One argument suggests that an unbeliever regards his own stance as true and therefore does not seek pardon for it; on this reasoning, forgiveness should not be expected.
The objection is that a request by the offender is not self-evidently a necessary rational condition for pardon. Even ordinary pardon is not always contingent upon a prior request. This analogy tests the reasoning rather than making worldly legal procedures a model of the unseen.
The revealed ruling remains definitive, while a specific rational explanation offered for it may still be open to criticism.