Fourteenth Sign.Part2

F o u r t h  E x a m p l e: We shall describe here a few events regarding maledictions of God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace).

The First: The Persian Shah Parviz tore up the letter sent to him by the Prophet. When God’s Prophet received news of this, he prayed: “O God, rend him as he rent my letter!”

It was as a result of this malediction that Chosroes Parviz’s son Shirviya cut him to pieces with a dagger. And Sa‘d b. al-Waqqas broke his kingdom apart, so that in no part of the Sasanid empire did his sovereignty remain. However, the Emperor of Byzantium and other kings did not perish since they respected the Prophet’s letters.

The Second: An event almost as well-known as those reported unanimously, which some verses of the Qur’an allude to, is this: in the early days of Islam, the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was performing the prayers in the Masjid al-Haram, when the chiefs of the Quraysh gathered and maltreated him. At the time, God’s Prophet called down curses on them. Ibn Mas‘ud stated: “I swear that at the Battle of Badr I saw the corpses of all those who had ill-treated him and received his curse.”

The Third: On their denying him, God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) prayed that a large Arab tribe called the Mudariyya would be afflicted with drought and famine. All rain ceased and drought and famine occurred. Then the Quraysh, a branch of the Mudariyya, pleaded with the Prophet, and he prayed. Whereupon the rains came and put an end to the drought. Having been reported unanimously, this incident is also well-known to the degree of unanimous reports.

F i f t h  E x a m p l e: The fact that the Prophet’s (PBUH) maledictions against particular persons were accepted and realized in a dreadful way is illustrated by numerous instances. We shall recount three of these by way of example.

The First: He uttered the following curse against ‘Utba b. Abi Lahab: “O God, beset a dog on him from among your dogs!” Some time later ‘Utba went on a journey during which a lion sought him out from among the caravan, and tore him to pieces. This incident was famous and is narrated as authentic by the authorities on Hadith.

The Second: This is Muhallim b. Jaththama: he unjustly killed ‘Amir b. Adbat, but God’s Messenger had sent him as the commander of a force to fight in God’s way. When the news of this reached the Messenger, he was angry and cursed him, saying: “O God, do not grant forgiveness to Muhallim!” Muhallim died a week later. They put him in his grave, but the grave cast him out. They buried him in several different places, but each time the grave rejected him. Finally they built a strong wall between two rocks, and in this way the corpse was housed.

The Third: Once God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) saw a man eating with his left hand. He ordered him to eat with his right hand. The man replied: “I can’t.” The Messenger said as a malediction: “Henceforth you will be unable to raise it.” And after that he was unable to use it.

S i x t h  E x a m p l e: Here we shall mention several events which are certain, from among the numerous wonders resulting from prayers of the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and from his touch.

The First: God’s Messenger gave Khalid b. al-Walid, known as God’s Sword, several of his hairs and prayed for his victory in battle. Khalid put them in his cap. As the result of the hairs and the blessings of the prayer, there was never a battle in which he then fought, but he was victorious.

The Second: Salman al-Farsi had formerly been a slave of the Jews. His masters had asked for a very high ransom, saying: “In order to gain your freedom, you must plant three hundred date-palms, and after they ear fruit, give us forty okkas of gold in addition to the fruit.” He went to the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) and explained his situation. God’s Messenger then planted the three hundred palms in the region of Madinah; only one of them was planted by someone else. That year, all three hundred trees bore fruit, with the exception of the one planted by the other person. The Messenger uprooted it and planted another, and it too bore fruit. He then rubbed some of his spittle on a piece of gold the size of a hen’s egg, and offered a prayer. He gave it to Salman, telling him to go and give it to the Jews. Salman al-Farsi went and gave them forty okkas of gold out of that piece, while it remained in its original state. This miraculous incident, which was narrated by the most trustworthy and respected authorities, was the most significant event in Salman’s entire life.

The Third: A woman Companion called Umm Malik used to give the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) butter from a leathern bag called an ‘ukka, as a gift. On one occasion God’s Messenger uttered a prayer over it while returning it to her, and told her not to empty it and squeeze it. Umm Malik took the ‘ukka, and thereafter as a result of the blessing of the Prophet’s prayer, butter was found in it whenever her children asked for it. This continued for a long time, until they squeezed it, and the blessing disappeared.