What Is Black Magic? The Quran’s Story of Harut and Marut

What is black magic really, and where did it begin? In this teaching, a scholar walks through what the Quran says about the angels Harut and Marut, and explains why he believes understanding magic takes away the fear of it. This is one teacher’s explanation, and he himself notes that different views exist.

What Is Black Magic, Really?

Magicians and magic are really a kind of deception. In reality, magic does not cause anything that lies outside the laws of nature. Let me explain a little, and please do not misunderstand me. What jinn or magicians do may seem supernatural to us. But in truth it is no competition with the power of Allah. Whatever jinn and magicians may do, compared with the real power of Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala, glory to Him, the Most High, it is completely insignificant.

Once we understand what a jinn is, we will no longer be afraid of these things. One aim of this class is exactly that. Every time I teach this, I say that if you know the real nature of magic, you will no longer fear it so much. Then your fear will be the natural kind, the fear people feel toward a snake or a wild animal. It will not be the fear of “I do not understand this, it is supernatural.” And that kind of fear cannot come from the heart of a true believer, InshaAllah.

What the Quran Says

The Quran says clearly that two angels came down. Their names were Harut and Marut. They came to the city of Babylon.

The question is, where is Babylon? In Iraq. How old is Babylon? It is said to be the oldest city. There was no city before Babylon. The first real civilisation was Babylon. That means we are going back to a time even before Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), to the very beginning, before Musa, before Sulayman (peace be upon them). So Allah is telling us when magic began. This is the story of the origin of magic, told to us by Allah Himself.

The people followed what had been sent down upon the two angels of Babylon, Harut and Marut. Now the question is, what exactly was sent down upon these two angels? There are many opinions about this. In my view, there are really two acceptable ones. I will leave out the rest. There are more opinions, but I believe only these two have some foundation.

The First View

The first view is that Allah sent two angels who had knowledge of controlling the jinn, or of reaching the jinn. That is magic. The angels were sent to the city of Babylon, and they had permission to teach whatever they taught, the so-called science of magic, to anyone who wanted to learn it from them.

But the angels also gave a serious warning. To whoever came to them, they said, “We are only a test from Allah. So do not disbelieve by learning from us.” Still, if someone insisted, they taught him. Is that clear? The angels were a test, and they themselves said they were a test. Before teaching, they announced, “If you learn this, you will become a disbeliever.” Even so, people stayed.

So Allah says people learned from the two of them what could cause separation between husband and wife and create problems. But they could not harm anyone with it except by Allah’s permission. Magic is not stronger than Allah. If Allah wills, He can stop it. So harm can happen only because Allah allows it, and in no other way.

They learned what harms only them and brings them no benefit. Magic has no benefit at all. Of wine, Allah has said that it has some benefits, but its harm is greater than its benefit. That is in the Quran itself. But with magic, there is no benefit whatsoever. It is only evil.

The angels also made clear that whoever takes this knowledge from them will have no share in the hereafter. You are, in a literal sense, buying this world in exchange for the next. And how evil is the price for which they sold themselves, if only they knew!

This is the first view: the angels taught the real nature of magic. What that real nature is, we will come to in about fifteen minutes. Please be patient, we will get there. The angels taught people how to do magic, and along with it gave the warning, “If you learn this, you will no longer remain a Muslim. Allah has sent us to test you.” But evidently the people of Babylon insisted and learned it. Those who learned it became the first magicians of humankind.

Read more: [LINK: What Is Black Magic? A Traveller on Voodoo in West Africa]

All the magic in the world today goes back, one way or another, to Babylon. And magic has different kinds. It is not just one thing. Within magic there are many methods and many arts, but the source of all of them is Babylon. According to the first view, this knowledge came directly from the angels to human beings.

The Second View

The second view is a modified version. At its core it is almost the same, just a little different. This view is also narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him). For us, this may be the easier one to understand. Which view is correct, Allah knows best, because truly there is solid basis for both.

Ibn Abbas said that the angels did not teach magic themselves. Instead, the angels told people that outside the city of Babylon there was a group of jinn, and that if they went to them, the jinn would teach them magic. In other words, the angels told them where the tribe of jinn lived. So the angels did not sit down and teach the arts of magic. They said, “Look, we are a test from Allah. We are telling you that there is a place where magic can be learned, and it is the home of the jinn. If you go there, you will become a disbeliever. So we warn you, do not go there. But if you insist, you may go. Then you will be a disbeliever, you will learn something that harms you, and in a literal sense you will sell yourself to the devil. You will have no share in the hereafter.”

So the difference between the first and second view is only this: did the angels teach magic directly, or indirectly? That is the only difference. The main point is that the angels came as a test. Whether they taught directly or indirectly, the Quran is very clear that the angels came down as a test. Harut and Marut were sent to the city of Babylon, and they were a test for the people of Babylon. They told the people of Babylon, “We are a trial, so do not disbelieve.”

Allah Tests Us Too

From this we understand that Allah will test us too. For example, the Children of Israel were told not to work on the Sabbath. Then what does the Quran say? Allah tested a group of the Children of Israel through fish and fishermen. He tested how sincere they were. After telling them not to work on Saturday, for several weeks the fish came only on Saturday. This is in the Quran.

So when someone sees Harut and Marut testing people, he may ask, why is this happening? We say, because this life itself is a test. For all of us, the opportunity to sin is easily within reach here. So sin being within reach is no excuse. Right now Allah is testing you and me with temptations all around us. And Allah tested the people of Babylon with a temptation greater than ours, and that was real magic.

So whether the angels taught directly or indirectly, the real point is that the beginning of magic was the city of Babylon, and the angels told them, or taught them, the real nature of magic.

The most important point for today’s discussion is this: learning magic, doing magic and believing in magic are all equal to disbelief. You cannot remain a Muslim and do this, or believe in magic. The verse makes this clear, because the word kufr, disbelief, comes more than once.

Then Allah says this about the devils. Why? Because they taught people magic. That is, just teaching is enough to make a person a disbeliever. Then the angels say, “We are a trial, so do not become disbelievers by learning.” So if learning and teaching are already disbelief, think about the state of those who do magic and who believe in it. If only teaching and learning are disbelief, there is nothing left to say about believing and doing.

So the correct position, according to this teacher, is that whoever does this dark knowledge and believes in it is not a Muslim in the sight of Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. He is like an idol-worshipper, like a polytheist.

Sulayman and the Devils

This is the second story in the Quran, the story of Sulayman (peace be upon him). Allah says Sulayman was not a magician, and he did not disbelieve. It was the devils who disbelieved, as they taught people magic. If you want to know where magic started, it was the devils who taught people magic, and this goes back to what Harut and Marut taught the people of Babylon, whether directly or indirectly.