The Holy Qur'an
His Physical Miracles
The Lasting Miracle
The Final Messenger of God was sent with hundreds of manifest miracles and signs verifying the authenticity of his message and strengthening the hearts of the believers that they may establish the final message of God to the far reaches of Earth.
The greatest among them was the Sublime Qur'an, the manifest miracle, the wise reminder, the straight path, the majestic word of God; falsehood cannot approach it from before it or behind it. The Qur'an is the 100% word for word speech of God which He sent piece by piece with the angel Gabriel to His final messenger, Muhammad (PBUH) over 23 years of Prophethood. Whoever acted according to it was rewarded, whoever ruled by it was just, the greatest scholars cannot be satiated from its study, and the desires of man cannot deviate it.
The Arabs are well-known throughout history for their poetry and rhetoric. At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, poets and orators were found in many places showing off their talents telling beautiful stories, bragging about the greatness of their tribe, teaching great wisdoms in small phrases. The Arab society was at the peak of well over a thousand years of eloquence and experience of life and the Arabic language was the heart of this culture. When the Prophet began reciting the Qur'an, it proved itself to be of divine origin and has been proving itself over and over since then. This proof has many aspects. We will briefly describe five of them-
1. Its eloquence, brevity and succinctness: There were many wise poets and orators in the history of the Arabs, but out of a hundred line work maybe 5 lines were extremely succinct carrying a powerful meaning which may still be used today as lessons or parables, yet with the Qur'an every verse has always had that quality. And Muhammad was not ever reported by anyone- not even his enemies- as being familiar with poetry or that he had ever composed anything. Rather, he was known to be an average illiterate who was a Shepherd in his young years and later became a merchant.
2. God says-
"Say, "Have you considered: if it (the Qur'an) is from God and you disbelieve in it. Then who is more astray than someone in such dissension. We will show them Our signs in the distant regions (horizons) and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this is the truth."(Qur'an 41:52-53)
The Qur'an has over the centuries proved to contain many scientific facts unknown to man at the time it was revealed. These realities have recently –in the age of technological advancement- lead to mass conversion and strengthening of faith at a time when the Muslim Nation had fallen from progress and into ignorance for over two centuries.
The Qur'an has detailed accounts of the formation of the universe, the embryological cycle of human beings, the formation of mountains, the arrangement of the clouds and the precipitation cycle, the uniqueness of the fingerprint, and many other issues.
There have been many decorated scientists and doctors from all faiths as well as athiests who have embraced Islam because of these facts. *see- "The Qur'an and the Bible in the light of science" by:Maurice Bucaille
3. It prophesied many events which have all come true. It predicted the seemingly impossible takeover of Makkah (28:85), victory of the highly outnumbered Muslims at Badr (54:45), it foretold the response and victory of the Byzantines over the Persians after the Persians had taken much of Sham (modern Syria, Lebanon and Turkey) (30:4), the death of Abu Lahab as a disbeliever (111:3), etc… There is not one false Prophecy to be found in the whole Qur'an.
4. The amazing ease in memorization: God says
And we have indeed made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember" (Qur’an 54:17)
80% of the 1.3 billion Muslims do not speak Arabic and yet there are millions of non-Arab Muslims who memorize the Qur'an to the letter and can recite it more beautiful than most Arabs.
5. At the peak of Arab literary eloquence, the most eloquent of Arabs were unable to produce a single chapter that would be comparable to the sublime Qur'an, even if the whole of creation were to gather for that purpose. Almighty God, the Exalted says,
Say: If the whole of mankind and Jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like of it, even if they assisted each other. (Qur'an 17: 88)
It challenged them despite their large numbers, their eloquence and their severe enmity towards Islam and it will continue to challenge them until the Day of Judgment.
His Physical Miracles
As for the other miracles of Muhammad, it is not possible to enumerate them all due to the large number of reports. However, we will mention some examples from the most authentic sources:
* The splitting of the moon: The Prophet was outside Makkah before Hijrah and some Pagans of Quraish came to him and asked him to prove himself to them. He then told them to look at the moon. As they were looking the moon split, one half over the east and one to the west. When the Muslims reached India, they found a building which said over its doors This was built the night the moon split.
* On one occasion the Muslims were traveling and the time for prayer arrived and the only had one bowl of water. The Prophet (PBUH) placed his hands in the bowl and it overflowed water flowing from between his fingers so that everyone of them made ablution for the prayer.
* Stones and trees would greet him, trees walking towards him, two trees that were far apart coming together and then parting again.
* He and Abu Bakr were walking around the outskirts of Makkah in the early days of the message. They came upon Abdullah ibn Mas'ood who was a young Shepherd. They asked him if he would allow them to milk one of the sheep. Abdullah was a righteous young man who believed that since it wasn't his property he couldn’t help them. So the Prophet spotted an old barren sheep and asked if he could milk it. Ibn Mas'ood -surprised by the request which seemed ridiculous- told him to go ahead and try. The Prophet (PBUH) began milking the sheep until it overflowed milk which Abu Bakr put into a bowl and they all drank from it. At which point Ibn Mas'ood proclaimed "I bear witness that there is no Deity except God and that you (Muhammad) are His Messenger of God."
* His spitting lightly into the eye of Ali when it had become inflamed and its being cured immediately. The same happened when he wiped the leg of `Abdullah bin `Atiq whereupon he was immediately cured.
* His informing of the places of death of the Day of Badr saying, 'this is the place of such polytheists on the and-such a person.'
*That a group of his nation would traverse an ocean and Umm Haram would be amongst them and this occurred.
* His invincibility- God says
"And (don’t worry) God will protect you from the people (your enemies)" (Qur’an 5:67).
Muhammad (PBUH) was calling to a way of life and belief system completely in opposition to the beliefs and ways of his community and their forefathers. At least on ten occasions the Quraish plotted and attempted to kill the Prophet (PBUH) throughout his 13 year stay in Makkah. When Suraqah ibn Malik was sent to capture the Prophet (PBUH) so that the Quraish could kill him during his migration to Madinah, he came upon the Prophet (PBUH) and the Prophet supplicated his Lord-
"Oh God, protect us from Suraqah! Then the ground took the horses legs and Suraqah could not move either. Then Suraqah asked the Prophet (PBUH) that if he would supplicate God to let him go then he (suraqah) will misguide the others who are after him and that he will never help his (the Prophet) enemies against him again. The Prophet (PBUH) then supplicated "Oh God if he is truthful then release him" He was released and immediately proclaimed his testimony and embraced Islam and lived the rest of his life a diligent servant of Islam." (Bukhari)
*That the treasures of the the kingdom of Persia would be spent by his nation in the sake of God, the Mighty and Magnificent. He then told Suraqah bin Malik that he would wear the treasures of Chosroes (Persian ruler). Within ten years of this statement, Suraqah was one of the leaders of the army which took the capital of Persia and when they came back, the Caliph Umar let him wear some of the crowns and bracelets to fulfill the Prophecy.
"Another time the Prophet (PBUH) was laying under a tree and a man named Da'thur came upon the Prophet with his sword drawn in an assasination attempt. He then asked the Prophet (PBUH) Who will prevent me from killing you now Muhammad? The Prophet replied "God will" and immediately the sword fell from Da'thur's hand. Then the Messenger of God picked it up and said "And who will protect you from me?" And he replied No one. Da'thur stood and proclaimed I bear witness that there is no Deity except Almighty God and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God. Thus becoming a Muslim" (Bukhari)
* He informed us that Hasan bin `Ali would reconcile between two large warring parties of the Muslims, that Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas would live such that nations would benefit by him and others would be harmed. That an-Najashi king of Abysinnia had died on this particular day. That al-Aswad al-`Ansi had been killed on this particular day while he was in Yemen. All of which took place exactly as he said.
* The Byzantine and Persian empires would be conquered by the Muslims.
* That Awais al-Qarni would come to the Muslims from the auxiliaries of Yemen, he would be afflicted 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 Ruwayfi` bin Thabit would live a long life, that Ammar bin Yasir would be killed by the transgressing group, that his nation shall divide into sects and that they would fight each other.
* He said to Thabit bin Qays, "You will live being praised... and you will die as a martyr", and he lived being praised and was martyred at al-Yamamah. He said to `Uthman, "He would be afflicted by a severe trial." [The meaning of severe trial is his being imprisoned in his house and his being assasinated by the transgressors.]
* Wabisah bin Ma`bad came to the Prophet (PBUH) after the prayer in order to ask him about righteousness and sin upon which the Prophet (PBUH) asked him with knowledge of the reason of his presence, "Have you come to ask about righteousness and sin?"
* He said to `Ali, Az-Zubair and al-Miqdad, "Go to the garden of Khakh for indeed there is Dha`inah" who has a book with her. [Dha`inah is the woman with whom Hasib al-Balta`ah sent a letter to the people of Mecca in order to inform them of the plans of the Messenger of God (PBUH) to fight them. It was concerning this that the first verses of Surah Mumtahinah were revealed. They found her there but she initially denied having the book and then took it out from within her braids after interrogation.
* He (PBUH) 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 Ansar was richer than he and one hundred and twenty of his children had already been buried before the arrival of al-Hajjaj [to Basrah]. This is detailed further in Sahih Bukhari and others. [Bukhari no. 1982]
* He supplicated that Islam be strengthened through 'Umar bin al-Khattab or Abu Jahl, and God strengthened it through `Umar (radiyAllahu `anhu) despite the fact that he was known to be of the most vile enemies of Islam. He supplicated against Suraqah bin Malik and the feet of his horse sank into the earth and he was thrown off.
* He 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, and then when he had supplicated, the clouds gathered like mountains in front of the large gathering and it rained until the next Friday. It rained so much that they had to come back and ask him to supplicate and stop the rain, so he supplicated and the rain stopped and they walked out into the glaring sun.
* He (PBUH) supplicated for Abu 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 `Abdullah exactly nine months later. He had nine children and all of them were scholars.
* Abu Hurayrah asked the Prophet (pbuh) to ask God to Guide his mother. So, He (pbuh) supplicated for the mother of Aba Hurayrah, that she be guided as she was still Pagan, Abu Hurayrah immediately went to find her, only to find her performing the ritual bath because she had accepted Islam.
* 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-Nasa'i the chapter concerning washing the deceased.
* On the day of the Muslims migration to Madinah, the Pagans of Makkah surrounded the Prophet's house. In the night the Prophet went out with a handful of dirt and supplicated for God's help and threw the dirt at 10 Pagans impairing all of their vision and he escaped leaving them in confusion.
From the book of Nawawi "Miracles of the Prophet (PBUH)".
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