The Miracle of the Splitting of the Moon












“The hour (of Judgment) is nigh, and the moon is cleft asunder. But if they see a Sign, they turn away, and say "This is (but) transient magic." (1)
In this part, we are going to give information about how the miracle of the splitting of the moon, which is a clear sign of the verse of the Qur’an, occurred and seen in all authentic hadith as well as in sirah sources at the degree of Mutawatir manawi and we will also try to answer some questions that may come to the mind.

How did the Miracle of the Splitting of the Moon occur?

The miracle of the splitting of the moon occurred before the migration to Medina (2) upon the demands of the polytheists with the permission of God and it was shown by the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as narrated by many companions like Anas b. Malik (3), Hz. Ali, Huzayfa b. Yaman (4), Abdullah b. Mas’ud (5), Abdullah b. Abbas (6), Abdullah b. Umar (7), Abdullah b. Amr b. As (8), Jubayr b. Mut’im (9) (May Allah be pleased with all of them). (10)
Among Quraish polytheists, Walid b. Mughira, Abu Jahl. As b. Wail, As b. Hisham, Aswad b. Abdi Yaghus, Aswad b. Muttalib, Zama b. Aswad, Nadr b. Harith and others (11) said to the prophet Muhammad (PBUH):
“If you truly are a Prophet that has been appointed by Allah, then split the moon in half. Let it be in such a way that one half will appear over the Mount Abu Qubais and the other half will be seen over Mount Quayqian.”
The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) asked:
“If I do it, will you become Muslims?”
The polytheists answered:
“Yes, we will.”
On the 14th night, when it was full moon, the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) wanted Almighty Allah to give him the miracle which the polytheists demanded from him. (12)
When the Gabriel (AS) informed the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that God had accepted his prayer, he announced it to the Meccans. The polytheists witnessed the splitting of the moon on the 14th night. (13)
When Almighty God let the moon split in half, one half standing over Mount Abu Qubais and the other half over Mount Quayqian, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) shouted at Muslims:
“O Abu Salama b. Abdulasad! Arqam b. Abi’l Erqam! Bear witness! (14)
And to the polytheists, he said, “Bear witness! So and so! (15)
However, the polytheists said “This is one of the spells of Abu Kabsha’s Son.” (16) “The son of Abu Kabsha cast a spell on you!” (17) They said “Muhammad cast a spell on us!” (18)
Some of them also said:
“If Muhammad had cast a spell on us then (19), He couldn’t have cast a spell on everyone! (20) Let us ask the wayfarers who came from the surrounding areas (21) if they saw what we saw.” (21)
They asked the people who came from every everywhere. (22-23)
“Yes! We also did see the moon in that state! We saw the moon as split! They informed that the moon was split. Among the people who came from everywhere and seen the moon split, there was no one who had not informed them about it. (24)
However, the polytheists rejected to be Muslims and to believe by saying:
“This is a prevalent magic!” (25), they said “Abu Talib’s orphan affected the sky with his spell!” (26).

Almighty God mentions this miracle in the chapter of al-Qamar as follows:

“The hour (of Judgment) is nigh, and

The moon is cleft asunder.

But if they see a Sign, they turn away, and say

"This is (but) transient magic."

They reject (the warning) and follow their (own) lusts but every matter has its appointed time.

There have already come to them Recitals wherein there is (enough) to check (them),

Mature wisdom― but (the preaching of) Warners profits them not.” (27)
An Explanation about the splitting of the Moon

We want to answer the questions that may come to the mind about the splitting of the moon. Our question is this “Did the miracle of the splitting of the moon occur? Why do the historical records not mention about the splitting of the moon? Despite the advancement of science nowadays, why is there no any trace of the splitting on the moon? If the event of the splitting had occurred, then the trace of this should have been on its surface.” We are going to answer the first part of this two-part optioned question with five points and after that we will give the answer to the second question.