The meaning of 'the disbeliever will be gathered blind on the Day of Judgement'
Fatwa No: 469570

Question

Salam alaykom! The 125th ayah of Surah Taha says that the disbeliever will be raised blind on the Day of Judgement, but other ayaat state that the disbeliever will see clearly on the Day of Judgement, such as 14:42 and other verses. How do we reconcile and understand the verses which speak about blindness and seeing on the Day of Judgement? BaaraakAllahu feekum.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Reconciling the meaning of these noble verses together, scholars relied on the opinion recorded by Ash-Shinqiti in his Adwaa’ Al-Bayaan, "There is some sort of (apparent) contradiction between the verses of Surah Taha (that indicates that the disbeliever would be gathered on the Day of Resurrection blind) and that of Surah Al-Israa’ (that indicates that the disbeliever would be gathered dumb and deaf), on one hand, and the other noble verses that tell that the disbelievers on the Day of Resurrection would be able to see, hear, and speak, such as the Saying of Allah, the Almighty, in the other verse, {How [clearly] they will hear and see the Day they come to Us, but the wrongdoers today are in clear error} [Quran 19:38]; the Saying of Allah, the Exalted, {And the criminals will see the Fire and will be certain that they are to fall therein. And they will not find from it a way elsewhere} [Quran 18:53]; the Saying of Allah, the Exalted, {Our Lord, we have seen and heard, so return us [to the world], we will work righteousness} [Quran 32:12], etc., on the other hand. In our Dafu’ Ihaam Al-Iddttiraab ʿAn Ayaat Al-Kitaab, we have mentioned the answer to this question in three points:

First: The verses truly mean that the disbelievers on the Day of Resurrection would turn blind, dumb, and deaf in the very sense of these words – an opinion held by Abu Hayaan. However, this would be in the very beginning of the Day of Resurrection after which Allah, the Exalted, would return their sights, speech, and hearing, and thus could see the Hellfire, hear its heavy sighing, and speak with what Allah, the Almighty, told us about in many verses of the Quran.

Second: They would see nothing that could please them, nor would they hear anything that could please them. They would furthermore speak with no argument. This is exactly compatible with their condition in the worldly life where they could not see, hear, or speak the truth. Third: They would turn blind, dumb, and deaf when Allah, the Exalted, says to them, {Remain despised therein and do not speak to Me.} [Quran 23:108] However, the most authentic opinion, in my viewpoint, is the first.

Allah knows best.

Related Fatwa