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I hope this would be beneficial

Salamun 'alaykum Here is an issue that the enemies of
Islam fish out the toilet every now and
again to cast doubts into the hearts of
the believers and potential Muslims to
be. This is not a new claim that
originated with Salmun Rushdie. No, in fact the enemy of Islam Muhammad Ibn
Abdul Wahhab also used the same
arguement in his Mukhtasar Seerat ur-
Rasulillahi. So it is nothing new.
However, by the grace of Allah this
argument has been totally demolished, but before we get into that I would like
to provoke some thought about
preservation of history. Robin Hood is a world famous
character. Loved and treasured. We
have seen many films and cartoons
made about him, yet when we study
Robin Hood as an historical figure, we
find discrepancies in the historical accounts. Even some historians
considered him a highway robber, a cut
throat thieve. However, the historical
works when all laid out and placed
under the microscope of examination
all fail the test of authenticity and have no transmission to where such and
such historical accounts can be
attributed. In fact, we will find that the
mystery figure of Robin Hood to be
nothing more than a myth, and cannot
be proven by fact. We cannot say this about Prophet
Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wassallam,
the one who said: "The best of
generations is my generation, then the
one after that, then the one after that.
After them will appear untrustworthy people" Saheeh al-Bukhaari, The book
of the Merits of the companions of the
Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam,
Volume 5, hadeeth no. 2 and 3, also of
simular import in Saheeh al-Bukhari,
The Book of Witnesses, Volume 3, Number 820; Volume 8, The Book
of ar-Riqaaq, Number 437 and more. The Holy Prophet sal Allahu alayhi
wasallam also said: “At the head of
every one hundred years, Allah will
send to this nation one who will revive
for it its Religion. Mishkaat ul-
Masaabeeh, hadeeth no. 248 and classified as authentic
He also said: "This knowledge will be
carried by the trustworthy ones of
every generation - they will expel from
it the alterations made by those going
beyond bounds, the false claims of the liars, and the false interpretations of the
ignorant" Sunan Abu Dawuud, Kitaab
ul-Malaaham, hadeeth no. 4291 and
even the Wahhabi scholar Albaani has
classified this hadeeth as Saheeh in his
Silsilah as-Saheehah 2/148, hadeeth no. 599 We see from the three above
Ahaadeeth that the knowledge’s of
Islam, including biography and history,
would be preserved and carried forth
by the trustworthy scholars, but yet the
Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam also warned us that there would also be
untrustworthy people. But despair not, Allah has preserved
this deen through trustworthy scholars
and isnaad in which ‘Abdullah Ibn
Mubarrak said: “The Religion is isnaad [authentic
unbroken transmission], and if it was
not for isnaad, people can say
whatever they wish [about this deen]”. Therefore we should only take reports
about our religion from the righteous
known revivors of each century who
have had the knowledge passed down
and preserved through them. No historian can ever boast a greater
preservation than the knowledge’s that
the Muslims scholars have compiled.
Whereas they cannot proof if Robin
Hood existed, we can proof that the
Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam, his companions and all the Islamic scholars
[including Ibn Qudaamah al Maqdasi
who was from the same years as Robin
hood is said to have lived] existed. This
is a miracle of the Prophet's words
""This knowledge will be carried by the trustworthy ones of every generation" And the words of the Messenger of
Allah sal Allahu alayhi wasallam indeed
ring true when he said "they will expel
from it the alterations made by those
going beyond bounds, the false claims
of the liars, and the false interpretations of the ignorant" Well, here he is, a 5th/6th century
theologian, the revivor of the deen and
accepted authority of his time. His name
is Qadi Iyad Ibn Musa al Yahsubi [544
AH/ 1149CE]. He refuted this
nonesensical claim of the Satanic verses hundreds of years ago. He was indeed,
according to the Prophets words, one
who expelled the alterations, refuted
the false claims of the liars, and
corrected the false interpretations, and
this can be seen on in his following discourse on the alleged Satanic verses.
Enjoy.... ----------------------------------- ln this section we will deal with certain
questions posed by calumniators. One of them is what is related about the
Prophet's recitation of the sura entitled
"The Star" (53). It is said that he recited,
"Have you seen al-Lat and al- 'Uzza and
Manat, the third, the other?" (53:19) and then added, "Those are the high-
soaring cranes whose intercession is
hoped for." Transmitted by Ibn Jarir,
Ibn al-Mundhir and Abu Hatim with a
broken isnad from Sa'id ibn Jubayr. When the Prophet finished the sura, he
prostrated, and the Muslims prostrated
and so did the unbelievers since they
had heard him praise their gods. One of the transmissions says that
Shaytan cast it on the Prophet's tongue
while he was hoping for something to
be sent down on him to bring his
people nearer. Another version says he was hoping
that nothing would be sent down on
him which would alienate them. This story goes on to say that Jibril then
came to him and the Prophet recited the
sura to him. When he reached these
words, Jibril said to him, "I did not
bring you these." The Prophet was distressed because of
this and Allah sent down the following
ayat to console him, "We did not send any Messenger or
Prophet before you, but that Shaytan
cast into his recitation when he was
reciting but Allah abrogates what
Shaytan casts and then Allah confirms
His signs. Allah is Knowing, Wise," (22:52) and "They very nearly deceived you away
from what We revealed to you, that you
might forge lies other than it against Us,
and then they would have taken you as
a friend." (17:73) Know that we have two approaches for
discussing the problems posed by this
hadith. One approach considers its root
to be weak and the other considers it
sound. As for the first approach, it is enough
for you to know that this hadith is not
related by any of the people of sound
hadith, i.e. the authors of the Six Books,
nor does anyone reliable relate it with a
sound direct isnad. It is only commentators and historians
who are fascinated by strange things,
be they sound or faulty, that are fond of
this kind of thing. Qadi Bakr ibn al-'Ala'
al-Maliki spoke the truth when he said
that people were put to the test by some sectarians and commentators and
the heretics continued to adhere to the
story in spite of the weakness of its
transmission, the disarray of the
various versions of it, the gap in its
isnad and the discrepancy in its words. One variant says that it took place
during the prayer while another says
that it was sent down on him while he
was summoning the people. Another
says that he said it happened while he
was sleepy and yet another says that his self spoke to him and made him
forgetful. Another variant says that Shaytan said
it on his tongue and when the Prophet
recited it to Jibril, he said, "This is not
how I recited it to you." Another says
that Shaytan told them that the Prophet
had recited it and when the Prophet heard that, he said, "By Allah, it was not
sent down like that." None of the commentators who relate
this story, Like Ibn Jarir, Abu Hatim and
Ibn al-Mundhir, nor the Followers, Such
as az-Zuhri and Qatada, gave it an isnad
or traced it back to one of the
Companions. Most of its paths of trans* mission are weak. The marfu' hadith containing it from
Shu'ba from Abu Bishr from Sa'id ibn
Jubayr from Ibn 'Abbas, says, "I
imagine (showing the doubtfulness of
it) that the Prophet was in Makka." Abu Bakr al-Bazzar says that this hadith
is not known with a direct con- nected
isnad except from Shu'ba and he was
unsure about it.[ There is a lengthy
discussion on the weakness of its isnad
which is omitted.] As for the implications, it has already
been clearly shown, proof has been
established and the community is in
agreement that the Prophet was
protected and free from things like this,
both from any desire for something like this to be revealed to him, in which
there is praise for other gods than Allah
- which is disbelief - and also from
Shaytan being able to overcome him
and make the Qur'an obscure to him in
such a way as to make him put in it what is not actually part of it. It is not conceivable that the Prophet
could believe that something which
was not part of the Qur'an was part of it
so that Jibril would have to inform him
of it. All of this is impossible for the
Prophet. It is impossible for the Prophet to have said this from himself
intentionally. That would amount to
either disbelief or forgetfulness and he
is protected from both these things. It has been confirmed both by proofs
and by consensus that the Prophet is
protected from any disbelief coming
into his heart or onto his tongue, either
intentionally or through forgetfulness,
or that what the Angel cast into him should resemble anything that Shaytan
can cast, or that Shaytan should have a
way to get to him, or for him to forge
lies against Allah intentionally, or
through forgetfulness regarding
something that had not been revealed to him. Allah says, "Had he invented any sayings against
us, We would have seized him by the
right hand..." (69:44-45) and He says, "Then We would have made you taste
the double of life and the double of
death. Then you would not have found
any helper against Us." (17:75) The second point to be made is the
general impossibility of this story. If
these words had been as they are
related, it would have been
incongruous, contradictory, mixing
praise and censure, and feeble. That would not have been hidden from the
Prophet and the Muslims and leaders of
the idol-worshippers who were with
him. It is not concealed from the most
insignificant person who reflects on it,
so how could it have been hidden from people who had great knowledge and
were thoroughly versed in the science
of eloquent, sound Arabic? The third point is that it is known that
the habit of the hypocrites and the
idolworshippers, those who were
weak of heart and the ignorant Muslims
was to bridle at the first opportunity. His
enemies would use the slightest excuse to cause confusion about the Prophet
and abuse the Muslims. They gloated
over them time after time. Those with a
sickness in their hearts who had
professed Islam abandoned it at the
least doubt. However, in spite of this, no one related
anything about this story other than
the weak version that has already been
mentioned. If the story had actually
been true, Quraysh would definitely
have used it to attack the Muslims, and the Jews would have used it as a proof
against the Muslims as in the
haughtiness they used regarding the
relation of the Night Journey which led
to the apostasy of some of the Muslims
who were weak. The same thing also happened in relation to the
circumstances of the Treaty of
Hudaybiyya. [Some people were upset
by this treaty because they thought it
put the Muslims in a weak position.] There would have been no temptation
or trial greater than this affliction if it
had really occurred. There would have
been nothing which the enemy would
have used to provoke dissension more
than such an event if it had been possi* ble to do so, but not a single word of it
is related, neither from the recalcitrant
nor from any Muslim. This shows that the whole story is false
and not to be accepted, and there is no
doubt that one of the shaytans of men
or jinn foisted this hadith onto one of
the heedless people of hadith in order
to cause confusion among weak Muslims.
The fourth point is that the people who
transmitted this story maintained that
Allah's words, "They very nearly beguiled you away
from what We revealed to you, that you
might forge lies other than it against Us,
and then they would have taken you as
a friend," (17:73) were sent down about it. These two
ayats in fact refute the tradition they
have related because Allah says that
they only very nearly beguiled to make
him forget. If it had not been that He
had majde him firm, he would have relied on them.
The contents of this ayat and what is
understood from it is that Allah pro*
tected him from forging a lie and made
him firm so that he did not rely on them
at all, let alone a lot. They relate in their weak traditions that, in addition to the
reliance and the forging, the Prophet
added praise of their gods and that he
said, "I have forged against Allah and
said what He did not say." This is contrary to what is to be
understood from the ayat and would
make the hadith weak, even if it had
been sound. This is similar to what He
says in another ayat, "Had it not been for the bounty of Allah
upon you and His mercy, a group of
them wanted to mislead you but they
only mislead themselves and they do
not harm you at all." (4:113) It is related from Ibn 'Abbas, "All the
things about which the Qur'an says
'almost' or 'nearly' did not occur."
Allah says, "The radiance of His lightning nearly
snatches away the sight." (24:43) It
does not in fact do so. When "He nearly
hid it," He did not do so. Qadi al-Qushayri said that when the
Prophet passed by their gods, Quraysh
and Thaqif tried to make him look at
them and promised him that they
would believe in him if he did. He did
not and would not do it. Ibn al-Anbari said that the Messenger did not go near
them nor rely on them. Other tafsirs on
the meaning of this ayat have
mentioned what we have mentioned
regarding what Allah said about His
Messenger being protected which shows that this matter is without basis. All that remains to be learned from the
ayat is that Allah strengthened His
Messenger by protecting him and
making him firm regarding what the
unbelievers were about to do when
they wanted to beguile him. What is meant by that is that the Prophet was
protected and free from it. This is what
should be understood from the ayat. The second approach is based on
considering the hadith to be sound. In
which case, the Imams of the Muslims
have different responses to that, of vary*
ing strengths. One from Qatada and Muqatal is that the
Prophet was dozing when reciting this
sura and these words flowed on his
tongue as if he were asleep. This would
not be not valid for the Prophet in any
of his states nor would Allah have creat* ed that on his tongue nor could
Shaytan overcome him either while
asleep or awake because the Prophet
was completely protected. Al-Kalbi said that the Prophet was
speaking to himself when Shaytan said
that on his tongue. In Ibn Shihab's
version from Abu Bakr ibn 'Abdu'r-
Rahman, he said that he forgot and
when told about it said that it was from Shaytan. All of these things are
impossible for the Prophet in any state.
Shaytan has no power to make him say
things. It is said that perhaps the Prophet said
it, while he was reciting, by way of
rebuke for the unbelievers in the same
way that Ibrahim said, "This is my
Lord," (6:76) according to one of the
interpretations and as Ibrahim also said, "Rather the greatest of them did
this." (21:63) After a silence and then a
clarification of the words, he returned
to his recitation. This is possible if the
separation was clear and the context
indicated what was meant. In this case what he said was not part of what is
recited. This is one of the things that
Qadi Abu Bakr has mentioned. There is
no argument against this interpretation
in what is related about him being in
the prayer. It is not impossible that the words occurred before the prayer. That which appears to be true in Qadi
Abu Bakr's opinion, and that of others
among precise people who hold the
same opinion, regarding the interpreta*
tion of this hadith, if indeed it is sound,
is that the Prophet was reciting the Qur'an slowly as his Lord had
commanded him to, making the ayats
distinct and precise in his recitation as
has been reliably related about his
practice. It was possible that Shaytan
was lurking nearby and during the silence slipped in different words which
were attuned to the voice of the
Prophet, so that the unbelievers
present thought that the Prophet had
said them and so publicised them. As
far as the Muslim is concerned, this does not impair the preservation of the sura,
which occurred before that incident, as
Allah revealed. They were certain about
the Prophet's censure of idols. Musa ibn 'Uqba related something
similar in his book The Raids, saying
that the Muslims did not hear these
words. Shaytan cast them into the ears
of the idol-worshippers and into their
hearts. What is related about the Prophet's sorrow was because of the
publicity given to the incident and the
uncertainty which made it a cause for
trial. Allah says, "We did not send any
Messenger or Prophet before but that
Shaytan cast into his fancy when he
was fancying..." (22:52) "Fancying"
here means recitation. Allah also says,
"They only know fancies of the Book," (2:78) i.e. recitation. He further
says, "Allah will abrogate what Shaytan
cast," (22:52) meaning, take it away
and remove all doubt concerning it and
make the ayat clear. It has been said that the ayat means
that a state of forgetfulness came over
the Prophet when he was reciting and
then he became conscious of it and
returned from it. This is roughly what
al-Kalbi was indicating about the ayat, when he said that he was speaking to
himself, taking "when he was fancying"
to mean "was speaking to himself."
Something similar to this is related in
the transmission of Abu Bakr ibn
'Abdu'r-Rahman. This forgetfulness in the recitation is
valid only if it in no way alters the
meaning, changes the phrases or adds
something that is not part of the Qur'an.
It might constitute omitting an ayat or a
word of it. However, the Prophet never remained in this state of forgetfulness.
He was conscious of it and reminded of
it immediately as we will mention when
discussing what sorts of forgetfulness
are permitted for him and what are not. Part of what is known regarding the
interpretation of this incident is that
Mujahid related this story of the "high-
soaring cranes." If we consider the
story to be valid, then we must say that
it is not impossible that this was part of the Qur'an. According to this version,
what is meant by the high-soaring
cranes and their intercession being
hoped for is that they are angels. Al-
Kalbi says that they are angels. The
unbelievers used to believe that the idols and the angels were the
daughters of Allah. This is refuted in
this sura by His words, "What! Have you
males and He females?" (53:21) By this Allah denies their assertion. It is
correct to hope for intercession from
the angels. When the idol- worshippers
interpreted it as referring to their gods,
Shaytan made it ambiguous to them,
decked it out to them in their hearts and cast that impression into them.
Then Allah abrogated what Shaytan
cast and made His ayat clear and
cancelled the recitation of the two
phrases which Shaytan had been able
to make unclear, in the same way that many other parts of the Qur'an were
abrogated and their recitation
cancelled. There is a wisdom in Allah's sending it
down and there is a wisdom in its
abrogation. "By it He misguides
whomever He wills and guides
whomever He wills. He only misguides
the iniquitous by it," (2:26) and "...so that He may make what Shaytan casts a
trial for those in whose hearts there is
sickness and the hard-hearted. The
wrongdoers are in a far schism, and so
that those who have been given
knowledge know that it is the Truth from your Lord so they believe in Him
and their hearts are humble to
Him." (22:53-54) Another explanation is that when the
Prophet recited this sura and reached
the mention of al-Lat, al-'Uzza and
Manat, the third, the other, the
unbelievers feared he would bring
something that censured them and they preceded him in praising them
with these words. They then mixed
them in with the recitation of the
Prophet and publicised it as was their
custom.
They said, "Do not listen to this Qur'an and talk about it. Perhaps you will be
overcome." (41:267) This action was
ascribed to Shaytan since he provoked
them to do it. They announced the
interpolated passage and publicised it
saying that the Prophet had said it. He was distressed about it because they
had lied and they had forged lies
against him. Allah consoled him when
He said, "We did not send before
you..." (22:52) He made clear for the
people the truth from the false and the Qur'an was preserved and its ayats
were made exact. He repudiated what
the enemy had made obscure and Allah
ensured this by His words, "We sent
down the remembrance and We
preserve it." (15:9) Taken from Qadi Iyad’s Ash-Shifaa,
translated by Aisha Bewly and titled
Muhammad, Messenger of Allah Sal
Allahu alayhi wasallam, pgs 300-306 in
the chapter of the Protection of the
Prophets