Mustafa Abu Rayyan – 16 Tafseer Surah alBaqarah Verse 102
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AI: Transcript ©
Inshallah
this is going to be a continuation of
our regular Tafsir class every,
Thursday.
So we were going through Surah Al Baqarah
and we were,
a large portion of the surah like we
mentioned many times deals with the Banu Israel.
We are coming towards the end of that
particular story.
So,
I, I also wanted to let you guys
know there was a regular,
brother that used to come to this masjid
that used to attend
that passed away today. May Allah
have mercy on him. Please, keep your duas.
Keep him in your duas and ask Allah
to protect us and to have mercy on
him and on us.
Allahu. Wa Ta'ala.
Faib.
So
today's lesson is mainly going to be dealing
with one particular verse in Surat Al Baqarah
and that is, verse 102.
And verse
102 is one of the main ayaat that
deal with the issue of sikhir.
Sikhir
meaning, magic
or if you wanna call it black magic
or sorcery.
Now what does that have to do with
the story of the yahood?
Last time we were here we
spoke about how the yahood
left the book of Allah.
And they threw it behind their backs.
So, the Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling
us,
the people of the book or the yahood,
they were given the Torah. They didn't act
upon it.
The were
also given the injeel of prophet Isa. They
didn't act upon it.
Then the prophet Muhammad sent to them in
the Quran
that was confirming that which came before
and they didn't accept it.
And there is a,
principle
that whoever
moves away from that which is good, moves
towards that which is bad.
Whoever
becomes busy,
whoever does not busy himself with good will
busy himself with haram and bad.
Whoever does not benefit from his time in
a useful manner will start using his time
in a wasteful
manner. They instead
accepted
followed
sikhir sorcery and magic.
And
they made a claim or they had a
belief.
Some of them have fasted in, they mentioned
that when prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned
the prophet Suleyman
that they said to him,
really Suleyman? You think Suleyman is a prophet?
We don't even consider him a prophet. Suleyman
was a sorcerer.
This is what they said. They said Suleyman
is a Sahir.
And Allah
in the in this following verse
he.
He
rebukes and refutes this claim.
Prophet Salam was not a Sahir. He was
a prophet of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Why
do they do they assume that? There is
many stories that I mentioned in the books
of tafsir. Some are attending and others are
not. But
if you're wondering why is the story of
Suleiman
so closely linked with sorcery,
it is because sorcery is closely linked with
the jinn and the world of the jinn.
And prophet Suleiman
Allah gave him dominion and authority
over the jinn.
So,
if if I go on a tangent here.
When we speak about sikhir
a lot of people don't have a correct
understanding of it. Which is why often people
are very scared of it or dismissive of
it.
People are either borderline not believing in it,
thinking it is hocus pocus nonsense.
Or
they are so scared of it. They think
if everything and everything is and if something
happens to them and they're very paranoid.
And Islam is always.
First of all, can you be a Muslim
and deny sikhir? No.
Why? Because it's in the Quran. It's in
the Quran. It is Surat Al Baqarah. The
story of Musa, alaihis salaam, dealing with the
magicians.
If you say Sihal doesn't exist, you're saying
the Quran is lying.
So you have to believe in it. Because
you have to believe everything that is in
the in the Quran.
But you also have to understand it.
So if you look even at the story
of Prophet Musa alaihi salam and when he
comes into contact to the Sahara, to the
magicians,
Allah speaks about it in a very interesting
way. And you know the story of Musa
and his staff. Was Musa's staff sikhir?
No.
It
was a miracle.
His staff literally
turned into a snake.
His staff literally turned into a snake.
How is that possible?
Allah can do anything and everything that he
wants.
This is known as a miracle.
When Fir'aun saw this, he called the people
that he thought
could do something similar which was the magicians.
And when he called them,
they brought what?
Sticks and ropes. Right? They brought sticks
and
ropes
and
Allah
mentions They made their they made a
that made it look like made it appear
to the people that the sticks and stones
were moving.
So it was,
what is known as almost like an illusion.
They made it look like these things were
moving.
And Surat Al Ahi mentions
They put sihir on the eyes of the
people.
They bewitched
the eyes of the people
to think and make it look like that
these things are moving. So from here we
understand a type of sikhir which is that
to make something appear to be something it
isn't.
Whereas what was happening with Musa's staff was
real.
This is a big difference.
And
often this is conflated or, I shouldn't say
conflated but this is sometimes confused with the
the tricks that people do nowadays. You know,
card tricks and coin tricks and and and
and cutting someone in half but not really
because they are tucked into the other side
and all these things.
And although this that is not the the
Quran speaks about.
Right. Although it does involve,
illusions and trickery.
Often, it can easily be explained once you
know the trick. Right? The coin was actually
in his hand or whatever the case is.
And often, many of these
magicians that you see online,
it's all staged.
The the the people there themselves are part
of the act and,
it's,
it's often perhaps not always, but it's often
just these tricks and these deceptions. Which is
the scholars they say is also haram because
it is at least it's almost celebrating the
concept of actual sikhir or trying to look
like the actual sikhir. And all paths leading
to this should be closed.
But what the Quran speaks about is something
very different.
And
you're going to learn in this following aya
that
sikhir is closely related. Different all the time
related to the usage of gene. And to
understand sikhir you must understand the gene and
who are the gene.
It is the jinn also sometimes called the
shayateen but the 2 are different.
A jinn is a creation of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala older than humanity.
They're older than humanity because Allah created Adam
and when Adam created the gene we're already
present there.
Shaitan or Iblis is from the gene.
We mentioned, when we were in the beginning
of Surah Baqarah how the belief that he
that Shaitan is a fallen angel is wrong
and that he was never an angel to
begin with and that he was from the
jinn. Allah says, so to Isra.
So the jinn are a creation from Allah
that are all in humanity that exist that
also have free will like humanity and they
also have obligations
and responsibilities like humanity.
And they are told to worship, to pray,
and they have
they are from the creation of Allah that
have accountability and responsibility.
And they are very different from us in
many ways,
mainly that they can see us and we
cannot see them.
He sees you, the shaitan, Iblis, and the
devils. They see you, him and his tribe,
whereas you don't where you don't see them.
So we can't see them. The same way
we can't see the angels, but they can
see us. They also live on earth like
we do.
Right? They live here. They live. They die.
They procreate,
and they have good and bad. They are
a whole ummah, a whole civilization, a whole
creation of Allah exists.
There are many many of them.
And,
that we are often mentioned together.
Right?
So and also Prophet Muhammad one of the
things that was special about him was that
he was not sent only to mankind. He
was also sent to the jinn.
And,
so how do genes become straipon? If the
genies become evil and they disbelieve, they become
shaytan.
Before that, they are a jinn. So a
good
Muslim jinn
would not be a shaytan.
Can people become shayateen as well? Yes. Allah
subhanahu alaihi is in the Quran shayateen al
insi wal jinni.
From amongst the jinn and mankind. So there
are devils and and evil people from the
jinn and from the people, the regular people.
So there's a shay human shaitan and there
is a, jinn shaitan. The word shaitan literally
means to be far away from the all
that is good and the mercy of Allah.
It comes from shaitanah which means ba'uda, to
be far away.
So now we know jinn, this creation that
lives among us. And they are fast and
they are strong and they can do things
that we cannot do.
Right? They can move faster. They they can
do many things that we cannot do.
And see here is the usage of jinn.
Is the use of jinn to do certain
things and to harm others and it is
done usually by people that are known as
Sahara. Shaya the the the magicians and the
sorcerers.
Now prophet
had authority over the shayati into the point
where he could use them, send them and
they were from among his
among his servants
and soldiers.
Allah gave him power over man and jinn
and even the animals.
Right? This was a very specific
gift or dominion that Allah gave
This is why,
there's a hadith for the prophet salallahu alayhi
wasallam one time as shaitan tried to cut
his salah and the prophet grabbed him. The
prophet grabbed his throat.
And the prophet said, I I held on
to him to the point where I felt
the moist of his tongue.
And the prophet said if it wasn't for
the dua of prophet Ibrahim
I would have tied him on one of
the, pillars of the masjid.
But who did Allah gave that dominion and
authority over the of the shadin? Prophet suleiman.
Taib.
Now
because of this
the yahood
a belief developed that prophet was
a sorceress because sorceress use
jinn. Prophet
had power over the jinn. 1 +1 equals
2. He wasn't a prophet. He was actually
a
a a sorcerer.
And later on, a lot of the yahoots
started practicing black magic and sorcery
instead of practicing the Torah and then the
Quran.
So, the final verse that we've done last
week, Allah says
when a messenger came to them,
confirming that which was with them. What did
they do when the messenger came to them?
So they threw away the book of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. I grew among them.
Behind their backs.
It is asked if they do not know.
So now that they threw the Quran away,
they threw the Torah away, what did they
take instead?
With and
they followed
Ma'atatru Shaiyadeen,
what the shaiyadeen were reciting or what the
shaiyadeen
were,
giving out.
Alaa Mulki Sulaiman
during the time of Sulaiman.
So this is when the whole sihir and
the use of the shayateen
was popularized. And the shaitans themselves, what they
were given, this is what they started following.
And that Allah explains something here. Allah says,
wama kafarasulaiman.
Sulaiman did not become a kafir.
But the the yahood never claimed he was
a kafir. They said he was a sahir.
So why did Allah say he did not
commit kufur? Because
doing sihir
equals kufur. So Allah is teaching us here
something that practicing this is equal to kufr.
So Allah says, well, my kafar as Suleyman,
then Suleyman did not become a kafir. So
they followed what the shaitan has gave out
falsely of the magic
during the era of the time of Suleyman.
And that Allah said Suleyman did not disbelieve,
walakin nas shayateenakafaruba.
There was the shayateen that disbelieved.
There was a that disbelieved.
How they disbelieve?
They were teaching the people
magic.
And then Allah
teaches another thing.
And this goes back to
an incident or a a story,
which is,
requires some some explaining.
So now Allah is telling us, first of
all, Suleiman was not a Sahir.
Suleiman did not fall into Kufr iduzd al
Shayatin.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is now gonna
teach us about
2 angels.
And their names were Harut and Marut.
And these 2 angels
were sent by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to the city of Babil.
Babil is Babylon.
Babylon is considered to be, if not one
of the if not the most ancient city
of humanity.
Right? Babylon.
And where country which country is it in?
It's in Iraq. It's in Iraq.
This is where Ibrahim was from from prophet
Ibrahim was from.
Allah is telling us,
where sikhir came from or how sikhir was
learned.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
And that which was revealed upon the 2
angels.
So what about that? They basically, the prophet
Allah is saying that they were teaching the
people sikhr and they were teaching the people
that which was revealed upon the angels in
Babil
called harut and marut.
In other words,
this sihir that they are teaching
was
it came from Harut and Maru.
Why oh why would these 2 angels be
teaching the people
because Allah
is saying they were teaching the people which
that which was revealed
upon the 2 angels in Babylon called Harut
and Marut.
But neither of these 2 angels
would teach or taught such things, the magic
and the usage of the jinn and that
power and whatever that is. They wouldn't do
that
until they say to the people that want
to practice it,
we are but a test.
Do not disbelieve.
So,
the scholars they explain is they say that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decided to test humanity.
And a lot of this is often.
We mentioned
that the yahood were tested
by not
fishing
on what day?
Saturday. And what would happen on Saturday? All
the fish would be available. So that's a
test. Can you stop yourself?
Can you stop yourself in service of God
and not do the thing that you want
to do? It's a test. Right? Our whole
life is what? A test. Can you live
the way Allah wants you to live and
stop following your whims and desires? In in
in another story that we will come to,
in a few weeks, Allah tests
some of the
that were going to jihad. They he test
them and they they come by a river
and they're thirsty. And they are told, don't
drink from this river.
Unless you're not drinking from this river unless
you take one handful.
So why would they not have to drink?
It was a test. How much will you
listen to Allah? How much will you obey?
And Allah test his creation and the whole
life is a test. Right? Allah created us
in this world as a test.
So the angels
descending
and coming down to humanity
and then teaching the people, okay, you wanna
know what is? This is what is, but
don't use it. In fact, don't learn it.
They won't teach it unless they announce we
are but a
test. Don't become a disbeliever.
But if someone would then insist, you know
what? I wanna learn anyway. They would teach
it. And that person would then be someone
that would be destroyed because they are someone
that fell into kufr and sikhr. Does that
make sense?
And from these angels people will learn
that which would then separate or cause separation
be with that
between a person with Zoji and his wife.
So what is on the functions of to
cause disunity and separation between a husband and
a wife?
And then Allah
teaches us a very important aspect here or
a very important point here.
So is harmful.
Right? But Allah says,
and
they could not harm anyone
with their sikhir, these magicians,
unless
Allah allows it.
So when Allah says they can't harm you
unless Allah allows it, it means they don't
have power that can overpower Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. Their
power the power of is not so great
that it can go against what Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala wants. Right? So anything that they
do to you, they can only do it
if Allah allows it. Meaning what? If you
seek Allah's protection, Allah can what? Protect you.
Does that make sense?
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
and they would learn.
That which harms them, The magicians, the so
called magicians that are now coming to these
angels teach us this,
they would learn that which harms them.
Does not benefit them.
How does it harm them? It harms them
in many ways. One of them is that
the jinn that they're utilizing
would end up harming them.
2, that the jinn would make them do
things before they allow help them, and I'll
explain that later what I mean by that.
3, it harms their.
They fall into disbelief which destroys their.
Does not benefit them at all.
So has no benefits. You know it's ajeeb.
Even alcohol, Allah mentioned it had some benefits.
Alcohol, Allah mentioned it had some benefits.
Allah says
that its harm is greater than its benefit.
So it has some benefit, but its harm
is greater. And here you learn something important
my brothers and sisters.
In Islam, if something is harmful, it's haram.
If something is harmful,
it's haram.
If something has harm and benefit,
if the benefit is more, it's usually halal
if all the time. If the harm is
more, it's haram.
Right? This is why and this is a
very important principle to appreciate.
Right? If the harm is more, it's haram.
If the benefit is more and it has
some harm in it what's an example of
something that benefits that has some harm in
it?
The vaccine.
Right? It benefits you. Right? But it also
might have some harm in it. Right?
Generally, medicine, a lot of medicine and a
lot of,
chemotherapy,
it harms you. Right? But does not have
benefit, does not also kill the cancer cells.
So this would be halal because the benefit
outweighs it.
If the harm outweighs the good, right, then
it becomes haram.
What if they're equal?
What if the harm and the good are
exactly equal?
Al Aalamu to Alaihi Islam, he says there
is no such thing.
You won't find something that is so perfectly
balanced that the harm and the one has
to argue the other usually.
And you know what to do if one
obtains the other. Right?
But when Allah speaks about
Allah says
that it's harm it's harmful and has no
benefit.
And they learned that which harms them
benefit them and indeed they knew that the
buyers of magic, the users of magic,
whoever utilizes it,
that what?
This person,
they have nothing for themselves in the hereafter.
They have nothing,
no share, no of the hereafter. This is
reemphasizing the kufr. Who has nothing in the
hereafter? The kafir. The one that rejects Allah
Right?
And then Allah says,
and how bad is it that which they
have sold onto themselves
if only they knew. So this is it
tells you about what sikhir is, how it
almost originated, if not how it originated it.
So you have the story of harut and
marut.
Now in Babylon,
Allah sent 2 angels
and this is where sehir started. Some scholars
say this is where sehir started
Because
is when people, regular people,
get access to the gene,
And the jinn then help them in harming
others.
Right? Helping them harm others.
If now if we saw Hassan now now
floating
we saw him floating right here,
you would probably be thinking, what's going on?
Right?
And that would look supernatural. Would that not
look supernatural?
But what if a gene is lifting him
up?
What's happening there? He's just being carried. Right?
But can we see the gene? So to
us, what will they look like?
Oh. What's going on? Right? That it's it's
this is why it's important that we sometimes
understand the nature of a gene. We can't
see them and they do some things. Right?
Sometimes
they they they might be doing something like
that and then people might be thinking, okay,
this person,
Hassan is a powerful magician.
Stay away from him. Something like that. Right?
Sorry about that. I'm keeping pointing to you
in front of you. But the reality is
they're using the jinn. Now a lot of
what is this is what it is.
It's it's a jinn that is harming people,
whispering to their ears, and they can enter
and possess people and all of this stuff.
Right? But generally speaking, should you be scared
of the jinn?
Not more than you are scared of a
lion attacking you.
Right? If a lion was in front of
you, would you not be scared? It's natural.
And if a jinn, you might be worried
or scared. But having unnatural worry all the
time If someone told you all the time,
I'm worried about lions. You'd be like, what's
wrong with you? Right? Right? Yeah. So no.
No. Similarly,
we shouldn't have an unnatural,
worry about the jinn. They exist.
They have the ability to harm. Sometimes people,
utilize them. And I wanna mention here something
as well. When we say sorcerers,
they utilize jinn.
It's the jinn that that really has,
the the is the dominant force there, usually.
It's not the person. It's the jinn.
Because if the person can command a jinn,
do this, do that, who would he be
similar to? Similar to who? Prophet
Sulaiman. And what did he say? Allah only
gives ability what?
To him.
So a lot of times, it is these
these lowly people, right, that are, like, asking
the and sometimes praying to them and just
doing blood sacrifices and what have you and
doing things to please the and then will
be like, alright. I'll do this for you.
Right? That's how the nature usually works.
Right? And
like we said, do sources exist? Yes.
Do they use gene to harm others? Yes.
What is the ruling? They are kufar.
They are kufar. Like mentioned in the verse.
Anyone? Are we allowed to ask them for
their help? No. Can they harm? Yes. They
can harm people. They can like anyone else
could harm you, they can harm people.
And how do we then fight back against
sikhir? Through the Quran.
Through Quran, through dhikr, through asking Allah protection.
Right? So,
this is very important to remember. It is
through the Quran that Allah protects us and
that Allah mentions in the Quran
wherever a magician comes they are never succeed
successful.
Something bad happens to them. Right? Something bad
always happens to them. And we know our
beloved prophet prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
in many authentic hadith mentioned, but even our
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, a sahir tried
to put a spell on him.
And and this this is mentioned in many
of our hadith sources and it's authentic.
And it affected the prophet albite slightly. It
even affected the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So, sikhah can have a physical effect on
you. And it can harm you. And it
can lead to serious illness or it can
lead to,
slight, issues. Right? And how do you deal
with it? Quran. When this happened to prophet
salallahu alaihi wasallam, he would think he did
something that he didn't do. And that was
the most effect it had, that he would
sometimes think he did something that he didn't
do.
And Allah revealed the
and when when this was recited they also
found
the the,
the stuff that Sahib used
which included some of the prophets, hair and
stuff like that. Which shows you that a
lot of the,
the
the the suhara. They sometimes might use
some a person's hair, a hairlock or something
or a nail, something like that. Again, we
don't want to know their details.
It is a evil,
practice.
It is a practice that exists. It is
an evil practice. Sometimes we attribute too much
power to it. And we get too scared
of it. And sometimes we deny its existence.
But what we learn from this verse is
that initially it became a test for humanity.
And they were told don't practice it.
Don't seek it out. And those that did
would then fall into kufr. And this was
a test from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
from there on, the practice of utilizing jinn
to harm others came about, and this is
ikhwanifillah,
what happens sometimes. And the shayateen,
they
they are very
interesting creation of Allah They have the ability
to possess someone. They have ability to go
through you, inside of you, come out. Right?
They have the ability to appear, disappear,
to go far distances.
And there are levels as well. There are
some very strong ones. And you know this
from from the story of Suleyman
where, for example, Qala Ifritun Minarjini.
Ifrit is the scholars say they are
the e the most evil and strong versions
of the shayateen, of the jinn. Right? The
maradah.
And he said, I will bring you the
throne of Bilqis, kabbal and takkom, yakamik before
you stand up from where you're sitting.
Right? Again, showing you how fast they can
travel or the abilities they have. But this
is not something that should put a rope
in your heart or make you scared because
generally speaking
generally speaking, they are very subdued creatures that
don't really interact with us at all. I'm
sure you've noticed or else the bulk of
humanity would be going crazy. Right?
Sometimes someone is not possessed by a gene
but people think so.
Sometimes a person might be possessed by a
gene and people don't think it. This is
why it's important to always do on yourself
and also
seek out conventional medicine as well. And,
again, there are experts that can tell one
from the
other. One of the problems people do is
they deny
the concept of gene possession or shihir or
this, but this is fact. It can
happen. And some people, they go over thinking
every single thing
is a jim possession
or an act of sikhir.
One more time we're going to read the
ayah InshaAllah Ta'ala. So after the jihud
refused
to follow the Quran
and follow the Torah,
they chose instead to follow the sikhr
of the shayateen,
during the that was became prominent
or was there
was used during the time of Suleyman, but
then Allah then rebukes the fact that Suleyman
was a sihir practitioner, rather he was a
prophet of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But it was the devils and the shayateen
that disbelieved.
They would teach the people
magic or sorcery.
And then Allah says, and they will also
teach the people
and such things that came down at Babylon,
on the 2 angels, Harut and Marut.
Right?
And these 2 angels will not teach anyone
anything
until they proclaim and announce
we are but a test from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for
so do not fall into disbelief
by learning this magic from us. But then
and then people would learn from these 2
angels.
That which they would then use to separate
between
a person and his wife. Why focus on
this? There are so many different situations that
happens. Why focus on the separating between the
husband and the wife? 2 reasons. 1, it
is a very common sikhir that is used.
It's called.
It's called a tiwala,
and some of it's called they call a
sarfu wala'atf.
A sarfu is when you want the 2
people to hate each other, and ala'atf is
you want them to fall in love. Right?
And the shayateen, they will use their tricks
or whatever to to to influence the person
in this manner.
And, why is this mentioned particularly? Because it's
very common.
And a lot of people,
they access the the suhara and the magicians
because they want someone to to fall in
love with them or they want 2 people
to separate them. Right? The second reason, the
shaitan,
the actual shaitan, the Iblis, the big shaitan,
among the most beloved acts to him, the
most beloved evil act to him is the
the the destruction
of a home and and the separation between
a spouse
2 spouses. In fact, there's a hadith where
the shayateen will come to him and they'll
say, what will you what did you do?
I made him kill. What did you do?
I made him steal. And he will say,
this is nothing. This is nothing. I'll come
up a call, until
someone says,
I separated between a man and his wife.
And then he will say, enter enter. You.
You. Right? So this is one of the
things that shaydham really loves.
So
again, proving to you that the shayateen,
when shayr is happening, a lot of times
they're doing their own alib and what they
want to do such as the destruction of
a home.
And which is why we should take as
many measures as possible to keep our homes
intact
and to reconcile between spouses. And it is
a frowned upon act. In fact, a hadith,
although there is some issue
in its senate, some scholars have declared it
weak, but there is a hadith where the
where it said that the prophet said,
The most beloved act that is allowed the
most beloved. The most,
the the act that Allah hates the most
but still halal is divorce.
So it is something that's very disliked, but
of course, sometimes it's needed of course. Right?
So they would teach them that which would
help them separate between a man and a
wife.
Of course, they cannot harm anyone with the
sikhid unless Allah allows it because nothing can
happen unless Allah allows it. Nothing good, bad
in this world can happen unless Allah allows
it. Everything comes back to the power of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Nothing is independent of
that.
And they would learn what they would harm
them, not and not what would benefit from
them because sikhir has no benefit. It harms
the practitioner. It harms the person
that is being done to as well.
And indeed, they knew that the buyers of
it would have no share in the hereafter,
meaning they would be of the people of
Kufr.
And how bad
is it that which they have sold their
own selves if they bought new? So from
this verse you learn the following benefits.
Sihir is kufr.
Sihir was not practiced by prophet Sulaiman.
Sihir is real. It involves the uses of
shayateen
and that,
the way it was learned was through these
2 angels that came as a test in
the city
of Babylon.
And among its main functions is to separate
between husbands and wives. So it has no
effect,
or has no independent power and Allah
power is, of course, greater.
And also that the person that practices, they
know they have nothing in the hereafter
because they're doing acts of kufr, and how
evil is it that which they practice
practiced if only they knew.