The Fire of Hejaz
The Prophecies Details
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said:
“The Last Hour would not come until fire emits from the earth of Hejaz, [a fire] which would illuminate the necks of the camels of Busra.” [1]
Before we get into the meat of this prophecy and its fulfillment, we need to understand what Hejaz and Busra are.
In the first image, the area of Hejaz is highlighted in dark green. In the second image, the city of Busra has a red pin on it.
The key point is that Medina is located in the Hejaz region. Notice how Medina is hundreds of kilometers away from Busra. Keep this in mind.
So let’s do a quick review of the details of what was prophesized ~1400 years ago:
A fire would emit from the Hejaz region, which is where Medina is,
That fire would come from the earth.
That fire would be so great, that it would illuminate a city hundreds of kilometers away, Busra.
It's a remarkably bold claim.
The Fulfillment of the Prophecy
Surprisingly, the prophecy came true in full detail 600 years later.
On that fateful week, the people of Medina encountered repeated tremors. The tremors lasted nearly three days. Then, Friday brought a massive earthquake that shook even the ceiling and minaret of The Prophet’s Mosque. Adding to the peoples’ shock, a massive flame exploded upwards from the East. This explosive fire rose up into the sky, emitting a large amount of smoke which started to turn the sky red.
The fire itself was intense, seeming as if it was a large mountain of fire that came out of nowhere. The flame raged on, flowing like a fiery flood. Whenever this sea of flames moved over a hill, it seemed to flatten and melt it. This clearly terrified any onlookers, especially as they saw that the sea of flame was nearly three meters high (!). Continuing its violent advance, the flame destroyed everything around it. It threw stones of flame at anybody who dared come near it, all while roaring with the roars of thunder. While the flame did come somewhat close to Medina, it stopped its movement at the edges of the city.
City residents said that night was unlike any they had experienced before. There was so much light coming from the fire it seemed like they always had their lamps on, even at night time. The flame lasted for over a month. [2]
This is what the residents of Medina saw, but what about the residents of Busra? Adh-Dhahabi (A Historian) writes that those living in Busra could see this fire as well. It was so luminous that even at this distance they could see the necks of their camels light up at night. [3]
These accounts were mass-transmitted from the people of Busra. This means that it was not just one witness, or two witnesses, or three or four, but so many witnesses that it was known throughout the entire city. This is not the end of it, though. Those living in Damascus, which is even further from the fire, also mass-transmitted the fact that they could see the fire.[4] Keep in mind this is hundreds of kilometers away from the fire.
So what happened?
There is something interesting to note here. It seems like those who saw the fire themselves could not tell what they were seeing. Witnesses described the event vaguely, calling it "a sea of fire" that "threw stones." In reality, what caused this was a massive volcanic eruption. The sharp readers may have already caught onto this from how the fire was described.
Modern volcanologists have studied this event, known as the 1256 AD Eruption. We can still see evidence of this massive eruption today. A research paper published by the International Journal of Earth Sciences states:
“The 1256 AD eruption site is located near to the culturally significant Al Madinah city… The historically documented eruption lasted for 52 days and formed a 2.25 km long chain of NW–SE-aligned scoria and lava spatter cones... This spectacular landscape is not only attractive for visitors, but also provides one of the best exposed and accessible sites on Earth to show the diversity of volcanic features a fissure eruption can produce.” [5]
They also show a picture of the site.
Review of the Prophecy and its Fulfillment:
Prophecy: A fire would emit from the Hejaz region.
Fulfillment: The volcano erupted in the Hejaz region.
Prophecy: The fire would come from the earth.
Fulfillment: Lava, which comes from the earth, was the source.
Prophecy: The fire would illuminate Busra, a city hundreds of kilometers away.
Fulfillment: The fire illuminated Busra, just as predicted.
The precise fulfillment of a prophecy made over a millennium ago is not mere coincidence; it's a divine sign for all of humanity. An illiterate man, surrounded by people who couldn't recognize a volcanic eruption, accurately predicted this event. His detailed and unexpected prophecy manifesting centuries later shows that this is clearly not the work of a normal man, but of a true prophet.
References:
El-Masry, Nabil & Moufti, Mohammed Rashad & Nemeth, Karoly & Murcia, Hugo & Qaddah, Atef & Abdelwahed, Mohamed. (2013). Historical Accounts of the AD 1256 Eruption near Al-Madinah. International Journal of Earth Sciences. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.4493.9602
Tarikh Al-Islam, 49/22, by Adh-Dhahabi
Fath Al-Bari, 13/79, by Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani
Moufti, M. R., Németh, K., Murcia, H., & Lindsay, J. M. (2013). The 1256 AD Al Madinah historic eruption geosite as the youngest volcanic chain in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Earth Sciences. doi:10.1007/s00531-013-0878-4
