The Muslim Maze, Pt. 3

“The Muslim Maze”, Pt. 3

8. We Must Unwrap The Satanic Verses In The Quran.

a. The Evidence Presented.

Muslims frequently use the phrase "bring forth the proof". Well as we sometimes say, “Here’s the beef!”…

· Four early biographical writers of Muhammad’s life document this event.

Muslim writers like: Ibn Ishaq, Wakidi, Ibn Sa’d, and Tabari.

One Islamic book on Muhammad’s life provides the following…

"... Many of the traditionalists have recorded it with reference to the chains of its narrators…It is all the more strange that Ibn Hajar, a recognized authority on traditions insists on the truth of this report and says, "As we have mentioned above, three of its chains of narrators satisfy the conditions requisite for an authentic report."

· From The Quran.

There are three passages in the Quran that reference the event. These passages are recorded in the biographical material also.

>>> The first of the passages are found in chapter 53:19- 26, called "The Star".

>>> The second passage is in chapter 22:52, 53, called "The Pilgrimage"

>>> The third passage is chapter 17: 73 - 75 called "The Night Journey"…

"They sought to entice you from our revelations - they nearly did -hoping that you might invent some other scripture in our name, and thus become their trusted friend. Indeed had we not strengthened your faith, you might have made some compromise with them and thus incurred a double punishment in this life and in the next. Then you should have found none to help you against Us."

Key: All of these verses are mentioned in the biographical material. All of them were revealed in relation to Muhammad speaking Satan’s words.

· A Respected Islamic Scholar’s Commentary.

One of the greatest Islamic scholars who wrote a Tafsir was Zamakhshari. He commented on this event. Here are his writings, quoted from "The Quran and its Exegesis”…

“The occasion of the sending down of the present verse is the following: As the members of the tribe of the messenger of God turned away from him and took their stand against him and his relatives also opposed him and refused to be guided by what he brought to them, then, as a result of the extreme exasperation concerning their estrangement and as a result of the eager desire and longing that they be converted to Islam, the messenger of God sheltered the wish that nothing would come down to him that could make them shy away. Perhaps he should have been able to use that for the purpose of converting them and causing them to be dissuaded from their error and obstinacy. Now this wish continued in him until the sura called "The Star" (that is, Sura 53) came down. At that time he found himself with this wish in his heart regarding the members of his tribe. Then he began to recite, and when he came to God’s words "and Manat, the third, the other" (Sura 53:20), Satan substituted something in accordance with the wish which the messenger of God had sheltered, that is, he whispered something to him which would enable the messenger to announce his wish. In an inadvertent and misleading manner, his tongue hurried on ahead of him, so that he said…

"These (goddesses are the) exalted cranes. Their intercession (with God) is to be hoped for."...Yet, the messenger of God was not clear at this point until the protection of God "isma" reached him and he then became attentive again.

Some say that Gabriel drew his attention to it, or that Satan himself spoke those words and brought them to the people’s hearing. As soon as the messenger of God prostrated (for prayer) as the end of the sura, all who were present did it with him and felt pleased (that is, the unbelievers felt pleased that their goddesses had been accepted as intercessors with God.”

It must be pointed out again that the event is recorded by the earliest Islamic sources available on Muhammad’s life. And these men were devout Muslim scholars. They spent their lives studying, analyzing, and writing about Muhammad and Islam.

b. The Evidence Proves:

· That Muhammad spoke the satanic verses.

There are references to it in the Hadith also. No one, with an open mind and honest heart, can doubt the event.

Regarding these early Islamic scholars, William Muir writes in "The Life of Muhammad" that…"…Scandalized at the lapse of their prophet into so flagrant a concession to idolatry... It is hardly possible to conceive how the tale, if not founded in truth, could ever have been invented."

· His challenge failed – Anyone could produce something like the Quran.

Muhammad claimed that his Quran was above human invention. Well, we see that Satan was able to do so.

Galatians 1:7,8 “…There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accused.”