As for the tale repeated by many Qur’anic commentators about Hārūt and Mārūt—namely, that Venus was once a woman whom the two angels sought to entice; that she refused them unless they taught her the Greatest Name; that when they did so she pronounced it and was carried up to the heavens as a star—I consider it an Israelite fabrication. True, Kaʿb al-Aḥbār did transmit it and a number of the early generations accepted it from him, but they cited it only as a report coming from the Children of Israel.

Imām Aḥmad and Ibn Ḥibbān, in his Ṣaḥīḥ, have both recorded a ḥadīth on the subject. Aḥmad’s chain runs: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Bukayr → Zuhayr ibn Muḥammad → Mūsā ibn Jubayr → Nāfiʿ → Ibn ʿUmar → the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—and he relates the story in full. In it occurs the passage: “Venus was made to appear before them as a woman of surpassing beauty; she came to them and they asked her for herself …,” and so on.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, in his Tafsīr, likewise transmits it through al-Thawrī → Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah → Sālim → Ibn ʿUmar → Kaʿb al-Aḥbār. This chain is sounder and more reliable.

Al-Ḥākim, in his Mustadrak, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim, in his Tafsīr, also narrate it from Ibn ʿAbbās, who says: “In that era there was a woman whose beauty among women was like the beauty of Venus among the stars …,” and he gives the rest of the account. This is the best wording reported about the story, and God knows best.

Along the same lines is the ḥadīth recorded by the ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār:

“Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Wāsiṭī told us; Yazīd ibn Hārūn told us; Mubashshir ibn ʿUbayd told us—on the authority of Yazīd ibn Aslam, from Ibn ʿUmar, from the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace …” (ḥ)

He also said: “ʿAmr ibn ʿĪsā told us; ʿAbd al-Aʿlā told us; Ibrāhīm ibn Yazīd told us—on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from Ibn ʿUmar—that the Messenger of God—may God bless him and grant him peace—mentioned Suhayl and said, ‘He was a harsh, unjust tax-collector, so God transformed him into a shooting star.’”

He then commented: “No one transmitted it from Yazīd ibn Aslam except …”