Unseen knowledge given to our Prophet (saas)

Only Almighty Allah knows the unseen thingsabout the past and the
future that are beyond the capacity of human senses to perceive.
Everything that happens in all the worlds of the universe is
controlled by Allah and contained in His knowledge. The miracle of
unseen knowledge was vouchsafed to our Prophet (saas) to the extent
that Allah willed. Allah told our Prophet (saas) about events hidden
in the past that no one else knew and about things that would happen
in the future, and he revealed this knowledge to his companions and
all his people.
It is Allah Who created time and taught the concept of it to the
people. He is exalted above time and not limited by it, He knows all
secrets and He can reveal the secret things hidden in his Presence to
any of His messengers according to His will. Those to whom He has
given secret knowledge can, by His will, tell about things past and
the yet to come; they seethe inner face of events and know their
various consequences.
Allah tells us in the Qur'an that He has given some of the unseen
knowledge hidden in HisPresence to some messengers:
He is the Knower of the Unseen, and does not divulge His Unseen to
anyone–except a Messenger with whom He is well pleased, and then He
posts sentinels before him and behind him, so that He may know that
they have indeed transmitted the Messages of their Lord. (Surat
al-Jinn, 26-27)
Our Prophet Muhammad (saas) was a messenger special to Allah to whom
He gave much secret knowledge from His Presence. Our Prophet (saas)
knew things that happened in the past unknown to anyone elseand
learned from Allah many things that were going to occur in the future.
Allah reveals this in the Qur'an:
This is news of the Unseen which We revealto you. You were not with
them when they decided what to do and devised their scheme.' (Surah
Yusuf, 102)
OUR PROPHET'S (saas) MIRACULOUS UNSEEN KNOWLEDGE
Our Prophet's (saas) ability to know unseen things did not come from
himself. But he revealed these things to those around him in
accordance to Allah's will. All-knowing Allah revealed this
knowledgeto His messenger which pointed to events that happened in the
past or that were with certainty about to occur in the future. This
shows that all the knowledge our Prophet (saas) revealed was a
miracle. Several times throughout his life, our Prophet (saas)
delivered information that could only be known by Allah's revelation.
He was given knowledge e about the past, the present and thefuture and
this was a proof that he was a true prophet. The Qur'an describes many
details of the divine knowledgegiven to Muhammad (saas) together with
his devotion and submissionto Allah:
Say: 'I possess no power to help or harm myself, except as Allah
wills. If I had had knowledge of the Unseen, I would have sought to
gain much good and no evil would have touched me.I am only a warner
and a bringer of good news to people who believe.' (Surat al-A'raf,
188)
As a result of the revelations given to Allah's holy Prophet Muhammad
(saas) both personally and through the verses of the Qur'an, he gained
knowledge about the past, present and future. According to Allah's
will, he had knowledge about many matters that no one else could know.
Because of this knowledge, he could announce victory to Muslims in
dire straits by which he was able to bolster their zeal. The
occurrence in sequence of each of these events predicted by our
Prophet (saas) was miraculous.
There are many events predicted by our Prophet (saas) 1400 years ago
that are coming true today. Manyscholars of the Hadiths such as
Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Thirmidhi, Nasai, Ibn Majah, witnessto the
fact that secret knowledge revealed by our Prophet (saas) in
theHadiths is true. They attest to the miracle thatall the secret
knowledge revealed by our Prophet (saas) has come true andcontinues to
come true.
False Accusations AgainstOur Prophet (saas) Despite The Miracle of His
Unseen Knowledge
From the time our Prophet (saas) started to communicate what is
revealed to him in the Qur'an to the people around him, unbelievers
accused this blessed personage of not telling the truth. They
approached every piece of information brought by him with suspicion
and were unwilling to believe in him. However,our Prophet (saas) was
apersonage whose honesty and credibility could easily be understood
just by looking at his face and way of living. Although he was a
person who was unanimously qualified as "Al-amin" (reliable)
throughout hislife and addressed with this epithet, some people
insisted on saying lies not to complywith the right path to which he
called.
In their savage attacks on our Prophet (saas), deniers reject the
possibility that a person can tell the truth every moment of his life.
They say that an individual cannot live his life speaking the truth
everymoment until his death. But our Prophet (saas) was a devout and
self-sacrificing man who prayed day and night; he was patient and his
moral rectitude was an example to the whole world. He entered battle
with great courage and fought in the front ranks. Even faced with the
threat of death, he continued to proclaim the truth.
Our Prophet (saas) always practiced the moral teachings of the Qur'an
impeccably and was an example for all believers. Our blessed Prophet
(saas) taught generosity and gave liberally of all he had; heoffered
his life and his possessions to gain the favor of Allah. He taught
patience, self-sacrifice, true love and friendship and lived these
moral qualities in the best possible way. Also, he urged people to be
merciful and forgiving and he practiced these virtues with singular
determination. The unbelievers that accusedour Prophet (saas) should
have considered following:
It does not belong to thepower of human nature to perpetuate a lie
throughout a lifetime. It is not possible for a person to be a liar
and live his life consistently in accordance with thousands of
non-conflicting verses. And why would a liar persist in such an
attitude until the end of his life? And why would people put their
lives at risk in order to show theright path to the Hereafter?
And is it possible for everything a liar says to be the vehicle of
such great wisdom? Is it possible for everything he has said to be
perfect from the aspect of eternity; to be possessedof a certain
numerical code; for everything he has said throughout 23 years to be
in an eternal,mathematical and scientific harmony? Is it possible for
all he has said to contain the wisdom to answer all the questions
concerning social life to which people's consciences seek the answer?
It is certain thata liar cannot avoid detection when one day his words
do not hold together. However, everything our Prophet (saas) said has
come trueand both Muslims and deniers have witnessed that truth.
Undoubtedly, every miracle given to every prophet is important. But
the fact that masses of people witnessed the miracles of our Prophet
(saas) make him different from other prophets. For example, when 'Isa
(as) raised a person to life or cured a sick person, it was only the
people standing around who witnessed the miracles. And it was only
Pharaoh, his peopleand the children of Israelthat witnessed the
miracles of Musa (as). (Only Allah knows the whole truth). When our
Prophet (saas) predicted a victorious war, the number of people who
witnessed the battle wasmuch greater. Tens of thousands, even hundreds
of thousands of people saw these miracles happen.
Here are some of the announcements of our Prophet (saas) that qualify
as miracles:
The Victory over Byzantine Empire
One of the future predictions in the Qur'ancomes immediately at the
beginning of Surat ar-Rum. In these verses itis announced that the
Byzantine Empire has suffered defeat but that a short time later it
would again be victorious:
Alif Lam Mim. The Romans have been defeated in the lowest land, but
after their defeat they will themselves be victoriousin a few years'
time. The affair is Allah's from beginning to end. On that day, the
believers will rejoice. (Surat ar-Rum, 1-4)
These verses were sent down in 620 A.D., 7 yearsafter the Christian
Byzantines suffered a major defeat by the pagan Persians in 613-614
A.D. The verses tell us that the Byzantines were going to be
victorious very soon. However, at that time, the Byzantines
hadexperienced such serious losses that it seemed impossible for them
even to survive, not to mention winning another victory. The Persians
defeated the Byzantines at Antioch in 613 A.D. and went on to take
Damascus, Cilicia, Tarsus, Armenia and Jerusalem. It was especially
the loss of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher that dealt the greatest blow to the Byzantines. 1
At that time it was not the Persians but the Avars, Slavs and Lombards
that were the most serious threat to the Byzantines. The Avars came up
to the very gates of Constantinople. In order to supply the armies,
theByzantine emperor Heracleius had the gold, silver and precious
ornaments from the churches melted down and turned into money. When
this proved insufficient, he even melted down the bronzestatues to
make coins. Many governors revoltedagainst the Heracleius and the
empire came close to disintegration. The former Byzantine possessions
of Mesopotamia, Cilicia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Armenia were
occupied by the pagan Persians. 2
In short, everything pointed to the destruction of the Byzantine
Empire. But exactly at that time, the first verses of Surat ar-Rum
were revealed saying that, before 9 years had passed, the Byzantines
would again be victorious. The Arab hypocrites thought that this
victory announced in the Qur'an would never happen.
But, as with everything predicted in the Qur'an, this too was
inevitable. In 622 A.D., Heracleius invaded Armenia and won several
battles against the Persians.3 InDecember 627 A.D., therewas a major
battle between the Byzantines and the Persians near Baghdad, 50 km
east theTigris River by the ruins of Nineveh. The Byzantines defeated
the Persians and a few months later the Persians were forced to sign a
treaty restoring the occupied lands to the Byzantines. 4
The Byzantine victory in 630 A.D. and the defeat of the Persian
emperor, Chosrov II, meant that Jerusalem was returned to Heracleius
and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher came back under Christian
control. 5
So, as Allah said in the Qur'an and our Prophet (saas) proclaimed to
the people, the Byzantine victory happened miraculously within that
predicted 3-9 year period.
Another miracle of these verses is that facts of geography were given
that no one could have known at that time.
Verse 3 of Surat ar-Rum says that the Byzantines were defeated at the
thelowest land. The Arabic for this is edna el-ard, which can also
mean a nearby place. But this translation is not a literalrendering
of the original; it is metaphorical. The Arabicword edna is the
superlative form of deni (low) and means lowest. Ard means Earth.
So,edna el-ardmeans thelowest place on Earth.
Some commentators, thinking that this place is close to the Arabs,
translate the phrase asclosest. But the basic meaning of the word
points to a geological fact that no one could known at the time the
Qur'an was revealed: thelowest place on Earth is the area of the Dead
Sea where the Byzantines were defeated in 613 A.D. And, as we said
before, the hardest blowfor the Christians was the loss of Jerusalem,
close to the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea, at 399 meters below sea-level, is the lowest point on Earth. 6
What is remarkable hereis that the level of the Dead Sea could only be
determined with the useof modern measuring equipment. Previously no
one could know that the Dead Sea was the lowest place on Earth. But
this area is describedin the Qur'an as the lowest land on Earth. This
is another proof that the Qur'an is the word of Allah; and it is a
miracle that Allah granted this knowledge to His Prophet.
The defeat of Mecca
Allah has confirmed His Messenger's vision with truth: 'You will enter
theSacred Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) in safety, Allahwilling, shaving
your heads and cutting your hair without any fear.' He knew what you
did not know and ordained,in place of this, an imminent victory.
(Surat al-Fath, 27)
While our Prophet (saas)was in Medina, he had a dream: he saw
believers safely entering the The Sacred Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) and
circling the Kaaba. He revealed this good news to the believers. It
was good news because the believers who had left Mecca for Medina had
not been allowed to return.
As an encouragement, Allah revealed verse 27 of Surat al-Fath to our
Prophet (saas). He said the dream was true and, according to His
will, believers could return toMecca. Indeed, later as the dream had
foretold, after the Treaty of Hudaybiya and the subsequent defeat of
Mecca, Muslims entered the Sacred Mosque in peace. So the glad tidings
inspired in our Prophet (saas) by Allah came true.
Buhari relates a story of Ibn-i Abbas concerning the defeat of Mecca:
İbnu Abbas said that in the verse, "He Who has imposed the Qur'an upon
you will most certainly bring you back home again" (Surat al-Qasas,
85), what is meant with the word home here is Macca."7
It is important to note here that verse 27 of Surat al-Fath mentions
another victory before the defeat of Mecca. As the verse foretold,
before they captured Mecca, Muslims took the Hayber Castle that had
been a Jewish possession.8 The famousJelaleyn interprets the verse of
Surat al-Fath as follows:
"…Allah made the dreamHe showed his Prophet (saas) come true. In the
year the Hudaybiya was signed, before going to expedition, the Prophet
(saas) saw in his dream himself and his people safely entering Mecca
with shaved heads and informed his people about this [good news]which
made his people pleased. He set out together with his people but
unbelievers averted them in Hudaybiya. Some of the hypocrites raised
suspicions of this. This is the time when this versewas revealed.
"InshaAllah you will enter Masjid al-Haram safely, with no fear
whatsoever, with shavedheads, (or some of you) with shortened hair.
But in terms of peace, for your benefit, Allah knew what you did not
know and before entering Mecca, granted a conquest. This was the
conquest of Haybar. And the next year the dream came true." 9
In the eighth year of the Migration, our Prophet (saas) entered Mecca
and conquered it. But when he delivered this good news to the
believers, it did not appear likely to happen. Conditions seemed to be
in favor of an opposite outcome; the hypocrites seemed determined to
keep the believers from entering Mecca. This caused those who had
sickness in their hearts to doubt the words of the Prophet (saas). But
our Prophet (saas) trusted in Allah and was not moved by what people
said; he believed in what Allah had told him and revealed it to the
people. The fact that this secret revelation from our Lord came to
pass is a miracle witnessed by millions of people.
The Defeat of Egypt
O my people! You are about to conquer Egypt. Keep the welfare of the
conquered people in view. You shall have to abide by the divine
covenant that their life and property and their honor should be
protected. 10
This Hadith announces that Egypt would be conquered. While our
Prophet (saas) was proclaiming this, Egypt was under the rule of Rome
and Muslims were not yet very strong. But these words of our Prophet
(saas) came true: in the year 641 A.D.,shortly after his death, inthe
caliphate of Omar, Egypt was conquered by Muslims commanded by Amr bin
As. 11 This event was another secret revelation of our Prophet (saas)
that cametrue.
The Conquest of Roman and Persian Lands
Kisra (Khosrau, King of Persia) will die; there will be no Kisra after
him, and Qaisar (Caesar, King of Rome) will die; there would be no
Qaisar after him, but, by One in Whose Hand is my life, you will spend
their treasures in the cause of Allah. 12
The word kisra that appears in this saying was a title used by Persian
kings. The title Caesar was used by Roman Empire. In the Hadiths, our
Prophet (saas) announces that the treasuries of these two monarchs
would remain in the possessionof Muslims.
It is important to notice here that, when our Prophet (saas) made
thisglad announcement, Muslims had no military or economic power and
did not yet have the ability to make such a great conquest. And, at
that time, the most powerful states were Persia and Rome. For
thisreason, when our Prophet (saas) announced these two conquests,
economic and military conditions seemed to be against the possibility.
Nevertheless, they happened. Persia was conquered in Omar's time and
the Empire of the PersianKisrawas brought to an end.13
The beginning of the end of the Roman Caesarand the Muslim
confiscation of his treasury started in the time of the Rashid caliphs
with the conquest of some important Roman centers. Starting in the
time of Abu Bakr, the Roman possessions of Jordan, Palestine,
Jerusalem, Syria and Egypt fell to Muslims. Constantinople was taken
by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453. And with the fall
of the Roman Empire the title of Caesar ceased to be used.14 So, these
conquests that seemed impossible in the time ofour Prophet (saas) were
miraculously revealed to him by Allah.
Our Prophet (saas) Answered a Question before it was asked.
In the Qur'an, Allah tells us that 'Isa (as) knew by the will of Allah
what people ate and what they kept. (Surah Al 'Imran, 49) and that
Yusuf (as) could tell when a meal was about to come (Surah Yusuf, 37).
These miracles were gifts bequeathed by Allah's grace to His prophets.
As our Prophet(saas) says in the Hadiths, that, as a miracle from
Allah, he answered a question before a person asked it and could tell
what a person was thinking. Forexample, the Hadiths tells us that our
Prophet (saas) told his companions where and when there would be a
victory.15 Again, according to the Hadiths,our Prophet (saas) could
tell when someone was going to come home before they came and when
they would enter a room before they entered it. 16 He also was able to
recognize immediately the mind ofa hypocrite, those hostile to Muslims
and those who harbored evilideas. 17 (Surah Muhammad, 30)
There are hundreds of examples of such miracles in the Hadiths. In
one Hadith, our Prophet (saas) gave an answer to a question in the
mind of Abu Sufian who, as a result, bore witness to the fact that
this blessed person was indeed a prophet:
Abu Sufian was sitting ina corner of the Masjid. One day our Prophet
(saas) came out of his house. From where he sat Abu Sufian thought: "I
wonder with what he overcame?" Our Prophet(saas) came next to Abu
Sufian and touched his back, saying: "I overcame you with Allah." Abu
Sufian said: "Ibear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah". 18
Our Prophet (saas) knew what people were thinking and was able togive
them an answer to their questions. An example is the Hadith about
Vabisa:
I came to our Prophet (saas). My intention was to ask him every thing
about goodness and sins. He was surrounded by Muslims, asking him
questions and demanding fetwa. I wanted to proceed among them.
- "Stay away from Allah'smessenger, Vabisa!" they said.
- I replied: "Leave me so that I can come very close to him. He is the
most amiable of all those to whom I want tobe close!
- He said: "Leave Vabisa!" Then, he addressed me twice or three times:
"Vabisa, come closer! At the end I came close to him and sat in front
of him.
- He said: "Vabisa. Shall I tell you or would you like to ask to me!"
-" I want you to tell me"I said.
- He said: "You are here to ask me about goodness and sins, right?"
- I said: "Yes." Then, he showed my heart with his fingers and said:
"Vabisa, consult your heart, consult yourself! Goodness is what your
heart finds peace in even if people give you a fatwa or not; sin is
what eradicates (disturbs) the heart, the thing that wanders around in
chest!"19
As the Hadith says, our Prophet (saas) was givengrace from Allah to be
able to know the answerto a question often before he was even asked.
Another example of his ability to read a person's thoughts and
intentions is the Hadith about Abu Darda's beinga Muslim:
Abu Darda was worshipping an idol. Abdullah b. Ravaha and Abu Salam
went near that idol and broke it. When Abu Darda saw the idol in that
situation he couldn't help himself from saying: "What a pity! Couldn't
you protect yourself" Then the Prophet (saas) came. Abdullah b. Ravaha
saw him on the way and said: "That is Abu Darda! He should certainly
be here to find us." Upon this Allah's messenger said: "No! He is
coming here to be a Muslim. My Lord told that he would be a Muslim."20
All the above examples show that our Prophet Muhammad (saas) showed
many miracles by Allah's will. Our Prophet (saas) was an example of
excellent moral character, trust and faithfulness; with his miracles
he strengthened the eager resolve of those with faith.
The End Times that is being experienced in the light of our Prophet's
Knowledge about the Unseen.
The End Times is a period that will be experienced on Earth before the
Doomsday. Our Prophet's many news regarding the events that would
occur in the End Times have reached us. That these events occur one
after another in our time is also a miracle of our Prophet (saas). Our
Prophet (saas) explainedthe events that would occur 1400 years after
his time in details as if he watched that time. The rise of a comet,
the Iran-Iraq war, the Qaba raid, the increase in fitnah and moral
degeneration are only a few of the signs that would occur in the End
Times.
It should be stated at this point that the signs revealed by our
Prophet (saas) in the Hadiths mayhave been seen severallyover the past
1400 years at various times and in diverse places in the world. But
since the year1400 in the Muslim calendar they have happened one after
another in the same period of time. This shows that another event
predicted by our Prophet (saas) has come to pass:
Signs following one another like the pieces of a necklace falling
oneafter the other when its string is cut. 21
Many of these events announced in the Hadiths of our Prophet (saas) as
signs of the endare happening in our day. The increase of wars,
conflicts, terror, violence, anarchy, chaos,murders and torture is an
indication that the first period of the end times is upon us.
According to what our Prophet (saas) says in the Hadiths, Allah will
rescue people after this dark period and save them from chaos; it will
be a great salvation. In order to direct morally deficient, degenerate
societies onto the right path, Allah will appoint His excellent
servant, Mahdi, as mediator. Mahdi (the guide to the truth) will
assemble the Islamic world under one roof; he will cause the moral
teachings of the Qur'an to prevail throughout the world and, together
with 'Isa (as) who is to return to Earth a second time, he will engage
in an intellectual struggle against the strife of the End Times.
In the Hadiths, our Prophet (saas) told people to obey the excellent
Mahdi who would be the means of salvation in this world and in the
Hereafter; he pointed out all the good things that would mark this
period:
A man from my family appears to fill Earth withjustice, just as it has
been filled with corruption. So whoever reaches that [time] ought to
come to them, even if crawling on the ice/snow, since among them is
the caliph of Allah al-Mahdi. 22
All the miracles proclaimed by our Prophet (saas) concerning past
events or with regard to 'Isa (as), Mahdi and signs of the End Times
are a cause for rejoicing for allMuslims and a gracious help from
Allah. According to Allah's will, these miracles are proofsthat will
strengthen the faith of believers and bind them even more closely to
the glorious Qur'an sent down to our Prophet (saas) from Allah.