Reply To Point # 1
Tafsir of Veres 6:37
Allah states that the idolators used to proclaim, "Why does not (Muhammad) bring an Ayah from his Lord,'' meaning, a miracle of their choice! They would sometimes say,
("We shall not believe in you, until you cause a spring to gush forth from the ground for us.'') [17:90]
(Say: "Allah is certainly able to send down a sign, but most of them know not.'') Certainly, Allah is able to send an Ayah (sign). But, He decided out of His wisdom to delay that, because if He sends an Ayah of their liking and they still do not believe, this will hasten their punishment as with the previous nations. Allah said in other Ayat,
And nothing stops Us from sending the Ayat but that the people of old denied them. And We sent the she-camel to Thamud as a clear sign, but they did her wrong. And We sent not the signs except to warn, and to make them afraid (of destruction). 17:59, and,
(If We will, We could send down to them from the heaven a sign, to which they would bend their necks in humility) 26:4.
Just ask him how many miracles, did Jesus (pbuh) performed, and how many disciples did he had. 12, thus most of them denied the miracles Jesus (pbuh) performed.
Verse 6:37 was in response to a particular sign, pagans were asking for at one particular time. Prophet Muahmmad (pbuh) Performed many miracles, i'll mention just a few as one brother has mention others. For example;
Food Multiplication
Volume 4, Book 56, Number 780:
Narrated Jabir:
My father had died in debt. So I came to the Prophet and said, "My father (died) leaving unpaid debts, and I have nothing except the yield of his date palms; and their yield for many years will not cover his debts. So please come with me, so that the creditors may not misbehave with me." The Prophet went round one of the heaps of dates and invoked (Allah), and then did the same with another heap and sat on it and said, "Measure (for them)." He paid them their rights and what remained was as much as had been paid to them.
Water Multiplication
Volume 4, Book 56, Number 779:
Narrated 'Abdullah:
We used to consider miracles as Allah's Blessings, but you people consider them to be a warning. Once we were with Allah's Apostle on a journey, and we ran short of water. He said, "Bring the water remaining with you." The people brought a utensil containing a little water. He placed his hand in it and said, "Come to the blessed water, and the Blessing is from Allah." I saw the water flowing from among the fingers of Allah's Apostle , and no doubt, we heard the meal glorifying Allah, when it was being eaten (by him).
Volume 4, Book 56, Number 777:
Narrated Al-Bara:
We were one-thousand-and-four-hundred persons on the day of Al-Hudaibiya (Treaty), and (at) Al-Hudaibiya (there) was a well. We drew out its water not leaving even a single drop. The Prophet sat at the edge of the well and asked for some water with which he rinsed his mouth and then he threw it out into the well. We stayed for a short while and then drew water from the well and quenched our thirst, and even our riding animals drank water to their satisfaction.
Supplication for Rain
Volume 8, Book 73, Number 115:
Narrated Anas:
A man came to the Prophet on a Friday while he (the Prophet) was delivering a sermon at Medina, and said, "There is lack of rain, so please invoke your Lord to bless us with the rain." The Prophet looked at the sky when no cloud could be detected. Then he invoked Allah for rain. Clouds started gathering together and it rained till the Medina valleys started flowing with water. It continued raining till the next Friday. Then that man (or some other man) stood up while the Prophet was delivering the Friday sermon, and said, "We are drowned; Please invoke your Lord to withhold it (rain) from us" The Prophet smiled and said twice or thrice, "O Allah! Please let it rain round about us and not upon us." The clouds started dispersing over Medina to the right and to the left, and it rained round about Medina and not upon Medina. Allah showed them (the people) the miracle of His Prophet and His response to his invocation.
These a just a few of hundreds of miracles performed by Prophet Muahmmad (phuh), but should suffice.
There are occasions in the bible where Jesus refused to give signs;
One occasion where is refused completely was;
Scripture: Mark 8:11-13
11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation." 13 And he left them, and getting into the boat again he departed to the other side.
On other occasion he refused to give a particular sign
Mathew 38-40
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So there are occasions where Jesus (pbuh) refused to give signs. Coming back to Quran, Calling the Qur'an amazing (miraculous) is not something done only by Muslims,; it has been labeled amazing by non-Muslims as well. In fact, even people who hate Islam (William Muir being one) very much have still called it amazing.
Speaking about the Quran, Goethe says, "It soon attracts, astounds, and in the end enforces our reverence... Its style, in accordance with its contents and aim is stern, grand - ever and always, truly sublime - So, this book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence."
[Goethe - quoted in T. P. Huges "Dictionary of Islam", p. 526]
"The Koran (Quran) admittedly occupies an important position among the great religious books of the world. Though it is the youngest of the epoch making works belonging to this class of literature, it yields to hardly any in the wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men. It has created an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of character. It first transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes of the Arabian Peninsula into a nation of heroes, and then proceeded to create the vast politico-religious organizations of Muslims world wide which are one of the great forces with which Europe and the East have to reckon with today."
[G. Maragliouth in his Introduction to J. M. Rodwells - 'The Koran", New York - 'Everyman's Library, 1977, p VI]
"A work, then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions even in the distant reader - distant as to time, and still more so as mental development - a work which not only conquers the repugnance which he may begin its perusal, but changes this adverse feeling into astonishment and admiration, such a work must be a wonderful production... indeed and a problem of the highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of mankind."
[Dr Steingass quoted in T. P. Hughes - "Dictionary of Islam", pp 256-257]
"It is impossible that Muhammad (peace be upon him) authored the Quran. How could a man, from being illiterate, become the most important author, in terms of literary merits, in the whole of Arabic literature? How could he then pronounce truths of a scientific nature that no other human-being could possibly have developed at that time, an all this without once making the slightest error in his pronouncement on the subject?"
[Dr. Maurice Bucaille - author of "The Bible, the Quran and Science" 1978, p. 125]
"Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps not be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic taste, but by the effects which it produced in Muhammad's contemporaries and fellow countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic elements into one compact and well organized body, animated by ideas far beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history"
[Dr. Steingass, quoted in Hughes' Dictionary of Islam p. 528]
"In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors, and to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pain to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms which - apart from the message itself - constitute the Koran's undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind.. This very characteristic feature - 'that inimitable symphony', as the believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy' has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly decorated original.."
[Arthur J. Arberry - "The Koran Interpreted", London: Oxford University Press . 1964, p. x.]
"A totally objective examination of it [the Quran] in the light of modern knowledge leads us to recognize the agreement between the two, as has been already noted on repeated occasions. It makes us deem it quite unthinkable for a man of Muhammad's time to have been the author of such statements, on account of the state of knowledge in his day. Such considerations are part of what gives the Qur'anic Revelation its unique place, and forces the impartial scientist to admit his inability to provide and explanation which calls solely upon materialistic reasoning."
[Dr. Maurice Bucaille in his book: "The Bible, The Quran and Science" 1981, p. 18]
Prophecies by Prophet Muahammad (pbuh).
Examples of the Prophet’s predictions which exist in books of hadeeths
1 ‘Umar reports in a narration recorded in Sahih al-Muslim:
‘Before the Battle of Badr started, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, walked around the battlefield and pointed to some locations, saying, Abu Jahl will be killed here, ‘Utba here, Shayba here, Walid here, and so on. By God, we found, after the battle, the dead bodies of all those men in the exact places that God’s Messenger had pointed out.’
While in Makka under great tortures, the Prophet predicted the future victories of Islam
2. Bukhari and Abu Dawud quote Habbab ibn Arat, who said:
Once, during the days of trouble and torture in Makka, I went to God’s Messenger, who was sitting in the shade of the Ka‘ba. I was still a slave in the hands of the Makkans then. They inflicted on me severe tortures. Unable to endure those tortures any more, I requested God’s Messenger to pray to God for help and salvation. But he turned towards me and said:
By God, previous communities had to endure more pitiless tortures. Some of them were made to lie in ditches and cut in two with saws but this did not make them forsake their faith. They were skinned alive but they never became weak against the enemy. Surely God will perfect this religion, but you display undue haste. A day will come when a woman will travel alone by herself from San’a to Hadramawt fearing nothing but wild beasts. However, you show impatience.
Habbab concluded:
By God, what God’s Messenger predicted that day, have all come true. I have personally witnessed it all.
The Messenger predicted ‘Ammar’s martyrdom in a civil war
3. Bukhari, Muslim and Ahmad ibn Hanbal record:
During the construction of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madina, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, told ‘Ammar:
What a pity O ‘Ammar, a rebellious group will kill you.
‘Ammar was killed in the Battle of Siffin by the supporters of Mu‘awiya, who rebelled against Caliph ‘Ali.
The Prophet foretold that Fatima would join him first of all after his death
4. Before his death, the Messenger called his daughter Fatima to his bedside and informed her that she would be the first among his family to join him after his death. Fatima joined her father, the pride of mankind, six months later.
The Prophet predicted the Mongol invasion
5. The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, predicted the Mongol invasion, saying:
The Hour will not come before you fight against a people with red faces, small, slant eyes and flat noses. They wear hairy leather boots.
The Messenger predicted the caliphate of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar
6. As related by Hakim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Maja, by repeatedly declaring, You should, after my death, follow the way of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, meant that Abu Bakr and ‘Umar would succeed him as caliphs. He also predicted that Abu Bakr’s reign would be short, whereas ‘Umar would remain longer to be able to make many conquests.
The Prophet predicted the conquest of many important cities
7. According to authentic narrations, the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, gave his community the glad tidings that they would conquer Damascus, Jerusalem, Iraq, Persia, Istanbul (Constantinople) and Cyprus, and that the religion of Islam would reach as far as the remotest corners of the world in the east and west.
The Prophet predicted the forms of government after him
8. The Prophet declared:
This affair began with Prophethood and as a mercy; then it will be mercy and Caliphate; afterwards it will change into a cruel monarchy, and finally into an iniquity and tyranny. He also prophesied: Surely, the Caliphate after me will last thirty years; afterwards it will a cruel monarchy.
Whatever the noble Prophet predicted came true.
The Prophet predicted the caliphate and martyrdom of ‘Uthman
9. According to an authentic narration, the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, declared:
‘Uthman will be killed while reading the Qur’an. God will dress him in a shirt but they will desire to remove it from him.
By this saying, he meant that ‘Uthman would become Caliph but his deposition would be sought, and finally he would be martyred while reading the Qur’an. This happened exactly as he predicted.
The Prophet foretold the future victories of Sa‘d
10. As narrated in a authentic Tradition, the noble Prophet of God, upon him be peace and blessings, said to Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas when the latter was gravely ill:
It is hoped that you will be spared so that some people may benefit through you and some others be harmed through you.
By this, he suggested that Sa‘d would be a great commander and make many conquests, and while many peoples would benefit from him by converting to Islam, many others would be harmed through him as a result of the collapse of their states.
Sa‘d, just as predicted by the holy Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, took the command of the Muslim armies and destroyed the Persian Sassanid Empire, bringing many peoples within the guidance of Islam.
The Prophet predicted the conquest of Cyprus
11. Once, when the Prophet woke up in the house of Umm Haram, the aunt of Anas ibn Malik, who served the Messenger for ten years in Madina, he smilingly said:
I dreamt that my community would be waging war in the sea sitting on thrones like kings.
Umm Haram asked: ‘Pray that I too may be with them’. He said firmly: You shall be.
All this came true forty years later when Umm Haram accompanied her husband ‘Ubada ibn Samit, on the conquest of Cyprus. She died there, and her tomb has since been a visited place.
The Prophet predicted the appearance of Mukhtar and Hajjaj
12. According to an authentic narration, the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, declared:
From the tribe of Thaqif will appear a liar who claims Prophethood and a blood-thirsty tyrant.
By this, he gave tidings of the notorious Mukhtar, who claimed Prophethood, and the criminal Hajjaj, who killed tens of thousands of people.
The Prophet predicted the conquest of Istanbul
13. Again, according to an authentic narration, the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, declared:
Surely, Constantinople (Istanbul) will be conquered (by my community); how blessed the commander who will conquer it, and how blessed his army.
He thus foretold the conquest of Istanbul by Muslims, and indicated the high spiritual rank of Sultan Mehmed, the Conqueror, and the virtuousness of his army. What he foretold took place centuries later.
The Prophet mentioned that there would be signs forewarning the approach of the last day.
eke wisdom eka oyaata terei
Mage gaawa den ne nettam mama oyaata yawanawa
