The Miracles of the Prophet that Confirm His Message (2/2)

Now, we shall comment on the miracle of splitting the moon. Allah says,

It means, “The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder.” [Surah Al-Qamar, 54: 1]   

The people of Mecca requested that Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) show them a miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon.

Allah mentioned the sign of splitting the moon in His Holy Qur’an to be a sign and proof of the trustworthiness of the Prophet's call.

That event happened when the people of Mecca asked the Prophet (Peace be upon him) for a miracle to prove the authenticity of his prophecy and his call.

They asked for an extraordinary miracle. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) made them see the moon divided into two halves, each half in its place.

That happened by the power of Allah, and the miracle had a great effect; it encouraged a lot of doubtful people to embrace Islam.

The following is a real story told by Dr. Zaghlul al-Naggar. It is the story of a young British man named Dawud Musa Pidcock. This young man introduced himself as the chairman of the British Muslim Party after a lecture about the scientific miracles in the Qur’an and Sunnah presented by Dr. Zaghlul. The lecture was given in English in the faculty of medicine at the University of Cardiff (in Wales) where an audience of Muslims and non-Muslims attended. One of the questions asked during the lecture was about the incident of splitting the moon and how it represents one of the examples of scientific miracles in the Holy Qur’an.    

After Dr. Zaghlul answered the question, the young British man asked for permission to add something. He said that the miracle of splitting the moon was a motive for him to embrace Islam.

A friend of mine gave me a translation of the Holy Qur’an, and when I got home, I started browsing through it until I found the chapter that mentions this about the moon.    

I stopped reading and asked myself: how could the moon split into two parts and then come back together again? What power could do such a thing? I stopped reading, and it was this verse that forced me to. 

Allah knew that I was so sincere about searching for the truth, so I found myself sitting in front of the TV watching a discussion between a British reporter with the BBC called James Burke and three American astronauts.   

The reporter criticized them for spending huge amounts of money on space travel while some communities suffer from famine, disease and illiteracy. He referred to various issues of infrastructure and scientific and technological underdevelopment, and he asked if it would not have been better to spend the money on addressing these urgent problems and improving the earth. The astronauts answered defensively that it is not wasteful because it helps to develop a number of advanced technologies with applications in various medical, industrial and agricultural fields, and these technologies could have great economic and scientific advantages.   

During the conversation, the mission of landing a man on the moon was mentioned. It was said that the trip cost ten billion dollars, and the reporter spoke critically, asking if all this was done just to put the American flag on the surface of the moon.

They said no, it was more than that. They explained that the benefit of the trip was to scientifically study the astronomical body closest to Earth. Again the reporter asked if it would not have been more useful to spend these enormous amounts of money on development here on earth. They answered that the trip allowed them to establish a scientific fact. "And that was…?" the reporter asked. Then the answer came that, the moon had once been split and then rejoined, and the evidence of that split was the existence of long, hollow cracks in the body of the moon; these cracks range in depth from hundreds of meters to over a kilometer, while their width ranges between one-half a kilometer and five kilometers, extending in straight or curved lines to 100 km. These long cracks pass through many large holes, the depth of each being more than nine kilometers, and the diameter being more than 1000 km. One example of these is the deep crater known as mare orientalist (Eastern Sea).

These deep holes formed when the moon collided with massive bodies the size of asteroids.  

These grooves are known as "Rima," or "Lunar Rilles." It was explained that they were the result of sunken sections of crust or lava flows cutting fresh shapes. These shapes could not have reached the hollow depths, so they are explained as the effects of lunar fissures being rejoined.    

Dawud continued, "When I heard this, I jumped out of my chair exclaiming, 'A miracle that happened to Muhammad (Peace be upon him) more than 1400 years ago that is now just being confirmed in the age of science and technology!' I concluded that the Qur’an is absolutely true, in everything it says."    

Immediately, I began reading more from the translation of the meanings of the Qur’an. This verse of the Qur’an, which had made me not want to read the Qur’an, was itself my entrance into Islam!    

Dr. Zaghlul said, "I cannot describe how this sincere contribution affected all of the Muslims and non-Muslims present.

Allah says,

 “We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur’an) is the truth. Is it not sufficient in regard to your Lord that He is a Witness over all things?” [Surah Fussilat, 41: 53].