36۞ إِنَّما يَستَجيبُ الَّذينَ يَسمَعونَ ۘ وَالمَوتىٰ يَبعَثُهُمُ اللَّهُ ثُمَّ إِلَيهِ يُرجَعونَMuhammad AsadOnly they who listen [with their hearts] can respond to a call; and as for the dead [of heart], God [alone] can raise them from the dead, whereupon unto Him they shall return.1Lit., "they shall be returned". Most of the classical commentators (e.g., Tabari. Zamakhshari, Razi, as well as the earlier authorities whom they quote) interpret this verse in the metaphorical sense in which it has been rendered by me. As is so often the case with Qur'anic diction, its elliptical meaning can only be brought out by means of interpolations.