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104-522: 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 recorded the story for the first two centuries of the Islamic era. Strong objections to the historicity of the Satanic Verses incident were, however, raised as early as

208-656: A sky deity . The worship of sacred stones constituted one of the most important practices of the Semitic speaking peoples , including Arabs . Cult images of a deity were most often an unworked stone block. The most common name for these stone blocks was derived from the Semitic nsb ("to be stood upright"), but other names were used, such as Nabataean masgida ("place of prostration") and Arabic duwar ("object of circumambulation", this term often occurs in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry ). These god-stones were usually

312-526: 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. This entire matter was a mere footnote to the back-and-forth of religious debate, 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

416-549: A complete version of the isnad continuing to the companion Ibn 'Abbās , but this only survives in a few sources. He claims that it is possible to assume 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. Another modern academic scholar, Shahab Ahmed, carefully examined 50 riwayahs (transmissions) of

520-491: 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. 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. Disagreeing with Burton, G.R. Hawting writes that the satanic verses incident would not serve to justify or exemplify

624-556: A free-standing slab, but Nabataean god-stones are usually carved directly on the rock face. Facial features may be incised on the stone (especially in Nabataea), or astral symbols (especially in South Arabia). Under Greco-Roman influence, an anthropomorphic statue might be used instead. The Book of Idols describes two types of statues: idols ( sanam ) and images ( wathan ). If a statue were made of wood, gold, or silver, after

728-529: A goddess of love. Manāt ( Arabic : مناة) was the goddess of destiny. Al-Lāt's cult was spread in Syria and northern Arabia. From Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions, it is probable that she was worshiped as Lat ( lt ). F. V. Winnet saw al-Lat as a lunar deity due to the association of a crescent with her in 'Ayn esh-Shallāleh and a Lihyanite inscription mentioning the name of Wadd , the Minaean moon god, over

832-531: A hostile or unfriendly God, whom we need to manipulate to get what we need. Such is not the meaning of the hapax legomenon in the New Testament of the word for intercession. Sullivan goes on: When we ask a saint to intercede for us, what is happening at a deeper level is that we are taking refuge in the all-enfolding community of the redeemed, approaching God thru saintly symbols of Christ's victory and of our hope. Saints want always what God wants, what

936-744: A human form, it would be an idol, but if the statue were made of stone, it would be an image. Intercession#Islam Intercession or intercessory prayer is the act of praying on behalf of others, or asking a saint in heaven to pray on behalf of oneself or for others. The Apostle Paul 's exhortation to Timothy specified that intercession prayers should be made for all people. I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. The early Christians continued to practice intercessory prayer on behalf of others after Jesus' death. Ignatius of Antioch

1040-537: A lesser impact in the remainder of the peninsula, but did secure some conversions. With the exception of Nestorianism in the northeast and the Persian Gulf , the dominant form of Christianity was Miaphysitism . The peninsula had been a destination for Jewish migration since Roman times, which had resulted in a diaspora community supplemented by local converts. Judaism had largely grown in South Arabia and

1144-652: 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. Carl W. Ernst writes that the existence of later insertions in early Meccan Surahs indicates that the Qurʾan was revised in dialogue with its first audience, who recited these Surahs frequently in worship services and asked questions about difficult passages. Application of this principle to Surah 53 ( “The Star” ) leads to

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1248-418: 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)." 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

1352-444: A pre-Islamic god called Ailiah and is similar to El , Il, Ilah , and Jehovah . They also considered some of his characteristics to be seemingly based on lunar deities like Almaqah, Kahl, Shaker, Wadd and Warakh. Alfred Guillaume states that the connection between Ilah that came to form Allah and ancient Babylonian Il or El of ancient Israel is not clear. Wellhausen states that Allah was known from Jewish and Christian sources and

1456-581: A saint "we take refuge in faith in the all-enfolding community of all the redeemed," where "each is responsible for all". They are "creative models of holiness". Although the idea of intercession or mediation (Arabic: s̲h̲afāʿa ) has historically played a very prominent role in Islamic thought, it is not universally accepted by all Muslims in the present day. The Quran says that the pre-Islamic Arab pagan gods will not be able to intercede with God on behalf of humankind, and that "the guilty" ( al-mujrimīn , Q74:41 ) will not benefit from any intercession on

1560-612: A stronger bond between him and God. Prof. Dr Johannes van Oort, Professor Extraordinarius in the Department of Church History and Church Polity of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, adds that, in addition to praying for wisdom, the early church was very much involved with different charismas , one of which being healing. Praying for other people's illnesses was another way that intercessory prayer

1664-402: A theory that God reveals something and later replaces it himself with another true revelation. 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

1768-452: A trend of more recent scholarship towards rejecting the historicity of the story after a period in which scholars were more divided. 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

1872-492: A type of polytheism, in a manner akin to the attitude of many Protestants towards the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox practice of saint-intercession. Some religions claim that praying for somebody who is sick can have positive effects on the health of the person being prayed for. Meta-studies of the literature in the field have been performed showing evidence only for no effect or a potentially small effect. For instance,

1976-597: 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 Al-lāt, 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

2080-427: 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

2184-490: Is best for us whether we pray for it or not. They are in a perpetual attitude of praise for God’s love and care, to which we join ourselves, praying, more precisely, with them rather than to them. The value of our petitions is that they turn us in confidence toward the God who loves us, allowing God’s work to be more effective in us, and thru us in others. It would be anathema to ask God to try any harder to do good. By invocation of

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2288-539: Is hoped for,' is an absolute lie. It is neither valid in terms of transmission nor worthy of being engaged with, as fabricating lies is within anyone's capacity." 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

2392-475: Is impossible to deny them, and Quran is itself testifying it." Ibn Kathir rejected the narration, saying: "The core of the story is from the authentic narration, but the Gharaniq story is disconnected and its chain of transmission is not authentic." This was a reference to the narration recorded by Scholars such as Al-Bukhari and Al-Muslim who mentioned the recitation of the current verses of Chapter 53 and

2496-590: Is limited. One early attestation of Arabian polytheism was in Esarhaddon 's Annals, mentioning Atarsamain , Nukhay , Ruldaiu , and Atarquruma. Herodotus , writing in his Histories , reported that the Arabs worshipped Orotalt (identified with Dionysus ) and Alilat (identified with Aphrodite ). Strabo stated the Arabs worshipped Dionysus and Zeus . Origen stated they worshipped Dionysus and Urania . Muslim sources regarding Arabian polytheism include

2600-434: 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. While the authors of the tafsīr texts during the first two centuries of the Islamic era do not seem to have regarded

2704-965: Is our true life, has the power of [effecting] this". Throughout all of Ignatius's letters, the word for prayers of intercession appears nineteen times, and Ignatius asks for prayer "for himself (eight times), for the Christian church in Syria (seven times), for persecutors, heretics, and all people generally (once each)". St. Ignatius and the other church fathers, such as Paul the Apostle , who were keen on intercessory prayer based this practice on Jesus' own teachings which required that one pray for others, especially one's enemies: But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. According to Lionel Swain, of St. Edmund's College, Ware , St. Paul believed intercession to be one of

2808-783: 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

2912-518: Is unthinkable that the story could have been invented by Muslims, or foisted upon them by non-Muslims." 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. Shahab Ahmed states that "Reports of the Satanic verses incident were recorded by virtually every compiler of

3016-565: 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

3120-556: The jinn of west and central Arabia. Unlike jinn in modern times, ginnaye could not hurt nor possess humans and were much more similar to the Roman genius . According to common Arabian belief, soothsayers , pre-Islamic philosophers, and poets were inspired by the jinn. However, jinn were also feared and thought to be responsible for causing various diseases and mental illnesses. Aside from benevolent gods and spirits, there existed malevolent beings. These beings were not attested in

3224-633: The Day of Judgment . Other passages that deny the efficacy intercession include Q32:4 & Q39:44 . Still others say that God is the only intercessor ( Q6:51 , Q6:70 ; Q32:4 ; Q39:44 ). However, "intercession is mentioned in the Qurʾān with respect to angels praying for the believers and the Prophet praying for erring but repentant Muslims." Furthermore, it became an orthodox Islamic doctrine or "cardinal belief" that "Muḥammad will intercede for all Muslims on

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3328-404: The Day of Resurrection ." While this particular tenet practically remained unchallenged throughout Islamic history, the widespread Sunni and Shia practice of asking deceased prophets and saints for intercession by praying at their tombs have become contentious issues in the modern Islamic world, with all these different types of intercession often being labelled by Salafi / Wahhabi Muslims as

3432-598: The Kaaba with them, erected them, and circumambulated them like the Kaaba. This, according to al-Kalbi led to the rise of idol worship. Based on this, it may be probable that Arabs originally venerated stones, later adopting idol-worship under foreign influences. The relationship between a god and a stone as his representation can be seen from the third-century Syriac work called the Homily of Pseudo-Meliton where he describes

3536-595: The Sinai Peninsula . Allāt ( Arabic : اللات) or al-Lāt was worshipped throughout the ancient Near East with various associations. Herodotus in the 5th century BC identifies Alilat ( Greek : Ἀλιλάτ) as the Arabic name for Aphrodite (and, in another passage, for Urania ), which is strong evidence for worship of Allāt in Arabia at that early date. Al-‘Uzzá ( Arabic : العزى) was a fertility goddess or possibly

3640-399: The "Lord of heaven and Earth". Aaron W. Hughes states that scholars are unsure whether he developed from the earlier polytheistic systems or developed due to the increasing significance of the Christian and Jewish communities, and that it is difficult to establish whether Allah was linked to Rahman. Maxime Rodinson , however, considers one of Allah's names, "Ar-Rahman", to have been used in

3744-519: The 3rd century AD, such as from Origen and Clement of Alexandria . In addition to praying for each other in life, early Christians would pray for those who had died. There is no unequivocal evidence that Christians began to pray for the dead before the third century AD. G. F. Hamilton argues that the earliest example of Church prayer on behalf of dead Christians is found in the Sacramentary of Serapion of Thmuis (350 AD). Rather than pray for

3848-646: The Meccans and the other settled inhabitants of the Hejaz worshiped their gods at permanent shrines in towns and oases, the Bedouin practiced their religion on the move. In South Arabia, mndh’t were anonymous guardian spirits of the community and the ancestor spirits of the family. They were known as 'the sun ( shms ) of their ancestors'. In North Arabia, ginnaye were known from Palmyrene inscriptions as "the good and rewarding gods" and were probably related to

3952-501: 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

4056-465: 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

4160-406: 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... 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

4264-770: 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

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4368-440: 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

4472-417: The Satanic Verses incident. Those Sunni scholars who did accept the incident had a slightly, but very significantly, different understanding of “isma”. 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

4576-432: The Satanic Verses, according to him, conforms to the common theme of persecution followed by isolation of the prophet-figure. Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia included indigenous Arabian polytheism , Buddhism , ancient Semitic religions , Christianity , Judaism , Mandaeism , and Zoroastrianism . Arabian polytheism, the dominant form of religion in pre-Islamic Arabia ,

4680-466: 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

4784-406: 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

4888-546: The conclusion that the so-called “Satanic Verses” in all likelihood never existed as part of the Qurʾan. He argues that the literary composition of the Chapter where the verses are alleged to have been recited, is heavily focused on rejection of polytheism which makes the inclusion of the Satanic Verses quote unrealistic. Its absence from the Canonical Hadith collections supports his claim. Others have suggested that

4992-539: The daughters of Allah. Regional variants of the word Allah occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic inscriptions. References to Allah are found in the poetry of the pre-Islamic Arab poet Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma , who lived a generation before Muhammad, as well as pre-Islamic personal names. Muhammad's father's name was ʿAbd-Allāh , meaning "the servant of Allah". Charles Russell Coulter and Patricia Turner considered that Allah's name may be derived from

5096-548: The dead faithful were rejoiced over.   In an article in Theological Studies , Catholic theologian Patricia A. Sullivan warns that saints should not be built up in a way that brings down God. Saint Augustine had famously said that we pray not to instruct God but to get our will in line with God's. Sullivan warns away from the dictionary meanings of "intercession" as “intervention, mediation, arbitration, negotiation”, all of which sound like we are dealing with

5200-441: The departed in regular church services on Sunday, these early Christians would hold special commemorative occasions during the week. There was a sharp distinction drawn between remembering and praying on behalf of the dead, and those who were the " 'faithfully' departed", where Christians would only pray for those who had died as believers. The First Epistle of Clement (95 AD) contains a prayer which, while mainly for protection for

5304-424: The divine world reflected the society of the time. Trade caravans also brought foreign religious and cultural influences. A large number of deities did not have proper names and were referred to by titles indicating a quality, a family relationship, or a locale preceded by "he who" or "she who" ( dhū or dhāt respectively). The religious beliefs and practices of the nomadic Bedouin were distinct from those of

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5408-597: The eighth-century Book of Idols by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi , which F.E. Peters argued to be the most substantial treatment of the religious practices of pre-Islamic Arabia, as well as the writings of the Yemeni historian al-Hasan al-Hamdani on South Arabian religious beliefs. According to the Book of Idols , descendants of the son of Abraham ( Ishmael ) who had settled in Mecca migrated to other lands carried holy stones from

5512-520: The epigraphic record, but were alluded to in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and their legends were collected by later Muslim authors. Commonly mentioned are ghouls . Etymologically, the English word "ghoul" was derived from the Arabic ghul , from ghala , "to seize", related to the Sumerian galla . They are said to have a hideous appearance, with feet like those of an ass. Arabs were said to utter

5616-473: The factuality of the incident came in Qadi Iyad 's ash-Shifa' . 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 ). However, Uri Rubin asserts that there exists

5720-415: 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. 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

5824-409: The first and early second century reports are agreed that the Prophet uttered the satanic verses". 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 Muhaddith Ibn Khuzaymah said: "it

5928-402: The following couplet if they should encounter one: "Oh ass-footed one, just bray away, we won't leave the desert plain nor ever go astray." Christian Julien Robin notes that all the known South Arabian divinities had a positive or protective role and that evil powers were only alluded to but were never personified. Some scholars postulate that in pre-Islamic Arabia, including in Mecca, Allah

6032-436: The form of Rahmanan earlier. Al-Lāt , Al-‘Uzzá and Manāt were common names used for multiple goddesses across Arabia. G. R. Hawting states that modern scholars have frequently associated the names of Arabian goddesses Al-lāt , Al-‘Uzzá and Manāt with cults devoted to celestial bodies, particularly Venus , drawing upon evidence external to the Muslim tradition as well as in relation to Syria , Mesopotamia and

6136-432: The fourth century, almost all inhabitants of Arabia practiced polytheistic religions at which point pre-Islamic Arabian monotheism had begun to spread. From the fourth to sixth centuries, Jewish , Christian , and other monotheistic populations developed. Until recent decades, it was believed that polytheism remained the dominant belief system in pre-Islamic Arabia, but recent trends suggest that henotheism or monotheism

6240-469: The frailty of human beings," and that even a prophet may be misled by shaytan – though ultimately shaytan is unsuccessful. 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,

6344-528: 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". The incident of

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6448-471: 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 . 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

6552-576: 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

6656-513: 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

6760-417: 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

6864-420: The implausibility of early Muslim biographers fabricating a story so unflattering about their prophet. 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

6968-519: The instrument through which God tests his subjects. 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). The reference and exegesis about the Verses appear in early histories. 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

7072-503: The living, also includes the dead. Even quite early, a distinction was drawn between those who had died as Christians, and those who had died as unbelievers. In the Martyrdom of Polycarp (155 AD), Polycarp is killed and his bones are taken by fellow Christians and a shrine is set up to him, where they may remember his martyrdom . In contrast, the " Apology of Aristides " shows how those who were not Christians were grieved for, while

7176-452: 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,

7280-454: The most important aspects of faith and praying life, as praying for others is a recurring theme in his works. Prayer acts as a way for St. Paul to acknowledge God's power. Intercessory prayer also acts as a way for the Apostle to "share in ... the Father's redemptive love". Paul believed that prayer transformed the person doing the praying, as much as the one being prayed for, which creates

7384-731: The northwest Hijaz . Additionally, the influence of the Sasanian Empire resulted in Iranian religions being present in the peninsula. Zoroastrianism existed in the east and south, while there is evidence of either Manichaeism or Mazdakism being possibly practiced in Mecca. Features Types Types Features Clothing Genres Art music Folk Prose Islamic Poetry Genres Forms Arabic prosody National literatures of Arab States Concepts Texts Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities Until about

7488-589: The pagan faiths of Syriac-speakers in northern Mesopotamia, who were mostly Arabs. However, mythologies and narratives elucidating the history of these gods, as well as the meaning of their epithets, remains uninformative. The pre-Islamic Arabian religions were polytheistic, with many of the deities' names known. Formal pantheons are more noticeable at the level of kingdoms, of variable sizes, ranging from simple city-states to collections of tribes. Tribes , towns, clans, lineages and families had their own cults too. Christian Julien Robin suggests that this structure of

7592-526: 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

7696-413: 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. Al-Qurtubi ( al-Jāmi' li ahkām al-Qur'ān ) dismisses all these variants in favor of the explanation that once Sūra al-Najm

7800-460: The preface of his text that he omitted matters from Ibn Ishaq's biography that "would distress certain people". Ibn Sa'd and Al-Waqidi , two other early biographers of Muhammad relate the story. The doctrine of “Isma" (Perfection of Prophets) has been most forcefully and consistently upheld by the Shi'a , for whom it is a central tenet. It therefore appears that no Shi’i of any school has ever accepted

7904-466: The prostration of the Muslims and the disbelievers upon their recitation, but not the intervention of Satan. 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

8008-423: 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

8112-671: 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." Different responses have developed concerning the account. Many modern Muslim scholars have rejected the story. Arguments for rejection are found in Muhammad Abduh 's article "Masʾalat al-gharānīq wa-tafsīr al-āyāt", Muhammad Husayn Haykal 's Hayat Muhammad (1933), Sayyid Qutb 's Fi Zilal al-Quran (1965), Abul Ala Maududi 's Tafhim-ul-Quran (1972) and Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani 's Nasb al-majānīq li-nasf al-gharānīq . Haykal points out

8216-573: The role of Allah in Meccan religion. Many of the physical descriptions of the pre-Islamic gods are traced to idols , especially near the Kaaba, which is said to have contained up to 360 of them, including the Buddha statue. Other religions were represented to varying, lesser degrees. The influence of the adjacent Roman and Aksumite civilizations resulted in Christian communities in the northwest, northeast, and south of Arabia . Christianity made

8320-473: 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. In either case, scholars generally agree on the meaning of the second half of the verse, "whose intercession is hoped for". An extensive account of the incident is found in al-Tabarī's history, the Tarīkh (Vol. VI) ( c.  915 CE ): The prophet

8424-436: The settled tribes of towns such as Mecca . Nomadic religious belief systems and practices are believed to have included fetishism , totemism and veneration of the dead but were connected principally with immediate concerns and problems and did not consider larger philosophical questions such as the afterlife. Settled urban Arabs, on the other hand, are thought to have believed in a more complex pantheon of deities. While

8528-413: 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

8632-418: 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 . John Burton argued for its fictitiousness based upon

8736-500: The story may have been fabricated for theological reasons. 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. The different versions of the story are recorded in early tafsirs (Quranic commentaries) and biographies of the Prophet, such as Ibn Ishaq's . In its essential form, the story reports that Muhammad longed to convert his kinsmen and neighbors of Mecca to Islam . As he

8840-469: The tenth century. By the 13th century, most 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 . 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

8944-465: 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". 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

9048-588: 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 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

9152-494: The title of fkl lt . René Dussaud and Gonzague Ryckmans linked her with Venus while others have thought her to be a solar deity. John F. Healey considers that al-Uzza actually might have been an epithet of al-Lāt before becoming a separate deity in the Meccan pantheon. Paola Corrente, writing in Redefining Dionysus , considers she might have been a god of vegetation or a celestial deity of atmospheric phenomena and

9256-451: 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

9360-436: 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

9464-477: The whole of his previous prophetic activity." 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." 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

9568-529: 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. 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

9672-409: 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. Since William Muir , the historicity of this episode has been largely accepted by secular academics. Some orientalists, however, argued against the historic authenticity of these verses on various grounds. Sean Anthony observes

9776-466: Was based on veneration of deities and spirits. Worship was directed to various gods and goddesses, including Hubal and the goddesses al-Lāt , al-‘Uzzā , and Manāt , at local shrines and temples such as the Kaaba in Mecca . Deities were venerated and invoked through a variety of rituals, including pilgrimages and divination, as well as ritual sacrifice. Different theories have been proposed regarding

9880-405: 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. Ahmed states that "all

9984-420: Was considered to be a deity, possibly a creator deity or a supreme deity in a polytheistic pantheon . The word Allah (from the Arabic al-ilah meaning "the god") may have been used as a title rather than a name. The concept of Allah may have been vague in the Meccan religion. According to Islamic sources, Meccans and their neighbors believed that the goddesses Al-lāt , Al-‘Uzzá , and Manāt were

10088-501: Was dominant from the fourth century onwards. The contemporary sources of information regarding the pre-Islamic Arabian religion and pantheon include a growing number of inscriptions in carvings written in Arabian scripts like Safaitic , Sabaic , and Paleo-Arabic , pre-Islamic poetry, external sources such as Jewish and Greek accounts, as well as the Muslim tradition, such as the Qur'an and Islamic writings. Nevertheless, information

10192-655: 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

10296-769: Was important in the early church, as healing was a sign of "the power of God's Kingdom". This gift of healing is specifically mentioned, among the other charismata, as a sign of being a true Christian by Irenaeus of Lyons in his text, Against Heresies . Intercession of the saints is a doctrine held by the Eastern Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox , and Roman Catholic churches, as well as by some Lutheran and Anglican churches (chiefly those of Evangelical Catholic or Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, respectively). It teaches that saints may be asked to intercede (or pray ) for others. The doctrine of requesting intercession from saints can be found in Christian writings from

10400-405: Was known to pagan Arabs as the supreme god. Winfried Corduan doubts the theory of Allah of Islam being linked to a moon god , stating that the term Allah functions as a generic term, like the term El- Elyon used as a title for the god Sin . South Arabian inscriptions from the fourth century AD refer to a god called Rahman ("The Merciful One") who had a monotheistic cult and was referred to as

10504-402: 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. Ibn Hazm considered the story to be fabricated, saying: "The hadith which includes the phrase, 'Indeed, they are the lofty Gharaniq, and their intercession

10608-471: Was one man who exhorted Christians to continue to pray for others, and especially for those who became Docetists or held other heretical beliefs. In his letter to the churches of Smyrna , St. Ignatius exhorts the Christians there to pray for other people: "only you must pray to God for them, if by any means they may be brought to repentance, which, however, will be very difficult. Yet Jesus Christ, who

10712-412: Was reciting these verses of Sūrat an-Najm , considered a revelation from the angel Gabriel : "Have you thought of al-Lāt and al-'Uzzá ? And about the third one, Manāt ?" 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

10816-422: 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

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