Did Prophet MuhammadSplit the Moon?!

Examining the Scientific ProofsAnd Historic Records

Dr. Hussein Mhanna

The Holy Quran says…

The Hour has come near, and the moon has split [in two].

{54:1}

Story behind the verse

• It was a full night of the month of thul-hijjah, when a group of people of Mecca came to the Prophet and asked him to show them a miracle in the sky. Since they did not believe in him as a prophet of God, they had thought that all the previous miracles he showed them were nothing but sorcery and magic. Thinking that his sorcery could not be performed in the sky, they asked him to split the moon!

And so he did…

• “If you are a true prophet,” they said, “split the moon into 2 halves!”

• He said: “Would you then believe if I did it?”• They replied: “Yes!”• So he pointed to the moon with his finger, and

by the will of Allah, the moon split into 2 halves, that they could see one half appearing above the mount of “Qubais”, and the other above “Qaiqa’an”. (Mountains in Mecca)

Did they believe?!

• He said to them: “Bear witness, bear witness!”• Some of them said: “His magic continues!”• Others said: “If his magic has fallen upon us, it

couldn’t have affected people elsewhere, lets wait for travelers to come and we’ll ask them.”

• When travelers from Syria and Yemen came to Mecca, they narrated that they also witnessed the splitting of the moon that night!

A well-known story

• The story is an established fact in numerous books of hadith and history and was narrated by multiple narrators and different sources.

• The first 2 verses of Sura 54 of the Quran record this event as well as the denial of the people who witnessed it and claimed that it was “A continuous sorcery” / “Passing magic”.

A Fair Question

• It is fair to ask: If the crack of the moon into 2 halves actually happened, can we find any geologic evidence of it nowadays?

Muslim Researchers say yes

• According to some Muslim researchers, there are proofs of the splitting of the moon in pictures of the moon taken by NASA’s missions.

Let’s see the Pictures

What does science say?

• The surface of the moon is replete with long channels or grooves that continue to create unsolved puzzles and contradictions for geologists. Every traditional theory, when tested against the photographic evidence, has failed.

Proposed theories

• Lava channels• Collapsed lava tube• Electrical discharge• Massive lightning bolt

Lava Channels?

• Planetary scientists often say that it was formed by molten lava, and they draw comparisons to lava channels in Hawaii. But the differences between the two are so profound as to render such comparisons meaningless.

•  Over comparatively short distances and times, rivers of lava produce obstructing cooled material and overflow their banks to produce layers of oozing material that freezes in place and whose source is obvious. They repeatedly change course, and undercut the surface along the walls of new pathways, leaving in their wake a vivid display of their erratic behavior.

• Hadley reveals no such behavior, retaining consistent width over great distances, with parallel sides, while lava rivers show just the reverse.

• Hadley reveals no explicit overflow or outflow. • It is just an empty channel that, enigmatically, grows

more narrow as it meanders across a relatively flat valley floor.

Collapsed Lava Tube?• Many have suggested that Hadley is a “collapsed lava tube”,

something much different from an empty surface channel of lava. As flowing lava cools, it will begin to develop a crust, and eventually a stationary “roof” may form over it.

• A lava tube has the advantage that it enables lava to retain its heat as it flows underground, thereby covering greater distance and collecting less debris from surface cooling.

• The flowing lava can produce relatively continuous and smooth walls, while a surface channel of lava, because it is continually creating its own obstructions by cooling, with subsequent overflow, will typically meander chaotically across its own debris field.

• Hadley does not show this appearance at all.

Rubble from collapsed roof section in Barker Cave

(QTTC)

Barker Cave, Australia(David B. J. Thomae)

Hadley's Rille

(NASA/Apollo 15)

• On Earth we know that the collapse of lava tube roofs is not uncommon, and the area collapsed will be a rubble-filled depression. When the European Space Agency’s Smart 1 spacecraft took an image of Hadley, the popular science website Universe Today reported that Hadley is “probably a collapsed lava tube”.

• But no lava tube on Earth comes close to such dimensions, and that is only the beginning of the problem. The rubble left from a collapsed lava roof is impossible to miss. And we’ve seen enough of Hadley in high resolution to categorically exclude the lava tube interpretation. As shown by the close-up of a section of Hadley), there is no rubble, no collapsed roof. Hadley is an empty, sharply-cut channel. Whatever once lay within the cavernous depths of Hadley is no longer there.

A close-up look at a section of Hadley Rille

Hadley Rille on the moon, a long meandering channel, spans some 125 klm (75 miles)

Electrical Discharge / Lightning?

• One explanation of Hadley and other lunar rilles has yet to be considered by planetary scientists. It is the one explanation that does not produce contradictions, or conflict in any way with what we see on the moon. Engineer Ralph Juergens, who investigated a new approach to sinuous rilles, suggested in 1974 that they are the effects of “electrical discharge”.

• Engineer Ralph Juergens showed in the early 1970′s that it is a typical scar caused by a massive lightning bolt. 

This 40 foot rille was torn out by lightning. The more tortuous path of the narrow lightning stroke can be seen as a groove in the bottom of the trench. Credit: National Geographic, June 1950.

This is a section of a prominent lunar rille, Schröter's Valley, which also shows the tortuous path of the lightning along the floor of the wider trench.

NASA says…

• First discovered over 200 years ago with a small telescope, rilles (rhymes with pills) appear all over the Moon.

• Three types of rilles are now recognized: sinuous rilles, which have many meandering curves, arcuate rilles which form sweeping arcs, and straight rilles.

• Long rilles such as Ariadaeus Rille extend for hundreds of kilometers. Sinuous rilles are now thought to be remnants of ancient lava flows, but the origins of arcuate and linear rilles are:

still a topic of research.

The origin of lunar sinuous rilles remains controversial. Among the alternatives proposed are lava channels and lava tubes, but fracture control is decidedly apparent in some places.

NASA

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/ch6.2.htm

More from NASA• In many places the lunar surface is broken and a portion is downdropped,

forming trenchlike features known as straight rimae or rilles. Some of these rilles are large enough (tens of kilometers across) to be visible on Earth based photographs; others are so small (a few meters across) that they are barely visible on the highest resolution orbital pictures.

• Some of these trenches cut across the surrounding plains, uplands, and craters and may record preferred directions of breakage of the lunar crust caused by internal stresses (the so called lunar grid). Others ring crater floors and may be related to uplift of the floor caused by crustal readjustment after impact. A few contain low rimmed dark halo craters that are interpreted to be volcanic vents. Many trenches are curvilinear; some appear to be transitional between straight rilles and sinuous rilles.

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/ch6.3.htm

A picture frequently used as proof

• Islamic websites rely on a few pictures as proofs of the splitting of the moon.

• But one there’s a picture that you will always find in any article about the event.

• Some websites also claim that the split extends across the length of the moon!

• Lets see the picture…

http://voiceofaa.wordpress.com/moonsplit/

What’s the truth about this picture?

• The picture was taken by the Apollo 10 crew in 1969 during their historic approach to only 14-kilometers above the lunar surface.

• That structure in the picture is one of many linear rilles on the moon called “Ariadaeus Rille”.

• It extends for 300 km and not across the length of the moon as some websites claim!

• It shows no trace of associated volcanism; it is, therefore, considered to be the end member of the sequence, where only pure faulting is involved.

 Ariadaeus Rille: was photographed by the Apollo 10 crew in 1969 during their historic approach to only 14-kilometers above the lunar surface.  

Another picture of Ariadaeus Rille taken by Apollo 10 crew in 1969

Location of Rima Ariadaeus, between Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Vaporum; 133 by 4 km.

Rima Hyginus and Rima Ariadaeus

Conclusion

• As you can see from the pictures the rille usually referred to as the scar of the split that happened as a miracle of the Prophet (s), show clearly that it’s a relatively small scar on the face of the moon and doesn’t extend across the length of the moon as one would expect.

What Now?!

• Does that mean the split never happened?!

• Does that disprove the miracle that the Prophet showed to the people of Mecca?!

• Even though the pictures can not be used as a strong evidence of the miracle that happened in the 7th century A.D. yet there’s still no conclusive explanations to the origin of the structures in question.

Keep in mind

• The Holy Quran is a miracle by itself, and a book full of all sorts of miracles.

• Muslims however need to be very careful in their attempts to explain scientific miracles of the Quran in a way that doesn’t cause harm to the credibility of the holy book.

• There is absolutely no need to exaggerate certain evidence to make fit some facts mentioned in the Quran.

Remember

• Until recently, a lot of the scientific facts in the Quran were in contradiction with the scientific theories at the time.

• Yet this never meant that science was right and the Quran was wrong.

• In many cases new discoveries proved the old theories wrong and the Quran right, (like the expansion of the universe for ex.)

• In other cases, our interpretation of the Quranic verses was wrong.

• Either way, as a Muslim, the Quran’s credibility is above any doubt.

Is that all?!

• If the travelers coming from Syria and Yemen witnessed the splitting on their way back to Mecca, what about the rest of the world?!

• Is there any record of the event in any non-Islamic history books?!

The Mayans recorded the miracle!

• …not only was the rabbit a new addition to the home of the moon goddess, but also the cosmic tree was new. Being held up to the mirror, the rabbit is shown where it was then located, not how was it born. In agreement with two midwifes, it shows that the palace of the moon is being shaken by a quake

• This “quake” or catastrophe is well recorded worldwide, even in Peru…

• The rabbit replaced the monkey  as a recorder of the time and became a very important figure with the same split face of the moon…he then becomes the official recorder of time

• At the top of page 139 in the 1997 Maya Hieroglyphic Forum, the dot and bar numbers have been inserted as corrections for the tops of the other columns (missing in V and K's works). On the basis of the number sequences, the date of the first (and, what I am surmising, was the original change) is 9.9.9.16.0 or the Gregorian date of 9 February 623

Indians saw the miracle too!• On a moon-lit night the Indian king (Cheraman Perumal – royal

title) Chakrawati Farmas while walking on the rooftop of his palace along with the queen saw the moon suddenly splitting into two halves.

• Later he came to know through the Arab traders that that a prophet called Muhammad had wrought a miracle on that fateful night and sundered the moon before a crowd of dazed spectators.

• Impressed by this new messenger of God in Arabia, the king set out for the holy land after dividing his kingdom and assigning various territories to local chieftains to ensure smooth governance.

• In Arabia he met the Prophet and embraced Islam.

• The king, who took a Muslim name, Tajuddin, died on his way back to India and was buried on the shore of the Arabian Sea at Salala in the Sultanate of Oman.

• It is said that he had earlier written letters to the local rulers of Malabar and sent it through his ministers along with Malik bin Dinar, a companion of the Prophet.

• In the letters he had asked them to "receive the bearers of the letters and treat them well and help them to construct mosques at Kodungallur and elsewhere".

• The rulers of Kerala honoured the letters and permitted Malik Bin Dinar and his fellow Arab traders to build mosques in Kerala.

• The mosque built in the early 7th century at Kodungallur, known as Cheraman Malik Masjid, still exists with its original structure and is said to be the oldest mosque in the sub-continent.

• It is named after both Cheraman Perumal and Malik bin Dinar.

• The incident relating to King Chakrawati Farmas is documented in an old manuscript in the India Office Library, London, which has reference number: Arabic, 2807, 152-173.

• It was quoted in the book "Muhammad Rasulullah," by M. Hamidullah:"There is a very old tradition in Malabar, South-West Coast of India, that Chakrawati Farmas, one of their kings, had observed the splitting of the moon, the celebrated miracle of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) at Makkah, and learning on inquiry that there was a prediction of the coming of a Messenger of God from Arabia (Detail given bellow), he appointed his son as regent and set out to meet him. He embraced Islam at the hand of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.), and when returning home, at the direction of the Prophet, died at the port of Zafar, Yemen, where the tomb of the "Indian king" was piously visited for many centuries.“

• The old manuscript in the 'India Office Library' contains several other details about King Chakrawati Farmas and his travel.

The arrival of the Indian king in Hadith

A tradition of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) has also been reported from one of the companions, Abu Saeed al Kaudri, regarding the arrival of Cheraman Perumel: "A king from India presented the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) with a bottle of pickle that had ginger in it. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) distributed it among his companions. I also received a piece to eat ".

(Hakim reports in 'Al Musthadrak)

Bottom Line• Current scientific data gives some clues about cracks on the

surface of the moon, however they cannot yet be used as conclusive evidence of its splitting in the past.

• We might be able to scientifically prove someday that the moon did split in the time of the Prophet (pbuh&hp)

• On the other hand, science might also come to conclusive evidence that the moon never split the way it was told in the Quran. What then?!

• Of course as a Muslim, I don’t need to wait and see scientific evidence to believe that the splitting actually happened. If the Quran says it happened, that’s enough for me to believe.

It was a miracle after all!

• We need to keep in mind that the splitting was a miracle performed by the Prophet (pbuh&hp). And a miracle usually defies known laws of physics. Which means that the splitting and rejoining could have happened outside the laws of physics, which could mean that we might never find any scientific evidence of them.

• Just like science could never explain the miraculous pregnancy of Lady Mariam (pbuh) and the birth of Prophet Jesus (pbuh), science may not be able to explain the miraculous splitting of the moon by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh&hp).

Sources:• http://quran.com/54• http://www.holyquran.net/cgi-bin/almizan.pl• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon• http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap021029.html• http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2004/arch/041011lava-tubes.htm• http://www.kaheel7.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=758• http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1528939• http://www.holoscience.com/wp/electric-dust-devils/• http://www.answering-christianity.com/moon_split.htm• http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=7084• http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060317rille.htm• http://www.astrosurf.com/lunascan/AS10-31-4645.htm• http://www.packerlighting.com/Lunar_Articles/Moon%20Article%203of6.html• http://www.holoscience.com/wp/it-has-to-be-moonglow/• http://www.iosworld.org/interview_cheramul.htm• http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/farmas.html