Why prophet Mohamed was refused miracles
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Brother Burhan: I congratulate
you for taking such a heavy task, of conveying concept of Islam in the light of
Quraan, on your shoulder and performing it so diligently that sometimes I feel
I am beginning to envy you. May Allah
(SWT) bless you in abundance (here and in
hereafter)
according to the best of the deeds that you have done, and guide all of us in
the direction which leads directly to Him so that we can please Him. Ameen.
Brother I have
many questions, but to begin with, I will start with the following:
(Please provide
detailed references from Quraan and Hadith)
Q1, Why Allah (SWT) categorically denied granting any physical miracle to our
beloved prophet Muhammad (PUBH). If I remember correctly there is a verse in
the Holy Quraan in this regard which translates as ..” O Muhammad (PBUH) you
will not be given any miracle, and if you still wish for one, then climb on a
ladder to the heaven and get one miracle from there if you are capable to do
so.” That’s one of the very strong statements in the Holy Quraan. Please provide
the full translation and reference for this verse.
Thank You very
much.
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Why Prophet Mohamed
was refused miracles?
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none
can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright.
We bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no
prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Your Statement: I congratulate you for taking such a heavy task, of conveying concept of Islam in the light of Quraan, on your shoulder and performing it so diligently that sometimes I feel I am beginning to envy you. May Allah (SWT) bless you in abundance (here and in hereafter) according to the best of the deeds that you have done, and guide all of us in the direction which leads directly to Him so that we can please Him. Ameen.
May Allah Subhanah
reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments
of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. We humbly hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accept our humble and weak efforts, forgive us our shortcomings, and save you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.
Beloved
brother, before we answer your specific question regarding ‘miracles’, we must understand the concept and
significance of the Miracles shown by Allah Subhanah.
The first thing we must
understand that it is only the Prophets of Allah who can come to mankind and
declare that they have been appointed the Messengers of Allah! No other man, no imam, no wali, no wasi,
no imam, no dai, no leader can
come to mankind and declare that he has been specifically chosen by Allah to be
their guide and leader!
It is the Sunnah of Allah, that
He always sends a Prophet amongst their own people who speak the language of
the people they are sent to; and who
live a period of life as normal righteous human beings amongst them; and then suddenly Allah reveals to them that
they have been chosen as His Messengers to the people! It is not as if that the Prophets know that
they will become Prophets one day, and prepare themselves for the post and
position…. Allah Subhanah decides who and when to choose one amongst the
people, and commands him to go to his
people and declare that he has been chosen as a Prophet! No matter where and who the Prophet was,
his call was always the same: ‘to worship the One Allah Alone, and obey and
follow the Prophet.’ They declare that
whoever accepts their invitation will be honored with Paradise by Allah
Subhanah; and whoever rejects their invitation and denies their Message, will be cursed and punished by Allah
Subhanah.
The righteous people of the nation recognize that
their Prophets by:
- Their
righteous character,
- Their
truthful and righteous life that they have lived amongst the people,
- Their
Message and their invitation to the Truth,
- realizing
that the Prophet seeks no reward for himself or for his family, nor is he seeking any wealth or power
for himself for the service he renders.
The righteous and truthful people of the society have no
problems in recognizing the Prophets of Allah, and are almost always the
foremost in accepting their invitation.
But the people who are arrogant, and the evil oppressive
leaders of the society, and the people who realize that their power-hold will
become weak if they accept the leadership of the Prophet, and the proud and
conceited people of the society, almost always oppose and deny the Prophet and
His Mission.
And to prove to such obstinate, evil, and arrogant people
of society; and to complete the ‘hujjat’ or argument to such evil deniers of
Truth, Allah Subhanah bestows His Prophets with His Signs of Miracles…so that
they may recognize that the person claiming to be a Prophet is indeed appointed
by the Merciful Lord Himself.
The duty and mission of the Prophets of Allah is not to
come and perform these Miracles, but their duty is to declare the Message of
Truth from their Lord and Creator. The
truthful and righteous people of society recognize the Prophets through their
character and the Message of the Truth, without the need of any miracles.
The obstinate and arrogant disbelievers, who witness the Miracles at the hands of the
Prophets and continue to disbelieve in their appointment, are ultimately subdued or destroyed by Allah
Subhanah.
Your statement: Why Allah (SWT) categorically denied granting any physical miracle to our beloved prophet Muhammad (PUBH). If I remember correctly there is a verse in the Holy Quraan in this regard which translates as ..” O Muhammad (PBUH) you will not be given any miracle, and if you still wish for one, then climb on a ladder to the heaven and get one miracle from there if you are capable to do so.” That’s one of the very strong statements in the Holy Quraan. Please provide the full translation and reference for this verse.
The Aayah you are referring to
is from Surah Anaam, which was revealed
in the Makkan period when the atrocities and oppression of the disbelieving
Quraish was at its peak towards the Messenger of Allah (saws), for the Message
he brought, and towards the helpless
believers! They used to challenge his
(saws) appointment to Prophethood, and
called him a liar, a sooth-sayer, a magician,
possessed of Jinn, etc. They would come to the Prophet (saws) and
challenge him to bring all kinds of ridiculous Miracles to prove that he is
indeed who he (saws) claims!
Allah Says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anaam verse 109: They (the disbelievers) swear their strongest oaths by Allah that if
a (special) Sign came to them, by it
they would believe. Say (O Prophet to
them): "Certainly (all) Signs are in the power of Allah”. But what will make you realize that even if
a (special) Sign comes they will not believe!
Allah Says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 17 Surah Israa verses 89-93:
89 And We have explained to
man in this Qur'an every kind of similitude: yet the greater part of men refuse
(to receive it) except with ingratitude!
90 They (the disbelievers)
say: "We shall not believe in thee (the Prophet (saws)) until thou cause
springs to gush forth for us from the earth;
91 Or (until) thou have a garden
of date trees, and vines, and cause rivers to gush forth in their
midst carrying abundant water;
92 Or thou cause the sky to
fall in pieces as thou sayest (will happen) against us; or thou bring Allah and the Angels before
(us): face to face;
93 Or thou have a house
adorned with gold, or thou mount a
ladder right into the skies. No! We shall not even believe in thy mounting
until thou send down to us a book that we could read." Say (to them O Prophet (saws)): "Glory
to my Lord! Am I aught but a man, and a
Messenger?"
When the Prophet (saws) felt
that these staunch unbelievers did not accept his Message in spite of his
continous preaching, he (saws), as their sincere well-wisher, cherished a wish that Allah Subhanah might
send such a clear Sign and Miracle that they should have no alternative left
with them but to accept the Message of Truth.
Allah Says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anaam verses 33-35:
33 We know indeed the grief
which their words do cause thee (O Prophet): it is not thee they reject: it is
the Signs of Allah which the wicked condemn.
34 Rejected were the
Messengers before thee: with patience
and constancy they bore their rejection and their wrongs, until Our aid did reach them: there is none that can alter the Words (and
Decrees) of Allah. Already hast thou
received some account of those Messengers.
35 However, if you find it hard to bear their
aversion, then seek out, if you can,
an opening into the earth; or
set up a ladder to the sky so that you may bring them a Sign! Had Allah Willed, He would have gathered
them all on guidance; so be not thou amongst
those who are swayed by ignorance (and impatience)!
In
the above verse, although stern in its tone,
is teaching, guidance, and education for the Messenger of Allah
(saws) by Allah Subhanah. The
Messenger of Allah (saws) in his ardent desire to guide the disbelievers away
from their impending doom of the Hell Fire,
hoped and wished that maybe,
just maybe, if he met their
ridiculous demands to show manifest Miracles;
they would accept the Guidance of Truth and save themselves from the
everlasting Fire of Hell! But Allah
Subhanah, in His Perfect and Absolute Knowledge and Wisdom, knows that no matter what Signs come to
these disbelievers, they would never
ever accept the Message of Truth.
Allah Says in the same Aayah,
that if He so willed, He would have
gathered all of them on Guidance; but
that is not the Way of Allah Subhanah towards mankind! He has given man intelligence and the power
of reasoning, and given them a Free
Will for a limited period of one lifetime;
and sent His Messengers with His Message of Truth so that He may test
who amongst them, of their own
intelligence and free will recognize and accept the Truth, and who amongst them reject and deny
it; and that is precisely the Test
Allah Subhanah has ordained for mankind!
Allah
Subhanah admonishes the Prophet (saws) not to show impatience at the obduracy
of the disbelievers, but to continue
performing his mission as guided by Allah Subhanah, for this Great and Heavy Mission, which is to last until the end of time, is not one that Allah Subhanah Wills to be completed through the
ridiculous and absurd demands of Miracles by the disbelievers. His Plan in establishing the Mission is
different from what the disbelievers are demanding! And to make the Prophet’s heart content and understand that no
matter what he (saws) said and did, the
disbelievers would not believe; Allah
Subhanah tells the Prophet (saws) that if he cannot be patient, and cannot endure the harsh treatment and
heart-ache caused to him by the disbelievers and their rejection of the
Truth, he may try himself to dig an
opening into the crust of the earth, or
set up a ladder into the skies and bring them the Miracle that they have
demanded…for the fulfilling of the ridiculous demands of the disbelievers is
not in the Supreme and Unfailing Scheme of Allah Subhanah!
Although it may seem on the
outset that Allah Subhanah is stern with His beloved Messenger (saws) in the
Aayah; one who understands the
intricacies and the beauty of Arabic poetry and Quranic language will easily
comprehend that the real ‘heat’ of the Aayah falls on the arrogant and
egotistical disbelievers of the Quraish!
In reality, they are the ones being severely admonished in the Aayah by
Allah Subhanah for their relentless disbelief and non-acceptance of the
Message!
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
Burhan
Wister