[2:109] Many of the People of the Scripture long that they might make you disbelievers, after you have believed, from the envy of their own souls, after the truth has become clear to them; yet pardon and be forgiving till God brings His command; truly God has power over all things.
Those who have lost understanding among the heedless wish that not even a star would rise over those who are in peace and safety (salāma), and those who are possessed by envy would like the sun to stop shining over those whom they envy. This is what the attributes of disbelievers are like, so God abases and humbles them.
The allusion in this is to the state of those who possess spiritual desire (irāda) in the beginning, when they embark on their travels. If they are not helped by success granted in companionship and they live among people following externals, these people will prevent them from travelling and will not stop in their advice to them. They will frighten them with weakness and threaten them with poverty until they divert them to the way of heedlessness and cut them off from the path of spiritual desire. These are the enemies of God in truth who have been overtaken by the enmity of the moment. Their punishment is being deprived of smelling any of the fragrances of sincerity (ṣidq).
Yet pardon and be forgiving..., for the way of the aspirant is to protect his innermost self from anyone or anything other [than God]. He tries to employ his best nature with each individual and spares no efforts in kindness, for soon the Real will open the way for him on his path.