Iblis: Why Did He Refuse to Bow to Adam?

The fire-born being who refused to bow to Adam, saying "I am better than him," and was given respite until the end of time.

Iblis is the Quran's name for the being who refused God's command to bow to Adam, saying he was better because he was made of fire. After that he is usually called al-Shaytan.

Iblis is the Quran's name for the figure who refuses God's command to bow before the newly made Adam. The story is told seven times (2:34, 7:11–18, 15:28–43, 17:61–65, 18:50, 20:116, 38:71–85). His reason is a claim about materials: "I am better than him. Thou createdst me of fire while him Thou didst create of mud." Cast out, he asks for a delay until the Day of Resurrection, is granted it, and promises to lie in wait for humans on every path.

Surah 18:50 adds a detail that has fueled debate for centuries: "all save Iblis. He was of the jinn, so he rebelled against his Lord's command." If he was among the angels when the order was given, how was he a jinn? Some commentators said he was a jinni raised to the angels' company by his devotion; others that the jinn were a class of angels. After the refusal he is usually called al-Shaytan, the Satan.

The refusal scene is older than Islam. The Life of Adam and Eve, a Jewish or Christian text from the early centuries CE, has the devil explain that he was cast down because he would not worship Adam, the image of God, since he himself was made first. Many scholars also think the name Iblis comes from the Greek diabolos, "slanderer," through Syriac or another intermediary, though this is debated.

Iblis became one of the most complex characters in Islamic thought. Some Sufi writers, most famously al-Hallaj in the 10th century, portrayed his refusal as a tragic devotion: he would bow to no one but God. For readers of ancient-visitor ideas, the story is a rivalry between two created species, fire and clay, with the elder resenting the younger. The Quran itself treats it as pride and disobedience.