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Biography-Prophetic Biography-Understanding the Prophet's Biography- (Lesson 35-57): the Splitting of the Moon

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Biography-Prophetic Biography-Understanding the Prophet's Biography- (Lesson 35-57): the Splitting of the Moon Biography-Prophetic Biography-Understanding the Prophet's Biography- (Lesson 35-57): The Splitting of the Moon Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations, and Peace and blessings be upon our prophet Muhammad, the faithful and the honest. Oh, Allah, w e know nothing but w hat You teach us. You are the All- Know er, the Wise. Oh Allah, teach us w hat is good for us, and benefit us from w hat You taught us, and increase our know ledge. Show us the righteous things as righteous and help us to do them, and show us the bad things as bad and help us to keep aw ay from them. O Allah our Lord, lead us out from the depths of darkness and illusion, unto the lights of erudition and know ledge, and from the muddy shallow s of lusts unto the heavens of Your Vicinity. Honorable brothers, here w e are w ith a new lesson in the series ‘Understanding the Prophet’s Life and Deeds’. Before w e move on to the arrival of the Prophet, peace be upon him, to Medina, it is necessary to conclude w ith some of the events that took place before the Emigration (Hegira). Events of the pre-Hegira period: The Splitting of the Moon There has been strong disagreement as to the meaning of this Ayah: The hour drew nigh and the moon w as rent in tw ain. And if they behold a portent they turn aw ay ﴾ ﴿ and say: Continuous magic Did the phenomenon actually take place or not? First, for clarification: supernatural phenomena that defy norms and rules, are miracles (Mu'jizat), if they come from Prophets or Messengers. For other than Prophets and Messengers, they are divine gifts or charisms (Karamat). And, if they appear at the hands of those in error, they are errancies. They can be miracles, divine gifts, or errancies. Miracles are Divine Assignments to Prophets for Challenging Prophets have the Divine obligation to challenge their people w ith miracles. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, w as taken from Holy Mecca to Jerusalem, then up to the Heavens, then dow n to Jerusalem and back to Mecca, w here he found his bed still w arm, he w ished not to tell anyone, for people already had trouble believing his prophethood. But as a Prophet he is instructed by Allah Almighty to challenge his people w ith miracles, because miracles are Allah’s evidence to humans that the person at w hose hands they appear is truly sent by The Creator of humanity. The righteous Virgin Mary conceived a child w ithout a father. Because she w as not a prophetess, this phenomenon must be seen as a divine gift. But if a human predicts the future w ith the help of a jinni, then it is an errancy. In other w ords, if the purpose of the non- prophet is to strengthen the faith, then his gift is a charism, and if his purpose is to alienate people from Allah Almighty, then it is straying from the right path. Pay heed to these w ords: w e are not asked to believe in charisms unless reported in authenticated scriptures, otherw ise w e w ill disfigure our religion and turn it into a religion of charisms and dreams. Furthermore, scholars have established that holy men (Wali) are embarrassed show ing their gifts like w omen are embarrassed show ing w hat they must conceal. The position of the Islamic law on this issue is that charisms should be acknow ledged because they are facts, and that they should not be spoken of, because holy men are not asked to reveal their gift, but should rather conceal it as a private matter betw een them and Allah Almighty. The Greatest of Divine Gifts: the Gift of Science Heed these w ords: the greatest of all charisms, and not supernatural either, is the gift of science. Allah Almighty says: ﴿He has taught you w hat you did not know , and Allah's grace on you is very great ﴾ (Surat Al Nisa’, 113) Let us look at this Ayah carefully. If a child tells you: ‘I have a great sum of money’, you w ould probably estimate that he has 200 Liras. But if in a superpow er, a high figure in the ministry of w ar says: ‘w e reserved a great sum for this w ar’, your estimate w ould be 200 billion units of their currency. So if The King of kings, The Creator of the heavens and the earth says: ﴿ He has taught you w hat you did not know , and Allah's grace on you is very great ﴾ then you can be certain that the greatest gift is the gift of science. ﴿?Are those who know equal w ith those w ho know not ﴾ (Surat Al Zumar, 9) ;Allah w ill exalt those of you w ho believe, and those w ho are given know ledge, in high degrees ﴾ ﴿and Allah is Aw are of w hat you do (Surat Al Mujadala, 11) Evidence and Texts Proving the Splitting of the Moon The splitting of the moon is one of the Prophet’s visible miracles, and here are the texts supporting it: (( Anas Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased w ith him, reported that the people of Mecca asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, ‘to show them a sign, so he show ed them the moon split in tw o halves, and they could see Haraa betw een them)) (Narrated by Ibn Masoud from Anas) This tradition (Hadith) w as narrated by Ibn Masoud in the book of virtues. And it w as reported by the Bukhari in his Sahih (book of authenticated traditions), and it is w ell established that this book is one of the most accurate after Allah’s Book. - It w as reported that Abd Allah Ibn Masoud said: ((The moon split in tw o in the lifetime of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, , said to us:‘Bare w itness’.)) - Anas, may Allah be pleased w ith him, said: ((The people of Mecca asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, to show them a sign, so he showed them the splitting of the moon)) - Anas also said: ((The people of Mecca asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, to show them a sign, so he showed them the splitting of the moon tw ice’, then this Ayah w as revealed)) The hour drew nigh and the moon w as rent in tw ain. And if they behold a portent they turn aw ay ﴾ ﴿ and say: Prolonged illusion (Surat Al Qamar, 1-2) This is a trustw orthy tradition considered authentic because of the multiplicity of its chains of narration, narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad. - Ibn Masoud said: ((w hile w e w ere in Mina w ith the Prophet, peace be upon him, the moon split in tw o halves, one half beyond the mountain, and one in front. So the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:‘Bare w itness)) Aside from Sahih Muslim, the splitting of the moon w as related in other repertories of prophetic traditions and biographies by a number of Companions like Abd Allah Ibn Omar, Abd Allah Ibn Abbas and others, may Allah be pleased w ith all. And w hat further strengthens these texts, is that the phenomenon w as mentioned in Indian and Chinese history annals. Here’s now some present-day comments. Contemporary Scientific Commentaries on the Splitting of the Moon Dear brothers, a few years back, during a lecture at the Cardiff University in Wales county, w estern England, an Egyptian scholar w ho distinguished himself in the field of scientific miracles, w as asked by a Moslem in the audience about the first Ayahs of Surat Al Qamar: ﴿ The hour drew nigh and the moon w as rent in tw ain ﴾ and w hether it is representative of the scientific miracles in the Holy Quran. So he answ ered: ‘This is one of the perceptible miracles in support of the Prophet, peace be upon him, against the infidels and the polytheist of Mecca’. Before I continue, a few clarifications are needed. The Scientific Explanation of Phenomena Honorable brothers, w e should distinguish betw een the follow ing three expressions: scientific explanation, scientific miracle, and prophetic miracle, for each has its ow n definition and extent. Scientific explanation: There w as a solar eclipse in the lifetime of the Prophet, peace be upon him, w hich concurred w ith the death of his son Ibrahim. The noble Companions, w ithout thinking, driven by their love of the Prophet, peace be upon him, attributed the eclipse to the death of Ibrahim. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, knew about this, he harangued his Companions in these w ords: ((O you people, the sun and the moon are tw o of Allah’s signs, they do not eclipse to anybody’s death or to anybody’s life)) [Related by Bukhari and Muslim, from Aisha] In other w ords, nothing connects this eclipse w ith the death of Ibrahim. What the Prophet, peace be upon him, gave here, w as a scientific explanation. Once, w hile in Mecca on a minor pilgrimage (Umra), I heard lots of talk about a light rising high in the sky from the grave of the Prophet, peace be upon him. Now w hen I arrived to Medina betw een the sunset and the evening prayers, there w as an eminent scholar giving a lesson in jurisprudence.
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