Iblis

Iblis, (PROSE: The Book of the War, Head of State) also spelled Eblis and called Azazel, Shemjaza, (PROSE: The Book of the War) or Shaytan, (PROSE: Head of State) was the leader of the djinn in Arabic myth.

Azazel was said to be an angel born of fire (PROSE: The Book of the War) or made of fire without smoke. (PROSE: Head of State) According to the Book of Enoch, he led a group who rebelled against the non-interventionist ways of their people, the anakim or "watchers". 200 rebels descended from "the high place" to live among the people, passing down their knowledge and breeding with the mortals. However, their offspring were monsters, and the anakim fought, captured, and exiled the rebels. Azazel was suspended by one leg over the abyss, headfirst, for all eternity.

In Christian myth, the Azazel story was remembered as the fall of Lucifer and the rebel thrones from Heaven. The Yezidi narrative of the Peacock Angel, whom The Cult of the Peacock Angel described as a heroic military leader who rebelled against a stupid demiurge, also paralleled the Satan story. However, in Yezidi culture, the Peacock Angel was good, and the demiurge, represented by the bleached White Peacock, was evil.

In Arabic myth, Eblis was leader of the djinn, a group which were not angels but once stood by their side. However, when Eblis and the djinn refused to kneel to Adam, God exiled them from Heaven. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Similarly, in the Qu'ran the Shaytan was a djinn who rebelled against the authority of Allah. His only power was his patience, his cunning, and his ability to confuse mortal minds and turn them against Allah. Richard Francis Burton translated that in Arabic Iblis meant "he who causes despair", and Shaytan meant "the Enemy".

The first Wazir's tale in The Thousand and Second Night described that Iblis and the other djinn came from the world before the world, and by the grace of Allah they survived the destruction of that world before the first time. Because Iblis was proud and would not submit to Allah, he coveted the cauldron of creation which had also survived from the world before the world, and he persuaded the djinn to help him steal it from Jannat and bring it to Jahannam so he could rule. However, Allah formed his angels into five great tribes and many smaller tribes to fight the djinn, and they successfully defended the cauldron, even though many angels died and were feasted upon by the djinn. Finally, on the advice of one who was neither angel nor djinn, Allah hid the cauldron from the djinn by hiding it within the Earth, where it would be protected by humanity. Now unable to capture the cauldron directly, Shaytan sent djinn to breed with human women, producing monstrous children called the Mal'akh.

The first Wazir's tale predicted that angels would one day reclaim the cauldron and return it to Jannat. However, the third Wazir's tale, which he had learned by summoning the Shayatin, told of the angels' chosen warrior Sh'vay; the woman and city Civitata; Abdillah's killing of a djinn with a shadow-weapon he received from "the Allah-mother"; and, finally, the destruction of Jannat and the victory of Iblis. This tale corrupted the third Wazir and, when he became Shayk, like a Mal'akh he needed to feast on blood to survive. Richard Francis Burton received The Thousand and Second Night from the Lady of the Last Night, who had composed it to sway Dave Larsen into assassinating Matt Nelson; Burton denounced it as propaganda and hoped all copies of his translation were destroyed. (PROSE: Head of State)