Sirah
The Splitting of the Moon
The sign of the parted moon over Makkah (Q 54:1)
c. 617 CE
Educational historical reconstructionWhere
Makkah, the valley and the hills above it
21.4225, 39.8262 · View on OpenStreetMap
Background
Among the signs of prophethood that the Sunni tradition records in the Makkan years is the splitting of the moon (shaqq al-qamar). The Qur'an opens Surah al-Qamar with it: the Hour has drawn near and the moon has split, and if they see a sign they turn away and say, passing magic (Q 54:1-2). The event is narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim on the authority of several Companions, among them Anas ibn Malik, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Abdullah ibn Abbas (radiyallahu 'anhum), who relate that the people of Makkah asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for a sign, and the moon was split into two parts, so that they saw the two halves, and by some reports the mountain of Mina or Hira appeared between them; yet the deniers said it was only sorcery. The Sunni scholars receive the splitting as a real sign shown at Makkah in the later Makkan years, before the migration, and as one of the great signs (mu'jizat) of the Prophet alongside the Qur'an itself. This scene depicts the sign as a thing seen in the sky over the town: the parted moon high above a dark Hijazi valley set among bare mountains, with the open sanctuary precinct below, the night quiet and the hills black against the sky. In keeping with the Sirah tier no person is shown; the scene is the heavens and the sleeping town, and the sign itself is rendered soberly, without spectacle.
What you see
High over a dark valley town the moon hangs parted into two halves, drawn apart in the night sky above the bare hills; a sign in the heavens witnessed and remembered.
Below the sign lies a sleeping valley town set among bare dark mountains, the open sanctuary precinct at its heart; a Hijazi town under a clear night, not a green or coastal land.
The Hour has drawn near and the moon has split (Q 54:1, iqtarabat al-sa'a wa-anshaqqa al-qamar); a sign asked of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by the Quraysh and shown to them, which the deniers called passing magic (Q 54:2).
The two halves of the moon stand apart with the dark shoulder of a mountain seemingly between them, as some of the Companions described the sight; the hills and the night carry the scene, with no figure shown.
The setting is Makkah in the later Makkan years, before the migration; the bare valley and its ring of hills locate the sign in the Hijaz.
The splitting of the moon is affirmed in the Qur'an (Surah al-Qamar 54:1-2) and narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim from several Companions; the Sunni tradition receives it as a sign of prophethood at Makkah.
Primary sources
The Qur'an, Surah al-Qamar (54:1-2): The affirmation that the moon was split and that the deniers called it magic. The primary source.
Sahih al-Bukhari (the splitting of the moon, from Anas, Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn Abbas RA): The Prophetic narrations that the sign was shown at Makkah and seen as two parts. A primary Sunni frame.
Sahih Muslim (the splitting of the moon): Parallel Sunni narrations of the sign in the Makkan years.
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim and al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya: Sunni exegesis and history affirming the splitting as a real sign at Makkah; the dating in the later Makkan years.
Further reading & cross-references
Topography of Makkah and its hills (city): The valley town and its ring of bare mountains are firmly Makkah; the year is traditional, so the date is approximate.
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