Muhammad’s (PBUH) Miracle of Moon Splitting in Two Halves
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is an epitome of character and virtue. Besides these humanly characteristics the personality of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also contains a vast number of Prophetic attributes such as miracles. In His lifetime, Prophet (PBUH) exhibited and performed various miracles such as Quran as the biggest miracle, and Night of Isra are two of the most talked miracles of Prophet (S.A.W). However, the miracle of Moon Splitting into Two Halves is another prominent marvel most the entire world wonders about.
Although the Holy Book Quran is the undisputed greatest miracle of Prophet (PBUH), another miracle for which He is widely known and cherished among Muslims is the splitting of Moon. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in His life performed the miracle of splitting the moon in to two halves with the permission of Allah Almighty. The lines below discuss the mention of the miracle and its context in detail.
Mention In Quran:
Allah Almighty said about the event of splitting of moon in Quran in the following way:
“The Last Hour draws near, and the moon is split asunder! And if they see a sign (miracle), they turn away and say, ‘Passing magic!’ - for they are bent on giving it the lie, being always wont to follow their own desires.” (54:1-3)
Note – To know how to read these Quranic Verses in Arabic, you can take help of Online Quran Tutoring and Teaching Academy with free trial classes.
This ayah was revealed after Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had performed His miracle of splitting of the moon, however, the people who demanded it still did not believe it and stayed on their path of ignorance and transgression.
Context:
The context of the miracle of splitting of the moon is the same as the context of miracles performed by other Prophets like Moses, Jesus, Noah and so on. Majority of the prime miracles were demanded by the transgressing and ignorant people of their times so that they could authenticate their being a true Prophet.
When Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was in Makkah, His prime enemy Abu-Jahal along with other leaders who rejected the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) asked Him to split the moon into half and then they will believe in Him. The context behind such claim was that non-believers thought that Muhammad (PBUH) was a magician and He was wooing people into the circle of Islam with the help of spells. Therefore, they were aware that magic does not work on things in the sky, hence, if they would ask Prophet (PBUH) to split the moon, He wouldn’t be able to do so and thus, they will regard Him as a liar.
However, on contrary to their opinion and expectations, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) split the moon into half and proved that He is not a magician, rather He is a true Prophet of Allah Almighty. While splitting the moon, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) called His companions as well as the non-believers who demanded the miracle to witness it. However, who first thought Prophet as a magician and did not accept him as a true Prophet, they again rejected the splitting of the moon because their ego would not let them submit to the truth and accept Allah Almighty as the true and only God.
Once the miracle was over, the group of non-believers came up with another excuse that there is a possibility that Prophet (PBUH) was still a magician, and instead of splitting the moon the thing which He actually did was to cast a spell on us so that we would think that the moon was split into half. Thus, in order to prove this lame excuse of theirs, they went in search of wayfarers who were traveling around the two mountains above which was each part of the moon. When they came across the travelers and asked them that whether they have witnessed any such thing, then all the travelers agreed to the fact that they have seen the moon split into half and each part going towards the respective mountain.
Although to a sensible and reasonable person, there was no other excuse left to doubt the truth in the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). However, they still did not believe Him and gave the excuse that He was a powerful magician who had His reach to the skies as well and His magic was so strong that even the moon was not safe from it.
Takeaways:
From the event of the splitting of the moon, there can be numerous takeaways for a Muslim. The major of which are discussed as follows:
- Firstly, the miracle itself is one of the greatest miracles from any of the Prophets (PBUH). Therefore, it should help Muslims in strengthening their belief in Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), as no other Prophet has performed such a miracle.
- Secondly, the other thing that a Muslim can assess from the mention of the event in Quran is that those who are believers, they don’t require any miracles. If the history of all the people who were the first to believe in Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) be viewed, then the ultimate conclusion they will reach is that those people did not demand any miracle to believe in the Prophet (PBUH), rather His personality and character were enough for them to believe in Him being the True Prophet.
- Thirdly, the event also points towards another factor that guidance and softening of heart towards truth is from Allah Almighty, therefore, those who believe in truth will believe in it with ease and continue on doing so, whereas, those who do not wish to believe, would continue on disbelieving even if they witnessed the greatest of miracles.
Conclusion:
In a nutshell, the splitting of moon is one of the greatest miracles of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It is a miracle that helps increase the faith and belief to become closer to Allah and they proclaim it with joy and pride, because no other humans has been attributed with a miracle of such grandeur throughout the human history.
