The Final Prophet by Mohammad Elshinawy

Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم ministry was supported by physical miracles that were witnessed and reported by a generation of superb moral integrity. This chapter will feature some of the most authentically transmitted miracles, after assessing the utility, plausibility, and provability of miracles in the first place.

While the Qur’an is the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم greatest miracle, and certainly sufficient on its own as a miracle, this does not negate that God gave him many other miraculous signs along with it.345

In other words, conviction in the prophethood of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is not dependent on his performance of miracles, but historically reliable reports of these miracles make their occurrence undeniable and a powerful cultivator of conviction. Of course, the believer is always encouraged to pursue higher states of conviction through contemplation, seeking knowledge, and purifying their heart until they can witness the Truth through the message of Islam itself. However, we should not underestimate the fact that some people’s psychospiritual makeup better orients them to traverse the “miracles avenue” to the gates of faith. As Ibn al-Qayyim writes, “The paths to guidance are diverse, as a mercy and kindness from God to His servants, due to the variation in their intellectual, mental, and spiritual insights.”346 He then proceeded to give examples of how some are guided by recognizing the truth in the message itself, due to the purity of their own nature, such as Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq , and some recognized the truth through the impeccable character of its bearer صلى الله عليه وسلم, such as Khadījah bint Khuwaylid . A third segment of humanity was brought to faith by God through miracles, while a fourth was impressed by the triumphs and successes of the Prophet’s lifetime, and a fifth group simply followed its leaders who joined the fold of Islam.

In addition to bringing some people to faith, miracles augment existing faith by instilling in those who read these stories immense love, respect, and admiration for the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. Reflecting on God’s mercy and aid to the believers grants the faithful a firm confidence in divine providence and help in times of hardship and difficulty. Reading and believing in the reality of divine omnipotence as manifested through these miracles enables a person to dream big, pushing their boundaries, and shaking off self-limiting beliefs. One recognizes that the natural order, seemingly fixed, is in fact entirely contingent on divine will.

This is the utility of miracles and why deemphasizing them to appear more rational and sophisticated is a great disservice to many sincere seekers. As for those solely interested in validating their preexisting beliefs, the Qur’an itself asserts that miracles are futile for those not willing to believe them, even if they were to witness them with their own eyes. Allah says, “And [even] if We opened to them a gate from the heaven and they continued therein to ascend, they would say, ‘Our eyes have only been dazzled. Rather, we are a people affected by magic.’”347 The Qur’an repeatedly describes this response to miracles from skeptical minds across the ages and explains why some still rejected Islam after witnessing the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم miracles themselves.

It demonstrates the veracity of a key epistemological perspective that the Qur’an postulates—namely, the futility of skepticism as an approach to knowledge. Even the clearest signs and miracles can be doubted if a person is willing to be skeptical of their own senses and question reality entirely.

But, because our postmodern times harbor greater suspicion against religious and traditional accounts of the supernatural than any other period in human history, let us first begin with dispelling the commonly held misconceptions that miracles are either logically impossible or historically unprovable.