The complete account of Muhammad speaking the Satanic verses

Appendix: The complete account of Muhammad speaking the Satanic
verses as
recorded by Ibn Ishaq.

Now the apostle was anxious for the welfare of his people, wishing to
attract
them as far as he could. It has been mentioned that he longed for a
way to
attract them, and the method he adopted is what Ibn Hamid told me
that Salama
said M. b. Ishaq told him from Yazid b. Ziyad of Medina from M. b.
Ka`b
al-Qurazi: When the apostle saw that his people turned their backs on
him and he
was pained by their estrangement from what he brought them from God
he longed
that there should come to him from God a message that would reconcile
his people
to him.

Because of his love for his people and his anxiety over them it would
delight
him if the obstacle that made his task so difficult could be removed;
so that he
meditated on the project and longed for it and it was dear to him.

Then God sent down "By the star when it sets your comrade errs not
and is not
deceived, he speaks not from his own desire," and when he reached His
words
"Have you thought of al-Lat and al-`Uzza and Manat the third, the
others" [4],
Satan, when he was meditating upon it, and desiring to bring it ( sc.
reconciliation) to his people, put upon his tongue "these are the
exalted
Gharaniq [5] whose intercession is approved". When the Quraysh heard
that, they
were delighted and greatly pleased at the way in which he spoke of
their gods
and they listened to him; while the believers were holding that what
their
prophet brought from their Lord was true, not suspecting a mistake or
a vain
desire or slip, and when he reached the prostration and the end of
the Sura in
which he prostrated himself the Muslims prostrated themselves when
their prophet
prostrated confirming what he brought and obeying his command, and the
polytheists of Quraysh and others who were in the mosque prostrated
when they heard the mention of their gods, so that everyone in the
mosque
believer and unbeliever prostrated, except al-Walid b. al-Mughira who
was an old
man who could not do so, so he took a handful of dirt from the valley
and bent
over it. Then the people dispersed and the Quraysh went out,
delighted at what
had been said about their gods, saying, "Muhammad has spoken of our
gods in
splendid fashion. He alleged in what he read that they are the
exalted Gharaniq
whose intercession is approved".

The news reached the prophet's companions who were in Abyssinia, it
being
reported that Quraysh had accepted Islam, so some men started to
return while
others remained behind.

Then Gabriel came to the apostle and said , "What have you done,
Muhammad? You
have read to these people something I did not bring you from God and
you have
said what He did not say to you.

" The apostle was bitterly grieved and was greatly in fear of God. So
God sent
down (a revelation), for he was merciful to him comforting him and
making light
of the affair and telling him that every prophet and apostle before
him desired
as he desired and wanted what he wanted and Satan interjected
something into his
desires as he had on his tongue.

So God annulled what Satan had suggested and God established His
verses i.e. you
are just like the prophets and apostles.

Then God sent down: "We have not sent a prophet or apostle before you
but when
he longed Satan cast suggestions into his longing. But God will annul
what Satan
has suggested.

Then God will establish his verses, God being knowing and wise"[6].
Thus God
relieved his prophet's grief, and made him feel safe from his fears
and annulled
what Satan had suggested in the words used above about their gods by
his
revelation "Are yours the males and His the females?

That were indeed an unfair division" ( i.e. most unjust); "they are
nothing by
names which your fathers gave them" as far as the words "to whom he
pleases and
accepts" [7], i.e. how can the intercession of their gods avail with
Him ?

When the annulment of what Satan had put upon the prophet's tongue
came from
God, Quraysh said: "Muhammad has repented of what he said about the
position of
your gods with Allah, altered it and brought something else." (Ibn
Ishaq, pp.
165-167)