The Qur'an and the Secrets of Magic

 

In this Article  we are going to see that the Quran contains a wealth of information about the world of the occult our analysis will focus on the second chapter of the Quran known as surah al-Baqarah in particular verses 101-102 we will analyze these verses from the perspective of history and archaeology the verses begin by saying and when a messenger from Allah came to them confirming that which was with them the children of Israel a party of those who had been given the scripture through the scripture of Allah behind their backs as if they did not know what it contained and they followed instead what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon the classical Muslim exegetes ibn kethir and Tabari both explained that the Quran here is referring to a faction of Jews at the time of Muhammad peace be upon him who rejected him despite knowing he was a messenger the Quran rebukes them for not acting upon this knowledge of his prophethood which is contained in their very own scriptures they are accused of abandoning their scriptures and instead resorting to practicing the magic of their ancestors from the time of Solomon there are a number of amazing insights to note here firstly we can see that the Quran makes an important distinction between scripture and the works of devils namely that of magic the Quran states that a party of Jews abandoned Allah’s words and turned to the magic of devils implying that their scriptures are free of magic if we compare the old testament with rabbinic writings we find that this is the case the old testament states you shall not permit a sorceress to live mediums and necromancers shall surely be put to death let no one be found among you who interprets omens we can see that the old testament has a zero tolerance approach to all forms of magic by comparison rabbinic texts such as the Talmud are full of occult teachings rabbi [ __ ] wrote I see in the Babylonian Talmud many things which were permitted from the realm of fortune telling incantations and witchcraft these are innumerable here are just some examples of occultism in the Talmud if one wishes to see demons let him take the afterbirth of a black shikat let him roast it in fire and grind it to powder and then let him put some into his eye what is an approved amulet one that has healed once a second time and a third time the course of the constellations and the zodiac has influence as a natural law upon the world and everything depends upon it longevity children and finances it's clear that the talmud promotes a whole host of occult practices including sorcery amulets and astrology we've seen that these are all practices that the old testament deems punishable by death scripture and rabbinic writings are completely at odds when it comes to the permissibility of magic just as the Quran states another Quranic insight is the fact that the verse is addressing a group of Jews who are contemporary to the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and making the claim that they were following the magic of devils from the time of Solomon given that solomon is from the 10^th century bce and the Quran was revealed in the 7^th century ce this points to a continuous magic tradition of at least one and a half thousand years if this really is the case then we would expect Jewish practitioners to have mastered these dark arts over such a long period of times this is exactly what we find in the world of magic for centuries jewish mythicism such as kabbalah and Jewish numerology known as gematria have been fundamental to occultism to this day anyone who is serious about the occult must study these jewish systems as they are considered foundational yet another quranic insight can be found in the linguistics of this verse note the word recited devils are said to recite magic the use of spoken incantations and evocations are in fact a major part of magic madame Blavatsky was a highly influential 19th century mystic she explained that occultists throughout history have used symbols to convey meaning because they feared the real-world effects of the spoken word the religious and esoteric history of every nation was embedded in symbols it was never expressed in so many words why because such or another vibration in the air is sure to awaken corresponding powers union with which produces good or bad results the ancient egyptians held similar beliefs about the power of the spoken word the commonly found phrases magic of their mouths and spells of their utterances show the close relationship between speaking and magic the two were treated as more or less equivalent the ancient Mesopotamians also believed that incantations had to be spoken in a certain way in order for them to be effective voice can harvest the power and knowledge contained within a name the incantation and names contained in them had to be pronounced in a special tone of voice the word used to describe one speaking in this manner lohushu is even different from the regular verb se and had a meaning similar to utter murmur or chant the next part of the verses state it was not solomon who disbelieved but the devils disbelieved teaching people magic here the quran defends the noble prophet Solomon clearing him of the false accusations of magic rabbis and Jewish commentators throughout history have claimed that Solomon was a master magician for example the Talmud claims that Solomon possessed a magical ring that was the source of his ability to control devils the Talmud narrates the following story the demon asmodius said to Solomon give me your ring with god's name engraved on it and i will show you my strength Solomon gave him his ring asmodius swallowed the ring and grew until he placed one wing in the heaven and one wing on the earth he threw solomon a distance of 400 parasangs i.e. over one thousand miles with Solomon deposed from the throne as modius took his place while asmodius was impersonating Solomon he demanded that Solomon’s mother engage in sexual intercourse with him once the Jewish council heard this they understood that this was an impostor and not actually Solomon they brought Solomon and gave him a ring on which the name of god was carved when Solomon entered asmodius saw him and fled followers of Judaism need to realize that such rabbinic teachings actually go against the old testament which we've already seen strictly prohibits all forms of magic rabbis have therefore created contradictions within the religion itself the Quran clarifies that a magical trinket was not the source of Solomon’s power rather Allah himself was the source of solomon's miraculous ability to subjugate devils and control animals Solomon’s abilities are no different to the miracles that allah bestowed upon other israelite prophets such as Moses we can see that the Quran resolves the confusion that is present within Judaism the next part of the verses state teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon here the Quran makes the claim that Babylon was a major epicenter for magic thanks to modern archaeological discoveries we now know that Babylonians laid the foundation for magical practices used all around the world for example astrology is one of the core sciences in magic today the Babylonians were the first people to apply myths to constellations and describe the 12 signs of the zodiac Enuma anu Enlil is a series of Babylonian tablets that represent the oldest astrological writings in the world the conquest of Asia by alexander the great exposed the Greeks to Babylonian culture they took the Babylonian system of astrology developed it and spread it all around the world another claim being made here by the quran is that the magic of the Jews at the time of prophet Muhammad peace be upon him had its roots in ancient Babylon a number of historical evidences both textual and archaeological support this claim the Talmud is a written compilation of rabbinic discussions that comprise the foundation of Jewish law two different versions of the talmud were produced the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud with the former produced in the land of Israel and the latter in Babylon when contrasting the two scholars have observed that the Babylonian Talmud is comparatively full of references to demons and magic a perfect example that illustrates this difference can be found in the old testament book of Ecclesiastes i acquired male and female singers and a harem as well compare the Babylonian and Jerusalem talmudic commentaries on this verse here in Babylonia they interpreted these words in the following manner male demons and female demons in the land of Israel they said that these words are referring to carriages this supports the Quran’s claims about the babylonian roots of Jewish magic as those Jews who were exiled to Babylon were exposed to and influenced by its magical culture we can see this influence reflected in the content of the Babylonian Talmud from an archaeological perspective the earliest known examples of Jewish mystical texts are Babylonian incantation balls this further supports the Quran’s claim that Jews first learnt magic at Babylon professor shawl shack head wrote the Jewish Aramaic balls also have the earliest examples of hecalot or Jewish mystical texts you also find named Jewish rabbis and demons as well as information about jewish legal practice moreover the vast majority of incantation balls that have been excavated in the Babylonian region are written in jewish aramaic an essay on magic balls states that the largest number of known incantation balls are written in Jewish Aramaic by jewish scribes Mandaean bowls are the second most numerous only then followed by balls in Syriac a handful of balls in Arabic and Persian are also known this shows that Babylonian Jews were heavily involved in magic historians even go so far as to suggest that they achieved a mastery of the dark arts professor joseph nave wrote magic may have been considered to some extent a Jewish specialization the next part of the verses state the two angels at Babylon Haroot and Marut but they do not teach anyone unless they say we are a trial so do not disbelieve by practicing magic here the Quran is making the claim that two angels Haroot and Marut descended at Babylon these angels are said to have been sent by Allah and given knowledge of magic as a means of testing mankind is there any historical evidence for the existence of the angels Haroot or Marut there just happens to be some striking parallels between the angel Marut and an entity known as marduk marduk was an ancient Mesopotamian deity who was the chief god of the city of Babylon marduk is the name commonly associated with the deity in modern times however it was actually pronounced marutok in Babylonian scholars believe that this word is derived from the Sumerian amarutu the Quranic Marut may simply be an arabised version of the Babylonian marutok and Sumerian amarutu marduk also happens to have been associated with magic as far back as the old babylonian period during Babylonian magic rituals priests known as asipu would impersonate marduk a tablet reads the asipo is the image of amarutu [Music] marduk was glorified as the greatest of exorcists a tablet reads upon the utterance ofamarutu exorcist among the gods seal that calls upon marduk served as an amulet it states by the order of amarutu may he who was provided with this seal be in good health marduk was also commonly invoked to ward off demons the urdug hull writings are a series of 16 tablets consisting of incantations for protection against evil demons several of the tablets are in fact hymns to marduk for example by the invocation of marduk ruler of Babylon may whatever evil be removed from the body of the man may the evil otoku demon an evil aloo demon stand aside marduk was even called the magician of the gods note in the following inscription that marduk is referred to by the name asalouhi before the spell of assalohi the magician of the gods the parallels between marduk and the angel Marut go beyond their names and magical associations the supreme god aya was believed to be the ultimate source of marduk's knowledge in the following Babylonian text marduk is said to consult af advice may my father the great lord ayer show you the right and the master plan of ayah's wisdom he marduk was searching he was searching there for the supreme word of aya's command we can see that the relationship between marduk and ayah is similar to that of the angel marut and allah with marduk and marut both being subservient and receiving knowledge from the higher authorities aya and allah even the name of the city of Babylon has connotations with the Quranic angels the word Babylon comes from the ancient Mesopotamian babilim which means gate of the gods this could be a reference to its importance as the site where angels brought magic to mankind hence it was seen as a kind of gateway to receiving wisdom from above there is in fact a creation myth known as enuma elish in which marduk is said to have commanded the building of Babylon construct Babylon whose building you have requested let its brickwork be fashioned now you may be wondering how is it possible that the angel marut was transformed into the Babylonian god marduk mankind has a tendency to defy mortals this has been the norm throughout history with heroes and people of great importance being taken as objects of worship an obvious example is the Christian elevation of jesus from human messiah to god incarnate with regards to marduk historians acknowledge that his origins are shrouded in mystery the scholar daniel block wrote that the ultimate origins of marduk remain a mystery the surviving historical records do indicate that marduk greatly grew in stature over time the Babylonian epic enuma elish chronicles the rise of marduk from hero to king of the gods marduk is even said to have taken on 50 names and attributes for us under whatever name he might be called he is our god so gather round and let us all call him by all his fifty namesas professor marcum geller puts it it is clear that the principal divine authority authenticating the power of incantations was aya god of wisdom whose role was primary one of the innovations of odokhul was the increased centrality of marduk as the main god of healing independent of ayah and no longer acting as aya's representative at least three tablets of a doghole focused primarily on marduk's role as the chief protagonist which is a major departure from his traditional role as aya's assistant what's incredible is that this information about the angel marut and its links to Babylon and magic is unique to the quran it's not mentioned anywhere in the bible or rabbinic texts such as the talmud now the god marduk is mentioned once in the bible however very little information is provided and it has no association with magic or angels the final part of the verses state and yet they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife and the people learn what harms them and does not benefit them but their children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not having here after any share and wretched is that for which they sold themselves if they only knew here the Quran tells us that the angels brought a new type of knowledge something very powerful that can cause a husband and wife to separate now the Quran does not go into detail about the exact nature of the magic that descended however notice the mention of the word purchased the Quran could be alluding to the transactional nature of interactions between magicians and jinn indeed a common thread that runs through all magic traditions is the concept of working with spiritual entities in order to obtain some worldly benefit or cause harm to others the magician does something for a gin such as praising it or offering a sacrifice and in return the jinn provides a service for the magician also note the mention of the consequences of engaging in magic the Quran issues the severe warning that it is at the cost of one's hereafter the magician quite literally has to sell their soul in order for the jinn to comply their reality is that in order to reach the higher levels a magician must commit the greatest of evils which is demonstrated in their philosophy and morality magicians refer to the systems they use as the left-hand path conventional religion is referred to as the right-hand path note what this magician has to say about Islam and the right-hand path in a few terms what do you mean by the left-hand path for semantic purposes we use the phrase right-hand path to define those religions or spiritual practices that attempt to submit to a greater force a god a universal principle that unites humanity together so you put me in the Buddhists and the Hindus in the Muslims everybody else all kind of in one category over here and the right-hand path would consist of in religions you'd be familiar with Islam is the most radical right-hand path system the very word means submission Islam is the most radical right-hand path system the very word means submission this distinction between the left and right hand paths is a very old one that has been recorded as far back as ancient India the left-hand path is based on two main principles firstly self-deification whereas the right-hand path seeks dependence on god followers of the left-hand path seek to become god-like the conventional acts of disbelief that magicians take part in such as calling upon idols and worshiping the jinn are bad enough but the left hand path takes things to an extreme it reaches new heights of blasphemy with a magician seeking godhood in themselves the second principle of the left-hand path is challenging normative conventions of morality there is a reversal of moral categories evil becomes good impure becomes pure darkness becomes light followers at the left-hand path intentionally break all taboos in order to reconstitute themselves as a divine being operating outside the laws and restrictions of man for example many religions place prohibitions on menstruating women they are forbidden from taking part in certain acts of worship and married women refrain from sexual intimacy the follower of the left-hand path however will purposely seek to violate all of these prohibitions now we can understand why the Quran is so severe in its condemnation of magic it is a path that leads the greatest of evils on earth and ultimately the eternal hell fire and hereafter in conclusion we've seen that these short verses of the Quran are filled with tremendous insights into different areas of the world of the occult including the Jews of Babylon the ancient origins of magic and the interaction between jin and magicians to learn more about the world of the occult from an Islamic perspective please download your free copy of the book the forbidden prophecies