And whoever commits a mistake, by manifesting his soul, or a sin, by effacing what is in his preparedness or by acquiring a configuration that is incompatible with [the realisation of] his perfection, and then casts it upon an innocent one, by saying [something like], 'So and so drove me to do it, or so and so prevented me from seeking the truth, or this is the crime of so and so', as is the habit of those who are given to brandishing excuses, he has thereby burdened himself with calumny, by [falsely] attributing his own [mis]deed to another. For had there not been a proclivity in his soul towards what is opposed to his perfection and a correspondence to those who agree with him and obey him [in that], it would not be accepted from him. So it is only of the doing of his own soul, as Satan says to them, Truly God promised you a promise of truth, whereas I promised you then failed you, for over you I had no warrant except that I called you and you responded to me. So do not blame me, but blame your own souls [Q. 14:22]. For if there had not been a darkness in their souls which they had acquired and which resulted from the manifesting of their attributes, there would not have been in them a locus for his [Satan's] evil whisperings or a receptivity for his call; and a manifest sin, one that is manifest and multiplying, composed as it is of the configuration of the mistake and their refusal to confess [their sin] and to ascribe the shortcoming to their own souls so that it might be broken and become too weak to hold sway over the heart or to prevent it from perfection.
