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| gencnurCom | The
Nineteenth Letter This
treatise describes more than three hundred miracles. And
as it describes the messengership of Muhammad (PBUH),
itself a miracle, so is it itself a wonder in three or
four respects, proceeding from the miracle of his
messengership. T
h e F i r s t : Although it is more than a
hundred pages in length and is based on traditions and
narrations, it was written in an unusual fashion-in the
mountains and countryside, completely from memory, and
without referring to any book. It was completed,
moreover, in a few days by working two to three hours
every day, for a total of twelve hours. T
h e S e c o n d : Despite its length, this work
did not cause tedium to its writer, nor does it lack
pleasantness for its reader. In fact, it aroused such
ardour and enthusiasm in even my apathetic scribes that
in these hard and distressing times, as many as seventy
copies were handwritten in this neighbourhood within a
single year. Those aware of this property of the treatise
concluded T
h e T h i r d : In the copies handwritten by nine
different scribes who did not communicate with one
another, including one very inexperienced and unaware of
‘coincidence’1-it was also before we were
aware of the phenomenon- the words referring to the Noble
Messenger ‘coincided’ to such a degree throughout the
whole of the treatise, and in the fifth part for the
words referring to the Qur’an, that any one who is fair
to the slightest degree would not consider this to be the
result of chance. In ____________________ 1.'Coincidence' (tawâfuq) refers to the unintentional correspondence of letters or words in lines or patterns on one several pages.(Tr:) Letters
/ Nineteenth Letter - p.117 fact,
whoever observed it definitely concluded that it was a
mystery of the Unseen and a marvel proceeding from the
miracle of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace). The
Principles explained at the beginning of this treatise
have extreme importance. As for the prophetic Hadiths
related, they are accepted as authentic by the
authorities on Hadith, and they report the most
established phenomena concerning the messengership of
Muhammad. Now, to enumerate the merits of this treatise,
another treatise of the same length would be needed; we
therefore invite those who wish to read it, if only once.
S
a i d N u r s i ____________________ A
REMINDER: In this work, I have related many Hadiths,
despite having no books to refer to. Should there be any
errors in the wording of the Hadiths, I request that they
either be corrected, or be considered as paraphrases of
Hadith. For, according to the prevailing opinion, “To
relate the meanings of Hadiths is permissible,” in
which case the narrator puts the meaning of the Hadith
into his own words. This being the case, Hadiths with
possible errors of wording should be regarded as
paraphrases.
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/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - First Sign - p.118 The
Miracles of Muhammad (PBUH) In
His Name, be He glorified! And
there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise. In
the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. He
it is Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the
religion of truth to make it supreme over all religion:
and sufficient is God as a Witness. * Muhammad is the
Messenger of God... [to the end of the verse]2 [Since
the Nineteenth and Thirty-First Words concerning the
messengership of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and
peace) prove it with decisive evidence, we assign the
verification of that side of the subject to those Words.
As a supplement to them we will merely show here, in
Nineteen Signs, some of the flashes of that great truth.] FIRST
SIGN The
Possessor and Master of the universe surely does
everything with knowledge, disposes every affair with
wisdom, directs everything all-seeingly, treats
everything all-knowingly, and arranges everything willing
the instances of wisdom, purposes, benefits that are
apparent in them. Since, then, the One Who creates knows,
surely the One Who knows will speak. Since He will speak,
surely He will speak to those who possess consciousness
and thought, and those who will understand His speech.
Since He will speak to those who possess thought, surely
he will speak to mankind, whose nature and awareness are
the most comprehensive of all conscious beings. Since He
will speak to mankind, surely He will speak ____________________ 2. Qur’an, 48:28-9.
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/ The Miracles Of Muhammad -Second Sign- p.119 to
the most perfect of mankind and those most worthy of
address. Since He will speak to those who are most
perfect, most worthy of address, highest in morality, and
who will guide humanity; He will certainly speak to
Muhammad, who, as friend and foe alike testify, is of the
highest disposition and morality, who is obeyed by one
fifth of humanity, to whose spiritual rule half of the
globe has submitted, with the radiance of whose light the
future of mankind has been illumined for thirteen
centuries, to whom the believers, the luminous segment of
humanity, renew five times daily the oath of allegiance,
for whose happiness they pray, for whom they call down
God’s blessings and bear admiration and love in their
hearts. Certainly, He will speak to Muhammad (Upon whom
be blessings and peace) and indeed He has done; He will
make him the Prophet, and indeed He has done; He will
make him the guide for the rest of humanity, and indeed
He has done. SECOND
SIGN God’s
Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace)
declared his prophethood, and presented to humanity such
a decree as the Qur’an of Mighty Stature and such
manifest miracles as number, according to the scholars,
one thousand.3 The occurrence of those
miracles in their entirety is as certain as the fact that
he declared himself prophet. In fact, as is shown by the
words of the most obstinate unbelievers quoted in various
places of the Wise Qur’an, even they could not deny the
occurrence of his miracles, but only called them -God
forbid!- sorcery, in order to satisfy themselves, or to
deceive their followers. The
miracles of Muhammad (PBUH) have the certainty of
confirmation by consensus to the hundredth degree. The
miracle is the confirmation by the Creator of the cosmos
of his declaration of prophethood; it has the effect of
the words, “You have spoken truly!” Suppose that you
said in the assembly of a ruler, while being observed by
him, “The ruler has appointed me to such-and-such a
position.” At a time when you were asked for a proof of
your claim, the word “Yes” uttered by the ruler would
sufficiently support you. Or, if the ruler changed his
usual practice and attitude at your request, this would
confirm your claim even more soundly and more definitely
than would the word “Yes.” In
the same way, the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings
and peace) claimed: “I am the envoy of the Creator of
the universe. My proof is that He will change His
unbroken order at my request and my prayer. Now look at
my fingers: He causes them to run like a fountain with
five ____________________ 3. Al-‘Asqalânî, Fath al-Bârî vi, 454; Muslim (Sharh: nawawî)i,2 Letters
/ The Miracles Of Muhammad -Second Sign- p.120 spigots.
Look at the moon: by a gesture of my finger, He splits it
in two. Look at that tree: to affirm me and to bear
witness to me, it moves and comes near to me. Look at
this food: although it is barely enough for two or three
men, it satisfies two or three hundred.” He
demonstrated too hundreds of similar miracles. However,
the evidences of the veracity of this being and the
proofs of his prophethood are not restricted to his
miracles. All his deeds and acts, his words and
behaviour, his moral conduct and manners, his character
and appearance prove to the attentive his truthfulness
and seriousness. Indeed, many people such as ‘Abd Allah
b. Salam, the famous scholar of the Children of Israel,
came to believe merely by seeing him, and said, “No lie
can hide in this face, nor fraud be found in it!”4 Although
many scholars who have researched the matter have
concluded that the proofs of the prophethood of Muhammad
(PBUH) and his miracles number about one thousand, there
are thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of proofs
of his prophethood. And hundreds of thousands of men with
varying opinions have affirmed his prophethood in an
equal number of ways. The Wise Qur’an alone
demonstrates a thousand of the proofs of his prophethood,
in addition to its own forty aspects of miraculousness. Since
prophethood is a phenomenon of humanity, and hundreds of
thousands of individuals who claimed prophethood and
performed miracles have lived and passed away,5
of a certainty the prophethood of Muhammad is superior to
all the others. For whatever evidences, qualities, and
attributes made prophets such as Jesus and Moses (Upon
whom be peace) be known as prophets and were the means of
their messengership, they were all possessed in a more
perfect and comprehensive fashion by Muhammad (Upon whom
be blessings and peace). And since the causes and means
of prophetic authority were more perfectly present in the
person of Muhammad, this authority was to be found in him
with more certainty than in all the others. THIRD
SIGN The
miracles of the Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be
blessings and peace) were extremely varied. Since his
messengership was universal, he was distinguished by
miracles that related to almost all species of creation.
Just as the supreme lieutenant of a renowned ruler,
arriving with ____________________ 4. Tirvidhî, Qiyâma 42; Ibn Mâja,
Iqâma 174; At’ima 1; Dârimî, Salât 156;
Isti’dhân 4; Musnad v, 451. 5. Musnad v, 266; Valîyyuddîn Tabrîzî, Mishkât al-Masâbîh iii, 122; Ibn al-Qayyimal-Jawzî, Zâd al-Ma’âd(Tahqîq: al-Arnacûd)i, 43-44. Letters
/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Third Sign - p.121 many
gifts in a city where various peoples live, will be
welcomed by a representative of each people, who acclaims
him and bids him welcome in his own language; so too when
the supreme Lieutenant of the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and
Post-Eternity honoured the universe by coming as an envoy
to the inhabitants of the earth, and brought with him the
light of truth and spiritual gifts sent by the Creator of
the universe, which were connected to the truths of the
whole universe, each species of creation - from water,
rocks, trees, animals and human beings to the moon, the
sun and the stars- each welcomed him and acclaimed his
prophethood, each in its own language, and each bearing
one of his miracles. Now
it would require a voluminous work to mention all his
miracles. As punctilious, investigating scholars have
written many volumes concerning the proofs of his
prophethood, here we will briefly point out only the
general categories into which fall the miracles that are
definite and accepted as accurate reports. The
evidences of the prophethood of Muhammad (Upon whom be
blessings and peace) fall into two main categories: T
h e F i r s t is called irhasat and
includes the paranormal events that happened at the time
of his birth, or before his prophetic mission. T
h e S e c o n d group pertains to all the
remaining evidences of his prophethood, and contains two
subdivisions: The
first are those wonders that were manifested after
his departure from this world in order to confirm his
prophethood, and the second, those that he
exhibited during the era of his prophethood. The latter
has also two parts: The
first, the evidences of his prophethood that became
manifest in his own personality, his inner and outer
being, his moral conduct and perfections, and the second,
the miracles manifested in the outer world. The last part
again has two branches: One,
those concerning the Qur’an and spirituality, and the
other, those relating to materiality and the
universe. This last branch is again divided into two
categories: The
first involves the paranormal happenings that
occurred during his mission either to break the
stubbornness of the unbelievers, or to augment the faith
of the believers. This category has twenty different
sorts, such as the splitting of the moon, the flowing of
water from his fingers, the satisfying of large numbers
with a little food, and the speaking of trees, rocks and
animals. Each of these sorts has also many instances, and
thus has, in meaning, the strength of confirmation by
consensus. As for the second
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/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Fourth Sign - p.122 the
second category, this includes events lying in the future
that occurred as he had predicted upon God’s
instructions. Now, starting from the last category, we
will summarize a list of them.6 FOURTH
SIGN There
is no limit to the reports God’s Most Noble Messenger
(Upon whom be blessings and peace) gave concerning the
Unseen through the instruction of the One All-Knowing of
the Unseen. As we have mentioned the types of these
reports in the Twenty-Fifth Word, which is about the
miraculousness of the Qur’an, and to a degree explained
and proved them, we now refer to that Word the
explanation of the information he gave concerning the
Unseen about past times and prophets, as well as truths
concerning Divinity, the universe, and the hereafter, and
will point out a few of his many correct predictions
concerning his Companions, his Family and his community.
But first, for a complete understanding of the subject,
we will state Six Principles by way of an introduction. FIRST
PRINCIPLE All
the states and acts of the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be
blessings and peace) testified to his veracity and
prophethood, but not all of them had to be miraculous.
For God Almighty sent him in the form of a human being so
that he might be a guide and leader to human beings in
their social affairs, and in the acts and deeds by means
of which they attain happiness in both worlds; and so
that he might disclose to human beings the wonders of
Divine art and His disposive power that underlie all
occurrences and are in appearance customary, but in
reality are miracles of Divine power. If, then, he had
abandoned the human state in his acts and become
extra-ordinary in all aspects, he could not have been a
leader, or have instructed human beings with his acts,
states, and conduct. He was, indeed, honoured with
paranormal phenomena in order to prove his prophethood to
obstinate unbelievers, and from time to time performed
miracles as the need arose. But his miracles never
occurred in such an obvious fashion as would have
compelled everyone to believe, whether willingly or
unwillingly. For, in accordance with the purpose of the
examinations and trials that man is to undergo, the way
must be shown to him without depriving him of his free
will: the door of the intelligence must remain open, and
its freedom must not be snatched from its hand. But if
miracles had occurred in so apparent a way, intelligence
would have had no choice; Abu Jahl would have believed as
did Abu ____________________ 6.
Unfortunately, I could not write as I had intended.
Without choice, I wrote as my heart dictated, and I could
not completely conform to the order of this
classification. Letters
/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Fourth Sign - p.123 Bakr,
coal would have had the value of diamonds, and no purpose
would have remained for testing and accountability. It
is a source of amazement that while thousands of men of
different character came to believe through observing a
single of his miracles, a single proof of his
prophethood, or a word of his, or through merely seeing
his face, some wretches are nowadays going astray, as if
those thousands of proofs of his prophethood were not
sufficient evidence, although they all have come down to
us through authentic transmission and with certain
proofs, and have caused many thousands of exacting
scholars and thinkers and different men to accept faith. SECOND
PRINCIPLE God’s
Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace)
was a human being; hence he acted like a human being. He
was also a messenger and prophet, and with regard to his
messengership, he was an interpreter and an envoy of
Almighty God. His messengership was based upon
Revelation, which is of two kinds: The
First is explicit Revelation. In this case, the Noble
Messenger is merely an interpreter and announcer, with no
share in the content. The Qur’an and some Sacred Hadith
are included in this kind of Revelation. The
Second is implicit Revelation. The essence and
summary of this is also based on Revelation or
inspiration, but its explanation and description were
left to the Messenger. When he explained and described
such Revelation, sometimes he again relied on Revelation,
or on inspiration, or sometimes he spoke in terms of his
own insight. And, when he resorted to his own
interpretation, he either relied on the perceptive power
given him on account of his prophetic mission, or he
spoke as a human being and conformably to usage, custom
and the level of common comprehension. Thus,
all the details of every Hadith are not necessarily
derived from pure revelation, nor should the lofty marks
of messengership be sought in such thoughts and
transactions of his as are required by his participation
in the human state. Since some truths were revealed to
him in a brief and abstract form, and he himself
described them in the light of his insight and according
to common comprehension, the metaphors and allusions in
his descriptions sometimes may need explanation, or even
interpretation. There are, indeed, some truths that the
human mind can grasp only by way of comparison. For
example, once in the presence of the Prophet, a loud
noise was heard. The Prophet said, “This is the
noise of a rock that has been rolling down for seventy
years and has now reached the lowest
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/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Fourth Sign - p.124 depths
of Hell.”7 An hour later the news came
that a famous dissembler who had recently turned seventy
years old had died and gone to Hell, thus explaining the
event the Prophet had described by means of an eloquent
comparison. THIRD
PRINCIPLE If
any related tradition is in the form of tawatur,8
it is indisputable. There are two kinds of this sort of
report: one is those reports about which there is
‘explicit consensus,’ the other is ‘consensus in
meaning.’ The latter is also of two kinds: the first
includes those concerning which the consensus is implied
‘by silence.’ For example, if a man in a community
relates an incident in front of his people and the
listeners do not contradict him, that is, they respond to
him by keeping silent, this implies their acceptance of
the report. In particular, if that community is such as
will not acccept any error, as will consider any lie
reprehensible, as is ready to criticize and, in addition,
shows an interest in the reported incident, the silence
of that community testifies strongly to the incident
having occurred. The
second kind of ‘consensus in meaning’ is that which
occurs when different people relate a particular
incident, for example, one okka9 of
food fed two hundred people, in different versions-one
person describes in one way, another in another way, and
another in yet another way, but all are unanimously
agreed on the occurrence of the incident. Thus, the
occurrence of this certain incident is supported by
‘consensus in meaning,’ and is definite; its actual
occurrence is not harmed by differences in detail. But
apart from this, there are times when a report supplied
by a single person expresses the certainty of consensus,
under certain conditions. It also sometimes happens that
single report expresses certainity when supported by
other, outside evidences. Most
of the reports concerning the miracles and the evidences
of the prophethood of the Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom
be blessings and peace) that have come down to us are
either of the category of ‘explicit consensus,’ or
‘consensus in meaning,’ or ‘consensus implied by
silence.’ As for the others, although they are the
report of a single person, they also have the certainty
of ‘consensus’ as they have received the acceptance
of the meticulous authorities on Hadith. Of such
meticulous ____________________ 7.
Muslim, Janna 31; Musnad iii, 341, 346. Letters
/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Fourth Sign - p.125 authorities
were those geniuses who were called al-Hafiz, who
had committed to memory at least 100,000 Hadiths, who
offered for fifty years their morning prayer with the
ablution of the night prayer, and who produced the six
accurate books of Hadith headed by those of Bukhari and Muslim.
Without doubt, any report scrutinized and accepted by
them cannot fall short of the certainty of
‘consensus.’ For they acquired such intimacy with the
Hadiths of the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and
peace) and became so familiar with his exalted style and
manner that they could spot at first sight a single false
Hadith among a hundred reports, and would reject it,
saying, “This cannot be a prophetic tradition; it does
not have his wording.” Since they were able to
recognize the precious quality of the Hadith, like an
expert jeweller, there was no possibility of their
confusing any other word with that of the Prophet. Some
researchers, however, such as Ibn al-Jawzi, went to such
excesses in their criticism as to regard many accurate
traditions as false.10 Nevertheless, this does
not mean that the meaning of every false wording is
wrong; rather it means that the wording itself is not
that of the Prophet. Q
u e s t i o n : What is the benefit of citing the
chain of transmission of a tradition so that even if it
is not called for in the case of a well-known incident
they say: “So-and-so informed so-and-so, etc.”? A
n s w e r : Its benefits are many, and one is
that the citing of the chain shows the concurrence of the
truthful, reliable and exacting scholars of Hadith and
the unanimity of the discerning authorities whose names
are included; each of the scholars and authorities signs,
as it were, for the accuracy of the tradition, and places
his seal on it. Q
u e s t i o n : Why were the miraculous events
not transmitted through numerous chains in the form of
‘consensus’ and with as great emphasis as the basic
injunctions of the Sacred Law, the Shari‘a? A
n s w e r : Because the majority of the
injunctions of the Shari‘a are needed by most people at
most times, for they all are applicable to each
individual, like an obligation incumbent on all. But not
everyone needs to know of every miracle; even if he does,
it suffices him to hear it only once. It is, in fact,
like the kind of obligation the observance of which by
some will absolve the rest; it is quite enough for
miracles to be known only to some. For this reason, even
if the occurrence and reality of a miracle ten times more
certain than that of an injunction of the Shari‘a, it
will still come to us through one or two narrators,
whereas the injunction is narrated by ten or twenty
persons. ____________________ 10.
‘Abd al-Hayy al-Laknawi, al-Ajwibat al-Fadila (Tahqiq:
Abu Ghudda) 80, 120, 163, 170.
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/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Fourth Sign - p.126 FOURTH
PRINCIPLE The
future events that the Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be
blessings and peace) predicted were not isolated
incidents; he rather predicted general and recurring
events in a particular way. That is, in each such report,
he displayed a different aspect of one phenomenon out of
several. This is why when the narrator combines these
different aspects, they may seem at variance with
reality. There are, for example, varying narrations
concerning the Mahdi, each with different details and
descriptions. However, as was explained in a section of
the Twenty-Fourth Word, the Noble Messenger gave the
tidings, relying on Revelation, of a Mahdi who would come
in every century to preserve the morale of the believers,
help them not to fall into despair in the face of
disasters, and link the hearts of the believers with the
people of the Prophet’s Family, who constitute a
luminous chain in the world of Islam. Similar to the
Great Mahdi who is promised to come at the end of time,
one Mahdi from the Prophet’s Family, or more, has been
found in every century. Indeed, one of them, found among
the ‘Abbasid Caliphs who were descendants of the
Prophet’s Family, was found to have many of the
characteristics of the Great Mahdi. In this way the
attributes of the Mahdi’s deputies and of the spiritual
poles who were Mahdis who were to precede the Great Mahdi
and were samples and forerunners of him, were confused
with the attributes of the Great Mahdi himself, and the
narrations concerning him were seen to conflict with one
another. FIFTH
PRINCIPLE Since
none other than God knows the Unseen, the Noble Messenger
(Upon whom be blessings and peace) could not know it
himself. Instead, God Almighty communicated to him the
tidings of the Unseen, and he made them known. And since
God Almighty is All-Wise and Compassionate, His wisdom
and mercy require that most of the matters of the Unseen
be veiled or obscure. For in this world events
disagreeable to human beings are numerous; prior
knowledge of their happening would be painful. It is for
this reason that death and the appointed hour of death
are left obscure, and the calamities that are to befall
human beings remain behind the veil of the Unseen. Again,
as a result of His wisdom and mercy, God Almighty did not
entirely or in detail inform His Messenger about the
dreadful events that would befall his Family and
Companions after his demise, in order not to hurt his
extremely tender compassion for his community and his
firm affection for his Family.11 For certain
Divine purposes, He made some of ____________________ 11.
For example, he was not made to know about
‘A’isha’s taking part in the Battle of the Camel so
that his deep love and affection toward her (May God be
pleased with her) would not be hurt. He said, in fact, to
his wives: “I wish I knew which one of you will be
involved in that incident.” Later he was apparently
made aware of it to a slightly greater extent, as he once
said to ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him): “Some
event will take place between you and ‘A’isha.”*
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/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Fourth Sign - p.127 these
significant events known to him, but not in all their
awesomeness. As for pleasant events, He communicated them
to the Messenger sometimes in outline and sometimes in
detail, and the Messenger in turn made them known to his
Companions. Thus those tidings were accurately
transmitted to us by the scholars of Hadith who were at
the height of piety, justice, and truthfulness, and who
feared very much the warning of the Hadith, Whoever
knowingly tells a lie concerning me should prepare for a
seat in Hell,12 and that of the Qur’anic
verse, Who,
then does more wrong than the one who utters lie
concerning God?13 SIXTH
PRINCIPLE Although
some qualities and aspects of the Most Noble
Messenger(Upon whom be blessings and peace) have been
described in books of history and biography, most of
those qualities relate to his humanness. But in reality,
the spiritual personality and the sacred nature of this
blessed being are so exalted and luminous that the
qualities described in books fall short of his high
stature. For according to the rule, “The cause is like
the doer,” everyday, even at this moment, the amount of
the worship performed by all his community is being added
to the record of his perfections. He is also everyday the
object of the countless supplications of his vast
community, in addition to being the object of infinite
Divine mercy in an infinite fashion and with an infinite
capacity to receive. He is, indeed, the result and the
most perfect fruit of the universe, the interpreter and
the beloved of the Creator of the cosmos. Hence his true
nature in its entirety, and the truth of all his
perfections, cannot be contained in the human qualities
recorded in books of history and biography. Certainly,
the stature of a blessed being with the Archangels
Gabriel and Michael as two aides-de-camp at his side in
the Battle of Badr,14 is not to be found in
the form of a person bargaining with a beduin in the
marketplace over the price of a horse, bringing forth
Khuzayma as his sole witness.15 ____________________ 12.
Bukhari, ‘Ilm 38; Jana’iz 33; Anbiya’ 50; Adab 109;
Muslim, Zuhd 72; Abu Da’ud, ‘Ilm 4; Tirmidhi, Fitan
70; ‘Ilm 8, 13; Tafsir 1; Manaqib 19; Ibn Maja,
Muqaddima 4; Darimi, Muqaddima 25, 46; Musnad i, 70, 78;
ii, 159, 171; iii, 13, 44; iv, 47, 100; v, 292.
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order not to proceed in error, one should raise his head
beyond the ordinary qualities of the Prophet (PBUH) that
pertain to his participation in the human state, and
behold instead his true nature and luminous stature that
pertain to the rank of messengership. Otherwise, one will
either show him irreverence, or instil doubts in oneself.
Heed the following comparison for an understanding of
this mystery. Suppose
that a seed of the date-tree was planted under the earth,
has sprouted and become a large, fertile tree, and is
still continuing to grow taller and broader. Or that the
egg of a peacock was incubated, a chick was hatched from
it and became a beautifully adorned peacock gilded all
over with the imprint of Power, and is still growing
bigger and more beautiful. Now, there exist qualities,
properties and precisely balanced elements that belong to
the seed and the egg, but are not as great and
significant as those of the tree and the bird that emerge
from them. So, while describing the qualities of the tree
and the bird together with those of the seed and the egg,
one should turn one’s attention from the seed to the
tree, and from the egg to the bird, so that one’s
reason may find the description acceptable. Otherwise, if
you claim: “I have obtained thousands of dates from a
seed,” or, “This egg is the king of all birds,” you
will invite others to contradict and deny your words. The
humanness of God’s Messenger may be likened to the seed
or egg, and his essential nature, illumined with the
function of messengership, to the Tuba-tree of Paradise,
or to the birds of Paradise. His essential nature is,
moreover, continually moving to greater perfection. That
is why, when you think of the man who disputed in the
market with a beduin, you should also turn the eye of
imagination to that luminous being who, riding the Rafraf,
leaving Gabriel behind, reached the Distance of Two
Bowstrings.16 Otherwise you will either be
disrespectful toward him, or fail to convince the
evil-commanding soul. FIFTH
SIGN We
will cite in this Sign a few examples of Hadiths
concerning the matters of the Unseen. It
has come down to us through an authentic chain of
transmission at the degree of ‘consensus,’ that the
Noble Prophet declared from the pulpit in the presence of
his Companions: “This my grandson Hasan is a master
of men by means of whom God will reconcile two great
groups.”17 ____________________ 16.
See: Qur’an, 53:9.
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years later, when the two largest armies of Islam met
each other, Hasan made peace with Mu‘awiya, and thus
proved the prophecy of his noble grandfather (Upon whom
be blessings and peace).According to another authentic
narration, the Prophet said to ‘Ali: “You will
fight the perfidious, the just, and the deviator,”18
thus predicting the battles of the Camel and Siffin, and
that fought against the Kharijites. He
again said to ‘Ali, when he was displaying love for
Zubayr: “He will fight against you, but will be in
the wrong.”19 He
also said to his wives: “One among you will take
charge of a rebellion; many around her will be killed;”20
“and the dogs will bark all around her.”21All
these certain and authentic traditions are the proven
predictions of the struggles of ‘Ali against
‘A’isha, Zubayr and Talha during the Battle of the
Camel, against Mu‘awiya at Siffin, and against the
Kharijites at Harawra’ and Nahrawan. The
Prophet (PBUH) also informed ‘Ali about a man who would
stain ‘Ali’s beard with the blood of his own head.22
‘Ali knew the man; it was ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Muljam
the Kharijite. He
also mentioned a man marked with a peculiar sign,
Dhu’l-Thudia. When the man was found among the dead of
the Kharijites, ‘Ali showed him as a proof of the
rightness of his cause, declaring at the same time the
miracle of the Prophet.23 According
to another authentic tradition related by Umm Salama and
others, the Noble Prophet also predicted that Husayn
would be killed at Taff (Karbala).24 Fifty
years later the painful event took place as predicted. He
also repeatedly predicted that after his demise, his
Family would face death, calamities, and exile, and gave
some details.25 What he had predicted later
came true exactly. In
this connection, a question may be asked: although
‘Ali, wi ____________________ 18.
al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iii, 139, 140; al-Haythami,
Majma’ al-Zawa’id vii, 138; Bayhaqi, Dala’il
al-Nubuwwa vi, 414.
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this connection, a question may be asked: although
‘Ali, with his extraordinary bravery and profound
knowledge in addition to his kinship to God’s
Messenger, greatly deserved to be Caliph, why did he not
precede others in holding the Caliphate, and why did
Islam experience such disorder during his Caliphate? A
n s w e r : A great spiritual pole from the
Prophet’s Family is reported as saying: “The Noble
Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) had desired
that ‘Ali be Caliph, but it was made known to him from
the Unseen that the will of God Almighty was different.
He then abandoned his desire, submitting himself to
God’s will.” One
of the reasons why God’s will was different could have
been that after the demise of the Prophet (PBUH), when
the Companions were more than ever in need of alliance
and unity, if ‘Ali had taken the leadership, this would
most probably have aroused in many persons and tribes a
tendency to compete, because of his uncompromising
nature, and fearless, ascetic, heroic, and independent
character, and widely known courage -as was the case
during his Caliphate- and divisions among the believers
would have resulted. Another
reason for the delay of ‘Ali’s Caliphate is the
following: at the time of his Caliphate, the Muslim
community, which had rapidly developed through the
intermingling of many tribes and peoples, possessed such
traits as reflected the opinions of the seventy-three
sects that the Noble Prophet (PBUH) had predicted would
evolve in due time.26 Therefore, in the face
of such disturbances, someone was then needed with the
wondrous strength, courage, respectability and sagacity
of ‘Ali, someone having the force of the respected
Hashimites and the Prophet’s Family, so that he could
resist the sedition. And indeed he did so, in a fashion
conformable to the prediction of the Prophet, who had
said to him: “I have fought for the revelation of
the Qur’an; you will fight for its explanation.”27A
further reason for this delay is that without ‘Ali,
worldly rule would most probably have caused the Umayyad
kings to go completely astray. However, being confronted
with ‘Ali and the Prophet’s Family, and having to
appear equal to them and to preserve their prestige
before the Muslims, all the leaders of the Umayyad
dynasty, even if not they themselves, in any event due to
their encouragement and recommendations, ____________________ 26.
See, Page 137 fn. 60.
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/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Fifth Sign - p.131 their
followers and supporters, worked with all their strength
to preserve and disseminate the truths of Islam and
belief and the Qur’anic decrees. Thus, they produced
thousands of punctilious interpreters of the Law, and
authorities on Hadith, and saints and purified scholars.
Had they not been faced by the strong religiosity,
sainthood, and virtuousness of ‘Ali and of the
Prophet’s Family, it is possible that the Umayyads
would from the very beginning have gone completely
astray, as happened at the end of their rule, and as did
the ‘Abbasids. I
t m i g h t a l s o b e a s k e d : “Why did
the Islamic Caliphate not remain in the Prophet’s
Family, since they were the most deserving and fitted for
it?” T
h e A n s w e r : Worldly rule is deceptive, and
the Prophet’s Family had been appointed to preserve the
decrees of the Qur’an and the truths of Islam. Not to
be deceived by power, the one who was to hold it and the
Caliphate had to be as sinless as a prophet, or as
purehearted and unworldly as the Four-Rightly Guided
Caliphs, ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz and the Mahdi of
the ‘Abbasids. In fact, the Caliphate of the Fatimid
dynasty which was founded in the name of the Prophet’s
Family in Egypt, and the rule of the Almohads in Africa,
and the Safavid dynasty in Iran showed that worldly rule
was not suitable for the Prophet’s Family, for it
caused them to neglect their primary duty, the protection
of religion and the service of Islam. When, on the other
hand, they gave up worldly rule, they brilliantly and
most successfully served Islam and the Qur’an. Now
see: of the poles of sainthood descended from Hasan,
especially the Four Poles28 and above all
‘Abd al-Qadir Gilani, and the Imams of Husayn’s line,
especially Zayn al-‘Abidin and Ja‘far al-Sadiq, each
became like a spiritual Mahdi, dispelled wrongdoing and
spiritual darkness, and spread the light of the Qur’an
and the truths of belief. And in so doing each showed he
was a true heir of his noble forefather. I
t m a y t h e n b e a s k e d : “What was the
wisdom in the awesome and bloody dissension that was
visited on blessed Islam and the luminous Age of Bliss,
and what aspect of mercy was there in it, for they did
not deserve such distress? T
h e A n s w e r : Just as a heavy spring
rainstorm stirs into action the potentialities of all the
varieties of plants, seeds, and trees, and causes them to
develop, so each blossoms in its particular way and
performs the duties inherent in its nature, so too, the
dissension visited on the Companions and their successors
stirred their potentialities into action, which ____________________ 28. The Four Poles of sainthood,
namely, ‘Abd al-Qadir Gilani, Ahmad Rufa’i, Ahmad
Badawi, and Ibrahim Dasuqi. (Tr.) Letters
/ The Miracles Of Muhammad - Fifth Sign - p.132 were
all different and like seeds; it spurred them on.
Exclaiming, “Islam is in danger! Fire! Fire!”, it put
fear into all the groups and made them hasten to protect
Islam. According to its abilities, each of the groups
shouldered one of the numerous different duties of the
Islamic community and strove in utmost earnestness. Some
working for the preservation of the prophetic Hadiths,
some for the preservation of the Shari‘a, some for the
preservation of the truths of belief, some for the
preservation of the Qur’an, and so on; each group
undertook a particular duty. They strove in performing
the duties of Islam. Numerous multicoloured flowers
opened. And through the storm, seeds were cast to all the
corners of the most extensive world of Islam; half the
earth was transformed into a rose-garden. But sadly,
together with the roses, the thorns of the deviant sects
appeared in the garden. It
was as if the Hand of Power had shaken that era in wrath,
rotated it with intense vigour, and electrified the men
of zeal. Through the centrifugal force of that movement,
a great many enlightened interpreters of the Law,
luminous scholars of Hadith, holy memorizers of the
Qur’an, gifted scholars, men of purity, and poles of
sainthood were flung off and caused to emigrate to the
remote corners of the world of Islam. It fired with
enthusiasm all the people of Islam from East to West and
awakened them to the treasures of the Qur’an. Now we
return to our subject. There
are thousands of events that God’s Noble Messenger
(Upon whom be blessings and peace) predicted and that
happened as he foretold. Here we shall mention a few of
them. The majority of those we will cite are agreed upon
by the six well-known and most authentic books of Hadith,
particularly by Bukhari and Muslim. There is
‘consensus in meaning’ concerning the reports, while
others, on account of being verified by meticulous
researchers, may also be considered to have this
certainty. According
to an authentic and certain narration, the Noble
Messenger(Upon whom be blessings and peace) said to his
Companions: “You will be victorious over all your
enemies, will succeed in the conquest of Makkah,29
Khaybar,30 Damascus and Iraq,31
Persia, and Jerusalem,32 and will
share among yourselves the treasures of the rulers of the
greatest empires, the Byzantines and the Persians.”33
He did not say this as a matter of conjecture or personal
opinion; he said it as if he had seen it, and what he
said came true as predicted. This was despite the fact
that at the ____________________ 29. ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Bukhari
i, 678, 679. See, Concordance. Letters
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he foretold this he had to migrate to Madinah with a
handful of followers, with the rest of the world,
including the environs of Madinah, hostile to him! He
also repeatedly declared, according to authentic and
certain narrations, that Abu Bakr and ‘Umar would
outlive him and be his Caliphs, that they would act for
God’s sake and within the bounds of the pleasure of God
and that of the Prophet, that Abu Bakr’s rule would be
short, and that ‘Umar would remain a long time to
succeed in many conquests. Thus he said: “Incumbent
upon you is following the path of those who come after
me, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar.”34 He
also declared: “The earth was laid out before me,
and its eastern and western extremities were displayed to
me; the realm of my community shall extend over whatever
was laid out before me.”35 And his words
proved to be true. According
to an authentic and certain narration, before the Battle
of Badr, he pointed out one by one the places where the
leaders of the Quraysh would be killed, saying: “Abu
Jahl will be killed here, ‘Utba here, Umayya here, etc.,”36
and added, “I shall kill ‘Ubayy b. Khalaf with my
own hands.”37 His predictions all proved
to be true. Again,
according to an authentic and certain narration, he
informed his Companions about what was happening in the
celebrated Battle of Mu’ta, near Damascus -at a
distance of one month’s journey from where he was- as
if he were seeing his Companions fighting in the battle,
and said: “Zayd has taken the banner and been
struck; now Ibn Rawaha has taken the banner and been
struck; now Ja‘far has taken the banner and been
struck; now one of God’s swords [i.e. Khalid] has taken
it.”38 Two to three weeks later Ya‘la
b. Munabbih returned from the battlefront. In his
presence, the Noble Prophet described the details of the
battle, and Ya‘la swore by God that what had taken
place at the battle was exactly the same as the Prophet
had described.39 According
to an authentic and certain narration, the Noble
Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) said: “After
me, the Caliphate will ____________________ 34.
Tirmidhi, Manaqib 16, 37; Ibn Maja, Muqaddima 11; Musnad
v, 382, 385, 399, 402.
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thirty years; then it will be rapacious monarchy.”40
“The beginning of this affair is prophethood and
mercy; then it will be mercy and Caliphate; then it will
be rapacious monarchy; then it will be arrogance and
tyranny.”41 He thus predicted the
six-month-long caliphate of Hasan and the period of the
Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and, following that, the
transition of Caliphate to monarchy and monarchy’s
being beset by intrigues and tyranny. This is exactly
what later occurred. Again,
according to an authentic narration, he declared: “‘Uthman
will be killed while reading the Qur’an.”42
“And it may be that God will cause him to be dressed
in a shirt at that time. His deposal may also be sought.”43
These events, too, all took place exactly as predicted. Also
according to an authentic narration, while cupping the
Prophet (PBUH), ‘Abd Allah b. Zubayr tasted his blessed
blood. And then the Prophet said: “Woe unto the
people for what shall befall them at your hands, and woe
unto you for what shall befall you at their hands,”44
predicting that ‘Abd Allah would lead the Muslims
with extraordinary bravery, would face terrible attacks,
and that because of him fearsome events would befall
people. What he foretold came about exactly: during
Umayyad rule, ‘Abd Allah b. Zubayr declared his
Caliphate in Makkah, heroically fought in many battles,
until finally Hajjaj the Tyrant attacked him with a large
force, and following a fierce battle the illustrious hero
was martyred. Again,
according to an authentic narration, he foretold the
characteristics of the Umayyad dynasty45 and
the tyrannical rule of many of its monarchs, including
Yazid and Walid,46 and Mu‘awiya’s taking
the leadership of the Muslims. He advised justice
and gentleness, and said: “When ruling, act with
forebearance.”47 He predicted that the
‘Abbasid dynasty would emerge after the Umayyads to
remain in power for a long time, and said: “The
‘Abbasids will come forth with black banners and rule
for much longer than they [the Umayyads] rule.”48
All these predictions proved to be true. ____________________ 40.
Musnad v, 220, 221.
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to an authentic narration, the Noble Messenger (Upon whom
be blessings and peace) also said: “Woe to the Arabs
for the evil that has drawn near,”49
suggesting the dreadful disorders to be caused by Jenghiz
and Hulagu, and their destruction of the ‘Abbasid
state. All this proved to be true. According
to an authentic narration, when Sa‘d b. Abi Waqqas was
gravely ill, the Prophet said to him: “It may be
that you will be spared so that some may benefit by you,
and others harmed by you,”50 thus
predicting that he would be a great commander winning
many victories, and many peoples would benefit from him
entering the fold of Islam, while others would be
destroyed by him. His words proved to be true; Sa‘d led
the Muslim armies, wiped out the Persian Empire,
and caused many peoples to reach guidance, the path of
Islam. Also
according to an authentic narration, when the Negus, the
Abyssinian ruler, who had accepted faith earlier, died in
the seventh year of the Hijra, God’s Prophet (Upon whom
be blessings and peace) informed his Companions about it;
he even performed funeral prayers for him.51
One week later came the news confirming the death of the
Negus on the very same day as the Prophet had said. According
to an authentic narration, when the Noble Prophet was
with his closest four Companions on the top of Mount Uhud
(or Hira), the mountain began to tremble. He said,
“Steady! For on you are a prophet, a veracious one
[siddiq], and a martyr,”52 and foretold
the martyrdom of ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, and ‘Ali. It too
proved true. Now,
O unfortunate, wretched man without heart who says that
Muhammad (PBUH) was only a clever person and then closes
his eyes to that Sun of Truth! Of all his fifteen
different kinds of miracle, you have thus far heard only
the hundredth part of one kind, that relating to his
predictions which have the certainty of ‘consensus in
meaning.’ To discover future events through one’s own
sagacity and thus succeed even in one hundredth part of
the Prophet’s predictions, one would have to be of the
highest genius. Even if we merely called him a genius as
you call him, could such a man with the sagacity of a
hundred geniuses have ever seen anything wrongly? Or
could he have ever stooped to reporting it ____________________ 49.
Bukhari, Fitan 4, 28; Muslim, Fitan 1; Abu Da’ud, Fitan
1; Tirmidhi, Fitan 23; Ibn Maja, Fitan 9; Musnad ii, 390,
399; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak i, 108; iv, 439, 483.
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Not to heed the word of such a hundredfold genius
concerning happiness in both worlds is therefore the sign
of a hundredfold madness! SIXTH
SIGN According
to an authentic narration, the Noble Messenger (Upon whom
be blessings and peace) said to Fatima: “You will be
the first of my Family to join me [after my death].”53
Six months later, what he said took place. He
also told Abu Dharr: “You will be expelled from here
[Madinah], will live alone, and will die alone.”54
All this came true twenty years later. Once,
as he awakened in the house of Anas b. Malik’s aunt,
Umm Haram, he smilingly said: “I saw my community
waging war on the seas like kings sitting on thrones.”55
Umm Haram requested: “Pray that I too will be with
them.” He said: “You shall be.” Forty years
later she accompanied her husband, ‘Ubada b. Samit, on
the conquest of Cyprus. She died there, and her grave has
ever since been visited by the believers. Thus, what the
Prophet foretold proved to be true. Also
according to an authentic narration, he declared: “From
the tribe of Thaqif, a liar will claim prophethood, and a
bloodthirsty tyrant will appear.”56 With
this, he gave tidings of the infamous Mukhtar, who
claimed prophethood, and of the barbarous Hajjaj, who
killed a hundred thousand people. According
to an authentic narration, he said: “Istanbul will
be conquered, and blessed are the ruler and the toops
that will conquer it.”57 He thus gave
tidings that Istanbul would be conquered by Muslim
hands, and that Mehmed the Conqueror would attain a high
spiritual rank. His prediction again proved to be true. He
also said, according to an authentic narration: “Were
religion to be ____________________ 53. Bukhari, Manaqib 25; Muslim, Fada’il al-Sahaba 101; Ibn Maja, Ja |