In Islam, the devil is not considered to be a Fallen Angel as it is believed in Christianity. The devil is part of a distinct species called Jinn. Muslims do not believe the devil to be evil but as someone who tempts humans to sin as he was made from fire himself (while mankind was made from clay). In Islam, the jinn is beings that are very similar to mankind as they drink, eat, and breed like humans but are never seen. Iblis is shown with darker wings and a tail such as seen in the Arabic manuscript of the Annals of al-Tabari [fig 6], which depicts Iblis (the devil) refusing to bow down to Adam after he has been created by God.[3]
In that image, the devil has much darker skin with crow-like feet, horns and partially naked with burned wings. In the image, the comparison between the Angels and Iblis is very drastic. It is also shown how Adam is pointing at Iblis and then at Angels to show that Iblis should bow down to him as the Angels did.[3] Iblis has refused to follow the command of God and hence has been punished. The artist recreates this scene by dehumanizing Iblis to show that if the will of God is not followed, there will be the consequence. Similarly, In Christianity, the devil is a fallen Angel, that defied God. Lucifer (and his followers) was always shown with a much darker skin complexion and almost disfigured with a wicked smile. This was done to show how its sinful ways have changed it from human-like (as most Angels were portrayed) to almost animalistic.[1] The idea by many artists was to show that while the devil may appear to be like us, it is now a disfigured being that is less humanoid for it has been cursed. The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Sebastiano Ricci depicts St. Michael [ fig 7] driving out the rebel Angels out of heaven. The rebels skin turns darker, their wings become bat-like and horns sprout from their head. The Angel Michael is depicted fully clothed while the rebel Angels are shown naked. The artist choice of depicting the rebel Angels with darker and no clothing is to dehumanize the rebels and to show that God has punished them for their insubordination, hence why their appearance was changed.
3. Francesca Leoni, “On the Monstrous in the Islamic Visual Tradition.”
4. Leo Tolstoy, et al. The Devil. Melville House Publishing, 2004.
