SEVENTEENTH SIGN

After the Qur’an, the greatest miracle of God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was his own self. That is, the elevated moral virtues brought together in his person, which as friend and foe agreed was in all respects of the ver y highest degree. A hero of the greatest bravery, ‘Ali, said again and again: “Whenever the fighting grew fierce, we would take refuge behind God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace).” [396]  Like this, his was the highest and unattainable degree of all praiseworthy qualities. For this greatest miracle, we refer readers to the al-Shifa’ al-Sharif  of Qadi Iyad,  the  learned  scholar  of the  Maghrib,  for he described  and proved beautifully this miracle of praiseworthy moral qualities.

A further great miracle of Muhammad (UWBP) which is verified by friend and foe alike is his illustrious Shari‘a, the like of which neither came before it nor will come after it. For a partial explanation of it, we refer readers to the thirty-three Words, thirty-three Letters, thirty-one Flashes, and thirteen Rays which we have written.

Among his greatest miracles, a certain one, the many reports of which are unanimous, is the Splitting of the Moon. This miracle is related through many chains of transmission from many of the leading Companions like Ibn Mas‘ud, Ibn ‘Abbas, Ibn ‘Umar, ‘Ali, Anas, and Hudhayfa. In addition, the Qur’an announced this supreme miracle to the whole world with the verse:

The Hour is nigh, and the moon split.(54:1)

The obdurate idolators of the Quraysh at that time could not deny what this verse  states;  they  could  only  declare  that  it  was  “magic.”[397]   That  is  to  say,  the unbelievers  also  confirmed  the  splitting  of the moon as certain.  For this supreme miracle, we refer readers to the Addendum of the Thirty-First Word.

[396] Musnad, i, 86; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 143; Kanz al-‘Ummal, xii, 419.

[397] Tirmidhi, Tafsir al-Qur’an, 54:5; Musnad, iv, 82.