Water from the Fingers

On several occasions, when the Companions were desperately short of water, water gushed from between the fingers of the Prophet ﷺ in sufficient quantity to quench an entire troop and perform their ablutions. A miracle seen with their own eyes by hundreds of witnesses.

During several expeditions, the Companions found themselves running short of water, without enough to drink or perform ablutions for prayer. A vessel containing a little water — sometimes very little — would be brought to the Prophet ﷺ.

The Prophet ﷺ would immerse his hand in it, and water would begin to spring from between his fingers like a source. Anas ibn Malik, who witnessed it, reports having seen water flowing between the Prophet's ﷺ fingers, and that the people — several hundred of them — drank and performed their ablutions from this water.

When asked about the number of people present that day, Anas replied there were about three hundred. The miracle lay not in the initial quantity of water, which was minuscule, but in its multiplication at the touch of the Prophet's ﷺ blessed hand.

This miracle is particularly well attested, which matters for those who doubt: it is reported by Bukhari and Muslim. It is transmitted by several different Companions (Anas ibn Malik, Jabir, Ibn Mas'ud), on separate occasions. When the same type of miracle is reported by independent and authentic chains, its solidity is very great. A prophetic echo: making water flow recalls Moses's miracle of striking the rock from which twelve springs gushed (Quran 2:60). Again and again the miracles of the prophets echo one another through the ages.

This miracle teaches that God's help can come through the humblest of means — a little water, an outstretched hand. It also recalls that the Prophet ﷺ was supported by concrete signs, seen by crowds, and not by words alone. The faith of those witnesses was thereby strengthened.