and will surely lead them all astray.” He thus acknowledged that Allah had led him astray, then treated this as a motive requiring him, in turn, to lead Adam’s descendants astray. Iblīs was the first to show enmity towards Allah, to transgress with regard to His creation and command, and to oppose an explicit revealed text with analogical reasoning.

For this reason, some of the early generations said:

“The first to reason by analogy was Iblīs.”

Allah commanded him to prostrate before Adam, but he objected to this command, saying, “I am better than him,” and refused to prostrate. He was thus the first to show enmity towards Allah. He was ignorant and unjust: ignorant of the wisdom in Allah’s command, and unjust through his arrogance, which combined rejection of the truth with contempt for others.

Then, in saying to his Lord, “Because You have led me astray, I shall surely do such and such,” he made Allah’s action—His leading him astray—a justification and a motive for leading the children of Adam astray. In this, he impugned Allah’s action and command, alleging that it was reprehensible: “So I too shall do what is reprehensible.” He thus drew an analogy between himself and his Lord and likened himself to his Lord. In this way, he sought to imitate divine lordship, as is established in Sahīh Muslim, on the authority of Jābir, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Iblīs sets up his throne upon the sea, then sends out his troops. Those who cause the greatest turmoil are closest to him in rank. One of them comes and says, ‘I persisted with him until he did such and such.’ Then another comes and says, ‘I persisted with him until I separated him from his wife.’ He then embraces him, draws him close, and says, ‘You are the one! You are the one!’”