Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:36

(Only those who hear will respond): This is a confirmation of what is understood from the preceding discourse, namely, that they do not believe. Istijabah (responding) is in the sense of ijabah (answering). It is common for the form istaf'ala to be used in the sense of af'ala, such as istakhlasa in the sense of akhlasa (to purify), and istawqada in the sense of awqada (to kindle), among others. An example of this is the saying of the Ghannawi poet: "A caller called, 'O you who respond (yujibu) to the call!' / Yet no responder (mujib) answered (yastajibhu) him at that moment." The evidence for this is that he said mujib and did not say mustajib. Some scholars distinguish between istajaba and ajaba by stating that istajaba implies acceptance.

The meaning of "hearing" here is the complete and perfect sense—the hearing of understanding and contemplation—rendering all other types of hearing as if they were not hearing at all. That is, only those who hear what is presented to them with the hearing of understanding and contemplation will answer your call to faith, unlike the dead, for these people are of that category, as in His saying: "Indeed, you cannot make the dead hear."

(And the dead): i.e., the disbelievers, as al-Hasan stated, and it has been narrated by more than one person.

(Allah will resurrect them): from their graves to the place of gathering. It has also been said that the resurrection is their guidance to faith, but this is baseless.

(Then to Him they will be returned): for requital. At that time, they will hear; as for before that, there is no way for them to hear, for upon their hearts are coverings and in their ears is deafness. The application of "the dead" to the disbelievers is a derivative metaphor (isti'arah tab'iyyah) based on likening their disbelief and ignorance to death, as it has been said: "Let not the ignorant one be pleased with his attire / For he is a corpse whose garments are his shroud."

It is also said that "the dead" is literal, and the discourse is an allegory (tamthil) for the exclusivity of the Almighty's power to grant those disbelievers the success of faith, just as He, Glory be to Him, is exclusively powerful to resurrect the dead whose bones have rotted in the graves. This contains an indication that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) does not have the power to guide them, because that is akin to resurrecting the dead. This has been critiqued by noting that, under this interpretation, the phrase "Then to Him they will be returned" does not have a significant role in the allegory, unless it is intended to signify the effects that result from faith.

Regarding the parsing of "the dead" (al-mawta), there are two views: the first is that it is in the nominative case as an initial subject (mubtada'), and the second is that it is in the accusative case due to an implied verb explained by what follows it, which is the preference of Abu al-Baqa'. It is understood from the words of Mujahid that it is in the nominative case by conjunction with the relative pronoun (al-mawsul), with the following sentence being in the state of a circumstantial qualifier (hal), though the apparent reading suggests otherwise. It has been recited as yurja'un (they are returned) in the passive voice, and the well-attested reading is yarji'un (they return), which is appropriate for the context as it denotes that their return to Him, the Almighty, is by way of compulsion.