until Allah sent Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and revealed Solomon’s exoneration. This is the view of al-Kalbi.

Al-Suddi said: The devils would ascend to heaven and hear the angels speaking about what would take place on earth, such as death and other matters. They would then come to the soothsayers, mixing seventy lies into every word they heard, and tell them of it. (1) This was written down, and it became widespread among the Children of Israel that the jinn knew the unseen. Solomon therefore sent word among the people, collected those books, placed them in a chest, and buried it beneath his throne. He said, “If I hear anyone say that Satan knows the unseen, I shall strike off his head.”

When Solomon died, and the scholars who knew of Solomon’s affair and of the burial of the books had passed away, a later generation succeeded them. Satan then assumed the form of a man and came to a group among the Children of Israel. He said, “Shall I direct you to a treasure that you will never exhaust?” They said, “Yes.” So he went with them and showed them the place beneath Solomon’s throne. They dug, while he stood apart. They said to him, “Come closer.” He replied, “I will not come near. If you do not find it, then kill me.” This was because none of the devils could approach the throne without being burned. So they dug and brought out those books. Satan—may Allah curse him—said, “Solomon controlled the jinn, mankind, the devils, and the birds by means of this.” Then Satan flew away from them, and it became widespread among the people that Solomon had been a magician. They took those books and put them to use. (2) For this reason, magic is found more abundantly among the Jews.

When Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, came, Allah Most High exonerated Solomon from this and revealed, in defense of Solomon: “Solomon did not disbelieve”—through magic. It is also said that Solomon was not a disbeliever who practiced magic; rather, “the devils disbelieved.” Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, al-Kisa’i, and Hamzah read the conjunction lākin (“but”) with an ungeminated n, and “the devils” in the nominative case. The others read lākinn with a geminated n, and “the devils” in the accusative case; likewise: “But Allah killed them” (17—al-Anfal). The meaning of lākin is to negate the preceding statement and affirm what follows.

“They teach the people”: It is said that the meaning of magic is knowledge and skill in a thing. Allah Most High says, “They said, ‘O magician, call upon your Lord for us’” (49—al-Zukhruf)—that is, O learned man. The sound view, however, is that magic consists of deception and illusion. According to Ahl al-Sunnah, magic truly exists in its literal sense, and this is the position of most nations; yet practicing it is disbelief. It is related from al-Shafi‘i, may Allah have mercy on him, that he said: Magic produces illusions, causes illness, and may even kill. Thus, he ruled that retaliation is due from one who kills by it. It is among the works of Satan: the magician receives it from him, through his teaching it to him; and once he has received it from him, he employs it against others.

It is also said that it transforms actual entities, making a human being take the form of a donkey and a donkey take the form of a dog. The more correct view is that this is an illusion. Allah Most High says, “By their magic, it was made to appear to him that they were moving” (66—Ta-Ha). Yet it does affect bodies, causing illness, death, and madness. Speech, too, affects one’s temperament and soul: a person may hear something he dislikes, become inflamed and angry, and perhaps even develop a fever because of it,