Harut and Marut
Hārūt and Mārūt (Arabic: هاروت و ماروت) were two angels who taught magics to people after the death of the Prophet Solomon (a) in order for people to be able to neutralize the magics of evil magicians. But people misused what they learned from the angels. The story is mentioned in the Qur'an 2, verse 102.
Harut and Marut
Harut and Marut were two angels sent by God to Babylon: "and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut".[1]
There is a disagreement over the origin of the terms, "Harut" and "Marut":
- Some people believe that the terms come from the Aramaic language.[2]
- Others take them to be of a Syriac origin, which means monarchical.[3]
- A number of other people take the terms to be of a Persian origin.[4]
There are many tales and stories about Harut and Marut, many of which are taken by scholars and exegetes of the Qur'an to be fake. For example, the story that a woman called "Zuhra" deceived Harut and Marut and learned God's Greatest Name and then turned into a star and went to the sky is considered as fake.[5]
Teaching Magics
According to hadiths, a group of people practiced magics and witchcraft in the period of Solomon (a). He ordered that all their writings be gathered and kept in a place.[6] After Solomon's (a) death, some of them found the writings and began to learn magics. They said that Solomon (a) was not a prophet and that he just took over the territories and did extraordinary things by magics. They were followed by a number of Israelites.[7]
The practice of magics prevailed in Babylon in such a way that people were frustrated and hurt. God sent two angels to them in the form of human persons in order to teach people the magics and the ways of neutralizing them so that they can get rid of the devils of magicians.[8]
The Qur'an rejects the claim that Harut and Marut did evil things.[9] It says that the magics was revealed to them, but they intended no harms.[10] They reminded people that "we are a trial, so do not disbelieve and do not misuse the knowledge", but people misused the knowledge and disbelieved God.[11]
There is a great deal of disagreement over the story of Harut and Marut.[12] In addition to the above account, the following accounts are also offered:
- Some people believe that Harut and Marut were two angels who blamed human beings because of their sins. God sent them down to the earth in the form of human beings, but they committed sins themselves and were finally punished by God.[13]
- Hasan al-Basri believed that Harut and Marut were not angels; rather they were two sturdy men from Babylon.[14]
- They were spirits of the nature at first, and then they turned into angels. They were worshiped by ancient Armenians as two gods.[15]
Harut and Marut in non-Islamic Books
Armenian Sources and Avesta
According to historians, the words, "Harut" and "Marut", appear in Armenian books, historical books of Egypt, and Slavonic texts of Enoch and the like with remarkable differences.[16] A British historian reported an Armenian source as saying that "Hurut" means fertile and "Murut" means immortal, referring to two gods of the Mount Masis or Ararat.[17] In an Egyptian myth that he translated, Watts Neld encountered the names, "Hurvanati" and "Amerekati" which are similar to "Harut" and "Marut".[18]
Accounts in Jewish Sources
In his al-Mizan, 'Allama Tabataba'i writes that the story of Harut and Marut corresponds to myths maintained by the Jews about the two angels, and it is not dissimilar to ancient Greek myths about stars.[19]
The myth appears in the Second Epistle of Peter: "For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment."[20][21]
Also, in verse 6 of the Epistle of Jude we read: "And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day".[22][23]
Notes
- ↑ Qur'an, 2:102.
- ↑ Mihrīn Shūshtarī, Farhang-i kāmil-i lughāt-i Qurʾān, p. 468.
- ↑ Khazāʾilī, Aʿlām-i Qurʾān, p. 655.
- ↑ Khazāʾilī, Aʿlām-i Qurʾān, p. 656.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 238-239.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 370.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 370.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 370.
- ↑ Qur'an, 2:102.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 353.
- ↑ Qur'an, 2:102.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 233.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, ʿIlal al-sharāʾiʿ, vol. 1, p. 99.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, ʿIlal al-sharāʾiʿ, vol. 1, p. 105.
- ↑ Cefri, Wāzhahā-yi dakhīl dar Qurʾān, p. 408.
- ↑ Ḥusaynī Fāṭimī, "Ḥārūt wa Mārūt az wāqiʿīyyat tā afsāna", p. 6.
- ↑ Ḥusaynī Fāṭimī, "Ḥārūt wa Mārūt az wāqiʿīyyat tā afsāna", p. 6.
- ↑ Ḥusaynī Fāṭimī, "Ḥārūt wa Mārūt az wāqiʿīyyat tā afsāna", p. 6.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 360.
- ↑ [2 Peter 2]:4, Warnings against false teachings
- ↑ Mihrīn Shūshtarī, Farhang-i kāmil-i lughāt-i Qurʾān, p. 469.
- ↑ [Jude 1]:6, Three examples of judgment
- ↑ Mihrīn Shūshtarī, Farhang-i kāmil-i lughāt-i Qurʾān, p. 469.
References
- Cefri, Artur. Wāzhahā-yi dakhīl dar Qurʾān. Translated to Farsi by Firiydūn Badri-ī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Tūs, 1372 Sh.
- Ḥusaynī Fāṭimī, Ḥārūt wa Mārūt az wāqiʿīyyat tā afsāna, p. 6.
- Khazāʾilī, Muḥammad. Aʿlām-i Qurʾān. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Amīr Kabīr, 1371 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1374 Sh.
- Mihrīn Shūshtarī, ʿAbbās. Farhang-i kāmil-i lughāt-i Qurʾān. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ganjīna, 1374 Sh.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. ʿIlal al-sharāʾiʿ. Translated to Farsi by Dhunī Tehranī. Qom: Intishārāt-i Muʾminīn, 1380 Sh.
- Ṭabāṭabāyī, Sayydi Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1374 Sh.