An Introduction to the Hidden Treasures of Islam — Page 259
259 who can show a heavenly sign. ( Tiry a qul-Qul u b , p. 21, R uha n i Khaz a’ in , vol. 15, pp. 167-168) Let a meeting be called, he suggested, for this purpose at Batala, Amritsar or Lahore. Such claimants should then pray along with the Promised Messiah as that God should grant within a year a magnificent and conspicuous sign to the one who was really true in the sight of God. The sign or miracle must be superhuman and supernatural. The notice of such a meeting should reach the Promised Messiah as within 10 days before the appointed date. It should not be a private letter. Let it be a printed, and a leaflet giving the date, time and place of the proposed meeting bearing the witness of 20 honourable men to show that the writer was really in earnest about the matter. It should be remembered that the Promised Messiah as ’s keenness on a heavenly sign was a necessary consequence of his belief in God. It is an essential feature of Islam that it presents God as a Living God. Greek philosophers and the Indian sages “conceive God as a being of static perfection abiding for ever in the fruition of His own blessedness but it is the Living God Whom Muslims worship. He has created all things and He creates afresh even now. He is not a mere mechanical kind of sovereign detached practically from the whole of the Universe. He has a dominion over everything and He controls all things. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His command. ” God’s purpose and power is fully reflected and regulated which constitute the familiar natural order in such regularities, men of science observe the Laws of Nature which serve His purpose. But it does not mean that signs and miracle cannot and ought not to take place. Scientists have by no means claimed that they have exhausted the laws of nature, nor have they yet fully comprehended all the underlying principles which govern the complex universe around us. A miracle is not necessarily a breach of order, but it expresses the purpose of God, which also determines the order of nature. Therefore, there is nothing irrational or capricious in miracles.