﴿And indeed, he has failed﴾ meaning his desire has been denied of what he has prepared for others in the Hereafter, and he has lost, and his effort has been in vain. ﴿Whoever obscures it﴾ meaning he has led it astray with great temptation, corrupted it, defiled its existence, disgraced it, and destroyed it with the filth of beliefs, the evils of actions, the ugliness of intentions and states. He has concealed it with ignorance, immorality, rudeness, and disobedience. The root of 'obscured' is 'to obscure.' The purification is for a person to be keen that his sun does not eclipse, his moon does not darken, his day does not become troubled, and his night does not extinguish. The least of obscuring is neglecting the matter until his sun is eclipsed, his moon is darkened, his day is troubled, and his night remains. The ways of this are to consider the counterparts of the mentioned spiritualities and to give each rightful owner his due. The counterpart of the sun is prophethood because it is all brilliant light and overwhelming clarity. Its brightness is the message, and its moon is guardianship. The day is knowledge, and the night is the lack of tranquility of the soul in the remembrance of Allah and what has come from Him. Its turning away from submission to accept what has come from prophethood or guardianship. The working scholars are the friends of Allah. The two Imams, Abu Hanifah and Al-Shafi'i, may Allah be pleased with them, said: If the scholars are not the friends of Allah, then Allah has no friend. This was narrated by Al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Al-Khateeb, and it is mentioned in Al-Tibyān and other works of Al-Nawawi. The counterpart of the sky is honor and rising above desires and the footsteps of the devils among humans and jinn. The earth's counterpart is humility for the right of Allah, His Messenger, and the believers. This is done by providing them with benefits like the earth that brings forth its vegetation. And obscuring is the opposite of that. Whoever acts with evil has wronged himself and belittled it. He has concealed it just as the lowly descend into the depths of valleys and their sections where their places are hidden from passersby. The noble descend upon the heights and light fires for the passersby, and they make their places known to the guests, the homes of the nobles in the outskirts, as it is said:

A people easy to reach for the needy, And their abode is difficult for the knights.