Encyclopedia of Islam

Sanusi Sufi Order

  See l

ibya

; 

renewal

 

and

 

reform

 

movements

.

Satan

In i

slam

 the devil is called both Satan (Arabic shay-

tan) and Iblis. These names occur in the q

Uran

and throughout Islamic religious literature. The 

two names developed out of pre-Islamic beliefs 

about evil beings and demons that circulated in 

Middle Eastern Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian 

communities. Zoroastrianism, which was the state 

religion of i

ran

 prior to the Islamic conquests of 

the seventh century, held that the universe was 

locked in a struggle between two supreme beings 

and their armies of angels and demons. The two 

deities are Ahura Mazda (Lord Wisdom), the 

benevolent creator god of goodness, light, and 

knowledge, and Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), the god 

of evil, darkness, and ignorance. At the end of time, 

with human assistance, Angra Mainyu and his 

minions would be defeated and goodness would 

reign. Scholars think that the Zoroastrian idea of 

an evil adversary of the good creator god may have 

influenced the theologies of other religions in the 

Middle East, including Judaism and Christianity.

The Hebrew word satan (accuser) occurs a 

number of times in the Old Testament, usually in 

reference to a human who acts as an adversary or 

accuser (for example, 1 Samuel 29:4). It is in the 

later books, however, that the word is used for a 

supramundane being, particularly in Job 1–2 and 

Zechariah 3. There he is depicted as an angelic 

member of God’s heavenly court who raises accu-

sations against human beings because of their 

sins. These books of the Hebrew Bible were writ-

ten between the sixth and fifth centuries 

b

.

c

.

e

., at 

the time of the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews 

of the Kingdom of Judah (586–537 

b

.

c

.

e

.) and the 

reign of Persian Achaemenid dynasty (648–330 

b

.

c

.

e

.). This dynasty supported Zoroastrianism and 

allowed Babylonian Jews to return to J

erUsalem

to rebuild their temple that the Babylonians had 

destroyed in 586, providing an opportunity for 

Zoroastrian beliefs to influence Jewish ones. The 

association of Satan with the serpent in the story 

of  a

dam

 

and

  e

ve

 does not occur in the Hebrew 

Bible; this association was made in later Christian 

writings. Satan as the enemy of God makes his 

first appearance in the Christian New Testament 

in the Gospels and the Book of Revelation. These 

writings identify him as a “tempter” (Matthew 

4:3), “the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24), 

and “the evil one” (1 John 5:18). He is also called 

the devil (diabolos accuser; for example, Matthew 

4:1), which is the word used for Satan in the Sep-

tuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. 

The Book of Revelation calls Satan the “ancient 

serpent” and “the devil,” who will first be bound 

by the 

angel

 of God for a thousand years, thrown 

into hell for a thousand years, then released in the 

last days before the Final Judgment (Rev. 20).

The two main stories involving Satan in the 

Quran are the ones about his rebellion against 

God and about his temptation of Adam and Eve 

in 

paradise

. In the first of these (related in Q 2:34; 

7:11; 15:31; 17:61; 18:50; 20:116; 38:74), God 

commands the angels to prostrate themselves to 

Adam when he is created. Satan refuses, unlike 

the others, and is expelled from paradise for 

his disobedience. Now called an ungrateful dis-

believer (

kafir

), God allows him to become an 

enemy and a deceiver of humanity until the J

Udg

-

ment

  d

ay

. The righteous, however, will be able 

to successfully resist his efforts to misguide and 

harm them. This story is not in the Bible, but a