The Devil (Javid play)

Iblis (Azerbaijani: İblis / ابلیس) is a verse play (verse dram), tragedy in four acts of an Azerbaijani poet and playwright Huseyn Javid, written in 1918. Ideological credo of Javid is revealed in the play, a mystic flaw is strongly expressed and the poet's thoughts about a problem of human's happiness followed by the imperialistic war are reflected in the poem.

Initially the tragedy was staged in 1920, by Abbas Mirza Sharifzadeh. It is noted that, at the beginning of the 1920s the play had a great success. “Iblis” is considered as the first verse play of Azerbaijan, which was put on the stage. It is also noted that the play is significant not only for its complex philosophic character, and also for a romantic style.

The play was published in 1924, for the first time. Later, it was published in 1927, 1959, 1969, 1982, 2001 and 2005. In the Small Soviet Encyclopedia of 1931, the work was called a poem. It is considered one of the best plays of Huseyn Javid.