Why Did the Angels Teach Magic?
Q/A With Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan [hafithahullaah]
Question:
How is it that the angels taught magic when teaching magic is a form of disbelief?
Answer:
This was a trial and a test for the people to see who was going to believe and who was going to disbelieve. So Allaah ta3alaa sent these two angels to teach the people magic to test them and see who was going to believe and who was going to disbelieve. Accordingly, they did not teach any of the people, as Allaah, the Exalted has said:
“ Except that they said: ‘ Verily we are only a trial, so do not disbelieve”
{Soorah al-Baqaarah, 2:102}
So they would advise the student to abandon the learning of magic, while clarifying that it is disbelief. They were not just teaching people and remaining quiet (about the disbelief of magic), rather they were advising them that this was disbelief .So when someone came forth by his own choice he disbelieved.
Allaah had the two angels teaching people magic as a test for them, not that magic is acceptable or that it is permissible. It was only to distinguish those who were going to disbelieve from those who were going to believe and accept the advice.
Duroos fee Sharh Nawaaqidh al-Islaam (p.145)
From: Things that Nullify One’s Islaam
By: Shaykhul Islaam Muhammad ibn ‘Abdil-Wahhab [rahimahullaah]
Explained by the Noble Scholar: Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan [hafithahullaah] P. 91
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