In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.The Hour has approached, and the moon split. But whenever they see asign, they turn away, saying: "This is evidently part of (his) magic."(54:1-2)
Question:
Materialist philosophers and their imitators, who want todeny
this bright miracle of Prophet Muhammad, say: "If the event
reallyhappened, it would have been known all over the world and related inall
historical documents."
Answer:
This miracle occurred before a group of people to
convincethem of his Prophethood. It happened momentarily at a time of nightwhen
people were sleeping; such obstacles as mist, clouds, and time dif-ferences
prevented others from seeing it; and, moreover, at that time sci-ence and
civilization were not yet advanced or widespread. Thus thepractice of observing
the sky was quite limited. Last but not least, thereis no reason why it should
have been seen worldwide. To remove suchclouds of delusion, consider the
following five points:
First point:
The stubbornness of Muhammad's unbelieving
contem-poraries is well-known and recorded. When the Qur'an announced
thisincident in
the moon split,
not one unbeliever dared contradict it. If theyhad not
seen this event, they would have used this verse as a pretext toattack the
Prophet more formidably. However, neither biographies of theProphet nor history
books report anything that even suggests their deni-al of this event. Their
reaction was recorded as:
This is evidently part of hismagic.
They declared the event to be magic, and added further
that if caravans in other places had seen it, it had truly happened;
otherwise,the Prophet had bewitched them. When caravans arriving the
followingmorning from Yemen and other places announced that they had seenthis
miracle, the unbelievers replied: "The magic of Abu Talib's orphanhas
affected even the heavens!"
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Second point:
The majority of the foremost scholars of meticulous
re-search, such as Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani, concluded that, like the
earlier-mentioned miracles of water flowing from the Prophet's fingers and
theaudible grieving of the wooden pole against which the Prophet used tolean
while delivering sermons, when it was separated from him follow-ing the
construction of a pulpit, the splitting of the moon is
mutawatir
.This means that it has been transmitted down the generations
by onetruthful group after another, and that the transmitters form such a
vastcommunity that they are unable to agree on a lie. It is as certain
asHaley's comet, which appeared 1,000 years ago, or the existence of
an is-land we have not seen. Therefore it is unreasonable to foster
baselessdoubts about such certain, witnessed matters. In fact, it is enough
fortheir acceptability that they are not impossible. Splitting the moon is justas
possible as splitting a mountain by a volcanic eruption.
Third point:
Prophets work miracles to prove their claim of
Prophet-hood and to convince deniers, not to compel belief. Thus every miracle
isshown to convince those who heard the claim of Prophethood. If theysomehow
forced everyone to see or believe in them, the All-Wise's
Wis-dom, the Divine purpose for creating us with free will
and sending reli-gion, which entails that the ground be prepared for the
mind's willingacceptance, would be violated.Thus if the All-Wise Creator had
left the moon split for several hoursso that everyone could see it and record
it in their historical records, itwould have been only another astronomical
event instead of an eventunique to Muhammad's Messengership or an evidence of
his Prophet-hood. If everyone had been compelled to believe, free will would be
an-nulled and Abu Jahl's coal-like spirit would be equal to Abu
Bakr'sdiamond-like spirit. Thus the purpose of creating humanity with a
spe-cial function and responsibility, as well as the purpose for sending
revel-ation, would be negated. That is why this miracle was not shown
world-wide so that it could be recorded.
Fourth point:
Some argue that if this event really occurred, it
wouldhave been mentioned in Chinese, Japanese, and Native American histor-ical
accounts.
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But how could they have seen it for, in addition to
otherobstacles, it was barely sunset in such European countries as Spain,
291.Some books also state that the moon fell to Earth after
it split into two parts. Truth-ful scholars have rejected this, for it was
added by a hypocrite who intended to re-duce this evident miracle's value to
nothing.
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France, and England (all enveloped in mists of ignorance),
daytime inAmerica, and morning in China and Japan.
Fifth point:
This miracle is not an ordinary incident that happened
dueto particular causes or randomly so that it should be criticized based onthe
law of cause and effect. Rather, the All-Wise Creator of the sun andthe moon
made it an extraordinary event to confirm His Messenger'sProphethood and
support his claim. Therefore it was shown as a convin-cing proof to certain
people and specified by Divine Wisdom, for thenature of Divine guidance and
human responsibility as well as the reas-on for raising a Messenger required
this. If it had been seen by those whowere not intended to see it and who had
not yet heard of Muhammad'sProphethood, and if it had occurred according to the
law of cause and ef-fect, it would have been an ordinary astronomical event
instead of a mir-acle specific to and connected with his Messengership.In
conclusion, these arguments are enough for any mind to be con-vinced of the
possibility that this miracle occurred. Out of many evid-ences of its
occurrence, we shall mention only six, as these six have thestrength of a
six-fold consensus:• The Companions, all people of justice and
truthfulness, agree thatit took place.• All exacting Qur'anic interpreters
agree that
the moon split
indic-ates that a gesture of Muhammad's fingers
caused this event.• All truthful Traditionists
narrated this incident through variousauthentic channels of
transmission.• All people of truth and sainthood, as well as of
inspiration andspiritual discovery, testify that this event took
place.• All foremost theologians and learned
scholars confirm this event,despite their other differences of
opinions.• Muhammad's community, which an authentic Prophetic
Traditionstates can never agree on an error, accepts its occurrence.These six
evidences clearly prove the splitting of the moon.Thus we have established
this miracle's reality by refuting objectionsto its possibility. In a few
concluding sentences, we will speak in thename of the truth and for the sake of
belief.The Seal of the Prophets, the luminous moon of the heaven of
Messen-gership, proved his sainthood through his Ascension. His
sainthood'sgreatest miracle, achieved through the quality of his worship,
elevatedhim to the status of God's beloved. In other words, by making
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Muhammad travel through the heavens, God showed its dwellers
andthose of the highest realms that he is their superior and His
beloved.By allowing a man's gesture to split the moon, which is set in the
skyand bound to Earth, people saw another great evidence of his Messen-gership.
Thus Prophet Muhammad flew to the summit of perfections onthe two brilliant
wings of Messengership and sainthood (like the moon'stwo bright halves),
ascended to
two bows' length
(the highest rank andnearest station to God), and
became the cause of pride for all inhabitantsof the heavens and Earth.Upon him
and his Family be blessings and peace such as to fill Earthand the heavens.
Glory be unto You. We have no knowledge save whatYou have taught us. You
are the All-Knowing, All-Wise.O God, for the sake of him by a gesture of
whom the moon split, makemy heart and the hearts of the
Risale-i Nur
's students as devoted and loy-al to the "sun" of
the Qur'an as the moon is to the sun. Amen.
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