Did Ratan al-Hindi live 770 years?

- It is said that there was a merchant who traveled from India to Syria via Makkah to trade. Once, when he was young, he passed through a valley with plenty of grass near Makkah. There was a river that ran through the mountain channels where the people of Makkah grazed their goats, and it was raining that day. He saw a small, innocent and beautiful boy grazing his goats. There was a stream over which the goats jumped, but the boy could not cross it. So, Ratan Al-Hindi put him (the Prophet) on his shoulders and made him cross the stream; so, the child repeated the following sentence 7 times: ‘May Allah prolong your life!’ After that, some time passed and Ratan witnessed the miracle of Shaqq al-Qamar (splitting of the moon) with his own eyes from the roof of his house in India. A few days later, he inquired about it from Arab traders who came to India and learned that a young man named Muhammad had claimed to be a prophet in Makkah. He shows miracles, and he showed this miracle too. Out of curiosity, Ratan prepared to go to Makkah and when he reached there years later, he found out that he had migrated to Madinah. Then, he reached Medina and when he went to Masjid an-Nabawi, he saw the same handsome person, who was more beautiful than the full moon. He went there and asked the Prophet to show him a miracle so that he could believe in him. The Prophet smiled and said:
- O Ratan Hindi! Is the miracle that I prayed for your long life when you were a child not enough?
He cried and embraced Islam. Then he stayed with the Prophet for 15 days. It is said that with each repetition of the sentence, his age increased by 100 years and so after seven repetitions his age increased to 700 years. This was the miracle of the Prophet PBUH. Ratan passed away in 1234 AD.
- Is this story true?
- Is there any reference to it or even a sign of it in sound hadiths or other sound Islamic sources?
- If yes, please prove its authenticity.

Dear Brother / Sister,

No, there is no such information; it is false.

The person known as Ratan al-Hindi was a man who died in the late 6th and early 7th centuries of the Migration and claimed to be a Companion.

Imam Dhahabi strongly criticized him in his book entitled “The Smashing of the Idol of Ratan” and noted that he could not be a Companion in terms of science and Shari’ah.

Dhahabi, who saw that Ratan had become an idol more than a century after his death, strongly criticized him, saying that he was a big liar, that he appeared after the 6th century of the Migration and shamelessly claimed to be a Companion, and that this person dared to slander Allah and His Messenger and fabricated hadiths though the Companions did not lie.

Dhahabi used harder words about Ratan and said:

He is a slanderer, a liar, an old senile man who fabricated great lies and committed a great disgrace in order to muddle people. (1)

The most important evidence showing that Ratan is a liar is that he is not mentioned in the works of any author living before the 7th H (13th AD) century despite the fact that he is claimed to have many narrations and India was conquered in the 4th H (10th AD) century.

It is not possible for the rijal books, in which even those who have a single narration are examined, not to mention the life of a person who is said to have such extraordinary qualities. (2)

On the other hand, hadith scholars proved Ratan to be a liar based on the hadith, “None of those who are alive today will be alive in a century from now.” (3)

As a matter of fact, hadith scholars unanimously agree that the last of the Companions who saw and talked with the Prophet (pbuh) was Abut-Tufayl Amir ibn Wasila. (4)

To sum up, the person known as Ratan al-Hindi was not a Companion, but a man who lived at the end of the 6th and beginning of the 7th century H. (5)

References:

1) see Mizanul-I’tidal, 2/45 no: 2759; Dhahabi, al-Mughni fid-Duafa, thq. Nuraddin Itr, Aleppo, 1391/1971, 1/230, no. 2110; Dhahabi, Siyaru A’lamin-Nubala’, thq. Shuayb Arnaud, Beirut, 1405/1985, 22/367-368, nr. 231; Dhahabi, Tarikhul-Islam wa Wafayatul -Mashahiri wal-a’lam, Süleymaniye Library. Ayasofya Ksm. 3012, C. IX, var. 120 a.
2) Zabidi, Tajul-Arus, “rtn” iitem.
3) Bukhari, Ilm, 41, Mawaqit, 40; Muslim, Fadailus-Sahaba, 217-220.
4) see Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, 2/525-529; Lisanul-Mizan, 2/450-452.
5) see Nevzat Aşık, Hicrî VI. Asırda Sahabi Olduğunu İddia Eden Abu’r-Ridâ Ratan el-Hindî.., DÜİFD, VII (1992), s. 47-65; TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Ratan b. Nasr item.

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