What Are the Satanic Verses?

The name “Satanic Verses” is a label for an early story in which Satan is said to have thrown words about the goddesses into a recitation of Surah an-Najm. It is not, on this page, the title of Salman Rushdie’s novel. Al-Tabari and Ibn Sa‘d record the story. Tafsir Ibn Kathir on Qur’an 22:52Ibn Kathir on Qur’an 22:52 · Abridged English on Quran.comAt this point many of the scholars of Tafsir mentioned the story of the Gharaniq and how many of those who had migrated to Ethiopia came back when they thought that the idolators of the Quraysh had become Muslims, but these reports all come through Mursal chains of narration and I do not think that any of them may be regarded as Sahih. And Allah knows best.Ibn Kathir on Qur’an 22:52 · Abridged English on Quran.comOpen the Source says many scholars of tafsir mentioned the Gharaniq reports and that he does not regard those reports as sahih. Al-Albani’s introduction states that Ibn Hajar declared the hadith strong and that his own answer is that the story is false and fabricated. The Qur’an that Muslims recite condemns al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat. Sahih al-Bukhari 4862Sahih al-Bukhari 4862 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanNarrated Ibn `Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) performed a prostration when he finished reciting Surat-an-Najm, and all the Muslims and pagans and Jinns and human beings prostrated along with him.Sahih al-Bukhari 4862 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen the Source records a prostration when the surah was finished. It does not record the sentence about the goddesses.

Key Points

• Qur’an 53:19–23Qur’an 53:19-23 · Saheeh International¹⁹ So have you considered al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā? ²⁰ And Manāt, the third - the other one? ²¹ Is the male for you and for Him the female? ²² That, then, is an unjust division. ²³ They are not but [mere] names you have named them - you and your forefathers - for which Allāh has sent down no authority. They follow not except assumption and what [their] souls desire, and there has already come to them from their Lord guidance.Qur’an 53:19-23 · Saheeh InternationalOpen the Source names al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat, and says they are mere names, with no authority sent down for them.
• Qur’an 22:52Qur’an 22:52 · Saheeh InternationalAnd We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he spoke [or recited], Satan threw into it [some misunderstanding]. But Allāh abolishes that which Satan throws in; then Allāh makes precise His verses. And Allāh is Knowing and Wise.Qur’an 22:52 · Saheeh InternationalOpen the Source says that when a messenger or prophet spoke, Satan threw something into it, and that Allah abolishes what Satan throws in and makes his verses precise.
• Al-Tabari’s English history and Ibn Sa‘d’s English Tabaqat both narrate the Gharaniq insertion and the return from Abyssinia. Those are sira and history reports, not Bukhari or Muslim.
• Ibn Kathir says the Ethiopia-return reports of the Gharaniq story come through mursal chains, and “I do not think that any of them may be regarded as Sahih.”
• Al-Albani’s introduction says Ibn Hajar declared the hadith strong, and that al-Albani’s own judgment is that it is “not authentic but rather false and fabricated.”
• Sahih al-Bukhari 4862Sahih al-Bukhari 4862 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanNarrated Ibn `Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) performed a prostration when he finished reciting Surat-an-Najm, and all the Muslims and pagans and Jinns and human beings prostrated along with him.Sahih al-Bukhari 4862 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen the Source says the Prophet prostrated when he finished Surat an-Najm, and that Muslims, pagans, jinn, and human beings prostrated with him. That is the prostration. It is not the alleged insertion.
• Qur’an 17:73–75Qur’an 17:73-75 · Saheeh InternationalAnd indeed, they were about to tempt you away from that which We revealed to you in order to [make] you invent about Us something else; and then they would have taken you as a friend. And if We had not strengthened you, you would have almost inclined to them a little. Then [if you had], We would have made you taste double [punishment in] life and double [after] death. Then you would not find for yourself against Us a helper.Qur’an 17:73-75 · Saheeh InternationalOpen the Source says they were about to tempt Muhammad to invent something else about God, and that if God had not strengthened him he would almost have inclined to them a little.
• Deuteronomy 18:20–22Deuteronomy 18:20 · King James VersionBut the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.Deuteronomy 18:20 · King James VersionOpen the Source says a prophet who speaks a word God has not commanded shall die, and that a word which does not come to pass is not from the LORD. Who Was Muhammad? is the life. Was Muhammad Bewitched? is a different report about a spell.

What the Surah Says About the Three Goddesses

Qur’an 53:19–23Qur’an 53:19-23 · Saheeh International¹⁹ So have you considered al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā? ²⁰ And Manāt, the third - the other one? ²¹ Is the male for you and for Him the female? ²² That, then, is an unjust division. ²³ They are not but [mere] names you have named them - you and your forefathers - for which Allāh has sent down no authority. They follow not except assumption and what [their] souls desire, and there has already come to them from their Lord guidance.Qur’an 53:19-23 · Saheeh InternationalOpen the Source, Saheeh International:

So have you considered al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā? And Manāt, the third - the other one? Is the male for you and for Him the female? That, then, is an unjust division. They are not but [mere] names you have named them - you and your forefathers - for which Allāh has sent down no authority. They follow not except assumption and what [their] souls desire, and there has already come to them from their Lord guidance.

Qur’an 53:19–23 · Saheeh International

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

The brackets are the translators’ supplies. The recited surah mocks the division that would give worshippers the female deities and give God the male, and it says the three are names with no authority sent down. Whatever earlier story is told about this passage, the surah as published on Quran.com rejects the goddesses.

Sahih al-Bukhari 4862Sahih al-Bukhari 4862 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanNarrated Ibn `Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) performed a prostration when he finished reciting Surat-an-Najm, and all the Muslims and pagans and Jinns and human beings prostrated along with him.Sahih al-Bukhari 4862 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen the Source, narrated by Ibn Abbas, says, “The Prophet (ﷺ) performed a prostration when he finished reciting Surat-an-Najm, and all the Muslims and pagans and Jinns and human beings prostrated along with him.” The chapter is the prostration of recitation. The English on that page does not contain a line praising the goddesses, and it does not use the word Gharaniq. The prostration and the alleged insertion are different reports. Treating 4862 as the text of the Satanic Verses overreads the hadith.

What Al-Tabari and Ibn Sa‘d Recorded

Al-Tabari, The History of al-Tabari, volume 6, Watt and McDonald, pages 108–109, under “Satan Casts a False Revelation on the Messenger of God’s Tongue,” reports from Muhammad b. Ka‘b al-Qurazi that when the Messenger of God recited Surah an-Najm and reached the words about al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat, “Satan cast on his tongue, because of his inner debates and what he desired to bring to his people, the words: These are the high-flying cranes; verily their intercession is accepted with approval.” The same pages say Quraysh rejoiced, that Muslims and polytheists in the mosque prostrated, and that news of the prostration reached the emigrants in Abyssinia. The translators’ notes mark that Ibn Hisham omitted this section from Ibn Ishaq. Al-Tabari is history. He records the report. He does not print a Bukhari-style grade line that the report is sahih.

Ibn Sa‘d, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, volume 1, Moinul Haq and Ghazanfar, pages 237–238, under the causes of the return from Abyssinia, says Satan made him repeat, “These idols are high and their intercession is expected,” that the people prostrated, and that the news reached Abyssinia so that some Companions started home. The English footnote on page 238 says, “This narration is not acceptable, because none of the first narrators is a Companion.” The Tabaqat keeps the story in the biography. The footnote is the translators’ warning about the chain.

Those two books are why the story appears in early Muslim literature. They are not the Six Books. Which Muslims Accept Which Hadith? is how this site marks sira and history beside Bukhari and Muslim.

How Ibn Kathir, Ibn Hajar, and Al-Albani Graded the Chains

Qur’an 22:52Qur’an 22:52 · Saheeh InternationalAnd We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he spoke [or recited], Satan threw into it [some misunderstanding]. But Allāh abolishes that which Satan throws in; then Allāh makes precise His verses. And Allāh is Knowing and Wise.Qur’an 22:52 · Saheeh InternationalOpen the Source, Saheeh International, says: “And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he spoke [or recited], Satan threw into it [some misunderstanding]. But Allāh abolishes that which Satan throws in; then Allāh makes precise His verses. And Allāh is Knowing and Wise.” The words “or recited” and “some misunderstanding” sit in brackets. They are the translator’s supply for what Satan threw in. The clause that is not in brackets says Satan threw into the speech, and that Allah abolishes that and makes his verses precise.

Ibn Kathir on 22:52Ibn Kathir on Qur’an 22:52 · Abridged English on Quran.comAt this point many of the scholars of Tafsir mentioned the story of the Gharaniq and how many of those who had migrated to Ethiopia came back when they thought that the idolators of the Quraysh had become Muslims, but these reports all come through Mursal chains of narration and I do not think that any of them may be regarded as Sahih. And Allah knows best.Ibn Kathir on Qur’an 22:52 · Abridged English on Quran.comOpen the Source says:

At this point many of the scholars of Tafsir mentioned the story of the Gharaniq and how many of those who had migrated to Ethiopia came back when they thought that the idolators of the Quraysh had become Muslims, but these reports all come through Mursal chains of narration and I do not think that any of them may be regarded as Sahih. And Allah knows best.

Ibn Kathir on 22:52 · Abridged English on Quran.com

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

Mursal, in hadith study, is a chain with a gap at the Companion. Ibn Kathir’s judgment is that he does not count these reports as sound. The same page quotes al-Bukhari’s report of Ibn Abbas: “When he spoke, the Shaytan threw (some falsehood) into his speech, but Allah abolished that which the Shaytan threw in.” The abridged English names the Gharaniq story and the return from Ethiopia. It does not print a sentence praising the goddesses.

Al-Albani’s English introduction to Nasb al-Majaniq li-Nasf Qissat al-Gharaniq frames the dispute between those two later graders. He says a questioner asked about the hadith of the cranes “about which two great Haafidhs, Ibn Kathir the Damascene and Ibn Hajr the Egyptian, differed, the first rejected it and the second declared it to be a strong hadith.” He then says he answered that it “was not authentic but rather false and fabricated,” and that in the treatise he “made mention of al-Haafidh Ibn Hajar’s statement strengthening those hadiths and followed that up with what clarifies the invalidity of the result he came to.” On al-Albani’s own page, Ibn Hajar’s side is the strengthening of the reports; al-Albani’s side is rejection as fabricated. The fair Muslim reading of that dispute is the one those sentences state: classical and modern hadith scholars did not agree, and a widely used modern grader refuses the story.

Mainstream Muslim teaching today follows the rejection. The recited surah condemns the goddesses. A report Ibn Kathir calls unsound, and that al-Albani calls fabricated, is not treated as Qur’an. Readers who treat the story as history are arguing with those graders, and with the early historians who kept the story in the sira, not with a verse that praises the goddesses.

Qur’an 17:73–75Qur’an 17:73-75 · Saheeh InternationalAnd indeed, they were about to tempt you away from that which We revealed to you in order to [make] you invent about Us something else; and then they would have taken you as a friend. And if We had not strengthened you, you would have almost inclined to them a little. Then [if you had], We would have made you taste double [punishment in] life and double [after] death. Then you would not find for yourself against Us a helper.Qur’an 17:73-75 · Saheeh InternationalOpen the Source is a different scene. It says they were about to tempt him away from what was revealed, so that he would invent something else, and that if God had not strengthened him he would have almost inclined to them a little. The next verse says that if he had, God would have made him taste a double punishment in life and after death. The surah says he was strengthened, and it says the inclination was something he almost did. It does not narrate the Gharaniq words.

A Prophet’s Word, and What Follows

Deuteronomy 18:20Deuteronomy 18:20 · King James VersionBut the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.Deuteronomy 18:20 · King James VersionOpen the Source says the prophet who presumes to speak a word in God’s name which God has not commanded, or who speaks in the name of other gods, shall die. Deuteronomy 18:22Deuteronomy 18:22 · King James VersionWhen a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.Deuteronomy 18:22 · King James VersionOpen the Source says that if the thing does not follow and does not come to pass, that is the word the LORD has not spoken. Qur’an 69:44–46 is the Qur’an’s own warning that if Muhammad had fabricated a saying, God would cut his aorta. The Gharaniq story, as the historians and the graders handle it, is a claim that Satan inserted a saying which God then removed. Deuteronomy’s test is whether a word spoken in God’s name was commanded, and whether it comes to pass. A report the commentator calls unsound does not become a verse. A report of a prophet reciting other gods, if it were sound, would be the case Deuteronomy 18:20 names.

Who Was Muhammad? is the life in the sources the site quotes. Was Muhammad Bewitched? is the spell report in Bukhari, a different incident. Jesus is God, and the gospel is his death and resurrection, which this surah does not tell.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Gharaniq Incident?

It is the story al-Tabari and Ibn Sa‘d narrate, and that Ibn Kathir says many commentators mentioned: words Satan threw into a recitation, after which emigrants in Ethiopia heard that the Quraysh had become Muslims and started home. Ibn Kathir says those reports are mursal and that he does not regard them as sahih. Al-Albani rejects the story as fabricated. Al-Albani’s introduction says Ibn Hajar declared the hadith strong.

Did Muhammad Recite the Satanic Verses?

The surah Muslims recite, Qur’an 53:19–23Qur’an 53:19-23 · Saheeh International¹⁹ So have you considered al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā? ²⁰ And Manāt, the third - the other one? ²¹ Is the male for you and for Him the female? ²² That, then, is an unjust division. ²³ They are not but [mere] names you have named them - you and your forefathers - for which Allāh has sent down no authority. They follow not except assumption and what [their] souls desire, and there has already come to them from their Lord guidance.Qur’an 53:19-23 · Saheeh InternationalOpen the Source, rejects al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat. Bukhari 4862 records a prostration at the end of the surah, not a praise of the goddesses. Early historians record the insertion. Later graders disagree: Ibn Kathir withholds sahih status; al-Albani’s introduction says Ibn Hajar strengthened the reports and that al-Albani calls them fabricated.

What Does Qur’an 22:52 Say?

Saheeh International says Satan threw something into a messenger’s speech, and that Allah abolishes what Satan throws in and makes his verses precise. The phrase “some misunderstanding” is in the translator’s brackets.

Is This About the Novel?

The novel uses the same English name. This page is about the reports in tafsir and sira and the verses in Surah an-Najm and Surah al-Hajj.