Surely those who disbelieve after they have believed and then increase in unbelief their repentance shall not be accepted; those are the ones who go astray. This alludes to those who return to the states of the people of habit ahl al-ʿāda after having traveled the path of spiritual desire Ṭarīq al-irāda. They prefer this world and to submit to their whims over seeking the Real سبحانه وتعالى. Then they renounce the people of the path ahl al-Ṭarīqa and become ever more alone in their [inner] darknesses. Their repentance shall not be accepted; those are the ones who go astray from the path of the Real for trust amāna cannot be regained once treachery khiyāna has been displayed. As the days pass their punishment is the increasing estrange- ment of [their] hearts from the path and they are not distressed by the felicitous state that has slipped away from them. If they had persevered their repentance would have been accepted but the Real سبحانه follows His way sunna with those who are listless on this path when they revert to habitual states aḥwāl al-ʿāda and do not feel regret for the moments that have passed away from them. God most high said “And We shall confound their hearts and eyes; just as they did not believe in it the first time” [6:110]. The apostate from Islam is a more powerful enemy to Muslims than the original disbeliever. Likewise the one who reverts from this path is more powerful in rejecting it and more oppositional to its people than those who were always alien to it.
