The Satanic Verses
- "The Satanic Verses" is also a novel by Salman Rushdie; see: The Satanic Verses (novel)
The Satanic Verses refers to a short passage of the Qur'an purported to have once existed by a small number of the historical records of Islam. The verses were perhaps first named "satanic verses" by Sir William Muir.
Scholars of Islam disagree as to whether these verses ever actually existed, or if their history is a myth. Perhaps the most notable Muslim who accepted the truth of the Satanic verses account was the eminent Pakistani scholar Fazlur Rahman, formerly of the University of Chicago.
Translated from Arabic, the satanic verses are "these are exalted females whose intercession is to be desired" in the 53rd sura of the Koran, Surat-An-Najm ("The Star"). Said to have been between verses 19-20, the females referred to were the goddesses al-Lat, Manah, and Uzza, who were three deities in pre-Islamic Arabia.
According to customary explanation, Muhammad originally accepted these verses as part of the Koran. While the angel Jabril customarily told Muhammad to recite the sura revealed to him, Jabril then told him that the verses were actually a deception planted in his head from Satan, and they were therefore not the authentic word of Allah. The verses were later withdrawn and denounced as "satanic."
These verses are commonly held to be a justification for polytheism, which was widespread in Arabia in the time of Muhammed. Alternative interpretations of these verses thereby holds that they were written by Muhammad to make his newly created faith more palatable to the masses, or that they were forged by polytheists to justify their continuing practice.
To accept any history of the Satanic verses that includes Muhammad's authorship would require also accepting that Muhammad was less than infallible, which could be seen as threatening to the foundation of Islam. It is therefore more common among fundamentalist Muslims to either accept the forgery explanation, or to claim that the entire existence of the verses is a fabrication.
The sura in question, with the excised or interpolated verse emphasized:
- Near it is the Garden of Abode. Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded (in mystery unspeakable!) (His) sight never swerved, nor did it go wrong! For truly did he see, of the Signs of his Lord, the Greatest! Have ye seen Lat. and 'Uzza, And another, the third (goddess), [Manah]
- These are the exalted cranes (intermediaries) Whose intercession is to be hoped for.
- What! for you the male sex, and for Him, the female? Behold, such would be indeed a division most unfair!
The events surrounding the Satanic Verses were documented by the four earliest biographers of Muhammad; Ibn Ishaq (according to the account surviving through Tabari), Wakidi and Ibn Sa'd.
References
- Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes in the Qur'an, Biblioteca Islamica, 1994. ISBN 0882970518
