هاروت وماروت
Hārūt wa-Mārūt
Person
Two figures named in the Quran as teaching magic at Babylon as a test (2:102); Muslim scholars reject the later story that they were fallen angels.
What it means
The Quran says that the devils taught people magic, and “what was sent down on the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut. They did not teach anyone without saying: ‘We are only a trial, so do not disbelieve’” (2:102). Some read “two angels” and others “two kings”, by a variant in the vowel.
Often misunderstood as
That Islam says angels fell.
What the sources say
Later commentary tells of angels who fell in love with a woman, the planet Venus, and were punished. Ibn Kathir and Qadi Iyad, and most scholars, class the story as an isrāʾīlī tale with no sound chain, which cannot stand against the Quran’s own statement that angels do not disobey (66:6). The verse says only that the two were a test, and that magic is disbelief.