Allah made it clear in the Quran that he sent no miracles with Muhammad, neither in his Quran nor in his hadith. Would this stop Muslims from claiming that there are miracles in the Quran and sunna? I doubt it!
The Quran is the Muslims’ most read book yet it is least understood. Muslims read the Quran to earn ‘hasanat’, i.e. the Islamic good deeds, that help the Muslim go to paradise. It is the process of reading the Quran that counts whereas the process of understanding is just a bonus. This reward system is fair and should be considered a sign of Allah’s generosity, because understanding the Quran is not an easy task; fourteen centuries on, Muslims still do not agree on its understanding! This is hardly surprising since the proper understanding of the Quran is only known to Allah and, may be, to a handful of Arabs (1), which makes you wonder why bother writing it at all.
In my time, schools in the Middle East used to teach that Muhammad’s only miracle was the Quran. It was the language of the Quran which was in mind; the claims about the scientific miracles were nonexistent. That remained to be the standard education in schools throughout the Middle East until about the 1970s. Of course, nobody ever gave a convincing explanation why the language of the Quran was considered a miracle, but it doesn’t take much to brainwash the children to believe such claims; after all, the Quran does look a weird book to learn or read.
After the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and their alliance with Saudi Arabia, Muslims now attribute thousands of miracles to Muhammad. There are numerous organizations, all generously funded, with very aggressive programmes for spreading the concept of miracles associated with Muhammad. This massive multibillion-dollar project aims to the Islamic world’s contribution to science—spreading ignorance through lies and pseudo research. By making their claims, Muslim scholars deliver a preemptive strike against any criticism to Islam. Their strategy is to cover up the areas where Islam is clearly vulnerable and present them to ordinary reader as miracles in disguise.
This article highlights some unmistakable assertions from Islam’s highest authority, Allah, that Muhammad had no miracles at all. This should be the ultimate answer to those untiring Muslims, who go around spreading the myths that Islam has miracles.
The Arabs demanded a miracle from Muhammad
Muhammad’s twenty-three-year career as a prophet is usually divided into two distinct phases: Meccan and Medinan. It was in Mecca where the Arabs felt free to debate Muhammad and ask him whatever questions they had in mind about his claims. Muhammad was stunned by the many questions put to him by intellectuals like Omar Ibn Hisham (2) and Al Nadr Ibn Al Harith. Those men exposed the real clueless and speechless Muhammad, who received no divine support. Abandoned by Allah, Muhammad became depressed (3) as he frequently failed to give answers. He used to go home and spend days or weeks thinking of those questions only to come up with odd answers that earned him the title, ‘the madman’ (4). The typical example was when they asked him about the spirit: the Arabs expected an answer of some kind from a man, who claims to communicate directly with God. Muhammad was speechless and no divine inspirations came to his help when it was most needed. It took him days or weeks of deep thinking to devise this answer: “the spirit is something Allah knows about”, which is hardly an answer worth waiting for.
17.85: they ask you concerning the Spirit. Say: “The spirit is something for my god; you are given only a little knowledge”.
Myths and stories of the past were part of the Arabs’ culture; Muhammad was particularly obsessed with the stories of the prophets sent by Allah in ancient times and used to tell those stories to the Arabs of Mecca with the hope they believe his claims of being a prophet himself. The Arabs were not impressed and rejected his claims. They even reminded him that Allah was keen to equip all his past prophets with miracles as signs of authenticity, a pattern that was never broken in the past. They insisted, then, that Muhammad must show them a miracle in order for them to believe his prophetic claim. Of course, Muhammad failed to show one.
The Arabs were so eager to see a miracle that when Muhammad revealed verse 34:9 (5) threatening them with a list of punishments, they asked him to go for it and ask his Allah and execute those threats (6) or at least perform some of those spectacular acts that lie beyond human reach. Of course, Allah didn’t.
After his migration to Medina in 622 AD, Muhammad seized power and had no interest or time for debates; the sword did it all for him. It is ironic that after thirteen years of preaching in Mecca, Muhammad recruited only a handful of followers while the Medina Arabs converted to Islam overnight, no debates and no questions asked!
Muhammad’s failure to show a miracle was reported extensively in the Quran along with some of the most absurd excuses that defy commonsense. Let us have a look at only some of those verses that Muslims read every day but never understand.
1) Verse 17:59
“And We refrain from sending the signs, only because the men of former generations treated them as false: We sent the she-camel to the Thamud to open their eyes, but they treated her wrongfully: We only send the Signs by way of terror.”
In this verse17:59, Allah declares that He decided to depart from his old practice of sending miracles with prophets because the former generations did not believe in them. Now (that is in the seventh century), He only uses miracles to terrify people (how kind!). This assertion, on its own, is clear enough to prove the point: Allah did not send miracles to Muhammad.
Just in case the Muslims do not get the point, Allah repeated the above message in many other verses. Please read on:
2) Verse 20:133
“They say: “Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord?” Has not a Clear Sign come to them of all that was in the former Books of revelation?”
In this verse, Allah reminds the Arabs of what is reported in the holy books about the previous nations who received miracles but did not believe. In other words, Allah had had enough and considers his past experience with the unbelievers as an excuse for not sending any more miracles in case the same thing happens again.
The Arabs of Mecca were understandably discontented about the above bizarre conclusion, which is repeated in many verses, that they would not believe because some former generations didn’t. This supposition is not only wrong but also contradicts some other Quranic claims made in other verses. Didn’t the Quran say that the magicians believed (7) Moses immediately? Therefore, miracles worked in the past and produced some results.
More to the point, the prediction that the Arabs would not believe were completely wide off the mark. It didn’t take more than a few years for this verse, and many others like it, to be proved wrong. When Muhammad returned to Mecca as a conqueror, all those Arabs, whom Allah claimed would not believe, converted to Islam overnight, no miracles needed, just the might of the sword!
3) Verse 13:27
“The Unbelievers say: “Why is not a sign sent down to him from his Lord?” Say: “Truly Allah leaves to go stray, whom He will and guides to Himself those who turn to Him in penitence”
In this verse, Allah gives a very strange, but honest, excuse. He says what is the point of sending a miracle? After all, it is up to Him to decide whom he will make go astray and whom he will make believe!
4) Verse 6:109
“They swear their strongest oaths by Allah that if a sign came to them they would believe. Say: “the signs are in the power of Allah: but what will make you (Muslims) realise that if signs came, they will not believe”?
This verse (6:109) reports that the Arabs swear by Allah’s name that if they see a miracle they would believe. This is a clear confirmation that the Arabs already believed in Allah, otherwise how do they swear by His name? Muhammad called the Arabs ‘the unbelievers’, because they did not believe in his claim of prophethood. It appears from this verse that the Arabs were sincere and straight in their promise to believe if they see a miracle, so why not just send them a miracle?
The verse also states that Allah keeps those signs for himself, which is a very strange thing to do; what is the use of the signs if they were kept with Allah and never utilized?
After proudly reminding us that all miracles are with Him, Allah turns to Muslims and asks them a question: “what makes you feel that the infidels would not believe if they see a miracle” We do not see the point behind that question or the difference would the answer make to Allah or to readers of the Quran.
5) Verse 29:50
They say: “Why are not Signs sent down to him from his Lord?” Say: “The signs are indeed with Allah and I am indeed a clear Warner.”
The Quran repeats the claims that all the miracles are with Allah and confirms that He decided not to send any of them, because, according to Ibn Katheer, he knew it would not make the unbelievers believe. The verse is basically another confirmation that Muhammad performed no miracles (signs). The same logic is repeated in verses 6:37 and 13:7
6) Verse 6:37
“They say: “Why is not a sign sent down to him from his Lord?” Say: “(Allah) hath certainly power to send down a sign: but most of them understand not”
The verse reports that the Arabs were suspicious of Muhammad’s authenticity because he had no signs. As an answer to the Arabs’ questions, the verse says that Allah is capable of sending signs if He wishes, which indicates that Allah did not wish to send one to Muhammad.
7) Verse 13: 7.
“And the Unbelievers say: “Why is not a sign sent down to him from his Lord?” But thou art truly a warner, and to every people a guide”
In this verse, Muhammad accepts the fact that he had no miracles and tries to justify such an odd position. He came up with the excuse that was only a guide, which was not a plausible excuse to the Arabs because they believed that all the past prophets were also guides to their nations, but they all had miracles.
8) Verse 17: 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: “Glory to my Lord! Am I aught but a man,- an apostle?”
In this verse 17:93, Muhammad makes an unequivocal admission that he had no miracles. It happened when the Arabs asked him to demonstrate for them one of a list of miracles they listed for him in this and the three preceding verses. His answer was clear and indisputable: I don’t have a miracle; I am only a human.
What about the Quranic Challenge?
Allah challenged all humans (Verses 2:23, 17:88) to produce a chapter that matches the Quran but nobody did. According to Muslims, this is an indication that the Quran is a miracle. This piece of information is known to all Muslims and would undoubtedly come to the minds of those who may read this article, hence the following comment:
The majority of Muslims do not know that the Internet is bursting with literature that mimics the Quran. Normally, no sane Arab could openly compose a work that mimics the Quran for the fear of death. However, the Internet provided a safe haven to those authors, who are willing to take the challenge. Nevertheless, it is worth highlighting that the two greatest Arab poets, Al Maari and Al Mutanabbi, both composed their own Qurans albeit they were forced to withdraw their works and repent. Their Qurans have completely disappeared from history.
In the past, a renowned Islamic group, named Al Mutazilla, believed that although the Quran was the word of Allah but there was nothing spectacular about its style. The Meccan Arabs did not like the Quran and thought it was a poor kind of literature, which is why they thought Muhammad was mad. It was not unexpected for Muhammad to react by claiming that his work was the best in the world.
Muhammad was an Arab and the Arabs still react in a similar manner in similar circumstances. In Arab culture, it is still common for a person, who produces a poor work, to defend his product by saying: “I challenge you and all your relatives to produce something similar”. Or even to swear in the name of Allah that his product is “the best product in the world”. On the other hand, people who produce works of high quality, be it literature or any form of art, do not makes such challenges. If the challenge verses mean anything, they mean that the Arabs did not like the Quran. They are signs of weakness rather than signs of strength.
References:
1. Verse 3:7
“He it is Who has sent down to you the Book: In it are verses of established meanings; they are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its meanings, but no one knows its meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: “We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:” and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.”
2. Omar Ibn Hisham was renowned of his encyclopaedic knowledge (father of knowledge) and recognised Muhammad was a liar. When Muhammad seized power, he reversed his nickname to ‘father of ignorance’ and tracked him, together with Al nadr Ibn Al Harith, and killed thim in the battle of Badr.
3. Verse 18:6 “Perhaps, you, would kill yourself (O ) in grief, over their footsteps (for their turning away from you), because they do not believe this narration (the Quran)”
4. Verse 37:36 “And they said: “Are we going to abandon our gods for the sake of a mad poet?” and verse 44:14 “Then they had turned away from him ( ) and said: “One taught (by a human being), a madman!”
5. Verse 34:9 See they not what is before them and what is behind them, of the heaven and the earth? If We will, We shall sink the earth with them, or cause a piece of the sky to fall upon them. Verily, in this is a sign for every faithful believer that turns to Allah.
6. Verses:
17:90 And they say: “We shall not believe in you, until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us;
17:91 “Or you have a garden of date-palms and grapes, and cause rivers to gush forth in their midst abundantly;
17:92″Or you cause the heaven to fall upon us in pieces, as you have pretended, or you bring Allah and the angels before (us) face to face;
17:93 “Or you have a house of adornable materials (like silver and pure gold, etc.), or you ascend up into the sky, and even then we will put no faith in your ascension until you bring down for us a Book that we would read.” Say (O ): “Glorified be my Lord (Allah) above all that evil they (polytheists) associate with Him! Am I anything but a man, a Messenger?”
7. Verses 7:120 And the magicians fell down in prostration, 20:70, So the magicians fell down in prostration. They said, “We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.” 26:46 So the magicians fell down in prostration
8. Verse 2:23 “And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful”, and verse 17:88 “Say, “If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants”
