What was the real cause for Satan’s disobedience?

It is commonly misunderstood that Satan became a disbeliever, and we find in Surah al Baqarah for example when Allah describes Satan refusing to bow fasajadoo illa ibleesa kaana minal kaafireen.[1] That they all prostrated, the angels all prostrated except for Iblees who was a disbeliever - kaana minal kaafireen. People commonly misunderstand thinking that the reason why Satan became a disbeliever was because he refused to bow. That seemed to be the obvious reason. Now the reality is that this is not the case. Satan’s refusal to bow is an act of disobedience. That act of disobedience in and of itself cannot make him a disbeliever just as Adam and Eve’s عليهم السلام disobedience. When they disobeyed God, they didn’t become disbelievers. And if disobedience meant disbelief, then it would mean that the vast majority of us human beings, we are all disbelievers because we all make acts of disobedience. We all disobey God at some point in our lives. If not daily, regularly. Now we don’t become disbelievers because of acts of disobedience. This is a basic principle in the Islamic teachings and that’s why there is repentance which wipes out the disobedience, the acts of evil. In fact even doing righteous deeds as Allah said in the Qur'an innal hasanat yuzhibna assayyi’aat,[2] ‘good deeds erase evil deeds’. So where in fact did Satan become or where and why did in fact Satan become a disbeliever?

Now the reality is that his disbelief was due to his attribution of oppression to God. This is where his disbelief came. How is that? Well, when Iblees said to God “I am better than Adam عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ. You created me from fire and You created him from clay”, what is he saying here? ‘I am better than him therefore I should not prostrate to him, in fact he’s the one who should be prostrating to me. Therefore the fact that You are telling me to prostrate to him, this is wrong, this is error’. So in his refusal, he’s in fact telling God and this is how he argued, I’m better than him. He’s telling God You are wrong in asking me or telling me to prostrate to Adam عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ.

And furthermore when God cursed him, he further challenged God give me a chance until the day that they are resurrected and I will send them all astray. He’s firm in his disobedience. Adam عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ on the other hand when he disobeyed, he turned back to God in repentance and God forgave him. But not Iblees. Iblees was firm in his disobedience and this is the difference amongst people. You’ll find people who commit errors and they’re willing to accept their errors and to try to work their way out of it, get God’s forgiveness etcetera. And you have others who commit evil, make errors and they don’t want to recognize it. They look at themselves as being in the right so for them evil has become good and good has become evil.

So what we find then, is that Iblees or Satan’s disobedience did not lead to his disbelief, but the rationale behind it. The reasoning and the belief he had regarding it that God had in fact oppressed him. God had in fact, was unfair to require of him to bow to Adam عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ. This is where the issue of disbelief comes. He’s attributing to God error, misjudgment, lack of wisdom etcetera. All this going against the basic attributes of Allah; As He describes himself being the Most Just, the Best of Judges etcetera. So Iblees’s disobedience was not in fact the source of his disbelief but his attribution of oppression and wrongness to God, this is where the act of disbelief comes.

References:

[1] (Qur’an 2:34)

[2] (Qur’an 11:114)