646—‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa informed us. He said: ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Misri informed us. He said: Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Anmati related to us. He said: Yahya ibn Yusuf al-Zimni related to us, saying:
“One Friday night, while we were traveling through an Umayyad desert tract on the road to Khurasan, I saw Iblis in a dream. His body was covered with hair, his head was facing downward and his feet upward, and on his body were eyes like fire. I asked, ‘Who are you?’ He replied, ‘I am Iblis.’
“I asked him, ‘Where are you heading?’ He replied, ‘To Bishr ibn Yahya, a man who was with us in Marw and who held al-Marisi’s views.’ Then he said, ‘There is no city in which I do not have a deputy.’ I asked, ‘Who is your deputy in Iraq?’ He replied, ‘Bishr al-Marisi. He has called people to that which I was unable to accomplish: that the Quran is created.’”