and painful torment. The personage [al-shakhs] that appears after him in subsequent cycles is not him, but rather stands in his station [qa'imun bi-maqamihi] because he inherits and adopts from the material element the exact same characteristic configuration. For this reason, it is said that it is him. Whenever a cosmic dome is established, there is generated out of vanity and arrogance a personage who stands in direct opposition to that dome, following through his own pride and tyranny the exact path of whosoever preceded him; thus, it is said that it is him. However, no adversary ever stands against a dome except as a direct consequence of the intensity of vanity [ujb] among its own people and their arrogance against the spiritual stations—and their Iblis is generated directly from their own collective temperament [mizajihim]." This is the literal discourse uttered by him—Allah sanctified him.'

[194] Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Jabalah al-Ghassani stated in his Masā'il: 'Al-Sadiq—His glory is mighty—stated in Kitab al-Ashbah wa-al-Azillah: "Verily, Iblis is the cosmic Ignorance [al-Jahl]. From him were fashioned ignorance, doubt, bewilderment, rebellion, and injustice—because he wronged his own soul. Thus, in his absolute essence,