# What does the Quran say against the satanic verses story?

*Al-Suyuti's wording, and the Quranic case against the story*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t0phqrnjjby/s/17/
- Date: 2022-08-19 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Salman Rushdie & The Satanic Verses | Mufti Abu Layth (1:26:29–1:34:20)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0pHQRNJjBY&t=5189s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t0phqrnjjby/

**Topics:** Reports that disrespect the Prophet; Text criticism, reason and the Quran; How to read the Quran

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says al-Suyuti repeated Ibn Hajar's mistake, while the Quran rules the story out: the Prophet does not speak from desire and Satan has no power to speak in his voice.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran itself rules out the satanic verses story, since it says the Prophet does not speak from desire and that Satan has no power over people beyond calling them, so he cannot speak in the Prophet's voice.

**Evidence, his words at 1:30:52:** “shaytan does not have the power to be talking impersonating your voice this is what qadha yad mentions this is what ibn arabi mentions” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0pHQRNJjBY&t=5452s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says al-Suyuti, another Shafi'i deeply involved in the hadith project, does the same, with misleading wording that some chains are sahih when they only have narrators of the Sahih in a broken chain, and quotes al-Tabari without the conclusion in which al-Tabari calls the reports invalid. He mentions al-Suyuti's account of drinking Zamzam water with the intention of becoming like Ibn Hajar, citing the hadith that Zamzam is for whatever it is drunk for, and suggests this devotion may have blinded him. He reports a scholar he quotes [?] as saying the story spread among early commentators because it caught attention, and that transmitting it is haram. He points to the irony that it was placed in Surah al-Najm, which opens by saying the Prophet does not speak from desire, cites the verse that had the Prophet fabricated anything God would have seized him, and the verse in which Satan says on the Day of Judgement that he had no power over people except to call them, so that Satan cannot impersonate the Prophet's voice, as Qadi Iyad and Ibn al-Arabi say. He adds that Ibn Kathir notes the story's only basis is the report of the prostration in Bukhari and Muslim, and that Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi advises keeping the Quran at the centre and using one's intellect rather than following blindly.

## Sources and names cited

- al-Suyuti
- Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
- al-Tabari
- report: the water of zamzam is for whatever it is drunk for (unresolved; collection not stated)
- Quran 53:1-4 (by the star; your companion has not strayed, nor does he speak from desire): https://quran.com/53/1-4
- Quran 69:44-46 (had he invented sayings against Us, We would have seized him): https://quran.com/69/44-46
- Quran 14:22 (Shaytan on the Day of Judgement: I had no authority over you except that I called you): https://quran.com/14/22
- Qadi Iyad
- Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi
- Ibn Kathir
- report: the prophet recited surat al-najm and prostrated and everyone present prostrated muslims and mushrikin (unresolved; Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, number not stated)
- The Quran takes precedence over an isolated hadith

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:26:29–1:34:20)

[1:26:19] some of them the chain is but it's not you see it's just that the rijal are of the sight the sunnah there isn't a single one with the sun at sahi and there's been a lot of criticism of this sentence because he says oh and some of them the sahi no it isn't it's in the synod of people of the sahih but it's a cut chain and that too will bazaar the this one that he's trying to um that he's referring to so you can see these shafa is like ceoti is a big chef

[1:26:59] once again very involved in the hadith project jalaladina silty now people have clearly torn these apart now they mentioned them um i'm just trying to read the end see him he says look ibna jared he brings that but he doesn't quote this is why it's so unfair he doesn't quote the end where ibrahimovic says they bottle all of these they just say oh he quotes them he does quote them but he goes on to say the

[1:27:38] invalid so it's i don't know this passion for the hadith project siuti was really involved in trying to be the the hadith reviver of his age he really longed to be ibn hajjar in fact he says in his thing that when i went to do um uh hajj i drank from the water of zamzam and i made dua because there's a hadith that whatever you drink zamzam for you can become it it is a cure for whatever you drink he said i drank it with the intention ya love make me like his hero

[1:28:18] and you can see his commitment maybe to that is what has kind of blinded him here i don't know but it's um but you can see here that it shows people who clearly uh critiqued analyzed and destroyed this hadith of it's called uh and and it mentions that look at said he said that people brought this because it was something that would catch

[1:28:57] attention so many of the mufasirin put it in because it helped them uh and bhai mufasirin he doesn't mean the super popular one but he's saying but even them later on but people in the early days because it caught it sold it it went like oh my god this is like what's this so he says this this is all it is you find it in the books of tafsir says it's he does bring it but he clearly refutes it and uh does mention that

[1:29:36] he said look this is clearly anybody investigates this is fabricated it's haram to be transmitting this to be saying this and check you know the beauty check the surah that they fabricated this in they fabricate this in surah najam which allah begins surah najam by saying

[1:30:13] the verse the surah they begin this with is the one where allah says that how can this be fabricate this that this is revelation he does not come up with anything there's a verse of the quran that allah says if he was to fabricate something that we would have seized him and he would have we would have uh he would have had such a tormenting punishment in several places of the quran allah is saying that this is from allah revelation and that allah says in another verse

[1:30:52] which which ironically is surah allah says that the shaitaan will say on the day of judgment i had no power over you i couldn't physically do anything for you in the mother auto comfort stage i just whispered and you responded shaytan does not have the power to be talking impersonating your voice this is what qadha yad mentions this is what ibn arabi mentions this is why they say look this is absurd on every level so let's

[1:31:32] uh move back through some of these siuti mentions this this was the problem with some of these people mention this now some of the people who do speak and condemn it clearly and show you that even the cathedrals he says in he says that yes people have built the foundation the hustle of this incident they're basing it on what is in bukhari and muslim about the prophet was reading surah najim and people prostrated mentions nothing about this stuff he says

[1:32:04] this is not there is the incident that the prophet was it just says the prophet was reading surah najim and everybody in the haram prostrated including the kuffar of quraysh now look at them now just moving on this is what abu bakr ibn army says and this is so important he says he says

[1:32:46] make the quran always your center not these one narrations the do not parameterize the quran with non-quran where has allah said these things where is how are you putting this in there just as speculation he says

[1:33:56] and he says well look why has this crept through then he says well people have mentioned it but like anything allah has given you an intellect and the tradition has reached you the quran has reached you read it don't blindly just follow and if you see this as a test then it is a test investigate it and see it

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment T0pHQRNJjBY/s/17. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t0phqrnjjby/s/17/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.