2 Angels Harut And Marut

In the Qur'an

The story of Harut and Marut is told in the second Surah, or chapter, of the Qur'an, entitled "Al-Baqara" or "the Heifer" (sometimes called "the Calf"). It appears in the 102nd Ayah, or verse, and forms part of a narrative concerning the people who followed sorcery.

Surah 2:102 [the Heifer]: They followed what the evil ones gave out (falsely) against the power of Solomon: the blasphemers were, not Solomon, but the evil ones, teaching men magic, and such things as came down at Babylon to the angels Harut and Marut. But neither of these taught anyone (such things) without saying: "we are only for trial: so do not blaspheme". They learned from them the means to sow discord between man and wife. But they could not thus harm anyone except by God's permission. And they learned what harmed them, not what profited them. And they knew that the buyers of (magic) would have no share in the happiness of the Hereafter. And vile was the price for which they did sell their souls, if they but knew!

No date is provided in the Qur'an for this event; Muslim scholar Abdullah Yusuf Ali offers the supposition that Harut and Marut appeared during the period of Babylonian history prior to the deification of Marduk, before the eighteenth century BCE. On the other hand, Shaykh Abul Ala Maududi asserts that they appeared sometime during the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon, which took place during the sixth century BCE.



Harot & Marot

Harut and Marut in `Arabic, are called the Angels of Magic. They are the Angels who bring the magic powers to Earth, accessible for all, as the Quran relates:

And they followed what the Devils chanted in the Kingdom of Solomon, and Solomon was not an unbeliever, but the Devils disbelieved, they taught men magic and that was sent down to the two angels at Babel, Harot and Marot, yet these two taught no man until they had said, "Surely we are only a trial, therefore do not be a disbeliever." Even then men learned from these two, magic by which they might cause a separation between a man and his mate; and they cannot hurt with it any one except with God's permission, and they learned what harmed them and did not profit them, and certainly they know that he who bought it should have no share of good in the hereafter and evil was the price for which they sold their souls, had they but known this. Surrat ul Baqarah, 02:102


What the Quran calls "Devils" are the Witches and the Wizards of the Old. We hope people don't misunderstand us that they think we are saying Witches of today are Devils. No. Wicca, the Religion of Witches, has a basic rule of goodness; Harm none, Do what you will. With such law, you obviously wouldn't want to seperate couples. And the thing is, the Witches of Wicca always existed. They were just called Good Witches.

And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say, "We are a trial, so do not disbelieve [by practicing magic]." And [yet] they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah . And the people learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But the Children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew

harot marot

The People of the Book, instead of sticking to the plain Books of Revelations, and seeking to do the will of God, ran after all sorts of occult knowledge, most of which was false and evil. Many wonderful tales of occult powers attributed the power of Solomon to magic. But Solomon dealt in no arts of evil. It was the powers of evil that pretended to force the laws of nature and the will of God; such a pretence is plainly blasphemy.

This verses has been interpreted variously. Who are Harut and Marut? What did they teach? Why did they teach it? The views which commands itself to me is that of the Tafsir Haqqani following Baidhwai and the Tafsir Kabir. The word "angels" as applied to Harut and Marut is figurative. It means "good" men of knowledge, science (or wisdom), and power. In modern languages the word "angel" is applied to good and beautiful women. The earlier traditions made angels masculine, and applied to them the attributes which I have mentioned, along with the attribute of beauty, which was implied in goodness, knowledge, wisdom, and power.

Harut and Marut lived in Babylon, a very ancient seat of science, especially the science of astronomy. The period may be supposed to be anywhere about the time when the ancient Eastern Monarchies were strong and enlightened: probably even earlier, as Ma-ru-tu or Marduk was a deified hero afterwards worshipped as a god of magic in Babylon. Being good men, Harut and Marut of course dabbled in nothing evil, and their hands were certainly clean of fraud. But knowledge and the arts, if learned by evil men, can be applied to evil uses. The evil ones, besides their fraudulent magic, also learnt a little of this true science and applied it to evil uses. Harut and Marut did not withhold knowledge, yet never taught anyone without plainly warning them of the tribal and temptation of knowledge in the hands of evil men. Being men of insight, they also saw the blasphemy that might rise to the lips of the evil ones puffed up with science and warned them against it. Knowledge is indeed a trial or temptation; if we are warned, we know its dangers; if God has endowed us with free-will, we must be free to choose between the benefit and the danger.

Among the Jewish traditions in the Midrash (Jewish Tafsirs) was a story of two angels who asked God's permission to come down to earth to come down to earth but succumbed to temptation, and were hung up by their feet at Babylon for punishment. Such stories about sinning angels who were cast down to punishment were believed in the early Christians also. There may be an allusion to such legends here, but much spiritualised ans we are expressly warned against dabbling in magic or believing that anything can hurt us except God's will, and God is just and righteous.

What the evil onces learnt from Harut and Marut they turned to evil. When mixed with fraud and deception, it appeared as charms and spells and love potions. They did nothing but cause discord between the sexes. But of course their power was limited to the extent to which God permitted the evil to work, for His Grace protected all who sought His guidance and repented and returned to Him. But apart from the harm that these false pretenders might do to others, the chief harm which they did was to their own souls. They sold themselves into slavery to the Evil One, as is shown in the allegory of Goethe's Faust. That allegory dealth with the individual soul. Here the tragedy is shwon to occur not only to individuals but to whole groups of peopl; for example the People of the Book. Indeed the story might be extended indefinitely.
sixth century BCE.