Working out what actually happened in early seventh-century Arabia is notoriously difficult. What can be analysed are the different uses to which al-Tabari and Rushdie put their tales. The novelist uses this moment to make his “Mahound” seem like a modern doubting man. Tabari implies the incident proves Mohammed was tempted by the devil but emerged unscathed. He quotes a supporting verse from elsewhere in the Koran, 22:52: “We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he recited Satan cast words into his recitation. God abrogates what Satan casts. Then God established his verses. God is knower, wise.” So if Tabari made up the incident, he did so with the purpose of making the Prophet seem more holy – and proving the Koran could not be tampered with without God’s swift intervention.