"And Shaytan will say when the matter has been concluded: Indeed, Allah had promised you the promise of truth. And I promised you, but I betrayed you. But I had no authority over you except that I invited you, and you responded to me. So do not blame me; but blame yourselves." (1)

12246 - From al-Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: When it is the Day of Resurrection, Iblis will stand as a preacher upon a pulpit of fire and say: "Indeed, Allah had promised you the promise of truth..." up to his saying: "...and you cannot save me." He said: meaning, "you cannot aid me." "Indeed, I deny your association of me [with Allah] before." He said: meaning, "by your obedience to me in the world." (2)

His saying, the Exalted: "I cannot help you, nor can you help me."

12247 - Al-Suddi, from Mujahid, regarding His saying: "...nor can you help me" (bimukhriyyah), he said: "I cannot benefit you, nor can you benefit me. Indeed, I deny your association of me before." He said: "His association, [meaning] his worship." (3)

12248 - From Mujahid (may Allah be pleased with him) regarding His saying: "bimukhriyyah" (help/rescue), he said: "my succorer." (4)

[His saying, the Exalted: "Its root is firmly fixed"]

12249 - My father narrated to us, Musa ibn Isma'il narrated to us, Aban—meaning Ibn Yazid al-'Attar—narrated to us, Qatadah narrated to us, that a man said: "O Messenger of Allah, the wealthy have taken away the rewards!" He replied: "Do you think that if one were to take the goods of this world and pile some of them upon others, would they reach the sky? Shall I not inform you of a deed whose root is in the earth and whose branch is in the sky?" He said: "What is it, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "Say: 'La ilaha illa Allah, Allahu Akbar, Subhan Allah, and al-Hamdulillah' (There is no god but Allah, Allah is the Greatest, Glory be to Allah, and praise be to Allah) ten times after every prayer. That is its root in the earth and its branch in the sky." (5)

His saying, the Exalted: "It is uprooted from the surface of the earth, having no stability."

From Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) regarding His saying: "Have you not considered how Allah presents an example, [making] a good word like a good tree"—[meaning] the testimony that there is no god but Allah—"its root is firmly fixed," he says: "'La ilaha illa Allah' is fixed in the speech of the believer. "And its branch is in the sky," he says: "Through it, the believer's deed is raised to the sky. "And the example of a bad word," [which] is polytheism...