Satan's Interjection and the Story of the “Cranes”
وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ وَلَا نَبِىٍّ إِلَّآ إِذَا تَمَنَّىٰٓ أَلْقَى ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ فِىٓ أُمْنِيَّتِهِۦ فَيَنسَخُ ٱللَّهُ مَا يُلْقِى ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ ثُمَّ يُحْكِمُ ٱللَّهُ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
(22:52) We did not send any apostle or prophet before you but that when he recited [the scripture] Satan interjected [something] in his recitation. Thereat Allah nullifies whatever Satan has interjected, and then Allah confirms His signs, and Allah is All-knowing, All-wise.
The question
“When he envisioned, Satan made an interjection with regard to his vision; but Allah annuls what Satan casts” — does this verse refer to the report that Satan put words in praise of the idols (“the exalted cranes”) on the Prophet's tongue while he recited Sūrat al-Najm?
Views answered: the report from Saʿīd b. Jubayr, Ibn ʿAbbās and others, authenticated by Ibn Ḥajar and others, the defence that it was a slip of the tongue
Al-Mizan's argument
Al-Mizan explains tamannī either as what a messenger hopes and plans for the progress of his religion — which Satan interferes with by stirring people to resist — or as recitation, which Satan interferes with by casting doubts about its meaning; in both cases God annuls what Satan casts and establishes His signs, as a trial for those whose hearts are diseased. In the narrations he examines the report that when the Prophet recited Sūrat al-Najm, Satan cast onto his tongue words praising al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā and Manāt, and this verse was revealed. Though many hadith scholars authenticated it, he rejects it: the decisive proofs of the Prophet's infallibility refute its content even if its transmission were sound; it attributes the worst ignorance to him; the excuse of a slip of the tongue fails; and if Satan could insert verses into the Qur'an, no verse of it could be trusted.
Reading guide
Each part opens the commentary at that point.
- What tamannī means
- Tamannī as recitation
- If it means what a messenger hopes for
- If it means recitation
- “Allah annuls that which Satan casts”
- The wisdom: a trial
- Narrations: the report of the “cranes”
- Why it is rejected despite being authenticated
- The “slip of the tongue” defence
- If Satan could insert verses…