ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā 1, record 208 of the digital edition

Translation

27-2 Tamim ibn Abdullah ibn Tamim al-Qurashi - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Ahmad ibn Ali Al-Ansari quoted on the authority of Muhammad ibn Al-Jahm, “I heard that Al-Ma’mun asked Al-Ridha Ali ibn Musa (s) about the following which the people say, “Venus is the perverted form of a woman with whom Harut and Marut practiced black witchcraft and Canopus is the perverted form of the tax collector in Yemen.” Al-Ridha (s) said, “No. They lie when they say that those two were perverted into Venus and Canopus stars. They were perverted into two aqueous creatures. The people are mistaken when they say that those two were perverted into two stars. God would not distort His enemies into the form of bright stars which would illuminate forever. The perverted would not live for more than three days. They will not reproduce either. There are no perverted creatures on the Earth these days. Animals like monkeys, pigs, bears or other similar animals are notperverted themselves, but are similar to those who were cursed and perverted by God for denying the Unity of God and denouncing the Prophets. However, Harut and Marut were two angels who taught the people magic so that they could escape the magic of the magicians and cancel the effect of their magic. They told whomever they taught magic, ‘…We are only for trial; so do not blaspheme…’ However, there were some people who blasphemed via what they had learned and used what they had learned to cause discord and separation between husband and wife. The Honorable the Exalted God says, ‘… But they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah’s permission…’ meaning with His Knowledge.”

Translation: Dr. Ali Peiravi — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.