difficult could be removed; so that he meditated on the project and longed ?for it and it was dear to him. Then God sent down ‘By the star when it sets your comrade errs not ?and is not deceived, he speaks not from his own desire,’ and when he reached His words ‘Have ?you thought of al-Lat and al-‘Uzza and Manat the third, the other’,? Satan, when he was ?meditating upon it, and desiring to bring it (sc. reconciliation) to his people, put upon his tongue ??’these are the exalted Gharaniq ?whose intercession is approved.’ When Quraysh heard that, ?they were delighted and greatly pleased at the way in which he spoke of their gods and they ?listened to him; while the believers were holding that what their prophet brought them from their ?Lord was true, not suspecting a mistake or a vain desire or a slip, and when he reached the ?prostration and the end of the Sura in which he prostrated himself the Muslims prostrated ?themselves when their prophet prostrated confirming what he brought and obeying his command, ?and the polytheists of Quraysh and others who were in the mosque prostrated when they heard ?the mention of their gods, so that everyone in the mosque believer and unbeliever prostrated, ?except al-Walid b. al-Mughira who was an old man who could not do so, so he took a handful of ?dirt from the valley and bent over it. Then the people dispersed and Quraysh went out, delighted ?at what had been said about their gods, saying, ‘Muhammad has spoken of our gods in splendid ?fashion. He alleged in what he read that they are the exalted Gharaniq whose intercession is ?approved.’?
Al-Tabari continues: “The news reached the prophet’s companions who were in Abyssinia, it being reported that ?Quraysh had accepted Islam, so some men started