And when he sincerely advised them to the utmost clarity, their response was nothing but that they said: 'O Hud,' calling him by his name with harshness and rudeness, 'You have not brought us a clear sign.' They made it clear to everyone with understanding that they were denying the soundness of reason and the explicit transmission. They were fabricators, just as the Arabs would say to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, after he brought them from the signs through his hands that which defies enumeration, 'If only a sign were sent down to him from his Lord.' And they immersed themselves in denial, saying: 'We are not going to abandon our gods,' going beyond them or departing from your words. And their omission of the conjunction 'fa' indicates that the first is the cause of the second, meaning the 'wa' in their saying: 'And we are not for you,' specifically. They immersed themselves in denial, saying: 'We do not believe.' This is evidence that they abandoned following him out of stubbornness, not that they believed he did not bring a clear sign. And this is also indicated by their expression with the nominal form, which denotes permanence; thus, when negated, the essence does not cease. The clear sign is the evident proof in distinguishing between truth and falsehood, and the clarification is the separation of meaning from others until it becomes apparent to the self, liberated from what is other than it. The reason for abandoning the clear sign after its appearance is the repulsion of doubt from it, or the imitation of leaders in dismissing it, and accusing its source, or believing in corrupt principles that lead to denying it, or stubbornness due to envy and the like. The encompassing factor for all of this is the existence of doubt.