384 – Hamzah ibn al-ʿAbbās narrated to me, saying: ʿAbdān ibn ʿUthmān informed us; he said: ʿAbd Allāh informed us; he said: Ibn Luhayʿah narrated to us, from ʿAtāʾ ibn Dīnār, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said:

“Self-delusion about Allah is for a servant to persist in disobedience to Him while, in that very state, wishing that Allah will forgive him.

Self-delusion in this worldly life is to be beguiled by it so that it distracts one from the Hereafter, keeping him from laying the groundwork and working for it—until, when he has actually reached the Hereafter, he exclaims: ‘Would that I had sent something ahead for my life!’ (Q 89:24).

As for the ‘deceptive enjoyment,’ it is whatever diverts you from seeking the Hereafter; that is the deceptive enjoyment. Whatever does not divert you is not deceptive enjoyment; rather, it is a benefit and a means of reaching what is better than it.”