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 As for those who believe and do good works, they shall be admitted to gardens underneath which rivers flow in which, by the permission of their Lord, they shall live for ever. Their greeting shall be: 'Peace' 23 Have you not seen how Allah sets forth a parable that a good deed is like a good tree, its roots are firm and its branches are in the heaven, 24 it gives its produce every season by the leave of its Lord. So God strikes similitudes for men; haply they will remember. 25 And the example of a bad saying is like a filthy tree, which is cut off above the ground, therefore not having 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