Adam and Iblis (Satan)
Adam is the first human being and the prototype for the whole race. God taught Adam all the names and commanded the angels to prostrate themselves before him, indicating that this knowledge of the names made Adam greater even than the angels, the most exalted and elevated of God's creatures.
The Quran does not mention the creation of Eve, though the hadith literature follows the Biblical account, according to which she was created from Adam's ribs. The Quran does tell us that God places Adam and eve in the Garden and gave them instructions as to how they were to live there:
We said, "Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden, and eat thereof easefully wherever you desire. But do not come near this tree, lest you be wrongdoers."
Then Satan caused them to slip there from and brought them out of what they were in.(2:35-36)
In the garden. Adam and Eve's islam was to obey the instructions issued by God. They could follow their own desires, so long as they did not approach the tree. Thus we see that human beings, from the moment of their creation, were given freedom and guidance by God. Because of their freedom, they were able to ignore God's guidance. Iblis was present, and he led the two of them astray.
Remember that Iblis had refused to prostrate himself before Adam. When God asked why he refused, he said, " I am better than he. You created me of fire, And You created him of clay"(7:12,38:76)
Because of Iblis's disobedience, God sent him down into the earth. But the conversation that takes place between God and Iblis at this point is highly significant for the Islamic understanding of Satan's role in the cosmos. Without thinking about this conversation, we will not be able to grasp the full importance of Adam's fall from the Garden. The dialogue between God and Iblis continues as follows:
Said He, "Go down out of it. It is not for you to claim greatness here. So go forth, surely you are among the humbled."
Said he, "Respite me until the day when they are resurrected."
Said He, "You are among the respite."
Said he, "Now because You have led me astray, I shall surely sit in the ambush for them on Your straight path. Then I shall come on them from before them and from behind them, from their right hands and their left hands. You will not find most of them grateful. "
Said He," Go forth from it, despised and banished. Those of them that follow you-I shall assuredly fill Gehenna (i.e., hell) with all of you"
The Quran adds details to this dialogue in several places. The following seems especially pertinent to the present discussion:
Said he, "My lord, because You have led me astray, I shall make the earth seem fair to them and I shall lead all of them astray, except the sincere among Your servants."
Said He, "This is for me a straight path: As for My servants, you shall have no authority over them, except those who follow you, going astray. Gehenna is the promised place for all of them."(15:39-43)
This account explains how Satan came to be an enemy of human beings. His motivation is pride, anger, and envy. He is proud because of his fiery nature and high degree among created things. He is angry at God for asking him to prostrate himself before a mere handful of clay. He is envious of Adam because God has shown him special favor. Moreover, it never occurred to Iblis that perhaps God knew something that he did not. He failed to recognize that he himself could be at fault, so he blamed God for his predicament.
One of the most interesting elements in this Quranic account is the bargain that Iblis strikes with God. He asks not to be taken to account until the Day of Resurrection., and God gives him what he wants. The iblis says that he will lead all God's servants astray, but the Quran alludes here to Iblis's incapacity and weakness, because Iblis adds, "except those who are sincere." God replies to Iblis that he can do what he wants, but he also stresses that Iblis has no power over good Muslims. In short, God is involved with Iblis's scheming from the outset.
In reading Christian accounts of Satan, one often gets the impression that Satan is out of control. He has rebelled and has setup an empire of his own, where God's laws are not followed. In extreme cases, it seems as if Iblis is a god of evil-doomed to be defeated in the end, to be sure -but free to do as he likes in the meantime.
Islam is too infused with the idea of tawhid to allow Iblis to play any sort of independent role. even Iblis is a muslim, though only in the broadest sense of the term. He is a compulsory servant of God, not a voluntary servant. His pride and arrogance, his conviction that "I am better than he," do not allow him to see that he is doing God's work just like everyone else.
When the account of Iblis is read carefully in the full Quranic context, it is easy to understand that one of the central issues is human free will. To begin with, without the error and misguidance that Iblis represents, there can be no wrong choices; or more exactly there can no choices whatsoever. for human beings the existence of Iblis sets up a contrast between right and wrong, true and false, guidance and misguidance, salvation and damnation. If there were no wrong path, how could there be a right path?
We saw earlier that in order to create a universe, God separated heaven and earth, the high and the low, the bright and the dark, the subtle and the dense, the light and the heavy. Without these distinctions, there is nothing that can be differentiated from anything else, nor can any created things exist.
The contrast between light and darkness has a physical meaning. light refers to all the divine qualities, while darkness refers to the lack of these same divine qualities. And light has a moral and spiritual meaning, which is to say that it pertains to illumination, knowledge, guidance, and salvation. In contrast, darkness pertains to ignorance, misguidance, and loss. It is sometimes said in Islamic texts that at the end of time, fire will be divided into two parts. Its luminosity will ascend to paradise, but its heat will flow down into hell. Hell is a place of painful, burning darkness, while paradise is a domain of liberating, refreshing light.
In short, Ibis incarnates the darkness of error, ignorance, and wrongdoing. Without the powers that Iblis represents, there can be no moral universe. We could not choose the right, because would be no wrong whereby the right could be distinguished. We could not be saved for there would be no error and loss to define the nature of damnation and salvation. We could not enter the light, because there would be no darkness to leave. We could not even exist, because our existence depends upon the ambiguity of our situation. Our human status is defined by the fact that we hang midway between light and darkness, heaven and earth, spirit and body.
Iblis represents wrongdoing and evil, but Muslims- at least thoughtful Muslims- also recognize that he was created by God precisely or the work he does. he is merely doing his job. It is his role in creation to be arrogant, angry, and envious. hence, God has measured out to him great deal of such wrathful divine attributes as mightiness and magnificence, but little wisdom or sense of proportion. The Quran itself alludes to this in various verses. when it quotes Iblis as uttering the oath, "Now, by Your mightiness, I will lead all of them astray"(38:82), it connects him to God's name Mighty. When the Quran says that Iblis "claimed greatness," it associated him with the divine name, al-mutakabbir- the Great, the Magnificent. Iblis performs a function that is intimately connected to the names of wrath.
Before continuing the discussion of Iblis's nature, let us come back to Adam and Eve. We left the story when Iblis caused them to slip in the Garden. People often as what was iblis doing in the Garden. By now it should be clear that to be human is to be faced with the choice between right and wrong, obedience and disobedience. God would have not commanded Adam to avoid the tree if he did not want wrongdoing to be a possibility. By commanding Adam, God acknowledged the compact between himself and Iblis. he knew that Iblis would attempt to lead people astray.
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit on the tree, they became aware of their nakedness and took to covering their private parts with leaves from the trees. Here there is a clear parallel with the Biblical idea that the tree was that of the knowledge of good and evil.
By eating the forbidden fruit, "Adam disobeyed his Lord"(20:121). god then said to Adam and Eve, "Did I not prohibit you two from this tree and say to you, 'Verily, Satan is for you two an open enemy '?"(7:22).Their reaction, significantly, resembles that of someone woken from a dream. They were immediately shocked at what they had done, and with one voice "The two of them said, 'We have wronged ourselves, and unless You forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall surely be among the lost.'"(7:23).The Quranic account does not allow for ascription of blame to Adam rather than Eve, or vice versa. both of them slipped, and both of them acknowledged their error and asked to be forgiven.
At this point God sends Adam and Eve down into the earth, telling them they they would find enmity there:
"Go down, each of you an enemy to each. In earth a sojourn shall be yours, and enjoyment for a time...Therein you shall live, and therein you shall die, and from there you shall be brought forth."(7:24-25)