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PREDICTIONS OF GOD’S
MESSENGER CONCERNING HIS OWN TIME
¨
As reported by authentic books of Tradition including Sahih
al-Bukhari, one day, God’s Messenger mounted the
pulpit. With the highest dignity and solemnity, he first
delivered a sermon and then told the congregation to ask
him whatever they wished to. They asked him different
questions and then a young man stood up and asked who his
father was. Since illicit intercourse was widespread in
pre-Islamic times, this young man, whose name was ‘Abd
Allah, was said by some to be the son of one other than
the man whom he called ‘father’. God’s Messenger
told him that his father was Hudafa al-Sahmi, the one whom
‘Adbullah called ‘father’. Freed from groundless
accusations, ‘Adbullah was relieved and thereafter was
called ‘Adbullah ibn Hudafa al-Sahmi.
People
continued to ask questions until, eventually, ‘Umar,
noticing the anger of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace
and blessings, stood up and said: ‘We are pleased with
God as our Lord, with Islam as our religion, and with
Muhammad as our Messenger’. This eased the Prophet and
he came down from the pulpit.1
This
event took place before the whole congregation of the
Companions and no one was reported to contradict God’s
Messenger that day.
¨
‘Umar reports in a narration recorded in Sahih
al-Muslim:
Before
the Battle of Badr started, God’s Messenger walked
around the battlefield and pointed to some locations,
saying, Abu Jahl will be killed here, Utba here, Shayba
here, Walid here, and so on. By God, we found, after
the battle, the dead bodies of all those men in the exact
places that God’s Messenger had pointed out.2
¨
Ahmad ibn Hanbal reports:
One
day, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings,
was sitting in the mosque together with his Companions. He
told them: In a few minutes, a man with a shining face
will come. He is one of the best people of the Yemen and
he has on his forehead the print of the hand of an angel.
After
a short while the man did come and, kneeling before
God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings,
proclaimed his conversion. He was Jarir ibn ‘Adbullah
al-Bajali.3
¨
In his Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, Bayhaqi narrates:
Abu
Sufyan accepted Islam during the conquest of Makka, but
belief had not yet been established firmly in his heart.
While God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings,
was circumambulating the Ka’ba, it occurred to him: ‘I
wonder what would happen if I formed a new army to
confront this man once more.’ No sooner had he conceived
of this than God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, approached him and said: If you do, then God
will defeat you once again.4
This
led Abu Sufyan to have a more established belief and he
begged God’s forgiveness. He too, understood that the
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was taught by
God, the All-Knowing.
¨
As related in the reliable books of Tradition, ‘Umayr
ibn Wahb, who was called a ‘diabolic man’ prior to his
conversion, conspired with Safwan ibn Umayya to
assassinate God’s Messenger.
‘Umayr
arrived in Madina to carry out his plot and, pretending to
be a Muslim, was taken to the mosque. The Companions had
no confidence in ‘Umayr so they formed a
‘stronghold’ of bodies around God’s Messenger, upon
him be peace and blessings. The Messenger asked ‘Umayr
why he had come to Madina. Many lies as he invented, he
could not convince God’s Messenger, who retorted to him
at last: As you are not telling the truth, I will tell
it. You conspired with Safwan to kill me in return for a
hundred camels.
‘Umayr
was struck by this answer and, holding the Prophet’s
hands tightly in awe and amazement, became a Muslim. He
became so deeply committed to Islam that he came to be
called ‘a most ascetic devotee of Islam.’5
1.
Bukhari, Fitan, 15.
2. Muslim, Janna, 76, 77.
3. I. Hanbal, 4.360-4.
4. I. Kathir, al-Bidaya, 4.348; Bayhaqi, Dala’il
al-Nubuwwa, 5.102.
5. Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sahaba, 3.36.
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