These “distinguishing marks,” say the commentators, were when the angels rode on black and white horses, and had on their heads white and yellow turbans, the ends of which hung down between their shoulders.
3. The celebrated night journey. [Sūrah xvii. 1]: “We declare the glory of Him who transports his servant by night from the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām to the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. from Makkah to Jerusalem).”
4. The Qurʾān itself, which the Muḥammadans say is the great miracle of Islām, the like of which has not been created, nor ever will be, by the power of man. In proof of this they quote [Sūrah xxix. 48]: “It is a clear sign (āyah) in the hearts of whom the knowledge hath reached.”
Although these very doubtful assertions in the Qurʾān fail to establish the miraculous powers of the Prophet, the Traditions record numerous occasions when he worked miracles in the presence of his people.
The following are recorded in the traditions of al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim:—
(1) On the flight from Makkah, Surāqah being cursed by the Prophet, his horse sank up to its belly in the hard ground.
(2) The Prophet marked out at Badr the exact spot on which each of the idolaters should be slain, and Anas says not one of them passed alive beyond the spot marked by the Prophet.
(3) He cured the broken leg of ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Atiq by a touch.
(4) He converted hard ground into a heap of sand by one stroke of an axe.
(5) He fed a thousand people upon one kid and a ṣāʿ of barley.