‘Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the Dawn, from the evil of that which He created; from the mischief of Darkness as it overspreads; and from the evil of those who spit on the knots, (i.e., perform malignant witchcraft). And from the evil of the envious when he envies.’ (113: 2-6)
People who enter into a pact with Satan and indulge in black magic, sorcery or witchcraft usually claim to have supernatural powers to divine about the future- the realm of knowledge that belongs exclusively to the One and Only. Through their rituals and practices, they enchant the eyes of those around, blurring the realm of reality for a time, affecting the realm of thought and perception, creating illusions in the human mind. Such men and women offer to their visitors, in return for materials reward, the fulfillment of all that they desire, including such vicious wishes as to cause and bring about a wedge in close human relations, the death to an enemy or afflict him with disease, etc. On the other hand, Islam warns people against following the Devil in search of bounties and rewards, as everything in this world and the next belongs to God only. Hence, Islam denounces the practices of magic, sorcery and witchcraft as unreliable allies of the Satan. For no one has access to, or control over, the domains of God and mere conjecture, speculation and guesswork cannot take the place of Truth, and most certainly, the final outcome of all evil pursuits will be disaster and loss; not the victories and prosperity that the ones who journey seeks on the Satanic Way. Hence, the Holy Qur’an forbids secret plots and conspiratorial alliances that are designed to attain worldly gains at the cost of others- involving sin and transgression, and condemns all such activities that causes distress and unrest among the people as the ‘work of Satan’. (58: 9-11)
Life in this world entails dealing with all circumstances as they emerge, including "the evil of that which He created" (113: 2-6). To withstand the forces of evil from impacting their lives, the Qur'an advises true believers to live righteously and remain just in all their dealings. Showing admirable patience and steadfastness in times of trial and losses, they should place themselves under Divine protection and nourishment, submitting to His Will. Relying entirely upon the Lord; believers should remain within the bounds of the Just Way, beseeching Him for help and succour against the wily plots, nefarious designs and stealth operations of the jealous enemies.
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Read the Extracts Below:
'And
they followed what the rebellious men chanted of sorcery in the reign of
(Solomon) Sulaiman, and Sulaiman was not an unbeliever, but the rebellious men
disbelieved, they taught men sorcery and that was sent down to the two angels
at Babel, Harut and Marut, 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 wife; and they cannot hurt with it anyone except with
Allah'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.' (2:103)
This verse gives an indication to the fact that the
Jews were bent on following the evil ways and mischief of their ancestors (the
Jews) in the days of Solomon and during their captivity in Babylon. The verse
further gives voice to the fact the mischief-makers of Solomon’s epoch were
those “rebellious men” who labelled him as an unbeliever. Allah refutes this
falsehood by saying that it was those rebellious men with their satanic
inclinations who were themselves men without belief, not Solomon! There were
many tales about the fact that Solomon’s power was from magic and sorcery, but
Solomon did have no part in any of these arts of evil. It was the satanic power
which tried to overpower the divine will, but this is clear blasphemy, for no
power can overthrow the power of Allah and force itself on Allah’s laws and
creations.
The verse then talk about Harut and Marut, two
“angels” who lived in Babylon, a very ancient seat of science, dealing
especially in astronomy among others. In fact, these two were men of knowledge,
indeed very good men, having no part in the art of magic, sorcery and evil.
Allah clearly removes all blames from them that they were evil people. No.
Instead, through their knowledge in several sciences, people used to profit
from them, till after many years afterwards, they were depicted as gods or
magicians capable of all evils.
But to refute this blasphemy upon these two noble
men, it was the evil-minded people who, if they profited from the sciences
taught by these two men, they used these clean knowledge and put it to evil
use. The evil ones, beside their fraudulent sorcery, also learnt a little of
this true science and applied it to evil uses.
Moreover, Harut and Marut did not conceal any
information about the knowledge they distributed. The knowledge, if put to good
use, could serve good purpose but, if put to the service of evil, can be
disastrous. Therefore, these two virtuous men never taught anyone anything
without first warning them of the trial and temptation of knowledge if they
pass into the hands of evil-minded people.
Being men of insight, they also saw the blasphemy
that might rise to the lips of the evil ones arrogantly filled up with science
and warned them against it. Knowledge is indeed a trial or temptation; if one
is warned about its danger, one may be safe from its harm. Allah has endowed
humans with free will, and thus, we are free to choose our own course, to
choose what can profit us or what can harm us. If something untoward happens to
us, we are the sole responsible for we have been warned beforehand by Allah.
According to Jewish traditions and commentaries,
there is the story of two angels who asked God’s permission to come down to
earth to people to have them succumb to temptation and were hung up by their
feet at Babylon for punishment. Such beliefs about sinning angels who are
sentenced to punishment were rampant among the Jews and even the early Christians.
(See the second Epistle of Peter, 2: 4 and the Epistle of Jude Verse 6).
What the evil ones learnt from Harut and Marut,
they turned it to evil. When mixed with fraud and deception, it appeared as
charms, love potions and evil spells. They did nothing but create discord
between the sexes, especially between man and wife. 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 who repented and returned to Him
in humility. But apart from the harm that these false pretenders might to do
others, the chief harm which they did was to their own souls, by ruining it
with the evil they sought. They concluded a pact to the devil; selling
themselves to him like slaves of evil. A mischievous plotter never succeeds in
his evils come what may. This verse is a clear indication how profoundly Allah
wants that His creatures should always take the right path and not be misled by
evil-minded people.
'And if they had believed and guarded themselves (against evil), reward from Allah would certainly have been better; had they but known (this).' (2:104)
If the People of the Book had believed with a true
heart in Allah and acted as true God-fearing people, they would not have wasted
all their time in pursuing worldly acquisitions. They would have instead toiled
hard in every aspect to seek the everlasting good of the Hereafter. The seeking
of only the gains of this temporal world, by neglecting the promise of the good
of the Hereafter contributes to depict them as people lacking true faith and
who do not act righteously, wasting their lives in what is limited and without
the bliss of divine satisfaction. This verse throws light on the fact that they
altogether disbelieve in the Hereafter, preferring to indulge their desires on
earth instead of awaiting the good promise of the eternal life.
[Extracted from Al Azim Tafsirul Qur'an: English Commentary of the Holy Qur'an, Volume I, pp. 290-294. To buy the Book Online, Click Here ]