The Miracle of the moon split

The splitting of the moon is a miracle wherein the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Aleyhi wa Sallam) was asked to perform a miracle to the people of Medinah. He (Sallallahu Aleyhi wa Sallam) split the moon as a miracle. Eyewitness  testimonies are critical to understanding the past, and due to this, we often rely on them. Many events are simply recorded by the widespread eyewitness contemporary sources. For example, if every student testifies John goes to high school and takes a math test, it's accepted as truth. 

Now how can we tie this concept back to proving Islam through the miracle of the moon splitting?

The answer is that we have overwhelming proof to suggest it happened. We have many Hadith proving this specific event happened without any fluctuations within the chain of narration. There is a quick misconception I would like to cover first, before giving the Hadith. The misconception is that we have inscriptions of the Hadith close to 200  years after these events happened. However, this does not hold with Hadith, as the chains of narration add authenticity the longer they are. Within Medinah, we did not know who could be trusted, (Surah Tawbah verse 101) as some of the Bedouins would be Muslim and later change their religion when they saw it had no benefit.c Keeping these chains intact was crucial for the more modern generations, and it was smart to leave it up to the people who would  know which people are deviants and which people were not. One person telling another of an event after it happens makes no argument for or against the case, and this is what happened for a few generations until it was not merely oral tradition, but compiled into different books. Now, let's get into the Hadith of the moon splitting.

Abdullah ibn Mas’ud reported: The moon split when we were with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and it became two separate pieces. The Prophet said to us, “Bear witness. Bear witness.”In another narration, Ibn Mas’ud said, “A piece was behind the mountain and another piece was below it.”

Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4584, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2800

Grade: Muttafaqun Alayhi (authenticity agreed upon) according to Al-Bukhari and Muslim

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ مَسْعُودٍ قَالَ انْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ وَنَحْنُ مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَصَارَ فِرْقَتَيْنِ فَقَالَ لَنَا اشْهَدُوا اشْهَدُواوفي رواية أخرى قال ابن مسعود فَكَانَتْ فِلْقَةٌ وَرَاءَ الْجَبَلِ وَفِلْقَةٌ دُونَهُ

4584 صحيح البخاري كتاب تفسير القرآن سورة اقتربت الساعة باب وانشق القمر وإن يروا آية يعرضوا

2800 صحيح مسلم كتاب صفة القيامة والجنة والنار باب انشقاق القمر

Within this Hadith, we see the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam) not only splitting the moon, but telling Abdullah ibn Mas'ud to bear witness to this event. Some might compare this event to one of mass hysteria, such as the Miracle of the Sun. However, this is not a proof against it, as there are many inconsistencies. Firstly, the quote unquote "prophecy," comes in a dream. After this, people were instructed to stare at the sun on the 13th of October 1967 in Fatima, Portugal. Following up on the date, people had supposedly seen the sun move and show multicolored lights. However, the prophecy, made entirely by 3 shepherd children didn't even come true. The original prophecy was of the virgin Mary descending from Heaven and performing miracles. Even if we suppose the sun moved in an irregular way, and was not simply due to staring at the sun, there are other such inconsistencies which invalidate it as a proper miracle. The only argument that could possibly be made at this point is to find one such inconsistency regarding this prophecy that would invalidate it.