غلف

Core meaning

The wrapping: what covers and keeps closed, so that nothing gets in.

Uses

1. غُلْف → "wrapped up" : the cores their bearers say are closed to what is announced to them.

   • «قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌۢ» — "Our cores are wrapped up" (2:88)
   • «وَقَوْلِهِمْ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌۢ» — "and said: "Our cores are wrapped up"" (4:155)

Evidence from the text

The formula is the same in both uses, and always in the mouth of those who refuse: their cores would be wrapped up, closed to what they are told, and the refusal would not come from them. In 4:155, the text answers at once: it is not a wrapping by nature, it is a stamp laid "for their disowning". The wrapping invoked as an excuse is the consequence of a refusal.

Distinctions

• طبع — the stamp: the mark laid on the core, which the text sets against the alleged wrapping (4:155)

See also

غطو (the veil)