An Inquiry into the Conceptology of Khatm and Ṭab‘ upon the Heart from the Viewpoint of the Qur'an

In many of its verses, the Qur'an has frequently mentioned khatm andṭab‘ (both meaning to seal) upon the heart. It is implied from the verses that the Almighty God has used these two terms concerning the people whose hearts are surrounded by sins and who have, due to the multitude of sins and evil deeds, deviated from their fiṭra (inner nature), thus failing to have faith. Of course, there are other various and subtle words such as rayn (contamination), ghulf (heathen), qasāvat (hardness), and akkinna (veils) in the Qur'an, which are in fact in the same category with ṭab‘ and khatm concerning man's deviation from his human fiṭra. Each of these words refer to a stage of human intellectual deviation and deprivation form cognition, beginning from the weaker stages and developing toward harder and more hazardous ones, at which the sense of cognition is totally taken away from man.
Making a brief reference to the concept of heart in the Qur'an with respect to the words in the same category with khatm andṭab‘, this article is intended to address the semantics of these two words and to state the relative similarity of meaning between them. To this end, it first proceeds to explore the semantics of these two words according to the philologists so as to figure out their Qur'anic meaning, while paying attention to their philological meaning. Discussing the non-equivalence and dissimilarity of meaning of these two words, the article goes on to deal with those who have been addressed by khatm andṭab‘ and the elements that cause the related psychological maladies of human heart. In conclusion, the actions preventing from such diseases of human spiritual heart are also touched upon.