Iblis

**Iblis**, formerly known as **Azazil**, was a divine Jinn that fell from grace, becoming a high-ranking demon and King of Hell. He is equated with Satan in Islamic belief and tradition.

## Overview

Iblis is a figure frequently mentioned and appearing in the Quran, commonly in relation to the creation of Adam and the command to prostrate himself before him. After he refused, he was cast out of Heaven. The story regarding his fall from grace is often compared to Satan in Christian traditions.

In Islamic tradition, Iblis is identified with *Al-Shaitan* ("the Devil"), often followed by the epithet *al-rajim* (the accursed). However, while *Shaitan* is used exclusively used for an evil force, Iblis himself holds a more ambivalent role in Islamic traditions.

## Disappearance

Iblis' appearance before he fell was said to be unique and grand even amongst the ranks of the Jinn. Similarly to Lucifer before his fall, he was majestic and great to behold with power exceeding that of his peers.

After his fall from the Heavens, Iblis' body is composed entirely of molten magma, or brimstone, and frost that varies between forms. His original form was a giant, swirling ball of flames. Several Islamic scholars state that when he comes in human shape, he has seven hairs on his chin with a menacing grimace and "smoldering embers" for eyes. He was also blind in his right eye after Idris jabbed a needle into it.

## History

Iblis was an angelic jinn created by God out of Vril and was known as Azazil. He stood out amongst the jinn as being unique in appearance and power, but regardless, he was no different in the eyes of Heaven when it came to how they viewed the jinn. When the angels took prisoners, Iblis was one of them and carried them to heaven. Since he, unlike the other jinn, was pious, the angels were impressed by his nobility, and Iblis was allowed to join the company of angels and elevated to their rank. However, although he had the outer appearance of an angel, he was still a jinn, in essence, thus he was able to choose in terms of free will.

After being elevated to the ranks of the angels, Iblis became a leader and teacher of his own choir of angels, and a keeper of Heaven. God gave him authority over the lower heavens and the Earth. Iblis is also considered the leader of those angels who battled the Jann. Therefore, Iblis and his army drove these ancient jinn to the edge of the world, Mount Qaf. The jinn, in response, regarded Iblis as a traitor to their own kind and accused of him of slithering his way into the ranks of Heaven mainly to avoid persecution at the hands of the angels.

### Rebelling in Heaven

When God created Adam, He ordered all the angels and jinn to bow before the new creation. All the angels and jinn bowed down, but Iblis refused to do so. Knowing about the corruption of the former earthen inhabitants, Iblis protested, when he was instructed to prostrate himself before the new earthen inhabitant, that is Adam. He assumed that the angels who praise God's glory day and night are superior in contrast to the mud-made humans and their bodily flaws. He even regarded himself superior in comparison to the other angels, since he was (one of those) created from fire. However, he was degraded by God for his arrogance.

As punishment for his haughtiness, God banished Iblis from Heaven and condemned him to Hell. But Iblis requested to prove that he is right, therefore God entrusted him as a tempter for humanity as long as his punishment endures, concurrently giving him a chance to redeem himself. As a result, his punishment was postponed until Judgment Day, when he and his host will have to face the eternal fires of Hell.

### King of Jinnestan

Despite the circumstances of his eternal imprisonment within Hell, he became a demon serving under the reign of Lucifer, and even joined the Stygian Council, taking the name Iblis as a King of Hell, specifically the ruler of Jinnestan and lord of the infernal Jinn. He had the Marid build a glorious palace known as Schadou Kiam to mirror the infernal majesty of Pandemonium the capital city of Hell. Iblis was said to have ordered the building of the palace to elevated himself in equal authority to Lucifer himself.

His exact rank in the demonic hierarchy is not known, but he reports directly to the Satanic Triumvirate, a circumstance he is not too fond of as he hates the idea of a great Jinn such as he reporting his status and findings like a common subject. Moreover, Iblis's damnation is clear and he and his host are the first who enter hell to dwell therein forever, when he is not killed in a battle by the Mahdi, an interpretation especially prevalent among Shia Muslims.

### Earthly Exploits

As his first demonic act, Iblis, referred to in this context as *Shaitan*. Disguised as the Hatif, the mysterious voice of Arab mythology, Iblis also tempted ʿAlī, Muhammad’s son-in-law, unsuccessfully trying to keep him from performing the ritual washing of the Prophet’s dead body.

Another tale involves how he lost his right eye. Iblis once came to the prophet Idris, who was a tailor, with an egg in his hand and told him that God had shaped the world like an egg. Idris was enraged by this blasphemous talk and answered, ‘No, God made the world like the eye of this needle, look here.’ When Iblis looked at the needle, the prophet thrust it into his eye and blinding him forevermore.

## Iblis

### Aliases

Ibris, Al-Shaitan, Eblis, Abu Murrah, Adūw-Allāh or Aduwallah, Abu Al-Harith, Azazil (formerly), King of Jinnestan, Spiritual Enemy of the Islamic Faith, The Devil of Islam, the Accursed, Father of Bitterness, Enemy of God, Flames of Disaster

## Physical Description

### Spirit of

Falsehood, Lies, Fire, Disaster, Flames, Brimstone