Обсуждение:Иблис
Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān / Devil
The fallen angel (q.v.) or jinn (q.v.) known by two names in the Qurʾān, Iblīs (q.v.) and Shayṭān. The ambiguities present in the English word “devil” (themselves a result of early Christian translation activities; see Jeffrey Burton Russell, The devil. Perceptions of evil from antiquity to primitive Christianity, Ithaca 1977) are precisely those reflected in the Qurʾān, such that the heritage of the ¶ Greek demon “accuser” and the Hebrew “adversary” are brought together in one character.
The word shayṭān is used 70 times in the Qurʾān in the singular form, including six times in the indefinite ( q 4:117; 15:17; 22:3; 37:7; 43:36; 81:25), plus 18 times in the plural, shayāṭīn, which is always definite. Etymologically, the word is related to the Hebrew sāṭān; and the passage of the word into Arabic is not clear, although it is usually thought to have come into Arabic through Christian languages (especially Ethiopic; see foreign vocabulary ). A recent study of early Qurʾān manuscripts has suggested another reason for the particular form of the Arabic word: The pronunciation of the word may be due to a misunderstanding of early Arabic orthography (see calligraphy ). The word was originally to be pronounced sāṭān or shāṭān, and the first long a of the word was written with a yāʾ, contrary to the rules of later orthography which does not allow yāʾ to represent ā in the middle of a word (but only at the end). The loss of understanding of that orthography then resulted in the pronunciation shayṭān (see Gerd-R. Puin, Neue Wege der Koranforschung, in Universität des Saarlandes Magazin Forschung 1 (1999), p. 40).
Iblīs, on the other hand, is used only 11 times in the Qurʾān, always as a proper name. The general consensus is that the word is derived from the Greek diabolos. Arab tradition connects the word to the verbal sense of ublisa meaning “he was rendered without hope,” a reference to Iblīs' fate of being cursed and sentenced to punishment by God (see Jeffery, For. vocab., 47-8, with a full bibliography). That sense of the verbal root is itself present in q 30:12: “On the day when the hour will arrive the guilty will be in despair,” and also q 6:44, 23:77, and 43:75, with the same sense of the punishment of the evil doers (see chastisement and punishment ); in ¶ q 30:49 people are in despair (q.v.) over the difficulties of life. In none of those cases, however, does the figure of Iblīs actually enter into the picture.
The name Iblīs figures mainly in the stories of the creation of Adam (see adam and eve ) and the subsequent fall of the devil (the context of nine of the instances of the name is the “bowing” before Adam). When the angels were ordered to bow before the first man Adam (see bowing and prostration ), Iblīs refused ( q 2:34; 7:11; 15:31; 17:61; 18:50; 20:116; 38:74-5; see cosmology in the qurʾān ), citing the human's creation from clay as the reason (e.g. q 15:33: “I am not going to bow to man whom You have created from clay of moulded mud”). God then curses Iblīs, calling him “accursed,” rajīm ( q 15:34; 38:77, lit. “stoned,” also used in reference to al-Shayṭān and the shayāṭīn and symbolically as “accursed” but meant literally in the rituals of the pilgrimage [q.v.; ḥajj ]; see the commentary ( tafsīr) tradition on the istiʿādha [the statement said before reciting the Qurʾān, “I seek refuge with God from Satan, the accursed”], e.g. Ṭabarī, Tafsīr, i, 111-13, trans. J. Cooper, The commentary on the Qurʾān by Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, Oxford 1987, 46-7). God orders Iblīs “out” (of paradise presumably; q 15:34; 38:77) but the punishment promised to him (unspecified but cf. q 26:94-5: “they will be thrown into it [hell, q.v.], they and the perverse, and the hosts of Iblīs”) is delayed until the judgment day (see last judgment ), as a result of Iblīs's plea. Iblīs is given the power to lead astray (q.v.) those who are not followers of the true God ( q 15:39-40; 34:20-1). The name al-Shayṭān, however, is used in speaking of Iblīs' first act of temptation, when he tempts Adam and Eve to eat of the “tree of immortality” ( q 20:120-3; see also 7:20-2; see fall of man ).
Al-Shayṭān's role in scripture extends well ¶ beyond this one myth (see mythic and legendary narratives ), however, while the figure of Iblīs is confined to it. Iblīs may be characterized, then, as the one who is proud and disobedient (see disobedience; arrogance), while al-Shayṭān is the tempter, and it is in that role that the emphasis falls within other sections of the Qurʾān when al-Shayṭān is mentioned. It is notable that the two names, Iblīs and al-Shayṭān, are used within the same narrative ( q 2:30-9; 7:11-25; 20:116-23) in such a manner as to discount a simple blending of separate myths related to these two names; rather, the narrative appears integrated and the change in name is best interpreted to suggest that Iblīs gained the name al-Shayṭān after his disobedience, which is how the Muslim tradition has frequently understood it.
The details of the story of the fall of the devil are very similar to those found in Jewish and especially Christian apocryphal literature (and quite distinct from the sketchy story found in the biblical text itself; see scripture and the qurʾān ). The idea of the angels worshipping Adam and of the devil's refusal is found in the Life of Adam and Eve (written no later than 400 c.e.; see the introduction and translation by M.D. Johnston, in James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Garden City, NJ 1985, vol. 2, 249-95, esp. Vita 12:1-16:3) and the Questions of Bartholomew (likely third century c.e. in its original form) explains, among many details similar to the qurʾānic story, that the devil's refusal to bow was based on the objection that his essence was of fire (q.v.) as opposed to Adam's clay (q.v.; see the introduction and translation by F. Scheidweiler and W. Schneemelcher in W. Schneelmelcher (ed.), New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 1, Gospels and related writings, trans. R.M. Wilson, Louisville 1991, 537-53, esp. 4:54).
It is thus to al-Shayṭān that most of what ¶ have become the traditional characteristics of the devil are ascribed. He has the ability to cause fear ( q 3:175), cause people to slip ( q 2:36; 3:155), lead astray ( q 4:60), precipitate enmity and hatred ( q 5:91), make people forget ( q 6:68; 12:42; 18:63), tempt ( q 7:27; 47:25), and provoke strife ( q 17:53). He is described as a comrade to unbelievers ( q 4:38), a manifest foe ( q 7:22, 17:53, 43:62), an enemy ( q 12:5). Guile ( q 4:76), defilement ( q 8:11) and abomination ( q 5:90) are associated with him. The image of evil (see evil deeds ) as a “path,” like that of righteousness, is conveyed in q 7:16-7, “Said [the devil], ‘Now, for Your putting me out, I will sit in ambush for them on Your straight path. Then I will assault them from in front and from behind, from their right and their left.’” Al- Shayṭān also is spoken of as “taking steps” and his followers take steps towards him ( q 2:168, 208; 6:142; 24:21; see also 4:83). He is seen as an influence towards a number of specific as well as more general sins (see sin, major and minor ), actions which take people away from God. Among his tools to do this are several vocal attributes: He calls ( q 31:21), simply speaks ( q 14:22; 59:16), promises ( q 2:268), and whispers ( q 7:20; 20:120; see also 50:16; 104:4-5). The attributes, “the deluder” ( gharūr, q 3:33; 35:5; 57:14) and “the one who slinks or sneaks around” ( khannās, q 114:4) have particularly stuck with al-Shayṭān, such that they have even been used on occasion as proper names for particularly evil people.
The proper name al-Shayṭān may be distinguished from the qurʾānic plural usage shayāṭīn which is often thought to reflect Arabian notions of devils (although it is used in a sense which is not unknown within the biblical tradition as in the “adversaries” of 1 Sam 29:4). These “devils” can be humans or jinn ( q 6:112) and come in varying ranks (see spiritual beings ). The word is used to refer to the hosts of ¶ evil ( q 2:102; 6:121), the evil leaders among humans (e.g. q 2:14) and mischievous spirits very similar to jinn ( q 6:71; 21:82). They are the friends of the unbelievers ( q 7:27), they make evil suggestions ( q 23:97) and they were believed by Muḥammad's opponents to be the source of his inspiration ( q 26:210, 221; see opposition to muḥammad ).
In exegetical material and other literature reflecting more popular images, especially those associated with Ṣūfism, the qurʾānic predominance of the evil influence of al-Shayṭān on humans becomes overtaken by the personality of Iblīs, ultimately reaching the point of mystical meditation on the “disobedience of Iblīs.” This results from Iblīs's ascetic, worshipping nature (his refusal to bow down to Adam is an indication of how serious he took the command to worship God alone) and because of his personality which reflects human ambiguity and complexity (see ṣūfism and the qurʾān ). By no means is al-Shayṭān neglected, however, although the two names do become separated to some degree in later Islamic thought, such that al-Shayṭān is the force of malevolence (see good and evil ) and Iblīs more of a symbolic figure of human failings.
A good deal of discussion has taken place over the original nature of Iblīs (and, thus, al-Shayṭān). One statement in the Qurʾān suggest that he was a jinn ( q 18:50, “They bowed themselves save Iblīs; he was one of the jinn”); and yet he was among the angels when they were commanded to bow to Adam. Resolving this apparent inconsistency consumed many pages in classical Muslim writing and continues to vex polemicists today. The problem revolves around an understanding of the nature of the angels and the jinn. The angels were considered incapable of disobedience; being sinless and able only to follow God's will, they are unable to have offspring, and ¶ they were said to have been created from light (q.v.). The Qurʾān clearly indicates, however, that Iblīs was one of the jinn, that the jinn were made from fire ( q 55:15, “He created the jinn of a smokeless fire”), and that he has offspring ( q 18:50, “What, do you take him [Iblīs] and his seed to be your friends apart from Me while they are an enemy to you?”). To resolve the problem, many solutions were put forth, and they are gathered together in works such as al-Ṭabarī's (d. 310/923) History and most Qurʾān commentaries (mainly when dealing with q 2:34). One line of thought affirms Iblīs's angelic nature. The suggestion is made that jinn was a tribal or clan name of some of the angels (perhaps of the cultivators who lived on earth). The word jinn was also said to be derived from janna,paradise (q.v.) or garden (q.v.), and the jinn are a special class of angels in charge of access to paradise. In fact, Iblīs's downfall was the result of his pride (q.v.) at being in charge of everything between heaven and earth. On the other hand, some argued for Iblīs as a member of a distinct class of creation, the jinn. One story recounts that Iblīs was a jinn who was captured by the angels when young and raised by them. This was the result of a battle between the two groups. Among the many reports on the subject, al-Ṭabarī states, “God created the angels on Wednesday, he created the jinn on Thursday, and he created Adam on Friday…. Some jinn disbelieved, and the angels went down to them on earth to fight them. Thus, bloodshed (q.v.) and corruption (q.v.) came into being on earth.” (Ṭabarī, Taʾrīkh, i, 82, trans. Rosenthal, 253) and “the angels used to fight the jinn and Iblīs was taken captive. He was young and used to worship together with the angels” (i, 85, trans. 256). Popular imagination wound these and other such narrative fragments into an imaginative story to reconcile the various qurʾānic elements, although no consensus was truly reached as to the nature or origin of Iblīs.¶
- Bibliography
- Primary
Ṭabarī, Taʾrīkh, i, esp. 78-86, trans. F. Rosenthal, The history of al-Ṭabarī, volume 1, General introduction and from the creation to the flood, Albany 1989, 249-57
- Secondary
H. Algar, “Eblīs” in Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 7, fasc. 6
P.J. Awn, Satan's tragedy and redemption. Iblīs in Sufi psychology, Leiden 1983 (the fullest treatment of the devil in Islam, especially pp. 18-56 on qurʾānic commentaries and ḥadīth)
E. Beck, Iblis und Mensch, Satan und Adam. Der Werdegang einer koranischen Erzählung, in Muséon 89 (1976), 195-244
J. Chabbi, Le seigneur des tribus. L'islam de Mahomet, Paris 1997, 185-211
A. Eichler, Die Dschinn, Teufel und Engel im Koran, Leipzig 1928
F. Rahman, Major themes of the Qurʾān, Minneapolis and Chicago 1980, 121-31
H. Speyer, Die biblischen Erzählungen im Qoran, Gräfenhainichen 1931, esp. pp. 54-60
A.T. Welch, Allah and other supernatural beings. The emergence of the Qurʾānic doctrine of tawḥīd, in Journal of the American Academy of Religion (thematic issue) 47 (1979), 733-58
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