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 madeto 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 the 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,
3
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 (Miracle) be given to it, But the SIGN (Miracle) of the Prophet
Jonas:
4
(Emphasis added)
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.
3
Bona fides- his authenticity, his genuineness.
4
What was the outcome of the "only sign"that Jesus (pbuh) was prepared to give?
Obtain your FREEcopy of the Book - "What was the Sign of Jonah?" from the IPCI
which furnishes a detailed exposition.
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 Miracle
of Prophets, i.e. Moses or Jesus (peace be upon them) by whose hands they were
performed.
QUIRK CONTINUES
Some six hundred years after the birth of Jesus Christ (pbuh), Muhummed (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
5
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!
IGNS! WHAT SIGNS?
MIRACLES? CRIES HE, WHAT MIRACLES WOULD YOU HAVE? ARE NOT
YOU YOURSELVES THERE? GOD MADE YOU, 'SHAPED YOU OUT OF A
ITTLE 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
TRUCK ME MUCH: ALLAH MIGHT HAVE MADE YOU HAVING NO
COMPASSION ON ONE ANOTHER, - HOW HAD IT BEEN THEN! THIS IS A
GREAT DIRECT THOUGHT, A GLANCE AT FIRST-HAND INTO THE VERY
ACT OF THINGS ..."
"On Heroes Hero-Worship and the
Heroic in History,"
by Thomas Carlyle
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 madeto 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 the 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,
3
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 (Miracle) be given to it, But the SIGN (Miracle) of the Prophet
Jonas:
4
(Emphasis added)
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.
3
Bona fides- his authenticity, his genuineness.
4
What was the outcome of the "only sign"that Jesus (pbuh) was prepared to give?
Obtain your FREEcopy of the Book - "What was the Sign of Jonah?" from the IPCI
which furnishes a detailed exposition.
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 Miracle
of Prophets, i.e. Moses or Jesus (peace be upon them) by whose hands they were
performed.
QUIRK CONTINUES
Some six hundred years after the birth of Jesus Christ (pbuh), Muhummed (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
5
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!
IGNS! WHAT SIGNS?
MIRACLES? CRIES HE, WHAT MIRACLES WOULD YOU HAVE? ARE NOT
YOU YOURSELVES THERE? GOD MADE YOU, 'SHAPED YOU OUT OF A
ITTLE 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
TRUCK ME MUCH: ALLAH MIGHT HAVE MADE YOU HAVING NO
COMPASSION ON ONE ANOTHER, - HOW HAD IT BEEN THEN! THIS IS A
GREAT DIRECT THOUGHT, A GLANCE AT FIRST-HAND INTO THE VERY
ACT OF THINGS ..."
"On Heroes Hero-Worship and the
Heroic in History,"
by Thomas Carlyle
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