HARUT WA MARUT هاروت و ماروت
Two angels mentioned in the Qur’an. They are said to be two angel who, in consequence of their compassion for the frailties of mankind, were sent down to earth to be tempted. They both sinned, and being permitted to choose whether they would be punished now or hereafter, chose the former, and are still suspended by the feet at Babel in a rocky pit, where they are great teachers of magic.
The account of these two angels in the Qur’an is given in Surah ii. 96:-
“They (the Jews) followed what the devils taught in the reign of Solomon: not that Solomon was unbelieving, but the devils were unbelieving. Sorcery did they teach to men, and what had been revealed to the two angels, Harut and Marut, at Babel. Yet no man did these two teach until they had said, ‘We are only a temptation. Be not then an unbeliever.’ From these two did men learn how to cause division between man and wife; but unless be leave of God, no man did they harm thereby. They learned, indeed, what would harm and not profit them; and yet they knew that he who brought that art should have no part in the life to come! And vile the price for which they have sold themselves, – if they had but known it!”
Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam