As for the disbelievers alike it is for them whether you have warned them or have not warned them they do not believe. Those who are veiled by the covering of their own qualities are kept from witnessing His truth. The allusion here is that both are the same to them- the words of one who tries to lead them to the Real ḥaqq or the words of one who aids them in seeking to attract worldly fortune ḥaẓẓ. Nay they are more inclined to the calls to heedlessness and prefer to pay attention to them. How could they not when they are marked with the branding of separation locked in the prison of absence and barred from the place of nearness. None of them will attain faith īmān because they have no security amān from the Real. Because they have not been granted secu- rity lam yuÌmanū they do not believe lam yuÌminū. A decision ḥukm God has already made is inalterable and a word from Him is final. [God's] power cannot be opposed. Fearsome attacks will surprise those who con- test what has been decreed by the Real and the decision [of the Real] will catch them unaware. It is said that the disbeliever does not desist from his error because of the misery that is already his. Likewise the one who is bound by the shackles of his lower self is veiled from witnessing the unseen and His reality for he cannot see the right way or pursue the right course. It is said that for the one who remains in the darknesses of his foolishness the advice of sound guides and the fictions of those who speak falsely are equal to him for God has removed from his states the blessings of being able to judge between two things. He does not come with an ear to acceptance and pays little attention to the one who calls to right conduct. As it is said: My sincere advice naṣīḥatī is the concern of the sincere naṣūḥ. The disobedience of the sincere is My concern alone. It is also said that whoever has strayed from bearing witness to the favors that have been allotted to him imagines that the matter comes from what he does and does not do. [Such a person] relies on his own actions and is blind to witnessing [God's] gifts fa-ittakala ʿalā aʿmālihi wa-taʿāmā ʿan shuhūd afḌālihi.
