Sunan Sa'id

Ata (may Allah have mercy on him) says: I asked Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both): "Should we recite «وَاتَّبَعُوا» or «اتَّبَعُوا»?" He replied: "Both are equal, recite whichever you recited first."

Khasif (may Allah have mercy on him) said regarding the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: ﴿And they followed what the devils recited﴾: When a tree would grow, Prophet Sulaiman (peace be upon him) would ask it: For which illness are you? It would say: For such and such. When the Syrian carob tree grew, he asked: For what are you? It said: To ruin your mosque. He said: Will you ruin it? It said: Yes. He said: You are the worst tree! Then soon after, he passed away. People began to say in their illnesses: If only we had someone like Sulaiman! The devils took a book and placed it on the prayer mat of Sulaiman (peace be upon him) and said: We will tell you by what Sulaiman used to treat (illnesses). The people went and took out that book, and in it were magic and amulets. Then Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, revealed: ﴿And they followed what the devils recited during the reign of Sulaiman. Sulaiman did not disbelieve, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut﴾, and it is mentioned that in the recitation of Ubayy bin Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) it is: ﴿And what was recited to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut, and they do not teach anyone until they say, 'We are only a trial, so do not disbelieve'﴾, seven times. If he did not refrain from disbelief, they would teach him, then fire or light would come out from him which would shine in the sky. They said: This was the knowledge that they knew.

Khasif (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I was with Mujahid (may Allah have mercy on him), when a man from the Quraysh passed by us. Mujahid said to him: Tell us what you heard from your father. He said: My father told me that when the angels began to observe the deeds of the children of Adam and their filthy disobedience, and nothing is hidden from the angels regarding the people, some of the angels said to one another: Look at the children of Adam, what kinds of deeds they do, how bold they are against Allah. They used to criticize them. Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said to them: I have heard your words about the children of Adam. Choose two angels from among yourselves; I will send them down to the earth and place in them the lust of the children of Adam. They chose Harut and Marut. They said: O Lord! There is none among us like them. So they were sent down to the earth and the lust of the children of Adam was placed in them. Zahra appeared before them in the form of a woman. When they saw her, they could not restrain themselves and took from her what Allah knows best. Lust took hold of their ears and eyes. When they wanted to fly up to the sky, they could not. An angel came to them and said: You have done what you have done, now choose the punishment of this world or the Hereafter. One said to the other: What do you think? He said: I think I should bear the punishment in this world, then bear it, for that is more beloved to me than a single moment of punishment in the Hereafter. So both of them were hung upside down in chains and became a trial.

Mujahid (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that I was with Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), probably on a journey. He said to me: "Keep watching the cluster of stars; when it rises, wake me up." When it rose, I woke him up. He sat up and began to speak very harshly against it. I said, "Abu Abdur Rahman! May Allah have mercy on you, this is a listening and obedient star, why do you speak ill of it?" He replied, "Listen! There was an immoral woman among the Children of Israel, and two angels had to endure from her what they had to endure."

Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: A man came to him, so he asked: Where have you come from? He replied: From Iraq. He asked: How did you leave the people there? He said: I left the people discussing that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) will return to them. He said: If we had known that, we would not have married off his wives nor divided his inheritance. I will tell you about this: The devils used to eavesdrop from the heavens, and when one of them heard a true word, he would mix it with a thousand lies. These things were placed in the hearts of people and they made them into books. Prophet Solomon (peace be upon him) came to know of it and buried it under his throne. When he passed away, the devils stood by the road and said: Shall I not inform you of Solomon’s (peace be upon him) rare treasure, the like of which there is no other? The people took it out and said: This is magic, and its remainder is what the people of Iraq narrate today. Allah revealed (the verse) to clear Solomon (peace be upon him) of the accusation of magic: __QUR_N__ “And they followed what the devils recited during the reign of Solomon” __QUR_N__ to the end of the verse.