The Ten Requests

The Messenger of Allah then asked what he had requested of Allah on the day he was cast out — whether he had asked any favours of Him. Shayṭān answered that he had asked Allah for ten things, and that every one of them had been granted. First, he asked to be made a partner in the wealth and the children of the children of Adam, and it was given to him — this is the very evidence given in the verse of Sūrat Banī Isrāʾīl, already read, in which he is told to rally against them with his voice, his horse and his foot, and to share with them in their wealth and their children. He is a partner in whatever meat is eaten without the basmalah said over it, and in whatever food is bought with money gained through usury, injustice or tyranny, for these are forbidden; he is a shareholder in the property of anyone whose owner does not seek refuge in Allah from him, and something of a father to any child conceived without the basmalah being said. He is a travelling companion of anyone journeying toward an unlawful destination. He asked Allah for a house, and was given all the public baths as his home. He asked for a temple, and was given the marketplaces — for the best of places to Allah are the mosques, and the worst are the marketplaces, and that, he said, is my temple. He asked for a book, and was given the books of poetry. He asked for a call to prayer of his own, and was given music and dancing instead. He asked for someone to share his bed, and was given every drunkard. He asked for helpers, and was given those who deny predestination, the Qadariyyah. He asked for brothers and sisters, and was given the squanderers, who spend their wealth on evil — for, as Allah says, the squanderers are the brothers of the devils. He then asked to be able to see the children of Adam while remaining unseen by them, and this too was granted; and he asked that their very veins be made his pathways, so that he might flow within their flesh as he wished, and this was given to him as well. I am proud of all that I have received, he said, and until the Day of Resurrection there will be more with me than there is with you. The Messenger of Allah told him: had you not supported what you say with the very verses of Allah's own Book, it would have been hard to accept any of it from you.