Second part:

Corpses, jinn, and angels recognize God's Messenger. The miracles concerning jinn and angels are mutawatir and number in the thousands. Out of many instances illustrating that corpses recognize God's Messenger, we cite only a few related by reliable authorities, as follows:

First: Hasan al‑Basri, a devoted student of Imam 'Ali and the greatest Tabi'un religious scholar in both the outer and inner dimension of Islam, reported that a bitterly weeping man came to God's Messenger and said: "My little daughter died in that stream nearby, and I left her corpse there." God's Messenger had pity on him, and said: "Come, we will go there." They reached the place where she was buried. When God's Messenger called to her, she replied at once: "Here I am, ready to carry out your orders." God's Messenger asked if she wanted to return to her parents. "No," she said, "for I have found a better place here."[15]

Second: Such significant Traditionists as Imam Bayhaqi and Ibn 'Adiyy report that Anas ibn Malik said: "A pious old woman's only son died unexpectedly. She grieved very much and prayed: "O God, I emigrated here only to obtain Your good pleasure and serve Your Messenger, to whom I took the oath of allegiance. For Your Messenger's sake, give me back my son, who was the only one to look after me." Anas says: "That dead son was raised and ate with us."[16]

In his Qasida al‑Bur'a, written in praise of the Prophet, Imam Busiri refers to this miraculous event:

If the miracles he worked had been enoughto demonstrate his unequaled rank,
Mere mention of his name would suffice to quickendecayed bones (let alone the newly dead).

Third: Bayhaqi and others quote 'Abdullah ibn 'Ubayullah al‑Ansari: "I was present when Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas was buried after being martyred during the Battle of Yamama. As he was being buried, people heard him say: 'Muhammad is God's Messenger, Abu Bakr is truthful, 'Umar is a martyr, and 'Uthman is pious and merciful.' We opened the grave only to find him dead."[17] Thabit thus predicted 'Umar's martyrdom even before 'Umar became caliph.

Fourth: Imam Tabarani and Abu Nu'aym in Dala'il al‑Nubuwwa (Proofs of Prophethood) report from Nu'man ibn Bashir: "Zayd ibn Kharija died unexpectedly at the market. We took his body home. Women cried around him for some time between the evening and the late evening prayers, when he was heard to say: 'Silence, silence!' and continued fluently: 'Muhammad is God's Messenger. Peace be upon you, O Messenger.' We examined him, and found that he was dead."[18]

If living people still do not confirm him even when the dead bear witness to his Messengership, they are more lifeless than corpses and more dead than the dead.

Accounts of angels appearing to and serving God's Messenger, and those of jinn believing in and obeying him, have the status of mutawatir, for many Qur'anic verses have affirmed this explicitly. For example, the Qur'an states that during the Battle of Badr, 5,000 angels served him as Companions—like soldiers on the front line. This was done to strengthen the believers' conviction that they would win, not to participate in the battle directly. These angels are distinguished among all others by that honor, just as the people of Badr were distinguished among all other Companions.

There are two aspects to be considered here: The existence of angels and jinn and their relationship with us (decisively proved in The Twenty‑ninth Word), and the ability of certain Muslims to see and converse with them through the Messenger's blessing and miracles. Many Tradition authorities, above all Bukhari and Muslim, report that Archangel Gabriel came to God's Messenger, when he was sitting with some Companions, as a man dressed in white. He asked about belief, Islam, and virtue (ihsan). While God's Messenger was defining them, the Companions learned a lesson and saw the questioner plainly. When the questioner, who appeared to be a visitor although, to their astonishment, he bore no signs of travel, suddenly disappeared, God's Messenger said: "That was Gabriel, who came to teach you your religion."[19]

Traditionists also report, through authentic narrations having the certainty of mutawatir in meaning, that Companions often saw Gabriel with God's Messenger as Dihya, a very good‑looking Companion. For instance, 'Umar, Ibn 'Abbas, Usama ibn Zayd, Harith, 'A'isha, and Umm Salama report: "We frequently saw Gabriel with God's Messenger in the form of Dihya."[20] Would they have said this if they could not see Gabriel?

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, conqueror of Persia and one of the ten Companions promised Paradise while alive, reported: "During the Battle of Uhud we saw two men dressed in white at each side of God's Messenger, as if guarding him. We concluded that they were the Arch‑angels Gabriel and Michael."[21] When such a hero of Islam says he saw them, could he not have seen them?

Abu Sufyan ibn Harith ibn 'Abd al‑Muttalib, the Prophet's cousin, reports: "We saw horsemen dressed in white between the sky and Earth during the Battle of Badr."[22] One day, Hamza told God's Messenger that he wanted to see Gabriel. The Messenger complied at the Ka'ba, but Hamza could not bear the sight and fell unconscious.[23]

Several similar instances demonstrate this type of miracle, and indicate that even angels are like moths around his Prophethood's light.

Both Companions and ordinary Muslims can meet and converse with jinn. The most definite example concerns Ibn Mas'ud, whom the Traditionists report through one of the most authentic narrations, as saying: "I saw the jinn in Batn al‑Nakhla on the night they were converted to Islam. They resembled the tall men of the Sudanese Zut tribe."[24]

Another well‑known incident accepted and narrated by Traditionists concerns Khalid ibn Walid. When 'Uzza (a pre‑Islamic idol) was demolished, a female jinn emerged in the form of a dark woman. Khalid cut her into two pieces with his sword. Then God's Messenger said: "They have been worshipping her in the idol 'Uzza. From now on, she will be worshipped no longer."[25]

'Umar said: "When we were with God's Messenger, a jinn named Haama appeared as an old man with a stick. He converted to Islam. God's Messenger instructed him in some short Qur'anic chapters and, after learning his lesson, the jinn departed."[26] Although some Traditionists question this event's accuracy, the outstanding authorities agree that it happened.

There is no need for long explanations, since we have cited many examples in this respect. However, we add this: Through the light and teaching of God's Messenger, and by following him, thousands of such eminent, godly people of purity as 'Abd al‑Qadir al‑Jilani have met and conversed with angels and jinn. Thus this event has reached the degree of tawatur a hundred times.

[15] Shifa', 1:320.

[16] Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 6:292; Shifa', 1:320; Bayhaqi, 6:50.

[17] Shifa', 1:320.

[18] Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 6:293; related by Hakim and Bayhaqi.

[19] Bukhari, 1:19-20; Shifa', 1:341, also related by Muslim and many others.

[20] Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 1:212; Bukhari, 4:250; Bayhaqi, 7:52, 87.

[21] Muslim, no. 2036; Bukhari, 7:192; Hakim, 2:264.

[22] Shifa', 1:362; Ibn Hanbal, 1:347; also related by Bukhari and Bayhaqi.

[23] Shifa', 1:362; Suyuti, al-Khasa'is al-Kubra', 1:311.

[24] Ibn Hanbal, 6:165; Suyuti, ibid., 1:343; Shifa', 1:362.

[25] Abu Nu'aym, 2:535; Shifa', 1:362; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 4:316.

[26] Bayhaqi, 5:416; Suyuti, 2:350.