30 – Ibn ʿUbayd related: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Bujayr narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn ʿĀṣim narrated to us from one of the Basrans who said:
A scholar and a devoted worshipper were bonded in brotherhood for the sake of Allah. The devils said to Iblīs, “We have no power to drive a wedge between the two of them.”
Iblīs—may Allah curse him—replied, “Leave them to me.”
He positioned himself on the road taken by the worshipper. As the worshipper approached, Iblīs rose before him in the guise of an aged shaykh, the trace of prostration showing between his eyes, and said, “Something has been troubling my heart and I would like to ask you about it.”
The worshipper answered, “Ask; if I have knowledge of it, I will tell you.”
Iblīs said, “Can Allah place the heavens, the earth, the mountains, the trees, and the water inside a single egg without enlarging the egg in the least and without diminishing any of those things?”
The worshipper repeated in astonishment, “Without diminishing anything at all and without enlarging the egg in the least?” He then fell silent. Iblīs said to him, “Be on your way,” and, turning to his comrades, declared, “As for this one, I have destroyed him; I have made him doubtful about Allah, exalted is He.”
Next, Iblīs sat on the road of the scholar. When the scholar approached, Iblīs rose before him and said, “Good sir, something has been troubling my heart and I would like to ask you about it.”
The scholar replied, “Ask; if I have knowledge of it, I will inform you.”
Iblīs asked, “Can Allah place the heavens, the earth, the mountains, the trees, and the water inside an egg without enlarging the egg in the least and without diminishing any of those things?”
The scholar said, “Yes.”
Iblīs objected, “Without enlarging the egg and without diminishing anything?”
The scholar answered sternly, “Yes,” and recited: “His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, ‘Be!’ and it is.”
Iblīs then said to his cohorts, “It is people like this that have been your undoing.”