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wa-qayyaḍnā lahum quranāʾa fa-zayyanū lahum mā bayna ʾaydīhim wa-mā khalfahum wa-ḥaqqa ʿalayhimu l-qawlu fī ʾumamin qad khalat min qablihim mina l-jinni wa-l-ʾinsi ʾinnahum kānū khāsirīna
We have assigned them companions who make their present [conduct] and future [state] seem decorous to them, and the word became due against them along with the nations of jinn and humans that passed away before them. They were indeed losers.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Fussilat - Verse 25
25. And we have assigned for them companions who have made fair-seeming to them, what was before them and what was behind them [i.e., their evil deeds]. And the Word [Divine Command of torment] is justified against them as it was justified against those who were among the previous generations of jinn and men that had passed away before them. Indeed they were the losers.
Addled friends adversely influence human mind and character, since they take advantage of instincts and natural desires. Man loves good and beauty by dispositions and seducers take advantage of the same to make vicious acts seem fair so that their victims facilely accept them; as a consequence of which, man regards his past sins as fair and thereby refrains from repentance. To sum up, the blessed Verse in question makes a reference to disbelievers’ misfortune, evil fate, humility and the fact that they have lost the sacred spirit and the Divine faculty vested in human disposition.
Their heart was supposed to embrace angels instead devils frequent it. Consequently, friends and companions from amongst devils and evil jinn and men are assigned to them as their intimate companions encompassing them from all sides making their vicious deeds seem fair to them. Thus Divine Command of torment is justified against them as it was justified against the peoples of the past. Those who follow Satan and their vain desires shall be losers who have lost their life and shall reap nothing but regret and grief.
The verbal form qayyadna derives from qayd designating egg shell since the vicious and corrupt people who vanquish man encompass him like egg shell, robbing them of their thought and distinction such that evils deeds seem fair to them. How painful is such state for man leading him to the abyss of corruption impeding him from finding deliverance. The Arabic root q-y-d is at times employed in the sense of metamorphosing, namely changing something into something else.
Thus, the contextual meaning of the blessed Verse would be:
“We take righteous friends them from them and instead give them addled friends.”