In Book Three, Section 135 of the Masnavi, the infidels respond to the Prophets' medical metaphor (which distinguished between curable and incurable diseases) by asserting that their own spiritual blindness is incurable. They argue that years of prophetic admonition have only worsened their condition, proving their disbelief is a predetermined disease that does not accept a remedy. By categorizing their state as an incurable affliction, the infidels attempt to turn the Prophets' analogy against them, using fatalism to justify their rejection of spiritual effort.