The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality

The story of ‘Al-Gharaneeq al-‘Ula’ or ‘prominent deities’ concerns about a historical narrative in the early stage of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have recited the Surah an-Najm to a large group of Quraysh people, and reached the ayat 19-23, where he uttered the names of their...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Osmani, Noor Mohammad, Ali, Md. Yousuf
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
English
English
English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/1/Gharaniq_al-Ula_in_the_Qur%27an_-_a_myth_or_reality.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/4/USIM_Seminar_invitation_letter__for_Al-Gharaniq_al-%27Ula.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/5/USIM_OCT_2015_ENGLISH_PAPER.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/9/Gharaniq_al-Ula-Presentation_slides.pdf
id iium-47077
recordtype eprints
spelling iium-470772018-06-26T02:41:58Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/ The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality Osmani, Noor Mohammad Ali, Md. Yousuf BP1 Islam The story of ‘Al-Gharaneeq al-‘Ula’ or ‘prominent deities’ concerns about a historical narrative in the early stage of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have recited the Surah an-Najm to a large group of Quraysh people, and reached the ayat 19-23, where he uttered the names of their ‘great deities’ such as Lat, Manat and ‘Uzza, he involuntarily recited تلك الغرانيق العلى، وإن شفاعتهن لترتجى “they are the prominent deities, and their intercession is much sought for”. This narrative caused a great havoc among the intellectual circles of the Qur’an and History. The historians, mufassirun and muhaddithun have cited this narrative in their books in details. This has led the readers of the Qur’an, Sunnah and the history of Islam into confusion. The narrative was used by the famous Orientalists like William Muir, Joseph Schacht and others as a tool to dissociate the Qur’an from the divine origin. The claim has also been made that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was supportive of the pagan deities in the early stage of his mission as a way of getting closer to the Arab Mushriks. The scholars used three Qur’anic ayat for this purpose, which are: Surah An-Najm 19-23, Surah al-Isra 73-75 and Surah al-Hajj 52-54. A careful and closer reading of these Qur’anic ayat reveal the fact that the ayat were interpreted out of the contexts by the interpreters, historians and story tellers. The present research is carried out in order to discover the true fact behind this controversial incident. The research would deal with the incident and its credibility from historical, narrative, sanad and textual perspective to see if it carries some genuineness or is a total fabrication by some anti-Islamic forces to create doubt about the origin of the Qur’an. The study is a narrative, descriptive, analytical and critical one based on the original authentic literatures. It is expected that the article may come out with some clear insights which would help to remove confusion about the incident and the ayat to a large extent. 2015 Conference or Workshop Item NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/1/Gharaniq_al-Ula_in_the_Qur%27an_-_a_myth_or_reality.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/4/USIM_Seminar_invitation_letter__for_Al-Gharaniq_al-%27Ula.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/5/USIM_OCT_2015_ENGLISH_PAPER.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/9/Gharaniq_al-Ula-Presentation_slides.pdf Osmani, Noor Mohammad and Ali, Md. Yousuf (2015) The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality. In: Seminar Wahyu Asas Tamadun IV Peringkat Antarabangsa (SWAT 2015), 6 - 7 Oct. 2015, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. (Unpublished)
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
English
English
English
topic BP1 Islam
spellingShingle BP1 Islam
Osmani, Noor Mohammad
Ali, Md. Yousuf
The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality
description The story of ‘Al-Gharaneeq al-‘Ula’ or ‘prominent deities’ concerns about a historical narrative in the early stage of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have recited the Surah an-Najm to a large group of Quraysh people, and reached the ayat 19-23, where he uttered the names of their ‘great deities’ such as Lat, Manat and ‘Uzza, he involuntarily recited تلك الغرانيق العلى، وإن شفاعتهن لترتجى “they are the prominent deities, and their intercession is much sought for”. This narrative caused a great havoc among the intellectual circles of the Qur’an and History. The historians, mufassirun and muhaddithun have cited this narrative in their books in details. This has led the readers of the Qur’an, Sunnah and the history of Islam into confusion. The narrative was used by the famous Orientalists like William Muir, Joseph Schacht and others as a tool to dissociate the Qur’an from the divine origin. The claim has also been made that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was supportive of the pagan deities in the early stage of his mission as a way of getting closer to the Arab Mushriks. The scholars used three Qur’anic ayat for this purpose, which are: Surah An-Najm 19-23, Surah al-Isra 73-75 and Surah al-Hajj 52-54. A careful and closer reading of these Qur’anic ayat reveal the fact that the ayat were interpreted out of the contexts by the interpreters, historians and story tellers. The present research is carried out in order to discover the true fact behind this controversial incident. The research would deal with the incident and its credibility from historical, narrative, sanad and textual perspective to see if it carries some genuineness or is a total fabrication by some anti-Islamic forces to create doubt about the origin of the Qur’an. The study is a narrative, descriptive, analytical and critical one based on the original authentic literatures. It is expected that the article may come out with some clear insights which would help to remove confusion about the incident and the ayat to a large extent.
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Osmani, Noor Mohammad
Ali, Md. Yousuf
author_facet Osmani, Noor Mohammad
Ali, Md. Yousuf
author_sort Osmani, Noor Mohammad
title The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality
title_short The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality
title_full The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality
title_fullStr The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality
title_full_unstemmed The narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality
title_sort narrative of ‘al-ghraniq al-‘ula’ in the qur’an: a myth or reality
publishDate 2015
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/1/Gharaniq_al-Ula_in_the_Qur%27an_-_a_myth_or_reality.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/4/USIM_Seminar_invitation_letter__for_Al-Gharaniq_al-%27Ula.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/5/USIM_OCT_2015_ENGLISH_PAPER.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47077/9/Gharaniq_al-Ula-Presentation_slides.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T21:07:00Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T21:07:00Z
_version_ 1777411000146853888