Correcting The Biblical Perspective

Satan is spelled in classical Arabic as shaytaan derived from the verb shatana meaning ‘he was [or became] remote’ meaning his becoming farthest from divine mercy and remote from all that is good and true. As per Islamic traditions, before his banishment from the heavens, satan’s real name was Azazil and he was born among the jinns on earth, was extremely pious and renown for Allah’s worship that he was given a spiritual status high enough that placed him among the heavenly angels.

Allah ﷻ has given free will to two types of creation on earth: humankind and jinns. Just as humans exercise their freedom of will, similarly the jinns can do it as well. Satan or Iblees (one of his names in Quran) was a jinn and not an angel who do not have a free-will, as clearly mentioned in the Quran: “AND [remember that] when We told the angels, ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam,’ they all prostrated themselves, save Iblis: he was one of those jinns, but then he turned away from his Sustainer command.” Jinns are a separate creation from the angels as taught in the Quran unlike Bible that does not distinguish this fact. The concept of angels having free will appears in the bible which confuses everything like angels becoming devils due to freedom of will to reject God's commandments. A believer of this biblical concept may very well doubt the authenticity and protection of revelation and guidance process, because God always assigned angels to deliver His messages to the Prophets. It is because of this many Jews and Christians believe satan is a ‘fallen angel’ and in their ignorance also believe that he disguised himself as Archangel Gabriel and appeared to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, thus concluding that he was a false prophet.