Miracles?
An Extract from Islam- A Challenge To Religion

MIRACLES
--------

The subject of miracles bristles with difficulties and yet it
challenges the attention of every student of religion. Such a student
is called upon to define his attitude towards miracles and to explain
his conception of the relation between religion and miracles. Here he
faces a dilemma. On the one hand, modern man finds it well-nigh
impossible to give credence to miraculous happenings. The only course
open to him is to dismiss them as gross superstitions. For the
scientist, nature is a closed system and any incursions of the
supernatural into it are unthinkable. On the other hand, history
testifies to the close association of religion with belief in
miracles. The prophets of old were generally credited with the power
of working
miracles, so much so that a prophet was judged not by the value of his
teaching but by the miraculousness of his deeds.

Whatever may be the case with religion, Islam, at least, lends no
support to such superstitions. The Qur'an appeals to reason. Its
professed aim is to make men rational and clear sighted, not to make
them superstitious. The Qur'an directs man's attention to the
phenomena of nature and the facts of history, as they reveal the power
of God and His wisdom.
Man is invited to look at and reflect upon the grandeur of the
heavens, the beauty of the earth, the freshness of dawn, the glory of
sunset and the terrifying force of the wind as it sweeps over the open
spaces of the desert. Pointedly, it asks: "Are not these marvellous ?
What more do you want ? "The phenomena of nature, at once beautiful
and mysterious, can fully gratify man's sense of wonder. However, the
people with whom the Nabi of Islam had to deal were steeped in
superstition. They were obsessed with the craving for the miraculous.
They not only believed that the laws of nature could be violated but
regarded such a violation as the only proof that could be offered for
the truth of a statement. Instead of scrutinizing the rational grounds
of the statement and accepting it if adequate evidence was adduced in
its favour, they asked whether the man who made it could work wonders
or not. It was not easy to deal with and win over people whose
attitude to truth was so irrational. The Nabi did the best that he
could in these difficult circumstances. With gentle
persuasion he strove to turn their attention from figments of
imagination to the concrete facts of life and history. He exhorted
them to reflect upon nature and history and make a serious attempt to
understand them both. With fervent earnestness be assured them that he
did not claim the power to work miracles but that he rested his case
on rational arguments and oil the beneficial effects of his teaching.
His opponents could not be expected to be satisfied with this simple
explanation. They retorted that if he were a true Nabi he would surely
have worked miracles; his inability to do so was proof that be had no
valid claim to nubuwwah. The accusation was without foundation. If the
Nabi had been an imposter, he could easily have worked on their
superstitious minds. A single instance will suffice to prove his
integrity of character. Soon after the death of his beloved son, there
was a solar eclipse. People were frightened by the unusual darkness
and they humbly suggested to the Nabi that nature seemed to be
convulsed by the shock of his son's death.

Without the least hesitation, he assured them that this was a natural
phenomenon and had no bearing on his personal affairs. Nature goes on
its course unconcerned with the calamities that may befall man. Only a
man of his stature could have refused to seize an opportunity of
convincing people absolutely that he was a miracle worker and,
therefore, a true Nabi. The incident throws ample light on the
essential honesty and integrity of the Nabi. No prospect of immediate
gain could induce him to come to a compromise with the superstitious
unbelievers.

The Nabi was consumed with the passion to reform the people and to
induce them to accept the truth which he had placed before them. Their
insistent demand that he should work miracles to convince them, made
him despondent. On such occasions, the Qur'an counsels him to remain
firm and not to give way to despair. Sometimes, he might have thought
that if only he possessed the power to work miracles, he could quickly
have persuaded the people to accept his teaching
and follow the right path. The Qur'an did not leave even such a remote
thought unanswered:

If their aversion (to the truth) is grievous to thee, then, if thou
can, seek a way down into the earth or a ladder into the sky that thou
may bring to them a portent (to convince them all). If Allah willed,
He could have brought them all together to the guidance; so be not
thou of the ignorant (6 : 35).

God wants men to see and accept the truth through understanding and
not dogmatically and irrationally:

Those who do not use their intellect, the matter remains confused to
them (10 : 100).

The Qur'an calls upon men to apply their minds to its teaching, to
strive to grasp its meaning and rationale. If they remain unresponsive
to call, the Qur'an refuses to stoop to irrational methods of
influencing their minds. It would rather leave them to follow the
wrong path, if they have chosen it freely, than consent to any kind of
compulsion, however well-intentioned, to lead them to the right path.
Greatness may be thrust on some but goodness can be thrust on none.
All that the Qur'an does is, it sounds the warning, time and again,
that if the thought-provoking faculties are suppressed for long, they
would ultimately lose their power to kindle the pulse of thought, It
says:

Those who just go on rejecting the truth (without trying to understand
it) it is all one for them whether you warn them (against the,
consequences of their actions) or not. They will not accept the truth.
(As a result of their obstinacy, the law of Allah) has sealed their
hearing and hearts and on their eyes is a covering. Theirs will be an
awful doom (for they saw not reason) (2 : 6-7).

Those who possessed reason and did not use it to acquire true
knowledge and to gain an understanding of the Revelation are denounced
as the vilest of men and contempt is poured on them :

And We have struck out for men in this Qur'an all kinds of similitudes
(to make the matter clear) but,
notwithstanding all this, if you place before them a verse of the
Qur'an, those who disbelieve will surely say: You are but given to
vanity. Thus does Allah seal the hearts of those who do not try to
understand (30: 58-59).

Again:

And We send not Our messengers but as bearers of glad tidings and as
warners (to those who tread the wrong
path) : but those who reject the truth dispute with vain words that
they may refute the truth thereby, and they take My Revelation and
what they are warned of as a jest. And who does a greater wrong than
one who being
reminded of the laws of Allah, turns aside from them and forgets what
his Hands have sent on before. (This is how Our Law of Retribution)
places veils upon their hearts, so they understand not, and a
heaviness is in their ears. (The result of their obstinacy is that)
though thou call them to the right path, they will never adopt it (18:
56-57).

Again and again, in support of itself, the Qur'an directs man's
attention to natural phenomena and historical events. It justifies its
teachings on verifiable grounds and on historical evidence. The Qur'an
assures man that his highest aspirations
and ideals are attainable as he lives in a friendly and sympathetic
universe, which is controlled by a wise and
compassionate power. Miracles are repugnant to the consistently
rational spirit of the Qur'an. Those who demand miracles are
occasionally humoured but are more often reproved in plain terms.

The view advocated heremay, however, be challenged on the ground that
the Qur'an recounts many miracles which were wrought by the earlier
Anbiya. There are several possible interpretations of these miracles.
Some scholars have had recourse to allegorical interpretation. Others
have held that the figurative language and vivid imagery served to
drive home
a general truth. Another plausible theory is that the Qur'an in
describing people of an earlier age had to mention the unusual events
which had psychological reality for them. However, it is a question
which concerns the scholar who is interested in the mental development
of man. It has no bearing on din as such. We subscribe to the view
that they have
been narrated metaphorically and can be interpretted rationally.*

At this point we deem it our duty to put in a word of caution. Events
which have been reported in ancient books as "miracles" need not all
be dismissed as the unconscious fabrications of credulous people. The
mind of man may possess powers which are unsuspected by science. Some
present day scientists are not so sceptical as their predecessors
were. A
new science, parapsychology, has sprung up and for the moment seems to
be vigorously active. A few eminent
psychologists are working in this field and have already collected
evidence and discovered facts in the face of which dogmatic scepticism
appears to be as absurd as the credulity of the ancients. Telepathy,
clairvoyance, clairaudience and psycho-kinetic phenomena are being
experimentally studied. All we can say at present is that the mind may
well possess
supernormal powers. We are learning the lesson that intellectual
arrogance is an obstacle in the search for truth. Whatever may be the
outcome of the investigations into the occult, the truly Qur'anic
response to the universe will remain unchanged.
The question of miracles may enlist the interest of the scientist but
it has no vital relation to a quest which has any connection with din.
The Qur'an seeks to awaken in man the consciousness of his intimate
relation to the universe. Its main emphasis is on reason and
knowledge. Its purpose is to help to build up a free, self-reliant and
rational personality, vivified with the sense of God's working in the
universe according to His unalterable laws. Therefore, miracles, if they
mean freaks of nature or any alteration in the immutable laws of God,
can have no place in that working.

We close this discussion with the following apt quotation from Iqbal
which bears eloquent testimony to his deep insight into and perceptive
appreciation of Islam:

The birth of Islam . . . . is the birth of inductive intellect. In
Islam prophecy reaches its perfection in discovering the need of its
own abolition. This involves the keen perception that life cannot for
ever be kept in leading strings ; that in order to achieve full
self-consciousness man must finally be thrown back on his own
resources. The abolition of priesthood and hereditary kingship in
Islam, the constant appeal to reason and experience in the Qur'an and
the emphasis that it lays on Nature and History as sources of human
knowledge, are all different aspects of the same idea of finality.4


Approach to the Qur'an
----------------------
Our first task is to understand the real meaning of the, Qur'an with
the help of all the intellectual faculties we possess. We can then
proceed to assess the value of its teaching. How are we to test the
truth and usefulness of the Qur'an teaching ?

The Qur'an itself helps us to answer this question. It proposes three
ways in which it may be tested and offers to abide by the results of
these tests. It is significant that the tests proposed are all
acceptable to reason. Nowhere is the supernatural invoked. The appeal
is invariably to human reason and experience.

Before proceeding to consider the tests, let us recapitulate the
teaching of the Qur'an. The Qur'an enjoins man to believe in God, to
follow His laws, to believe in one's own self, to love and serve his
fellow-beings, to act in a virtuous manner so
as to develop and express the best in him, and finally to believe in
and prepare for the Hereafter. All these we are invited to test in the
light of reason. Is there anything in this teaching that is repugnant
to reason? No doubt it is possible to doubt the existence of God and
the reality of the Hereafter. But then, it is also possible to doubt
the existence of the world. There is no conclusive proof of the
existence of the objective world and some philosophers have argued, in
all
seriousness, that belief in such a world is unjustified. All that we
can be sure of is the actual momentary sensation. In spite
of philosophical arguments our belief in objective reality remains
unshaken. Life pays little heed to the cobwebs of philosophers. The
point to bear in mind is that suprarational realities are not less
real because they cannot be proved by logical arguments. In applying
the rational test it is permissible to ask whether there is anything
in the teaching which runs counter to reason and to that part of human
knowledge which commands universal acceptance. The question as to
whether every element in it can be logically proved is inadmissible,
because, the teaching, if it is to be true to its nature, cannot avoid
reference to realities which transcend reason. In this case, the
rational test will take the form of determining whether or not the
teaching is in direct conflict with reason and whether it furthers the
interests of humanity. It is needless
to say that the Qur'an has stood the test of reason and proved itself
to be in harmony with the best in man :

Say (O Muhammad! to the unbelievers) : I say not unto you (that) I
possess the treasures of Allah, nor that I have knowledge of the
unseen, and I say not unto you : Lo I am malak. I follow only that
which is revealed to me. Say : are the blind man and the seer equal?
Will ye not then take thought ? (6: 50 ; 11 : 24).

Secondly, the Qur'an invites people to judge it in the light of
history. It asks them to ponder over the rise and fall of nations. It
assures them that if they seek the causes of the downfall of a people,
they will find that the people had contravened the principles of right
conduct and permanent values which were communicated to them by the
Nabi of their age. Right belief and right conduct enable a nation to
rise to power, and wrong beliefs and actions lead to its downfall.
Time and again the Qur'anic teaching, which confirms the teaching of
earlier Anbiya, was put to the test and was found to be a trustworthy
guide to the good life. People who rejected it and followed the wrong
path inevitably fell into decay and
were overtaken by a dreadful fate. The Qur'an advises men to pay
attention to the facts of history in order to discover the difference
between the ways of life of the nations which flourished and prospered
and those which perished. It will be brought home to them that the
latter cherished false and harmful beliefs and their conduct was not
in harmony with the
eternal laws of God:

But they deny the knowledge that they could not compass and whereof
the final result had not come unto them.
Even so did those before them deny. Then see what were the
consequences for the wrongdoers (10: 39).

Finally we come to the pragmatic test. The unbelievers are repeatedly
urged to apply this test and satisfy themselves about the truth and
value of the Qur'an. A tree is judged by the quality of its fruit and
creed by its effects on the life and conduct of men. The believers who
had accepted the teaching and had regulated their lives in accordance
with it, provided
irrefutable evidence of its value to man. Their character had been
transformed overnight. Formerly they were mean, selfish, quarrelsome,
narrow-minded and self-centred caring only for petty gain. Afterwards,
they were united in the pursuit of noble ends, were bound to each
other by ties of love and affection, were kind and just to their
enemies and lived up to the high ideals which they professed. The
Qur'an had brought into existence a new type of man-self-respecting,
self-reliant, conscious of his worth and desirous of enhancing it and
fired with the ambition to set up a better social order in the world.
These men by their lives and actions testified to the value of the
Qur'an the spirit of which they had imbibed.
The Nabi was fully justified in, pointing to these men as a living
testimony for the truth of the faith he preached. The astounding
effect of the faith on the life of man was the strongest proof of its
truth and values:

Say: O my people ! work in your own way. I too am working, Thus ye
will come to know for which of us will be the happy sequel. Lo! the
wrong doers will not be successful (6: 136).

Such are tests which the Qur’an desires to be applied. Even bitter
critics will have to concede that the tests are crucial, practical and
provocative.

Again and again the Qur'an exhorts man to think and think hard. The
man who uses his reason is held up to admiration:

The blind man is not equal with the seeing, nor is darkness equal to
light, nor is the shadow equal with the sun's refulgence; nor are the
living equal with the dead (35 : 19-22).

Those who think rightly can find the light of knowledge and can
discover the path that leads to success:

Are those who know equal with those who know not ? But only, men of
understanding will pay heed (39 : 9).

Again:

Surely those who strive for Us, We guide them to Our ways, and verily
Allah is with those who lead a balanced life of goodness (29: 69).

The Believers (Mo’minin), according to the Qur'an, are:

Those who, when the revelations of their Rabb are presented to them,
do not fall thereat deaf and blind (25 : 73).

This is Iman ! Not to accept even God's revelations deaf and blind.