2. Surah al-Baqara, Medina 87

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَلَمَّا جَاءهُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا مَعَهُمْ...

2: 101. And when came to them a Messenger from Allah, confirming what was with them,

نَبَذَ فَرِيقٌ مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ كِتَابَ اللّهِ وَرَاء ظُهُورِهِمْ ...

a party of the People of the Book threw away the Book of Allah behind their backs,

C102. I think that by "the Book of Allah" here is meant, not the Quran, but the Book which the People of the Book had been given, viz., the previous Revelations.

The argument is that Muhammad's Message was similar to Revelations which they had already received, and if they had looked into their own Books honestly and sincerely, they would have found proofs in them to show that the new Message was true and from Allah. But they ignored their own Books or twisted or distorted them according to their own fancies. Worse, they followed somethings which was actually false and mischievous and inspired by the evil one. Such was the belief in magic and sorcery.

These are described in the next verse in terms referring to the beliefs and practices of the "People of the Book."

... كَأَنَّهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿١٠١﴾

as if (it had been something) they did not know!

وَاتَّبَعُواْ مَا تَتْلُواْ الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَى مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ...

2: 102. They followed what the evil ones gave out (falsely) against the power of Solomon;

C103. This is a continuation of the argument in 2:101.

The People of the Book, instead of sticking to the plain Books of Revelations, and seeking to do the will of Allah ran after all sorts of occult knowledge, most of which was false and evil.

Many wonderful tales of occult power attributed the power of Solomon to magic. But Solomon dealt in not arts of evil. It was the powers of evil that pretended to force the laws of nature and the will of Allah; such a pretense is plainly blasphemy.

... وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ وَلَـكِنَّ الشَّيْاطِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ...

the blasphemers were, not Solomon, but the evil ones, teaching men magic,

... وَمَا أُنزِلَ عَلَى الْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَارُوتَ وَمَارُوتَ...

and such things as came down at Babylon to the angels Harut and Marut.

C104. Harut and Marut lived in Babylon, a very ancient seat of science, especially the science of astronomy. The period may be supposed to anywhere about the time when the ancient Eastern Monarchies were strong and enlightened: probably even earlier, as Ma-ru-tu or Mandruk 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 evil 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 trial 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 Allah 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 Tafsir) was a story of two angels who asked Allah's permission 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 by the early Christians also. (See the Second Epistle of Peter, 2:4, and the Epistle of Jude, verse 6). (R).

... وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّى يَقُولاَ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌ فَلاَ تَكْفُرْ ...

But neither of these taught anyone (such things) without saying: "We are only for trial, so do not blaspheme."

... فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ...

They learned from them the means to sow discord between man and wife.

C105. What the evil ones learnt from Harut and Marut (see last note) they turned to evil. When mixed with fraud and deception, it appeared as charms and spells of love potions. They did nothing but cause discord between the sexes. But of course their power was limited to the extent to which Allah 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 dealt with the individual soul. Here the tragedy is shown to occur not only to individuals but to whole groups of people, for example, the People of the Book.

Indeed the story might be extended indefinitely.

... وَمَا هُم بِضَآرِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ...

But they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah's permission.

... وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلاَ يَنفَعُهُمْ ...

And they learned what harmed them, not what profited them.

... وَلَقَدْ عَلِمُواْ لَمَنِ اشْتَرَاهُ مَا لَهُ فِي الآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلاَقٍ ...

And they knew that the buyers of (magic) would have no share in the happiness of the Hereafter.

... وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْاْ بِهِ أَنفُسَهُمْ لَوْ كَانُواْ يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿١٠٢﴾

And vile was the price for which they did sell their souls, if they but knew!

Asad’s Version:

2: 101, 102 ………some of those who were granted revelation aforetime cast the divine writ behind their backs as though unaware, and follow that which the evil ones used to

practice during Solomon’s reign – for it was not Solomon who denied the truth, but those evil ones denied it by teaching people sorcery -; and that which has come down through the two angels in Babylon, Harut anad Marut- although these two never taught it to anyone without first declaring, “We are but a temptation to evil: do not, then, deny truth!” And they learn from these two how to create discord between a man and his wife; but whereas they can harm none thereby save by God’s leave, they acquire a knowledge that only harms themselves and does not benefit them – although they know, indeed, that he who acquires this shall have no share in the good of the life to come. For vile indeed is that for which they have sole their own selves –had they but know it!

[see asad note]