A short lecture on Miracles of the Qur'an
by Habib Siddiqui (Khutbah on 10/11/2019)
All the Prophets (AS) of Allah were outstanding examples of honesty and
righteousness, known for their pure character even before being tasked with
prophethood. Therefore, their claims about the unseen could be trusted due to
their reputations as being the most truthful and trustworthy of men.
In
addition, Allah granted them (AS) miracles or Mu‘jizah
to remove any doubts that they were sent by Allah. This is quite evident from a
hadith that is narrated
by Abu Hurayrah (RA): The Prophet (S) said, “There was no Prophet among the Prophets but was given miracles because
of which people had belief, but what I have been given is the Divine Revelation
[i.e., Qur’an] which Allah has revealed on me. So, I hope that my followers
will be more than those of any other Prophet on the Day of Resurrection.” [Bukhari]
A key point in understanding the concept of
miracles in Islam is that they all are a result of Allah’s power and
permission, and not that of human beings. The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad
(S) performed more than a thousand miracles. These
miracles were clearly impossible for any human being to perform without divine
intervention; these were gifts
of Allah (SWT) to Muhammad (S) so that the doubts about his Prophethood are
removed and faith in his noble Prophetic mission solidified.
Abraha, the
Governor of Yamen decided to destroy Ka’bah, the Baitullah. He proceeded with 60,000 fierce soldiers and 13
elephants. Allah
sent down flocks of Ababil birds, flocks after flocks, raiding the army with
small stones from the air. So, they perished with a total destruction! Abraha
fled away while his flesh was bursting into pieces until he died on the way
back to Yemen.
The best of
Muhammad’s (S) miracles is the Qur’an. The Quraysh of Arabia who prided in
their literary excellence, and who were known for their mastery in rhetoric and
eloquence, and rightly described as the ‘warriors of words’, could not match
the Qur’an.
Truly, the Qur’an will
remain the greatest Miracle. It challenged the Arabs of Prophet’s (S) time with
the finest composition of its words, its articulacy, its eloquence, its
succinctness, its many meanings and all of the evidences which it contains. Its
articulacy overcame them, and its eloquence overwhelmed their minds, in spite
of their convincing speaking abilities and their fame as the masters of this
field.
This challenge is first given in the following verses: "Or do they say, 'He [Muhammad] fabricated the
Message'? Nay, they have no faith! Let them then produce a recital like unto it
- If it be they speak the Truth" (Al Tur 52:33-34).
i)
Some
of the unique features of the Qur’an include:
(1)
The language in which Qur'an is
revealed presents its highest and most
perfect form of Arabic literature.
(2) Qur’an
is the only book that has had and still carries an unparalleled effect on human
thought, ethics, morality, civilization, and mode of living. It first affected a group of people and
as they rose built a polity and affected others, brought them uniquely together
into an Ummah and set a golden era in the history of humankind. No other book
has rendered a comparable revolution. Thus, the Qur’an did not just advance a
unique theory, but its every word was
actually put into practice by changing the mode of thinking of people that
created a lasting world civilization.
(3) Qur’an’s subject
matter is vast and comprehensive – encompassing the entirety of existence
from initial stages into its future. It discusses the reality of universe, its
beginning and end. It tells us who is its Creator;
what are His attributes; and why did He create this universe. It enunciates the
position of man in this world and
defines the correct human conduct. In addition, it
discusses in detail the consequences
that follow the right versus the wrong human conduct in the life of this world
– and into another world after this life ends.
(4) The Qur’an did not come all at one time, but it
started with a reformation movement
among the people it initially addressed and with very forceful instructions.
And as this movement continued for 23 years it passed through various stages
and its leader addressed them according
to their needs and requirements.
(5) The leader
who delivered the Qur’anic messages was well known to its people – from its
beginning until its end. He would not go into hiding somewhere and come out
from time to time with a marvelous message. They knew the way and manner of his
own speech and could clearly see the difference in style between a hadith and
Qur’anic revelation.
(6) The
extent of subject matter covered by the
Qur’an is exhaustive.
(7) The Qur’an provides guidance for the entire humankind despite contingent reality of its
revelation to the Arabs in Arabia. This is remarkable,
because in contrast to this, other revelations coming much earlier were by
their very nature limited to a particular tribe or geographic locality.
(8) Unlike
other religious books, the speaker
throughout Qur’an is in the first person,
that it is God addressing His creation… Therefore, an outstanding beauty of Qur'an is that, although it was
revealed through Prophet Muhammad (S), it addresses him and every one of us.
ii) The most astounding
example of its Miracles is that the Holy Qur’an is the only remaining attested Sign from among the many signs given to the
Prophet (S) and it will remain so long as the world remains in existence. This
is due to the preservation of it by Allah, the Most High, in fulfillment of His
Words: “Verily, it is WE, Who have sent
down the Dhikr (i.e., the Qur’an) and
surely WE will guard it (from corruption).” [Surah Al-Hijr 15:9]
From its first day of
revelation to this very day, to retain
its textual purity, the Qur’an was memorized by many Muslims. Today, there
are millions of Muslims who memorized
it.
iii)
There has not been a single mistake
in any word or sentence of the Holy Qur’an in the last 14 centuries since its
first revelations to Muhammad (S).
iv)
The Qur’an
revealed many of the secrets of the
unseen and matters relating to the future. Let us cite two examples. Allah,
the Most High, says: “Alif, Lam,
Mim. The Romans have been defeated in ‘Adnal ard’; and they, after their defeat,
will be victorious within ‘bid’i seeneen’. To Allah belonged the matter before
and (to Him it belongs) thereafter. And on that day the believers will rejoice
with Allah's help.” [Surah Ar-Rum 30:1-4]
These verses were revealed five years before the Prophet’s
(S) migration when the Persians had defeated the Christian Byzantine
(Roman) forces in a territory north of Arabia near the Dead Sea. The use of the
Arabic phrase Adnal-Ard in the Qur’an is very interesting given that it means
both ‘the nearest land’ and ‘the lowest
land’ on earth. What is so amazing is that our knowledge of the Dead Sea
being the lowest place on earth is a very recent one and was unknown during the
time of the Prophet (S).
The word bid’i is a number between 3 and 9
(less than 10). Allah’s promise transpired into reality when the
Byzantines defeated Persia in 624 C.E., and in the same year (second year of Hijri) Muslims, led by the Prophet (S),
overthrew the flower of Arab chivalry upon the field of Badr.
The second example we want
to share is about the precise terms used in the Qur’an about the monarchs of
Egypt. In Surah Yusuf (12:43-54), the Qur’an uses the term Malik (Arabic for king) and not Fir’aun
(Arabic for Pharaoh) to refer to the ruler of Egypt during Prophet Yusuf’s
(Joseph) time. (Qur’an 12:54) The king said: "Bring him (Yusuf) to
me. I will select him exclusively for my own service."
However, the Qur’an uses
the term Fir’aun (Arabic for Pharaoh)
while referring to the Egyptian monarch during Prophet Musa’s (Moses) time. (Qur’an 40:26) Pharaoh
said, "Let me kill Musa (Moses), and let him appeal to his Lord. I fear he
may change your religion or spread disorder in the land."
Why is this so relevant?
Because, for centuries it was thought that
all the Egyptian rulers of the ancient time were referred to as Pharaohs. As a
matter of fact, the Christian Bible insists that Abraham and Joseph (AS)
interacted with Pharaohs. However, modern discoveries show that this is not
true.
The early monarchs of
Egypt were not known as pharaohs but as kings. The honorific title of ‘pharaoh’
for a ruler did not appear until the period known as the New Kingdom
(c.1570-c.1069 BCE). Monarchs of the dynasties before the New Kingdom were
addressed as ‘your majesty’ by foreign dignitaries.
So, there were no Pharaohs at the time of Abraham
or Joseph. They were just kings. As can be seen from the above discussion, the
Qur’an didn't make this mistake. The Qur’an correctly addressed the ruler at
the time of Joseph as King, and correctly addressed the ruler at the time of
Moses as Pharaoh, thus, once again showing that it is from Allah, the
All-knowing.
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