The Polytheists Demand a Sign

The pagan leaders of Makkah had already been shown many clear signs affirming the truthfulness of Muhammed ﷺ as the Messenger of Allah, yet they stubbornly ignored them. Despite their refusal to accept any proof, they demanded that Muhammed ﷺ show them a clear miracle from Allah — not in sincerity, but only to mock and humiliate him before the people.

One day, as the Quraysh gathered at the Ka‘bah, they sent for the Prophet ﷺ, who came at once, thinking they wished to speak about embracing Islam. But instead, they repeated their old demands. They said, “O Muhammed, you claim to be a Prophet, yet the Prophets before you came with clear signs — Musa (Moses) had his miraculous staff, Saleh had the she-camel, and ‘Isa (Jesus) raised the dead. Show us something similar to prove that you are a true Prophet.”

They failed to understand that Prophets do not perform miracles of their own will; rather, it is Allah Who manifests such signs through them. Spiritually blind and deaf, as the Qur’an describes them, they refused to see the countless signs of Allah in His creation and in the Qur’an itself. They only desired to see acts of spectacle and illusion.

Thus, they challenged the Prophet ﷺ to perform one of several feats:
to turn Mount Safa into a mountain of gold, to remove the surrounding mountains and create a fertile plain, to make a spring gush forth, or even to bring their ancestors back to life so that they might testify to his truthfulness.

Allah mentions their arrogance in the Qur’an:
“We shall not believe in you until you cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth, or until you have a garden of date palms and grapevines, and you cause rivers to flow abundantly within them, or you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces as you claim, or you bring Allah and the angels before us face to face, or you ascend into the heavens — and even then, we will not believe in your ascension until you bring us a book we can read.”
(Surah Al-Isra’, 17:90–93)

The Quraysh swore that if the Prophet ﷺ showed them one of these signs, they would believe. Allah mentions their false oaths:
“They swear their strongest oaths by Allah that if they were given a sign, they would believe in it.”
(Surah Al-An‘am, 6:109)

So the Prophet ﷺ prayed to Allah to show them a sign. Jibreel (عليه السلام) descended with Allah’s message, giving the Prophet ﷺ a choice:
If Allah sent a miracle as they demanded and they still disbelieved, they would face the most severe punishment ever given to mankind. Alternatively, the miracle could be withheld, leaving the door of repentance and mercy open for them.
Out of his compassion for his people, Muhammed ﷺ said to Jibreel (عليه السلام):
“Let the door of repentance and mercy remain open.”
Allah revealed:
“Say, ‘Glory be to my Lord! Am I anything more than a human messenger?’”
(Surah Al-Isra’, 17:93)
This made it clear that Muhammed ﷺ, like all prophets before him, had no independent power to perform miracles — every sign comes only by the will of Allah.
Allah also said:
“Say, ‘All signs are in the power of Allah. But what will make you realize that even if every sign were shown to them, they would not believe?’”
(Surah Al-An‘am, 6:109)
And again:
“Even if We sent down the angels to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered all things before their very eyes, they would not believe unless Allah so willed.”
(Surah Al-An‘am, 6:111)
Thus, Allah instructed the Prophet ﷺ and the believers to stop seeking to justify their faith before those whose hearts were sealed. Guidance rests only with Allah.

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The Splitting of the Moon

When the Quraysh saw that no great spectacle had appeared, they thought they had found a weakness in Muhammed ﷺ. They mocked him, saying, “If you are truly a Prophet, then show us any sign — anything at all!”

The Prophet ﷺ prayed to Allah once more, asking for a sign that would leave no doubt. In answer to his prayer, Allah revealed a miraculous sign: the moon split into two distinct halves, so that one half appeared on one side of Mount Hira and the other on the opposite side.

The Prophet ﷺ said to them, “Behold — and bear witness!”
The Quraysh were astonished at what they saw. For a moment, disbelief left them speechless. Then they sneered, “This is nothing but sorcery from the son of Abu Kabsha! Perhaps he has bewitched our eyes. Let us wait until travellers arrive from other regions — if they too saw it, then the matter is true.”

When travellers later arrived in Makkah, they confirmed that they too had seen the moon split in two that night. The truth was undeniable, yet the Quraysh persisted in their stubborn disbelief.

Allah refers to this event in the Qur’an:
“The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has split. Yet whenever they see a sign, they turn away and say, ‘Continuous magic!’”
(Surah Al-Qamar, 54:1–2)

Thus, even when the truth was displayed plainly before their eyes, their pride and arrogance prevented them from accepting the message of Muhammed ﷺ.