placidcrane61 said:Are those "The Satanic Verses" actually referring to specific parts of the Quran?
And if they are, which parts exactly?
أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَالْعُزَّى
وَمَنَاةَ الثَّالِثَةَ الْأُخْرَى
أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْأُنثَى
تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى. سورة النجم - سورة ٥٣: ١٩-٢٢
What do you think about Al-Lat, Uzza, and Menat—the third, least respected one? Basically asking: Are they sons for you, while He has daughters?! That would be a totally unfair division. Surah An-Najm - Surah 53:19-22
A ton of early biographies of Muhammad cover this whole episode—like, we're talking Ibn Ishaq's biography of the Prophet Muhammad or even Al-Tabari's history... I could totally pull some snippets from an English translation if you want!
According to them, the story goes like this: These three—Al-Lat, Uzza, and Menat, who were basically the goddesses in the old pantheon, the daughters of the supreme deity—were seen as these elevated intermediaries that people would pray through.
Look, if this whole "Satanic Verses" thing didn't have such legit Islamic sources behind it, the entire Muslim world wouldn't have absolutely lost their minds over Salman Rushdie. It hit them right where it hurts—he wrote a book about something they're desperately trying to sweep under the rug. Your average person might not even know the story exists, but the sheikhs? Oh, they know. And they're terrified that regular folks will find out they've been played, so they tell everyone they follow that they've gotta take out Salman Rushdie.