Iblis
| Part of a series on |
| Islam |
|---|
Iblis (Arabic: إِبْلِيسْ, romanized: Iblīs), alternatively known as Eblīs, also known as Shaitan, is the leader of the devils (shayāṭīn) in Islam. According to the Quran, Iblis was thrown out of heaven after refusing to prostrate himself before Adam. He is often compared to the Christian Satan, since both figures were cast out of heaven according to their respective religious narratives. In his role as the master of cosmic illusion in Sufi cosmology, he functions in ways similar to the Buddhist concept of Mara. Iblis embodies the cosmic veil supposedly separating the immanent aspect of God's love from the transcendent aspect of God's wrath. He entangles the unworthy in the material web hiding the underlying all-pervading spiritual reality.
Islamic theology (kalām) regards Iblis as an example of attributes and actions which God punishes with hell (Nār). Regarding the origin and nature of Iblis, there are two different viewpoints.: 24–26 : 209–210 According to one, Iblis is an angel, and according to the other, he is the father of the jinn. Quranic exegesis (tafsīr) and the Stories of the Prophets (Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ) elaborate on Iblis's origin story in greater detail. In Islamic tradition, Iblis is identified with ash-Shayṭān ("the Devil"), often followed by the epithet ar-Rajim (Arabic: ٱلرَجِيم, lit. 'the Accursed').: 23 Shayṭān is usually applied to Iblis in order to denote his role as the tempter, while Iblīs is his proper name.
Some Muslim scholars uphold a more ambivalent role for Iblis while preserving the term shayṭān exclusively for evil forces, considering Iblis to be not simply a devil but also "the truest monotheist" (Tawḥīd-i Iblīs), because he would only bow before the Creator and not his creations.: 46 : 65 : 47 Others have strongly rejected sympathies with Iblis, considering any form of sympathy to be a form of deception instigated by Iblis. Rumi's Masnavi explores this form of deception in detail: When Iblis wakes up Mu'awiya to the morning prayer, he appears to have benevolent intentions at first, but it turns out, Iblis was just hiding his true motivations.
The ambivalent role of Iblis is also addressed in Islamic literature. Hafez describes angels as incapable of emotional expression, meaning that Iblis attempts to mimic piety but is incapable of worshipping God with passion. According to Muhammad Iqbal, Iblis tests humans in order to teach them to overcome their selfish tendencies. Iblis is perhaps one of the most well-known individual supernatural entities in Islamic tradition, and has appeared in both Islamic and non-Islamic art, literature, and contemporary media.