And this is like His words concerning the blameworthy category:

“Through it He leads many astray and guides many, but He leads none astray through it except the defiantly disobedient, who break Allah’s covenant after it has been solemnly confirmed and sever what Allah has commanded to be joined.”

It is not necessary that they should have been defiantly disobedient before going astray. Rather, whoever hears it and rejects it becomes defiantly disobedient and goes astray. Sa'd ibn Abī Waqqās and others included followers of deviant inclinations, such as the Khawārij, among those described in this verse.

Sa'd used to say, “They are among ‘the defiantly disobedient, who break Allah’s covenant after it has been solemnly confirmed and sever what Allah has commanded to be joined.’” Yet neither 'Alī nor Sa'd nor other Companions regarded them as disbelievers.

Sa'd included them in this verse because of His words:

“But He leads none astray through it except the defiantly disobedient.”

They went astray through it because they distorted words from their proper places and interpreted it contrary to what Allah intended. They clung to its ambiguous passages and turned away from its clear passages and from the established Sunnah, which explains what Allah intends in His Book. Thus, they opposed the Sunnah and the consensus of the Companions, in addition to opposing the clear passages of Allah Most High’s Book. This is why many of the early generations included them among those who:

“Follow what is ambiguous in it, seeking discord and seeking its interpretation,”

and those:

“Who divided their religion and became sects.”

A detailed discussion of this belongs elsewhere. The point here concerns the verse, which indicates that everyone who fears Allah must