The Untold Story: The Verses of Cranes ... These are the high-flying cranes and their intercession is to be hoped for. From Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari: Let him who examines this book of mine know that I have relied, as regards everything I mention therein which I stipulate to be described by me, solely upon what has been transmitted to me by way of reports which I cite therein and traditions which I ascribe to their narrators, to the exclusion of what may be apprehended by rational argument or deduced by the human mind, except in very few cases. This is because knowledge of the reports of men of the past and of contemporaneous views of men of the present do not reach the one who has not witnessed them nor lived in their times except through the accounts of reporters and the transmission of transmitters, to the exclusion of rational deduction and mental inference. Hence, if I mention in this book a report about some men of the past, which the reader of listener finds objectionable or worthy of censure because he can see no aspect of truth nor any factual substance therein, let him know that this is not to be attributed to us but to those who transmitted it to us and we have merely passed this on as it has been passed on to us. And the untold story began... The prophet was eager for the welfare of his people, desiring to win them to him by any means he could. It has been reported that he longed for a way to win them, and part of what he did to that end is what Ibn Humayd told me, from Salama, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, from Yazīd ibn Ziyād al-Madanī, from Muhammad ibn Kab al-Qurazī: When the prophet saw his people turning away from him, and was tormented by their distancing themselves from what he had brought to them from God, he longed in himself for something to come to him from God which would draw him close to them. With his love for his people and his eagerness for them, it would gladden him if some of the hard things he had found in dealing with them could be alleviated. He pondered this in himself, longed for it, and desired it. Then God sent down the revelation. By the star when it sets! Your companion has not erred or gone astray, and does not speak from mere fancy… [Q.53:1] When he reached Gods words, Have you seen al-Lāt and al-Uzzā and Manāt, the third, the other? [Q.53:19-20] Satan cast upon his tongue, because of what he had pondered in himself and longed to bring to his people, These are the high-flying cranes and their intercession is to be hoped for. When Quraysh heard that, they rejoiced. What he had said about their gods pleased and delighted them, and they gave ear to him. The Believers trusted in their prophet with respect to what he brought them from their Lord: they did not suspect any slip, delusion or error. When he came to the prostration and finished the chapter, he prostrated and the Muslims followed their prophet in it, having faith in what he brought them and obeying his command. Those mushrikūn of Quraysh and others who were in the mosque also prostrated on account of what they had heard him say about their gods. In the whole mosque there was no believer or kāfir who did not prostrate. Only al-Walīd bin al-Mughīra, who was an aged shaykh and could not make prostration, scooped up in his hand some of the soil from the valley of Mecca [and pressed it to his forehead]. Then everybody dispersed from the mosque. Quraysh went out and were delighted by what they had heard of the way in which he spoke of their gods. They were saying, Muhammad has referred to our gods most favourably. In what he has recited he said that they are high-flying cranes whose intercession is to be hoped for. Those followers of the Prophet who had emigrated to the land of Abyssinia heard about the affair of the prostration, and it was reported to them that Quraysh had accepted Islam. Some men among them decided to return while others remained behind. Gabriel came to the Prophet and said, O Muhammad, what have you done! You have recited to the people something which I have not brought you from God, and you have spoken what He did not say to you. At that the Prophet was mightily saddened and greatly feared God. But God, of His mercy, sent him a revelation, comforting him and diminishing the magnitude of what had happened. God told him that there had never been a previous prophet or apostle who had longed just as Muhammad had longed, and desired just as Muhammad had desired, but that Satan had cast into his longing just as he had cast onto the tongue of Muhammad. But God abrogates what Satan has cast, and puts His verses in proper order. That is, you are just like other prophets and apostles. And God revealed: We never sent any apostle or prophet before you but that, when he longed, Satan cast into his longing. But God abrogates what Satan casts in, and then God puts His verses in proper order, for God is all-knowing and wise. [Q.22:52] So God drove out the sadness from His prophet and gave him security against what he feared. He abrogated what Satan had cast upon his tongue in referring to their gods: They are the high-flying cranes whose intercession is accepted [sic]. [Replacing those words with] the words of God when Allāt, al-Uzzā and Manāt the third, the other are mentioned: Should you have males and He females [as offspring]! That, indeed, would be an unfair division. They are only names which you and your fathers have given them… as far as As many as are the angels in heaven, their intercession shall be of no avail unless after God has permitted it to whom He pleases and accepts [Q.53:21-26]- meaning, how can the intercession of their gods be of any avail with Him? When there had come from God the words which abrogated what Satan had cast on to the tongue of His prophet, Quraysh said, Muhammad has gone back on what he said about the status of our gods relative to God, changed it and brought something else, for the two phrases which Satan had cast on to the tongue of the Prophet had found a place in the mouth of every polytheist. They, therefore, increased in their evil and in their oppression of everyone among them who had accepted Islam and followed the Prophet. The band of the Prophets followers who had left the land of Abyssinia on account of the report that the people of Mecca had accepted Islam when they prostrated together with the Prophet drew near. But when they approached Mecca they heard that the talk about the acceptance of Islam by the people of Mecca was wrong. Therefore, they only entered Mecca in secret or after having obtained a promise of protection. Among those of them who came to Mecca at that time and remained there until emigrating to Medina and taking part in the battle of Badr alongside Muhammad there was, from the family of Abd Shams b. Abd Manāf b. Qussayy, Uthmān b. Affāntogether with his wife Ruqayya the daughter of the Prophet. Abū Hudhayfa b. Utba with his wife Shal bint Suhayl, and another group with them, numbering together 33 men.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 10:29:30 +0000
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