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Nasir al-Din al-Albani

Nasb al-Majaniq li-Nasf Qissat al-Gharaniq

Author died
1420 AH
Editions
al-Maktab al-Islāmī

Nasb al-Majaniq li-Nasf Qissat al-Gharaniq (Setting Up the Ballistas to Obliterate the Story of the Cranes) is a critical hadith treatise written by the hadith scholar Nasir al-Din al-Albani (d. 1420 AH) . The work is dedicated to examining and refuting the historical and theological authenticity of the Gharaniq narrative, in which Satan is alleged to have cast praise for pagan idols into the recitation of Surah al-Najm .

Background and Purpose

Al-Albani composed the treatise following an inquiry dated July 14, 1952 CE from a correspondent visiting Pakistan regarding the conflicting evaluations of the Gharaniq reports by earlier authorities—specifically the rejection of the story by Ibn Kathir versus its strengthening through multiple routes by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani . Following Eid al-Adha in 1371 AH, after encountering an individual who cited the narrative to impugn the integrity of the Prophet Muhammad, al-Albani set out to collect, classify, and critique every extant chain of transmission (isnad) and textual variation (matn) of the incident .

Contents and Structure

The book is structured into several interconnected sections :

  • Introduction and Theological Context: Al-Albani begins with the circumstances of writing and discusses the Quranic verses associated with the issue, particularly Surah al-Hajj (22:52–54) and Surah al-Najm (53:19–20) .
  • Analysis of the Ten Transmitted Paths: Al-Albani catalogs ten distinct transmissions of the narrative, demonstrating the defects (ilal) in each path :
    1. The report through Sa'id ibn Jubayr, refuting its connected (mawṣūl) version .
    2. The report through Abu Bakr ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith .
    3. The report through Abu al-Aliyah .
    4. The combined transmission through Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi and Muhammad ibn Qays .
    5. The report through Qatadah .
    6. The report through Urwah ibn al-Zubayr .
    7. The report through Abu Salih, demonstrating the weakness of the connected route .
    8. The report through al-Dahhak .
    9. The report through Muhammad ibn Fadalah al-Zafari and al-Muttalib ibn Abd Allah ibn Hantab .
    10. The report attributed to Ibn Abbas, outlining the weakness across all its lines .
  • Textual Incoherence (Matn): Al-Albani argues that the narrative suffers from severe internal contradictions and absurdities that conflict with prophetic infallibility (ismah), such as claiming that believers could not distinguish satanic words from divine revelation or that the Prophet remained unaware of the interpolation until informed later .
  • Critique of Ibn Hajar's Stance: The author disputes the principle that multiple broken (mursal) chains unconditionally corroborate one another, maintaining that heavily flawed or disconnected reports cannot mutually reinforce a narrative into acceptability .
  • Scholarly Precedents: The work presents arguments from classical authorities who rejected the incident, including Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, al-Qadi Iyad, al-Shawkani, and al-Alusi (including the latter's rebuttal of Ibrahim al-Kurani) .
  • The Authentic Historical Event: Al-Albani concludes by clarifying the authentic narration regarding the prostration of the polytheists during the recitation of Surah al-Najm, establishing that it occurred solely due to the majesty of the Quranic verses, without any interpolation praising idols .

Publication

The work was printed as a short monograph of approximately 72 pages by al-Maktab al-Islami in Beirut, reaching its third edition in 1417 AH / 1996 CE .

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