Information about the unknown the Prophet (saas) revealed in the hadiths

o my people! you are about to conquer egypt. keep the welfare of the conquered people in view. you shall have to abide by the divine covenant that their life and property and their honour should be protected.212

in the hadiths, the prophet (saas) gave the good news that egypt would be conquered. at the time when he communicated that message, egypt was under the dominion of the byzantines. furthermore, the muslims had yet to attain any great power. yet, these words of the prophet (saas) came true, and, not long after his death, the muslim armies under the command of amr bin al-as conquered egypt in 641 a.d., during the caliphate of omar. that is one example of the prophet (saas) accurately knowing the unknown.

kisra (khosrau, king of persia) will die; there will be no kisra after him, and qaisar (caesar, king of rome) will die; there would be no qaisar after him, but, by one in whose hand is my life, you will spend their treasures in the cause of allah.213

the word "kisra" that appears in this hadith was a name that used to be used for kings of persia. the title "caesar" was used for the roman empire. the prophet (saas) gave the good news that the muslims would come into possession of the treasures of both these rulers.

what needs to be stressed here is that when the prophet (saas) related that fact, the muslims still lacked the necessary economic, military and political strength to effect such a great conquest. furthermore, at that time, the persian and byzantine empires were the two most powerful states in the middle east. for that reason, such an event was out of the question, at the time when the prophet (saas) delivered those tidings. however, things actually happened as the prophet (saas) predicted they would. iran was conquered during the time of omar and all its goods seized. the kingdom of the persian "kisra" thus came to an end.

the death of "caesar" and the reversion of his treasuries to the muslims came about with the capture of important roman centers, particularly during the time of the muslim caliphs. starting with the time of abubakr, important centers under the dominion of "caesar" such as jordan, palestine, damascus, jerusalem, syria and egypt were conquered. the capture of constantinople by the ottoman sultan mehmet the conqueror in 1453 meant the collapse of the roman empire, and the end of the title of "caesar."214

in his book the venture of islam, the american researcher m. g. s. hodgson describes the muslim capture of territories belonging to byzantium and the persian empire:

"muhammad, an arab of mecca, sets up a religiously organized society in medina, and expands it over much of the arabian peninsula to march with and even locally replace sasanian and roman power."215

in this way, these important conquests, that seemed to be totally impossible at the time of the prophet (saas) both politically and economically, actually happened, as revealed to the prophet muhammad (saas) by allah.

great allah sent many tribulations to kisra by his son shireveyh, who killed him in this month, on this night at this hour!216

in the near future, my religion and its sovereignty will reach kisra's throne.217

the prophet (saas) decided to invite the rulers to turn to islam, and sent one of his companions, abdullah bin hudhaafah, to the kisra, the persian king, as an ambassador. the persian kisra, swollen with pride, rejected the prophet (saas)'s offer. he even sent two ambassadors of his own to the prophet (saas), telling the muslims to submit to him. the prophet (saas) first invited these two ambassadors to accept islam. then he called them into his presence the next day to learn their decision.218

the next day, the prophet (saas) told the two ambassadors what allah had revealed to him:

"great allah sent many tribulations to kisra by his son shireveyh, who killed him in this month, on this night, at this hour!"219

he also personally told them:

"tell him that my religion and my empire will reach far beyond the kingdom of kisra; and say to him from me: enter islam, and i will confirm you in what you have, and i will appoint you king over the people of yemen."220

the ambassadors then returned to yemen and described what had gone on. badhan said:

"we will see what happens next. if what he said is true, then he is the prophet whom allah has sent."221

he then turned to his men and asked what they thought of him. the ambassadors had been greatly impressed by the prophet (saas), and said:

"we never saw a ruler more majestic, more fearless and less guarded than him. he walked humbly amongst the people."

badhan waited for a while to see whether the prophet (saas)'s words about the ruler would come true or not. in that way, he said, he could be sure that muhammad (saas) was allah's messenger. a short while later, a letter reached badhan from the ruler's son, shireveyh: "i killed kisra. when this letter reaches you, take the oath of the people in my name. regarding what kisra wrote to you, wait and do nothing until a new command from me."222

when badhan and his men worked it out, they realized that all this had happened just as the prophet (saas) had said it would.223 badhan came to believe after that great miracle, and accepted islam. he was followed by the yemeni abna.224 badhan became the first governor appointed by the prophet (saas), and the first persian governor to be a muslim.225

it is a historically documented fact that in 628 the prophet (saas) sent a letter of invitation to the persian king kisra, and that he was killed by his son that same year.226