The Essence of Islam – Volume V — Page 12
12. Essence of Islam-V such phenomena occur through these means and under these conditions then, in this particular situation, they are called miracles, wonders, signs or supernormal phenomena. Here the term 'supernormal phenomena should not lead someone to think that there are things which lie outside the scope of Divine practice [laws]. Because, in the present context, the expression 'supernormal phenomena' carries an additional significance: Although nothing lies outside the eternal practice of the God of glory, His practice that relates to mankind is of two kinds. First there are 'ordinary practices', which, in the form of cause and effect, apply to everyone. Second there are the 'special practices' which, with or without the agency of the visible causes, relate only to those who are totally lost in His love and completely given to His desire. . That is to say, when a person turns completely to God and brings about a transformation in his human condition, for the sake of gaining His pleasure, then God, in accordance with his transformed state, deals with him in a special manner, which He does not practice when dealing with others. In other words, this special treatment, relatively speaking, is Khāriq-e-‘Ādat [supernormal], the nature of which is revealed only to those who are drawn towards God through His grace. . When a person, in his eagerness to have communion with God, breaks out of his mortal habits, which intervene between him and his Lord, then, for the sake of such a person, God too breaks His customary ways. . This phenomenon of 'breaking' is also part of the eternal practice of God and is not something novel