Reasons Why Prophets' Miracles are mentioned in the Qur'an
According to the decree of the verse that states everything is in a Clear Record:
“nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered) but is (inscribed) in a Record Clear”, the Quran expresses openly and secretly, definitely and in an implying way, and symbolically everything that happened and that will happen at all times.72
As a result of the advancement of man in art and science, many art and science wonders like airplanes, electricity, trains, etc have been invented and they have an important place in the daily lives of people.
The Quran, which addresses the mankind in general and which mentions everything based on their importance, has not ignored them. It indicated them in two ways:
a) Mentioning about the miracles of prophets...
b) Narrating some historical events.73
We will refer only to how the miracles of prophets indicated and implied those wonders of art and science.
There are two main reasons why the miracles of prophets are mentioned in the Quran:
a) To make people to accept and confirm the prophethood of those prophets...
b) To show people the samples that are necessary for material advancement and to encourage people to produce things similar to them.
It is as though the Quran is pointing out the principles and foundations of the material advancement with the stories of prophets. The Quran warns people:
“O people! The miracles that you see are some samples and examples. Exert yourselves to the utmost and discover the means to achieve things similar to them. The past is the mirror of the future. The inventions in the future are built on the foundations of the past. The advancement in this age took place completely based on the signs and inspirations indicated by religions. For instance:
a) The first clock and ship were given to people through the hand of miracles.
b) With so much advancement invented thanks to the softening of iron, which is the foundation of many arts and professions, the mankind was helped by the miracle of Hazrat Dawud (PBUH) (David): “the miracle of softening the iron in his hand”.
c) With the advancement made possible by the invention of airplanes, rockets, etc the mankind approached the miracle of Hazrat Sulayman (PBUH) (Solomon): “the wind (air) becoming under his command”.
d) The centrifuge device drawing water from barren and sandy places is similar to the miracle of Moses (PBUH) “water springing from the place where he struck his rod”.
e) The development of medicine yielded by man’s experiments and sharing the ideas are similar to the miracles of Jesus in the field of medicine. Jesus (PBUH) cured many patients that the science of medicine could not cure and he even revived the death. Today’s medicine can prevent death temporarily through medical interventions like heart transplant and artificial heart, thus doing something similar to the miracle of Jesus: “reviving the dead”.
f) The miracle of Abraham (PBUH): “not burning in the fire” is encouragement for the invention of non-flammable things like amianthus.
g) The miracle of Hazrat Yusuf (PBUH) (Joseph) seeing his father Hazrat Yaqub (Jacob), who was in Kanan, and retreating from Zulaykha. The miracle of Jacob smelling the scent of Joseph’s shirt from the caravan that set off from Egypt. The miracle of the throne of Balqis being brought to the presence of Sulayman... All of those miracles indicate that it will be possible to transport things, sounds and smells from long distances and encourage people to work on them. As a matter of fact, through devices like radio, television and telephone, things similar to those miracles were partly realized.
h) The miracle of teaching the speech of birds to Solomon indicates that people can learn what the sounds of birds mean and encourages people to discover the characteristics of those sounds and make use of those animals. As a matter of fact, the studies on bird speech have reached a very high level today.
There are so many similar miracles that man has not been able to do things similar to them; man has been trying to invent and discover them with the advancement of civilization.74
Footnotes:
72 al-An’am, 59. According to an interpretation, Clear record means the Quran. Sözler, 262.
73 Sözler, 263.
74 İşâratü’l-İ’câz, 215-216; Sözler, 262 ff.; Hutbe-i Şamiye, 28
73 Sözler, 263.
74 İşâratü’l-İ’câz, 215-216; Sözler, 262 ff.; Hutbe-i Şamiye, 28
0 comments :
Post a Comment