|
The Miracles of
the Prophet Muhammad
sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam
By Imâm an-Nawawî
rahimahullâh
From 'Life of the Messenger' |
The Messenger of Allâh possesses many
manifest miracles and signs demonstrating [his veracity], reaching thousands
and they are well known.
From amongst them was the Qur'ân, the
manifest and clear miracle and brilliant proof, falsehood cannot approach it
from before it or behind it. It is a revelation from One Who is All-Wise and
Praiseworthy. It incapacitated the most eloquent of people in the most eloquent
of times to produce a single chapter than would be comparable to it, even if
the whole of creation were to gather for that purpose. Allâh, the Exalted says,
"Say:
if the whole of mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of
this Qur'ân, they could not produce the like of it, even if they assisted each
other." [Al-Isrâ' (17):88]
It challenged them to this despite
their large numbers, their eloquence and their severe enmity, and it challenges
them to this day.
As for the other miracles, it is not
possible to enumerate them all due to their huge number and renewing and
increasing nature. I will mention some examples:
The splitting of the moon, water
flowing from between his fingers, increasing the quantity of food and water,
the glorification of the food, the palm tree yearning for him, stones greeting
him, the talking of the poisoned leg [of roasted sheep], trees walking towards
him, two trees that were far apart coming together and then parting again, the
barren [and therefore dry] sheep giving milk, his returning the eye of Qatâdah
bin an-Nu'mân to its place with his hand after it had slipped out, his
splitting lightly into the eye of 'Alî when it had become inflamed and its
being cured almost immediately, his wiping the leg of 'Abdullâh bin 'Atîq
whereupon he was immediately cured.
His informing of the places of death
of the polytheists on the Day of Badr saying, 'this is the place of
such-and-such a person.' His informing of his killing Ubayy ibn Khalaf, that a
group of his nation would traverse an ocean and Umm Harâm would be amongst them
and this occurred. That all was drawn together for him of the ends of the earth
and displayed to him would be opened for his nation, that the treasures of
Chosroes would be spend by his nation in the Way of Allâh, the Mighty and
Magnificent. That he feared for his nation that they would be tempted by the
wealth and allurement of this world and that the treasures of the Persians and
Romans would be ours and that Surâqah bin Mâlik would wear the trousers of
Chosroes.
He informed us that Hasan bin 'Alî
would reconcile between two large warring parties of Muslims, that Sa'd bin Abû
Waqqâs would live such that nations would benefit by him and others would be
harmed. That an-Najâshî had died on this particular day while he was in
Ethiopia and that al-Aswad al-Ansî had been killed on this particular day while
he was in Yemen.
That the Muslims would fight the
Turks who were described as having small eyes, wide faces and small, chiselled
noses and that Yemen, Syria and Irâq would be conquered by the Muslims.
He informed us that the Muslims would
comprise three armies, an army in Syria, an army in Yemen and an army in Irâq.
That they would conquer Egypt, a land whose [unit of land measurement] was the Qîrât,
they they should deal with their people well for they have protection [being
Copts] and ties of kinship [through Hajar]. That Awais al-Qarnî would come to
you from the auxiliaries of Yemen, he would be affected with leprosy and it
would be healed except for the space of a dirham, and he indeed arrived during
the rule of 'Umar.
He informed us that a group of his
nation would always be upon the truth and that mankind would become many in
number and that the Ansâr would diminish in number and that the Ansâr would not
be given their due [with regards distribution of wealth and leadership]. That
mankind would keep on asking questions until they would say, "Allâh
created the creation ..." [Referring to the hadîth, "the
people will continue asking until they say, 'this is Allâh who created
everything ... but who created Allâh?' " Reported by al-Bukhârî
[no.7296] and Muslim [no.136]]
He informed us that Ruwayfî' bin
Thâbit would live a long life, that 'Ammâr bin Yâsir would be killed by the
transgressing group, that this nation shall divide into sects and that they
would fight each other.
He informed us that a fire would
emanate from the land of Hijâz and the likes of this. All of this occurred
exactly as he, sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam, said it would.
He said to Thâbit bin Qays,
"You will live
being praised ... and you will die as a martyr."
and he lived being praised and was
martyred at al-Yamâmah. He said about 'Uthmân,
"He would
afflicted by a severe trial." [The meaning of
severe trial is his being imprisoned in his house and his being killed by
transgressors.]
He said about a person amongst the
Muslims who had just fought a severe fight that,
"He would be
from amongst the denizens of the Fire."
and later he committed suicide.
Wâbisah bin Ma'bad came to him in order to ask him about righteousness and sin
upon which he asked,
"Have
you come to ask about righteousness and sin?"
He said to 'Alî, az-Zubair and
al-Miqdâd,
"Go
to the garden of Khâkh for indeed there is Dha'înah* who has a book with
her."
They found her there but she
initially denied having the book and then took it our from within her braids.
He said to Abû Hurayrah, when Satan
had stolen some dates, "indeed he shall return ... " and he
did.
He said to his wives, "The
most prolific of you in giving charity will be the quickest of you to join
me," and it was so. [Zaynab bint Jahsh radiallâhu 'anhâ was the
most prolific of them in giving charity and was the first to die. Refer to Muslim
[no.2452].]
He said to 'Abdullâh bin Sallâm, "You
will remain upon Islâm until you die."
He supplicated for Anas that his
wealth and sons increase and that he should live a long life and it was so. He
lived for more than one hundred years and not one of the Ansâr was richer than
he and one hundred and twenty of his children had been buried before the
arrival of al-Hajjâj [to Basrah]. This is detailed further in Sahîh
al-Bukhârî [no.1982] and others.
He sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam
supplicated that Islâm be strengthened through 'Umar bin al-Khattab or Abû
Jahl, and Allâh strengthened it through 'Umar radiallâhu 'anhu. He
supplicated against Surâqah bin Mâlik and the feet of his horse sank into the
earth and he was thrown off, he called out asking for safe conduct and was
granted it, then he asked the Prophet to make a supplication for him.
He supplicated that Allâh remove
feeling the bitter cold and heat from 'Alî and so never did he feel cold or
hot. He supplicated for Hudhayfah, the night that he sent him to spy on the
Confederates, that he not feel the cold and he did not until he had returned.
He supplicated for ibn 'Abbâs that Allâh grant him understanding of the
religion and it was so. He supplicated against 'Utaybah bin Abû Lahab that
Allâh cause a dog from amongst His dogs to overcome him and he was killed by a
lion at az-Zarqâ'.
He sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam
supplicated for the descent of rain when they asked him to at the time of
drought, there was not a single cloud in the sky, then when he had supplicated,
the clouds gathered like mountains and it rained until the next Friday. It
rained so much they they had to come back and ask him to supplicated and stop
the rain, so he supplicated and the rain stopped and they out into the glaring
sun.
He supplicated for Abû Talhah and his
wife, Umm Sulaym, that he bless them in the night they had spent together and
she became pregnant and gave birth to 'Adullâh. He had nine children and all of
them were scholars.
He sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam
supplicated for the mother of Abû Hurayrah radiallâhu 'anhu that she be
guided and Abû Hurayrah left to find her performing the ritual bath because she
had accepted Islâm. He supplicated for Umm Qays bint Muhsin, the sister of
'Ukkasha, that she live a long life and we do not know of another woman who
lived as long as she did. This was reported by an-Nasâ'î in the chapter
concerning washing the deceased.
On the Day of Hunain he threw a
handful of dirt at the disbelievers and said, "May the faces be
disfigured," and Allâh, the Exalted, vanquished them, filling their eyes
with dirt. He once went out to one hundred of the Quraysh who were
waiting to do something horrible to him and he put dirt on their head and went
on his way without their seeing him.
* [This is the woman with whom Hasîb
al-Balta'ah radiallâhu 'anhu sent a letter to the people of Mecca in order to
inform them of the plans of the Messenger of Allâh sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam
to fight them. It was concerning this that the first verses of Sûrah
Mumtahinah were revealed. The garden of Khâkh is a place falling between Mecca
and Madînah. Refer to Bukhârî [no.3983] and Muslim [no.2494] and Tafsîr
ibn Kathîr [4/344].]
