The Story of Harut and Marut
There are some Jewish sources which contain the story of Harut and Marut. As-Suyuti reports in ad-Durr al-Manthur com- mentating on the words of Allah Almighty in Surat al-Baqara, "what had been sent down to the two angels in Babylon, Harut and Marut...." (2:102): "There are many transmissions and extraordinary stories related from Ion 'Umar, Ibn Mas'ud, 'Ali. Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid, Ka'b, ar-Rabi and as-Suddi. Ibn Jarir at- Tabari relates them in his Tafsir, as do Ibn Mardawayh, al-Hakim, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Dunya, al-Bayhaqi, and al-Khatib in their tafsirs and books."
The basic picture gained from these accounts is that when peo- ple among the descendants of Adam fell into acts of disobedience and disbelief in Allah, the angels in heaven said, "O Lord. You created this world for people to worship You and obey You and now they have committed acts of disobedience and rebellion and taken lives which they had no right to take, consumed property unlawfully, stolen, committed fornication and drunk wine." They began to curse them and did not find any excuse for them. It was said to them, "They are unaware," but they still did not excuse them.
One of the transmissions says that Allah said to them, "If you had been in their place, you would have done the same as them." They said, "Glory be to You! That would not be something we would do." Another transmission has, "They said, "No." It was said to them, "Choose two angels from among yourselves whom I will command and forbid to disobey Me."
They chose Harut and Marut, who went down to earth and appetites were created in them. They were commanded to worship Allah and not to associate anything with Him and they were for- bidden to take life without legal right to do so, and to consume unlawful property, steal, commit fornication or drink wine. They
remained in that way on earth for a considerable time, judging people by the Truth.
During that time, there was a woman whose beauty among peo- ple was like that of Venus among the stars. The two angels tried to seduce her but she refused unless they would submit to her author- ity and her religion. They asked her about her religion and she pro- duced an idol for them. They said, "We cannot worship this," and they left and worshipped as Allah wished.
Then they came to her again and spoke humbly to her and tried once more to seduce her. Again she refused unless they took on her religion and worshipped the idol which she worshipped. They refused, and when she saw that they refused to worship her idol, she said to them, "Choose one of three things either worship this idol, kill someone, or drink this wine. They said, "None of them is good but the least bad of the three is drinking the wine." So she gave them wine to drink until they were completely under its influ- ence. A man passed by while they were doing this and they were afraid that he would give them away so they killed him.
When the state of intoxication left them, they realised what a terrible mistake they had made and tried to ascend back up to heaven but they were unable to do so. Then the veil between them and the inhabitants of the heavens was removed. The angels looked at the wrong actions they had done and realised that those who are unaware are lacking in fear. After that they began to ask forgiveness for the people of the earth.
After they had committed this error, the two angels were told to choose between the punishment of this world and the punishment of the Next. They said, "The punishment of this world comes to an end, whereas the punishment of the Next world lasts forever." So they chose the punishment of this world and they were sent to Babel where they were punished by being suspended upside down by their feet.
In one transmission, it says that they taught the woman the word by which she could ascend to heaven and she ascended and Allah transformed her and she became the star known as Venus!
All this is part of the myths and lies of the tribe of Israel and is not corroborated either by intellect or transmission or Shari'a.
Some of the transmitters of this false fiction even go so far as to ascribe its transmission to some of the Companions and Followers but in doing so they enter the arena of sin and shameful crime and at the same time connect this lie to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, by taking it back to him. Glory be to You, my Lord, above and beyond this terrible lie
Imam Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi gave a judgement about this story, and ash-Shihab al-'Iraqi writes that anyone who believes that Harut and Marut were two angels who are being punished for their sin has disbelieved in Allah Almighty,
Qadi "Iyad said in ash-Shifa", "What is said in the reports and commentaries about the story of Harut and Marut does not relate anything, either sound or weak, from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, himself, and there is nothing which is taken by analogy." A similar judgement was made by Ibn Kathir in respect of tracing the material in this story back to the Prophet.
As for what does not go back to the Prophet, it is clear that it originates in the transmissions of the Jewish material taken from Ka'b and others. It is the heretics of the People of the Book who connected them to Islam. Thus accurate commentators, who are skilful in recognising the sources of the deen, refute them. Their intellects refuse to accept these myths, as do those of others such as Imam ar-Razi, Abu Hayyan, Abu's-Su'ud, al-Alusi, and others.
Furthermore, even from a rational point of view these transmis- sions are unsound. The angels are protected from all wrong action let alone these things which would not even issue from an evil human being. Allah informs us that the angels "do not disobey Allah in anything He commands them and they do everything they are commanded to," as is related in some transmissions which I indicated previously and in the words of Allah Himself.
Another of these transmissions has Allah saying to them, "II tested you in the same way I tested the tribe of Adam, you would also disobey Me." They said, "If You were to do that, O Lord, we would certainly not disobey You!" To refute the words of Allah constitutes disbelief. Any human being who possesses knowledge of Allah and His attributes is free of that, let alone the angels. And how could a corrupt woman ascend to heaven and become a radi- ant star! What is that star which they claim to be Venus and at the same time a woman? She would have had to have been trans- formed on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth!
These myths are not corroborated either by sound transmission or sound reason. Not only that but they differ from what has become clear certainty through the knowledge of modern scien- tists. I do not understand what our position is supposed to be in respect of the astronomers and cosmologists since we do not repu- diate these myths and are either silent about them or support them!
The true interpretation of the ayat mentioning this story
My concern in this book is not only to completely destroy and nullify these Israeli tales and myths, but also to explain these words, which have been twisted from their correct meaning, in a sound and scientific way corroborated by sound transmission and sound reason, and also the foregoing and subsequent passages, so that the reader will be increased in certainty. Allah says:
"They follow what the shaytans recited during the reign of Sulayman. Sulayman did not reject but the shaytans did reject and taught people sorcery and what had been sent down to the two angels in Babylon, Harut and Marut. They taught no one until they had told him. 'We are merely a trial and a temptation, so do not reject. From the two of them people learned how to separate a man from his wife. They do not harm anyone by it, except with the permission of Allah. They have learned what will harm them and bring them no benefit. They know that anyone who deals in it will have no share in the Next World. How evil the thing for which they have sold themselves if they only knew." (2:102)
There is nothing in this noble ayat which gives any indication whatsoever of this disreputable story. That was not the reason for
the sending down of the ayar. The reason was that the shaytans in that distant time used to eavesdrop in the heavens and then add lies to what they had heard, which they would then pass on to the soothsayers and rabbis of the Jews. They, in turn, would record these fabrications in the books they read and taught to other peo- ple.
This spread in the time of Sulayman, peace be upon him, to the point that people said, "This is the science of Sulayman, and the kingdom of Sulayman was only made possible by it. It was by this means that he subjugated men and jinn and the wind which ran at his command." This is one of the lies the Jews told about the Prophets. Allah accused them of lying when He says, "Sulayman did not reject but the shaytans did reject and taught people sor- cery."
Then He adds to that, "and what had been sent down to the two angels in Babylon, Harut and Marut." By "what had been sent down" He means the science of magic, which was sent down so that they could teach it to people and warn them against it. The reason the two of them were sent down was to teach people what magic was so that they would then know the difference between magic and prophethood, and therefore that Sulayman was not a magician. It was to ensure a complete understanding.
They did not, in any case, teach anyone magic until they had first cautioned him saying to him, "We are merely a temptation and a trial and a test, so do not become unbelievers by teaching it and using it." Part of the point of the teaching was to warn people against it and to teach them the difference between it and prophet- hood and prophetic miracles. There is nothing wrong with this. Indeed, it something desirable and meritorious if there is a real need for it.
However, people did not take their advice and they would use magic to separate a man from his wife. That was by the permission and will of Allah. The ayat indicates that it is permitted to teach people magic in order to warn people against succumbing to it and acting by it and there is no sin in that. It is also permissible to teach it to eliminate any resemblance between it and true miracles and prophethood and there is no sin in that. What is unlawful and a sin is to teach it or learn it in order to use it. This point is well illustrated by the sayings: "I learned evil not for evil's sake, but in order to be safe from it." And also: "People who do not recognise evil, fall into it."
When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to the Jews may the curse of Allah be on them they knew that he was the Prophet, the good news of whom had been given in the Torah, and they used to pray for his help against the idolworshippers before he was born and sent. But then when he did come to them, they would not acknowledge him and reject- ed him. They cast their book, the Torah, and the Book of Allah, the Qur'an, behind their backs.
Allah indicates that they should follow the clear truth but they preferred to follow the magic they had inherited from their fathers and which the shaytans had taught them, even though it was obligatory for them to reject magic and caution people against its evil. That was what the two angels, Harut and Marut, did: warn people against the evils of magic and against using it.
This is the sound tafsir of the noble ayar, not what stupid falsi- fiers claim. Through this understanding, harmony between the pas- sages is obtained and the true value of the ayat is realised. I cannot imagine how people can see any connection between the Jewish material they have related and the words of the Almighty, "They taught no one until they had told him, "We are merely a trial and a temptation, so do not reject." The extraordinary thing is that Imam Ibn Jarir talked about these things in his commentary of the ayat and apparently had no hesitation in doing so.
To summarise: the reader must be on guard against this Jewish material wherever it is used, whether in books of tafsir, hadith, his- tory, admonitions or any other kind of literature.