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.

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.

Also during the Battle of Hunayn, the authorities on Hadith and foremost Imam Muslim report that like at the Battle of Badr, he again threw a handful of earth while the unbelievers were staging a fierce attack. Saying: “May your faces be deformed!”, the handful of earth struck the faces of each of them, with God’s leave, the same as words of the phrase entered the ears of each. Busy with their eyes, they retreated and fled. Since this extraordinary event at Badr and Hunayn is not within man’s power and ordinary causes, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition states,

When you threw, it was not you who threw; it was rather God that threw.

That is, “The event was outside human power. It occurred, not through human ability, but in an extraordinary manner, through Divine power.”

S e c o n d  E x a m p l e : The accurate books and foremost Bukhari and Muslim narrate that during the Khaybar expedition, a Jewess roasted a goat, filling it with a very strong poison. She then sent it to God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace). The Companions had begun to eat it, when the Prophet suddenly said: “Withdraw you hands! It tells me it is poisoned!” Everyone pulled back his hand. But Bishr b. al-Bara’ had eaten a single morsel and died from the effects of the severe poison. The Noble Messenger sent for the Jewess called Zaynab and asked her why she had done it. The inauspicious woman said:

“I considered that if you were a prophet, it would not harm you; and if you were a king, I would save the people from you.” According to some narrations, the Prophet did not have her put to death, but left her to Bishr’s family to be killed. Now listen to a few points demonstrating aspects of the miraculousness in this extraordinary incident:

The First: According to one narration, some of the Companions also heard the goat speaking.

The Second: According to another narration, God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) said: “Say, Bismillah, then eat; the poison will not affect you.” Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani does not accept this narration, but others do.

The Third: The treacherous Jews wanted to deal a sudden blow at God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) and his close Companions, but being informed about this from the Unseen, the Prophet’s warning proved true, and their plot was uncovered and brought to naught. And when Muhammad (PBUH), from whom the Companions never heard an untrue statement, said: “This goat tells me that…, ” everyone believed him with conviction as sure as if they themselves had heard the goat.

T h i r d  E x a m p l e : This consists of three instances of another miracle which resembles ‘the Shining Hand’ and ‘Staff’ of Moses:

The First: Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, explaining and authenticating a narration from Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri, reports: “One dark and stormy night, the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) gave Qatada b. al-Nu‘man a staff, saying: ‘This staff will light up ten yards all around you. You will see a dark shadow when you arrive at your house; it is Satan. Throw him out of the house and drive him away!’ Qatada took the staff and set off. It cast a light like Moses’ shining hand. He came to his house, where he saw the shadowy figure, and he drove it away.”

The Second: While fighting the idolators during the great Battle of Badr, itself a source of wonders, ‘Ukkasha b. Muhassin al-Asadi had his sword broken. God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) gave him a stout staff in place of it, saying: “Fight with this!” Suddenly, with God’s leave, the staff became a long white sword, and he fought with it. He carried the sword on his person for the rest of his life until he fell as a martyr during the Battle of al-Yamama. This incident is certain, because throughout his life he carried the sword with pride and it became famous with the name of ‘Succour.’ Thus, two proofs of this incident are ‘Ukkasha’s pride, and the sword’s name, ‘Succour’ and its widespread fame.

The Third: It is narrated by authorities on Hadith like Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, a celebrated scholar known as ‘the Scholar of the Age,’ that at the Battle of Uhud a cousin of the God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), ‘Abd Allah b. Jahsh’s sword was broken. God’s Prophet gave him a staff which became a sword in his hand. He fought with it, and after the battle that product of a miracle remained a sword.

In his Siyar, the well-known Ibn Sayyid al-Nas reports that some time later ‘Abd Allah sold the sword to a man called Bugha’ al-Turki for two hundred liras.

Thus these two swords were each miracles like the Staff of Moses. But while no aspect of miraculousness remained in his staff after Moses’ death, these swords remained unchanged.