Second kind: The second kind of irhasat includes the predictions of Prophet Muhammad's coming by soothsayers and Gnostics living in the period between Jesus and Muhammad's Prophethood. To a certain degree, they were considered the saints of their times. They predicted his coming in verse and entrusted them to later generations. There are numerous instances of this kind, but we mention only a few well‑known ones that have been accepted and transmitted by historians and the Prophet's biographers.

First example: Tubba, a Yemeni ruler, saw the Messenger's qualities in the previous Scriptures, believed in him, wished to occupy the same place as 'Ali, and proclaimed his belief in the following couplet:

I bear witness to Ahmad that he is a Messengerfrom God, the Creator of humanity;

Were I to live long enough to see him, I would be aminister and like a cousin to him.[26]

Second example: Quss ibn Sa'ida was the most famous and significant Arab orator as well as an enlightened monotheist. Before Muhammad was raised as a Prophet, he announced Muhammad's Messengership with these verses:

Among us (God) sent forth Ahmad as thebest Prophet ever raised,
Upon him be God's blessings.[27]

Third example: Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy, one of the Messenger's ancestors, announced Muhammad's Prophethood through inspiration:

In the time of heedlessnessMuhammad will appear suddenly;
He will give tidings that are all true.[28]

Fourth example: The Yemeni ruler Sayf ibn Dhiyazan saw the Messenger's description in the previous Scriptures, believed in him, and loved him very much. When 'Abd al‑Muttalib (the Messenger's grandfather) arrived in Yemen with a Qurayshi trade caravan, Sayf summoned them and said: "A child will be born in the Hijaz with a mark between his shoulders that looks like a seal. He will be the leader of humanity." In private, he told 'Abd al‑Muttalib: "You are his grandfather,"[29] thus predicting Muhammad's Prophethood in a miraculous way.

Fifth example: God's Messenger was worried when the first Revelation came to him. His wife Khadija told Waraqa ibn Nawfal (her paternal cousin) what had happened, and he told her to send Muhammad to him. God's Messenger went to Waraqa. When he told him about the Revelation, Waraqa commented: "Good tidings to you, O Muhammad. I bear witness that you are the expected Prophet, and that Jesus has given glad tidings about you."[30]

Sixth example: The Gnostic Askalan al‑Himyeri always asked any Qurayshis he met: "Does someone among you claim Prophethood?" The people always replied in the negative. After the Messenger declared his Prophethood, he asked them the same question. When they said that someone was making such a claim, he responded: "This is the one for whom the world has been waiting for so long."[31]

Seventh example: The renowned Christian scholar Ibn al‑A'la predicted the Prophet before his declaration of Prophethood and without seeing him. When he finally met the Prophet, he said: "By the One Who sent you with the truth, I found your description in the Gospel, and the Virgin Mary's son gave glad tidings about you."[32]

Eighth example: Abyssinia's Negus, cited earlier, said: "I wished I had been in his service rather than in possession of this kingdom."[33]

In addition to those Gnostics who gave tidings of the future by basing their knowledge on Divine inspiration, those soothsayers who were allowed (until the Prophet's time) to obtain some tidings of the Unseen and the future through spirits and jinn also predicted his coming and Prophethood. Out of many such instances, we cite only a few. These enjoy the certainty of tawatur in meaning and are recorded in many history books and biographies of the Prophet.

First example: Shiqq, a famous soothsayer who looked like half a man with one eye, one hand, and one leg, repeatedly predicted Muhammad's Messengership. His reports are recorded in history books with the certainty of tawatur in meaning.[34]

Second example: Satih, the famous soothsayer of Damascus, was a monstrosity who almost lacked bones, even limbs, and with a face that looked like a part of his breast. He lived a long life and was highly reputed for his true predictions. Chosroes of Persia sent the learned envoy Mubazan to him to interpret a strange dream that showed pinnacles of his palace collapsing (on the night of Muhammad's birth). Satih said: "From now on, your country will have rulers and then be destroyed utterly. A man will appear to preach a religion. He will abolish both your rule and religion."[35] Satih thus clearly foretold the Last Prophet's coming.

Such famous soothsayers as Sawad ibn Qarib al‑Dawsi, Khunafar, Af'a Najran, Jizl ibn Jizl al‑Kindi, Ibn Khalasat al‑Dawsi, and Fatima bint Nu'man al‑Najjariya also had their predictions recorded in history books and biographies of the Prophet. They predicted his coming and that he would be Muhammad.[36] Sa'd ibn bint al‑Kurayz, 'Uthman's relative, learned of Muhammad's Prophethood through divination and, in the early days of Islam, told 'Uthman to go and believe. 'Uthman did so, and Sa'd expressed this in the following couplet:

Through my words, God guided 'Uthman to that thing,
By means of which is his perfection.Truly God guides to the truth![37]

The jinn call their soothsayers hatif. They cannot be seen, but they can be heard. These beings also repeatedly foretold the coming of God's Messenger. A few of the hatifs' well‑known and numerous tidings and messages are as follows:

· A hatif brought Dhayab ibn al‑Harith and others to Islam by calling to him loudly:

O Dhayab, O Dhayab, listen to the oddest thing:
Muhammad was sent with the Book. He is calling in Makka, yet they do not accept him.[38]

· Another hatif called out to Sami'a ibn Qarrat al‑Qatafani:

The truth has come and become bright;
Falsehood has been destroyed and become uprooted,[39]
and caused the conversion of some people.

In addition, idols and even animals offered to idols proclaimed Muhammad's Messengership by God's power and permission. For example, the Mazan tribe's idol informed them of Muhammad's declaration of Messengership by crying out: "He is the Prophet who has been sent. He has come with the revealed truth."[40] 'Abbas ibn Mirdas was converted by an idol named Dimar. One day, that idol was heard to say: "Dimar was worshipped before the true message of Prophet Muhammad. Now Dimar's time is over."[41] Before his conversion, 'Umar heard a sacrifice offered to idols say: "O sacrificer, the means of prosperity are at hand. An eloquent man is declaring: 'There is no deity but God.'"[42]

There are many more such instances, all of which are narrated in authentic reports in reliable books.

In addition, various rocks, grave sites, and gravestones were found to bear, inscribed in earlier scripts, such passages as "Muhammadun Muslihun Amin" (Muhammad, a reformer, a trustworthy one). Some people were converted through such events.[43] Such passages can refer only to God's Messenger, for during the time just before his birth there were only seven Muhammads, none of whom deserved to be or was ever designated "the reformer" or "the trustworthy one."

[26] Hakim, 2:388; al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 2:166.

[27] Shifa', 1:363; al-Bidaya, 2:230; Bayhaqi, 2:101.

[28] Al-Bidaya, 2:244; Shifa', 1:364.

[29] Hakim, 2:388; al-Bidaya, 2:328; Shifa', 1:143.

[30] Ibn Hanbal, 4:304; Bukhari, 1:3.

[31] Shifa', 1:363.

[32] 'Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa', 1:744.

[33] Shifa', 1:364; Bayhaqi, 2:285.

[34] Abu Na'im, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 1:123; Shifa', 1:365.

[35] Bayhaqi, 2:126-129; Shifa', 1:365.

[36] Bayhaqi, 2:248; al-Bidaya, 2:335; Shifa', 1:365.

[37] Suyuti, al-Khasa'is al-Kubra', 1:258.

[38] Ibid., 1:358.

[39] Sharh al-Shifa', 1:748.

[40] Ibn 'Abd al-Birr, al-Isti'ab, 3:446; al-Bidaya, 2:337.

[41] Al-Bidaya, 2:341-42; Bayhaqi, 1:118.

[42] Bukhari, 5:61; al-Bidaya, 2:332.

[43] Ibn Hanbal, 4:215; Shifa', 1:467; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, 4:215.