And Satan says, when the issue is decided, 'God surely promised you a true promise; and I promised you, then I failed you, for I had no authority over you, but that I called you, and you answered me. So do not blame me, but blame yourselves; I cannot aid you, neither can you aid me. I disbelieved in your associating me with God aforetime.' As for the evildoers, for them awaits a painful chastisement; 22 And those who believed and did good works are made to enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow, therein abiding by permission of their Lord, their greeting therein: Peace! 23 Do you not see how Allah has given the example of a good word? It is like a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and whose branches reach the sky, 24 and yields fruits in every season, by the permission of its Lord? God sets forth parables for people so that they may take heed. 25 And the similitude of a bad saying is as a bad tree, uprooted from upon the earth, possessing no stability. 26 [Thus,] God grants firmness unto those who have attained to faith through the word that is unshakably true in the life of this world as well as in the life to come; but the wrongdoers He lets go astray: for God does whatever He wills. 27