The greatest event in the universe, for sure, is the birth of Prophet Muhammad, the Master of the Universe.
This is because he is the seed of the tree of creation. If God had not willed his birth, there would neither be universe nor human beings now. Therefore, the door to the world of testing would not be opened. “If one looks at this great universe as if it were a book, the divine light of Prophet (pbuh) will be the ink of the pen of that book’s writer. If one considers this great universe as if it were a family tree, the divine light of Muhammad will be both its seed and fruit. If one considers the world a great living being, this divine light will be its spirit. If one considers it an enormous human being, that divine light will be its wit.” (1)
This is mystery to which the hadith “But for you, the dearest, I would not have created the skies (the universe)” indicates.
Moreover, Hazrat Muhammad’s prophethood is not particular to a specific community, but general and universal. Accordingly, some miraculous events would certainly occur when he honored the world with his arrival. And these events would make intelligent and sagacious people think.
During the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the following miraculous events occurred:
A star was born at the night he was born
There were many scholars amongst Jews. They deduced from their books that the Messenger of God would come. They were expert in making conclusions from the movements of stars. At the night the Prophet was born, a star shone in the sky and Jewish scholars understood that the last Prophet was born.
Famous poet of the Prophet, Hassan bin Thabit describes it as follows:
“I was about eight years old. One morning a Jewish man was running crying out ‘Hey Jews!’ Jews gathered around the man saying ‘What is it? Why are you shouting?’ The man was crying out:
‘Let me give this news to you, Ahmad’s star was born tonight. Ahmad was born tonight.” (2)”
The following is narrated by Ibn al-Sa’d regarding the issue:
“There was a Jewish man living in Mecca. In the morning after the night the Messenger of God was born, he went and stood in front of the people of Quraish and asked: “Was a baby boy born tonight in your tribe?” People of Quraish answered: We do not know. Upon this answer, he continued his speech: “Go, search and seek; the prophet of this community was born tonight. He has got a sign on his back.”
People of Quraish went and made a search. They came to the Jewish man and gave the news: “Abdullah had a son tonight; he has got a sign on his back.”
The Jewish man went and saw the seal of prophethood. And he cried out as if he had lost his mind:
“Prophethood is not with Israelites anymore. The people of Quraish will be bestowed with such a great fame that it will be heard everywhere from east to west.” (3)
The sky was celebrating the birth of the Great Prophet with cressets of stars shining brightly.
Fourteen towers of Kisra’s Palace in the city of Madayin fell down
It was the night the Master of the Universe was born. The clock struck the hour he was born.
The city of Madayin, which was in a deep sleep, woke up with a terrible crackling noise. The scene was terrifying and hectic. Fourteen towers of the Sovereignty Palace, which were so firm, had crackled and fallen down.
Kisra, who spent the night in fear, called religious leaders of the country for a meeting as soon as the morning broke. They would discuss about what happened that night in the meeting.
Kisra sat in his throne with his crown on. No sooner had they started the meeting than a man on horseback, running at a full gallop brought a letter. In the letter, it was written that the fires which had been burning brightly for thousands of years in Istahrabad died out.
This news added to Kisra’s fear and excitement.
At that time, Iran’s head qadi (judge), Mubezan, took the floor and told them a dream he had: “I saw that hundreds of roaring camels, with rearing Arabian horses before them, swam across the River Tigris and spread into the lands of Iran.”
Kisra found this dream of honest, knowledgeable and just Mubezan very meaningful. He grew nervous to the utmost. He wanted to solve this puzzle. He asked Mubezan, whose knowledge and wisdom he trusted: “Then, what does it mean?”
The head qadi’s answer was short and yet succinct: “It means that something very important will happen on the Arabian side.”
Upon this, Kisra wrote a letter to Numan bin Munzir, the governer of Hira. In the letter, he said ‘If there is anyone from the scholars there who are knowledgeable enough to answer my questions, send him here right away!”
Having received the letter, Numan understood the seriousness of the issue and sent a scholar named Abdul-Masih bin Amr to Madayin right away.
The ruler gave audience to the scholar right away. After telling the scholar what happened, Kisra asked him to explain them.
Abdul-Masih told him that he could not give information to Kisra about what happened and he added: “My uncle Satih, who lives near Damascus, has got enough knowledge to answer them.”
Upon this, Kisra assigned Abdul Masih to go and get information about the events from Satih.
Famous prognosticator of Damascus, Satih, was a freak of nature, his body being boneless and having almost no organs, his face being on his chest, and he was very old. He would lie on his back all the time. When he was called to a place, they would fold him like a packet. The news of the unknown and unseen he said was true and he was very popular with people of the time.
Abdul Masih covering a long, hard way, he arrived in his uncle Satih’s. Satih was living the last days of his life. He was suffering severely from a serious illness. The severity of the illness left him no strength to speak and he could neither salute him nor speak.
However, when Abdul Masih told him what happened, he suddenly changed. Satih, who was in throes of death in his bed, opened his eyes and started to cry out in excitement as if he was at the door of life and not of the grave: “O Abdul Masih! Divine revelation will be read more. The owner of the baton has been sent as a prophet. The Valley of Samawa had been flooded. The fire of the Persians has died out. And Damascus is not Damascus anymore for Satih. Keep in mind that the Unique Judge who can rule the time willed this and He tied up the both ends of the rope of prophethood.” He took a deep breath and added: “As many as the number of the towers that fell down, Rulers will come out from the Sasanids and then the promise will be realized.” (4)
Those words were the last words Satih spoke; as if he had waited to put this truth into words before dying. As soon as he finished speaking, he closed his eyes and submitted his soul to God.
Famous prognosticator Satih heralded the birth of The Last Prophet clearly with those words.
This event, which nothing like it was ever seen before, indicated that the sovereignty of Persia which was writhing in four dark beliefs of Mazdaism (5) would be swept away by the undying light which the prominent person who was born that night brought with himself. As a matter of fact; history witnessed it and what Satih foresaw occurred: the State of Persia was included into the lands of Islam by the Prophet’s army is Qadisiyya, after the sovereignty of fourteen rulers which lasted for 67 years.
Most of the idols, which covered the Qaaba with darkness and filthiness, broke and fell down
The idolaters of Quraish had covered the Qaaba with darkness of idols, which once was the place where God’s oneness had become an honored symbol for the first time. However, these idols which were clinched with lead, could not stand before the greatness of the birth of Great Prophet, the representative of the creed of Tawhid (God’s Oneness) and fell down.
This had an important meaning: The person who was just born would sweep away the idolatry as the duty assigned to him required. The creed of Tawhid, so pure and blissful, would bloom in peoples’ hearts.
The world witnessed it. The Honorable Prophet set the Qaaba free from those lifeless idols and also replaced the idols in hearts by the faith of Islam.
Enormous fire of Zoroastrians which had been burning for thousands of years in Istihrabad suddenly died out
Zoroastrians regarded that fire as their god. Upon the birth of the Prophet, that enormous fire died out like a simple fire killed by flood from the ocean.
That is to say; the person who was just born would sweep away Zoroastrianism, like Idolatry, too in a short time and would light up the earth with the cresset of Tawhid.
The famous Lake of Sawa (Tabariyya), which was deemed holy, dried up all of a sudden
It also indicated that the person who was just born would prohibit glorifying the things which God does not allow.
A divine light, which lit up the east and the west as if they had been a small room, was observed at the time of his birth
It meant that the religion which would be conveyed by the person who was just born would embrace the east and the west and would train and educate one fifth of humankind affectionately.
The Valley of Samawa disappeared under the floods
It was the night The Great Prophet was born.
Floods covered the Valley of Samawa and the city of Samawa. The people of the city sought refuge by climbing up the hills and mountains in horror. Then they wrote a letter to Kisra, explaining the situation, and asked for food and drink from him.
Stars fell down from the sky
Stars fell down from the sky like the leaves in autumn at the night the Prophet was born. (6)
That event indicated that the devil and the jinn would not be able to take information from the sky anymore. “As The Messenger was born with revelation, of course it was necessary to hinder prognosticators and the jinn who gave superficial information mixed with lies so that they would not mix doubts into revelation. Yes, prognostication was very wide-spread before the prophet. After the Quran was sent, it gave an end to them. Moreover, many prognosticators became believers, because they could not find their informants from the jinn anymore”. (7)
Of course, it was not coincidental that those events which had not been seen before occurred at the time the Prophet was born. They occurred with the will of the Eternal Might and heralded the world about the birth of the Last Prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh).
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[1] Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Mesnevî-i Nuriye, p. 106. [2] Qastalani, Mawahibu’l-Ladunniya, v. 1, p. 22. [3] Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, v. 1, p. 162-163. [4] Tabari, v. 12, p. 131-132. [5]A religious sect founded by someone named Mazdak in ancient Persia. There are views that regard it as a reformed version of Manichaeism taught by Zoroaster (Zarathustra). The main feature of the sect is that it considers wealth and women as the common property. In addition, the sect prohibits killing and eating animals, which is related to asceticism. (Islam Ansiklopedisi: 8/201-205.) [6] Tabari, Tarikh, v. 2, p. 131; Qadi Iyad, ash-Shifa, v. 1, p. 726-733; Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Mektubat (Letters), p. 161-163. [7] Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, ibid, p. 163.
