Sunan ad-Dārquțnī relates a hadith from Muhammad bin 'Ali bin al-Husayn bin Ali bin Abi Talib (ra), the great-great-grandson of the Holy Prophet (sa), prophesying unprecedented Signs in the form of lunar and solar eclipses in Ramadan for the advent of the Imam Mahdi. (No. 10) 
Muhammad bin Ali (rh), whose kunya was Abu Ja`far, was known as al-Imam al-Baqir, and is revered by both Sunni and Shia Muslims. He was the fifth Imam per the Shia. Being of Ahl al-Bayt, he related numerous ahadith without providing a complete sanad but which were indeed marfū`.
Al-Imam `Ali bin `Umar ad-Dārquțnī (306-380 Hijri) compiled his Sunan from a great many sources. Indeed many narrators were sourced for only a single hadith, including Imam Bāqir. See just the index page of Ruwāh/Narrators on which Muhammad bin `Alī (al-Bāqir) himself appears:
The hadith states:
"For our Mahdi, there are two Signs that have never occurred since the creation of the heavens and the earth: The moon shall eclipse on the first night of its nights in Ramadan and the sun shall eclipse on the middle of its nights during it."
"For our Mahdi, there are two Signs that have never occurred since the creation of the heavens and the earth: The moon shall eclipse on the first night of its nights in Ramadan and the sun shall eclipse on the middle of its nights during it."
Another version reads:
"...there are two Signs that have never occurred since Allah created the heavens and the earth..." (منذ خلق اللهُ السماوات والأرض).
"...there are two Signs that have never occurred since Allah created the heavens and the earth..." (منذ خلق اللهُ السماوات والأرض).
The meaning of لِاَول ليلة من رمضان (the "first night" of Ramadan) is the first of the three possible nights when the moon can be eclipsed during a lunar month, which are the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth nights—not the first actual night of Ramadan.
This meaning is clear for multiple reasons. First, it is commonly understood among learned Muslims and those who study astronomy that Ayyām-ul-Bīd are the 13th, 14th, and 15th of the lunar month, which are when, scientifically speaking, the lunar eclipse is possible.
Second, the word القمر—used in the hadith—signifies a fuller moon, whereas on the first actual night of Ramadan, or any lunar month for that matter, the moon is called الهلال (al-Hilāl). And yes, there are multiple names for the moon depending on context.
As an aside, the Arabic language is so rich that certain things—lions, swords, camels, etc.—have an unimaginable number of different names with different roots, each holding a specific, context-dependent meaning.
Similarly, "the sun shall eclipse in the middle of Ramadan" means the second of the three possible days when the sun can be eclipsed during a lunar month: the 27th, 28th, and 29th of the month.
Returning to the reporting of this prophecy, scholars from different periods have also mentioned it. Among the generation after Dārqutnī, another luminous scholar, named Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Ḥusain Ibn `Alī ibn Mūsa al-Khosrojerdi al-Bayhaqi (d. 458 Hijri), also mentions it.
Fast forward to the 1800s, and renowned Indian scholar, Abdul Wahab bin Waliullah bin Abdur Rahim al-Umri ad-Dehlawi (1749–1817 C.E.), aka. Shah Rafi`ud-Din Dehlawi, also mentions the Ramadan eclipses in ar-Risalah al-Hashariyyah.
Ahmad al-Fārūqī al-Sirhindī (1564–1624), a Hanafi jurist and Sufi scholar, has also mentioned the eclipses in Maktubat-e-Imam-Rabbani.
Returning to the eclipses, the moon should be eclipsed on the 13th of Ramadan and the sun should be eclipsed on the 28th of the same month. And obviously, there should be a notable figure living among the Muslims who has claimed to be the Mahdi prior to their occurrence.
In the 1800s, there were multiple notable figures among the Muslims who claimed to the Mahdi. Ali Muhammad Shirazi (b. 1819), or “the Bab”, was a Shia Muslim from Iran who claimed to be the Mahdi in 1848. Shirazi founded the Babist movement—a forerunner to Baha’ism.
Muhammad Ahmad of the Sudan (b. 1844) was a militant-religious Sunni who claimed to be the Mahdi in 1881.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (b. 1835), founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at, would announce his claim ten years later, in 1891.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (b. 1835), founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at, would announce his claim ten years later, in 1891.
Shirazi, having spent most of his ministry under house arrest, was put to death by firing squad in 1850.
Muhammad Ahmad, known as the “Sudanese Mahdi”, died of typhus in 1885, scarcely six months after leading a successful revolt and capturing Khartoum from the British.
Muhammad Ahmad, known as the “Sudanese Mahdi”, died of typhus in 1885, scarcely six months after leading a successful revolt and capturing Khartoum from the British.
Ahmad, who had claimed to the Imam Mahdi in 1891, lived until 1908. But it's what happened after his claim and before his death that is the subject of this chain.
On March 21, 1894, on the 13th of #Ramadan, the moon was eclipsed.
On April 6, 1894, the 28th of Ramadan, the sun was eclipsed.
On April 6, 1894, the 28th of Ramadan, the sun was eclipsed.
And so, this prophecy of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa), narrated by his great-great-grandson—a holy Imam who was revered by all Muslims—and recorded by a great scholar of Hadith some 900 years earlier, and mentioned by scholars throughout Islamic history, was fulfilled.
Never had these eclipses taken place in the lifetime of a claimant to the office of the Mahdi until 1894. Remarkably, both Shirazi and Muhammad Ahmad died young—and before the eclipses—at 30 and 41, respectively. Only Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was alive at their occurrence.
The manifestation of these well-known and long-awaited eclipses was celebrated in the streets of Mecca, the birthplace of Islam. Many people entered into the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as a result.
The following Ramadan, in 1895, the eclipses took place yet again, on the 13th and 28th of Ramadan, this time over the western hemisphere!
By then, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who had founded the #Ahmadiyya Jama`at in 1889, had written a book about the eclipses, entitled Nūr-ul-Haqq.
By then, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who had founded the #Ahmadiyya Jama`at in 1889, had written a book about the eclipses, entitled Nūr-ul-Haqq.
In his Arabic book, Nūr-ul-Haqq (the Light of Truth), Ahmad (as) writes:
غسا النيران هداية للكودنِ
يقولان لا تترك هدى وتديّنِ
"The sun and the moon were eclipsed for the guidance of the commoners. The two are crying out, ‘Do not forsake guidance’ and ‘adopt piety!’"
غسا النيران هداية للكودنِ
يقولان لا تترك هدى وتديّنِ
"The sun and the moon were eclipsed for the guidance of the commoners. The two are crying out, ‘Do not forsake guidance’ and ‘adopt piety!’"
Ahmad (as) explains the prophecy and its fulfillment in straightforward terms, but he also answers in incredible detail the objections of those who strangely denied the truthfulness of the hadith.
Indeed eclipses are mentioned in the Quran, the Bible, and by many holy ones.
Indeed eclipses are mentioned in the Quran, the Bible, and by many holy ones.
The lunar and solar eclipses in Ramadan shall stand eternally as illuminating signs for seekers of truth, which all within the pale of #Islam ought to ponder very carefully, alongside the life of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the #PromisedMessiah and Imam #Mahdi. /end
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