ʿAbd Allāh said, “The moon split in the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, until I could see the mountain standing between the two halves of the moon.”

Ibn Jarīr also transmits it (1) through Yaʿqūb al-Dawrīqī (2), from Ibn ʿUlayyah, from Ayyūb, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, who said, “I was informed that Ibn Masʿūd used to say, ‘Indeed, the moon has split.’ ”

In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī it is related from Ibn Masʿūd that he would say, “Five signs have already occurred: the conquest of the Romans, al-Lizām, al-Baṭshah, the smoke, and the moon,” in a long report of his cited in the commentary on Sūrat al-Dukhān (3).

Abū Zurʿah states in al-Dalāʾil (4): ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dimashqī narrated to us, al-Walīd narrated to us, from al-Awzāʿī, from Ibn Bukayr, who said, “The moon split at Mecca, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was there before the Hijrah, and it fell into two portions. The idolaters exclaimed, ‘The son of Abū Kabshah has bewitched it!’ ” (This chain, from this route, is mursal.)

These are the various routes from that group of Companions, and the widespread fame of the event suffices in place of a chain, especially since it is mentioned in the Noble Book.

As for what some storytellers relate—that the moon entered the Prophet’s collar and came out of his sleeve (5) and the like—there is no reliable basis for such tales. During its splitting the moon did not leave the sky; rather, it divided into two, one half moving until it passed behind Mount Ḥirāʾ and the other toward the opposite side, the mountain standing between the two while both parts remained in the sky. The people of Mecca were watching, though many of their ignorant folk supposed that their eyesight had been enchanted. They therefore questioned the travelers who arrived later, and those travelers reported the very same thing they themselves had witnessed, whereupon the Meccans realized the truth of the matter and became certain of it.

If it be asked, “Why, then, was this not known throughout all regions of the earth?” the answer is: Who can affirm that it was not? Over time the event grew distant, while unbelievers deny Allah’s signs. Perhaps, when they learned it had been a miracle for this newly sent Prophet, their corrupt opinions led them to conceal and forget it. Moreover, more than one traveler has reported seeing a temple in India bearing an inscription that it was built on the night the moon split.

Because the splitting occurred at night, it could easily have gone unnoticed by many for a variety of reasons: heavy, accumulated clouds that night in their lands; the fact that many people were asleep; that it may have happened in the middle of the night when most are asleep; and other similar factors. Allah knows best.