NINTH SIGN

One of the various kinds of miracles of God’s Most Noble Messenger  (Upon whom be blessings and peace) is that like human beings, trees obeyed his orders, and moving  from  their  places,  came  to  him.  There  is  also  ‘consensus  in  meaning’ concerning the reports of these miracles, like those of water flowing from his fingers. They have been narrated in numerous forms and through numerous channels. Indeed, the  consensus  concerning  trees  leaving  their  places  and  coming  to  him  may  be regarded as clear and unambiguous,[129] because the best-known of the Companions such as ‘Ali,  Ibn ‘Abbas,  Ibn Mas‘ud,  Ibn ‘Umar,  Ya‘la b. Murra, Jabir, Anas b. Malik, Burayda, Usama b. Zayd, and Ghaylan b. Salama all reported the same miracle with certainty. Hundreds of scholars of the succeeding generation narrated the miracle from   one   of   the   above-mentioned   Companions   through   a   different   line   of transmission, as though transmitting it to us in the form of ‘multiple consensus.‘ Thus, this miracle of the trees has decisively and indisputably the certainty of ‘consensus in meaning.’ We will now cite only a few examples of it, although it was repeated many times.

F i r s t  E x a m p l e : Foremost, Imam Maja, and al-Darimi narrate from Anas b. Malik and ‘Ali, and Imam Bayhaqi from ‘Umar, that the Noble Messenger (Upon whom  be blessings  and peace) was saddened  at the denial of the unbelievers.  He prayed: “O my Sustainer!  Give me a sign that  I shall no longer  see anyone who contradicts  me!”[130]  According  to  Anas,  Gabriel  was  also  present,  upon  whose instruction God’s Messenger (UWBP) called to a tree at the side of the valley. It came near him. He then told the tree to go back; it returned and settled itself in its place.

S e c o n d  E x a m p l e : In al-Shifa’ al-Sharif, Qadi Iyad, the leading scholar of the Maghrib, relates from ‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar through an exalted and sound chain of narrators:  “On  one  expedition,  a beduin  approached  the  Noble  Messenger  (Upon whom be blessings and peace).

[128] Bukhari, Istisqa, 3, 6, 10, 12, 13, 21; Muslim, Istisqa, 8-10; Bayhaqi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, vi, 139-46.

[129] Kattani, Nazm al-Mutanathir, 137.

[130] Ibn Maja, Fitan, 23, no: 4028; Darimi, Muqaddima, 3; Musnad, i, 223; iii, 113; iv, 177; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 302; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 620; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, ix, 10; al- Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal, ii, 354.