Revelation and Miracle

Revelation
Every community or nation has witnessed the call of the prophets (‘a) and this call has been necessary and essential. As demonstrated earlier, the intellect can also perceive this necessity. Now, some questions come up that, in spite of their being human beings, how did the prophets (‘a) communicate with God and how did they receive His message?
Many people have regarded the idea of creatures communicating with the Creator as one of the unbelievable things: Does it seem odd to these people that We have revealed to a man from among themselves, [declaring], ‘Warn mankind, and give good news to the faithful that they are in good standing with their Lord’? The faithless say, ‘This is indeed a plain magician’.1
The Holy Qur’an describes God’s messages to the prophets (‘a) as “revelation” [waḥī]. Waḥī means to impart something in secret. This word is applied in many cases in the Qur’an. This term is sometimes used to reference common individuals: “We revealed to Moses’ mother, [saying], ‘Nurse him; then, when you fear for him, cast him into the river, and do not fear nor grieve, for We will restore him to you and make him one of the apostles.”2
There are also times when it is applied to animals: “And your Lord revealed to the bee [saying]: Make your home in the mountains, and on the trees and the trellises that they erect.”3
Even inanimate objects sometimes receive “divine revelation”: “On that day she (the earth) will relate her chronicles for her Lord will have inspired her.”4
The meaning of waḥī common in all these verses is “guidance or instruction which is hidden from others.” God “guides” the mother of Mūsā (Moses) (‘a), the honeybee and the earth, but we do not fully understand the nature of this “guidance”. Of course, in every case the divine revelation assumes a particular form in consonance with its recipient.
There is also the guidance for mankind through revelation to special individuals chosen for this purpose: “We have indeed revealed to you as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him, and [as] We revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, Jesus and Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon—and We gave David the Psalms.”5
Our analysis or knowledge of revelation is only based on the prophets’ (‘a) descriptions of it. To have faith in revelation, which is an essential prerequisite of Islam, does not require complete knowledge of it. To believe in it and the prophets’ (‘a) claim to it is enough. Of course, understanding and knowledge about the revelation is important in deepening one’s religious knowledge. We have no option but to take some steps to know revelation further on the basis of the explanations of the prophets (‘a).
Revelation signifies the opening of a window to the unseen world and new horizons of the heaven of meaning to the prophets (‘a). Revelation came from God and the Apostle

#7779;) was not expecting it: “You did not expect that the Book would be delivered to you; but it was a mercy from your Lord.”6
This salient feature shows the superiority of waḥī to genius [nubūgh] as well as mystical intuition [kashf] or witnessing [shuhūd]. Nubūgh means extraordinary intelligence which makes some individuals understand certain “truths” without undergoing the normal pertinent learning processes. However, these types of “truths” are those that could be grasped by the intellect, not truths that are grasped as a result of the opening of new windows.
Genius is like one who has extraordinary senses and can easily sense or feel what others could sense or feel with difficulty. A prophet, on the other hand, is one who has normal senses like all people, in which geniuses are also included; however, in addition he has another sense endowed by God which the others including the geniuses do not have.
Contrary to waḥī, some may acquire mystical intuition [kashf] or witnessing [shuhūd] as a result of contentment that stems from man himself. If man were to focus his attention on his soul and after some time control his mutinous soul, he would perceive some truths within the depths of his self which others cannot perceive. He does not acquire these truths from others. Instead, control of the self effaces the indignation in his heart and uncovers the hidden truths within it. In regard to waḥī, however, the prophet only serves as the receiver of the message. He is an addressee of one who talks to with him. It is said that Jibra’īl (Archangel Gabriel) (‘a) was teaching the Prophet

#7779;): “It is just a revelation that is revealed [to him], taught him by One of great powers.”7
The prophets (‘a) knew very well that somebody else was teaching them what to say, and on many occasions they could see their teacher, who was an angel of God (Jibra’īl) (‘a). However, with kashf and shuhūd, this is not the case.
It is this pure perception which protects waḥī from any sort of mixture with human words. Contrary to the notion which nowadays is unfortunately advanced by some Christian sects that revelation is inferred from the religious experience of others such that the Bible (the New Testament in particular) is the interpretation or expression of the things which ‘Īsā (Jesus) (‘a) had acquired in his state of kashf or shuhūd, revelation is free from any sort of interpolation or addition by the Prophet

#7779;) in conveying it.
Perhaps the reason why in more than 300 places in the Holy Qur’an, the Holy Prophet

#7779;) is addressed with the command, “Say” [qul] is to stress the fact that his role in conveying the revelation is only to repeat exactly the divine message and that there is not the least room for him to have changed it.
The Apostle

#7779;) was aware of this heavy burden of responsibility. As such, as soon as he received a revelation, he would immediately recite it lest he forgot a word of it—even though God gave him assurance in this regard: “So, exalted is Allah, the True Sovereign. Do not hasten with the Qur’an before its revelation is completed for you, and say, ‘My Lord! Increase me in knowledge’.”8
For this reason, the prophets chosen by God were those who were not known to have been learned. Some of them did not even know how to read and write. So, it cannot be entertained in the mind that their sayings were a product of their mystical intuition expressed in the language and culture of the time.
“You did not use to recite any scripture before it, nor did you write it with your right hand, for then the impugners would have been skeptical.”9
The divine revelation has been conveyed to the people in the form that it had been revealed to the Apostle

#7779;), and in order to remove any doubt about His Messenger

#7779;), God thus says: “[It is] gradually sent down from the Lord of all the worlds. Had he faked any sayings in Our name, We would have surely seized him by the right hand and then cut off his aorta, and none of you could have held Us off from him. Indeed it is a reminder for the God-wary.”10
This verse does not mean that there was the possibility for the Prophet

#7779;) to have distorted the revelation had he not received a threat of an extremely harsh punishment! Such an understanding shows a lack of knowledge of grammatical rules of the language. The verse emphasizes the importance of the protection of the revealed text from any kind of change or distortion.
As an example, it is sometimes said: “Even if my father were to allow it, I would not do it.” This style of statement emphasizes the distaste for an action, and does not suggest that the father would really ask one to perform the action. In the same manner, God says that the safety of revelation from any kind of distortion [taḥrīf] is so vital that even if His most beloved (the Apostle

#7779;)) were to try to distort it (which he wouldn’t), He would punish him in the way mentioned in the verse, let alone if this act were to be committed by others we could be sure that the punishment would also certainly be carried out!
In sum, waḥī is a kind of unusual “intelligence” which is beyond the frame of conventional analysis. It is only possible by the will and permission of God. The fact that it is unusual is the reason it is difficult for some people to accept, and they rightfully ask for proofs of the truthfulness of the receivers of revelation and God grants their requests by showing miracles [mu‘jizah] or signs [āyah].

Miracles
The prophets (‘a) claimed to be recipients of the divine message through revelation [waḥī] and, as stated earlier, waḥī means transcending beyond the boundary of common human perceptions. In other words, revelation itself or the receipt of a message from God is a miracle [mu‘jizah] and supernatural. Confirmation of this claim can be made through innate testimony, certainty from the depth of one’s soul, or reasoning and inference. Asking for proof of the authenticity of the prophets’ claims is something reasonable and wholesome that is usually requested by the people: “They say, ‘Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord?”11
And whenever this inquiry stems from love of truth, God answers thus: “Then We sent Moses and Aaron, his brother, with Our signs and a manifest authority.”12
Whenever the people would doubt the authenticity of the prophets’ claims or the people’s certainty [iṭmīnān] would diminish for some reason, God would send His signs [āyāt] to the prophets (‘a) so as to extinguish the faith-consuming fire of doubt and make the torch of conviction brighter. In the parlance of the theologians [mutakallimīn], these signs which substantiate the prophets’ claims to revelation are known as miracles [mu‘jizah].
It is said that the miracle—though not mentioned in this way in the Qur’an and the Bible—is one of the essentials [ḍurūriyyāt] of religion. Faith in its occurrence—in the sense of faith in the unseen power of the prophets (‘a)—is a condition for deliverance. The Bible also cites examples of the occurrence of miracles: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.”13
Miracles are also mentioned in many verses of the Glorious Qur’an: “He said, ‘If you have brought a sign, produce it, should you be truthful.’ Whereat he threw down his staff, and behold, it became a manifest python. Then he drew out his hand, and behold, it was white to the onlookers.”14
Regarding the Holy Prophet

#7779;), it also says: “The Hour has drawn near and the moon is split. If they see a sign, they turn away, and say, ‘An incessant magic!’”15
These verses refer to the miracle of moon-splitting done by the Prophet Muḥammad

#7779;). Now, as there is no doubt regarding the occurrence of miracles in terms of faith, we shall turn our attention to miracles from the intellectual perspective.
From the intellectual perspective one may ask: Are miracles occurrences without causes? It can be said that, when Ibrāhīm (Abraham) (‘a) was thrown into a burning fire, it not only suddenly became safe for him without any apparent cause, but it even became a source a comfort. However, such an interpretation of this miracle is not only against the axiomatic principle of reasoning, which associates a cause to every occurrence, but also inconsistent with the logic of the Qur’an which endorses the law of causation.
The acceptance of the occurrence of miracles without any cause is tantamount to the acceptance that things happen by mere chance, which can have dire consequences. For example, if a miracle is supposed to happen without any cause, it is then possible that the entire world of possibilities [‘ālam-e mumkināt] could have been created without any cause and out of pure chance, which in turn could mean that the world is also not in need of any creator!?16
That, like all phenomena in this world, miracles have causes or sets of causes cannot be doubted. Therefore, it cannot be accepted that any event, including miracles, happens without any cause. However, different schools and persuasions have offered various answers to the question regarding the causes of miracles.
According to the Ash‘arites [Ashā‘irah] the motive behind the occurrence of miracles is the will of God and the fact that His will is above everything. Based on this belief, the fact that fire is usually warm or a source of heat is only a precedent [sunnah] of Allah which He can change whenever He wishes. Conventionally, fire is hot but this hotness is not its essence for it is changeable. We have no power to change the precedents [sunan] of Allah, but God who has set these precedents in the first place can change them and say to the fire: “We said, ‘O fire! Be cool and safe for Abraham!’”17
گر تو خواهى آتش آب خوش شود
ور نخواهى آب هم آتش شود
If You wish [to favor someone], fire can become pleasant water, And if You do not, even water can become fire!
For the Ash‘arites, every event is caused by the will of God. Whenever the fire is hot, the cause is God’s will and if it is not hot, it is again because of His will. The only difference is that the first case is repeated many times and assumes the form of a “natural law” while the second case happens rarely.
Philosophers have another view. According to them, the world is not as simple as what the Ash‘arites believe. The natural world is essentially governed by the law of causation. The hotness of the fire is a necessity. Of course, this is not in conflict with the absoluteness of divine power, for the will of God is done through an essential system manifested by the law of causation. As such, as advocated by prominent figures in the Shī‘ah world, mu‘jizah requires explanation and elaboration because it seems to go against the essential system of nature.
Under the assumption that the essential system of the world is accepted, there are two ways of explaining and elaborating the mechanism of mu‘jizah:
1. Mu‘jizah seems to outwardly violate the laws of nature, but this is not actually so. In this view, the prophets (‘a) have knowledge of processes of substitution and replacement which others do not have. They are aware of factors existing in nature which can turn a piece of wood, for instance, into a living object like a snake. By using these factors, they can perform extraordinary acts. Since we do not know the natural process of turning a stick into a snake, we imagine that it is something unnatural. It is said that the prophets (‘a) knew the secrets of nature through which they were able to perform wonderful acts.
This interpretation, in which there is no room for the intervention of a hidden power, is unacceptable due to the following questions: From where have the prophets (‘a) acquired this wonderful knowledge? Is such knowledge acquired through the usual way of learning from others and through research and study? If so, why aren’t there scientists in every period who are forerunners in this field? There is no doubt that the prophets’ (‘a) knowledge of the secrets of nature cannot assume a usual and conventional form. It must be acknowledged, therefore, that they have acquired the secrets of nature through extraordinary and supernatural means. However, if it is possible to become knowledgeable through an unnatural or supernatural way, why then whould it be impossible to turn a stick into a snake through an unnatural way? If a prophet can know the secrets of nature by relying on the knowledge of the unseen, there is no reason, through the same means, they cannot acquire extraordinary powers by which they can control the natural course of affairs.
2. According to the second view, with the help of the unseen, a prophet acquires extraordinary power through which he can control the natural course of affairs in the world. It is said, however, that control over the natural course of affairs takes place within the framework of special rules and this does not equate with going against natural causes. For further clarification, one may take into account a paralyzed person. This physically handicapped person is incapable of movement according to medical principles, but the same person sometimes can surprisingly be able to move in a certain spiritual state.18 In this case, a spiritual power has exerted influence on the patient’s body and changed its natural course. What is called “psychotherapy” does not mean falsification of biological principles. It rather means utilization of a powerful spiritual force that can have natural effects. Regarding mu‘jizah, it can also be said that by using hidden powers, the prophets exert control over the natural course of affairs in such a manner that the immutable relationship between cause and effect is preserved. It is only because of the interference of hidden powers that there is a change in the natural course.
There is another issue here and that is, fakirs sometimes perform extraordinary acts, but their dissimilarity with the prophets lies in the power which causes such acts. The power of the prophets (‘a) pertains to the decree of God while the fakirs perform such acts by enhancing their spiritual power and exerting influence on the natural course of affairs. This difference becomes clear when we realize that, firstly, the human power possessed by fakirs, no matter how strong it is, can also be acquired by others and secondly, it is always inferior to the unseen power. The power of the prophets (‘a), on the other hand, is not human-based but rather God-given and extraordinary. It is therefore always dominant and can never be imparted to others.
While acknowledging the role of natural factors in the system of creation and the essential relationship between cause and effect, some Muslim scholars give justification to mu‘jizah and the intervention of unnatural forces in the natural course of affairs without invalidating their natural effects. In other words, mu‘jizah does not take place by undermining natural laws but rather by making use of a natural law and the application of an unnatural force.
Notes:
1. - Sūrah Yūnus 10:2.
2. - Sūrah Qaṣaṣ 28:7.
3. - Sūrah Naḥl 16:68.
4. - Sūrah Zalzalah 99:4-5.
5. - Sūrah Nisā’ 4:163.
6. - Sūrah Qaṣaṣ 28:86.
7. - Sūrah Najm 53:4-5.
8. - Sūrah Ṭā Hā 20:114.
9. - Sūrah ‘Ankabūt 29:48.
10. - Sūrah Ḥāqqah 69:43-48.
11. - Sūrah Ḥāqqah 69:133.
12. - Sūrah Mu’minūn 23:45.
13. - Exodus 14:21-22. In this volume, the translation of biblical passages is adapted from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible (Colorado: International Bible Society, 1984). [Trans.]
14. - Sūrah A‘rāf 7:106-108.
15. - Sūrah Qamar 54:1-2.
16. - See Muḥsin Jawādī, Darāmadī bar Khudāshināsī Falsafī [An Introduction to Philosophical Theology] (n.p: n.d.).
17. - Sūrah Anbīyā’ 21:69.