Sixteenth Sign.Part7

THE THIRD KIND

These are irhasat including the wondrous events which occurred at the time of, and in conjunction with, the birth of God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace). There were also events that occurred before his prophetic mission which were miracles.

There were many, but we shall mention a few examples which became famous, have been accepted by the authorities on hadiths whose authenticity have been established.

The First: On the night of the Prophet’s birth, both his mother, and the mothers of ‘Uthman b. al-‘As and ‘Abd al-Rahman b. ‘Awf, who were with her, saw a brilliant, widely scattered light, about which they said: “At the time of his birth we saw such a light that it lit up the east and the west for us.”

The Second: That night most of the idols in the Ka‘ba toppled over and fell to the ground.

The Third: That night the famous aywan of Chosroes’ palace shook and cracked apart, and its fourteen pinnacles collapsed.

The Fourth: That night the small lake of Saveh which was considered to be holy, sank into the ground, and at Istakhrabad the fire which, burning continuously for a thousand years, the Zoroastrians had worshipped, was extinguished.

Thus, these four events indicated that the one had just been born would abolish fire-worship, destroy the palace of the Persian kings, and prevent those things being sanctified which God did not permit.

The Fifth: Although they did not coincide with the night of his birth, certain events that took place not long before it are also included in the irhasat of Muhammad (PBUH). One is the War of the Elephant, which is mentioned in the Qur’an in Sura al-Fil. Abraha, the king of Abyssinia came to destroy the Ka‘ba, driving a huge elephant called Mahmudi before his forces. When they came close to Makkah, the elephant was unable to move. They could not make it move forward, and had to retreat. While retreating, a flock of birds attacked and routed them, and they fled. This extraordinary story is recorded in detail in the history books. The event was one of the proofs of the prophethood of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), for it occurred close in time to his birth and saved the Holy Ka‘ba, his qibla, birthplace, and native land from Abraha’s destruction.

The Sixth: According to the testimony of Halima al-Sa‘diya and her husband, when God’s Messenger was with them in his childhood, they frequently saw a cloud above him shielding him from the sun. They told everyone this, and it was well-known and authenticated.

Also, as testified to by the monk Bahira, when the Noble Messenger went to Damascus at the age of twelve, he saw a cloud casting a shadow over his head, and he pointed this out.

Again before his prophetic mission, one time God’s Messenger returned from a trading journey he made together with Khadija’s servant, Maysara, when Khadija saw two angels shading him like clouds. She mentioned this to her servant Maysara, and he replied: “I observed the same thing throughout our journey.”

The Seventh: It is established in a sound narration that before his prophetic mission, God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) sat down beneath a tree. Although the place was dried up, it suddenly grew green. The tree’s branches inclined over his head, twisting back and shading him.

The Eighth: When the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was small, he stayed in Abu Talib’s house. Whenever he ate together with Abu Talib and his household, they would eat to repletion; whereas when he was not present, they were not satisfied. This is both well-known and definite.

Also, Umm Ayman, who looked after and served the Prophet when he was small, said: “God’s Messenger never complained about being hungry or thirsty, neither when small nor when he was older.”

The Ninth: It is both well-known and definite that unlike other members of her tribe, his wet-nurse Halima al-Sa‘diya’s goats and possessions were very productive and abundant.

Also, flies did not bother him; they never alighted on his clothes or blessed body just as one of his progeny, Sayyid ‘Abd al-Qadir Gilani, received this legacy from his forefather, for flies never alighted on him either.

The Tenth: After God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was born, and especially on the night of his birth, there was a great increase in falling stars. As shown with decisive proofs in the Fifteenth Word, falling stars are a sign and indication of jinns and devils being barred from receiving news of the Unseen. Thus, since God’s Messenger had appeared in the world together with Revelation, it was necessary to prevent the knowledge about the Unseen being transmitted by soothsayers, diviners, and jinn, which was inaccurate and mixed with lies, so that their knowledge should not cause any doubts about Revelation, and should not resemble it. Before the prophetic mission, soothsaying was widespread. Then the Qur’an brought it to an end after it was revealed. Indeed, many soothsayers accepted Islam, for they could no longer find their informers, who were jinns. That is, the Qur’an had put an end to it. And these days a new type of soothsaying has appeared in the form of mediums among the spiritualists of the West. However, we shall not go into that now.

I n  S h o r t: Very many events occurred and individuals appeared confirming and causing others to confirm the prophethood of the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) before the commencement of his mission.

For sure, before the appearance of the one who was going to be the ruler of the world and would change the world’s spiritual shape, and would make this world into the tillage for the next, and proclaim the high value of the creatures of the world, and show to man and jinn the way to eternal happiness and save them from everlasting extinction, and solve the obscure talisman of the world and riddle of the wisdom in its creation, and would know and make known the purposes of the universe’s Creator, and recognize the Creator and acquaint Him to all men-before such a one appeared, surely everything, all species and realms of beings would be happy at his coming, would await him and welcome and applaud him, and if his coming was made known to them by their Creator, they in turn would announce it.

Just as we saw in the above Signs and examples how each realm of creature displayed his miracles as if welcoming him, and confirmed his prophethood through the tongue of miracles.