mu’jizas, tahaddi, prophet, Prophethood, mu’jiza
To us, a mu’jiza is something proving the truthfulness of a person who said he was a Prophet. There were conditions for a mu’jiza:
1 — Allahu ta’ala made it in the absence of ordinary means, whereby to help His Prophet be confirmed.
2 — It had to be extraordinary. Ordinary things, such as the sun’s rising in the East every day or flowers blooming in the spring, could not be mu’jizas.
mu’jizas, tahaddi, prophet, Prophethood, mu’jiza
3 — Others had to be incapable of doing it.
mu’jizas, tahaddi, prophet, Prophethood, mu’jiza
4 — It had to happen whenever the person who announced his prophethood wished it to.
5 — It had to agree with his wish. For example, if he said that he would enliven a certain dead person and if some other marvel took place, for example, if a mountain was broken into two, instead, it would not be a mu’jiza.
6 — The mu’jiza happening upon his wish should not belie him. For example, while he was miraculously talking with a certain beast, if the beast said, “This man is a liar,” it would not be a mu’jiza.
7 — The mu’jiza should not happen before he said he was a Prophet. Wonders that happened before [the announcement of his prophethood], such as ’Isa’s [Jesus] (’alaihi ’s-salam) talking when he was in a cradle, his being handed dates when he asked for dates from a withered-up tree, and in Muhammad’s (alaihi ’s-salam) childhood, the cleavage of his chest and his heart being cleansed by washing, there being a cloud over his head continuously and his being greeted by trees and stones were not mu’jizas, but karamas. They are called irhasat (preparatory signs of a prophet). They emphasized prophethood. It is possible for such karamas to happen through Awliya’ as well. Before Prophets were informed of their prophethood, their status was not lower than that of the Awliya’. Karamas were seen from them. A mu’jiza could happen immediately after a Prophet is informed of his prophethood. For example, if he had said that such and such an event would take place a month later, the event would become a mu’jiza when it took place. But it would not be necessary to believe in his prophethood before it took place.
mu’jizas, tahaddi, prophet, Prophethood, mu’jiza
A mu’jiza demonstrating that a Prophet is telling the truth is not only a requirement of the intellect. That is, it is unlike the case of some work denoting the existence of its agent. For the intellect’s realizing that something is the proof of something else requires some relationship between the two things. When the proof is seen, the existence of the related thing, not the existence of something else, is realized. The case is not so with a mu’jiza. For example, heavens being broken into pieces, stars being scattered and mountains being pulverized will take place when the end of the world comes, at the time of Doomsday. This will not be the time for the coming of a Prophet. These are the mu’jizas foretold by every Prophet. But, it is not necessary for those who hear about them to know that they are mu’jizas. So is the case with a Wali’s karama being the mu’jiza of a Prophet, though it does not have any connection with that Prophet. What we have stated so far is explained in detail in the book Sharh-i mawaqif by Sayyid Sherif al-Jurjani.
mu’jizas, tahaddi, prophet, Prophethood, mu’jiza
According to most ’ulama’, though open tahaddi (challenge), that is, saying,
“Go ahead and do the same! But you can’t!”
is not a condition for a mu’jiza, the meaning of a mu’jiza contains tahaddi. Because a tahaddi is not a matter of question in the reports made about the states of the Rising Day and future events, these are not mu’jizas against disbelievers. The Believers believe that these reports are mu’jizas. The karamas of Awliya’ are not mu’jizas because they do not claim prophethood and because there is no tahaddi in them. The fact that such non-challenging wonders do not prove the truthfulness of a person claiming prophethood does not necessarily show that mu’jizas do not prove it. On the contrary, this is what is expected from a mu’jiza. mu’jizas, tahaddi, prophet, Prophethood, mu’jiza
