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 righteous deeds will be admitted to gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding eternally therein by permission of their Lord; and their greeting therein will be, "Peace!" 23 Hast thou not seen how God has struck a similitude? A good word is as a good tree -- its roots are firm, and its branches are in heaven; 24 ever yielding its fruit in every season with the leave of its Lord. Allah gives examples for mankind that they may take heed. 25 And the parable of an evil word is that of an evil tree uprooted from the surface of earth having no stability. 26 Thus, through a firm word, Allah grants firmness to the believers both in this world and in the Hereafter. As for the wrong-doers, Allah lets them go astray. Allah does whatever He wills. 27