Ayah

Word by Word
وَٱتَّبَعُواْ
And they followed
مَا
what
تَتۡلُواْ
recite(d)
ٱلشَّيَٰطِينُ
the devils
عَلَىٰ
over
مُلۡكِ
(the) kingdom
سُلَيۡمَٰنَۖ
(of) Sulaiman
وَمَا
And not
كَفَرَ
disbelieved
سُلَيۡمَٰنُ
Sulaiman
وَلَٰكِنَّ
[and] but
ٱلشَّيَٰطِينَ
the devils
كَفَرُواْ
disbelieved
يُعَلِّمُونَ
they teach
ٱلنَّاسَ
the people
ٱلسِّحۡرَ
[the] magic
وَمَآ
and what
أُنزِلَ
was sent down
عَلَى
to
ٱلۡمَلَكَيۡنِ
the two angels
بِبَابِلَ
in Babylon
هَٰرُوتَ
Harut
وَمَٰرُوتَۚ
and Marut
وَمَا
And not
يُعَلِّمَانِ
they both teach
مِنۡ
any
أَحَدٍ
one
حَتَّىٰ
unless
يَقُولَآ
they [both] say
إِنَّمَا
Only
نَحۡنُ
we
فِتۡنَةٞ
(are) a trial
فَلَا
so (do) not
تَكۡفُرۡۖ
disbelieve
فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ
But they learn
مِنۡهُمَا
from those two
مَا
what
يُفَرِّقُونَ
[they] causes separation
بِهِۦ
with it
بَيۡنَ
between
ٱلۡمَرۡءِ
the man
وَزَوۡجِهِۦۚ
and his spouse
وَمَا
And not
هُم
they (could)
بِضَآرِّينَ
at all [be those who] harm
بِهِۦ
with it
مِنۡ
any
أَحَدٍ
one
إِلَّا
except
بِإِذۡنِ
by permission
ٱللَّهِۚ
(of) Allah
وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ
And they learn
مَا
what
يَضُرُّهُمۡ
harms them
وَلَا
and not
يَنفَعُهُمۡۚ
profits them
وَلَقَدۡ
And indeed
عَلِمُواْ
they knew
لَمَنِ
that whoever
ٱشۡتَرَىٰهُ
buys it
مَا
not
لَهُۥ
for him
فِي
in
ٱلۡأٓخِرَةِ
the Hereafter
مِنۡ
any
خَلَٰقٖۚ
share
وَلَبِئۡسَ
And surely evil
مَا
(is) what
شَرَوۡاْ
they sold
بِهِۦٓ
with it
أَنفُسَهُمۡۚ
themselves
لَوۡ
if
كَانُواْ
they were
يَعۡلَمُونَ
(to) know
وَٱتَّبَعُواْ
And they followed
مَا
what
تَتۡلُواْ
recite(d)
ٱلشَّيَٰطِينُ
the devils
عَلَىٰ
over
مُلۡكِ
(the) kingdom
سُلَيۡمَٰنَۖ
(of) Sulaiman
وَمَا
And not
كَفَرَ
disbelieved
سُلَيۡمَٰنُ
Sulaiman
وَلَٰكِنَّ
[and] but
ٱلشَّيَٰطِينَ
the devils
كَفَرُواْ
disbelieved
يُعَلِّمُونَ
they teach
ٱلنَّاسَ
the people
ٱلسِّحۡرَ
[the] magic
وَمَآ
and what
أُنزِلَ
was sent down
عَلَى
to
ٱلۡمَلَكَيۡنِ
the two angels
بِبَابِلَ
in Babylon
هَٰرُوتَ
Harut
وَمَٰرُوتَۚ
and Marut
وَمَا
And not
يُعَلِّمَانِ
they both teach
مِنۡ
any
أَحَدٍ
one
حَتَّىٰ
unless
يَقُولَآ
they [both] say
إِنَّمَا
Only
نَحۡنُ
we
فِتۡنَةٞ
(are) a trial
فَلَا
so (do) not
تَكۡفُرۡۖ
disbelieve
فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ
But they learn
مِنۡهُمَا
from those two
مَا
what
يُفَرِّقُونَ
[they] causes separation
بِهِۦ
with it
بَيۡنَ
between
ٱلۡمَرۡءِ
the man
وَزَوۡجِهِۦۚ
and his spouse
وَمَا
And not
هُم
they (could)
بِضَآرِّينَ
at all [be those who] harm
بِهِۦ
with it
مِنۡ
any
أَحَدٍ
one
إِلَّا
except
بِإِذۡنِ
by permission
ٱللَّهِۚ
(of) Allah
وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ
And they learn
مَا
what
يَضُرُّهُمۡ
harms them
وَلَا
and not
يَنفَعُهُمۡۚ
profits them
وَلَقَدۡ
And indeed
عَلِمُواْ
they knew
لَمَنِ
that whoever
ٱشۡتَرَىٰهُ
buys it
مَا
not
لَهُۥ
for him
فِي
in
ٱلۡأٓخِرَةِ
the Hereafter
مِنۡ
any
خَلَٰقٖۚ
share
وَلَبِئۡسَ
And surely evil
مَا
(is) what
شَرَوۡاْ
they sold
بِهِۦٓ
with it
أَنفُسَهُمۡۚ
themselves
لَوۡ
if
كَانُواْ
they were
يَعۡلَمُونَ
(to) know

Translation

They followed what the evil ones gave out (falsely) against the power of Solomon: the blasphemers Were, not Solomon, but the evil ones, teaching men Magic, and such things as came down at babylon to the angels Harut and Marut. But neither of these taught anyone (Such things) without saying: "We are only for trial; so do not blaspheme." They learned from them the means to sow discord between man and wife. But they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah's permission. And they learned what harmed them, not what profited them. And they knew that the buyers of (magic) would have no share in the happiness of the Hereafter. And vile was the price for which they did sell their souls, if they but knew!

Tafsir

And they follow (wa'ttaba'oo is a supplement to nabadha, '[it] cast away') what the devils used to relate, during the time of, Solomon's kingdom, in the way of sorcery: it is said that they [the devils] buried these [books of sorcery] underneath his throne when his kingdom was taken from him; it is also said that they used to listen stealthily and add fabrications to what they heard, and then pass it on to the priests, who would compile it in books; this would be disseminated and rumours spread that the jinn had knowledge of the Unseen. Solomon gathered these books and buried them. When he died, the devils showed people where these books were, and the latter brought them out and found that they contained sorcery, and said, 'Your kingdom was only thanks to what is in here'; they then took to learning them and rejected the Scriptures of their prophets. In order to demonstrate Solomon's innocence and in repudiation of the Jews when they said, 'Look at this Muhammad, he mentions Solomon as one of the prophets, when he was only a sorcerer', God, exalted, says: Solomon disbelieved not, that is, he did not work magic because he disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching the people sorcery (this sentence is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person governing the verb kafaroo); and, teaching them, that which was revealed to the two angels, that is, the sorcery that they were inspired to [perform] (al-malakayn, 'the two angels': a variant reading has al-malikayn, 'the two kings') who were, in Babylon - a town in lower Iraq - Haaroot and Maaroot (here the names are standing in for 'the two angels', or an explication of the latter). Ibn 'Abbaas said, 'They were two sorcerers who used to teach [people] magic'; it is also said that they were two angels that had been sent to teach [sorcery] to people as a trial from God. They taught not any man, without them saying, by way of counsel, 'We are but a temptation, a trial from God for people, so that He may test them when they are taught it: whoever learns it is a disbeliever, but whoever renounces it, he is a believer; do not disbelieve', by learning it; if this person refused and insisted on learning it, they would teach him. From them they learned how they might cause division between a man and his wife, so that they would hate each other, yet they, the sorcerers, did not hurt any man thereby, that is, by this magic, save by the leave of God, by His will; and they learned what hurt them, in the Hereafter, and did not profit them, and this was sorcery. And surely (the laam [of la-qad, 'surely'] is for oaths) they, the Jews, knew well that whoever (laman: the laam denotes [part of] the subject of the sentence and is semantically connected to what precedes it; the man introduces the relative clause) buys it, [whoever] chooses it and took it in place of God's Book, he shall have no share in the Hereafter, that is, no portion of the Paradise; evil then would have been, the thing, that they sold themselves for, those sellers, that is to say, the portion due for this [act] in the Hereafter, if they were to learn it; for it would have made the Hellfire obligatory in their case; if they had but known, the reality of the chastisement they would be destined for, they would not have learnt it.

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