Proof of the Prophethood: Miracles

In the dictionary, miracle which means “something that incapacitates human, that is irresistible, extraordinary, strange and weird,” as a term means “extraordinary event created by the Almighty Allah to verify and support the prophets who claim to be a prophet, and that human is incapable of doing the like.” 

(Kılavuz, Ahmet Saim vd., İlmihâl, I/113) In the Qur'an, "ayah", "bayyinah" and "burhan" are used instead of the term miracle. The righteousness of anyone who claims to have received revelation from Allah and to be a prophet can be known by a miracle. Miracle is needed for a prophet to prove his prophethood. The only proof that distinguishes the true prophet from the false prophet is a miracle. 

Prophets performed miracles with the permission of Almighty Allah. Miracles were bestowed upon each prophet to correspond to the subjects of knowledge and skill that were common at the time he lived. Since magic in the time of Prophet Musa, medicine in the age of Prophet Isa, and literature and information types in the period of Prophet Muhammad (saw) were advanced, a staff that nullified the magic of wizards was bestowed upon Musa, the ability to resurrect the dead or revitalize the land was bestowed upon Isa, and the Qur'an, which emphasizes knowledge, was bestowed upon Muhammad as a miracle. 

Miracles have their own characteristics. For an event to be considered a miracle, it must have the following characteristics:

a) Miracle is an act of Allah. It is called "the miracle of the prophet" in a figurative sense.

b) The miracle must be an event against the usual laws of nature. Its condition of being extraordinary is in proportion to the power of people. Miracle is not something extraordinary in terms of being the act of Allah, it is like His other acts.

c) Miracle should be with a challenge by the prophet against the deniers, as "Perform the same or similar to this!"

d) Miracle must take place with the claim  of prophethood, should not occur long before or long after the prophethood.

e) Miracle should support the claim of the prophet, and should not have a false and self-seeking quality. 

f) Miracles are performed by prophets. So they are unique to those who are prophets. For this reason, events that seem extraordinary and performed by someone other than the prophets are not called miracles.

g) A miracle cannot be repeated. Because a repetitive event ceases to be a miracle, it becomes ordinary. Something ordinary cannot be a miracle. (Esen, Muammer, İslam İnanç Esasları (Peygamberlere İman), p. 202-203.

Some examples for the miracles that are mentioned in the Holy Qur'an are as follows:

a) Fire of Namrud did not burn Prophet Ibrahim. (Anbya, 21/67-69)

b) Musa threw his staff, it became a serpent (A’raf, 7/106-107), and swallowed the wizards' ropes and sticks (Ta-ha, 20/65-70), when he struck the sea with his staff, the sea parted and it closed again. (Shu'ara, 26/61-66)

c) When Isa made a bird out of mud with the permission of Allah and blew it, it became a living bird and flied, he resurrected the dead, he healed an innate blind and a patient with leprosy, he informed about people what people ate and accumulated in their homes, and he lowered a table from the sky at the request of the apostles. (Maidah, 5/110; 114-115; Ali 'Imran, 3/48-49)

d) Prophet Sulayman's conversation with a bird (Naml, 27/20-28), his comprehension of what an ant said(Naml, 27/18-19), bringing the throne of Queen of Sheba in a shorter time than a blink. (Naml, 27/38-42)

e) Prophet Saleh brought a camel upon the request of the Thamud tribe, the tribe cut it, and in return, Almighty Allah destroyed them with a great earthquake. (Shu'ara, 26/141-158)

f) Prophet Yaqub's eyes started to see when he wiped the shirt of his son Yusuf on his eyes. (Yusuf, 12/92-96) (Kılavuz, Ahmet Saim vd., İlmihâl, p. 114; Esen, Muammer, İslam İnanç Esasları (Peygamberlere İman), p. 203)

The greatest miracle of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) is the Holy Qur'an, which is a miracle of knowledge in terms of its content, beyond having an extraordinary quality in terms of linguistics. (Topaloğlu, Bekir, İslam’da İmân Esasları, p. 381) The verse, “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." (Isra, 17/88) emphasizes the miraculous aspect of the Holy Qur'an. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) stated this reality in one of his hadiths as follows: "Every Prophet was given miracles because of which people believed. But what I have been given, is the miracle which Allah has revealed to me. [the Qur'an)." (Bukhari, Fedailu’l-Qur’an, 1) Neither the Meccan polytheists, who had advanced poetry and eloquence in history, nor Ahl al-Kitab, who had written culture and literature, and who had many scholars, could not even generate something similar to the Holy Qur'an, not even one of its surah.

 The Holy Qur'an is different from the miracles of the other prophets as it is an eternal miracle that will last until the Last Day. 

The extraordinary events that Prophet Muhammad (saw) showed to the people in his time, and that can be perceived by the sense organs, are called the visible miracles. Visible miracles are divine acts that transcend the laws of nature and show the intervention of Allah, and ensure the iman of those who use their will. Visible miracles are limited to the time and place the prophet lives in. In the Holy Qur'an, it is seen that the visible miracles occurred in the hands of the previous prophets. The human characteristics of the Prophet, his only duty of conveyance, and that such events not beneficial for those who did not want to believe are pointed out again in the Qur'an, against the deniers who asked for visible miracles, and it is also stressed that the Qur'an would be sufficient for those who have reason and common sense. (Isra, 17/59; Ankabut, 29/50-51) However, most of the Islamic scholars accept that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was given visible miracles. (Bulut, Halil İbrahim, “Mucize”, DİA, XXX/352)

The information given by the Messenger of Allah (saw) about the detailed information (individuals, events, societies, and places) in the stories of the Qur'an is one of the greatest miracles of his prophethood. There are various examples in the Holy Qur'an and hadith narrations that fall into the field of heard miracles.