The discourse regarding the interpretation of His statement, majestic is His praise: ﴿God has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing﴾

Abū Jaʿfar said: The root meaning of sealing (khatm) is imprinting (ṭabʿ), and the seal (khātam) is the stamp (ṭābiʿ). One says: "I sealed the letter" (khatamtu al-kitāb) when you stamp it.

If a questioner says to us: "And how does He seal upon the hearts, when sealing is only imprinting upon vessels, containers, and coverings (1)?"

It is said in response: Indeed, the hearts of servants are vessels for the knowledge deposited in them, and containers for the understandings of matters placed within them (2). So the meaning of sealing upon them and upon hearing—through which audible things are perceived, and by way of which knowledge of the true realities of news about the unseen is reached—is analogous to the meaning of sealing upon all other vessels and containers.

If he says: "Does it have a description that you can describe for us so that we may understand it? Is it like the seal that is known for what is visible to sight, or is it otherwise?"

It is said in response: The scholars of interpretation have differed concerning its description, and we shall inform of its description after mentioning their statements:

300- ʿĪsā ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿĪsā al-Ramlī narrated to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā narrated to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, who said: Mujāhid showed us with his hand and said: They used to hold that the heart is like this—meaning the palm—so when the servant commits a sin, part of it is folded in—and he indicated with his pinky finger like this (3)—then when he commits a sin, it is folded in—and he indicated with another finger—then when he commits a sin, it is folded in—and he indicated with another finger like this, until he had folded all his fingers together. He said: Then it is stamped upon with a stamp. He said