Part 7

The Shaytans Taught People Magic

The Jews accused the Prophet of Allah, Sulayman, peace be

upon him, of disbelief and of using magic. So the Noble Quran

cleared Sulayman of this false charge. The Almighty says:

"Sulayman did not reject faith but the shaytans did

reject it and taught people magic." (2:102)

Magic descended to the earth a long time before Sulayman and

the shaytans spread it among people in order to wreak corruption'

in the earth. How was it possible for the. shaytans to teach people

magic and spread knowledge of it among mankind? The shaytans

are able to whisper evil to people and inspire their friends, telling

them secretly to spread disbelief and heresy in the earth. They

communicate to their human friends secret information which is

called inspiration to indicate that it is hidden instruction. It is only

understood and perceived by him who receives it. Allah Almighty

says in His Noble Book:

"The shaytans inspire their friends to dispute with you.

If you obeyed them.you would be idolworshippers,"

Allah - glory be to Him and may He be exalted! - tells us in the

Noble Quran how the shaytans inspire their friends. He says:

"Anyone who shuts his eyes to the remembrance of the

All Merciful, We consign a shaytan to him and he becomes

"We have consigned to them intimates who have beauti­

fied for them what is before them and behind them. And

the Word regarding the nations, both ofjinn and men, who

passed away before them has been realised against them.

Certainly they were losers." (41:25)

The intimates referred to are shaytans who whisper evil to peo­

ple and try to constrain them into taking the path which leads to

the. Fire. Every human has one of these intimates who tries to get

him to take this path. Regarding this the Messenger of Allah, may

Allah bless him and grant him peace, says in the noble hadith:

"'There is not one of you who has not been consigned

an intimate from among the shaytans. ' They said, 'Even

you, Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'Yes, even me. But

Allah helped me against him and he surrendered...,

The Shay tans Inspire Their Friends

Some people fmd it strange that what the shaytans say to their

friends is called inspiration (wahy). The meaning of inspiration is

simply to inform about something secretly. The following example

may help clarify it. If a troublesome guest coroes and you do not

want to receive him, you agree with your son or servant on a cer­

tain sign. When he sees the sign, he understands and gets rid of the

guest. In this case the communication is achieved by a secret

means which is only understood by the communicator and the one

he is communicating with. Allah - glory be to Him and may He be

exalted! - gives inspiration to human beings as He says:

"It is not for any human being that Allah should speak

to him except by direct inspiration." (42:51)

Allah Almighty gives inspiration both to human Messengers

and also to ordinary human beings. as when He says:

"We inspired to Musa's mother." (28:7)

And He also gives inspiration to the bees:

"Your Lord inspired to the bees." (16:68)

He even gives inspiration to inanimate things:

"When the earth is shaken with a mighty shaking; and

the earth brings forth her burdens; and man says, 'Whdt

ails her?"; upon that day she shall tell her tidings for that

her Lord has inspired her." (99:1-5)

Thus inspiration can take different forms, Allah inspires the

Messengers and inspires the angels, and He inspires human beings

other than the Messengers. He inspires the bees and He inspires

inanimate things. He inspires whomever or whatever He wishes to

whatever He wishes. However, when the word "wahy" is used as a

technical term, it always means a communication from Allah to

The Shaytans' Knowledge of the Unseen

When Allah - glory be to Him and may He be exalted! - tells us

that the shaytans, the rebellious jinn, inspire their friends and asks

us not to obey them or else we will become idol-worshippers, a

question arises. What do the shaytans actually inspire their friends

In the past the shaytans used to eavesdrop in the heavens and

they had seats or special places from where they used to do this.

They would hear the commands which were coming down to the

angels with regard to future events and other things related to their

duties in creation. Then they would take these commands and

hurry with them to their friends among the soothsayers and.magi­

cians after interpolating superstitions and lies and other things

which would entice people into disbelief and disobedience to

Allah instead of obedience and belief .

They used to go to those soothsayers and magicians and amaze

them by mentioning things that were going to happen. In that way

they made them imagine they had genuine knowledge. Once they

had persuaded them to believe them they called them to disbelief

and forged lies against Allah by inserting things in His books

which He did not command and altering and changing them

However, when' the message of Muhammad, may Allah bless

him and grant him peace, came, Allah - glory be 'to Him and may

He be exalted! - stopped the shaytans from eavesdropping and it

became impossible for the shaytans to meddle with the truth or to

eavesdrop in Heaven. If they did they would be burned by mete­

ors. The Noble Quran tells us about this in Surat al-Jinn:

"We tried as usual to travel to heaven in search of news

but found it filled with fierce guards and meteors. We used

to sit there on special seats to listen in. But anyone listen­

ing now finds a fiery meteor in wait for him." (72:8-9)

So the shaytans used to eavesdrop and work corruption in the

earth in order to spread disbelief and misguidance. When the

Message of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him

peace, came, Allah Almighty positioned fierce guards from amortg

the angels. When any shaytan came near, he found a flaming mete­

or awaiting him which was shot at him to burn him. Thus Allah

preserved His peen and His Quran from any manipulation by

Sulayman, peace be upon him, was the only Prophet to rule

over the jinn and shaytans. They were made subject to him by the

power of Allah Almighty. That is why He was able to collect the

books of magic and their spells and to punish any of the shaytans

who rebelled. Sulayman prayed to his Lord to give him, as well as

the Message, a kingdom which no one had ever obtained before

him and which no one after him ever would. Allah says about that

"He said, 'My Lord, forgive me and give me a kingdom

whichno one afterme will be allowed. Truly You are the End­

less Giver of gifts.' So We made the wind subservient to

him, to blow at his command, softly, wherever he directed

it to go, and the shaytans, every builder and diver, and

others of them, yokedtogetherin chains." (38:35-38)

We know from this 'that Sulayman, peace be upon him, was

granted a kingdom which no Prophet before him or after him was '.

given; and that among the things Allah subjected to him were the

shaytans who built magnificent buildings for him and undertook

difficult tasks for him which no human being was.able to under­

take. One group of the jinn used to dive into the sea for him and

bring out any pearls or other precious thing he· desired. Another

group, those who disobeyed King Sulayman, were yoked together

It is not in any way strange that Sulayman should have been a

Prophet and a King at the same time. The Messenger of Allah,

may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was himself given a

choice between being a slave Messenger or a king Messenger who

would have a vast kingdom. He chose to be a slave Messenger

because this position is higher in the eyes of Allah Almighty.

During the timeof Sulayman, peace be upon him, the shaytans

used to use magic to injure people. Sulayman knew about this and

so he collected together all the books of magic. It is said that he

buried them somewhere in the earth in order to save people from

harm and it is also said that he put them under his throne.

When Sulayman died, the shay tans pointed out to people the

place where. these books were buried. They claimed-that it was by

means of the books that Sulayman had subjected the jinn, men and .

the winds and everything else in created existence to his com­

mand; and that anyone who read them would likewise have exis­

tence under his control and subject to his will. This amounts to dis­

belief and Sulayman was far removed from that.

All existence was made subject to Sulayman by the power of

Allah Almighty alone, not by magic. The shaytans wanted to make

people think that it was magic which had accomplished this so that

they would disbelieve in Allah Almighty and believe in the power

of magic. Anyone who believes in the power of magic is an unbe­

liever and anyone who practices magic is an unbeliever. Sulayman,

peace be upon him, was free of any suspicion of disbelief. Indeed

Allah - glory be to Him and may He be exalted! - declares his

innocence in the Noble Quran.

Magic and Control of this World .

The Shaytans made their human friends believe that Sulayman

was given a kingdom, which no one except him was given, by

virtue of his knowledge of magic. As we have said, that is a totally

false allegation. Sulayman was. given his kingdom by the com­

mand of Allah Almighty. He received the blessing of Allah with

acknowledgementand thankfulness. Sulayman understood the lan­

guage of the birds, the language of the ants and the glorification of

the mountains. Allah Almighty says about that:

"Then, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an ant

said, '0 ants! Go down into your homes so that Sulayman

and his troops-do not crush you without being aware of

.it: He smiled, laughing at its words, and said: '0 Lord,

keep me thankful for Your blessing You blessed me and my

parents with, and keep me acting rightly, pleasing You,

and admit me, by Your mercy, among Your righteous

Thus we see that Sulayman knew that all he was given, and the

subjection of all the species to him, was purely from Allah