Islamic view of miracles

A number of terms are used in Islam to refer to the claims of events happening that are not explicable by natural or scientific laws, subjects where people sometimes invoke the supernatural.^[1] In the Quran the term āyah (/ˈɑːjə/; Arabic: آية; plural: آيات āyāt, literally "sign") refers to signs in the context of miracles of God's creation and of the prophets and messengers (such as Ibrahim/Abraham and Isa/Jesus).^[2] In later Islamic sources miracles of the prophets were referred to by Muʿjiza (مُعْجِزَة),^[2] literally meaning "that by means of which [the Prophet] confounds, overwhelms, his opponents"), while miracles of saints are referred to as karamat (charismata).^[3]

Anonymous painting, taken from a 16th-century falnama, a book of prophecy. Muhammad points out the splitting of the Moon, depicted with his face hidden. Historians, such as A. J. Wensinck and Denis Gril, reject the historicity of it, arguing that the Quran itself denies miracles, in the traditional sense.^[4][1]

I'jaz al-Quran – literally the inimitability of the Quran – refers to the Quranic claim that no one can hope to imitate its (the Quran's) perfection,^[2] this quality being considered the primary miracle of the Quran and proof of Muhammad's prophethood. In recent decades, the term I'jaz has also come to refer to the belief that the Quran contains "scientific miracles", i.e. prophecies of scientific discoveries.^[5] Kharq al'adad – "a break in God's customary order of things" – was a term used in "theological or philosophical discussions" to refer to miraculous events.^[2] Karamat – "gifts or graces" – was usually used for miraculous performances of Sufi saints often used to convert unbelievers to Islam (considered a work of "divine generosity" rather than "divine power" employed in the miracles of prophets).^[2]

Definition

A systematic definition of miracles performed by apostles can be found in the work of the Muslim scholar al-Īd̲j̲ī Mawāḳif, historian A.J. Wensinck states.^[6] The main purpose of miracle is to prove the sincerity of the apostle and has to satisfy the following conditions:^[6]

1. It must be performed by God
2. "It must be contrary to the usual course of things"
3. It should be impossible to contradict it
4. "It must happen at the hands of him who claims to be an apostle
5. "It must be in conformity with his announcement of it, and the miracle itself must not be a disavowal of his claim"
6. "It must follow on his claim"^[6]

Theology

Belief in that which is transmitted by mutawatir is obligatory to believe in for Sunni Muslims. Rejection of that which is mutawatir is cause for leaving Islam according to consensus of Sunni scholars. The Qur'an is transmitted by mutawatir and therefore every verse must be believed in, including every reference to a miracle of any prophet. Additionally, there are several hadith reports which convey miracles of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which are also transmitted by mutawatir. Such hadiths and miracles must also be fully believed in for one to be a Muslim. However, rejecting an ahad, or solitary, narration is only sinful (fisq) and not disbelief.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Miracles are split up into Karamat and Mu'jizat; the former are given by God to saints and the latter are given by God exclusively to prophets. In Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah, upon which there is consensus, there are two points on this: "We do not prefer any of the saints of this nation over any of the prophets, upon them be peace. We say that a single prophet is better than all the saints put together. We have faith in what has come of their miracles (karamat) and what has been authenticated in their narrations from trustworthy narrators."^[11]

Taftāzāni lists in his Sharh al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya the following lists the following miracles as performed by saints and prophets:^[12]

• Contradicting the customary way of things, such as covering a great distance in a short time.
• Appearance of food and drink and clothing at the time of need, as performed by Zacharias
• Walking on water, related to many saints
• Walking in the air, related to Ja'far ibn Abi Talib
• Inanimate solid objects and animals speaking
• Warding off of approaching calamity and protection from enemies

Islam and natural law

In order to defend the possibility of miracles and God's omnipotence against the encroachment of the independent secondary causes, medieval Muslim theologians rejected the idea of cause and effect in essence, but accepted it as something that facilitates humankind's investigation and comprehension of natural processes. They argued that the nature was composed of uniform atoms that were "re-created" at every instant by God. Thus if the soil was to fall, God would have to create and re-create the accident of heaviness for as long as the soil was to fall. For Muslim theologians, the laws of nature were only the customary sequence of apparent causes: customs of God.^[13]

Quran

According to Denis Gril, Islam teaches that miracles – i.e. a supernatural interventions in the life of human beings – are present in the Quran "in a threefold sense: in sacred history, in connection with Muhammad himself and in relation to revelation."^[1] By contrast, Ali Dashti (d. 1982) writes that "there has been much debate [...] on the question whether the Qur'an is miraculous in respect of its eloquence or of its subject-matter, or of both. In general the Muslim scholars consider it to be miraculous in both respects."^[14]

In the Qur'an, the term ayah is used to refer to miracles—cosmic phenomena for example are ayat takwiniyyah—particularly miracles of creation.^[15] But it is also used to mean "evidence," "sign", "Quranic verse", (religious obligations are ayat taklifiyyah). In Islam in general ayah is often used to a mean Quranic verse, but there is overlap in meaning: ayat/verses are believed to be the divine speech in human language presented by Muhammad as his chief miracle,^[1] and miracles are a "sign" (ayah) of God and of Muhammad's prophethood. ^[6]

Verses of the Qur'an stating that the Qu'ran itself is a miracle – i.e. so amazing it could not have been a natural occurrence – include:

• Q11:13^[16] "Will they say, he hath forged the Quran? Answer, bring therefore ten chapters like unto it, forged by yourselves; and call on whomsoever ye may to assist you, except God, if ye speak truth",^[17] was revealed in response to polytheists accusation that Muhammad's revelation was invented by Muhammad or came from other men.^[14]
• Q17:88^[18] "Say: 'If the mankind and the jinns were together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they helped one another.'" was issued in reply to an accusation found in 8:31:^[19] "We have already heard (such things). If we wished, we could say (things) like this. These are only fables of the ancients"^[14]

Sacred history

The Qur'an does not mention any miracle for Adam (Adem) who though an Islamic prophet was not supposed to convince anybody of God's message.^[1] Sura (verse) 11 (Hūd) and 23 (Al-Mu’minoon)^[20] mention miracles of Noah (Nuh), "The oven (tannur) out of which the water burst and announced the flood".^[1] Hud, prophet for the ancient tribe of ʿĀd and the first of five Arabian prophets of the Qur'an, does not have any particular miracle (thus according to historian Denis Gril prefiguring Muhammad).^[1] (See Q.7:69 for his response when he was rebuked for not producing a miracle.)^[1]

Code 19

Main article: Quran code

The term Quran code (also known as Code 19) refers to the claim that the Quranic text contains a hidden mathematically complex code. Advocates think that the code represents a mathematical proof of the divine authorship of the Quran and they also think that it can be used to identify orthographic errors within the Quranic text. Proponents of the Quran code claim that the Quran code is based on statistical procedures.

In the United States, at the end of the 20th century, the Egyptian Quranist Muslim biochemist Rashad Khalifa developed a theological doctrine that influenced Quranists in many other countries. With the help of computers, he carried out a numerical analysis of the Quran, which according to him clearly proved that it is of divine origin.^[21] The number 19, which is mentioned in chapter 74 of the Quran as being "one of the greatest miracles" played the fundamental role,^[22] which according to Khalifa can be found everywhere in the structure of the Quran, and the fact that a Quranist discovered such a big miracle proved the Quranist approach.^[23] Khalifa also cited Quran's chapter 74, verse 30: "Over it is nineteen".^[24][25] The movement popularized the phrase: "The Quran, the whole Quran, and nothing but the Quran."^[26] Some objected to these beliefs and, in 1990, Khalifa was assassinated by someone associated with the Sunni group Jamaat ul-Fuqra.^[27]

Ijaz movement

While connections between scientific ideas and the Qu'ran can be found in the works of Ibn Sina, Fakhr al-Razi, and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, modern "scientific exegesis" of the Qur'an^[28] began in the 1970s and 80s as a genre of popular literature known as ijaz (miracle). Often called "scientific miracles in the Qur'an", the widespread and well-funded^[29] ijaz movement argues that the Qur'an contains numerous "scientific facts" written down centuries before their discovery by science and thus demonstrating the divinity of the Qur'an.^[30][31][32] As explained by cultural critic Ziauddin Sardar, while the claims of the ijaz movement require "considerable mental gymnastics and distortions to find scientific facts or theories in these verses", funding to the tune of "millions" from Saudi Arabia has succeeded in creating a "global craze in Muslim societies"; its claims can be found in many Muslim bookstores, websites, and on television programs of Islamic preachers.^[33] Proponents including Naeem Al-Mohassi, Maurice Bukay, Rafiei Mohammadi, Mostarhameh, Makarem Shirazi, and Rezaei Isfahani^{[citation needed]} claim that the Qur'an contains prophetic descriptions of, as Sardar states, "everything, from relativity, quantum mechanics, Big Bang theory, black holes and pulsars, genetics, embryology, modern geology, thermodynamics, even the laser and hydrogen fuel cells".^[33] Aside from critics from outside the religion, mainstream Islamic scholars have also objected to certain interpretations of the ijaz movement.^{[34][35][36][37]} For example, Zafar Ishaq Ansari argues from the perspective of Islam that while the Quran is the source of guidance in right faith (iman) and righteous action (alladhina amanu wa amilu l-salihat), the idea that it contained "all knowledge, including scientific" knowledge is not a mainstream view among Muslim scholarship.^[28]

Unlettered prophet

The Quran describes Muhammad as ummi (Q7:157),^[38] which is traditionally interpreted as "unlettered,"^[39][40] and the ability of such a person to produce the Quran is taken as miraculous^[40] and as a sign of the genuineness of his prophethood. For example, according to Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, if Muhammad had mastered writing and reading he possibly would have been suspected of having studied the books of the ancestors. Some scholars such as Watt prefer the second meaning.^[41][42]

However, some scholars^[who?] argue that the word did not mean "illiterate" but non-Jewish and non-Christian Arabs, pagan Arabs.^{[clarification needed][40]}

Muhammad

Main article: Miracles of Muhammad

The Qur'an does not overtly describe Muhammad performing miracles, according to historian Denis Gril, and the supreme miracle of Muhammad is finally identified with the Qur'an itself.^[1] At least one scholar (Sunni scholar Muhammad Asad) states that Muhammad performed no miracles other than to bring the Quran to humanity,^[43] and other scholars, such as Cyril Glasse and Marcia Hermansen, downplay the miracles of Muhammad, stating "they play no role in Islamic theology",^[44] or "play less of an evidentiary role than in some other religions".^[2]

However, Muslim tradition (hadith) credits Muhammad with several supernatural events.^[6] For example, many Muslim commentators and some western scholars have interpreted the sura 54 (Al-Qamar)^[45] to refer to Muhammad splitting the Moon in view of the Quraysh when they had begun to persecute his followers.^[1][46] This tradition has inspired many Muslim poets.^[47]

See also

• Glossary of Islam
• Index of Islam-related articles
• Challenge of the Quran
• Isra and Mi'raj
• Miracles of Jesus
• Miracles of Gautama Buddha
• Imitation and occasionalism