Harut and Marut
Harut and Marut (
The angelic pair is exemplary for angels in Islamic tradition to be tested and potentially fail. Furthermore, they are strongly associated with introducing sorcery to the world throughout Islamic culture.
Quranic narrative
In the Quran, the two angels are briefly mentioned as follows:[3][4]
Solomon did not disbelieve, but the satans disbelieved, teaching people sorcery and that which was sent down to the two angels at Babylon, Harūt and Marūt. But they would not teach anyone until they had said, "We are only a trial, so do not disbelieve." Then they would learn from them that by which they could cause separation between a man and his wife. But they did not harm anyone with it, save by God's Leave. And they would learn that which harmed them and brought them no benefit, knowing that whosoever purchases it has no share in the Hereafter. Evil is that for which they sold their souls, had they but known.
— The Qur'an,2:102.[5]
History
The Quran mentions a pair of angels teaching sorcery. The names Hārūt and Mārūt, however, do not originate from Semitic beliefs, but appear to be etymologically related to Haurvatat and Ameretat, two Amesha Spenta from Zoroastrianism.[6][7] Their fall from heaven is not mentioned by the Quran, in contrast to apocalyptic literature, they are "sent down" by God.[8] However, it is assumed by mufassirs (authorized exegetes of the Quran) that they were sent down as a form of punishment, and explain the story behind their fall.[8]
Fallen angels teaching magic reflects an early Christian belief.[8] For this reason, some Muslim scholars argue that the story derives from Judeo-Christian sources (Israʼiliyyat). According to Ansar al-'Adl, the additional interpretation of this verse entered tafsir from Judaism or Christianity. The English Quran translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali states this story develops from Jewish midrashim, particularly Midrash Abkir.[9] However, Midrash Abkir is not dated earlier than the eleventh century.[8] John C. Reeves concludes that, although the Quran integrates previous material, the midrashim is shaped by Muslim beliefs, not the other way around.[10] Similarly, Patricia Crone argues that Jews adopted the Islamic story, especially since stories regarding fallen angels were considered unauthentic by Rabbinic Judaism.[11] Rejecting a Jewish origin of the story also comes from Muslim scholars. Kürşad Demirci points out that there are no similarities between the story of Harut and Marut and the angels from ancient Jewish lore.[12]
Tale of Harut and Marut
Although the Quran does not call this pair of angels fallen explicitly, the context assumes this to be true.
Ibn Kathir considers at least details of the story to be fabricated (mawḍūʿ) by Ka'b al-Ahbar.[15] Al-Suyuti traces the story back as ḥadīṯ attributed to Muhammad.[16] Tabari narrates the story as follows:[17]
The angels were astonished at the acts of disobedience committed by the human beings on earth, claiming they would do better than them. Therefore, God challenged the angels to choose two representatives among them, who would descend to earth and be endowed with bodily desires. During their stay on earth, they fell in love with a woman named Zohra (often identified with the planet Venus). She told them she would become intimate with them if they joined her in idolatry and told her how to ascend to heaven. The angels refused and remained pious. Later they met her again and the woman this time stated she would become intimate with them if they drank alcohol. The angels thought that alcohol could not cause great harm and therefore, they accepted the condition. After they were drunk, they became intimate with her and after noticing a witness, they killed them. The next day, Harut and Marut regretted their deeds but could not ascend to heaven anymore due to their sins, as their link to the angels was broken. Thereupon, God asked them, whether their punishment shall be in this world or in the hereafter. They chose to be punished on earth and therefore were sent to Babel as a test, teaching humans magic but not without warning them that they were just a temptation.[18]
Although the Quran gives them Iranian names, Muslim scholars compared them to the fallen angels from
Angelic impeccability
Angels are generally not considered infallible in Islam.[19][20] Yet, Muslim authors debated how angels might end up in error or advocate to free angels from sin in general, due to their lack of bodily impulses (Hasan al-Basri, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, ibn-Arabi and ibn Kathir among Sunnis; Shaykh Tusi and Shaykh Tabarsi among Shias).[21][22]
Mujahid ibn Jabr explains, in his version of this story, that the lechery of Harut and Marut was in their heart (qalb) not in their flesh, since as angels they lack bodily desires.[14] The story adds that a human prayed for their forgiveness. The human might be identified with the prophet Idris.[14] Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780–855 CE), argued that angelic impeccability is the reason for their transgression in the first place. Because of their obedience, they begin to oppose the children of Adam. By that, they also question the judgment of God, leading to their fall. This is in reference to the Quranic statement about angels complaining over the creation of Adam.[23][4]
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi is an exception and agrees with the
Māturīdism likewise accept that angels can disobey and be subject to trial.[27] Māturīdism generally considers sinful Muslims not to be unbelievers as long as they don't deny an obligation or prohibition.[28] Abū al-Qāsim Ishaq ibn Muhammad al-Māturīdī (9th to 10th centuries CE) draws this conclusion based on an analogy with Harut and Marut, who are regarded as sinful yet not unbelievers (Kuffār) in the Islamic tradition.[29]
Among Shia tradition,
Islamic culture
In the wider Islamic culture, Harut and Marut are seen as those who introduced magic to the world.
Rūmīs major work, the poem Mas̲navī, is closer to the orthodox Islamic depiction of Harut and Marut. The reader is recommended to remember the story of Harut and Marut, and how their self-righteousness led to their demise.[33]
As evident from al-Jāḥiẓ, the case of Harut and Marut were exemplified for the very phenomenon of fallen angels in Muslim culture. Such angels would descend to earth as punishment for disobedience and might beget children.[8]
See also
- Azazel
- Samyaza
- Iraq in the Quran
- List of angels in theology
- Lucifer
- Tower of Babel in Islamic tradition
References
- ^ Quran 2:102 (Translated by Yusuf Ali)
- Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk @-Wagnalls.
- ^ Quran 2:102–102
- ^ ISBN 978-1-136-50473-0.
- ISBN 978-0-06-112586-7.
- ^ Bürgel, J. Christoph. "Zoroastrianism as viewed in medieval Islamic sources." Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions (1999): 202-212.
- Britannica.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Dye, Guillaume. Early Islam: the sectarian milieu of late Antiquity?. Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2023.
- ^ Ali, Abdullah Yousf (2006). The Meaning of the Holy Quran (PDF) (11th ed.). note 104, p. 45. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-05.
- ^ Reeves, John C. (2015). Some Parascriptural Dimensions of the Muslim "Tale of Harut wa-Marut". Journal of the American Oriental Society.
Western scholars who have studied the "Tale of Harut and Marut" and grappled with its literary analogues have most frequently pointed to the Jewish and Christian parascriptural materials that envelop the enigmatic figure of Enoch and in particular to a curious medieval Jewish aggadic narrative known as the "Midrash of Shemhazai and 'Azael." (29) This unusual tale, extant in at least four Hebrew versions and one Aramaic rendition, (30) requires our attention at this stage, and I accordingly provide here a translation of what is arguably its earliest written registration, in the eleventh-century midrashic compilation Bereshit Rabbati of R. Moshe ha-Darshan.
Careful comparison of the developed narratives of the "Tale of Harut and Marut" and the "Midrash of Shemhazai and cAzael" amid the larger literary corpora within which they are embedded suggests that the Muslim Harut wa-Marut complex both chronologically and literarily precedes the articulated versions of the Jewish "Midrash of Shemhazai and 'Azael," or as Bernhard Heller expressed it over a century ago, "la legende [i.e., the Jewish one] a ete calquee sur celle de Harout et Marout." (39) What is likely the oldest Hebrew form of the story dates from approximately the eleventh century, (40) several hundred years after the bulk of the Muslim evidence. - ^ a b Crone, Patricia. The Book of Watchers in the Quran. pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b KÜRŞAT DEMİRCİ, "HÂRÛT ve MÂRÛT", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/harut-ve-marut (19.09.2023).
- ^ Majmaʻ al-Buḥūth al-Islāmīyah The Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research 1968 p. 707
- ^ a b c Reeves, John C. "Some Parascriptural Dimensions of the “Tale of Hārūt wa-Mārūt”." Journal of American Oriental Society 135.4 (2015): 817-842.
- ^ KÜRŞAT DEMİRCİ, "HÂRÛT ve MÂRÛT", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/harut-ve-marut (20.09.2023).
- ^ Dye, Guillaume. Early Islam: the sectarian milieu of late Antiquity? Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2023.
- ^ Hanan Jaber (November 18, 2018). Harut and Marut in The Book of Watchers and Jubilees. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. pp. 14–15.
- ISBN 978-1-136-45991-7.
- ISBN 978-90-04-09791-9.
- ^ Welch, Alford T. (2008) Studies in Qur'an and Tafsir. Riga, Latvia: Scholars Press. p. 756
- ISBN 978-3447053495pp. 291–292 (German)
- ^ KÜRŞAT DEMİRCİ, "HÂRÛT ve MÂRÛT", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/harut-ve-marut (19.09.2023)..
- ISBN 978-90-04-18130-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-992-63347-8 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: checksum
- ^ Street, Tony. "Medieval Islamic doctrine on the angels: the writings of Fakhr al-Dīh al-Rāzī." Parergon 9.2 (1991): 111-127.
- ISBN 0-8369-9259-8p. 135
- LCCN 2014034960.
- ^ Yerzhan, K. "Principles of Abu Mansur Al-Maturidi, Central Asian Islamic Theologian Preoccupied With.pdf." A. Akimkhanov, A.Frolov, Sh.Adilbaeyva, K.Yerzhan (2016): n. pag. Print.
- ^ Tritton, A. S. "An Early Work from the School of Al-Māturīdī." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 3/4, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1966, pp. 96–99, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25202926.
- ISBN 978-600-04-9294-6.
- ^ Salim Ayduz, Caner Dagli The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam Oxford University Press, 2014 isbn 978-01998-1257-8 p. 504
- ^ Jones, David Albert. Angels: a very short introduction. OUP Oxford, 2010. p. 107
- ^ The Scholar Islamic Academic Research Journal Vol. 6, No. 2 ||July–December 2020 ||P. 129-155 Publisher Research Gateway Society DOI: 10.29370/siarj/issue11ar6