2. Surah Al Baqarah

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي يَنْعِقُ بِمَا لاَ يَسْمَعُ إِلاَّ دُعَاء وَنِدَاء...

2: 171. The parable of those who reject faith is as if one were to shout like a goat-herd, to things that listen to nothing but calls and cries;

C170. If you reject all faith, the highest wisdom and the most salutary regulations are lost on you. You are like "dumb driven cattle" who can merely hear calls, but cannot distinguish intelligently between shades of meaning or subtle differences of values.

... صُمٌّ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لاَ يَعْقِلُونَ ﴿١٧١﴾

deaf, dumb, and blind, they are void of wisdom.

C171. Cf. 2:18, where we are told that the rejecters of faith are "deaf, dumb and blind: they will not return to the path."

Here the consequence of their not using their senses is that they have no wisdom. In each context there is just the appropriate deduction.

Others version:

2: 171

Asad And so, the parable of those who are bent on denying the truth is that of the beast which hears the shepherd’s cry, and hears in it nothing but the sound of a voice and a call [note 138]. Deaf are they, and dumb, and blind: for they do no use their reason.

Pickthall The likeness of those who disbelieve (in relation to the messenger) is as the likeness of one who calleth unto that which heareth naught except a shout and cry. Deaf, dumb, blind, therefore they have no sense.

Transliteration Wa masalul lazina kafaru_ ka masalil lazi yan'iqu bima_ la_ yasma'u illa_ du'a_'aw wa nida_'a(n), summum bukmun'umyun fahum la_ ya'qilu_n(a).

[Asad’s note 138: This is a very free rendering of the elliptical sentence which, literally, reads thus: “The parable of those who are bent on denying the truth is as that of him who cries unto what hears nothing but a cry and a call.” The verb “na’qa” is mostly used to describe the inarticulate cry with which the shepherd drives his flock. ]