Answer: My understanding of the
verse is as follows. Those who choose to reject faith, despite knowing it to be
the true message from God, because of their petty desires or ego (or both), are
allowed by the Almighty to have more opportunities to acquire faith. However, if
they persist with their attitude of deliberately rejecting faith, there comes a
time when their hearts are sealed. It is only God Who decides when an
individual’s heart is to be sealed, because He is the one who knows and
understands the real attitude of the people. The verse is actually consoling the
Prophet (sws) not to be unnecessarily disturbed by the attitude of the
disbelievers, because the Almighty has sealed the hearts of some of them, who
have proven through their attitude that they don’t deserve to get the “gift of
faith”.
They are going to be responsible
for their lack of faith and the sealing of their hearts because it was primarily
their own behaviour that led to this state of affairs.
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