Surah 61. As-Saff, Ayah 5

Sc., "by admitting that I speak in the name of God, and acting contrary to this your assertion": an allusion to the many instances of the contrariness and rebelliousness of the children of Israel evident from their own scriptures.

Thus, persistence in wrong actions is bound to react on man's beliefs as well. As regards God's "letting their hearts swerve from the truth", see surah {14}, note [4]. Cf. also the oft-recurring reference to God's "sealing" a sinner's heart explained in note [7] on 2:7 .

The people of Moses often rebelled against him, vexed his spirit, and insulted him. See xxxiii. 69, n. 3774, and (in the Old Testament) Num xii. 1-13. They did it not through ignorance, but from a selfish, perverse, and rebellious spirit, for which they received punishment. The Ummat of Islam should remember and take note of it, and should avoid any deviation from the Law and Will of Allah.

The sinner's own will deviates, i.e., goes off from the right way, and he does wrong. That means that he shuts off Allah's grace. Allah then, after his repeated rebellion, withdraws the protecting Grace from him, and the sinner's heart is tainted: there is "a disease in his heart", which is the centre of his being: his spiritual state is ruined. Allah's guidance is withdrawn from him.