Auron ka hai Payaam aur, mera Payaam aur hai, / Ishq key dardmand ka tarz-e-kalaam aur hai! (Iqbal)
For anyone with eyes to see, these are miracles upon miracles, each more compelling and spell-binding than the other.
The miracles began way back when an unlettered man in a cave in the burning Arabian desert mandated both bathing (Ghusl) and washing (Wudu) with mind-boggling frequency and regularity.
Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam!
That was the real and original miracle of all. Then other miracles followed in quick succession, each more impressive and powerful than the other.
Muslim or non-Muslim, humanity must now deal with those miracles: either make sense of them in a worldly sense and explain them away or accept them as divine signs, arguments and evidence beckoning us to come to Allah and believe in his prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, and his book the Qur’ān.
Thus, for anyone with eyes to see, Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, was the greatest miracle of all. And for all the creation of Allah, his presence was the greatest Rahmat or mercy of all.
Watch this most amazing confluence of words and expressions in the Qur’ān: His sender was Rabbul ‘Aalameen – master of the worlds. And he sent him as Rahmatul-Lil-‘Aalameen – mercy to the worlds. And the Qur’ān, this most amazing book that the Prophet Rahmatul-Lil-‘Aalameen Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam brought from God Rabbul ‘Aalameen – master of the worlds – is Dhikrul-Lil-‘Aalameen – something for all the worlds to notice, to pay heed to, to read, to learn, to contemplate, to memorise, to remember, to discuss, to chant, to use and to practise.
If this set of words is not a miracle then what is?
If you were looking for internal evidence, right from the pages of the Qur’ān, for the true, divine and revelatory nature of the Qur’ān, look no farther. All you need is these three expressions taken together and held against the background of the man Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
And then all you need to do is to ask yourself how a man of that background could possibly have cooked up all by himself these absolutely magical and breathtaking formulations either taken individually, one at a time, or all three taken together as a group?
Only one conclusion emerges: Either he was himself God or he was sent by God. It is part of his Rahmat or mercy that instead of proclaiming himself God, he called himself a slave and messenger of God and instead of teaching his followers to call him Master, he referred to them as his Companions.
And then the miracles get bigger and better as we go deeper in the Qur’ān. And the symmetry and consistency of the Qur’ānic expressions and Ayats on various subjects gets more spell-binding with every new page.
It was this power of the language and meaning of the Qur’ān that made many stalwart non-believer masters of original Arabic language and culture during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, cry out spontaneously, upon hearing the Qur’ān, that these words could not be of human making.
With their superior knowledge and intelligence, they were able to see in a flash that there was something or someone way beyond human power, skill, talent or ability speaking through those words and expressions. Their superior courage, honesty and integrity led many of these sceptics and free-thinkers to embrace Islam on the spot.
This is no ordinary human speech, they decreed. La Ilaaha Illallah, Muhammad Radulullah, they declared: there is but one God and Muhammad is his messenger.
That is how Islam marched forward in its early lonely, persecuted days with the unstoppable momentum of a juggernaut.
MAGIC NUMBER 114
We have now entered the world of that Qur’ān using the divine code of Bismillah. That code is built right into the Qur’ān.
At the beginning of the Qur’ān, at Surah Al-Fatihah, this code of Bismillah lets us into the Qur’ān. And then, thereafter, the very same code opens for us every one of the 114 Surhas of the Qur’ān individually. Except Surah Taubah, that is, that does not begin with Bimillahir Rahmanir Rahim.
Yet, the tally of 114 is complete, miraculously matching the total number of Surahs in the Qur’ān with the total number of Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. If Surah Taubah does not begin with it, there is an extra Bismillah built right into the text of Surah An-Naml: Surah 27, Aayat 30.
The total is still 114.
If you don’t believe this Qur’ān is from God, then what do you think about the computational genius of a man who never went to school? And what do you think of the editing skills of a man 1400 years before computers?
Just the thought that this unlettered man, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, sitting in an empty cave, in the granite belly of an Arabian rock, 1400 years ago, made up this formula all by himself, and then, Ma’aadhallah, lied about it being from God, is enough to send humanity to eternal damnation – if it weren’t for what is to come: God Almighty’s limitless love, mercy and grace.
For, what follows right at the heels of Bismillah is Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. It is this that comes to the rescue of a besodden, befuddled human race, so full of folly, foolishness and arrogance.
MIRACLE OF DIRECT ADDRESS BY GOD
We have now come full circle. And – miracle of miracles! – we ended up holding the Qur’ān in our frail hands – the same Qur’ān that would blow a mountain to bits if its light were to shine upon it. We are now right upon the threshold of that Qur’ān.
Once in we cannot turn back. The pull of the Qur’ān is far too powerful for those who have what it takes for the magnet to produce effect. For, a magnet does not work on wood or leather. We are pulled deeper and deeper into the Qur’ān.
We cannot now turn away from the feast of miracles that is in store for us in the Qur’ān – and in the worlds (Al-‘Aalameen) that the Qur’ān in turn is about to unlock and throw open for us. It is one wondrous experience after another once we set foot into the miraculous world of the Qur’ān.
For people who were clueless about their own world, the Qur’ān talks about worlds in plural, as if the Qur’ān were addressing not merely the desert-dwellers of 7th-Century Arabia but the scientific community of 21st-Century Europe, America and Asia.
It boggles the mind how anyone can get past this wave upon wave of miracles and still not submit and surrender to God Almighty and declare that this Qur’ān could only have come from him, that this Qur’ān could not possibly be the product of a human mind.
The wonder of being able to use the code of God’s glorious name – Bismillah! – to unlock the invisible door in that majestic wall that surrounds every Surah of the Qur’ān!
The awe and wonder of receiving an introduction of God directly from God himself – simple, elegant, clear, powerful, sweeping and yet precisely targeting the most important concerns, anxieties and insecurities that every human being has: What will become of me?
And then the wonder of all wonders – the wonder of being told by God Almighty himself, in the clearest form of direct address, how merciful, kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, caring and full of grace he really is!
That he is Ar-Rahman! And that he is Ar-Rahim!!
And being told so directly, in person, and without an intermediary.
In quick and inexorable succession, two superlative expressions of his own choice, driving home from two directions the same central theme of God’s boundless mercy, love, grace and compassion!