And when the devil was the greatest of the arrogant, he was singled out in the response, so it was said: ﴿And he said﴾ the first of those who are followed in misguidance is ﴿the devil﴾, who is the head of the misleaders, the arrogant, who is destined to be distant and consumed ﴿when the matter was decided﴾ by specifying a people for Paradise and a people for Hell, in response to the words of the followers, submitting where submission is of no benefit, and believing where the benefit of belief has passed: ﴿Indeed, Allah﴾, meaning the One who has the attributes of perfection, ﴿has promised you the promise of truth﴾ by sending to you messengers and sending down with them proofs and books, informing you in them that He is your Lord, the One, the All-Prevailing, and He called you to Him after the devils had led you astray, and He gave glad tidings to whoever responded and warned whoever refused, with what He is capable of, the most complete power. So whatever He said matched the reality - as you see - so He confirmed you in it and fulfilled for you ﴿And I promised you﴾ what I adorned for you with it, "the sins from the whispers," the promise of falsehood ﴿So I deceived you﴾, for I did not say anything except that it was deviation, so you followed me while I was your enemy, and you left your Lord, and He is your Lord [and your Protector]; thus the verse is from the intertwining: it mentioned ﴿the promise of truth﴾ first as evidence for the omission of its opposite (p-407) secondly, and "I deceived you" secondly as evidence for the omission of "your truthfulness" first.

And when he made clear his deception, he made clear the ease of their being deceived, an increase in their arrangement. So he said: "And it was not for me to have any authority over you in that, because I had no authority over you." And he emphasized the negation by saying: "of any authority," meaning any great or small control over anything. "Except that" means by that "I called you" with the whispering that was a cause for strengthening your inclinations towards evil. "So you responded," meaning you found the response as one who is seeking it, desiring it, "to me," making your desires prevail, turning away from the paths of reason and the call of the advisors. If you had judged by your reason, you would have followed the guides for what is in their way of light calling to it and what is in the paths of others of darkness that obscures it, and the dangers that deter from it in this world and the Hereafter. And he presented it in the form of an exception - even though his calling was not from any authority in anything - because authority is more specific than proof, as its meaning is a proof by which one can dominate to nullify the opponent's doctrine, indicating that they followed him and he had no power over anything other than this call which has no authority in it. They abandoned the call of the One who sent down to them from every clear authority, while threatening them with what He is capable of upon them and striking them with some of it. And one who acts like that has no blame upon him except for himself. "So do not blame me, but blame yourselves," because you are held accountable for your deeds, as you had the ability and choice, yet you chose evil over good. And it is known from this that each of us is preoccupied with what he has earned. Thus, it is known that I am not your helper in what concerns you from the punishment, for I cannot bring you what removes your cries from it. "And you are not my helpers" in what concerns me from it due to the severing of the means, by what has befallen from the punishment. Then he justified that by saying: "Indeed, I have disbelieved" in a dismissive manner "in what you have associated with me" by taking me as a partner with Allah.

And when their associating did not take long, he came with the conjunction and said: "before" because that is a great injustice. Then he justified this reason by saying: "Indeed, the wrongdoers" meaning those deeply entrenched in this description "will have a painful punishment" written for you from them is its measure, no one of them will avail another in anything, rather each one is confined to what has been decreed for him. And the narration of this dialogue is to alert the listeners to reflect on the consequences and to prepare for that day before there is nothing but regret and gnashing of teeth and biting of hands.