Short answer
Many things he foretold came true. The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) spoke them in Medina, when many Muslims were poor and the roads of Arabia were unsafe. He told Adi ibn Hatim that a woman would one day travel from Iraq to the Ka'ba fearing no one but Allah (﷾). He added that the treasures of the Persian emperor would be opened. Adi lived to see both. The Prophet (ﷺ) also said that Allah (﷾) might make peace between two groups of Muslims through his little grandson al-Hasan. About thirty years after the Prophet (ﷺ) died, al-Hasan did exactly that. He also foretold the conquest of Egypt and Jerusalem. The Bible tests a prophet by whether his words come true, and whether he calls people to the one God (﷾). He passes both. So Islam's answer is that he spoke by revelation from Allah (﷾).
Full explanation
The treasures of Khosrau
The Prophet (ﷺ) was in Medina when one man came to him complaining of poverty and another of robbers on the roads. He told Adi ibn Hatim that if Adi lived long he would see three things. Adi was a Companion, one of the believers who met the Prophet (ﷺ) and followed him. The first was a woman travelling safely from Iraq to the Ka'ba. The second was the treasures of Khosrau son of Hurmuz being opened. The third was a man who could find no one poor enough to take his charity. Khosrau had ruled Persia, one of the two great powers of the earth, and his treasury was among the richest in the world. Adi later said he had seen the first, and had himself been among those who took Khosrau's treasures. Historians confirm that the Persian capital and its treasury fell to the Muslims within a few years after the Prophet (ﷺ) died.
Adi ibn Hatim reports that in Medina one man complained to the Prophet (ﷺ) of poverty and another of robbers on the roads. The Prophet told Adi that if he lived long he would see a woman travel in a howdah from al-Hira in Iraq to the Ka'ba, fearing no one but Allah; that the treasures of Khosrau son of Hurmuz would be opened; and that a man would go out with a handful of gold or silver and find no one to accept it as charity. Adi later said that he had seen the woman make that journey, and that he was himself among those who took the treasures of Khosrau, and told his hearers they would see the third if they lived long.
A narrative history of the early Muslim conquests. It describes the fall of Syria and Jerusalem, the fall of the Persian capital Ctesiphon with its royal treasure in the 630s, and the conquest of Egypt by the early 640s, all within about a decade of the Prophet's (ﷺ) death.
The grandson who made peace
The Prophet (ﷺ) once spoke from the pulpit with his grandson al-Hasan beside him, a boy of at most about seven and a half. He said that this son of his was a chief, and that perhaps Allah (﷾) would bring about peace between two parties of Muslims through him. At that time the Muslims were one community. After the death of Ali, al-Hasan's father, al-Hasan led great armies against Mu'awiya, the governor of Syria. The two armies faced destruction. Al-Hasan accepted terms and handed over the rule, and the Muslims were united again in 41 AH (661 CE). Al-Bukhari, a ninth-century scholar who collected the sayings of the Prophet (ﷺ), placed this saying among the signs of prophethood. Jesus called the peacemakers blessed, and al-Hasan became one by giving up power.
Abu Bakra reports that he heard the Prophet (ﷺ) speaking from the pulpit with his grandson al-Hasan beside him. Looking now at the people and now at al-Hasan, he said that this son of his was a chief, and that perhaps Allah would bring about an agreement between two parties of the Muslims through him.
Abu Bakra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) took al-Hasan up onto the pulpit with him and said that this son of his was a chief, and that he hoped Allah would bring about reconciliation between two groups of Muslims through him. Al-Bukhari placed this report among the signs of prophethood.
Al-Hasan al-Basri reports that al-Hasan ibn Ali led armies like mountains against Mu'awiya, and Amr ibn al-As warned that they would not turn back until they had killed their opponents. Mu'awiya asked who would be left to care for the people, their women and their children if the two sides destroyed each other, and sent two men of Quraysh to offer peace. To every condition al-Hasan asked for they answered that they would stand guarantee for it, and al-Hasan made peace with Mu'awiya. The narrator then recalls the Prophet's (ﷺ) words from the pulpit about al-Hasan making peace between two great groups of Muslims.
A study of the first caliphate. It describes how al-Hasan ibn Ali, after his father's death, gave up the rule to Mu'awiya in 41 AH (661 CE) on negotiated terms, ending the first civil war among the Muslims.
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
Uthman and Khaybar
The Prophet (ﷺ) gave Uthman the good news of Paradise together with news of a calamity that would befall him. Uthman later became the third caliph, the leader of the Muslims after the Prophet (ﷺ), and rebels killed him. At Khaybar, a fortified oasis north of Medina, the Prophet (ﷺ) made a promise. He said that the next day he would give the flag to a man who loves Allah (﷾) and His Messenger. Victory, he said, would come under that man. Ali, a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet (ﷺ), had stayed behind with sore eyes and arrived unexpectedly. He was given the flag, and the fortress fell under his command.
Abu Musa reports that he was guarding the gate of a garden where the Prophet (ﷺ) was. For Abu Bakr and for Umar the Prophet said to let them in with the good news of Paradise. When Uthman came, the Prophet was silent for a moment and then said to let him in with the good news of Paradise, together with a calamity that would befall him.
Abu Musa al-Ash'ari reports the same event in a garden of Medina: the Prophet (ﷺ) told him to give Uthman the good news of Paradise after a trial that would afflict him, and Uthman answered by asking Allah for steadfastness.
Salama reports that Ali had stayed behind at the time of Khaybar because of eye trouble, then set out after the Prophet (ﷺ). On the eve of the conquest of Khaybar the Prophet said that the next day he would give the flag to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and that Allah would grant victory under his leadership. Ali arrived unexpectedly, the Prophet gave him the flag, and Allah granted victory under his leadership.
Badr: the rout, and where each would fall
At Badr the Muslims first met the army of the Quraysh of Makkah. The Muslims were about three hundred, and the enemy about a thousand. Years before, in Makkah, the Qur'an had said: "Soon will their multitude be put to flight, and they will show their backs" (54:45). Aisha says the passage came down in Makkah while she was a little girl at play. On the day of Badr, the Prophet (ﷺ) went out to the battle reciting that verse. The day before, he had shown his Companions the places where the men of the Quraysh would fall. This is where so-and-so will fall tomorrow, he said, if Allah (﷾) wills. Umar later swore by the One who sent him with the truth that not one of them fell outside the place he had marked. The army of the Quraysh was routed, and its leaders lay dead.
Umar reports that at Badr the Prophet (ﷺ) looked at the enemy, about a thousand, and at his own companions, three hundred and nineteen. He faced the qibla, stretched out his hands and called on his Lord: O Allah, fulfil what You promised me. He kept on until his cloak slipped from his shoulders, and Abu Bakr put it back and said Allah would fulfil His promise. Allah then revealed that He would help with a thousand angels.
“Soon will their multitude be put to flight, and they will show their backs.”
Aisha says that Qur'an 54:46 was revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) at Mecca while she was a young girl at play.
Ibn Abbas reports that on the day of Badr, in his tent, the Prophet (ﷺ) called on Allah to fulfil His covenant and His promise, until Abu Bakr took his hand and said it was enough. The Prophet (ﷺ), putting on his armour, then went out reciting: their multitude will be put to flight, and they will show their backs (54:45).
Anas ibn Malik reports Umar telling them that the day before Badr the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) showed them where the men of Badr would fall, saying that this would be the place where so-and-so would fall tomorrow, if Allah willed. Umar swore by Him who sent him with the truth that they did not miss the places he had marked. They were then thrown into a well, and the Prophet (ﷺ) called them by name and asked whether they had found true what Allah and His Messenger had promised them.
Abu Talha reports that after Badr the Prophet (ﷺ) had twenty-four leaders of the Quraysh thrown into a well. On the third day he stood at its edge and called them by name, asking whether they had found true what their Lord promised, as he had found true what his Lord promised him. Umar asked how he could speak to bodies without souls. He answered: you do not hear what I say better than they do. Qatada, a later narrator, added that Allah brought them back to life so that they would hear him.
Lists fourteen Muslims killed at Badr, six of the Emigrants and eight of the Ansar, and gives fifty as the number of the Quraysh slain.
Egypt, Jerusalem and the six signs
The Prophet (ﷺ) told his Companions they would conquer Egypt, and that they must treat its people well when they did. At Tabuk, on a campaign, he told Awf ibn Malik to count six signs before the Hour (the end of the world). They were his own death and the conquest of Jerusalem. Next came a deadly plague and a flood of wealth. Then came a trial entering every Arab house. Last was a truce with the Byzantines (the Eastern Roman Empire), who would betray it. Jerusalem fell in 637 or 638, and the plague of Amwas struck the Muslim army in Syria in 639. Egypt was taken by 642, about ten years after the Prophet (ﷺ) died. Wealth poured in under the caliphs. Civil war followed Uthman's murder. The last sign, Muslim scholars hold, is still to come.
Abu Dharr reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said the Muslims would soon conquer Egypt, and told them that when they did, they must treat its people well, because of the ties of kinship and marriage they had with them.
Awf ibn Malik reports that during the expedition to Tabuk the Prophet (ﷺ), sitting in a leather tent, told him to count six signs before the Hour: the Prophet's own death; the conquest of Jerusalem; a deadly plague among them like the plague that strikes sheep; wealth so plentiful that a man given a hundred dinars would still be dissatisfied; a trial that would enter every Arab house; and a truce with the Byzantines, who would then betray it and attack under eighty banners.
A narrative history of the early Muslim conquests. It describes the fall of Syria and Jerusalem, the fall of the Persian capital Ctesiphon with its royal treasure in the 630s, and the conquest of Egypt by the early 640s, all within about a decade of the Prophet's (ﷺ) death.
| Sign | What happened |
|---|---|
| His own death | The first of the six to come. |
| The conquest of Jerusalem | Jerusalem fell in 637 or 638. |
| A deadly plague | The plague of Amwas struck the Muslim army in Syria in 639. |
| A flood of wealth | Wealth poured in under the caliphs, the leaders who came after him. |
| A trial entering every Arab house | Civil war followed the murder of Uthman, who had led the Muslims. |
| A truce with the Byzantines, who would betray it | Muslim scholars hold that this last sign is still to come. |
The Prophet (ﷺ) named these six signs at Tabuk and told Awf ibn Malik to count them.
A sect that kills Muslims, and those who reject the Sunnah
A man once accused the Prophet (ﷺ) of being unjust. He said that from this man's line would come people. They would recite the Qur'an without it passing their throats. They would kill Muslims and leave idol-worshippers alone. He described one of them by a mark on his arm. The Khawarij (literally 'those who walk out') rose in Ali's time. They declared other Muslims unbelievers and killed them. Abu Sa'id, who fought them with Ali, testified that the marked man was found among them. The Prophet (ﷺ) also warned that a man lounging at ease would one day say to follow the Qur'an alone and ignore the Sunnah. The Sunnah is the teaching and example of the Prophet (ﷺ). Some movements in modern times say exactly this.
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reports that Dhul-Khuwaisira of Banu Tamim told the Prophet (ﷺ) to be just while he was dividing wealth. The Prophet said this man had companions who would pray and fast so much that others would think little of their own worship, yet their recitation of the Qur'an would not pass beyond their throats, and they would pass out of the religion like an arrow through its game. He gave a sign: among them would be a black man with a deformed upper arm, and they would appear at a time of division among the people. Abu Sa'id testified that Ali fought these people while he was with him, and that the man was searched for, brought, and matched the Prophet's description exactly.
Abu Sa'id reports that after a man accused the Prophet (ﷺ) of unfairness in dividing some gold, the Prophet said that from this man's line would come people who recite the Qur'an without it passing their throats, who leave the religion like an arrow through its game, and who kill Muslims while leaving idol-worshippers alone.
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reports the same event in several narrations: the Prophet (ﷺ) foretold a people who would recite the Qur'an without it passing their throats, who would kill the people of Islam and spare the idol-worshippers, and whom Ali would later fight.
Al-Miqdam ibn Ma'dikarib reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said he had been given the Qur'an and something like it with it, and warned that a time would come when a man reclining full on his couch would say: keep to the Qur'an alone, and treat as lawful only what you find lawful in it.
Why these prophecies stand out
These prophecies are not vague. They name a man, an empire, a king, a grandson, a city and a country. The saying about Khosrau was spoken when the Muslims had never fought a Persian army and could not keep their own roads safe. Men who complained to the Prophet (ﷺ) of poverty and of robbers on the roads were promised the treasures of the Persian emperor. The Companions who passed these reports on, such as Adi ibn Hatim and Abu Sa'id, say they heard the words from the Prophet (ﷺ). They say they heard them before the events and then lived to see them happen. Deuteronomy gives two tests. A prophet whose words do not come to pass has not spoken from the Lord (18:22). A prophet who calls people to other gods is false, even if his sign comes true (13:1-3). The Prophet (ﷺ) passes both. His words came to pass, and he called people to the one God (﷾) of Abraham and Moses.
“When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”
“If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Adi ibn Hatim reports that in Medina one man complained to the Prophet (ﷺ) of poverty and another of robbers on the roads. The Prophet told Adi that if he lived long he would see a woman travel in a howdah from al-Hira in Iraq to the Ka'ba, fearing no one but Allah; that the treasures of Khosrau son of Hurmuz would be opened; and that a man would go out with a handful of gold or silver and find no one to accept it as charity. Adi later said that he had seen the woman make that journey, and that he was himself among those who took the treasures of Khosrau, and told his hearers they would see the third if they lived long.
| Prophecy | What he said | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| A safe road | The Prophet (ﷺ) told Adi ibn Hatim, at a time when people complained of robbers on the roads, that a woman would travel from Iraq to the Ka'ba fearing no one but Allah (﷾). | Adi said he lived to see it. |
| Persia's treasures | The treasures of Khosrau, the emperor of Persia, would be opened. Persia was then one of the two great powers of the earth. | The Persian capital and its treasury fell to the Muslims within a few years of his death. Adi says he was among those who took them. |
| Charity no one needs | A man would carry gold as charity and find no one poor enough to take it. | Adi told his hearers they would yet see it. Many Muslim scholars see it fulfilled under the caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. |
| A grandson's peace | His little grandson al-Hasan was a chief, and perhaps Allah (﷾) would make peace between two groups of Muslims through him. | In 41 AH (661 CE) al-Hasan gave up the rule to Mu'awiya, and the Muslims were united again. |
| Egypt and Jerusalem | His Companions would take Egypt, and they must treat its people well. The taking of Jerusalem was one of six signs he named. | Jerusalem came under Muslim rule in 637 or 638, and Egypt by 642, both within about ten years of his death. |
| The first sect | People would recite the Qur'an without it passing their throats, kill Muslims, and leave idol-worshippers alone. | The Khawarij rose in Ali's time, called other Muslims unbelievers, and killed them. |
Companions such as Adi ibn Hatim and Abu Sa'id say they heard these words before the events and lived to see them happen. One of the Bible's own tests of a prophet is whether his words come to pass.
Not made up after the event
Some ask whether these reports were made up after the events. Three things tell against it. First, the saying about al-Hasan says only "perhaps". That is not how a writer boasts of what he already knows. Second, the narrators were Companions who say they heard the words first and then lived to see them happen. Adi ibn Hatim even names himself among those who took Khosrau's treasure. Third, the report was not tidied up. Adi told his hearers they would yet see the third thing: a man carrying gold who could find no one to take it. Many Muslim scholars see this fulfilled under Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, a caliph of the early 700s. Yet the report still gives it as unfulfilled, just as Adi said it.
Abu Bakra reports that he heard the Prophet (ﷺ) speaking from the pulpit with his grandson al-Hasan beside him. Looking now at the people and now at al-Hasan, he said that this son of his was a chief, and that perhaps Allah would bring about an agreement between two parties of the Muslims through him.
Adi ibn Hatim reports that in Medina one man complained to the Prophet (ﷺ) of poverty and another of robbers on the roads. The Prophet told Adi that if he lived long he would see a woman travel in a howdah from al-Hira in Iraq to the Ka'ba, fearing no one but Allah; that the treasures of Khosrau son of Hurmuz would be opened; and that a man would go out with a handful of gold or silver and find no one to accept it as charity. Adi later said that he had seen the woman make that journey, and that he was himself among those who took the treasures of Khosrau, and told his hearers they would see the third if they lived long.
Perspectives
The Islamic perspective
The Prophet (ﷺ) foretold specific events about named people and places, at times when they seemed impossible, and they came to pass. This is one of the signs that he was a messenger of Allah (﷾).
The Prophet (ﷺ) told Adi ibn Hatim the treasures of Khosrau would be opened. Adi reports that he was among those who took them.
The Persian capital and its treasury fell to the Muslims within a few years after the Prophet (ﷺ) died.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said al-Hasan might bring peace between two parties of Muslims. Al-Hasan made peace with Mu'awiya in 41 AH (661 CE).
The Prophet (ﷺ) foretold a calamity for Uthman and victory at Khaybar under Ali, and both came to pass.
The Prophet (ﷺ) foretold the conquest of Egypt and Jerusalem, both taken within about a decade of his death.
The Prophet (ﷺ) foretold a sect that would recite the Qur'an yet kill Muslims, and the Khawarij matched his description.
The words of the Prophet (ﷺ) pass the test of Deuteronomy 18:22: what he foretold came to pass.
These fulfilled prophecies are evidence that the Prophet (ﷺ) spoke by revelation from Allah (﷾).
The day before Badr he showed where each of the Quraysh would fall, and none fell elsewhere. A Makkan verse had foretold their rout.