“He who fears will be reminded”: whoever fears Allah will take admonition from the Quran. And concerning His words, “But none will heed the reminder except those who turn to Him,” they said: only those who return to obedience take admonition. This is because fully remembering something necessarily entails being affected by what one remembers: if one remembers something beloved, one seeks it; if one remembers something feared, one flees from it. This is also illustrated by His words, exalted is He:

“It is all the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them—they will not believe.”

And He, glorified is He, says:

“You can only warn those who follow the Reminder and fear the Most Merciful unseen.”

He thus denies that anyone other than these is warned, despite His saying:

“It is all the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them—they will not believe.”

He therefore affirms that they are warned in one respect and denies it in another, for warning means informing someone of something to be feared.

Warning is thus like teaching and instilling fear. If you teach someone and he learns, your teaching of him is complete. Yet another person says, “I taught him, but he did not learn.” Likewise, if you instil fear in someone and he becomes afraid, your instilling of fear has achieved its full effect. But if someone is warned of something frightening yet feels no fear, the instilling of fear has not achieved its full effect. Likewise, if you guide someone and he follows that guidance, the guidance given to him is complete. This is illustrated by His words, exalted is He:

“A guidance for the God-fearing.”

But if you guide someone and he does not follow that guidance—as He says, “As for Thamūd, We guided them, but they preferred blindness to guidance”—the guidance given to him is not complete. This is like saying, “I cut it, and it came apart,” or, “I cut it, but it did not come apart.”

A complete cause necessarily produces its effect: whenever its effect does not occur, the cause is not complete. When an action encounters a receptive subject, it is complete; otherwise, it is not. Knowledge of what one loves gives rise to seeking it, and knowledge of what one dislikes gives rise to abandoning it. This is why such knowledge is called a motive. It is said that a motive, together with the ability to act, necessarily brings about the corresponding action. It is knowledge of the object sought that necessarily entails willing that known and desired object.

All of this occurs only when the innate disposition is sound and unimpaired. When it is corrupted, however, a person may perceive something pleasurable yet find no pleasure in it; rather, it causes him pain. Likewise, he may take pleasure in something painful because his innate disposition is corrupted. And corruption