He went on to say:
“Ismāʿīl al-ʿAṭṭār narrated to us, and Abū Ḥudhayfah narrated to us (1):
Iblīs’ devils gathered around him and said, ‘Our master, you have suffered greatly.’
He replied, ‘This servant is divinely protected; I have no power over him. Yet through him I shall lead a great many human beings astray. I shall sow among them conflicting whims, split them into factions, and they will end up taking him and his mother as two gods besides God. (2)’
He added:
“Concerning the support God granted Jesus and the protection He gave him from Iblīs, God revealed verses that openly proclaim His favor upon Jesus:
‘O Jesus, son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit,’—that is, when I reinforced you with the Holy Spirit, namely Gabriel—‘so you spoke to people in the cradle and in maturity; when I taught you the Book and wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel; and when you fashioned from clay the likeness of a bird…’—the entire verse (al-Māʾidah 5:110).
‘And when I appointed the poor to be your inner circle, your companions, and your helpers—people with whom you are pleased, and who are pleased with you as a guide leading them to Paradise—know that these are two momentous qualities. Whoever meets Me possessing them meets Me with the purest and most pleasing of creatures in My sight.
‘The Children of Israel will say to you: “We fasted, yet our fasting was not accepted; we prayed, yet our prayer was not accepted; we gave charity, yet our almsgiving was not accepted; we wept with the plaintive moaning of camels, yet our weeping was shown no mercy.”
So say to them:
Why is that? What could possibly prevent Me—has My hand grown short? Are not the treasuries of the heavens and the earth in My hand, from which I spend as I will? Stinginess can never touch Me. (3)
Am I not the most generous of those who are asked, the most plentiful of givers? Has My mercy become constrained? Indeed, those who show mercy do so only by virtue of My mercy.
‘Were it not, O Jesus son of Mary, that these people imagine themselves possessed of a “wisdom” that settles in their hearts and makes them prefer this world to the Hereafter, they would realize whence the affliction comes, and would know for certain that their own souls are their fiercest enemy.
How could I accept their fasting when they fortify themselves for it with unlawful food? How could I accept their prayer when their hearts incline toward those who wage war against Me and deem My sanctities lawful? How could I accept their charities when they seize them from people without right? O Jesus, I reward such deeds only for those to whom they truly belong.
And how could I show mercy to their crying when their hands drip with the blood of prophets? My wrath against them has only intensified.
‘I decreed on the day I created the heavens and the earth that whoever worships Me and speaks concerning you two as I have spoken shall be your neighbor in the eternal abode, your companion in its dwellings, your partner in honor.
I also decreed, on the day I created the heavens and the earth, that whoever takes you and your mother as two gods besides God shall be consigned to the lowest depth of the Fire.
And I decreed, on the day I created the heavens and the earth, that I shall establish this matter at the hand of My servant Muḥammad, sealing thereby the line of prophets and messengers. His birth will be in Mecca, his migration in Ṭaybah (Medina), and his dominion in Syria. He is neither harsh nor hard-hearted, nor loud-voiced (4) in…"