The Devil the Qur'anic Detail
The Confusing Status of Iblis in Islam's Holy Book
The Qur’an poses a famous test for anyone wondering about its reliability:
"Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction." (Qur’an 4:82)
This challenge has, of course, been met many times. In fact, I devote a chapter of the book Questioning Islam to showcasing the many contradictions in the Qur’an.
A common response when contradictions are pointed out is that the person doing so must somehow be under the control of Satan (known as Iblis in the Qur’an). This is rather ironic since a key Qur’anic contradiction involves Satan himself. In short, the Qur’an is not quite sure if Iblis is a jinn or a fallen angel.
The backstory to this confusion is the command from Allah for all the angels to prostrate themselves before Adam. This command can be seen as a violation of the conviction that Allah alone is worthy of worship (Qur’an 1:5), but that is a subject for another article. According to the Qur’an, all the angels obeyed Allah’s command—except Iblis, who refused outright:
"When We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam,’ they prostrated, but not Iblis: he refused." (Qur’an 20:116)
"Thereat the angels prostrated, all of them together, but not Iblis: he refused to be among those who prostrated." (Qur’an 15:31-32)
Similar statements appear in Qur’an 2:34, 7:11, 17:61, and 38:73-74. It is very clear from these statements that Iblis was counted among the angels.
However, when we turn to Qur’an 18:50, Iblis suddenly has a totally different identity:
"And [mention] when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate to Adam,’ and they prostrated, except for Iblis. He was one of the jinn, so he transgressed against the command of his Lord." (Qur’an 18:50)
Pointing out that some verses call Iblis an angel, whereas another calls him a jinn, may seem like a bit of hair-splitting. However, within the context of the Qur’an, angels and jinn are two completely different kinds of beings. Angels are presented as beings who are always faithful to Allah and are not able to rebel against Him (Qur’an 66:6). So different are the two kinds of beings that they were created in different ways: angels from light and jinn from smokeless fire (Qur’an 55:15).
Because angels are incapable of disobeying Allah, they are not described as having free will. Due to their perfect obedience, they will also not be judged on the Day of Judgement (Qur’an 34:40-41). In contrast, jinn can make choices about engaging in good or evil actions, and they will be judged alongside human beings for their deeds.
It is quite evident that we are dealing with a glaring contradiction here—one over which Qur’anic commentators have been tying themselves into knots. However, it is an open-and-shut case that the identity of Iblis in the Qur’an is just one of many instances where it fails the test it set for itself in Qur’an 4:82.
For a much fuller discussion of Islam’s truth-claims, please see my book ‘Questioning Islam - Tough Question and Honest Answers About the Muslim Religion’
Kind regards,
Peter
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