| Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice The Complete Layman’s Guide to the Koran Witches and Warlocks Allah first broaches the subject of witchcraft early on in His Koran, at the end of a wide ranging condemnation of the Jews for allegedly breaking their covenant with Him. ... 2:99 Indeed, we have revealed to you clear Signs (the revelations) in which only the wicked will disbelieve. 2:100 Will it be that every time they make a covenant, a group of them will cast it aside? Indeed, most of them do not believe. 2:101 And when a Messenger came to them from Allah confirming what they had, a group of those who were given the Book (the Torah) cast the Book (Qur’an) of Allah behind their backs, as if they knew nothing; 2:102 And they believed what the devils said about Solomon’s kingdom. Not that Solomon disbelieved; but the devils did, teaching the people witchcraft and that which was revealed in Babylon to the two angels, Harut and Marut. Yet those two angels did not teach anybody without saying [to him]: “We are a temptation. So do not disbelieve.” Those [who wished] learned from them what would sow discord between man and wife, but could not harm anybody with it (what they had learned), except with Allah’s Permission. They learn what harms them and does not profit them. They knew that he who bought it will have no share in the Hereafter. Evil is the price for which they sold themselves, if only they knew. 2:103 And had they (the Jews) believed and feared [Allah], a reward from Allah would have been better for them, if only they knew. The last chapter of the Koran is a short five verse surah imploring Allah to protect both jinn and man from the temptations of Satan. Repeated here for your convenience: THE PEOPLE 114 An-Nâs In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful 114:1 Say: “I seek refuge with the Lord of the People, 114:2 “The King of the people, 114:3 “The God of the people, 114:4 “From the evil of the slinking whisperer [Satan], 114:5 “Who whispers in the breasts of people, 114:6 “Both jinn and men.” The second to last surah is also about imploring Allah to protect men (but not the jinn in this case) from another shadowy creature of the imagination: witches, along with refuge “from the evil of the envious when he envies.” THE DAYBREAK 113 Al-Falaq In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful 113:1 Say: “I seek refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak, 113:2 “From the evil of what He has created, 113:3 “And the evil of the darkness when it gathers, 113:4 “And the evil of those who blow into knotted reads (witches or sorceresses), 113:5 “And from the evil of the envious when he envies.” In the Prophet’s time, witches were thought to blow into knots to cast spells. Another superstition from the Dark Ages which appears to have found its way into the Koran.
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