2:88

Wa qaaloo quloobunaa ghulf; bal la'anahumul laahu bikufrihim faqaleelam maa

yu'minoon

And they said, "Our hearts are sealed." Rather, God has cursed them for their
ingratitude. They have little faith.

And they say, "Our hearts are Ghulf. Nay, Allah has cursed them for their disbelief
, so
little is that which they believe.

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ASBAB AL NUZUL

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- Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn Abbas said that

"And they say, "Our hearts are Ghulf"

means, "Our hearts are screened."

- Mujahid also said that

"And they say, "Our hearts are Ghulf"

means, "They are covered.

- Ikrimah said, "There is a stamp on them.

- Abu Al-Aliyah said, "They do not comprehend.

- Mujahid and Qatadah said that Ibn Abbas read the Ayah in a way that means, "Our
hearts contain every type of
knowledge and do not need the knowledge that you (O Muhammad pbuh) have.

This is the opinion of Ata and Ibn Abbas.

- "Nay, Allah has cursed them for their disbelief"

meaning, "Allah expelled them and deprived

them of every type of righteousness.

- Qatadah said that the Ayah,

"So little is that which they believe"

means, "Only a few of them believe.

- Allah's statement ,

"And they say, "Our hearts are Ghulf " is similar to His statement

"And they say: "Our hearts are under coverings (screened) from that to which you
invite us"
(41:5)

- This is why Allah said here,

"Nay, Allah has cursed them for their disbelief , so little is that which they
believe"

meaning, "It is not as they claim. Rather, their hearts are cursed and stamped,
just as Allah said in Surat
An-Nisa (4:155)

"And of their saying: "Our hearts are wrapped (with coverings, i.e. we do not
understand what
the Messengers say) nay, Allah has set a seal upon their hearts because of their
disbelief , so
they believe not but a little.

- There is a difference of opinion regarding the meaning of Allah's statement

"So little is that which they believe" and His statement

"So they believe not except a few"

Some scholars said that the Ayat indicate that a few of
them would believe, or that their faith is minute, because they believe in
Resurrection and in
Allah's reward and punishment that Musa foretold. Yet , this faith will not benefit
them since it
is overshadowed by their disbelief in what Muhammad brought them. Some scholars
said that
the Jews did not actually believe in anything and that Allah said,

"So little is that which they believe" meaning, they do not believe. This meaning
is similar to
the Arabic expression, "Hardly have I seen anything like this, meaning, "I have
never seen
anything like this.

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TAFSIR AL TUSTARI

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Decoding the Quran

And they said, “Our hearts (perception) are cocooned (by our world – preventing us
from experiencing our reality).” No, in fact they had fallen far from (became
cursed by) Allah for denying the reality. How limited is your faith!

...
[2:88] And they say, to the Prophet mockingly: ‘Our hearts are encased’ (ghulf is
the plural of aghlaf), that is to say, wrapped up in covers and cannot comprehend
what you say; God, exalted be He, says: Nay (bal introduces the rebuttal), but God
has cursed them, removed them far from His mercy and degraded them when they
rejected [the messengers], for their unbelief, which is not the result of anything
defective in their hearts; and little will they believe (fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn:
the mā here is extra, emphasising the ‘littleness’ involved): that is, their belief
is minimal.