Question:
Prove that Muhammad is a true Prophet. What powers did God give him? Please e-mail it as soon as possible.
Fatwa:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The signs that prove the prophecy of Muhammad are numerous. Many books have been written to enumerate them and thoroughly discuss them. We would like to mention some of these signs as reported by Muslim scholars and which prove that Muhammad was a real Prophet including:
- First, his good biography and high morals as well as the noble qualities that distinguished him. He was known before becoming a Prophet as a truthful and honest person, although the community where he lived was a society of ignorance. This was, perhaps, the most important sign of his prophecy. He was not known to have ever lied on people. So, why should he lie on be half of the Lord by claiming that he was a Prophet, if he was not a real Prophet?
- Second, the powers and triumphs Allah gave him and the spread of the religion he preached, as well as the triumph of this religion over all existing religions in a short period of time. Had he been a liar, Allah would have humiliated and destroyed him as He did with those before him who falsely claimed Prophethood.
- Third, the miracles Allah gave him as supporting evidence were beyond the ability of human beings and were beyond range of natural phenomena. The moon split for him, water gushed from his fingers, food became more abundant in his hands, and similar phenomena were authentically reported and happened in a way that could not be denied.
- Fourth, the Prophet was backed by the greatest miracle which is the Quran. In fact, Quran was a challenge and remains a challenge for Arabs who were known to be good poets and eloquent speakers. Allah challenged them to write a single Surah (chapter) that would be similar to that of Quran, but the Arabs were unable to do so. Indeed, the challenge still endures, none of the Arabs throughout history - since the revelation of the Quran - was able to make anything that was even similar to it. No doubt that the Quran has been preserved intact until it came to us. Groups of people memorized it including children, adults, males and females. So generations brought the Quran to generations until it reached us as it was revealed 14 centuries ago. Hence, the Quran remains intact protected from distortion or alteration. Nothing has been added to it, nor taken from it. Quran is full of scientific facts that were verified only in these times of scientific investigation. No doubt that Muhammad who was illiterate would not have possessed this knowledge 14 centuries ago. Doesn't this prove the authenticity of the Quran and that it is the Word of the Creator of the Universe who knows all its secrets?
- Fifth, the things from the unseen that he (the Prophet ) informed us about. Some of them occurred during his life time. Others happened later. Some of these things happened to the Prophets, may Allah exalt their mention, who preceded him and some are still to occur. He also informed about the signs of The Day of Judgment, some of which had already been seen such as widespread killings and genocide, adultery and fornication and the consumption of the alcohol, outnumbering of males by females and the increased number of earthquakes, and afflictions,… etc.
- Sixth, the testimony of some of the people of the Book that he was a true Prophet. Some of them believed in him like 'Abdullah Ibn Salam 
who was a Jew as well as Negus (king of Abyssinia) who was a Christian. Some of the people of the Book certified that he was a Prophet from Allah but refused to follow him like Huyayy Ibn Akhtab.
The above are some of the signs that prove his Prophethood and the authenticity of his revelations. We would like the questioner to visit some of the Islamic centers in her area, and hopefully, they will guide her to some useful references in the matter.
Allah Knows best.
Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb
Question:
I heard that when Prophet Muhammad started preaching Islam, the Jews were very upset and they wanted to test him to find out whether he was a true Prophet, so they prepared 40 difficult questions and asked him. Is this true, if yes, please, explain what are the 40 questions and what were the answers given by the Prophet Muhammad?
Fatwa:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
However, we do not know of any authentic Hadeeth stating that they prepared forty questions for the Prophet and asked him about them. What is proved in the books of Imans Al-Bukhari and Ahmad 
as well as other authentic sources is that they asked him seven questions.
to Madeenah, he came to him and asked him about some things saying: "I will ask about three things that none except a messenger knows: what is the first sign of the Hour? What is the first meal that the dwellers of heard about the arrival of the Prophet Al-Bukhari 
reported that Anas narrated that when 'Abdullah Ibn Salam said: "Jibreel (Gabriel) informed about this earlier. Ibn Salam said: "That is the Jews' enemy from the angels." The Prophet said: "As for the first sign of the Hour, it is a fire that gathers the people from the East and the West. As for the first meal that the dwellers of said: "I bear witness that none has the right of being worshipped but Allah and that you are His messenger." Then Ibn Salam said: "O Prophet of Allah, the Jews are people of falsehood. So ask them about me before they realize that I have become Muslim. The Jews came and the Prophet asked them: "How do you grade 'Abdullah Ibn Salam within your community." They said: "Our best and the son of our best." Thereupon, the Prophet said: "What if 'Abdullah Ibn Salam becomes Muslim?" They said: "May Allah protect
him from that!" The Prophet then repeated the same questions and the Jews repeated the same answers. At that time, 'Abdullah Ibn Salam came out to them and said: 'I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger.' Thereupon, they (the Jews) said: "He is our worst and the son of our worst," and demeaned him. Ibn Salam, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'This is what I feared, O Prophet of Allah."
"O Allah testify against them." Then he said: "I ask you by Allah, the One Who has no partners Who revealed the Torah to Moosa 
do you know that the man's water is white and thick and that the woman's water is yellow and thin. Any of the two waters gets above the other gets the resemblance of the child in his sex and characters by the will of Allah. If the water of the man gets over the woman it is a male by the Will of Allah and if the water of the woman gets above that of the man then it is a female by the Will of Allah. They said: 'By Allah what you said is true.' The Prophet said: "O Allah testify against them."
Then he said: "I ask you by the One Who revealed Torah to Moosa do you know that the eyes of this illiterate Prophet sleep but his heart does not." They said: 'By Allah that is true.' He said: "O Allah, testify against them." They said: 'You, now tell us about your guardian from the angels, we will stay with you or leave you according to that.' He said: "My guardian is Jibreel (Gabriel) and Allah never sent any Prophet but he was his guardian." The Jews said: 'So, we will separate from you. Had your guardian been another angel not Jibreel, we would have followed you and believed in what you brought.'
The Prophet said: "But what prevents you from believing in him?" They said: 'He is our enemy.' Then Allah revealed the following verses (which means): {Say, “Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel - it is [none but] he who has brought it [i.e. the Quran] down upon your heart, [O Muhammad], by permission of Allah,…} [Quran 2:97]. Allah Says (which means): {And when a Messenger from Allah came to them confirming that which was with them, a party of those who had been given the Scripture threw away the Book of Allah behind their backs as if they did not know.} [Quran 2:101]. Allah Says (which means): {So they returned having [earned] wrath upon wrath} [Quran 2:90].
Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb
