Sign of the Prophet Quake

al-Suyuti is presently recognized as the most prolific author in the whole of Islamic literature (E. Geoffroy in Encyclopedia of Islam v. 9, 1991:913-916). He was widely read and famous across the Islamic world during his lifetime and was known for extreme self-confidence in his mental abilities (e.g. he had memorized 200,000 hadiths and was a polymath) which mingled with arrogance and created acrimonious relations inside Egypt (E. Geoffroy in Encyclopedia of Islam v. 9, 1991:913-916). E. Geoffroy in Encyclopedia of Islam v. 9 (1991:913-916) describes his procedure as scientific in so far as he quotes his sources with precision and presents them in a critical way and states that he cannot be considered as a mere compiler. He may have authored close to a thousand books writing on many subjects (e.g., History, Biography) besides religion and Islamic jurisprudence. as-Suyuti was born in Egypt in 1445 CE and at the age of eighteen taught Shafi'i law at the mosque of Shaykhu and gave juridicial consultations. In 1472 CE, he became a teacher of hadith at the same mosque. In 1486 CE at the age of 40, as-Suyuti retired from public life. By 1501 CE, he had completely isolated himself in his home on Rawda Island in Cairo where he worked on the editing and revision of his literary works. He died there in 1505 CE (E. Geoffroy in Encyclopedia of Islam v. 9, 1991:913-916). His book Clearing up the Description of Earthquakes (Kashf as-Salsalah 'an wasf Az-zalzalak) is a valuable reference for historical earthquakes and is one of the earliest extant earthquake catalogs.

• from Ambraseys (2009)

we met a hermit, who told us that a Prophet would be sent, the sign of which is that Syria has been shaken by earthquakes 24 times [alternative readings: 80 or 200 times] since Jesus son of Mary, and one earthquake remains, which will cause evil and disaster in Syria. When we reached Thaniyya [Midran, between Medina and Tabuk], we saw a horseman. We asked him where he came from and he replied, ‘Syria’. We asked him if anything had happened, and he said, ‘Yes, Syria has been affected by an earthquake, which has caused evil and disaster.’.

As-Suyuti (1445-1505 CE), in his book Al-Khasais-ul-Kubra (4-5), states that he copied this passage from the book Dala'il al-Nubuwwah (The Signs of Prophethood) written by Al-Bayhaqi in the 11th century CE. Al-Bayhaqi, states as-Suyuti, relied on the authority of Marwan b. al-Hakam.

al-Bayhaqi, The Proofs of Prophethood (aka The signs of prophethood aka Dala'il al-Nubuwwah)

al-Suyuti, Jalal al-Din (K), Kashf al-salsala ’an wasf al-zalzala, ed. Abd al-Latif Sa’adani, Fez, 1971. Also B: BM MS Or. 5852, 1768; P: BNP MSS Ar. 5929, 1706; C: Cairo NM MS N324; CB: Cambridge Or. 8.172, 1760; L: Lahore BM Opuscula 14521.c.37, 1890; for a recent translation into Russian see Buniyatov (1983). Also Husn al-muhudara fi akhbar Misr wa‘l-Qahira, ed. Cairo, 1882.

Khasais al kubra by Imam Suyuti

al-Da’udi, continuator of al-Suyuti, in Kashf al-salsala, pp. 62–64; also al-Hafiz (1982).

al-Ghuzzi, al-Najm; continuator of al-Suyuti, in al-Hafiz (1982).

al-Hafiz, Muhammad Muti’, Nusus ghayr manshura ’an al-zalazil, BEO 32 and 33 (for 1980–81), Damascus, 1982, pp. 256–264.

Clarke, A. (2008). The History of the Khalifahs who Took the Right Way: A Translation of the Chapters on Al-Khulafa ́ar-Rashidun from Tarikh Al-Khulafa ́, Ta-Ha Publishers.



Sprenger (1843). "As-Soyuti's work on Earthquakes, ." Journal of The Asiatic Society of Bengal 12(141): 741-749.

Nejjar, S. (1973-1974). Traité du tremblement de terre / Jalal ad-Din as-Suyut'i ; trad. annotée [de l'arabe] de Saïd Nejjar. Rabat, Cahiers du centre universitaire de la recherche scientifique.

Al-Sadani, A. (1971). (Jalal-Eddine Al-Suyouti) Kasff Al-Salsala Wa Wasf Al-Zalzalah, in Arabic. Rabat, Morocco.