُهُ كَذَلِكَ إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ إِنَّ
اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ ]
(27. See you not that Allah sends down water from the sky, and We produce
therewith fruits of various colors, and among the mountains are Judad, white and
red, of varying colors and (others) Gharabib black.) (28. And likewise, men and
moving creature and cattle are of various colors. It is only those among His
servants who have knowledge that fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Almighty,
Oft-Forgiving.)