Surah 53:19–22:
Have you considered al-Lat and al-Uzza and Manat, the third - the other? Is for you the male and for Him the female? That, then, is an unjust division.
The mention of the three pagan goddess idols of Mecca—Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat—carries a massive historical scar known as the Incident of the Gharaniq.
Early, foundational Islamic historians and commentators (including Ibn Ishaq, Al-Tabari, and Ibn Sa'd) documented that Muhammad, under intense political pressure from the Quraysh, was reciting this exact Surah. When he reached verses 19–20, Satan allegedly cast words onto his tongue, causing him to proclaim: "These are the exalted cranes (gharāniq), and their intercession is to be hoped for."
Delighted that Muhammad had validated their goddesses as legitimate celestial mediators with Allah, the pagan Meccans immediately bowed down in worship alongside the Muslims. The verses were later retracted and altered to the current text, which fiercely mocks the idols.
To a historical critic, this incident shatters the Quran’s internal claim in verses 3–4 that Muhammad "does not speak from his own inclination; it is not but a revelation revealed."
Even though later orthodox theologians systematically tried to scrub or declare the Gharaniq narrations fabricated to protect the doctrine of prophetic sinlessness (Ismah), the sheer volume of early independent historical reports points to a genuine theological crisis where monotheistic boundaries were temporarily traded for tribal reconciliation.