splitting of the moon
God Almighty said: “The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has split (1). And if they see a sign, they turn away and say, ‘Persistent magic.’ (2) And they deny and follow their own desires. And every matter is [determined]. (3)” [Surat Al-Qamar]

Some friends criticized me because I mentioned in my book that the moon did not split during the era of our Master Muhammad (PBUH) as is commonly believed. I also expected this criticism and I mentioned a lot of evidence proving that the splitting of the moon did not happen before but will happen in the future and most likely it will be a warning sign before the torment of the smoke and the Messenger in whose era this sign will happen will be accused of being a magician and he will be discredited for the firm belief we mentioned earlier that our Master Muhammad (PBUH) is the Seal of the Messengers.

The important thing is that I acknowledge that I disagreed with the opinion of most scholars, not the consensus of scholars, on this issue. There are very few scholars who also said what I said, including, for example, Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud in his famous program (Science and Faith). Watch this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlg4wa6euRs

Sheikh Al-Ghazali also summarizes what I have presented in my book (The Awaited Letters), where Sheikh Al-Ghazali said in (The Road from Here):
“…and know that among the Muslim thinkers and interpreters of their religion there are those who consider the splitting of the moon to be one of the signs of the Hour, and that among the theologians there are those who hesitate regarding individual reports, as Ibrahim al-Nazzam said: “The moon does not split for Ibn Masoud alone,” and Ibn Masoud is the one from whom the aforementioned hadith was narrated.
Someone might say to me: How can you be so lenient with an authentic hadith like this?!
I answer: Rejecting a hadith based on mere whims is an unbecoming behavior for a scholar. Our early imams rejected authentic hadiths because they contradicted stronger logic and transmission, and thus they lost the foundations of their authenticity. Islam continued with its landmarks and pillars, unstoppable by anything!
I said: I do not link the future of our religion to a single hadith that provides presumptive knowledge. I will further clarify the subject by saying:
I believe in miracles, and I believe that they happen to Muslims and non-Muslims, righteous and wicked alike. I know that the law of causality may govern us humans, but it does not govern its Creator, the Blessed and Exalted!
When I read the hadith of the split, I began to think deeply about the position of the polytheists. They turned back to their homes and camps after they saw the moon split into two halves on the right and left of the mountain. They said: “Muhammad has bewitched us.” They went away in safety and security, without punishment or reproach. I said: “How is this?!”
In Surat Al-Anbiya, God Almighty tells the secret of the polytheists’ disbelief in their Prophet, specifying their demands of him:
“Rather, they said, ‘Confused dreams. Rather, he has invented it. Rather, he is a poet. So let him bring us a sign as were sent to the former peoples.’”
The Qur’an tells why their request was not answered. God Almighty says in Surat Al-Anbiya:
“No city believed before them that We destroyed. Will they then believe?”
Denying God after the required miracle occurs necessitates the destruction of those who deny Him. So how could these Meccans be left without reprimand or punishment after their contempt for the splitting of the moon? The Holy Qur'an confirms this logic in Surat Al-Isra:
(And nothing prevented Us from sending the signs except that the former peoples denied them. And We gave Thamud the she-camel as a visible sign, but they wronged her. And We do not send the signs except as a warning.)
If the sending of verses was impossible due to the denial of the first ones, then how did the split occur?! Indeed, how could it or anything else occur, when God says in Surat Al-Hijr:
“And if We were to open to them a gate from heaven and they continued therein to ascend, they would surely say, ‘Our eyes have only been dazzled. Rather, we are a people affected by magic.’”
Then, in other instances, the polytheists insisted on seeking supernatural phenomena, as in Surat Al-An’am:
And they swear by God their most solemn oaths that if a sign came to them, they would surely believe in it. Say, "The signs are only with God. And what makes you perceive that when a sign comes to them, they will not believe in it?"
So why didn't he tell them: The moon was split for you before, and you denied it?! Could this event be followed by complete silence?!
In another Surah, it was said to the unbelievers when they were seeking sensory miracles: The Qur’an is sufficient for you. It contains convincing information for those who seek the truth, as He says in Surah Al-Ankabut:
(And they say, “Why were no signs sent down to him from his Lord?” Say, “The signs are only with Allah, and I am only a clear warner.” Is it not sufficient for them that We have sent down to you the Book which is recited to them? Indeed in that is a mercy and a reminder for a people who believe.)
Hundreds of verses, in numerous surahs throughout the Meccan period, focused on proving the message by awakening the mind and making it aware of its Lord, and by considering the bearer of this revelation as the leader of those who walk towards God and hold fast to His rope. They went beyond the infidels’ suggestions that they should see a miraculous physical sign.
For this reason, I did not dwell long on the hadith of schism, and I strongly refused to link the future of the call to it or to other individual hadiths that clash with stronger evidence. I am not an innovator in this approach, as Abu Hanifa and Malik rejected hadiths of this type that were contradicted by stronger evidence from the Qur’an.
We do not deny miracles as such, but rather we discuss the evidence behind them and weigh each piece of evidence against another. Our belief in miracles is what made us Muslims believe in the birth of Jesus without a father. The Qur’an is conclusive on this issue, and if God’s word is proven, then no one has anything to say.

I have conveyed to you two opinions of scholars because, in the view of many of you, most of you are not convinced by the opinion of an ignorant man like me who did not graduate from Al-Azhar University.
In general, I discussed the subject of the splitting of the moon in detail in the chapter (The Splitting of the Moon) in about twenty pages, and I mentioned many religious and scientific evidences proving that the splitting of the moon will occur in the future during the era of a coming messenger, and I mentioned the scientific relationship of the splitting of the moon to the major signs of the Hour, and God knows best.