IS SALMAN RUSHDIE'S "SATANIC VERSES" FOUND IN THE KORAN?

The story of the Satanic Verses is not mentioned either in the Koran or in any of the early oral or written sources. It iss not included in Ibn Ishaq's Sira, the most authoritative biography of the Prophet, but only in the work of the tenth-century historian Aby Jafar at-Tahari (d.923). He tells us that Muhammad was distressed by the rift that had developed between him and most of his tribe after he had forbidden the cult of the goddesses and so, inspired by "Satan," he uttered some rogue verses which allowed the banat al-Lah to be venerated as intercessors, like the angels. In these so-called "Satanic" verses, the three goddesses were not on a par with al-Lah but were lesser spiritual beings who could intercede with him on behalf of mankind. Later, however, Tabari says that Gabriel told the Prophet that these verses were of "Satanic" origin and should be excised from the Koran to be replaced by these lines which declared that the banat al-Lah were projections and figments of the imagination:

          Have you, then, ever considered (what you are worshipping in) al-Lah, al-Uzza, as well as (in
          Manat, the third and last (of this triad)?. . . These (allegedly divine beings) are nothing but
          empty names which you have invented - you and your forefathers- (and) for which God has
          bestowed no warrant from on high. They (who worship them) follow nothing but surmise and
          their own wishful thinking - although right guidance has now indeed come unto them from
          their Sustainer.

This was the most radical of all Koranic condemnation of the ancestral pagan gods, and after these verses had been included in the Koran there was no chance of a reconciliation with the Quraysh. From this point, Muhammad became a jealous monotheist, and shirk (idolatry; literally associating other beings with al-Lah) became the greatest sin of Islam.
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*Excerpt from the book A History of God: A 4,000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, by Karen Armstrong, pp.147-48.

Posted April 20, 2013