from the fingers of the Commander-in-Chief, and gave them to drink.

It is for this reason that all the examples of the miracles concerning food and water do not attain the degree of the miracle of the moaning of the pole. However, in their entirety, the various kinds of these two miracles are as numerous and unanimously reported as the moaning of the pole. Moreover, not everyone could see the increase of food and water flowing from his fingers; they could only see the results. Whereas everyone heard the pole moaning, so it was more widely broadcast.

If it is asked: All the actions and conduct of God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) were recorded and transmitted by his Companions with extreme care. Why then are such great miracles only narrated through ten or twenty chains of transmission, when they should have been narrated through a hundred? Also, why are many narrated from Anas, Jabir, and Abu Hurayra, and few related from Abu Bakr and ‘Umar?

The Answer: The answer to the first part of the question has been given in the Third Principle in the Fourth Sign. Regarding the second part: just as someone in need of medicine goes to a doctor, mathematicians are consulted on mathematical problems, and questions to do with the Shari‘a are asked of the Mufti, and so on; so too, some of the scholars among the Companions were charged with the duty of instructing succeeding centuries in the Hadiths of the Prophet, working with all their