As God Almighty sent the Prophets to human communities as leaders and vanguards in respect of spiritual and moral progress, so also He endowed them with certain wonders and miracles and made them the masters and forerunners with respect to man’s material progress. He commands men to follow them absolutely.

Thus, just as by speaking of the spiritual and moral perfections of the Prophets, the Quran encourages people to benefit from them, so too in presenting their miracles it intends that people should try to achieve the like of them by scientific means. It may even be said that like spiritual and moral attainments, material attainments and wonders were also first given to mankind as a gift through Prophetic miracles. The Prophet Noah, upon him be peace, was the first to build ships, and Joseph, upon him be peace, the clock. Therefore, the ship and clock were first given to mankind as Prophetic miracles. It is a meaningful indication to this reality that so many craft guilds take a Prophet as the ‘patron’ or originator of their craft. For example, seamen take Noah, watchmakers take Joseph, tailors take Enoch, upon them be peace, and so on.

Since truth-seeking scholars and the science of eloquence have agreed that each of the Quran’s verses contains guidance and instruction, then the verses concerning the miracles of the Prophets, the most brilliant among the Quran’s verses, should not be taken as historical events; rather, they comprise numerous indications of guidance. By mentioning the miracles of the Prophets, the Quran shows the ultimate goal of scientific and technological developments, and specifies their final aims. It urges man forward toward those aims. Just as the past is the field for the seeds of the future and mirror to its potential picture, so too the future is the time to reap the harvest of the past life and mirror to the actual situation. Now, out of many examples, I shall point out only a few: