قَالَ أَنْظِرْنِي إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ ﴿۱۴﴾ قَالَ إِنَّكَ مِنَ الْمُنْظَرِينَ ﴿۱۵﴾ قَالَ فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ﴿۱۶﴾ ثُمَّ لَآتِيَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَنْ شَمَائِلِهِمْ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ ﴿۱۷﴾

﴾14﴿ Qaala anzirneee ilaa Yawmi yub'asoon
﴾15﴿ Qaala innaka minal munzareen
﴾16﴿ Qaala fabimaaa aghway tanee la aq'udanna lahum Siraatakal Mustaqeem
﴾17﴿ Summa la aatiyannahum mim baini aideehim wa min khalfihim wa 'an aimaanihim wa 'an shamaaa'ilihim wa laa tajidu aksarahum shaakireen

﴾14﴿ He said, give me time until the day of resurrection
﴾15﴿ He said, Allah Almighty, you are one of those who have been given respite
﴾16﴿ He said, because you deprived me (of your womb), of course I should sit for people on your right path (to forbid)
﴾17﴿ Of course, let us come to them from before them and behind them and from their right side and from their left side, and you will not find most of them possessing monotheism

[14,15] Iblīs asked for respite until the Day of Resurrection in order to escape death.
However, Allah the Exalted only granted him respite until the Day of Destruction, as mentioned in verse 38 of Surah Al-Ḥijr and verse 81 of Surah Ṣād.
At that time, other people will still be alive, which is why Allah used the term “al-munẓarīn” (those granted respite).
[16] This verse is proof that the greatest enemy of the Straight Path (Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm) is Iblīs.
(فَبِمَا) – The bāʼ here can either be causal (bāʼ sababiyyah) or for an oath (bāʼ qasamiyyah), and “mā” can be interrogative (mā istifhāmiyyah) or explanatory/nominal (mā maṣdariyyah).
From (لَأَقْعُدَنَّ) onward, an independent statement begins.
(أَغْوَيْتَنِي) – This means you cast rebellion (ghayy) into my heart, and it can also mean you caused me to perish.
(لَأَقْعُدَنَّ) – "I will surely sit": Sitting here is a metaphor for constant presence, i.e., persistent plotting.
(لَهُمْ) – This means for the purpose of leading them astray and deceiving them.
(صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ) – “Your straight path”: Its beginning is Tawḥīd (monotheism), as mentioned by Ibn Kathīr.
[17] The meaning is that Iblīs intends to mislead people by every possible method—or it means that he seeks to make them deny or become heedless of the Hereafter, to prevent them from doing good, and to encourage them to commit evil.
He did not mention “from above them” (مِن فَوقِهِم)—this indicates that he cannot block the mercy of Allah the Exalted.
He also did not say “from beneath them” (مِن تَحتِهِم)—because he cannot rise from below, meaning he cannot affect their inner connection to Allah.
(شَاكِرِينَ) – According to Qurṭubī, Khāzin, and Ibn Kathīr, it refers to the people of Tawḥīd (monotheists)—
Because Iblīs’s primary enmity is directed against Tawḥīd.
And this statement of Iblīs is based on conjecture and assumption, not certainty.