So some of you might know that I come from a family that left Egypt in 1950s following the take over of a new conservative Muslim government. My family had some Egyptian and some Mediterranean roots and religiously they were Egyptian Christian (a sect known as Copt) through both my Grandmother and Grampa had been raised Catholic and often offered their personal prayers in more European forms. While I am not Muslim and I am not descended from a Muslim family I am lucky to have read large portions of the Qoran and I do read some Arabic.
The most common verse to be considered in the Qoran informing us about magic in the Islamic world is Qoran 2:101-102 which reads as follows:
When a Messenger of Allah (God) appeared, confirming what was with them, some of them reject the Book of Allah which they were given, deceitfully, as if they didn’t know.
They followed the teachings that ShayaTeen (Satans) diseminated, in the Kingdom of Sulayman (Solomon). Sulayman did not disbelieve in God, but the ShayaTeen did, teaching men magic and such things that came down upon al-Malakayn (the 2 angels / kings) in Babylon/Babel, Harut and Marut (likely of Persian origin), but neither of these two taught before they had said, “We are only a test, so do not disbelieve.” And from these 2, people learn that by which divides man and wife. However they could not harm without the permission of Allah. And they learn only stuff that harms them, nothing that benefits them. And indeed they knew that the buyers of their charms would have no share in the afterlife. Unfortunately they sold themselves, if they only knew.
This suggests that Magic is only for those that don’t believe in or trust in God. In the Islamic view it appears the wonder of magic is only achieved if god so wills and the author feels the need to tell us nothing good will come from it. This suggests to me that people were turning to magic and it was popular enough it needed to be said. Also people believed they would benefit from the practice of magic and the author of these suras did not want people to believe this anymore.
However the Qoran does not explicitly forbid or condemn the use of magic. It only suggest it’s not worth it, based on it’s fatalistic view about the will of god. Nothing happens except by the will of god and no spell will change the will of god. However there are many texts which appear to be notes on the use of magic particularly use of the divine names of god of which one text lists 99 and also the power of reading suras from the qoran.
The 9th century writer Tirmidhi writes 6 texts know as Hadith or commentaries on the Qoran for the Sunni sect. He adds as follows:
The penalty for the magician is death by the sword.
This has been quoted by Islamic Theologians from then to the modern day.
Harut and Marut
These names are probably derived from Persian names Haurvatat and Ameretat the Zoroastrian angels of Wholeness and Immortality, respectively. These are emanations directly from the Zoroastrian deity Ahura Masda, which often appear together as female entities and their names are feminine in grammar.
A story from 9th century Al-Tabari, tells us Harut and Marut angels judged mankind so god put them in mankind’s shoes. As men, they became drunk, got seduced and one thing led to another and they killed a witness. Because of their sins they could no longer return to heaven. God then sent them to teach magic in Babel as a temptation. So we can deduce from this story that Magic is viewed as a temptation in the Islamic world.
A grimoire has popped up ascribed to these two, but written by “Egyptian Sorcerer Al-Toukhi” however there’s no references in the published translations to the original text so this could easily be a total hoax, yet the symbols are very similar to those used by genuine jinn sorcerers.
Sciences
Magic and science really survived in Islamic culture when it was being heavily repressed through the dark ages in Christian cultures. A famous book such as the Picatrix saw astrological impressions being lifted up to the appropriate astrological sphere and their effects being rayed down with the light of the spheres.
Alchemy and Astrology also only survived in Arabic texts and had to be brought back into Christian society at a later stage.
At this time there was no distinction between science and magic and these texts often carried both.
Conclusion
Magic was not immediately viewed with the same fear as it was in the Christian world allowing it to flourish until the 9th century when it began to be repressed. This was based more on commentary than actual scripture. Luckily due to the acceptance of it in the Islamic world many of its techniques were preserved and passed to Europe where they blossomed again.
In modern day it is unusual to find texts on magic as they are now considered heretical.
Like with the Jewish world view the Islamic world view considers fate to be directed by God. Such a world view would tend to suggest that if any Magic was successful, it would be so because the will of God. If God were to will it, it would occur with or without the magic. Therefore the magic is pointless. Scripture suggests magic is there to tempt and misguide and yields no benefits. Compare similar views in the Judaic world view in the article The Divine and Metadivine