Chapter 2: Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow), verses 102-103

Translation:

And they follow what the devils tell of Solomon’s kingdom. Not that Solomon disbelieved; it is the devils who disbelieved, teaching men witchcraft. And (they follow) what was revealed to the angels, Harut and Marut, in Babylon. Yet they would never instruct any man without saying to him beforehand: ‘We have been sent to tempt you; do not renounce your faith.’ From these two, they learn that by which they can create discord between husband and wife, although they can harm none with what they learn except by God’s leave. They learn, indeed, what harms them and does not profit them; yet they know full well that anyone who chose it would have no share in the life to come. Vile is that for which they have sold their souls, if they but knew it. Had they embraced the Faith and kept from evil, far better for them would His reward have been, if they but knew it.

Tafsir (Commentary):

Salvation in the Hereafter can be achieved only by virtue of righteous actions. It is when the People of the Book seek to achieve it, without actually doing anything to earn it, that they go astray. The real aim of the Scriptures is to convey this message—to call on man to earn God’s blessings by leading a righteous life. As long as people maintain their moral and spiritual vitality, they respond positively to this call, applying the teachings of the

Scriptures to their practical lives. When they suffer a decline, however, they search for less exacting methods of earning salvation. It is easier, for instance, to write down a few verses of the Holy Scriptures, or recite them, than to actually practice their teachings. So that is what people tend to do. The Scriptures, which are meant to form a part of one’s life, are reduced to a kind of talismanic textbook from which magical prescriptions are prepared and sorcerers’ spells cast. And they do not only see this as a way of reaching Heaven; they come to regard it as a path to worldly success also. Veneration of the souls of dead saints, for example, becomes a solution to all their problems. This mentality then finds expression on a social level. It serves as the very basis for a people’s efforts to achieve political and religious reform. What can come only from conscientious and committed struggle, they seek to obtain by magical schemes.

When superstition and apathy set in in the declining Jewish race, certain individuals exploited this tendency in order to make commercial capital, by providing success-seekers with magical prescriptions. To make their business flourish, these unscrupulous profiteers attributed their art to Solomon, saying that the extraordinary powers he exercised over the spirits and winds were, in fact, based on his knowledge of magic, and claimed that this knowledge had been passed on to them by the spirits. This claim to authority accounted in great measure for the rapid spread of sorcery, which soon developed into a highly popular art among the Jews.