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Originally Posted by Shivani Devi
This is exactly what I was going to say.
I was taught that Lucifer was expelled from Heaven because he loved God so much, he refused to bow to Adam over God.
This is showing two things...
Firstly, that God loves us so much that He bows to us and expects His Angels to do likewise. We are the pinnacle of God's creation...His 'pride and joy' as it were, but when Lucifer took one look at how we treat each other, he basically said "why should I worship such imperfect beings as these over one who I believed was perfect, but who is now showing imperfection by creating and placing such faith in these pitiable creatures?"
Secondly, that one should not ignore worshiping the God IN man, and loving/serving their fellow beings over just loving and worshiping God Himself and even I am guilty of this and so, this story also carries with it a personal message.
Over time, the fallen angel Lucifer became associated with Satan or the Devil, but one would think the Christians would come up with a better title than the 'Bearer of Light' because that's God's job and Satan would be the "Bringer of Darkness" and so, I never felt comfortable with the whole Lucifer story.
Having said that, 'Satan' is just as much a personification as 'God' is, because to treat Satan as a metaphor for something, the same must also apply to God...and you would also think that God, being omnipotent and all, means that He also created Satan and is fully aware of what is going on, or else it's a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing.
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Did you hear this version from Sufi's? It is very different to the Jewish/Christian idea.
Jesus is recorded in the bible as being actively against Satan a number of times, in his 3 temptations, and when Peter is telling him he doesn't have to die and rise again Jesus says "get thee behind me Satan," because going with Peter's idea is going against God's plan.
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Many Christians believe the Devil was once a beautiful angel named Lucifer who defied God and fell from grace. This assumption is often based the book of Isaiah in the Bible which says, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations." Some biblical scholars, however, claim Lucifer isn’t a proper name but a descriptive phrase meaning “morning star.” Still, the name stuck and the Devil is often referred to as Lucifer.
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I think Islam took quite a lot from Jewish texts and some from the new testament as well, though they mostly put their own spin on it.
With regard to God creating Satan, in Christianity the point is we are given free will to choose between God and Satan, Satan had this choice as well, God or self. God doesn't control people (or angels apparently), people are always free to choose, but Satan does want to control what people do, and perhaps he has the ability to make his followers do what he wants them to do. This last bit is debateable though.