Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 2 Al-Baqarah, Ayat 16-16

اُولٰٓـئِكَ الَّذِيۡنَ اشۡتَرَوُا الضَّلٰلَةَ بِالۡهُدٰى فَمَا رَبِحَتۡ تِّجَارَتُهُمۡ وَمَا كَانُوۡا مُهۡتَدِيۡنَ‏ ﴿2:16﴾

(2:16) These are the ones who have purchased error in exchange for guidance. This bargain has brought them no profit and certainly they are not on the Right Way.16


Notes

16. This means that two opposite effects emerged when a true servant of God radiated the light which made it possible to distinguish true from false and right from wrong, and made the straight way distinct from the ways of error. To those endowed with true perception, all truths became evident. But those who were almost blinded by the worship of their animal desires perceived nothing.

The expression, 'Allah took away the light of their perception' should not create the impression that these people were not responsible for their stumbling into darkness. Only those who do not seek the Truth, who prefer error to guidance and who are adamantly disinclined to pursue the Truth despite its luminosity, are deprived, by God, of the light of their perception. God simply enables such people to do what they wish.