…they came to him asking that he beseech Allah to clear the sky; so he raised his hand and said:

“O Allah, around us and not upon us.”

Each time he pointed his hand toward a quarter of the horizon, the clouds withdrew to that side (1) until Madinah was surrounded like a halo: rain poured down all around it, yet within its precincts not a single drop fell (2). This timely canopy of clouds was more urgently needed and more beneficial than the earlier shading, and his directing it with a mere gesture is an even more striking miracle and a clearer proof of divine solicitude. Allah knows best.

As for the descent of manna and quails upon the Children of Israel, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ likewise multiplied food and drink on numerous occasions, as has already been set forth in the proofs of prophethood. On the Day of the Trench he fed more than a thousand starving people from Jābir b. ʿAbd Allah’s small ewe (3) and a single measure of barley—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him always, until the Day of Judgment.

He also fed an entire group from a single handful that was repeatedly replenished from heaven, and many other examples of this kind could be mentioned, though their enumeration would be lengthy.

Abu Nuʿaym and Ibn Ḥāmid likewise remark here that the manna and quails signify provision granted without toil or hardship. In comparison they cite the hadith that war-booty was made lawful for us though it was forbidden to those before us, and the hadith of Jābir about the expedition of Abū ʿUbaydah: their hunger drove them to eat leaves until the sea revealed to them a creature called the “amber” whale. They ate of it for thirty days and nights until they grew plump and the folds of their bellies filled out; this report is authentic, as noted earlier (4), and will be discussed again under the story of the heavenly Table Spread among the miracles of Jesus son of Mary.

They also relate the story of Abū Muslim al-Khawlānī: he set out for the pilgrimage with a group of companions, instructing them to carry no food or waterskins. Whenever they halted, he would pray two rakʿahs, whereupon food, drink, and fodder adequate for them and their mounts, morning and evening, for the entire outward and return journey, would be brought to them (5).

Concerning Allah’s words, “And [remember] when Moses asked for water for his people, We said: Strike the rock with your staff, and twelve springs gushed forth from it; each tribe knew its drinking place” (Quran 2:60), we have already treated this at length in the story of Moses, peace be upon him, and in the commentary.

We have likewise cited the hadiths (6) that describe the Prophet ﷺ placing his hand into that small container which could not even accommodate his outspread palm…