Imam An-Nawawi
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].]
