Iblīs is a figure occurring in the Quran in relation to the creation of Adam and the command to prostrate himself before him. After he refused, he was cast out of heaven. For many classical scholars, he was an angel, but regarded as a jinn in most contemporary scholarship. Due to his fall from God's grace, he is compared to Satan in Christian traditions. In Islamic tradition, Iblis is identified with Al-Shaitan. However, while Shaitan is used for an evil force, Iblis himself holds a more ambivalent role in Islamic traditions; the term Iblis may have been derived from the Arabic verbal root BLS ب-ل-س or بَلَسَ. Furthermore, the name is related to talbis meaning confusion. Another possibility is that it is derived from Ancient Greek διάβολος, via a Syriac intermediary, the source of the English word'devil'. Yet, another possibility relates this name back to the bene Elohim, identified with fallen angels in the early centuries, but had been singularised under the name of their leader. However, there is no general agreement on the root of the term.

The name itself could not be found before the Quran in Arabic literature, but can be found in Kitab al Magall. In Islamic traditions, Iblis is known by many alternative names or titles, such as Abu Murrah, adūw-Allāh or aduwallah and Abu Al-Harith. Although Iblis is compared to the devil in Christian theology, Islam rejects the idea that the devil is an opponent of God. Furthermore, there is no mention of Iblis trying to take God's throne. According to the Quran, he was banished due to his disdain for humanity, a narrative occurring in early apocrypha; as a mere creature, Iblis can not be the creator of evil in the world. Iblis is mentioned 11 times in the Quran by name, nine times related to his rebellion against God's command to prostrate himself before Adam; the term Shaitan is more prevalent. The different fragments of Iblis' story are scattered across the Quran. In the aggregate, the story can be summarized as follows:When God created Adam, He ordered all the angels to bow before the new creation.

All the angels bowed down. He argued that since he himself was created from fire, he is superior to humans, made from Clay-mud, that he should not prostrate himself before Adam; as punishment for his haughtiness, God banished condemned him to hell. Iblis made a request for the ability to try to mislead Adam and his descendants. God granted his request but warned him that he will have no power over God's servants. Sufism developed another perspective of Iblis' refusal by regarding Muhammed and Iblis as the two true monotheists. Therefore, some Sufis hold, Iblis refused to bow to Adam because he was devoted to God alone and refused to bow to anyone else. By weakening the evil in the Satanic figure, dualism is degraded, that corresponds with the Sufi cosmology of unity of existence rejecting dualistic tendencies; the belief in dualism or that evil is caused by something else than God if only by one's own will, is regarded as shirk by some Sufis. For Iblis' preference to be damned to hell, than prostrating himself before someone else other than the "Beloved", Iblis became an example for unrequited love.

A famous narration about an encounter between Moses and Iblis on the slopes of Sinai, told by Mansur al-Hallaj, Ruzbihan Baqli and Ghazzali, emphasizes the nobility of Iblis. Accordingly, Moses asks Iblis. Iblis replied that the command was a test. Moses replied Iblis was punished by being turned from an angel to a devil. Iblis responds, his form is just temporary and his love towards God remains the same. However, not all Sufis are in agreement with a positive depiction of Iblis. Rumi's viewpoint on Iblis is much more in tune with Islamic orthodoxy. Rumi views Iblis as the manifestation of the great sins of haughtiness and envy, he states: " intelligence is from Iblis, love from Adam." Iblis represents the principle of "one-eyed" intellect. Hasan of Basra holds that Iblis was the first who used "analogy", comparing himself to someone else, this causing his sin. Iblis therefore represents humans' psyche moving towards sin or shows how love can cause envy and anxiety. Islam differs in regard of Iblis' nature.

Scholars such as Tabari, Ash'ari, Al-Tha`labi, Al-Baydawi and Mahmud al-Alusi, regard him as an angel. Tabari argued for an angelic origin of Iblis in his tafsir: "The reason people held this opinion is that God stated in His Book that He created Iblis from the fire of the Samum and from smokeless fire, but did not state that He created the angels from any like of that, and God states he was of the jinn, so they said that it is not possible that he should be related to that which God does not relate him to. But these reasons only bespeak the weakness of these people's knowledge, for there is nothing objectionable in that God should have created the categories of His angels from all kinds of things that He had created: He created some of them from light, some of them from f

Ma Qixi, a Hui from Gansu, was the founder of the Xidaotang, a Chinese-Islamic school of thought. Ma was born into the family of a Táozhōu ahong of a Sufi order. At 11 years of age, he studied with a non-Muslim, an examination graduate at the private academy he attended, he was introduced to Fan Shengwu, whose school was at New Taozhou. Ma placed second in the Táozhōu examination and fourth in the prefectural examination in Gongchang, achieving the rank of xiucai, he studied the Han Kitab. Wang Daiyu, Ma Zhu, Liu Zhi, others had synthesized Confucianism with Islam. Ma believed, he opened Gold Star Hall at a gongbei of his menhuan. He taught Islam, Chinese curriculum, the Han Kitab. Ma became an independent instructor; the strife between Biezhuang and Hausi went to court in 1902, the Taozhou subprefect proscribed Ma's teachings and beat his followers. The verdict was reversed by a higher court sympathetic to the Xidaotang. Ma set up a mosque in Taozhou. Taking a cue from Laozi, the Daoist sage, Ma and several disciples—Ma Yingcai, Ma Jianyuan, Ding Zhonghe—went on a hajj to Mecca in 1905.

They were stuck in Samarkand, spent three years teaching among the Baishan Sufis. Ma Yingcai died on the journey. Main article: Xidaotang In 1909 Ma and the surviving disciples were welcomed back to Lintan by Ding Quande and his son Ding Yongxiang. Ma opened, he felt strong attachment to Chinese culture, when Qing fell in 1912, the Xidaotang men cut their queues and the women unbound their feet. In 1914, the Khafiya Sufi general Ma Anliang tried to exterminate the Ma. Ma's Arabic name was Ersa. Westerners called him "Prophet Jesus". Ma Anliang was jealous of the Xidaotang's success, so when the bandit Bai Lang attacked Gansu in 1914, Ma Anliang seized it as an excuse, his troops seized and shot Ma and 17 of his family and followers on the west river

Mary Stevens, M. D. is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film starring Lyle Talbot and Glenda Farrell. The film was based on the story by Virginia Kellogg, it was released by Warner Bros. in July 22, 1933. A female doctor who has romantic troubles decides to have a baby without the benefit of marriage. Mary Stevens and her old friend Don Andrews find themselves graduating from medical school at the same time, they decide to set up their respective medical offices in the same building. Mary builds her reputation despite many patients refusing to be treated by a woman. Don, begins dating Lois Cavanaugh, whose family is rich and influential, neglects his practice for the privileges of a social life. Despite Mary's love for Don, he sets up a new office with a high class clientele, he gives Mary a new office right next to his. Jealousy and mistrust drive Mary and Don apart for good. Two years go by and Mary, now a famous doctor, takes a much-needed vacation. While on vacation she runs into Don, now on the lam from the authorities.

Mary and Don have an affair, Don tries to get a divorce. Lois is willing but her father doesn't want the Cavanaugh name mixed up in any scandal, he clears Don's name and gets all charges against Don dropped, on the condition that Don will not divorce Lois for at least six months. When Mary finds herself pregnant with Don's child and Don unable to marry her, she must decide whether she should tell Don or raise the child on her own. While returning on a ship, several children develop polio including her baby, who dies 2 days before they dock. A despondent Mary saves a child in the final scene. Mary regains the couple reunite and the film ends on a happy note. Kay Francis as Mary Stevens Lyle Talbot as Don Glenda Farrell as Glenda Thelma Todd as Lois Harold Huber as Tony Una O'Connor as Mrs. Arnell Simmons Charles Wilson as Walter Rising Hobart Cavanaugh as Alf Simmons Mary Stevens, M. D. on IMDb Mary Stevens, M. D. at the TCM Movie Database