Bâkî mu’cizelere ne hâcet vasf-ı hak isbâtına
Câhil iken el, senin ilmin yeter bürhân sana[1]
Fuzûlî
Miracles are extraordinary events that take place at the hands of the prophets and render their audience unable to demonstrate something similar. The Qur’an states that prophets were forced to demonstrate some miracles in order for people to accept their teachings and invitation.
It should be stated that miracles are not imperative proofs of prophethood but just signs showing its authenticity and affecting the audience instantly. The real object of prophethood is to teach virtues and good morals. This is why the prophets’ morals and exemplary lives were more important and had more effect upon the non-believers than the demonstration of instantaneous, external, and temporary events of an extraordinary nature. People need to follow the customs of the prophets. Allah the Almighty expresses that the Qur’an should be enough for those non-believers who ask for a miracle:
“Yet they say: Why are not Signs sent down to him from his Lord? Say: The Signs are indeed with Allah: and I am indeed a clear Warner. And is it not enough for them that We have sent down to thee the Book which is rehearsed to them? Verily, in it is Mercy and a Reminder to those who believe.” (al-Ankabut 29; 50-51)
Non-believers’ requests for miracles were not sincere and were not done with the intention of accepting the truth. Their only reason to make such requests was to mock, deny, and stand against the truth. When a mirable was demonstrated, this would have caused the destruction of the deniers. Since the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did not want his people to be destroyed because of this sin, he usually opposed such requests. The following presents a good example of this:
One day the polytheists of Quraish asked the Prophet (pbuh) to show a miracle. Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) asked:
“What kind of miracle do you want me to show?” They replied:
“Transform the hill of Uhud into gold for us.” He (the Holy Prophet) asked again:
“If I do this, would you acknowledge my prophethood?” They said:
“Yes, if what you say is true and if our faith will make you happy, then transform the hill of Uhud into gold for us and we will believe in you.” Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) asked one more time:
“Will you really do what you say?” The polytheists swore and responded in the affirmative. Upon which Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) prayed to Allah. Then the Archangel Gabriel (A.S.) came and stated:
“O Muhammad! Your Lord sends His greetings to you and says: “If you wish, I will transform the hill of Uhud into gold for them. But I will punish severely all those who deny My message afterwards. If you wish, I will not do what you prayed for and leave the gates of repentance and mercy open for them.” After which the Prophet (pbuh), a mercy to the universe, prayed:
“Dear Lord! Please do not turn the hill of Uhud into gold and then punish them. On the contrary, keep Your gates of mercy and repentance open for them. Give them time until they become repentant.” Later, the polytheists got scared and changed their requests. The following verse was reveled as a result of this incident:
“And we refrain from sending the Signs, only because the men of former generations treated them as false: we sent the she-camel to Thamud to open their eyes, but they treated her wrongfully: we do not send signs save to warn (not to destroy or to punish).” (al-Isra 17; 59) (Ibn Hanbal, I, 242; Tabari, Tafsir, XV, 108)[2]
Nonetheless, Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) showed miracles from time to time and because of them many people converted to Islam. In the early years of his mission, a bedouin came to the Prophet (pbuh) and asked:
“What is the proof that you are the Messenger of Allah?” Allah’s Apostle (pbuh) replied:
“Let me summon a bunch of dates from that tree. They will bear testimony that I am the Messenger of Allah.” He called to it and the bunch began to climb down from the tree and finally fell right before the Prophet (pbuh). It said:
“Peace and blessings be upon you O Messenger of Allah!” When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) commanded the bunch:
“Now go back to your place” it went back up and attached itself back into its old place. And the bedouin immediately converted to Islam. (Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 6)
Below are some of the Prophet’s other miracles, which strengthened the faith and helped people to find guidance:
A polytheist came to the Prophet (pbuh) and said:
“I will not convert to Islam unless you revive my dead daughter.” They went to her grave. When the Prophet (pbuh) addressed the dead girl, she arose out of her grave and said:
“Here I am O Messenger of Allah!” Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) asked her:
“Would you like to stay with your father on earth?” She replied:
“No, because I have met on the other side something that is much more superior than my parents.” Then she went back into her grave and disappeared.
It is also known that at least two more miracles happened in Prophet’s life similar to this one. (Qadi Iyad, I, 279; Hamidullah, I, 125-126)
According to another report, when the Prophet’s uncle Abbas was brought to Medina amongst the captives of the battle of Badr, Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) told him:
“O Abbas! Yu are a rich man so pay ransom for yourself, for Aqil your brother’s son, for Nawfal b. Harith and for your contracted slave Utba b. Amr.” Abbas said:
“O Messenger of Allah! I am a Muslim. Quraish forced me to join the battle.” Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) told him:
“Allah knows your faith. If you are telling the truth, Allah will reward you; however, in appearance your state was against us, therefore you need to pay your ransom” and he also confiscated from Abbas 800 pieces of gold as war booty. Abbas said:
“O Messenger of Allah! At least count this money as our ransom.” Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) told him:
“No, it is the war booty that Allah has taken from you and given to us.” Abbas said:
“O Messenger of Allah! It looks like you will make me beg for the rest of my life.” Upon this Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) asked him:
“O Abbas! What about the pieces of gold that you gave to your wife Umm al-Fadl?” Abbas was surprised, and when he asked: “Which gold?” Allah’s Messenger said:
“The gold that you gave to your wife Umm al-Fadl on the day that you were leaving Mecca and then you said to your wife: “I do not know what will happen to me. If something happens to me, give such and such amount to Ubaidullah, such and such amount to Fadl, such and such amount to Qusam, and such and such amount to Abdullah.” Abbas was surprised all the more by these words and asked:
“Who told you this?” The Prophet (pbuh) replied:
“Allah told me.” Upon which Abbas converted to Islam saying:
“I swear by Allah Who has sent you as His Messenger, nobody except I and Umm al-Fadl knew this. You certainly are the Messenger of Allah.” (Bukhari, Jihad, 172; Ibn Hanbal, I, 353; Ibn Sa’d, IV, 13-15)
This miracle affected Abbas to such an extent that he converted to Islam.
Another instance that consists of a miracle of the Messenger of Allah took place as follows:
According to the narration of Umar (r.a.) someone from Sulaim clan hunted a big lizard and brought it to the Prophet (pbuh):
“I swear by Lat and Uzza that I will not believe in you until this lizard declares its faith in you.” Upon this Alah’s Messenger (pbuh) asked the lizard:
“O lizard! Whom do you worship?” The lizard replied in eloquent Arabic:
“Here I am at your service O Messenger of Allah! I worship Allah who owns the Throne in heavens, reign on earth, the path in seas, mercy in Paradise, and punishment in Hell.” After that the Prophet (pbuh) asked:
“Then who am I?” The lizard replied:
“You are the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds and the last Prophet. Those who acknowledge you are saved and those who deny you are perished.” Then the man excitedly said:
“I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. You are the true Messenger of Allah. By Allah you were the one that I hated most in my youth, but now I love you more than myself and my children. I believe in you with my inside, with my outside, and with my entire limbs.”
Then he narrated the miracle he had witnessed to one thousand people and all of them came and converted to Islam. (Haythami, VIII, 293)
Beside the miracles that the Prophet (pbuh) showed to guide people to the straight path, he also demonstrated miracles to his Companions, who were under physically and spiritually difficult circumstances.
Jabir b. Abdullah (r.a.) narrated:
“People became very thirsty on the day of the Hudaibiya Treaty. A small pot containing some water was in front of the Prophet (pbuh) and when he had finished the ablution, the people rushed towards him. He asked,
“What is wrong with you?” They replied,
“We have no water either for performing ablution or for drinking except what is present in front of you.” So he placed his hand in that pot and the water started flowing among his fingers like springs. We all drank and performed ablution (from it).” Jabir (r.a.) was asked:
“How many were you?” he replied,
“Even if we had been one-hundred-thousand, it would have been sufficient for us, but we were fifteen-hundred.” (Bukhari, Manaqib, 25)
A similar miracle was narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira:
“We were accompanying the Apostle (pbuh) in a march (towards Tabuk). The people’s provisions were almost depleted and the situation became so critical that the soldiers decided to slaughter some of their camels. Upon which Umar (r.a.) said:
“O Messenger of Allah, I wish that you could pool together what has been left of the provisions with the people and then invoke Allah’s blessings upon it.” Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) did accordingly. The one who had wheat in his possession came to him with his wheat, he who had dates with him came with his dates and he who possessed stones of dates did likewise It was asked:
“What did they do with the date-stones?” They said:
“The people were sucking them and then drank water over them.” And then the narrator continued:
“He (the Holy Prophet) invoked the blessings of Allah upon these provisions. And there occurred such a miraculous increase in the stocks that the people replenished their provisions fully. At that time he (the Holy Prophet) said:
“I bear testimony to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and I am His messenger. The bondsman who would meet Allah without entertaining any doubt about these two fundamentals would enter heaven.” (Muslim, Iman, 44)
As it can be seen from the examples above, Allah’ Apostle (pbuh) sometime used miracles to warm people’s hearts to Islam while performing his mission. In this context he manifested many miracles. However, we should also remember that the Prophet (pbuh) showed all these miracles with the help and permission of Allah the Almighty not by his own initiative.
[1] Why should I need other miracles? The Qur’an and your knowledge (sunnah), which you brought when people were ignorant, are enough to prove that you are a true prophet.
[2] Requests for miracles mostly came from the non-believers, whereas believers abstained from showing such disrespect, because seeing the Prophet (pbuh) was enough to feel reassured and believe.