Ghafir (The Forgiver)

58. And not equal are the blind and those who see; nor are [equal] those who believe and do righteous good deeds and those who do evil. Little do you remember.

Those who neglect understanding truths are like the blind. Some of the people do not know and some of those who know refuse to acknowledge the truths.

In an explicit comparison, the blessed Verse depicts the state of the ignorant arrogant against understanding believers, saying:

“And not equal are the blind and those who see; nor are [equal] those who believe and do righteous good deeds and those who do evil.”

The blind refers to the ignorant whose eyes are covered by the veils of vanity and arrogance thus hindered from perceiving the truth. Au contraire, the seers is a reference to those who perceive the Truth in the light of knowledge and logical arguments.

Are they equal? Now, are the believers who do righteous good deeds on a par with vicious and evil doers? The former comparison aims at knowledge and understanding and the latter makes a reference to the reflection of such knowledge in their deeds.

The point is that seers perceive their humbleness and the grandeur of the world of existence; as a consequence of which they are aware of their state and rank, but the blind solely perceive their spatial and temporal states rather than their surrounding world, that is why they make mistakes concerning their own existence at all times and are entangled by vanity and arrogance which lead them to doing evil deeds.

It is also possible to make use of the twain clauses of the blessed Verse to the effect that having faith and doing righteous good deeds make man see and disbelief and committing evil deeds render him blind such that the blind are impeded to draw a distinction between truth and falsehood.