Verses 102 -103

وَاتَّبَعُوا مَا تَتْلُو الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَى مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ وَلَكِنَّ الشَّيَاطِينَ كَفَرُوا يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ عَلَى الْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَارُوتَ وَمَارُوتَ وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّى 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 () وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ آمَنُوا وَاتَّقَوْا لَمَثُوبَةٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ ()

And they followed what the devils used to recite in the reign of Sulayman (Solomon) -- it was not Sulayman who became an infidel, but the devils did become infidels, teaching people magic, and what had been sent down to the two angels, Harut and Marut, in Babylon. And these two did not teach anyone without having said, "We are nothing but a trial, so do not go infidel." Then, they used to learn from them that with which they could separate man from his wife. But they were not to bring harm through it to anyone, without the will of Allah. And they used to learn what harmed them and did no good to them. And they certainly knew that he who buys it has no share in the Hereafter. And, indeed, vile is the thing for which they sold themselves away. Only if they knew! And had they accepted the faith, and been God-fearing, the reward from Allah would have always been far better. Only if they knew!

Cont’d from previous issue
Kinds of Magic
In his "Mufradat al-Qur'an", Imam Raghib al-Isfahani says that there are several kinds of magic. Firstly, there are sleights of hand, like those of jugglers, which deceive the eyes of the onlookers, but have no further substance. Then, there are ways of influencing the imagina­tion of others through the concentration of one's own powers of thought so that they begin to see or feel things which do not really ex­ist as happens in mesmerism or hypnotism. Such a result is sometimes obtained with the help of the devils (Shayatin) too. In speaking of the magicians of the Pharaoh, the Holy Qur'an says: سَحَرُوا أَعْيُنَ النَّاسِ:"They cast a spell on the eyes of the people" (7:116). Or, in another place: يُخَيَّلُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ سِحْرِهِمْ أَنَّهَا تَسْعَى: "Through their magic Moses came to think that they (ropes turned into serpents) were running about" (20:66). Obviously, this piece of magic had to do with influencing of the imagination. The second of these verses employs a verb which has the same root as the noun Khayal (thought), and hence clearly states that the ropes and the Wands Cast down by the magicians had neither turned serpents nor made any movement, but the imagination of Sayyidna Musa (Moses AS) had been affected so as to see them running about in the shape of serpents. The Holy Qur'an also indicates the other way of in­fluencing men's imaginations which involves the help of the devils (Shayatin):"
هَلْ أُنَبِّئُكُمْ عَلَى مَنْ تَنَزَّلُ الشَّيَاطِينُ () تَنَزَّلُ عَلَى كُلِّ أَفَّاكٍ أَثِيمٍ ()
Shall I tell you on whom the devils descend? They descend on all those who are slanderers and sinners." (26:222)
Still another kind of magic is that which can change the very nature of a thing - for example, turning a man into a beast or into a stone. Scholars like Imam Raghib al-Isfahani and Abu Bakr al-Jassas deny that magic can totally change the nature of a thing, but confine the efficacy of magic only to influencing the imagination and to deceiving the eyes of the onlookers. This is also what the Mu'tazilah thought of the matter. But most of the scholars hold that neither the Shari'ah nor any rational argument forbids the possibility of trans-substantiation or the changing of one thing into another, like a living body turning into a stone. As for the well-known principle of the classical philosophers that the change of the "essen-ces" (Haqa'iq) is not possible, it concerns the "essences" of the three categories - the Impossible, the Possible and the Necessary --, for, rationally speaking, it just cannot be that something impossible should become possible, or that something possible should become impossible. And as to the Holy Qur'an putting down the magic of the Egyptian sorcerers as only an impact on the imagination, it does not necessarily mean that all the forms of magic should be no more than an influencing of the imagination. Moreover, certain scholars have seen an argument in favour of the possibility of trans-substantiation through magic in a saving of Ka'b al-Ahbar, reported by Imam Malik in his Muwatta' on the authority of Qa'qa' ibn Hakim: "Were it not for these phrases which I recite regularly, the Jews would have changed me into a donkey." "A donkey" is, no doubt, a usual metaphor for "a fool." But it is not proper to turn away, unnecessarily, from the literal meaning to a metaphorical one. So, the sentence means just what it says - that if the recitation of the phrases had not protected him, the Jewish sorcerers would have changed him into a donkey. The saying, thus, establishes two things. Firstly, it is possible to change a man into a donkey; secondly, the phrases he used to recite had the property of making the magic of the sorcerers lose its efficacy. On being asked what these phrases were, the scholar Ka'b al-Ahbar taught his listeners the following words of prayer:
أعوذ بالله العظيم الذي ليس بشيء أعظم منه و بكلمات الله التامات التي لا يجاوز هن بر ولا فاجر و باسماء الله الحسنى كلها ما علمت منها و مالم أعلم من شر ما خلق و برء و ذرء (أخرجه في المؤطا باب التعوذ عند النوم)
"I seek the protection of Allah the Great, greater than whom there is none; and I seek the protection of the perfect words of Allah which no man, virtuous or wicked, can even transcend; and I seek the protection of all the Beautiful Names of Allah, those of them which I know and those which I do not know, from the evil of everything which Allah has created, to which He has given existence, and which He has spread (over the earth or the universe)."
To sum up, all the three forms of magic are possible, and can manifest themselves in actual fact.

Miracles
Now, let us turn to another important aspect of the question. Through prophets and saints certain events come into manifestation which normally and habitually never happen, and are hence designated as Kharq al-'Adah (contrary to the habitual). The Islamic term for the miracles of prophets is Mu'jizat, and for those of saints, Karamat. The effects produced by such miracles are in appearance sometimes similar to those produced by magic. This external resemblance leads some ignorant people to confuse the one with the other, and they begin to have a reverence for magicians which is totally out of place. So, one must understand the difference between the two clearly. (Editorial Note on معجزه -Mu'jizah or Miracle: For all the unusual events and unprecedented happenings the English language has but one word, 'Miracle' which makes it impossible for the reader in that language to mark the subtle difference in various forms of miracles. Briefly, therefore, the different forms of miracles with their distinct objections are explained here. It is hoped that this will help the readers have a clearer conception of Mu'jizah.
These terms are used in Arabic language to define and differentiate the unprecendented happenings and here each of them is explained, so as to clearly differentiate them. Qualitatively, there is, apparently no difference in all of them.
Mu'jizah is the unusual event which occurs at 'the hands of a prophet. It is purely an act of Allah. A prophet's own volition has no part in the working of it. For those who witness a Mu'jizah it is compulsory to believe init.
Karamah (كرامه) — another mode of unusual happenings — is also an act of Allah; it appears at the hands of a Man of Allah. The basic difference in Mu'jizah and Karamah is that one who performs Mu'jizah, addresses himself as a prophet, a Man of Allah has no such claim. In both Mu'jizah and Karamah the usual cause and effect link is absent. Things happen but without any cause; and there is usually a total transformation of the nature and behaviour of objects in Mu'jizah and Karamah. What is required is a generalized belief in them. Allah chooses whoever He wills for Mu'jizah and Karamah. No degree of stringent discipline can give the power to make the unusual happen.
Irhas (ارهاس) is also a kind of Karamah. It heralds the coming of a prophet. It usually occurs at the hands of the one who is closely related to the prophet: the unprecedented happenings in the the life of Mariam, mother of prophet 'Isa (AS) or the various unusual events that began occurring to and around Aminah - the blessed mother of our Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) for instance, she had no pangs of birth, towards the close of the birth period she used to hear stranger voices greeting her, although she saw no one. It is compulsory to believe in such events of Irhas as have been mentioned in the Qur'an and believe in a general manner, that Irhas is usually associated with the coming of a prophet).

The Difference between Miracle and Magic
The miracles of prophets and saints are different from magic, firstly, in their respective natures, and, secondly, with regard to the signs and indications attendant upon each. As for the difference in their natures, it lies in the fact that the results produced through magic depend on the law of causality as much as do the ordinary and usual events in the physical world, the only distinction being that the causes are in the latter case quite clear or easily observable, while in the former they are different for a common man to detect. Where the causes are evident, the effects are immediately referred back to them, and the events thus produced are not considered to be astonishing, but where the causes are hidden or obscure, the events produced by them arouse wonder and amazement, and those who are ignorant of the causes readily come to believe that the things have happened in contravention of the habitual laws of the physical universe (In the West, they describe such events as being "supernatural", although the Latin word Natura, which is the equivalent of the Greek word Phusis, does, at least in its original sense, cover all that has been created, whether it lies in the domain studied by empirical science or beyond it.). What these people do not realize is that such happenings are as much due to certain causes as the habitual events - the cause in the case of extraordinary happenings often being the activity of a jinn or a devil (Shaytan). For example, a letter suddenly falls in front of a man, and on reading it he finds that the letter has been written just this day and is coming from a distance often thousand miles. Now, the onlookers would call it a "supernatural" event, for they do not know that Allah has given the power of doing such things to jinns and devils. Once one comes to understand the means through which things of this nature take place, one would no longer see them as "supernatural", or even as being contrary to "habit". In short, all the results obtained through magical practices are, in fact, due to the operation of physical causes, but in the eyes of common people they acquire the illusory appearance of "supernatural" events, simply because the operative causes are hidden from them.
On the other hand, miracles happen directly under divine command without the intervention of physical causes. For example, the Holy Qur'an tells us how the tyrant Namrud (Nimrod) threw Sayyidna Ibrahim (Abraham (AS) into a blazing fire, and how Allah commanded the fire to grow cold for him, but not so cold as to do him harm -- and the fire obeyed the command, and, instead of scorching him, provided a place of safety. This was a direct divine act, and hence a miracle. Now, we sometimes hear of men who, having applied certain chemicals to their body, can enter a fire without being scorched. This is not a miracle, for the operative cause is of a physical nature - that is, the chemicals. These chemicals are not known to people in general, and they are deluded into believing such a performance to be a "supernatural" event going beyond the realm of "the habitual". The Holy Qur'an itself leaves no doubt as to a miracle being directly an act of Allah Himself. In the Battle of Badr, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) took up a handful of pebbles, and threw them at the army of the infidels, which blinded their eyes. Referring to this miracle, the Holy Qur'an says: وَمَا رَمَيْتَ إِذْ رَمَيْتَ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ رَمى :"When you threw (the pebbles), it was not you who threw, but Allah who threw (them)" (8:17). The statement is explicit enough, and means that the miraculous result produced by a handful of pebbles was not the work of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), but the act of Allah Himself.

Miracle and Magic: How to distinguish between them?
Having explained the difference between the nature of a miracle and that of magic, we must now turn to another important question --the results produced by each of them being in appearance the same, how is the common man to know the difference between the two? In fact, Allah has given to each certain characteristic features which can help the common man to distinguish miracles from magic. Firstly, miracles are manifested through those whom everyone knows to be clean in body, pure in deeds and God-fearing. On the contrary, magic shows its effectiveness through those who are unclean in body, dirty in deeds, shunning the worship of Allah and His remembrance. This is a distinction which everyone can observe with his own eyes. Secondly, Allah has so ordained things that if a man pretends to be a prophet and claims to perform miracles, and yet tries to practise magic, his magic is never effective, but he can be effective in magic so long as he does not lay a claim to prophethood.
Magic and Prophets
As to the question whether magic can have an effect on prophets, we shall say that it can. As we have explained above, magic operates through physical causes, and prophets are not immune to the influence of physical causes. Just as they feel the effects of hunger and thirst, fall ill and get healed through the operation of apparent physical causes, in the same way they can be affected by the hidden operations of magic, which are no less physical. Let us add that being affected by magic does in no way go against the dignity of the station of prophethood — no more than would thirst or hunger. Authentic ahadith report that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) was affected by the magic spell cast by the Jews, that he came to know of it through revelation, and that he took certain measures to free himself of its effects. The Holy Qur'an too tells us how Sayyidna Musa (Moses AS) experienced the effects of magic when the sorcerers cast a spell on his eyes, and the ropes and the sticks thrown by them began to look like running serpents, so that he was really frightened (20:66,67).
Injunctions of the Shari'ah with regard to Magic
As we have already said, Sihr (magic), in the terminology of the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, refers only to those practices in which one seeks the help of jinns and devils (Shayatin) by gaining their pleasure through the adoption of certain phrases or actions that involve infidelity (Kufr) and association (Shirk) or sin and transgression, and thus brings about certain extraordinary and unusual events. The magic of Babylon, mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, was just this, and it is this form of magic which it condemns as infidelity or Kufr (Jassas). According to Abu Mansur, the most valid and correct view in this respect is that each and every form of magic does not, unconditionally and absolutely, constitute infidelity, but only that form which employs actions or speech contrary to the tenets of faith (Iman). (Ruh al-Ma'ani)
As everyone knows, the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith repeatedly enjoin upon the Muslims to consider the Shayatin as one's enemies, to hate them and to curse them. Seeking to please them and to win their friendship, in contravention of such clear commandments, is in itself a sin. Moreover, they are pleased only when one indulges in Kufr (infidelity) or Shirk (association), and thus forfeits one's faith ('Iman) altogether, or at least in disobedience and transgression, displeasing Allah and His angels by wallowing in dirt and impurity — which becomes an additional sin. And if one makes use of magic for doing some harm to a human being unlawfully, it is still one more sin.
Thus, what the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith call Sihr can never be free either of infidelity in the matter of faith, or at least of infidelity in the matter of actions. If, in order to please the Shayatin, one adopts actions or speech involving infidelity or association, one would be committing an act of real infidelity in the matter of faith; and even if one manages to avoid infidelity and association in speech or action, but indulges in other sinful activities, one would not remain free from infidelity in the matter of actions. This is what the Holy Qur'an means when, in the present verses, it designates magic as Kufr.
To sum up, when magic employs actions or speech involving infidelity (such as seeking the help of Shayatin, or believing the stars and the planets to be effective in themselves, or claiming prophethood by presenting the results of magical procedures as miracles, etc), such a magic, according to the consensus, constitutes infidelity; and when magic does not involve acts of infidelity but only the commission of sinful acts, such a magic is a major sin.
Now, let us add some subsidiary injunctions with regard to magic.
(1) Since magic is not usually free from infidelity in the matter of faith or in that of action, it necessarily follows that it is forbidden to learn or teach or practice it. Some jurists, however, allow one to learn magic for the purpose of protecting Muslims from harm, but one must not try to learn more than is necessary.
(2) If in preparing charms and amulets the help of Jinns and Shayatin has been sought, they too come under the category of Sihr, and are thus forbidden. If the words employed in the charms are vague, and one does not exactly know what they mean but suspects that they are invocations addressed to idols or Shayatin, even such charms are forbidden.
(3) As for the other forms of magic beside the Sihr, like that of Babylon, condemned by the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, if they involve Kufr and Shirk in some way, they too are forbidden.
If there is a form of magic which employs words or actions or other elements to which the Shari'ah does not object, then it is permissible on condition that it is not used for a purpose which the Shari'ah forbids.
It is permissible to use the verses of the Holy Qur'an, or the Divine Names or the words of the Hadith in preparing charms and amulets, or as a recitation or invocation for gaining divine help in order to attain a desired end. But if such a use of the sacred texts or words is made for a reprehensible purpose, like doing harm to someone without an excuse, even that is forbidden. (Shami, Fatawa Qadhi Khan)
A doctrinal point
Verse 102 says: "They could not thus do any harm to anyone, except with the permission of Allah". This shows that causes in themselves and by themselves cannot produce the effects one usually associates with them, and it is Allah who creates the effects -as much as the Causes. (Bayan al-Qur'an)


Verse 104
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انْظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ()

O those who believe, do not say "Ra'ina", hut say "Unzurna", and listen. And for the unbelievers there is a grievous punishment.

Among other perversities, some of the Jews invented a new mischief. When they presented themselves before the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), they would address him with the word Ra'ina, which, in Arabic, means "be mindful of us", but is, in Hebrew, a curse. The latter is what they intended, but the Arabs, not knowing Hebrew, could not see the point, and some Muslims too, with the Arabic sense of the word in mind, began to address the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) in the same manner to the great glee of the Jews who had thus found a way of insulting him openly, and had even tricked the Muslims into joining them. In order to frustrate the design of the Jews, the Holy Qur'an commands the Muslims to use the word Unzurna instead of Ra'ina, for the meanings of the two words are the same in Arabic. The verse also announces a dire punishment to the Jews for showing disrespect to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) and for trying to be clever with him.
The verse describes the insolent Jews as Kafirin (infidels), which means that being intentionally disrespectful towards a prophet even in an indirect manner constitutes infidelity.
The verse shows that if a perfectly legitimate action on one's part provides room for others to commit illegitimate actions, even the legitimate action no longer remains lawful for one. For example, if a permissible action on the part of a scholar is likely to lead the ignorant into error and to induce them to do impermissible things, that permissible action will then become forbidden for him, provided that the action concerned is not essential according to the Shari'ah and is not included among its objects. The Holy Qur'an and the Hadith provide many instances of this nature. For example, before the advent of Islam the Quraysh had, in rebuilding the Ka'bah, made certain modifications in the design set by Sayyidna Ibrahim (Abraham AS). A hadith reports that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) wished to demolish the present structure, and to build it again according to the Abrahamic pattern, but he did not do so, for such an action could have led ignorant people into misunderstanding and error.
In the vocabulary of the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, such injunctions are described as سد الذرائع: Sadd al-Dhara'i: "removing the means (to error)" and are accepted by all the jurists -- those of the Hanbali school being very particular about them. (Qurtubi)