What is meant by "making" in the saying of Allah the Exalted: "And We have placed coverings over their hearts, preventing them from understanding it, and in their ears, deafness"? And does it indicate compulsion?

'Aid 'Abassi: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. Allah the Exalted said: Some people detect a scent of compulsion in this. What is your opinion?

The Shaykh : This "making" is a cosmic making. To understand this, it is necessary to explain the divine will. The divine will is divided into two types: legislative will and cosmic will. Legislative will is everything that Allah the Mighty and Majestic has legislated for His servants and encouraged them to perform, from acts of obedience and worship, varying in their rulings from obligatory to recommended. Allah Blessed and Exalted is He desires these acts of obedience and worship and loves them. As for cosmic will, it may sometimes be of what Allah has legislated and loves for His servants, and it may sometimes be of what He has not legislated but has decreed. This will is called cosmic will, derived from His saying Blessed and Exalted is He: "A thing" is an indefinite noun that encompasses everything, whether it is obedience or worship. It only comes into being by His saying Blessed and Exalted is He: meaning by His will and by His decree and destiny. Once we understand this cosmic will, which encompasses everything, whether it is obedience or disobedience, we must return to the topic of divine decree and destiny. For His saying the Exalted and Glorious: means that this one to whom He said: He made it a decreed matter that must happen. At that point, we have discussed the topic of divine decree and destiny repeatedly, and we have said that everything with Allah the Exalted is by decree. This also includes good and evil. However, what concerns us, the two burdens of humans and jinn, the ones obligated and commanded by Allah the Exalted, what concerns us, we must look at what we do. Either it is done purely by our will and choice, or it is done against our will. This second category does not involve obedience or disobedience, and its outcome is not Paradise or Hellfire. Rather, the first category is what the legislative rulings revolve around. Thus, the reckoning of a person for Paradise or Hellfire is based on what a person does by his will and strives for through his earning and choice. That is what a person is held accountable for: if it is good, then good; if it is evil, then evil. This is the reality: that a human being is a chooser in a large portion of his actions. This is a reality that cannot be debated, neither by scripture nor by reason. As for scripture, the texts of the Book and the Sunnah are mass-transmitted in the matter of a human being being commanded to do what he is ordered to do and to leave what he is forbidden from doing. These are too numerous to mention. As for reason, it is clear to every person who is free from desire and purpose that when he speaks, when he walks, when he eats, when he drinks, when he does anything that falls within his choice, he is a chooser in that and is not compelled at all.
Here I am, speaking to you now. No one is compelling me, of course. But it is decreed. So the meaning of my speech, while it is decreed, is that it is decreed along with my choice of what I am saying and speaking. I am continuing the conversation now and not remaining silent, but I am able to be silent to clarify to anyone who is in doubt about what I am saying that I am a chooser in this speech. Here I am, being silent now, even for a few moments, because I am a chooser.
So, the choice of a human being, in terms of reality, is a matter that does not accept discussion or debate. Otherwise, the one who debates such a matter is merely sophistering and doubting the self-evident. And if a person reaches this stage, conversation with him is cut off.
So, the actions of a human being are of two types: voluntary and compelled. As for the compelled, we have no discussion regarding them, neither from the legislative side nor from the realistic side. Rather, the Shari'ah concerns voluntary matters. If we focus this reality in our minds, we can understand a verse like the previous one: This is the verse.
'Aid 'Abassi: Yes, exactly.
Another questioner: .

The Shaykh : This "making" is cosmic. You must remember the previous verse: It is cosmic, but it is not against the will of the one upon whose heart Allah has placed coverings. It is not against his will. Here is an example from the material aspect. When a human being is created, he is created with his flesh fresh and tender. Then, as he grows and grows and grows, his flesh hardens and his bones become strong. But people are not all the same in this regard. There is a very large difference between a person who is bent over a type of study and knowledge. What strengthens in him? His intellect strengthens, his brain strengthens in the aspect he is occupied with and devotes all his efforts to. But from the physical aspect, his body does not strengthen, his muscles do not grow. And the opposite is exactly the opposite. A person focused on the material aspect, who engages in physical exercises every day, as they say today, his muscles become strong, his body becomes strong, and he takes on a form as we sometimes see in reality and sometimes in pictures. These athletes, their bodies become all muscles. Was he created this way, or did he acquire this strong build with many muscles? This is something he reached through his earning and his choice. That is the example of the person who remains in his misguidance, his stubbornness, his disbelief, and his denial, until he reaches the rust, to these coverings that Allah the Exalted and Glorious places over their hearts. Not by compulsion from Allah and necessity imposed on them by Allah, but because of their earning and their choice.
So this is the "making." It is the cosmic "making" that these disbelieving people acquire, until they reach this point which the ignorant imagine was imposed on them. The truth is that it was not imposed on them, but rather it is by what your hands have earned, and Allah is not unjust to the servants.