Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islam
Ibid., p. 87) and in essentially every attempt of later Muslim scholars to
present Muhammad as a descendant of Ishmael and Abraham.
[58] Guillaume, New Light, pp. 27 f.
[59] Guillaume (Ibid.) cites Sahih Bukhari (vol. 5, p. 106), Suhayli
(Al-Raud al-Unuf, p. 146) and Ibn Kathir (Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, p. 239)
as giving various versions of this tradition, in which attempts to cover up its
scandalous nature are evident.
[60] Guillaume, in his book Islam, p. 26.
[61] Ibn Kalbi on "al-`Uzza" in Wellhausen, Reste, p. 34.
[62] The Christian apologist Kindi used this verse as proof that
Muhammad was idolatrous, and claimed that Muhammad worshipped the
idols al-Lat and al-`Uzza just as his relatives did. See al-Kindi in ECMD, p.
426.
[63] Translation of Arberry.
[64] See the translations of Kahn in Sahih Bukhari, vol. 1, p. 5; vol. 6,
pp. 420 f, Siddiqi in Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, pp. 98 f, and Gölpinarli in
Kur'an, p. 361. For a discussion of this text, see p. 41, below.
[65] See Ibn Hisham in Guillaume, Muhammad, p. 80, where Muhammad
is reported to have said that nothing was more hateful to him than al-Lat
and al-Uzza (cf. Ibn Sad, Classes, vol. 1, 1, pp. 146, 176, 178). See also
Guillaume, Muhammad, p. 81, in which it is said that God protected
Muhammad and kept him from the vileness of heathenism, because He
wanted to honor him with apostleship. An interesting, but contradictory
addition to this statement appears in Guillaume, New Light, p. 20, and a
similar one in Ibn Sa`d, Classes, I, 1, p. 134, to the effect that God protected
Muhammad... because He wanted to honor him with apostleship: "(while)
he followed the religion (creed) of his people... " Cf. reference in n. 61,
above.
[66] See the Fikh Akbar II, (c. 10th century AD), article 9, as given in
Wensinck, Creed, p. 192 : "...He [Muhammad] did not serve idols, nor was