Reported miracles and how to assess them
← Read the main argument · Browse all evidence
The sources describe extraordinary events in public and private settings. These entries preserve the reports, their cited witnesses and routes, and the distinctions needed to assess them as transmitted testimony.
What kind of evidence a miracle report provides
-
The hadith collections preserve many reports of miracles. A believer who accepts the soundness of the hadith tradition will naturally regard them as direct signs of prophethood. For a skeptical historian, they remain testimonial evidence: transmitted claims that extraordinary events were witnessed.
-
Such testimony should not be dismissed merely because the event described is miraculous, but neither should a written report be treated like a modern recording. Its weight depends on factors such as the number and independence of transmission routes, the public or private setting, the specificity of the claim, and the reliability of those who transmitted it.182021373839
The Qur’an and reported public signs
-
The Qur’an was a public part of Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ mission: it was recited openly, memorized, written, challenged, and transmitted rather than being known only through a private vision.
“And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful.” (Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:23), Saheeh International1111236
﴿وَإِن كُنتُمْ فِى رَيْبٍ مِّمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا۟ بِسُورَةٍ مِّن مِّثْلِهِۦ وَٱدْعُوا۟ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ ٢٣﴾ سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ -
Water was reported to flow from between his fingers in front of a large group. Jabir’s account at Hudaybiyyah says that when the companions needed water, a small vessel was brought to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and enough water flowed for the group to drink and wash. When asked how many people were present, Jabir said about fifteen hundred.
Jabir said, “I saw water flowing from between his fingers… Had we been a hundred thousand, it would have been enough for us.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 357621343
Ibn Masud transmitted another water-multiplication report from a different journey, giving a separate companion route for the same broad kind of claim.
-
A separate Hudaybiyyah report concerns a depleted well. Bukhari’s treaty narrative says that when the group complained of thirst, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had an arrow placed in the well and water continued to spring until everyone had drunk. The two Hudaybiyyah water reports arise in distinct narrative contexts.
“The water continued springing up for them until they had quenched their thirst and departed.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 2731-273221343
-
A small meal was reported to feed roughly a thousand people during the Battle of the Trench. Jabir privately invited Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to food his household had prepared from a small goat and a measure of barley. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ invited the whole digging party. Jabir says that they ate in groups until everyone was satisfied and food still remained.
“They were one thousand. I swear by God, they all ate until they left it and went away, while our pot was still bubbling.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 4101-410221343; Sahih Muslim 203931443
-
The splitting of the moon is associated explicitly with Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in both the Qur’an and hadith. Ibn Masud’s report in Bukhari says that the moon appeared divided into two parts and that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told those present to bear witness.
“The Hour has drawn near and the moon was split ˹in two˺.” (Sūrat al-Qamar 54:1), Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran1111236; Sahih al-Bukhari 363621343; Sahih al-Bukhari 363721343, an Anas report that Meccans asked for a sign
﴿ٱقْتَرَبَتِ ٱلسَّاعَةُ وَٱنشَقَّ ٱلْقَمَرُ ١﴾ سُورَةُ القَمَرِThe next Qur’anic verse adds an important detail: it portrays opponents as seeing a “sign” and calling it magic rather than saying that nothing had happened. This matters within the Qur’an’s own public account of the dispute, but it is not independent non-Muslim confirmation of the event.
“Yet, whenever they see a sign, they turn away, saying, ‘Same old magic!’” (Sūrat al-Qamar 54:2), Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran1111236
﴿وَإِن يَرَوْا۟ ءَايَةً يُعْرِضُوا۟ وَيَقُولُوا۟ سِحْرٌ مُّسْتَمِرٌّ ٢﴾ سُورَةُ القَمَرِ -
The moon report is transmitted miracle testimony, not external astronomical proof. There is no need to fill the absence of a securely established independent contemporary astronomical record with dubious stories from the internet. The actual evidential question is how much weight one gives the Qur’anic wording and the multiple Islamic reports.
Ibn Masud said, “The moon was split into two parts during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ… and the Prophet said, ‘Bear witness.’” — Sahih al-Bukhari 363621343
Other reported signs
-
Ibn Umar reported that after Prophet Muhammad ﷺ stopped leaning on a palm trunk during sermons, the trunk made a crying sound until he went to it and rubbed his hand over it.
“The trunk began to cry, so the Prophet ﷺ went to it and stroked it with his hand.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 358321343
Another version compares the sound to a child crying and says that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ embraced the trunk until it became quiet. Variant reports preserving the same central event are one reason Muslim hadith scholars regarded the episode as widely attested.
“The date-palm cried like a child. The Prophet ﷺ came down and embraced it while it moaned like a child being soothed.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 358421343
-
Ali’s severe eye condition at Khaybar was reported to heal immediately after Prophet Muhammad ﷺ prayed for him and treated his eyes. The incident is placed in a public military setting at the moment the standard was handed to Ali.
“He applied saliva to his eyes and prayed for him, and he recovered at once as though he had never had the ailment.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 300921343
-
A prayer for rain is reported through an unusually concrete sequence of events. Anas said that a man interrupted a Friday sermon to ask for rain while the sky was clear. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ prayed, clouds gathered, and heavy rain followed. The next Friday people asked for relief from excessive rain, and when he prayed for it to fall around Medina, the clouds separated.
“O God, around us and not upon us.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 358221343
-
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ reported that a stone in Mecca used to greet him before his prophetic mission.
“I know a stone in Mecca that used to greet me before I was sent as a prophet. I know it even now.” — Sahih Muslim 227731443
-
The Night Journey is claimed directly in the Qur’an. The text says that God took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the “farthest mosque,” or place of worship, traditionally identified with Jerusalem, in order to show him divine signs.
“Glory be to the One Who took His servant ˹Muḥammad˺ by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing.” (Sūrat al-Isrāʾ 17:1), Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran1111236
﴿سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِۦ لَيْلًا مِّنَ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ إِلَى ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْأَقْصَا ٱلَّذِى بَـٰرَكْنَا حَوْلَهُۥ لِنُرِيَهُۥ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَآ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ ١﴾ سُورَةُ الإِسۡرَاءِHadith adds a detail about the public dispute: when Quraysh challenged his report, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said that Jerusalem was displayed before him and that he described its features while looking at it. Early biography also portrays the claim as costly rather than conveniently persuasive, remembering some hearers recoiling from it while Abu Bakr accepted Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ word. The hadith report has stronger transmission than the later biographical detail, and neither amounts to independent archaeological verification. Together, however, they show that Muslim memory placed the claim into public dispute immediately.
“When Quraysh disbelieved me, I stood in the Hijr, and God displayed Jerusalem before me, and I began describing its signs to them while I was looking at it.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 388621343; Sahih Muslim 17031443; early Sīra for the reactions attributed to other hearers819283738
How this evidence should be weighed
-
Miracle reports should be evaluated separately from the moral and biographical evidence. If they are historically reliable, they support a supernatural mission directly; if a reader remains uncertain about them, the other evidence can still be assessed on its own.
“Nothing keeps Us from sending the ˹demanded˺ signs except that they had ˹already˺ been denied by earlier peoples. And We gave Thamûd the she-camel as a clear sign, but they wrongfully rejected it. We only send the signs as a warning.” (Sūrat al-Isrāʾ 17:59), Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran1111236
﴿وَمَا مَنَعَنَآ أَن نُّرْسِلَ بِٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ إِلَّآ أَن كَذَّبَ بِهَا ٱلْأَوَّلُونَ ۚ وَءَاتَيْنَا ثَمُودَ ٱلنَّاقَةَ مُبْصِرَةً فَظَلَمُوا۟ بِهَا ۚ وَمَا نُرْسِلُ بِٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ إِلَّا تَخْوِيفًا ٥٩﴾ سُورَةُ الإِسۡرَاءِ
Sources for this page
The numbered citations identify the works in the complete bibliography. Verse and report numbers appear with the evidence; the source guide explains the distinctions between scripture, hadith, and early biography.
References used: 1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 28, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43.