On Miracles

Let's understand the relationship between nature, God, testimony and miracles.

    Miracle: a phenomenon defying what’s natural. For many reasons, many people take an automatic position of denying even the possibility of miracles. In this article, I will share some of my thoughts on the topic and perhaps will give you a new perspective, and a new way to look at the world around you. 

Nature; The Forgotten Miracle

The definition of nature and miracle are intertwined and have a very close relation, and oftentimes they are viewed as opposites. So let’s take a closer look at what is “natural”? And more importantly: why is it so?!

Nature is a general term that refers to all phenomena happening around us. When we look closer, we see that all of those phenomena follow set patterns: Specific inputs result in specific outputs, which we define as “Law”. Everything around us is governed by these “laws;” the laws of nature.
The law of nature – how it governs everything around us, and how absolute and consistent it is- is what causes many people to take an opposing stance from the possibility of miracles. After all, how can such absolute laws be broken as the definition of miracle suggests?

Why Laws of Nature?
The question that’s more important is “Why is it so”? Why do these laws even exist? Who made them and who chose those specific laws instead of all the other possibilities? And who is enforcing these laws? Who is making them absolute so that not even a single atom can defy it in this unimaginably massive universe?. Why is it so?
“It’s the mark of a rational mind to question that which didn’t have to be.” The laws of nature didn’t have to be the way they are. They didn’t have to be at all. Why is there a law? Why these sets of specific laws? That’s the most important question. And if we are talking about miracles, doesn’t that fit the description?
Nature is nothing short of a miracle;
The forgotten miracle.

 People often refer to the “unexpected” phenomena such as major calamities: tsunamis, hurricanes, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions as (Acts of God). This is how they also think of “miracles”. Their way of thinking is that when something massive and unexpected or defying nature happens, it’s a clear and undisputed sign of God. But I think that this definition for an “Act of God” is a bit …narrow.

On Miracles; New Aspect of Seeing God’s Actions

Some people only see God when something Unexpected happens. But if you reflected more and thought about everything in nature, you will see “Acts of God” all around you. You will see it in the gentle breeze moving the leaves of a tree or tingling the grass. You will see it in your sitting on your chair drinking your hot drink and enjoying it. Also, you will see it in water flowing. You will see it in how mountains were formed and how the sky rains. You will see it in everything around you. The more you think of nature, the more you will recognize the magnificence standing behind it and making it as it is.
The more you know nature, the more you know Allah (only One God), the one who made it so

Thus, those who raise an eyebrow when they hear the major calamities called “acts of God” only do so because they have never looked at the full picture before. And the same is for those who think it is impossible for miracles to happen. It’s only because they haven’t thought or realized that miracles are already everywhere around them.

Miracles were never the main argument to believe in Allah. Instead, they were the arguments to believe His messengers,
be it the split of the sea, the moon or even being unharmed when thrown into a great fire. These are all mainly signs for His Messengers, and also His absolute power. But no believer was ever waiting to see those signs to believe in Him, because the miracles we already see is as equal if not more evident of Him than those “miracles”.
After all, The miracle of the sea in front of our eyes is as much a miracle and a sign of Him as it split.
The miracle of the moon in front of our eyes is as much a miracle and a sign of Him as it split.
The miracle of the burning fire in front of our eyes is as much a miracle and a sign of Him as the cold and safe one.
The miracle of our own birth and life is as much of a miracle and a sign of Him as it is the second one.

In short, those who ignorantly deny God rarely come to realize that “A universe without God is a universe without law.”

Relation Between God & Nature

God and nature are NOT opposite sides to choose from, He made nature and He is holding it. Everything in it is ultimately from Him. God is a natural conclusion from nature, not in contradiction with it. And as they are His laws, by His will: He can change them as He wills. What is there to frown about when it comes to miracles?!. The one who made nature, the forgotten miracle, can change it into any other as He wills.

Value of Testimony 

Moreover, Testimony is one of the three basic tools we use to acquire knowledge. Together with the senses and rationality, testimony comes to tie up all the individual human knowledge together into one greater unit!
Testimony is the ability to pass on knowledge from one person to the other, making it the widest door for knowledge. With that, the room for errors and mistakes is also wide, but this simply means we need to put more effort into filtering the correct from the incorrect.

Acquiring knowledge via testimony is essential and indispensable to any human being. Some even say that 80~90% of anything we know is based on testimony. No one can really deny testimony as a means to acquire knowledge. No one can live relying only on his individual knowledge alone! It is simply unfathomable. And as we can differentiate between the correct and incorrect and separate them, there is no need to even think of denying testimonial evidence; all we need to do is simply: properly check and verify.

Relation between Testimony & Miracles

Essentially anything related to history can only be acquired via testimony. Our senses are simply too limited, they can’t see everything that happened everywhere all the time! But other people see it and they can pass it on to us.  Anything that happened before -be it a hundred years ago, a day ago or even an hour ago- you can know it via testimony. And as miracles are essentially an observed phenomenon, not all can observe them. However, all can know them via the same means as we know everything else.
Moreover, it’s known that not all testimonies are accurate. The solution to this problem is simple: validation and verification of the individual testimonial evidence to make sure that it’s free of any intentional (dishonest) or unintentional (accidental) errors. After this, it becomes meaningless to dismiss it just on the fact that it’s a “testimony.” After all, the majority of our human knowledge is based on testimonies.

And there is no sense in measuring “probabilities” in this matter. You can’t really measure a probability of a testimony being true or false, And you can’t measure the probability of miracles occurrence! The latter is based on the cause for its occurrence, which has nothing to do with probability. Instead, it depends on the will of the maker of Nature. And the first is simply being lazy on the job of verification for the testimony!

Testimony Tool in Islam

We simply need to put some effort into differentiating between the correct testimonies from the incorrect ones. And no one put more effort into that area more than Muslims did. Make sure to check and read about the whole science made by Muslim scholars centuries ago just for this single matter. All to build their faith on solid grounds as the value of truth is of the highest importance to a Muslim.

Conclusion

To conclude, rationally, Miracles are possible. And if we took a step back and actually looked at nature itself we will realize that it’s a miracle of its own. The One who made it so, can easily change it. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it is arbitrary and anyone who claims it is right! It is dependent on its cause: The will of the Lawmaker. And verifying Testimonies –when done properly- can be a very good filter to weed out all the lies and delusions, so that we are only left with the Truth.


Finally, make sure to read more and know more about how Muslim scholars made the ingenious science that preserved all of Islamic Tradition and clearly weeded out any faults or mistakes so that the faith is built on clear sight, not blind one.

As Allah (God) said in His book:

…Say, “Is the blind equivalent to the seeing? Or is darkness equivalent to light?…” [Qur’an, 13: 16] (1)

Also,

…Say, “Are those who know and those who do not know equal?…” [Qur’an, 39: 9] (2)

Now, what does the article add to you? Share your thoughts with our team!


References:

(1) Verse (13: 16) of Qur’an (English Interpretation of Meaning)

(2) Verse (39: 9) of Qur’an (English Interpretation of Meaning)

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About Omar AbdulMonem

Omar Zayed Abdelmoneim is a freelance writer and translator, with years of experience in the field. His speciality is writing Islamic and Dawah content, that was built from his years of conversational experience with different faiths and beliefs. His educational background in the Shariah comes from studying a year in Madinah with the scholars of Masjid An-nabawi, and continuous studying through different online programs over the years. Omar graduated from the faculty of science, with a BSc degree in Geoscience. Studying the field of science helped facilitate his mindset and gave him a unique perspective in seeing the world.

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