Authored by: Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Anwar Zāhid ḥafiẓahullāh
It is reported that Sayyidunā ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنه) once said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:
"O Messenger of Allah! The sign that inclined me to accept your religion was this: When you were in the cradle, I saw that the moon was speaking to you, and you were speaking to the moon. Wherever you would point to it with your finger, it would incline in that direction."
The Prophet ﷺ replied:
"Yes, it would speak to me and I would speak to it. It would comfort me when I cried. And when it glorified Allah under the Throne, I would hear its voice."
This story has been mentioned in the following sources:
◈ Dalā’il al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī
◈ Kitāb al-Mi’atayn by al-Ṣābūnī
◈ Tārīkh Baghdād by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī
◈ Tārīkh Dimashq by Ibn ʿAsākir
However, Bayhaqī himself clarifies that:
The narration is only reported by Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Jabalī, who is majhūl (unknown and unverified in terms of reliability).
Al-Ṣābūnī, after quoting this narration, commented:
"This narration is strange (gharīb) both in chain of transmission and in content."
Moreover, Sayyidunā ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنه) was only one or two years older than the Prophet ﷺ.
Thus, during the time the Prophet ﷺ was in infancy, Sayyidunā ʿAbbās himself would have also been an infant, making it chronologically implausible for him to report witnessing such an event.
The narration claiming that the Prophet ﷺ conversed with the moon during infancy:
✖ Is only reported by a majhūl narrator (Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Jabalī)
✖ Has been labelled as strange in both chain and content
✖ Is historically problematic, as the narrator (ʿAbbās) would have been an infant himself during that period
❖ Conversing with the Moon
It is reported that Sayyidunā ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنه) once said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:
"O Messenger of Allah! The sign that inclined me to accept your religion was this: When you were in the cradle, I saw that the moon was speaking to you, and you were speaking to the moon. Wherever you would point to it with your finger, it would incline in that direction."
The Prophet ﷺ replied:
"Yes, it would speak to me and I would speak to it. It would comfort me when I cried. And when it glorified Allah under the Throne, I would hear its voice."
❖ Verification of the Narration (Taḥqīq al-Ḥadīth):
This story has been mentioned in the following sources:
◈ Dalā’il al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī
◈ Kitāb al-Mi’atayn by al-Ṣābūnī
◈ Tārīkh Baghdād by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī
◈ Tārīkh Dimashq by Ibn ʿAsākir
However, Bayhaqī himself clarifies that:
The narration is only reported by Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Jabalī, who is majhūl (unknown and unverified in terms of reliability).
Al-Ṣābūnī, after quoting this narration, commented:
"This narration is strange (gharīb) both in chain of transmission and in content."
Moreover, Sayyidunā ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنه) was only one or two years older than the Prophet ﷺ.
Thus, during the time the Prophet ﷺ was in infancy, Sayyidunā ʿAbbās himself would have also been an infant, making it chronologically implausible for him to report witnessing such an event.
✔ Summary:
The narration claiming that the Prophet ﷺ conversed with the moon during infancy:
✖ Is only reported by a majhūl narrator (Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Jabalī)
✖ Has been labelled as strange in both chain and content
✖ Is historically problematic, as the narrator (ʿAbbās) would have been an infant himself during that period
