Two angels are named once in the Qur’an, in a verse about magic in Babylon: Hārūt and Mārūt. Later storytellers wrapped them in a lurid legend; the Qur’an itself tells something far more sober.
In this article
وَٱتَّبَعُوا۟ مَا تَتْلُوا۟ ٱلشَّيَـٰطِينُ عَلَىٰ مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَـٰنَ ۖ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَـٰنُ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱلشَّيَـٰطِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ يُعَلِّمُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ ٱلسِّحْرَ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَى ٱلْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَـٰرُوتَ وَمَـٰرُوتَ ۚ وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَآ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌ فَلَا تَكْفُرْ ۖ فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِۦ بَيْنَ ٱلْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِۦ ۚ وَمَا هُم بِضَآرِّينَ بِهِۦ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنفَعُهُمْ ۚ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمُوا۟ لَمَنِ ٱشْتَرَىٰهُ مَا لَهُۥ فِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلَـٰقٍ ۚ وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْا۟ بِهِۦٓ أَنفُسَهُمْ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْلَمُونَ ١٠٢
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, Hārūt and Mārūt.
But they [i.e., 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 Allāh. And they [i.e., people] learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But they [i.e., the Children of Israel] certainly knew that whoever purchased it [i.e., magic] would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew.
Qur’an 2:1021
What the Qur’an says
The verse clears Solomon of the charge of sorcery, which some in Israel laid against him, and places the blame on the devils who taught magic. The two angels at Babylon taught nothing without first warning: ‘We are a trial, so do not disbelieve.’ Their knowledge could harm no one except by God’s permission. Muslim scholarship counts them as two angels sent to test people at a time when magic was widespread, and holds that the verse tells all that needs to be known about them.2
The legend
A later story, found in some commentaries, makes them angels who mocked human weakness, were sent to earth, fell into sin with a woman and were punished in a well in Babylon. Britannica notes that it parallels a Jewish legend of the fallen angels Shemḥazai and ʿAzaʾel, and that their names may echo two Zoroastrian archangels.3 Many Muslim scholars rejected the legend because angels, in the Qur’an, do not disobey God, and because nothing in the Qur’an or the authentic Sunnah supports it.4
Read beside the verse, the contrast is plain. Where the legend imagines angels who fall, the Qur’an presents angels who warn: their very words, ‘we are a trial’, protect anyone who listens. The verse uses the story of Babylon to teach that harm and benefit are in God’s hands alone.
Further reading: Haman in the Qur’an, The king and the Pharaoh.
Notes on Harut and Marut
- Qur’an 2:102, trans. Saheeh International; Arabic text from Quran.com. ↩
- “Harut and Marut,” Encyclopedia of Islamic Terms, Islamic Content (islamic-content.com). ↩
- “Hārūt and Mārūt,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. ↩
- “Harut and Marut,” Islamic Content, op. cit. ↩