Furthermore, books of both history and the Prophet’s (UWBP) biography testify that, next to the preservation of the Qur’an and its verses, the Companions worked with  all  their  strength  to  preserve  the  deeds  and  words  of  God’s  Most  Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and especially those relating to the injunctions of the Shari‘a and to miracles, paying extreme attention to their accuracy. They never neglected even the tiniest aspect of his conduct, actions, and states. This and the fact that they recorded them is testified to by books of Hadith.

In addition, in the Era of Bliss, they wrote down and recorded very many of the Hadiths  concerning   the  injunctions   of  the  Law  and  his  miracles.   The  Seven ‘Abdullah’s [95]   in  particular  recorded  them  in  writing.  Especially  ‘Abdullah  b.  al-‘Abbas, known as the Interpreter of the Qur’an, and ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘As some thirty to forty years later, and the thousands of exacting scholars of the generation that followed  the Companions  recorded  the Hadiths and miracles in writing. Still later, chiefly the four great interpreters of the Law and thousands of exacting scholars of Hadith related them and preserved them in writing. Then two hundred years after the Hijra,  foremost  Bukhari  and  Muslim  and  the  six  accepted  books  of  tradition, undertook the duty of their preservation. Many severe critics such as Ibn al-Jawzi emerged who identified false reports which had been produced by deniers, the unthinking, the ignorant, or those who had recalled them wrongly. Later, learned and exacting scholars like Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, who seventy times was honoured in a waking state by the presence and conversation of God’s Noble Messenger (UWBP), differentiated  the diamonds  of authentic  traditions  from other  sayings  and fabrications.

Thus,  the  incidents  and  miracles  we  shall  speak  of,  have  come  down  to  us through  numerous,  perhaps  uncountable,  strong  and  trustworthy  hands,  and  have reached us in sound condition. “All praise be to God, this is from the bounty of my Lord.” It is for this reason that one’s mind should be freed from the notion that these incidents have been distorted or confused in any way in being passed down all the way from that time to the present.

T h e   F i r s t   E x a m p l e of definite miracles concerning the Prophet’s (UWBP) increase of food through his blessing. The six accurate books of tradition, Bukhari  and  Muslim  included,  unanimously  relate  that  during  the  feast  on  the occasion  of the Noble  Messenger’s  (UWBP)  marriage  to  Zaynab,  Anas’s  mother, Umm Sulaym, prepared a dish by frying two handfuls of dates in oil and sent it with Anas to the Messenger (UWBP).

[95] The seven ‘Abdullah’s (al-‘Abadila al-Sab’a): ‘Abdullah b. ‘Abbas, ‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar, ‘Abdullah b. Mas’ud, ‘Abdullah b. Raw\ha, ‘Abdullah b. Salam, ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘As, ‘Abdullah b. Abi Awfa (R. A.).