In our study of the story of Jesus, we saw the example of the disciples asking Jesus by using the phrase “pray to your Lord” so that our heart is satisfied. There seems to be a little bit of a problem with the usage of “Your Lord” by the disciples of Jesus; the doubt comes from using that phrase indicating one is not fully convinced of belonging to the Lord of the universe. Some scholars interpreted it as the Lord that you introduced to us which could be right but we should try to make the Lord of everyone, “Rab ul ‘Alameen”.
We referred to the example of prophet Abraham as well with his prayer in asking to be comfortable in his belief. Prophet Abraham felt the same need which is not strange and applicable to every human being. Abraham is represented in the Quran as a single person, father of the Oneness of God “Tawhid” and challenging his immediate tribe members. For Abrahams’ request it wasn’t strange since he stated as “My Lord”.
In fact, everyone wants to have a convinced and satisfied heart. We are used to seeing the proofs in this world and then conclude. For example, if possible, I want to see the person that I love physically. We need physical proof of things to be convinced.
Let’s see the following verse where God answers their prayer:
قَالَ ٱللَّهُ إِنِّى مُنَزِّلُهَا عَلَيْكُمْ ۖ فَمَن يَكْفُرْ بَعْدُ مِنكُمْ فَإِنِّىٓ أُعَذِّبُهُۥ عَذَابًۭا لَّآ أُعَذِّبُهُۥٓ أَحَدًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
5:115 God answered, “I [am the One who always] do send it down to you, but anyone who denies the truth of the message after this will be punished with a punishment that I will not inflict on anyone else in the world.”
The word “مُنَزِّلُهَا” is not only sending down but also continuously sending down which explains the parenthesis of “I am the One who always sends down”. The word is a noun and active participle meaning that it is His profession to do it, always doing it. In the Quran, when God refers Himself as doing an action as a verb then that is a one-time event. Whereas a noun is always doing it as a profession.
The disciples of Jesus asked for a banquet. What does the banquet include in it? The verse was from section “Maida” and the word used was “Maidatan”. Banquet can have food, taste, delicacy, nutrition, colors, happiness, satisfaction, i.e. various aspects are there. God’s banquet is always with us. Anything created that we are benefitting from is included in the banquet.
The verse continues with: Anyone who denies the truth after this message has reached them will be punished with a punishment that I will not inflict on anyone else in the world. What does this mean?
First of all, I am not in a position now to ask for a miracle from a prophet, make it physically appear in front of my eyes as miracles. What’s the difference between the prophetic miracles and the miracles happening in front of us all the time? Every creature in this world is a miracle because nothing in this world can give existence to anything but the things are continuously coming into existence. The Quran uses the word “ayah” for three kinds of miracles:
1. the verses of the Quran which only the Creator of the universe can say
2. any creature such as my being can only be given existence by the Lord of the universe.
3. the miracles of the prophets are permitted and created by the Lord of the universe.
The miracles of the prophets apply to the people at that time where they witnessed it. We may feel that there is no prophet in front of me now demonstrating miracles such as the miracle of a handful of water satisfying a whole army. The people at the prophets’ time needed to be convinced; otherwise, how would they believe that he was a prophet of God. The people of the time needed to experience miracles as unaccustomed events. They just heard a few verses and did not have time to study like we do. How can I be convinced from the occasional revelation coming to the prophet (pbuh) that he is not making it up? For them: If the revelation is the speech of the Creator of the universe and you claim that you are the prophet who is employed by Him, He must be able to create anything for you. This is why miracles were needed at that time.
That is why Jesus’ disciples were asking for a miracle to be convinced. In verse 5:112 – “can your Lord send down a feast and Jesus replied: ‘Be conscious of God, remember God if you are true believers.’” God answers in the above verse that if you receive the banquet as physical evidence and don’t accept the message that the prophets brought to you, then I will punish you. Now that we have the physical evidence in the universe and the corresponding message in revelation, I can confirm the message. We see the correlation between the message and the universe and see that everything is a banquet and comes into existence in a miraculous way out of soil, water. There are millions of species out there and perfect in their existence, a true miracle. Apart from this, our feelings are given to us and the response to our expectations are reflected in the universe. For example, I like beautiful things and I look for the beautiful things. There are some ugly things created that I dislike and I am practicing on not liking ugly things. I am put in a position as if I am in the center of the universe, constantly communicating with not only my physical research but with senses and feelings as well. My spirit is communicating with the qualities of the universe and is able to communicate with the creator of this universe. This communication is perfectly adjusted which is also an essential banquet for us. “The whole universe is created for me”, it does not exclude the rest as everyone can state that the universe is created for them. I must be fully satisfied not only intellectually but also sensually.
The ideas presented today to us by the deniers ignore this point about continuous change in creation with perfectly arranged different forms. We wonder who is continuously changing the order that I experience. For example, the computer functions in the same way according to the program of the engineer. Can I imagine that the engineer of the computer continuously changes the program and the computer still works perfectly? That is the situation of this world in which we have to wonder who is continuously changing the order. This order works amazingly with perfection, with no confusion at all. Isn’t this a miracle, a beautiful banquet for me to reflect on?
Nowadays revelation is available for me to study along with the universe. At the prophets’ time, people would hear some verses being revealed. How would they pay attention to the prophet’s message and take him seriously? They have every right to experience miracles.
Practically speaking, some people have doubts about the narrations describing prophetic miracles. They mention that the sequence of narrations is not that sure, doubts are there. Let’s assume that all the narrations mentioning miracles were fabricated, I would still believe that there should be miracles for the contemporaries of the prophets. Otherwise, it would be against the wisdom of the Creator of the universe. Every prophet must be supported by physical miracles so that people are convinced to take the prophets seriously, pay attention to what they say and then submit their lives according to the message the prophets bring. This process is necessary. It would be unjust to expect people to follow the prophetic message when they have not received the whole revelation in the text form yet. It is expected from wisdom that to convince the hearts and minds of people, the creator of the universe must send some sign in the form of miracles: I create the miracles to support My message and am continuously creating all sorts of banquet, physical and spiritual as well.
I don’t have to expect a prophet to come to demonstrate physical miracles in my life. The whole message is in front of me, the complete revelation and the universe are available for me to investigate where my conclusion sees everything as created by God and is a miracle. We have to train ourselves to the message brought to us by the messengers to see the miracles in creation, study the Quran alongside the universe. As a human being I need physical evidence to believe in “Ghaib”, an Absolute Creator. Everything should be extraordinary for us and my feelings need to be satisfied with this extraordinary creation.
Continuing with the verse “anyone who denies the truth after seeing the miracle, receiving the message” cannot escape the consequence of any denial of the message which would lead to the meaninglessness of life, of the universe. All this education while living in the world will go to waste whereupon graduation there would be no degree.