Life-of-Muhammad

208Life of Muhammad saheavenly and terrestrial manifestations took place tomark occasions of joy and sorrow for Prophets, saintsand other great men and that even the movements ofthe heavenly bodies could be controlled by them. Forinstance, it is related of some of them that they causedthe sun to become stationary in its course or stoppedthe progress of the moon or caused running water tobecome still. Islam taught that such notions werebaseless and that references to phenomena of this kindin religious Scriptures were only by way of metaphorwhich, instead of being interpreted in accordance withits correct significance, had given rise to superstitions.Nevertheless, some among Muslims were prone toattribute these phenomena to events in the lives of thegreat Prophets as . In the closing years of the HolyProphet's sa life his son Ibrahim died at the age of twoand a half years. An eclipse of the sun occurred on thesame day. Some Muslims in Medina gave currency tothe idea that the sun had been darkened on theoccasion of the death of the Prophet's sa son as a mark ofdivine condolence. When this was mentioned to the HolyProphet sa he expressed great displeasure and severelycondemned the notion. He explained that the sun andthe moon and other heavenly bodies were all governedby divine laws and that their movements and thephenomena connected with them had no relation to thelife or death of any person (Bukhari).Arabia is a very dry country and rain is alwayswelcome and is eagerly waited for. The Arabs used toimagine that the coming of rain was controlled by themovements of stars. Whenever anybody gave expressionto that idea, the Holy Prophet sa used to be very upsetand admonished his people not to attribute favoursbestowed upon them by Providence to other sources. Heexplained that rain and other natural phenomena wereall governed by divine laws and that they were notcontrolled by the pleasure or displeasure of any god orgoddess or of any other power (Muslim, Kitabul Iman).