If Not Allah, Then Who?
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
One of the most amazing things about Allah’s boundaries is that they work not only with regard to human affairs, but also with regard to all the other animate and inanimate phenomena in the world. Nature, as many people refer to them collectively.
How beautifully Allah puts it in the Qur’an — a pair of Aayats I used to wonder about forever as a child as to what exactly they meant: Marajal Bahraini yaltaqiyaan, bainahumaa barzakhun laa yabghiyaan. Paraphrase: Allah causes the two seas to meet, but in such a way that neither one of the two breaches the barrier that separates them.
Allahu Akbar, what a concept. What an unassailable scientific verity. What a miracle!
The question I ask myself over and over is this: If this Qur’an is not from Allah, and if it is Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, Ma’adhallah, God forbid, who “wrote” it, then who in the world taught this Unlettered Man a most profound scientific fact like this — 1400 years ago, in the heart of an illiterate culture?
And of course it is not the only scientific fact of its kind in the Qur’an.
A World Filled with Allah’s Blessings and Signs
No wonder Allah demands of us in the Qur’an: Fabi-ayyi aalaa-i rabbikumaa tukaddhibaan? Paraphrase: Which one of Allah’s blessings will you deny?
Indeed, which one will we, in a world that is so filled with his blessings and signs?
Or if you want to hear it more directly: Fa-ayya aayaatillahi tunkiroon? Paraphrase: Which one of Allah’s signs will you deny?
How beautiful it is. The first Aayat talks about Allah’s blessings and bounties — Aalaa’ — whereas the second Aayat talks about Allah’s signs and miracles — Aayaat.
The subtle difference between the two expressions Tukaddhibaan and Tunkiroon is simply mind-blowing as they say. The first expression would be more appropriate in cases where someone knows the truth and then deliberately rejects it or lies about it. The second would indicate a failure or inability to recognize facts.
No, I am not launching into Tafseer. Just couldn’t help sharing some of those exciting observations. Besides, anything we ever say about anything is a Tafseer of kalimaatullah anyway, which is endless. For, what else is there in this world except Allah; his Qur’an; his kalimaat; his Rasul, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam; his explanation, illustration and practice of those kalimaat; and the reality which Allah created as a space-time manifestation of his kalimaat?
From “Fun” and “Boundaries” to “Miracles”
We started out talking about “fun”. In one of my earlier Payaams, that is. But before we go any further with this topic, the topic of “fun” I mean, let me explain what I mean by that other expression, “miracle,” that I use so frequently in my writings — and in my speeches, on those rare occasions when I accept a speaking engagement these days — and then I will see if I can get back to talking a bit more about what I mean by “fun.”
For, no matter which way I look at Islam, what I see is a wave upon wave upon wave of miracles. Aankh waalaa teyree qudrat kaa tamaashaa deykhey, as my mother used to sing, Allah bless her. Paraphrase: Anyone with eyes can behold the spectacle of your wonders.
It leaves me speechless when I think of all the poetry some of these Muslim people can remember and recite — some absolutely brilliant and amazing women among them, including my mother, Allah bless her, who is in her nineties. In Urdu, in Farsi, in Arabic, and who knows in what else? Another little miracle of Islam and Muslims in its own right, I must say.
So, What in the World Is a Miracle?
So let us now turn to the question of miracles and ask what in the world is this miracle that I keep talking about all the time? It simply means how, to me, everything about Islam, the Qur’an and the life of Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is a most spectacular phenomenon in this world, the most amazing thing that you can imagine.
I just call it a miracle — with the small “m” to distinguish it from all the other big things that everyone routinely refers to as miracles such as the flood of Noah, Alaihis Salaam, or the raising of the dead by Jesus, Alaihis Salaam, or the parting of the sea by Moses, Alaihis Salaam.
That means to me everything in the creation of Allah is a miracle. Even what people may consider the most simple or ordinary things. I mean every blade of grass in the lush lawns of Delhi, Aligarh, Simla, Lahore, Chandigarh, England, Europe, America and Australia; every leaf, flower and fruit on every mango, neem, peepal, apple and cherry tree everywhere; and every grain of sand on every beach in Madras, Kerala, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Florida, California and the West Indies.
The Muslim Miracle
In fact, to me — believe it or not — everything about the life of the Muslims is a miracle. I mean average, everyday Muslims — if only the Muslims will rub their eyes and see it.
To me every Muslim — to the extent that Muslim has any connection with Islam — is a walking, talking, breathing, ongoing miracle of God Almighty on his earth. He or she is a living witness and testimony to God’s presence and power in his world and a powerful proof in every age and place of the miraculous truth of Islam.
After all, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, said it most beautifully: Antum shuhadaa-ullah! Meaning: You are God’s witnesses on earth. What is that if not calling every Muslim a miracle — in that sense?
These are the everyday, ordinary, routine miracles of Islam and Muslims. That is what I call them. But what does it really mean though — the expression “miracle,” the way I use that word? Let me explain.
