The false story of Gharaaneeq
31-3-2009 | IslamWeb
Question:
Are their satanic verses in Holy Quran?What do you have to say about Salman Rushdie Book?Kindly Eloborate this Verses 53:19-22 & 22:52-53.What Desires are Mentioned Here?Did Prophet (SAW)at anytime acknowledge the Quraish gods to win followers?Is their Contradiction on Period of weaning in the Holy Quran?Am a Strong muslim my friend whom am trying to convert gave me a challege on those questions and I feel i have limited Knowledge to respond.Jazzakalahu Khair.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
There are no satanic verses in the Quran; rather, the whole Quran are verses of Mercy, and the Quran is a Book that is protected from any forgery or falsification; Allaah Says (what means): {Indeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e. the Quran] and indeed, We will be its guardian.}[Quran 15:9]; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 86261.
As regards the book entitled ‘The Satanic Verses’, it is a book of misguidance, and its writer wanted to make people doubt about some foundations of the religion and shake the trust of the Muslims in their religion, and the scholars ruled that the writer of this book is an apostate.
With regard to the verses in Chapter An-Najm [Quran 53], it is a response to what some polytheists used to believe in, that the idols and angels are daughters of Allaah, but if a man amongst them was given glad tiding of a female, he would hate that, so Allaah denied them from attributing to Allaah what they hated to attribute to themselves, and clarified that this is unjust.
As regards the verses in Chapter Al-Hajj [Quran 22], in which Allaah Says (what means): {And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he spoke [or recited]; Satan threw into it [some misunderstanding]. But Allaah abolishes that which Satan throws in; then Allaah makes precise His verses. And Allaah is Knowing and Wise. [That is] so He may make what Satan throws in [i.e. asserts] a trial for those within whose hearts is disease and those hard of heart. And indeed, the wrongdoers are in extreme dissension.}[Quran 22: 52-53], they clarify that there is no Prophet sent by Allaah except that the devil tries to mix his words with the words that the Prophet recites from Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds, and Allaah protects His Words from the words of the devil. The verses also show that the whispers of the devil may be an affliction to some people in whose hearts is a disease, and so they try to attribute what the devil said to the Words of Allaah, the Most Merciful.
Furthermore, the Prophet did not approve of the Quraysh about their worship of the idols, and he never approved this of them, rather, it is known from them that they spread about him that he insulted their gods. However, if you refer to the story of Gharaaneeq –plural of Gharnooq which is a beautiful white long-necked bird known in English as a crane –then this story is false and unfounded. The story says that the Prophet recited Surah An-Najm to the non-Muslims until he reached the verses 19-20 then the devil put words into his mouth and he said ‘they are the exalted Gharaaneeq whose intercession is to be hoped for’. Then the non-Muslims were pleased with the praise of their idols and so they prostrated. So this story is unfounded and untrue.
Moreover, there is absolutely no contradiction in the Quran in the verses about breastfeeding or other verses. Nonetheless, if you mean that there is a contradiction between the verses in Chapter Luqmaan in which Allaah Says (what means): {…and his weaning is in two years.}[Quran 31:14], and the verses in Chapter Al-Ahqaaf in which Allaah Says (what means): {…and his gestation and weaning [period] is thirty months.}[Quran 46:15], then the first verse states that the breastfeeding is completed in two years, and the second verse clarifies that the gestation and weaning may be completed in a period of thirty months. The scholars 
clarified that this means that the minimum period of pregnancy is six months, and the remaining is the period of breastfeeding which is 24 months, so there is no contradiction between the two verses.
Finally, it should be mentioned that if a person is not well-versed in religious knowledge, it is not permissible for him to debate with the people of falsehood, and one should avoid keeping company with such people as they may spoil his religion.
For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 84088.
Allaah Knows best.