And let not the disbelievers suppose that what We indulge them in is better for their souls. We grant them indulgence only that they may increase in sinfulness and theirs is a humbling chastisement. “Part of the perfection of the ruse against them and the intensification in their punishment is that We are punishing them even as they do not perceive it: We will draw them on by degrees whence they do not know [7:182]. We indulge them and they think that it is an act of favor inʿām; [they do] not consider that it might be an act of revenge intiqām.” When the underlying forces of the divine preordination are made clear to them [in] their hiding places they will know that they have lost khusrān. It is already clear to anyone possessing insight that that which brings about disobedience ʿiṣyān or causes forgetfulness nisyān cannot be counted among the acts of favor inʿām.
