When the decree of God is issued, satan will say, "God's promise to you was true, but I, too, made a promise to you and disregarded it. I had no authority over you. I just called you and you answered. Do not blame me but blame yourselves. I cannot help you and you cannot help me. I did not agree with your belief that I was equal to God." The unjust will face a painful punishment. 22 And those who believed and did good deeds will be admitted into Gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding in it forever, by the command of their Lord; their greeting in it is “Peace”. 23 Did you not see how Allah illustrated the example of a sacred saying? Like a sacred tree, which has firm roots and branches reaching into heaven. 24 Giving its fruit at every season by permission of its Lord? Allah coineth the similitudes for mankind in order that they may reflect. 25 An evil act is like a rotten tree torn out of the earth with no (base or) firmness. 26 God will strengthen the believers with His steadfast word, both in the present life and in the Hereafter. God lets the wrongdoers go astray. He does what He wills. 27