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

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations, and Peace and blessings be upon our prophet , 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 ().

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:

(( , 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 () 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 , 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 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 . 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 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. He is departed now , may Allah have mercy on his soul. I listened to this lesson at the end of w hich he said: ‘The Emir of Medina told me that the administration of Mecca and Medina (al Haramain) installed a laser above the grave of the Prophet, peace be upon him. It is a beacon w hich w ill serve to indicate the location of the grave to aircraft flying at high altitudes. This w as the scientific explanation, w hile w hat I had heard in Mecca w as not a scientific explanation: The light of the Prophet, peace be upon him, shooting into the heavens w as actually an apparatus generating a laser beam. We should alw ays look for the scientific explanation. The Prophet, peace be upon him, honest, and true to the Revelation, clarified: there is no relation betw een the eclipse of the sun and the death of his son. The more god-fearing you are, the truer you are to the Revelation. Do not mix facts and fancies, seek the scientific explanation.

Scientific Explanation doesn’t contradict Theological Explanation

Incidentally, taking by the scientific explanation, w e should also acknow ledge the dogmatic explanation. When an earthquake strikes, the scientific explanation attributes the quake to the friction betw een the moving earth plates. But w ho created all the agencies? Allah Almighty, in His a divine w isdom. Consequently, there is no conflict betw een the scientific and the dogmatic explanations. As for the scientific miracle, it is something else. I w ill explain.

Scientific Ie’jaz and Miracles

Example of the Scientific Miracles:

﴿ Our eyes have been covered over ﴾

When a certain astronaut w as sent out to space, and reached the outer space beyond the earth’s 65 km thick atmosphere, he shouted at the top of his voice, saying: ‘We have gone blind!’. Dow n on earth, you can see areas hit by sunlight, and areas illuminated indirectly. This is because air particles have the ability to scatter solar radiation in all directions. This phenomenon is called the ‘scattering of light’. But in the vacuum, beyond earth’s air layer, the astronauts found themselves in total darkness. When an eminent Egyptian nuclear scientist, present at the launch headquarters, heard the astronaut’s w ords, he said: ‘This is a scientific miracle’. Why? Because Allah Almighty says:

And even if We open to them a gatew ay of heaven, so that they ascend into it all the whileThey ﴾ ﴿ .w ould certainly say: Only our eyes have been covered over, rather w e are an enchanted people (Surat Al Hijr, 14-15)

This w as said 1400 years ago, and consequently, only He Who created the universe could have revealed these Quranic w ords. There is scientific miracle w hen the message concerning the cosmos that the Ayah carries, is impossible to interpret at the time of its revelation, but can be understood at a far subsequent time. As for the miracles of prophets, this is a yet different matter that has no connection w ith the first tw o: it transcends natural law s, and is hence impossible to explain by the law s of the universe. Allah Almighty says:

Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far﴾ ﴿distant place of w orship the neighborhood w hereof

(Surat Al Isra’, 1)

The Night Journey and Ascension is a Miracle

The Night Journey and Ascension to the Heavens cannot be explained by physical law s w hich it totally transcends, and is therefore a miracle. It is actually Allah’s testimony that this man is His true sent messenger. As for the scientific miracle, it is a very early mention of a phenomenon that w ill be subsequently recognized. As for the scientific explanation, the Prophet, peace be upon him, practiced it and every true missionary must follow in his steps.

Is the Splitting of the Moon a Prophetic or a Scientific Miracle?

Now back to the Moslem in the audience… He asked: ‘Is the Ayah

﴿ The hour drew nigh and the moon w as rent in tw ain ﴾

an example of the scientific miracles found in the Holy Quran? The scholar answ ered: The event is one of the perceptible miracles brought about to support the Prophet, peace be upon him, against the infidels and the polytheist of Mecca w hen they denied his prophethood, to him the best of prayers and the perfect greetings. And miracles transcend earthly norms, w hich are consequently unable to explain them. And if they w ere not mentioned in Allah’s Book and in the Prophet’s biography, w e Moslems w ould not have had to believe in them. I only believe in miracles mentioned in authentic scriptures, Allah’s Book and the Prophet’s life. But to slacken the reins, and believe everything that people say, w ould be play w ith Allah’s religion. The text of the 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: Prolonged illusion. They denied (the Truth) and followed their own lusts. Yet everything w ill come to a decision. And surely there hath come unto them news whereof the purport should ﴿.deter, Effective w isdom; but w arnings avail not

(Surat Al Qamar, 1-5)

The scholar says: ‘When I finished, an Englishman from the audience rose and asked to speak. When I gave permission, he started by introducing himself, that his name w as Daw ood Mousa Biskok, a Moslem, president of the Islamic British Party. Then he added that the opening Ayahs of Surat Al Qamar w ere behind his entering in the late seventies. He w as researching w orld religions, and a Moslem gave him a translation of the meanings of the Holy Quran. He opened a random page w hich happened to be the translation of Allah’s w ords: 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

Of course he thought it w as mere myths, closed the translation, put it aw ay, and that w as that. It is a big mistake to use logic to understand miracles. Reason is confined to the law s of the universe, w hile miracles are Divine, and Allah is Omnipotent. Then Allah so w illed that this man, w ho now is a Moslem, that he w atch a program about space exploration on BBC television, hosted by the w ell know n James Black w ith three guest space specialists. That w as back in 1978. Now mind this: during the interview , the host criticized the excessive spending in the area of space exploration, the Apollo expedition in July having cost 25 billion dollars, in a time w hen people on earth are starving, and millions are in dire need of these funds, and diseases, ignorance and underdevelopment are ravaging the planet. The scientists retorted that many important technologies w ere developed ow ing to these expeditions, w hich are applied in diagnostics, medical therapy, manufacturing, agriculture and other areas. That a tissue is grow n in outer space that can be used to patch a damaged heart, and that can sustain contractions and expansions for decades on end. The sums spent w ere enormous but the benefits w ere sizable too. Soon during the interview , they came to discuss the first flight to the moon and man’s first steps on its surface, and the hundred billion dollars the program cost. This revived the host’s criticism, and the scientists came back in defense: ‘This expedition helped establish a truth that nobody w ould otherw ise have believed, w ere w e to spend many times that amount trying to convince them’. The host replied: ‘And w hat is that truth?’. They said: ‘The moon w as once split and resealed!’. The show w as not about religion, nor w as it about Islam or the Quran, but a discussion betw een the three space scientists and their host on BBC, and they affirmed that the moon w as once split and then resealed, and that there are tangible evidence found on the moon’s surface supporting this fact. Photos of these traces w ere sent to earth and examined by the w orld most eminent scientists w ho unanimously concluded that the moon w as once split and resealed. This Mr. Biskok w ho w as given the Quran translation, w ho opened it randomly to find Allah’s w ords:

﴿.The hour drew nigh and the moon w as rent in tw ain ﴾

w ho cast it aside, this Mr. Biskok said: ‘When I heard these w ords I jumped out of my seat in front of the TV set and said: a miracle given to Mohammad 1400 years ago, described in amazing detail by the Quran, and Allah commits people in this era of science and technology and at such a high price to provide proof for Moslems? This has to be a true religion indeed! And I w ent back to the translation, reading it w ith great enthusiasm w here the opening Ayahs of Surat Al Qamar finally convinced me to enter into Islam’. This is w hy Allah Almighty says:

﴿ We shall show them ﴾

(Surat Fussilat, 53)

It is Allah Almighty, telling the believers about those w ho do not believe:

﴿We shall show them Our portents on the horizons and w ithin themselves﴾

(Surat Fussilat, 53)

And w hat is incredibly amazing is that all the West’s discoveries w ere mentioned in one w ay or another in the Quran, for instance:

The Speed of Light in the Quran and Modern Science Einstein’s Theory of Relativity w hich w as a major turning point in understanding movement, light and speed, states that the speed of light is the maximal speed in the universe, and that any object w ith the velocity of light w ill become light, its mass becomes infinite and its volume becomes zero, and that if w e travel at light speed, time stops. This lesson is a source of light w hich our faces reflect tow ards the outer space. Someone on a vessel travelling at the speed of light should be able to see this scene for a million years to come, w hile w e w ill all be dead and gone in less than a hundred years. If w e move w ith the speed of light, time stops. And if w e w ere to exceed that speed, w e should be able to w itness the battle of Badr as it took place, and the battles of Uhud, the Trenches, Al Qadisiyya, Yarmouk, … If w e overtake light, w e go back in time, and if w e fall short, time retreats. This theory w hich turned the notions of classical physics upside dow n is mentioned in a few numbered w ords of a single Ayah. Allah be He Exalted says:

﴿a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning ﴾

(Surat Al , 47)

Arabs use the

The Arabs addressed by the Quran made use the lunar calendar, and the moon orbits the earth in one . So if w e imagine a line running from the center of the earth to the centre of the moon, this line w ould represent the radius of the moon’s orbit around the earth. How do w e calculate its length? It is equal to ‘the distance from the earth to the moon’ + ‘the radius of the earth’ + ‘the radius of the moon’. This number multiplied by 2 gives us the orbit’s diameter, times 3.14 and w e get the circumference of the orbit, the distance the moon travels in one month. If this is multiplied by 12 then by 1000, this number w ould represent the distance the moon travels in a thousand years. This is a basic calculation w hich any high school student is able to make. Allah be He Exalted says:

﴿a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years ﴾

The distance the moon travels in its journey around the earth in one thousand years, is traveled by light in a single day. And if this number is divided by the number of seconds in the day, w e get the exact speed of light. This giant theory is embodied in the numbered w ords of a single Ayah of the Holy Quran. Dear brothers, this man w ho considered the splitting of the moon a myth, and cast the book aside, w hen he heard space scientists confirming to their on BBC television that the moon once actually split and resealed, and that all w ho saw the photos agreed to that, and that this corroborates the w ords of Allah Almighty:

﴿.The hour drew nigh and the moon w as rent in tw ain ﴾

he believed, for Allah Almighty says:

﴿Those truly fear Allah, among His Servants, w ho have know ledge ﴾

(Surat Fatir, 28)

And there’s the case of that atheist in San Francisco, in the USA, atheist because as a youngster, his father threw him out of home, out of sheer fanatism, because he criticized his religion instructor, w ith w hom he w as at odds. So he rebelled against all religions and professed atheism. He w as how ever a very bright fellow , he continued his education and managed to enter college and enroll in the faculty of mathematics. An amusing anecdote they tell about him, is that he so embarrassed his teacher in class, that the teacher w ould propose: ‘If you stay out of the classroom, I’ll give you the perfect grade’. He w as an atheist, and one of the most eminent lecturers in mathematics at the University of San Francisco Then it happened that a young Middle Eastern w oman sought one of his old professors at the university, w ith the view of preparing a PhD in mathematics. It w as a hot summer day, American girls w ent around half naked, but she w ore the full Islamic veil. Finding it a little more than he can handle, the professor sent her to one of his old students, our young atheist, the professor of mathematics at the University Of San Francisco. He says: When I looked at the young w oman, heavily veiled, and knew that she w as from the Middle East, it changed how I looked at Middle Eastern w omen. She w as all veiled, at a time American girls go about nearly naked. I couldn’t examine her face closely, out of the reverence she inspired. She had determination and seemed like a saint. I w anted to help her in anyw ay I could. Still, that same day, I started a serious reading of the Quran, trying to find in it some myths or scientific errors, for I had rejected all religions. Indeed he found the error, or rather w hat he thought w as an error in Allah’s w ords:

﴿ … But We w ill this day deliver you w ith your body ﴾

Allah addresses Pharaoh:

﴿that you may be a sign to those after you …﴾

(Surat Yunus, 92)

He shared his finding w ith a friend of his, w ho is the head of the Paris morgue, saying: ‘You alw ays maintained that sacred books have a Divine origin, w hat do you say of this Ayah:

﴿But We w ill this day deliver you w ith your body that you may be a sign to those after you ﴾

this happened six thousand years ago’. His friend replied: ‘The person you are talking about w as sent to us, from Egypt to Paris, w here he w as received like kings. I personally reconditioned the body of w hich I kept a photograph’. It w as Pharaoh, w ith traces of salt in his mouth, the drow ned Pharaoh of Moses w hose body is still intact. A few years back the body w as sent to Paris to be cleansed. This professor of mathematics is called Jeffrey Lang. He w rote a book about Islam entitled ‘Why I became a Muslim’ w hich he dedicated to his daughters. He is today one of Islam’s most eminent heralds in the USA. I had arranged to meet w ith him in the USA, but our rendezvous finally conflicted w ith my departure date. His book w as translated into . I taught long passages of this book in Osman’s in Damascus. It w as a journey from atheism to faith. When master Khaled entered into Islam, the Prophet said in a mild reproach:

((I am amazed at you Khaled, you are intelligent though))

This is to say that superior understanding, perception and judgment, lead inevitably to Islam. In this sense it is reported in the tradition that ‘the most intelligent are the stauncher in their love to Allah’. So if it this w orldly existence that you are after, hold fast to science. And if you seek the hereafter, hold fast to science. And if you w ant both, hold fast to science:

﴿Those of His servants only w ho are possessed of knowledge fear Allah ﴾

Translation : Iman Nashar Auditing : Zena El-Abaza