The following paragraphs are quoted from the book “Why Did They Become Muslims?” [1], which the original selected passages have been paraphrased from Mir’ât-i-kâinât, published in Turkish by Bulak Printing House, Cairo in 1842. That book gives also the sources of most of the miracles. Mir’ât-i-kâinât is written by Nişâncı Zâde Muhammed bin Ramezân “rahmetullahi teâlâ aleyh”. Nişâncı Zâde Mehmed Efendi was fıkh scholar and historian. He was kadi (muslim judge) in Uskudar, Halep and Edirne. He faded in the way of Edirne in 1622.
There are a considerable number of witnesses testifying to the fact that Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is the true Prophet. Allâhu ta’âlâ acclaims him with the following complimentary inspiration: “Had it not been for thee, (O My beloved Messenger,) I would not have created anything!” All beings signify not only the existence and unity of Allâhu ta’âlâ, but also the prophethood and the superior virtues of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. All the miracles, (which are called kerâmat,) that happen through the Awliyâ among his Ummat (Muslims) are, in actual fact, his miracles, (which are called mu’jiza, as we have explained earlier). For kerâmats happen through people who follow him and adapt themselves to him. In fact, because all the other Prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-t-taslîmât’ yearned to be among his Ummat (Muslims), or, rather, because all of them were created from his nûr (light, halo), their miracles, too, may be said to be Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ miracles. Qasîda-i-Burda, by Imâm-Busayrî [d. 695 (1295 C.E.), Egypt], is a pulchritudinous expression of this fact.
With respect to time, the miracles of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ fall into three categories:
In the first category are those miracles that took place in the period beginning with the creation of his blessed soul and ending with his Bi’that, (which is the time when Allâhu ta’âlâ appointed him His Messenger, which He notified to him through His angel Jebrâîl ‘alaihis-salâm’).
The second category consists of those which took place within the time from the Bi’that to his transposition to the Hereafter.
Into the third category fall his miracles that have happened since his passing away, as well as those which will take place till the end of the world.
Miracles in the first category are called Irhâs, i.e. the beginners. Each category is divided into two classes: Miracles that were seen; and those which are inferred mentally. All these miracles are so many that it has never been possible to tally them. Miracles in the second category are estimated to be around three thousand. Here we give several miracles of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ just for sampling:
The greatest miracle of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is the Qur’ân al-kerîm. All the poets and men of literature that have come up to today have acknowledged their shortcoming and admiration about the poetic and semantic superiority of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. They have not been able to rehearse a literary piece approximating to the sublime standard of any one of its âyats.
One of the greatest and universally known miracles of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is his dividing the moon into two.
In some Holy Wars, at times of shortage of water, Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ put his blessed hand into a container, water poured down from between his fingers, and the container continuously overflowed with water.
During the Holy War of Hayber, when they put poisoned mutton kebâb on the table before him, a voice was heard to say, “Yâ Rasûlallah (O the Messenger of Allah)! Don’t eat me. I am poisoned.”
Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa-sallam’, like Suleymân (Solomon) ‘alaihis-salâm’, understood all sorts of animal language.
Another frequently seen miracle of the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ is his informing about the unknown. There are three different groups of these miracles:
The first group of miracles consists of questions he was asked about events previous to his time. The answers he gave to these questions caused many unbelievers and implacable enemies to embrace Islam.
In the second group are his miracles whereby he informed about the events that happened during his time as well as those which were going to happen later.
The third group embodies his prophesies of the events that will happen in the world till Doomsday and also those which will happen in the Hereafter.
[1] Ref: These paragraphs are quoted from the book “Why Did They Become Muslims?” page 210. The book is published by Hakikat Kitabevi, Istanbul. You can find the whole book and the other valuable books in the web site www.hakikatkitabevi.com.tr and download in PDF format for Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB format for iPhone-iPad-Mac devices and MOBI format for Amazon Kindle device.
