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Mir'at i Ka'inat we read the following 1 wonderful narrative. "A miracle.
In the Books of Biographies of Muhammad it is written that, when the Apostle was coming from Ta'if
to Mecca, a cloud came over his head. Gabriel appeared and said, 'God Most High, having heard the
words of thy nation and that they have rejected thee, has sent to thee the angel who is commissioned
to keep guard over the mountains, that thou mayest tell him what thy command is.' Thereupon that
angel saluted him and said, 'O Muhammad, thy Lord has sent me to thee that thou mayest tell me what
thy bidding is. Therefore, if thou biddest, I shall join the two mountains to one another, in order
that the unbelievers, remaining between them, may perish.' The Apostle said: 'Nay, I entreat of God
Most High that from their loins may proceed a posterity which will worship God alone, and will not
associate a partner with Him.'"
It is not necessary to quote any more of such tales as these. Those who have a taste for them
will find abundance of them in such books as the Rauzalu's Safa, 2 the Rauzatu'l
Ahbab, and the Jami'u'l Mu'jizat in Persian, in the Mir'at i Ka'inat in Turkish,
and in other Arabic works besides those we have previously mentioned. Stories of this kind abound in
the books of the Hindus and other heathens, and are still believed by ignorant idolaters in many
land; but they differ in their whole style and character from the genuine miracles recorded in the
Injil, to which the Qur'an bears witness. Some of these Traditions put us in mind of the tales told
in the Thousand and One Nights, and they prove that in earlier times also the Arabs possessed lively
imaginations and great power of romancing. Be it noted, however, that such miracles as some of those
which we have quoted were exactly of the kind which the Quraish demanded from Muhammad. Had he
wrought them, then undoubtedly
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the Qur'an would have mentioned some of them.. Instead of doing so, it tells us that he
was not a Ruler but a Warner, and also informs us why God did not give him the power to work
miracles at all.
If our honoured readers will carefully read the accounts which the New Testament gives of the
miracles wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles, they will perceive how totally they
differ in kind from those which, in opposition to the Qur'an, the Traditions attribute to Muhammad.
The New Testament miracles are not merely astounding occurrences, contrary to Nature (such as a tree
Walking and talking, a wooden column crying out and wailing like a babe, a murderer's broken leg or
arm made well with a touch, &c.); they are acted parables, full of spiritual instruction, works
of Divine mercy as well as of Divine might, such as the cleansing of lepers, opening the eyes of the
blind, raising the dead, &c. (Matt. xi. 4, 5; Luke vii. 22). But Christ's miracles of healing
were never wrought to save a murderer from one of the results of his crime. Nor did He devote Divine
power to the task of making trees walk about and stones cry out..
Besides this, the records which contain the account of Christ's miracles were compiled at latest
during no long period after His Ascension, during the lifetime of many of His immediate disciples.
These records were drawn up, under Divine guidance, in some cases by the disciples themselves. (the
Gospels of Matthew and John), in others by their authority (the Gospels of Mark and Luke). There is
also good reason to believe that brief accounts of Christ's wonderful work as well as of His words
were in some cases set down in writing at the time of their occurrences. On the other hand, the
miracles which the Traditions ascribe to Muhammad were not recorded in writing until hundreds of
years after his death. In the Injil, Christ Himself refers to His own mighty 1 works as a
proof of His Divine Commission;
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