Satanic Verses
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For the novel by Salman Rushdie, see The Satanic Verses.
For the controversy over the novel by Salman Rushdie, see The Satanic Verses controversy.
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Satanic Verses is an expression coined by the historian Sir William Muir in reference to a few verses delivered by Muhammad as part of the Qur'an and later retracted. Muslims refer to the delivery and retraction of the two verses as the Gharaniq incident. Narratives involving these verses can be read in, among other places, the biographies of Muhammad by al-Wāqidī, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabarī, and Ibn Ishaq (the latter as reconstructed by Alfred Guillaume.)
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Basic narrative
* 2 In early Islam
o 2.1 Transmission of the narrative
* 3 Views
o 3.1 Academic views
o 3.2 Modern Muslim scholars' views
* 4 Tabarī's account
* 5 See also
* 6 Notes
* 7 References
* 8 External links
o 8.1 Islamic commentators
o 8.2 Non-Islamic commentators
[edit] Basic narrative
See the complete text of Tabarī's account below
There are numerous reports on the incident, which differ in the construction and detail of the narrative, but they may be broadly collated to produce a basic account.[1] In its essential form, the story reports that Muhammad longed to convert his kinsmen and neighbors of Mecca to Islam. As he was reciting Sūra an-Najm[2], considered a revelation by the angel Gabriel, Satan tempted him to utter the following lines after verses 19 and 20 ("Have you considered Allāt and al-'Uzzā / and Manāt, the other third?")
These are the exalted gharāniq, whose intercession is hoped for.
Allāt, al-'Uzzā and Manāt were three goddesses worshipped by the Meccans. Discerning the meaning of "gharāniq" is difficult as it is a word found only in one place. Commentators wrote that it meant the Numidian cranes, which fly at great heights[citation needed]. The Arabic word does generally mean a "crane" - appearing in the singular as ghirnīq, ghurnūq, ghirnawq and ghurnayq, and the word has cousin forms in other words for birds, including "raven, crow" and "eagle".[3]
The subtext to this allegation is that Muhammad was backing away from his otherwise uncompromising monotheism by saying that these goddesses were real and their intercession effective. The Meccans were overjoyed to hear this and joined Muhammad in ritual prostration at the end of the sūrah. The Muslim refugees who had fled to Abyssinia heard of the end of persecution and started to return home. Islamic tradition holds that Gabriel chastised Muhammad for adulterating the revelation, at which point [Qur'an 22:52] is revealed to comfort him,
We have sent no messenger or apostle before you
with whose recitations Satan did not tamper.
Yet God abrogates what Satan interpolates;
then He confirms His revelations,
for God is all-knowing and all-wise.
Muhammad took back his words and the persecution by the Meccans resumed. Verses [Qur'an 53:21] were given, in which the goddesses are belittled.[citation needed] The passage in question reads:
Have you thought of Allāt and al-'Uzzā
and Manāt, the other third?
Are there sons for you, and daughters for Him?
This is certainly an unjust apportioning.
These are only names which you and your fathers have invented. No authority was sent down by God for them. They only follow conjecture and wish-fulfillment, even though guidance had come to them already from their Lord.