Questions regarding moon splitting

[Ramihs97]

Another more common sense approach would imply that the Prophet himself never said "hey i split the moon" or "remember that time i split the moon into two."

[Saudi Salafi]

From the scholars I have read, the narrations which depict this event as: the Prophet calling the Quraish to come to him, then he raising his index finger, due to which the Moon gets split into two, with such a distance between the two portions that one of its parts gets hidden behind a mountain - are unreliable narrations. The companions to whom such narrations are attributed were either not present or unable to be witness to the event. The most significant personality among them is Ibn Abbas, but the huge and obvious problem with Ibn Abbas being a witness is that, from other sources we know, he was around 13 years old when the Prophet died and this event happened during the Makkan period which means that during this event Ibn Abbas was 1-3 years old therefore making him unable to be a witness to this. Apparently, because of the high status of Ibn Abbas, he has often become the preferable "narrator" of fabricated narrations.

Some scholars, even though they believe in the splitting of the moon, contend that this wasn't a miracle of the Prophet because he didn't call people to come to him and told them he is going to show them a miracle but it was an event (actual splitting of the moon or whatever) that happened during the Prophet's time in Makkah and he directed the attention of the Quraish towards it.

No, the hadiths are authentic. I don't know why everybody is against the moon split so much.


Narrated Ibn Masud:
During the lifetime of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) the moon was split into two parts; one part remained over the mountain, and the other part went beyond the mountain. On that, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Witness this miracle."

Grade: Agreed Upon

Source:
USC-MSA web (English) reference    : Vol. 6, Book 60, Hadith 387
Arabic reference    : Book 65, Hadith 4864

There is atleast a bit of proof of Moses PBUH splitting the sea,as mentioned in the Qur'an AND HADITH,
but there is no Proof for Muhammad PBUH splitting the moon.

There is proof from both the Quran and the hadith of the moon splitting. "The Hour has come near, and the moon has split [in two]." 54:1

and in the Muhsin Khan translation:

"The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder (the people of Makkah requested Prophet Muhammad SAW to show them a miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon)." 54:1

and the authentic hadith above.


You should also read the tafsirs:

Tafsir Ibn Kathir Surat Al-Qamar verse 1:

وقوله : ( وانشق القمر ) : قد كان هذا في زمان رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم

And his saying ( the moon has split [in two].): This was at the time of the prophet (peace be upon him).


Source:

http://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/katheer/sura54-aya1.html

[AhmadFarooq]

The Hadith that was quoted above does not say that the polytheists were asking for a miracle and this splitting of the moon was the miracle he responded with.

A Pakistani scholar Maulana Maududi who although believed in the splitting asunder of the Moon, wrote the following for not taking this as a "miracle of Prophet Muhammad performed in response to the polytheists":

The information that one gathers from the various traditions is that this incident occurred about five years before the Hijrah. It was the 14th night of the lunar month; the Moon had just risen when it suddenly split and its two parts were seen on either side of the hill in front. Then after a moment or so they rejoined. The Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) at that time was at Mina. He told the people to mark it and be witnesses to it. The disbelievers said that Muhammad (upon whom be Allah’s peace and blessings) had worked magic on them; therefore, their eyes had been deceived. The other people said: “Mnhammad could have worked magic on us but not on all the people. Let the people from other places come: we shall ask them if they also had witnessed this incident. ” When the people from other places came, they bore evidence that they also had witnessed the same phenomenon.

Some traditions which have been related from Hadrat Anas give rise to the misunderstanding that the incident of the splitting of the Moon had happened twice. But, in the first place, no one else from among the Companions has stated this; second, in some traditions of Hadrat Anas himself also the words are marratain (twice), and in sane firqatain and shaqqatain (two pieces); third, the Qur’an mentions only one incident of the Moon’s splitting asunder. The correct view therefore is that this incident happened only once. As for the stories which are current among the people that the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) had matte a gesture towards the Moon and it split into two parts and that one part of the Moon entered the breast of the garment of the Holy Prophet and went out of the sleeve, have no basis whatever.

Here, the question arises: What was the real nature of this incident. Was it a miracle that the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) performed on the demand of the disbelievers of Makkah as a proof of his Prophethood? Or, was it only an accident that occurred on the Moon by the power of Allah and the Holy Prophet had only called the people’s attention to it and warned them to mark it as a Sign of the possibility and nearness of Resurrection? A large group of the Muslim scholars regards it as among the miracles of the Holy Prophet and holds the view that it had been shown on the demand of the disbelievers. But this view is based only on some of those traditions which have been related from Hadrat Anas. Apart from him no other Companion has stated this. According to Fath al Bari Ibn Hajar says: “Apart from the narration by Hadrat Anas, in no other narration of this story have I come across the theme that the incident of the splitting of the Moon had taken place on the demand of the polytheists. (Bab Inshiqaq al-Qamar). Abu Nu’aim Isfahani has related a tradition on this subject in Dale il an-Nubuwwat, on the authority of Hadrat ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas also, but it has a weak chain of transrmitters and none of the traditions that have been related with strong chains of tranamitters in the collections of Hadith on the authority of Hadrat ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas, contains any mention of this. Furthermore, neither Hadrat Anas nor Hadrat `Abdullah bin `Abbas was a contemporary of this incident. On the contrary, none of the Companions from among Hadrat `Abdullah bin Mas’ud, Hadrat Hudhaifah, Hadrat Jubair bin Mut`im, Hadrat ‘Ali, Hadrat `Abdullah bin ‘Umar, who were contemporaries of the incident, has stated that the pagans of Makkah had demanded a Sign of the Holy Prophet to testify to his Prophethood on which he might have shown the miracle of the splitting of the Moon. Above all, the Qur’an itself also is presenting this event not as a Sign of the Prophethood but as a Sign of the nearness of Resurrection. However, this was indeed conspicuous proof of the Holy Prophet’s truthfulness because it testified to the news that he was giving to the people of the coming of Resurrection.