The Principle of Causation in the Qur'an
We had said that all the phenomena of the existence are related to Allah, and that no being in any time, place and dimension can do without Allah. A question may arise here: If the Unity of Acts is so vastly extensive as to encompass every phenomenon with its dimensions and details, it must mean that no other factor or cause can have any effect in the appearance of any thing, since the Unity of Acts means that all acts are done by Allah, and since He is the real effective, and that we must deny everything else any kind of effect and causation. Therefore, this can be a question for discussion.
The Connection of the Principle of Causation to the Unity of Acts
To get a clear expression of this connection, we may explain first the concept of "cause" and the principle of "causation". "Cause" is usually used to denote the aim of the doer, and it is commonly called "causa finalis" or "the final cause", when you ask: "What was your final cause for doing that?", i.e. your motive and aim. In the terms of philosophy it has a much wider meaning, besides being divided into the general and the particular. A general cause is that on which another thing depends, disregarding the thing itself nor the kind of its dependance. Writing a letter depends on the writer. Without a writer no letter can be written. So, the writer is a cause.
The writer must normally have a hand. So, the hand of the writer is a cause, too. Besides, the writer, regarded as a thinker, as a spiritual personality, must have physical tools, his hand is to be sound, its nerves and muscles are to be sound, as these are also needed for writing. So, these are causes, too.
Furthermore, a writer needs paper, ink and pen, each of which is a cause, since without a pen, ink and paper the letter cannot be written. So, writing a letter depends on all these items.
Consequently, each of these is a cause according to its general meaning. The particular meaning denotes the doer, i.e. the being that brings another being into existence, even if it depended on other things in the bringing one of these things into existence, such as the example of the writer, who is a being, though he would need pen, ink and paper, but these are not causes under this particular meaning, because they do not write. In this instance the cause equals the doer, as in the former term, the cause included the doer, though not exclusively. But here the term "exclusively" means the doer.
Causation is the affected source of the cause, i.e. to be a cause is the origin of causation, the origin of the effectiveness of something in the appearance of something else, according to the general term, or the doer of a phenomenon, according to the particular term. Now, one may ask whether the Qur'an accepts the principle of causation, and, if it does, how can the connection of this principle with the Unity of Acts be? Is it possible to accept both the Unity of Acts and the principle of causation? Or if the one is accepted, is the other to be rejected? If we consider the principle of causation in its general meaning, i.e. something that depends on something else, we will have to study the different causes in the world of existence, so as to see whether the Qur'an accepts them all or not.
Causation in the Qur'an
We confirm here that causation, meaning that the phenomena have doers, is not only acceptable to the Qur'an, but the very principle of the Unity of Acts is based on the principle of causation. The well-known proof of the existence of Allah is also called the proof of the cause of causes. Thus, this proof is based on accepting the principle of causation. By saying that Allah is the real doer of all acts and the Creator of all phenomena we actually present Him as the doer, i.e. the One Who is known in the philosophic term as the cause. So, Allah is the cause of all phenomena, that is, all phenomena are in need of Him.
In this view it is the very Unity of Acts, and does not contradict at-Tawhid. But in its general meaning, as to be the different doers and causes, it is not exclusively confined to be the cause of doing, such as the constructor being the cause of construction, the writer being the cause of the writings, the natural causes, of the natural phenomena, or water and air, of the appearance of the plants. The Qur'an not only accepts the different causes which we know, but it also mentions other kinds of causes which we do not know. As a matter of fact, it accepts the widest concept of the principle of causation, even to a further extent than what we accept of the connection among the phenomena of the world. Allah had stated other kinds of effects and causes in the Qur'an that otherwise we could not have known and understand them. To prove this we shall have to bring examples of the Qur'anic ayahs.
The Materialistic Causation
Among the many causes mentioned in the Qur'an is that which is known in the philosophic terms as the materialistic causation, which, in this term, means that each of this world's phenomena usually appears from the changing of another phenomenon. i.e. every being in this world which may occur to your mind was formerly something else, which had undergone certain changes and transformed into a new thing. For example, the soil was before a mountain, but because of erosion, rain and sun, the mountain erodes and gradually turns into dust, the soil turns into plant, which transforms into animal, which is eaten by man and turns into human beings. This body of ours was formerly other beings, some of it was the flesh of former animals, some of it was of eatable plants, some was of mineral materials.
Whatever phenomenon of the nature you lay your hand on was formerly something else. This "something else" is called "the materialistic cause" in the philosophic term, and this is because there is a kind of union between the former thing and the latter one, to which we say: this is what was formerly a plant. There is a sort of sameness and unity between the present phenomena and the former one. So, the former phenomena, on which the latter ones depend, arc, thus, causes.
The Qur'an and the Materialistic Causation
Is this causation acceptable to the Qur'an? Yes, it frequently says that Allah has changed these phenomena into other ones, or He created a given thing from a certain thing, which means that the first was the cause of the appearance of the second. Many examples can be sited. This sky which we see nowadays in different shapes, from the Qur'anic standpoint, formerly was a phenomenon called "smoke, which we today scientifically know as gases. That is, this world was one day in the form of a gas. The noble ayah in this respect says: Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke.
Regarding the living beings the Qur'an says: "...We made every living thing of water".
So water is a materialistic cause of living things, i.e. water is a necessary part of every living being. This is a proof of the accepted principle of materialistic causation in our world.
As for men, the Qur'an repeatedly says that Allah had created him of clay. Many ayahs in the Qur'an refer to the creation of man: "Surely We created them of firm and sticky clay."
The Qur'an expands the circle of causation to cover things which we do not see, and had it not been mentioned by it we would have known nothing about them.
The creation of the jinn is also an example of causation. The Qur'an talks of the jinn as real beings who, like man, had been created of a material already existed - a subject which we do not intend to discuss for the time being. The Qur'an in this respect says: "And the jinn We created before of intensely hot fire"."
So far we talked about the materialistic causation which is acceptable, and of which examples were presented.
Further to these there are the active causes of different features, some of which are unknown to us, such as the activities of the angels. Had the Qur'an not talked about them we would not have known their existence, let alone understanding how their actions and reactions happen. Their activeness is confirmed by Allah, and a lot of tasks had been ascribed to them.
We can say, in brief, that, according to the Qur'an their mission or intermediation is of two types: One is their mission in genetic matters, and the other is in legislative matters. That is, some of them perform genetic affairs as helpers in bringing them about, and some others deliver Allah's instructions to the prophets. The first is called the genetic mission and the other the legislative mission or intermediation. Here is an example of each. Generally, the question of having a message is ascribed to both groups of angels. The Qur'an says: "...Who appoints the angels messengers".
This Surah is also called Suratul Mala'ikah or the angels. Allah had appointed the angels as His messengers and envoys delivering His messages, that is, they are intermediates. A specimen of the messages that are being conveyed by the angels, or beings like angels, in the genetic affairs was that related to the episode of Mary (A.S.). The Qur'an relates this episode many times, explaining how Jesus (A.S.) was born without having a father. What concerns our topic is this: "...then We sent to her Our spirit."
That is: We sent the spirit, who is a great angel, or, according to some narratives, a creature greater than the angels, to her, "Who appeared to her like a perfect man."
This spirit may be Gabriel, another angel or some other creature (no indication in the Qur'an specifying it). It has been sent to Mary, and it showed itself in the shape of a man. So, one of the characteristics of the angels is that they can turn into a man.
Mary was busy worshipping in a room. (It was the custom in those days to build rooms near Jerusalem for people to worship in seclusion). She was frightened at seeing a stranger who might hide an evil intention: "She said: I take refuge in the Beneficent from you, if you are God-fearing."
In reply "He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord, that I may give you a pure boy."
So, the angels can give offsprings, "...that I may give you a pure boy." This is an act performed by the angels - Jesus (A.S.) was given to Mary (A.S.). She felt the boy in her womb. Gabriel did not bring a legislative message to Mary (A.S.), it was a genetic one. It is the how, the effectiveness and activity that create the spirit, or the angel, in the human world, by the permission of Allah, of course, and through the message sent by Allah. Had it not been stated by the Qur'an, we could not have proved the existence of a being called "the spirit" capable of having such an effect on the world.
On the other hand, the Qur'an admits some effectiveness for the satans, in the form of whispering into the souls of the people: "Say. I take refuge in the Lord of the people...from the evil of the shinking whisperer who whispers into the hearts of the people."
This is a kind of effectiveness of the satans against the people, by way of whispering into their hearts to seduce them to go astray.
Concerning Satan, his nature and acts we shall, by Allah's Will, have a thorough discussion. For the time being we only mentioned this Satan's particular characteristic of his whispering evil in people's heart. Had it not been stated by the Qur'an we could not have known it.
Man's Effectiveness
Man also has many kinds of effects on the world, all of which are not intended to be discussed here. One of the ayahs referring to this question is that in which Allah says: Fight them, Allah will torture them by your hands and bring disgrace on them."
In this short sentence Allah discloses the effectiveness of man in the slaughtering, defeating and destroying the idolators. He tells man to fight and defeat them. So, man is effective, and the shedding of their blood is a punishment inflicted by Allah upon them through man. Man is the doer of the act of killing, but it is Allah Who kills them by man's hand. It is the longitudinal effectiveness explained previously. It is both your doing and Allah's doing, the latter on a higher level, and the former on a lower level. Or we may say: the direct and close doer, man, and the remote doer, Allah, though it seems that this is not quite expressive.
At any rate, man's being a fighter is taken for granted, i.e. it is man who fights and combats, and, at the same time, Allah's act goes along man's action. So it is possible to say that Allah tortured the disbelievers and the idolators by the hands of the believers, and it can be said that the believers attacked the disbelievers and destroyed them, though in two stages.
Another example: Allah says that the Qur'an has a guiding effect on man's heart. Here also two kinds of parallel effects are at work: "There has come to you a light and a clear Book. With it Allah guides the one who follows His pleasure into the ways of safety."
Here also many concepts can be inferred, the discussion of which we postpone for the time being. Whom does the Qur'an guide? What should their merits be in order to receive divine guidance? The first condition is that their hearts must seek Allah's pleasure and try to obtain it. This is the first condition for availing oneself of the Qur'an's light. Thus, the Qur'an is a means of guidance. It can be said that the Qur'an guides, and it can be said that Allah guides by means of the Qur'an. These are two parallel actions: It is one of the examples of causations which are stated in the Qur'an, as otherwise we could not have quite understood these facts.
There is a connection between human acts and the appearance of evils and misfortunes on the earth. We do, however, understand, to some extent, that some bad deeds, some crimes, have corruptive results, and that the crimes of despotic regimes cause social corruption. These are known and understood. But as a general law, every bad deed done by man causes an evil effect in this world, and there will be a corruption.
The misfortunes that happen in the land and at sea are caused by the evil deeds of people. We could not know this, but the Qur'an says: "Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea because of what the bands of men have wrought."
Moreover, it is surprising that the acts of some people sometimes caused particular regulations to be issued by Allah. Some punishments-and severe ones-were imposed upon ancient people because of their evil deeds. Allah prohibited certain food for Bani Israel, as punishment, because of their evil conduct. From such ayahs many things can be understood. An ayah says: "Because of the injustice of those who are Jews did We disallow to them the good things which had been made lawful for them."
From this we realize that man can have his effect even on the divine laws. This is another different kind of effectiveness. There are other kinds of causations on the part of man which are also unknown to us, such as the effects of the good deed of men in the blessings of the earth and the heaven.
These are confirmed by the Qur'an, as otherwise we could never have known them. The Qur'an says: "And if the people of the towns had believed and feared Allah, We would certainly have opened up for them blessings from the heaven and the earth,"
though presently it adds: "but they disbelieved, so We convicted them according to what they earned." Accordingly, the bad deeds of man cause corruption in the earth, and his good deeds bring blessing from the earth and the heaven. This is also another kind of causation between man's acts and spiritual matters which benefit man himself. The previous ayah showed us the effect of good deeds in causing material blessings. Here the connection is between man's good deeds and their spiritual effects which are to man's interest: "Those who believe and do good, their Lord will guide them for their faith"
This is a divine guidance conditioned by man's faith and good deed.
If a man has faith and does good deeds Allah will guide him and grant him a light which the others cannot understand. So, it is his faith and good deed that become the cause for Allah to bestow upon him guidance and light to his benefit. This is a kind of effectiveness in respect to a moral, a spiritual matter. It is a different effect of the connection between man's acts and the phenomena of the other world that which has never been known to us, nor do we have now a correct knowledge of its truth. The Qur'an says that the smallest of your acts in this world will have its effect in the other world. None of your acts can .have no effect on your life in the other world, and what a great and eternal effect resulting from a worldly and transitory act! This kind of causation is quite unknown to us, but the Qur'an confirms it. Many ayahs refer to this, such as: "I have rewarded them this day, because they were tolerant, that they are the winners (of happiness)."
So far, we noted examples of causations, among natural, living and supernatural phenomena from the Qur'anic standpoint.
By the above-mentioned examples our claim has been proved, that is, the Qur'an confirms the principle of causation at a wider level than that which occurs to human mind. It establishes a causational connection even between our smallest act done in this world and the eternal rewards and results. So, the causation doctrine has never been denied by the Qur'an.
Such being the case, how can the Unity of Acts and the causation doctrine be accepted at the same time. The answer is the same as had been mentioned, i.e. in the longitudinal connection, the two acts go in parallel to each other, not a crosswise act consisting of several doers making a single group, nor a substitutional act that takes the place of another act. Actually, the doer is both, though each acting on his particular and different level and degree. We already said that the Qur'an extends the causation doctrine to its widest limit and accepts it. As a matter of fact, it does not present the scientific and philosophic topics in their technical terms, since it is not a book of science nor of philosophy, but it includes subjects which are related to them.
We may say that a certain ayah, or ayahs, coinside with so-and-so scientific or philosophic matter. We do not say that it handles a certain philosophic problem, solves it and proves it, The Qur'an does not present the causation doctrine by way of questioning whether there is a cause in the world or not. Yet, its statements cannot be interpreted except on the basis of the causation doctrine, i.e. accepting this doctrine is inevitable for those statements. There is no doubt that the Unity of Acts presents the divine effect on a higher level, not on the level of natural and ordinary causes, and without there being any contradiction. In other words, the effect of Allah and of the other causes go parallel to one another, not crosswise.
Here appears another question related to the causation doctrine. All that had been gathered from the Qur'anic ayahs prove the fact that this doctrine had been confirmed on diverse occasions, but does Qur'an's acceptance of the causation doctrine, as understood from the said occasions, mean that this doctrine is like a necessary and indispensable law such that nothing is out of its limits, or do the ayahs say that generally the world is governed by this doctrine, but there can also be occasions on which it does not work?
In the new philosophy there is a term called "determinism". Is it necessary and inevitable that each effect is brought about by means of a certain cause, or is it that some phenomena cannot be proved to have certain causes? In this respect there are several theses which can be squeezed into three ones: some people believe that every phenomenon is subject to the principle of "determinism, , and necessity. Some others believe that this principle can never be proved in any instance. Some go into details and say that the macrophysical phenomena are deterministic, whereas in respect to the microphysical phenomena they are not governed by the causation doctrine. For example, take an atom, one of the electrons will leave its orbit, but it is unknown which one, as there is no evidence pointing to any one of them. It is a matter of chance and at random. This belongs to microphysics, where, they say, the law of causation does not rule, contrary to the phenomena of macrophysics, where that law does rule.
The correct thesis accepted to us and to the Islamic philosophy is that the doctrine of causation is necessary and bears no exception. If we could not, however, find out the cause of a particular phenomenon, the reason is our insufficient knowledge, not that it happened without any cause. It does have a cause, but we have not discovered it yet. However, this is philosophic topic which is irrelevant to our discussion. We mentioned it just to throw light on the connection between the causation doctrine and at-Tawhid, i.e. whether the cause acceptable to the Qur'an is regarded as a necessary and indespensable principle, or it happens, rarely or frequently, per chance, that is, in the terms of logic, it is acceptable as a positive partial proposition, not as positive universal proposition or a general law. The importance of this discussion appears only when we think of its connection with miracles. We do know that all divine religions, especially Islam in the Qur'an, declare that many of the world's phenomena do not happen because of merely material actions and reactions, as there is an apparatus other than that of material causation. It also rules the world, though unknown to people and is not put at their disposal.
The Connection Between Causation and Miracles
A characteristic of the religious and divine belief is the acceptance of the idea of miracles, which is unknown to the materialistic school. It is, in fact, one of the pretexts used by the materialistic schools against the theological schools, especially the religious, accusing them of violating the causation doctrine. They say that the acceptance of such religious matters actually is violation of the causation doctrine, which, if acceptable, must come into existence through its own cause and conditions, otherwise it will be impossible. "How can you say," they protest, "that a phenomenon may come into existence without having a material cause? "This is a denial of the causation doctrine". They regard this a weak point of the divine school. Maybe some Marxist literature had referred to this, saying that the religious school believed in the accidental happening of things, by which they mean the miracles.
Despite the fact that those who believe in accidentalism, in its incorrect concept, are the very materialists themselves, and of which they have no escape, yet they accuse us of being accidentalists. Realizing that we admit the happening of exceptional and miraculous phenomena, they say: here you have an accident, and, by admitting it, you reject the causation doctrine as a necessary general law. This is one of the allegations of which the materialists accuse the theologians. How much truth is there in this? Is the causation doctrine a general and inevitable law? If we accept this law, are we, then, to deny the miracles, or can the question be solved in a different way?
It must be said that the causation doctrine is a philosophic, universal and necessary one. It accepts no exception. To explain this subject, we shall have to go into a thorough philosophic discourse, which is, in fact, out of the frame of our discussion. It is not in our intention to handle such a wide philosophic subject. If we do sometimes explain similar subjects, it is because they are related to certain Qur'anic questions which require explanation. Otherwise, we do not concern ourselves with irrelevant philosophic topics. The problem, now, is if the causation doctrine is a universal and necessary one, how can miracles be justified?
Taking Position in Respect to Miracles
The First Position:
It is the position of those who take the miracles to be superstitions and say that they are myths and legends which remained in the human mind from the mythical and legendary periods. Their residues transported to the next religious periods and rested in the deep depths of the human mind, to appear in the form of miracles, which are no more than unreal fabulous legends.
This is the position of the materialists and the scientists. Such thinkers basically deny all religions, since the prominent characteristic of every divine religion is to acknowledge miracles, especially Islam, as the Qur'an is quite explicit in this respect such that to deny miracles is to deny the Qur'an itself. That is, we are either to affirm that the Qur'an is a true Book and, thus, the miracle is also true, or to say that since the Qur'an is a miracle it is false - God forbid! - Otherwise it is irrational to accept the Qur'an and deny the miracle. The Qur'anic declarations in this respect are so extensive that there can be no doubt about the truth of miracles. Such being the case, some accuse Islam as being a false religion because it says, for example, that somebody had thrown his stick and it turned into a snake. This is more like a myth. How could a piece of wood turn into a snake? The Qur'an says: "So he threw his staff, and lo! lo! it was a real serpant"".
They say this is a legend, and, consequently, the Qur'an itself is not a true Book. Or they say that the Qur'an states that Jesus (A.S.) was born without having a father at all, and that a spirit appeared before Mary (A.S.). Science does not accept such things. Therefore, the Qur'an is - God forbid! - a lie.
They also say that the Qur'an alleges that Jesus (A.S.), a child of one or two days, lying in its cradle, started talking and even claimed to be a prophet with a divine scripture. When Bani Israel accusingly said to Mary (A.S.): "You have done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron! your father was not a bad man, nor was your mother a harlot"'. Their attack was severe upon her. She pointed to the infant in the cradle: "They said: How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?"" But he surprised them by saying: "I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and appointed me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined upon me the Salat and the Zakat so long as I remain alive; and dutiful to my mother..."
A new born infant, speaking from its cradle like this, astounded them all! What a story this is! Then the Qur'an adds that it was a divine sign which was brought among the people so that they may know Allah, that He is capable of doing everything and that they should submit to Him.
As for the scientific thinkers, they say such things are impossible, science has never proved them, they are but superstitions, of which there are many examples in the Qur'an. so, this position rejects the Qur'an for including such things.
The Second Position
This position is a little milder than the first. It is the position of those who apparently introduce themselves as Muslims and supporters of the Qur'an but they, out of ignorance or hypocrisy, resort to the interpretation of such ayahs as formerly stated. They say: the meanings of those ayahs are not as they had been understood by some people. They have different meanings. Or sometimes they ascribe them to be like superstitions. They say the Qur'an includes myths, too, and those are some of them. Myths, they say, have their benefits, if they are explained by the mythologists.
The Third Position
Those who take this position say that these are vocabularies from which you understand the said meanings, while the story was something else. People, and sometimes men of religion, gradually show such subjects to appear as superstitions. The subject is different. By saying that he would cure their patients Jesus; they say, intended to say that he would treat them, since Jesus was a clever physician. In that era of good medication, Jesus was a genious physician who dedicated himself to the weak and the poor. He used to tell the people to bring the patients to him for treatment. He wanted to offer his humanistic services to the society, not to show miracles: "...and I heal the blind and the leprous." means that he medicated their patients, as any physician would try to do. "and bring the dead to life" means Jesus used to dig out some dead bodies. These acts cannot mean that he miraculously cured the sick or brought the dead to life. No, he disentombed the dead as dead, not alive!
As regards an episode such as Bani Israel's crossing the sea, and the drowning of Pharaoh and his men in the sea, which was another one of Moses' miracles, they say: you misunderstood this one, too. Moses (A.S.) was brought up in Pharaoh's court. At those times astronomy and other similar sciences were very common among people. Moses (A.S.) was clever and talented. He had learned from the scholars of the court of Pharaoh the law of the seas ebb and tide. He could very well calculate the periods of high tide and low tide. His calculations showed him that a very strange low tide was going to start such that the bed of the sea would be exposed. He decided to cross the sea with his people at that very time. So, when he was told: "Strike the sea with your staff. And it parted, each like a huge mound,"
it was a reference to this question of low tide, and the striking of the sea with his staff was ordering him to proceed, at the time of the ebb, and cross the sea. So, it was a natural phenomenon. Likewise the other miracles stated in the Qur'an can be interpreted in similar ridiculous or tearful ways.
One of the prominent examples of such dull and distorting interpretations of the Qur'an is that of the Indian commentator Mir Ahmad Khan, who has a lot of such specimen. Some Egyptian commentators have quoted him. It is regretted that persons who consider themselves writers of exegeses and they did write them in the Persian language, quoted such matters, and made of these felts hats for their heads.
This is another position, which, in fact, distorts the Qur'an. If we want to make puns on words and explain things as we desire, there can be no specific meanings for words, and everybody may assign any meaning he likes for the words, such as being done by the hypocrites who interpret the. ayahs of the Qur'an in any form they like.
If such a door is flung open, no discourse can be trusted and no word may retain its specific meaning, in which case two contrary meanings, both positive and negative, may be ascribed to a single word. If this is to be the case, it is better to leave the Qur'an aside than to fabricate such ridiculous interpretations of it. Every fair thinking with a knowledge of the Arabic language can realize that giving such meanings to the ayahs is more disgraceful than denying the Qur'an altogether. It is better to say that the Qur'an is a lie - God forbid! But to admit that the Qur'an is a divine Book and it is true and was sent to the people, cannot conform with such ridiculous interpretations.
The Fourth Position
This position towards miracles is also a mild one. The supporters of this position say that the truth about miracles is the miracle of science. That is, they say: We accept that Moses, Jesus and other Prophets (A.S.) did perform things contrary to the natural proceedings. Allah had bestowed upon them a power which was the sign of their prophethood. What they did was extraordinary, but the causes of those performances were not what others say, they were something else. Allah has given them the knowledge of knowing the natural causes of those phenomena, and they utilized their divine and extraordinary knowledge. It was not a knowledge that could be learnt by whoever liked it. Its appearance in certain persons was regarded as a miracle, but the effect was, actually carried out through natural laws.
For example, you do know that in chemistry there are uncountable actions and reactions with astonishing results. Those who know such formulae, solutions, pastes and chemical compounds can demonstrate amazing effects which would surprise the others. Ordinary people think that fire and water never come together, whereas a chemist can easily demonstrate an experiment in which we see fire on the surface of water. Such instances are plenty in chemistry. So, those who know nothing about such formulae think them to be miracles, but if some illiterate in a desert performed such demonstrations, they would be miracles, because the others knew nothing about them and could not do them. Later on, when the relevant secrets were discovered and everybody could do them, they could no more be regarded as miracles.
Consequently, a miracle is a proportional matter. Under certain conditions in a certain place, done by a certain person before a certain people, it is seen as a miracle, since that people know nothing, cannot recognize it and incapable of doing it. But the same performance loses its miraculous nature and becomes an ordinary affair when all the people can learn it and have all the required means at their disposal to do it. A hundred years ago if one could have his voice heard on the other side of the world, it would have been regarded as a miracle, but nowadays, when everybody can make use of the telephone to hear his friend's voice overseas, it can be no longer a miracle. So, the first person who can do it, especially if he lacks all learning and knowledge and is in an ignorant climate, it is surely regarded as a miracle.
They say that the prophets were like that. They were taught some scientific formulae by Allah. Others did not know them. But later, after the development and advancement of science and of people's knowledge, they ceased to be regarded as miracles.
This was another interpretation of the miracles, and a particular position towards the Qur'an's declarations about the miraculous performances of the prophets. But the fact is that all these positions are false. The first is a denial of the Qur'an, the second is a distortion of the Qur'an, the third and the fourth are caused by misunderstanding the Qur'an.
What the Qur'an and the true divine religions say is that there are phenomena which happen in this world caused not by usual causes, but by the will of the prophets and Allah's men, on whom He had bestowed a power and a special knowledge to govern the natural laws. As a matter of fact, there are happenings which look like miracles and may be mistaken for miracles, such as the performances of the ascetics. These, however, are facts, too, other than the deceitful magic. There are also the godly men who attain, with their strict self-discipline, to certain truths, which may appear as miracles to the little-informed lookers on, whereas closer observers realize that such performances can be learnt and taught, since they have their preliminaries and causes leading to their appearance. These are not miracles. A miracle is something given by Allah and has neither causes nor means, nor is it possible to learn or teach. It is a power granted by Allah's Will to whomever He pleases - a power to overpower nature. As to what the self-mortifiers do, they are acts acquired by training and can be performed by others, too, but a miracle is something else. The truth of the miracles is something beyond magic, self-mortification, strange sciences and the like.
Miracles are neither learnt nor taught, they are God-given talents, which are bestowed upon whomever Allah desires and to the extent He pleases. Now, one. may ask: Does accepting the principle of miracles, as such, constitute a contradiction to the principle of causation? The answer is that it does not. According to the principle of causation, every phenomenon and whatever is not self-existent depends in its appearance into existence on the effect of another factor.
Therefore, the self-existent, i.e. Allah's Holy Essence, is outside the limits of the principle of causation, that is, Allah is not an effect and need not to have a cause. As a matter, of course, Allah is at the head of the principle of causation, since His Holy Essence is the cause of all things, though He is outside the circle of the caused. Allah needs no cause, because the principle of causation, according to its philosophic concept, means that, that which is not self-existent and is needy, its existence depends on something else which is to satisfy its needs, while Allah is a needless Being, and thus He is not included in the causation argument.
Secondly, the causation principle, as an intellectual tenet, says that the beings which are limited, conditional and needy, there must be behind them something connected to them and that which fulfils them. But as to what that "something" is, what shape it has and how it exerts its effect, they are not explained by the causation principle, i.e. it is not possible to know the particular cause of each phenomenon from the causation principle itself. The causation law is a rational one, prior to experiment and not dependant on it, whereas recognizing the particular causes is an experimental procedure and determined by experiments. That is, a scientist sits in his laboratory, changes the conditions, compounds, and analyzes until he attains to new discoveries. Then, as soon as a new phenomenon appears in the laboratory, such as the flushing of a light, the hearing of a sound or the facing of a new material phenomenon, he immediately understands that there must have been a cause for what had happened, according to reason.
This, however, is understandable by reason without having to do any experiment. But as regards what was the cause of the appearance of that phenomenon, the mind, alone, cannot help us in finding out the cause, as otherwise there would have been no need for, resorting to experimentation and the mind would have told us what caused the so-and-so phenomenon. Science and experiment can tell us about the particular causes, whereas the causation law is a - philosophic one. Detailed discussion of this subject comes in its place. Here I just wanted to show how far experimentation can help us in respect to finding out the cause of a happening. Experiment can tell us that under the conditions of the experiment what connection there is between the (A) phenomenon and the (B) phenomenon, such that whenever (A) is present (B) appears, too, and whenever (A) disappears, (B) disappears, too. Only experiment can demonstrate the connection.
However, can the experiment show us that (B) can never appear except through (A)? What experiment can answer such questions? To make a fire, man used for years a particular way. Had he the right to say that there was no other way to make it? It would have been childish to say so. He had no right to say there was no way to make a fire other than that. We usually obtain heat from fire, but do we have the right to say that heat can never be obtained except through this way? The only right we have is to say that, according to our so far acquired knowledge, the causes that make fire are so and so, but we have no right to exclusively confine the ways of making fire only to those which we know and that there can never be other factors producing fire, as only an ignorant can say so, and it is not expected from a researcher to disregard and deny the effect of an unnoticeable factor.
Experimentation can prove what is within the scope of its function, supported by man's senses, but it has no right to deny what lies beyond that. So, alleging that science denies such procedures as claimed by the prophets is nonsense. Science cannot deny them. It only can say that experiment shows that a human being appears by means of its parents, but it has no right to say that it is impossible otherwise. Principally, experiment cannot prove impossibility. Impossibility is not an experimental concept, it is a philosophical one. If impossibility can be proved it can be proved only through reasoning. What experiment can prove is the non-happening, not the impossibility. So, no science, however advanced it may be, can deny miracles and say that they are impossible. What science proves does not contradict the existence of miracles. Consequently, confirming miracles does not mean denying causation in the happening of miracles. Actually, they confirm the existence of a cause beyond all causes known to people - a cause which is supernatural and extraordinary. They do not absolutely deny all causes. Therefore, causation principle, as a necessary and general one, can meet miracles and extraordinary events, without creating any problem.
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Author: Ayatullah Muhammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi
