LOL so is it safe to say that Satan was the first ever apostate?
According to the myth the gist of it is as follows:-
Satan's "sin" is not that of apostasy because he believes in the existence of God. His sin is the one of arrogance and rebellion. Techinically, the reason his sin is such an enormity is that the arrogance was committed in divine presence. Whereas the muslim etc commits the sin in the "belief" that God is watching him, which gives the believer the impetus to ask for forgiveness "until" his death. If he persists in that until his death (such as apostasy) then there is no forgiveness.
Satan's amnesty or his request is that he should be kept alive in order to beguille the seed of Adam and lead them astray from the straight path. This can take many forms and usually has to do with whispering suggestions to the believer in which he violates some of the prohibitions that God has invoked. Now the question has nothing to do with whether or not the prohibition in itself makes sense, but has more to do with the willingness of the believer to submit to the prohibition and restrain himself from violating it. The job of Satan is to merely suggest not coerce. What Satan is trying to demonstrate is that the seed of Adam by it's very nature is ungrateful and that it won't be thankful to it's Lord.