Quran Universe
15:12

كَذَٰلِكَ نَسۡلُكُهُۥ فِي قُلُوبِ ٱلۡمُجۡرِمِينَ

Kathalika naslukuhu fee quloobi almujrimeena

Thus do We insert denial into the hearts of the criminals.

Word by word
  1. كَذَٰلِكَThus
  2. نَسۡلُكُهُۥWe let it enter
  3. فِيin
  4. قُلُوبِ(the) hearts
  5. ٱلۡمُجۡرِمِينَ(of) the criminals
Al-Hijr · 15:12Makkah

Stubborn hearts let denial settle in.

What arrogance does to the heart

How it enters
stubbornnesstoo proud to follow
lets in
denialshirk, said Anas and Al-Hasan
into
the heartof the guilty
Where it starts
it just happenedI drifted
pride came firstthen denial settled

Ibn Kathir explains that Allah lets disbelief enter the hearts of those too stubborn and too arrogant to follow His guidance. Anas and Al-Hasan Al-Basri said what enters is shirk.

Someone corrects you in a meeting and you are right that they are wrong, so you dig in. Next time you dig in faster. Pride makes the next refusal easier. The heart hardens one stubborn moment at a time.

My heart just drifts on its own; I am not responsible for it.

Each time I refuse out of pride, I make room for the next refusal.

Try this

Today, accept one correction without defending yourself.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 15:10)

Indeed, We sent (Messengers) before you (O Muhammad) amongst the earlier communities (10)And there never came a Messenger to them but that they mocked him (11)Thus We allow it to enter the hearts of the guilty (12)They would not believe in it (the Qur'an); and already the example of the ancients has gone forth (13)

The Idolators of Every Nation made a Mockery of their Messengers

Consoling His Messenger ﷺ for the rejection of the disbelieving Quraysh, Allah says that He has sent Messengers before him to the nations of the past, and no Messenger came to a nation but they rejected him and mocked him. Then He tells him that He lets disbelief enter the hearts of those sinners who are too stubborn and too arrogant to follow His guidance.

كَذَٰلِكَ نَسْلُكُهُ فِي قُلُوبِ الْمُجْرِمِينَ

(Thus We allow it to enter the hearts of the guilty.) Anas and Al-Hasan Al-Basri said that this referred to Shirk.

وَقَدْ خَلَتْ سُنَّةُ الْأَوَّلِينَ

(and already the example of the ancients has gone forth.) meaning the destruction wrought by Allah on those who rejected His Messengers, and how He saved His Prophets and their followers in this world and in the Hereafter, is well known.