The "Satanic Verses"

Note by Joel Kuortti

But the historicity of the incident is disputed by some of the early Muslim historians, especially (Muhammad ben Yasar) Ibn Ishaq (d. 768 CE), (Muhammad Abu 'Abdullah Ibn Umar) al-Waqidi (747-822 CE), (Muhammad Ibn Muslim Ibn Shihab) al-Zuhri (d.741 CE), Muhammad Ibn Sa'd (d. 845 CE), al-Tabari (c. 839-923 CE), Ibrahi. Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq's editor, omits the passage, but it is preserved as a quotation from al-Tabari, in Guillaume's translation of Ibn Ishaq (Ishaq 165-166. See Muir, pp.lxxix-lxxx).

Some Islamic and most non-Muslim Western commentators on the Qur'an have accepted this story of Muhammad's momentary acceptance of the verses; others have repudiated it. But the prevailing Muslim view of what is called the "Gharaniq" incident is that it is a fabrication created by the unbelievers of Mecca in the early days of Islam, and, Haykal comments, afterwards the "story arrested the attention of the western Orientalists who took it as true and repeated it ad nauseam." (Haykal 105) The main argument against the authenticity of the two verses in Haykal and elsewhere is that "its incoherence is evident upon the least scrutiny. It contradicts the infallibility of every prophet in conveying the message of His Lord." (Haykal 107) In other words, since Muslims believe Muhammad to have faithfully reported God's word, it is surprising that Muslim scholars have accepted such a discreditable story, and not at all surprising that it might have been invented by Islam's enemies. In his analysis of the passage, Haykal comes to the conclusion that "this story of the goddesses is a fabrication and a forgery, authored by the enemies of Islam after the first century of Hijrah" (Haykal 144). Zakaria Bashier shares this view, though he further argues that even if the verses were to be regarded as being genuine, they would not impugn the Prophet's infallibility because they were in fact uttered by Satan. (Bashier 175). He also refers to similar observations by al-Suhayili (see Bashier 173).

The argument that W.M. Watt, for his part, provides for the inarguable authenticity of the verses is that "it is inconceivable that any Muslim would invent such a story, and it is inconceivable that a Muslim scholar would accept such a story from a non-Muslim." (Watt xxxiv). Similarly, in his highly controversial book Twenty-Three Years, the Iranian 'Ali Dashti concludes that "the evidence given in well-attested reports and in the interpretations of certain commentators makes it likely that the incident occured." (Dashti 32). As evidence for the possibility of such a recitation and its subsequent withdrawal, the following passage from the Qur'an is often cited: "And We did not send before you any apostle or prophet, but when he desired, the Shaitan made a suggestion respecting his desire; but Allah annuls that which is cast" (22:52). As the suras of the Qur'an are traditionally not presented in chronological order (and just what that order might be is generally under dispute), it could be possible that this passage is referring to such a withdrawal.

The verses were perhaps first named "satanic verses' by Sir William Muir, as Ahsan notes (Ahsan 139, footnote 2). Later the term was widely adopted, for example by Watt in his book Muhammad at Mecca. Daniel Pipes explains that as the term "satanic verses" does not occur anywhere else than in Western Orientalists' works, and states that Rushdie "unwittingly adopted a part of the orientalist tradition." (Pipes 116) Rushdie maintains that the term "comes from al-Tabari, one of the canonical Islamic sources." (Rushdie: "Choice between Light and Dark" 11)

A list of references to the "satanic verses" in the novel.

Page 24
the incident of the Satanic verses in the early career of the Prophet

'It was the Devil . . .'

After the repudiation of the Satanic verses . . .

Page 285
it proved impossible to identify the verses

The transliteration is given without diacritical marks. The translation in The Satanic Verses here is closest to the one in William Muir, The Life of Mohammad from Original Sources 81). Another translation can be found in M. M. Ahsan: "These are the high-soaring ones (deities) whose intercession is to be hoped for!" (Ahsan 132). Arabic variants appear on pp.132 & 141 of the same source, and there are variant transliterations in Muhammad Husayn Haykal, p.111.

The gharaniq were probably Numidian cranes which were thought to fly higher than any other bird. Muhammad, who may have believed in the existence of the banat al-Llah as he believed in the existence of angels and jinn, was giving the "goddesses" a delicate compliment, without compromising his message. The gharaniq were not on the same level as al-Llah--not that anybody had suggested that they were--but, hovering as it were between heaven and earth, they could be valid intermediaries between God and man, like the angels, whose intercession is approved in the very next section of Sura 53. The Quraysh spread the good news throughout the city: "Muhammad has spoken of our gods in splendid fashion. He alleged in what he recited that they are the exalted gharaniq whose intercession is approved.

(p. 114).

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