Religious Concepts

Miracles, Signs and Prophecies – Part 3

The Promised Messiah (as) wrote over 80 books in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. Excerpts of his collected works have been translated into English and organised by topic.

The Review of Religions is pleased to present these excerpts as part of a monthly feature. Here, the Promised Messiah (as) discusses various miracles shown to the prophets of God.

This is the third part of a multi-part series.

Extracts from The Essence of Islam – Vol. V, pp. 25-36.

Those who demanded spontaneous signs were told by the Holy Qur’an:

[1] قُلْ سُبْحَانَ رَبِّي هَلْ كُنتُ إِلَّا بَشَرًا رَّسُولًا

That is to say, divine glory is free from the criticism that any of His messengers, or prophets, or recipients of revelation should exhibit with their own power the supernormal phenomena that are in fact peculiar to divinity. He says, [O Prophet] tell them that I am only a messenger from among the mortals, and am not empowered to do anything on my own; I only obey the command of God. It is therefore foolish to demand from me only some particular signs. I can show only what God has decreed, and no more.

—Tohfah Ghaznaviyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 15, p. 540

Many miracles were shown by the Holy Prophet (sa) on his own, without any supplication on his part. On some occasions he dipped his fingers into a mere bowlful of water and caused it to increase so much that the whole army, including camels and horses, drank of it, and yet the water remained as it was. On other occasions he would place his hand on a few pieces of bread and they would serve to satiate thousands of hungry people. At times he would bless a little milk with the touch of his lips, and would feed the whole company with it. On yet other occasions, he would put his saliva into a well of brackish water, and it would become delectably sweet. Sometimes, he would place his hand on the grievously wounded and heal them. On occasions when someone’s eyeballs fell out of his eyes during a battle, he would restore them by blessing them with his hands. He likewise performed many other miracles through his personal power, which was also accompanied by some hidden divine power…

But it must be remembered that even though such phenomena as are performed by man on his own do in fact emanate from God, they cannot in any way equal those special acts of God which He manifests on His own without the medium of another person’s will, nor is it appropriate that this should be so. That is why, when a prophet or a saint shows on his own authority, and without the medium of prayer, such supernormal phenomena as no man has been empowered to show through any means, method or remedy, such an act of the prophet would remain inferior to the acts of God which He so visibly manifests with His perfect power. That is to say, a miracle shown by one’s personal power, when compared to the acts of God that are directly manifested by Him, must contain some fault or weakness, so that people who view things only superficially may not confuse the two phenomena as identical. That is why the rod of Prophet Moses(as), despite turning into a serpent on a number of occasions, always remained a rod. Similarly, the birds which are said to have been created by Jesus (as) were no more than clay, despite the fact that their miraculous flight is evident from the Holy Qur’an. God nowhere says that they actually became alive. But since the miracles shown by the Holy Prophet (sa) on his own were imbued with divine power to ultimate degree – and since he was the ultimate, loftiest, and most perfect embodiment of divine attributes – it is hard to place his miracles within the realm of human power. Nevertheless, we do believe that even in this instance there must be some difference between the act of God and that of His Holy Prophet (sa).

—A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 5, pp. 66-68

The truth of the matter is that God Almighty does not do anything against the laws of nature. What He does is that He creates the causes, whether we know of them or not, and these are always present. Hence, miracles, such as splitting of the moon and [2]يَا نَارُ كُونِي بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا are also no exceptions. Rather, they too resulted from some very subtle and hidden means, and were based on true and factual science. Short-sighted people and those who are enamoured of dark philosophy cannot comprehend these things.

—Malfuzat, vol. 1, p. 72

Another subtle point that needs to be borne in mind is that when men of God show miracles, for instance, when water is not able to drown them or fire is not able to harm them, the secret behind such manifestations is that at times when the friends of God focus their attention towards a particular thing, the All-Wise God – Whose infinite secrets man can never comprehend – shows a sign of His power, and their attention begins to exercise control in the universe. The convergence of the means which, for instance, cause the heat of the fire to cease casting its effect – whether they are related to heavenly bodies, to some hidden property of the fire itself, or to some subtle property of the body that is put in the fire, or whether it is a combination of all these – all these means come into operation through such attention and such prayer. It is thus that an extraordinary miracle is shown. But this does not cause us to lose faith in the reality of things, nor does it render knowledge useless, for such miracles are themselves a branch among the branches of divine knowledge. They have their own dimensions, just as, for instance, the burning quality of fire has its own. Let us understand it this way: there are spiritual elements that manifest themselves by subjugating the fire, and they are peculiar to their own time and place. Human intellect falls short of understanding the secret that a perfect man is the locus for the manifestation of the spirit of God Almighty. And when the time comes for the perfect man to display this manifestation, everything begins to fear him as it fears God. You may now throw him before a beast or into a fire, he will suffer no harm; for at such moments the spirit of God Almighty is upon him and everything is bound to fear Him. This is the ultimate secret of divine knowledge which cannot be understood without keeping company with the perfect ones. Being a very profound and rare phenomenon, every intellect is not aware of this philosophy. But, remember, everything listens to the voice of God. He has control over everything and He holds all the strings in His Hand. His wisdom knows no limit and it penetrates to the root of every particle. Nothing possesses properties that are in excess of His power. All the qualities that things may possess are within the scope of His power. He who does not believe in this is among those about whom it has been said:

[3] مَا قَدَرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ

Since the perfect man is the perfect manifestation of the whole world, the world is therefore drawn towards him from time to time. He is like a spider of the spiritual world and the whole world is his web. This is the secret behind miracles.

بر کاروبار ہستی اثری ست عارفان را

ز جہاں چہ دید آں کس کہ ندید ایں جہاں را [4]

—Barakat-ud-Du‘a, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 6, pp. 29-31, footnote

Let it be clear that signs are of two kinds: (1) Signs of warning and chastisement, which may also be called signs of divine wrath. (2) Signs containing good news and solace, which may also be called signs of divine mercy. The signs of warning are manifested for the hardened disbelievers, the crooked of heart, the defiant, the faithless, and those with pharaonic dispositions, so that they may be inspired with fear and their hearts may be filled with the awe of divine wrath and divine majesty. The signs of glad tidings, on the other hand, are manifested for the seekers after truth and sincere believers who, in their meekness and humility, crave for perfect certainty and wish to strengthen their faith. The purpose of the signs of glad tidings is not to frighten or to intimidate, they are rather meant to bestow satisfaction upon God’s obedient servants, and to make them progress in their faith and certitude, and also to reassure their troubled hearts through love and affection. A believer, therefore, continues to receive signs of glad tidings through the Holy Qur’an, and keeps growing in faith and conviction. He gets assurance from the signs of glad tidings, and the disquietude – which is ingrained in human nature – disappears, and calmness descends upon his heart. By virtue of following the Book of Allah, a believer continues to receive signs related to glad tidings to the last day of his life. Signs of peace and tranquillity continue to descend on him, so that he may forever progress in his faith and in divine knowledge, and may reach the stage of absolute certainty. Another wonderful thing about these signs of glad tidings is that they not only help a believer to advance in certainty, knowledge and faith, but also help him to progress with each passing day in his love and devotion to God, because he experiences divine gifts, favours, and bounties – which are both obvious and hidden, manifest and latent, and which abound in the signs of glad tidings. Thus, these wonderful and effective and blessed signs of glad tidings lead the seeker to the stage of perfect knowledge and personal love, which is the highest station for the elect of God.

—Aik ‘Isa’i Ke Tin Sawal Aur Un Ke Jawabat, pp. 13-14

It is a guiding principle for a wise person to realise that, in contrast to prophecies, which may at times contain metaphors and allegorical expressions, the basic teachings have to be very clear and elaborate. Therefore, whenever there seems to be a contradiction between the teaching and a prophecy, it is imperative to give preference to the teaching. If a prophecy seems to run counter to the teaching, it should not be taken literally but should be made to conform to the teaching so that the contradiction is removed. In any case, one must give priority to the teaching, because, in addition to providing elucidation and detail, the teaching is frequently put into practice and its aims and objectives cannot remain hidden, unlike the prophecies which often remain unknown.

—Kitab-ul-Bariyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 13, p.51

Let it be known that the miracles of prophets are of two kinds: (1) Those that are purely heavenly phenomena, in which human design and reason play no part, such as the miracle of the splitting of the moon, a miracle of our lord and master, the Holy Prophet(sa). God manifested this miracle through His infinite power to manifest the majesty of His true and perfect Prophet (sa). (2) Miracles of wisdom. These are manifested with the help of the extraordinary wisdom that only comes from divine revelation. An example of this is the miracle of Solomon referred to in the verse [5] صَرْحٌ مُّمَرَّدٌ مِّن قَوَارِيرَ which was witnessed by Queen Sheba and she was consequently blessed with faith.

—Izala-e-Auham, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 3, pp. 253-254, footnote

When reason recognises a miracle and testifies that it is from Allah, such a miracle is a thousand times better than the miracles that are related only as tales and myths. For this there are two reasons: The first is that reported miracles cannot be considered by us – who were born hundreds of years after their occurrence – as something which we ourselves have seen and experienced. And since they are only based on reports that have reached us, they can never be accorded the same degree of credence as is given to observed and tangible phenomena. Secondly, even for those who actually witnessed them, such reported miracles, as are beyond the realm of reason, cannot be truly convincing. This is because there are many wondrous feats which even conjurors can easily perform, but they are no more than cunning tricks. How then are we to convince a suspicious opponent that the wonders manifested through prophets – such as creating a serpent, or bringing a dead man back to life – are free from the sleight of hand practised by these conjurors. These difficulties are not peculiar to our times: it is quite possible that the same questions may have risen at the time when these miracles occurred. For instance, when we look at verses 2-5 of Chapter 5, in the Gospel of John, we read:

“Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool, and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had…”

When a person who denies the prophethood of Jesus (as) and his miracles reads this statement of John and learns that there was a pond which had existed in the land of Jesus (as) for a long time, which had always possessed the peculiarity that a single dive into it was sufficient to cure every kind of disease, no matter how serious, the suspicion is sure to cross his mind that if Jesus (as) did indeed show any miracles, he must have made use of the water of this pond to show them. Many such examples are to be found in the world, and we find them to this day. It also stands to reason that if Jesus (as) indeed cured blind and lame people, he must have taken the formula from the pond, and must have spread this notion among the ignorant and simple people – who can’t get to the bottom of things and realise the truth – that he worked such wonders with the help of a spirit. This becomes even more evident from the fact that Jesus (as) often came to that pond.

In short the miracles that the pond had been showing for a long time continue to cause Jesus’ (as) opponents to view him with suspicion, and it becomes extremely difficult to prove that he was a righteous man, and was not – as the Jews believe him to be – a deceitful person and a conjuror who did not get any help from the ancient pond to work his wonders, and that he did indeed perform miracles. Although after believing in the Holy Qur’an, one is relieved of such doubts, how can someone who does not believe in the Holy Qur’an, or is a Jew, or a Hindu, or a Christian, get rid of such doubts, and how can his heart be satisfied?…The common people, who often behave like cattle, never even think of getting to the bottom of things. Moreover, conjurors have a lot of margin to do their tricks and people find little opportunity to discover their secrets, because these tricks last a very short time and a person finds little opportunity to scrutinise their tricks. Besides, ordinary people have no knowledge of the natural sciences, philosophy and arts, and are completely unaware of all the amazing qualities which the All-Wise has invested in the universe. Hence at every time and age they are ready to be deceived. And why should they not be deceived, for the properties of things are indeed wondrous, and ignorance only increases the wonder. For instance, flies and some other insects have this property that if they have died, but have not yet undergone significant disintegration and their organs have not yet decayed, and they have not been dead for more than two or three hours – like in the case of flies that die in water – if such creatures are buried under salt that has been properly ground, and an equal measure of ash is also sprinkled over them, they come to life and fly away. This property is so well-known that even little boys know of it, but if there is a simpleton who is unaware of it, and a fraud – claiming to be the Messiah of the flies – is to perform this trick before him and is to bring some flies back to life, mumbling some mantras all the time, and trying to give the impression that he has performed the feat through the mantras, would the simpleton have the sense or the time to go about making investigations? Do you not see that even in this very time and age frauds and cheats are playing havoc with the world? While one claims to be an alchemist and boasts of turning things into gold, another buries stones under the ground himself and then brings out a female deity in front of the Hindus, and yet another goes to the extent of mixing Jamal Gota with ink and then uses this ink to write out amulet for a simpleton so that the resulting loose motions may be attributed to the amulet. There are thousands of similar frauds and tricks being practised in this very day and age. And some deceptions are so subtle that even some wise people are taken in by them. In this age, subtle aspects of natural sciences, and physiological compositions, and amazing properties of certain forces are daily coming to light through new experiments. These new discoveries can be exploited by the pseudo miracle-workers to show novel tricks. The above discourse proves that miracles which resemble such tricks, even if they are true, are still susceptible to doubt, and there are great difficulties in establishing their truth.

—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 511-557

ENDNOTES

1. The Holy Qur’an, 17:94.

2. ‘Turn cold, O Fire, and be a source of peace.’ – The Holy Qur’an, 21:70. (This verse refers to the miracle whereby the fire became cold when Abraham^as was thrown into it.)

3. ‘They failed to respect Allah as He should be respected.’ – The Holy Qur’an, 6:92.

4. Those who possess true knowledge, influence the scheme of things; What has he seen of the world who has no experience of their world!

5. ‘A palace paved smooth with slabs of glass.’ – The Holy Qur’an, 27:45.