Iblis
In Islamic tradition, Iblis is identified with ash-Shayṭān ("the Devil"), often followed by the epithet ar-Rajim (Arabic: ٱلرَجِيم, lit.
Some Muslim scholars uphold a more ambivalent role for Iblis, considering him not simply a devil but also "the truest monotheist" (Tawḥīd-i Iblīs), because he would only bow before the Creator and not his creations, while preserving the term shayṭān exclusively for evil forces.
[12]: 274 According to Ibn Manzur this is the major opinion among Arab scholars, who maintain the tradition that the personal name of this being was ʿAzāzīl.
[14]: 123 [15]: 91 Another possibility is that the name is derived from Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos) (which is also the source of the English word 'devil') via a Syriac intermediary.
[17]: 54 The Quranic story of Iblis parallels extrabiblical sources, such as Life of Adam and Eve,[5]: 20 about Satan's fall from heaven, preponderant in Eastern Christian circles.
[18]: 66 On a conceptual perspective, Iblis' theological function as a divinely appointed tempter parallels the evil angel Mastema from the Book of Jubilees.
In the aggregate, the story can be summarised as follows:[5]: 18 When God created Adam, He ordered the angels to bow before the new creation.
[21] Iblis is arguably implicitly mentioned in Surah 21:29 (al-’anbiyā), claiming divinity for himself by inviting to follow egoistic desires (nafs),[21] a position shared by Tabari, Suyuti, al-Nasafi,[21] and al-Māturīdī[a] among others: Whoever of them were to say, "I am a god besides Him", they would be rewarded with Hell by Us [...]Sijjin, mentioned in Surah 83:7, is described as a prison in hell by Quranic exegetes (for example by, Tabari, Tha'labi, Nasafi).
[5]: 177 Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, the eponymous founder of Māturīdī theology, argues that humans and jinn are tested on earth, but angels in heaven.
[39]: 291–292 An extreme position among the Qadariyya asserts that Iblis was not even created by God, but this view is generally rejected as beliefs of the Manichaeans (majūs).
[43] Those who say that Iblis was predestined to fall, say that he was created in such a way that God can demonstrate his entire spectrum of attributes (for example; jalal (majesty)) in his eternal speech (i.e. the Quran), and teaching the consequences of sin.
[44] Three things to avoid are marked by the fall of Iblis: Transgression (ma'siyah), arrogance (istikbār), and comparison (qiyās) to another creature of God.
[8] Oblivious to rewards and punishment, Iblis acts out of pure love and loyalty and disobeys the explicit command and obeys the hidden will of God.
[52] Iblis, being blind to the hidden reality of Adam, refuses to bow due to his own spiritual ignorance.
[55] Ahmad Ghazali depicted Iblis as a paragon of self-sacrifice and devotion, stating: "Whoever doesn't learn monotheism from Satan is a heretic (zindīq).
[59] Furthermore, similar to Ruzbihan Baqli, he argues that Satan's Monotheism is a subtle deception by Iblis, in order to evoke sympathies and doubt about God's message.
Due to his defective spiritual insights, Iblis cannot comprehend the immanent aspect of God's attributes within Adam, and refuses to bow down.
[73] In his ignorance and damnation, Iblis hovers over the mere surface of visible things, and those he leads astray suffer the same fate.
[74] Other Sufi authors, including Sana'i, 'Ayn al-Quzat, Ruzbihan, Attar, and Rumi, independently conceptualized a similar image of Iblis' function in the cosmos.
[80] Due to the similarities in function between Iblis's web and the Hindu concept of māyā, the seventeenth-century Mughal prince Dara Shikoh sought to reconcile the Upanishads with Sufi cosmology.
[81] Qiṣaṣ is a form of exegesis by Muslim scholars focusing on establishing a coherent story from material of Islamic scripture (Quran, ḥadīṯ).
First they were obedient but over time, immorality increased and, when they became infidels, God sent an army of angels, headed by Iblis, called "al-Jinn" (named after paradise, not the genus) to defeat them.
[85] In reference to the interpretation of the events in Surah 2:30-34, when the angels complain over mankinds' potential to shed blood and cause injustice, Islamic haggadic narratives relate this to the previous story.
In one narration of the Tarikh Khamis, among the masses of infidel jinn only Iblis dedicated his life to worship of God, withdrawing to a high mountain.
[87]Some scholars (among them Thala'bi, Tabarsi,[88] Diyarbakri[89]) explain, with slightly variations, Iblis' entry to the Garden of Eden by the aid of a serpent and a peacock.
[90] Iblis is perhaps one of the most well-known individual supernatural entities in Islamic tradition and was depicted in multiple visual representations like the Quran and Manuscripts of Bal‘ami's ‘Tarjamah-i Tarikh-i Tabari.
[91] Iblis was a unique individual, described as both a pious jinni and an angel before he fell from God's grace when he refused to bow before the prophet Adam.
In the manuscripts of Bal‘ami's ‘Tarjamah-i Tarikh-i Tabari he is usually seen beyond the outcrop, his face transformed with his wings burned, to the envious countenance of a devil.
When Iblis protests, either because he considers Adam's offspring unworthy or himself devoted to God alone, he is described as an imposter (mudda'ī).
One day, Iblis regrets his rebellion and consults religious authorities (the Pope, a Rabbi, and the head of the al-Azhar) in order to seek forgiveness.
