12 THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

acknowledging in the presence of his opponents that three of their goddesses were worthy of honour and would intercede effectually with GOD. On that occasion, deserted by almost all his followers (whom he had sent to take refuge in Abyssinia), and almost despairing of success in his mission, Muhammad went to pray in the Ka'abah, the great national sanctuary at Mecca. There, when repeating the Chapter of the Star (Surah LIII.), when he had recited vv. 19 and 20, "Have ye not then seen Al-lat and Al-'Uzza' and Manat the other the third?" he added—at the instigation of Satan, as the Muslims confess,—the words, "These are the exalted beauties, and verily their intercession may indeed be hoped for." But hardly had the Meccans accepted the admission when Muhammad 


[Footnote continued from previous page]
عثمان ابن مظعون واصحابه وتحدّثوا ان اهل مكّه قد اسلموا كّلهم وصلوا معه صلعم وقد امن المسلمون بمكّة فاقبلوا سراعاً من الحبشة‫. وكذا نبه علىا ثبوت اصلها شيخ الاسلام والحافظ ابو الفضل الاسقلانى فقال اخرج ابن ابى حاتم والظبرى وابن المنذر من طرق عن شعبة عن ابى بشر عن سعيد بن خبير قال ـ قراء رسول الله صلعم بمكّة والنجم ـ فلما بلغ افرئيتم اللات والعزىا ومناة والثلاث الاخرىا ـ القىا الشيطان لسانه  ـ تلك الغرانيق العلىا وان شفاعتهن لترتجى فقال المشركون ما ذكر آلهتنا بخير قبل اليوم فسجد وسجدوا فنزلت هذه الآية وما ارسلنا من قبلك من رسول ولا نبى الا اذا تمّنى القىا الشيطان في امنيته الاية‫.
THE STRENGTH OF ISLAM. 13

declared that he had been misled, and instead of these words of compromise he substituted those now found in that Surah, "Have ye male (issue) and hath He (i.e. God) female?1 That indeed were an unfair division. They are nought but names which ye and your fathers have named."2

Soon after Khadijah's death the leaders

A.D. 616.

of the Quraish came to Abu Talib, Muhammad's uncle and protector, and induced him to invite Muhammad to a friendly meeting with them in order to come to an agreement. When they met and suggested that he should tolerate their continuing their ancestral worship on the condition of their not interfering with his religious teaching, Muhammad bravely and firmly declared that he would be satisfied only on condition of their repeating the words La ilaha illa’ llahu, &c. ("There is no God but GOD") and putting away whatever else they worshipped.3

Qur'anic
assertions
 of Unity.

From that time Muhammad never wavered in his firm adherence to his faith in the Unity of God.


1 It was regarded as a misfortune and a possible source of disgrace among the Arabs to have daughters. 
2 Surah An-Najm (liii.), 21, 22, 23:
أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْأُنثَى
تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى
إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا أَسْمَاء سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُم مَّا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَانٍ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهْوَى الْأَنفُسُ وَلَقَدْ جَاءهُم مِّن رَّبِّهِمُ الْهُدَى
In a later Surah (xviii. 75, 76 [Surah xvii, 73-74]) Muhammad confessed the danger he was at that time in of making a compromise with his opponents.
3 Ibn Hisham, "Sirat," vol. i., pp. 145, 146 (Arabic edit.).
2 Are yours the males and His the females? That indeed were an unfair division! They are but names which ye have named, ye and your fathers, for which Allah hath revealed no warrant. They follow but a guess and that which (they) themselves desire. And now the guidance from their Lord hath come unto them. Sura 53:21-23
Pickthal's translation
And their purpose was to tempt thee away from that which We had revealed unto thee, to substitute in our name something quite different; (in that case), behold! they would certainly have made thee (their) friend!
And had We not given thee strength, thou wouldst nearly have inclined to them a little. Sura 17:73-74 Yusufali's translation