Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 85 - Miracles of Prophet Muhammad ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 28th May 2014
Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 85 - Miracles of Prophet Muhammad ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 28th May 2014
Today we'll discuss the miracles of the Prophet PBUH. And the word miracle in Arabic is mu'jiza.
The Definition of Mu'jiza
What is a mu'jiza? The word comes from the Arabic 'ajaza' which means to be weak and incapable. This is why the old person in Arabic is called 'ajuz.' So the word miracle comes from the same word as 'weak.' Why? Because a mu'jiza is something that the rest of mankind is too weak and incapable to reproduce. The scholars have given a definition of a miracle, and that is an occurrence beyond the typical occurrences men are accustomed to. Something that is beyond the natural order i.e. supernatural. It occurs at the hands of somebody who claims to be a prophet, and it proves the claim of his prophethood.
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The Purpose of Mu'jiza
What is the purpose of a mu'jiza? It's to prove a particular human has been sent by Allah, and it's the sunnah of Allah that he has sent prophets with miracles. No prophet has ever come without miracles. It's a part of being a prophet that you have miracles to show the people.
Is it the only sign you are a prophet? No. The prophets do not need miracles to prove their prophethood. A miracle is but one of the proofs of a prophet. To say a miracle is the only proof of prophethood means everyone who converts must have converted because of the miracle. But is that the case? Did Abu Bakr see a miracle? Did Umar? No. The majority of converts did not see miracles. To this day, most Muslims have not seen any mu'jiza. So clearly a mu'jiza is but one of the ways to prove prophethood. Other ways include the character of the prophets, the dignity and truthfulness, the lifestyle of the prophets; the content of the message, etc. The Qur'an clearly mentions that miracles do not help arrogant people. Who do they help?
1. People who already believe - it increases their Iman
2. People who are genuine and sincere it works for them
And Allah mentions in the Qur'an the arrogance of the Quraysh, in Surah al-Isra, 90-93:
وَقَالُوا لَن نُّؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ يَنبُوعًا
17:90. And they say, "We will not believe you until you break open for us from the ground a spring.
أَوْ تَكُونَ لَكَ جَنَّةٌ مِّن نَّخِيلٍ وَعِنَبٍ فَتُفَجِّرَ الْأَنْهَارَ خِلَالَهَا تَفْجِيرًا
17:91. Or [until] you have a garden of palm tress and grapes and make rivers gush forth with in them in force [and abundance]
أَوْ تُسْقِطَ السَّمَاءَ كَمَا زَعَمْتَ عَلَيْنَا كِسَفًا أَوْ تَأْتِيَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ قَبِيلًا
17:92. Or you make the heaven fall upon us in fragments as you have claimed or you bring Allah and the angels before [us]
أَوْ يَكُونَ لَكَ بَيْتٌ مِّن زُخْرُفٍ أَوْ تَرْقَىٰ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَلَن نُّؤْمِنَ لِرُقِيِّكَ حَتَّىٰ تُنَزِّلَ عَلَيْنَا كِتَابًا نَّقْرَؤُهُ ۗ قُلْ سُبْحَانَ رَبِّي هَلْ كُنتُ إِلَّا بَشَرًا رَّسُولًا
17:93. Or you have a house of gold or you ascend into the sky. And [even then], we will not believe in your ascension until you bring down to us a book we may read." Say, "Exalted is my Lord! Was I ever but a human messenger?"
And Surah al-Hijr verses 14,15:
وَلَوْ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَابًا مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ فَظَلُّوا فِيهِ يَعْرُجُونَ
15:14. And [even] if We opened to them a gate from the heaven and they continued therein to ascend,
لَقَالُوا إِنَّمَا سُكِّرَتْ أَبْصَارُنَا بَلْ نَحْنُ قَوْمٌ مَّسْحُورُونَ
15:15. They would say, "Our eyes have only been dazzled. Rather, we are a people affected by magic."
Imagine the miracle: The doors of the heavens have opened up and they are rising up, yet they would still deny the miracle.
In Surah al-An'am verse 111:
وَلَوْ أَنَّنَا نَزَّلْنَا إِلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ وَكَلَّمَهُمُ الْمَوْتَىٰ وَحَشَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ قُبُلًا مَّا كَانُوا لِيُؤْمِنُوا إِلَّا أَن يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ يَجْهَلُونَ
6:111. And even if We had sent down to them the angels [with the message] and the dead spoke to them [of it] and We gathered together every [created] thing in front of them, they would not believe unless Allah should will. But most of them, [of that], are ignorant.
And why do we mention these verses? Because for us these miracles are complete proofs of prophethood, and we will say, "How can anyone deny them?" But Allah has already said they are arrogant. In their arrogance what miracle do they want? 'Show us God Himself.' And indeed this is the Qur'an, Surah al-Furqan, verse 21:
وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَرْجُونَ لِقَاءَنَا لَوْلَا أُنزِلَ عَلَيْنَا الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَوْ نَرَىٰ رَبَّنَا ۗ لَقَدِ اسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي أَنفُسِهِمْ وَعَتَوْا عُتُوًّا كَبِيرًا
25:21. And those who do not expect the meeting with Us say, "Why were not angels sent down to us, or [why] do we [not] see our Lord?" They have certainly become arrogant within themselves and [become] insolent with great insolence.
They have no desire to meet Allah really; they aren't sincere. They don't really care about religion. But they want to see God. This is what atheists say. And Allah says in response: "they have become arrogant in themselves." And so from all of this we gain a simple fact. A lot of people ask, 'Why weren't the Quraysh shown more miracles?' The answer is they still would not have believed. And Allah in His wisdom does not play games. He says in the Qur'an that, "There is nothing that are games with Us." Once the Quraysh asked the Prophet PBUH to turn the mountain into gold. And the Prophet PBUH asked Allah. Allah said, 'If you want, I can turn it into gold, but once I do they only have the option to believe or else they are gone.' Because Allah does not play games. Allah does not do anything with batil. Or if they don't get the miracle, Allah will give them more than one chance and in his wisdom the Prophet PBUH chose this option.
We began like this to illustrate why most of the miracles happened in front of the sahaba. Only some happened in front of the Quraysh. It's a mercy from Allah they weren't given too many miracles because too much arrogance means Allah's destruction. Too much arrogance means Allah's destruction. Out of mercy, Allah showed them enough miracles to show them the Prophet PBUH is true, and if they didn't believe, He gave them enough time, after Badr, after Uhud, etc. to eventually convert at the Conquest.
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How Many Miracles Was the Prophet PBUH Given?
The miracles of the Prophet PBUH has been the subject of special books written.
The most important of these are called Dala'il al-Nubuwwah - the Proofs of Prophethood. Two of the most famous of these books are: (1) Dala'il al-Nubuwwah by al-Asbahani (al-Isfahani), and (2) Dala'il al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqi (d. 438 H), from Iran, who wrote the most famous book about the miracles of the Prophet PBUH, and it's now been published in 12 volumes. So how many miracles was the Prophet PBUH given? Imam al-Bayhaqi who is the foremost authority says over 1000 miracles documented in the life of the Prophet PBUH.
Later on, al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar, the master of hadith, quotes Imam Nawawi in saying there are authentically narrated more than 1200 miracles from our Prophet PBUH. The fact of the matter is that these are only talking specific ahadith and incidents. Yet every single statement and action that has ever happened to the Prophet PBUH is a type of miracle. His whole life. His whole methodology is a miracle. His existence. As the famous scholar Ibn Hazm from Qurtuba, "If our Nabi PBUH had not been given any miracle other than the miracle of his own life, that would have been sufficient to prove he is a prophet from Allah." And wallahi this is true.
And since it is not possible to go through all 1200+ miracles in one lecture, we will instead categorize the miracles into 10 categories. Each of the categories have hundreds of examples. But realize this is not comprehensive, and there are more than these 10:
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1. Miracles That Occurred With Inanimate Objects
So miracles that occurred with rocks, stones, etc. Of these are so many.
1) The famous hadith in Bukhari that the Prophet PBUH said, "I still recognize that stone which used to say salaam to me before my prophethood."
2) Ibn Mas'ud said, "Sometimes we heard the food the Prophet PBUH put into his mouth saying tasbih." Reported in Bukhari.
3) Abu Dhar al-Ghifari narrated, "I was in a gathering with Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and others. And the Prophet PBUH took a group of pebbles in his hand and we all heard the stones praising Allah. The Prophet PBUH passed these stones to Abu Bakr and they continued praising and we all heard. The Prophet PBUH took it back, gave it to Umar and they continued praising and we all heard. The Prophet PBUH took it back, gave it to Uthman and they continued praising and we all heard. All of us heard this. Then after the Prophet PBUH left and we took those stones, nobody could hear anything from them." The point is that, it's as if by picking up the stones, the praise that is already emanating (because everything praises Allah) - when he touched those stones, the barrier between us and those rocks were lifted. So the sahaba could hear what the stones were always doing. And when he gave it Abu Bakr, Umar, etc. the barrier was still lifted. But when he left and he put them down, the barrier returned back to where it's is.
4) It's narrated once the Prophet PBUH was giving dawah to one of the leaders of the tribes of Amir ibn Sa'sa'ah. And he said, "Do you want to see a miracle?" He said, "Yes." So the Prophet PBUH said, "Look at that grove of date palms and call out to that tree to come." So the tribe said, "O baby palm tree, come!" and the sahabi narrates the tree came crawling all the way until it stood in front of the chieftain. Then the Prophet PBUH said, "Go back." And the tree went back until it resumed it's original post. And the chieftain converted on the spot and he said, "I shall never disbelieve you after this." Reported in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad. This shows us the purpose of miracles. This man was open minded - he was shown a miracle and he converted on the spot. The leaders of Quraysh - it doesn't matter what the Prophet PBUH showed them they would not have converted.
5) Jabir ibn Abdullah reports, "Once we went on a military expedition, and the Prophet PBUH took me to help him relieve himself." Meaning when the Prophet PBUH went to relieve himself one of the sahaba would carry the water, or anything and they would help protect the Prophet PBUH. So the Prophet PBUH went out but he could not find anything to cover himself with. Until he saw in a valley two shrubs on either side. So Jabir says, "He went to one of the shrubs, held onto it and said, 'Follow me by the permission of Allah.' And the shrub started following behind him along the ground. Then the Prophet PBUH went to the other shrub and said again, 'Follow me by the permission of Allah' and he began walking away from Jabir, both shrubs in his hand, and they are walking with him. Until finally the Prophet PBUH merged the two together and said, 'Stick together by the permission of Allah.'" The two of them stuck together and the Prophet PBUH relieved himself. After this, Jabir says, "When the Prophet PBUH started walking towards me I saw the two shrubs return to their original places." Note this was a miracle not done to demonstrate anything - just done so the Prophet PBUH could relieve himself.
6) Of course, the most famous in this category is the tree trunk of the Prophet PBUH. The entire masjid in Madinah is jam packed, over 1000 people, all eyewitnesses to this great miracle. When the Prophet's PBUH masjid was originally built they had to cut down trees and they left one of the stumps so the Prophet PBUH could deliver the khutbah from it. Eventually money came in and so one sahaba recommended a custom made pulpit, carved out with three steps, etc. So the Prophet PBUH agreed, and one of the ladies of the Ansar had a servant trained in the art of carpentry. So he built a pulpit, and it was now moved to the middle of the masjid (before it was towards the side). And the very first day the Prophet PBUH gave a khutbah from the new pulpit, and this is reported in Bukhari, Muslim, it is mutawatir, over 1000 eyewitnesses, the sahaba said, "We began hearing a noise like the crying of a baby camel - loud noises coming, and the Prophet PBUH stopped the khutbah, came down from the mimbar, hugged the tree and patted it until it stopped crying. And then he said, 'If I had not hugged and patted it, it would have cried all the way until the Day of Judgement.' And he then commanded the tree be uprooted and buried underneath it's mimbar." Whenever Hasan al-Basri narrated this hadith he began to cry. Because he would say, "A tree cried because it missed the Prophet PBUH, and the knowledge he spread, how about us and our hearts - should we not cry as well?"
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2. Miracles Dealing With Animals
1) Of them is the hadith of Bukhari that in Khaybar, when the Jew gave him the shank of a lamb (shoulder), so she put a lot of poison in that area; when the Prophet PBUH was presented it and put it in his mouth, he said, "The lamb has just told me it's been poisoned so everyone spit their food out."
2) Reported by Abu Dawud. Once the Prophet PBUH was riding on a camel with Abdullah ibn Ja'far. And Abdullah reports, "I was with the Prophet PBUH on a camel and we entered one of the gardens of the Ansar. There was another camel there who came up to the Prophet PBUH and started making it's noises. And tears began to come from it's eyes. The Prophet PBUH said, "Where is the master of this camel?" A young man came and said, "I am it's owner." The Prophet PBUH said, "Do you not fear Allah with regards to these creatures that do not speak. For verily this camel has told me you do not feed it and you overwork and beat him." So this camel is complaining to the Prophet PBUH, and he understands this.
3) In an even more bizarre incident, a group of Ansar came complaining that their camel had gone mad, and they begged the Prophet PBUH to help them out, so the Prophet PBUH went to the pen, entered it alone. They said, "This camel is as mad as a dog with rabies. We fear he'll attack and harm you." The Prophet PBUH said, "I have no danger." So the Prophet PBUH entered the pen and walked towards the camel. And when the camel saw who it was, the narrator says the camel lowered it's forehead as if it was prostrating. The Prophet PBUH rubbed it's head, picked it up and took it back where it should be. It was normal after that - after this the sahaba said, "This is an animal who is prostrating to you who cannot speak, surely it is more befitting for us to prostrate to you?" But the Prophet PBUH said, "No for it is not allowed for any human to prostrate to another human."
4) We also did the story of Suraqa ibn Malik when he tried to capture the Prophet PBUH but his horse would not proceed. It stopped right then and there and Suraqa fell off of it. And every time Suraqa tried to proceed the horse would stop and Suraqa would keep on falling off. Three times until finally he realized it's beyond his control.
5) In the Musnad of Imam Ahmad it's narrated the Prophet PBUH was sitting in his masjid. And all of a sudden a camel came running in, made it's way directly to the Prophet PBUH, put his head in it's lap, began making noises and crying. So in front of all the sahaba this happened. And the Prophet PBUH said, "Go and find the owner of this camel for it has a story to tell me." In those days every camel was different so people knew the owners. So the sahaba found the owner and said, "What is the matter with your camel? It is crying to the Prophet PBUH." But the owner became frustrated and said, "What is the problem? We worked the camel and when it stopped walking, we used it to carry water, when it can't even do this, last night we have decided to slaughter it and distribute the meat amongst us." The Prophet PBUH heard this news and said, "Either gift me the camel or allow me to buy it." And so the owner gave the camel. In other words, the camel didn't want to die and it ran to the Prophet PBUH complaining it's been overworked and it's old, etc. So the Prophet PBUH was merciful and did not allow them to kill it.
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3. Miracles Dealing With Food and Water
Perhaps this is the largest section of miracles. So many times the Prophet PBUH made a small quantity of food feed a large quantity of people.
1) Of the most salient examples is at the treaty of Hudaybiyyah; when there was no water for the sahaba to drink, the Prophet PBUH put his hands in whatever water remained and he then took his hands out, and from between his fingers, water began to flow like a fountain. And people did wudu and washed themselves. In another version, Anas ibn Malik said, "Over 300 people did wudu from the water coming from the Prophet's PBUH hands." Imam al-Qurtubi narrates the miracle of the water coming from the hands of the Prophet PBUH is even more miraculous than the miracle of Musa AS causing water to gush from a rock. Because occasionally water does come from a rock. But never does water come from flesh and bones.
2) In the Battle of Tabuk a small quantity of food sufficed an entire army.
3) In the incidence of the Hijrah, the Prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr pass by an old lady whose animal cannot produce milk. But the Prophet PBUH makes du'a and the udders fill up and overflows. Of course this first happened with Halimah, his foster mother. All of a sudden her own camels and goats started giving milk and their udders were always full.
4) Perhaps the most famous incidents is that of Khandaq. When the Prophet PBUH is digging the trench with the sahaba, and Jabir ibn Abdullah comes home to his wife and says, "Oh my wife I've heard the voice of the Prophet PBUH is weak - what do we have? Whatever we have we must give him." And she said there's an old goat and some flour, so he told her to prepare them. This would have fed around 5 people. So Jabir whispered to the Prophet PBUH that, "I have something prepared." In one version the Prophet PBUH stood up and said, 'O people of the trench, Jabir has a walima prepared for you,' walima meaning feast. Everyone is overjoyed because they are all hungry and tired. The Prophet PBUH told Jabir, "Make sure you don't cook the food before I come." So the Prophet PBUH came, spat into the dough, kneaded it with his own hands and he helped put the dish into the furnace. And then in batches the entire army of 1400 people came, ate and left. When they left there was more food than when they began. This is of the barakah witnessed by thousands of people in Madinah.
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4. Protection That Allah Gave to the Prophet PBUH
Out of nowhere, the Prophet PBUH was protected with miraculous intervention. And we see this throughout the entire seerah. How many times was he protected out of nowhere. There are just countless incidents to list:
1) Al-Ta'if
2) The entire Hijrah: On the night multiple times, including when they are walking to Madinah and the Prophet PBUH is looking up in the cave and Abu Bakr is trembling but they are saved. The story of Suraqa ibn Malik, etc.
3) The praying in the Ka'bah, when Abu Jahal just wanted to kill the Prophet PBUH, and when he came to kill him, he began walking backwards in fear. When he was asked why he said, "I saw a camel with fiery eyes and razor teeth coming to bite me." And they said there is no camel but he said, "No wallahi if I took another step he would have killed me."
4) The Battle of Badr: 300 not so well armed Muslims against 1000 strong of the Quraysh.
5) Every single battle. Even Uhud - it could be a loss, but Allah still protected the life and persona of the Prophet PBUH. Even though he came so close to death. That is why Aisha RA said, "Was there any day worse than Uhud?" And the Prophet PBUH said, "Ta'if was worse."
So many incidents and miracles occurring either directly or indirectly. Either the angels coming down, or animals interfering, etc. All of these things prove the miraculous protection of the Prophet PBUH.
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5. Knowledge of the Unseen Given to the Prophet PBUH
Now, did our Prophet PBUH have Ilm al-Ghayb? There are two types. One type only Allah has, and no one shares it with Allah. An example is the five knowledges that only Allah has:
- No one knows when someone will die
- Where they will die
- When the wombs will give
- What the wombs will give
- When is the Day of Judgement
and more. There is also relative Ilm al-Ghayb. Some of it may be given to the prophets. "Allah knows the ghayb and doesn't give it to anyone except if he wants a prophet to come to some of this knowledge." So did the Prophet PBUH have Ilm al-Ghayb? The ultimate Ilm al-Ghayb - NO. But some, by the permission of Allah. After all did the Prophet PBUH not see Jibril AS? Did he not see the heavens and hell? But the Prophet PBUH did not share all Ilm al-Ghayb. That is very clear in the Qur'an. And Allah says, "Say to them, 'I don't know Ilm al-Ghayb.'" So very clearly the Prophet PBUH is being told to announce he doesn't have the ultimate Ilm al-Ghayb.
So what did the Prophet PBUH know that he told us that is of the Ilm al-Ghayb? Many incidents:
1) The day that Najashi died, and he died in Abyssinia and the Prophet PBUH is in Madinah. One day the sahaba woke up and an announcement was made, 'Come to the masjid.' And the Prophet PBUH said, "One of your brothers has died; he was a righteous man and we shall pray janazah for him." Lo and behold months later, the news came that indeed Najashi died on that very day, and the very hour the Prophet PBUH said.
2) Isra wal-Mi'raj - when he saw Jerusalem and he was tested by the Quraysh, "Tell me what doors go where, etc." And the Prophet PBUH said, "I became so terrified that they will reject me until I saw Jibril AS raising the city in front of my eyes, and I could see it as they were asking me the questions. And there was not a single question they asked me except that the city was turned this way and that, and I could respond based upon the question."
3) The Battle of Mu'tah - that right when the three leaders died, the Prophet PBUH described it in Madinah in real time. Of course the first to die was Zayd ibn Harith, second was Ja'far ibn Abi Talib and last Abdullah ibn Rawahah. And Anas said, "The Prophet PBUH told us the news of their death before it came to us." This is how the hadith begins. And the Prophet PBUH describes in vivid detail as it is happening. And it's proven to them a week later when the news came.
4) Also we have the famous incident when the leader of the Sassanid emperor sent two spies to Madinah pretending to be messengers. And they arrived and the Prophet PBUH recognized them to be spies. So he didn't even look at their letter. He said, "Come back the next day." They came back the next day and he said, "Today my Lord has killed your Lord." And they were terrified. And it turned out that was the same day the Sassanid emperor was assassinated. And that caused the two envoys to accept Islam. Why? In their religion they of course worshiped the emperor. They had a whole theology that the emperor is a divine entity so they called him 'Lord.' So the Prophet PBUH said, "My Lord has killed yours."
All of these are knowledge of the unseen.
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6. Predictions of the Future
Even though we can say this is knowledge of the unseen, this is different and so we can classify this as a category in and of itself. And once again quite literally we have over 150 predictions of the Prophet PBUH. The foremost of these are the signs of the day of Judgement. Indeed every single sign narrated by the Prophet PBUH is a prediction of the future. And there are literally up 350 hadith regarding this matter.
1) Of the most prominent predictions was that, whilst in Makkah, the Prophet PBUH predicted the conquer of the Arabian empire which is truly bizarre. And in Madinah he specifically mentions names: Yemen, Busra, Syria, etc. He tells them they will conquer Bayt al-Maqdis and Egypt, so, "Be good to them" for they are related to Hajar AS his mother (wife of Ibrahim AS). The Prophet PBUH tells the Persian empire will collapse and the booty will be spread. As we know Suraqa ibn Malik wore the bracelets. The Prophet PBUH predicted Constantinople would be conquered, and it took nearly 1000 years but it was done. The Prophet PBUH in Musnad Imam Ahmad said that you will also conquer Hind, and what a beautiful army is the army that conquers Hind. The point is, all of these lands were conquered as the Prophet PBUH predicted.
2) The Prophet PBUH even predicted there would be a naval force within the lifetime of the sahaba. The mother of Anas ibn Malik said, "Ya Rasulullah make du'a I am in that force and I die in it." And in the middle of the desert when not a single Muslim knew anything about the art of building ships he says, "You will be amongst them." And what happened? In the reign of Muawiyah, he made some naval forces (even Uthman started this too) - and Muawiyah used these forces in expeditions. And Anas's mother was in these expeditions, but as she was getting off the ship she slipped and cracked her skull. And she died there as per the du'a of the Prophet PBUH. And the sahaba built a masjid for her, which still to this day is the famous masjid of Cyprus. To this day, there is the masjid of Ummi Milhan. Where is Cyprus and where is Madinah? Subhan'Allah.
3) One of the more interesting ones, the famous sahabi Abdullah ibn Busr, who was one of the last to die in 103-105 H. And he narrates in Damascus, "When I was a young child, the Prophet PBUH visited my parents. And I remember my father gave him a worn out rug to sit on. And my father asked my mother, 'Is there any food?' And the mother says, 'Yes, we have hais (biscuit/cookie/dried cake - they would grind up some dates and mix with flour).' So my mother sent me with the hais and I presented it to the both of them, meaning his father and the Prophet PBUH. And the Prophet PBUH turned to look at me, rubbed his hand on my head and he said, 'This child shall live for a century.' And I was a young child so I said, 'How much is that?' And the Prophet PBUH said, '100 years.'" And Abdullah ibn Busr is narrating this hadith in Damascus, and he is now 95 years old. And in exactly 5 years after this when he was exactly 100 he passed away while in the act of wudu. Subhan'Allah.
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7. The Healing of the Prophet PBUH
There are again numerous reported incidents of this happening in the life of the Prophet PBUH.
1) In the Battle of Uhud, Qatada is one of the 11 people guarding the Prophet PBUH. He was the one who stood guard outside the cave. And he used his own body to protect the Prophet PBUH against the stray arrows. And one of the arrows came right into his eyes. And his eye fell out, and when the Prophet PBUH saw this, he made a special du'a and said, "O Allah your servant has sacrificed his own face for mine, so return his eye to him even better than it was." And Qatada said immediately the eye healed and it became the more sharper of his two eyes.
2) And we have the famous incident of Ali ibn Abi Talib on the day of Khaybar, when after 15-16 days of battling the Prophet PBUH predicted that, "Tomorrow I shall give the flag to someone Allah will allow victory to occur." And the next day after Fajr all the sahaba are eager to get the flag, but the Prophet PBUH said, "Where is Ali?" and they said, "He is suffering from eye problems." So the Prophet PBUH called him, he was brought with his eyes closed, and the Prophet PBUH spat in his eyes and made du'a and then and there his eyes were fixed. And of course after this victory was given to the Muslims.
3) There is another incident of a boy who had been born deaf and dumb, and the Prophet PBUH made du'a over him and right then and there, he became normal after living for 7-8 years in that state.
Again there are many more examples.
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8. Immediate Responses to His Du'a
These are du'as being answered instantly as soon as he made it.
1) The most famous example reported in every book of hadith, Bukhari, Muslim, etc. The people of Madinah were suffering a drought for many months. And in the middle of the khutbah a Bedouin comes and stops the khutbah and says, "Ya Rasulullah we have not had rain for months and our crops are withering, and our animals are dying and our children are dying. Make du'a to Allah He sends rain." And Anas is the narrator of the hadith, and he says, "Wallahi we had not seen the whiff of a cloud for months, but as the Prophet PBUH raised his hands, we saw a dense, thick cloud come from the back of the mountain of Madinah. It came racing forward, and before the Prophet's PBUH hands had reached his sides, we heard the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. And when we went back home, we had to rush back so that not to get drenched. And wallahi we did not see the sun for an entire week.
And the next week in the middle of the khutbah another man came and said, "Ya Rasulullah our crops are over-flooded, our children are drowning, our animals are swimming around, make du'a to Allah to stop the rain." And so the Prophet PBUH said, "O Allah send the rain around and not on us." And the Prophet PBUH pointed in the sky, and wherever he pointed the clouds parted and the sun came out. And again this hadith took place in front of the entire city of Madinah. Numerous narrations and hundreds of eyewitnesses.
2) The mother of Abu Hurairah - he was Yemeni and when he migrated to Madinah he told his mother to come and he would take care of her. He used to live in the Ahl al-Suffa but when his mother came to Madinah he had to get an apartment to stay with her. And his mother was very hurt that Abu Hurairah had accepted Islam; and she always cursed Islam and said bad things about the Prophet PBUH. So one day Abu Hurairah came crying to the Prophet PBUH and said, "Ya Rasulullah my mother has said too much about you and I cannot take it - make du'a Allah guides her." So the Prophet PBUH raises his hands then and there and says, "O Allah guide the mother of Abu Hurairah." And Abu Hurairah comes back sad and depressed, but before he enters the house his mother says, "Do not enter, I am taking a bath." Right then and there, that was the bath (ghusl) of Islam, and as soon as Abu Hurairah comes into his house she says the shahada.
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9. Stories of the Previous Prophets
Now how is this a miracle? For many reasons. First and foremost, one needs to realize how uneducated Arabia was at the time of the Prophet PBUH. Consider for example the people living in the jungles of Brazil. Would they know the histories of medieval Europe, etc.? Of course not. Imagine you came across a civilization cut off from all others and they somehow know about all other civilizations. Even the name of the Judeo-Christian prophets were not known to the Arabs. Why should they know the story of Yusuf, Ishaq, etc.? That branch was completely unrelated. Yes, they preserved Ibrahim and Ismail. But Ishaq onwards was completely irrelevant to them. And that is why when the Quraysh went to Madinah and they said, "Give us some test quiz questions, one of the questions was, 'Ask him about Yusuf and his brothers.'" There isn't a single library in the entire Arabian Hejaz. In the whole city of Makkah less than 5-10 people can read and write. Even if they can, there is no bible to read if they can even acquire it. In the middle of all this, an unlettered shepherd begins telling the detailed stories of Adam AS, Ishaq AS and Ya'qub AS, Yusuf AS, Isa AS, etc. And of course Musa AS - there are so many stories about Musa in the Qur'an. Allah mentions, "Neither you nor your people knew these stories before the Qur'an came down."
1) Of the most interesting tangible evidences is that the Qur'an preserves some stories of Isa AS that are not found in the New Testament to this day, yet were discovered later in outside sources. All of us as Muslims know the story of Isa AS speaking from his mother's cradle. Most of us are not aware that this story is simply not found in the Bible. None of the gospels have it. Also, the Qur'an mentions in three occasions the story of Isa AS and the birds, i.e. he blew into them and they became real birds. Again this story is not mentioned in the Christian gospels. And for the longest time Christians ridiculed Muslims because of this.
Now, around 150 years ago in Egypt, an interesting monastery was discovered in the desert. In it was the body of a monk from 4th century CE before the coming of Islam. And the body of the monk belonged to a lost sect of Christianity. And in the coffin were scrolls - multiple scrolls and these scrolls contained gospels that are beyond the four canonical gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke and John). Note Constantine and others got rid of all other gospels besides these four. To this day most of them are destroyed; this was the most significant discoveries of the 19th century. One of these gospels was the gospel of St. Thomas. In this gospel, we have both of these stories. The story of Jesus speaking as a baby, and the story of the birds being brought to life. This is clearly a miracle.
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10. Miscellaneous (Everything Else)
1) Of these is perhaps one of his greatest miracles, which is the splitting of the moon in half. This is one of the few miracles which the Quraysh challenged and he did. The Quraysh challenged him and he said, "If I were to split the moon in half would you believe in me?" They all said yes, but as we all know and the Qur'an is explicit, the moon was split and the mountain of Safa was in between the two halves of the moon. Ibn Kathir said this incident has been narrated by numerous chains and even if we didn't have any chain, the Qur'an is explicit enough:
اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ
54:1. The Hour draws near; the moon is split in two.
And Imam al-Khattabi (died around 330 H) writes, "The splitting of the moon is one of the greatest miracles ever that cannot be compared to the miracles of any prophet because it occurred in the celestial skies, outside of this earth we are accustomed to. And inaccessible to us mortals, hence it was an even greater miracle."
2) And, we also have the personal miracle given just for the Prophet PBUH, and that is the miracle of Mi'raj. As for Isra he somewhat proved it by talking about Jerusalem to the Quraysh, as for Mi'raj, we just believed it happened - it was a personal miracle just for him. A mu'jiza just for him to console him after the death of Khadija RA, Abu Talib, and also Ta'if. That time was the lowest of the low so Allah blessed the Prophet PBUH with the highest of the high.
The greatest and ultimate miracle we still use today is the miracle of the Qur'an. That miracle eclipses all other miracles. And it is more than all the other miracles combined, infinitely more.
The simplest point is all the other miracles we have mentioned, we were not witnessing them. They happened in front of other groups. We believe but we did not see. The only miracle that is still amongst us right now, and that is why it is called the eternal miracle, the only miracle we can say to a non-Muslim is, "Here is the Qur'an, read this book and listen to it's recitation." That is the miracle that has no time/space constraints. That is what the Prophet PBUH said, "Every single prophet has been given miracles because of which his people have believed in him, as for me, the only miracle Allah gave me is the wahy that Allah has sent down to me." Subhan'Allah. The Prophet PBUH mentions that the Qur'an is the only miracle, really signifying that all the other miracles that he received were nothing in comparison. Especially after this lecture we see the magnitude of the miracle of the Qur'an, since we have learned about some of his other major miracles. "And because of this wahy I hope to have the largest number of followers on the day of Judgement." This hadith is in Bukhari and demonstrates the Qur'an is the ultimate time-free miracle that we can use when we give dawah.