Iblis
devil-like figure in Quran and Islamic tradition
Iblis (Arabic: إِبْلِيسْ, romanized: Iblīs), 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. In Sufi cosmology, Iblis embodies the cosmic veil supposedly separating the immanent aspect of God's love from the transcendent aspect of God's wrath. He is often compared to the Christian concept of 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 Sufism, he functions in ways similar to the Buddhist concept of Mara.
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. According to one, Iblis is an angel, and according to the other, he is the father of all 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-Rajīm (Arabic: ٱلرَّجِيم, lit. 'the Accursed').
The public source identifies “Iblis” as devil-like figure in Quran and Islamic tradition. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Iblis, devil-like and figure.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q273101. The Library of Congress control number is sh85037378. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Iblis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.