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Surah 4. An-Nisaa', Ayah 51

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أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ نَصِيبًا مِّنَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱلْجِبْتِ وَٱلطَّـٰغُوتِ وَيَقُولُونَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ أَهْدَىٰ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ سَبِيلًا
Alam tara il a alla th eena ootoo na s eeban mina alkit a bi yuminoona bi a ljibti wa al tta ghooti wayaqooloona lilla th eena kafaroo h a ol a i ahd a mina alla th eena a manoo sabeel a n
Art thou not aware of those who, having been granted their share of the divine writ, [now] believe in baseless mysteries and in the powers of evil,69 and maintain that those who are bent on denying the truth are more surely guided than those who have attained to faith?
  - Mohammad Asad

The word al-jibt - rendered by me as "baseless mysteries" - is probably, as the Lisan al-'Arab points out, of non-Arabic origin. It denotes, according to some authorities, "something which is worthless in itself" or "something in which there is no good" (Qamus, Baydawi); according to others, it signifies "enchantment" ('Umar ibn al-Khattab, Mujahid and Sha'bi, as quoted by Tabari; also Qamus); others, again, interpret it as "anything that is worshipped instead of God" (Zamakhshari), and consequently apply it also to idols and idol-worship (Qamus, Lisan al-'Arab) and - according to a Tradition quoted by Abu Da'ud - to all manner of superstitious divination and soothsaying as well. Taking all these interpretations into account, al-jibt may be defined as "a combination of confusing ideas (dijl), fanciful surmises (awham) and fictitious stories (khurafat)" (Manar V, 157) - in other words, abstruse mysteries without any foundation in fact. - As regards the expression "the powers of evil" (at-taghut), it seems to refer here to superstitious beliefs and practices - like soothsaying, foretelling the future, relying on "good" and "bad" omens, and so forth - all of which are condemned by the Qur'an. See also surah {2}, note [250].

Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Book? They believe in superstition and Taghut (forces of Shaitan) and say about the unbelievers that they are better guided to the Right Way than the believers!
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Have you 'O Prophet' not seen those who were given a portion of the Scriptures yet believe in idols and false gods and reassure the disbelievers1 that they are better guided than the believers?
  - Mustafa Khattab

 i.e., the polytheists.

Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities, and bow they say of those (idolaters) who disbelieve: "These are more rightly guided than those who believe?"
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Hast thou not turned thy vision to those who were given a portion of the Book? They believe in sorcery and evil and say to the unbelievers that they are better guided in the (right) way than the believers! 572 573
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. iii. 23 and n. 366. The phrase also occurs in iv. 44.

The word I have translated Sorcery is jibt, which may mean divination, sorcery, magic, or any false object of belief or worship, such as an idol. The word I have translated Evil (here and in ii. 256) is Taguit, which means the evil one, the one who exceeds all bounds, Satan: or it may refer to some idol worshipped by the Pagan Arabs, with whom the Jews of Madinah were intriguing against the Holy Prophet. The Jews had taken much to sorcery, magic, divination, and such superstitions.

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