Obey Allah and His Messenger (Surah Al-Anfal 8: 20-22)

And be not like those who say: "We have heard,'' but they hear not.
Verily, the worst of living creatures with Allah are the deaf and the dumb (the disbelievers), who understand not. (Surah Al-Anfal 8: 21-22)

The Command to obey Allah and His Messenger

Allah commands His believing servants to obey Him and His Messenger and warns them against defying him and imitating the disbelievers who reject him. Allah said,

and turn not away from him...,  neither refrain from obeying him or following his commands nor indulge in what he forbade,

while you are hearing,  after you gained knowledge of his Message,

And be not like those who say: "We have heard,'' but they hear not. Ibn Ishaq said that this Ayah refers to the hypocrites, who pretend to hear and obey, while in fact they do neither. Allah declares that these are the most wicked creatures among the Children of Adam,

Verily, the worst of living creatures with Allah are the deaf who do not hear the truth,

and the dumb who cannot comprehend it,

who understand not.  These indeed are the most wicked creatures, for every creature except them abide by the way that Allah created in them. These people were created to worship Allah, but instead disbelieved. This is why Allah equated them to animals, when He said,

And the example of those who disbelieve is as that of him who shouts to those that hear nothing but calls and cries. [Surah Al-Baqarah 2: 171],  and,

They are like cattle, nay even more astray; those! They are the heedless ones. [Surah Al-A’raf 7: 179]

It was also said that the Ayah (8:22) refers to some of the pagans of Quraysh from the tribe of Bani `Abd Ad-Dar, according to Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and Ibn Jarir (Radhi Allahu Anhum). Muhammad bin Ishaq said that this Ayah refers to hypocrites, as we stated. There is no contradiction here, because both disbelievers and hypocrites are devoid of sound comprehension, in addition to having lost the intention to do good.


Source: Tafsir ibn Kathir (Abridged)