Reports Concerning Satiḥ, the Extinguishing of the Fires on the Night of the Prophet’s Birth, and the Cracking of the Imperial Hall:

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā and others relate: ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb al-Ṭāʾī narrated to us. He said: Abū Ayyūb Yaʿlā ibn ʿImrān al-Bajalī informed us. He said: Makhzūm ibn Hāniʾ al-Makhzūmī told me—on the authority of his father, who was then 150 years old—that:

On the very night the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was born, the iwan (vaulted audience hall) of Kisra quaked and fourteen of its battlements collapsed; Lake Sawa receded until its basin lay bare; the Persian sacred fire was extinguished after having burned without interruption for 1,000 years; and the mobadhan (chief Magian priest) dreamed of unmanageable camels leading pure-bred Arabian horses across the Tigris and dispersing throughout the land.

At daybreak Kisra was terrified by what had happened to his hall, yet he concealed his alarm and affected composure. He then resolved not to hide the matter from his ministers and marzbans. Donning his crown, he seated himself upon his throne and summoned them. When they had gathered he said, “Do you know why I have called you?” They answered, “We do not—unless the King informs us.”

As they spoke, a messenger arrived with a dispatch reporting that the sacred fire had gone out, deepening Kisra’s distress. The mobadhan then said, “May the King prosper! I too saw a dream last night,” and he proceeded to recount it. Kisra asked, “What does this portend, O mobadhan?” He replied, “A momentous event will arise from the direction of the Arabs,” for he was the most learned among them in such matters.

Thereupon Kisra wrote: “From Kisra, King of Kings, to al-Nuʿmān ibn al-Mundhir. To proceed: send me a man who is knowledgeable about the question I intend to ask.” So al-Nuʿmān dispatched ʿAbd al-Masīḥ ibn Ḥayyān.