History bears witness that the Prophets came to show the path of salvation to the human being who had become empty, and to remove the great obstacles that were standing in the way of his intellectual development and his innate perceptions, causing him to become alienated from himself. Thus, the human being was enable to find a new what he had lost, and the groundwork was laid for the establishment of justice, a society based on equity, and an environment conducive to spiritual advancement. The fulfilment of such a commitment was without doubt dependent on the possession of great spiritual capacities. The Prophets had first to be armed with weapon of miracles, which provided them with a decisive force for entering the arena and beginning the mission.
A miracle is a deed performed by a Prophet, by the will of God. In order to demonstrate the truth of his claim to prophethood. The Proof that the miracle constitutes is without any doubt an indication of the Prophet’s relationship with the source of revelation, the Creator of being. For the one who claims to possess a mission from heaven, to have a message from God, and to be in contact with another world, must perform a deed that lies beyond the confines of nature, a deed that will serve as his letter of credentials from the Creator and confirm his claim to be in contact with revelation. To prevent His servants from falling into the trap of false claimants to prophethood, God has placed this blazing lamp, this decisive proof, in the hands of his envoys to mankind, so that the face of truth should never be obscured by veils of trickery and deceit. Just as the form of the entire scheme of being and the existence of all phenomena is a clear proof of the existence of God and His pre-eternal unity, the miracle is a clear and manifest proof of the relationship of the Prophet with the source of revelation. Religion cannot be interpreted correctly except with reference to revelation; all the topics dealt with by religion become meaningless and worthless once severed from revelation.
A Prophet who loudly claims prophethood for himself is, in reality, issuing the human beings with a challenge to enter the field of struggle against him with greater seriousness and energy than his, through mobilizing all their capacities and resources. But despite their efforts, they get nowhere in their confrontation with him, and in their utter impotence they are obliged to surrender. The miracle of the Prophet is by its very nature a demonstration of his connection with the source of all being and the world of revelation; its properties are such that it is impossible for the human beings who are not connected or resist it, however much they expend of their powers and energies. Hence the demonstration of prophethood depends on the performance of a deed that transcends the limits set by natural norms and common laws, and the performance of such a deed is not possible without the permission of the Creator. This provides a criterion for distinguishing the true from the false. Naturally, the miracle differs from other phenomena in the world only from our point of view of the One Who has precise and complete knowledge of all the causes of existence.
Generally speaking, the proof of prophethood was provided by miracles in areas that were in each age the object of special attention, so that those specialized in each area might know that the deed in question was beyond the limits of human capacity. This is the starting point for the task of the Prophets; by taking into account the human being’s level of intellectual development, they conquer broad horizons of human belief and swiftly attain their exalted goals.
DENIAL AND NEGATION ON THE BASIS OF PRIDE
Those who regard miracles as something impossible and unacceptable should know that their incredulity arises from a superficial and simplistic view of things. Many events occur in the material world of which the human being knows the causes, but there are other events which the natural sciences are unable to interpret and explain. We should not, therefore arrogantly deny everything the cause of which is unknown to us, relying on our slight knowledge. The human being’s error is to imagine that he knows everything; when he cannot penetrate the depths of a problem, he proceeds simply to deny it. However, it is beyond dispute that certain limits have been set to reach of our thought, and however much farther the realm of human knowledge be extended, it will always remain limited. It is not wise to try and extend our own limited knowledge and laws to embrace the whole of infinite being. The instruments of our science will not have enough power or capacity to examine many matters, for causes and determining factors are not limited to those things of which we are aware.
The miracles of the Prophets remain covered by the overall order of creation; it is we who on account of the limited scope of our awareness, and the cessation of our thought-mechanisms at the boundaries of supra-natural realm, are unable to penetrate the unknown and virgin territories of the universe.
From the point of view of time and place, being is infinite, and that segment of it which has been studied by the human being cannot in any way provide him with a complete idea of being. Why, then, should it be objectionable if our questions concerning the causes of the miracles wrought by the Prophets remain unanswered? It is not possible to compare miracles with the extraordinary states attained by ascetics, because deeds such as theirs do not lie beyond the scope of human thought and inspection, instruction and practice; they inevitably yield certain results and they can be performed by others who pursue the same course. Moreover, since accomplishments such as these derive from the limited powers of the human being, they cannot be performed under all conditions and without the use of certain instruments.
Furthermore, the deeds of ascetics are in many cases a kind of frivolous entertainment; they do not play any positive constructive role in human life nor do they bear any fruit worth speaking of. No one will regard the deeds of ascetics as miraculous or a proof of communication with God. As for the deeds wrought by geniuses, they result from their possessing the power of thought, intelligence and mental calculation, from their awareness of a series of precise scientific mysteries, the deduction and application of which depends on knowledge of certain complex and precise principles.
None of this has anything in common with miracles. Anyone who studies the rudiments of one of the sciences can, in principle reach the same result as a genius; it is a matter of education and instruction.
Scientific accomplishment is restricted to certain cases and it is open to contradiction by other, similar attainments.
A miracles depends to be continued
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