The late founder of the Islamic Republic cautions us against hasty judgments, which are sometimes noticed among some religious people as well as assaults on, and accusations against, the spiritual wayfarers and mystics.
He warns of the danger of such acts, and considers them to result from incapacity:
Yes, the most optimistic analysis regarding such assertions and indictments shows inadequacy and ignorance.
The outcome of possessing such a mentality is that man always remains in complex ignorance and increases his burden. Instead of an accurate understanding of the law of creation and the confession of one’s own unawareness, it covers his ignorance with the cloak of piety.
This is while one of the signs of piety is to be cautious about these things and not to pass judgment on others:
Our great master, the accomplished gnostic, Shahabadi, used to say, ‘Do not look down on even a non-believer in your heart. It is possible that the divine light of his inner nature may lead him to faith and your rebuke and disdain may lead you toward a wretched life in the Hereafter. Of course to practice enjoining right conduct and forbidding bad behavior is something different from the inner feeling of contempt.’
He would even say, ‘Never curse the unbelievers regarding whom it is not known that they will leave the world in the state of unbelief. If they leave the world as rightly-guided servants of God, their spiritual rectitude may prove to be an obstruction in the way of your own spiritual advancement.
Surely, if we consider this point with its implications as the guide of our deeds in life, how many virtues would we acquire and how many abominations and defects would we rid ourselves of.