This image is a horrid dream that has taken shape. On the right, Adam is poised above the Earth, as the host all obey God's command to bow in respect ('sujud') to him. Iblis, on the left, refuses the order, and has assumed this vile form as part of his curse and exile. Perhaps symbolically, Iblis stands with his bare feet on soil at the base of a tree. His long, curved finger points to Adam.
Read Francesca Leoni's "The Monstrous in the Islamic Visual Tradition."
