Like  those  mentioned  above,  many  predictions  which  the  Noble  Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) gave concerning the Unseen have been recorded in the six best-known, authentic books of Hadith, together with the chains of the narrators. As for the occurrences related in this work, they are definite to the degree of ‘consensus in meaning,’ being related in Bukhari and Muslim, which are accepted by the  scholars  as  the  most  authentic  sources  after  the  Qur’an,  and  in  the  other collections  like  Tirmidhi,  Nasa’i,  Abu  Da’ud,  Mustadrak  al-Hakim,  Musnad  al- Ahmad b. Hanbal, and Dala’il al-Bayhaqi.

Now,  unthinking  denier!  Do  not  shrug  these  off,  saying,  “Muhammad  the Arabian was clever!” Because the accurate predictions of Muhammad (UWBP) concerning  the Unseen  cannot  be explained  except  in either of the following  two ways: you will either suppose that this blessed person had such piercing vision and expansive  genius that he saw and knew the past and the future and all the world; beheld the East, the West, and the whole universe; and discovered what happened in the past and what will happen in the future. Such a quality is not to be found in a human being, but if it was to be, it would certainly be a wonder, a gift, bestowed on him by the Creator of the world, which would itself be the greatest of miracles. Or you will believe this blessed  person  to be an official and a student  of One under whose disposal and observation everything stands, under whose command are all ages and all the  species  and realms  of beings  in the  cosmos,  in whose  great  ledger  is recorded everything, so that He may show and communicate them to his student whenever He wishes. Thus, Muhammad  the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace) instructs others as he himself is instructed by the Lord of Pre-Eternity.

It is related in an authentic narration that when the Prophet (UWBP) appointed Khalid  b.  al-Walid  to  fight  against  Ukaydir,  the  head  of the Dumat  al-Jandal,  he informed Khalid that he would find Ukaydir on a wild ox hunt,[82]and that he would becaptured without resistance. Khalid captured Ukaydir in exactly this way.

According to an authentic narration, when the Quraysh hung up on the wall of the Ka‘ba  a leaf on which were  written  words  against  the  Bani  Hashim,  the Prophet (UWBP)  said  to  them:  “Worms  have  eaten the  leaf, except  the parts  bearing  the names of God.”[83] They examined the leaf to find it in the same condition as had been described.

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[82] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 344; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa’, iii, 218; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 704; Ibn al-Qayyim, Zad al-Ma’ad, v, 538-9; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 519; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l- Nihaya, iv, 30.

[83] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 345; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa’, iii, 720; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 706; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, iii, 96-7; Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-Nabi, i, 371.