Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 93
93 C H A P T E R T W E L V E : T H E F IC T IO N OF T H E S A T A N IC V E R S E S I will now, however, look at the subject of the satanic verses; how it has been suggested by almost all the Western orientalists that Muhammad(sa) was supposedly prone to ordinary human frailties and that on some occasions satanic influences entered his mind which were then transmitted into some verses of the Holy Qur’an. The main point of contention relates to a few verses from Surah Al-Najm, the 53rd Chapter of the Holy Qur’an. The verses in ques- tion are numbers 20 and 21 : ‘Now tell me about Lat and Uzza; And Manat, the third one, another goddess. ’ Some prejudiced critics of the Holy Prophet(sa) have woven quite a fantastic story of his having once fallen a victim to the machi- nations of Satan. It is stated that one day at Mecca, when the Holy Prophet(sa) recited this Surah before a mixed assembly of Muslims and dis- believers and during the recitation he came to these verses, Satan contrived to put in his mouth the words : ‘these are exalted goddesses and their intercession is hoped for. ’ (Zurqani). They talk of the ‘lapse of Muhammad’ or his ‘compromise with idolatry’ and seem to rely for this entirely baseless story upon Waqidi, the renowned inveterate liar and fabricator of reports, and on Tabiri, who is generally regarded as a credulous and indis- criminate narrator of events. These gentlemen have the audacity to attribute this blasphemous utterance to that great iconoclast (the Holy Prophet(sa)) whose entire 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