coming together with stout poles. On becoming a soldier and joining the army, a weak, powerless man becomes so strong he may challenge a thousand men.

TWELFTH SIGN

This consists of three examples related to the Eleventh Sign, but which are examples of the greatest importance.

F i r s t E x a m p l e:

And when you threw, it was not you who threw; it was rather God that threw.(177)

As established by the researches of all Qur’anic commentators, and by the reports of the scholars of Hadith, this verse refers to the following incident during the Battle of Badr:

God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) took up a handful of earth and small stones and threw them at the army of the unbelievers, saying: “May your faces be deformed!” Just as these words entered the ears of all of them despite being a single phrase, so too the handful of earth entered the eyes of each one of the unbelievers. Each became preoccupied with his eyes, and although on the attack, the army suddenly turned tail and fled.(178)

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(177) Qur’an, 8:17.
(178) al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id vi, 84.