and the choice is voluntary from the beginning without fear and awareness of this it is necessary to decide the acceptance of his repentance for if we look at the outward appearance of his word we believe it to be in accordance with the essence of islam and if we look at his inner self it is most likely that it is in accordance with the tongue and in agreement with it for we do not know now a motive for him to be cautious but what is permissible for them is to show the opposite of the belief as caution when fear is realized but in the case of choice it is one of the most heinous major sins and supports this is due to a general matter which is that there is no way to decide the path of guidance for them. how many common people are deceived by a false imagination and are deceived by the opinion of a speaker then they become aware of themselves or are alerted by someone to what is the truth so they prefer to return to it and begin it after turning away from it. so there is no way to decide the path of guidance for those who are misguided and stubborn.
والاختيار متبرعا به ابتداء من غير خوف واستشعار هذا ينبغي أن يقطع بقبول توبته فإنا أن نظرنا إلى ظاهر كلمته صدقناها موافقة لعين الإسلام وأن نظرنا إلى سريرته كان الغالب أنها على مطابقة اللسان وموافقته فإنا لم نعرف الآن له باعثا على التقية وإنما المباح عندهم إظهار نقيض المعتقد تقية عند تحقيق الخوف فأما في حالة الاختيار فهو من أفحش الكبائر ويعضد ذلك بأمر كلي وهو أنه لا سبيل إلى حسم باب الرشد عليهم فكم من عامي ينخدع بتخيل باطل ويغتر برأي قائل ثم ينتبه من نفسه أو ينبهه منبه لما هو الحق فيؤثر الرجوع اليه والشروع فيه بعد النزوع عنه فلا سبيل إلى حسم مسلك الرشاد على ذوي الضلال والعناد