The Simple Miracles of Islam

Dr. Pasha

 

A Miracle We Can All Meet in Real Time

While none of us has seen or can ever see any of the great supernatural miracles of the past – for example the parting of the sea by Prophet Moses, the splitting of the moon by Prophet Muhammad or the raising of the dead by Prophet Jesus, may God bless them all – there is one miracle that all of us can and do see, touch and feel in our own time, regardless of where we may be living or what we may be doing.

We can see it in what is called real time – even as that miracle unfolds in our own time and place, right in front of our own eyes, and right in our own hands.

And that miracle is the Qur’an. And everything associated with the Qur’an – all of which is also a miracle. Just as every passage from the Qur’an is a miracle all by itself.

That is why the Qur’an refers to its passages as Aayaat – signs or miracles – each in its own individual right. Mind you, it is the Qur’an itself using that expression to refer to its passages and not some well-intentioned outside agency.

A Miracle in Every Aayat of the Qur’an

Aayaat of course is plural for Aayah!

It is that same miracle-word that some of our rather careless translators, blindly following Biblical traditions, tend to call “verses.” And the whole English-speaking Muslim Ummat equally blindly follows them in this rather naïve “versification” of the divine signs and miracles (Aayats) of Allah in the Qur’an.

Otherwise, an Aayah means a sign or a miracle – or a marker. That is what it has always meant and that is what it will always mean. In any language.

That is why the Qur’an is not just one single miracle, but rather a whole universe of miracles that lie scattered throughout the pages and passages of the Qur’an.

A Quick Panorama of Qur’an’s Miracles

Here is a quick panorama of some of the miracles of the Qur’an – those in the Qur’an as well as those associated with the Qur’an. Only some and not all of them, mind you.

• The way God Almighty chose an Unlettered Man to teach the Qur’an to the world.

• The way that Unlettered Man was born and brought up in an Unlettered Culture among an Unlettered People.

• The way the Qur’an then charged that Unlettered Man to go and be a teacher to not only those same Unlettered People but also to the whole world.

• Building of a whole new nation, one man and one woman at a time, based on the teachings of the Qur’an.

• Making women, for the first time in history, full stakeholders in practically every aspect of that new nation and new culture under God’s direct supervision and authority.

• The content, pace and duration of the revelation of the Qur’an, perfectly dovetailing the needs of a new and growing community faced by all kinds of challenges.

• The way the language of the Qur’an differs so markedly from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam’s own daily language. So much so that to this day there are those who can easily distinguish the words of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, in the Hadith from the divine words of the Qur’an, even though both sets of words issued from the same blessed mouth.

• The way the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, read out the Qur’an to the Companions.

• The way the Companions memorized parts or all of the Qur’an.

• The way everyone – man, woman and child – recited the Qur’an in the Salaah (“prayers”) everyday.

Some More of Qur’an’s Miracles

Here are some more miracles associated with the Qur’an:

• The way the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, led the Companions in daily Salaat reciting long passages from the Qur’an.

• The way the Companions read, recited and used the Qur’an in their daily lives outside their Salaat or prayer routines.

• The way many people among the Companions memorized the Qur’an in its entirety.

• The way the generation of the Followers of the Companions did the same thing.

• The way the generation of the Followers of the Followers of the Companions continued to recite the Qur’an in their daily Salaat in the same way.

• The way the Qur’an has been recited continuously and nonstop, in an unbroken chain of succession, by every generation of Muslims throughout the world until our present time 1400 years later.

• The way the present generation of Muslims recites the Qur’an in their daily Salaat in exactly the same way as the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, and the Companions and their Followers did it nearly 1400 years ago.

Even More Miracles of the Qur’an

Here are some more miracles of the Qur’an. Just keep on counting.

• The sheer beauty, majesty and power of the language and diction of the Qur’an.

• The melody, rhythm and cadences of the sound of reciting the Qur’an..

• The construction of the various passages of the Qur’an.

• The meaning of selected parts of the Qur’an.

• The entire content of the Qur’an.

• The themes and topics of the Qur’an.

• The approaches and arguments and logic of the Qur’an.

• The teachings of the Qur’an.

• And all kinds of other miracles that you can’t even count and most people don’t even know exist in the Qur’an.

The Miraculous Salaah: Made in the Qur’an

All over the world, Muslims know what Salaat is. Urdu and Farsi folks call it Namaaz. English speakers call it “prayers,” an expression I have some trouble with. For, Salaat is more – much, much more – than prayer as the world understands and uses that expression.

Salaat – one unit of it – involves standing upright; it involves sitting with your knees folded under you; it involves prostrating in a fetal position; it involves bending, rising, bending deeper and rising again; it involves turning your head symmetrically 45°-90° degrees, first to your right and then to your left in the same way – and a few other things.

And every Muslim does it all, in every Salaat, in every part of the world. And Muslims have done it without stop, and without change, for the past 1400 years – since Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, taught them how to do it personally.

I don’t think any non-Muslim speaker of the English tongue has any clue as to any of these things when he or she says the word “prayer.” Therefore, Muslims do themselves and Islam – and the world – a great disservice when they continue to refer to this amazing divine institution of Salaah as prayer.

Covering Up the Light of Allah’s Book

Persistently referring to Salaah as prayer may have the unfortunate effect of covering up from the eyes of the world the light of what God Almighty has revealed in his book for its guidance and what he sent down as a standing miracle and, therefore, an open and timeless invitation to all of humanity to come to Islam.

And the miracle of miracles is that this Salaat – I don’t know how many people fully realize or appreciate this – is made in the Qur’an, practically every bit of it.

Isn’t it miracle enough that this Qur’an comes down, hand-to-hand, and generation after generation, for 1400 years, the way Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, himself taught and practiced it? And the way the Companions practiced and taught it to their Followers thereafter – right down to our times and us?

A Miraculous Detail of the Salaat in the Qur’an

So, where did we get the details of how to perform our daily Salaah? Yes, we got them from the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, as the Muslims so rightly point out. But does the buck stop there or does it go any further – to the Qur’an, for example, and to Almighty Allah himself?

Well, hear Allah himself answer some of our questions in this regard in the Qur’an. Here is one miraculous detail of the Salaat right from the pages of the Qur’an:

Question:

Should we stand or sit or lie down when we “pray“? When we do our Salaah that is?

Answer from the Qur’an:

(a)  Idhaa qumtum ilas-salaah – when you stand up for Salaah.

(b)  Qoomoo lillahi qaaniteen – stand up for Allah with single-minded humility.

A Personal Scale of Salaah for Every Muslim Man and Woman

Of course, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, thereafter, created a most magnificent scale of Slaaah, which he personalized for each individual in his Ummat – each follower of Islam – man as well as woman.

And here is how that highly personalized scale of “prayers” works:

(a)  ”Pray” – the compulsory “prayers” that is – in groups. But pray by yourself when you are alone.

(b)  ”Pray” standing up if you can. But if you were unable to stand up, then pray sitting down.

(c)   And should you find yourself unable to even sit and pray, then lie down and pray.

Can you think of a more compassionate, accommodating and broad-based model for the rather complex routine of your personal Salaat or prayers? Can you think of anything more responsive to varying human needs and situations across time and across the globe?

But when it comes down to actual practice, who makes this decision: whether to stand, sit or lie down when doing one’s Salaat? Islam says it is every individual – man or woman – that makes this decision for himself or herself.

What a miracle! And what an empowerment of individuals – of both genders – with regard to something so critical to their own personal salvation! Designed not in the early or late 20^th Century, but 1400 years ago, in the 7^th Century.

And did anyone notice how deep the roots of democracy and individual choice and decision-making run in Islam?

Another Miraculous Detail of the Salaat in the Qur’an

Question:

Which direction should we face when doing Salaah?

Answer from the Qur’an:

(c)  Fawalli wajhaka shatral masjidil haraam – turn your face in the direction of the sanctuary of Allah’s mosque. This address is directly to the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.

(d)  Fawalloo wujoohakum shatrah – all of you turn your faces in the direction of the sanctuary of Allah’s mosque. The address here is equally directly to the Muslims – you, me and everyone else everywhere for all time to come.

Allah talking to you directly in the Qur’an even as he talks to his Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, directly in the Qur’an? How much more powerful and personal can it possibly get?

Some More Miraculous Details of the Salaat in the Qur’an

Question:

What about Rukoo’ – the act of bending your body 90° degrees at the waist, while firmly grasping your kneecaps with your palms and outstretched fingers, with your back and elbows perfectly straight? All this, of course, while we are in the process of performing our daily Salaah – what we so blithely refer to as prayers.

Does the Rukoo’ have a basis in the Qur’an? Not necessarily in all its technical details outlined above, but at least in principle?

And what about Sajdah – the act of what people generally call prostrating, but which in Islam requires touching the ground with your forehead, nose, knees and open palms and fingers, but not your elbows or forearms, all at the same time?

Does Sajdah or Sujood – another name for it – have a basis in the Qur’an, if not in all its details, at least in principle? Well, let us let the Qur’an talk to the believers in another example of its miraculous direct-address format.

Answer from the Qur’an:

Yaa-ayyuhalladheena aamanur-ka’oo wasjudoo!

Paraphrase: Believers, perform rukoo’ and perform sajdah!

It Is God, Not Muslims, Who Produced This System

How much clearer, and how much more miraculous, does it get?

It is not Muslims who produced or made up this system of Islam. For, they could not, even if they tried. No one can. Instead, it is God Almighty and God Almighty’s messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, who perfected this system of Islam. For, only they could.

And they did not produce this amazing system of Islamic “prayers” just for “Muslims” – those who may have been born in Muslim homes. But they produced it for all of humanity that may turn to God and to Islam. For, God is everyone’s God and the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is God’s mercy to all the worlds.

Don’t Know What to Say

Folks, frankly I don’t know what to say. If all this does not strike you as miraculous, then there is nothing that I can do about it. For my part, I am speechless with awe and wonder.

And this is the same wonder, raised to the power of I don’t know what, that I used to feel when I stared for hours at any of the other wonders of the world. For example:

• The cascading waters of the Niagara Falls at the border between the United States and Canada.

• The solid white marble of the Taj Mahal at Agra shrouded in a blue-white sheet of liquid moon.

• Humming birds in America and the Caribbean flitting in and out of the open mouths of colorful flowers.

• Humayun’s tomb at Delhi at dusk when there was only the Asoka hotel anywhere close to it.

• The endless deserts and sand dunes with their razor-sharp edges in Arabia.

• The Twin Towers at New York before some monsters so cruelly brought them down.

• The Empire State building in the same city that simply goes by the name of The City and that neither sleeps nor tires nor sits down to rest or take a siesta.

• The Pyramids under Egypt’s blazing sun and rocky landscape.

• The river Nile in all her ancient glory as she winds her way through Egypt.

• A calm blue Pacific routinely lapping the Hawaiian islands or an angry, stormy green Atlantic trying to tear down the shores in America and the Caribbean.

• Formation after formation of pelicans dive-bombing with pinpoint accuracy in the emerald-blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea at shoals of fish below, which only their eyes could see or only their radars could detect.

• Or just a single leaf in a tree; a blade of grass in a lush lawn in some part of the world; a solitary flower in a wilderness; a drop of water in a glass; a mere grain of sand on a beach; and a strand of hair on the head of any human child.

What Else To Say But Subhanallah?

These things, and a million other things like them, fill my heart with wonder, awe and amazement, every time I behold them. Perhaps not unlike the poet Wordsworth, whose heart danced every time he saw the daffodils sway in the breeze.

It is that same feeling, compounded a billion-fold, that I get when I gaze at the wonders of the Qur’an – at all those miracles that lie scattered all through the pages and passages of Allah’s book.

The things I have listed above, and a million more things like them, never ceased to amaze me all through my life. I was awe struck at how absolutely tantalizing they were then and continue to be now – so incredibly amazing, you can only call them “miracles,” wrought some of them directly by the divine finger and others more indirectly through the intermediacy of mortal human hands. And now it is that same sense of wonderment and awe that floods over me when I observe these other miracles in the Qur’an.

I used to say Subhanallah then. I say Subhanallah now. What else can I say? And, frankly, what else can anyone say?

But Before I Go

But before I take leave of this glorious subject, let me give you one or two or three more examples of the miracles of the Qur’an, specifically as they relate to your daily Salaat.

1. Question:

What should we say when we are in Rukoo’?

Answer from the Qur’an:

How about Fasabbih bismi rabbikal ‘azeem? Please check to find your own translation. I don’t know how to translate Sabbih.

2. Question:

What should we say when we are doing Sajdah or Sujood?

Answer from the Qur’an:

How about Sabbihisma rabbikal a’alaa? Please check to find your own translation for this one too, because I still don’t know how to translate Sabbih.

3. Question:

What else can we say during different stages and activities of the Salaah? For example, when we formally enter the Salaah? Or when we begin to move into Rukoo’? Or when we get in and out of Sajdah?

In other words, where does our Takbeer – Allahu Akbar! – that is such an important punctuation mark all through our Salaah and which is such an important utterance throughout Muslim life, come from?

Answers from the Qur’an:

How about Wa Rabbaka fa-kabbir? Standard translation: “And thy Lord do thou magnify!” But does this translation in any way exclude, or does it actually indicate and suggest, “Say Allahu Akbar“?

And Wa-kabbirhu takbeeraa! Standard translation: ” … yea, magnify Him for His greatness and glory.” Again, does this translation exclude, or does it actually indicate and suggest, “Say Allahu Akbar“?

While We Are at It

But while we are at it, why not take in some more examples of the amazing ongoing and ever-living miracle of the deep, firm and unshakable rootedness of the Salaah in the Qur’an? So here are some more instances:

1. Question:

Every Muslim knows – or should know – and every non-Muslim who wants to talk about Islam and Muslims in an informed, responsible, courteous, polite, civilized and non-hostile manner should know, that the most important part of the Salaat is the reading of the Qur’an.

And of that, the most important is the recitation of Surah Fatihah: in every Rak’ah – one complete unit of Salaat. So much so that no Surah Al-Fatihah, no Salaah!

So, where does Al-Fatihah come from?

Answer from the Qur’an:

Why, it comes directly from the pages of the Qur’an. It is a Surah, chapter, of the Qur’an. The first one in fact, and it is the first thing anyone who opens the Qur’an at the beginning will run into.

2. Question:

What about the readings after Surah Fatihah? Where do they come from?

Answer from the Qur’an:

They also come from the Qur’an – just like Surah Fatihah. Every single word and syllable of them. Directly out of the pages of the Qur’an.

3. Question:

Why do we read A’oozu billahi minash shaitaanir rajeem before we start reading the Qur’an in the Salaah?

Answer from the Qur’an:

Because Allah in the Qur’an told us to do so: Fa idhaa qara’tal Qur’ana fasta’iz billahi minash shaitanir rajeem (16:98). Paraphrase: Whenever you read the Qur’an, ask Allah to protect you from the accursed Satan.

4.  Question:

But we also read Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem. Where do we get that from?

Answer from the Qur’an:

Once again, the answer is: “Directly from the pages of the Qur’an, where else? It is part of the 30^th Aayah of Surah An-Namal, Surah 27 that is.”

And of course, like everything else, we also get it from the daily practice of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam. Because, everything the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, taught, he also practiced.

History has no parallel to this miraculous feat, which is a full and most amazing miracle all by itself: the fact that the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, also practiced everything he preached.

Another Miracle in the Qur’an: Doing Some Serious Math

And now let us do some serious math and discover yet another miracle of Islam, Muslim, the Qur’an and the Salaah: how God Almighty fulfils his covenant of protecting, safeguarding and preserving the Qur’an.

God Almighty got his beloved messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, to make the reading of Surah Fatihah compulsory in all Salaah at all times. At the minimum – if you count the absolutely inescapable and compulsory daily requirement of Salaah every day – that comes out to 17 times a day. This is the Faraz Namaaz.

Then there is the minimum “extra” more or less 15 units that were always practiced by the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam. Add the two numbers together (17+15) and you get 32. That is how many times an average Muslim would recite Surah Fatihah on a daily basis in a 24-hour time period.

And now let us assume there are 1.3 billion (1,300 million) Muslims in the world today. Let us cut out the fraction and go with the round number one billion: 1000,000,000. And let us say, God forbid, 50 percent of them are slackers and don’t do their Salaah. You still are left with 500,000,000 (five hundred million) human beings scattered around the globe. Let us be even more conservative and say that, God forbid, only 10 percent of the Muslims do their Salaah on a regular daily basis. And you end up with a final, truncated figure of 100 million.

Now you multiply that 100,000,000 by a purely arbitrary number 10, representing the number of Raka’ats or units Muslims around the world pray every day, and you have a nice round one billion: 1000,000,000. That is how many times the Qur’an gets recited every day around the globe from memory – on the barest minimum. Not by priests and specialists, but by simple, ordinary human beings who happen to be Muslims.

But more likely the real numbers are at least double that figure – 2000,000,000 – if you raise the percentage of those who “pray” to 20 percent. The numbers thereafter begin to get even more staggering if you change the number of daily Raka’ats or units of Salaah from 10 to 20.

And then try using the number 32 (17 compulsory +15 strongly recommended). And then go on raising the percentage of those you think are actually likely to do their daily “prayers” regularly.

What do you get? I don’t know the numbers, but I do know this: you get a live, ongoing, unfolding, ever-living miracle of the Qur’an and Islam and Muslim in your hands.

You end up with a living and eternal proof of God’s promise that he shall preserve and protect the Qur’an. You get a piece of hard, irrefutable reality in your hands, not an unfathomable mystery.

Don’t you think that this is the only event of its kind in the world? That is why I call it a miracle.

What is clear is that this is one way in which Allah protects the Qur’an. And what is equally clear is that in protecting the Qur’an, Almighty Allah also protects the Sunnah – the way; the customs; the practices – of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.

Don’t You Think Salaah Is a Miracle – All by Itself?

To have the very practice of salaah go on year after year, decade after decade, century after century, millennium after millennium, day after day, in every part of the world … for all these 1400 years … if you find another instance like that let me know. I am all ears – and eyes.

One could have written the formula down and left it for posterity to discover in a cave after hundreds of years. One could have taught the secret to one or two or a handful of disciples who would have taken it with them to their graves. But then to make some thing like Salaat a mass practice through the eons and make it live for all these centuries and millennia – day after day, week after week, month after month, year after years, decade after decade in an unbroken chain of continuous and nonstop practice?

If that is not a miracle what is?

When a Muslim Steps Forward to Lead the Salaah

Did you know democracy, egalitarianism and human equality never had a better day or a more powerful expression than when a Muslim steps forward to lead a congregation in Salaah?

Imam in our daily usage is anyone who leads the Namaaz or Salaah. And that means anyone and everyone who happens to be a Muslim and happens to know a handful of the passages of the Qur’an that he can recite from memory during the Salaah.

Every Muslim an Imam: A Miracle of Human Equality

There are no priests or ordained holy men in Islam. There are only regular Muslims. And they all have the same power to lead the Salaah in congregation, as everyone else, provided they could recite parts of the Qur’an from memory, which practically all of them do.

That means every individual Muslim is a potential Imam. And that means doors of leadership are open before every Muslim at the highest levels.

Others may profess to make everyone equal as human beings. But this amazing system of human equality called Islam makes everyone an equivalent of an ordained priest or pastor or pundit or community leader.

And this right to be an Imam is something that no one can take away from an individual Muslim.

Correcting the Imam: A Miraculous Lesson in Freedom of Expression and Fearless Political Participation

Freedom of expression and the right of full and fearless social and political participation never had a better day than when an Imam makes a mistake while leading the congregational prayers, and one of the people lined up behind him loudly corrects him right on the spot.

At the same time, every Muslim who is “praying” behind an Imam – the man to whom the Muslim congregation has for the time being delegated the right to lead the “prayers” – cannot standby idly when the Imam – the leader – is making a mistake. Muslims must speak up to correct their leaders and to hold them publicly accountable.

So, social and political activism and engagement are more than mother’s milk to Muslims. They are Muslims’ natural, inalienable and God-given rights. They are also, at the same time, a “religious” obligation, as the world would call it, that their “religion” of Islam imposes upon them. As a result, Muslims, in any age or place, can no more surrender these rights, or turn their back on this duty, than they can give up Islam or turn their back on their “religion.”

Once again, democracy in the sense of holding leadership publicly accountable never had a better day than when a nameless Muslim publicly corrects the congregational leader during the Salaah.

A Miracle of Public Accountability: Imam Accepts Corrections

Not only that. The model of public accountability for leadership preached by Islam continues to unfold in the most miraculous fashion as the Imam accepts the correction coming from the congregation and adjusts his act of leading the “prayers” accordingly.

Alas, what sad days have Muslims brought upon themselves – and upon the world – that they have forgotten the rich heritage of social and political lessons their daily Salaah is supposed to instill in them!

So Muslims, Rejoice! And Work To Do Even Better!

So, Muslims, rejoice and feel good, your Namaaz was made in Heaven. It was lovingly fashioned by none other than the hand of God Almighty himself.

And he saw to it that you, such as you are, will continue to practice his Qur’an so long as you continue to practice your daily Salaah. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. That is why Salaah is the first to come and the last to go in the life of Muslims, whether as individuals or communities.

Yes, there is a great deal more in the Qur’an than Salaah – much, much more. There is a whole way of life waiting to be explored, internalized and implemented, in the life of everyone everywhere. But you have to start somewhere. And your Salaah, which quintessentially contains the seeds and the blueprints of that divine way of life in miniaturized and encrypted form, is as good a place as any to start.

Taking the Qur’an to Every Home and Heart That Needs It

So all you need to do, Muslims, is, maybe, to start out with the seed money that you already have in the bank – your daily practice of Salaat a la Qur’an – and build on it. Until such time as you have succeeded in taking God Almighty’s invitation of love, justice, decency, mercy, equality, service, security and compassion in the Qur’an to every human heart, home and habitation on earth.

That means taking the Qur’an and its message to every home and heart that needs it. And which one does not?

And that, indeed, is, as the Qur’an tells you, and as you should know yourself, the primary purpose of your creation – both as individuals and as nations, societies and communities. Wa li-dhaalika Khalaqahoom, says the Qur’an: “And it was for that that he created them.”

Miracles of the Qur’an Never Stop

We may stop counting anytime. But the miracles of the Qur’an never stop coming. Here are some more:

• The way God asks us in the Qur’an to seek his protection from Satan the accursed whenever we read the Qur’an and the way that Qur’anic command – A’oozu billahi minash-shaitanir rajeem – thereafter became the routine practical prelude of reading the Qur’an all over the world all these past 1400 years.

• The way all but one Surah or chapter of the Qur’an begins with the name of God, the most merciful, the most merciful, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, which itself is an Aayat taken directly out of the Qur’an.

• The way the first half of the Islamic creed – is that the right word? – or Kalimah is taken directly out of the pages of the Qur’an: La Ilaha Illallah.

• The way the second half of the Islamic creed – again, is that the right expression? – or Kalimah is, once again, taken out of the Qur’an: Muhammadur Rasulullah.

• The way these two parts of the Kalimah, from the pages of the Qur’an, have constituted a uniform core of the formally spoken Islamic creed throughout the world for all of the 1400 years of Islamic history.

• The way acceptance, internalization and recitation by individuals of this unified and uniform creed – La Ilaha Illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah – accords them instant, full and unconditional membership in a global Islamic community that is above and beyond all considerations of race, color, gender or social status.

• The way this creed – La Ilaha Illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah – then becomes the basis for creating a whole new nation in the world whose supreme allegiance is to God Almighty and his messenger and to humanity as a whole and not to narrow tribal, territorial, national, racial, gender, class or some other parochial, divisive and chauvinistic considerations.

What can I say? This is nothing but a peek into the kind of miracles that the Qur’an has to offer. All I can say is if you can keep on counting, the miracles of the Qur’an will keep on coming – regardless of the passage of time; regardless of the advancements in human knowledge, technology and understanding; and regardless of the culture or place or environment in which you may be located.

The Miracle of Seeing Is Believing

You can see that I am not talking here about “supernatural” events of the kind of a parting sea or a splitting moon or a man being raised from the dead. I am talking instead about a very different set of miracles – the Everyday Miracles of Islam, Muslims and the Qur’an in real time.

I am talking about the fact that there is any number of things about Islam and the Qur’an, and about the life of Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, as well as about the daily life of ordinary Muslims everywhere, that appear equally “implausible” or “unlikely” – and therefore miraculous. The difference is that they are not of the unseen or distant variety, but rather of the most visible and immediate kind, which you can personally observe and experience.

These are events that are there, visible and plain, right before our eyes. They are out there for everyone to see, to touch, to feel and to experience in their own personal life. They are not “religious” phenomena, but rather, they are facts of everyday life.

Therefore, to believe in them, it is not “faith” that you require but common intelligence on the one hand and a certain measure of personal integrity, courage and humility on the other hand. For it is a matter of taking seriously the testimony of your own senses and mind and believing what you see.

And what a supreme miracle this is in itself that you should be able to see for yourself these wonderful miracles of Islam – and of the Qur’an and Muslims – in all ages and places and cultures, as they unfold before you in real time.

So, maybe, the thought that Seeing Is Believing does make sense. At least in some cases. At least in this case.

END

(Final and revised version, September 17, 2006)

© 2006 Syed Husain Pasha

Dr. Pasha is an educator and scholar of exceptional 
talent, training and experience. He can be reached at DrSyedPasha [at] 
AOL [dot] com or www.IslamicSolutions.com.