O Man! What has deluded thee about thy generous Lord? Look at this wonder-a threat mixed with gentleness. He asks the question, and in the question it- self He instructs the servant how to answer by saying “thy generous Lord.” He reminds the servant of the name Generous so that the servant will say, “Your generosity deluded me about You. Were it not for Your generosity, I would not have done what I did. You saw, but You curtained. You predestined, but You gave respite.” My Patron says, “Are you not ashamed of the ugly acts I see from you?” I said, “O Patron, benevolence! Your bounty has corrupted me.” YaḤyā Muʿādh said, “On the Day of Resurrection the creatures from first to last will be put in that station of harshness and awesomeness and questioned. If I am addressed by the side of All-com- pellingness and the Exalted Threshold, 'What has deluded thee about Me?', with God's success- giving and the Lordly confirmation I will answer, 'Your former and latter kindness deluded me'”: It is the old and new beautiful doing and the hidden and evident caresses that I have found from Your bounty and kindness that have deceived my eyes! Abū Bakr Warrāq said, “If it is said to me, 'What has deluded thee about thy generous Lord?,' I will say, 'The generosity of the Generous deluded me.'” It was said to Fuẓayl, “If God places you before Himself on the Day of Resurrection and says, What has deluded thee about thy generous Lord?, what will you say?” He said, “I will say, 'The curtain You let down has deluded Me.” This was put into verse by MuḤammad ibn Sammāk: O you who conceal your sins! Are you not ashamed before God, who is with you in your solitude? You have been deluded by your Lord's giving respite and all His curtaining of your ugly deeds. This has come in a sound hadith: “Surely God will bring the person of faith close, then place His wing over him and curtain him. He will say, 'Do you recognize this sin? Do you recognize that sin?' “He will say, 'Yes my Lord' until he confirms his sins and he sees in himself that he will perish. “He will say, 'I curtained them for you in the world, and I forgive you for them today.'”
