Hadith of the prophecy of Muhamamd's name
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A famous recorded oral tradition among Muslims (Arabic: Hadith) is about a prophecy regarding the name Muhammad. Although this narration is prominently quoted and referred to, it is not given any formal name, in contrast to other hadith such as the Hadith of the pond of Khumm or the Hadith of Qur'an and Sunnah
[edit] Narration
1. Hassan ibn Thabit said: "I was a child of seven or eight years of age who understood everything I saw or heard. One morning I saw a Jew in Yathrib shouting: O nation of the Jews! They gathered around him and I listened in. They said: What is wrong with you? He said: The star of Ahmad has risen whereby he was born last night." Bayhaqi narrates it through three chains in Dala'il al-nubuwwa (1:110) as well as Ibn Hisham in his Sira and Bayhaqi's shaykh al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (3:486).
2. Ibn al-Nazur25 the (religious) head of Eilat by appointment of Heraclius and bishop26 of the Christians of Syria used to relate that one morning after Heraclius had first come to Eilat he was seized by anxiety and that some of his patricians said to him: "We see that your countenance has changed for the worst." Ibn al-Nazur continued: "Heraclius used to be a diviner27 who gazed at the stars,28 so when they questioned him he replied to them: "Last night as I gazed at the stars I saw that the King29 of the Circumcised30 had appeared. Which of the nations circumcise themselves?" They replied: "None but the Jews, therefore do not let them worry you in any way. Write to the cities of your kingdom and order them to exterminate their Jewish populations." "As they were pondering this a man sent by the king of Ghassan came to Heraclius with information about Allah's Messenger (s). When Heraclius heard his report he said: "Go and see: is he circumcised or not?" They enquired and reported back to him that he was. Asked about the Arabs as a whole, the informer said again: "They practice circumcision." Heraclius said: "Now has come the time for this nation to rule (the world)." "Heraclius wrote to one of his friends in Rome who was his peer in learning. Then he travelled to Hims31 from where he did not move until his friend's reply came back. The latter agreed with Heraclius's opinion about the appearance of the Prophet (s) and on the fact that he was a prophet. Heraclius then summoned the Roman authorities to his villa32 in Hims, ordered the gates locked, then looked at them and said: "O Romans! Do you want to reap success, do what is right, and ensure that your empire will endure? Follow this prophet." At this they fled like wild asses and made for the gates but found them locked. When Heraclius saw their loathing of what he had proposed to them he despaired that they could ever believe. "Bring them back to me," he ordered; then he addressed them again: "I said this just now33 only in order to test the strength of your attachment to your religion, of which I am satisfied." At this they prostrated to him and and they were happy again. That was the last we heard of Heraclius."
26usquffan is an Arabized form of the Latin episcopus or high priest for Christians. 27A seer who informed others about invisible matters. 28"Who inferred divination from the position of the stars." 29Another relation has "the Kingdom." 30The Romans did not practice circumcision. 31A city in central Syria. 32daskara, a palace with surrounding lodgings for servants and others. 33anifan: "at first."
Bukhari narrates it from Ibn `Abbas in his Sahih, it is the last hadith in the first book of the Sahih.
