[2:6] As for the disbelievers, alike it is for them whether you have warned them or have not warned them, they do not believe.
Those who are veiled by the covering of their own qualities are kept from witnessing His truth. The allusion here is that both are the same to them - the words of one who tries to lead them to the Real (ḥaqq) or the words of one who aids them in seeking to attract worldly fortune (ḥaẓẓ). Nay, they are more inclined to the calls to heedlessness and prefer to pay attention to them. How could they not, when they are marked with the branding of separation, locked in the prison of absence, and barred from the place of nearness. None of them will attain faith (īmān) because there is no granting of security (amān) for them from the Real. Because they have not been granted security (lam yuÌmanū) they do not believe (lam yuÌminū). A determination God has already made is unalterable and a word from Him is final. (God's) power cannot be opposed. Fearsome attacks will surprise those who contest the Real in the matter and the decree will catch them unawares.
It is said that the disbeliever does not desist from his straying because of the misery that is already his. Likewise the one who is bound by the shackles of his lower self is veiled from witnessing His Unseen and His Reality, for he cannot see the right way or pursue the right course. It is said that for the one who remains in the darknesses of his foolishness, equal to him are the advice of sound guides and the fictions of those who speak falsely, for God has removed from his states the blessings of being able to judge between two things. He does not come with an ear to acceptance and pays little attention to the caller to right conduct. As it is said:
My sincere advice (naṣīḥatī)
is the concern of sincere (naṣūḥ).
The disobedience of the sincere
is My concern.
It is also said that whoever has strayed from bearing witness to the favors that have been allotted him imagines that the matter comes from what he does and doesn't do. He relies on his own actions and is blind to witnessing His gifts.