Azazil (Arabic: عزازيلʿAzāzīl,Turkish:Azâzîl; also known inArabic: حارثḤārith) is a figure inIslamic tradition, and believed to be the original name ofIblis.[1] According to various Islamic beliefs,ʿAzāzīl was the master of theangels and the strongest and most knowledgeable of them, before his pride led to his downfall.[2][3]
ʿAzāzīl is mentioned in Islamic complementary narratives, such astafsīr (exegesis of the Quran) andQisas al-Anbiya. According to aḥadīth byibn Abbas, Satan was once an angel calledʿAzāzīl oral-Ḥārith. He states thatGod created most angels from "light" (Nūr), butʿAzāzīl and the angels with him from "poisonous fire" (nār as-samūm). Thedjinn were created from "a mixture of fire" (mārijin min nār).[4][5]
The djinn were the first to inhabit the world and God entrusted them to govern the earth. When corruption increased among them, God sent an army of angels under the leadership ofʿAzāzīl to punish them. After driving the djinn away,ʿAzāzīl grew arrogant. When God creates a successor to the djinn and commands the angels to prostrate themselves before the new creation,ʿAzāzīl refuses, claiming that he is better. Thereupon, he is condemned to hell.
The name resemblesAzazel, a fallen angel in theApocalypse of Abraham, and might be its etymological origin.[6] The name itself likely derives from Jewish sources, but Islamic sources appear to be the first to consider this to be the original name of Satan.[7]
Some scholars suggested that Muslims constructed the name independently from Jewish sources. Feinberg argues that the name relates to Arabic‘azala (to remove) and is given to this angel because he "removes or separates" by Muslim authors.[8] Some Islamic philologists construct his name from the wordsaziz andil (God's dear), meaning that his name derived from the meaning that he was once God's favorite angel.[9]
According to many Arabic scholars,ʿAzāzīl was the personal name of Satan (Iblis).Ibn Manzur[10] (June–July 1233 – December 1311/January 1312) writes in hisdictionary of the Arabic language:
"The word "إبليس" [(Iblis)] is from the root "بلس" [(BLS)]. The root may mean: to be silent. "أبلس من رحمة الله" means to be in despair of Allah's mercy, hence, the name إبليس (Iblis). His original name was Azazil. Allah has said in SurahAl-Rum "وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ ٱلسَّاعَةُ يُبْلِسُ ٱلْمُجْرِمُونَ" (On the Day that the Hour will be established, the guilty will be struck dumb with despair). The name "Iblis" is derived from the root, بلس , as he is in despair of Allah's mercy" -Ibn Mandhur, Lisan Al-Arab, Vol.6/29
Sunni exegetical tradition can be divided into two camps in regards on the identity of Satan. This dispute roots back to the formative stage of Islam.[4] When Surahal-Kahf states, in reference to Satan, "(...) he was one of the jinni (...)", the strand ofHasan al-Basri andibn Abbas differ in meaning. According to al-Basri, angels are infallible.[11] Thus, he argues, Satan could not have been an angel.[12] Instead, the verse is supposed to mean that Satan is one of the djinn, distinct from the angels.[4]
According to ibn Abbas, the term is interpreted asjinān, meaning that Satan was "an inhabitant of paradise" (i.e. an angel).[13] At that time, he was appointed by God as the ruler of the lower heavens and sent to judge the djinn, until they became corrupt and was commanded to eliminate them.[14][15] Ibn Abbas further explains that Satan's angelic name wasʿAzāzīl. However, afterʿAzāzīl was banished from heaven, his name is changed toIblīs and is turned into a "cursed demon" (shayṭān rajim).
He is further blamed to claim divine authority for himself by calling for obedience among God's creation.Surah al-’Anbiyā (26-29) is understood as a reference to Satan:[4]
"And they say, "The Most Merciful has taken a son." Exalted is He! Rather, they are [but] honored servants. They cannot precede Him in word, and they act by His command. He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they cannot intercede except on behalf of one whom He approves. And they, from fear of Him, are apprehensive. And whoever of them should say, "Indeed, I am a god besides Him" - that one We would recompense with Hell. Thus do We recompense the wrongdoers."[16]
Unlike the tradition of al-Basri, ibn Abbas' interpretation accepts that angels can sin and be expelled from heaven.[4] This interpretation is favored inSunni tradition by scholars such asTabari,Suyuti, andNasafi.[4]
Al-Hallaj (c. 858 – 922) mentionsʿAzāzīl in hisKitāb al-Tawāsīn. Here,ʿAzāzīl's disobedience to refuse God's command is described as way to hallow God's name. According to him,ʿAzāzīl proved loyalty to God by declining to bow before Adam. Chapter Six is dedicated to the self-defence ofʿAzāzīl, and in one section Hallaj explains how each of the letters ofʿAzāzīl's name relate to his personality. Unlike many other Sufi writers, Hallaj rejected thatʿAzāzīl could be restored to God's grace, insisting on Satan's damnation.[17] He argues that, sinceʿAzāzīl originated from fire, fire must be his final destiny.[18]
ʿAzāzīl is also mentioned three times inRumi's Masnavi, as a reminder for the Muslim to exercise discipline and humility, since whenʿAzāzīl acted arrogantly, he was abandoned to hell in spite of his former high position:
Through discipline and humility this heaven has been filled with light, and through discipline the angel became immaculate and holy. By reason of irreverence, the sun was eclipsed, and insolence caused Azazil to be turned back from the door.[19]
Al-Jili describes angels (malāʾikah) and devils (shayāṭīn) as manifestations ofGod's attributes. While the good angels are made fromlight in order to guide humanity,ʿAzāzīl and his angels are created as reflecting God's names of majesty, darkness and misleading.[20] As an angel of single-minded devotion,ʿAzāzīl fails to realize that bowing before Adam in accordance with God's command is equal as bowing to God himself.[21][22]ʿAzāzīl and his angels were reduced to the principle of evil, when they rejected repentance and justified their persistence by their creation from fire.[23]
Inayat Khan (1882 – 1927), a pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West, similarly teaches thatʿAzāzīl is a devil leading astray from the way of God. He states that evil actions performed by people attract the spirit ofʿAzāzīl (or his minions) who in turn leads them further astray into darkness and wrong actions.[24]ʿAzāzīl is the worst of the tempters, since the fallen angel has the power to lead even saints astray, however, still fails against the prophets.[25]
Similar to the Sunni tradition,Shia exegesis on the events mentioned in Surah 2:30-34 revolves aroundAdam's role as a "successor" (ḫalīfa). Both conjecture that Adam is a successor to thedjinn, whose rulings over the earth was put to an end by the angels on God's behalf. The angels drew a parallel between Adam and the impious djinn when questioning God's decision to create humanity.[26]Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qummi attributes this account through a lineage ofprevious Imams until it reachesAli.[27]
In the treatiseItbad al wasiyya, not an exegetical work but legitimation of the Twelve Imams,[28] God created the djinn andnasnas on earth. When the djinn and nasnas caused corruption and bloodshed, God sends down an army of angels. The leader of the angels wasʿAzāzīl.ʿAzāzīl and his angels deported the djinn and nasnas to the edge of the world. whereasʿAzāzīl and his companions settled on the central part of the earth.ʿAzāzīl became the ruler of the earth and pretended to be of angelic quality outwardly but disobeyed God inwardly.ʿAzāzīl ruled for 7000 years until God ordered the angels of heaven to look at earth again. The angels were appalled by the destruction occurring on earth. After that, God announces to create a successor to the angels.[29]
InUmm al-Kitab, an 8th-centuryIsmaili work,ʿAzāzīl is the first creation of God, theHigh King. God gave him the power of creation, butʿAzāzīl boasted with his loaned power, claiming divinity for himself, describing himself as another God beside the High King. To prove thatʿAzāzīl's creation only depends on the power of his own creator, God makes a new creation, opposed byʿAzāzīl. Every time,ʿAzāzīl again claims to be like God, he and his fellow angels lose colour, becoming darker and inferior and are thrown into lower celestial spheres until they end up on earth, which is made out of the essence ofʿAzāzīl's creations.[30][31]
Iblīs enters the scene only later, as a result of the sins of the former heavenly creatures. For that reason,Iblīs does not know the world of light and is utterly evil. For this reason, evil is always associated with ignorance.[32]
In the tenth-century workKitāb al-Šaǧara satans (abālisa) and devils (shayāṭīn) are described as forces who obstruct people from learningesoteric knowledge (ʿilm al-bāṭin) of the Quran.[33] Each prophet has to face a unique incarnation of the devilish principle.[34]ʿAzāzīl is the first satan (iblīs) and his disciple (šayṭān) is theQuranic Cain.[35]
Bektashi Alevism, despite itsheterodox, believes in angels similar to Sunnis.[36] As in the Quranic tradition, angels are ordered to prostrate themselves, but Azazil refuses.[37] In the Alevi interpretation, however, the prostration was toAli.[38]
In a creation story, the archangels are ordered to bow before a mystical light. After Azazil served God for 1001 days, he refused to bow down, claiming independency of his creator out of pride.[39] Whereupon, he is, unlike the other archangels, not allowed to enter the light and remains in the world of the "Evil Self".[40][41] This event later manifests in the enmity between the Devil and humanity.[42]
