Chapter 9 Ninth Sign: Trees obeyed his orders

 Chapter 

9

Ninth Sign: Trees obeyed his orders

One kind of miracle of God's Messenger is that trees obeyed his ordersand approached him. This miracle, like those connected with water flow-ing from his fingers, has the certainty of 

 tawatur

 in meaning. Many ex-amples have been reported through various channels.Trees uprooting themselves upon the Messenger's command anddrawing near him can be considered explicit

 tawatur

, because the best-known, trustworthy Companions (e.g., 'Ali, Ibn 'Abbas, Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn'Umar, Ya'la ibn Murra, Jabir, Anas ibn Malik, Burayda, Usama ibnZayd, and Ghaylan ibn Salama) reported the same miracle with cer-tainty. Hundreds of Tabi'un scholars received their reports directly,which have come down to us and thus have the authority of multiple

tawatur

. This miracle therefore has the certainty of 

 tawatur

 in meaning.We mention only a few examples.

 First example

:

 Ibn Maja, Darimi, and Bayhaqi (through 'Ali and Anasibn Malik), and Bazzar and Imam Bayhaqi (from 'Umar) report: "ThreeCompanions narrated that God's Messenger was disturbed by the unbe-lievers' denial. He prayed: 'O Lord, show me a sign so that I will nolonger heed anyone who contradicts me.' Anas relates that Gabriel alsowas present, and that upon his instruction God's Messenger called to atree located at one side of the valley in which they were located. It left itsplace and drew near to him. He told it to go back, and so it returned andsettled down in its place."

103

Second example:

 Qadi 'Iyad, scholar of the Muslim West (North Africaand al-Andalus), relates in his

 al-Shifa' al-Sharif 

 from 'Abdullah ibn'Umar through a sound chain of the most eminent narrators: "A Bedouinapproached God's Messenger during an expedition. The Messengerasked: 'Where are you going?' He replied: 'To my Family.' The Messen-ger asked: 'Don't you desire something better?' When the Bedouin asked

103.Shifa', 1:302; related by Bayhaqi, Ibn Maja, Darimi, Bazzar, and Ibn Hanbal.

what that might be, God's Messenger replied: 'To bear witness that thereis no god but God, alone with no partner, and that Muhammad is Hisservant and Messenger.' The Bedouin asked: 'Can you prove this?' God'sMessenger replied: 'That tree at the side of the valley will bear witness.'"Ibn 'Umar relates the rest of the event: "That tree swayed, uprooted it-self, left the soil, and drew near to God's Messenger. He asked it threetimes to testify, and each time it testified to his truthfulness. Then heordered the tree to go back and settle down in its place, and it did so."

104

Ibn Sahib al-Aslami relates that Burayda said: "Once a Bedouin askedfor a miracle while we were with God's Messenger on an expedition. TheMessenger pointed to a tree and told him: 'Tell that tree that God's Mes-senger summons it.' The tree swayed, freed itself, and drew near to theMessenger, saying: 'Peace be upon you, O Messenger of God!' The Be-douin said: 'Now tell it to return to its place.' When God's Messengerordered it to do so, the tree went back. When the Bedouin said: 'Let meprostrate myself before you,' the Messenger answered: 'No one is al-lowed to do that.' The Bedouin said: 'Then I will kiss your hand,' and heallowed him to do so."

105

Third example:

 Authentic books of Tradition, including Muslim's

Sahih,

 quote Jabir as relating: "We accompanied God's Messenger on anexpedition. He searched for a place to relieve himself. When he saw thatthere was no screened place, he went to two trees and pulled one of them by a branch next to the other one. The tree was like an obedient camel being pulled by its reins. He addressed them: 'Join together over me, byGod's leave.' The trees did so and formed a screen. After relieving him-self, he ordered them to go back to their places."

106

In another version, Jabir relates it with a very slight, insignificant difference.

107

 Fourth example:

 Usama ibn Zayd, a brave commander and servant of God's Messenger, reports: "We accompanied God's Messenger on an ex-pedition. Unable to find a screened place to relieve himself, he asked me:'Do you see any trees or rocks?' When I said that I did, he told me: 'Goand say to the trees that God's Messenger orders them to join together sothat he may relieve himself, and then tell the rocks to do the same.' Iwent and told them to do this, and I swear by God the trees joined to-gether and the rocks formed a wall. After relieving himself, God's

104.Shifa', 1:298; related by Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban, Bayhaqi, and Hakim.105.Shifa', 1:299; Bazzar, Musnad, 3:49.106.Muslim, no. 3006-12; Bayhaqi, 6:8.107.Shifa', 1:299.

 48

Messenger told me: 'Tell them to separate.' I swear by the Majestic One,in Whose hand is my soul, that the trees and rocks separated and went back to their places."

108

These two incidents also were reported by Ya'laibn Murra, Ghaylan ibn Salama al-Thaqafi, and Ibn Mas'ud in connectionwith the Battle of Hunayn.

 Fifth example:

 Imam Ibn Fawrak, known as the second Shafi'i on ac-count of his excellence in jurisprudence and perfect character, reports:"God's Messenger sometimes felt sleepy while traveling on horseback.One night during the Battle of Ta'if, a lotus tree appeared in front of him.To make way for him and avoid harming his horse, the tree split in half and God's Messenger passed through it while riding his horse. That treehas remained so up to our time."

109

Sixth example:

 Ya'la reports: "During an expedition a

 talha

 or

 samura

tree came and walked around God's Messenger, as if circumambulating,and then went back to its place. God's Messenger said: 'It asked for God'spermission to salute me.'"

110

Seventh example

:

 Traditionists quote Ibn Mas'ud as saying: "When the jinn of Nusaybin came to Batn al-Nakhl to be converted to Islam byGod's Messenger, a tree informed him of their coming." Imam Mujahidrelates from Ibn Mas'ud that when the jinn asked for a proof of hisProphethood, a tree came to the Messenger and then returned to its placeon his order. This miracle was enough to convert them.

111

Those who have heard of 1,000 similar miracles and still do not believeare even further astray than devils. Jinn describe such people as

 the fool-ish ones among us [who used to] utter extravagant lies against God

 (72:4).

Eighth example:

 Tirmidhi reports from Ibn 'Abbas: "God's Messengerasked a Bedouin: 'If that tree branch comes to me when I call it, will you bear witness that I am the Messenger?' He replied that he would, and sothe Messenger called to it. The branch broke off and jumped over near tohim. It then jumped back to its place when the Messenger commanded itto do so."

112

Many similar examples are reported through various narrations. Sevenor eight ropes form a strong cable when they come together. In the sameway, when these tree-related miracles reported by the most renowned

108.Ibid., 1:300, related by Bayhaqi, Ibn Hanbal, and Abu Ya'la.109.Ibid., 1:301.110.Shifa', 1:301; Hakim, 2:617; Ibn Hanbal, 4:170; Bayhaqi, 6:23.111.Bukhari, 5:58; also related by Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, and Ibn Hanbal.112.Tirmidhi, no. 3632; Hakim, 2:620; Bayhaqi, 6:15.

Companions are taken together, they must have the certainty of 

 tawatur

in meaning or even in actual wording. In fact, they gain the degree of ex-plicit

 tawatur

 through the Companions passing them down to the follow-ing generation. In particular, such authentic books of Tradition asBukhari's

 Sahih,

 Muslim's

 Sahih,

 Ibn Hibban's

 Sahih,

 and Tirmidhi's

 Sun-an

 note and record the chain of transmitters (leading back to theProphet's time) so soundly and convincingly that reading an account inBukhari's

 Sahih

, for instance, is equivalent to hearing it from theCompanions.When trees recognize God Almighty's Messenger, confirm his Messen-gership, call upon and salute him, and obey his orders, how can thoseunbelievers who call themselves human beings be considered anything but worthless pieces of wood and worthy of hellfire?

 

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