God [Himself] mocks them, that is, He belittles them because from the aspect in which they find themselves their relationship to the Divine Presence is slight and weak, and so in the same measure that the Divine aspect is diminished in them, they become more firmly attached to their souls, whereas for the believers the more that their ego-centric (nafsānī) make-up is diminished the more that they find themselves by God's side: what a difference between the two [states]! reinforcing them, in their bestial and predatorial darknesses, which are satanic and ego-centric attributes, by setting up [for them] the substrata and causes [of these resultant attributes], namely their passions, sensual delights, property and livelihood in this world, all of which they have chosen on account of their caprice in their state of bewilderment, in their insolence, bewildered (yaʿmahūn): ʿamah is blindness of the heart, while their insolence is their transgressing of the [divinely stipulated] limit which they are supposed to respect. That limit is the breast (ṣadr), that is, the aspect of the heart that is adjacent to the soul (nafs), whereas the inner heart (fuÌād) is that aspect [of the heart] that is adjacent to the spirit (rūḥ), and so it sits in the middle [between the two] with aspects towards both of these: to adhere to that limit is to worship by [adhering to] the commands of God, exalted be He, and [to] His prohibitions, simultaneously turning to Him in order to seek illumination so that this aspect may be illumined and thereby the soul is illuminated. To adhere to the other limit is to receive gnosis, sciences, realities, wisdoms and divine prescriptions so that these might become etched upon the breast and the soul be adorned thereby. Insolence is to be engrossed in the ego-centric, bestial, predatorial and satanic attributes that overcome the heart, blackening it and blinding it, and sullying the spirit [as a result].
