ٱلثَّالِثَةَ

3981

Commentary:

This and the preceding verse imply a subtle rebuke to the disbelievers. After having declared the Glory, Majesty and Dignity of God in the former verses, these two verses seem to say to them that, instead of adoring such a Mighty and Powerful Creator and Lord, they stoop so low as to worship gods made of wood and stone.

It may be noted here that some prejudiced Christian critics of the Holy Prophet have woven quite a fantastic and foolish story of his having fallen a victim to the machinations of the Satan.

It is stated that one day at Mecca, when the Holy Prophet recited this Surah and as in his recitation he came upon these verses, before a mixed assembly of Muslims and disbelievers, Satan contrived to put in his mouth the words: تلک الغرانیق العلیٰ و ان شفا عتھن لترتجیٰ i.e. these are exalted goddesses and their intercession is hoped for (Zurqani). The critics call it the "lapse of Muhammad" or his "compromise with idolatry" and seem to rely upon Waqidi—that inveterate liar and fabricator of reports—or on Tabari, who is generally regarded as a credulous and indiscriminate narrator of events, for this entirely baseless story. These gentlemen have the audacity to attribute this blasphemous utterance to that great iconoclast (the Holy Prophet) whose whole life was spent in denouncing and condemning idolatry and who carried out his noble mission with unremitting vigour and fearless devotion, spurning all offers of compromise with idol worship, and whom blandishments, bribes, cajolery or intimidation failed to move an inch from his set purpose, and to whose unshakable firmness against idolatry the Almighty Himself has borne testimony in the words: ودوا لو تدھن فیدھنون i.e. it is their intense desire that thou shouldst show some pliancy so that they may also be pliant (68:10).

Moreover, the whole context gives the direct lie to this baseless assertion. Not only do the verses that follow but the whole Surah contains an unsparing condemnation of idolatry and an uncompromising insistence on Divine Unity. It is strange that this patent fact should have escaped the notice of the Holy Prophet’s critics and carpers.

Historical data, too, lend no support whatever to this so-called "lapse." The story has been rejected as completely unreliable by all the learned commentators of the Quran, Ibn Kathir and Radi among them. The renowned leaders of Muslim religious thought, well versed in the science of Hadith, such as ‘Aini, Qadi ‘Ayyad and Nawawi, have regarded it as pure invention. No trace of this story is to be found in الصحاح الستة (the Six Reliable Collections of Hadith). Imam Bukhari, whose collection, the Sahih Al-Bukhari, is regarded by Muslim scholars as the most reliable book next to the Quran and who himself was a contemporary of Waqidi to whom goes the unenviable credit of forging and reporting this story, makes no mention of it, nor does the great historian, Ibn Ishaq, who was born more than 40 years before him. It may be, as stated by Qastalaniand Zurqani and supported by some other eminent scholars, that when the Holy Prophet, during the recital of the present Surah before a mixed assembly of Muslims and disbelievers, came to these verses, some evil-minded person from among the disbelievers might have loudly interjected the words تلک الغرانیق العلی الخ, as was the disbelievers’ wont to create confusion by resorting to such low tactics, when the Quran was being recited (41:27).

It is also on record that in the "Days of Ignorance," the Quraish, when making a circuit of the Ka‘bah, used to recite the sentence: تلک الغرانیق العلی و ان شفاعتھن لترتجیٰ (Mu‘jamul-Buldan, vol. 5, under ‘Uzza).

Besides, it is not possible for the Satan to interfere with the purity of the Quranic text. God has taken it upon Himself to protect and safeguard the Quran against all interference and interpolation (15:10 & 72:27-29). So the whole story as invented by Waqidi and taken undue advantage of by Muir and others of his class is a pure myth and possesses no basis in fact.

It is further stated that the 53rd verse of Surah Al-Hajj was revealed in connection with this incident. The fact that theSurah under comment was revealed in the 5th year of the Call and Surah Al-Hajj in the 13th or 12th year, takes the bottom completely from under this baseless assertion.