Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

56 THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
"enmity between Him and you and your fathers
"through his pretensions, and he overcame you
the Devil). God forbade them to shed the blood of beasts
and to revolt, but they did shed blood and waged wars
among themselves. When Iblis saw these things he prayed
that God would take him up to heaven, and when He had
done so, he united his earnest praises unto those of the angels.
Then God sent down to earth a company of angels who
drove some of the genii into the isles of the sea, and others
they slew. Now IbUs, who had been appointed by God to be
the guardian of that part of the sky which was near the earth,
allowed his heart to become puffed up by pride, and when God,
Who, having formed the body of Adam out of red and white
clay, wished to animate it with the breath of life, ordered
the angels to bow down before Adam, they all obeyed with
the exception of Iblis, who said, "Lord, I am better than
he, for me Thou didst create out of fire, and him Thou hast
made of clay, and fire is more noble than clay. Thou hast
made me Thy vicar upon earth, I have wings and a halo
of hght, and my head is crowned with glory: it is I who
have worshipped Thee in heaven und upon earth." God said
unto him, "Depart from this place, for thou shalt be stoned,
f^^j), and may My curse rest upon thee until the day of
judgment." Then Iblis demanded a respite until the day
of the resurrection, and God granted it unto him until the
day of the determined time ^y-aJbl CUs_jJ\ ^^^ It was thus
that the name Iblis obtained the sense of Diaholos which
has been given to it. And Iblis said to God, "By Thy power
do I swear, that I will surely seduce them," and God said,
"I will surely fill hell with thee, and with such as follow
thee." See Mas'udi (ed. B. de Meynard), torn. I. pp. 50—54;
zxiiiKurdn, XXXVIII. 77ff. According to another tradition,
the Devil, being refused entrance into Paradise by the guards,
begged of the animals, one after another, to carry him in,
that he might speak to Adam and his wife; but they all