Eighth: One may argue that Iblis punished the children of Adam and drove them into Hell either with God’s permission or without it. If they say, “With His permission,” then Iblis is blameless and does not merit any scheme devised to punish or restrain him. But if they claim it happened without His permission, we must ask: is it compatible with God’s justice that He enabled Iblis to do this, or not? If such enabling was justifiable at one point in time, it is justifiable at all times; and if it was not justifiable at one point in time, then it is not justifiable at any time—so there can be no difference between the era before the Messiah and the era after him.

Ninth: One could further ask: Was God capable of preventing and punishing Iblis without resorting to this stratagem, and would doing so have been just on His part, or not? If He was capable and such action would have been just, there was no need for Him to plot against Iblis, nor to crucify Himself or His Son. If that justice was incumbent upon Him, He was bound to restrain Iblis; but if it was not incumbent, He could just as well have allowed Iblis free rein in every age, making no distinction between one period and another.

And if it is alleged that He was not able to restrain Iblis, this would ascribe impotence to the Lord—an inability to curb Iblis—which, by the unanimous agreement of all religious communities, constitutes one of the gravest forms of disbelief, akin to the claim of