2. Sūrat al-Baqarah

٢۔ سُورَةُ البَقَرَة

Qurʾān > Chapter 2 > Section 40
القرآن > كتاب ٢ > باب ٤٠

2.40 Solomon: Jews' accusation against the Solomon and their learning of witchcraft.

٢۔٤٠ مقطع في سُورَةُ البَقَرَة

quran:2:101 –

And when a messenger from Allah came to them confirming that which was with them, a party of those who had been given the Scripture threw the Scripture of Allah behind their backs as if they did not know ˹what it contained˺.  

When there came to them a messenger from God, namely, Muhammad (s), confirming what was with them, a party of them who were given the Scripture have cast away the Scripture of God, that is, the Torah, behind their backs, that is to say, they have not acted according to what it said about belief in the Messenger and otherwise; as though they did not know, what is contained in it, to the effect that he is a true Prophet, or that it is the Book of God.
القرآن:٢:١٠١ –

وَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَهُمْ نَبَذَ فَرِيقٌ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ كَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ  

{ولما جاءهم رسول من عند الله} محمد {مصدق لما معهم نبذ فريق من الذين أوتوا الكتاب كتاب الله} أي التوراة {وراء ظهورهم} أي لم يعملوا بما فيها من الإيمان بالرسول وغيره {كأنهم لا يعلمون} ما فيها من أنه نبي حق أو أنها كتاب الله.
quran:2:102 –

And they followed ˹instead˺ what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say, "We are a trial, so do not disbelieve ˹by practicing magic˺." And ˹yet˺ they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah. And the people learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But the Children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew.  

And they follow (wa’ttaba‘ū is a supplement to nabadha, ‘˹it˺ cast away’) what the devils used to relate, during the time of, Solomon’s kingdom, in the way of sorcery: it is said that they ˹the devils˺ buried these ˹books of sorcery˺ underneath his throne when his kingdom was taken from him; it is also said that they used to listen stealthily and add fabrications to what they heard, and then pass it on to the priests, who would compile it in books; this would be disseminated and rumours spread that the jinn had knowledge of the Unseen. Solomon gathered these books and buried them. When he died, the devils showed people where these books were, and the latter brought them out and found that they contained sorcery, and said, ‘Your kingdom was only thanks to what is in here’; they then took to learning them and rejected the Scriptures of their prophets. In order to demonstrate Solomon’s innocence and in repudiation of the Jews when they said, ‘Look at this Muhammad, he mentions Solomon as one of the prophets, when he was only a sorcerer’, God, exalted, says: Solomon disbelieved not, that is, he did not work magic because he disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching the people sorcery (this sentence is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person governing the verb kafarū); and, teaching them, that which was revealed to the two angels, that is, the sorcery that they were inspired to ˹perform˺ (al-malakayn, ‘the two angels’: a variant reading has al-malikayn, ‘the two kings’) who were, in Babylon — a town in lower Iraq — Hārūt and Mārūt (here the names are standing in for ‘the two angels’, or an explication of the latter). Ibn ‘Abbās said, ‘They were two sorcerers who used to teach ˹people˺ magic’; it is also said that they were two angels that had been sent to teach ˹sorcery˺ to people as a trial from God. They taught not any man, without them saying, by way of counsel, ‘We are but a temptation, a trial from God for people, so that He may test them when they are taught it: whoever learns it is a disbeliever, but whoever renounces it, he is a believer; do not disbelieve’, by learning it; if this person refused and insisted on learning it, they would teach him. From them they learned how they might cause division between a man and his wife, so that they would hate each other, yet they, the sorcerers, did not hurt any man thereby, that is, by this magic, save by the leave of God, by His will; and they learned what hurt them, in the Hereafter, and did not profit them, and this was sorcery. And surely (the lām ˹of la-qad, ‘surely’˺ is for oaths) they, the Jews, knew well that whoever (laman: the lām denotes ˹part of˺ the subject of the sentence and is semantically connected to what precedes it; the man introduces the relative clause) buys it, ˹whoever˺ chooses it and took it in place of God’s Book, he shall have no share in the Hereafter, that is, no portion of Paradise; evil then would have been, the thing, that they sold themselves for, those sellers, that is to say, the portion due for this ˹act˺ in the Hereafter, if they were to learn it; for it would have made the Fire obligatory in their case; if they had but known, the reality of the chastisement they would be destined for, they would not have learnt it.
القرآن:٢:١٠٢ –

وَاتَّبَعُوا مَا تَتْلُو الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَىٰ مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ ۖ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ وَلَٰكِنَّ الشَّيَاطِينَ كَفَرُوا يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ عَلَى الْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَارُوتَ وَمَارُوتَ ۚ وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَا إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌ فَلَا تَكْفُرْ ۖ فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ ۚ وَمَا هُمْ بِضَارِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنْفَعُهُمْ ۚ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمُوا لَمَنِ اشْتَرَاهُ مَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلَاقٍ ۚ وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْا بِهِ أَنْفُسَهُمْ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ  

{واتبعوا} عطف على نبذ {ما تتلوا} أي تلت {الشياطين على} عهد {ملك سليمان} من السحر وكانت دفنته تحت كرسيه لما نزع ملكه أو كانت تسترق السمع وتضم إليه أكاذيب وتلقيه إلى الكهنة فيدونونه وفشا ذلك وشاع أن الجن تعلم الغيب فجمع سليمان الكتب ودفنها فلما مات دلت الشياطين عليها الناس فاستخرجوها فوجدوا فيها السحر فقالوا إنما ملككم بهذا فتعلموه فرفضوا كتب أنبيائهم قال تعالى تبرئه لسليمان ورداً على اليهود في قولهم انظروا إلى محمد يذكر سليمان في الأنبياء وما كان إلا ساحراً: {وما كفر سليمان} أي لم يعمل السحر لأنه كفر {ولكن} بالتشديد والتخفيف {الشياطين كفروا يعلمون الناس السحر} الجملة حال من ضمير كفروا {و} يعلمونهم {ما أنزل على الملكين} أي ألهماه من السحر وقرئ بكسر اللام الكائنين {ببابل} بلد في سواد العراق {هاروت وماروت} بدل أو عطف بيان للملكين قال ابن عباس هما ساحران كانا يعلمان السحر وقيل ملكان أنزلا لتعليمه ابتلاء من الله للناس {وما يعلمان من} زائدة {أحد حتى يقولا} له نصحاً {إنما نحن فتنة} بلية من الله إلى الناس ليمتحنهم بتعليمه فمن تعلمه كفر ومن تركه فهو مؤمن {فلا تكفر} بتعلمه فإن أبى إلا التعليم علماه {فيتعلمون منهما ما يفرقون به بين المرء وزوجه} بأن يبغض كلا إلى الآخر {وما هم} أي السحرة {بضارين به} بالسحر {من} زائدة {أحد إلا بإذن الله} بإرادته {ويتعلمون ما يضرهم} في الآخرة {ولا ينفعهم} وهو السحر {ولقد} لام قسم {علموا} أي اليهود {لمن} لام ابتداء معلقة لما قبلها ومن موصلة {اشتراه} اختاره أو استبدله بكتاب الله {ماله في الآخرة من خلاق} نصيب في الجنة {ولبئس ما} شيئاً {شروا} باعوا {به أنفسهم} أي الشارين: أي حظها من الآخرة إن تعلموه حيث أوجب لهم النار {لو كانوا يعلمون} حقيقة ما يصيرون إليه من العذاب ما تعلَّموه.
quran:2:103 –

And if they had believed and feared Allah, then the reward from Allah would have been ˹far˺ better, if they only knew.  

Yet if only they, the Jews, had believed, in the Prophet and the Qur’ān, and been fearful, of God’s chastisement, by abandoning acts of disobedience towards Him, such as sorcery (the response to the ˹conditional clause beginning with˺ law, ‘if’, has been omitted, ˹but it is intimated to be˺ ‘they would have been rewarded’, and this is indicated by ˹His following words˺) verily, a reward from God would have been better, than that for which they sold themselves, if they had but known, that this is better they would not have preferred that over this (la-mathūbatun, ‘verily the reward’, is the subject; the lām is that of oaths; and min ‘indi’Llāhi khayrun, ‘from God, would have been better’, is the predicate).
القرآن:٢:١٠٣ –

وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ آمَنُوا وَاتَّقَوْا لَمَثُوبَةٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ ۖ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ  

{ولو أنهم} أي اليهود {آمنوا} بالنبي والقرآن {واتقوا} عقاب الله بترك معاصيه كالسحر، وجوابُ لو محذوف: أي لأثيبوا دل عليه {لمثوبة} ثواب وهو مبتدأ واللام فيه للقسم {من عند الله خير} خبره مما شروا به أنفسهم {لو كانوا يعلمون} أنه خير لما آثروه عليه.