23وَالَّذينَ كَفَروا بِآياتِ اللَّهِ وَلِقائِهِ أُولٰئِكَ يَئِسوا مِن رَحمَتي وَأُولٰئِكَ لَهُم عَذابٌ أَليمٌMuhammad AsadAnd [thus it is:] they who are bent on denying the truth of God's messages and of their [ultimate] meeting with Him - it is they who abandon all hope of My grace and mercy: and it is they whom grievous suffering awaits [in the life to come].1Implying that such people depnve themselves of God's grace and mercy (which is the twofold significance of the term rahmah in this context) by rejecting all belief in His existence: in other words, belief in God - or one's readiness to believe in Him - is, in and by itself, already an outcome of His grace and mercy, just as suffering in the hereafter is an outcome of one's be~ing "bent on denying the truth".