Prophet Muhammed's ascent to Heaven overnight

teggy · May 16, 2009, 5:44pm

I respect your view on that, but i happen to disagree for a number of reasons. The least of which is the fact that historically it is recorded that splitting of the moon was a physical miracle because even the travelers who were bound towards Makkah, when questioned upon their arrival if they had witnessed anything unusual confirmed that yes they had seen the moon split and then re-attach. This proved false the allegations the pagans were levelling against the Prophet (pbuh) that he had cast witchcraft spell over them. But some among them who were wise responded by saying that witchcraft spell would only effect the attendees and not those who are not present, hence them approaching the travellers.

Also you may find the following helpful to my view on this (not a convincing source, but something to the effect):

During the course of the lecture, a Muslim young man stood asking me, Sir Do you see in the Saying of Al Haq Tabarak wa Ta`ala (Allah the Truth) may He be Exalted - and he referred to the above mentioned verse - any indication to the scientific facts included in the Quran? Dr. Najjar answered: No because scientific astounding discoveries are interpreted through science whereas a miracle is something supernatural, which may not be interpreted through the usual. The splitting of the moon is a miracle, which happened to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in order to prove his prophecy. Tangible miracles are only a testimony of truth for those who witnessed it. It is only that the incident was mentioned in Quran and Prophet’s Sunnah that made us believe other wise we Muslims of this era would have never believed in it. In addition that we know for sure that Allah is most capable of anything. At that point Dr. Zaghloul narrated the story of moon splitting as included in Sunnah books.

He said, Sunnah books tell that five years before the immigration of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from Mecca to Medina, a group of people from the tribe of Quraish came challenging him saying: Oh Muhammad if you were really a Prophet and a Messenger bring to us a miracle to establish this fact. So he asked them what do you want? They said in an effort to complicate matters for him: split the moon for us. The Messenger of ALLAH (PBUH) stood supplicating to Allah to support him and grant him victory in this hard situation. Allah may He be Exalted inspired him to sign towards the moon with his finger. Immediately, the moon cleft into two parts standing far from each other for several hours then cling back together. The pagans started claiming: Oh Muhammad (PBUH) practiced witchcraft on us.

At this point some of the wise men explained that magic would only affect the attendees whereas it can not maintain influence on everybody in general. They waited for travelers who were coming back from their journeys. The pagans harried up to the borders of Mecca in anticipation to meet the travelers. When the first arrivals appeared, they asked them did you see anything extraordinary happened to the moon? The travelers answered yes on the night (X) we saw the moon splitting into two parts which remained asunder for sometime then reattached. Upon this statement, a number of the group believed while the rest remained pagans. Therefore, the verse explains “The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder (the people of Makkah requested Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to show them a miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon). * And if they see a sign, they turn away, and say: This is continuous magic. *They belied the Verses of Allah - this Quran), and followed their own lusts. And every matter will be settled according to the kind of deeds: good deeds will take their doers to Paradise and similarly evil deeds will take their doers to Hell.” (Quran 54:1-3) until the end of the verses which were revealed in this regard.

…(more can be read at the link, i’ve only posted some of it)…

Splitting of the Moon, an Amazing Story - IslamCan.com

Allah knows best.

PS: Sorry for going off-topic, PCG. However i feel the validity of one miracle as being physical reflects the realness of other miracles as being physical as well. At the end of it all, it boils down to faith and belief. And everyone has their own view.