The Shaytān Cannot Come in Between You and the Mercy of Allāh

قَالَ فَبِمَآ أَغْوَيْتَنِى لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَٰطَكَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ

"(Iblis) said: Because You have sent me astray, surely I will sit in wait against them (human beings) on Your Straight Path." Al-Aʿrāf 16

ثُمَّ لَءَاتِيَنَّهُم مِّنۢ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَٰنِهِمْ وَعَن شَمَآئِلِهِمْ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَٰكِرِينَ

"Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful ones (i.e. they will not be dutiful to You)." Al-Aʿrāf 17

Imām Ibnul Qayyim , may Allāh have mercy upon him, said:

It has been authentically reported that (ʿAbdullāh) ibn ʿAbbās may Allah be pleased with him and his father, said that he (Iblīs) did not say “from above you” because he knows that Allah is above them.

Ash-Shaʿbī said: Allah sends mercy down upon them from above.

Qatādah said: Shayṭān will come to you, O children of Ādam, from every direction, except from above. He is unable to come between you and the mercy of Allah.

Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān, may Allāh preserve him, commenting on the statement of Ibnul Qayyim: '(It has been authentically reported that (ʿAbdullāh) ibn ʿAbbās may Allah be pleased with him and his father, said that he (Iblīs) did not say “from above you”)':

"Why did he not say, “from above”? It is because he (Iblis) cannot prevent that which descends from Allah upon them from goodness, aid, support, sustenance, and guidance. This is because Allah is above the creation; therefore, this direction is protected by Allah Subḥānahu wa Taʿālā, and he (Iblis) has no power to approach it."

14/2 Taʿlīqāt ʿalā Ighāthat al-Lahfān- Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān