Satan promises you poverty and enjoins you to indecency but God promises you His pardon and His bounty; and God is Embracing Knowing. Satan promises poverty because of his poverty. God promises forgiveness because of His generosity. Satan promises you poverty and counsels you to hold on to what is known. It is said that [Satan] counsels you [to yield] and in yielding to him [you yield] to greed and there is no poverty worse than this. He promises you poverty by handing you over to your [own] direction tadbīr and your [own] preferences ikhtiyār. He promises you poverty to forget what you have become accustomed to from [God's] bounty. It is said that he promises you poverty in that he does not let your complaints cease. It is said that he promises you poverty by attaching your heart to what it does not need. It is said that [he promises you poverty] by deceiving you from seeing that [God] suffices. He enjoins you to indecency that is desire for the present world. It is said that [He enjoins you to indecency] through the bonds that strengthen greed. It is said that [He enjoins you to indecency] by multiplying [your] expec- tations and [urging you to] abandon contentment. It is said that [He enjoins you to indecency] by [urging you to] follow carnal desires and prefer worldly fortunes. It is said that [He enjoins you to indecency] by [urging you to] look to something other than Him and allow anything to enter [your] mind except Him. It is said that [He enjoins you to indecency] by going backward to the familiar territories of permissiveness and interpretive license after the truth has been made clear. It is said that [He enjoins you to indecency] by returning [you] to what you had renounced for God. But God promises you His pardon and His bounty: The bounty prom- ised in the here and now is contentment. In the future it is the reward the garden the vision the good pleasure pardon and forgiveness. It is said that it is victory in the here and now over the lower self. It is said that it is the opening of the door of deeper knowledge the spreading of the carpet of forgiveness and receiving the unveilings of intimacy.
