THE GREATEST
MIRACLE OF THE
PROPHET OF ISLAM
Eternal Miracle
All scholars of Islam believe
that the Quran is the greatest miracle of the Prophet of Islam. When we say the most
superior, it is because, in the first place, the Quran is not an intellectual miracle but
rather has to do with the spirit and intellect of the people and secondly, it is eternal
and everlasting and third, it is a miracle which has cried out for 14 centuries. It says,
"If you do not believe that this is a Book of God, bring one like it." This
invitation to an equivalent or something like it or challenge has appeared several times
in the Holy Quran. In one place it says,
"Say: If the whole of
humanity and jinn were to gather together to produce the life of this Quran, they could
not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and
support.." (17:88)
In another place, it has made the
condition for the bringing of something like it even more easy. It says,
"Bring ten suras forged
like unto it and call to your aid whomever you can other than God if you speak the
truth." (11:13)
"If they (your false
gods) answer not your (call) know that this Revelation is sent down (replete) with the
knowledge. of God..." (11:14)
"And if you are in doubt
about that which We have revealed to Our Servant, then bring a surah like it and call your
witnesses, other than God, if you are truthful." (2:23)
In the next verse, it directly
states,
"But if you do not and
you shall never do - guard yourselves against the fire." (2:24)
These continuous and successive
invitations to challenge the Quran show that the Holy Prophet placed the greatest of
emphasis and importance upon the miracle of the Quran even though many other miracles have
been recorded about the Prophet and have appeared in books on Islamic history.
As the Holy Quran is a living
miracle, we will, in this discussion, give greater emphasis to it.
* * * * *
How they have remained impotent in face of this
challenge
It is interesting that the Holy
Quran places the greatest emphasis upon inviting the opponents to the arena and with
stimulating comparisons, it challenges them to enter the arena so that no excuse remain
for anyone.
Words like, "If you speak
the truth. ..", "You can never do so...", "Even if you seek help from
all of humanity...", "Bring at least one verse like it...", "If you
become a kafir, a flaming fire is awaiting you..." speak of this truth.
These are all on one side. On the
other side, the struggle of the Holy Prophet with the opponents was not a simple struggle,
because Islam not only endangered their religion which they firmly supported, but also
endangered their economic, political interests and even their very existence.
In other words, the progress and
influence of Islam caused all of the lives to be turned upside down. Thus, they were
obliged to come to the arena with all of their power and force.
No matter what the cost, in order
to disarm the Holy Prophet, they would have to bring a verse like a verse of the Holy
Quran so that they could no longer rely on the Quran as a miracle, and everyone who
believed in it would become defective and it would become a document for proving their
truth.
They invited all of the Arabs who
were learned scholars to help them but everytime that they tried to challenge the Holy
Quran, they were defeated and they very readily retreated. The story of these events have
been recorded in the history books.
The Story of Walid ibn Mughayrah
Among the people invited to this
challenge was Walid ibn Mughayrah from the Bani Makhzum who was famous at that time among
the Arabs for his literary abilities.
They asked him to think about
this challenge and to give his opinion about the miraculous verses of the Quran and its
extraordinary influence.
Walid asked the Holy Prophet to
recite a verse of the Holy Quran for him. The Holy Prophet recited a verse from Surah Ha
Mim Sujdah.
This verse caused such excitement
in Walid that he, without thinking, arose from his place and he left the group of the Bani
Makhzum which had been formed, saying, "I swear to God that I have heard words from
Muhammad which neither resembled the words of human beings nor the fairies.
"His words have a special
tone and a particular beauty. They are like a branch of a tree which bears a great deal of
fruit; they are words which are victorious over all things and nothing will be victorious
over them." These words caused the Quraysh to whisper among themselves, "Walid
has lost his heart to Muhammad."
Abu Jahl, in a state of anxiety,
went to his home and told him what the Quraysh were saying. He invited him to a meeting of
theirs.
Walid went to their group and
said, "Do you think Muhammad is crazy? Have you seen the effects of insanity in
him?"
Those who were present said,
"No."
"Do you think that he is a
liar? Was he not famous to date among you for his truthfulness and his trustworthiness?
Did you not call him a truthful and trustworthy person?"
Some of the leaders of the
Quraysh said, "Then what should we call him, what should we relate him to?"
Walid thought a bit and then said, "He is a magician." Even though they tried to
turn the common people away from the Quran, which they were attracted to, this commentary
of 'magic' was itself living proof of the extraordinary attraction of the Holy Quran and
they called this attraction, bewitchment' while it had nothing to do with magic.
It was because of this that the
Quraysh spread this opinion everywhere that Muhammad is a magician and these verses are
his magic, keep away from him and try not to listen to what he is saying.
But in spite of all of their
efforts and endeavors, their plan had no effect. The thirsty were everywhere and
plentiful. They had pure hearts and, group by group, they joined the Quran. They drank of
the pure water of the heavenly message and the enemy, defeated, retreated.
The Holy Quran, today, challenges
all of the people of the world and invites them to struggle against it. It cries out,
"If you doubt the truth of these verses and you think that it is born of human
thought, bring its like. O scholars, philosophers and literary persons, writers from
whatever nation or people!"
We also know that the enemies of
Islam, in particular, Christian priests, who know Islam to be a revolutionary school, full
of meaning, a strong competitor and a danger to it, every year spend millions of dollars
to spread anti-Islamic propaganda. They are active in Islamic countries under the cover of
culture, science and health. What would happen if they made the way closer, if they were
to invite Arab-Christian scholars, poets, writers and philosophers to write verses like
the verses of the Holy Quran to silence the Muslims?
It is clear that if such a thing
were possible, at whatever the cost, they would do so.
The very fact that they are
unable to do so is a proof before the opponents and proof of the miracle of the Quran.
Think and Answer:
1. Why is the Holy Quran the
highest and most
superior of the miracles of the Holy Prophet?
2. How does the Quran challenge people?
3. Why have the enemies of the Quran referred to it as magic?
4. Why is Islam a strong opponent for present day Christianity?
5. What was the story of Walid ibn Mughayrah?
References:
PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC IDEOLOGY
By: Nasir Makarim Shirazi
Translated by: Laleh Bakhtiar
Published by: Foreign Department of Bonayad Be'that |
