The Satanic Verses are words of "satanic suggestion" which the Islamic prophet Muhammad is alleged to have mistaken for divine revelation.[1] The first use of the expression in English is attributed to Sir William Muir in 1858.[2]
The words praise the three pagan Meccan goddesses: al-Lāt, al-'Uzzá, and Manāt and can be read in early prophetic biographies of Muhammad by al-Wāqidī, Ibn Sa'd and the tafsir of al-Tabarī. Religious authorities embraced the story for the first two centuries of the Islamic era. However, beginning in the 13th century, Islamic scholars (Ulama) started to reject it as being inconsistent with Muhammad's "perfection" ('isma), which meant that Muhammad was infallible and could not be fooled by Satan.[1] According to some Islamic traditions, God sent Satan as a tempter to test the audience. Others categorically deny that this incident ever happened.
The incident is accepted as true by some modern scholars of Islamic studies, citing the implausibility of early Muslim biographers fabricating a story so unflattering about their prophet.[3][4]Alford T. Welch, however, argues that this rationale alone is insufficient but does not rule out the possibility of some historical foundation to the story. He proposes that the story may be yet another instance of historical telescoping, i.e., a circumstance that Muhammad's contemporaries knew to have lasted for a long period of time later became condensed into a story that limits his acceptance of the Meccan goddesses’ intercession to a brief period of time and assigns blame for this departure from strict monotheism to Satan.[5]
Basic narrative
The Arabian goddess Al-Lat, flanked by goddesses Manat and al-Uzza.
There are some accounts of the incident, which differ in the construction and detail of the narrative, but they may be broadly collated to produce a basic account.[6] The different versions of the story are recorded in early tafsirs (Quranic commentaries) and biographies of the Prophet, such as Ibn Ishaq's.[7] In its essential form, the story reports that Muhammad longed to convert his kinsmen and neighbors of Mecca to Islam. As he was reciting these verses of Sūrat an-Najm,[8] considered a revelation from the angel Gabriel:
"These are the exalted gharāniq, whose intercession is hoped for."
Al-Lāt, al-'Uzzā, and Manāt were three pre-Islamic Arabian goddesses worshipped by the Meccans. Discerning the precise meaning of the word gharāniq has proven difficult, as it is a hapax legomenon (i.e. used only once in the text). Commentators wrote that it meant "the cranes". 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".[9] Taken as a segment, "exalted gharāniq" has been translated by Orientalist William Muir to mean "exalted women", while contemporary academic Muhammad Manazir Ahsan has translated the same segment as "high-soaring ones (deities)". Thus, whether the phrase had intended to attribute a divine nature to the three "idols" is a matter of dispute.[10] In either case, scholars generally agree on the meaning of the second half of the verse, "whose intercession is hoped for".
Tabarī's account
An extensive account of the incident is found in al-Tabarī's history, the Tarīkh (Vol. VI) (c.915 CE):
The prophet was eager for the welfare of his people, desiring to win them to him by any means he could. It has been reported that he longed for a way to win them, and part of what he did to that end is what Ibn Humayd told me, from Salama, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, from Yazīd ibn Ziyād al-Madanī, from Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazī:
When the prophet saw his people turning away from him, and was tormented by their distancing themselves from what he had brought to them from God, he longed in himself for something to come to him from God which would draw him close to them. With his love for his people and his eagerness for them, it would gladden him if some of the hard things he had found in dealing with them could be alleviated. He pondered this in himself, longed for it, and desired it.
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.
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]
So God drove out the sadness from His prophet and gave him security against what he feared. He abrogated what Satan had cast upon his tongue in referring to their gods: 'They are the high-flying cranes whose intercession is accepted [sic]'. [Replacing those words with] the words of God when Allāt, al-'Uzzā and Manāt the third, the other are mentioned: 'Should you have males and He females [as offspring]! That, indeed, would be an unfair division. They are only names which you and your fathers have given them'… as far as 'As many as are the angels in heaven, their intercession shall be of no avail unless after God has permitted it to whom He pleases and accepts' [Q.53:21–26] meaning, how can the intercession of their gods be of any avail with Him? When there had come from God the words which abrogated what Satan had cast on to the tongue of His prophet, Quraysh said, 'Muhammad has gone back on what he said about the status of our gods relative to God, changed it and brought something else', for the two phrases which Satan had cast on to the tongue of the Prophet had found a place in the mouth of every polytheist. They, therefore, increased in their evil and in their oppression of everyone among them who had accepted Islam and followed the Prophet.
The band of the Prophet's followers who had left the land of Abyssinia on account of the report that the people of Mecca had accepted Islam when they prostrated together with the Prophet drew near. But when they approached Mecca they heard that the talk about the acceptance of Islam by the people of Mecca was wrong. Therefore, they only entered Mecca in secret or after having obtained a promise of protection.
Among those of them who came to Mecca at that time and remained there until emigrating to Medina and taking part in the battle of Badr alongside Muhammad there was, from the family of 'Abd Shams b. Abd Manāf b. Qussayy, 'Uthmān b. 'Affān together with his wife Ruqayya the daughter of the Prophet. Abū Hudhayfa b. 'Utba with his wife Shal bint Suhayl, and another group with them, numbering together 33 men.[11]
Reception in Muslim exegesis
Early Islam
Shahab Ahmed, author of a book on the satanic verses in early Islam, observed that in the era of early tafsirs and sīrah/maghazi literature, the satanic verses incident was near universally accepted by the early Muslim community and illustrative of a concept of prophethood involving an ongoing struggle. Later, the logic of the era of hadith collections and subsequent orthodoxy required an infallible prophet.[12]:294,300
According to Ibn Taymiyyah: "The early Islamic Scholars (Salaf) collectively considered the Verses of Cranes in accordance with Quran. And from the later coming scholars (Khalaf), who followed the opinion of the early scholars, they say that these traditions have been recorded with authentic chain of narration and it is impossible to deny them, and Quran is itself testifying it."[13]
The earliest biography of Muhammad, Ibn Ishaq (761–767) is lost but his collection of traditions survives mainly in two sources: Ibn Hisham (833) and al-Tabari (915). The story appears in al-Tabari, who includes Ibn Ishaq in the chain of transmission, but not in Ibn Hisham, who admits in the preface of his text that he omitted matters from Ibn Ishaq's biography that "would distress certain people".[14]Ibn Sa'd and Al-Waqidi, two other early biographers of Muhammad relate the story.[15]
Paul Arno Eichler (1928) describes Muslims as believing that Satan's interference in divine revelation as a test sent by God. He explains this interpretation of Muslims by the fact that in Islamic thought, Satan (Iblīs) himself is not the tempter, but merely the instrument through which God tests his subjects.[16]
Later medieval period
Due to its controversial nature, the tradition of the Satanic Verses never made it into any of the canonical hadith compilations (though possible truncated versions of the incident did).[17] The reference and exegesis about the Verses appear in early histories.[18][19][20] In addition to appearing in Tabarī's tafsīr, it is used in the tafsīrs of Muqātil, ʽAbd al-Razzaq al-Sanʽani and Ibn Kathir as well as the naskh of Abu Ja'far an-Nahhās, the asbāb collection of Wāhidī and even the late-medieval as-Suyūtī's compilation al-Durr al-Manthūr fil-Tafsīr bil-Mathūr.
Objections to the incident were raised as early as the fourth Islamic century, such as in the work of an-Nahhās and continued to be raised throughout later generations by scholars such as Abu Bakr ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1157), Fakhr ad-Din Razi (1220) as well as al-Qurtubi (1285). The most comprehensive argument presented against the factuality of the incident came in Qadi Iyad's ash-Shifa'.[6] The incident was discounted on two main bases. The first was that the incident contradicted the doctrine of isma', divine protection of Muhammad from mistakes. The second was that the descriptions of the chain of transmission extant since that period are not complete and sound (sahih).[6]
However, Uri Rubin asserts that there exists a complete version of the isnad continuing to the companion Ibn 'Abbās, but this only survives in a few sources. He claims that in another form of the isnad the name of Ibn 'Abbās was removed so that the incident could be deprived of its sahih isnad and discredited. Rubin makes similar comments about an isnad involving another companion, Makhrama bin Nawfal.[21]
Another modern academic scholar, Shahab Ahmed, carefully examined 50 riwayahs (transmissions) of the hadith narrated from the companion Ibn 'Abbās, and successors (tabi'un) including Muhammad bin ka'b Al-Qurazi, Sa'id b. Jubayr, 'Urwah b. al-Zubayr, Qatada b. Di'amah, Abu Bakr 'Abd al-Rahman b. al-Harith, al-Hasan al-Basri, and Mujahid b. Jabr. He notes that many of these are sahih mursal (i.e. sound except that the chain of narration ends at the successor instead of a companion of the prophet). He also discusses some narrations whose chains go back to Ibn 'Abbās, including one (riwayah 40 in Ahmed's book) which was considered reliable by some scholars, though al-Albani rejected it due to limited biographical information on one of the transmitters, and a similar one (riwayah 41) which Ahmed describes as "an equally - if not more - reliable isnād that has apparently gone unnoticed by later commentators". This, he says, has an "immaculate isnād" and lacks the deficiency noted by al-Albani.[12]:224–228 Ahmed states that "all the first and early second century reports are agreed that the Prophet uttered the satanic verses".[12]:56
Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi commenting on Quran 22:52 in his Tafsir al-Kabir stated that the "people of verification" declared the story as an outright fabrication, citing supporting arguments from the Qur'an, Sunnah and reason. He then reported that the preeminent MuhaddithIbn Khuzaymah said: "it is an invention of the heretics" when once asked about it. Al-Razi also recorded that al-Bayhaqi stated that the narration of the story was unreliable because its narrators were of questionable integrity.
Those scholars who acknowledged the historicity of the incident apparently had a different method for the assessment of reports than that which has become standard Islamic methodology. For example, Ibn Taymiyyah took the position that since tafsīr and sira-maghazi reports were commonly transmitted by incomplete isnads, these reports should not be assessed according to the completeness of the chains but rather on the basis of recurrent transmission of common meaning between reports.[6]
Al-Qurtubi (al-Jāmi' li ahkām al-Qur'ān) dismisses all these variants in favor of the explanation that once Sūra al-Najm was safely revealed the basic events of the incident (or rumors of them) "were now permitted to occur to identify those of his followers who would accept Muhammad's explanation of the blasphemous imposture" (JSS 15, pp.254–255).
Ibn Hajar al-Asqallani wrote:
All the chains of this narration are weak, except of Said Ibn Jubayr. And when one incident is reported from many different chains, then it means there is something real in this incident. Moreover, this incident has also been narrated through 2 Mursal (where chain goes up to Successor, i.e., Tabari) traditions, whose chains of narration are authentic according to the standards of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim. First one is what Tabari recorded from Younus bin Yazid, he from Ibn Shahab that Abu Bakr Ibn Abdul Rehman narrated me. While second one which Tabari recorded from Mutabar bin Sulayman and Hammad bin Salama, and they from Dawud bin Abi Hind, and he from Abu Aliya [...] Ibn Arabi and Qadhi Ayyad say there is no proof of this incident, but contrary to their claim when one incident comes through different chain of narrations, then it means that this incident is real. While there are not only multiple chain of narrations about this incident, but also 3 of them are authentic while 2 of them are Mursal narrations.[22]
Modern Islamic scholarship
While the authors of the tafsīr texts during the first two centuries of the Islamic era do not seem to have regarded the tradition as in any way inauspicious or unflattering to Muhammad, it seems to have been universally rejected by at least the 13th century, and most modern Muslims likewise see the tradition as problematic, in the sense that it is viewed as "profoundly heretical because, by allowing for the intercession of the three pagan female deities, they eroded the authority and omnipotence of Allah. But they also hold... damaging implications in regard to the revelation as a whole, for Muhammad's revelation appears to have been based on his desire to soften the threat to the deities of the people."[23] Different responses have developed concerning the account.
Haykal points out the many forms and versions of the story and their inconsistencies and argues that "the contextual flow of Surah 'al Najm' does not allow at all the inclusion of such verses as the story claims". Haykal quotes Muhammad Abduh who pointed out that the "Arabs have nowhere described their gods in such terms as 'al gharaniq'. Neither in their poetry nor in their speeches or traditions do we find their gods or goddesses described in such terms. Rather, the word 'al ghurnuq' or 'al gharniq' was the name of a black or white water bird, sometimes given figuratively to the handsome blond youth." Lastly, Haykal argues that the story is inconsistent with Muhammad's personal life and is completely against the spirit of the Islamic message.[24]
Aqa Mahdi Puya has said that these fake verses were shouted out by the Meccans to make it appear that it was Muhammad who had spoken them; he writes:
Some pagans and hypocrites planned secretly to recite words praising idolatry alongside the recitation of the Holy Prophet, while he was praying, in such a way that the people would think as if they were recited by him. Once when the Holy Prophet was reciting verses 19 and 20 of Najm one of the pagans recited: "Tilkal gharani-ul ula wa inna shafa-atahuma laturja"-(These are the lofty (idols), verily their intercession is sought after.) As soon as this was recited the conspirators shouted in delight to make the people believe that it was the Holy Prophet who said these words. Here, the Quran is stating the general pattern the enemies of the messengers of Allah followed when they were positively convinced that the people were paying attention to the teachings of the messengers of Allah and sincerely believing in them. They would mix their false doctrines with the original teachings so as to make the divine message a bundle of contradictions. This kind of satanic insertions are referred to in thus verse, and it is supported by Ha Mim: 26. It is sheer blasphemy to say that satanic forces can influence the messengers of Allah.[25][26]
This entire matter was a mere footnote to the back-and-forth of religious debate,[citation needed] but was rekindled by Salman Rushdie's 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses, which made headline news. The novel contains some fictionalized allusions to Islamic history, which provoked both controversy and outrage. Muslims around the world protested the book's publishing, and Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa sentencing Rushdie to death, saying that the book blasphemed Muhammad and his wives.
Historicity debate
Since William Muir, the historicity of this episode has been largely accepted by secular academics.[4] Some orientalists, however, argued against the historic authenticity of these verses on various grounds.[27] Sean Anthony observes a trend of more recent scholarship towards rejecting the historicity of the story after a period in which scholars were more divided.[28]:220
William Montgomery Watt and Alfred Guillaume claim that stories of the event were true based upon the implausibility of Muslims fabricating a story so unflattering to their prophet: "Muhammad must have publicly recited the satanic verses as part of the Qur'ān; it is unthinkable that the story could have been invented by Muslims, or foisted upon them by non-Muslims."[3]
Scholars such as Uri Rubin and Shahab Ahmed and Guillaume hold that the report was in Ibn Ishaq, while Alford T. Welch holds the report has not been presumably present in the Ibn Ishaq.[17] Shahab Ahmed states that "Reports of the Satanic verses incident were recorded by virtually every compiler of a major biography of Muhammad in the first two centuries of Islam: 'Urwah b. al-Zubayr (23–94), Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (51–124), Musa b. 'Uqbah (85–141), Ibn Ishaq (85–151), Abu Ma'shar (d. 170), Yunus b. Bukayr (d. 199), and al-Waqidi (130–207)."[12]:257 Alford T. Welch, however, argues that this rationale alone is insufficient but does not rule out the possibility of some historical foundation to the story. He proposes that the story may be yet another instance of historical telescoping, i.e., a circumstance that Muhammad's contemporaries knew to have lasted for a long period of time later became condensed into a story that limits his acceptance of the Meccan goddesses’ intercession to a brief period of time and assigns blame for this departure from strict monotheism to Satan.[5]
John Burton argued for its fictitiousness based upon a demonstration of its actual utility to certain elements of the Muslim community – namely, those legal exegetes seeking an "occasion of revelation" for eradicative modes of abrogation.[further explanation needed] Burton supports his theory by the fact that Tabari does not discuss the story in his exegesis of the verse 53:20, but rather in 22:52.[29] Disagreeing with Burton, G.R. Hawting writes that the satanic verses incident would not serve to justify or exemplify a theory that God reveals something and later replaces it himself with another true revelation.[30] Burton, in his rejection of the authenticity of the story, sided with Leone Caetani, who wrote that the story was to be rejected not only on the basis of isnad, but because "had these hadiths even a degree of historical basis, Muhammad's reported conduct on this occasion would have given the lie to the whole of his previous prophetic activity."[31]
Maxime Rodinson finds that it may reasonably be accepted as true "because the makers of Muslim tradition would never have invented a story with such damaging implications for the revelation as a whole."[32] He writes the following on the genesis of the verses: "Obviously Muhammad's unconscious had suggested to him a formula which provided a practical road to unanimity." Rodinson writes that this concession, however, diminished the threat of the Last Judgment by enabling the three goddesses to intercede for sinners and save them from eternal damnation. Further, it diminished Muhammad's own authority by giving the priests of Uzza, Manat, and Allat the ability to pronounce oracles contradicting his message. Disparagement from Christians and Jews, who pointed out[where?] that he was reverting to his pagan beginnings, combined with opposition and indignation from his own followers influenced him to recant his revelation. However, in doing so he denounced the gods of Mecca as lesser spirits or mere names, cast off everything related to the traditional religion as the work of pagans and unbelievers, and consigned the Meccan's pious ancestors and relatives to Hell. This was the final break with the Quraysh.[33]
Fred Halliday states that rather than having damaging implications, the story is a cautionary tale, the point of which is "not to malign God but to point up the frailty of human beings," and that even a prophet may be misled by shaytan – though ultimately shaytan is unsuccessful.[34]
Since John Wansbrough's contributions to the field in the early 1970s, though, scholars have become much more attentive to the emergent nature of early Islam, and less willing to accept back-projected claims of continuity:
To those who see the tradition as constantly evolving and supplying answers to question that it itself has raised, the argument that there would be no reason to develop and transmit material which seems derogatory of the Prophet or of Islam is too simple. For one thing, ideas about what is derogatory may change over time. We know that the doctrine of the Prophet's infallibility and impeccability (the doctrine regarding his 'isma) emerged only slowly. For another, material which we now find in the biography of the Prophet originated in various circumstances to meet various needs and one has to understand why material exists before one can make a judgment about its basis in fact... [35]
In Rubin's recent contribution to the debate, questions of historicity are completely eschewed in favor of an examination of internal textual dynamics and what they reveal about early medieval Islam. Rubin claims to have located the genesis of many prophetic traditions and that they show an early Muslim desire to prove to other scriptuaries "that Muhammad did indeed belong to the same exclusive predestined chain of prophets in whom the Jews and the Christians believed. He alleges that the Muslims had to establish the story of Muhammad's life on the same literary patterns as were used in the vitae of the other prophets".[36] The incident of the Satanic Verses, according to him, conforms to the common theme of persecution followed by isolation of the prophet-figure.
As the story was adapted to include Qur'ānic material (Q.22:52, Q.53, Q.17:73–74), the idea of satanic temptation was claimed[by whom?] to have been added, heightening its inherent drama as well as incorporating additional Biblical motifs (cf. the Temptation of Christ). Rubin gives his attention to the narratological exigencies which may have shaped early sīra material, as opposed to the more commonly considered ones of dogma, sect, and political/dynastic faction. Given the consensus that "the most archaic layer of the biography, [is] that of the stories of the kussās [i.e. popular story-tellers]" (Sīra, EI²), this may prove a fruitful line of inquiry.
Rubin also claimed that the supposed temporary control taken by Satan over Muhammad made such traditions unacceptable to early hadith compilers, which he believed to be a unique case in which a group of traditions are rejected only after being subject to Qur'anic models, and as a direct result of this adjustment.[17]
Building on Rubin's views, Sean Anthony has proposed that an early tradition attributed to ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr about the mass conversion and prostration of the Meccans but which does not mention the satanic verses was at a later stage connected with Q. 53:19-20, Q. 22:52 and Q. 17:73-74.[28]:241–245
Some scholars believe there is evidence in the Quranic text of surah 53 itself relevant to the question of historicity. Nicolai Sinai argues that the conciliatory satanic verses would make no sense in the context of the scathing criticism in the subsequent verses, whether they were uttered before Q.53:21-22 or (if those replaced the satanic verses) Q. 53:24-25.[37]:10–11 Patricia Crone makes a similar point but regarding the preceding verses, Q. 53:19-20. She argues that "Have you seen al-Lat...?" should be taken as a hostile question about literally seeing the three deities, particularly since the preceding half of the surah repeatedly claims that Allah's servant saw the heavenly being, and noting also other verses where a similar question is asked (Q. 35:40 and Q. 46:4).[38]:18–22
On the other hand, Tommaso Tesei builds on the common observation (also mentioned by Crone) that verses 23 and 26-32 of Q. 53 appear to be an interpolation of long verses into a surah of otherwise short verses. Tesei argues that those verses display stylistic incoherence as well as a theological tension with the rest of Q. 53, a surah which is consistent with evidence external to the Islamic tradition regarding pre-Islamic deities and star worship. Of relevance to the possibility of historical elements in the satanic verses story, Tesei notes that the interpolation (as he sees it) coincides exactly with the traditional account that an explanatory comment was inserted to rectify the identification of the pagan deities as divine intercessors.[39]:192–196
Shahab Ahmed noted that the Quran is at pains to deny that the source of Muhammad's inspiration is a shaytan (Q. 81:19–20, 25) because for his immediate audience, the sources for the two categories of inspired individuals in society, poets and soothsayers, were shaytans and jinn, respectively, whereas Muhammad was a prophet.[12]:295
Related traditions
Several related traditions exist, some adapted to Qur'ānic material, some not. One version, appearing in Tabarī's tafsīr[40] and attributed to Urwah ibn Zubayr (d. 713), preserves the basic narrative but with no mention of satanic temptation. Muhammad is persecuted by the Meccans after attacking their idols, during which time a group of Muslims seeks refuge in Abyssinia. After the cessation of this first round of persecution (fitna) they return home, but soon a second round begins. No compelling reason is provided for the caesura of persecution, though, unlike in the incident of the Satanic Verses, where it is the (temporary) fruit of Muhammad's accommodation to Meccan polytheism. Another version attributed to 'Urwa has only one round of fitna, which begins after Muhammad has converted the entire population of Mecca, so that the Muslims are too numerous to perform ritual prostration (sūjud) all together. This somewhat parallels the Muslims and mushrikūn prostrating themselves together after Muhammad's first, allegedly satanically infected, recitation of Sūra al-Najm, in which allegedly[41] the efficacy of the three pagan goddesses is acknowledged.[42]
The image of Muslims and pagans prostrating themselves together in prayer in turn links the story of the satanic verses to very abbreviated sūjud al-Qur'ān (i.e. prostration when reciting the Qur'ān) traditions found in the authoritative mussanaf hadīth collections, including the Sunni canonical ones of Bukhāri and Tirmidhī. Rubin claims that apparently "the allusion to the participation of the mushrikūn emphasises how overwhelming and intense the effect of this sūra was on those attending". The traditions actually state that all cognizant creatures took part in it, humans as well as jinns.[43]
Rubin further argues that this is inherently illogical without the Satanic Verses in the recitation, given that in the accepted version of verses Q.53:19–23, the pagans' goddesses are attacked. The majority of traditions relating to prostration at the end of Sūra al-Najm solve this by either removing all mention of the mushrikūn, or else transforming the attempt of an old Meccan to participate (who, instead of bowing to the ground, puts dirt to his forehead proclaiming "This is sufficient for me") into an act of mockery. Some traditions even describe his eventual comeuppance, saying he is later killed at the battle of Badr.[44] Thus, according to Rubin, "the story of the single polytheist who raised a handful of dirt to his forehead… [in]… attempt of an old disabled man to participate in Muhammad's sūjud… in… a sarcastic act of an enemy of Muhammad wishing to dishonor the Islamic prayer". And "traditions which originally related the dramatic story of temptation became a sterilized anecdote providing prophetic precedent for a ritual practice".[45]
1 2 EoQ, Satanic Verses. For scholars that accept the historicity, see
Michael Cook, Muhammad. In Founders of Faith, Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 309.
Etan Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work: Ibn Tawus and His Library. Brill, 1992, p. 20.
F.E. Peters, The Hajj, Princeton University Press, 1994, p. 37. See also The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Princeton University Press, 2003, p. 94.
William Muir, The Life of Mahomet, Smith, Elder 1878, p. 88.
John D. Erickson, Islam and Postcolonial Narrative. Cambridge University Press, 1990, p. 140.
1 2 3 4 5 Ahmed, Shahab (2008), "Satanic Verses", in Dammen McAuliffe, Jane (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, Georgetown University, Washington DC: Brill (published 14 August 2008)[permanent dead link]
↑ translated in G. R. Hawting, The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History, pp. 131–132
1 2 3 4 5 Ahmed, Shahab (2017). Before Orthodoxy: The satanic verses in early Islam. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: Harvard University Press. ISBN978-0-674-04742-6.
↑ Rubin, Uri (14 August 2008), "Muḥammad", in Dammen McAuliffe, Jane (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, Georgetown University, Washington DC: Brill[permanent dead link]
↑ Eichler, Paul Arno. "Die Dschinn, Teufel und Engel im Koran." (1928). pp. 43-44
1 2 3 Rubin, Uri (1997), The eye of the beholder: the life of Muḥammad as viewed by the early Muslims: a textual analysis, Princeton, NJ: Darwin Press (published 1995), p.161, ISBN0-87850-110-X
↑ Ṭabarānī, Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad, al-Mu'jam al-Kabīr
↑ Rubin, Uri (1997), The eye of the beholder: the life of Muḥammad as viewed by the early Muslims: a textual analysis, Princeton, NJ: Darwin Press (published 1995), pp.256–258, ISBN0-87850-110-X
↑ Ibn Hajar al-Asqallani. Fath-ul-Bari. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
↑ John D. Erickson (1998), Islam and Postcolonial Narrative, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
↑ Muhammad Husayn Haykal, Hayat Muhammad, 9th edition (Cairo, Maktaba an-Nahda al-Misriya, 1964, pp. 164–167)
Al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya, commonly shortened to Sīrah and translated as prophetic biography, are the traditional Muslim biographies of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from which, in addition to the Quran and Hadiths, most historical information about his life and the early period of Islam is derived.
Tafsir refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a tafsir is a mufassir. A Quranic tafsir attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding and conviction of God's will.
Abu Muhammad Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham ibn Ayyub al-Himyari, known simply as Ibn Hisham, was a 9th-century Muslim historian and scholar who is known for editing the biography of Islamic prophet Muhammad written by Ibn Ishaq. He grew up in Basra, in modern-day Iraq and later moved to Egypt.
Māriyya bint Shamʿūn, better known as Māriyyah al-Qibṭiyyah or al-Qubṭiyya, or Maria the Copt, died 637, was an Egyptian woman who, along with her sister Sirin bint Shamun, was given to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 628 by Al-Muqawqis, a Christian governor of Alexandria, during the territory's Sasanian occupation as slaves. She spent the rest of her life in Medina and had a son, Ibrahim with Muhammad. The son died as an infant and she died almost five years later.
Naskh is an Arabic word usually translated as "abrogation". In tafsir, or Islamic legal exegesis, naskh recognizes that one rule might not always be suitable for every situation. In the widely recognized and "classic" form of naskh, one ḥukm "ruling" is abrogated to introduce an exception to the general rule, but the text the ḥukm is based on is not repealed.
Al-Kahf is the 18th chapter (sūrah) of the Quran with 110 verses (āyāt). Regarding the timing and contextual background of the revelation, it is an earlier Meccan surah, which means it was revealed in Mecca, instead of Medina.
al-Lat, also spelled Allat, Allatu, and Alilat, is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, at one time worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula, including Mecca, where she was worshipped alongside Al-Uzza and Manat as one of the daughters of Allah. The word Allat or Elat has been used to refer to various goddesses in the ancient Near East, including the goddess Asherah-Athirat.
Urwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi was an early Muslim traditionist, widely regarded as a founding figure in the field of historical study among the Muslims. He was a son of Muhammad's close aide al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and a nephew of his wife A'isha. He spent much of his life in Medina, witnessed the First Fitna (656–661) as a youth, and supported his elder brother Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in his failed attempt to establish his caliphate in the Second Fitna (680–692). After Abd Allah's elimination by his Syria-based Umayyad rivals, Urwa reconciled with the Umayyads, whom he paid occasional visits and maintained a literary correspondence with.
Occasions or circumstances of revelation names the historical context in which Quranic verses were revealed from the perspective of traditional Islam. Though of some use in reconstructing the Qur'an's historicity, asbāb is by nature an exegetical rather than a historiographical genre, and as such usually associates the verses it explicates with general situations rather than specific events. The study of asbāb al-nuzūl is part of the study of Tafsir.
The Battle of Uhud was fought between the early Muslims and the Mushrikites during the Muslim–Mushrikite wars in a valley north of Mount Uhud near Medina on Saturday, 23 March 625 AD.
Adam, in Islamic theology, is believed to have been the first human being on Earth and the first prophet of Islam. Adam's role as the father of the human race is looked upon by Muslims with reverence. Muslims also refer to his wife, Ḥawwāʾ, as the "mother of mankind". Muslims see Adam as the first Muslim, as the Quran states that all the Prophets preached the same faith of Islam.
The Quran is viewed to be the scriptural foundation of Islam and is believed by Muslims to have been sent down by Allah (God) and revealed to Muhammad by the angel Jabreel (Gabriel). The Quran has been subject to criticism both in the sense of being the subject of an interdisciplinary field of study where secular, (mostly) Western scholars set aside doctrines of its divinity, perfection, unchangeability, etc. accepted by Muslim Islamic scholars; but also in the sense of being found fault with by those — including Christian missionaries and other skeptics hoping to convert Muslims — who argue it is not divine, not perfect, and/or not particularly morally elevated.
An-Nisa 4:34 is the 34th verse in the fourth chapter of the Quran. This verse adjudges the role of a husband as protector and maintainer of his wife and how he should deal with disloyalty on her part. Scholars vastly differ on the implications of this verse, with many Muslim scholars saying that it serves as a deterrent from anger-based domestic violence. The translation of the verse, which can read 'discipline them gently' is also subject to debate among Muslim scholars. According to a hadith transmitted by Abu Huraira, slapping someone across the face was forbidden.
In hadith studies, Israʼiliyyat are narratives assumed to be of foreign import. Although indicating such stories develop from Jewish sources, narratives designated as Isra'iliyyat might also derive from other religions such as Christianity or Zoroastrianism. Isrā'īlīyāt were received varyingly by both early and later Muslim scholars, with early prophetic traditions criticising their details yet encouraging their transmission. Many pre-modern scholars enthusiastically used them, while many Arab scholars in modern times have called them unislamic.
The hadith of the warning, also known as the invitation of the relatives, is an Islamic tradition (hadith) that describes how the Islamic prophet Muhammad made his prophetic mission public. There are two versions of this hadith, both of which are linked to the verse of the ashira, that is, verse 26:214 of the Quran, the central religious text in Islam. In one version, Muhammad addresses his clan and likens the Judgement Day to an approaching enemy. In the other version, found in Shia and some Sunni sources, Muhammad invites his close relatives to Islam after a meal and seeks their assistance and deputyship. Among them, his young cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib is the only one who offers his help to Muhammad, who then announces him as his heir and successor.
The early Muslim–Meccan conflict refer to a series of raids in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions participated. The raids were generally offensive and carried out to gather intelligence or seize the trade goods of caravans financed by the Mushrik of the Quraysh. His followers were also impoverished. The raids were intended to harm the economy and in turn the offensive capabilities of Mecca by Muhammad. The Muslims felt that the raids were justified in that the items being sold in the caravans were their own items, stolen by the Meccans when they had fled to Medina.
Prophets in Islam are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers, those who transmit divine revelation, most of them through the interaction of an angel. Muslims believe that many prophets existed, including many not mentioned in the Quran. The Quran states: "And for every community there is a messenger." Belief in the Islamic prophets is one of the six articles of the Islamic faith.
The demolition or burning of Masjid al-Dirar , or the Mosque of Dissent, is mentioned in the Qur'an. Masjid al-Dirar was a Medinian mosque that was erected close to the Quba Mosque and which the Islamic prophet Muhammad initially approved of but subsequently had destroyed while he was returning from the Expedition to Tabouk. In the main account narrated by the majority of scholars, the mosque was built by 12 hypocrites (munafiqeen) on the commands of Abu 'Amir al-Rahib; a Hanif who refused Muhammad's invitation to Islam and instead fought along with the Meccan non-Muslims against Islam in the Battle of Uhud. Abu 'Amir reportedly urged his men to establish a stronghold and prepare whatever they can of power and weapons as he promised and insinuated to them that he will lead an army, backed by Heraclius, to fight Muhammad and his companions, and defeat his message by expelling him from Medina. Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri also relates that the men, who built the Al-Dirar mosque "for mischief and for infidelity and to disunite the Believers" refused to pray in Quba Mosque claiming that it was built in a place where a donkey used to be tied up.
According to Islamic tradition, the invasion of Banu Qaynuqa, also known as the expedition against Banu Qaynuqa, occurred in AD 624. The Banu Qaynuqa were a Jewish tribe expelled by the Islamic prophet Muhammad for breaking the treaty known as the Constitution of Medina after an argument arose between them after they sexually harassed a Muslim woman in a market place. The tribe eventually surrendered to him after fifteen days of being blockaded. Muhammad, who was about to make a decision, ultimately yielded to Abdullah ibn Ubayy's insistence and decided to expel Banu Qaynuqa.
Al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAlqama ibn Kalada ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn Abd al-Dār ibn Quṣayy was an Arab pagan physician who is considered one of the greatest Qurayshi opponents to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was captured after the Battle of Badr as one of the pagan fighters and flag-bearers and was sentenced to death for his participation and persecution of Muhammed and Muslims in Mecca. The execution was conducted by Ali Ibn Abi Talib by beheading him in front of Muhammad and companions at as-Safra', before they had returned to Medina from the battle.
Fazlur Rahman (1994), Major Themes in the Qur'an, Biblioteca Islamica, ISBN0-88297-051-8
John Burton (1970), "Those Are the High-Flying Cranes", Journal of Semitic Studies, 15 (2): 246–264, doi:10.1093/jss/15.2.246.
Uri Rubin (1995), The Eye of the Beholder: The Life of Muhammad as Viewed by the Early Muslims: A Textual Analysis, The Darwin Press, Inc., ISBN0-87850-110-X
G. R. Hawting (1999), The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History, Cambridge University Press, ISBN0-521-65165-4
Nāsir al-Dīn al-Albānī (1952), Nasb al-majānīq li-nasfi qissat al-gharānīq (The Erection of Catapults for the Destruction of the Story of the Gharānīq)
Shahab Ahmed (2018), Before Orthodoxy: The Satanic Verses in early Islam, Harvard University Press, ISBN978-0-674-04742-6
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