His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And the devil said, when the matter was decided: Indeed, Allah promised you the promise of truth, and I promised you, but I failed you. And I had no authority over you except that I called you, and you responded to me. So do not blame me, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can you help me. Indeed, I have disbelieved in what you associated with me before. Indeed, for the wrongdoers is a painful punishment.﴾

﴿And those who believed and did righteous deeds will be admitted to gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein by permission of their Lord. Their greeting therein will be, 'Peace.'﴾

What is meant here by 'the devil' is Iblis himself. It has been narrated in a hadith from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, through the narration of Uqbah ibn Amir that he said: "On the Day of Resurrection, there will be two speakers: one of them is Iblis, who will address the disbelievers with these words, and the second is Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon him, who will say: ﴿I said not to them except what You commanded me.﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 117]" Some scholars said: Iblis, the speaker of evil, will speak the truth with this verse.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

According to the meaning of these narrations, the meaning of His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿The matter was decided﴾ means: a group was determined for entering the Fire, and a group for entering Paradise, and all of that is in the standing.

It has been narrated in a hadith that Iblis only speaks these words in the Fire to its people when they say: ﴿We have no place of escape.﴾ [Ibrahim: 21] in the preceding verse.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

According to this narration, the meaning of His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿The matter was decided﴾ means: the people of the Fire are in the Fire, and the people of Paradise, and this is the interpretation of Al-Tabari. And 'decided' can be expressed in matters as an action, as His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And the matter was decided and settled on Al-Judi.﴾ [Hud: 44], and it can also be expressed as a determination to act, as His saying: ﴿The matter has been decided in which you seek to consult.﴾ [Yusuf: 41].

And 'the promise' in this verse is in its proper place regarding good, meaning that Allah promised them bliss if they believed, and Iblis promised them victory and hope if they disbelieved. It is known that the promise of Allah is coupled with His warning, and it has been agreed that they did not follow the request of Allah's promise, so they fell into His warning, and it came from that as if Iblis had failed them.

And 'authority' means the clear evidence, and His saying: ﴿Except that I called you﴾ is an interrupted exception, and 'that' is in the accusative case, and it is correct that it could be in the nominative case meaning: except that the representative of authority is that I called you, and this would be in meaning like the saying of the poet:

.....................

The greeting among them is a form of striking and gathering.

And the meaning of His saying: ﴿So you responded to me﴾ means: you saw what I called you to with your insight, and you believed it to be the opinion, and your sight came upon it.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And some people mentioned that this place invalidates imitation, and in this statement, there is weakness in its possibility, and imitation, although it is invalid, its corruption is not from this place.

It is possible that he means by 'sultan' in this verse dominance, power, and kingship. That is: I did not compel you nor frighten you with strength from me, but I presented something to you and your opinion came to it.

And his saying: 'So do not blame me' means by his claim: since I have no sin, 'and blame yourselves' for your poor judgment and lack of certainty. For you only followed me out of insight from you and gain. And 'the musrik' is the one who aids, and the sarikh is the one who seeks aid. From this is the saying of the poet:

We were when a caller came to us, frightened ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ the calling was for him a cutting of the throats.

It is said: 'The man cried out and he made another cry out.' As for 'the sarikh,' it is a source like 'the barikh,' and it is described as it is said: 'a just man' and the like.

Hamzah, Al-Amash, and Ibn Wathab read: 'bi musrikhi' with a broken 'ya' likening it to the 'ya' of omission in his saying: 'bi musrikhi.' Al-Zajjaj rejected this reading and said: it is poor and rejected. Al-Qasim ibn Ma'n said: it is correct, and Abu Ali directed it. Abu Hatim reported that Abu Amr approved it, and Abu Hatim denied it to Abu Amr.

And his saying: 'by what you associated with me' means: with Allah, the Exalted, in the obedience that should be exclusively for Allah. So 'ma' is a source, as if he is saying: I am now a disbeliever in your associating me with Allah before this time.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is a declaration from him, and Allah, the Exalted, said: 'And on the Day of Resurrection, they will disbelieve in your association' [Fatir: 14]. It is possible that the wording is an acknowledgment of his earlier disbelief, so 'ma' means 'that,' intending 'Allah,' the Exalted, that is: my sin before your sin, so there is no calling out with me, and the remainder of the verse is clear.

And the majority read: 'and it was entered' in the passive form for the object, and Al-Hasan read: 'and I will enter' in the first-person form, meaning: Allah, the Exalted, says it. And his saying: 'beneath which rivers flow' means: beneath what rises from it, like rooms, buildings, trees, and others. And 'eternity' in this verse is as it is in permanence, and 'permission' here is an expression of decree and execution. And his saying: 'their greeting' is a source added to the pronoun, so it is permissible that the pronoun is for the object, meaning: the angels greet them, and it is permissible that the pronoun is for the subject, meaning: some of them greet each other. And 'their greeting' is raised by the beginning, and 'peace' is a second beginning and its news is omitted, its estimation being: upon you, and the sentence is the news of the first, and all are in the position of the state of the pronoun in 'khalidin,' or it may be an attribute for 'gardens.'