Page 144
fa-man yuridi llāhu ʾan yahdiyahū yashraḥ ṣadrahū li-l-ʾislāmi wa-man yurid ʾan yuḍillahū yajʿal ṣadrahū ḍayyiqan ḥarajan ka-ʾannamā yaṣṣaʿʿadu fī s-samāʾi ka-dhālika yajʿalu llāhu r-rijsa ʿalā lladhīna lā yuʾminūna
Whomever Allah desires to guide, He opens his breast to Islam, and whomever He desires to lead astray, He makes his breast narrow and straitened as if he were climbing to a height. Thus does Allah lay [spiritual] defilement on those who do not have faith.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-‘An’am, Verse 125
125. "Therefore, whomever Allah intends that He should guide him aright, He opens his breast to Islam; and whomever He intends that He should cause him to send astray, He makes his breast narrow and straitened as if he were ascending upwards into the sky. Thus does Allah lay abomination on those who do not believe."
The purpose of the divine guidance and misguidance is to provide the means of guidance for those who deserve it, and to ruin those means for those who are not eligible of it. The objective meaning of the Qur'anic term / Sadr / (breast) is 'heart and spirit', and, therefore, the purpose of 'opening the breast' is broading the scope of mind and thought, as well as the height of spirit, for accepting the Truth and guidance. This situation needs that the person renounces the low desires and wishes of his heart. He who has not 'an open breast' usually remains inside of himself and does not dare to come out. The fruit of 'an open breast' is, firstly, insight and luminosity and, secondly, a tender heart which accepts the Truth.
Thus, accepting the Truth necessarily needs an innate receptiveness and capacity.
And, the one who is not ready to accept the Truth, can not ascend into the sky of cognition.
The result of coming out from the course of natural disposition, intellect, and nature is suffocation, straitened circumstances, and stresses. The corruptors are indeed entangled with straitened circumstances and stresses, although they see themselves in a worldly apparent welfare and progression.