الآية رقم (74) - ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُم مِّن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الأَنْهَارُ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَاء وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللّهِ وَمَا اللّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

(74) - “Then your hearts became hardened after that, being like stones or even harder. For indeed, there are stones from which rivers burst forth, and there are some of them that split open and water comes out, and there are some of them that fall down for fear of Allah. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.”

They had seen how Allah U gave life to the dead in front of them. Furthermore, Musa u had stood in front of them and said, “A lifeless being (the cow) giving life to another lifeless being (the man)”. In spite of all these, their hearts became hardened, as Allah U says:

﴿قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ﴾ “your hearts became hardened”. Allah U did not say, “Your selves became hardened”. This is because the heart is the seat of feelings, compassion and mercy. It is also the source of behaviour and the opening for faith. There is a Hadith:

((أَلَا وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ، وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ‏ أَلَا وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ))

“Verily, there is a piece of flesh in the body, if it is healthy, the whole body is healthy, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Verily, it is the heart.”[1]