2. [Second] Sign

The following hadith is recorded in Sunan Dar Qutni that Imam Muhammad al-Baqir says:

Translation: There are two Signs for our Mahdi, and ever since God created the heavens and earth, these two Signs have never appeared in the time of any other Appointed One or Messenger. One of them is that in the time of the Promised Mahdi, during the month of Ramadan, the lunar eclipse will take place on its first night—i.e. on the thirteenth [night]—while the solar eclipse will take place on the middle of its days—i.e. on the twenty-eighth day of the month of the same Ramadan. Such a phenomenon has never occurred at the time of any Messenger or Prophet since the beginning of the world. It is destined to occur only at the time of the Promised Mahdi.

Now, all English and Urdu newspapers and all astronomers are witness to the fact that the lunar and solar eclipses of this particular description did take place in my time about twelve years ago during the month of Ramadan, and just as is reported in another hadith, these eclipses have taken place twice in the month of Ramadan—first in this country and then again in America. Both times, they took place exactly on the dates indicated by the hadith. At the time of these eclipses there was no claimant to being the Promised Mahdi anywhere in the world except me, nor did anyone claim these eclipses as the Sign of his being the Promised Mahdi and publish hundreds of announcements and booklets in Urdu, Arabic, and Persian to support his claim; therefore, this heavenly Sign is specifically appointed for me. Another supporting argument for the same is that twelve years prior to the manifestation of this Sign, God Almighty had informed me that a Sign of this kind would appear. That tiding, having been recorded in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, had become known to hundreds of thousands of people before the Sign actually appeared.

It is very sad that my opponents object out of sheer prejudice that, firstly, the hadith says that the lunar eclipse would take place on the first night and the solar eclipse on the middle day, but it did not happen like this. According to their contention, the lunar eclipse should have taken place on the crescent night—that is, the first night of the lunar month—and the solar eclipse should have taken place on the 15th day of the lunar month, which is the middle day of the month.

This line of thinking is entirely the product of their misconception. Ever since the creation of this world, God Almighty’s law of nature has fixed three nights [in the month] for a lunar eclipse; namely, the 13th, 14th, and the 15th. Thus, the first night for a lunar eclipse according to God’s law of nature is the 13th night of the lunar month. Similarly, God’s law of nature has fixed three days for a solar eclipse; namely, the 27th, 28th, and 29th day of the lunar month. Thus, of the three days meant for the solar eclipse, the 28th day of the lunar month is the middle day. In exact conformity with the intent of the hadith, the sun and the moon were eclipsed in the month of Ramadan; that is, the lunar eclipse took place on the 13th night of the month of Ramadan and the solar eclipse occurred on the 28th day of the same month of Ramadan.

Moreover, according to the Arabic lexicon, the moon of the first night is never designated as qamar [which is the word in the hadith]. Instead, the moon for the first three days is known as hilal [crescent]. According to some, for the first seven days, the moon continues to be called hilal.

The second objection is that even if they concede that the first night of the moon [to eclipse] means its 13th night and the middle of the days for the sun means the 28th day, what is so extraordinary about it? Has there never occurred a lunar and solar eclipse in the month of Ramadan? The answer is that this hadith does not mean that the two eclipses have never happened together in the month of Ramadan. Rather, it means that the two eclipses have never occurred together in the month of Ramadan during the time when anyone claimed to be a Messenger or a Prophet. This is borne out by the explicit wording of the hadith. In case someone claims that both these eclipses did, in fact, take place together in the month of Ramadan during the time when someone claimed to be a Prophet or Messenger, it is incumbent upon him to provide its proof. In particular, who does not know the fact that, during the 1,300 years of the Islamic calendar, many impostors claimed to be the Promised Mahdi by way of fabrication and even engaged in fighting? But who can prove that, in their time, both the lunar and the solar eclipses occurred together in the month of Ramadan? So long as this evidence is not produced, such an event, without a doubt, qualifies as supernormal; for, this is what is called supernormal—that the like of it is not found in the world. Moreover, not only the hadith, but also the Holy Quran has pointed towards it.1 See the verse:

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The third objection that is raised is that this hadith is not marfu‘, muttasil3 and is merely a statement of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, may Allah be pleased with him. The answer is that it was the practice of the Imams belonging to the Holy Prophet’s House that, on account of their personal eminence, they did not consider it necessary to record the chain of reporters by name, reaching all the way to the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. This practice of theirs is quite well known. Thus, there are hundreds of ahadith of this kind in the Shi‘ah sect; moreover, Imam Dar Qutni has included it in his collection as one of the ahadith.

Furthermore, this hadith comprises a matter of the unseen that has actually manifested after 1300 years. It says, in brief, that, ‘At the time of the Promised Mahdi, the lunar eclipse will take place on the 13th night of Ramadan, and the solar eclipse will take place on the 28th day of the same month; and an event such as this will not happen in the time of any other claimant except the Promised Mahdi.’ It is quite obvious that no one except a Prophet can so vividly tell about a matter belonging to the unseen. Allah the Exalted says in the Holy Quran:

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Meaning that, God does not communicate His knowledge of the unseen to anyone except His chosen Messengers. Now, since this prophecy has been fulfilled to the letter, claims that the hadith is inauthentic, or that it is a saying of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, are lame excuses.

The fact is that these people have no desire whatsoever that any prophecy of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, or of the Holy Quran, be fulfilled. The world is approaching its end but, according to them, no prophecy concerning the Latter Days has yet been fulfilled. What hadith can be more authentic than this hadith which does not owe its validation to the critique of hadith scholars, but instead has demonstrated on its own that it is at the highest level of authenticity?5

To reject the Signs of God is a separate issue; otherwise, it is a magnificent Sign which was long-awaited by thousands of learned people and scholars of hadith before me. They would climb upon the pulpits and remind others about it with tears in their eyes. And at the very last Maulawi Muhammad of Lakhukay, wrote a couplet about this very eclipse during this very era in his book Ahwalul-Akhirat in which the time of the appearance of the Promised Mahdi is mentioned, and it is as follows:

[A narrator says that in that year the moon will be eclipsed on the 13th, and the sun on the 27th6 in the month of Ramadan.]

Another saint whose following couplet has been well known for hundreds of years says:

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That is, in the year 1311 in the 14th century of Hijrah, when the moon and the sun will be eclipsed in the same month, it will constitute a Sign for the appearance of the Promised Mahdi as well as the Antichrist. This couplet contains the exact year of the lunar and solar eclipses.