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| Harut and Marut in Their Forever Well (1703) |
Do you think black magic is good? In the Quran, two angels, Hārūt and Mārūt, used to teach black magic, to people in Babylon. They would teach magic spells intended to break up peoples' marriages. The angels learned this magic from devils:
They followed what the devils used to recite in the reign of Sulaimān (Solomon); and it was not Sulaimān who became an infidel, but the devils did become infidels, teaching people magic, and what had been sent down to the two angels, Hārūt and Mārūt, in Babylon. And these two did not teach anyone without first having said (to him), “We are but a trial, so do not go infidel.” Then, they used to learn from them that with which they could cause separation between a man and his wife. But they were not to bring harm through it to anyone without the will of Allah. They used to learn what harmed them and did no good to them; and they certainly knew that he who buys it has no share in the Hereafter. And, indeed, vile is the thing for which they sold themselves away. If only they knew!
Quran 2:102, Usmani
According to the Quran, these beings were angels [1]. Angels in Islam are beings who act in total obedience to Allah. They have no free will:
O you who believe, save yourselves and your families from a fire, the fuel of which is human beings and stones, appointed on which are angels, stern and severe, who do not disobey Allah in what He orders them, and do whatever they are ordered to do. Quran 66:6
Of the type of magic, Tafsir al Qurtubi says that, “People learned from the angels how to separate a man and his wife”. The teaching of black magic was apparently meant to be a "test":
… They taught not any man without them saying by way of counsel ‘We are but a temptation a trial from God for people so that He may test them when they are taught it whoever learns it is a disbeliever but whoever renounces it he is a believer; do not disbelieve’ by learning it; if this person refused and insisted on learning it they would teach him.
This Quran story has serious problems with it. In Islam, sorcery is serious sin. Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 2:102 says that learning magic is kufr (unbelief), citing this authentic hadith that Abu Bakr Al-Bazzar recorded from `Abdullah:
Whoever came to a soothsayer or a sorcerer and believed in what he said, will have disbelieved in what Allah revealed to Muhammad.
Sahih al-Bukhari 6857, Book 86, Hadith 79 classes sorcery as one of the “seven great destructive sins”. Practicing magic was punished with death:
Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sad ibn Zurara that he had heard that Hafsa, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, killed one of her slave-girls who had used sorcery against her. She was a mudabbara. Hafsa gave the order, and she was killed. …
The two angels were leading people into disbelief by tempting them into using black magic. By learning black magic, people would become unbelievers. This is a bad look for Allah’s angels.
Ibn Kathir tries to cover for the Quran here. It claim that the angels didn't actually teach the magic. The angels instead instructed prospective magicians to go to a separate place where the magic was being taught, by Satan. But the Quran does not say this.
It makes no sense for good angels to teach black magic. Is it good to teach others how to sin, how to do evil, how to disobey God? (For all sin is disobedience to God.) Is it good to teach someone how to rob a bank? No.
Hārūt and Mārūt's "test" was leading people astray. These angels were not good. They were at best "fallen angels". Another word for such creatures is demons. The Quran's angels are demons.
In the true scriptures, angels bring blessings and peace. When the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, he said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God." (Luke 1:30). To Mary, this angel says:
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:31-33
The angels revealed the Son of God, the one who would reign forever, even one who would "save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).
Muslim friends, come something better. In the true scriptures, it is written that "there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10). Come to a God whose angels do not lead people astray. Come to a God whose angels rejoice when sinner turn to Him. Come to Jesus.
[1] In commentary Tafsif al Jalalayn of Quran 2:102, one account claims that these were merely men, but another account say they were angels. Tafsir al Qurtubi specifically says the claim that the sorcerers refer to "two kings" is weak.
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