And when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate yourselves to Adam: their prostrating to Adam represents their pliancy and their submissiveness to him and their being rendered obedient to him and at his disposal; so they prostrated themselves, except Iblīs, he refused and disdained: Iblīs is the illusory power because it does not belong to the [class of] purely earthly angels that are veiled from the ability to perceive meanings by perceiving forms so that it would [like these angels] yield to the overwhelming power of God out of obedience to His command; nor does it belong to the [class of] heavenly rational [angels] so that it would [like these] become aware of the noble status of Adam and in harmony with his intellect and thus yield out of love seeking divine approval. He [Iblīs] was of the jinn, that is, from among those of the lower angelic realm and the earthly power. He was reared and raised behind the backs of the heavenly angels because of his capacity to perceive meanings of particulars and his ascension to the horizon of reason; that is why compared to the intellect in man, he [Iblīs] was like the animals that are incapable of speech. His refusal is his non-submission to reason and his refraining from accepting its wisdoms; his disdain is his attempt to be superior to that which was created from clay and to the heavenly and earthly angels by not adhering to the limits of his ability to perceive those meanings of particulars that are attached to the impressions of the senses; [his disdain is also] his transgressing his condition by delving into rational meanings and universal rules; and so he became one of the disbelievers, who are pre-eternally veiled from the lights of the intellect and the coupled [lights] in addition to the light of unity.