Footnote: قصة الغرانيق or The Satanic Verses Fable and a Deep Dive in Quranic Arabic

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Aug 14, 2022 at 08:02

Dr. Pipes,

The epicenter of قصة الغرانيق or The Satanic Verses starts in Surat al-Najm verses 19 and 20

Let us read both verses together:

أفرأيتم اللات والعزى

ومناة الثالثة الأخرى

Or: Did you see al-Lat and al-'Uza

And Manat the third the other

This is very odd Arabic syntax and this is why al-Qurtubi translates it to 3rd century Arabic syntax as follows:

أفرأيتم اللات والعزى الأخرى ومناة الثالثة

Or: Did you see al-Lat and al-'Uza the other and Manat the third

And now the two verses make much sense. But what does this really mean? After all by the early 7th century, almost all the Arabs in Mesopotamia and the Levant/Palestine/Israel were Christianized and not pagan. Unless these verses pre-date Muhammad and al-Mufasereen had to come up with a story to explain them as an encounter between Satan and Muhammad (compare with Jesus and Satan in the desert).

Now notice that the word Manat is written as: مناة or Meem Nuun Alif Tah Marbouta

Here is the word in the Cairo Quran:

http://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/qortobi/sura53-aya20.html

Compare it with the copy of the Quran in the Arabic to English translation by Sahih International and it is what I call the elusive copy of the Indian Quran

This is the name in verse 20: مناوة or Meem Nuun Alif (added to the text by al-Mufasereen) WAW and Ta Marbouta

Or Manawat. Notice the letter waw which is not present in the copy of the Cairo Qur'an and an added alif to what would have been in the original rasm: منوة or Manwat

So much for the unedited Qur'an

Here is the word in the "elusive" Indian Quran via Sahih International copy of the Quran:

https://quran.com/en/an-najm/20

Also notice that al-Qurtubi provides another reading and it is: مناءة or Mana'at

Who are these "Cranes"? Only Allahu 'Alam

Here is Tafsir al-Qurtubi

http://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/qortobi/sura53-aya20.html

More? al-Tabari explains the etymology of the name al-Lat as follows:

اللات, وهي من الله ألحقت فيه التاء فأنثت

Or: al-Lat and it (F.) is from Allah added to it the letter Ta and thus it is feminine

This means that the claim by ignorant Tablighees from India and Pakistan that the word Allah in unique and there is no feminine word for Allah is a big fat lie, unless al-Tabari is ignorant.

Next? Surat al-Najm and interpolation (Gasp!)?

Dear Readers interested in very early Arabic literature check the word سجع or Saj' because this is what Surat al-Najm is all about

https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/%D8%B3%D8%AC%D8%B9/

You can use a translation app and it is modern Arabic so translation apps work very well.

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