The case of religions is just the same as that of God. There are some
foods which agree with all, or most of the people. Such is the case
with religions also. So the dispensations before our own were meant
for some particular peoples, ignoring all others, but our religion was
meant for the whole of the human race. This being the case, our Prophet
excels all the other Prophets, to him comes the divine revelation,
which makes a man fit to be called a prophet. So the Prophet has said
informing us of his superiority over other prophets, “There is no
prophet to whom has not been given a sign by which all the men would
have believed. I have been given divine revelation, and I hope that my
followers would be in the majority on the Day of Judgment.” All that we
have said must have made it clear to you that the proof of the prophecy
of the prophet from the Quran is not of the same kind as that of
turning a staff into a serpent for the proof of the prophecy of Moses,
or of giving life to the dead, and curing the blind and leprous for the
prophecy of Jesus. For these, although never performed by any but the
prophets, and sufficient to satisfy the common people, are not by any
means conclusive proofs of prophecy, when taken by themselves,--they
not being acts which make a prophet.
Now as to the Quran, its case is just like curing by medicine. For
instance, suppose two men were to claim to be physicians, and one were
to say that he could walk on water, and the other were to assert that
he could cure a disease, and so one walked on the water, and the other
cured a sick man. In this case, our verification for medicine would be
only for one who has cured a sick man, but in the case of the other, it
would be outward satisfaction alone. The first is far better. The only
reason by which the common people can be satisfied in this respect is
that one who can walk on water, which is against the nature of men, can
certainly cure a disease, which is what men can do. This also is one of
the reasons of the connection between miracle, which is not one of the
conditions of prophecy, and the sign which makes a man deserve the name
of a prophet: divine revelation. Of this quality is also the fact, that
there comes nothing to the mind of such a man except that which God has
ordained for this unique work, and specialised him for it, among all
his fellow-men. So it is not inconsistent if he were to claim that God
distinguished him with his revelations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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