—absolute and qualified. Such qualified honour does not mean that its recipient is among those granted absolute honour.

Likewise, if it is said that Allah bestowed an absolute blessing upon the unbeliever, but he rejected Allah’s blessing and exchanged it, then he is like someone who was given money to live on but cast it into the sea. As He says (14:28):

“Have you not seen those who exchanged Allah’s blessing for disbelief?”

And He, the Exalted, says (41:17):

“As for Thamūd, We guided them, but they preferred blindness to guidance.”

His guiding them was a blessing from Him upon them, but they exchanged Allah’s blessing, preferring misguidance to it.

This, then, settles the dispute over the question: Has Allah bestowed any blessing upon the unbeliever or not?

Most disagreements among people arise from two sources: first, the multiple meanings and ambiguity of words; and second, the use of unqualified statements as opposed to detailed distinctions.