Introduction
In Islam, Iblîs, or al-shaytān, is an essential figure. Enemy of Allah and humans, he strives to mislead them so that they may be punished in turn. While he bitterly resents all of humanity, few civilizations are aware of his existence. Indeed, the devil, our devil, also called Satan, is absent from most belief systems. Of course, many cultures recognize evil beings, malicious spirits, and other chaos deities. But there is hardly any true equivalent to the devil as defined by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. In fact, even the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, does not speak of the devil. Like all things, the devil has a history. In his book titled The Old Enemy: Satan and the Combat Myth, Neil Forsyth showed that this long history, spanning several millennia, dates back to ancient Near Eastern myths where the same pattern repeats: the confrontation between “Good” and “Evil,” embodied by one or more supernatural entities. In this article, we will trace the history of the devil from its mythological origins to its representation in the Quran. As we will see, the latter is particularly influenced by rabbinic writings and especially Syriac texts from the late antiquity.The devil is chained
The devil in the ancient East
In ancient Egypt, notably, we can think of the struggle between the god Seth and his brother Horus. Facing Horus, the sky god with a falcon head, Seth, often depicted as a snake, a pig, sometimes red in color. Murderer of his father Osiris, castrated by Horus who tears out his eye, he suggests a thoroughly evil deity. His opposition to Horus is actually seen as an expression of dynastic struggles between the kings of Upper Egypt (Horus) and Lower Egypt (Seth). Some physical traits, like his red color and bestial appearance, influence the classical representation of the devil, which also inherits horns and a tail from Anubis. Egyptian religion also features secondary demons considered responsible for sickness and misfortunes. Their names evoke the disgust they inspire: the one with the repulsive face, the one who lives on worms, or the one who eats his own excrement. These demons move in groups of seven or multiples of seven, spreading seasonal fevers along their path. This belief closely resembles an ancient theory, popular among physicians of antiquity and the Middle Ages, that epidemics were caused by “miasma,” toxic fog or vapors that carried diseases while moving, similar to our Egyptian demons. These latter particularly favor deserts, darkness, remote places, and waters, prefiguring the devil of the Abrahamic tradition.
Mesopotamia offers another example of the mythic struggle between Good and Evil through the epic of Gilgamesh, which is the oldest known epic novel to date. The hero Gilgamesh, accompanied by his friend Enkidu, goes to the cedar forest 2 guarded by the monster-dragon Huwawa, “the adversary”. Is he simply chopping wood, or, as told in later versions, delivering his people from evil symbolized by Huwawa? In any case, he succeeds in killing him, reports his head to the king of the gods, Enlil, who becomes furious and unleashes a wave of terror across the land. Over time, the story undergoes several evolutions. The forest, initially symbolizing Syria or Lebanon, the land of cedars (from Greek Lebanon, cedar), becomes the dark and tragic world foreshadowing hell. Some episodes are added to the original story: notably, a sacred tree guarded by a serpent, reminiscent of the story of Adam and Eve.
In Babylonian mythology, the recurring theme of struggle appears repeatedly. Texts composed around -1800 mention Ninurta’s fight against the water demon Azag. Defeating him allows the organization of irrigation systems and gives rise to civilization. In another myth, dating to around -1100, the god Marduk battles a female sea monster, Tiamat, whose body he cuts in two, forming the sky and the earth. This myth is an important witness to the belief, widespread in ancient Near East, that the sky is a vast expanse of water. Another myth recounts Ninurta’s battle against the bird Anzu, a messenger of the god Enlil. A text found in Assurbanipal’s library in Nineveh (modern Iraq) attributes to him the following words: “He thought in his heart to overthrow Enlil’s authority: ‘I will take the tablet of destinies, establish divine decrees, strengthen my throne, and become the ruler of standards.’” Thus, the rebellious bird Anzu becomes the prototype of the rebel angel, well known in Judeo-Christian and Islamic tradition. Finally, a myth tells of humans born from the blood of the demon Kingu, inherently evil, with evil transmitted from generation to generation. The woes of life are inflicted by demons with frightening looks, such as the Assyrian Pazuzu, who became famous worldwide through the film The Exorcist (1973).
The Greco-Latin world does not know of a devil figure. As Claude Gilliot explains, “the multitude of gods limits each deity’s power and generates rivalries among them. This suffices to explain the existence of evil, caused by these ambivalent beings, sometimes benefactors, sometimes destroyers, depending on their interests”3. At most, the figure closest to the devil would be Pan, the horned god with a goat’s face. Naturally, the theme of the struggle between Good and Evil reappears. Notably, the battle led by Zeus and his son Dionysus, forces of life, against Kronos’ Titans, devourers of his children. Socrates mentions many “demons,” but they have little to do with the evil beings of Judeo-Christian tradition. They are more akin to “geniuses” or “spirits,” without negative connotations. Xenocrates and Aristotle also speak of daimōns, which can be good or bad, and thus are somewhat comparable to djinns, although Greek philosophers tend to see them more as intermediate souls between gods and humans.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning the Zoroastrian devil figure, Angra Mainyu, often considered the prototype of Satan. According to the Gathas, a set of texts believed to contain his teachings, Zarathustra affirms the existence of a supreme god, Ahura Mazda, and two twin spirits, the good one, Spenta Manyu, and the evil one, Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman, locked in perpetual struggle. The latter, depicted as a serpent, commands an army of demons: Azazel, the demon of deserts, who will be embodied within the Scapegoat; Leviathan and Rahab, chaos demons; and Lilith.
The figure of the devil in the Bible
Scholars of the Old Testament have long pointed out the “extraordinarily limited” role it plays 4. This may seem surprising given the importance of the devil figure in Judaism and especially Christianity. Yet, it is clear that no trace of the rebellious angel against God appears in these texts. Certainly, there are references multiple times to a satan, from the Hebrew root stn, meaning “adversary,” “one who obstructs,” or “accuser.” The Greek translation of the Bible, the Septuagint, renders the word satan as diabolos, from the verb diaballein, “to obstruct.” But in the Old Testament, satan does not yet specifically refer to the devil. In a military context, like in 1 Samuel 29:4, it designates a human enemy. Elsewhere, it refers to an angel within God’s court. As a faithful servant of Yahweh, his role is to accuse humans before the heavenly tribunal. In other words, satan is a “prosecutor,” in the literal and legal sense. In Zechariah’s vision, he plays the role of prosecutor in the trial of the high priest Joshua: “Satan was standing at his right to accuse him” (Zechariah 3:1). Satan “roams the earth” to observe human behavior and report their shortcomings to God. Gradually, however, satan becomes a more autonomous figure, no longer merely observing humans to accuse them, but becoming a “tempter.”
Nevertheless, the satan of the Old Testament is not an enemy of God. He appears more as an enemy of man—or at least as his evil advisor. It is perhaps worth recalling that the serpent tempting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is not the devil: “The Genesis account grants no supernatural status to the serpent. It employs a device akin to fable or fairy tale, making an animal speak to dramatize the human experience of temptation”5. The identification of the serpent with the devil would come from later Jewish sects, adopted by Christianity and Islam. But in the biblical text, the serpent is merely an animal, albeit a particularly cunning one. As seen in many Near Eastern myths, the serpent represented demonic forces, which may have facilitated the association with the devil. For ancient authors, choosing a serpent to personify Evil was probably natural given the terror this animal inspires. In any case, among primates, the fear of snakes likely has an evolutionary origin and is at least partly innate6.
If the devil is absent or nearly so from the Old Testament, he becomes an important figure in the texts of the New Testament. In the Gospels, the devil is present on every page: in temptations, possessed individuals, speeches; he is the one who prompts Judas to betray Christ. Satan is called “prince of this world,” “prince of darkness,” reigning here below and guiding humans toward perdition. In the Revelation, John describes him as a great dragon, fiery in color, with seven heads and ten horns and an enormous tail. Transitioning from the Old to the New Testament, we see Satan’s transformation over a few centuries: from a accusatory angel serving Yahweh to a terrifying rebel figure against God.
This transformation did not occur by chance. In fact, several sectarian Jewish currents influenced this change, shaping the figure of the devil in their own way. These various groups, close to the Qumran sect, left behind numerous writings, one of which would have great importance in antiquity. It is the Book of Enoch, named after a mythic patriarch considered the great-grandfather of Noah. The Book of Enoch actually refers to a collection of texts (five in total) written between the 3rd and the 1st century BCE. Influenced by Babylonian myths, these texts explain the existence of evil as a rebellion by angels led by their chiefs Azazel and Semihazaz. Fascinated by the beauty of earthly women, the rebellious angels unite with them, creating a bastard race of evil beings, the Giants. Moreover, they teach humanity magic and weapon forging. The rebellious angels are punished: according to some versions, they become stars that fall from the sky, which gave Latin the expression Lucifer, “bringer of light.” Another significant work, part of the Book of Enoch tradition, is the Book of Jubilees, composed in the 2nd century BCE within a Jewish sect. Here, the angel Mastema (from the root stm, “to hate”) is the origin of the revolt. Reinterpreting the Bible, the author of Jubilees attributes all the bad aspects of Yahweh to Mastema. We will soon revisit the Book of Jubilees, some of whose ideas about the devil are echoed in the Quran. Another Jewish sect, the Essenes, “sons of light,” contributed greatly to shaping the figure of the devil. Influenced by Iranian dualist concepts, the Essenes believed that God created two spirits: the prince of light and the prince of darkness, Belial, also called Samael. Whatever name they give him, these texts largely contributed to the traditional idea of the devil and the image we have of him: a fallen angel, simultaneously enemy of God and humanity, seeking to turn humans against the Creator and spread evil. As Georges Minois notes, “such a creature is the typical product of the sectarian apocalyptic mentality so widespread in those troubled times of the first two centuries BCE”7.
The devil in the Quran
As we have seen, before Islam, the devil already has a long history and has undergone significant evolution. The Quran inherits from these various representations and others that will be added towards the end of antiquity. Distancing itself from the theme of rebellious angels, some Jewish and Christian exegetes will explain that Satan was initially an angel of the Lord who, out of pride, refused to prostrate before Adam when God commanded him. It is precisely this version of the devil’s story that the authors of the Quran will adopt. We will return to it.Iblîs and al-shayṭān
In the Quran, the devil is known by two different names: Iblîs and al-shayṭān. The former appears as a proper noun, the name of the rebellious angel who refused to prostrate before Adam. According to general consensus, the name Iblîs derives from Greek diabolos, probably via Syriac dîblûs or diyâbûlûs.8. The name al-shayṭān (Satan), on the other hand, likely comes from Ethiopian saytân, used in the Ethiopian Bible.9. Moreover, the Quran repeatedly refers to Satan with the phrase al-shayṭān al-rajîm. However, the meaning of the qualifier al-rajîm is not very clear, leading Muslim commentators to propose many hypotheses. According to the most common interpretation, the phrase means “Satan the cast *down*” or “the blasphemous.” The root r.j.m in Arabic literally means “to stone.” Notably, the idea of stoning Satan appears in a homily by the Syrian theologian Ephrem of Nisibis (died 373), who wrote: “All mankind will come to stone thee, not forgetting that it is through you that the enraged people rushed to stone their Creator” (Hymn 59:15-16). Furthermore, the Quran recounts a curious story where demons attempting to approach the heavenly assembly are chased away by meteorites (15:16-18; 37:6-10). In a prior publication, we have shown that the Quran draws inspiration from an Iranian Zoroastrian myth in this regard.10. In any case, this understanding of al-shayṭān al-rajîm probably gave rise to the ritual of stoning Satan at Mecca,11 where pilgrims throw small stones at columns representing the devil.
Another hypothesis, advanced notably by commentator al-Tabari (died 923), suggests that the phrase means “Satan the cursed,” referring to his banishment from paradise. In this case, instead of the root r.j.m, the phrase is understood in light of Ethiopian ragama, “to curse,” or the Mandaic sâtânâ rgîmâ.12. More recently, Adam Silverstein proposed another explanation, linking the figure of the devil in the Quran directly to its representations in the Ancient Near East. As we saw, in the Bible, the devil was initially perceived as a “prosecutor” or “accuser.” According to Silverstein, the Arabic al-rajîm is also part of the legal field because it is related to Akkadian ragâmu, whose most common meaning is “to file a complaint, initiate legal action, or demand something through justice.” Thus, the Quranic expression may have originally meant “Satan the accuser,” but this meaning was not understood by Muslim commentators, who tried to find a substitute without reaching consensus. Regardless of these hypotheses, it is curious that the Quran calls the devil both Iblîs and al-shayṭān. Notably, the name Iblîs exclusively designates the rebellious angel who refused to prostrate before Adam. Only after his banishment from paradise does he call himself al-shayṭān and take on the role of enemy of mankind.13. The idea that the devil changed his name after expulsion was put forward by several Syriac theologians of antiquity, who stated that “the devil chose this name after disobeying God's command to worship Adam.” In the Cave of Treasures, it is written that after disobedience, “he was called Satana because he turned away”14.
In the Quran, the nature of Iblîs’s rebellion is clearly explained. It can be summarized as follows: Allah creates Adam and commands the angels to prostrate before him. All obey except Iblîs, who refuses, arguing that he is a being of fire and should not prostrate before Adam, who is made of clay. As a result, Allah punishes Iblîs and expels him from paradise. The story of the angels’ prostration is repeated seven times in the Quran (2:30-39; 7:11-24; 15:26-43; 17:61-65; 18:50-51; 20:115-124; 38:71-85). These variations show “narrative tensions,” or even contradictions, which have been thoroughly analyzed by a German historian, Karl-Friedrich Pohlmann, who demonstrated that they result from multiple authors intervening successively on the Quranic text19. In any case, the story of the angels’ prostration is not biblical; it stems from the speculations of later Jewish and Christian theologians. It first appears in rabbinic literature, where the angels’ prostration before Adam is directly linked to the idea that man is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Sergey Minov notes, however, that some versions of the story explicitly oppose the veneration of Adam by angels, raising some theological issues. In a variant, angels, upon first seeing Adam, kneel before him believing they see God. The angel Michael intervenes to prevent them from making an irreparable mistake20. The theme of angels’ prostration is then taken up by certain Syriac Christian currents. It appears notably in the Cave of Treasures (4th century), which probably influenced the Quran21. For Christians, this story held major significance. In Christian writings, Jesus is often presented as the “new Adam” (for example, Romans 5:17-19). Thus, when angels prostrate before Adam, they are in fact prostrating before Jesus, foreshadowing Hebrews 1:6, which states: “And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says: Let all God's angels worship him!” For Christians, the angels’ prostration before Adam thus serves as proof of Jesus’s divinity, making the Quranic reference all the more surprising. Indeed, one might ask why Allah commanded angels to prostrate before someone other than Himself. According to the Talmudic version, the answer is clear: the angels must prostrate because Adam is created in the image of God, although, as seen, this raised theological issues among Jewish scholars. Furthermore, the theme of man being created in God’s image appears absent from the Quran. Instead, it is found in the hadiths, where it is stated: “Allah created Adam in His image”22. The question of anthropomorphism has led to major controversies among Muslim theologians23. Some believe that verses of the Quran and hadiths mentioning Allah’s face, hands, legs, or even little finger should be understood literally: Allah has a body like humans. Others consider these simply allegories. In the 10th century, Caliph al-Radi settled the debate in favor of the latter opinion. Addressing Hanbali theologians whom he accused of anthropomorphism, he wrote: “You assert that your hideous and disgusting face is in the image of the Lord of the worlds and that your vile appearance is in His image”24. But let us return to our main topic. For Christians, the prostration before Adam foreshadows the worship of Jesus by angels. Naturally, such a thing is absent from the Quran, which explicitly refutes the divinity of Christ. However, the Quranic text does not offer an alternative explanation for the angels’ prostration. There is, however, a possible exception: in one Quranic version of the legend, it is said that, unlike the angels, Adam knows the “names of all things” (2:31). Endowed with superior knowledge, Adam is thus placed above the angels, which may improperly justify their prostration before him. Interestingly, the theme of Adam’s superiority appears only in the narration of verse 2. This narrative detail, added by the compilers of surah 2, can be seen as a corrected or supplementary version of previous accounts that did not explain the angels’ prostration25. In any case, the prostration of angels before Adam caused concern among Muslim commentators. They sought to justify the angels’ prostration before a man while avoiding the charge of polytheism (shirk). The difficulty is heightened by the fact that, with only one exception—the prostration of Joseph’s brothers in surah 12—“the prostration of the face to the ground is always, in the Quran, a prostration before God”26. To circumvent this issue, most theologians explained that the angels’ prostration was merely a greeting. However, this explanation is unconvincing because why then would Iblîs have refused to bow to Adam? The fact that Iblîs justifies his refusal by claiming his superiority demonstrates that the prostration implied at least a relationship of submission and hierarchy. Moreover, it is interesting to note that after his assimilation into Islam, the theme of angels’ prostration before Adam was rejected by Syriac Christians and even became a point of controversy with Muslims. In his Response to the Arabs, Bishop Dionysius bar Salibi (died 1171) commented: “As soon as God commanded the angels to prostrate before him [= Adam], Satan refused, and he was right. How could a being of fire prostrate himself before a mortal?”27. Muslim mystic Mansur Al-Hallaj (died 922) also took Iblîs’s side, emphasizing that he was right to refuse to prostrate and that he was the only one faithful to his monotheistic faith28.
Following his expulsion, Iblîs, now called al-shaytān, becomes mankind’s sworn enemy and constantly seeks to incite him to sin. But a reading of the text shows that it is actually Allah who grants Satan permission to act in this way. In one passage, the devil explicitly declares: “By Your power! I will certainly seduce all of them” (38:82). In another, Allah explicitly asks the devil to tempt humans: “Incite, by your voice, those of them you can, gather your cavalry and infantry against them, join with them in their goods and children, and make promises to them” (17:64). In other words, in the Quran, Allah is the one who grants Satan the power to lead humans astray. However, this power is not unlimited, as it spares Allah’s servants (38:83). Yet, it is the devil who incited Adam and Eve to eat from the forbidden tree (7:20-22), seemingly contradicting the idea that Satan is powerless against Allah’s servants. In any case, the idea that the devil received his mission from God is inspired by the Enochian literature, particularly the Book of Jubilees, which we have previously discussed. In this text, the angel Mastema asks God to give wicked angels the permission to seduce the children of men, which God agrees to (Jubilees 10:1-14). Likewise, in the Quran, Iblîs is shown negotiating with Allah for permission to seduce humans (7:14-16). Mastema and Iblîs thus both are invested with a divine mandate to seduce humanity. In both cases, the granted permission has an exception: Iblîs cannot seduce Allah’s servants, just as Mastema cannot pursue the people of Israel< i>Jubilees 15:32). The figure of Iblîs in the Quran thus appears to be at least partly modeled on the rebellious fallen angels found in Enochian texts. The figure of the devil in Islam is omnipresent in human life, from the very first day on Earth until the last breath. As found in traditions, newborns’ crying is due to Satan pricking their fingers30. If a believer does not wake at night to pray, Satan exploits this to urinate in their ears31. In a hadith, the Prophet advises anyone who wakes during sleep to clear their nostrils three times, because the devil enters through the nose32. Another famous hadith states that yawning comes from Satan, and that the devil mocks people who yawn33. Notably, this belief echoes in neighboring cultures. For example, a Jewish proverb states: “Don’t open your mouth to Satan.” Among Indians, spirits (bhuts) enter the body through the mouth, and yawning increases the risk that they will penetrate inside34. According to hadiths, during the call to prayer, Satan emits loud farting to distract believers35. Centuries later, a legend tells that in Wartburg Castle, in Germany, the theologian Martin Luther, founder of Protestantism, once fought against the devil when the latter emitted a fart that left “a trail of foul smell in the room for several days”36. The devil is a complex figure, shaped by centuries of human thought and constantly evolving. Whether a real character or a ruse created by humans to designate Evil, as they please, Satan is certainly a mischievous one!The fall of Iblîs
Satan versus man
