With The Name of Allah, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer. We seek His Guidance in all matters and Thank Him for Prophet Mohammed, His Excellent Role Model for Humanity. We offer prayers and ask Peace be upon him.
Imam Tariq Ansaar Aquil
October 24, 2008
Miracles are demand from the prophets by the disbelievers. Yet when Allah sends a Prophet or Messenger to a people, it is because they have need of correction, guidance or warning. Most likely, they have strayed and are in danger of the wrath of Allah coming against them. They are in fact, in a situation that is much like a person sitting in the hospital waiting room, in need of some medical help by a doctor. However, unlike a physically sick person those who are sin sick began to ask the doctor to perform some medical miracle before I let you heal me. Make some ones cancer disappear, make some ones height increase, then, I will let you operate on me. Because their eyes are fixed upon the recipient of the revelation they say show us a record of accomplishment. If only they fixed their eyes upon Allah, The source of the revelation that is coming to the Prophet. Then the Miracles would be evident. We laugh at something like this, it sounds ridiculous to us that a sick person would be standing in the emergency medical ward demanding that the doctor perform some medical miracle, give them some sign before they will consent to be healed. This is just what the people of the past did and as Allah Says in the Qur’an, it continues to this day and time. Oh Mohammed, show us a miracle! They did not say that they would never believe the message brought by the Prophet; they did not say that what he was saying could not be true, they wanted to be shown something that would convince them that he was really a prophet and that his message was really from God. But walk into a hospital with a sick person, walk to the emergency ward and see a person standing there treating patients, with his stethoscope around his neck and wearing his white uniform, is it your first action to ask him if he is a real doctor? Is it your action to demand that this person show you some miracle? Why not? Because some things are obvious, the plastic gloves, the white uniform, the stethoscope are all signs that this is a doctor. While the people are asking the prophet for a miracle, signs that God spoke to him, were all around them and us today. Timeless signs of the Miracles. Surah 2:118, “Say those without knowledge: Why speaketh not Allah unto us? Or why cometh not to us a sign? So said the people before them words of similar import. Their hearts are alike". Perhaps when we are confronted by those who disbelieve we do not know what to say to them, so in the Qur’an Allah gave us the right words to say. In Surah 3:20 the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is told in revelation “So if they dispute with thee say: I have submitted my whole self to Allah and so have those who follow me.” Many today exhibit the same signs as those of the past in that they say in words and deeds; convince me to give my whole self in submission to Allah. Trying to hold back some portion of their plans, their will or ability to choose to willingly, submit to Allah. Trying to maintain some control over the major events in their lives. Man wants to be in the driver’s seat no matter how bad a driving record he may have, although we may have made a wreck of our lives and the lives of those close to us. So in an effort to put forward an argument people today say the same things those of old said, show us a sign, show us a miracle, then we will submit ourselves fully to this way of life that you have told us about, this Islam. What the human being seem to love is to be the boss, to be in charge, in control. To do what we want to do, when we want to. Surah 3:92 “By no means shall ye attain righteousness unless ye give (freely) of that which ye love.” The Muslims has submitted his will to the Will of Allah. The Muslim has not held back anything from being touched by the dictates of Allah in this religion of Al Islam. The nature of religion is faith and the nature of faith is sincerity. As we repeat the Shahaddah in our salat, we say we do not worship anyone besides Allah. We do not hold worthy of our sincere devotion anyone other than the Lord of the Worlds. In that same salah, while sitting as though in a contemplative position we say, “all services rendered by words and bodily action are do to Allah. We say our prayers and our sacrifices our life and our death is all for Allah the Lord of all the Worlds. In simple language, we say we hold nothing back from Allah. We open all of ourselves to the corrective and curative power of the revealed word of Allah in this Qur’an. Throughout the Qur’an, Allah reminds the human being that this is no piecemeal arrangement. Often the people of the past as well as today want to set one standard for themselves and another for Allah. We want to give a little and yet demand a lot from Allah. Show us a miracle say those who have no sight. Proof that a person has been blind is to be able to show them something that is right before their eyes and they never saw it before you showed it to them. None can make the blind to see except Allah and none can make the deaf to hear unless it be the will of Allah.
The believers say of the revelation “We hear and we obey”. None despairs of the Mercy of Allah except those already doomed to destruction.
The Qur’an is full of Miracles. The first revelation that came to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) should have been sufficient for the doubters. Read! In the name of your Lord Who created man from a clot of congealed blood. The birth of a child even today is regarded as a miracle. Allah Says He created everything from water. Imagine looking at all that we can see and being reminded that no matter how big, how small, what color, species of level of intelligence, all creation has come from water. Some of the creation floats on water some are so heavy they quickly sink below the water. Some of the creation lives far from the water and needs very little water to survive, while other creatures cannot survive without the water constantly around them. This is a Miracle! Then there is man created from a microscopic sperm drop, which progresses to the next stage and becomes a clot and then a fetus. After birth, we see the miracle of sight, speech, hearing, movement and thought, all from this form that started as a drop of sperm is not this a Miracle? Above the Earth Allah Says He Has suspended planets in space swimming along in their own orbits. No pillars, no ropes, no visible supports holding these giant planets and stars up in space, is that not a miracle! A visit to the desert with all its barren appearance then comes the rain and all this land that was dead splits open and seeds that lay dead below the surface spring to life. Is this not a miracle? The fact that from infancy the human being innately knows what is right from what is wrong and has built in sense of shame for conduct that is unbecoming human dignity, all these are in deed Miracles! It no wonder that the unbelievers are called blind, deaf and dumb, with all these Miracles in and around them they still call for more. So the Word of Allah is proven true against them when He says, none can make the deaf hear or the blind see, unless it be the Will of Allah. Asking for a Miracle is asking for proof. Allah Has assigned belief to the human being; He has not assigned being All Knowing to the human being. Yet, Allah Has supported the human beings inclination to believe in an All Powerful and All Knowing Creator.
A Creator that is a Benefactor to the human being as well as a source of Mercy, Allah Has done this with all of the signs inside and outside of man. So man shows ingratitude when he looks in the mirror with eyes that see and perceives it is his own self- image in that mirror and still ask for a Miracle! In our very own lives, we have experienced Miracles. It is truly a Miracle that after all the gross materialism projected in the world today, that we have been blessed to seek with strong inclination the worship of Allah. For a number of us we know it is a Miracle that we made it this long in life and double Miracle that we have been blessed to find the sanity and salvation of Al Islam.
For many they need look no further for a Miracle than the fact they have the strong desire to live decent upright lives. In conclusion, I find that one of the greatest Miracles can be found in the personage of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). I have seen men with strong desires to have improvement come to their community, to their families and themselves, I have seen them try to stay focused, to stay strong in the face of opposition and to produce tangible evidence of their commitment. They faltered, they were worn down over time and some were unmasked as wolves in sheep clothing. Some of them were paid high salaries in the hope of keeping them above temptation. None escaped the pull of materialism, of their own personal short -comings. So it became apparent at least to me that the whole of humanity could gather all their wealth, all their power, all their objects which man hoard and they still would not be able to persuade a man to live the life that Prophet Mohammed lived. We could not pay a man today to be as honest, as caring, as concerned about his relationship with God that he never failed to live up to the task of delivering the revelation from Allah without interjecting his own self into it. We could not hire anyone to be as balanced in his conduct as the Prophet. We could not supply anyone with enough material things that he would not ultimately be tempted. We know as a fact that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was above suspicion, above reproach, honest, sincere and yet human in every respect. It is a Miracle in itself that a man the like which the whole of humanity could not produce today, lived and we have his Sunnah for our emulation.
Praise be to Allah the Lord of all the Worlds for the Miracle of the Qur’an, The Miracle of the Living model for humanity, Muhammad the Prophet (pbuh).
