7 i6 ISLAMIC MYSTICAL LITERATURE
the right path. You appear to right and left
of them. Then I will send you down to hell
for this sin. Seven thousand years you'll keep
the shape of flesh and blood of animals.'
As it is written, 'We created you and gave
you form. Then we said to the angels, "Bow
before Adam." All bowed except for Iblis.
He wouldn't bow. God said, "What stops you from
bowing as I have ordered?" Iblis said,
"I am better than he. From fire you made me,
but he is only clay." God said, "Go
down from him to the earth. Pride and arrogance
are not permitted here. Leave! You belong
in the future to those who are disdained."
Iblis said, "Grant me a reprieve until
the day they are awakened." God said,
"You will linger among those whose fate
will be made apparent later." Iblis said,
"Since you let me go wrong, I'll wait for them
on the straight path. I'll conquer them from front
and from behind, from right and left. You'll see
that most of them are ungrateful to you.'"^147
"Then the high king transformed Iblis's people
into a form of shades, a hell of shadows
where they were fixed. But waverers he turned
into phantoms. As it is written, 'Some will be
in paradise and some will burn in hell.'^148THIS DESCRIPTION RECALLS THE HEART
IN THE BODY"Now, paradise is in the form of phantoms,
but hell takes on the form of those in shadow.^149- Qur'an sura 7.
- Qur'an sura 42.
- The following lines may be an addition to the text.