When it is said to them, 'Believe as the people believe', they say, 'Shall we believe as fools believe?' Truly, they are the foolish ones, but they know not.
And when they are warned against working corruption on earth, that is, towards the nether aspect, which is that of the souls and their relevant welfare, [corruption] in the way of the sullying of the souls, the incitement of evil, wars, enmity and hatred between people, they deny [all of this] and go to the utmost extreme to prove that they are putting things right for what concerns their souls. For they see that the welfare [of the souls] lies in the acquisition of livelihood and the means to make such [a livelihood] forthcoming, as well as in the organisation of [one's] this-worldly affairs specifically for the sake of their souls, absorbed as they are by the love of this world and ensconced as they are in the pleasures of the flesh, veiling themselves with what is [only] partially beneficial and finding in the senses sanctuary from comprehensive and all-encompassing benefits and [from] the pleasures of the intellect. It is in this way that their wants are facilitated and their demands are made forthcoming, all the while unaware of their acts of corruption that can be perceived through the senses. When they are summoned to true faith, such as that of the poor among the Muslims and the destitute who are stripped of everything, they deem them fools [cf. Q. 2:13] for their abandoning of the vanities of this world and their rejection of its enjoyments, pleasures and good things given the sincerity of their renunciation [of such things]. Their ultimate concerns and the utmost sought by their intellects, [intellects that are] captive in the shackles of desire and tarnished by delusions, it is these very pleasures that lead to their demise: They know [merely] an outward aspect of the life of this world, but they, of the Hereafter, they are oblivious [Q. 30:7]. They are unaware that the ultimate in folly is to choose what is transient and despicable over the remainder that is more noble. The reason for one verse ending with [reference to] perception, while the other with [lack of] knowledge, is that the effect of their deception on their souls and of their working of corruption on earth is as clear as something that is perceptible to the senses. As for the preponderance given to the bliss of the Hereafter over the bliss of this world, which is required to distinguish between folly and wisdom, that is something that can be deduced purely by reason.