Seventh:  Ibn  al-‘Ala,  a  famous  Christian  scholar,  told  of  God’s  Messenger (UWBP)  before  his  mission,  never  having  seen  him.  He  later  came,  saw  the Messenger (UWBP), and said: “By the One who sent you in truth, I found your description in the Gospels, and the Son of Mary gave glad tidings of your coming.”[365]

Eighth: Mentioned  above was the Negus of Abyssinia,  who declared: “Would that I had been the servant of Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace),  rather  than  a  king.  To  serve  him  would  have  been  far  superior  to  this sovereignty.”[366]

In addition to these tidings given by these learned men through divine inspiration from the Unseen, soothsayers too gave news from the Unseen of the coming of God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and of his prophethood, by means of jinn and spirit beings. These are numerous also, and we shall mention a few which are well-known, have reached the degree of ‘consensus in meaning,’ and are related in most of the books of history and the Prophet’s  (UWBP)  biography.  Referring  the lengthy accounts of them to those books, we shall give only a summary of them.

The First is the famous soothsayer, Shiqq, who had only one eye, one arm, and one leg; he was quite simply half a man. His repeated predictions concerning Muhammad’s (UWBP) messengership have passed into the history books, with the certainty of consensus in meaning.[367]

The  Second   is  the  famous  soothsayer   of  Damascus,   Satêh,   who   was  a monstrosity lacking bones, and even limbs, whose face was in his chest and who lived a very long time. He was highly reputed at that time for the correct information he gave concerning the Unseen. The Persian king, Chosroes, even, sent a learned envoy called Mubezan to ask Satih to interpret a strange dream he had at the time of Muhammad’s (UWBP) birth, in which the fourteen pinnacles of his palace collapsed. Satih said: “Fourteen men will rule over you, then your empire will be destroyed. Also  someone  will come who  will announce  a religion;  he will abolish both your religion and your empire,” sending news of this to Chosroes. In this way, Satih explicitly foretold the coming of the Prophet of the end of time.[368]

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[365] ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 744; Yusuf Nabhani, Hujjat Allah ‘ala’l-‘Alamin, 121, 208.

[366] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 365; Yusuf Nabhani, Hujjat Allah ‘ala’l-‘Alamin, 115; Bayhaqi, Dala’il al- Nubuwwa, ii, 285.

[367] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 364; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 747; Yusuf Nabhani, Hujjat Allah ‘ala’l- ‘Alamin, 168-72; Abu Nu’aym, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, i, 123, 125.

[368] Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, ii, 355-69; Bayhaqi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, ii, 126, 129; Abu Nu’aym, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, i, 125; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 365; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 747; Suyuti, al-Khasa’is al-Kubra, i, 128-30.