The moon was split into two parts during the lifetime of the Prophet.
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 3638
Narrated `Abdullah bin Masud:
During the lifetime of the Prophet the moon was split into two parts and on that the Prophet said, "Bear witness (to thus).
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 3636
Note: Both Abdullah ibn Masud and Ibn Abbass were companions of the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wassalam) and also, one of the greatest scholars of Islam.
Al-Bukhari recorded that Anas bin Malik said, "The people of Makkah asked the Messenger of Allah to produce a miracle, and he showed them the splitting of the moon into two parts, until they saw (the mount of) Hira' between them.'' This Hadith is recorded in the Two Sahihs with various chains of narration.
and Allah said what you quoted from Surah Al-Qamar 54:1-2
Narration of Jabyr bin Mut'im
Imam Ahmad recorded that Jubayr bin Mut'im said, "The moon was split into two pieces during the time of Allah's Prophet ; a part of the moon was over one mountain and another part over another mountain. So they said, Muhammad has taken us by his magic.' They then said, `If he was able to take us by magic, he will not be able to do so with all people.''' Only Imam Ahmad recorded this Hadith with this chain of narration. Al-Bayhaqi used another chain of narration in a similar Hadith he collected in Ad-Dala'il.
Source: Tafsir of Surah Qamar
Apart from that,
You might be knowing the fault line in the moon that splits it. NASA says it appears all over the moon. Not that I am claiming evidence that it happened during the splitting of moon by Prophet (Peace be upon him), but it can be a food for thought. NASA doesn't have any concrete evidence regarding how it happened.
Annemarie Schimmel (a non-Muslim author of "And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety", University of North Carolina Press, 1985, p.69–70) quotes Qadi Iyaad in support of this miracle as follows:
"It has not been said of any people on the earth that the moon was observed that night such that it could be stated that it was not split. Even if this had been reported from many different places, so that one would have to exclude the possibility that all agreed upon a lie, yet, we would not accept this as proof to the contrary, for the moon is not seen in the same way by different people.... An eclipse is visible in one country but not in the other one; in one place it is total, in the other one only partial."
The miracle of the splitting of the moon occurred before the migration to Medina upon the demands of the polytheists with the permission of God and it was shown by the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as narrated by many companions like Anas b. Malik, Hz. Ali, Huzayfa b. Yaman, Abdullah b. Mas’ud, Abdullah b. Abbas, Abdullah b. Umar, Abdullah b. Amr b. As , Jubayr b. Mut’im (May Allah be pleased with all of them).
Among Quraish polytheists, Walid b. Mughira, Abu Jahl. As b. Wail, As b. Hisham, Aswad b. Abdi Yaghus, Aswad b. Muttalib, Zama b. Aswad, Nadr b. Harith and others said to the prophet Muhammad (PBUH):
“If you truly are a Prophet that has been appointed by Allah, then split the moon in half. Let it be in such a way that one half will appear over the Mount Abu Qubais and the other half will be seen over Mount Quayqian.”
The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) asked:
“If I do it, will you become Muslims?”
The polytheists answered:
“Yes, we will.”
On the 14th night, when it was full moon, the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) wanted Almighty Allah to give him the miracle which the polytheists demanded from him.
When the Gabriel (AS) informed the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that God had accepted his prayer, he announced it to the Meccans. The polytheists witnessed the splitting of the moon on the 14th night.
When Almighty God let the moon split in half, one half standing over Mount Abu Qubais and the other half over Mount Quayqian, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) shouted at Muslims:
“O Abu Salama b. Abdulasad! Arqam b. Abi’l Erqam! Bear witness!
And to the polytheists, he said, “Bear witness! So and so!
However, the polytheists said “This is one of the spells of Abu Kabsha’s Son.” “The son of Abu Kabsha cast a spell on you!” They said “Muhammad cast a spell on us!”
Some of them also said:
“If Muhammad had cast a spell on us then, He couldn’t have cast a spell on everyone! Let us ask the wayfarers who came from the surrounding areas if they saw what we saw.”
They asked the people who came from every everywhere.
“Yes! We also did see the moon in that state! We saw the moon as split! They informed that the moon was split. Among the people who came from everywhere and seen the moon split, there was no one who had not informed them about it.
However, the polytheists rejected to be Muslims and to believe by saying:
“This is a prevalent magic!” , they said “Abu Talib’s orphan affected the sky with his spell!” .
اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ وَإِن يَرَوْا آيَةً يُعْرِضُوا وَيَقُولُوا سِحْرٌ مُّسْتَمِرٌّ
The hour drew nigh and the moon did rend asunder. And if they see a miracle they turn aside and say: Transient magic.
Early traditions and stories explain this verse as a miracle performed by God during the life of Muhammad in order to convince Quraysh of his prophethood.[8][9] Most Muslim commentators accept the authenticity of those traditions[clarification needed]. The following verse 54:2, "But if they see a Sign, they turn away, and say, 'This is (but) transient magic'" is taken in the support of this view.[9] The classical commentator Ibn Kathir provides a list of the early traditions mentioning the incident: A tradition transmitted on the authority of Anas bin Malik states that Muhammad split the moon after the pagan Meccans asked for a miracle. Another tradition from Malik transmitted through other chains of narrations, mentions that the mount Nur was visible between the two parts of the moon (Mount Nur is located in Hijaz. Muslims believe that Muhammad received his first revelations from God in a cave on this mountain, Cave Hira'). A tradition narrated on the authority of Jubayr ibn Mut'im with a single chain of transmission says that the two parts of the moon stood on two mountains. This tradition further states that the Meccan responded by saying "Muhammad has taken us by his magic...If he was able to take us by magic, he will not be able to do so with all people." Traditions transmitted on the authority of Ibn Abbas briefly mention the incident and do not provide much details.[2] Traditions transmitted on the authority of Abdullah bin Masud describe the incident as follows:
We were along with God's Messenger at Mina, that moon was split up into two. One of its parts was behind the mountain and the other one was on this side of the mountain. God's Messenger said to us: Bear witness to this 039:6725
Al-Zamakhshari, a famous commentator of the Qur'an, acknowledged the splitting of the moon as one of Muhammad's miracles. But he also suggested that the splitting might take place only on the day of judgment.[5] The Muslim scholar Yusuf Ali provides three different interpretations of the verse. He holds that perhaps all three are applicable to the verse: Moon once appeared cleft asunder at the time of Muhammad in order to convince the unbelievers. It will split again when the day of judgment approaches (here the prophetic past tense is taken to indicate the future). Yusuf Ali connects this incident with the disruption of the solar system mentioned in 75:8-9. Lastly, he says that the verses can be metaphorical, meaning that the matter has become clear as the moon.
Dissenting commentators who do not accept the miracle narration such as Hasan al-Basri (d. 110 H.) and 'Ata al-Khurasani (d. 135 H.) believe that the verse only refers to the splitting of the moon at the day of judgment.[4][9][12] Likewise, M. A. S. Abdel Haleem writes:
The Arabic uses the past tense, as if that Day were already here, to help the reader/listener imagine how it will be. Some traditional commentators hold the view that this describes an actual event at the time of the Prophet, but it clearly refers to the end of the world.
Some Muslim scholars postulate and believe that a (now known) Astronomical event must have happened at that time, which made it appear to the observers as if the moon had been split in two, because the phenomenon was seen at least in India as well.[14] One of the possible lunar events could be a large asteroid hitting the moon, and the plume and debri from the strike blocking enough lunar view to make it appear as if the Moon had split in two. A second possibility could be a celestial body passing between Earth and the Moon and blocking some part of lunar surface for short time. Moreover, in the light of the verse that was revealed at that time, the word "Saa'at" also means spiritual revolution, so the event also symbolized the end of the Pagan Arab culture and religions which used Moon as their symbol or worshipped moon gods. Though a few other Muslim thinkers had difficulties accepting this event and other preternatural events and, according to Annemarie Schimmel, sometimes tried to "de-mythologize" it.[4][5] For example, Shah Waliullah of Delhi (d. 1762) said that the event "may have been a kind of hallucination, or perhaps caused by a smoke, by the swooping down of a star, a cloud, or an eclipse of the sun or the moon which might be given the impression that the moon was actually split in two."
In later Islam
The narrative was used by some later Muslims to convince others of the prophethood of Muhammad. Annemarie Schimmel for example quotes the following from Muslim scholar Qadi Iyad who lived in Ceuta in Spain:[4]
It has not been said of any people on the earth that the moon was observed that night such that it could be stated that it was not split. Even if this had been reported from many different places, so that one would have to exclude the possibility that all agreed upon a lie, yet, we would not accept this as proof to the contrary, for the moon is not seen in the same way by different people.... An eclipse is visible in one country but not in the other one; in one place it is total, in the other one only partial.
Western historians such as A.J. Wensinck and Denis Gril, reject the historicity of the miracle arguing that the Qur'an itself denies miracles, in their traditional sense, in connection with Muhammad.
Debate over the inviolability of heavenly bodies
The Qur'anic verse 54:1-2 was part of the debate between medieval Muslim theologians and Muslims philosophers over the issue of the inviolability of heavenly bodies. The philosophers held that nature was composed of four fundamental elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Philosophers however held that the composition of heavenly bodies were different. This belief was based on the observation that the motion of heavenly bodies, unlike that of terrestrial bodies, was circular and without any beginnings or ends. This appearance of eternity in the heavenly bodies, led the philosophers to conclude that the heavens were inviolable. Theologians on the other hand proposed their own conception of the terrestrial matter: the nature was composed of uniform atoms that were re-created at every instant by God (the latter idea was added to defend God's omnipotence against the encroachment of the independent secondary causes). According to this conception, the heavenly bodies were essentially the same as the terrestrial bodies, and thus could be pierced.[5]
In order to deal with implication of the traditional understanding of the Qur'anic verse 54:1-2, philosophers argued that the verse should be interpreted metaphorically (e.g. the verse could have referred to a partial lunar eclipse in which then earth obscured part of the moon).[5]
Literature
This tradition has inspired many Muslim poets, especially in India.[6] In poetical language Muhammad is sometimes equated with the sun or the morning light. As such, part of a poem from Sana'i, a renowned early twelfth century Persian Sufi poet, reads: "the sun should split the moon in two".[4] Jalal ad-Din Rumi, a renowned Persian-writing poet and mystic, in one of his poems conveys the idea that to be split by the Muhammad's finger is the greatest bliss the lowly moon can hope for and a devoted believers splits the moon with Muhammad's finger.[4] Elaborating on this idea, Abd ar-Rahman Jami, one of the classical poets and mystics of Persia, plays with the shapes and numerical values of Arabic letters in a complicated way: The full moon, Jami says, resembles the Arabic letter for a circular m with the numerical value 40. When Muhammad split the moon, it became like two crescent-shaped n's (the Arabic letter for "n") whose numerical value is 50 each. This would mean that, thanks for the miracle, the value of moon had increased.[4]
In another place Rumi, according to Schimmel, alludes to two miracles attributed to Muhammad in tradition, i.e. the splitting of the moon (which shows the futility of man's scientific approach to nature), and the other that Muhammad being an illiterate:[4]
NASA mis-cited as proof
NASA photograph from Apollo 10 in 1969. A scar on the surface of the moon alleged to be evidence of a healed split
Apollo mission photographs of the Rima Ariadaeus revealed a rift line across the surface of the moon. A 2004 book by Zaghloul El-Naggar reproduces one of these photographs and says that British Muslim David Musa Pidcock told him he had seen a 1978 "program" (sic) in which he claimed that unnamed US space scientists had said that "the moon had been split a long time ago and rejoined, and there is a lot of concrete evidence on the surface of the moon to prove this".[16] This was reported as proof of splitting by news services such as Jafariya News[17][18] and on Internet Web sites. On being asked in 2010, NASA scientist Brad Bailey said, "My recommendation is to not believe everything you read on the internet. Peer-reviewed papers are the only scientifically valid sources of information out there. No current scientific evidence reports that the Moon was split into two (or more) parts and then reassembled at any point in the past."[7]
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