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wa-ʾidhā qīla lahum taʿālaw yastaghfir lakum rasūlu llāhi lawwaw ruʾūsahum wa-raʾaytahum yaṣuddūna wa-hum mustakbirūna
When they are told, ‘Come, that Allah’s Apostle may plead for forgiveness for you,’ they twist their heads, and you see them turn away disdainfully.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Munafiqun – Verses 5-6
5. And whenever it is said unto them: "Come, so that Allah's Messenger may invoke Allah to forgive you," they twist their heads out of disbelief, arrogance, and derision and you would see them impeding out of arrogance the people from turning towards the Truth.
6. It is equal to them whether you ask forgiveness or ask not forgiveness for them. Indeed, Allah guides not the people who are disobedient.
The Prophetic Calls lead to growth and attaining to an exalted state. The invocations of Allah's friends will be answered. The Prophet's (S) prayers for one who denies the True Call may not be answered. Arrogance leads to deprivation from the Divine Boundless Graciousness. The blessed Verse 5 treats of further tokens of the hypocrites and their misdeeds, saying when they are asked to come so that Allah's Messenger (S) may invoke God Almighty to forgive them, they twist their heads out of derision and arrogance and they turn away from the Prophet's (S) words in arrogance. The point is that their arrogance impedes them from taking the opportunity to repent from committing sins and being absolved of them.
An instance of such arrogant denial, according to Qur’an exegetes, was ‘Abd Allah ibn Ubayy who talked evil of the Noble Prophet (S) and emigrant believers saying that upon their return to Medina, the mighty would drive out the humbled out of the city. It was on that occasion that the blessed Qur’anic Verses were revealed and thereby he was severely censured. It was suggested that he went to the Noble Prophet (S) so that he may invoke God Almighty to forgive him.
However, he uttered further unworthy words, saying:
"I was asked to convert to the Islamic faith and I did. I was asked to pay alms-tax and I did. Then, you will ask me to prostrate before Muhammad (S)."
It is clear that the spirit of the Islamic faith is submission to the Truth and arrogance impedes such submission. Therefore, one of the tokens of the hypocrites which is one of the motives lying behind hypocrisy is arrogance, self-conceit, and megalomania. The Arabic word
deriving from l-w-’, l-y-y, or l-w-y, originally denotes twisting ropes but it also connotes turning around or away one's head. The Arabic verbal form yasudduna, as mentioned above, is used in two senses: "they impede" and "they turn away," though the contextual meanings of the blessed Verses 2 and 5 reflect the former and the latter senses respectively. To disambiguate the intended meaning, the blessed Verse 6 adds that put the case that they come unto you and you ask for their forgiveness, they are not prepared for such forgiveness. Thus, it would make no difference to them whether you ask or not ask for forgiveness, since God Almighty will never forgive them, as God Almighty will not guide the disobedient.
It is also clear that by disobedient, any sinner is not intended, since the Noble Prophet (S) was Divinely appointed to save the sinners, but those who persist in committing sins and are obstinate and arrogant against the Truth may not be absolved of their sins.