286- The Miracle of Splitting Moon described by the Holy Qur’an (Series: Inviting Reflections).

For the Qur’anic Predictions and Miracles of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the readers and the students of the Qur’anic Studies and Seerah are recommended following books for more details:

1) Dala’il al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqi; 2) Dala’il al-Nubuwwah by Abu Nu‘aim al-Isfahani; 3) Al-Khasa’is al-Kubra by al-Suyuti; and, 4) Ghayat al-Su’ul fi Khasa’is al-Rusul by Ibn al-Mulaqqin.

Unfortunately, up-till-now only 8-10 percent of Islamic plethora has been translated in other languages. Out of hundreds of miracles of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, we are presenting here one of his Miracles which has also been described by the Holy Qur’an. In this regard, it is very humbly suggested that it will be logically inconsistent if we try to interpret the Miracles with the help of our modern-day science terminologies ---which are an outcome of our space, time, and other temporal ramifications. The Miracles belong to the other Realm (Allah’s Realm) which cannot be understood on the analogy of our laws which govern this abode in spatial, thermodynamics and space time references.

???The moon was split asunder. The splitting of moon into two was witnessed by several of the Prophet’s contemporaries in Arabian Peninsula and even in the Sub-Continent. The Qur’anic verse from Surah Al-Qamar reads:

."??????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?????????? ??????????? ?????? ???????????" (The Hour [Day of Judgement] has drawn near, and the moon has split. Yet whenever they [non-believers] see a miracle, they turn away, and say: “Continuous magic”). Surah:54, Verses:1-2

The event of Splitting Moon has been mentioned almost in all collections of hadith from different Transmitters of Hadith. For example, ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud RA narrates:?

"????????? ???????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ???????" (Moon was split in the days of Muhammad [in Makkah] into two parts and I could see a mountain between the two parts of the moon). Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith # 3636. The non-believers from Quraysh, after having witnessed the Splitting of Moon, objected and said that this was a magic of Muhammad. Please see: Sahih Ibn Hibban, Hadith: 6495, Ibn Kathir: Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, Vol: 3, p.119.

In the last decade, an orientalist from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Mr. Sabastian R. Prange in his book: Monsoon Islam --- Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast published by Cambridge University Press in 2018, narrates:?

“At the turn of the seventh century, a powerful South Indian king beheld an extraordinary astronomical event. Gazing at the stars sparkling above the Arabian Sea one night, he saw the moon divide into two halves, before it once again merged back into its customary shape. The awestruck king was Cheraman Perumal, the Hindu sovereign of the Chera dynasty, one of the three ancient Tamil royal houses that ruled over southern India. His realm was the westernmost portion of the Tamilakam, a region known to foreigners as Malabar or simply “the land of pepper”; its limits correspond more or less to those of the present-day Indian state of Kerala (which takes it names from the Chera dynasty). Upon witnessing this unwonted celestial occurrence, Cheraman Perumal summoned his Hindu astronomers, who although competent enough to accurately forecast eclipses, could not account for this unprecedented phenomenon”. (Sabastian R. Prange: Monsoon Islam, p. 1)?

He further says:

“Some years later, a group of Jewish and Christian traders disembarked on the Malabar Coast. They…. [were] granted a royal audience, these traders told the king about an agitator back in Arabia, a man called Mu?ammad ibn ‘Abd-Allāh who claimed to be a prophet and was said to have employed magic to split the moon. A few years later still, a group of Muslim pilgrims arrived at the Chera court on their way to Sri Lanka, where they intended to visit the venerated site of Adam’s Peak. The king quizzed these Muslims about their pilgrimage, but above all about their faith and its prophet. They related to him the miracle of the splitting of the moon, as recorded in sūrah al-Qamar (“The Moon”) of the Quran. The king requested that the pilgrims return to his court on their homeward journey. When they did so, he divided his realm among his ministers before joining the Muslims on their voyage back to Arabia. There, Cheraman Perumal was converted to Islam at the hands of the Prophet himself, becoming the first Indian Muslim. After a few years in Arabia, the convert king decided to return to his native land but died on the Omani coast before he could set sail for India”. (Ibid. pp. 1-2)

Dr. Sabastian, like other orientalists repeats their stereotypes by saying the above story as “apocryphal account” of the event but never sites any historical evidence against the extra ordinary event, nor gives any proof against conversion of the king, his journey to Arabia and finally his death on the Omani coast before he could set sail back to his state as recorded in Islamic plethora.