Chapter Al-Qamar (The Moon): (1-2) The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has split...

The beginning of this Surah corresponds to the end of the preceding one, which was: {The Hour has drawn near} (An-Najm: 57). It is as if He repeated that statement along with the proof. I say: {The Hour has drawn near} is true, as the moon has split.

The commentators are unanimously agreed that what is meant is that the moon split and the splitting occurred in it. The narrations indicate the Hadith of the splitting. In the Sahih (authentic collections), there is a famous report narrated by a group of Companions. They said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the sign of the splitting itself as a miracle. He asked his Lord, and He split it, and it passed.

Some commentators suggested that it means it will split, which is remote and meaningless. This is because those who deny such a possibility (like the philosophers) deny it for the past and the future. For those who permit it, there is no need for interpretation.

The reason that specific interpreter held this view is that the splitting is a tremendous event. If it had occurred, it would have covered the face of the Earth, so it should have reached the level of mass transmission (tawatur).

We say: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) challenged them with the Qur'an, and they claimed they could produce speech as eloquent as it, yet they failed, the Qur'an became the enduring miracle until the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, there was no need for another miracle to be transmitted to the level of mass transmission by the scholars.

As for the historians, they omitted it because histories are mostly used by astrologers. When the event occurred, they described it as being like a lunar eclipse, or the appearance of something in the sky resembling half the moon in another location, so they omitted recounting it in their histories.

The Qur'an is the strongest evidence and the firmest proof for it, and its possibility is beyond doubt. Since the Truthful One (the Prophet) informed of it, belief in its occurrence is obligatory. The Hadith that prohibits the tearing and rejoining (of celestial bodies) is the talk of the ignoble. The permissibility of tearing and destruction of the heavens has been established, and we have mentioned it repeatedly, so we will not repeat it here.

And concerning His saying, the Exalted: