So he said to his Lord, openly proclaiming his disobedience and his hostility toward Adam and his descendants: “Because You have led me astray, I shall surely lie in wait for them on Your straight path. Then I will come at them from before them and from behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will find most of them ungrateful” (Q 7:16–17). Iblis spoke these words on the basis of a surmise; he knew well the nature with which humankind had been fashioned, and indeed “Iblis proved the truth of his conjecture about them, so they followed him—save for a faction of the believers” (Q 34:20).

Allah therefore granted him scope to pursue what he desired against Adam and his offspring, saying: “Go! Whoever of them follows you—Hell shall be your recompense, a full recompense. Incite, with your voice, whomever you can among them; muster against them your cavalry and your infantry; share with them in their wealth and their children” (Q 17:63–64).

That is: if you can, make them deviate in the upbringing of their children toward harmful nurture; divert their wealth to ruinous ends and into illicit gain. Likewise, share with any one of them who eats, drinks, or engages in marital relations without mentioning the name of Allah—share with them in both wealth and offspring.

“And promise them,” meaning: order them to deny resurrection and requital, dissuade them from every good deed; terrify them with your allies, and when they would spend for worthy causes, alarm them with indecency and with miserliness. All of this Allah allows for momentous wisdoms and hidden purposes.

And you—O manifest enemy—will spare no effort within your power to seduce them; thus the vile among them will lay bare his vileness and his evil will become evident, while Allah pays him no heed and shows him no concern.

As for the elect of Adam’s progeny—the prophets, their followers among the ever-truthful, the pure, the various ranks of the awliyāʾ, and the believers at large—Allah has given this enemy no dominion over them. Instead He has placed around them an impregnable rampart—His own protection and sufficiency—and equipped them with a weapon their foe cannot withstand: perfect faith in Allah and resolute reliance upon Him. “Indeed, he has no authority over those who believe and place their trust in their Lord” (Q 16:99).