So observe and you shall see the clarification of that, and how you perceived him; you will find the explanation of that to be clear. Likewise is anyone who was like him in this world."
The words of the Almighty: {But repentance is not [accepted] of those who [continue to] do evil deeds until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "Indeed, I have repented now," or of those who die while they are disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful punishment} 1 . He says: Repentance is not for the one who rejects his Creator, until when the "Transfer" (al-Naqla) approaches him and he sees the Commander of the Faithful—Exalted and Sublime—witnessing him as death attends him at the parting of his soul, for he says within his secret [self]: "I have repented for what I was in, and I am no longer persistent in disbelief." This shall not be accepted from him, and for him is a painful punishment—which is metamorphosis (al-Masukhiyya), wherein they are humiliated.
[31] And on the authority of 'Ali ibn Ahmad al-Barqi, from 'Abd Allah al-Asadi, from Yahya ibn Umm al-Tawil al-Thamali—peace be upon him—[who said] Wahbah ibn 'Abd Allah said: "I was a camel-driver in Medina, and I traveled with my master Yahya—peace be upon him—to Mecca. I used to honor him and serve him.