Miracles of ProphetMuhammad

Said Nursi

Published: 2010Tag(s): Islam, Muhammad, "ProphetMuhammad", Miracles

Inroduction

(Note: All Traditions related in this treatiseare from memory, for I have no reference booksto consult. If there are mistakes in the wording,please correct them or consider them as para-phrases. According to the prevailing opinionamong Tradition scholars, such paraphrasingis permissible.)

This treatise illustrates Muhammad’smiraculous Messenger-ship through morethan 300 miracles that he worked, and is amarvel because of the following:

First: Although this treatise covers morethan 100 pages and is based on Traditions andnarrations, I wrote it while in the countryside,working 2 or 3 hours each day. I finished it in2 or 3 days, working completely from memory.

Second: Despite its length, this treatisedoes not bore the scribes or lose any of itspleasantness in its readers’ eyes. In fact, it hasaroused such enthusiasm, even in some lazy

scribes, that in these hard and distressingtimes as many as copies have been hand-writ-ten in this neighborhood within a year.1 Thoseaware of this treatise’s distinction concludethat it must be a wonder coming from his Mes-sengership’s miraculousness.

In the copies hand-written by nine scribes,including one inexperienced and unaware oftawafuq,2 the words referring to the Prophetwere found to be arranged unintentionally be-neath one another throughout the treatise.This is the same in the Fifth Part for thewords referring to the Qur’an. The fair-minded will not see this tawafuq as mere coin-cidence, but rather as a mysterious sign and awonder derived from his miraculous Messen-gership. The essentials explained at the

1.The Nur (Light) treatises were hand-copied secretlyuntil 1950, because the government of that time treatedreligious people harshly and Islam with hostility. (Tr.)2.Tawafuq: God’s arranging things and events so that

His servants obtain a good effect, such as the uninten-tional arrangement of key words one beneath the otheron a page or in the same place on different pages. (Tr.)

treatise’s beginning are very important. TheProphetic Traditions related in it are all au-thentic, according to the Traditionists, and re-port the most established phenomena concern-ing his Messengership. To enumerate thistreatise’s usefulness, another one of the samelength would be needed. Therefore we invitethose who desire to discover its usefulness toread it.

Said Nursi

[Said Nursi sometimes draws atten-tion to his writings. This is not doneout of self-praise. Rather, as a Muslimguide and inspired scholar dedicatedto explaining the pillars of Islamic be-lief, worship, and morality as well asto establishing them in people’s mindsand hearts, and being completely con-fident of the truth of what he writes,he follows a style required by guid-ance. We should keep this in mind, aswell as the period during which hewrote—a very hard time during

which Islam was severely attackedand Islamic activities were kept understrict control and banned. (Tr.)]

Chapter 1First Sign: Why did Godmake Muhammad HisMessenger andhumanity's guide?The universe's Owner and Master doeseverything with knowledge, controls every af-fair with wisdom, directs everything perfectly,regulates everything all-knowingly, and ar-ranges everything in a way to display the pur-poses and uses He wills for them. As the One

who creates knows, the One who knows willspeak. Since He will speak, He will speak tothose having consciousness, thought, andspeech. Since He will speak to such people, Hewill speak to humanity, whose nature andawareness are the most comprehensive of allconscious beings. Since He will speak to hu-manity, He will speak to those most perfectand worthy of address.

Since He will speak to the one most perfectand worthy of address, of the highest moralityand who will guide humanity, He will speak toMuhammad, who has the highest dispositionand morality and is followed (most sincerely)by one-fifth of humanity. Half of the globe hassubmitted to his spiritual rule, and his light'sradiance has illumined humanity for morethan centuries. Believers, the illumined sec-tion of humanity, renew their oath of allegi-ance five times a day, pray for his happiness,invoke God's blessings upon him, and admireand love him. Given this, He will speak toMuhammad and make him His Messengerand humanity's guide. Indeed, He has done so.

Chapter 2Second Sign: The mir-acles of the ProfhetMuhammad cannot bedeniedThe Prophet declared his Prophethood andproved it by presenting Qur'an and nearly1,000 miracles. Their occurrence is as certainas his declaration of Prophethood. Anotherproof is that the Qur'an states that the mostobstinate unbelievers charged him with

sorcery. Unable to deny the miracles, theycalled them sorcery to satisfy themselves or tomislead their followers.

Muhammad's miracles are so certain thatthe Traditionists confirmed and reported themunanimously. A miracle is the Creator of theuniverse's confirmation of his Prophethoodand has the effect of: "You have spoken thetruth." For example, if one claims in theruler's presence that the ruler has appointedhim to a particular position, the ruler's "Yes"is enough to prove the person's claim. Further-more, if the ruler changes his usual practiceand attitude at that person's request, thismakes his claim firmer.

The Messenger claimed to be the Creator ofthe universe's envoy, and God, in turn,changed His unbroken order at his prayer andrequest so that the resulting miracles wouldprove his claim. Some of his hundreds of mir-acles are water running from his fingers, split-ting the moon with a gesture of his finger,having a tree draw close to him to confirm and

bear witness to him, and feeding 200 or 300people with only enough food for 2 or 3 people.

However, the evidence of his truthfulnessand his Prophethood's proofs are not restrictedto his miracles. In fact, all of his deeds andacts, words and behavior, moral conduct andmanners, as well as character and appear-ance, prove his truthfulness and seriousness.Indeed, such people as 'Abdullah ibn al-Salam,a famous Jewish scholar of that time, believedin him at first sight, saying: "No lie can hidein this face, nor can any guile be found in it."

Profound scholars say that the evidences ofhis Prophethood and his miracles amount toabout 1,000; in reality, however, this is onlythe beginning. Countless people have affirmedit in their own particular ways, and theQur'an itself provides thousands of suchproofs in addition to its own aspects of miracu-lousness. Since Prophethood is a fact, andmore than 100,000 persons have claimed itand worked miracles, Muhammad's Prophet-hood is established more securely than any

other Prophet's Prophethood. All evidence,qualities, and attributes related to the otherMessengers' Prophethood are found in a moreperfect and comprehensive manner in the per-son of Prophet Muhammad. Given this, hemust be far more worthy to be chosen as aProphet.

Chapter 3Third Sign: Diversity ofthe miraclesThe Prophet's miracles are very diverse. Sincehis Messengership is universal, he is distin-guished by miracles connected with nearly allspecies of creation. When a glorified ruler'saide-de-camp enters a city bearing diversegifts, a representative from each section of thepopulation welcomes him cheerfully and in itsown language.

Likewise, when the Eternal Sovereign's su-preme Messenger honored the universe as anenvoy to humanity and came bearing theCreator's light of truth and spiritual gifts re-lated to the truths of the universe, he was wel-comed as the Prophet by each species—frommineral elements to plants, animals and hu-man beings, and from the moon and sun tostars—each in its own language and bearingone of his miracles. It would require manyvolumes to mention all of his miracles. Pure-souled meticulous scholars have compiledmany volumes concerning his Prophethood'sproofs, so here we point out only briefly themain categories of those miracles unanim-ously accepted as authentic.

These proofs fall into two main categories.The first (irhasat) includes miraculous eventsbefore his birth, at his birth, and before he de-clared his Prophethood. The second categorypertains to all other proofs and has two sub-categories: the wonderful events after hisdeath and those manifested during his Proph-ethood. This latter group is subdivided into

proofs manifested in his own person, moralconduct, and perfect character, and those mir-acles concerned with the outer world. Thissecond subgroup consists of miracles related tospirituality and the Qur'an, and those relatedto material reality and creation. The lattercategory is subdivided further into miraculousevents during his mission that either brokethe unbelievers' recalcitrance or reinforced thebelievers' belief. This branch has differentkinds, each having many instances and havingbeen, at least in meaning, confirmed unanim-ously (e.g., splitting the moon, water flowingfrom his fingers, satisfying many people withlittle food, and being addressed by animals,trees, and rocks). The second branch includessome future events that happened just as heforetold.3

3.Unfortunately, I could not write as I had intended,and so wrote as my heart dictated. I could not follow theorder of this classification.

Chapter 4Fourth Sign: The futureevents the ProphetMuhammad foretoldThe future events he foretold, through theKnower of the Unseen's instruction, are bey-ond counting. Since his true reports about pre-ceding ages, Prophets, and their nations aremostly found in the Qur'an, here we point outonly a few of his correct predictions concerninghis Companions, Family, and community. To

ensure a complete understanding of the sub-ject, we explain six essentials as a prelude.

First Essential

The Prophet's every act and state bears wit-ness to his Prophethood and faithfulness. Butnot all of them need to be miraculous, for hewas sent by the All-Mighty as a human beingto guide and lead human beings in their col-lective affairs and individual deeds to happi-ness in both this world and the next, and todisclose the wonders of God's art and theworks of His Power, each of which is a miraclealthough it appears to us as ordinary and fa-miliar. If he were extraordinary in all of hisacts, he could not guide human beings and in-struct them through his acts, states, andattitudes.

Being supplied with some extraordinaryphenomena to prove his Prophethood to ob-stinate unbelievers, he worked miracles whennecessary. But his miracles were never suchthat people were forced to believe againsttheir will, as that would annul human freewill in this arena of test and trial. If this were

not so, there would have been no choice,meaning that Abu Jahl would have believed asdid Abu Bakr and that no one could have beenheld responsible, in this life and the next, fortheir deeds.

It is surprising that while so many peoplebelieved in him because they saw him performa miracle, speak some words, or glimpsed hisface, some people today go astray as if thesethousands of proofs are not enough, althoughthey reach us through authentic lines of trans-mission and have caused countless discerningpeople to accept Islam.

Second Essential

The Messenger is a human being and so actsas a human being. He is also a Messenger ofGod and thus an interpreter and envoy of theAll-Mighty.

His message is based on the two kinds ofDivine revelation: explicit and implicit. In thecase of explicit revelation, the Messengermerely interprets and announces—he has noshare in its content. The Qur'an and thoseSacred Traditions (hadith qudsi) whose mean-ing and content belong to God exclusively butwhose wording belongs to the Prophet, are in-cluded here. In the case of implicit revelation,the essence and origin of which is based onDivine revelation and inspiration, the Prophetis allowed to explain and describe them. Whenhe does so, he relies either on direct revelationand inspiration or on his own insight. Whengiving his own interpretation, he either relieson the perceptive power bestowed upon himdue to his Prophetic mission or speaks as a

person conforming to his time's common us-ages, customs, and kinds of comprehension.

Thus not all details of every Prophetic Tra-dition are necessarily derived from pureRevelation, nor are the sublime signs of hisMessengership to be sought in his humanthoughts and transactions. Since some truthsare revealed to him in a brief and abstractform, and he describes them through his in-sight and in accord with normal understand-ing, the metaphors, allegories, or ambiguitieshe uses may need explanation or interpreta-tion. Remember that the human mind cangrasp some truths only through analogy. Forexample, once a loud noise was heard in theProphet's presence. He said: "This is the noiseof a rock that has been rolling downwards foryears and now has reached Hell's lowestdepths." An hour later, news came that a no-torious hypocrite who recently had reachedthe age of had died and gone to Hell. This re-port showed the interpretation of theProphet's eloquent parable.

Third Essential

A Tradition related by numerous reliable au-thorities is indisputable. This form of relation(tawatur) has two kinds: obvious tawatur (aTradition with numerous chains of transmis-sion by reliable authorities) and tawatur withrespect to meaning. This second one also hastwo kinds: those agreed upon by silence andthose unanimously related by different peoplebut with different words. In the first case, aTradition related in the presence of otherswithout engendering any dispute or is metwith silence enjoys an implied acceptance. Ifthose remaining silent are interested in thenarration and are known to be very sensitiveto errors and lies, their silence implies accept-ance with far more certainty. The second kind,tawatur with respect to meaning, occurs whenan incident is related unanimously by differ-ent people but with different words, as thisalso implies its actual occurrence. In addition,a report with only one chain of transmission

sometimes amounts to the degree of tawaturin certain conditions or through some externalsigns.

Most of the Prophet's miracles and hisProphethood's proofs fall into either category.Although a few are related through only onechain of transmitters, they can be regarded ascertain as if related through tawatur, sincethey have been accepted by confirmed author-ities. Among such authorities were those whomemorized more than 100,000 Traditions, whowere so God-conscious that for years they per-formed the morning prayer with the nightprayer's wudu' (ablution) (spending nightawake in long vigils), and who compiled thesix authentic books of Tradition.4

Any Tradition accepted after much scrutinyhas the certainty of tawatur, even if it hadonly one chain of transmitters, for such people

4.These are the books of Traditions compiled byBukhari (d. 870), Muslim (d. 875), Abu Dawud (d. 888),Tirmidhi (d. 892), Ibn Maja (d. 886), and al-Nasa'i (d.915). (Ed.)

were so familiar with the Prophet's Traditionsand exalted style that they could instantlyspot and reject one false Tradition among 100reports. Like an expert jeweler recognizes apure diamond, they could not confuse otherwords with those of the Prophet. However,such meticulous authorities as Ibn al-Jawziyawere so excessive in their criticism that theyconsidered several authentic Traditions to befalse. This does not mean that the meaning ofevery false wording is wrong; rather, it meansthat the wording does not belong to theProphet.

Question: What is the benefit of relatingevery Tradition through a chain of transmit-ters, so that they say, even for a well-knownincident: "It is related from so-and-so and fromso-and-so, etc."?

Answer: This has many benefits, such asshowing the consensus of the truthful and reli-able narrators, meticulous Traditionists, aswell as the unanimity of the discerning au-thorities mentioned. Also, it shows that eachscholar in the chain puts his seal on itsauthenticity.

Question: Why were miracles not transmit-ted with as great an emphasis as the Shari'a'sbasic rules?

Answer: The Shari'a's rules are used bymost people to guide their lives and are applic-able to everyone. Miracles, on the other hand,do not need to be known to everyone and onlyneed to be heard once. For example, some reli-gious obligations (such as the funeral prayer)only need to be observed by a few people andnot the entire community. In the same way,

only some people need to know about the mir-acles. This is why a miracle, no matter howmuch firmer its establishment is than aShari'a rule, is transmitted by only one or twonarrators, while a Shari'a rule is transmittedby ten or twenty people.

Fourth Essential

The Messenger predicted some future eventsthat are recurring, as opposed to isolatedevents having a particular significance in hu-man history. They also have numerous as-pects, each of which is explained through adifferent Tradition. A reporter combines theseaspects as if a single narration, thereby mak-ing the Tradition appear to be at variancewith reality.

For example, many narrations about theMahdi have different details and descriptions.But the truth of the matter is that God's Mes-senger, relying on Revelation, told of a Mahdiwho would appear in every century to pre-serve believers' morale, prevent them fromfalling into despair over social upheavals, andsecure their heart-felt devotion to members ofthe Prophet's Family (a most-illustrious lin-eage). He foresaw a Mahdi in every centurysimilar to the Great Mahdi promised for theend of time. The 'Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi, for

example, regarded as belonging to theProphet's Family, had many of the GreatMahdi's characteristics. So, narrations aboutthe Mahdi differ due to confusing the GreatMahdi's qualities with those great caliphs orsaints who came before him.

Fifth Essential

Since only God knows the Unseen, The Proph-et did not know it by himself. He told his Com-panions whatever God, the All-Mighty, relatedto him about the Unseen.

The All-Mighty is also All-Wise and All-Compassionate. Thus His Wisdom and Com-passion require the veiling of most futureevents, for as people consider many of themunpleasant, any prior knowledge of themwould be painful. This is why we do not knowwhen we will die and why the misfortunes wewill experience remain behind the veil of theUnseen.

Divine Wisdom and Compassion also re-quire that the Prophet not know the details ofwhat will happen to his household and Com-panions after his death because of his deepcompassion and tender-heartedness.5 Never-theless the All-Mighty had a Divine purposefor telling him about some of them, albeit notin all their tragic aspects. He communicated

pleasant events to the Prophet, either in out-line or in detail, which he then related to hisCompanions.

Finally, his tidings were transmitted accur-ately to our own era by the great Traditionistswho were at the height of piety, justice, andtruthfulness, and who trembled with fear atsuch specific warnings as: "Whoever intention-ally lies about me should prepare for a dwell-ing in the Fire"6 and But who does greaterwrong than one who lies against God? (39:32).

5.For example, God's Messenger once said to his wives:"I wish I knew which of you will take part in that event,"which shows that he did not know that 'A'isha wouldparticipate in the Battle of Camel. If he had known, hislove and affection for her would have been hurt.However, later on he was informed of this somehow andtold 'Ali: "There probably will be a matter between youand 'A'isha. Treat her gently and return her to her abodesafely."6.Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Jami' al-Saghir; related from

Companions.

Sixth Essential

Many history books and biographies describethe Prophet's behavior and characteristics.But most discuss his human nature, and thusignore his spiritual persona and his being'ssacred nature, both of which are very sublimeand illustrious. For, according to the rule of"the cause is like the doer," the rewards of allMuslims' prayers are added to the accounts ofhis perfections from the day he declared hisProphethood (until the end of time). Every dayhe receives countless invocations by Muslimsas well as God's infinite mercy, which hedraws in like measure.

Further, since he is creation's result andmost perfect fruit, as well as the beloved andinterpreter of the Creator of the universe, histrue nature and true perfections cannot becontained in accounts of his recorded humanqualities. Certainly the stature of one servedby archangels Gabriel and Michael as aides-de-camp during the Battle of Badr cannot be

sought in accounts of, for example, his bar-gaining over a the price of a horse.

To avoid falling into error, we must focus onhis true nature and illustrious spiritual per-sona in his rank of Messengership. Otherwisewe may risk showing him disrespect or enter-tain uncertainties about his persona.

Consider the following analogies: Suppose aplanted date-stone sprouts and becomes a tall,fruitful tree growing upward and outward; orthat a chick from an incubated peacock egghatches, grows into a beautiful peacock, and,adorned with the Pen of Divine Power, growsbigger and prettier still. The date-stone andegg possess qualities, properties, and preciselybalanced elements, but they are not as strik-ing and significant as those of the tree and thepeacock that grew from them. Given this,while describing the date-stone's and the egg'squalities along with those of the tree and thepeacock, each item's qualities must be distin-guished so that anyone following the descrip-tion may find it reasonable. If this is not done

(e.g., claiming that one date-stone [and not thetree] produces thousands of dates, or that theegg is [already] the prince of birds), people willbe led to contradiction and denial.

The human nature of God's Messenger maybe likened to that date-stone or egg, but histrue nature, illumined with the Prophetic mis-sion, is like the Touba tree or the Royal Bird ofParadise. Moreover, His true nature continuesto grow more and more perfect. Given this,when one thinks of that exalted person bar-gaining with a Bedouin in the marketplace, heshould gaze upon his illustrious essentialnature, the one who rode the Rafraf duringthe Ascension, left Gabriel behind, andreached the Divine Presence. Otherwise, onerisks showing insufficient respect to or failingto convince one's earth-bound soul of his truenature.

Chapter 5Fifth Sign: Prophetic tra-ditions that predict fu-ture eventsWe will mention several Prophetic Traditionsthat predict future events, as follows:

• The Prophet announced from the pul-pit in the presence of his Companions:"My grandson Hasan is a noble one.Through him, God will reconcile twolarge hosts."7 Forty years later, when

the two largest Muslim armies facedeach other, Hasan made peace withMu'awiya and fulfilled this prediction.

• The Prophet told 'Ali: "You will fightthe oath-breakers, the unjust, and thedeviators."8 In this way he predictedthe battles of the Camel and Siffin, aswell as those fought against the Khar-ijites.9 Once when conversing withZubayr in good, affectionate terms, the

7.Bukhari, Kitab al-Sulh, 3:244; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad,5:37.

8.Hakim, Mustadrak, 3:139; Bayhaqi, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa,6:414.

9.The Kharijites held that those who commit a grave erroror sin and do not repent sincerely are no longer Muslims.Mere profession is not enough, for belief must be accom-panied by righteous deeds. They also considered jihad asone of Islam's pillars, due to their belief that "enjoininggood and forbidding evil" meant vindicating truththrough the sword. Although wiped out during the firsttwo Islamic centuries for their almost constant rebellionagainst established authority, they still are found todayin small pockets in Oman as well as in northern andeastern Africa. (Ed.)

Prophet told 'Ali: "Zubayr will fightyou, but he will be in the wrong."10

• He also told his wives: "One of you willlead a serious rebellion. Many aroundher will be killed, and the dogs ofHaw'ab will bark at her."11 These wereproved by 'Ali's battles against 'A'isha,Talha, and Zubayr during the Battle ofthe Camel; against Mu'awiya at Siffin;and against the Kharijites at Harouraand Nahrawan.

• The Prophet told 'Ali that 'Abd al-Rah-man ibn Muljam al-Khariji, whom heknew, would stain Ali's beard with theblood of his own head.12 In addition,he also mentioned a bodily mark pos-sessed by the Kharijite Dhul-Thadya.When that man's corpse was foundamong the dead Kharijites, 'Ali

10.Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 6:213; Hakim, ibid.,3:366.

11.Bayhaqi, ibid., 6:405-410; Hakim, ibid., 3:120.12.Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 1:102; Haythami, Majma', 9:138;

Hakim, ibid., 3:113.

showed it to others as a proof of therightness of his cause, thus makingthe miracle public.13

• Umm Salama and others related thatthe Messenger prophesied Husayn'sdeath at Taff (Karbala'),14 a tragicevent that occurred years later. Healso repeatedly predicted, with somedetails, that his Family would be sub-jected to killing and exile after hisdeath.15 All that he predicted cametrue.

13.Bukhari, 9:22; Muslim, 7:745; Bayhaqi, Dala'il, 6:426.14.Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 6:294; Haythami, Majma', 9:188;

Bayhaqi, ibid., 6:468.15.Hakim, 4:482; al-Jami' al-Saghir, no. 2558.

Question: 'Ali's extraordinary courage andprofound knowledge, in addition to his kinshipwith the Messenger, qualified him to be ca-liph. So why did Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and'Uthman reign before him? And why did theMuslim community experience so much dis-order during his caliphate?

Answer: A great saint descended from theProphet's Family is reported to have said:"God's Messenger desired 'Ali's caliphate, butwas informed through inspiration that Godwilled otherwise. Upon this, he abandoned hisdesire and submitted to God's Will."

One reason why God's Will differed musthave been this: If 'Ali had become caliph rightafter the Prophet's death, a time when theCompan-ions were more in need of agreementand unity than ever, there probably wouldhave arisen, as happened during his caliphate,a tendency in many persons and tribes to com-pete because of his pure, uncompromisinglyfearless, heroic, and independent behavior andattitude, as well as his widely known courage.

Such competition might have divided thebelievers.

Another reason is that the young Muslimcommunity, which spread rapidly through tri-bal and ethnic intermingling, graduallycaused sects to emerge, just as the Prophetpredicted. Thus, in circumstances that fosterinternal conflict and turbulence, a person of'Ali's courage and sagacity was needed,someone who enjoyed the force and esteem ofthe Hashimites and the Prophet's Family. 'Ali,by fighting every hardship, fulfilled theProphet's prediction: "I fought for the Qur'an'srevelation. You will fight for its correct ex-planation against its forced, falseinterpretation."16

In 'Ali's absence, the pomp of worldly king-dom probably would have led the Umayyadscompletely astray. But his presence and thatof the Prophet's Family made the Umayyadleaders restrict themselves, preserve their

16.Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 3:83; Haythami, Majma', 9:133;Tirmidhi, 5:635.

standing before the Muslim community, anddo their best (if not willingly) or at least en-courage their subjects and followers to protectand propagate Islam's truths and principlesand the Qur'an's commandments. As a result,countless meticulous Muslim jurists, distin-guished Traditionists, saints and pure peopleof piety emerged during their reign. If theyhad not faced the perfect piety, sainthood, andvirtue of the Prophet's Family, they probablywould have gone completely astray from thevery beginning, as happened toward the end ofboth their and the 'Abbasids' rule.

Question: Why did the caliphate not remainin the Prophet's Family, although its memberswere the most deserving?

Answer: Worldly kingdom is deceptive, andthe Prophet's Family was appointed to pre-serve Islam's truths and the Qur'an's injunc-tions. In order not to be deceived by caliphateor kingdom, one should be either infallible likea Prophet or as extraordinarily pure-heartedas the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs, theUmayyad caliph 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, orthe 'Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi. The Fatimids inEgypt, the al-Mohads in North Africa, and theSafawids in Persia all show that worldly king-dom is not suitable for the Prophet's Family,for it causes them to neglect their essentialduty of protecting and serving Islam. Whenthey refrained from worldly kingdom, theyserved Islam and the Qur'an brilliantly andsuccessfully.

Consider the leading saints descended fromHasan, particularly the four most eminent(Hasan al-Kharaqani, Hayat ibn Qays al-

Harrani, Shaykh Hasan al-Shadhezili, and es-pecially 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani) and theImams descending from Husayn, especiallyZayn al-'Abidin and Ja'far al-Sadiq. Each be-came a spiritual guide of the highest rankand, dispelling the dark clouds of wrongdoing,spread the Qur'an's light and Islam's truth.They showed themselves to be true heirs ofthe Prophet.

Question: What was the Divine Wisdom be-hind the terrible and bloody upheavals, andwhy did Divine Compassion allow such thingsto happen to those Muslims who cannot havedeserved them?

Answer: A strong spring rain activates anddevelops predispositions inherent in veget-ables, seeds, and trees so that each will bloomand flourish in its own fashion and realize itsnatural function. In the same way, upheavalsduring the time of the Companions and theirsuccessors activated various talents. Manypeople rose to preserve Islam, fearing that itwas in danger. Women and men shouldered aduty to be performed in the Muslim com-munity and strove to fulfill it to the best oftheir ability. Each group performed a differentfunction, such as striving to preserve theProphetic Traditions, to protect the Shari'a, tomaintain the Qur'an and the truths of belief,and so on. This caused many branches of thereligious and natural sciences to flourish, aswell as many people of learning to appear. Theseeds of a brilliant civilization were scattered

throughout the vast Muslim world, and half ofthe ancient world changed into "rose gardens."Nevertheless, "thorns" (deviant sects) also ap-peared in these rose gardens.

It was as if Divine Power shook that agewith wrath, turned it over vigorously, andthus electrified all people of zeal. Activated bythat movement's centrifugal force, large num-bers of illustrious jurists, enlightened Tradi-tionists, blessed memorizers of the Qur'an andTraditions, people of purity and chiefs ofsaints dispersed throughout the Muslimworld. Thus Divine Power inspired Muslimswith enthusiasm and awakened them to theQur'an's treasures.

Now we return to our subject. The Messen-ger predicted thousands of events, all of whichcame true. Here we mention only a few. Mostare agreed upon by the six most authenticbooks of Traditions, including the two mostfamous: Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih al-Muslim. Many have the certainty of tawaturwith respect to their meaning, while others, on

account of verification by meticulous research-ers, may be considered as certain as if nar-rated through tawatur. All are authentic.

• "You (the Companions) will defeat allyour enemies and conquer Makka,Khaybar, Damascus, Jerusalem, Iraq,and Persia. You will share the treas-ures of the Persian and Byzantinerulers among yourselves."17 These em-pires were the superpowers of theirtime. The Prophet did not say "I think"or "I guess"; rather, he said it as if hehad seen it. He predicted this while hewas in severest circumstances with ahandful of followers due to pervasivehostility in and around Makka.

• "After my death, you should follow theway of Abu Bakr and 'Umar."18 In oth-er words, Abu Bakr and 'Umar would

17.Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 3:83; 'Ali al-Qari', Sharh al-Shifa'(from Bukhari, Muslim and others), 1:678-79.

18.Hakim, 3:75; also related by Tirmidhi, Ibn Hanbal, IbnMaja, and Bayhaqi.

succeed him as caliphs and act so per-fectly as to please God and His Mes-senger. He also declared that AbuBakr's reign would be short, but that'Umar would reign for a longer timeand make many conquests.

• "Earth was laid out before me, and Iwas shown its remotest corners in theeast and west. My nation will extendover whatever was laid out beforeme."19

• Before the Battle of Badr, he indicatedthe exact places where the polytheisticQurayshi leaders would be killed, andsaid: "Abu Jahl will be killed here,'Utba here, Umayya here," etc., andadded: "I will kill Umayya ibn al-Khalaf."20

• He informed his Companions of whatwas happening during the Battle of

19.Muslim, 4:2215; Hakim, 4:445; also related by Tirmidhi,Ibn Hanbal, and Ibn Maja.

20.Muslim, no. 1779; Ibn Hanbal, 1:390; Qadi 'Iyad, Shifa',1:343; Hakim, 2:327.

Muta (near Damascus), as if watchingit, even though it would take someoneone month to reach it on foot. He said:"Zayd has taken the flag and been hit;now Ibn Rawaha has taken it andbeen hit; now Ja'far has taken it andbeen hit; now one of God's swords (i.e.,Khalid) has taken it."21 Two or threeweeks later, Ya'la ibn Munabbih re-turned from the battlefront. In hispresence, the Prophet described thefighting in detail and Ya'la swore byGod that everything had happened ex-actly as described.

• "The Caliphate after me will last foryears and then be replaced by a bitingmonarchy.22 This affair certainlybegan with Prophethood and as amercy. Then it will be mercy and

21.Bukhari, 5:182; Hakim, 3:298; Abu Nu'aym, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 2:529.

22.Al-Jami' al-Saghir, no. 3336; Ibn Hanbal, 4:273; Ibn Hib-ban, Sahih, 8:227; Abu Dawud, Sunna, 8; Tirmidhi, Fit-an, 48.

caliphate, after which it will changeinto a biting monarchy, and finally in-to iniquity and tyranny."23 In otherwords: the caliphates of four Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the 6-month ca-liphate of Hasan, after which the ca-liphate became a monarchy, whichlater was transformed into tyrannyand the corruption of his nation.

• "'Uthman will be killed while readingthe Qur'an. God probably will dresshim in a shirt, but they will want toremove it from him."24 By this hemeant that 'Uthman would become ca-liph, his deposition would be sought,and that he would be martyred whilereading the Qur'an.

• According to an authentic narration,when the Prophet was cupped, he

23.Al-Jami' al-Saghir, no. 3336; Ibn Hanbal, 4:273; Ibn Hib-ban, Sahih, 8:227; Abu Dawud, Sunna, 8; Tirmidhi, Fit-an, 48.

24.Hakim, 3:100; Ibn Hanbal, 6:114; Tirmidhi, no. 2706;Majma', 5:188.

ordered 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr to burythe blood. Upon learning that IbnZubayr had drunk it as a blessing, hesaid: "Woe unto the people for whatwill befall them because of you, andwoe unto you for what will befall youbecause of the people."25 Thus heprophesied that the courageous IbnZubayr would lead the Muslims andthat they would face awful attacks sothat people would suffer great dis-asters. Ibn Zubayr declared his ca-liphate in Makka during the Umayy-ads' rule and fought heroic battlesagainst them, until finally Hajjaj thetyrant martyred him after a fiercebattle.

• The Messenger foretold the foundingof the Umayyad state and that most ofits rulers, including Yazid and Walid,would be unjust.26 He also foretold

25.Hakim, 3:554; al-Matalib al-'Aliya, 4:21; Qadi 'Iyad,Shifa' al-Sharif, 1:339.

that Mu'awiya would rule the Muslimsand advised him to be just and mild:"When you rule, act gently."27 TheProphet also predicted the Abbasids'long rule after the Umayyads, saying:"The descendants of 'Abbas will ap-pear with black flags and rule formany times longer than them (theUmayyads)."28

• He prophesied the dreadful destruc-tion of Genghis Khan and Hulagu,which caused the 'Abbasid state to col-lapse: "Woe to the Arabs for the evilthat has approached."29

• The Prophet said to Sa'd ibn AbiWaqqas, when the latter was gravely

26.Al-Jami' al-Saghir, no. 412, 2579; Shifa', 1:338; relatedby Tirmidhi and Hakim.

27.Ibn Hajar, Matalib al-'Aliya, 4085, related by Ibn Hanbaland Abu Ya'la.

28.Ibn Hanbal, 3:216; Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 3:326; Bay-haqi, Dala'il, 6:513.

29.Bukhari, Kitab al-Fitan, 9:60; Muslim, no. 2880; Hakim,1:108.

ill: "Hopefully you will be spared sothat some may benefit through youand others be harmed through you,"30

suggesting that Sa'd would be a greatcommander and make many con-quests. While many would benefitfrom him by converting to Islam,many others would be harmed throughhim because he would destroy theirstates. Later on, Sa'd commanded theMuslim armies that destroyed Persia'sSassanid Empire and brought manypeoples within the guidance of Islam.

• When Negus, the Abyssinian rulerwho embraced Islam, died 7 yearsafter the Prophet's migration, he toldhis Companions what had happenedand prayed the funeral prayers forhim. A week later, news arrived an-nouncing the Negus' death on the very

30.Abu Nu'aym, Hilyat al-Awliya', 1:94, also related byBukhari and Muslim.

day it was announced by theMessenger.31

• When the Messenger was on top ofeither Mount Uhud or Hira with hisfour closest friends, the mountaintrembled. He said: "Steady, for on youare a Prophet, a truthful one (AbuBakr) and martyrs ('Umar, 'Uthman,and 'Ali)."32

Now O miserable, unfeeling, and wretchedone who says that Muhammad was a wiseman and then closes your eyes to that sun ofthe truth! Of his kinds of major miracles, sofar you have heard only a tiny part of onekind—that which is related to his predictionshaving the certainty of tawatur. One who pre-dicts even only one-hundredth of such futureevents with his own insight would have to beof the highest genius. Even if we merely

31.Bukhari, 2:109; also related by Muslim, Ibn Malik, AbuDawud, and Nasa'i.

32.Muslim, 4:1880; also related by Bukhari, Tirmidhi,Hakim, and Abu Dawud.

regarded him as a genius, as you do, couldsuch a person with the insight of a hundredgeniuses have perceived anything false or sofar abase himself as to give false information?Not to heed the words of such a person con-cerning happiness in both worlds is purestupidity.

Chapter 6Sixth Sign: More tradi-tions about future eventsThe Messenger told his daughter Fatima:"You will be the first Family member to joinme (after my death)."33 When she died 6months later, his words proved true. He alsosaid to Abu Dharr: "You will be expelled fromhere (Madina), will live alone and die alone."34

What he said happened years later.

33.Bukhari, 4:248; Muslim, 4:1904; Ibn Hanbal, 6:77, Bay-haqi, 7:164.

Once he woke up in Umm Haram's house(Anas ibn Malik's aunt) and said with a smile:"I dreamed that my community was fightingin the sea like kings sitting on thrones." UmmHaram asked: "Pray that I may be with them."He replied firmly: "You shall be."35 Forty yearslater she accompanied her husband 'Ubadaibn Samit during the conquest of Cyprus. Shedied there, and her tomb remains a visitedplace.

"The Thaqif tribe will produce a liar whoclaims Prophethood, as well as a bloodthirstytyrant."36 In other words, the notoriousMukhtar (who claimed Prophethood) and thecriminal Hajjaj (who killed 100,000 people).

"Constantinople (Istanbul) will beconquered (by my community). How blessed is

34.Shifa' al-Sharif, 1:343, related by Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Hib-ban, and Ibn Kathir.35.Al-Jami' al-Saghir, 6:24, related by Bukhari, Muslim,Tirmidhi, among others.36.Hakim, 3:453, also related by Muslim, Ibn Hanbal,and Tirmidhi.

the commander who conquers it, and howblessed his army."37 Constantinople fell toSultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who therebyattained a high spiritual rank, in 1453.

"If religion were hung on the Pleiades, des-cendants of the Persians would reach it andget ahold of it,"38 indicating Persia's matchlessscholars and saints.

"A scholar from the Quraysh will fill theparts of Earth with knowledge."39 This refersto Imam Shafi'i, who founded one of Islam'sfour legal schools.

"My community will be divided into sects,and only one of them will be saved." Whenasked who they were, he replied: "Those whofollow me and my Companions," by which he

37.Bukhari, Tarikh al-Saghir, 139; Hakim, 4: 422, alsoIbn Hanbal and Haythami.38.Al-Lu'lu' wa al-Marjan, 3:183, related by Bukhari,Muslim, and Tirmidhi.39.Kashf al-Khafa', 2:53, related by Ibn Hanbal, Tayalisi,Ibn Hajar, and Bayhaqi.

meant the people of the Sunna and Com-munity (Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a).40

"The Qadariya are the Magians of this com-munity,"41 thereby predicting the Qadariyasect,42 which would split into several branchesand reject Destiny.

He predicted several groups that would splitinto many factions, when he told 'Ali: "On ac-count of you, as with Jesus, two groups willperish: One because of excessive love (for you),and the other because of excessive enmity (foryou)."43 Christians, due to their excessive lovefor Jesus, transgressed the limits and

40.Ibn Hanbal, 2:332; also related by Abu Dawud, IbnMaja, and Tirmidhi.41.Al-Jami' al-Saghir, 4:l50, related by Abu Dawud,Hakim, and Ibn Maja.42.This sect, appearing during the second Islamic cen-tury, advocated free will, argued that people can createtheir own conduct (both good and evil), and acceptedcausality as a necessary part of human conduct, thus re-jecting Divine Destiny.43.Hakim, 3:123; also related by Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Hibban,and Bazzar.

regarded him as God's "son," while Jews wentso far in their enmity as to deny his Prophet-hood and perfections. This refers to the Rafid-ites, 44 the Kharijites, and the Nasiba, extrem-ist partisans of the Umayyads, respectively.

44.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 10:22; Fath al-Rabbani, 24:20;Nasa'i, al-Khasa'is, 3:19.

Why did the Prophet condemnRafidites for their excessive love?

Question: The Qur'an demands that we lovethe Prophet's Family, and the Prophet greatlyencouraged this. The Shi'as' love for them mayserve as an excuse, for people of love may belikened to people of intoxication. So why can-not the Shi'a, especially the Rafidites, benefitfrom their love? Why did the Prophet condemnthem for their excessive love?

Answer: There are two kinds of love. Thefirst is loving somebody as a means to attaintrue love, which is love for the Prophet's Fam-ily in the name of God and his Messenger.Such love increases one's love of the Prophetand becomes a means to love God Almighty.Therefore it is lawful, its excess is harmlessand not considered a transgression, and itdoes not call for reproach and enmity towardothers.

The second takes the means as its real ob-ject. Such people "forget" the Prophet and

devote their love to 'Ali (the Rafidites) due tohis heroic acts and perfections, and to Hasanand Husayn on account of their extraordinaryvirtues, regardless of whether they recognizeGod and His Prophet. This love is not a meansto love God and His Messenger. Moreover, itsexcess leads to reproach and enmity towardothers. The Rafidites' excessive love for 'Alicaused them to reject the caliphates of AbuBakr and 'Umar, deny their perfections, andeventually to deviate from the Straight Path.Such excessive and negative love causes spir-itual ruin.

"When Persian and Roman girls serve you,you will be exposed to internal conflicts andcivil war, and the wicked will come to power,preying on the good."45 This came true afteryears.

45.Haythami, 10:237; al-Jami' al-Saghir, 813; Shifa',1:237; Ibn Hibban, 8:253.

"'Ali will conquer Khaybar."46 As a miracleof the Prophet and beyond all expectation, thefollowing day 'Ali reached the gate ofKhaybar's fortress, used it as a shield, and fi-nally conquered Khaybar. When he threw thegate aside after the conquest, eight (anotherversion says 40) strong men could not lift it.47

"The Hour will not come before two parties(of Muslims) fight (each other), although theymake the same claims,"48 predicting the Battleof Siffin between 'Ali and Mu'awiya.

"'Ammar will be killed by a rebelliousgroup."49 When 'Ammar was killed at Siffin,'Ali mentioned this as evidence that Mu'awiyaand his followers were rebels. However,

46.Bukhari, 5:171; Muslim, no. 2406; Ibn Hanbal, 5:333;Hakim, 3:109.47.Suyuti, Tarikh al-Khulafa', 164; Ibn Kathir, al-Bi-daya, 4:189, also related by Hakim, Ibn Ishaq, andBayhaqi.48.Al-Jami' al-Saghir, 6:174; related by Bukhari, Muslim,and Abu Dawud.49.Muslim, 4:2236; Bukhari, 1:122; related from aboutCompanions.

Mu'awiya and 'Amr ibn al-'As interpreted itas: "The rebels are his murderers, not all ofus."

"Disorder will not appear (among my com-munity) as long as 'Umar is alive."50

When Sahl ibn 'Amr was taken prisoner be-fore his conversion to Islam, 'Umar told theMessenger: "Let me pull out his teeth, for hiseloquent speech incites the Qurayshi unbeliev-ers to fight us." The Messenger replied:"'Umar, maybe he will assume a positionpleasing to you."51 When the Prophet died,Sahl delivered an eloquent sermon in Makkato steady and console the grief-stricken Com-panions. Remarkably, this sermon was almostthe same in meaning and wording as that de-livered, at the same time and for the samepurpose, by Abu Bakr in Madina.

50.Bayhaqi, 6:386; Muslim, 4:2218; also related byBukhari.51.Hakim, 4:282; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sa-haba, 2:93; Shifa', 1:344.

"I wonder (Suraqa), how it will be with youwhen you wear the two bracelets of Chosroes(the Persian king)."52 Chosroes was defeatedduring the reign of 'Umar, who put the brace-lets on Suraqa and said: "Praise be to God,Who took these off Chosroes and put them onSuraqa."53 The Prophet also declared: "Once(the rule of) Chosroes (meaning the Sassaniddynasty) is gone, there will be no other Chos-roes,"54 (thus predicting the end of the Sassan-id rule in Iran.)

When the envoy of Chosroes (the Sassanidking during the Prophet's time) reached Mad-ina, the Prophet told him: "Chosroes has beenkilled by his son Shirviya Parwiz."55 After con-firming this, the envoy (reported to be Firouz)accepted Islam.

52.Ibn Hajar, ibid., no. 3115; 'Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa',1:703.53.Shifa', 1:344; also al-Isaba, no. 3115.54.Muslim, 4:2236; also related by Bukhari, Tirmidhi,and Tabarani.55.'Ali al-Qari, ibid, 1:700; al-Jami' al-Saghir, 875; AbuNu'aym, 2:348.

When God's Messenger was about to set outfor the conquest of Makka, a secret letter sentby Khatib ibn Abi Balta'a was already on itsway to the Quraysh. He sent 'Ali and Miqdad,telling them: "The letter-carrier is in such-and-such a place. Go and bring it." They did ashe asked. When the Messenger asked Khatibwhy he had sent the letter, Khatib gave an ex-cuse and was pardoned.56

God's Messenger prayed: "May he ('Utba ibnAbi Lahab) be devoured by one of the dogs ofGod."57 Later on, this man was devoured by alion while traveling to Yemen.

After the conquest of Makka, Bilal al-Ha-bashi stood on the Ka'ba's roof and called thepeople to prayer (adhan). Several Qurayshileaders, namely, Abu Sufyan, 'Attab ibn Asid,and Harith ibn Hisham, were sitting togethernear the Ka'ba. 'Attab said: "My father is for-tunate not to witness this moment." Harith

56.Bukhari, 5:184; Muslim, No. 2494; Ibn Hanbal, 1:80.57.Shifa', 1:343; related by Hakim, Bayhaqi, and IbnIshaq.

asked contemptuously: "Could notMuhammad find someone other than thisblack crow to be the mu'azzin?" Abu Sufyandid not comment, saying: "I am afraid that hewill come to know whatever I say, and so willsay nothing. Even if no one informs him, therocks of this Batha (i.e., Makka) will do so."Shortly thereafter, God's Messenger came tothem and repeated their conversation word forword. At that very moment 'Attab and Harithembraced Islam.58

Now, those of you who do not recognize theProphet! Consider that two stubborn Qurayshileaders believed after witnessing only one mir-acle. Consider how far you have been ruinedso that you are not convinced even after hear-ing hundreds of his miracles, like this one,that came through tawatur. But let's return toour subject.

The Muslims captured 'Abbas during theBattle of Badr. When asked for ransom,

58.Ibn Hajar, al-Matalib al-'Aliya, 4366; Ibn Hisham,Sira, 2:413.

'Abbas said he had no money. God's Messen-ger said: "You left that amount of money withyour wife Umm Fadl in such-and-such a place(he gave the exact amount of money andnamed the place)."59 'Abbas confirmed this:"Only the two of us knew this," and then at-tained perfect belief.

Labid, a dangerous Jewish sorcerer, inven-ted a strong and effective spell to harm theProphet. Winding some hair around a comb,he bewitched it and threw it into a well. God'sMessenger told some of his Companions, in-cluding 'Ali: "Go to such-and-such a well andremove the spell from it." They did so, and theMessenger's discomfort lessened as they un-wound the hair.60

In the company of some important Compan-ions, including Abu Hurayra and Hudayfa, theProphet mentioned the fate one of them would

59.Haythami, Majma' al-Zawa'id, 6:85; related by IbnHanbal, Hakim, and Bayhaqi.60.Bukhari, 4:148; Muslim, 4:1719; Ibn Maja, 3545; IbnHanbal, 4:367.

meet because of his later apostasy: "One of youwill be in the Fire with a tooth bigger thanMount Uhud." Abu Hurayra would later re-late: "I was so afraid, as only two members ofthat group remained. One of them was me.Finally, the other man was killed in the Battleof Yamama as an apostate in the company ofMusaylima."61

Before converting to Islam, 'Umayr andSafwan decided to kill the Prophet and collecta large reward. When 'Umayr came to Madinawith this intention, God's Messengersummoned him, related the plot, and placedhis hand on 'Umayr's chest. 'Umayr confessedand became a Muslim.62

Many more of his predictions are recordedwith chains of transmission in authentic booksof Tradition. Most of the ones related herehave the certainty of tawatur in meaning,

61.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 8:289; related by Tabarani and,with a slight difference, by Muslim; Shifa', 1:342.62.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 8:286; Shifa', 1:342; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 3:313.

being related in al-Jami' al-Sahih by Imamal-Bukhari and al-Jami' al-Sahih by Imam al-Muslim (commonly known as Bukhari andMuslim or Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih al-Muslim, respectively), which are accepted bymeticulous researchers as the most authenticsources after the Qur'an, and in the Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Nasa'i, Sunan AbuDawud, Musnad al-Hakim, Musnad al-Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Dala'il al-Bayhaqi.

Now then, you bewildered person, do not tryto explain this away by calling Muhammad awise man. His predictions, all of which havecome (or will come) true, can be explained inonly two ways. The first one is that he hadsuch a keen sight and broad genius that hepenetrated into all times and places andthereby learned of the past and the future. Ifsomeone had this quality, it would be no morethan a wonder, a miraculous gift from theCreator of the universe, and one of thegreatest miracles.

The second one is that he is an official in-structed by a Being Who controls and observeseverything, commands all times and places,and records everything in a great ledger. Hethen relates to His Messenger whatever andwhenever He wills. Thus Muhammad in-structs others as he is instructed by hisEternal Instructor.

• While appointing Khalid ibn al-Walidto fight against Ukaydir, the chief ofDawmat al-Jandal, the Prophet toldhim: "You will find him (Ukaydir) on awild ox hunt," and that he would becaptured without resistance.63 Khalidfound and captured Ukaydir in thoseexact circumstances.

• Some time after the Quraysh hung theleaf containing the articles of boycottagainst the Bani Hashim (theProphet's clan) on the Ka'ba's wall, theMessenger told them: "Worms have

63.Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, 2:119; Hakim, 4:519; Shifa', 1:344;Bayhaqi, 2:66.

eaten the leaf, except the parts bear-ing the names of God." They went andfound it to be so.64

• "A pestilence will break out duringJerusalem's conquest." This city wasconquered during 'Umar's caliphate,and a widespread pestilence broke outand killed about 70,000 people in 3days.65

• God's Messenger predicted the estab-lishment of Basra and Baghdad,66 thattreasures would pour into Baghdadfrom all over the world, and that theArabs would fight the Turks and thepeople living around the CaspianSea,67 most of whom would later

64.Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 3:96; Bayhaqi, 2:311; Shifa',1:345; Ibn Hisham, 1:371.

65.Bukhari, 7:168; Muslim, no. 2219; Ibn Hanbal, 4:195.66.Basra: al-Jami' al-Saghir, 6:268, related by Abu Dawud;

Baghdad: al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 10:102; also relatedby Abu Nu'aym and Khatib.

67.Al-Shifa', 1:337, related by Bukhari, Muslim, AbuDawud, and Tirmidhi.

convert and rule the Arabs in theirown lands. He said: "Non-Arabs willpredominate among you, consumingyour booty and striking off yourheads."68

• "Young, evil Qurayshis will ruin mycommunity."69 This foretold suchwicked Umayyad leaders as Yazid andWalid. He also predicted that people incertain areas, such as Yamama, wouldapostasize,70 and declared during theBattle of Khandaq: "After this, neitherthe Quraysh nor the Confederates willfight me, but I will fight them."71

• The Prophet foretold his death a fewmonths before it happened, saying:"One of God's slaves has been given a

68.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 7:310, related by Hakim, Tayalisi,and Ibn Hanbal.

69.Bukhari, 9:60; Ibn Hanbal, 2:288; Hakim, Mustadrak,4:479.

70.Bukhari, 4:247; Muslim, 4:1781.71.Ibn Hanbal, 4:262, also related by Bukhari, Ibn Hibban,

and Tabarani.

choice and has chosen that which iswith God."72

• "One of his (Zayd ibn Sawhan) limbswill precede him to Paradise."73 Thiscame true when Zayd lost a hand dur-ing a battle.

These predictions related to the Unseen con-stitute only one of his kinds of miracles. Wedid not mention one of these kinds here, andsummarized the other 4 kinds related to pre-dictions in the Twenty-fifth Word. Anyonewith an uncorrupted mind and heart can con-sider just this one kind together with the oth-er 4 in order to believe that Muhammad isGod's Messenger and was instructed by theAll-Majestic One, the Creator of everythingand the Knower of the Unseen.

72.Muslim, no. 2382; also related by Bukhari and Tirmidhi.73.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 9:398, related by Bayhaqi, Ibn Adiyy,

and Abu Ya'la.

Chapter 7Seventh Sign: TheProphet's miracles re-lated to increasing foodWe mention a few examples of the Prophet'smiracles related to increasing food that havethe certainty of tawatur in meaning. But be-fore continuing, some introductory commentsare appropriate.

Each miracle related below was transmittedthrough various—sometimes as many as

16—channels. Most took place before largegroups and were narrated by many persons oftruth and good repute. For example, one of thepeople fed with four handfuls of food relatesthe incident while the rest remain silent (i.e.,they do not contradict him). Their silence in-dicates agreement. This is especially true forthe truthful, straightforward, and honestCompanions who reject and oppose all false-hood. The incidents given below are narratedby many people and confirmed by the wit-nesses' silence, thus making each incident def-inite to the degree of tawatur in meaning.

Moreover, history books and biographies ofthe Prophet record that the Companions, nextto preserving the Qur'an and its verses, didtheir best to record and preserve theMessenger's deeds and words, especially thoseconcerning miracles and Divine Commands,and to confirm their authenticity. They neverneglected even an apparently insignificant actor state of the Prophet, as confirmed by thebooks of Tradition.

While the Prophet was alive, the miraclesand Traditions forming the basis of religiousinjunctions were written down by many Com-panions, especially the "Seven 'Abdullahs,"notably 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas (the "Interpreterof the Qur'an") and 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As. Some or years later, thousands of Tabi'unresearchers recorded these, and later on thefour imams of Islamic jurisprudence and thou-sands of discerning Traditionists also wouldwrite them down and transmit them.

Two centuries after the Prophet's migration,the compilers of the six esteemed and most au-thentic books of Traditions, at the head ofwhom are Imam al-Bukhari and ImamMuslim, shouldered the task of preserving theTraditions. In the meantime, meticulous crit-ics identified false reports produced byheretics or careless and ignorant people. Inlater centuries, Traditions continued to be dis-tinguished from fabrications and distortionsby people of profound learning and such metic-ulous researchers as Ibn al-Jawzi and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, who was honored many times

while awake with the presence and conversa-tion of God's Messenger, as confirmed by thoseof spiritual realization.

Thus the miracles cited below come down tous through numerous safe and trustworthyhands, for which we thank God, since this isby His grace. No one has the right to doubttheir authenticity. Examples of authenticallynarrated miracles concerning the Prophet's in-creasing of food through his blessing are asfollows:

First example: Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahihal-Muslim, and the other six most authenticbooks of Tradition, relate that during the feastcelebrating the Prophet's marriage to Zaynab,Umm Sulaym (Anas' mother) fried a fewhandfuls of dates and asked Anas to takethem to the Prophet. He did so, and was told:"Go and invite so-and-so (naming some people)and whoever else you meet." Anas did as hewas told, and gradually about 300 Compan-ions filled the Prophet's room and the largehall where the poor, learned Companions

lived. The Prophet told them: "Make circles often." Putting his hand on the dates, he sup-plicated and told the people to help them-selves. Each person ate until satisfied. Thenhe asked Anas to clear the table. Anas laterrelated: "I could not tell if there was more foodwhen I set out the dish or when I removedit."74

Second example: Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, whohosted the Prophet for some months after hisemigration, relates: "I made a meal sufficientfor two people: God's Messenger and AbuBakr. The Prophet, however, told me to invitedistinguished Ansaris (Helpers). Thirty mencame and ate. He then asked me to invite an-other 60, which I did. They also came and ate.God's Messenger then told me to invite more,which I did. They came and ate. There wasstill food left in the bowl when they finishedeating. After witnessing that miracle, all whohad eaten took the oath of allegiance. One

74.Bukhari, 4:234; Bayhaqi, Dala'il, 3:465; also relatedby Muslim.

hundred and eighty men ate food prepared fortwo."75

Third example: 'Umar, Abu Hurayra,Salama al-Aqwa, and Abu 'Amrat al-Ansarireport that during a military campaign thearmy had no food. The Messenger, upon beinginformed, told them to gather all of their food.Everyone brought a few dates—the largestamount was a few handfuls—and put them ona mat. Salama relates: "I estimated theamount to be the equivalent of a reclininggoat." God's Messenger prayed for its increaseand called everyone to bring his bowl. Theyrushed forward, and each soldier's bowl wasfilled. Even then, some was food left over. OneCompanion who was there later said: "I real-ized from the way the dates became abundantthat even if all people on Earth came, therewould be enough."76

75.Al-Shifa', 1:292; related by Tabarani, Ibn Kathir, andBayhaqi.76.Muslim, no. 1729, also related by Bukhari.

Fourth example: Authentic books of Tradi-tion, including Bukhari and Muslim, reportthat 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr related:"We, 130 Companions, accompanied God'sMessenger on an expedition. Dough from fourhandfuls of wheat was prepared to makebread, a goat was slaughtered and cooked, andits liver and kidneys were roasted. I swear byGod that God's Messenger gave each of us apiece from the roasted parts and put thecooked meat in the bowls. We ate until wewere full, and still there was some left over. Iloaded it onto a camel."77

Fifth example: As recorded in authenticbooks, Jabir al-Ansari relates under oath:"During the Battle of Ahzab or of Khandaq(the Trench), our food seemed to be undimin-ished even after about 1,000 men had eatenbread made from four handfuls of barley and(meat from) a young cooked goat. The food wascooked in my house. And after everyone ate

77.Muslim, no. 2057; Hakim, 2:618; also related byBukhari and Ibn Hanbal.

and left, the pot was still boiling with meatand bread was still being made from thedough. God's Messenger had put water fromhis mouth into the dough and into the pot, andthen prayed for abundance."78 Since this eventwas witnessed by 1,000 people, was related byJabir with an oath, and no one is reported tohave contradicted it, it can be considered asdefinite as if it were related by 1,000 people.

Sixth example: As related in an authenticway, Abu Talha (Anas' uncle) said: "God'sMessenger fed to people with a small amountof rye bread that Anas brought under his arm.The Messenger ordered the bread broken intosmall pieces and then prayed for abundance.Since there was not enough space for every-one, the people ate in shifts of ten. Everyoneleft satisfied."79

78.Muslim, no. 3029; Bukhari, 5:138; Ibn Hanbal,Musnad, 3:218.79.Bukhari, 4:234; Muslim, no. 2040; Bayhaqi, 6:88; IbnHanbal, 3:218.

Seventh example: Authentic books of Tradi-tion, including Shifa' al-Sharif and Sahih al-Muslim, report that Jabir al-Ansari said: "Aman asked God's Messenger for food to feedhis Family. The Messenger gave him half aload of barley. He and his household ate fromit for a long time. When they noticed it wasnot decreasing, they measured it to see howmuch it had been reduced. This ended theblessing of abundance, and the barley began todwindle. When the man told God's Messengerwhat had happened, he replied: 'If you had notmeasured it, it would have sufficed you for alifetime.'"80

Eighth example: Such authentic books asSunan al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Nasa'i, Dala'ilal-Bayhaqi, Shifa' al-Sharif, and others quoteSamura ibn Jundub as relating that a bowl ofmeat brought to God's Messenger fed groupsof people from morning until evening.81 As

80.Shifa', 1:91; Muslim, no. 2281; Bayhaqi, 6:114.81.Tirmidhi, no. 2629; also related by Darimi, Hakim,and Ibn Hanbal.

explained in this section's introduction onthese Traditions' authenticity, it is as if every-one present related this event and thatSamura related it on their behalf and withtheir approval.

Ninth example: As related by such reliableand trusted researchers as Qadi 'Iyad (authorof Shifa' al-Sharif ), Ibn Abi Shayba, andTabarani, Abu Hurayra says: "God's Messen-ger told me to invite poor people of the Suffa82

who used the mosque's hall as their home.There were more than 100 of them, and Isearched for and summoned them all. Oneplate of food was put before us. We all atefrom it as much as we wished. When we rose,the plate was as full as it had been whenplaced before us. However, our finger markson the food showed that we had eaten fromit."83 Although only Abu Hurayra narrates

82.The people of the Suffa were the poor Muhajirin(emigrants to Madina) who lived in the mosque's halland devoted themselves to Islam, particularly to pre-serving Prophetic Traditions. The Messenger providedtheir livelihood. (Tr.)

this event, it is as definite as if each memberof the Suffa had narrated it, since AbuHurayra narrates in their name and relies ontheir confirmation. Would such perfect, truth-ful people remain silent if the narration werenot true?

Tenth example: Imam 'Ali narrates thatGod's Messenger gathered 'Abd al-Muttalib'sdescendants, about people, some of whomcould eat a young camel and drink more thana gallon of milk at one meal. But God's Mes-senger had prepared only a handful of food.They ate until satisfied, and the amount offood did not decrease. Then the Messengerbrought them a wooden bowl of milk thatmight be enough for only three or four people.They drank until satisfied, and the amount ofmilk did not decrease.84 This miracle is as def-inite as 'Ali's bravery and loyalty.

83.Shifa', 1:293; Bayhaqi, 6:101; also related by Tabaraniand Ibn Hanbal.84.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 8:302, related by Ibn Hanbal, Baz-zar, and Tabarani.

Eleventh example: At the wedding feast of'Ali and Fatima, God's Messenger told Bilal:"Have some bread made from a few handfulsof flour, and have a young camel beslaughtered." Bilal narrates: "I brought thefood, and he put his hand over it for a bless-ing. Later, the Companions came in groups,ate, and left. The Messenger prayed for theabundance of the remaining food and sent afull bowl to each of his wives, saying that theyshould eat and feed whoever came to them."85

Such blessed abundance was necessary forsuch a blessed marriage.

Twelfth example: Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq re-lated that Fatima cooked enough food only forherself and 'Ali. She sent 'Ali to invite God'sMessenger to eat with them. He came and toldthem to send a dish of food to each of his wivesand then put the remaining food aside for him,'Ali, Fatima, and their children. Fatima says:"When we removed the pot, it was still full tothe brim. By God's Will, we ate from it for

85.Shifa': 1:297; Bayhaqi, Dala'il, 3:160.

quite a long time."86 I wonder why you do notbelieve this miracle as if you yourself had seenit, for it reaches us through such an illustriousand respected line of narrators. Even Satancould not dispute it!

Thirteenth example: Such truthful Tradi-tion authorities as Abu Dawud, Ahmad ibnHanbal, and Bayhaqi narrate from Dukayn al-Ahmad ibn Sa'd al-Muzayn, from Nu'man ibnMuqarrin al-Ahmad al-Muzayn, who alongwith his six brothers was a Companion, andfrom Jarir the following incident originally re-ported by 'Umar and transmitted throughvarious channels: "God's Messenger once com-manded 'Umar: 'Provide food for 400 horse-men of the Ahmasi tribe for their journey.''Umar responded: 'O Messenger of God, all theprovisions put together are about the size of ayoung camel sitting down.' The Prophet told

86.Shifa', 1:294; Ibn Hajar, al-Matalib al-'Aliya, 4:73. Thechain of transmission is as follows: from his fatherMuhammad al-Baqir, from his father Imam Zayn al-'Abidin, from 'Ali.

him to give it to them. From half a load ofdates, 'Umar gave them an amount that satis-fied 400 horsemen. He would later say whenreporting this event: 'The food did not de-crease.'"87 This miracle is confirmed by thewitnesses' silence. Do not ignore such narra-tions just because they are related by only twoor three individuals, for confirmation by si-lence gives their meaning the authority andcertainty of tawatur by meaning.

Fourteenth example: As narrated by authen-tic books of Tradition, including Bukhari andMuslim, Jabir's father died while deep in debtto Jews. Jabir gave all of his father's posses-sions to the creditors, but they were not satis-fied. The fruits in his orchard would not payoff the remaining debts for years. God's Mes-senger said: "Pick the fruits and heap themup." He did so. The Messenger then walkedaround them and prayed. After Jabir had paidhis father's debt, fruit equal to the orchard's

87.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 8:304; Bayhaqi, 5:365; Ibn Hanbal,5:445.

annual yield still remained. According to an-other narration, what remained was equal towhat he had given the creditors. This greatlyastounded the Jewish creditors.88 Since thismiracle is related on behalf of its witnesses,its meaning has the assurance of tawatur.

Fifteenth example: Such meticulous re-searchers as Tirmidhi and Bayhaqi quote AbuHurayra as saying: "During a battle ("Duringthe Battle of Tabuk" according to another nar-ration) the army ran out of food. God's Mes-senger asked: 'Isn't there anything at all?' Ianswered: 'I have a few ("15" in another ver-sion) dates left in my saddle bag.' He told meto bring them, which I did. Putting his hand inthe bag, he took out a handful of dates andprayed for abundance while putting them on aplate. Then he called the army in groups often. After everyone had eaten, God's Messen-ger, said to me: 'Take that (bag) which youbrought, hold on to it, and do not turn it

88.Bukhari, 3: 210; Abu Dawud, 1:17; also related by IbnHanbal and Nasa'i.

upside down.' I took the bag, put my hand intoit, and found therein as many dates as I hadbrought. Later, during the time of the Prophetand then of Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthman, Iate from those dates." (In another version,Abu Hurayra said: "I gave many loads of themin the way of God. When 'Uthman was mar-tyred, the dates and the bag wereplundered."89)

Abu Hurayra was a constant and importantstudent and disciple at the Suffa, the sacredschool of God's Messenger, the teacher of theuniverse and the pride of creation. Moreover,the Prophet had prayed for Abu Hurayra tohave a strong memory. This miracle, whichtook place before many people, therefore mustbe regarded as definitive as if it had been re-lated by the whole army.

Sixteenth example: Accurate books of Tradi-tion, Bukhari included, relate that AbuHurayra was once hungry and followed God's

89.Shifa', 1:295, related by Ibn Hanbal, Bayhaqi, andTirmidhi.

Messenger into his home. Seeing a bowl ofmilk that had been brought as a gift, God'sMessenger told him to invite the people of theSuffa. Abu Hurayra relates: "I said to myself:'I could drink all of this milk, as I am most inneed of it.' But since it was the Prophet's or-der, I fetched them all—more than 100 people.The Messenger told me to offer the milk tothem. I gave the bowl to each, one by one, andeach of them drank until satisfied. Finally theProphet told me: 'We two have been left. Youdrink first!' As I was drinking, he repeatedlysaid to me: 'Drink more,' until I said: 'I swearby the Majestic One Who sent you with thetruth that I am too full to drink any more.'Then the Prophet drank the rest, saying: 'Inthe Name of God' and praising Him.'"90

This miracle, as pure and sweet as milk it-self, is related in all six authentic books ofTradition, above all by Imam Bukhari, whomemorized 500,000 Traditions. In addition, it

90.Tirmidhi, no. 2479; Bukhari, 8:120; Hakim, 3:15; Bay-haqi, 4:101.

is narrated by Abu Hurayra, a loyal, celeb-rated student of the Prophet's sacred school ofthe Suffa and a Companion with a keenmemory. He represented all other students ofthat school, and so his report has the certaintyof tawatur. How could such a truthful person,who devoted his life to Islam and the Prophet-ic Traditions, who heard and related the Tra-dition that: "Whoever tells a lie concerning meon purpose should prepare for his seat in theFire," relate an unfounded incident or saying?Doing so would harm the value and authenti-city of all the Traditions he had memorizedand make him a target of contradiction by thepeople of the Suffa!

O Lord, for the sake of the blessingYou have bestowed on Your Messen-ger, bestow abundance on the favorsYou have provided for us!

An important point: Weak thingsbecome strong when joinedtogether

Weak things become strong when joined to-gether. Fine twisted threads become a strongrope and, when wound, strong ropes cannot bebroken. Now, from kinds of miracles we haveshown only one kind, which deals with theblessing of abundance. The examples cited sofar constitute only one part of this kind. Eachexample is strong enough to prove Prophet-hood. If, however—supposing the im-possible—some were regarded as weak, stillwe could not properly call them such, forwhatever is united with the strong also be-comes strong.

When considered together, the examplesmentioned above indicate a great and strongmiracle with the definitive strength of tawaturin meaning. And this miracle, when joinedwith the other parts of the miracles of abund-ance not yet cited, manifests a supreme

miracle as strong as the most unbreakablecable. Finally, add this supreme miracle to theother kinds of miracles and see what a defin-ite, decisive, and irrefutable proof they providefor Muhammad's Prophethood.

Thus the pillar of his Prophethood, formedby such a collection of proofs, is as strong as amountain. You may understand the doubts ofthose who do not believe in his Prophethood asthe doubts of those who regard the sublimeand established heavens as feeble or fragilebecause they do not have visible pillars. Thesemiracles of abundance illustrate that ProphetMuhammad was such a beloved envoy andhonored servant of the All-Compassionate andAll-Generous One that He, Who supplies theprovisions of creation, changed His usual wayof acting whenever necessary and sent himbanquets from the Unseen—as He createsfrom nothingness.

Arabia suffers scarcities of water and agri-culture. And so its people, especially the Com-panions in the earliest period of Islam, were

exposed to frequent food and water shortages.As a result, some of his greatest miracles wereconnected with food and water. Rather thanproving Prophethood, these wonders were re-sponses to need, a Divine gift, a favor of theLord, and a banquet provided by the MostMerciful One for those who confirmed hisProphethood before witnessing any miracles.When the miracles occurred, their belief andconviction became even stronger, brighter, andmore vivid.

Chapter 8Eighth Sign: Miraclesconnected with waterThis section concerns miracles connected withwater.

Introduction: If the report of an incidentinvolving many people is not contradicted, theincident definitely occurred, even if reportedby only one or two individuals, for people, bytheir very nature, are inclined to call a lie alie. If the people in question were Compan-ions, who were more intolerant of lies than

ordinary people, if the incidents narrated con-cerned God's Messenger, and if the individualnarrator was a well-known Companion, thenthat narrator narrates on behalf of allwitnesses.

In any case, each miracle cited below camedown through various lines of transmissionand was entrusted by many Companions tothousands of exacting Tabi'un scholars. Thesescholars, in turn, transmitted them to the au-thorities of the next age. Each age's meticu-lous researchers passed them on to their suc-cessors with the utmost care and respect.Thus they reached us after passing throughthousands of reliable hands.

Besides, the texts of the Traditions compliedwhile the Prophet and his Rightly-Guided Ca-liphs were still alive safely reached the handsof the most brilliant Tradition scholars, suchas Bukhari and Muslim, who, through themost careful examination and classification,collected, presented, and taught them. MayGod reward them abundantly!

The flowing of water from the fingers ofGod's Messenger, as well as many people'sdrinking from it, has the certainty of tawatur,for it is related by those who are incapable ofagreeing upon a lie. In addition, this occurredthree times before large groups of people.Many discerning researchers (especiallyBukhari, Muslim, Imam Malik, ImamShu'ayb, and Imam Qatada) transmit thismiracle from a group of renowned Companions(among them Anas, Jabir, and Ibn Mas'ud).Out of numerous examples of such miracles,we mention only nine here.

Examples connected with water

First example: Bukhari, Muslim, and otherauthentic books of Tradition relate from Anasthat: "There were 300 of us with God's Mes-senger at Zawra. He told us to perform wudu'(ablution) for the afternoon prayer, but wecould not find enough water. He ordered us tobring a little water, which we did, and hedipped his hands into it. I saw water run fromhis fingers like a fountain. All 300 people per-formed wudu' with that water and drank fromit."91 Anas relates this incident on behalf of300 persons. Would they have remained silentif he were lying?

Second example: Reliable books of Tradi-tion, particularly Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahihal-Muslim, report Jabir ibn 'Abdullah al-An-sari as saying: "We (1,500 people) got thirstyduring the expedition of Hudaybiya. God's

91.Nasa'i, 1:60; Bukhari, 4:233; Muslim, No. 2279; Tir-midhi, No. 3635.

Messenger performed wudu' from a leatherwater-bag (qirba) and then dipped his handinto it. I saw water flow from his fingers like afountain. All 1,500 people drank from it andfilled their water-bags." Salim ibn Abi al-Ja'dlater asked Jabir how many people had beenthere, and the latter replied: "The water wouldhave been enough for even 100,000 people, butthere were only 1,500 of us."92

Since this miracle was witnessed by 1,500people, the number of its reporters should beregarded as 1,500, because people tend to res-ist and refuse lies. As for the Companions,who sacrificed their souls and possessions,fathers and mothers, tribes and homeland forthe sake of truth and veracity, could they haveremained silent if confronted with a lie, espe-cially after hearing the Prophet's warning:"Whoever tells a lie concerning me on purposeshould prepare for his seat in the Fire."? Theirsilence indicates acceptance.

92.Muslim, no. 1856; Bukhari, 4:234; Bayhaqi, 4:110.

Third example: According to the authenticbooks of Tradition, above all al-Bukhari andal-Muslim, Jabir relates: "During the cam-paign of Buwat, God's Messenger orderedablution. We replied that there was no water.The Messenger told us to try and find just alittle. We fetched a small amount of water. Heplaced his hand over it and recited a prayer,which I could not hear, and then asked for thelargest water trough in the caravan. Theybrought it to me, and I placed it before God'sMessenger. He placed his hands in it, with hisfingers apart, while I poured that little wateronto his hands. I saw water run abundantlyfrom his fingers and fill the trough. I calledthose who needed water. After they drank andtook water for wudu', I told the Prophet thateverybody had come. He lifted his hands, leav-ing the trough still full to the brim."93

This miracle has the certainty of tawatur inmeaning, because Jabir, at that time theProphet's servant and thus having first place

93.Muslim, no. 3006-14.

in the incident, relates it in the name of allwitnesses. Ibn Mas'ud, who also reported it,says: "I saw the water flow like a fountainfrom the Prophet's fingers."94

Consider these three examples together andsee what an irrefutable and definite miraclethis is. Joined together, they prove that waterflowing from the Prophet's fingers is explicittawatur. This miracle is so great that evenMoses' miracle of causing water to run fromdifferent points of a rock cannot be consideredits equivalent. Water gushing from a rock ispossible, and examples can be found amongordinary events, but there is no parallel forwater flowing abundantly from flesh and bone.

Fourth example: Imam Malik narrates inhis Muwatta' from Mu'adh ibn Jabal that:"During the expedition of Tabuk, we cameacross a fountain that was hardly flow-ing—the jet was about as thick as a thinstring. God's Messenger told us to collect asmall amount of its water. Some brought a

94.Bukhari, 4:235, also related by Tirmidhi and Nasa'i.

little in their palms, with which God's Messen-ger washed his face and hands. Then we put itback in the fountain. Suddenly the streamsupplying the fountain's water cleared, andwater began to flow so profusely that therewas enough for the whole army."

Imam Ibn Ishaq, one of the narrators, re-ports: "The fountain's well rushed under-ground with a noise like thunder. God's Mes-senger told Mu'adh that he might live longenough to see this place change into gardens."And so it happened.95

Fifth example:Bukhari (from Bara') and(from Salama ibn al-Akwa'), as well as otheraccurate books (from other narrators), relate:"Four hundred of us came across a well duringthe expedition of Hudaybiya. There washardly enough water for people. We drew allthe water out of the well. God's Messengercame and sat beside the well and asked for abucketful of water, which we fetched. He put

95.Muwatta', Safar, 2; Ibn Hanbal, 5:228; also related byBukhari and Muslim.

some of his saliva into the bucket, prayed, andthen poured this water back into the well.Suddenly the water began to gush and rose tothe well's brim. The whole army and their an-imals drank from it until they were satisfied,and then filled their water bags."96

Sixth example: Authentic Tradition books,such those of Muslim and Ibn Jarir al-Tabariparticularly, relate through Abu Qatada: "Wewere going for help, as the commanders hadbeen martyred in the Battle of Mu'ta. I had awater bag with me. God's Messenger had toldme: 'Keep your water bag carefully, for it willbe of great use to us.' Soon after that, thirstseized us. We were (300 according to al-Tabari). God's Messenger told me: 'Bring yourwater bag.' I did so. He took it and brought itsbrim to his lips. I do not know whether hebreathed into it or not. Then all of us drankfrom it and filled our water bags. When I took

96.Bukhari, 4:234; Bayhaqi, 4:110; also related byMuslim.

it back, it was still as full as it had beenbefore."97

Reflect on this miracle and say: "O God, be-stow upon him and his household peace andblessings as many as there are drops ofwater."

Seventh example: Authentic books of Tra-dition, in particular Sahih al-Bukhari andSahih al-Muslim, report that 'Imran ibnHusayn said: "We ran out of water during amilitary campaign. The Messenger told meand 'Ali: 'There is a woman in such-and-such aplace making her way with her beast, which isladen with water bags. Go and bring her.' 'Aliand I found the woman with her load exactlyas and where described, and brought her (tothe Prophet). The Prophet ordered: 'Pour somewater into a vessel.' We did so. After heprayed for abundance, we put the water backinto its bag. Then the Messenger announced:'Let everyone come and fill his bag.' All the

97.Muslim, no. 681; Abu Dawud, no. 437-41; AbuNu'aym, 4:282.

people came and drank and filled their bags.Afterwards, he said that something should becollected for the woman, and they filled herskirt with what they collected."

'Imran adds: "I imagined that the two waterbags were filling unceasingly. God's Messen-ger told the woman: 'You can go now. We tooknone of your water; rather, God gave us water(from His treasure).'"98

Eighth example: Some Traditionists,primarily Ibn Khuzayma in his Sahih, reportthat 'Umar said: "We ran out of water duringthe campaign of Tabuk. Some of us had toslaughter our camels and drink what was in-side. Abu Bakr appealed to God's Messengerto pray for rain. He raised his hands to pray,and had hardly lowered them when cloudsgathered and a heavy rain began to fall. Afterwe filled our vessels, the clouds withdrew.This rain was restricted to our area, for it didnot go beyond where we were located."99 Thus

98.Muslim, 682; Bukhari, 4:233.

chance had nothing to do with this incident; itwas wholly a miracle of Prophet Muhammad.

Ninth example: 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb, thegrandson of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As andwhose narrations the four Imams trusted,relates that before his Prophethood, God'sMessenger traveled on a camel to Dhu al-Hi-jaz (near 'Arafat) with his uncle Abu Talib.When Abu Talib said he was thirsty, God'sMessenger dismounted and stamped theground. Water welled out, and Abu Talibdrank from it.100 One discerning scholar statesthat although this is considered as irhasat, be-cause it happened before his Prophethood wasproclaimed,101 it also can be regarded as awonder of his Prophethood, because this water

99.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 6:194, related by Bazzar, Bayhaqi,and Tabarani.

100.Shifa', 1:290, Bayhaqi, 2:15; also related by Ibn Sa'dand Tabarani.

101.Irhasat: The series of extraordinary incidents thathappened before Prophet Muhammad's birth, at hisbirth, and before he declared his Prophethood. (Tr.)

flowed in the same location for 1,000 yearsthereafter.

Similarly, different narrations (but not sep-arate incidents) report miracles connectedwith water. The first seven examples are asdefinitely established in meaning as tawatur.Although the last two are not narratedthrough as many strong chains of transmis-sion, authentic sources, primarily Imam Bay-haqi and Hakim, report another miracle tosupport and confirm the one mentioned in theeighth example: 'Umar narrated that he ap-pealed to God's Messenger to pray for rain, asthe army needed water. God's Messengerraised his hands, clouds gathered at once, andenough rain fell to meet the army's need. Afterthis, the clouds went away.102 It was as if theclouds were sent to deliver water, for theycame, dispensed enough water, and thendisappeared.

102.Abu Nu'aym, 2:523; also related by Hakim andBayhaqi.

Just as this narration supports the eighthexample, Ibn al-Jawziya, too meticulous a re-searcher to reject many authentic Traditionsas false, says: "This event took place duringthe Battle of Badr and is mentioned in: AndHe sent down on you water from heaven topurify you thereby… (8:11)." Since this verserefers to the event, its truth cannot bedoubted. Besides, it is a frequently repeatedand unanimously reported miracle that rainfell immediately after the Prophet raised hishands to pray. There were times, it is reportedthrough tawatur, that when he raised hishands in the pulpit, rain would begin to fallbefore he lowered them.Muslim, no. 681; Abu Dawud, no. 437-41; AbuNu'aym, 4:282.

Chapter 9Ninth Sign: Trees obeyedhis ordersOne kind of miracle of God's Messenger is thattrees obeyed his orders and approached him.This miracle, like those connected with waterflowing from his fingers, has the certainty oftawatur in meaning. Many examples havebeen reported through various channels.

Trees uprooting themselves upon theMessenger's command and drawing near himcan be considered explicit tawatur, because

the best-known, trustworthy Companions(e.g., 'Ali, Ibn 'Abbas, Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn 'Umar,Ya'la ibn Murra, Jabir, Anas ibn Malik,Burayda, Usama ibn Zayd, and Ghaylan ibnSalama) reported the same miracle with cer-tainty. Hundreds of Tabi'un scholars receivedtheir reports directly, which have come downto us and thus have the authority of multipletawatur. This miracle therefore has the cer-tainty of tawatur in meaning. We mentiononly a few examples.

First example: Ibn Maja, Darimi, and Bay-haqi (through 'Ali and Anas ibn Malik), andBazzar and Imam Bayhaqi (from 'Umar) re-port: "Three Companions narrated that God'sMessenger was disturbed by the unbelievers'denial. He prayed: 'O Lord, show me a sign sothat I will no longer heed anyone who contra-dicts me.' Anas relates that Gabriel also waspresent, and that upon his instruction God'sMessenger called to a tree located at one sideof the valley in which they were located. It leftits place and drew near to him. He told it to go

back, and so it returned and settled down inits place."103

Second example: Qadi 'Iyad, scholar of theMuslim West (North Africa and al-Andalus),relates in his al-Shifa' al-Sharif from'Abdullah ibn 'Umar through a sound chain ofthe most eminent narrators: "A Bedouin ap-proached God's Messenger during an expedi-tion. The Messenger asked: 'Where are you go-ing?' He replied: 'To my Family.' The Messen-ger asked: 'Don't you desire something better?'When the Bedouin asked what that might be,God's Messenger replied: 'To bear witness thatthere is no god but God, alone with no partner,and that Muhammad is His servant and Mes-senger.' The Bedouin asked: 'Can you provethis?' God's Messenger replied: 'That tree atthe side of the valley will bear witness.'"

Ibn 'Umar relates the rest of the event:"That tree swayed, uprooted itself, left thesoil, and drew near to God's Messenger. He

103.Shifa', 1:302; related by Bayhaqi, Ibn Maja, Darimi,Bazzar, and Ibn Hanbal.

asked it three times to testify, and each time ittestified to his truthfulness. Then he orderedthe tree to go back and settle down in itsplace, and it did so."104

Ibn Sahib al-Aslami relates that Buraydasaid: "Once a Bedouin asked for a miraclewhile we were with God's Messenger on an ex-pedition. The Messenger pointed to a tree andtold him: 'Tell that tree that God's Messengersummons it.' The tree swayed, freed itself, anddrew near to the Messenger, saying: 'Peace beupon you, O Messenger of God!' The Bedouinsaid: 'Now tell it to return to its place.' WhenGod's Messenger ordered it to do so, the treewent back. When the Bedouin said: 'Let meprostrate myself before you,' the Messengeranswered: 'No one is allowed to do that.' TheBedouin said: 'Then I will kiss your hand,' andhe allowed him to do so."105

104.Shifa', 1:298; related by Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban, Bay-haqi, and Hakim.

105.Shifa', 1:299; Bazzar, Musnad, 3:49.

Third example: Authentic books of Tradi-tion, including Muslim's Sahih, quote Jabir asrelating: "We accompanied God's Messengeron an expedition. He searched for a place torelieve himself. When he saw that there wasno screened place, he went to two trees andpulled one of them by a branch next to the oth-er one. The tree was like an obedient camelbeing pulled by its reins. He addressed them:'Join together over me, by God's leave.' Thetrees did so and formed a screen. After reliev-ing himself, he ordered them to go back totheir places."106 In another version, Jabirrelates it with a very slight, insignificantdifference.107

Fourth example: Usama ibn Zayd, a bravecommander and servant of God's Messenger,reports: "We accompanied God's Messenger onan expedition. Unable to find a screened placeto relieve himself, he asked me: 'Do you seeany trees or rocks?' When I said that I did, he

106.Muslim, no. 3006-12; Bayhaqi, 6:8.107.Shifa', 1:299.

told me: 'Go and say to the trees that God'sMessenger orders them to join together so thathe may relieve himself, and then tell the rocksto do the same.' I went and told them to dothis, and I swear by God the trees joined to-gether and the rocks formed a wall. After re-lieving himself, God's Messenger told me: 'Tellthem to separate.' I swear by the MajesticOne, in Whose hand is my soul, that the treesand rocks separated and went back to theirplaces."108 These two incidents also were re-ported by Ya'la ibn Murra, Ghaylan ibnSalama al-Thaqafi, and Ibn Mas'ud in connec-tion with the Battle of Hunayn.

Fifth example: Imam Ibn Fawrak, knownas the second Shafi'i on account of his excel-lence in jurisprudence and perfect character,reports: "God's Messenger sometimes feltsleepy while traveling on horseback. Onenight during the Battle of Ta'if, a lotus treeappeared in front of him. To make way for him

108.Ibid., 1:300, related by Bayhaqi, Ibn Hanbal, and AbuYa'la.

and avoid harming his horse, the tree split inhalf and God's Messenger passed through itwhile riding his horse. That tree has remainedso up to our time."109

Sixth example: Ya'la reports: "During anexpedition a talha or samura tree came andwalked around God's Messenger, as if circum-ambulating, and then went back to its place.God's Messenger said: 'It asked for God's per-mission to salute me.'"110

Seventh example: Traditionists quote IbnMas'ud as saying: "When the jinn of Nusaybincame to Batn al-Nakhl to be converted toIslam by God's Messenger, a tree informedhim of their coming." Imam Mujahid relatesfrom Ibn Mas'ud that when the jinn asked fora proof of his Prophethood, a tree came to theMessenger and then returned to its place onhis order. This miracle was enough to convertthem.111

109.Ibid., 1:301.110.Shifa', 1:301; Hakim, 2:617; Ibn Hanbal, 4:170; Bay-

haqi, 6:23.

Those who have heard of 1,000 similar mir-acles and still do not believe are even furtherastray than devils. Jinn describe such peopleas the foolish ones among us [who used to] ut-ter extravagant lies against God (72:4).

Eighth example: Tirmidhi reports fromIbn 'Abbas: "God's Messenger asked a Be-douin: 'If that tree branch comes to me when Icall it, will you bear witness that I am theMessenger?' He replied that he would, and sothe Messenger called to it. The branch brokeoff and jumped over near to him. It thenjumped back to its place when the Messengercommanded it to do so."112

Many similar examples are reportedthrough various narrations. Seven or eightropes form a strong cable when they come to-gether. In the same way, when these tree-re-lated miracles reported by the most renownedCompanions are taken together, they must

111.Bukhari, 5:58; also related by Muslim, Abu Dawud,Tirmidhi, and Ibn Hanbal.

112.Tirmidhi, no. 3632; Hakim, 2:620; Bayhaqi, 6:15.

have the certainty of tawatur in meaning oreven in actual wording. In fact, they gain thedegree of explicit tawatur through the Com-panions passing them down to the followinggeneration. In particular, such authenticbooks of Tradition as Bukhari's Sahih,Muslim's Sahih, Ibn Hibban's Sahih, andTirmidhi's Sunan note and record the chain oftransmitters (leading back to the Prophet'stime) so soundly and convincingly that read-ing an account in Bukhari's Sahih, for in-stance, is equivalent to hearing it from theCompanions.

When trees recognize God Almighty's Mes-senger, confirm his Messengership, call uponand salute him, and obey his orders, how canthose unbelievers who call themselves humanbeings be considered anything but worthlesspieces of wood and worthy of hellfire?

Chapter 10Tenth Sign: The grievingpoleThis concerns the grieving pole, which is re-ported in the form of tawatur and reinforcesthe tree-related miracles. This event, whichhappened in the Prophet's Mosque before avast congregation, consolidates and confirmssuch miracles, for the pole came from a tree.But this miracle itself is mutawatir (has thecertainty of explicit tawatur), while miracles

concerning trees are mutawatir when con-sidered as a whole.

The Prophet used to lean on a date-palmpole while delivering a sermon in his mosque.However, when he began to deliver his ser-mons on the newly constructed pulpit, the con-gregation heard the pole moan like a camel.Its moaning ended only after the Messengerconsoled it by putting his hand on it.

This miracle is widely known and has thecertainty of explicit tawatur. It was reportedthrough different channels by an illustriousgroup of Companions, among them such emin-ent scholars and leading Tradition narratorsas Anas ibn Malik and Jabir ibn 'Abdullah al-Ansari (both of whom served the Prophet),'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas,Sahl ibn Sa'd, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, Ubay ibnKa'b, Burayda, and Umm Salama (mother ofthe believers). Hundreds of Tabi'un authorit-ies received it from the Companions, and au-thentic books of Tradition, above all Bukhari

and Muslim, transmitted it to the followingcenturies.

Jabir reports that God's Messenger used tolean against the pole, called the "date-palmtrunk," when delivering a sermon in hismosque. After a pulpit was built, the Prophetwould deliver his sermon from it. Due to thisseparation, the pole moaned like a pregnantcamel. Anas relates that it moaned like a wa-ter buffalo and caused the mosque to tremble.Sahl ibn Sa'd says: "When it moaned, manypeople burst into tears."

According to Ubay ibn Ka'b, the pole sobbedso much that it split. Another report relatesthat God's Messenger said: "It moaned be-cause it was separated from the recitation ofGod's Names (during the sermon)." Accordingto another version, he said: "If I had not em-braced and consoled it, it would have wept un-til the Day of Judgment because of its separa-tion from the Messenger."

According to Burayda, the Messenger puthis hand on the pole when it began to weep

and said: "If you wish, I will restore you in thewood from whence you came so that you maybe rooted again, perfectly flourishing, andyield fruit again. Or, if you wish, I will plantyou in Paradise and God's friends will eatfrom your fruits." Then he listened to it, andthe people in the mosque heard the pole say:"Plant me in Paradise, and God's friends willeat from my fruits in the place where there isno decay." God's Messenger replied that hewould and added: "It has preferred the Worldof Eternity to the transitory one."

The well-known scholar Hasan al-Basriwould weep whenever he recounted this mira-culous event to his disciples, and would say:"A piece of wood demonstrates such love andardor for God's noble, most beloved Messen-ger. You need to feel this love much more thana piece wood does."113 And we say: "That istrue, and love and ardor for him are possibleby adhering to his illustrious Sunna andShari'a."

113.Bukhari, Sahih, 4:237; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, nos.2236, 2237, 2400, 2401, 2430-32; Muslim, Sahih, no.2374; Qadi 'Iyad, al-Shifa' al-Sharif, 1:304-5; Nasa'i,Sunan, 3:102; Tirmidhi, Sunan, No. 3631; Bayhaqi,Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 6:66; Abu Nu'aym, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 2:399; Darimi, Sunan, No. 39; Kanz al-'Ummal, 12:411-18.

Why were others not reportedthrough as many channels as thegrieving pole?

Question: Why were miracles of abundanceconcerning food and water not reportedthrough as many channels as the grievingpole, even though more people saw them?

Answer: There are two kinds of miracles.Some affirmed his Prophethood. The grievingpole is of this kind, for it is a proof thatstrengthens the believers' belief, urges hypo-crites to belief and sincerity, and causes unbe-lievers to believe. This is why everyone wit-nessed it and so much effort was exerted tospread it. The other kind of miracles involvingfood and water are wonders or Divine gifts,even banquets provided by the All-MercifulOne because of need, rather than manifestmiracles.

Although they are miraculous proofs of hisProphethood, their real significance is that

God, Who creates hundreds of tons of datesfrom a single date-stone, provides a banquetfor 1,000 people out of a little food and satiatesa thirsty army of holy warriors with waterflowing abundantly from the Prophet's fingers.This is why each miracle related to food andwater does not reach the degree of the miracleof the grieving pole.

However, examples of these two kinds ofmiracles are considered, in their entirety, tohave been as widely reported as the grievingpole. Besides, while each person present couldsee only the effects (and not the incidents) ofthe abundant food and water, with some onlywitnessing their happening, the pole's moan-ing was heard by everyone. This is anotherreason why the latter was spread so widely.

Why are some important miraclesnot related through more than orlines of transmission?

Question: The Companions preserved the re-cord of the Prophet's every act and conditionwith the utmost care. So why are such import-ant miracles not related through more than orlines of transmission? And why are the mainreporters only Companions like Jabir, Anas,and Abu Hurayra, and not, for example, AbuBakr and 'Umar?

Answer: The answer to the first part is giv-en in the Fourth Sign's Third Essential. Con-cerning the second part, just as a patient goesto a doctor, engineers are consulted about en-gineering matters, and muftis are asked aboutreligious issues, some scholarly Companionswere entrusted with and devoted themselvesto instructing the following generations in theProphetic Traditions. For example, AbuHurayra devoted his life to preserving Tradi-tions, while 'Umar shouldered administrative

matters and the caliphate's problems. Thus'Umar narrated only a few Traditions, for hehad confidence in such people as AbuHurayra, Anas, and Jabir, to instruct theMuslims in the Traditions. In fact, a Traditioncan be considered as established if it is repor-ted by a well-known person belonging to thetruthful, sincere, and trusted Companions.Given this, there is no need for it to be relatedby others. This is why some significant incid-ents have only one, two, or three channels.

Chapter 11Eleventh Sign: Examplesof miracles concerninginanimate objects suchas rocks and mountainsHere, we will cite only eight of countless ex-amples of miracles concerning such inanimateobjects as rocks and mountains.

First example: Qadi ‘Iyad reports, in hisShifa’ al-Sharif and through an exalted chainof narrators from such great Tradition

authorities as Bukhari, that Ibn Mas‘ud, theProphet’s servant, says: “We could hear foodglorifying God while eating with God’sMessenger.”114

Second example: Accurate books of Tradi-tion report from Abu Dharr and Anas thatAnas said: “We were with God’s Messenger.He put some pebbles in his hand, and theybegan to glorify God. Then he placed them inAbu Bakr’s hand, and they continued theirglorification.”115 Abu Dharr reports that God’sMessenger then put the pebbles in the handsof ‘Umar and ‘Uthman, successively, and theycontinued their glorification. Both Anas andAbu Dharr add that God’s Messenger finallyput the pebbles in their hands, after which thepebbles stopped their glorification.116

Third example: ‘Ali, Jabir, and ‘A’isha nar-rate that rocks and mountains would say:

114.Bukhari, 4:235, Tirmidhi, no. 3712.115.Shifa’, 1:306; Bayhaqi, Dala’il, 6:66.116.Shifa’, 1:306; Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, 5:179; related by

Tabarani and Bazzar.

“Peace be upon you, O Messenger of God,” toGod’s Messenger. ‘Ali says: “Whenever wewalked in Makka’s suburbs during the earlypart of his Prophethood, the trees and rockswe passed would say: ‘Peace be upon you, OMessenger of God.’”117

Jabir relates: “When God’s Messenger cameacross a rock or a tree, they would say in sub-mission to him: “Peace be upon you, O Mes-senger of God.”118 According to Jabir ibnSamura, God’s Messenger once said: “I recog-nize a rock that used to greet me.”119 Accord-ing to some, he was referring to the Ka‘ba’sBlack Stone. ‘A’isha narrated: “God’s Messen-ger said: ‘After Gabriel brought me the Mes-sage, every time I passed a rock or a tree itwould say: “Peace be upon you, O Messengerof God.”’120

117.Tirmidhi, no. 3630; Hakim, 2:607; Abu Nu‘aym, 2:389.118.Shifa’, 1:307, related by Bayhaqi.119.Muslim, no. 2277; Tirmidhi, no. 3703; Ibn Hanbal,

5:89.120.Shifa’, 1:37; Bayhaqi, 2:135.

Fourth example: ‘Abbas relates that God’sMessenger covered ‘Abbas and his four sons(‘Abdullah, ‘Ubaydullah, Fadl, and Qusam)with a piece of cloth and prayed: “O my Lord,this is my father’s brother and these are hissons. Veil them from the Fire as I have veiledthem with my robe.” The house’s roof, door,and walls joined this prayer at once, saying:“Amen, Amen.”121

Fifth example: Imam Bukhari primarily,and such other Traditionists as Ibn Hibban,Abu Dawud, and Tirmidhi, report from Anas,Abu Hurayra, ‘Uthman, and Sa‘id ibn Zayd(two of those to whom Paradise was prom-ised): “God’s Messenger, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar,and ‘Uthman climbed Mount Uhud. Themountain, either in awe or because of joy,trembled. God’s Messenger ordered it: ‘Be still,O Uhud, for on you there is a Prophet, a truth-ful one, and two martyrs.”122 In this way,

121.Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, 9:269; Bayhaqi, 6:71; Ibn Maja,2:209.

God’s Messenger predicted the martyrdom of‘Umar and ‘Uthman.

A supplement to this Tradition reports thatGod’s Messenger, pursued by unbelievers dur-ing his migration to Madina, climbed Sabirmountain. The mountain said: “Please leaveme, O Messenger of God, for I fear God willpunish me if they strike you while you are onme.” Upon this, Mount Thawr called to him:“Come to me, O Messenger of God!” This iswhy people of intuition feel fear on Sabir andsafety on Thawr.123 This example indicatesthat these great mountains are God’s servantswho glorify Him and perform their duties. Inaddition, they know and love the Prophet.

Sixth example: ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said:“While delivering a sermon on the pulpit,God’s Messenger recited: They measure notGod with His true measure. Earth altogethershall be His handful on the Day of

122.Abu Dawud, no. 4651; Tirmidhi, no. 3781; also relatedby Bukhari, Muslim, Hakim, and Ibn Maja.

123.Shifa’, 1:308; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, 1:630.

Resurrection, and the heavens shall be rolledup in His right hand (39:67), and added: ‘God,the All-Compelling, glorifies Himself and says:“I am the All-Compelling, I am the All-Com-pelling, I am the Great and Exalted.”’ As hesaid this, the pulpit trembled so much that wefeared God’s Messenger would fall down.”124

Seventh example: Ibn ‘Abbas (“the scholarof the Ummah” and “the interpreter of theQur’an”) and Ibn Mas‘ud (the Prophet’s ser-vant and a great Companion scholar) reportthat the Ka‘ba contained 360 idols fixed to thestone with lead. On the day of Makka’s con-quest, God’s Messenger pointed at them oneby one with a curved stick, reciting: Truth hascome, and falsehood has vanished. Surelyfalsehood is ever certain to vanish (17:81).Whichever idol he pointed at fell down. If hepointed to the idol’s face, it fell backwards; ifhe pointed to the idol’s back, it fell on its face.Thus they all fell down.125

124.Muslim, 4:2147; Hakim, 2:252; also related by Nasa’iand Ibn Hanbal.

Eighth example: This is the famous storyof the monk Bahira. Before his Prophethoodwas proclaimed, God’s Messenger traveled toDamascus with trading caravans belonging tohis uncle Abu Talib and some other Qurayshitraders. They halted near the monasterywhere Bahira, a well-known recluse, was stay-ing. He came out unexpectedly. When he sawMuhammad the Trustworthy among the cara-van, he said: “He is the lord of the worlds andwill be a Prophet.” The Qurayshis asked:“How do you know this?” The holy monkanswered: “I saw a piece of cloud over thecaravan as you were coming. When you satdown, it moved toward his side and shadowedhim. I also noticed that rocks and treesseemed to prostrate before him. They do thisonly for Prophets.”126

125.Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, 6:176, related by Bukhari,Muslim, and Tirmidhi.

126.Tirmidhi, no. 3699; Hakim, 2:615; Ibn Hisham, 1:115;Shifa’, 1:83.

There are about similar instances. Joinedtogether, these eight examples form so strongan unbreakable chain. Considered as a whole,such miracles concerning inanimate objectsbearing witness to Muhammad’s Prophethoodhave the certainty of tawatur in meaning.Each instance derives additional strengthfrom the others, just as a thin pillar is fortifiedby being joined to thick columns. Likewise,people on their own are weak. But when theyjoin an army, each one has enough power tochallenge 1,000 people.

Chapter 12Twelfth sign: Three verysignificant examplesThe following three examples, related to theeleventh sign, are very significant.

First example: As established through allinterpreters' meticulous verification and allTraditionists' reports, the verse: When youthrew, it was not you that threw, but Godthrew (8:17), refers to the following incident:During the Battle of Badr, God's Messengertook a handful of soil and pebbles and threw

them at the unbelievers' army, saying: "Mayyour faces be deformed." That handful of soilentered each unbeliever's eyes, and "May yourfaces be deformed" was heard by each one.They consequently became preoccupied withtheir eyes and had to retreat, although theyhad launched the attack.127 The Traditionists,most notably Imam Muslim, report that thesame incident happened during the Battle ofHunayn. As a result, and by God's Power andpermission, each one was hit in the face by ahandful of soil and had to flee the battlefield,being preoccupied with their eyes.128

As these extraordinary events are beyondhuman capacity and material causes, theQur'an declares: When you threw, it was notyou that threw, but God threw (8:17).

Second example: Reliable Traditionists,above all Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim,report that after the Battle of Khaybar a

127.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 6:84; related by Abu Dawud, IbnHanbal, and Bayhaqi.

128.Muslim, no. 1775.

Jewess roasted a goat, poisoned it, and sent itto the Messenger. His Companions had justbegun to eat it when God's Messenger sud-denly said: "Withdraw your hands! It tells methat it is poisoned." Everyone stopped eatingexcept Bishr ibn al-Bara', who had taken amorsel of it and later died because of the pois-on. God's Messenger sent for the Jewess(Zaynab). When asked why she had done it,she said: "I thought that if you were a Prophetit would not harm you, and that if you were aking it would save the people from you."129

Consider the following point, which adds tothe miraculousness of this extraordinaryevent: According to one report, some Compan-ions also heard the goat speaking. The Jewshad attempted to harm God's Messenger andhis close Companions at the same time.However, the Prophet's warning proved trueand their plot was unveiled and foiled. Whenthe Prophet, whose Companions never heard

129.Abu Dawud, Muqaddima, 11; Bukhari, 2:121; Hakim,3:219; Darimi, 1:35; Ibn Hanbal, 1:305; Bayhaqi, 6:256.

an untrue statement from him, said: "Thisgoat tells me that… ," everyone believed himwith the same certainty as if they had heardthe goat themselves.

Third example: The following relates threeinstances of another miracle resembling thoseof Moses' shining hand and staff.

Three instances of another miracleresembling those of Moses' shininghand and staff

First: Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal relates onAbu Sa'id al-Khudri's authority and verifiesthat God's Messenger gave Qatada ibnNu'man a stick on a dark rainy night, saying:"This stick will light your surroundings as faras 7 meters. When you get home, you will seea black shadow that is Satan. Drive him awayfrom your home." Qatada left with the stick,which was emitting light like the Moses' shin-ing hand. When he arrived home, he found theperson described and drove him away.130

Second: During the Battle of Badr, whichwas a source of wonders, Ukkasha ibn Mihsanal-Asad broke his sword while fighting thepolytheists. God's Messenger replaced hisbroken sword with a stick and told him to

130.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 2:166, related by Ibn Hanbal, IbnKhuzayma, and Hakim.

continue fighting. Suddenly, by God's powerand permission, the stick changed into a longwhite sword. He fought with it and kept itwith him until he was martyred during theBattle of Yamama.131 This incident is indis-putable, for Ukkasha was so proud of thatsword that throughout his life it was widelyknown as "the aid."

Third: Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, one of the mostbrilliant scholars of his time, relates and veri-fies that 'Abdullah ibn Jahsh, a cousin ofGod's Messenger, broke his sword during theBattle of Uhud. The Messenger gave him astick, which then became a sword in his hand.Ibn Jahsh fought with it, and that miracle re-mained a sword after the battle.132 Yearslater, as reported by Ibn Sayyid al-Nas in hisbiography of the Prophet, it was sold toBuqhai Turki for 200 dirhams.133

131.Sira ibn Hisham, 1:637; Bayhaqi, 4:97; Ibn al-Jawzi,Zad al-Ma'ad, 3:186.

132.Isti'ab, 3:879; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, no. 4583; also re-lated by Bayhaqi.

133.'Uyun al-Athar, 2:20; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, no. 4583.

Chapter 13Thirteenth sign: TheProphet's healing of thesick and woundedAnother type of miracle, a mutawatir one withvarious examples, is the Prophet's healing ofthe sick and wounded with his breath. In theirentirety, such miracles are mutawatir134 inmeaning. Certain incidents also have the cer-tainty of tawatur in meaning. The rest should

134.mutawatir: reported unanimously

be regarded as authentic according to the sci-entific principles of Tradition, although theirnarration depends on only one chain of trans-mission, because they are related and verifiedby discerning leaders of this science. Out ofmany relevant examples, we cite only a few:

First example: Qadi 'Iyad reports in hisShifa', through numerous channels and achain of exalted narrators from Sa'd ibn AbiWaqqas, a servant and military commander ofGod's Messenger, commander-in-chief of thearmy that conquered Persia during 'Umar'scaliphate, and one of the ten Companionspromised Paradise during their life. He said:"I was beside God's Messenger during theBattle of Uhud. He shot arrows at the unbe-lievers until his bow was broken, after whichhe began to give his arrows to me. Each timehe gave me a featherless arrow, he ordered meto shoot it, which I did. And it flew like onewith feathers, piercing an unbeliever's body.In the meantime, Qatada ibn Nu'man was hitand one of his eyeballs protruded. God's Mes-senger used his hand to replace the eyeball in

its socket. The eye healed at once, as if noth-ing had happened, and became even betterthan the other one."135

This incident became so well-known thatwhen one of Qatada's grandsons met Caliph'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, he presented himselfwith the following poetical statement:

I am the son of the personwhose eyeprotruded over his cheek,But was wonderfully restored by thehand of Mustafa;Then it became as it had been before;it wasThe most beautiful of eyes,and mostwonderful was its restoration.

During the Battle of Yawm Dhiqarad, an ar-row hit Abu Qatada's face. God's Messengerwiped the injured man's face, and Abu Qatada

135.Shifa', 1:322, related by Ibn Ishaq, Tabarani, andBayhaqi.

said: "I never felt the pain, nor did the woundfester."136

Second example: Authentic books of Tradi-tion, primarily Sahih al-Bukhari and SahihMuslim, report: 'Ali, who was suffering greatlyfrom sore eyes, was appointed standard-bearerduring the Battle of Khaybar. The pain ceasedwhen God's Messenger applied his healingsaliva to 'Ali's eyes, and his eyes became muchbetter. The next morning, 'Ali joined the battleand, pulling up the citadel's heavy iron gateand using it as a shield, conquered the strong-hold of Khaybar.137 In the same battle, Salamaibn Akwa's leg wound was healed when God'sMessenger breathed upon it.138

Third example: The Prophet's biographers,including al-Nasa'i, relate that 'Uthman ibnHunayf said: "Pray for my eyes to open." God'sMessenger told him to perform ablution, pray

136.Shifa', 1:322, related by Tirmidhi and Bayhaqi.137.Bukhari, 4:58; Ibn Hanbal, 1:85; also related by

Muslim and Tabarani.138.Bukhari, 5:170; Shifa', 1:323.

two rak'ats, and then say: "O God, my appealis to You, and I turn toward You throughProphet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy. OMuhammad, I turn toward God through you,that He uncover my sight. O God, make himmy intercessor." He went to do as he was told.When he returned, we saw that his eyes hadbeen opened already.139

Fourth example: Ibn Wahb, a great Tradi-tion authority, reports: When Mu'awwidh ibn'Afra, one of the martyrs of the Battle of Badr,fought with Abu Jahl, the accursed Abu Jahlcut off one of his hands. Mu'awwidh took hissevered hand to God's Messenger. The Mes-senger stuck the amputated hand ontoMu'awwidh's wrist and applied his saliva to it.It healed at once, and Mu'awwidh returned tothe battle and fought until he was mar-tyred.140 Ibn Wahb reports that during the

139.Tirmidhi, Da’wat 119 no: 3578; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak i, 526; Bayhaqi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa vi, 166;Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’ i, 322.

140.Shifa', 1:324; 'Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa', 1:656.

same battle, Hubayb ibn Yasaf received such asword blow on the shoulder that it seemedthat his shoulder had been split in two. God'sMessenger held the parts together, breathedon them, and the wounded shoulder healed.141

Although these two Traditions are reportedby only one Companion, their occurrence canbe regarded as certain, since they happenedduring a battle that was itself a source of mir-acles, were verified by such a great authorityas Ibn Wahb, and similar incidents also arereported. In fact, nearly 1,000 examples estab-lished through authentic narrations indicatethat the Messenger healed wounds.

Question: You qualify many of these Tradi-tions as mutawatir, whereas we are hearingmost of them for the first time. How could amutawatir Tradition remain unknown for solong?

141.Shifa', 1:324, related by Bayhaqi, Ibn Ishaq, IbnKathir, and Ibn Hajar.

Answer: Many mutawatir facts are obviousto religious scholars and unknown to others.Many Traditions that are mutawatir to Tradi-tionists may not be regarded by others as evenindividually reported ones. Axioms or theoriesin any branch of science are evident only tothe authorities of that branch, and othersmust rely on the authorities or enter thatbranch to make their own observations. All in-cidents we have cited so far are regarded asmutawatir by Traditionists, scholars of theShari'a, methodologists, and scholars of manyother branches of knowledge, as having thecertainty of tawatur either in actual wordingor in meaning. If the uneducated are unawareof them and if those who blind themselves tothe truth do not know them, it is their ownfault.

Fifth example: Imam Baghawi reports andverifies that during the Battle of Khandaq(the Ditch), an unbeliever broke 'Ali ibn al-Hakam's leg. When God's Messenger strokedit, the leg was healed instantly. The soldier

continued to fight without even dismountingfrom his horse.

Sixth example: Traditionists, primarilyImam Bayhaqi, relate that once Imam 'Ali wasvery sick. As he was alone and groaning out aprayer for his cure, God's Messenger came inand asked God to heal him. He then told 'Alito get up, touching him with his foot. 'Ali washealed at once and later said: "Since then Ihave never caught the same illness."142

Seventh example: This is the famous storyof Shurahbil al-Jufi. A tumor in his palmmade it impossible for him to hold his swordand his horse's reins. God's Messenger wipedthe tumor and massaged it until no sign of itremained.143

Eighth example: Six children werehonored with the Prophet's miracles. They areas follows:

142.Ibn Hanbal, 1:107; Shifa', 1:323; Ibn Hibban, 9:47;Bayhaqi, 6:179.

143.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 8:298, related by Tabarani andBayhaqi.

• Ibn Abi Shayba, a man of perfect char-acter and profound research and awell-known Traditionist, reports: "Awoman came to God's Messenger witha retarded boy who could not speak.God's Messenger rinsed his mouthwith water, washed his hands, gavethe water to the woman, and told herto have the boy drink it. After the boyhad done so, he was cured completelyand became so wise and intelligentthat he was superior to even the mostprudent person."144

• Ibn 'Abbas reports that an insanechild was brought to God's Messenger.The Messenger put his hand on thechild's chest, which caused the childsuddenly to vomit a black object re-sembling a small cucumber. The childwas cured instantly.145

144.Ibn Maja, no. 3532; Hakim, 2:618; Bayhaqi, 6:82.145.Ibn Hanbal, 4:172; Darimi, 1:11-12; also related by Bay-

haqi and Tabarani.

• Imam Bayhaqi and Nasa'i relate thata boiling saucepan fell on Muhammadibn Khatib's arm and entirely scaldedit. God's Messenger healed the boy bystroking the injured hand and apply-ing his saliva.146

• A mute boy came to God's Messenger.When God's Messenger asked him whohe was, the boy said: "You are TheMessenger," and began to speak.147

• Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, the leadingscholar of his age and who washonored with conversation with God'sMessenger many times while awake,related and verified that a newly bornbaby from Yamama was brought toGod's Messenger. When the Messen-ger turned his face to him, the babybegan to speak and said: "I bear wit-ness that you are the Messenger."

146.Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 4:62-63; also related by Tabaraniand Bayhaqi.

147.Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 6:158, also relatedby Bayhaqi.

God's Messenger replied: "May Godbless you." After that, the baby neverspoke during his infancy. He had beenhonored with this miracle and theprayer of "May God bless you,"148andbecame famous with the title Mubarakal-Yamama (The Blessed One fromYamama).

• An ill-natured boy interrupted God'sMessenger by passing before himwhile he was praying. God's Messen-ger said: "O God, let him not leave anytraces." After this, the boy was pun-ished for his bad behavior by becomingunable to walk.149

148.Shifa', 1:319; Kanz al-'Ummal, 4:379; Bayhaqi, 6:59.149.Shifa', 1:328; Bayhaqi, 5:243; also related by Ibn Hibban.

[This incident should not be misunderstood. The Messen-ger must have discerned that the boy would cause greatharm for both himself and the society and, in order toprevent this for the good of both the boy, especially withrespect to his eternal life in the Hereafter, and the soci-ety, prayed against him. A similar significant incident isrelated in the Qur'an (18:74, 8 0-81) (Tr.)]

• A shameless woman with the mind ofa child once asked for a morsel of foodwhich God's Messenger was eating. Hegave her one, but she responded: "Iwant the one in your mouth." God'sMessenger gave it to her. After eatingit, she became the shyest woman inMadina.150

Like these eight, there are perhaps 800more examples of similar miracles, most ofwhich are recorded in the books of Traditionand his biography. Since his hand was like adrugstore of Luqman, his saliva the life-givingwater (elixir) of Khadr, and his breath thehealth-giving breath of Jesus, and since hu-manity is subject to disease, many people re-sorted to him. Sick, young, and insane peopleflocked to him and were cured.

Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Yamani (also knownas Tawus), one of the greatest Tabi'un schol-ars and one who made pilgrimage times and

150.Majma 'al-Zawa'id, 8:312; Shifa', 1:325; related byTabarani.

performed the morning prayer with ablutionof the night prayer for years continuously,stated with certainty: "Whenever an insaneperson came to God's Messenger, he or shewas cured as soon as the Messenger put hishand on his or her chest. There were no excep-tions." As such a great authority, one wholived during the last phase of the Time of Hap-piness (the time of the Prophet and his fourRightly-Guided Caliphs) had such a definiteconviction, it is unquestionable that theProphet cured everyone who came to him. Asthis fact became known, we can assume thatthousands of people appealed to him.

Chapter 14Fourteenth sign: Mir-acles related to the Mes-senger’s prayersMiracles related to the Messenger’s prayersalso are important. Such miracles are definiteand genuinely mutawatir, having happenednumerous times. Most of them reach the de-gree of tawatur or are as well-known as themutawatir ones; the rest bear the same certi-tude as the well-known mutawatir Traditions,since they are narrated by the greatest

authorities. Of many such instances, we relateonly a few that are as famous as, or have thesame certainty of, mutawatir.

First example:Traditionists, including Imam Bukhari and

Imam Muslim, report that God accepted all ofthe Messenger’s prayers for rain immediately.Sometimes it would begin to fall before helowered his hands while on the pulpit. Asmentioned earlier, clouds would appear tomeet his army’s need for water. Even in hischildhood, his grandfather ‘Abd al-Muttalibwould go with him to pray for rain, and itwould come out of respect for him. One of ‘Abdal-Muttalib’s poems made this famous.

After the Prophet’s death, ‘Umar once took‘Abbas with him to pray for rain, saying: “OGod, this is Your beloved Prophet’s uncle. Giveus rain for his sake.” Thereafter it rained.151

As reported by Imam Bukhari and Muslim,God’s Messenger was asked to pray for rain

151.Bukhari, 2:35; Bayhaqi, 6:147.

and did so. It rained so heavily that theyasked him to pray for it to cease. He did so,and the rain stopped instantly.152

Second example:It is as well-known as tawatur that even

when there were only Companions and theywere praying in secret, God’s Messengerprayed: “O God, strengthen Islam by ‘Umaribn al-Khattab or ‘Amr ibn al-Hisham.” A fewdays later, ‘Umar embraced Islam and becamea means of openly propagating and exaltingIslam.153 he acquired the sublime title of faruq(discerning between truth and falsehood).

Third example:God’s Messenger prayed for various distin-

guished Companions. His prayers were soreadily accepted that they can be consideredmiracles. The following are some examples outof many:

152.Shifa’, 1:327, related by Bukhari and Muslim.153.Tirmidhi, no. 3684; Ibn Hanbal, 2:95; Hakim, 2:465;

Bayhaqi, 2:215.

As reported primarily by Bukhari andMuslim, God’s Messenger prayed for Ibn‘Abbas: “O God, make him profoundly know-ledgeable in religion and teach him theQur’an’s innermost meaning.””154 As a result,Ibn ‘Abbas acquired the sublime title of“Interpreter of the Qur’an” and the exalted po-sition of being the “Scholar of the Umma.”When Ibn ‘Abbas was still young, ‘Umar in-cluded him in his consultative assembly,which consisted of the Companion’s scholarsand elders.

Compilers of authentic books of Traditions,including Imam Bukhari, report that Anas’mother asked God’s Messenger to pray thatAnas would have many descendants and muchwealth. He prayed: “O God, give abundance tohis wealth and offspring, and bless that whichYou have bestowed on him.” In his old age,Anas swore by God: “I have buried 100 of mychildren. Concerning my wealth, nobody has

154.Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 1:264; also related by Bukhari,Muslim, and Hakim.

lived as happily as I have. You see my abund-ant wealth, which is due to the Prophet’sprayer.”155

Traditionists, including Imam Bayhaqi, re-port that God’s Messenger prayed for ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf, one of the ten Companionspromised Paradise while still living, to haveabundant wealth. As a result, he gained suchwealth that once he gave 700 loaded camels asalms in the way of God.156 Now reflect on theblessings of the Prophet’s prayer and say:“How great are God’s blessings.”

Tradition narrators, including ImamBukhari, report that God’s Messenger prayedfor ‘Urwa ibn Abi Ja‘da to profit in business.‘Urwa says: “Sometimes I would go to Kufa’smarket and return home in the evening hav-ing earned 40,000 (dirhams).” Imam Bukhariremarks: ‘If he had taken a little soil in hishand, he would have gained a profit from it.'157

155.Bukhari, 8:93, 100; Muslim, no. 2480; Ibn Hanbal,6:430.

156.Shifa’, 1:326; Bayhaqi, 6:218; Abu Dawud, no. 2109.

‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far, for whom God’s Messen-ger prayed for abundance, became famous be-cause of his great wealth. He was as well-known for his generosity as he was for hisriches.158

The above-mentioned miracles are enoughto illustrate this point.

Imam Tirmidhi and other Traditionists re-port that God’s Messenger prayed for Sa‘d ibnAbi Waqqas: “O God, answer his prayer.”159

After that, Sa‘d became famous for having hisprayers accepted. In addition, everyone fearedhis malediction. God’s Messenger also prayedthat Abu Qatada might remain young, saying:“May God prosper your face. O God, bless hishair and skin.” When Abu Qatada died at the

157.Bukhari, 4:252; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, 2:476; Bayhaqi,6:220.

158.Ibn Hajar, Matalib al-‘Aliya, 4077; related by AbuYa‘la and Tabarani.

159.Tirmidhi, 3752; Hakim, 3:499; also related by Ibn Hib-ban and Abu Nu‘aym.

age of 70, he seemed to be as young as a15-year-old boy.160

Once the poet Nabigha recited a poem of hisin the presence of God’s Messenger. When herecited the couplet:

Our honor and praise have reachedthe skies;We want to ascend even higher!

the Messenger asked him, jokingly: “Towhere, O Abu Layla?” He replied: “ToParadise, O Messenger of God.” Afterwards,he recited another meaningful poem and theMessenger of God prayed: “May God not de-form your mouth.” As a result, Nabigha hadall of his teeth when he reached the great ageof 120 years. Whenever he lost a tooth, a newone would appear in its place.161

160.Shifa’, 1:327, related by Bayhaqi.161.Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, No. 8639; Bayhaqi, 6:232; Ibn

Kathir, al-Bidaya, 6:168.

God’s Messenger prayed for Imam ‘Ali: “OGod, suffice him against heat and cold.” As aresult, Imam ‘Ali felt neither cold nor heateven if he habitually wore winter clothing insummer or summer clothing in winter. Hesaid: “I do not suffer from cold or heat, thanksto the Prophet’s prayer.”162 God’s Messengeralso prayed for Fatima: “O God, do not let hersuffer from hunger.” Fatima said: “I neversuffered from hunger after his prayer.”163

Tufayl ibn ‘Amr once asked the Messengerto perform a miracle for his tribe. The Messen-ger prayed: “O God, provide light for him.” Alight appeared between Tufayl’s eyes, whichwas later transferred to the end of a stick.This caused him to be known as Dhu al-Nur(possessor of light).164

162.Ibn Hanbal, 1:99; Ibn Maja, 1:43; also related by Bay-haqi and Tabarani.

163.Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, 9:203, related by Bayhaqi andTabarani.

164.Shifa’, 1:328, related by Bayhaqi, Ibn Jarir, and IbnIshaq.

These are some well-known events thathave acquired certitude.

Abu Hurayra once complained to the Mes-senger about forgetfulness. The Messengertold him to spread a piece of cloth on theground. He then made some movements as iffilling his hands with invisible things andemptying them on the cloth. After doing thisthree or four times, he told Abu Hurayra topick it up. Thereafter Abu Hurayra, as helater swore by God, never forgot anything.165

Fourth example:Under severe persecutions, God’s Messenger

sometimes had to refer the state of the perse-cutors to God:

First:: The Persian Chosroes, Parwiz, toreup the letter sent to him by the Prophet.When he heard this, the Prophet prayed: “OGod, rend him and his rule as he rent my let-ter.” As a result, Parwiz was killed by his own

165.Bukhari, 4:253; also related by Muslim, Tirmidhi, andIbn Hanbal.

son (Shirwiya) with a dagger, and Sa‘d ibn AbiWaqqas tore his kingdom into pieces, causingthe Sassanid Empire to collapse completely.166

The Emperor of Byzantium and the rulers ofother states did not perish, for they respectedthe Prophet’s letters.

Second: A famous mutawatir Traditionstates, and Qur’anic verses point out, that inthe early days of Islam when God’s Messengerprayed at the Ka‘ba, the Qurayshi leaderswould gather around him and treat him verybadly. He had to refer their state to God. IbnMas‘ud remarks: “I swear by God that I sawall of their corpses after the Battle of Badr.”167

Third: God’s Messenger prayed that thelarge Mudar tribe would endure famine, sincethey had contradicted him. Rain stopped, anddrought and famine struck the Mudar. Whenthe Quraysh, a sub-clan of the Mudar, askedGod’s Messenger to pray for rain, he did so

166.Bukhari, 6:10; Abu Nu‘aym, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa,2:348.

167.Muslim, 3, no. 1794; Bukhari, 5:94; Ibn Hanbal, 1:417.

and thereby ended the drought and famine.168

This event is considered mutawatir.Fifth example:The Prophet’s resentment of particular

people resulted in their terrible destruction.We cite three examples:

First:: He cursed ‘Utba ibn Abi Lahab: “OGod, send one of your dogs upon him.”169 Sometime later when ‘Utba was traveling, a lionpicked him out in the caravan and tore himup. This very famous event was related andverified by leading Tradition scholars.

Second: God’s Messenger dispatched Amiribn Azbat to command a squadron. Muhallamibn Jassama killed him out of spite. WhenGod’s Messenger learned of this, he becameangry and prayed: “O God, do not forgiveMuhallam.”170 Muhallam died after 7 days.They put his corpse in the grave, but the grave

168.Bukhari, 2:37; Bayhaqi, 2:324.169.Bayhaqi, 2:335; Kanz al-‘Ummal, 438-439; Abu

Nu‘aym, 2:454.170.Shifa’, 1:329; Ibn Hisham, Sira, 4:247.

rejected it. They tried to bury him severaltimes, but each time the grave threw the bodyout. In the end, a covering finally had to bebuilt.

Third: The Messenger saw a man eatingwith his left hand. He warned him to eat withhis right hand. The man, who felt his pride in-jured, retorted: “I cannot do so.” God’s Messen-ger said: “May you never use it again.” Afterthat, the man could never raise his right handagain.171

Sixth example:Out of the many wonders manifested

through the Prophet’s prayer and touch, wemention a few that have acquired certainty.They are as follows:

First:: The Messenger gave Khalid ibn Wal-id (the Sword of God) a few of his hairs andprayed for his triumph. Khalid kept the hairsin his turban. Due to their worth and that of

171.Muslim, no. 2021; also related by Ibn Hibban, Bay-haqi, and Tabarani.

the prayer, Khalid became victorious in everybattle.172

Second: Salman al-Farisi was formerly aslave of the Jews. His masters demanded avery high ransom [for his emancipation], say-ing: “We will emancipate you if you plant 300date palms and, after they yield fruit, you giveus an additional kilos of gold.”

Salman explained his situation to the Mes-senger. God’s Messenger planted the datepalms somewhere around Madina, and onemore was planted by another person. Withinthe same year, all 300 trees yielded fruit, ex-cept for the one planted by the other person.The Messenger pulled it up and replanted it,and it too yielded fruit. He then put some wa-ter from his mouth on an egg-sized piece ofgold and, after praying, gave it to Salman andtold him to give out of it what his mastersasked. After Salman did so, it was still thesame size.173 This miraculous incident, the

172.Hakim, 3:289; Shifa’, 1:331; Bayhaqi, 6:249.

most significant event in Salman’s life, is re-ported by reliable Traditionists.

Third: A female Companion named UmmMalik used to offer butter to the Messengerout of a leather bag (an ukka). He once re-turned it after praying over it, and told hernot to empty or squeeze it. After that, her chil-dren would find butter in the bag wheneverthey wanted some. This continued for a longtime, until they squeezed it and ended theblessing.174

Seventh example:There are many examples of water becom-

ing sweet and emitting a pleasant fragrance.We cite a few of them, as follows:

First: Traditionists, including Bayhaqi, nar-rate that Bi’r al-Quba (a well) dried up ratherfrequently. After God’s Messenger poured

173.Ibn Hanbal, 5:441-42; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqat, 4:53-57;Hakim, 2:16.

174.Muslim, no. 2280; Ibn Hanbal, 3:242; Bayhaqi, Dala’il,6:113.

some of his ablution water into it, it alwaysheld a great amount of water.175

Second: Traditionists, above all AbuNu‘aym in his Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, reportthat when God’s Messenger put some of hissaliva into the well in Anas’ house and prayed,its water became the sweetest in Madina.176

Third: Ibn Maja narrated that oncesomeone brought a bucket of Zamzam well wa-ter to the Messenger. After he put some in hismouth and emptied it into the bucket, thebucket gave off a musk-like smell.177

Fourth: Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal narratesthat a bucket of water was taken from a well.After God’s Messenger put some of his salivain the bucket and poured the water into thewell, the well began to smell of musk.178

Fifth: Hammad ibn Salama, a pious narrat-or highly esteemed and relied upon by Imam

175.Shifa’, 1:331, related by Bayhaqi.176.Ibid., 1:331.177.Ibn Maja, no. 659; Shifa’, 1:332.178.Ibn Hanbal, 22, 67; also related by Ibn Maja.

Muslim and the scholars of Muslim West(North Africa and al-Andalus), reports thatGod’s Messenger filled a leather bag with wa-ter, breathed a prayer into it, and then tied itup and gave it to some Companions, saying:“Don’t open it except for ablution.” When theydid so, they saw that there was milk inside,with cream on it.179

These five incidents are narrated by famous,significant authorities. Together with thosecited here, they show such types of miracles asdefinitely as mutawatir in meaning.

Eighth example:Sterile goats gave plenty of milk after the

Messenger touched them and prayed. Thereare various examples of this type of miracle.We mention only a few that are the bestknown and most authentic, as follows:

First:: All reliable biographies of the Proph-et relate that during his migration to Madina,he and Abu Bakr stopped at ‘Atiqa bint al-

179.Shifa’, 1:334, related by Ibn Sa‘d.

Huda’iyya’s house (also known as UmmMa‘bad). She had a very thin, barren goat.When the Messenger asked if the goat pro-duced any milk, she replied: “It does not evenhave blood in its veins. How can it producemilk?” God’s Messenger rubbed its back andloins, stroked its udder, prayed, and then toldher to get a vessel and milk her goat. She didso, and God’s Messenger, Abu Bakr, and thewhole household drank until fully satisfied.Following this incident, the goat grew fat andstrong and produced lots of milk.180

Second: This is the famous story of IbnMas‘ud’s goat. Prior to his conversion, IbnMas‘ud was a shepherd who cared for theflocks of some Makkan chiefs. One day, God’sMessenger and Abu Bakr stopped where hewas pasturing the flock. When they asked himfor some milk, Ibn Mas‘ud replied: “The goatsdo not belong to me.” God’s Messenger said:“Bring me a barren goat.” Ibn Mas‘ud fetched

180.Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, related by Hakim, Bazzar, and IbnSa‘d.

one that had not mated for the past 2 years.The Messenger stroked the goat’s udder andprayed. After they milked it and drank itspure, delicious milk,181 Ibn Mas‘ud became aMuslim.

Third: Halima of the Sa‘d tribe was theMessenger’s wet nurse. Once when her tribewas struck by famine and drought, the anim-als produced no milk. But when the futureMessenger was sent as an infant to be nursedby Halima, her goats alone, and through hisblessing, returned home in the evening fullysatisfied and with their udders full of milk.182

Although there are similar examples of suchmiracles in biographies of the Prophet, thesefew are sufficient for the purpose.

Ninth example:Out of many wonders that happened when

the Messenger touched people’s heads and

181.Ibn Hanbal, 5:210; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 6:102; IbnHibban, 8:149.

182.Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, 8:220-221, related by Ibn Hanbal,Ibn Hibban, and Ibn Sa‘d.

faces and then prayed, we relate only a fewwell-known ones, as follows::

First: He rubbed ‘Umar ibn Sa‘d’s head andprayed. As a result, this man had no whitehairs on his head when he died at the age ofeighty.183

Second: The Messenger stroked part ofQays ibn Zayd’s head and prayed. As a result,all of Qays’ hair turned gray, except for thatarea, when he became 100 years old.184

Third: ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn al-Khattab was a small, ugly man. The Messen-ger stroked his head and prayed, after whichhe became almost the tallest and most hand-some man.185

Fourth: When ‘A’iz ibn ‘Amr’s face waswounded at the Battle of Hunayn, the Messen-ger wiped the blood away. The part of his facetouched by the Messenger became so radiant

183.Shifa’, 1:334.184.Ibid., 1:334.185.Ibid., 1:335.

that Traditionists describe it as “like thewhiteness on bay horse’s forehead.”186

Fifth: After he stroked Qatada ibn Salman’sface and prayed, it began to shine as brightlyas a mirror.187

Sixth: Zaynab, daughter of Umm Salama(the mother of believers) and step-daughter ofGod’s Messenger, was a child when hesprinkled some of his ablution water on herface. As a result, her face acquired an ex-traordinary beauty.188

There are many similar examples, most ofwhich are narrated by Traditionists. Taken to-gether, they represent a miracle having thecertainty of mutawatir in meaning, even if wewere to regard each one as individual innature and, accordingly, questionablyreported.

186.Ibid., 1:334; Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, 9:412, related byTabarani.

187.Shifa’, 1:334; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, 3:225.188.Shifa’, 1:334; related by Tabarani and Ibn ‘Abd al-

Birr.

Any incident reported in various ways isconcluded to have happened, even though theseparate reports are individually questionable.Suppose a loud noise is heard. One personsays: “Such-and-such a house has collapsed.”Another says: “No, a different house has col-lapsed.” A third reports the collapse of a thirdhouse, and so on. Each report may be ques-tionable and even untrue, but one thing is cer-tain—a house did collapse. All six examplesmentioned above are authentic, and some arefamous. Even if we regard each one as ques-tionable, when taken together they prove theoccurrence of a miracle, just as the collapse ofa house is certain in the above analogy.

Thus each category of miracle cited so far isestablished firmly, and the individual incid-ents related illustrate or represent the whole.As the Messenger’s hands, fingers, saliva,breath, and prayer are the means of his mir-acles, other parts of his body (material or im-material) are the means of numerous wonders.History books and those relating his bio-graphy recount these wonders and display

diverse proofs of his Prophethood by express-ing his spiritual, moral, and physical qualities.

Chapter 15Fifteenth Sign: Consistsof Three BranchesRocks, trees, the moon, and the sun recognizehim and testify to his Prophethood, eachdemonstrating one of his miracles. In thesame way, animals, the dead, jinn, and angelsrecognize him and testify to his Prophethoodby becoming the object of his miracles. Thissign is explained in three parts, as follows:

First Part: How the animal king-dom recognized him

The animal kingdom recognized God's Mes-senger and became the means for him to workmiracles. Although there are many examples,we mention only a few of the well-known oneshaving the certainty of mutawatir in meaning,agreed on by exacting authorities, or acceptedby the Umma.

First incident: This has the reputation ofmutawatir in meaning. During the Prophet'smigration to Madina, he and Abu Bakr con-cealed themselves from their pursuers inThawr cave. Two pigeons guarded its entrancelike sentries; a spider, functioning as a door-keeper, covered the entrance with a thickweb.189 As Ubayy ibn al-Khalaf, a leadingQurayshi who would be killed by the Messen-ger during the Battle of Badr, was examining

189.Ibn Hanbal, 1:248; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa al-Ni-haya, 3:179-81.

the cave, his friends wanted to enter. But hetold them: "There's no point. This web seemsto have been spun before Muhammad wasborn." The others added: "Would those pi-geons, standing there, still be there if someonewere inside?"190 Ibn Wahb also reports that agroup of pigeons shaded the Messenger duringMakka's conquest.191

'A'isha reports: "We had a pigeon namedDajin in our house. When God's Messengerwas at home it would stay quiet, but as soonas he left it would begin to pace to and fro."192

This signifies that the bird obeyed God's Mes-senger by remaining quiet in his presence.

Second incident: This concerns a wolf.Such well-known Companions as Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, Salama ibn al-Aqwa', Ibn Abi Wahb,Abu Hurayra, and Uhban (the shepherd

190.Shifa', 1: 313, related by Tabarani, Bazzar, andBayhaqi.

191.Ibid., 1:313.192.Ibid., 1:309, related by Ibn Hanbal, Bazzar, Abu Ya'la,

and Bayhaqi.

directly involved) report this event, whichgives it the certainty of tawatur in meaning. Awolf once snatched a goat from a herd, but theshepherd rescued the goat. The wolf said: "Youdeprive me of my food without fearing God."The shepherd muttered: "How strange! Does awolf speak?" The wolf responded: "What is[really] strange is that a Prophet behind thathill invites you to Paradise, but you do not re-cognize him!"

All reports agree on the talking wolf. Ac-cording to Abu Hurayra's report, transmittedthrough a more reliable channel, the shepherdsaid to the wolf: "I will go, but who will watchover my goats?" "I will," replied the wolf. Theshepherd went to see God's Messenger, leav-ing the goats under the wolf's care, and soonbecame a believer.193 When he returned, hefound the wolf watching the goats; not one hadbeen lost. He then slaughtered a goat for thewolf, since it had become his teacher.

193.Majma' al-Zawa'id, 8:291, related by Ibn Hanbal.

Abu Sufyan and Safwan, two leadingQurayshis, once saw a wolf chasing a gazelle.When the gazelle went into the Ka'ba's enclos-ure, the wolf returned and testified verbally toMuhammad's Prophethood. Surprised, AbuSufyan warned Safwan: "If we report this mir-acle to others, I fear all of Makka will join theMuslims."194 In short, this miracle is certainand tawatur in meaning.

Third incident: This is the story of thecamel. It is reported through five or six chan-nels by such Companions as Abu Hurayra,Tha'laba ibn Malik, Jabir ibn 'Abdullah,'Abdullah ibn Ja'far, and 'Abdullah ibn AbiAwfa'. A camel prostrated before God's Mes-senger, as if greeting him, and spoke to him.Other reports say that this camel had gonewild in a vineyard, attacking anybody whocame near it. When God's Messenger ap-peared, it came to him, prostrated as a sign ofrespect, and knelt before him so that the Mes-senger could put a bridle on it. Then the camel

194.Shifa', 1:311.

complained to God's Messenger: "They usedme in the heaviest work, and now they wantto slaughter me, so I went wild." God's Mes-senger asked its owner if this was true, and hereplied that it was.195

The Prophet owned a camel named Abda'.After the Prophet died, this camel did not eator drink anything out of grief, and finallydied.196 Such significant authorities as AbuIshaq al-Isfarani relate that this camel talkedwith God's Messenger about an importantevent. Jabir ibn 'Abdullah reports that oncehis camel became exhausted during a militarycampaign. When the Messenger prodded itslightly, the resulting joy and agility made thecamel move so fast that nobody could catch upwith or stop it.197

Fourth incident: Traditionists, includingImam Bukhari, relate that one night it was

195.Hakim, 2:99; Ibn Hanbal, 3:158; Muslim, 1:268; IbnMaja, 1:121.

196.Shifa', 1:313.197.Bukhari, 7:6; Muslim, 3:1222.

rumored that the enemy was about to attackMadina. Some valiant horsemen set out to in-vestigate. On their way, they saw a man whoappeared to be God's Messenger coming to-ward them. He told them: "There is noth-ing."198 He had mounted Abu Talha's horseand investigated the matter before anybodyelse. He said to Abu Talha: "Your horse is veryfast and comfortable," although before then ithad been very slow. After that night, no otherhorse could beat it in a race. On another occa-sion, the Messenger told his horse to stop sohe could pray. The horse remained still untilhe finished praying.199

Fifth incident: Safina, the Messenger'sservant, set out to meet Mu'adh ibn Jabal, thegovernor of Yemen, upon the order of God'sMessenger. Encountering a lion on the way,he said to it: "I am the Messenger's servant."The lion made a sound and left without harm-ing him. According to another narration,

198.Muslim, no. 2307; Abu Dawud, 4988; Tirmidhi, 1685.199.Shifa', 1:315.

Safina encountered the lion while returning toMadina. However, he got lost and the lion notonly did not harm him but actually showedhim the way.200

'Umar relates that a Bedouin carrying a liz-ard said to God's Messenger: "If this animalbears witness to your Prophethood, I will be-lieve in you. Otherwise, I will not." WhenGod's Messenger asked the lizard, it testifiedverbally to his Prophethood.201 Umm Salama(a mother of the believers) reports that anantelope once spoke to God's Messenger andbore witness to His Messengership.202

We have cited only a few well-known ex-amples out of many similar ones. We thereforesay to those who do not recognize and obeyGod's Messenger: "Do not try to fall behind the

200.Hakim, 3:606; also related by Bazzar, Tabarani, andAbu Nu'aym.

201.Kanz al-'Ummal, 12:358, related by Bayhaqi, Hakim,and Abu Nu'aym.

202.Shifa', 1:314, related by Tabarani, Bayhaqi, AbuNu'aym, and Ibn Kathir.

animals after you learn that even wolves andlions recognize and obey God's Messenger."Shifa', 1:311.

Second Part: Corpses, jinns, andangels recognizing God’s NobleMessenger

Corpses, jinn, and angels recognize God's Mes-senger. The miracles concerning jinn and an-gels are mutawatir and number in the thou-sands. Out of many instances illustrating thatcorpses recognize God's Messenger, we citeonly a few related by reliable authorities, asfollows:

First: Hasan al-Basri, a devoted student ofImam 'Ali and the greatest Tabi'un religiousscholar in both the outer and inner dimensionof Islam, reported that a bitterly weeping mancame to God's Messenger and said: "My littledaughter died in that stream nearby, and Ileft her corpse there." God's Messenger hadpity on him, and said: "Come, we will gothere." They reached the place where she wasburied. When God's Messenger called to her,she replied at once: "Here I am, ready to carryout your orders." God's Messenger asked if she

wanted to return to her parents. "No," shesaid, "for I have found a better place here."203

Second: Such significant Traditionists asImam Bayhaqi and Ibn 'Adiyy report thatAnas ibn Malik said: "A pious old woman'sonly son died unexpectedly. She grieved verymuch and prayed: "O God, I emigrated hereonly to obtain Your good pleasure and serveYour Messenger, to whom I took the oath ofallegiance. For Your Messenger's sake, giveme back my son, who was the only one to lookafter me." Anas says: "That dead son wasraised and ate with us."204

In his Qasida al-Bur'a, written in praise ofthe Prophet, Imam Busiri refers to this mira-culous event:

If the miracles he worked had beenenoughto demonstrate his unequaledrank,

203.Shifa', 1:320.204.Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 6:292; Shifa', 1:320; Bayhaqi,

6:50.

Mere mention of his name would suf-fice to quickendecayed bones (let alonethe newly dead).

Third: Bayhaqi and others quote 'Abdullahibn 'Ubayullah al-Ansari: "I was present whenThabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas was buriedafter being martyred during the Battle ofYamama. As he was being buried, peopleheard him say: 'Muhammad is God's Messen-ger, Abu Bakr is truthful, 'Umar is a martyr,and 'Uthman is pious and merciful.' Weopened the grave only to find him dead."205

Thabit thus predicted 'Umar's martyrdomeven before 'Umar became caliph.

Fourth: Imam Tabarani and Abu Nu'aymin Dala'il al-Nubuwwa (Proofs of Prophet-hood) report from Nu'man ibn Bashir: "Zaydibn Kharija died unexpectedly at the market.We took his body home. Women cried aroundhim for some time between the evening andthe late evening prayers, when he was heard

205.Shifa', 1:320.

to say: 'Silence, silence!' and continued flu-ently: 'Muhammad is God's Messenger. Peacebe upon you, O Messenger.' We examined him,and found that he was dead."206

If living people still do not confirm him evenwhen the dead bear witness to his Messenger-ship, they are more lifeless than corpses andmore dead than the dead.

Accounts of angels appearing to and servingGod's Messenger, and those of jinn believingin and obeying him, have the status of mut-awatir, for many Qur'anic verses have af-firmed this explicitly. For example, the Qur'anstates that during the Battle of Badr, 5,000angels served him as Companions—like sol-diers on the front line. This was done tostrengthen the believers' conviction that theywould win, not to participate in the battle dir-ectly. These angels are distinguished amongall others by that honor, just as the people of

206.Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 6:293; related by Hakim andBayhaqi.

Badr were distinguished among all otherCompanions.

There are two aspects to be considered here:The existence of angels and jinn and their re-lationship with us (decisively proved in TheTwenty-ninth Word), and the ability of certainMuslims to see and converse with themthrough the Messenger's blessing and mir-acles. Many Tradition authorities, above allBukhari and Muslim, report that ArchangelGabriel came to God's Messenger, when hewas sitting with some Companions, as a mandressed in white. He asked about belief, Islam,and virtue (ihsan). While God's Messengerwas defining them, the Companions learned alesson and saw the questioner plainly. Whenthe questioner, who appeared to be a visitoralthough, to their astonishment, he bore nosigns of travel, suddenly disappeared, God'sMessenger said: "That was Gabriel, who cameto teach you your religion."207

207.Bukhari, 1:19-20; Shifa', 1:341, also related by Muslimand many others.

Traditionists also report, through authenticnarrations having the certainty of mutawatirin meaning, that Companions often saw Gab-riel with God's Messenger as Dihya, a verygood-looking Companion. For instance, 'Umar,Ibn 'Abbas, Usama ibn Zayd, Harith, 'A'isha,and Umm Salama report: "We frequently sawGabriel with God's Messenger in the form ofDihya."208 Would they have said this if theycould not see Gabriel?

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, conqueror of Persiaand one of the ten Companions promisedParadise while alive, reported: "During theBattle of Uhud we saw two men dressed inwhite at each side of God's Messenger, as ifguarding him. We concluded that they werethe Arch-angels Gabriel and Michael."209

When such a hero of Islam says he saw them,could he not have seen them?

208.Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 1:212; Bukhari, 4:250; Bayhaqi,7:52, 87.

209.Muslim, no. 2036; Bukhari, 7:192; Hakim, 2:264.

Abu Sufyan ibn Harith ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,the Prophet's cousin, reports: "We saw horse-men dressed in white between the sky andEarth during the Battle of Badr."210 One day,Hamza told God's Messenger that he wantedto see Gabriel. The Messenger complied at theKa'ba, but Hamza could not bear the sight andfell unconscious.211

Several similar instances demonstrate thistype of miracle, and indicate that even angelsare like moths around his Prophethood's light.

Both Companions and ordinary Muslimscan meet and converse with jinn. The mostdefinite example concerns Ibn Mas'ud, whomthe Traditionists report through one of themost authentic narrations, as saying: "I sawthe jinn in Batn al-Nakhla on the night theywere converted to Islam. They resembled thetall men of the Sudanese Zut tribe."212

210.Shifa', 1:362; Ibn Hanbal, 1:347; also related byBukhari and Bayhaqi.

211.Shifa', 1:362; Suyuti, al-Khasa'is al-Kubra', 1:311.212.Ibn Hanbal, 6:165; Suyuti, ibid., 1:343; Shifa', 1:362.

Another well-known incident accepted andnarrated by Traditionists concerns Khalid ibnWalid. When 'Uzza (a pre-Islamic idol) was de-molished, a female jinn emerged in the form ofa dark woman. Khalid cut her into two pieceswith his sword. Then God's Messenger said:"They have been worshipping her in the idol'Uzza. From now on, she will be worshipped nolonger."213

'Umar said: "When we were with God's Mes-senger, a jinn named Haama appeared as anold man with a stick. He converted to Islam.God's Messenger instructed him in some shortQur'anic chapters and, after learning his les-son, the jinn departed."214 Although some Tra-ditionists question this event's accuracy, theoutstanding authorities agree that ithappened.

There is no need for long explanations, sincewe have cited many examples in this respect.

213.Abu Nu'aym, 2:535; Shifa', 1:362; Ibn Kathir, al-Bi-daya, 4:316.

214.Bayhaqi, 5:416; Suyuti, 2:350.

However, we add this: Through the light andteaching of God's Messenger, and by followinghim, thousands of such eminent, godly peopleof purity as 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani have metand conversed with angels and jinn. Thus thisevent has reached the degree of tawatur ahundred times.

Third Part: The protection andpreservation of God's Messenger

The protection of God's Messenger is an evid-ent miracle, as expressed in: God will defendyou from people (5:67) and illustrated by manyincidents. When God's Messenger proclaimedthe Divine Message, he did not challenge justone tribe or race, a few politicians, or a partic-ular religion, but all rulers and all religions.Despite his uncle's and tribe's status as amonghis greatest enemies, as well as the numerousconspiracies directed against him, he drew hislast breath in his own bed in perfect content-ment and reached the highest incorporealrealm after years without a guard or any formof protection. This clearly shows the truth ofthe above-quoted verse and provides a firmpoint of support for God's Messenger. In thisregard, we mention only a few of the many in-disputably certain exemplary events, asfollows:

First event: All Traditionists and biograph-ers of the Prophet report that the Qurayshtried to kill him. Advised by a diabolical manor by Satan himself in the form of a man fromNajd, they chose at least one man from eachclan to avoid any intratribal dispute. Abu Jahland Abu Lahab led the approximately 200men who besieged the Messenger's house. 'Ali,who was with God's Messenger that night,was told to sleep in the Messenger's bed.When the Quraysh surrounded the house, theMessenger left and, throwing some dust onthem, passed by without being seen.215

Second event: God's Messenger and AbuBakr left Thawr cave, where God had sent aspider and two pigeons to guard them, and setout for Madina. Meanwhile, the Qurayshichiefs sent Suraqa, a very brave man, to as-sassinate them in return for a large reward.Abu Bakr became anxious when they saw Sur-aqa coming. God's Messenger repeated to him

215.Shifa', 1:349; Ibn Hanbal, 4:269; Bayhaqi, 2:465; AbuNu'aym, 1:202-4.

what he had said in the cave: "Don't worry, forGod is with us." He then glanced at Suraqa,and the hooves of Suraqa's horse got stuck inthe ground. Suraqa pulled the horse free andbegan to follow them, but his horse's hoovesgot stuck again and he saw smoke arisingfrom that place. Only then did he realize thatneither he nor anybody else could lay handson God's Messenger, and he had to ask forquarter. God's Messenger freed him, saying:"Go back, and make sure nobody elsecomes."216

In addition, a shepherd saw God's Messen-ger and Abu Bakr and hurried to Makka to in-form the Quraysh. However, when he arrivedhe could not remember what he wanted to tellthem. Unable to recall anything, he left andonly later realized later that he had beenmade to forget.217

Third event: During the military campaignof Ghatfan and Anmar, a courageous chieftain

216.Bukhari, 4:245-46; Muslim, no. 2009; Bayhaqi, 2:483.217.Shifa', 1:351; 'Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa', 1:715.

named Ghawras unexpectedly appeared at theMessenger's side. Holding his sword over theMessenger's head, he demanded: "Who willsave you from me?" God's Messenger replied:"God." He then prayed: "O God, protect mefrom him as You will." In the same breath, ablow between his shoulders felled Ghawras,and his sword slipped from his hand. God'sMessenger took the sword and asked: "Nowwho will save you from me?" God's Messengerthen forgave Ghawras and allowed him to re-turn to his tribe. Surprised at such a braveman having failed to do anything, his fellowsasked: "What happened? Why could you not doanything?" He explained what had happened,and added: "I have come from the presence ofthe best of humanity."218

In a similar event, a hypocrite secretly ap-proached God's Messenger from behind duringthe Battle of Badr. Lifting his sword to strikeGod's Messenger, at that instant the

218.Hakim, 3:29-30; Shifa', 1:348; Bayhaqi, 3:373-79; alsorelated by Muslim.

Messenger turned and glanced at him. Thiscaused him to tremble and drop his sword.219

Fourth event: Most interpreters considerthis event, almost as well-known as it is mut-awatir, to be the occasion for revealing: Wehave put on their necks fetters up to the chin sotheir heads are raised. We have put beforethem a barrier and behind them a barrier, andWe have covered them so they do not see (36:9).Abu Jahl picked up a large rock and sworethat if he would hit the Prophet with it if hesaw him prostrating. Finding the Prophetprostrating, he raised the rock to smash it onthe Prophet's head. But his hands froze in theair. God's Messenger finished his prayer andstood up. Only then did Abu Jahl's hands be-come unbound, either by permission of God'sMessenger or because there was no reason forthem to remain bound.220

In a similar incident, a man from Abu Jahl'sclan (Walid ibn Mughira, according to one

219.Shifa', 1:347.220.Ibid., 1:351; Muslim, no. 2797; Ibn Hanbal, 2:37.

report) went to the Ka'ba with a large rock toinjure God's Messenger while he was prostrat-ing. However, his eyes became sealed and hecould not see God's Messenger. Still unable tosee (although he could hear), he returned tothose who had sent him.221 When God's Mes-senger finished his prayer, the would-beassassin's eyes were opened, since there wasno need for them to remain closed.

Abu Bakr relates that after Surat al-Masad,which begins with Perish the hands of Abu La-hab (111:1), was revealed, Abu Lahab's wife,described therein as the carrier of the firewood(111:4), picked up a rock and went to theKa'ba. God's Messenger and Abu Bakr weresitting near it. She could not see God's Mes-senger and asked Abu Bakr: "Where is yourfriend? I hear that he satirized me. If I seehim, I will hit him on the mouth with thisrock!"222 She could not see the one under God'sprotection, who was the object of the hadith

221.Shifa', 1:351; Bayhaqi, 3:197.222.Hakim, 2:351; Bayhaqi, 2:195.

qudsi: "But for you, I would not have createdthe worlds." And so she could not enter hispresence. How could she carry out her plan?

Fifth event: Amir ibn Tufayl and Arbad ibnQays conspired to assassinate the Messenger.Amir said to Arbad: "I will keep him busy; youhit him." They went to him, but Arbad did notdo anything. When Amir later asked him whyhe had not hit God's Messenger, Arbadreplied: "How could I? Every time I intendedto hit him, I saw you between us. Did you ex-pect me to hit you?"223

Sixth event: Either during the Battle ofUhud or Hunayn, Shayba ibn 'Uthman al-Haj-abiya approached God's Messenger stealthilyfrom behind. He intended to avenge his fatherand uncle, who had been killed by Hamza. Helifted his sword, but it suddenly slipped out ofhis hand. God's Messenger turned to him andput his hand on his chest. When relating thisevent, Shayba said: "At that moment, no oneelse was more beloved to me." He embraced

223.Bayhaqi, 5:318; Shifa', 1:353; Abu Nu'aym, 1:207.

Islam instantly, and God's Messenger told himto go and fight. Shayba said: "I fought in frontof God's Messenger. If I had I met my ownfather, I would have killed him."224

On the day of Makka's conquest, Fadhalaapproached God's Messenger with the intentof killing him. God's Messenger smiled at him,asked what he had in mind, and prayed thatFadhala might be forgiven. Entering Islam atthat moment, Fadhala acknowledged later:"No one in the world was more beloved to methan him at that moment."225

Seventh event: Some Jews conspired todrop a large rock on the Prophet's head whilehe was sitting under a particular roof. Theywere just about to do so when God's Messen-ger stood up to go. As a result of God's protec-tion, their plot was foiled.226

224.Shifa', 1:353; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, 2:157; Abu Nu'aym,1:195.

225.Shifa', 1:354; 'Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa', 1:718.226.Shifa', 1:352; also related by Ibn Ishaq and Nasa'i in

al-Khasa'is al-Kubra', 1:525.

There are many similar instances. Tradi-tionists, above all Imam Bukhari and Muslim,relate from 'A'isha that when God will protectyou from people was revealed, God's Messen-ger said to those who had guarded him fromtime to time: "Leave me, for my Lord, theMighty and Glorious, protects me."227

As this treatise demonstrates, everything inthe universe recognizes and is related to God'sMessenger, and each displays a specific kindof his miracles. This shows that ProphetMuhammad is the Messenger and envoy ofGod, the Creator of the universe and the Lordof creation. An important inspector appointedby the ruler is recognized by every departmentof the administration and is related to eachbecause he must perform a duty in each de-partment on the ruler's behalf. For example, ajudicial inspector is connected with the judi-cial department and is unknown in other de-partments. Similarly, a military inspector is

227.Hakim, 2:213; Bayhaqi, 2:184; also related byTirmidhi.

not recognized by the civil administration, andso on. As proven above, every department ofthe Divine kingdom, from angels to insectsand spiders, knows, recognizes, or has heardof the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds andthe seal of the Prophets. And, moreover, thefield of his Messengership is far more compre-hensive than that of all previous Prophets.

Chapter 16Sixteenth sign: The won-ders that took place be-fore but in connectionwith his ProphethoodThe wonders that took place before but in con-nection with his Prophethood are calledirhasat. They are of three kinds, as follows:

First kind: Tidings of Muhammad'sProphethood given by the Torah,Bible, Psalms and other Scriptures

First kind: Tidings of Muhammad's Prophet-hood given by the Torah, Bible, Psalms, andPages sent to other prophets, as mentioned inthe Qur'an. Since they are originally Scrip-tures revealed by God to His Prophets, it is fit-ting that they mention the Prophet who wouldsupersede their religions, change the shape ofhuman civilization, and illumine half of theworld with the light of Islam. How could thesebooks, which predict even petty events, notmention Muhammad's Prophethood, the mostsignificant phenomenon in human history?

Given that they must do so, the people towhom these Scriptures were sent either woulddenounce it as falsehood to protect their reli-gions from destruction and their books fromannulment, or affirm it so that, by means ofthis truthful person, their religions would re-main free of superstition and corruption. Both

friends and foes agree that their books containnothing that contradicts or rejects his Proph-ethood; on the contrary, they affirm it unan-imously. Using this fact, as well as the exist-ence of a definite reason and a fundamentalcause for such an affirmation, we will provethis affirmation through three definiteevidences.

First evidence: God's Messenger declaresto the People of the Book (Jews and Christi-ans) by the tongue of the Qur'an: "Your Scrip-tures describe and confirm me in whatever Ideclare." Further-more, he challenges themwith verses such as:

Say: "Bring the Torah now and reciteit, if you are truthful." (3:93)Say: "Come now, let's call our sonsand your sons, our women and yourwomen, our selves and your selves,and then humbly pray and so layGod's curse upon the ones who lie."(3:61)

Despite such strong challenges, no Jewishscholar or Christian priest ever found an errorwith which to challenge him. If they had, thenumerous obstinate and jealous unbelievers ofthat time, as well as hypocritical Jews and allunbelievers, would have publicized itthroughout the land.

Like the polytheists of that time, the Jewsand Christians also had to wage war on himwhen they were not able to contradict him.They chose to fight only to be scattered andforced to emigrate, as they could find no error.If they had, they would have thought them-selves saved.

Second evidence: The words of the Torah,Gospels, and Psalms do not have the Qur'an'smiraculous perfection. Moreover, many alienterms and ideas have entered them becausethe translations became far removed from theoriginal texts. Furthermore, the sayings andmistakes, whether intentional or not, of theirmany interpreters have been confused withthe original verses, and the distortions of

ignorant people and various enemies havebeen incorporated. And so these Scripturessuffer from great alteration and corruption.

The famous scholar Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Hindi once silenced priests and Christian andJewish scholars by proving the thousands ofalterations made in those books. Howevereven now, after so many alterations, the celeb-rated scholar Hussain al-Jisri still could ex-tract from them 110 pieces of evidence con-cerning Muhammad's Prophethood, which heincluded in his Risala al-Hamidiya(translated into Turkish by Ismail Haqqi ofManastir).

Many Jewish and Christian scholars ac-knowledge that Muhammad's characteristicsare recorded in their Scriptures. The famousRoman emperor Heraclius, a non-Muslim,said: "I agree that Jesus predictedMuhammad's advent."228 Another Romanruler named Muqawqis, the governor of Egypt,and such well-known Jewish scholars as Ibn

228.Tirmidhi, 2:167; Shifa', 1:364.

Suriya, Ibn Akhtab and his brother Ka'b ibnAsad, and Zubayr ibn Batiya, althoughremaining non-Muslims, admitted: "Our booksmention him and his qualities."229

On the other hand, many famous Jewishscholars and Christian monks broke their ob-stinacy and converted after seeing thatMuhammad had the attributes mentioned intheir Scriptures concerning the Last Prophet.They silenced some of their former co-religion-ist scholars by showing them the references inthe Torah and the Gospels. Among them werethe famous 'Abdullah ibn Salam, Wahb ibnMunabbih, Abu Yasir, Shamul, and Asid andTha'laba (the two sons of Sa'ya).230 Shamullived during the reign of Tubba, ruler of Ye-men, and both believed in Muhammad'sProphethood even though his birth was stillsome time in the future.

229.Shifa', 1:366, 384; Bayhaqi, 3:361-62; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 4:80-81.

230.Shifa', 1:364; Bayhaqi, 6:240-49; Tirmidhi, 2:206.

Ibn Hayaban once visited the Bani Nadirtribe in Madina before the proclamation ofMuhammad's Prophethood. He told them:"The emergence of a Prophet is close, and hewill emigrate here." Ibn Hayaban died there.Later, when that tribe fought God's Messen-ger, Asid and Tha'laba publicly called out totheir tribe: "By God, he is the one whose com-ing was promised by Ibn Hayaban."231 Butthey ignored the call, and so earned what theyearned.

After seeing the Prophet described in theTorah, many Jewish scholars such as Ibn Bun-yamin, Mukhayriq, and Ka'b al-Akhbar con-verted and thereby silenced those who insistedon disbelief.232

And then there is the famous Christianmonk Bahira, as mentioned earlier. When hewas 12, the Messenger accompanied his uncleon a trading mission to Damascus. From hiscell, Bahira noticed that a cloud was shading a

231.Abu Na'im, 1:82; Bayhaqi, 2:80-81.232.Shifa', 1:364; Bayhaqi, 3:161-63.

certain person in the caravan. He invited all ofthem to a meal for Muhammad's sake. Whenhe saw that the shade-providing cloud re-mained where the caravan camped, hethought: "The one I seek must still be there,"and so sent a man to fetch whoever was left.When Muhammad was brought, Bahira toldAbu Talib: "Return to Makka immediately.The Jews are very jealous and might plotagainst him, for his description is recorded inthe Torah."233

Some Nestorians in Abyssinia as well as theNegus (the Abyssinian ruler) embraced Islamtogether after they found the Prophet de-scribed in their Scripture.234 The famousChristian scholar Daghatr also found theProphet described in the Christians' books andaccepted Islam. When he openly declared hisconversion to the Byzantines, he wasmartyred.235

233.Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, 1:76; Ibn Hisham, Sira, 115; Shifa',1:308; Hakim, 2:615.

234.Shifa', 1:364.

A few other examples of such conversionsare Harith ibn Abi Shumar al-Ghassani (aChristian leader), Ibn Natur and al-Jarud(prominent religious leaders of Damascus), theruler of Ilia (in present-day Greece) and Her-aclius (Emperor of Byzantium). Heraclius con-cealed his conversion for the sake of worldlykingdom.236 Salman al-Farisi, born a Christi-an, set out to search for the Prophet afterhearing his description.237 Tamim (a celeb-rated scholar), as well as the Negus, theChristians of Abyssinia, and the priests ofNajran all declared that they found the Proph-et described in their books and so believed inhim.238

Third evidence: We now point out a fewverses from the Gospels, Torah, and Psalmsthat describe Prophet Muhammad.

235.Shifa', 1:364; Bayhaqi, 6:240-49; Tirmidhi, 2:206.236.Bukhari, 1:7; Abu Na'im, 1:101-2.237.Hakim, 3:604; Ibn Hanbal, 5:437; Ibn Hisham, 1:233.238.Shifa', 1:364.

First example: In the Psalms we read: OGod, send to us after the interregnum (thelatest of the successive prophets) one who willestablish (Your) way.239 One who will establish(Your) way refers to Prophet Muhammad.

In the Gospels we read: The Messiah said: Iam going to my and your Father so that Hemay send you the Paraclete (John 16:7), (thatis, Ahmad or Muhammad) and I will ask theFather, and He will give you another Paracleteto be with you forever (John 14:16). Paraclete,meaning "the distinguisher of truth fromfalsehood," refers to Prophet Muhammad, asmentioned in those books.240

The Torah says:

God said to Abraham: "Hagar willbear children. There will appear fromher sons one whose hand will be above

239.Although it does not exist word for word in presenteditions of the Bible, it is recorded in Hujjat Allah 'alaal-'Alamin fi Mu'jizat al-Sayyid al-Mursalin by YusufNahbani, p. 104. (Tr.)

all, and the hands of all others will beopened to him in reverence."241

Another Torah verse reads:

240.According to Webster's New World Dictionary,Paraclete derives from the Greek word parakletos,meaning "intercessor, advocate, pleader." However Abid-in Pasha, a nineteenth-century scholar from Yanya,Greece, who knew Greek very well and whose works onGreek literature were praised highly by Greek authorit-ies, writes that its real origin is piriklitos, meaningAhmad, the one who is much praised. (Hussain Jisri,Risala al-Hamidiya, 59). The Qur'an also states that Je-sus predicted Prophet Muhammad with the nameAhmad, a synonym of Muhammad (61:6). Christians as-sert that Jesus used Paraclete for the Holy Spirit.However, what is the Holy Spirit's exact connection withinterceding, pleading or advocating, which happen torefer to Prophet Muhammad's main attributes, eventhough we accept that the word drives from parakletos.In addition, Gospel translators prefer to translateParaclete instead of using that word, but all use differ-ent terms. In addition, Jesus gives good tidings of theone to come not only as Paraclete but also as "the Princeof this world" and "the Spirit of truth," along with manyother functions, which must belong to a Prophet and notto a "spirit" or an angel. (Tr.)

And He said: "O Moses, I will raise upfor them a Prophet like you, fromamong their brothers (the children ofIshmael). I will put my Word in hismouth, and he will tell themeverything I command him. If anyonedoes not listen to My words that theProphet speaks in My name, I Myselfwill call him (or her) to account."(Deuteronomy 18:18-19)

A third Torah verse reads:

Moses said: "O my Lord, I have foundin the Torah a community, as the bestof the communities, that will be raisedfor (the benefit) of humanity. They en-join good and forbid evil, and believe

241.Although it does not exist word for word in present ver-sions of the Bible, 'Ali al-Qari records it in his Sharh al-Shifa', 1:743. The Torah says: I will make the son of themaidservant (Hagar) into a nation (Genesis, 21:13);Hagar … lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for Iwill make him into a great nation (21:18). (Tr.)

in God. Let it be my community!"(God) said: "That is the community ofMuhammad."242

A reminder: In those books, the nameMuhammad is given in its Syriac counter-parts, such as Mushaffah, Munhamanna,Himyata. The name of Muhammad is men-tioned explicitly only in a few places, and envi-ous Jews altered those references.

The Psalms relate:

O David, a Prophet will come afteryou, named Ahmad (Muhammad),the Truthful and the Lord, and hiscommunity will be forgiven.243

'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As, who made ex-tensive studies of earlier Divine books;'Abdullah ibn Salam, the first famous Jewish

242.'Ali al-Qari, ibid., 1:746.243.Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 2:326; Sharh al-

Shifa', 1:739.

scholar to embrace Islam; and Ka'b ibn al-Akhbar, one of the foremost Jewish scholars,all pointed out the following verse in theTorah, which had not yet been corrupted to itspresent extent. After addressing Moses, theverse addresses the Prophet to come in the fol-lowing strain:

O Prophet, We have sent you as a wit-ness, a bearer of good tidings, awarner and a protection for the un-lettered. You are My slave; I havenamed you "the Reliant on God," whois not harsh and stern, and not clam-orous in the marketplaces; who doesnot repel evil with evil, but insteadpardons and forgives. God will nottake away his life until He straightensa crooked nation by means of him (bycausing them) to proclaim: "There isno deity but God."244

244.Bukhari, Buyu', 50; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 2:174; Darimi,1:14-15.

Another Torah verse states:

Muhammad is the Messenger of God.His birthplace is Makka. He willemigrate to Tayba. The center of hisrule is Damascus, and his communityis unceasingly occupied with praisingGod.245

In this verse, a Syriac word meaningMuhammad is actually mentioned for theword Muhammad.

Another Torah verse, You are My slave andMessenger; I have named you "the Reliant onGod,"246 is addressed to a Prophet who willemerge, after Moses, from Ishmael's progeny:the cousins of Isaac's children. Also: My slaveis a "chosen one," who is neither harsh norstern.247 "Mukhtar" (chosen one) is a synonymof "Mustafa," one of his names.

245.Darimi, 1:14-15; Abu Na'im, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 1:72.246.Kastalani, al-Mawahib al-Ladunniya, 6:192.247.'Ali al-Qari, ibid., 1:739.

The Gospels call the Prophet coming afterJesus "the Master of the world" in severalplaces (John 14:30). Another verse that de-scribes him: With him is an iron staff withwhich he will fight, as will his community,248

indicates that a Prophet will come with asword to wage jihad. Qur'an 48:29 agrees withthis verse, refers to other Gospel verses, andstates that his community, like him, will beobliged to wage jihad.

And their similitude in the Gospel is:

Like a seed that sends forth its blade,then makes it strong; it then becomesthick and stands in its own stem,filling the sowers with wonder anddelight, so that it fills the unbelieverswith rage at them. (48:29)

In the Torah, a verse says: The Lord camefrom Sinai, dawned over them from Seir, andshone forth from Mount Paran (Deuteronomy

248.Yusuf Nahbani, ibid., 105.

33:2). The Lord came from Sinai refers toMoses' Prophethood, dawned over them fromSeir (the Seir mountains are near Damascus)refers to Jesus' Prophethood, and He shoneforth from Mount Paran (the Paran mountainsof Hijaz) refers to Muhammad's Messenger-ship.249 The verse continues, in conformitywith the Qur'anic expression: This is theirsimilitude in the Torah, says this about theProphet's Companions who would emergefrom Paran's mountains: The flags of the holyones are with him, on his right.250 This versedescribes the Companions as "the holy ones,"meaning that they are blessed, righteous, andsaintly friends of God.

249.The Torah calls the place where Hagar stayed withher son (Ishmael) Paran (Genesis, 21:21). The Qur'ancalls that place Makka, which was then uninhabited (14:37). (Tr.)

250.This is almost the same in many versions of the Bible,such as that published by The Bible Company (Istanbul).However, we come across a different translation, if notan alteration, in the Gideon International version: Hecame with myriads of holy ones from the south, from hismountain slopes (Deuteronomy 33:2). (Tr.)

Isaiah contains the following verses describ-ing Prophet Muhammad, who would comeduring the last phase of human history:

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,my chosen one in whom I delight. Iwill put My Spirit on him, and he willbring justice to the nations. He willnot shout or cry out, or raise his voicein the streets. He will not break abruised reed, and he will not snuff outa smoldering wick. In faithfulnesswill he bring forth justice; he will notfalter or be discouraged till he estab-lishes justice on Earth. The islandswill put their hope in his law. (Isaiah42:1-4)

Micah 4 describes Mount 'Arafat and the na-tion of Muhammad, together with the prayersand praises offered by the pilgrims flockingthere from all climes:

In the last days the mountain of theLord's temple will be established aschief among the mountains; it will beraised above the hills, and people willstream to it. Many nations will comeand say: "Come, let's go up the moun-tain of the Lord, to the house of God.He will teach us His ways, so that wemay walk in His paths." (Micah 4:1-2)

The following verses from Psalms clearly de-scribe Prophet Muhammad:

He will rule from sea to sea and fromthe river to the ends of Earth. Thedesert tribes will bow before him, andhis enemies will lick the dust. Thekings of Tarshish and of distantshores will bring tribute to him; thekings of Yemen and Seba will presenthim gifts. All kings will bow to him,and all nations will serve him, for hewill deliver the needy who cry out, theafflicted who have no one to help. He

will take pity on the weak and theneedy, and save the needy from death.He will rescue them from oppressionand violence, for precious is theirblood in his sight. Long may he live!May people ever pray for him andbless him all day long… . May hisname endure for ever. May it continueas long as the sun. All nations will beblessed through him, and they willcall him blessed. (Psalms 72:8-17)

Since Prophet David, has there been anoth-er Prophet other than Prophet Muhammadwho spread his religion from east to west, towhose name many rulers pay tribute, whoseway so many people obey out of deep adorationfor him, and on whom one fifth of humanitydaily calls God's peace and blessings?

John 16:7 reads: It is for your good that I amgoing away. Unless I go away, the Comforterwill not come to you. Who other than ProphetMuhammad could be humanity's true comfort-er? Certainly he is humanity's pride and

comforter by saving all people who follow himfrom eternal annihilation.

John 16:8 reads: When he comes, he will con-vict the world of guilt in regard to sin andrighteousness and judgment. Who, other thanProphet Muhammad, came and transformedthe disorder prevailing at his time into good-ness and harmony to save the world from sinand polytheism and to revolutionize its politicsand rule?

John 16.11: … and in regard to judgment,because the Prince of the World has beenjudged already. This "Prince" is ProphetMuhammad, since he is known as the Masterof Humanity. Indeed, he is such a prince thatmany millions of people have followed him ineach of the centuries since he lived. They obeyhis commands with willingly and daily renewtheir allegiance to him by calling God's bless-ings upon him.

John 16:12-13 reads:

I have much more to say to you, morethan you can now bear. But when he,the Spirit of truth comes, he willguide you into all truth. He will notspeak on his own but will speak onlywhat he hears, and he will tell youwhat is to come.

These verses are quite clear. Who, otherthan Prophet Muhammad, invited everyone tothe truth, always spoke what he heard fromGod (through Gabriel) so that each of hiswords is based on Divine revelation, and in-formed people in detail about the Day of Judg-ment and the Hereafter?

In the books of other Prophets, God's Mes-senger is mentioned with various Syriac andHebrew names corresponding to Ahmad,Muhammad, and Mukhtar. In the Pages of theProphet Shu'ayb, his name is Mushaffah(Muhammad). In the Torah, he is mentionedas Munhamanna (Muhammad) and Himyata("the Prophet of al-Haram"). In the Psalms, heis called al-Mukhtar ("the Chosen One"), and

in the Torah as al-Hatam al-Khatam. TheTorah and the Psalms refer to him as Muqimal-Sunna ("the one who establishes and en-forces the Divine way for humanity"). In thePages of Abraham, as well as in the Torah, heis mentioned as Mazmaz, and in the Torah asAhyad.

God's Messenger said: "In the Qur'an myname is Muhammad, in the Bible Ahmad, andin the Torah Ahyad." In the Bible, he is re-ferred to as "the Possessor of the Sword andthe Staff." Of all those Prophets who carriedthe sword, Prophet Muhammad, whom Godtold to perform jihad with his community, isthe greatest. The Gospel also refers to him as"the one who wears a crown." This refers to aturban,251 and the Arabs have worn headcov-ers with a wrapper around them since ancient

251.The Muslim turban signifies loftiness or exaltation. Ifa Muslim dreams of wearing a turban, this is interpretedas either his greatness or that he will hold an exaltedpost. (Tr.)

times. Hence the reference is undoubtedly toProphet Muhammad.

Biblical interpreters define Paraclete (orFaraclete) as "the one who distinguishes truthfrom falsehood." In other words, it is the nameof the person who will guide future genera-tions of humanity to the right path. Jesus isquoted as saying in the Gospel that he mustleave so that the Prince of the World willcome. After Jesus, who other than ProphetMuhammad came as the leader of humanity,distinguished truth from falsehood, andguided humanity? Jesus always told hispeople that: "One will come, and [after that]there will be no need for me. I am his forerun-ner and bring good tidings of his coming." Thisis confirmed by the following Qur'anic verse:

And remember, Jesus, the son ofMary, said: "O Children of Israel, Iam a Messenger of God unto you, con-firming what was revealed before mein the Torah and bringing the gladnews of a Messenger who will come

after me, whose name is Ahmad."(61:6)

In Shamun al-Safa's tomb, the famous trav-eler Awliya' Calabi saw the following Gospelverses written on a gazelle hide:

'I'tun Azribun peruftun. Law ghislin.Bent afzulat; ki kalushir; tunumininmavamid. Isfedus takardis, bist bith.(A youth from Abraham's progenywill be a Prophet. He will not be a li-ar. His birthplace is Makka; he willcome with righteousness; his blessedname is Ahmad Muhammad. His fol-lowers will prosper in this world andalso in the next.)252

The Gospels record Jesus' frequent glad tid-ings of the coming of humanity's most signific-ant leader and mention him with some Syriacand Hebrew names meaning, as observed bymeticulous experts, Ahmad, Muhammad, and

Faruq (one who distinguishes truth fromfalsehood).

Question: Why did Jesus give good tidingsof the Last Prophet's coming more emphatic-ally than the other Prophets who predictedhim?

Answer: Prophet Muhammad declared Je-sus' purity against the Jews' slanders, defen-ded him against their denial, and purified Je-sus' way of its great alteration and corruption.In addition, instead of the Jews' burdensomereligious law, he presented a feasible and all-encompassing religion with an exalted lawthat completed the law of Jesus' religion. This

252.The language referred to must be Syriac, as many Syriacpeople still live in south-eastern Turkey, where manyChristian saints—true, monotheist followers of Je-sus—are buried. Interestingly enough, due to the studiesand endeavors of such monotheist Christian scholars asArius, Eastern Christians were usually monotheists andso easily accepted Islam. Western Christianity, on theother hand, insisted upon retaining the doctrine of theTrinity and other borrowed creeds. (Tr.)

is why Jesus often announced the glad tidingsthat "the Leader of the World is coming."

As explained earlier, the Torah, Gospels,Psalms, and Pages of other Prophets containnumerous emphatic mentions of a promisedProphet who is to come and mention him withvarious names. Since this Prophet is men-tioned in all Prophetic books, who else couldhe be other than Muhammad, the Prophetwho came in the last phase of human history?

Second kind: The predictions ofProphet Muhammad's coming bySoothsayers and Gnostics

Second kind: The second kind of irhasat in-cludes the predictions of ProphetMuhammad's coming by soothsayers andGnostics living in the period between Jesusand Muhammad's Prophethood. To a certaindegree, they were considered the saints oftheir times. They predicted his coming inverse and entrusted them to later generations.There are numerous instances of this kind,but we mention only a few well-known onesthat have been accepted and transmitted byhistorians and the Prophet's biographers.

First example: Tubba, a Yemeni ruler, sawthe Messenger's qualities in the previousScriptures, believed in him, wished to occupythe same place as 'Ali, and proclaimed his be-lief in the following couplet:

I bear witness to Ahmad that he is a Mes-sengerfrom God, the Creator of humanity;

Were I to live long enough to see him, Iwould be aminister and like a cousin to him.253

Second example: Quss ibn Sa'ida was themost famous and significant Arab orator aswell as an enlightened monotheist. BeforeMuhammad was raised as a Prophet, he an-nounced Muhammad's Messengership withthese verses:

Among us (God) sent forth Ahmad asthebest Prophet ever raised,Upon him be God's blessings.254

Third example: Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy, one of theMessenger's ancestors, announcedMuhammad's Prophethood throughinspiration:

253.Hakim, 2:388; al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 2:166.254.Shifa', 1:363; al-Bidaya, 2:230; Bayhaqi, 2:101.

In the time of heedless-nessMuhammad will appear sud-denly;He will give tidings that are alltrue.255

Fourth example: The Yemeni ruler Sayfibn Dhiyazan saw the Messenger's descriptionin the previous Scriptures, believed in him,and loved him very much. When 'Abd al-Mut-talib (the Messenger's grandfather) arrived inYemen with a Qurayshi trade caravan, Sayfsummoned them and said: "A child will beborn in the Hijaz with a mark between hisshoulders that looks like a seal. He will be theleader of humanity." In private, he told 'Abdal-Muttalib: "You are his grandfather,"256 thuspredicting Muhammad's Prophethood in a mi-raculous way.

Fifth example: God's Messenger was wor-ried when the first Revelation came to him.

255.Al-Bidaya, 2:244; Shifa', 1:364.256.Hakim, 2:388; al-Bidaya, 2:328; Shifa', 1:143.

His wife Khadija told Waraqa ibn Nawfal (herpaternal cousin) what had happened, and hetold her to send Muhammad to him. God'sMessenger went to Waraqa. When he told himabout the Revelation, Waraqa commented:"Good tidings to you, O Muhammad. I bearwitness that you are the expected Prophet,and that Jesus has given glad tidings aboutyou."257

Sixth example: The Gnostic Askalan al-Himyeri always asked any Qurayshis he met:"Does someone among you claim Prophet-hood?" The people always replied in the negat-ive. After the Messenger declared his Prophet-hood, he asked them the same question. Whenthey said that someone was making such aclaim, he responded: "This is the one for whomthe world has been waiting for so long."258

Seventh example: The renowned Christi-an scholar Ibn al-A'la predicted the Prophetbefore his declaration of Prophethood and

257.Ibn Hanbal, 4:304; Bukhari, 1:3.258.Shifa', 1:363.

without seeing him. When he finally met theProphet, he said: "By the One Who sent youwith the truth, I found your description in theGospel, and the Virgin Mary's son gave gladtidings about you."259

Eighth example: Abyssinia's Negus, citedearlier, said: "I wished I had been in his ser-vice rather than in possession of thiskingdom."260

In addition to those Gnostics who gave tid-ings of the future by basing their knowledgeon Divine inspiration, those soothsayers whowere allowed (until the Prophet's time) to ob-tain some tidings of the Unseen and the futurethrough spirits and jinn also predicted hiscoming and Prophethood. Out of many suchinstances, we cite only a few. These enjoy thecertainty of tawatur in meaning and are recor-ded in many history books and biographies ofthe Prophet.

259.'Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa', 1:744.260.Shifa', 1:364; Bayhaqi, 2:285.

First example: Shiqq, a famous soothsayerwho looked like half a man with one eye, onehand, and one leg, repeatedly predictedMuhammad's Messengership. His reports arerecorded in history books with the certainty oftawatur in meaning.261

Second example: Satih, the famous sooth-sayer of Damascus, was a monstrosity who al-most lacked bones, even limbs, and with a facethat looked like a part of his breast. He lived along life and was highly reputed for his truepredictions. Chosroes of Persia sent thelearned envoy Mubazan to him to interpret astrange dream that showed pinnacles of hispalace collapsing (on the night ofMuhammad's birth). Satih said: "From nowon, your country will have rulers and then bedestroyed utterly. A man will appear to preacha religion. He will abolish both your rule andreligion."262 Satih thus clearly foretold theLast Prophet's coming.

261.Abu Na'im, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 1:123; Shifa', 1:365.262.Bayhaqi, 2:126-129; Shifa', 1:365.

Such famous soothsayers as Sawad ibnQarib al-Dawsi, Khunafar, Af'a Najran, Jizlibn Jizl al-Kindi, Ibn Khalasat al-Dawsi, andFatima bint Nu'man al-Najjariya also hadtheir predictions recorded in history books andbiographies of the Prophet. They predicted hiscoming and that he would be Muhammad.263

Sa'd ibn bint al-Kurayz, 'Uthman's relative,learned of Muhammad's Prophethood throughdivination and, in the early days of Islam, told'Uthman to go and believe. 'Uthman did so,and Sa'd expressed this in the followingcouplet:

Through my words, God guided'Uthman to that thing,By means of which is his perfec-tion.Truly God guides to the truth!264

The jinn call their soothsayers hatif. Theycannot be seen, but they can be heard. These

263.Bayhaqi, 2:248; al-Bidaya, 2:335; Shifa', 1:365.264.Suyuti, al-Khasa'is al-Kubra', 1:258.

beings also repeatedly foretold the coming ofGod's Messenger. A few of the hatifs' well-known and numerous tidings and messagesare as follows:

· A hatif brought Dhayab ibn al-Harith andothers to Islam by calling to him loudly:

O Dhayab, O Dhayab, listen to theoddest thing:Muhammad was sent with the Book.He is calling in Makka, yet they donot accept him.265

· Another hatif called out to Sami'a ibnQarrat al-Qatafani:

The truth has come and becomebright;Falsehood has been destroyed and be-come uprooted,266

265.Ibid., 1:358.266.Sharh al-Shifa', 1:748.

and caused the conversion of somepeople.

In addition, idols and even animals offeredto idols proclaimed Muhammad's Messenger-ship by God's power and permission. For ex-ample, the Mazan tribe's idol informed themof Muhammad's declaration of Messengershipby crying out: "He is the Prophet who has beensent. He has come with the revealed truth."267

'Abbas ibn Mirdas was converted by an idolnamed Dimar. One day, that idol was heard tosay: "Dimar was worshipped before the truemessage of Prophet Muhammad. Now Dimar'stime is over."268 Before his conversion, 'Umarheard a sacrifice offered to idols say: "O sacri-ficer, the means of prosperity are at hand. Aneloquent man is declaring: 'There is no deitybut God.'"269

267.Ibn 'Abd al-Birr, al-Isti'ab, 3:446; al-Bidaya, 2:337.268.Al-Bidaya, 2:341-42; Bayhaqi, 1:118.269.Bukhari, 5:61; al-Bidaya, 2:332.

There are many more such instances, all ofwhich are narrated in authentic reports in re-liable books.

In addition, various rocks, grave sites, andgravestones were found to bear, inscribed inearlier scripts, such passages as"Muhammadun Muslihun Amin"(Muhammad, a reformer, a trustworthy one).Some people were converted through suchevents.270 Such passages can refer only toGod's Messenger, for during the time just be-fore his birth there were only sevenMuhammads, none of whom deserved to be orwas ever designated "the reformer" or "thetrustworthy one."

270.Ibn Hanbal, 4:215; Shifa', 1:467; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat,4:215.

Third kind: Wonderful events inconnection with the Messenger'sbirth

Third kind: This includes the wonderfulevents at the time of and in connection withthe Messenger's birth. Many other incidentsoccurred before he was commissioned withMessengership, and each is one of his mir-acles. Out of many examples, we mention afew that became very well-known and accep-ted by Tradition authorities as having verifiedauthenticity.

First example: On the night of his birth,the Prophet's mother and the mothers of'Uthman ibn al-'As and 'Abd al-Rahman ibnal-'Awf saw a magnificent light. Each womansaid: "During his birth, we saw a light that il-luminated the east and the west."271

271.Shifa', 1:366; Ibn Sa'd, ibid., 1:63; Bayhaqi, 1:80-92;Hakim, 2:600.

Second example: On that night, idolswithin the Ka'ba toppled over.272

Third example: During that night, Chos-roes' palace shook and cracked, and its pin-nacles collapsed.273

Fourth example: On that night, the smalllake of Sawa in Persia (sanctified by the Per-sians) sank into Earth. The fire worshipped bythe Magians at Istakhrabad, which hadburned continually for 1,000 years, wentout.274

These incidents indicated that person bornon that night would abolish fire-worship, des-troy the palace of the Persian rulers, and pro-hibit the sanctification of things that God doesnot allow to be sanctified.

Fifth example: Incidents taking place be-fore the night of his birth also are consideredirhasat. Of these, the Event of the Elephant

272.Bayhaqi, 1:19.273.Abu Nu'aym, 1:139; Bayhaqi, 1:126.274.Suyuti, al-Khasa'is, 1:128; Shifa', 1:366.

(105:1-5) is the best known. Abraha, governorof Yemen for the Abyssinian kingdom,marched upon Makka to destroy the Ka'ba. Heplaced his huge elephant Mahmud at the frontof his army. When they approached Makka,the elephant stopped. Since they could notmake it move forward, they retreated. Ontheir way, a host of ababil birds attacked androuted them. This curious event is recorded inhistory books. It is also a sign of Muhammad'sProphethood, for this miraculous event savedthe Ka'ba and Makka, his birthplace and be-loved home and toward which he would pray.This happened at a time close to his birth.

Sixth example: When God's Messengerwas residing with Halima's Family during hischildhood, both Halima and her husband oftenobserved a small cloud shading his head.275

They narrated this event, and it acquired ajustified fame. Similarly, when the Prophettraveled to Damascus at the age of with his

275.Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, 1:97; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 2:273;Shifa', 1:368.

uncle, the Christian monk Bahira saw andpointed out to others a small shade-providingcloud located above Muhammad.276 Before hisProphethood, Khadija noticed that two angels,in the form of a cloud, shaded God's Messen-ger when he returned from a trading journeywith her servant Maysara. When she men-tioned this to Maysara, the latter responded:"I saw the same throughout the journey."277

Seventh example: An authentic narrationreports that before his Prophethood, God'sMessenger once sat under a tree. That previ-ously arid spot suddenly became green, andthe tree's branches bent down and twistedabove his head to shade him.278

Eighth example: God's Messenger stayedwith Abu Talib during his boyhood. WheneverAbu Talib and his household ate with him

276.Abu Nu'aym, Dala'il, 1:168-172; Tirmidhi (versionverified by Tuhfat al-Ahwazi, No. 3699); Ibn Hisham,1:180-81.

277.Shifa', 1:368; Bayhaqi, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 2:65.278.Shifa', 368; Sharh al-Shifa', 1:753.

they were satisfied; when he did not eat withthem they were not satisfied.279 This is a well-known and authenticated incident. Umm Ay-man, who served God's Messenger when hewas a child, reports: "He never complainedabout hunger and thirst, neither when he waslittle nor when he grew up."280

Ninth example: The milk of his wetnurse's (Halima) goats and goods were seen(unlike others in the tribe) to increase throughhis blessing.281 Also, flies did not botherhim.282 One of his descendants, Sayyid 'Abdal-Qadir al-Jilani, inherited this quality.

Tenth example: After the Messenger'sbirth, and especially during the night of hisbirth, shooting stars became more frequent.This was a sign that satans and jinn could nolonger obtain knowledge of the Unseen.283

279.Abu Nu'aym, 1:166; Shifa', 1: 367.280.Shifa', 1:368; Bayhaqi, 6:125; Suyuti, al-Khasa'is,

1:111.281.Al-Bidaya, 2:273; Ibn Hisham, 1:173; Shifa', 1:366.282.Shifa', 1:368.

Since God's Messenger would be endowedwith Revelation, any information about theUnseen given by soothsayers and jinn, whichis usually inaccurate and mixed with false-hood, would have to cease. This was necessaryso that people would not mistake such wordsfor Revelation or doubt the Revelation itself.The Qur'an ended soothsaying, which waswidespread before Muhammad was raised asthe Prophet. Many soothsayers embracedIslam, for they could find no jinn informers toprovide them with information of theUnseen.284

To conclude, many incidents and people con-firmed, or caused others to confirm,Muhammad's Prophethood. All creation, bothas an individual and as a species, longinglywaited for and announced, with God's permis-sion, the advent of the world's spiritual

283.Shifa', 1:347-48.284.Today, soothsaying has reappeared in the form of me-

diumship. However, that topic is beyond the scope of thisbook.

leader.285 This leader would change theworld's spiritual and moral structure, make itthe sowing ground for the Hereafter, proclaimthe real value of the world's beings, save tran-sient humanity and jinn from eternal annihil-ation, disclose the Divine purpose for theuniverse's creation, and make the Creatorknown to everybody. As proved in the previoussigns and examples, each species of creationwelcomed him by becoming the means for himto work one variety of his miracles, thereby af-firming his Prophethood.

285.This being, who was addressed by God with the words"But for you, I would not have created the worlds," is sogreat a leader that his rule continues even after centur-ies. In each century since he lived, millions of people andhalf the globe have placed themselves under his banner.His subjects, who today number more than 1.5 billion,try to follow him in deep respect and daily ask God to be-stow peace and blessings upon him. Thus they daily re-new their oath of allegiance to him.

Chapter 17Seventeenth sign: Afterthe Qur'an, theMessenger's greatestmiracle is his characterand personAfter the Qur'an, the Messenger's greatestmiracle is his character and person, his moralexample. Friend and foe alike agree that hepossessed the highest level of all moral

virtues. 'Ali, a man of the greatest bravery, re-peatedly said: "In the fiercest phases of fight-ing we would withdraw into the stronghold ofGod's Messenger and take refuge behind him."Likewise, he possessed all laudable character-istics to the highest degree. For this greatestmiracle, we refer readers to Qadi 'Iyad's Shifa'al-Sharif, which beautifully explains andproves the Prophet's miraculous moralcharacter.

Another great miracle, also affirmed byfriend and foe, is his supreme Sacred Law (theShari'a), the like of which never came beforeand will never come again. For a partial ex-planation of this supreme miracle, consult ourwritings, especially the Words, Letters,Gleams, and Rays.

One of the Messenger's certain and mut-awatir miracles is splitting the moon by a ges-ture of his index finger. This miracle, reportedby some of the foremost Companions (e.g., Ibnal-Mas'ud, Ibn 'Abbas, Ibn 'Umar, Imam 'Ali,Anas, and Khudayfa), was proclaimed to the

world by: The Hour is near, and the moon split(54:1). The stubborn Qurayshi polytheists didnot contradict the news, but claimed that itwas magic. Thus even unbelievers testify to itsoccurrence. His Mi'raj (Ascension) is a stillgreater miracle shown to the heavens' inhabit-ants. Readers can refer to the Treatise of theMi'raj, a short part of which appears at theend of this treatise as an appendix. We willmention another miracle that the Prophetworked in connection with the Mi'raj.

When God's Messenger informed the Quray-sh of this event, they refused to believe him,saying: "If you actually traveled to the Masjidal-Aqsa in Jerusalem, as you claim, describeits doors and walls." God's Messenger wouldlater say: "I was annoyed by their questionand denial in a way that had never happenedto me before. Suddenly, God lifted the veilbetween me and Bayt al-Maqdis (Masjid al-Aqsa) and showed it to me. I looked at it anddescribed it as it stood before my eyes."286

Thus the Quraysh realized that God's

Messenger was giving the correct and com-plete description.

In addition, God's Messenger told them:"During my journey I saw one of your cara-vans. It will arrive here tomorrow at such andsuch a time." The Quraysh waited for its ar-rival at the promised time. It seems the cara-van was about to be delayed by about an hour.In order for the Prophet's word to be provedtrue, Earth did not rotate for one hour.287 Thisis confirmed by meticulous researchers.

Considering that Earth stopped rotating toconfirm Prophet Muhammad's words, and thatthe sun witnessed this by its apparent rest inthe sky, just imagine how vast is the misfor-tune of those who do not confirm and followsuch a person, and how vast is the good for-tune of those who respond: "We have heard

286.Muslim, 1:156-57; Tirmidhi, No. 3133; Bukhari, 5:66;Ibn Hanbal, 3:378.

287.'Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa', 1:704; Bayhaqi, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 2:404.

and obeyed" and proclaim: "Thanks be to Godfor belief and Islam."

Chapter 18Eighteenth sign: TheMessenger's greatest andeternal miracle is theQur'anThe Messenger's greatest and eternal miracleis the Qur'an, which encompasses hundreds ofproofs of his Prophethood and whose miracu-lousness aspects have been proved.288 Here we

288.See Said Nursi, The Words, vol. 2.

mention only a few significant points in thisrespect, as follows:

First point:

Question: The Qur'an's miraculousnessmainly lies in its eloquence, which can be com-prehended only by one out of a thousand dis-cerning scholars. Should not everyone be ableto glimpse this miraculousness according totheir own understanding?

Answer: The Qur'an has a different kind ofmiraculousness for everyone and indicatesthis in the most perfect way. To people of elo-quence and rhetoric, it shows its miraculouseloquence; to poets and orators, it displays itsmiraculous and uniquely exalted style, onethat cannot be imitated although it is liked byeveryone. The passage of time does not effectits freshness, so it is always new. Its metricaland rhythmical prose and its verse have thegreatest nobility and charm.

To soothsayers and foretellers, the Qur'an'smiraculousness consists of the reports it givesabout the Unseen. To historians and chron-iclers, its miraculousness is the information it

relates about past nations, future conditionsand events, and the Intermediate World andthe Hereafter. To social and political scient-ists, it presents the miraculousness of its sac-red principles, which comprise the Shari'a. Tothose engaged in the knowledge of God andthe Divine laws of nature, the Qur'an showsits miraculousness in its sacred Divine truths.To those following a spiritual way to saint-hood, it manifests the profound, manifoldmeanings in its verses that rise in successivemotions like waves of the sea.

In short, the Qur'an shows its aspects of mi-raculousness to everyone by opening a differ-ent window. Even those who just listen to itand can derive a very limited meaning from itagree that the Qur'an sounds like no otherbook. Any ordinary person who listens to itsays: "This Qur'an is either below other booksin degree—which is utterly impossible, andwhich even its enemies [and Satan] do notclaim—or above them all and therefore a mir-acle." Now, we explain the aspect of

miraculousness perceived by an ordinary per-son who simply listens to it.

The miraculous Qur'an challenges the worldand stirs up two kinds of feelings: First, itsfriends desire to imitate its style and to speakand write like their beloved Qur'an. Second,its enemies acquire a passion to criticize anddispute, as well as to nullify its claim of mira-culousness by competing with its style. Underthese two influences, millions of books havebeen written in Arabic—and we still havethem. Whoever listens to even the most elo-quent and rhetorical of them will say that theQur'an sounds like none of them.

Another miraculous aspect that it shows toilliterate people is that its recitation does notbore anyone. An illiterate person, even onewho does not comprehend the Qur'an's mean-ing, undoubtedly would say upon hearing itrecited: "If I hear a most beautiful and famouscouplet two or three times, it starts to boreme. But this is not true with the Qur'an, for

the more I listen, the more pleasant it be-comes. It cannot be a human composition."

The Qur'an shows its miraculousness evento children learning it by heart. Although theQur'an has many similar verses and passagesthat might cause confusion, children memor-ize it easily even though they cannot retain asingle passage about something else for long.For those who are sick and close to death, whoare disturbed by the slightest noise, theQur'an's recitation and sound becomes assweet and comforting as the water of Zamzam,thereby displaying another aspect of its mira-culousness. For those who can see but cannothear or learn, one of the almost classes ofpeople to whom the Qur'an shows its miracu-lous qualities without depriving any of them,there are other signs.289

289.For example, Hafiz 'Uthman's copy features many re-lated words that correspond to each other on differentpages. If the sheets beneath their dog being the eighth(Surat al-Kahf ) are pierced, with a slight deviation itwill go through Qitmir (Surat al-Fatir), thus giving thedog's name. Mukhdarun and mukhdarin (they will bebrought before us) in Surat al-Saffat correspond to eachother and to the one found in Sura Ya Sin twice, one be-low the other. Mathna (in pairs) occurs three times inthe Qur'an; that the two of them correspond to each oth-er, one at the beginning of Surat al-Fatir and the othertoward the end of Sura Saba', cannot be by chance. Manysimilar examples exist. Sometimes the same word occursalmost in the same place on five or six pages. I once sawa Qur'an in which similar passages, written in red ink,faced each other on facing pages. This pointed to a differ-ent kind of miracle. Later, I noticed many more passageson various pages significantly facing each other. Sincethe Qur'an's verses and chapters were arranged at theProphet's direction and later on copied through Divineinspiration, its design and calligraphy are miraculous.Any slight deviation is the result of human acts. Fur-thermore, each long or medium Madinan sura repeatsAllah in a very significant manner: five, six, seven, eight,nine, or eleven times on both sides of a sheet or on twofacing pages—a beautiful and significant numerical pro-portionate. Although the Qur'an has all the features ofpersuasive eloquence (e.g., rhythm, rhyme, and artistic

style) that capture our attention, it always provides sub-lime seriousness, serenity of mind, and the peace of be-ing in His presence to those who remember and supplic-ate God. Other kinds of persuasive eloquence often dis-turb, for their elegance intrudes upon one's peace ofmind and undermines seriousness and inward concen-tration. For the last 8 or 9 years I have read ImamShafi'i's famous supplication daily. Although it is themost graceful, meaningful, and eloquent one of its kind,and even ended a season of drought and famine inEgypt, I came to see that its rhymed and metrical word-ing interrupts the supplication's solemnity. I thereforededuced that the Qur'an's miraculously genuine, natur-al, matchless, and unique rhythm and rhyme preservespeace and solemnity. Those who remember and supplic-ate God feel this miraculousness in their hearts, even iftheir minds do not realize it. Another miraculous aspectis that the Qur'an shows the belief of the highest andbrightest degree possessed by God's Messenger, the ob-ject of the Greatest Divine Name's manifestation. Like asacred map, it details the sublime truths of the Here-after and the Lord's kingdom and shows us, in a naturalway, how exalted is the true and comprehensive religionof Islam. It also conveys the address of the universe'sCreator as the Lord of creation, with all His glory andmajesty. Therefore, as the Qur'an states: Say: If all hu-manity and jinn were to come together to produce thelike of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like of it

(17:88). All such attempts are worth almost nothing incomparison, as the Qur'an cannot be imitated, duemainly to the three essential aspects mentioned above.At the end of each page, its verses become complete witha beautiful rhyme. Another sign of its miraculousness,this fine aspect is due to the fact that its longest verse(Mudayana [loan business]) provides the norm or stand-ard length for pages, while Surat al-Ikhlas (Sincerity)and Surat al-Kawthar (Abundance) do the same for itslines.

Second point:

As magic was widespread during Moses' time,his miracles were of that nature. As medicinewas in demand during Jesus' time, his mir-acles were of that kind. When Muhammadwas raised as a Prophet, four arts were popu-lar in Arabia: eloquence and fluency in writingand speaking, poetry and oratory, soothsayingand divination, and knowledge about the pastand cosmology.

When the miraculous Qur'an came, it chal-lenged all experts in these four fields. First, itbrought people of eloquence to their knees asthey listened to it in total admiration. Second,it shocked poets and orators so much that theybit their fingers in amazement and removedtheir most celebrated Seven Poems, which un-til then were written in gold and hung on theKa'ba's walls. Third, it forever silenced sooth-sayers and magicians by making them forgettheir knowledge of the Unseen and causingtheir jinn to be expelled from the heavens.

Fourth, it saved those who knew some historyand cosmology from myths and fabrications,and instructed them in the reality of pastevents and the illuminating facts of creation.Thus these four groups, kneeling before theQur'an in absolute astonishment and awe, be-came its students and never tried to challengeit.

A possible question: How do we know thatnobody has disputed with the Qur'an or thatsuch a challenge is impossible?

Answer: If this were possible, someonewould have tried it. Actually, the Qur'an's op-ponents needed such a challenge, for they feltthat it endangered their religion, life, andproperty. Thus they would have challengedthe Qur'an if they could have done so. Manyunbelievers and hypocrites were ready to ad-vertise such a contest, just as they spread ma-licious propaganda against Islam. If any chal-lenge had been successful, it would have beenrecorded (with exaggeration). But all historybooks have come down to us, and none of them

contains anything other than a few nonsensic-al lines of Musaylima al-Kadhdhab (the Liar),a self-proclaimed (and false) Prophet. Theynever dared to challenge it, although theQur'an challenged them for years in a waythat provoked and annoyed them, as follows:

Come on and produce a like of this Qur'an.Let an unlettered man, like Muhammad theTrustworthy, do so. If he cannot, let the mostknowledgeable and well-versed in writing try.If he cannot, gather all of your learned andeloquent people and let them work together.Call upon your gods and goddesses. If you stillcannot produce anything, use of all books ofthe highest eloquence, and let all unbelieversto come until Doomsday use your experiencesin their attempt. If even then you cannot doso, try to produce the like of only suras. If youcannot do this, make a composition from base-less stories and imaginative tales to matchonly the Qur'an's metrical verse and elo-quence. If you cannot, produce only onechapter. If you cannot do even this, produce ashort chapter, or else your religion, lives,

properties, and families will be at stake in thisworld and the Hereafter!

With these eight alternatives, the Qur'anhas challenged and silenced all people andjinn for the last centuries. Instead of prefer-ring the easiest way (open challenge), the un-believers living during the early days of Islamchose the hardest way (warfare) and so jeop-ardized their lives, properties, and families. Ifsomeone could have met even the easiest con-dition of this challenge, no people of wisdom,especially those living at the Prophet's timeand the Qurayshi intellectual elite, wouldhave been forced to choose warfare. In sum-mary, as Jahiz put it, they had to resort tostruggle by the sword since challenge bywords was impossible.

Question: Some discerning scholars main-tain that no Qur'anic sura, verse, sentence, orword can be disputed and that no one has everdone so successfully. This sounds exaggeratedand hard to accept, as many human-producedwords bear some resemblance to the Qur'an.

Answer: There are two opinions on theQur'an's miraculousness. The prevailing opin-ion is that its eloquence and meaning's virtuesare beyond human capacity. The other onesays that one can challenge and compete witha sura, but that God Almighty prevents it as amiracle of Muhammad. For example, if aProphet told someone who could stand: "Youwill be unable to stand" and this came true, itwould be considered a miracle of the Prophet.This school is known as Sarfa, which teachesthat the All-Mighty prevents people and jinnfrom producing even a sura. If this were nottrue, they might challenge one sura. Thusscholars who maintain that not even a word ofthe Qur'an can be challenged are correct, forthe All-Mighty prevents this on account of theQur'an's miraculousness.

In the view of such scholars, however, thereis a subtle point: All Qur'anic words andverses are interrelated. Sometimes a word isrelated to other occurrences, thus bearing re-lationships and providing instances of elo-quence. In my Isharat al-I'jaz (Signs of

Miraculousness), a key to the Qur'an's inter-pretation, I show some examples drawn fromthe initial verses of Surat al-Fatiha and Suratal-Baqara.

For example, one can place a most import-ant gem in the most proper place in the decor-ative pattern of a well-ornamented palace'swall only after knowing the whole design.Likewise, placing the eye's pupil in its correctlocation entails knowing all of the body's func-tions and complex organization as well as itsrelationship with the eye's function. In justthe same way, the foremost people of scienceand profound truth demonstrate numerous re-lationships between the Qur'an's words andeach word's manifold relationships with otherverses and expressions. Scholars of the mys-teries of letters go even further, proving thateach letter of the Qur'an has many innermeanings that, if explained fully, might coverpages.

Since the Qur'an is the Word of the Creatorof everything, each word may function as the

core or heart of an ideal body made of hiddenmeanings placed around it or as the seed of anideal tree. Therefore, although some human-made words may be similar to those of theQur'an, placing them properly by means ofconsidering all relationships between [andamong] the Qur'anic words calls for an all-comprehending knowledge.

Third point:

God Almighty once inspired in my heart abrief reflection on the Qur'an's miraculousnature. I give its translation (from the originalArabic) below:

Glory be to God, Who Himself witnesses toHis Oneness; Who has disclosed the qualitiesof His Grace, Majesty, and Perfection throughthe Qur'an; and Whose six sides are luminousand contain neither misgiving nor doubt. Sup-ported by God's Throne of Sovereignty, fromwhich it holds the light of Revelation, it leadsto the happiness of the two worlds and aims atthe light of Paradise and eternal bliss. Aboveit shines the seal of miraculousness, beneathit lie the pillars of proof and evidence, and in-side it is pure guidance. It urges minds to seekits confirmation through such warnings as:Will they not comprehend and reflect? Thespiritual pleasures it bestows upon the heartmakes the conscience testify to its miraculous-ness. From which side or corner, then, could

the arrows of doubt invade such a miraculousQur'an?

The miraculous Qur'an includes the contentof all books given to all Prophets as well as ofall saints and monotheists regardless of path,temperament, and time. In other words, allpeople of heart and intellect mention theQur'an's laws and fundamentals in their booksin a way that shows their affirmation, and soare like roots of the "celestial tree of theQur'an."

The Qur'an is truly a Revelation. TheMajestic One Who revealed it proves this viathe miracles He created at Muhammad'shands. Even the Qur'an's own miraculousnessshows that it comes from God's ExaltedThrone. Lastly, Prophet Muhammad's anxietywhen the Revelation began, his half-consciousstate when receiving it, and his unmatchedsincere respect and devotion to the Qur'an allprove that it is Revelation, derived from pasteternity,290 and entrusted to the Prophet.

The Qur'an is pure guidance, since its op-posite (unbelief) is obviously misguidance. Ofnecessity, the Qur'an is the source of the lightof belief, for the opposite of this light is dark-ness. The Qur'an is the spring of truths intowhich neither imagination nor superstitioncan find a way. The truthful world of Islamshaped by its Revelation, the well-founded lawit presents, and the highest virtues that it

290.Past eternity (azel) is not, as people imagine, just thestarting-point of time and therefore essential for athing's existence. In fact, past eternity is like a mirrorthat reflects the past, present, and future. Excludingthemselves from time's passage, people tend to imagine alimit for past time that extends through a certain chainof things. They call this past eternity. Such a method ofreasoning is neither right nor acceptable. The followingsubtle point may clarify matters. Imagine that you areholding a mirror. Everything reflected on the right rep-resents the past, while everything reflected on the leftrepresents the future. The mirror can reflect only onedirection, since it cannot show both sides simultaneouslywhile you are holding it. To do that, you have to rise sohigh above your original position that left and right be-come one, and there is no longer any difference betweenfirst and last, beginning or end. (Tr.)

manifests all testify to its completetruthfulness vis-à-vis the Unseen and the vis-ible worlds.

The Qur'an shows the way and guidespeople to happiness in both worlds. Whoeverdoubts this should read it once and heed itswords. Its perfect and life-giving fruits demon-strate that it is deeply rooted in truth and truevigor, for a fruit's vigor indicates a tree's life.Just look at how many perfect, vigorous, andluminous fruits—people of sainthood, purity,and profound learning—it yields in each cen-tury. Through the conviction and intuitioncoming from countless indications, the Qur'anis so esteemed and sought after by people,jinn, and angels that its recitation causesthem to gather around it like moths.

In addition, all people of the profoundestknowledge agree that the Qur'an is confirmedand fortified by rational proofs. Such geniusesof philosophy as Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and IbnRushd (Averroës), and especially the mostlearned theologians, prove the truth of the

Qur'an's fundamentals with their own meth-ods of reasoning. Humanity's very nature, solong as it remains unspoiled, affirms theQur'an's truth, for only its light can satisfy aperson's conscience and place his or her heartplaced at rest.

The Qur'an is an everlasting miracle thatcontinually unfolds its miraculousness. It nev-er fades or perishes like other miracles, nordoes it age over time. The Qur'an's guidance isso inclusive and comprehensive thatArchangel Gabriel and young children listento it side by side, both deriving their lessons.Such a brilliant philosopher as Ibn Sina sitsbefore it knee to knee with ordinary reciters toreceive its teaching. Sometimes ordinary re-citers, by virtue of their purity and strength ofbelief, derive more benefit than Ibn Sina.

The Qur'an's guidance provides such penet-rating insight that the universe can be seenand comprehended like a book's pages. Like awatch-maker who opens and describes a watchdown to its smallest part, the Qur'an

expounds the universe with all of its spheresand particles. Above all, it states that "Thereis no deity but God" and declares His Oneness.

O God, make the Qur'an our companion inthe world and our confidant in the grave, ourintercessor in the Hereafter and our light onthe Sirat Bridge, a veil and protection againstHellfire, a friend in Paradise, and a guide anda leader to all goodness. O God, illumine ourhearts and graves with the light of belief andthe Qur'an, and brighten the evidence of theQur'an for the sake of him to whom You sentit. Upon him and his Family be peace andblessings from the Compassionate and Solicit-ous One. Amen.

Chapter 19Nineteenth sign: He isthe brightest sign andthe most definite evid-ence of God's OnenessThe previous signs proved that Muhammad isthe Messenger of God Almighty. With his Mes-sengership evident from thousands of decisiveproofs, Prophet Muhammad is the brightestsign and the most definite evidence of God'sOneness and [the existence of] eternal

happiness. Here we give a very brief descrip-tion of this radiant sign, this truth-speakingevidence. Since he is the evidence throughwhich the knowledge of God is acquired, wemust recognize both the evidence and the wayit acts as evidence.

God's Messenger, like every other being, ispersonally a proof of God's Existence and Un-ity. Moreover, he is the one who announcedthis truth in his own words and those of allother creatures. We now point out in essen-tials how evident, upright, and truthful thisproof is.

First essential: The one who gives evid-ence of the universe's Maker in word, act, andconduct is truthful and confirmed by creation'struths, for all creatures, by being proofs ofGod's Unity, affirm the one who declares thisUnity. Therefore all creation supports hiscause. His cause also is truthful because hisdeclaration, mainly comprising Divine Unity,signifies the pure blessing of absolute perfec-tion and eternal happiness, and is in complete

harmony with all universal truths' beauty andperfection. Given this, God's Messenger is anarticulate and truthful proof of Divine Unityand eternal happiness, and all creation con-firms his truthfulness.

Second essential: Since this truthful andcertified proof has thousands of miracles excel-ling those of all other Prophets, as well as aneternal Sacred Law and a message embracinghumanity and jinn, he is the head of allProphets. Given this, he has the core of alltheir miracles as well as their unanimous con-firmation. In other words, all other Prophetsagree on the same belief, and their miraclessupport his honesty and truthfulness.

Simultaneously, he is the master and leaderof all saints as well as of all people of purityand profound knowledge who have attainedperfection through his teaching, guidance, andSacred Law (the Shari'a). Thus he has the coreof their wonders and unanimous affirmation,as well as the strength of their verified conclu-sions. Since he opened—and keeps open—the

way they followed to reach the truth, all oftheir wonders, conclusions, and consensus onthe same belief support his truthfulness. Thisproof of God's Unity, as shown in all previoussigns, contains such certain, evident, and def-inite miracles and wonderful irhasat that, to-gether with other evidences of his Prophet-hood, their affirmation cannot be disputed.

Third essential: This herald of God's Un-ity, who has so many evident miracles, andthis bearer of the good tidings of eternal hap-piness has such sublime virtues in his blessedbeing, such exalted qualities in his Messenger-ship, and such precious merits in the religionand Sacred Law that he preached that evenhis bitterest enemies admitted them. Since hecombines the most praiseworthy virtues in hispersonality, function, and religion, he is theembodiment, master, and representative of allperfections and high, laudable virtues found increation. This perfect state that he reached inhis being, task, and religion is such a strongproof and support for his honesty and truth-fulness that it cannot be shaken.

Fourth essential: This herald of God'sOneness and eternal happiness, the source ofall perfections and teacher of the highest mor-ality, speaks only what is revealed and whathe is taught to speak by his Eternal Master.This is because, as partly explained in previ-ous signs, the universe's Creator provided himwith thousands of miracles to prove his Proph-ethood and to show that he speaks on His be-half and communicates His message. Second,the Qur'an's miraculous aspects show that theProphet is the All-Mighty's interpreter.

Third, his perfect sincerity, righteousness,earnestness, trustworthiness, and all otheracts and states demonstrate that he speaksonly on his Creator's behalf. Fourth, all peopleof truth who have listened to him affirm,through profound study and inspired discov-ery, and believe with the certainty of trueknowledge that he does not speak on his ownauthority; rather, the universe's Creatorteaches him and makes him speak what Hehas taught him. The evidence explained so farin these essentials, when joined together, is a

very strong support for his honesty andtruthfulness.

Fifth essential: This interpreter of God'seternal Word sees spirits, converses with an-gels, and guides humanity and jinn alike. Heteaches humanity and jinn, inhabitants of theincorporeal abode, and angels, showing thathe has access to and relationships with realmsbeyond these abodes. The above-mentionedmiracles and his very life prove this. His re-ports of the Unseen, therefore, do not re-semble those of soothsayers. No person, jinn,spirit, or angel (except for Gabriel) has anysay in his reports. And there are many occa-sions when even Gabriel falls behind him.

Sixth essential: This master of angels, hu-manity, and jinn is the Tree of Creation's mostperfect and most radiant fruit, the embodi-ment of God's compassion, the reflection of theLord's love, the most brilliant proof of the All-Mighty, the brightest light of truth, the key tothe universe's hidden truths, the discloser ofcreation's mystery, the expounder of creation's

Divine purpose, the announcer of God's king-ship, the describer of His beautiful art, and, byvirtue of his comprehensive faculties, the mostexcellent pattern of all of creation'sperfections.

Such character qualities, together with hisspiritual personality, clearly demonstrate thathe is the ultimate cause for the universe's cre-ation or, in other words, that the Creator cre-ated the universe on his pattern. It even canbe argued that if God had not created him, Hewould not have created the universe. Cer-tainly, the Qur'anic truths and the light of be-lief that he brought to humanity and jinn,along with the most exalted virtues and illus-trious perfections observed in his being, arethe evident proofs of this argument.

Seventh essential: This "proof of theTruth" (al-Haqq) and "light of the truth" offerssuch a religion and Sacred Law that it con-tains all principles for securing happiness inboth worlds. They perfectly expound theuniverse's truths and functions, as well the

Creator of the universe's Names and Attrib-utes. Islam and its Sacred Law are so perfectand comprehensive, and describe the universeand its Creator in such a way, that whoeverreflects on Islam realizes that it is the declara-tion of the One Who made this beautiful uni-verse and that it describes the universe andits Maker.

Like a spectacular palace revealing itsarchitect's skill, and the book written by thearchitect so that others may know it better,the religion and Sacred Law preached byProphet Muhammad demonstrate, throughtheir comprehensiveness, sublimity, andtruth, that they are designed by the same Be-ing Who created and continues to manage theuniverse. Indeed, the universe's perfect ordercalls for that most beautiful system of Islamas its expression in the Realm of ConsciousBeings.

Eighth essential: Distinguished with thesequalities and supported by the most unshak-able proofs, Prophet Muhammad proclaims his

message to humanity and jinn, in the name ofthe Unseen, to all people regardless of timeand place. And, his voice is so strong that allof them will hear him, just as we do.

Ninth essential: His speech is so effectiveand penetrating that people in all times listento him, and his voice is echoed in everycentury.

Tenth essential: His manner reveals thathe sees and communicates what he sees, foreven at the most perilous times he speakswith utmost conviction and assurance andchallenges the world.

Eleventh essential: He calls with such vig-or and from the depths of his heart that half ofthe world and one-fifth of all people have sub-mitted to the Qur'an obediently.

Twelfth essential: He invites so earnestly,and guides and trains so radically, that heleaves his principles as permanent, uneras-able marks throughout all times and places.

Thirteenth essential: His trust and con-fidence in the soundness of the commands

that he preaches are so great that he wouldnever retract or regret one of them, even if thewhole world united against him. Every in-stance of his life is a witness to this.

Fourteenth essential: He calls with suchconviction and certainty that he is indebted tono one and shows no anxiety, regardless of cir-cumstances. With utmost sincerity and hon-esty, and without hesitation, he is the first toaccept and practice what he communicates toothers. His piety and contentment, as well ashis disdain for the world's transient allure-ments, prove this fact that is known to friendsand foes alike.

Fifteenth essential: He is the first andforemost in obeying Islam, worshipping hisCreator, and observing the religious prohibi-tions. This proves that he is the King ofeternity's envoy, announcer, and most sincereservant, as well as the interpreter of HisEternal Word.

From these essentials, we conclude that thisperson, distinguished with the qualities

mentioned, devoted his life to one principleand declared it continuously: "There is nodeity but God," and thus proclaimed God's ab-solute Oneness.

O God, bestow on him and his Familypeace and blessings to the number ofhis community's good deeds. Glory beto You, we have no knowledge savewhat You have taught us. You are theAll-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Chapter 20Further remarks aboutthe Prophet's greatness

In the Name of God, the Merciful, theCompassionate.

First droplet: Three great and universalthings make our Lord known to us: the Bookof the Universe (explained elsewhere), theSeal of the Prophets (the Book of theUniverse's supreme sign), and the Qur'an.Now we must recognize and listen to the Seal

of the Prophets, that articulate proof and an-nouncer of God with all His Names and Attrib-utes, His Existence and Unity.

Look at that illustrious proof's universalpersonality: Earth's surface is his mosque,Makka is his mihrab (prayer niche), and Mad-ina is his pulpit. Our Prophet is the leader ofall believers, preacher to all humanity, chief ofall Prophets, lord of all saints, and leader inthe remembrance of God of a circle comprisingall Prophets and saints. With all Prophets asits roots and all saints as its ever-fresh fruits,he is a radiant tree. All Prophets, with thesupport of their miracles, and all saints, rely-ing on their wonders, confirm and corroboratehis claim that "There is no deity but God." Allillustrious reciters of God's Names lined up inthe past and future repeat these words in uni-son, as if to say: "You speak the truth, andwhat you say is right!" What illusion can dis-pute an argument confirmed by such countlessendorsements?

Second droplet: Just as the consensus andunanimity of all Prophets and saints affirmthis radiant proof of Divine Unity, hundreds ofsigns in the revealed Scriptures (e.g., theTorah and the Gospels), thousands of indica-tions of his Prophethood that appeared priorto his mission, famous reports of voices fromthe Unseen, soothsayers' unanimous testi-mony, thousands of miracles, and the justiceand truth of his Shari'a all confirm and corrob-orate him. Similarly, his laudable virtues' per-fection, his complete confidence in his mission,his most excellent qualities in relation to itsfulfillment, and his extraordinary awe of God,worship, serenity, and firmness—all demon-strate the strength of his belief. In addition,his total certainty and complete steadfastnessclearly show his claim's undeniable truth.

Third droplet: In our imaginations, let's goto Arabia during the Age of Bliss and visit himwhile he is performing his mission. Look! Wesee a person distinguished by his character'sexcellence and his form's beauty. He holds amiraculous book and speaks a truthful

discourse. He delivers an eternal sermon tohumanity, jinn, angels—indeed to all beings.He solves and expounds the mystery of theworld's creation, discovers and solves theuniverse's intricate mystery, and provides con-vincing and satisfying answers to questionsasked constantly by all beings: Who am I?What is the purpose of my life? Where did Icome from? Were am I going? What is my finaldestination?

Fourth droplet: Behold! He spreads such alight of truth that, if you look at the universewithout the light of his guidance, you see it asa place of mourning, of beings that are alien oreven hostile to each another, of inanimate be-ings that are ghastly corpses, and of livingcreatures that are orphans weeping under theblows of death and separation. But the lighthe spreads transforms that place of universalmourning into a place of invocation whereGod's Names and praises are recited in joyand ecstasy. Those alien, hostile beings arefriends and brothers and sisters. Dumb, inan-imate creatures assume the form of familiar,

obedient officials and docile servants. Weep-ing, complaining orphans either recite God'sNames and praises or offer thanks for beingdischarged from their duties.

Fifth droplet: Again, through this light,the universe's motions, variations, changes,and transformations are no longer consideredmeaningless and futile playthings of chance,but appear in their true form and function:missives of the universe's Master, a page in-scribed with the signs of creation, a mirror re-flecting God's Names. The world itself isshown to be a book of the Eternally-Besought-of-All's wisdom. Without this light, our bound-less weakness, helplessness, poverty, andneediness cause us to fall lower than animals.And then our intellect makes us even morewretched by conveying grief, sorrow, and anxi-ety to us.

But when this light illumines us, we riseabove all animals and creatures, and ourpoverty and helplessness become means of in-finite wealth and power by our dependence on

God. We ascend to the level of being a belovedmonarch through entreaty, and throughlamenting we become a vicegerent of Earth. Inother words, only this light prevents the uni-verse, humanity, and all things from being re-duced to nothingness. Such a person is neces-sary in such a wondrous universe, for withouthim there would be no need for the universeand all the worlds to exist.

Sixth droplet: This being announces andbrings good tidings of eternal happiness. Heunveils and proclaims God's infinite Mercy,observes and heralds the beauties of theRealm of the Lord's Sovereignty, and disclosesand displays the Divine Names' treasures. Ifyou observe him as a devoted worshipper ofGod, you will see him to be a model of love andan embodiment of mercy, as well as the prideof humanity and the Tree of Creations' mostillustrious fruit. If you observe him as a Mes-senger, you will see him to be a proof of God, alamp of truth, a sun of guidance, and themeans of happiness. Look! His light has lit upfrom East to West like dazzling lightning, and

half of the globe and one-fifth of humanityhave accepted his guidance and preserved itlike their lives. So why should our evil-com-manding selves and satans not accept "Thereis no deity but God," the essence of hismission?

Seventh droplet: Consider how he eradic-ated his people's deep attachment to evil andsavage customs and immoral qualities;equipped and adorned his desperate, wild, andunyielding people with all praiseworthy vir-tues; and made them teachers and masters ofthe world, especially to the "civilized" nations.His domination was not outward; rather, heconquered and subjugated their minds, spirits,hearts, and souls. He became the beloved ofhearts, the teacher of minds, the trainer ofsouls, and the ruler of spirits.

Eighth droplet: A small habit like smokingcan be removed permanently from a smallcommunity only by a powerful ruler and withgreat effort. But see how this man quickly re-moved numerous ingrained habits from large

obsessed communities with little outwardpower and little effort, and then replaced themwith exalted qualities that became inherent intheir being. He accomplished many more suchmiraculous things. To those who refuse to seethe testimony of that blessed time, we chal-lenge them with Arabia's present-day reality.Let them go there with hundreds of philosoph-ers, sociologists, and psychologists for a cen-tury and see if they can achieve even one-hun-dredth of what the Prophet achieved in a year.

Ninth droplet: An unimportant personcannot lie to a group of people aboutsomething insignificant without giving himselfor herself away through anxiety or unease.And yet this person, while undertaking a tre-mendous task in the name of Messengershipand needing protection against his enemies,easily speaks about great causes before largecongregations without any anxiety or hesita-tion. Furthermore, no contradictions can befound in what he proclaims with such puresincerity and great seriousness. In addition,he does so in such an intense, elevated

manner that he irritates his enemies. Howcould there have been any deception? What hespeaks is nothing but Revelation revealed.The truth cannot be deceptive, and one whosees it cannot be deceived. His path, which ispure truth, contains no deception.

Tenth droplet: Consider the curiosity-arousing, attractive, necessary, and awesometruths that he shows and the matters that heproves. All people are curious. Supposesomeone said: "If you give half of your prop-erty, someone will come from Mars or Jupiterto tell you about them, as well as your futureand what will happen to you." If you have anycuriosity at all, you will do as requested. Butthis person talks of other things: of a Monarchin whose realm the moon flies round a moth(Earth) like a fly, and the moth flutters rounda lamp (the sun), which is just one of thou-sands of lamps in one of the Monarch'scountless guest-houses. Also, he speaks trulyof so wondrous a world and predicts such a re-volution that it would not be strange if Earth

was a bomb and exploded. Listen to the surashe recites, which begin with:

When the sun is folded up. (81:1)When the sky is cleft asunder. (82:1)(The day) of Noise and Clamor.(101:1)

He speaks so truly of such a future that, inrelation to it, the future in this world is like atrifling mirage. He informs us so solemnly ofsuch happiness that all worldly happiness islike a flash of lightning in comparison to aneternal sun.

Eleventh droplet: Such wonders await usunder the universe's apparent veil. We need awonderful and miracle-working person to com-municate and explain these wonders to us. Hisconduct proves that he has seen—andsees—them, and he tells us what he sees. Heteaches us what the One God of those heavensand Earth, Who nourishes us with His boun-ties, wants of us and how we can please Him.While we should drop everything in order to

run to and then heed this person who in-structs us in these and many other necessaryand curiosity-arousing things, most people areso deaf and blind—even mad—that they donot see, hear, or understand this truth.

Twelfth droplet: As well as being an artic-ulate proof and truthful evidence of the One-ness of the Creator of all beings, this person isa decisive proof and clear evidence of the Re-surrection and eternal happiness. Given thathe is the cause for gaining eternal happinessthrough his guidance, he is the cause of its ex-istence and the means of its creation throughhis prayers and supplications.

See! While supplicating during this supremeprayer, it is as if Arabia—even Earth—praysthrough his sublime presence and makes itspetition. He entreats amid so vast a congrega-tion that it is as if all illustrious people of per-fection from the time of Adam until the end oftime are following him and saying "Amen" tohis supplications. He implores on behalf of souniversal a need that the inhabitants of Earth

and the heavens, indeed all beings, join in hisprayer, declaring: "Yes, O Master, grant thatto us, for we also desire it." He supplicates soneedily and sorrowfully, and in such a loving,longing, and entreating fashion, that he bringsthe universe to tears and causes it to join inhis prayer.

And see! The goal and purpose for which heprays elevates humanity and the world, evenall of creation, from the lowest ranks of humi-liation, worthlessness, and uselessness to thehighest ranks of having value, permanence,and sublime duties. He supplicates and peti-tions in a manner so elevated and help-seek-ing, so sweet and mercy-imploring, that it isas if he causes all beings and the heavens andthe Divine Throne of Grace to hear. And then,bringing them to ecstasy, he causes them toexclaim: "Amen, O God, Amen!"

He begs his needs from so Powerful a Being,All-Hearing and All-Generous, from so All-Knowing a Being, All-Seeing and All-Merciful,that that Being sees the most hidden being's

secret need, hears and accepts its entreaties,and has mercy on it. He meets its need, eventhough this being asks for it through thetongue of its disposition, and gives it in such awise, seeing, and compassionate form that itleaves no doubt that only an All-Hearing andAll-Seeing One, One Most Generous and MostMerciful, can do so.

Thirteenth droplet: What does he want, thispride of humanity, this unique being and gloryof all beings, who stands for prayer with alleminent people behind him and with handsupraised? He is seeking eternal happiness,eternal life, a meeting with God, and Paradise.He wants all of these through the DivineNames, which display their beauty and opera-tions in the mirrors of beings. Even one of hisprayers, were it not for such innumerablecauses as Mercy, Grace, Wisdom, and Justicefulfilling that request, would be enough tobuild Paradise, which is as easy for DivinePower as creating spring. Just as his Messen-gership opened this place of trial, his worship

and servitude to God opened a way to the nextworld.

I wonder how the universe's perfect order,which causes wise and reflective people to saythat no "new" universe could be more originaland wonderful, as well as the flawless beautyof His Mercy's art and His Mastership'smatchless beauty, could be at all consonantwith ugliness, mercilessness, and disorder. Iwonder how He could refuse the most import-ant and necessary desires while satisfying themost insignificant wishes. Such a thing isimpossible!

So, my imaginary friend, let's return. Evenif we stayed for 100 years we could not com-prehend fully even one-hundredth of his mar-velous and remarkable acts. We would nevertire of observing him. During our return, wewill look at each century to see how each hasbloomed fully through the flow of light re-ceived from that Sun of Guidance, and how ityielded thousands of such illustrious fruits asAbu Hanifa, Shafi'i, Bayazid al-Bistami, 'Abd

al-Qadir al-Jilani, Shah Naqshband, ImamGhazzali, and Imam Rabbani.

Postponing the details of our observations,we should invoke blessings on that worker ofmiracles and bringer of guidance that refer tosome of his certain miracles:

Upon him—our master Muhammad—towhom the All-Compassionate and All-MercifulOne sent the Wise Criterion of Truth (theQur'an) from the Mighty Throne, be peace andblessings equaling the number of hiscommunity's good deeds. Upon him whoseMessengership was foretold by the Torah,Gospels, and Psalms; whose Prophethood waspredicted by wondrous events prior to hisProphethood, and by the voices of jinn, saintsof humanity, and soothsayers; and at whosegesture the moon split, may there be peaceand blessings equaling the number of hiscommunity's breaths.

Upon him at whose beckoning trees came;by whose prayer rain fell; whom the cloudshaded from the heat; who made one dish of

food satisfy hundreds of people; from whosefingers water flowed like the Spring ofKawthar; to whom God caused the lizard, thegazelle, the wolf, the camel, the mountain, therock, the pole, and the clod of earth to speak;the one who made the Ascension (Mi'raj) andwhose eye did not waver, may there be peaceand blessings equaling the number of letters(in the Qur'an) formed in the words represen-ted, with the All-Compassionate's permission,in the mirrors of the airwaves when all re-citers of the Qur'an, from the beginning ofRevelation until the end of time, recite itswords. Forgive us and have mercy upon us, OGod, for the sake of each of those blessings.Amen.

Fourteenth droplet: The Qur'an, thetreasury of miracles and itself a supreme mir-acle, proves Muhammad's Prophethood andGod's Oneness so decisively that no furtherproof is needed. We now define this miracleand refer to one or two flashes of its miracu-lousness that have been criticized.

The Qur'an, which makes our Master knownto us, is an eternal translator of the greatBook of the Universe; the discloser of the Div-ine Names' treasures hidden in the pages ofEarth and the heavens; the key to the truthslying beneath the lines of events; the treasuryof the All-Compassionate's favors; the eternaladdresses coming from the Unseen world bey-ond this visible world's veil; the sun of Islam'sspiritual and intellectual world; the founda-tion, plan, and map of the Hereafter's worlds;the expounder, lucid interpreter, articulateproof, and clear translator of the DivineEssence, Attributes, and acts; humanity's edu-cator, trainer, guide, and leader; and true wis-dom. It is a book of wisdom and law, prayerand worship, command and summons, invoca-tion and knowledge of God; a book that con-tains books for all of humanity's spiritualneeds, like a sacred library offering booksfrom which all saints, eminently truthfulpeople, and all purified and discerning schol-ars derive their particular ways.

Consider the flash of miraculousness in itsreiterations, which are imagined to be a fault.Yet such reiteration is desirable, for theQur'an is a book of invocation, prayer, andsummons. In this context, reiteration is a mostnecessary and beautiful eloquence, for invok-ing God requires that the Qur'an be able toimpress and enlighten hearts. Through repeti-tion, prayer acquires and gives strength andbecomes ingrained in hearts. Commands andsummons need restatement to be confirmedand enforced.

Moreover, not everyone can read the wholeQur'an any time he or she wants, but usuallyhe or she can read one sura. This is why theQur'an's most important purposes are reiter-ated in most of the longer suras, each of whichthereby becomes like a small Qur'an. Suchpurposes and themes as Divine Unity, Resur-rection, and the story of Moses are repeated sothat no one is deprived of their benefits. Fur-thermore, spiritual tastes and needs vary, justlike bodily tastes and needs. Humanity is inneed of some at every breath. Just like the

body needs air, the spirit needs the particleHu–Huwa (He–God). It needs others everyhour, like Bismillah (In the Name of God).Reiteration therefore arises from recurringneed, and to point out those needs, make themdeeply felt, and awaken people to the need tosatisfy them.

Also the Qur'an is the founder and basis ofthe perfect religion (Islam) and the foundationof its world. It came to change humanity's so-cial life and answer people's recurring ques-tions. Repetition is necessary for a founder toaffirm, and reiteration is necessary to emphas-ize. Establishing something new requires con-firmation and strengthening, and thereforerepetition.

The Qur'an speaks of such important mat-ters and subtle truths that reiteration is ne-cessary in different contexts in order to im-press them on people's minds and hearts. Ac-tually, such repetition is merely apparent, forin reality each word has manifold meanings,numerous benefits, and many aspects and

levels. The words or verses always occur in adifferent place, way, context, and for a differ-ent meaning, purpose, and benefit. Certaincosmological matters are mentioned in a con-cise, allusive way. Doing so is not a fault, assome unbelievers and atheists assert, butrather a flash of miraculousness, for theQur'an came to guide humanity.

Why does the Qur'an not speak ofbeings in the same way as scienceand materialistic or naturalisticphilosophy?

Question: Why does the Qur'an not speak ofbeings in the same way as science and materi-alistic or naturalistic philosophy? It mentionssome matters very briefly and others in an ap-parently simple and superficial way that iseasy for ordinary people to understand.

Answer: Science and materialistic philo-sophy have strayed from the path of truth.The Qur'an is not a science book, and so doesnot need to dwell on cosmological matters. Itmentions certain facts of creation to makeknown the Divine Essence, Attributes, andNames by explaining the meaning of the Bookof the Universe so that its Creator may beknown. Therefore it considers creation for thesake of gaining knowledge of its Creator.Science, on the other hand, considers creation

for its own sake and addresses scientists inparticular.

As the Qur'an addresses all people, most ofwhom are ordinary, and uses creation as evid-ence and proof to guide humanity, the presen-ted evidence should be clear and obvious to en-sure easy understanding. In addition, guid-ance requires that unimportant things only betouched on and that subtle points be explainedthrough parables. To avoid leading people intoerror, it should not change things consideredobvious in a way that confuses or even harmsits audience.

For example, the Qur'an calls the sun amoving lamp because it is the "mainstay" ofthe universe's order and its system's center,and order and system are two means of ac-quiring knowledge of the Creator. When itsays: And the sun runs its course (36:38), itsuggests Divine Power's well-ordered disposi-tion in the revolutions of winter and summer,and day and night, and so implies the Maker'smajesty. Thus the reality of this "running"

does not harm the intended meaning—the ob-served order woven into the universe'sstructure.

The Qur'an also says: And He made the sunas a lamp (71:16). By depicting the sun as alamp, it reminds us that the world resemblesa palace containing the decorations, provi-sions, and other necessities prepared for hu-manity and other living creatures. The sunfunctions as a lamp to illuminate it, and there-fore implies the Creator's mercy and bounty.

Now consider how science and materialisticphilosophy describe the sun: "The sun is anenormous mass of burning gases. It causes theplanets, which have been flung off from it, torevolve around it. It is of such-and-such size,and has such-and-such qualities." It gives noperfection of knowledge to the spirit, but onlya terrible dread and bewilderment. It does notapproach the matter as the Qur'an does. Fromthis comparison, judge the value of the sci-entific and philosophical way of thinking, theformer of which is outwardly splendid but

inwardly hollow. So do not be fooled by theoutward worth of scientific descriptions andbecome disrespectful toward the Qur'an's mostmiraculous style.

O God, make the Qur'an a cure for allsickness for us, a companion to us inlife and after death, a friend in theworld, a confidant in the grave, an in-tercessor on the Day of Judgment, alight on the (Bridge of) Sirat, a veiland a screen from Hellfire, a friend inParadise, and a guide and a leader toall good deeds. By Your grace, munifi-cence, beneficence, and mercy, O MostGenerous of the generous and MostMerciful of the merciful. Amen.O God, bestow blessings and peace onhim to whom You sent the Qur'an, theCriterion of Truth and Falsehood,and on all members of his Family andhis Companions. Amen.

Chapter 21The miracle of splittingthe moon

In the name of God, the Merciful, theCompassionate.The Hour has approached, and themoon split. But whenever they see asign, they turn away, saying: "This isevidently part of (his) magic." (54:1-2)

Question:Materialist philosophers andtheir imitators, who want to deny this bright

miracle of Prophet Muhammad, say: "If theevent really happened, it would have beenknown all over the world and related in allhistorical documents."

Answer: This miracle occurred before agroup of people to convince them of his Proph-ethood. It happened momentarily at a time ofnight when people were sleeping; suchobstacles as mist, clouds, and time differencesprevented others from seeing it; and,moreover, at that time science and civilizationwere not yet advanced or widespread. Thusthe practice of observing the sky was quitelimited. Last but not least, there is no reasonwhy it should have been seen worldwide. Toremove such clouds of delusion, consider thefollowing five points:

First point: The stubbornness ofMuhammad's unbelieving contemporaries iswell-known and recorded. When the Qur'anannounced this incident in the moon split, notone unbeliever dared contradict it. If they hadnot seen this event, they would have used this

verse as a pretext to attack the Prophet moreformidably. However, neither biographies ofthe Prophet nor history books report anythingthat even suggests their denial of this event.Their reaction was recorded as: This is evid-ently part of his magic. They declared theevent to be magic, and added further that ifcaravans in other places had seen it, it hadtruly happened; otherwise, the Prophet hadbewitched them. When caravans arriving thefollowing morning from Yemen and otherplaces announced that they had seen this mir-acle, the unbelievers replied: "The magic ofAbu Talib's orphan has affected even theheavens!"

Second point: The majority of the foremostscholars of meticulous research, such as Sa'dal-Din al-Taftazani, concluded that, like theearlier-mentioned miracles of water flowingfrom the Prophet's fingers and the audiblegrieving of the wooden pole against which theProphet used to lean while delivering ser-mons, when it was separated from him follow-ing the construction of a pulpit, the splitting of

the moon is mutawatir. This means that it hasbeen transmitted down the generations by onetruthful group after another, and that thetransmitters form such a vast community thatthey are unable to agree on a lie. It is as cer-tain as Haley's comet, which appeared 1,000years ago, or the existence of an island wehave not seen. Therefore it is unreasonable tofoster baseless doubts about such certain, wit-nessed matters. In fact, it is enough for theiracceptability that they are not impossible.Splitting the moon is just as possible as split-ting a mountain by a volcanic eruption.

Third point: Prophets work miracles toprove their claim of Prophethood and to con-vince deniers, not to compel belief. Thus everymiracle is shown to convince those who heardthe claim of Prophethood. If they somehowforced everyone to see or believe in them, theAll-Wise's Wisdom, the Divine purpose for cre-ating us with free will and sending religion,which entails that the ground be prepared forthe mind's willing acceptance, would beviolated.

Thus if the All-Wise Creator had left themoon split for several hours so that everyonecould see it and record it in their historical re-cords, it would have been only another astro-nomical event instead of an event unique toMuhammad's Messengership or an evidence ofhis Prophet-hood. If everyone had been com-pelled to believe, free will would be annulledand Abu Jahl's coal-like spirit would be equalto Abu Bakr's diamond-like spirit. Thus thepurpose of creating humanity with a specialfunction and responsibility, as well as the pur-pose for sending revelation, would be negated.That is why this miracle was not shown world-wide so that it could be recorded.

Fourth point: Some argue that if this eventreally occurred, it would have been mentionedin Chinese, Japanese, and Native Americanhistorical accounts.291 But how could they

291.Some books also state that the moon fell to Earthafter it split into two parts. Truthful scholars have rejec-ted this, for it was added by a hypocrite who intended toreduce this evident miracle's value to nothing.

have seen it for, in addition to other obstacles,it was barely sunset in such European coun-tries as Spain, France, and England (all envel-oped in mists of ignorance), daytime in Amer-ica, and morning in China and Japan.

Fifth point: This miracle is not an ordinaryincident that happened due to particularcauses or randomly so that it should be criti-cized based on the law of cause and effect.Rather, the All-Wise Creator of the sun andthe moon made it an extraordinary event toconfirm His Messenger's Prophethood andsupport his claim. Therefore it was shown as aconvincing proof to certain people and spe-cified by Divine Wisdom, for the nature of Div-ine guidance and human responsibility as wellas the reason for raising a Messenger requiredthis. If it had been seen by those who were notintended to see it and who had not yet heardof Muhammad's Prophethood, and if it had oc-curred according to the law of cause and effect,it would have been an ordinary astronomicalevent instead of a miracle specific to and con-nected with his Messengership.

In conclusion, these arguments are enoughfor any mind to be convinced of the possibilitythat this miracle occurred. Out of many evid-ences of its occurrence, we shall mention onlysix, as these six have the strength of a six-foldconsensus:

• The Companions, all people of justiceand truthfulness, agree that it tookplace.

• All exacting Qur'anic interpretersagree that the moon split indicatesthat a gesture of Muhammad's fingerscaused this event.

• All truthful Traditionists narratedthis incident through various authent-ic channels of transmission.

• All people of truth and sainthood, aswell as of inspiration and spiritual dis-covery, testify that this event tookplace.

• All foremost theologians and learnedscholars confirm this event, despitetheir other differences of opinions.

• Muhammad's community, which anauthentic Prophetic Tradition statescan never agree on an error, acceptsits occurrence.

These six evidences clearly prove the split-ting of the moon.

Thus we have established this miracle'sreality by refuting objections to its possibility.In a few concluding sentences, we will speakin the name of the truth and for the sake ofbelief.

The Seal of the Prophets, the luminousmoon of the heaven of Messengership, provedhis sainthood through his Ascension. Hissainthood's greatest miracle, achieved throughthe quality of his worship, elevated him to thestatus of God's beloved. In other words, bymaking Muhammad travel through the heav-ens, God showed its dwellers and those of thehighest realms that he is their superior andHis beloved.

By allowing a man's gesture to split themoon, which is set in the sky and bound to

Earth, people saw another great evidence ofhis Messengership. Thus Prophet Muhammadflew to the summit of perfections on the twobrilliant wings of Messengership and saint-hood (like the moon's two bright halves), as-cended to two bows' length (the highest rankand nearest station to God), and became thecause of pride for all inhabitants of the heav-ens and Earth.

Upon him and his Family be blessings andpeace such as to fill Earth and the heavens.Glory be unto You. We have no knowledgesave what You have taught us. You are theAll-Knowing, All-Wise.

O God, for the sake of him by a gesture ofwhom the moon split, make my heart and thehearts of the Risale-i Nur's students as de-voted and loyal to the "sun" of the Qur'an asthe moon is to the sun. Amen.

Chapter 22Why only ProphetMuhammad was honoredwith the Ascension?The reason for this lies in his essential perfec-tion and the nature of his Prophethood. Firstof all, Prophet Muhammad was expected for along time, and his coming was promisedthrough many signs. Given this, there are nu-merous proofs of his Prophethood. Althoughelaborated in previous chapters, we briefly listthe signs showing his perfection and the

proofs of his Prophethood to show that he wasthe most worthy to make the Ascension.

First: Despite the great corruption in theTorah, Gospels, and Psalms, Husain al-Jisri'sRisala al-Hamidiya presents 110 signs foundin them that indicate Muhammad'sProphethood.

Second: History also records the words ofmany pre-Islamic soothsayers, such Shiq andSatih, who foretold his Prophethood and thathe was the Last Prophet.

Third: Many extraordinary events (irhasat)before his Prophethood foretold the coming ofa Prophet. For example, on the night he wasborn, the Ka'ba's idols toppled over and thepinnacles of the famous palace of the Persianruler Chosroes broke.

Fourth: Muhammad was distinguishedwith approximately 1,000 miracles, all ofwhich have been related by historians and bio-graphers. To cite only a few examples, he sat-isfied an army's thirst with water flowing fromhis fingers and split the moon (54:1), and the

dry wooden pole against which he leanedwhile preaching in the mosque moaned like acamel in front of many people when it wasseparated from him.

Fifth: Friend and foe agree that all goodqualities were found in him to the highest de-gree, and that, as shown by his conduct, all at-tributes and character of the highest excel-lence were apparent in the way he performedhis mission. In accordance with Islam's moralprinciples, praiseworthy virtues of the highestorder are found in the law that he brought.

Sixth: Wisdom requires that Divinity beshown because of Its perfections. ProphetMuhammad manifested God's Divinity at thehighest level and in the most brilliant fashionthrough the most perfect and comprehensiveway of worship contained in the religion thathe brought. Due to the wisdom in theuniverse's creation, the Creator of the worldwills to display His most perfect Beauty andGrace through the most appropriate means.Clearly, Prophet Muhammad showed and

described His Beauty and Grace in the mostperfect fashion.

The Maker of the world wills to exhibit anddraw attentive gazes toward His perfect art ofinfinite Beauty; Muhammad proclaimed thatart with the clearest voice. In response to theLord of the worlds' will to proclaim His One-ness in the realms of multiplicity, Muhammadannounced His Unity with all of Its aspectsmost perfectly.

Due to His Wisdom, the Owner of the worldwills to see and show His infinite essentialBeauty and Grace, with all of their manifesta-tions, in the mirrors of all beings; Muhammadreflected them in the most brilliant fashionand made others love them. In response to thewill of the Builder of the palace of the world todescribe His perfections by showing His un-seen treasuries of priceless gems, Muhammaddisplayed and described them most perfectly.

The Maker of the universe has decoratedthe universe with the most beautiful and ex-quisite embellishments, and has included

therein His conscious creatures so that theymay travel to receive enjoyment and reflect.Due to His Wisdom, He wills to communicatethe meaning and value expressed by theworks of His art to people who observe and re-flect. Muhammad guided humanity, jinn, andangels in the most comprehensive way, in thisrespect, through the Qur'an.

The All-Wise Ruler of the universe wills touse an envoy to reveal the purpose of thechanges and transformations in existence, aswell as to answer three perplexing questionsasked by all conscious beings: Where do wecome from? Where are we going? What arewe? By means of the Qur'an's truths,Muhammad revealed this purpose and the an-swers in the clearest and most perfect way.

The Maker of this world wills to make Him-self known to conscious beings through His ex-quisite works and to be loved by them throughthe precious bounties He bestows on them.Thus He wills to communicate to them, bymeans of an envoy, what He wants them to do

and how they may obtain His approval in re-turn for those bounties. By means of theQur'an, Muhammad communicated the thingsthat please God in the most exalted and per-fect way.

The Lord of the worlds has endowed human-ity, the fruit of the Tree of Creation, with acomprehensive disposition that can encompassthe universe, and with a corresponding abil-ity—and even need—to perform a universalworship. But humanity, due to its feelings, in-clines to the world and its attractions. So Godwills, by means of a guide, to turn humanity'sattention from worldly multiplicity to DivineUnity, from transience to eternity. In responseto this will and by means of the Qur'an,Muhammad guided humanity to this goal inthe most desirable fashion and performed theduty of Messengership in the most perfectway.

Thus creation's most superior members areliving beings, the most superior living beingsare conscious beings, the most superior

conscious beings are true human beings, andthat true human being who carried out all du-ties mentioned, in the most perfect and com-prehensive way, would rise through an all-em-bracing Ascension to the nearness of two bow-strings (the station nearest to God), knock atthe door of eternal happiness, and open thetreasury of Mercy.

Thus the most superior members of cre-ation are living beings, the most superior liv-ing beings are conscious beings, the most su-perior conscious beings are true human be-ings, and the true human being who carriedout all of the duties mentioned in the mostperfect and comprehensive way naturallywould rise through an all-embracing Ascen-sion to the nearness of two bows' length, thestation nearest to God, to knock at the door ofeternal happiness, open Mercy's treasury, andwitness belief's unseen truths directly.

Seventh: Moreover, everything displays themost pleasing instances of beauty and utmostdegree of adornment, thereby demonstrating

that their Maker wills to make things beauti-ful and adorn them. In turn, this shows thatthe Maker has a strong inclination and sacredlove toward His art. Therefore the person withthe most comprehensive disposition to displaythis art's wonders in himself; one who knowsthem, makes them known, and thus makeshimself lovable; and who deeply appreciatesthe beauties manifested in other beings in fullappreciation of their coming from the Makerwill be the most beloved in the Maker's sight,as He greatly loves His art.

This same being, in full awareness of the ex-quisite qualities adorning all beings and of theperfections illuminating them, makes theheavens echo: "Glory be to God! What wondersGod has willed" and "All these are from God!God is the greatest!" This same being causesthe universe to reverberate with the sounds ofthe Qur'an, and enraptures the land and thesea with his appreciative reflections and glori-fication as well as with his proclamation anddemonstration of Divine Unity.

Such a being, according to the principle of"The cause is like the doer," receives a rewardequivalent to his community's good deeds. Hisspiritual perfections draw strength from theblessings invoked upon him by his community,and the duties he performed during his Mes-sengership cause him to receive an immaterialrecompense and infinite emanations of DivineMercy and Love. Given this, the result of puretruth and absolute wisdom is that this beingshould advance by means of Ascension as faras Paradise, Sidrat al-Muntaha—the lote tree,contingency's farthest limit—the DivineThrone, and to the nearness of two bows'length.

Chapter 23The Sixteenth Degree, onthe Messengership ofMuhammad, from the Su-preme SignThen that traveller through the world ad-dressed his own intellect saying: “Since I amseeking my Master and Creator by means ofthe creatures of the cosmos, I ought before allelse to visit the most celebrated of all thesecreatures, the greatest and most accomplished

commander among them, according to thetestimony even of his enemies, the mostrenowned ruler, the most exalted in speechand the most brilliant an intellect, who has il-luminated fourteen centuries with his excel-lence and with his Qur’an, Muhammad theArabian Prophet (May God’s peace and bless-ings be upon him).” In order thus to visit himand seek from him the answer to his quest, heentered the blessed age of the Prophet in hismind, and saw that age to be one of true feli-city, thanks to that being. For through thelight he had brought, he had turned the mostprimitive and illiterate of peoples into themasters and teachers of the world.

He said too to his own intellect, “Before ask-ing him concerning our Creator, we shouldfirst learn the value of this extraordinary be-ing, the veracity of his words and the truthful-ness of his warnings.” Thus he began investig-ating, and of the numerous conclusive proofsthat he found we will briefly indicate here onlynine of the most general ones.

THE FIRSTAll excellent qualities and characteristics

were to be found in that extraordinary being,according to the testimony even of his en-emies. Hundreds of miracles were made mani-fest at his hands, according to explicitQur’anic verses or traditions enjoying thestatus of tawatur.

292Examples of these mir-

acles are his splitting of the moon —And themoon split293— with a single indication of hisfinger; his casting of a handful of dust into theeyes of his enemies, causing them to flee —Itwas not your act when you threw, butGod’s294— and his giving his thirsting army todrink from the water that flowed forth fromhis five fingers like the Spring of Kawthar.Since some of those miracles, numbering morethan three hundred, have been set forth withdecisive proofs in the remarkable and

292.Tawatur is the kind of report that is transmitted bynumerous authorities, about which there is consensus,and no room for doubt. (Tr.)

293.Qur’an, 54:1.294.Qur’an, 8:17.

wondrous work known as The Miracles ofMuhammad (the Nineteenth Letter), we leavediscussion of the miracles to that book, andpermit the traveller to continue speaking:

“A being who in addition to noble character-istics and perfections has all these luminousmiracles to demonstrate, must certainly be themost truthful in speech of all men. It is incon-ceivable that he would stoop to trickery, liesand error, the deeds of the vile.”

THE SECONDHe holds in his hand a decree from the Lord

of the universe, a decree accepted and af-firmed in each century by more than threehundred million people. This decree, theQur’an of Mighty Stature, is wondrous in sev-en different ways. The fact that the Qur’anhas forty different aspects of miraculousnesand that it is the word of the Creator of all be-ings has been set forth in detail with strongproofs in the Twenty-Fifth Word, The Miracu-lousness of the Qur’an, a celebrated treatisethat is like the sun of the Risale-i Nur. We

therefore leave such matters to that work andlisten to the traveller as he says, “There cannever be any possibility of lying on the part ofthe being who is the conveyor and proclaimerof this decree, for that would be a violation ofthe decree and treachery toward the One Whoissued it.”

THE THIRDSuch a Sacred Law, an Islam, a code of wor-

ship, a cause, a summons, and a faith did thatbeing bring forth that the like of them doesnot exist, nor could it exist. Nor does a moreperfect form of them exist, nor could it exist.For the Law appearing with that unletteredbeing has no rival in its administration of onefifth of humanity for fourteen centuries, in ajust and precise manner through its numerousinjunctions. Moreover the Islam that emergedfrom the deeds, sayings, and inward states ofthat unlettered being has no peer, nor can ithave, for in each century it has been for threehundred million men a guide and a refuge, theteacher and educator of their intellects and

the illuminator and purifier of their hearts,the cause for the refinement and training oftheir souls, and the source of progress and ad-vancement of their spirits.

The Prophet is similarly unparalleled in theway in which he was the foremost in prac-tising all the forms of worship found in his re-ligion, and the first in piety and the fear ofGod; in his observing the duties of worshipfully and with attention to their profoundestdimensions, even while engaged in constantstruggle and activity; in his practice of wor-ship combining in perfect fashion the begin-ning and end of worship and servitude to Godwithout imitation of anyone.

With the Jawshan al-Kabir, from among histhousands of supplicatory prayers and invoca-tions, he describes his Sustainer with such adegree of gnosis that all the gnostics andsaints who have come after him have been un-able, with their joint efforts, to attain a simil-ar degree of gnosis and accurate description.This shows that in prayer too he is without

peer. Whoever looks at the section at the be-ginning of the Treatise on Supplicatory Pray-er, which sets forth some part of the meaningof one of the ninety-nine sections of theJawshan al-Kabir, will say that the Jawshantoo has no peer.

In his conveying of the message and hissummoning men to the truth, he displayedsuch steadfastness, firmness and courage thatalthough great states and religions, and evenhis own people, tribe and uncle opposed him inthe most hostile fashion, he exhibited not theslightest trace of hesitation, anxiety or fear.The fact that he successfully challenged thewhole world and made Islam the master of theworld likewise proves that there is not andcannot be anyone like him in his conveying ofthe message and summons.

In his faith, he had so extraordinary astrength, so marvellous a certainty, so miracu-lous a breadth, and so exalted a conviction, il-lumining the whole world, that none of theideas and beliefs then dominating the world,

and none of the philosophies of the sages andteachings of the religious leaders, was able,despite extreme hostility and denial, to inducein his certainty, conviction, trust and assur-ance, the slightest doubt, hesitation, weaknessor anxiety. Moreover, the saintly of all ages,headed by the Companions, the foremost inthe degrees of belief, have all drawn on hisfountain of belief and regarded him as repres-enting the highest degree of faith. This provesthat his faith too is matchless. Our travellertherefore concluded, and affirmed with his in-tellect, that lying and duplicity have no placein the one who has brought such a unique sac-red law, such an unparalleled Islam, such awondrous devotion to worship, such an ex-traordinary excellence in supplicatory prayer,such a universally acclaimed summons to thetruth and such a miraculous faith.

THE FOURTHIn the same way that the consensus of the

prophets is a strong proof for the existenceand Unity of God, so too it is a firm testimony

to the truthfulness and messengerhood of thisbeing. For all the sacred attributes, miraclesand functions that indicate the truthfulnessand messengerhood of the prophets (Uponwhom be peace) existed in full measure in thatbeing according to the testimony of history.The prophets have verbally predicted the com-ing of that being and given good tidings there-of in the Torah, the Gospels, the Psalms, andother scriptures; more than twenty of the mostconclusive examples of these glad tidings,drawn from the scriptures, have been set forthand proven in the Nineteenth Letter. Simil-arly, through all the deeds and miracles asso-ciated with their prophethood they have af-firmed and —as it were— put their signatureto the mission of that being which is the fore-most and most perfect in the tasks and func-tions of prophethood. Just as through verbalconsensus they indicate the Divine Unity,through the unanimity of their deeds theybear witness to the truthfulness of that being.This too was understood by our traveller.

THE FIFTH

Similarly, the thousands of saints who haveattained truth, reality, perfection, wondrousdeeds, unveiling and witnessing through theinstruction of this being and following him,bear unanimous witness not only to the DivineUnity but also to the truthfulness and messen-gerhood of this being. Again, the fact that theywitness, through the light of sainthood, someof the truths he proclaimed concerning theWorld of the Unseen, and that they believe inand affirm all of those truths through the lightof belief, either with ‘knowledge of certainty,’or with the ‘vision of certainty,’ or with‘absolute certainty.’ He saw that this toodemonstates like the sun the degree of truth-fulness and rectitude of that great being, theirmaster.

THE SIXTHThe millions of purified, sincere, and punc-

tilious scholars and faithful sages, who havereached the highest station of learningthrough the teaching and instruction con-tained in the sacred truths brought by that

being, despite his unlettered nature, the exal-ted sciences he invented and Divine know-ledge he discovered—they not only prove andaffirm, unanimously and with the strongestproofs, the Divine Unity which is the founda-tion of his mission, but also bear unanimouswitness to the truthfulness of this supremeteacher and great master, and to the veracityof his words. This is a proof as clear as day-light. The Risale-i Nur too with its one hun-dred parts is but a single proof of histruthfulness.

THE SEVENTHThe Family and Companions of the Prophet

—who with their insight, knowledge, and spir-itual accomplishment are the most renowned,the most respected, the most celebrated, themost pious and the most keensighted of menafter the prophets— examined and scrutin-ized, with the utmost attention, seriousnessand exactitude, all the states, thoughts andconditions of this being, whether hidden oropen. They came to the unanimous conclusion

that he was the most truthful, exalted, andhonest being in the world, and this, their un-shakeable affirmation and firm belief, is aproof like the daylight attesting the reality ofthe sun.

THE EIGHTHThe cosmos indicates its Maker, Inscriber,

and Designer, Who creates, administers, andarranges it, and through determining itsmeasure and form and regulating it, has dis-posal over it as though it was a palace, a book,an exhibition, a spectacle. And so too it indic-ates that it requires and necessitates an elev-ated herald, a truthful unveiler, a learnedmaster, and a truthful teacher who will knowand make known the Divine purposes in theuniverse’s creation, teach the dominical in-stances of wisdom in its changes and trans-formations, give instruction in the results ofits dutiful motions, proclaim its essentialvalue and the perfections of the beings withinit, and express the meanings of that mightybook; it indicates that he is certain to exist.

Thus, the traveller knew that it testified tothe truthfulness of this being, who performedthese functions better than anyone, and to hisbeing a most elevated and loyal official of theuniverse’s Creator.

THE NINTHThere is behind the veil One Who wishes to

demonstrate with these ingenious and wiseartefacts the perfection of His talent and art;to make Himself known and loved by means ofthese countless adorned and decorated cre-ations; to evoke praise and thanks through theunnumbered pleasurable and valuable boun-ties that he bestows; to cause men to worshipHim with gratitude and appreciation in theface of His dominicality, through His solicitousand protective sustenance of life, and His pro-vision of nurture and bounty in such manneras to satisfy the most delicate of tastes and ap-petites; to manifest His Divinity through thechange of seasons, the alternation of night andday, and through all His magnificent andmajestic deeds, all His awe-inspiring and wise

acts and creativity, and thereby to cause mento believe in his Divinity, in submission, hu-mility and obedience; and to demonstrate Hisjustice and truthfulness by at all times pro-tecting virtue and the virtuous and destroyingevil and the evil, by annihilating with blowsfrom heaven the oppressor and the liar. Therewill of a certainty be at the side of this UnseenBeing His most beloved creature and most de-voted bondsman, who, serving the purposesthat have just been mentioned, discovers andunravels the talisman and riddle of the cre-ation of the universe, who acts always in thename of that Creator, who seeks aid and suc-cess from Him, and who receives them fromHim—Muhammad of Quraysh (Peace andblessings be upon him!)

The traveller further said, addressing hisown intellect: “Since these nine truths bearwitness to the truthfulness of this being, hemust be the source of glory of mankind andthe source of honour for the world. If we there-fore call him the Pride of the World and Gloryof the Sons of Adam, it will be fitting. The fact

that the awesome sovereignty of that decree ofthe Compassionate One, the Qur’an of Miracu-lous Exposition that he holds in his hand, hasconquered half the world, together with his in-dividual perfections and exalted virtues,shows that he is the most important person-age in the world. The most important wordconcerning our Creator is that which heutters.”

Now see: the foundation of the summons ofthis extraordinary being and the aim of all hislife, based on the strength furnished by hishundreds of decisive and evident and manifestmiracles, and the thousands of exalted, funda-mental truths contained in his religion, was toprove and bear witness to the existence of theNecessary Existent, His Unity, attributes andNames, to affirm, proclaim and announceHim. He is therefore like a sun in the cosmos,the most brilliant proof of our Creator, this be-ing whom we call the Beloved of God. Thereare three forms of great and infallible con-sensus each of which affirms, confirms, andputs its signature to the witness he bears.

The First: the unanimous affirmation madeby that luminous assembly known and celeb-rated throughout the world as the Family ofMuhammad (Peace and blessings be uponhim) including thousands of poles and su-preme saints of penetrating gaze and ability toperceive the Unseen, such Imam ‘Ali (MayGod be pleased with him), who said, “Were theveil to be lifted, my certainty would not in-crease,” and ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani, Ghawthal-A‘zam (May his mystery be sanctified), whosaw the Supreme Throne and the awesomeform of Israfil while yet on the earth.

The Second: the confirmation made with astrong faith that permitted men to sacrificetheir lives and their property, their fathersand tribes, by the renowned assembly knownas the Companions, who found themselvesamong a primitive people and in an unletteredenvironment, devoid of all social life and polit-ical thought, without any scripture and lost inthe darkness of a period between prophets;and who in a very brief time came to be themasters, guides, and just rulers of the most

civilized and politically and socially advancedpeoples and states, and to rule the world fromeast to west in universally approved fashion.

The Third: the confirmation provided withunanimous and certain knowledge by thatlofty group of punctilious and profound schol-ars of whom in each age thousands springforth, who advance in wondrous fashion inevery science and work in different fields.

Thus, the testimony brought by this being tothe Divine Unity is not particular and indi-vidual, but general and universal and un-shakeable. If all the demons that exist were tounite, they could not challenge it. Such wasthe conclusion reached by the traveller.

In reference to the lesson learned in theSchool of Light by that traveller from theworld, that wayfarer in life, when he visited inhis mind the blessed age of the Prophet, wesaid at the end of the Sixteenth Degree of theFirst Station:

There is no god but God, the Necessary Ex-istent, the One, the Unique, the Necessity of

Whose Existence in Unity is indicated by thePride of the World and the Glory of the Sons ofAdam, through the majesty of the sovereigntyof his Qur’an, the splendour of the expanse ofhis religion, the multiplicity of his perfections,and the exaltedness of his characteristics, asconfirmed even by the testimony of his enemies.He bears witness and brings proof through thestrength of his hundreds of manifest and evid-ent miracles, that both testify to truth and arethemselves the object of true testimony; andthrough the strength of the thousands of lu-minous and conclusive truths contained in hisreligion, according to the consensus of all thepossessors of light, the agreement of his il-lumined Companions, and the unanimity ofthe scholars of his community, the possessorsof proofs and luminous insight.

The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One!Said Nursi

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