17. This is a fine way of saying something. Before the mention of “breathing into him of His spirit”, man has been referred to in the third person: “He created him, spread his progeny, shaped him, breathed into him His spirit,” for till then he was not even worthy of being addressed. Then, when the spirit had been breathed into him, he became worthy of the honor and it was said: “He gave you the ears, gave you the eyes, gave you the hearts,” for after having been blessed with the Spirit, man became worthy of being addressed.

The ears and the eyes imply the instruments by which man obtains knowledge. Although the senses of taste and touch and smell are also instruments of obtaining knowledge, hearing and sight are the major and by far the more important senses. Therefore, the Quran has mentioned only these two at different places as the most important gifts of God to man. “The Heart” implies the mind which arranges the information obtained through the senses and draws inferences from it, and selects a possible way of action and decides to follow it.