«لِأَنَّ الْوُلَاةَ لَهُمْ نَبْوَةٌ وَمَعْتَبَةٌ يَا لَهَا مَعْتَبَةٌ»
For rulers can show distance and rebuke—what a rebuke it can be!
Abū Zayd receives praise and an offer connected with official correspondence, yet hesitates over the hostility and rebukes of rulers. Nabwah here denotes aversion or aloofness, not prophethood.
The refusal continues the tension between valued literary talent and resistance to stable obligations. Context prevents the erroneous reading of similarly written Arabic words.