- The Prophet's Miracle
Prophets and Miracles
Divine Prophets have always been
sent with clear signs, so that men might be convinced that they had come from
God. For this reason those who have souls like polished mirrors and like clear
transparent springs, glistening and pure so that they can recognise these
signs commit themselves and have faith; like the magicians of Pharaoh's time
who, when they saw the amazing miracle of Musa (A.S.), how the staff became a
poisonous serpent, and understood that this was beyond the power of a human
being, believed in him and ignored Pharaoh's intimidation.
The disciples of 'Isa (A.S.) also
saw with their own eyes the effects of his breath when he breathed into the
bodies of the dead, and, by the will of God, raised the dead and gave them
life. They were attracted to him, and the souls and spirits of the dead were
given everlasting life through faith in 'Isa (A.S.). The Prophet of Islam, who
was the last prophet and the best and greatest of them, and who brought an
everlasting religion, the perfection of all Divine religions, which will last
till the Resurrection, came at the time of his mission with clear signs from
God, so that he could be clearly a proof of the legitimacy of His true and
perfect religion.
* * *
The Qur'an, the everlasting
miracle.
Thus it was that the Qur'an, the
everlasting document of Islam, appeared on the horizon of human thoughts and
ideas. The torch which will always shine at the apex of the great religion of
Muhammad (S.A.) at the highest peak of human intellects, as long as the sun
rises in the East. It is a brilliant divine sign whose lights, like the rays
of the sun, are essential in every era and century and for always, for the
continuance of life and the safeguarding of the happiness of all races of
humanity. Within this framework and on this foundation, all that is necessary
for man's guidance has come. It elucidates the foundations of belief and also
the relation of man and God and the ways of strengthening that relation in
words with the softness of the clear waters of murmuring brooks, and the
firmness of the standing mountains, attractive, eloquent and strong. It
describes the social responsibilities of man; it teaches the ways and the
rules of social behaviour. It puts an end to class differences and unequal
divisions. It wishes the highest in man and his borotherhood and equality and
his elevation.
* * *
Unequalled
Eloquence
Being conversant with vocabulary
and having a good knowledge of words at one's fingertips is not such a great
difficulty, but their combination and arrangement and harmonisation in a style
which has regard for eloquence and fluency, and the construction of phrases
with a variety of expression yet in the same way in which they arise in the
mind, is the most important skill, and it is something which is not
practicable without observing the narrow rules of literary exactness, and
using craftsmanship and eloquence. In the art of eloquence, it is said that
for eloquence in any speaking or writing it is necessary to observe three
principles.
1) Proficiency in words and their
meanings.
2) Power of thought and
subtlety of eloquence.
3) Power of expression, or
skill with the pen.
But it must always be kept in mind
that although all the rules and requirements of eloquence may be heeded, no
one can claim that his speech or writing is always the best, and that no one
can parallel him. However, Allah the Exalted, Whose range of power and
knowledge is without limit, has so variously decorated His words in the Qur'an
with arrangements and harmonisations of words that no one, be he the most
eloquent man on earth, can bring its like. And this is the secret of the
eternity of the Qur'an, the |everlasting prophetic document of Hazrat Muhammad
(S.A.). The Qur'an, according to the testament of history, shone at that time
when the Arabs were at the zenith of their literary development.
The famous poets and great orators,
Imra'ul-Qais, Labid, etc., who are still counted as outstanding geniuses in
the field of literature, wrote poems and gave orisons which sometimes reached
the limits of greatness and which were written on curtains and golden plaques
and attached to the wall of the Ka'abah. But, with the rising of the brilliant
sun of the Qur'an, all of these lost their light and were eclipsed like the
stars. The eloquent Arabs were left bewildered by the eloquence of the Qur'an,
which was such that the enemies who were full of hate for Islam and Muhammad
(S.A.), who even took to the sword to wipe him and his religion out, were
unable, with all their efforts, to find even one short mistake in the language
and expression of the Qur'an.
* * *
The Enemies'
Judgment
It was the time of Hajj. People
were coming to Mecca from everywhere, and the Quraysh were uncomfortable from
fear that the news of Muhammad's prophethood might have an effect on the new
arrivals. So a group of the Quraysh, with Walid at their head, gathered round
them and related what unjust things they could say about the Prophet and thus
dissuade the new arrivals from meeting him. Then when they were gathered, one
of them said, "Let us say this man is soothsayer." "They will not believe us,"
said Walid, "for his speech is not like the sayings of soothsayers." "Let us
say he is mad," someone else volunteered. "No one will accept that," Walid
replied, "because his speech and behaviour are not like a lunatic's." "We
shall say he is a poet," they said. "This also will not work, because Arabs
know all kinds of poetry, and his words are not like a poem." "We shall say he
is a sorcerer." "Sorcerers have special methods, like tying knots and blowing
on them, and Muhammad does nothing like this." Then Walid himself declared, "I
swear by God, the speech of that man has a special sweetness and pleasantness.
His speech is like a tree, luxuriant, with steady deep roots and branches
which bend down laden with fruit. Thus we can say to people that his speech is
bewitched, because it causes separation between father and child, wife and
husband, sister and brother.'' To discover the Qur'an's eloquence, and also to
find out that it is at the summit of eloquence, non-Arab speakers can turn
back to the sayings of those Arabs who were experts in the language of those
days and which are recorded in history, and also to present day authors who
write on this subject, and to the acknowledgments of those specialists in this
branch. Fortunately, from the time of the Prophet (S.A.) till now, all
specialists in the art of Arabic eloquence have confessed to the unparalleled
eloquence of the Qur'an, and have been overwhelmed in the face of it. For
example, the famous contemporary Arab writer Abdulfatah Tabbarah writes: "Arab
history tells us of many famous men, knowledgeable in the best poetry and
prose, like Ibn al-Muqaffa', Jahiz, ibn al-'Amid, Farazdaq, Bashshar, Abu
Nuwas, Abu Tammam and so forth, but all of them have shown humility when faced
with the Qur'an, and have of necessity confessed that the great Qur'an is not
of the words of man, but a Divine revelation.'' Dr. Taha Husayn, the powerful
contemporary Egyptian writer, said: The Qur'an transcends the limits of prose
and poetry, because it has special qualities which cannot be found in any poem
or prose. So the Qur'an cannot be called poetry or prose, rather it should be
said:" It is the Qur'an, that is all."
* * *
Harmonisation of its
Themes
The speech or writing of a person,
however skillful or eloquent he may be, will not be uniform in all conditions
and circumstances. In particular, the works which appear in the days of any
author's first writings are very different from the works which come after
many years and as the result of much experience and repeated practice; the
later works are almost always better. But the Qur'an, in that it was sent down
in the course of 23 years, and in that it was revealed in various
circumstances and like a long flowing river passed over various stoney places,
rapids, narrows, valleys and plains, and witnessed many amazing events, it
remained forever, like a spring, clear and fresh. The unity and harmony of the
themes and the style and expression of the Qur'an are a source for wonder. We
see this wonder reach its apex, and notice in the contents of the Qur'an that
many different subjects are dealt with, but the style and unity of expression
remain constant. It is clear that if someone, when he reached a stage of
mastery over a special subject, shows what he can do, he may display
brilliance, but if he undertakes something in another branch of which he is
not a master, he will not produce any distinctive work. But the Qur'an shines
to an amazing degree in every area.
* * *
Scientific Wonders in the
Qur'an
Although the first and basic aim of
the Qur'an, according to what it says itself, is only to guide man to the
great road of contentment and prosperity in the life of this world, the world
of man, but on the way, in pursuing this aim, it expresses many truths from
human knowledge in the natural sciences, in physiology and astronomy. And this
is itself another great sign of the wonder of the Qur'an. For the Prophet,
according to the definite testimony of history, had never studied, grew up in
an environment completely devoid of human knowledge and science (except
literature), and was far from the centers of science of those days - Greece,
Rome and Iran. Now let us see some indications of this wonder.
1. Meteorology is a very new
science. The knowledge of former people about the phenomena of clouds, wind,
rain and snow did not go beyond conjecture and what they could see, and,
generally speaking, it had an air of imaginativeness and chance and was never
established on a scientific basis. Captains and farmers both had their signs
and indications for forecasting wind and rain, but they did not really
understand these phenomena.
Thus things went on for thousands
of years, till, in the 17th century A.D., the thermometer, and in the 19th
century the telegraph, and, gradually, other things necessary for meteorology
were invented and discovered. In their turn, scientists settled down to
research, till, in the first half of the 20th century, the Norwegian
scientist, Byerkness, succeeded in discovering the general laws of the
formation and movements of clouds and the occurrence of storms and rains in
all places. After him, the extent of discoveries in this science, as in other
areas, progressed: the rain-bearing properties of clouds, how rain is released
from them, the formation and occurrence of hail, matters relating to
thunderbolts and thunder and lightening and storms in tropical areas, air
currents near the surface of the earth, and other matters, till knowledge
reached extensive limits. But fifteen centuries ago, when the Qur'an told
about the winds and the rain and other phenomena, it was right when it told us
about the latest, newest discoveries of meteorology.
For example, it has now been proved
that it is possible for a cloud to reach saturation point but to yield no
rain, and for it to be just microscopic particles tiny enough to hang
suspended in the air and not to fall and cause rain; however, by means of
invisible particles of salt which are blown by the wind from the surface of
the sea it will rain. Or, something more important; the humidity in the air
gathers round the crystallised snow flakes which lie at high altitudes and
which are scattered by the wind. Eventually small drops and the first rain
unite together, and, as a result of mixing and colliding together in the wind,
they gradually become bigger and bigger, and because of their own relatively
heavy weight fall from the massed clouds. This is what the Qur'an made clear
15 centuries ago:
"And We send winds for making
fruitful, and then We send down water from the sky, thus We give it unto you
to drink of it." (XV;22)
2. Until the invention of the
aircraft and the possibility of high-altitude flying, man's knowledge and
experience did not encompass needles of ice beyond the clouds. Till then no
one knew that mountains of ice-needles existed in the sky above man's heads.
But the Qur'an is very clear when it says:
"He sendeth down from the sky,
from mountains therein, hail..." (XXIV;43)
3. Living things in other worlds.
Man, with the help of his knowledge of space, has set foot on the moon, but
the matter of the existence of living things on other worlds has not proceeded
beyond theory, and we can say that, from many signs, only it is possible that
there are living things such as animals or man on some other planets and
stars. But the Qur'an declares unambiguously:
"And of His signs is the
creation of the heavens and the earth and of what He hath spread out in both
of them of animate beings, and for their gathering together when He willeth,
He is All-PowerfuL" (XLII;29)
4. In Surah 36, verse 36, we
have:
"Glory be to He Who created all
the pairs of what the earth produces, and of themselves, and of what they know
not."
And in Surah 20, verse 53, we
read:
"And He sent down water out of
the sky, and therewith We have brought forth various pairs of
plants."
In times when man's knowledge did
not permit the respected interpreters of the Qur'an to know that plants and
growing things came in pairs and couples, they interpreted and observed
pairing in classes, species or by form and matter or other philosophical terms
which do not exist in the pages of the Qur'an. But today, on the basis of new
research, it has been discovered that not only are men and animals created in
pairs, but other living things also. One of the most amazing phenomena in the
world is the pairing and fertilizations of plants, which is all explained in
natural science books.
* * *
The Qur'an Makes a
Challenge
Not only from the point of view of
eloquence, but also, as we have seen, in the fields of human ideas and
society, and for all levels of understanding, the Qur'an is a miracle. For
rhetoricians it has its eloquence, for philosophers its wisdom, and for
scientists its different kinds of knowledge. For all these reasons the Qur'an
addresses all people and says: "If you say this book is the word of man, bring
its like and its equal."
"Say: 'If man and jinn banded
together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they would never produce its
like, not though they back one another." (XVII;88)
"Or do they say: 'He has forged
it.'? Say: 'Then bring you ten surahs the like of it, forged; and call upon
whom you are able, apart from Allah, if you speak truly. ' Then if they do not
answer you, know that it has been sent down with Allah's knowledge, and that
there is no god but He." (XI;13-14)
"and if you are in doubt about what
We have sent down on Our servant, then bring a Surah like it." (II;23)
But we see from the testimony of
history from then till now no one has had the courage to do this and produce
its like. Of course, during the time of Muhammad (S.A.) and after his death,
some Arabs, like Musailemah, Sajah and Ibn Abi'l-'Awja', planned to challenge
it but they were not able, and eventually confessed to their incapacity. In
the time of the Prophet (S.A.), the enemies of Islam, who used the most awful
means in their work, torturing the Muslims, laying economic boycotts on them,
plotting to kill Muhammad (S.A.), and so forth, had no one who could do a
simple thing like bringing one surah like the Qur'an. In the present day, too,
those who spend millions of dollars trying to destroy Islam would certainly
attack it in this inexpensive and easy way (bringing a surah like the Qur'an)
if they could. If they had been able to do that up to now, it would have been
a victory for them and the end of Islam and the news would have been blown on
all the trumpets of the world's newsmen.
In the end it is necessary to
remind ourselves that if we get to know the Qur'an, or get to know it better
and put its great, magnificent and precise project into action, greatness will
be ours, and more. The huge edifice of our, the Muslims, greatness collapsed
when we stopped putting the commands of this heavenly book into practice. So
we fell down, we were satisfied only with the name of Islam. Our departed
greatness will return when we leave this crooked way and, starting again,
become new Muslims and put the Qur'an at the top of the sights of our hearts
and our wisdom, and make it an example for life, as the Prophet said: "When
calamities encompass you like the darkness of the night, reach for the
Qur'an." (Usul al-Kafi, vol. 2, p. 599)
* * *
(The Roots of Religion, p. 136-146).