What are the so-called Satanic Verses?
“Satanic Verses” is an expression coined by the historian Sir William Muir in reference to several verses allegedly delivered by Muhammad as part of the Koran and later retracted. There are numerous reports on the incident, which differ in the construction and detail of the narrative, but they may be broadly collated to produce a basic account. In its basic form the story reports that Muhammad longed to convert the people of Mecca to Islam. As he was reciting Sūra Al-Najm (Q.53), considered a revelation by the angel Gabriel, Satan tempted him to utter the following lines after verses 19 and 20 (“Have you thought of Allāt and al-‘Uzzā and Manāt the third, the other?”). Allāt, al-‘Uzzā and Manāt were three goddesses worshiped by the Meccans. The subtext to this allegation is that Muhammad was backing away from his otherwise uncompromising monotheism by saying that these goddesses were real and their intercession effective. The Meccans were overjoyed to hear this and joined Muhammad in ri
