The Faces of a Rebellious Sage: The Depiction of Iblis in Perso-Islamic Miniatures

Persian mystics and Sufis, unlike the orthodox theologians, had an affinity and admiration for the Devil, known as Iblis. This fondness was more pronounced among the medieval Persian mystics who considered him to be a perfect Sufi, a true monotheist and a steadfast lover of the Divine. Their esoteric interpretation of the Qur’anic story about Iblis and his subsequent downfall was fundamentally different from that of the mainstream Muslim theologians and exegetes. According to these Persian mystics, Iblis’s refusal to prostrate himself before Adam, although exoterically considered an act of rebellion, was seen esoterically as the purest form of love and devotion to God which elevated him to the rank of saints. While the notion of the sainthood of Iblis is amply expounded upon in the works of many medieval Persian Sufis, including Husayn ibn Mansur Ḥallaj (d. 922), ‘Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani (d. 1131), and Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273), this paper proposes that the infatuation of Persian mystics with Iblis must have been more widespread than previously thought, influencing not only Persian mystical literature but also certain non-mystical genres such as historiography, romance, and folklore. This hypothesis can best be supported through the way in which Iblis is often depicted in the miniature paintings associated with those genres. In many of these paintings, Iblis is portrayed either as a respected Sufi sage (pir) or as a vagabond mystic (qalandar) whose antinomian demeanor reminds the reader of the blameworthy Sufis (malamatiyan) who, in order to annihilate their pride and subdue their ego, outwardly acted in heretical and sacrilegious ways, and welcomed public shaming and humiliation. This paper examines three main genres of illuminated manuscripts in which Iblis’s face is depicted. They include stories of the prophets (qisas al-anbiya), mystical romances, most importantly Majalis al-‘ushshaq of Kamal al-Din Gazurgahi (d. 1580), and finally numerous books of omens (Falnama). While the miniatures in these illuminated manuscripts belong to various geographical locations and time periods, the theme of Iblis as either an exoteric or esoteric saint is the common thread which binds them all to a singular leitmotif and that is the rebelliousness of Iblis. This paper argues that based on these depictions which appear in non-mystical manuscripts, the impact of the fascination of Sufis with Iblis was not restricted to Sufi literature but often permeated other genres of Perso-Islamic literary tradition which in turn influenced how Iblis was depicted.