[2:13] 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.
The allusion in it is to the hypocrites who, when they were called to the Real, described the Muslims as foolish. Similarly, when the wealthy are commanded to renounce this world, they describe the people of right conduct as lazy and weak. They say the poor (fuqarāÌ) have nothing because they have no wealth, no status, no comfort and no livelihood. In truth, they are the poor and they are the possessors of tribulation. They have fallen into ignominy out of fear of ignominy, and struggled with abasement out of fear of abasement. They have constructed castles (quṣūr) but have lived in tombs (qubūr . They have adorned the cradle (mahd) but have been wrapped in the grave (lahd). They have galloped in the fields of heedlessness (ghafla) but have stumbled in the wadis of grief (ḥasra). Soon they will come to know but at that time their knowledge will not benefit them. Nothing will be of use to them.
When the dust clears
you will see
whether a horse or a donkey
is beneath you.