miracle,

These verses, as well as certain others like

Then We sent to her Our spirit and it assumed for her the form of a perfect man. (19:17)

point, besides the attraction of spirits, to the fact that spirit beings may assume visible forms. However, what the Qur’an alludes to here is not modern necromancy,

The verses,

Others linked together in chains, (38:38) and, Of the evil ones were some who dived for him, and did other work. (21:82)

which state that Solomon, upon him be peace, made the jinn, devils, and evil spirits obedient to him, succeeding in preventing their evil and employing them in beneficial work, say:

All these and other laws are for us; but for them, as we pointed out above, life would be impossible for us. However, since it is God Who has deter mined them , He is not dependent on or bound to any of these laws at all. Therefore, He may sometimes annul any of these laws or change the ordinary flux of events and create an ‘extraordinary’ occurrence at the hands of a Prophet, either to provide a proof for his Prophethood or to show that He is is able to do whatever He wills at whatever time He desires. We call such an occurrence a ‘miracle’. The original word in Islamic literature translated as miracle is mu‘jiza, which literally means something which makes others unable to produce a like of it. If God creates such an occurrence at the hands of a saint, not a Prophet, then it is called karama, meaning, literally, an ‘extraordinary favor’. These favors constitute another proof for the Prophethood of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and the truth of Islam.

The verses,

We subdued the hills to hymn the praises (of their Lord) with him at nightfall and after sunrise. (38:18); and, O you mountains! Echo His psalms of praise! and you birds! And We made the iron supple for him. (34:10); and, We have been taught the language of birds. (27:16)

which are about David’s miracles, point out that Almighty God gave to the glorifications of David, upon him be peace, such a strength and a tone so resonant and pleasing that they brought the mountains to ecstasy, which, each like a huge gramophone or a man, formed a circle against the horizon around the chief reciter-David-and repeated the glorifications. Is this possible and a reality?

In the verse,

We said: ‘O fire! Be coolness and peace for Abraham.’ (21:69)

which is about one of Abraham’s miracles, there are three subtle indications:

Like every element in nature, fire does not act on its own and blindly, rather it performs a duty under a command. It did not burn the Prophet Abraham, upon him be peace, for God commanded it not to burn him.

There is a degree of heat which burns through coldness. That is, it has an effect like burning. Through the word ‘Be peace!’,3 God Almighty commanded the cold: ‘Like heat, do not burn him either!’ That is, through its coldness, fire at that degree produces an effect like burning. It is both fire, and, at the same time, cold . As science accepts it, there is a degree of fire call ed ‘white heat’, which does not radiate its heat to its surroundings; instead, attracting the heat around it to itself, it causes the surrounding area to become cold enough to freeze liquids like water, and in effect burns them through its cold. (It may be noted here, incidentally, that there must surely be in Hell, which contains all the degrees and sorts of fire, this intense cold.)

Just as there is an immaterial substance like belief, and an armor like Islam, which will remove the effects of Hellfire and protect against it, so too there must be a physical substance which will protect against it, which will prevent the effects of worldly fire. For, as is required by His Name, the All-Wise, and since this world is the abode of wisdom, [the abode where ever ything takes place for a definite purpose and usually according to cause and effect] God Almighty acts behind the veil of cause and effect. Therefore, the fire did not burn Abraham’s body, nor did it burn his garments, He gave them a state which resisted fire. Thus, the verse suggests:

O nation of Abraham! Be like Abraham, so that your garments may be your guard against the fire, your greatest enemy, both here and there, the other world. Coat your spirit with belief, and it will be your armor against Hellfire. Likewise, there are certain substances which Almighty God has treasured in the earth for you. They will protect you from the evil of fire. Search for them, extract them, and coat yourselves with them!

As an important step in his progress, mankind has discovered a substance, out of which he has made a coat which fire does not burn. However, see how elevated, fine, and beautiful a garment this verse points to, which will be woven on the loom of hanifan Musliman (purity of belief in and submission to God), and which will not be rent for all eternity.

The concept of the Unseen pertains to what is supra-sensory and metaphysical or even meta-cosmic. In this sense, the past, as well as the future and everything beyond ordinary human senses are all included in the concept of the Unseen, provided that some concrete indications have not been manifest.

A miracle is an extraordinary accomplishment which God Almighty brings about at the hands of a Prophet in order to prove his Prophethood, strengthen the faith of believers, and to break the obstinacy of unbelievers.

The universe operates according to fixed laws that God has determined. But for these laws and the uniform character of natural events, everything would be happening in a continuously changing, unstable flux and we could therefore not have found out the Divine laws of nature or realized any scientific developments. Although recent discoveries in atomic physics have made it clear that whatever exists is a wave in continuous motion and therefore it is not possible to say that a second later its existence will be in the same state as it is in now, on the surface everything occurs according to the principles which the ‘classical’ or Newtonian physics established.

Normally, life has its own laws according to which we behave. We need certain amount of food and water to satisfy our hunger and thirst and go to a doctor when we are ill. We use animals to do certain kinds of labor for us but we cannot talk to them. Trees are fixed in their places and neither they nor stones and mountains give us greetings. We act in conformity with the laws of gravitation and repulsion and we do not attempt to rise upwards into the sky without first making calculations based upon those laws.

The One Who created the universe and made its operation dependent on certain laws that He established, is certainly able to change those laws for His special, beloved servant and envoy

Also, the verse,

He taught Adam the names, all of them. (2:31)

states that, as his greatest miracle in the cause of supreme vicegerency, Adam, upon him be peace, was taught the names. While the miracles of other Prophets each point to a certain particular wonder in the course of scientific and technological progress, the miracle of Adam, upon him be peace, who was the father of all the Prophets and the Opening of the Office of Prophethood, alludes almost explici tly to the ultimate points and final goals of all human attainment and progress.

By this verse, God Almighty suggests:

O sons of Adam! By way of proof of his superiority over the angels in the issue of vicegerencey, I taught your father all the Names.4 Being his sons and the inheritors of his abilities, you should learn all the Names and show your worthiness of that superiority before all other creatures in the universe, such that vast creatures like the earth are made obedient to you. Come on, step forward, hold on to one of My Names and rise! Nevertheless, your father was deceived by Satan once and for all, and temporarily fell to the earth from an abode like the Garden. Beware! do not follow Satan in your progress and make it the means of falling from the heavens of Divine Wisdom into the misguidance of attributing creativity to nature or real effect to cause and effect in the creation and operation of nature. Raise your head and, studying My Beautiful Names, make the sciences and your progress steps by which to ascend to those heavens. Then you may rise to My Names of Lordship, which are the essences and sources of your sciences and attainments, and through the telescope of those Names, you may look to your Lord with your hearts.

1. The sentence, whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself) though no fire touched it: Light upon light, makes the allusion clearer.

2. The Supreme Trust is man’s ego or human identity formed of, or endowed and distinguished with, free will, knowledge, intellect and speech.

3. An interpreter of the Qur’an remarks: ‘If He had not said, “Be peace!”, it would have burnt him with its coldness.’

4. The Names taught to Adam, upon him be peace, are the names of things or the keys to all human knowledge or the Divine Names, in the manifestation of each of which a branch of science originates. For example, medicine has its source in the Name, the All-Healing, engineering in the Names, the All-Determiner and the Giver of Certain Measure.

Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, gave lots of information about past peoples and events

History is an important branch of knowledge. It is not a science like physics or biology. It mostly depends on document s that have remained of the past. Although we can have knowledge of the past and past events by means of documents, it is quite often very difficult to penetrate into the facts behind those events. We can hardly know the intentions of historical ‘actors’ or ‘actresses’ and the real motives behind events. In order to be able to judge rightly about persons and events, the documents we have should be reliable. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that personal inclinations and interests, prejudices, and different other motives may have a part of their own in documents, and, worse, documents may have been distorted. For example, if the Quran had not been sent down to our Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, we could not have had true knowledge about the Israelite Prophets and especially the Prophet Jesus, and the original identity of Christianity and Judaism. The Old and New Testaments have been so frequently and badly distorted and corrupted that it is impossible to open a way through them to historical truths.

The Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, gave lots of information about past peoples and events. Much of this information is in the Quran. As well as the main points in the histories of many past peoples and places like the ‘Ad, Thamud, Iram, Sodom and Gomorra, and ancient Egypt, and the peoples of Noah, Abraham and Shu‘ayb, we can also find in the Quran at least the general outlines of the history of the Israelite people from the beginning to the time of Jesus, particularly including the time of the Prophets Moses, David and Solomon, upon them be peace. It is highly interesting that much of this information is in the Quranic chapters which were revealed in the Makkan period of Muhammad’s Prophethood, during which he had contact with neither Christians nor Jews. When the Prophet emigrated to Madina, Jewish and Christian scholars asked him many questions about certain topics in the Torah and Gospels and since they received from him convincing answers, they could not object to any of them.

Neither the Quran nor the books of Tradition have been changed the least over time and none of the information the Prophet gave about the past has ever been contradicted

Some of the information which the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, gave about the past is found in the books of Tradition like Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Muslim, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, and others. Neither the Quran nor the books of Tradition have been changed the least over time and none of the information the Prophet gave about the past has ever been contradicted. Rather, much of it has been affirmed the rest will also be affirmed through future investigations and excavations. This is an absolute, undeniable proof of Muhammad’s Prophethood.

Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, did not only give information about past events and peoples, but he also analyzed them with their causes and results

The Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, did not only give information about past events and peoples, but he also analyzed them with their causes and results. Thus, the historical accounts of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, are of the kind that they presented laws of history and the broad psychological, social and economic principles concerning human individual and collective life. In addition, these accounts are masterpieces of literary style and eloquence, such that it is impossible to produce a like of them.

The verse,

One with whom was knowledge of the Book said: ‘I will bring it to you before your gaze returns to you (in the twinkling of an eye).’ When Solomon saw it set in his presence... (27:40)

describes this wonderful event: In order to procure the transport of the throne of the Queen of Saba, one of Solomon’s ministers who was well versed in the transport of things said: ‘I’ll have the throne here in your presence in the twinkling of an eye.’ The verse suggests that it is possible to transport things over long distances, either bodily or in their images. In fact, God Almighty bestowed this on Solomon, upon him be peace, who was honored with kingship as well as Divine Messengership, as a miracle so that, in order to maintain his infallibility and justice he might personally be informed of all the regions of his extensive realm and see the conditions of his subjects and hear of their troubles. That means, if man relies on Almighty God, and appeals to Him in the tongue of his potentials as Solomon did in the tongue of his infallibility, and if he acts in conformity with His laws in the universe and with what attracts His favor, the world may become like a town for him. While the throne of the queen was in the Yemen, it was seen in Damascus either bodily or in image. For sure, the forms of the men around the throne were also seen and their voices heard. The ver se points in a splendid fashion to the transport of forms and transmission of sounds over long distances, and in effect says:

O rulers! If you wish to realize perfect justice, try to see and know your realm in all its details, as Solomon did. For, only by rising to the level of being informed whenever he wishes about every part of his realm, may a just ruler who cherishes his subjects be saved from being held accountable, and may realize perfect justice.

God Almighty means by this verse:

O sons of Adam! I bestowed on a servant of Mine a vast realm, and in order that he might realize perfect justice throughout it, I allowed him to know personally of its state and of everything that was happening there. Since I have created every individual with a capacity to rule according to My commands, I have also given him, as a requirement of My Wisdom, the potential to scan the face of the whole earth and comprehend whatever is in it. If every individual does not succeed in attaining to that point, as a species mankind may realize it. If, however, they do not achieve it physically, they can do it, like the saints, in spiritual terms. Therefore, you may benefit from this great blessing. Come on, let Me see you do it! On condition you do not neglect your duties of worship, strive in such a way that you may turn the face of the earth into a garden every part of which you may see, and the sounds from every corner of which you may hear!

Heed the decree of the Most Merciful in the verse,

He it is Who has made the earth subservient to you, so walk in the paths thereof and eat of His providence. Unto Him is the resurrection (of the dead). (67:15)

Thus, the verse mentioned above about Solomon marks the ultimate point in the transmission of images and sounds, which constitutes one of the latest and most significant developments in science and technology, and encourages men towards that furthest point.

The verses,

We made the iron supple for him. (34:10), and, We gave him wisdom and sound judgment in speech and decision. (38:20)

which are about David, upon him be peace, and,

We caused the fount of copper to gush forth with him. (34:12)