In the Sufi tradition of Islam, the role of Satan takes a very different direction than other Abrahamic traditions. Called Iblis, this angel is a true monotheist – unlike all the other angels, Iblis refused to prostrate himself to Adam. True, God had commanded the angels to do so, but whereas in most branches of Islam, the action comes out of haughtiness (after all, angels were made out of fire, which everyone knew was superior to the mud that humans were made from), in Sufism Iblis declines because he only wants to bow before God. He works in hell as a devoted servant, willing to be separated from the presence of “the Beloved” to fulfil God’s wishes. This miniature illumination front _The Annals of Al-Tabari_, dating from the ninth century CE, shows Iblis on the left, refusing to bow.
