The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 88
PREFACE ESSENCE OF ISLAM 87 'divinity' since the Messiah, peace be on him, could never achieve the extent to which this type of miraculous ability was shown by the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. And our Guide and Exemplar, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, not only demonstrated this miraculous ability on his very own, but he also left a long legacy of such miracles to remain in his Ummah until the Day of Resurrection, which has been manifesting without fail in every age in accordance with the needs of the time, and will continue being manifested in this very fashion until the last days of this world. The likeness of the extent to which the splendour of Divine power has been showered upon the holy souls of this Ummah is difficult to find among other ummahs. How great a folly is it, then, to declare someone to be God or the Son of God on account of these extraordi- nary occurrences? If a man can become God solely through these extraordinary events, would there ever be an end to such 'Gods'? AUTHOR'S MARGIN NOTE Powerful miracles remain inferior in rank to the direct powers of God Almighty (without intermediaries). power, which are inde- Nevertheless, it is worth remembering in this connection that while these types of miraculous Signs truly emanate from God Almighty, even then, they can in no way equal those exclusive manifestations of His pendent of the will or intention of any other being, nor is it appropri- ate that they should be equal. That is why, when a Prophet or a Wali [Friend (of Allah)] manifests an extraordinary feat—through his per- sonal spiritual power and not through prayer-and exhibits a result that is beyond the contriving, planning, or capability of a human being, that act of the Prophet will remain inferior to those acts of God Almighty which He brings about in a manifest and patent manner through His perfect power. That is to say, such a miracle of someone's personal spiritual power must inevitably have some defect and weak- ness within it when compared with other Divine works that are man- ifested directly by Allah, glorified be His eminence, so that in the eyes