Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
Iblis was not one of the angels; rather, he was from the jinn, as the Quran explicitly states. His origin of creation also differs from that of the angels: the jinn were created from fire, while the angels were created from light. Likewise, Iblis disobeyed Allah’s command, whereas Allah described the angels as not disobeying Him in what He commands them.
The clearest evidence regarding the true nature of Iblis is Allah’s statement:
﴿And [remember] when We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam,” so they prostrated, except for Iblis. He was of the jinn, and he defiantly disobeyed the command of his Lord.﴾
[Al-Kahf: 50]
The verse explicitly states that Iblis was from the jinn.
Al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “Iblis was never one of the angels, not even for the blink of an eye.” He also stated that Iblis was the origin of the jinn, just as Adam, peace be upon him, was the origin of mankind.
As for his being included in the command to prostrate along with the angels, this does not mean that he was one of them. Rather, he was commanded to prostrate with them. When he refused, he deserved blame and punishment.
There is a clear difference between the origin of Iblis’s creation and that of the angels.
Allah says concerning the jinn:
﴿And He created the jinn from a smokeless flame of fire.﴾
[Ar-Rahman: 15]
And Iblis said about himself:
﴿You created me from fire and created him from clay.﴾
[Al-A'raf: 12]
It is authentically reported from Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“The angels were created from light, the jinn were created from a smokeless flame of fire, and Adam was created from what has been described to you.”
Narrated by Muslim.
This demonstrates the difference between the origin of the angels’ creation and the origin of the jinn, to whom Iblis belongs.
Another distinction is that Iblis disobeyed Allah’s command and refused to prostrate before Adam out of arrogance.
As for the angels, Allah described them by saying:
﴿They do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded.﴾
[At-Tahrim: 6]
Thus, Iblis’s refusal to prostrate, his arrogance, and his defiance of the command of his Lord are consistent with what the Quran tells us: that he was from the jinn, not from the angels.
Some reports circulate claiming that Iblis was called “the peacock of the angels,” or that he was one of the keepers of Paradise, along with many other details concerning his status before his disobedience.
However, these reports have not been established through authentic evidence, and many of them are derived from Isra’iliyyat.
Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, pointed out that many of the reports concerning the story of Iblis are from the Isra’iliyyat, and that the Quran suffices us with regard to what has not been authentically established.
Therefore, matters concerning the unseen should be restricted to what has been authentically established in the Quran and the authentic Sunnah.
Iblis was not an angel; rather, he was from the jinn, according to the explicit wording of the Quran. This is also supported by the difference in the origin of his creation from that of the angels: he was created from fire, whereas they were created from light. It is further supported by his disobedience to Allah’s command, while Allah described the angels as not disobeying Him.
As for the reports describing Iblis as “the peacock of the angels” or claiming that he was one of them, they cannot be relied upon in establishing matters of creed.
And Allah knows best.