Al
Qur'an
The Miracle of Miracles
By
Ahmed Deedat
"Say:
If the whole of mankind and jinn's were to gather together to produce
the like of this Qur'an,
they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up
each other with help and support."
What
is a miracle?
I think
it is necessary that we have a clear picture of what we mean by
a miracle. Here are some definitions:
- "An
event that appears so inexplicable by the laws of nature, that
it is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God."
- "A
person, thing or event that excites admiring awe."
- "An
act beyond human power, an impossibility."
It
is logical that greater the impossibility, greater the miracle.
For example, should a person expire before our very eyes and is
certified dead by a qualified medical man, yet later on a mystic
or a saint commands the corpse to 'arise!', and to everybody's astonishment
the person gets up and walks away , we would label that as a miracle.
But if the resurrection of the dead took place after the corpse
had been in the mortuary for three days, then we would acclaim this
as a greater miracle. And if the dead was made to arise from the
grave, decades or centuries after the body had decomposed and rotted
away, then in that case we would label it the greatest miracle of
them all!
A
Common Trait
It
has been a common trait of mankind since time immemorial that whenever
a guide from God appeared to redirect their steps into the will
and plan of God; they demanded supernatural proofs from these men
of God, instead of accepting message on its merit.
For
example, when Jesus Christ (pbuh) began to preach to his people
- "the children of Israel" - to mend their ways and to
refrain from mere legalistic formalism and imbibe the true spirit
of the laws and commandments of god, his 'people' demanded miracles
from him to prove his bona fides (his authenticity , his genuineness),
as recorded in the Christian scriptures:
Then
certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying master,
we would have a sign ( miracle ) from thee. But he answered and
said unto them, "an evil and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign (miracle) and there shall no sign be given to it, but
the sign of the prophet Jonas (matthew 12:38-39 holy bible).
Though
on the face of it, Jesus (pbuh) refuses to pamper the Jews here,
in actual fact, he did perform many miracles as we learn from the
gospel narratives.
The
holy bible is full of supernatural events accredited to the prophets
from their lord. In reality all those 'signs' and 'wonders' and
'miracles' were acts of God, but since those miracles were worked
through his human agents, we describe them as the miracles of prophets
(i.e. Moses or Jesus (pbuh) by those hands they were performed).
Quirk
Continues
Some
six hundred years after the birth of Jesus (pbuh), Muhammad (pbuh)
the messenger of God was born in Makkah in Arabia. When he proclaimed
his mission at the age of forty, his fellow countrymen, the mushriks
of makkah made an identical request for miracles, as had the Jews,
from their promised Messiah. Text book style, it was as if the Arabs
had taken a leaf from the Christian records. History has a habit
of repeating itself!
And
they say: why are not signs sent down to him from his lord? [Qur'an
29:50]
SIGNS!
WHAT SIGNS!!
"Miracles
? Cries he, what miracles would you have? Are not you yourselves
there? God made you 'shaped you out of a little clay.' Ye were small
once; a few years ago ye were not at all. Ye have beauty, strength,
thoughts, 'ye have compassion on one another.' Old age comes-on
you, and grey hairs; your strength fades into feebleness: ye sink
down, and again are not. 'Ye have compassion on one another': This
struck me much: Allah might have made you having no compassion on
one another, how had it been then! this is a great direct though,
a glance at first-hand into the very fact of things...." "(On
heroes hero-worship and the heroic in history"), by Thomas
Carlyle.
"This
Struck Me Much"
This,
that "ye have compassion on one another", impressed thomas
carlyle most from his perusal of an English translation. I presume,
there verse that motivated this sentiment is:
1.
And among his signs is this, that he created for you mates from
among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them. and
he has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that
are signs for those who reflect. (emphasis added) Translation by
A Yusuf ALi [Qur'an 30:21]
2.
And one of his signs it is, that he hath created wives for you of
your own species that ye may dwell with them, and hath put love
and tenderness between you. herein truly are signs for those who
reflect (emphasis added) Translation by Rev. J.M. Rodwell(M.A.)
3.
By another sign he gave you wives from among yourselves, that ye
might live in joy with them, and planted love and kindness into
your hearts. surely there are signs in this for thinking men (emphasis
added) Translation by N.J. Dawood.
The
first example is from the translation by Yusuf Ali, a muslim. The
second is by a Christian priest the rev. Rodwell and the last example
is by an Iraqi Jew, N.J. Dawood.
Unfortunately
Thomas Carlyle had no access to any one of these because none of
them had seen the light of day in his time. The only one available
to him in 1840 was as he said on page 85 of his book under referance
- "We also can read the Koran; our translation of it, by sale,
is known to be a very fair one."
Taint
is in the Motive
Carlyle
is very charitable to his fellow countryman. The motives of george
sale, who pioneered an English translation of the Holy Quran, were
suspect. He makes no secret of his antagonism to the holy book of
Islam. In his preface to his translation in 1734 he made it known
that it was his avowed intention to expose the man Mohammad and
his forgery. He records: "who can apprehend any danger from
so manifest a forgery?... The protestants alone are able to attack
the Koran with success; and for them, I trust, providence has reserved
the glory of its overthrow." George Sale, And he set to work
with his prejudiced translation. You will be able to judge how 'fair'
and scholarly george sale was from the very verse which 'struck'
(carlyle) 'much!' Compare it with the three example already given
by a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew: And of his signs another is,
that he had created you , out of yourselves, wives that ye may cohabit
with them, and hath put love and compassion between you.
I don't
think that George sale was a 'a male chauvinist pig' of his day
to describe our mates, wives or spouses as sexual objects. He was
only keeping to his promise, which Carlyle overlooked. The Arabic
word which he (sale) perverted is 'li-tas-kunoo' which means to
find peace, consolation, composure or tranquillity; and not 'cohabit'
meaning 'to live together in a sexual relationship when not legally
married' (the reader's digest universal dictionary.)
Every
word of the Qur'anic text is meticulously chosen, chiselled and
placed by the All-Wise himself. They carry God's 'fingerprint',
and are signs of God. And yet, the spiritually jaundiced...
Ask
For A Sign
What
signs?? They mean some special kinds of signs or miracles such as
their own foolish minds dictate. Everything is possible for God,
but God is not going to humour the follies of men or listen to their
false demands. He has sent his messenger to explain his signs clearly,
and to warn them of the consequences of rejection. Is that not enough?
The trend of their demand is generally as follows:
In
specific terms they asked that he - Muhammad (pbuh) - 'Put a ladder
up to heaven an bring down a book from God in their very sight'
- "Then we would believe," they said. Or "ye see
the mountain yonder, turn it into gold' - "then we would believe."
or 'make streams to gush out in the desert' - "then we would
believe."
Now
listen to the soft, sweet reasoning of Muhammad (pbuh) against the
unreasonable and sceptical demands of the mushriks - "Do I
say to you, verily I am an angel? Do I say to you, verily in my
hands are the treasures of God? Only, what is revealed to me do
I follow." Listen further to the most dignified reply he is
commanded by his Lord to give the unbelievers.
"Say
(O Muhammad): 'The signs (miracles) are indeed with Allah:
And most certainly I am only a clear warner!"
In
the following ayah the holy prophet is made to point to the holy
Qur'an itself as an answer to their hypocritical demand for some
special kind of 'sign' of 'miracle' for which their foolish pagan
mentality craved. For indeed all miracles are 'signs'; and it is
their disbelief, their scepticism, their lack of faith which motivates
their request for a sign. They are asked to - 'look at the Qur'an'
and again, 'look at the Qur'an!'
It
is not enough for them that we have sent down to thee (O Muhammad)
the book (al-Qur'an) which is rehearsed to them? Verily, in it (this
perspicuous book) is a mercy and reminder to those who believe.
[Qur'an 29:51].
Two
Proofs
As
a proof of the divine authorship and the miraculous nature of the
Qur'an, two arguments are advanced by the almighty Himself:
1.
'that we' (God Almighty) have revealed to you (O Muhammed!) 'the
book to you' who art absolutely an unlearned person. An 'ummi' prophet.
One who cannot read or write. One who cannot sign his own name.
Let Thomas Carlyle testify regarding the educational qualifications
of Muhammad -
2.
one other circumstance we must not forget: that he had no school
learning; of the thing we call school-learning none at all.' Moreover
the divine author (God Almighty) himself testifies to the veracity
of Muhammad's (pbuh) claim that he could never have composed the
contents of the holy Qur'an; he could not have been its author:
"And
thou (O Muhammad) was not (able) to recite a book before this (book
came), nor art thou (able) to transcribe it with thy right hand:
In that case, indeed, would the talkers of vanities have doubted."
[Qur'an 29:48].
The
author of the Qur'an is reasoning with us, that had Muhammad (pbuh)
been a learned man, and had he been able to read or write, then
in that case the babblers in the market places might have had some
justification to doubt his claim that the holy Qur'an is God's word.
In the event of Muhammed (pbuh) being a literate person, the accusation
of his enemies that he had probably copied his book (Qur'an) from
the writings of the Jews and Christians, or that perhaps he had
been studying Aristotle and Plato, or that he must have browsed
through the 'Torat,' the 'Zabur' and the 'Injeel' and had rehashed
it all in a beautiful language, might have carried some weight.
Then, 'the talkers of vanities' might have had a point. But even
this flimsy pretence has been denied to the unbeliever and the cynic:
a point hardly big enough to hang a fly upon!
2.
'The book'? Yes, the 'book' itself, carries its own evidence proving
its divine authorship. Study the book from any angel. Scrutinize
it. Why not take up the author's challenge if your doubts are genuine?
Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care) had it been from other
than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy.
Consistency
It
is inconceivable that any human author would remain consistent in
this teachings and his preachings for a period of over two decades.
From the age of forty, when Muhammad (pbuh) received his first call
from heaven to the age sixty-three when he breathed his last, for
twenty-three years the holy prophet practised and preached Islam.
In those twenty-three years, he passed through the most conflicting
vicissitudes of life. Any man, during the course of such a mission,
would be forced by circumstances to make 'honourable' compromises,
and cannot help contradicting himself. No man can ever write the
same always, as the message of the holy Qur'an is: consistent with
itself, throughout! Or is it that the unbelievers objections are
merely argumentive, refractory, against their own better light and
judgement.? Furthermore, the holy Qur'an contains or mentions many
matters relating to the nature of the universe which were unknown
to man before but which subsequently through evolution and discoveries
of Science have fully confirmed - a field where an untutored mind
would have most certainly lost in wild and contradictory speculations!
Self-Evident
Proof
Again
and again when miracles are demanded from the prophet of God by
the cynical and frivolous few, he is made to point to the Qur'an
- message from high - as 'the miracle.' The miracle or miracles!
And men of wisdom, people with literary and spiritual insight, who
were honest enough to themselves, recognised and accepted al-qur`an
as an a genuine miracle.
Says
the holy Qur'an:
"Nay
here are signs self-evident in the hearts of those endowed with
knowledge:
And none but the unjust reject our signs."
[Qur'an 29:49] |