Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Muhammad and the Satanic Verses: Difference between revisions

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{{Quote|{{Bukhari|6|60|385}}|Narrated Ibn Abbas: The Prophet performed a prostration when he finished reciting Surat-an-Najm, and all the Muslims and pagans and Jinns and human beings prostrated along with him.}}
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|6|60|385}}|Narrated Ibn Abbas: The Prophet performed a prostration when he finished reciting Surat-an-Najm, and all the Muslims and pagans and Jinns and human beings prostrated along with him.}}


==Satanic Verses Incident==
==Sira==  
 
Under increasing boycotts and pressure from the pagan Meccans, a weakened and precarious Muhammad accommodated the Meccan pagans by acknowledging the existence of the three pagan goddesses Lat, Uzza, and Manat, alongside Allah.


===Ibn Ishaq===
===Ibn Ishaq===


From Ibn Ishaq's "The Life of Muhammad". Ibn Ishaq is the earliest known Islamic Historian.
{{Quote|Ishaq:165-167|Now the apostle was anxious for the welfare of his people, wishing to attract them as ‎far as he could. It has been mentioned that he longed for a way to attract them, and the method he ‎adopted is what Ibn Hamid told me that Salama said M. b. Ishaq told him from Yazid b. Ziyad of ‎Medina from M. b. Ka'b al-Qurazi: When the apostle saw that his people turned their backs on ‎him and he was pained by their estrangement from what he brought them from God he longed ‎that there should come to him from God a message that would reconcile his people to him. ‎Because of his love for his people and his anxiety over them it would delight him if the obstacle ‎that made his task so difficult could be removed; so that he meditated on the project and longed ‎for it and it was dear to him. Then God sent down 'By the star when it sets your comrade errs not ‎and is not deceived, he speaks not from his own desire,' and when he reached His words 'Have ‎you thought of al-Lat and al-'Uzza and Manat the third, the other',‎ Satan, when he was ‎meditating upon it, and desiring to bring it (sc. reconciliation) to his people, put upon his tongue ‎‎'these are the exalted Gharaniq whose intercession is approved.' When Quraysh heard that, ‎they were delighted and greatly pleased at the way in which he spoke of their gods and they ‎listened to him; while the believers were holding that what their prophet brought them from their ‎Lord was true, not suspecting a mistake or a vain desire or a slip, and when he reached the ‎prostration ‎3 and the end of the Sura in which he prostrated himself the Muslims prostrated ‎themselves when their prophet prostrated confirming what he brought and obeying his command, ‎and the polytheists of Quraysh and others who were in the mosque prostrated when they heard ‎the mention of their gods, so that everyone in the mosque believer and unbeliever prostrated, ‎except al-Walid b. al-Mughira who was an old man who could not do so, so he took a handful of ‎dirt from the valley and bent over it. Then the people dispersed and Quraysh went out, delighted ‎at what had been said about their gods, saying, 'Muhammad has spoken of our gods in splendid ‎fashion. He alleged in what he read that they are the exalted Gharaniq whose intercession is ‎approved.'‎<BR>
 
{{Quote|Ishaq:165-167|Now the apostle was anxious for the welfare of his people, wishing to attract them as ‎far as he could. It has been mentioned that he longed for a way to attract them, and the method he ‎adopted is what Ibn Hamid told me that Salama said M. b. Ishaq told him from Yazid b. Ziyad of ‎Medina from M. b. Ka'b al-Qurazi: When the apostle saw that his people turned their backs on ‎him and he was pained by their estrangement from what he brought them from God he longed ‎that there should come to him from God a message that would reconcile his people to him. ‎Because of his love for his people and his anxiety over them it would delight him if the obstacle ‎that made his task so difficult could be removed; so that he meditated on the project and longed ‎for it and it was dear to him. Then God sent down 'By the star when it sets your comrade errs not ‎and is not deceived, he speaks not from his own desire,' and when he reached His words 'Have ‎you thought of al-Lat and al-'Uzza and Manat the third, the other',‎ Satan, when he was ‎meditating upon it, and desiring to bring it (sc. reconciliation) to his people, put upon his tongue ‎‎'these are the exalted Gharaniq whose intercession is approved.' When Quraysh heard that, ‎they were delighted and greatly pleased at the way in which he spoke of their gods and they ‎listened to him; while the believers were holding that what their prophet brought them from their ‎Lord was true, not suspecting a mistake or a vain desire or a slip, and when he reached the ‎prostration ‎3 and the end of the Sura in which he prostrated himself the Muslims prostrated ‎themselves when their prophet prostrated confirming what he brought and obeying his command, ‎and the polytheists of Quraysh and others who were in the mosque prostrated when they heard ‎the mention of their gods, so that everyone in the mosque believer and unbeliever prostrated, ‎except al-Walid b. al-Mughira who was an old man who could not do so, so he took a handful of ‎dirt from the valley and bent over it. Then the people dispersed and Quraysh went out, delighted ‎at what had been said about their gods, saying, 'Muhammad has spoken of our gods in splendid ‎fashion. He alleged in what he read that they are the exalted Gharaniq whose intercession is ‎approved.'‎
<BR>
The news reached the prophet's companions who were in Abyssinia, it being reported that ‎Quraysh had accepted Islam, so some men started to return while others remained behind. Then ‎Gabriel came to the apostle and said, 'What have you done, Muhammad? You have read to these ‎people something I did not bring you from God and you have said what He did not say to you. ‎The apostle was bitterly grieved and was greatly in fear of God. So God sent down (a revelation), ‎for He was merciful to him, comforting him and making light of the affair and telling him that ‎every prophet and apostle before him desired as he desired and wanted what he wanted and Satan ‎interjected something into his desires as he had on his tongue. So God annulled what Satan had ‎suggested and God established His verses i.e. you are just like the prophets and apostles. Then ‎God sent down: 'We have not sent a prophet or apostle before you but when he longed Satan cast ‎suggestions into his longing. But God will annul what Satan has suggested. Then God will ‎establish his verses, God being knowing and wise.' ‎Thus God relieved his prophet's grief, and ‎made him feel safe from his fears and annulled what Satan had suggested in the words used ‎above about their gods by his revelation 'Are yours the males and His the females? That were ‎indeed an unfair division' (i.e. most unjust); 'they are nothing but names which your fathers gave ‎them as far as the words 'to whom he pleases and accepts',‎‎ i.e. how can the intercession of their ‎gods avail with Him?‎
The news reached the prophet's companions who were in Abyssinia, it being reported that ‎Quraysh had accepted Islam, so some men started to return while others remained behind. Then ‎Gabriel came to the apostle and said, 'What have you done, Muhammad? You have read to these ‎people something I did not bring you from God and you have said what He did not say to you. ‎The apostle was bitterly grieved and was greatly in fear of God. So God sent down (a revelation), ‎for He was merciful to him, comforting him and making light of the affair and telling him that ‎every prophet and apostle before him desired as he desired and wanted what he wanted and Satan ‎interjected something into his desires as he had on his tongue. So God annulled what Satan had ‎suggested and God established His verses i.e. you are just like the prophets and apostles. Then ‎God sent down: 'We have not sent a prophet or apostle before you but when he longed Satan cast ‎suggestions into his longing. But God will annul what Satan has suggested. Then God will ‎establish his verses, God being knowing and wise.' ‎Thus God relieved his prophet's grief, and ‎made him feel safe from his fears and annulled what Satan had suggested in the words used ‎above about their gods by his revelation 'Are yours the males and His the females? That were ‎indeed an unfair division' (i.e. most unjust); 'they are nothing but names which your fathers gave ‎them as far as the words 'to whom he pleases and accepts',‎‎ i.e. how can the intercession of their ‎gods avail with Him?‎
<BR>
<BR>
When the annulment of what Satan had put upon the prophet's tongue came from God, ‎Quraysh said: 'Muhammad has repented of what he said about the position of your gods with ‎Allah, altered it and brought something else.' Now those two words which Satan had put upon ‎the apostle's tongue were in the mouth of every polytheist and they became more violently ‎hostile to the Muslims and the apostle's followers. Meanwhile those of his companions who had ‎left Abyssinia when they heard that the people of Mecca had accepted Islam when they ‎prostrated themselves with the apostle, heard when they approached Mecca that the report was ‎false and none came into the town without the promise of protection or secretly. Of those who ‎did come into Mecca and stayed there until he migrated to Medina and were present at Badr with ‎him was 'Uthman b. 'Affan . . . with his wife Ruqayya d. of the apostle and Abu Hudhayfa b. ‎‎'Utba with his wife Sahla d. of Suhayl, and a number of others, in all thirty-three men.<ref name="Ishaq Satanic Verses">Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, Translated by A. Guillaume, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, (Re-issued in Karachi, Pakistan, 1967, 13th impression, 1998) 1955, p. 146-148.</ref>}}
When the annulment of what Satan had put upon the prophet's tongue came from God, ‎Quraysh said: 'Muhammad has repented of what he said about the position of your gods with ‎Allah, altered it and brought something else.' Now those two words which Satan had put upon ‎the apostle's tongue were in the mouth of every polytheist and they became more violently ‎hostile to the Muslims and the apostle's followers. Meanwhile those of his companions who had ‎left Abyssinia when they heard that the people of Mecca had accepted Islam when they ‎prostrated themselves with the apostle, heard when they approached Mecca that the report was ‎false and none came into the town without the promise of protection or secretly. Of those who ‎did come into Mecca and stayed there until he migrated to Medina and were present at Badr with ‎him was 'Uthman b. 'Affan . . . with his wife Ruqayya d. of the apostle and Abu Hudhayfa b. ‎‎'Utba with his wife Sahla d. of Suhayl, and a number of others, in all thirty-three men.<ref name="Ishaq Satanic Verses">Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, Translated by A. Guillaume, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, (Re-issued in Karachi, Pakistan, 1967, 13th impression, 1998) 1955, p. 146-148.</ref>}}


===Al-Tabari===
===Al Tabari===
 
Al-Tabari was an early and prolific Islamic Historian who also recorded the Satanic verses incident.


{{Quote|{{Tabari|6|pp. 107-112}}|<center>''Satan Casts a False Revelation on the Messenger of God's Tongue''</center>
{{Quote|{{Tabari|6|pp. 107-112}}|<center>''Satan Casts a False Revelation on the Messenger of God's Tongue''</center>
Line 87: Line 80:


: '' ... God is knower, wise.''
: '' ... God is knower, wise.''
When those who had emigrated to Abyssinia heard that all the people of Mecca had accepted Islam, they returned to their clans, saying, "They are more dear to us"; but they found that the people had reversed their decision when God cancelled what Satan had cast upon the Messenger of God's tongue.}}
When those who had emigrated to Abyssinia heard that all the people of Mecca had accepted Islam, they returned to their clans, saying, "They are more dear to us"; but they found that the people had reversed their decision when God cancelled what Satan had cast upon the Messenger of God's tongue.<ref>Al-Tabari (838? – 923 A.D.), The History of al-Tabari (Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk), Vol. VI: Muhammad at Mecca, pp. 107-112. Translated by W. M. Watt and M.V. McDonald, SUNY Press, Albany, NY, 1988, ISBN: 0-88706-707-7, pp. 107-112.</ref>}}
 
===Ibn Sa'd===
 
{{Quote||<center>''Account of the Causes of the Return of the Companions of the Prophet, from Abyssinia''</center>
 
 
Muhammad Ibn Umar informed us; he said: Yunus Ibn Muhammad Ibn Fudalah al-Azfari related to me on the authority of his father (second chain) he (Ibn Sa'd) said: Kthir Ibn Zayd related to me on the authority of al-Muttalib Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Hantab; they said: "the apostle of Allah had seen his people departing from him. He was one day sitting alone when he expressed a desire: "I wish, Allah had not revealed to me anything distasteful to them."
 
Then the apostle of Allah, approached them (Quraysh) and got close to them, and they also came near to him. One day he was sitting in their assembly near the Ka'bah, and he recited: "By the Star when it sets", (1) till he reached, "Have ye thought upon Al-Uzza and Manat, the third, the other". (2) Satan made him repeat these two phrases: "These idols are high and their intercession is expected". The apostle of Allah repeated them, and he went on reciting the whole surah and then fell in prostration, and the people also fell in prostration with him. Al-Walid Ibn al-Mughirah, who was an old man and could not prostrate, took a handful of dust to his forehead and prostrated on it. It is said: Abu Uhayhah Sa'id Ibn al-As, being an old man took dust and prostrated on it. Some people say: It was al-Walid who took the dust; others say: It was Abu Uhayhah; while other say: Both did it. They were pleased with what the apostle of Allah had uttered. They said: "We know that Allah gives life and causes death. He creates and gives us provisions, but our deities will intercede with Him, and in what you have assigned to them, we are with you." These words pricked the apostle of Allah.
 
He was sitting in his house and when it was evening, Gabriel came to him and revised the surah. Then Gabriel said: "Did I bring these two phrases?" The apostle of Allah said: "I ascribed to Allah, what He had not said."
 
Then Allah revealed to him: "And they indeed strove hard to beguile you (Muhammad) away from that which We have inspired you, that you should invent other than it against Us; and then would they have accepted you as a friend. And if We had not made you wholly firm you might almost have inclined to them a little, Then had We made you taste a double (punishment) of living and a double (punishment) of dying then had you found no helper against Us.""(1)
 
Muhammad Ibn Umar informed us; he said: Muhammad Ibn Abd Allah related to me on the authority of al-Zuhri, he on the authority of Abu Bakr Ibn Abd al-Rahman Ibn al-Harith Ibn Hisham; he said: "This prostration became know to people till the news reached Abyssinia and the Companions of the apostle of Allah that the people of Makkah fell in protraction and joined Islam including al-Walid. Ibn al-Mughirah and Abu Uhayhah who prostrated behind the prophet. The people said: "When such persons have joined Islam, who else remains in Makkah?" They said: "Our relatives are dear to us." So they returned. Where they were at a distance of one hour's walk from Makkah, they confronted some horsemen of Kinanah. They inquired about the Quraysh and their affairs. The horse men said: "Muhammad spoke well of their deities, so they followed him but then they turned apostate. He began to abuse their gods and they began to harm him. We left them in this struggle." They discussed that they should return to Abyssinia; but then they said: "We have reached here, so let us enter (the town), see the Quraysh and visit our families and then return.""
 
Muhammad Ibn Umar informed us; he said: Muhammad Ibn Abd Allah related to me on the authority of al-Zuhri, he on the authority of Abu Bakr Ibn Abd al Rahman; he said: "They entered Makkah and none entered it except under (some one's) protection; Ibn Masud stayed for a short time and returned to Abyssinia."
 
Muhammad Ibn Umar said: "They had left (Makkah) in the month of Rajab in the fifth year. There they remained in the months of Shaban and Ramadan. The incident of prostration took place in Ramadan, and they returned in Shawwal in the fifth year."<ref>Ibn Sa'd's "Kitab al Tabaqat al Kabir" (Book of the Major Classes), Volume 1, parts 1 and 2, pp. 236 - 239, translated by S. Moinul Haq, published by the Pakistan Historical Society.</ref>}}
 
===Al Waqidi===
 
{{Quote||"On a certain day, the chief men of Mecca, assembled in a group beside the Kaaba, discussed as was their wont the affairs of the city; when Mahomet appeared and, seating himself by them in a friendly manner, began to recite in their hearing the 53 Sura.... "
 
"And see ye not Lat and Ozza, and Manat the third besides?"
 
"When he had reached this verse, the devil suggested an expression of the thoughts which for many a day had possessed his soul; and put into his mouth words of reconciliation and compromise, the revelation of which he had been longing for from God, namely;
 
"These are the exalted Females, and verily their intercession is to be hoped for"
 
"The Coreish were surprised and delighted with this acknowledgement of their deities; and as Mahomet wound up the Sura with the closing words
 
"Wherefore bow down before God, and serve Him"
 
"the whole assembly prostrated themselves with one accord on the ground and worshipped. Walid alone, the son of Mughira, unable from the infirmities of age to bow down, took a handful of earth and worshipped, pressing it to his forehead."
 
"And all the people were pleased at that which Mahomet had spoke, and they began to say,
"Now we know that it is the Lord alone that give life and takes it away, that created and supports. These our goddesses make intercession with Him for us; and as thou has conceded unto them a portion, we are content to follow thee". But their words disquieted Mahomet, and he retired to his house. In the evening Gabriel visited him; and the prophet recited the Sura unto him. And Gabriel said, "What is this that thou has done? Thou has repeated before the people words that I never gave unto thee". So Mahomet grieved sore, and feared the Lord greatly; and he said, "I have spoken of God that which He had not said." But the Lord comforted His prophet, and restored his confidence, and cancelled the verse, and revealed the true reading thereof (as it now stands), namely,
 
"And see ye not Lat and Ozza, and Manat the third beside? What! Shall there be male progeny unto you, and female unto him? That were indeed an unjust partition! They are naught but names, which ye and your Fathers have invented, etc."<ref>Al-Waqidi, as quoted in: Muir, Sir William. (1878). The Life of Mahomet. (pp. 86-88). London: Smith, Elder & Co</ref>}}


==Excuse for the Satanic Verses==
==Excuse for the Satanic Verses==
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