While the Prophet lived in both Makkah and Madinah, his followers and the blasphemers were witnessing magnificent miracles that God bestowed on the Prophet ﷺ. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had never told a lie. Hence, all the people who knew him should have believed him when he told them that God had made him a Prophet. Nonetheless,God made Prophet Muhammad perform awesome miracles, the likes of which the people with him had never seen before. These miracles supported Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ claim of Prophethood. The blasphemers could not duplicate these miracles themselves.
God bestowed miracles on all the Prophets, showing the people that the Prophets are true in their claim of Prophethood. Prophet Noah was enabled to bring a male and female of each kind of animal on the ark. Prophet Abraham was thrown in a giant fire and did not burn. Prophet Moses was given a staff that turned into a real giant snake. Prophet Moses also struck that staff and the sea split into twelve dry pathways. Prophet Jesus formed a bird out of clay and it came to life.
We love all the Prophets, and do not praise our Prophet ﷺ in a way that degrades any other Prophet. Without degrading the other Prophets, we know that Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ miracles were more numerous than the miracles of the other Prophets. In addition, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was given the greatest miracles. Imam ash-Shafi^iyy said, “For every miracle God gave to the other Prophets, He gave Prophet Muhammad ﷺ one miracle like it or greater than it.”
The greatest miracle given to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the Holy Qur’an. Nothing had ever been recited in Arabic like it before, and as it began to come down, no one could imitate it. If both the humans and jinn were to try to come up with something like the Qur’an, they would not be able to do so.
The Arabs around our Prophet ﷺ prided themselves in their beautiful language. They were masters of the language, and would compose long poems on the spot. Those in the community who were eloquent in their speech were raised in status. When our Prophet ﷺ began to recite the Qur’an to his people, they knew that this was not like something they had heard before. It was not poetry, which they prized, but something better, and beyond poetry.
Prophets before Prophet Muhammad ﷺ received Holy Books in their complete form at one moment, but our Prophet ﷺ received the Qur’an part by part, and not in the order of the book. Our Prophet ﷺ memorized all of the Qur’an, as it came, and knew where each verse was to go in the order of the Book. God narrates in the Qur’an many events of the past of which the Prophet ﷺ did not know before, and events to happen in the future which did and shall happen.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ performed miracles both while he was in Makkah, and after he immigrated to Madinah. In this book, we are citing only a few of the miracles of our Prophet ﷺ. In addition to the miracles mentioned, there are two more miracles which Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was given while he lived in Makkah.
SPLITTING THE MOON
When Prophet Muhammad ﷺ announced to his people that he had been made a Messenger of God, the blasphemers of Makkah asked the Prophet to show them a miracle. At that, he pointed to the moon and it split into two halves. Both people who were inside and outside of Makkah saw this split. Those who saw it and did not want to believe said in their arrogance and ignorance that Muhammad ﷺ had bewitched them.
THE APPEARANCE OF A FIERCE CAMEL
In Makkah, the evil Abu Jahl made a deal with a merchant and did not pay the merchant. The merchant came to Abu Jahl to get his money, but Abu Jahl refused to pay. When the merchant went to other disbelievers, they did not help. One of the disbelievers suggested, “Go to Muhammad the son of ^Abdullah ﷺ. He will help you get your money!” This disbeliever was not sincere. He expected Abu Jahl to never respond to our Prophet ﷺ, and wished for the merchant to curse the Prophet ﷺ.
The merchant went to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and our Prophet ﷺ agreed to go with the merchant to Abu Jahl, helping the merchant get the money owed. The merchant knocked on the door of Abu Jahl and Abu Jahl came out. Our Prophet ﷺ said, “Give this man his right.” Abu Jahl said, “Alright.” Quickly he went into his house, got the money, and gave it to the merchant. As a result, the merchant praised the Prophet ﷺ a lot.
The other disbelievers were angry with Abu Jahl about this, and complained to him. They said, “How could you have done this? Don’t you hear the merchant praising Muhammad ﷺ?”
Abu Jahl said, “You did not see what I saw. I saw a camel the size of which I have never seen behind Muhammad ﷺ! This camel had big teeth. If I had said “No”, this camel would have killed me! I could not have said other than what I said!” Hence, God created that miracle for our Prophet ﷺ, foiling the evil plan of a blasphemer.
Another miracle bestowed on Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, while he still lived in Makkah, is narrated in the next three lessons.
