Many scholars of Qur’anic exegesis state that the jinn were created before Adam (peace be upon him). Before their creation the earth was inhabited by the jinn and a race called the binn. Allah empowered the jinn over the binn; they killed them, cleared the earth of them, and settled there in their stead.
Al-Suddī, in his Tafsīr, narrates—through Abū Mālik, Abū Ṣāliḥ, Ibn ʿAbbās, Murrah, Ibn Masʿūd, and a number of Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)—that when Allah finished creating whatever He willed and rose over the Throne, He placed Iblīs in charge of the dominion of the lowest heaven. Iblīs belonged to an angelic tribe called “the jinn,” so named because they were the treasurers of Paradise. Serving as a treasurer, Iblīs thought to himself, “Allah has given me this position because I am superior to the angels.”
Al-Ḍaḥḥāk relates from Ibn ʿAbbās that when the jinn spread corruption on earth and shed blood, Allah dispatched Iblīs with a host of angels; they slew the offending jinn and drove them to islands in the seas.
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq reports—through Khallād, ʿAṭāʾ, Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās—that Iblīs’s name before he sinned was ʿAzāzīl. He dwelt on earth, was among the most industrious and knowledgeable of the angels, and belonged to a clan known as the jinn.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmits from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that his name was ʿAzāzīl and that he was one of the noblest angels, endowed with four wings.
Sunaid reports—through Ḥajjāj, from Ibn Jurayj—that Ibn ʿAbbās said: Iblīs was one of the highest-ranking angels and belonged to the most honored tribe; he served as treasurer over the Gardens and held authority over the lowest heaven and the earth.
Ṣāliḥ, the client of al-Tawʾamah, narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās that Iblīs governed everything between heaven and earth. Ibn Jarīr recorded this report.
Qatādah, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, said that Iblīs was the chief of the angels of the lowest heaven.
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, however, maintained that Iblīs was never an angel—not even for the blink of an eye. Rather, he is the progenitor of the jinn, just as Adam is the progenitor of humankind.