In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Treasures of the Prophetic biography.
The proofs of his prophethood, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
These are very numerous, and we shall mention some of them.
Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, says:
"The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has split."
"And if they see a sign, they turn away,"
"and say, 'A continuous magic.'"
"They denied and followed their own desires,"
"and every matter is settled."
“And surely there hath come unto them news whereof the purport should deter,” (54:4)
"A profound wisdom."
"But warnings do not avail, so turn away from them."
The scholars have reached a consensus
that the moon split for the Prophet, peace be upon him.
The hadiths regarding this are very numerous.
Among them is what Imam al-Bukhari recorded
on the authority of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
"The people of Makkah asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, for a sign,"
"so the moon split in Makkah into two parts."
He said: "The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has split."
On the authority of Anas Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
"A man entered the mosque on a Friday"
"through a door facing the pulpit,"
"while the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was standing and delivering the sermon."
"He stood facing the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,"
"and said: 'O Messenger of Allah,'"
"'wealth has been destroyed and the paths are cut off,'"
"'so supplicate to Allah for us to grant us rain.'"
Anas said:
"The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, raised his hands"
"and said: 'O Allah, grant us rain!'"
"'O Allah, grant us rain!'"
"'O Allah, grant us rain!'"
Anas said:
"By Allah, we did not see a single cloud or patch of mist in the sky, nor anything at all,"
"and there was no house or dwelling between us and the mountain of Sal'."
"Then a cloud appeared from behind it like a shield,"
"and when it reached the middle of the sky,"
"it spread out and then rained."
He said: "By Allah, we did not see the sun for six,"
meaning six days.
"Then a man entered through that same door on the following Friday,"
"while the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was standing and delivering the sermon."
"He stood facing him and said:"
"'O Messenger of Allah,'"
"'wealth has been destroyed and the paths are cut off,'"
"'supplicate to Allah to hold it back.'"
He said:
"The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, raised his hands and said:"
"'O Allah, around us and not upon us!'"
"'O Allah, upon the hills, the mountains, the valleys, and the places where trees grow!'"
He said:
"It stopped, and we went out walking in the sun."
Sharik said:
"I asked Anas:"
"'Is he the same man who asked the first time?'"
"He said: 'I do not know.'"
And on his authority, may Allah be pleased with him, he said:
"I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,"
"when the time for the Asr prayer arrived,"
"and the people sought water for ablution but could not find any."
"Then water for ablution was brought to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,"
"and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, placed his hand in that water,"
"and commanded the people to perform ablution from it."
"I saw water gushing from beneath his fingers,"
"and the people performed ablution until the very last of them had finished."
And on his authority, may Allah be pleased with him, he said:
"The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was at al-Zawra',"
"and a vessel containing water that did not cover his fingers was brought to him,"
"so he commanded his Companions to perform ablution."
"He placed his palm in the water,"
"and the water began to gush from between his fingers and the tips of his fingers,"
"until the people had all performed ablution."
I asked Anas: "How many were you?"
He said: "We were three hundred."
On the authority of al-Bara' Ibn 'Azib, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
"We were fourteen hundred on the day of Hudaybiyyah,"
"and Hudaybiyyah was a well,"
"which we drained until we did not leave a single drop in it."
"The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, sat"
"on the edge of the well,"
"and called for water,"
"then he rinsed his mouth and spat into the well."
"We waited for a short while,"
"then we drew water until we were satisfied,"
"and our riding animals were watered and satisfied."
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
"By Allah, I used to press my stomach against the earth out of hunger,"
"and I used to tie a stone against my belly out of hunger."
"One day, I sat on the path from which they would emerge,"
"and Abu Bakr passed by,"
"so I asked him about a verse from the Book of Allah, the Almighty and Exalted,"
"asking him only so that he might invite me [to eat],"
"but he did not do so."
"Then Umar passed by,"
"so I asked him about a verse from the Book of Allah, the Almighty and Exalted,"
"asking him only so that he might invite me,"
"but he did not do so."
"Then Abu al-Qasim, peace be upon him, passed by,"
"and he recognized what was on my face and in my soul,"
"and said:"
"'Abu Hurayrah!'"
I said to him:
"At your service, O Messenger of Allah."
He said:
"'Follow me.'"
"I sought permission,"
"and he granted it to me,"
"and he found milk in a bowl."
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said to his family:
"'From where did you get this milk?'"
They said:
"'It was gifted to us by so-and-so,'"
"or the family of so-and-so."
He said:
"'Abu Hurayrah!'"
I said:
"At your service, O Messenger of Allah."
He said:
"'Go to the people of al-Suffah and invite them to me.'"
Abu Hurayrah said:
"The people of al-Suffah were the guests of Islam,"
"having no family or wealth to return to."
"When a gift came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,"
"he would take some of it,"
"and send the rest to them."
"And when charity came to him,"
"he would send it to them and take none of it himself."
Abu Hurayrah said:
"That saddened me,"
"for I had hoped to have a drink of that milk,"
"to gain strength for the rest of my day and night."
"I said to myself:"
"I am the messenger,"
"so when the people come,"
"I will be the one to serve them."
"I said:"
"What will remain for me of this milk?"
"Yet there was no alternative to obeying Allah, the Almighty and Exalted,"
"and obeying His Messenger, peace be upon him."
"So I went and invited them,"
"and they came and sought permission, and he granted it to them,"
"and they took their seats in the house."
"Then he said:"
"'Abu Hurayrah!'"
"'Take it and serve them.'"
He said:
"I took the bowl,"
"and began to serve them,"
"and a man would take the bowl,"
"drink until he was satisfied,"
"and then return the bowl,"
"until I had reached the last of them."
"I handed it to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,"
"who took the bowl,"
"and placed it in his hand,"
"and there was some left in it."
"Then he raised his head, looked at me, and smiled,"
"and said:"
"'Abu Hurayrah!'"
I said:
"At your service, O Messenger of Allah."
He said:
"'Only you and I remain.'"
I said:
"You have spoken the truth, O Messenger of Allah."
He said:
"'Sit down and drink.'"
Abu Hurayrah said:
"I sat down and drank."
"Then he said:"
"'Drink!'"
"So I drank."
"He kept telling me to drink,"
"and I would drink,"
"until I said:"
"No, by the One who sent you with the truth,"
"I can find no more room for it."
He said:
"'Hand me the bowl.'"
"I handed the bowl back to him,"
"and he drank the remainder."
On the authority of Anas Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
"Abu Talhah said to Umm Sulaym:"
"'I have heard the voice of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, sounding weak,'"
"'and I recognize hunger in it.'"
"'Do you have anything?'"
"She said: 'Yes.'"
"She brought out some barley loaves,"
"then she took out a head-covering of hers,"
"wrapped the bread in part of it,"
"and tucked it under my hand,"
"and wrapped me with the rest of it."
"Then she sent me to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
He said:
"I went with it,"
"and found the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, in the mosque with the people."
"I stood before him,"
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said to me:
"Did Abu Talhah send you?"
I replied, "Yes."
He asked,
"With food?"
I replied, "Yes."
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, then said to those with him:
"Rise."
They set out, and I walked ahead of them,
until I reached Abu Talhah and informed him.
Abu Talhah said,
"O Umm Sulaym,
the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has come with the people,
and we do not have enough to feed them."
She replied,
"Allah and His Messenger know best."
Abu Talhah went out until he met the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, approached with Abu Talhah accompanying him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"Come, O Umm Sulaym,
what do you have?"
She brought that bread.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, commanded it,
and it was crumbled.
Umm Sulaym squeezed some fat over it, seasoning it.
Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said over it what Allah willed him to say.
Then he said,
"Admit ten."
They were admitted.
They ate until they were full, then left.
Then he said,
"Admit ten."
They were admitted.
They ate until they were full, then left.
Then he said,
"Admit ten."
They were admitted.
They ate until they were full, then left.
Then he said, "Admit ten."
The entire group ate,
and the group consisted of seventy or eighty men.
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
During the expedition of Tabuk,
the people suffered from famine.
They said, "O Messenger of Allah,
if only you would permit us to slaughter our camels,
so we could eat and use their fat."
He said, "Do so."
Then Umar came and said,
"O Messenger of Allah,
if they do that, the transport will be reduced.
Instead, ask them to bring the remnants of their provisions,
then invoke Allah’s blessing upon them,
perhaps Allah will place blessing in that."
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, commanded
a leather mat to be spread out.
He called for the remnants of their provisions, and they were brought.
A man would come with a handful of dates,
another with a piece of bread,
until a small amount of that had gathered on the mat.
He invoked Allah’s blessing upon it, then said,
"Take it into your vessels."
They filled their vessels,
until there was not a single empty vessel left in the entire army,
for they had filled them all.
They ate until they were full,
and there was still some left over.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"I bear witness that there is no god but Allah,
and that I am the Messenger of Allah.
No servant meets Allah with this testimony, without doubt,
but that he will be barred from the Fire."
On the authority of Jabir Ibn Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said:
We traveled with the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
until we descended into the valley of Afiyah.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, went to relieve himself.
I followed him with a vessel of water.
He looked around but saw nothing to screen him.
There were two trees on the edge of the valley.
He went to one of them,
took hold of one of its branches,
and said, "Yield to me by the permission of Allah."
It yielded to him like a camel with a nose-ring, following its leader.
When he reached the midpoint between them,
he brought them together and said,
"Yield to me by the permission of Allah."
They joined together.
Jabir said,
Jabir said,
I went away, fearing
they would join.
They joined.
They joined.
They joined.
They joined.
Jabir said,
I went away, fearing
that he might sense my proximity and move away.
So I sat, talking to myself.
Then I happened to glance over,
and there was the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, approaching,
and the two trees had separated,
each standing on its own trunk.
I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, pause,
and he gestured with his head like this, to the right and left,
looking around him.
On the authority of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said:
We were with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, on a journey.
A Bedouin approached.
When he drew near to him,
the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said to him,
"Where are you heading?"
He said, "To my family."
He said,
"Do you want something better?"
"What is it?"
He said,
"To testify that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner,
and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger."
He said,
"Is there any witness to what you say?"
He said,
"This tree."
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, called it,
and it was on the edge of the valley.
It came, furrowing the earth as it moved,
until it stood before him,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
He asked it to bear witness three times,
and it testified that he was as he said.
Then it
returned to its place of growth.
The Bedouin returned
to his people and said,
"If they follow me, I will bring them to you,
otherwise I will return to you
and be with you."
On the authority of Jabir Ibn Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
used to stand on Friday
by a tree or a palm trunk.
A woman from the Ansar said,
"O Messenger of Allah,
shall we not make a pulpit for you?"
He said,
"If you wish."
So they made a pulpit for him.
When Friday came,
he moved toward the pulpit.
The palm trunk cried out
like the crying of a child.
Then the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, came down,
and embraced it,
like the moaning of a child
that is being quieted.
He said,
"It was weeping for what it used to hear
of the dhikr near it."
On the authority of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him,
that he heard Jabir Ibn Abdullah
say:
The mosque was roofed over trunks
of palm trees.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
when he delivered a sermon,
would stand by one of those trunks.
When the pulpit was made for him,
and he was upon it,
we heard that trunk make
a sound like a pregnant she-camel,
until the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, came
and placed his hand upon it,
and it became quiet.
On the authority of Jabir Ibn Samurah, may Allah be pleased with him,
who said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"I truly know
a stone in Makkah
that used to greet me
before I was sent as a Prophet,
and I know it even now."
On the authority of Anas Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him,
who said:
There was a family among the Ansar
who had a camel they used for irrigation.
It became difficult for them,
and it refused to let them ride it.
The Ansar
came to the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and said,
"We had a camel we used for irrigation,
and it
became difficult for us and refused to let us ride it,
and the crops have become thirsty,
as have the palm trees."
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said
to his Companions,
"Stand up."
He entered the garden, and the camel was in a corner of it.
The Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, walked toward it.
The Ansar said,
"O Messenger of Allah,
it has become
like a rabid dog,
and we fear its aggression toward you."
He replied,
"I am in no danger from it."
When the camel saw
the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
it approached him,
until it fell down
prostrating before him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, then took
it by its forelock,
as submissive as it had ever been,
until he brought it back
to work.
His Companions said to him,
"O Messenger of Allah,
this animal has no intellect,
yet it prostrated to you,
and we are more deserving of prostrating to you."
He said,
"It is not fitting for a human being
to prostrate to another human being.
If it were fitting for a human being
to prostrate to another human being,
I would have commanded a wife to prostrate to her husband
because of the greatness of his right over her."
"By Him in whose hand is my soul,
if there were a sore from his feet
to the crown of his head,
oozing with pus and blood,
and she were to face him,
she would still not have fulfilled his right."
On the authority of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri,
may Allah be pleased with him,
he said:
"A wolf attacked a sheep
and seized it.
The shepherd pursued it and snatched the sheep back.
The wolf then sat on its haunches
and said,
'Do you not fear Allah?
You snatch from me a provision
that Allah had driven to me!'
The shepherd exclaimed,
'How amazing!
Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
is speaking to me with human speech!'
The wolf said to him,
'Shall I tell you of something more amazing
than that?
Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
is in Yathrib,
informing people of the news
of what has already passed.'
He said:
The shepherd then drove his sheep
until he entered Medina,
and he gathered them into a corner
of its corners.
[He went to] the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
and informed him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, gave orders,
and it was announced,
'Prayer is a gathering.'
He then went out and said to the shepherd,
'Tell them.'
The shepherd told them what he had heard
from the wolf.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said,
'He spoke the truth.
By Him in whose hand is my soul,
the Hour will not be established until
wild beasts speak to humans,
a man is spoken to by the tip of his whip
and the strap of his sandal,
and his thigh informs him of what
his family did after he left.'"
On the authority of Salamah ibn al-Akwa',
may Allah be pleased with him, he said:
"A man ate
in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
with his left hand.
He said to him, peace be upon him,
'Eat with your right hand.'
The man said,
'I cannot.'
He said, 'May you not be able to!'
Nothing prevented him but arrogance.
He said:
He was never able to raise it to his mouth again."
On the authority of Anas ibn Malik,
may Allah be pleased with him, he said:
"A man used to
write for the Prophet, peace be upon him,
and he
had read Surah al-Baqarah
and Al 'Imran.
Whenever a man read al-Baqarah
and Al 'Imran, he was held in high esteem among us.
The Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him,
would dictate to him,
'Forgiving, Merciful,'
but the man would write, 'All-Knowing,
All-Wise.'
The Prophet, peace be upon him, would say to him,
'Write such and such.'
He would reply,
'Write however you wish.'
He would dictate to him, 'All-Knowing,
All-Wise,' but he would write,
'All-Hearing, All-Seeing.'
He would say, 'Write
however you wish.'
He said: Then that man apostatized
and joined the polytheists.
He said to the polytheists,
'I know more
about Muhammad than you,
for I used to write
whatever I wished.'
That man died,
and the Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
'The earth
will not accept him.'
Anas said:
Abu Talhah told me
that he went to the land where
that man died,
[finding him] cast out.
Abu Talhah asked,
'What is the matter with this man?'
They said, 'We buried him
repeatedly, but the earth
would not accept him.'
Among the proofs of his prophethood
is what happened to him with Umm Ma'bad.
When he asked her,
'What is this sheep, O Umm
Ma'bad?' she replied,
'A sheep left behind by exhaustion
from the flock.' He said,
'Does it have any milk?'
She said,
'It is too exhausted for that.'
He said, 'Do you permit me
to milk it?'
She said, 'Yes, may my father
and mother be sacrificed for you, if you see
any milk in it, then milk it.'
He called for it,
wiped its udder with his hand,
mentioned the name of Allah, and prayed
for her regarding her sheep.
It spread its legs for him,
gave milk, and chewed its cud.
He called for a vessel
until it was full to the brim.
Then he gave her to drink until
she was satisfied, then
he gave his Companions to drink until they were satisfied,
and he drank last.
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
These are some
of the miracles of the Messenger, peace be upon him.
Imam al-Nawawi has stated
in his commentary
on Sahih Imam Muslim
that the miracles of
the Prophet, peace be upon him,
exceed
2,200.
Treasures of the Seerah.