As for the believers, their beginning is from the Spirit of Life (Rūḥ al-Ḥayāt); if they doubt, they return; if they are momentarily ignorant, they acknowledge; and if they disobey, they seek forgiveness. Indeed, the disobedience of believers is without intent, and their mistakes are without [deliberate] knowledge.

As for the necessity of His (the Almighty’s) plotting (makr) against the disbelievers, it arises from [their] lack of acceptance, faith, response, acknowledgment, and pure action for Allah; and also to teach the believers how to practice dissimulation (taqiyya) and plotting against them. This is because if they were to become aware of our inward secrets and our belief in the Commander of the Faithful [Ali], they would persist in their enmity toward us, just as our master Luqmān (peace be upon him) said: 'O my son, do not show enmity to your enemy, lest he persists in his enmity toward you.'

The esteemed scholar Ḥasan ibn Makzūn (may Allah sanctify him) said regarding this meaning in his epistle Tazkiyat al-Nafs (The Purification of the Soul):

'As for preserving the secret of Allah: it is its transcendence from the ears of the doubters, lest they emerge from under the burdens (al-āsār) that have been placed upon them, and [lest they] meet the knowledge of Allah with ignorance and denial.'