Allahs promises to protect Muhammad from the power of Satan

Responding to the assertions of a Muslim Apologist

Sam Shamoun

Bassam Zawadi has written a "response" (*) to my article (*) concerning Allah promising to protect his righteous slaves from harm, specifically from the attacks of Satan and discussed the implications this has on Muhammad being bewitched and reciting verses from Satan which he mistakenly thought were from Allah. In that article I showed how this proves that either Allah isnt all-powerful and/or unreliable, or that Muhammad was unrighteous since Satan could not control him if he were righteous and pleasing to his deity.

Zawadi begins by saying that,

First, the evidence overwhelmingly supports the historical veracity of the Satanic verses. For the data which conclusively proves that Muhammad thought that he had recited verses from Satan which he mistakenly thought were from Allah, please consult the following articles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

Second, Satan inspiring Muhammad and Muhammads bewitchment do conflict with the promises given in the Quranic texts that we had cited in our article, as we shall now see.

In the first place, Zawadis belief that Satan can possess a person doesnt solve the problem but further complicates matters. His position either proves that Allah is a consistent failure and powerless against Satan since he cannot even prevent his faithful from being possessed by evil spirits, and therefore does contradict what the Quran teaches. Or, this shows that individuals who do come under demonic-possession are not righteous slaves, otherwise Allah would have protected them from being possessed.

Furthermore, it is apparent that Zawadi didnt know how to respond to my points and so decided to attack a straw man. The problem is not with Satan influencing individuals to sin. The problem is with Satan controlling Muhammad through magic to such an extent that the latter thought he was having sex with his wives.

Zawadi thinks he has a solution to Muhammads mind being affected by magic and sorcery:

This response also raises some uncomfortable questions which we would like Zawadi to answer for us:

• Why didnt Allah prevent Muhammad from being controlled by magic if the Quran is correct that Satan will not affect those that are righteous before Allah?
• Moreover, what was Muhammad actually doing during the entire year that he thought he was sleeping with his wives? After all, for him to believe he was really having sex implies that he was pleasuring himself in some manner otherwise how could he think that he was actually engaging in intercourse? Isnt this rather humiliating?
• And why would Allah humiliate his prophet in such a way, allowing him to think he was having sex when he really wasnt, thereby shaming him in front of the Muslims and unbelievers?
• Moreover, why would Allah allow Muhammads wives to go on without having sex with their husband for nearly a year? What kind of god is this that would actually permit a man to neglect his marital duties with his spouses when he could have simply healed him from the very start?
• Does Zawadi really want non-Muslims to believe that for an entire year Muhammad wasnt receiving "revelations" when he was under this state? Can Zawadi (or any other Muslim) provide a conclusive statement from the Islamic narratives themselves which say that he wasnt being inspired during this period of time that Satan had him under his control?
• Wouldnt this imply that Satan is more powerful than Allah seeing that he was able to bewitch Muhammad for nearly a year even though the Quran says that he wouldnt be able to harm Allahs righteous servants?
• Or should we assume that Muhammad wasnt righteous enough and was in fact a deviator, which explains why Allah would allow him to be so humiliated by the devil?

The problem is also with Satan inspiring Muhammad to recite verses which the latter mistakenly assumed were from Allah. Satan basically misguided Muhammad into committing shirk, or the sin of associating other gods with Allah, since he caused him to praise the goddesses of the pagan Meccans. The devil further used Muhammad to misguide the disbelievers into thinking that Muhammads deity approved the worship of these idols and also accepted the intercession of these goddesses.

In light of this here are some more uncomfortable questions which would like Zawadi to answer in regard to the Satanic verses:

• If even jinn are incapable of matching the Quran, as Q. 17:88 claims, then how was Satan able to deceive Muhammad into thinking that the verses which the devil put on his tongue were revelations of the Quran?
• Wasnt Muhammad able to tell the difference between Satans words and the verses of Allah?
• Couldnt he see that the lines that Satan composed were vastly inferior in quality to the Qurans verses?
• Couldnt the rest of the Muslims, as well as the pagans, see that these verses did not match up to the style of the Quran? After all, if the Quran is inimitable as it claims to be the people should have been able to immediately spot the difference between what Satan inspired and what Allah had revealed in the Quran.
• And doesnt the fact that neither Muhammad nor the rest of the people were able to see any qualitative difference between what Satan proposed with the rest of the Quran actually prove that the devil was able to meet the Qurans challenge of producing something like it?
• And if Satan did meet Allahs challenge what does this say about the Qurans claim of inimitability?
• Doesnt this prove that the Quran can and has been matched, which therefore falsifies its own claim of being unique and/or miraculous?
• Moreover, what does this say about Satans power seeing that he was able to personally meet the challenge of the Quran without requiring any assistance from the rest of mankind and jinn? Imagine that, Satan wasnt only able to bewitch and deceive Muhammad, even though Allah said he wouldnt be able to do so, he also managed to produce verses which Muhammad and the others thought were part of the Quran!
• Does this suggest that Satan is somehow all-powerful since he was able to produce statements of equal eloquence as those contained in the Quran?
• In a related question, what does this say about Allahs ability to insure that no one would be able to meet the Qurans challenge?
• Would not Satans ability to produce something identical to the Quran prove that either Allah isnt all-powerful, the devil is his equal, or that the Quran is not from God?
• What does this also say about Allahs ability to protect his messengers from being controlled and inspired by Satan?
• Doesnt this cast doubt on Allahs ability to protect his messengers and prophets? And if so, how can Allah be trusted to do what he says when his ability to carry out his promises can be thwarted by a finite creature like the devil (that is, unless Satan happens to be all-powerful as well)?
• Finally, if Satan could inspire Muhammad what does this say about the rest of the Quran? What guarantee can a Muslim give and what evidence can s/he offer to prove that there are no other parts of the Quran which were actually inspired by Satan?

Zawadi thinks he has another explanation which makes sense of Muhammad being duped and inspired by Satan to praise idols:

This explanation doesnt fair any better for the following reasons:

• Again, why didnt Allah prevent Satan from casting words on Muhammads mouth in the first place?
• Why didnt Gabriel arrive before Satan could cast his words on Muhammads tongue, especially when the Quran says it is Allah who sends the devils upon his messengers?

Since Allah not only knew beforehand that Satan would try to deceive Muhammad, but he was the one who actually sent the enemy to place his words on Muhammads tongue, why then didnt he send his angel to prevent the devil from casting words on the lips of his messenger?

• This explanation also fails to explain how Allah could even allow Muhammad to recite verses which Satan placed on his mouth praising the idols of the Meccans when this led the pagans to believe that Allah had now accepted the intercession and the existence of their goddesses, thereby leading them further into shirk.
• In fact, this event provided more confirmation to the pagans that Muhammad was a liar and deceiver since he first glorified their goddesses and then retracted his statements and condemned the existence of these very idols that he initially praised. In light of this, why would Allah allow the enemy to put the praise of the goddesses on Muhammads mouth when he knew that he would have to revoke these statements? By having to cancel out Satans verses didnt Allah help to confirm the suspicions and doubts of the unbelievers concerning Muhammads credibility, e.g. he was nothing more than a forger who was making up the Quran and trying to pass it off as revelation from Allah?

Zawadi is surprised by my comments concerning Allah granting Satan respite in order to destroy mankind:

Zawadi is comparing apples and oranges since what the Holy Bible teaches concerning Gods purpose for allowing the enemy to test mankind is not the same as what the Quran says regarding this issue. More on this topic is found in the article The Problem of Divine Sovereignty, Predestination, Salvation and Human Free Will.

Zawadi tries to prove that neither Q. 5:67 nor 5:105 has any significance on the story of the satanic verses or Muhammad being affected by magic. And he selectively quotes Islamic sources to show that these references have no bearing on this subject.

There are several problems with Zawadis desperate appeal to authority and his selective sourcing of Muslim scholars. First, Zawadi doesnt see his own dilemma since if Allah could protect Muhammad from being harmed by human beings then surely he could have protected his messenger from being inspired by Satan and controlled by a sorcerer. In fact, the Quran says that magicians will never be successful:

But this is not what happened since Satan duped Muhammad and a sorcerer was so successful against Allah's "messenger" that his magic had such control over his mind that he had Muhammad actually believing that he was having sex with his wives, when he wasn't, for nearly a year! This either means that Allah failed and isnt powerful enough, or Muhammad wasnt righteous and therefore Allah handed him over to be disciplined by Satan.

Secondly, nothing that Zawadi cited from his Muslim authorities denies that these texts can also apply to Allah protecting his messengers from Satan and his minions.

Thirdly, there are other Muslims who do see how these verses are relevant to these stories:

And in trying to reconcile Q. 72:27-28 and 5:67 with the fact that Muhammad suffered physical injuries the Understanding Islam website states:

In fact, there were Muslims in the past such as the Mutazilites who used Q. 5:67 to disprove the story of Muhammads bewitchment, so this is not simply a modern position:

Zawadi thought that he understood the Quran correctly and assumed that his eisegesis refutes my understanding and application of the Quranic verses. However, as is his consistent habit, Zawadi has simply misunderstood and even distorted what the Quran says and cited sources which he erroneously assumed agreed with his position, and yet conveniently ignored and didnt address those Muslims who used passages such as Q. 5:67 and 105 to prove that Muhammad could not be bewitched.

In conclusion, the evidence conclusively shows that not only was Muhammad bewitched but he also had Satan inspire him to recite his verses which he only later realized did not come from Allah. This means that, according to the Quranic passages we referenced in our original article, Muhammad was either unrighteous and Allah therefore decided to hand him over to the power and control of Satan; or Allah wasnt powerful enough to save his messenger in time.

Recommended Reading

Rebuttals to Bassam Zawadi
Articles by Sam Shamoun
Answering Islam Home Page