The Miracles of the Prophet Muhammad sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam

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].]