Section on Iblis and His Incitement
[185] And it was said unto our Master al-Sadiq—His glory is mighty: 'Where is the permanent station and locus of the incitement of Iblis?' He replied: 'Within the blameworthy, inciting ego [al-Nafs al-Musawwilah al-Madhmumah].'
And the text-witness [shahid] for this is the statement of Allah the Exalted:
{And his soul permitted to him the murder of his brother, so he killed him.} 1
And for the soul, there is an internal commander [amir] and a forbidder [nahi]; it is this entity that opposes the lower ego and restrains it from committing major sins. That opposing force originates from the essence of the Pathway [Jawhar al-Sabil], residing within the soul and dwelling stationary inside it.
[186] And al-Sadiq—His glory is mighty—stated: 'Allah fashioned for every single individual a veil [hijaban] arising from his own lapse [zallah], corresponding exactly to the measure of his spiritual vision; thus, He veiled him from his companion. And from this first veil—which was generated from the lapse of the believer—He fashioned Iblis, who is the whispering,