Muhammad ibn Abdullah: Difference between revisions

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He began preaching as a prophet in Mecca, warning of a day of judgement when all humans who have rejected his claims of prophethood would burn for eternity in Hell (جهنم ''[[Jahannam]]'').<ref name="EncWorldHistory">''Encyclopedia of World History'' (1998), p. 452</ref> Even during the early days of his self-proclaimed prophethood he was often accused by the Meccans of imperfectly [[Parallelism Between the Qur'an and Judeo-Christian Scriptures|plagiarising]] the "ancients fictitious tales."<ref>"''Such things have been promised to us and to our fathers before! they are nothing but tales of the ancients!''" - {{Quran|23|83}}</ref> This was complimented by the fact that Muhammad was an illiterate man who had come into contact with followers of the [[Abrahamic Religions|Abrahamic faiths]] before his proclamation of prophethood (e.g. Zaid bin 'Amr bin Nufail).<ref>"''....Allah's Apostle said that he met Zaid bin 'Amr Nufail at a place near Baldah and this had happened before Allah's Apostle received the Divine Inspiration....''" - {{Bukhari|7|67|407}}</ref> The elites in Mecca were left unimpressed by what was preached. Eventually, Muhammad delivered verses that condemned idol worship and the Meccan forefathers who engaged in polytheism.<ref>F. E. Peters (1994), p.169</ref> Muhammad's opposition in Mecca came as a reaction to his antagonism of 'idolaters'. As Muhammad's followers remained few in numbers, he revealed verses that pleased his pagan contemporaries.<ref name=":2">Then God sent down the revelation. 'By the star when it sets! Your companion has not erred or gone astray, and does not speak from mere fancy…' [Q.53:1] When he reached God's words, "Have you seen al-Lāt and al-'Uzzā and Manāt, the third, the other?' [Q.53:19-20] Satan cast upon his tongue, because of what he had pondered in himself and longed to bring to his people, 'These are the high-flying cranes and their intercession is to be hoped for.'
He began preaching as a prophet in Mecca, warning of a day of judgement when all humans who have rejected his claims of prophethood would burn for eternity in Hell (جهنم ''[[Jahannam]]'').<ref name="EncWorldHistory">''Encyclopedia of World History'' (1998), p. 452</ref> Even during the early days of his self-proclaimed prophethood he was often accused by the Meccans of imperfectly [[Parallelism Between the Qur'an and Judeo-Christian Scriptures|plagiarising]] the "ancients fictitious tales."<ref>"''Such things have been promised to us and to our fathers before! they are nothing but tales of the ancients!''" - {{Quran|23|83}}</ref> This was complimented by the fact that Muhammad was an illiterate man who had come into contact with followers of the [[Abrahamic Religions|Abrahamic faiths]] before his proclamation of prophethood (e.g. Zaid bin 'Amr bin Nufail).<ref>"''....Allah's Apostle said that he met Zaid bin 'Amr Nufail at a place near Baldah and this had happened before Allah's Apostle received the Divine Inspiration....''" - {{Bukhari|7|67|407}}</ref> The elites in Mecca were left unimpressed by what was preached. Eventually, Muhammad delivered verses that condemned idol worship and the Meccan forefathers who engaged in polytheism.<ref>F. E. Peters (1994), p.169</ref> Muhammad's opposition in Mecca came as a reaction to his antagonism of 'idolaters'. As Muhammad's followers remained few in numbers, he revealed verses that pleased his pagan contemporaries.<ref name=":2">Then God sent down the revelation. 'By the star when it sets! Your companion has not erred or gone astray, and does not speak from mere fancy…' [Q.53:1] When he reached God's words, "Have you seen al-Lāt and al-'Uzzā and Manāt, the third, the other?' [Q.53:19-20] Satan cast upon his tongue, because of what he had pondered in himself and longed to bring to his people, 'These are the high-flying cranes and their intercession is to be hoped for.'
When Quraysh heard that, they rejoiced. What he had said about their gods pleased and delighted them, and they gave ear to him. The Believers trusted in their prophet with respect to what he brought them from their Lord: they did not suspect any slip, delusion or error. When he came to the prostration and finished the chapter, he prostrated and the Muslims followed their prophet in it, having faith in what he brought them and obeying his command. Those ''mushrikūn''of Quraysh and others who were in the mosque also prostrated on account of what they had heard him say about their gods. In the whole mosque there was no believer or kāfir who did not prostrate. Only al-Walīd bin al-Mughīra, who was an aged shaykh and could not make prostration, scooped up in his hand some of the soil from the valley of Mecca [and pressed it to his forehead]. Then everybody dispersed from the mosque.
When Quraysh heard that, they rejoiced. What he had said about their gods pleased and delighted them, and they gave ear to him.  
Quraysh went out and were delighted by what they had heard of the way in which he spoke of their gods. They were saying, 'Muhammad has referred to our gods most favourably. In what he has recited he said that they are "high-flying cranes whose intercession is to be hoped for".'
 
Those followers of the Prophet who had emigrated to the land of Abyssinia heard about the affair of the prostration, and it was reported to them that Quraysh had accepted Islam. Some men among them decided to return while others remained behind.
Gabriel came to the Prophet and said, 'O Muhammad, what have you done! You have recited to the people something which I have not brought you from God, and you have spoken what He did not say to you.'
At that the Prophet was mightily saddened and greatly feared God. But God, of His mercy, sent him a revelation, comforting him and diminishing the magnitude of what had happened. God told him that there had never been a previous prophet or apostle who had longed just as Muhammad had longed, and desired just as Muhammad had desired, but that Satan had cast into his longing just as he had cast onto the tongue of Muhammad. But God abrogates what Satan has cast, and puts His verses in proper order. That is, 'you are just like other prophets and apostles.'
And God revealed: 'We never sent any apostle or prophet before you but that, when he longed, Satan cast into his longing. But God abrogates what Satan casts in, and then God puts His verses in proper order, for God is all-knowing and wise.' [Q.22:52]


[https://archive.org/stream/TabariEnglish/Tabari_Volume_06#page/n155/mode/2up The History of al-Tabari, Volume VI, Muhammad at Mecca, Translated by W. Montgomery and M. V. McDonald page 108]</ref> These verses are now considered the infamous "[[Satanic Verses]]". Muhammad, declared the existence of three Meccan goddesses and associated them as the daughters of Allah. Muhammad later retracted the verses, claiming that the verses were whispered by the devil himself.<ref name=":2" /><ref>The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad (2010), p. 35</ref><ref>The aforementioned Islamic histories recount that as Muhammad was reciting Sūra Al-Najm (Q.53), as revealed to him by the Archangel Gabriel, Satan tempted him to utter the following lines after verses 19 and 20: "Have you thought of Allāt and al-'Uzzā and Manāt the third, the other; These are the exalted Gharaniq, whose intercession is hoped for." (Allāt, al-'Uzzā and Manāt were three goddesses worshiped by the Meccans). cf Ibn Ishaq, A. Guillaume p. 166</ref><ref>Apart from this one-day lapse, which was excised from the text, the Quran is simply unrelenting, unaccommodating and outright despising of paganism." (The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad, Jonathan E. Brockopp, p. 35)</ref>
[https://archive.org/stream/TabariEnglish/Tabari_Volume_06#page/n155/mode/2up The History of al-Tabari, Volume VI, Muhammad at Mecca, Translated by W. Montgomery and M. V. McDonald page 108]</ref> These verses are now considered the infamous "[[Satanic Verses]]". Muhammad, declared the existence of three Meccan goddesses and associated them as the daughters of Allah. Muhammad later retracted the verses, claiming that the verses were whispered by the devil himself.<ref name=":2" /><ref>The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad (2010), p. 35</ref><ref>The aforementioned Islamic histories recount that as Muhammad was reciting Sūra Al-Najm (Q.53), as revealed to him by the Archangel Gabriel, Satan tempted him to utter the following lines after verses 19 and 20: "Have you thought of Allāt and al-'Uzzā and Manāt the third, the other; These are the exalted Gharaniq, whose intercession is hoped for." (Allāt, al-'Uzzā and Manāt were three goddesses worshiped by the Meccans). cf Ibn Ishaq, A. Guillaume p. 166</ref><ref>Apart from this one-day lapse, which was excised from the text, the Quran is simply unrelenting, unaccommodating and outright despising of paganism." (The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad, Jonathan E. Brockopp, p. 35)</ref>
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