Splitting of the Moon, an Amazing Story

In a TV interview with the Egyptian Geologist Dr. Zaghloul Annajar, the anchor asked him about the verse:

"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)." (Quran 54:1) whether it contains any Quranic scientific astounding facts?

Dr. Zaghloul answered saying that he has a story to tell about this verse.

He started explaining that at a time he delivered a lecture at Cardiff University in the West of Britain. The attendees included both Muslims and non-Muslims. A vital dialogue was taking place around scientific facts included in the Noble Quran. 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.

Dr. Najjar continued that at this point a British Muslim young man introduced himself as Daoud Moussa Peetcock head of the British Islamic Party. He carried on saying sir if you allow me I would like to add on this issue? I said please do. He explained saying: At the time when I was searching in religions (before he embraced Islam), a Muslim student gave me as a present the translation of the meaning of Quran. I thanked him and took it home. The first Surat I came across when I opened the book, it was Chapter of the Moon I read "has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder". I said to myself, is this statement logical? Is it possible for the moon to split and then reattach what kind of power may cause this? The man explained that this verse made me reluctant to continue reading. I became busy with my life,yet ALLAH of course Knows how sincere I was about finding the truth.

So,one day ALLAH made me sit to watch TV. It was a talk show between a British commentator and three American astronautics specialists. The show host was blaming the scientists for spending thriftily over space trips at a time when earth is suffering hunger,poverty, diseases and backwardness. He was telling them, it would have been more feasible to allocate this kind of money for reconstruction of earth. To this argument, the three men answered defending their position that such technology is widely applied in many wakes of life such as medicine, industry and agriculture. They added that the money is never wasted but it rather supported the development of highly advanced technology.

During their dialogue, they mentioned the trip in which a man landed on the moon surface as it consumes the the largest cost which comes to more than US $100.000.000.000. The British TV anchor screamed saying what kind of thrift is this? A hundred thousand million dollars just to plant the American flag on the moon surface? They answered no; the objective was not to plant the American flag but rather to study the interior composition of the moon. We actually came to a finding that would cost us double folds of this amount for people to believe and yet they will never believe. The show host inquired what is this fact? They replied: One day this moon was split and then reattached. The show host again probed: how did you realize that? The scientists responded about finding a belt of transformed rocks cutting the moon from its surface to core and then to the surface again. The stated saying: we consulted with earth scientists and geologists who explained that such phenomenon would never occur unless this moon one day split and then reattached.

The British Muslim man said: I jumped out of my chair saying ALLAH (SWT) forced the Americans to spend more than a hundred billion dollars to prove to Muslims a a miracle that took place 1400 years ago for Mohamed (PBUH)? This religion must be the truth. He added: I went back to the Quran and recited Surat Al Qamar, which was my gate for accepting Islam.