Those who take disbelievers for friends instead of believers-do they desire power with themḍ Truly power belongs altogether to God. It has been revealed to you in the Book that: “When you hear God's signs being disbelieved and mocked do not sit with them until they engage in some other talk for otherwise you would surely be like them.” God will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers all together into hell. Whoever clings to a created being has sought refuge with someone other than the One who protects. He relies on a place that will provide no shelter. He has fallen into the abyss of error whose depth is bottomless and ruse calamitous. Do they desire power with those who have themselves been humbled by [the command] to “Be”ḍ How can they have any power to determine the truthḍ How can those who have no power extend power to anyone elseḍ It is said that “We do not know what is more shameless in their condi- tion: seeking power while they are themselves humbled by the [divine] subjugation and held in the [divine] grasp or their thinking and imagining that [power] can be from anything other than God.” It is said that whoever seeks something from any direction other than Him-failure is the ultimate end of his effort fa-l-ikhfāqu ghāyatu jahdihi. Whoever desires wealth in regions of indigence-being reduced to poverty is the outcome of his toil fa-l-imlāqu quṣārā kaddihi. It is said that if they had been rightly guided to finding [the true source of] power their seeking would not have been diverted to those who pos- sess no authority. Truly power belongs altogether to God: The power is of two kinds: an eternal power which is an attribute of God and a contingent power which He سبحانه apportions to whomever He will. [Power] belongs to God most high as something that is His and is [also] a gift from Him [to human beings]. It has been revealed to you in the Book... Do not make neighbors of those alienated in feeling and affection for the darknesses of their souls extend to your hearts as you seek to inhale the fragrances they refuse to take in. One becomes partner to the state of those with whom one sits. The sit- ting companion of those in a state of intimacy becomes an intimate himself while the sitting companion of those in darkness is himself estranged.
