Satanic verses
Satanic Verses is the name of an episode in the biography or legend of the founder of the religion and Islamic prophet Mohammed , which is related to the early Meccan 53rd sura "The Star" ( an-Nadschm ) in the Koran . Verses 19 to 25 are about the ancient gods worshiped in the Kaaba in Mecca . In the "satanic verses" the pagan (polytheistic) Meccans are asked whether they find it strange that God only wants daughters when Meccans are only satisfied after the birth of sons. According to a tradition that the biographer Ibn Saʿd has included in his Kitāb aṭ-Ṭabaqāt and the Koran commentator and historian at-Tabarī in his chronicle and his commentary on the Koran, Muhammad, who is considered the messenger of a single god, allowed the goddesses al-Lāt , al- ʿUzzā and Manāt to intercede soon revoked the corresponding verses (which could have been written down in an earlier version of the Koran between today's suras 53.20 and 53.21), whereupon the supposedly subsequently revealed sura 22 (verse 52 f.) is related. The expression "Satanic Verses" was coined by William Muir , in Arabic chronicles and in Quran commentaries the episode is calledقصة الغرانيق / qiṣṣat al-ġarānīq / 'crane report ' or also referred to as the “insinuated verses”.
The verses
According to tradition, the sura was revealed in Mecca, where the three goddesses al-Lat were venerated in a statue as a woman, al-Uzza as a tree and the goddess of fate Manat as a stone. All three were worshiped in the Kaaba alongside the high god Allah and other gods such as Hubal .
While commenting on these three (destiny) goddesses, Mohammed began:
- (19) Have you seen Lat and Uzza,
(20) and also Manat, this other one, the third one?
This is where the variant comes in:
- These are the sublime cranes.
One can hope for her intercession.
while the verses in canonical form are:
- (21) Is what is masculine for you and what is feminine for Him?
- (22) That would then be an unjust distribution.
- (…) Those are just empty names that you and your fathers thought up for idols, for which Allah has not given permission.
Tradition is embedded in a temptation story in which instead of the archangel Gabriel , who dictated the rest of the Koran according to Islamic tradition, Satan dictated the offensive verses, which was only corrected by the angel in a later revelation.
The intra-Islamic controversy over the report
Ibn Taimiya , Ibrahim al-Kurani and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab were among the few scholars who considered this tradition to be authentic in the sense of a visitation by Satan . On the other hand, all modern Islamic scholars have spoken out against the authenticity of the report. Arguments for this can be found in Muhammad Abduh , in the Koran commentary " In the shadow of the Koran " by Sayyid Qutb , in Maududi and al-Albani .
Interpretations of Satanic Verses in Islamic Studies
In contrast to a psychologizing explanation, which is found primarily in trivial and popular scientific literature, the historical-critical analysis proceeds according to the tradition. Since the variant is not found in an actual or alleged polemic by non-Muslims, William Montgomery Watt and Alfred Guillaume have pleaded for the originality of the offensive variant. In the context of traditional criticism, it is conceivable that an offensive variant is replaced by the formation of a community of a non-offensive variant, but not the other way around. The connected legend of temptation then tries to explain the verses that are still known and not completely suppressed. The first written final editing was created after the death of the Prophet in 11 A.D. (632 AD) at the time of the first Caliph Abu Bakr , so that up to this point in time a variant of the tradition could still have penetrated.
The Satanic Verses in Literature
In addition to, for example, the Mecca trade, the night and heavenly journey of the Prophet, the satanic verses are part of almost every Islamic account of the life of Muhammad. The Satanic Verses achieved worldwide fame through the novel The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie , which has been translated into many languages . The book was first published in 1988. On February 14, 1989, Rushdie was given a fatwa by the then Iranian President Khomeini in which he called on all Muslims to execute Rushdie “so that no one dares to insult Islam”. A $ 1 million bounty has also been suspended, the last increase to $ 3.9 million in February 2012. Attacks were perpetrated on several translators and publishers of The Satanic Verses , one of which was fatal.
literature
- Hans Jansen : Mohammed. A biography. (2005/2007) Translated from the Dutch by Marlene Müller-Haas. CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-56858-9 , pp. 182-185 and 194.
swell
The Koran quotes come from:
- Adel Th. Khoury (translator): The Koran Gütersloher publishing house, several editions, e.g. B. ISBN 3-579-02154-0 .
The satanic verses were quoted from:
- Rudi Paret: The Koran, Commentary and Concordance. Kohlhammer, 1971 (2005, 7th edition). ISBN 3-17-018990-5 .
Web links
- "Those Are The High Flying Claims" , a source-critical review of the Tabarī tradition in English
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Jansen: Mohammed. A biography. 2008, p. 182 f.
- ↑ Ibn Saʿd: Kitāb aṭ-Ṭabaqāt , Cairo: 1968, Vol. I, 1 p. 137, lines 8-13
- ↑ Tabari , Annalen I, pp. 1192–1196 and a., cf. Rudi Paret : The Koran. Commentary and Concordance , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1971, p. 461
- ↑ Hans Jansen: Mohammed. A biography. 2008, p. 182.
- ↑ Hans Jansen: Mohammed. A biography. 2008, p. 183 f.
- ↑ or swans
- ↑ tilka l-ġarānīqu l-ʿulā wa-inna šafāʿatahunna la-turtaǧā
- ↑ Shahab Ahmed: "Ibn Taymiyyah and the Satanic verses" Studia Islamica 87 (1998) pp. 67-124
- ↑ Alfred Guillaume: “al-Lumʿat as-sanīya fī taḥqīq al-ilqāʾ fī l-umnīya by Ibrāhīm al-Kūrānī” Bulletin of the School for Oriental and African Studies 20 (1957) pp. 291-303
- ↑ Hans Jansen: Mohammed. A biography. 2008, p. 193 f.
- ↑ Hans Jansen: Mohammed. A biography. 2008, p. 182.
- ↑ Daniel Steinvorth: Four million for a killer. In: NZZ - Neue Zürcher Zeitung. February 24, 2016, accessed February 26, 2016 .