Psychology of the Qur'an.

“Last, but not least in significance, it must be constantly remembered that the Qur’an is not just descriptive but is primarily prescriptive. Both the content of its message and the power of the form in which it is conveyed are designed not so much to “inform” men in any ordinary sense of the word as to change their character. The psychological impact and the moral import of its statements, therefore, have a primary role. Phrases like “God has sealed their hearts, blinded their eyes, deafening them to truth” in the Qur’an do have a descriptive meaning in terms of the psychological processes described earlier; but even more primarily in such contexts, they have a definite psychological intention: to change the ways of men in the right direction. Thus, all our clarifications and interpretations of such usages in the Qur’an – psychological (in the sense of both a process and an intended effect), factual and moral – operate jointly and must be properly understood and assigned proportionate roles.” (Major Themes of the Qur’an, Fazlur Rahman, p. 22-23, 1989).