THE TWENTY-FIRST DISCOURSE On addressing Iblis the accursed

I saw Satan, the accursed, in a dream as if I were in a big crowd and I intended to kill him. He said to me, "Why are you going to kill me and what is my sin? If Providence sets the evil in motion I have no power to change it and transform it into good. And if Providence sets the good in motion I have no power to change and transform it into evil. And what is there in my hand? And I found his appearance resembling that of a eunuch, soft in speech, a line of hairs fringing his chin, miserable looking and ugly-faced, as if he was smiling before me, full of shame and fear. And this was on the night of Sunday twelfth Dhul Hijjah in the year 401 of Hijrah.