And those who disbelieve in the signs of God and the encounter with Him-they have lost hope in My mercy. In this world the punishment of the unbelievers is completed when they lose hope in God's mercy. To the faithful He says, “No matter how many foolish things you have done and how much you have sinned, despair not of God's mercy [39:53].” Know that the influence of God's mercy for the servants is greater than the influence of His wrath. In the Qur'an, there are more mentions of the attributes of mercy than the attributes of wrath. In the report has come, “My mercy takes precedence over My wrath.” Mercy and wrath are both attributes of the Real, and it is not permissible for you to say that one is before and the other after, or that one is more and the other less. If you say that one is more, then the other must be decreased; if you say one is before, than the other must be newly arrived. Hence, what is meant by this is mercy's influence. In other words: “The influence of My mercy overtakes the influence of My wrath.” It is because of the influence of His wrath that the unbelievers have despaired of His mercy, such that He says, “they have lost hope in My mercy.” It is because of the influence of His mercy that the faithful hope for His forgiveness and place their hearts on His mercy, such that He says, “They hope for God's mercy” [2:218]. The unbeliever who has despaired of God's mercy with his idol before him is like a spider who builds a house, frail and without outcome. It has no foundation to keep it in place, walls for refuge, or roof to cover it. It is of no use in cold or in heat. It is so frail and weak that with the slightest wind it moves up and down and is ruined. This is the likeness of the idol-worshipper. He fancies that he is doing something or that he has a refuge: They were reckoning that they were doing beau- tiful artisanry [18:104]. They reckon that they are on to something [58:18]. “He who hopes that the mirage is water will only remain long enough to know that it was an imagining.”
