198وَإِن تَدعوهُم إِلَى الهُدىٰ لا يَسمَعوا ۖ وَتَراهُم يَنظُرونَ إِلَيكَ وَهُم لا يُبصِرونَMuhammad Asadand if you pray unto them for guidance, they do not hear; and though thou mayest imagine that they behold thee,1 they do not see."Lit., "though thou seest them looking at thee" - but since the pronoun "them" in tarahum ("thou seest them") refers to mental images no less than to physical representations, the verb must be understood in its abstract sense of "seeing with the mind", i.e., "considering" or "imagining". In contrast with the preceding passages, which are addressed to those who actually invoke false deities or images, the last sentence is addressed to man in general, sinner and believer alike: and this generalization is brought out by changing the form of address from "you" to "thou".