Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq says...

Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq says: 'When God desires good for a servant who commits a sin, He causes the sin to be followed by a punishment so that he remembers to ask forgiveness. But when He desires evil for a servant who commits a sin, He causes the sin to be followed by a favour so that he forgets to ask forgiveness and persists in the sin. This is indicated by God's words We draw them on little by little from whence they know not. (Sayyid ''Alikhan) [^34]: Cf. above, 47.90.

[^35]: In other words: Do not allow me to become diverted from the worship and obedience which please Thee by my seeking after the things of this world, which come only through Thee. [^36]: Allusion to 5:35: O you who have faith fear God and seek the mediation to Him. Cf. note 172. [^37]: The commentator suggests that this is an allusion to the principle enunciated in 18:103-104: Say: Shall I tell you who will be the greatest losers in their works?

Those whose striving goes astray in the present life while they think that they are working good deeds . [^39]: Reference to 66:8: Upon the day when God will not degrade the Prophet and those who believe with him their light running before them and on their right hands. [^40]: Allusion to 19:75: Say: Whoever is in error, let the All-merciful prolong his term for him!.... [^41]: Cf. above, 47.60, where mention is made of the 'radiance' of the Imam. [^42]: Cf.

the following hadith: 'God has left no excuses for him who has reached sixty or seventy years of age. God has left him no excuses, no excuses!' (Ahmad II, 275). See also Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon s.v. i'dhar. [^43]: Reference to 7:186: Whomsoever God leads astray no guide has he; He leaves them in their insolence blindly wandering. [^44]: Reference to 23:54: So leave them in their perplexity for a time.

[^45]: The commentator offers three possible interpretations: remove not my name from the register of the felicitous, writing it in the register of the wretched; change my name not for the worse, after it had been an elevated name; change not the name by which Thou hadst named us before (alluding to the Qur'anic verse: He named you Muslims aforetime and in this [22:78]). The meaning thus becomes: Name me not an unbeliever after Thou hast named me a Muslim.

[^46]: The commentator explains this to mean: Transform it not through an affliction in this world or through making it ugly in the next.