The Quran

146

سَأَصرِفُ عَن آياتِيَ الَّذينَ يَتَكَبَّرونَ فِي الأَرضِ بِغَيرِ الحَقِّ وَإِن يَرَوا كُلَّ آيَةٍ لا يُؤمِنوا بِها وَإِن يَرَوا سَبيلَ الرُّشدِ لا يَتَّخِذوهُ سَبيلًا وَإِن يَرَوا سَبيلَ الغَيِّ يَتَّخِذوهُ سَبيلًا ۚ ذٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُم كَذَّبوا بِآياتِنا وَكانوا عَنها غافِلينَ

Muhammad Asad

From My messages shall I cause to turn away all those who, without any right, behave haughtily on earth: for, though they may see every sign [of the truth], they do not believe in it, and though they may see the path of rectitude, they do not choose fo follow it - whereas, if they see a path of error, they take it for their own: this, because they have given the lie to Our messages, and have remained heedless of them.¹

As so often in the Qur'an, God's "causing" the sinners to sin is shown to be a consequence of their own behaviour and the result of their free choice. By "those who, without any right, behave haughtily on earth" are obviously meant people who think that their own judgment as to what constitutes right and wrong is the only valid one, and who therefore refuse to submit their personal concerns to the criterion of absolute (i.e., revealed) moral standards; cf. 96:6-7 - "man becomes grossly overweening whenever he believes himself to be self-sufficient".