Seven Miraculous Signs at the Birth of the Prophet (saw)
‘And We have not sent you, [O Prophet], except as a mercy to the worlds’. [The Noble Qur’an, 21:107]
The birth of the Prophet (saw) was the greatest blessing to this Ummah and a mercy to all the worlds, which changed the course of history. Before his birth, the Prophet’s mother, Lady Aaminah, was conscious of a light within her when she was pregnant with him, which upon his birth shone from her so intensely that she could see the castles and palaces of Syria. [Ibn Ishaq]
SubhanAllah, there were many other amazing miracles which indicated his blessed birth. Without further ado, here are seven miraculous signs that were seen as the best of creation was sent to our world.
One: The Persian Fire was extinguished
Imam Baihaqi (rh) narrated from Hani’ I-Makhzumi:
‘On the night of the birth of the Messenger of Allah (saw), the fire of the Persians which had been burning continuously for one thousand years went out’.
Pre-Islam, the Persians were known to be fire-worshippers, wrongly attributing partners to Allah (swt). As soon as the Prophet (saw) was born, this fire went out - truly a sign of the message he (saw) would carry to us for the last time: to worship Allah alone.
Two: The Throne Arch of Chosroes shuddered
The throne arch is referred to as the Aywan and indicates the political shift marked by the birth of the Prophet (saw). The Arch (Aywan) of the palace of Kisra (Chosroes), the ancient emperor of Persia, trembled at the birth of the Prophet (saw). [Baihaqi]
Three: Fourteen royal balconies collapsed
The fourteen fallen balconies from the palace of Kisra mentioned in Baihaqi’s narration was a sign that the rulership of the Persians would last for only fourteen more Persian kings. And this is exactly what happened. The fourteenth (and last) Persian king ruled from the time of the Prophet's birth until the Muslims completely destroyed the whole of the Persian Empire. [Baihaqi]
Four: Lake Sawah ran dry
Baihaqi’s final narration mentions the lake of Sawah, which is located in Qum and Hamadan, modern-day northern Iran. On the night of the birth of the Prophet (saw), the lake, which was vast enough for ships to sail in it, dried up. [Baihaqi]
This was known to be a city of evil-doers and this sign at the birth of the Prophet (saw) was indeed a sign of Allah’s power and might, a reminder to the people of Sawah.
Five: Idols in every place fell
At the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), a total of 360 idols, which had been affixed with lead bases fell around the Holy Ka‘bah. An additional one inside the Ka‘bah, namely Hubal, which resembled a human figure and was believed to control acts of divination. The pagans used to throw arrows at the statues, using the direction the arrows fell in as the answer the idol gave to them.
The event of the 360 idols falling within the Holy Ka‘bah was observed by Abdul-Muttalib, the grandfather of the Prophet (saw) who then visited the Christian monk Easau who lived outside of Makkah for interpretation.
Six: The throne of Iblis collapsed
Iblis has a god-complex and observed that the throne of Allah is upon water as is mentioned in the following Qur’anic passage:
So when he was banished from Paradise, he established his throne upon water on planet Earth, which collapsed at the birth of the Prophet (saw), leading him to dispatch his devilish Jinn to find out from the lower heaven what had happened.
Imam Ibn Kathir (rh) also narrates in his famous work ‘Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah’, ‘The Beginning and the End’, ‘Iblis [the Devil] cried loudly four times, firstly when Allah decreed him as cursed, secondly when he was thrown out, thirdly when the Prophet (saw) was born and fourthly when Surah al-Fatihah was revealed’.
Seven: The devils were attacked with shooting stars
The devilish Jinn used to ascend to the lower sky where they would attempt to listen to the conversations of the angels positioned at the Ka’bah of that level, namely Bait al-’Izzah (The House of Might), with the intention of hearing about people’s Qadr (divine decrees). This is described in the following Qur’anic passage:
‘And we have sought [to reach] heaven but found it filled with powerful guards and burning flames. And we used to sit there in positions for hearing, but whoever listens now will find a burning flame lying in wait for him’. [The Noble Qur’an, 72:8 & 9]
It was at the birth of the Prophet (saw) that they were stricken with falling stars and barred from accessing this knowledge and chased away instead by flames and comets. Among the signs is that Iblis, the forefather of the devils, was blocked from the news of the sky so he rang out a very loud scream.
Subhan'Allah, these miraculous signs from Allah marked a change in human history with 'the mercy to all the worlds' finally arriving. The people of the book, such as the Jews even anticipated the arrival of the final prophet from their own scriptures even a thousand years before the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was born. Let's spend this night of the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal, the date of his birth, sending abundant Salawat upon him and learning more about his blessed life.
