They command the believers to manifest dissimulation among them and forbid them from taking from their sciences and from being loyal to them.
It was narrated from al-Sadiq—mercy be from him—that he said: [Indeed, if the believer treats his brother with undutifulness and falls short in his right] 1, a darkness afflicts the link connected to him, throwing him down on his face; and he remains in his downfall until the purgation (tamhis) purifies him.
Perhaps he is veiled from knowledge due to a sin he committed or a state he entered, so he is repeated in numerous shirts (qumus) without knowing his right course. This is the descent from knowledge, and after its likeness was the first descent arising from the hesitation in the first scattering (al-dharw al-awwal) and the reconsideration originating from the soul of doubt in the manifested Likeness (al-mithal al-mutajalli) at the Call when He asked them: {Am I not your Lord? They said, "Yes"} (Al-A'raf 172).
Among them was he who intended by his saying "Yes" (Bala), "Yes."
Among them was he who intended by his saying "Yes" (Bala), "No, You are not our Lord."