God has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing; and on their eyes is a covering; and for them will be a mighty chastisement. The seal on something prevents anything from entering it or coming out. Similarly the Real سبحانه has determined that the ignorance and error in the hearts of His enemies will not be removed nor will any insight or guidance enter into them. There is a covering of forsakenness over the hearing of their hearts. The faculties of hearing have been blocked from receiving the speech of the Real with respect to belief so the whisperings of Satan and the murmurings hawājis of their lower selves distract [the heart] from listening to the intuitions khawāṬir that come from the Real. As for the elect the intuitions that come from different kinds of knowledge ʿulūm and preoccupation with the results to questions in their hearts-these distract their hearts from the secrets of the Real coming to them without intermediary. That is only for the elect of the elect. For this reason the Messenger of God ﷺ said “There have been inspired men muḥaddathūn in communities and if there is one in my community it is ʿUmar.”This inspired one is singled out from the elect just as the one who possesses different types of knowledge is singled out from among ordinary people. There is a covering over the eyes of outsiders so they will not see either by the “sight” baṣar of different kinds of knowledge or by the inner sight baṣīra of realities. And for them will be a mighty chastisement because of their supposing that they have something and their heedlessness of what they have been given in tribulation in the present fī l-ḥāl and the end wa-l-maÌāl in their separation in the here and now fī l-ʿājili furqatihi and their burning in what is to come wa-fī l-ājil ḥurqatihi.
