Iblis

Iblis is the proper name of the being who refused to prostrate — derived from a root meaning 'despair of Allah's mercy.' He was among the jinn who had worshipped alongside the angels for so long that he had risen to their level in the celestial hierarchy. But his worship had fed pride rather than humility, and when the moment of test came, his hidden disease became visible. His refusal was grounded in a single argument: 'I am better than him — You created me from fire and created him from clay.' Ibn Kathir uses this to illustrate how theological error and moral failure are inseparable — his wrong belief about his own superiority produced his wrong action.

As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Kathir and the scholars of his school.