The First: God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) gave Khalid b. al-Walid, known as God’s Sword, several of his hairs and prayed for his victory in battle. Khalid put them in his cap. As the result of the hairs and the blessings of the prayer, there was never a battle in which he then fought but he was victorious.1
The Second: Salman al-Farsi had formerly been a slave of the Jews. His masters had asked for a very high ransom, saying: “To gain your freedom, you must plant three hundred date-palms, and after they bear fruit, give us forty okkas2 of gold in addition to the fruit.” He went to the Noble Messenger (UWBP) and explained his situation. God’s Messenger (UWBP) then planted the three hundred palms in the region of Medina; only one of them was planted by someone else. That year, all three hundred trees bore fruit, with the exception of the one planted by the other person. The Messenger (UWBP) uprooted it and planted another, and it too bore fruit. He then rubbed some of his spittle on a piece of gold the size of a hen’s egg, and offered a prayer. He gave it to Salman, telling him to go and give it to the Jews. Salman al-Farsi went and gave them forty okkas of gold out of that piece, while it remained in its original state.3 This miraculous incident, which was narrated by the most trustworthy and respected authorities, was the most significant event in Salman’s entire life.
The Third: A woman Companion called Umm Malik used to give the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) butter from a leathern bag called an ‘ukka, as a gift. On one occasion God’s Messenger (UWBP) uttered a prayer over it while returning it to her, and told her not to empty it and squeeze it. Umm Malik took the ‘ukka, and thereafter as a result of the blessing of the Prophet’s (UWBP) prayer, butter was found in it whenever her children asked for it. This continued for a long time, until they squeezed it, and the blessing disappeared.4
S e v e n t h E x a m p l e : There were also many examples of water becoming sweet and emitting a pleasant smell as a result of the Prophet’s (UWBP) prayer and his touching it; we shall mention several by way of example:
The First: Scholars of Hadith, and foremost Imam Bayhaqi, report that the well known as Bi’r al-Quba would sometimes dry up. On God’s Mes
Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 331; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, ix, 349; al-‘Asqalani, al-Matalib al-‘Aliya, iv, 90, no: 4044; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iii, 289.
1 okka was the equivalent of 1,282 gr. or 2.8 lbs. (Tr.)
Musnad, v, 441-2; Ibn Sa’d, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, iv, 53-7; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, ix, 332-6; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, 332; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 16.
Muslim, Fada’il, 8, no: 2280; Musnad, iii, 340, 347; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 332.