the miracles of jesus

according to the qur’an, jesus, on whom be peace, performed the following miracles by allah’s leave:

1.  spoke while he was only a baby.
2.  healed those born blind.
3.  healed the lepers.
4.  revived the dead.
5.  breathed life into a bird made of clay.

in the qur’an allah quotes jesus, peace be upon him, as saying:

    “lo! i come unto you with a sign from your lord. lo! i fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, and i breathe into it and it is a bird by allah’s leave.  i heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and i raise the dead, by allah’s leave.  and i announce to you what you eat and what you store up in your houses.  lo! herein verily is a portent for you if you are to be believers.
    and (i come) confirming that which was before me of the torah, and to make lawful some of that which was forbidden unto you.  i come unto you with a sign from your lord, so keep your duty to allah and obey me.  lo! allah is my lord and your lord, so worship him.  that is a straight path”.  (qur’an 3: 49-51).

again, in the qur’an allah tells us about the situation on the day of judgement:

   “ in the day when allah gathers together the messengers and says:  what was your response (from mankind)? they say: we have no knowledge.  lo! thou, only thou art the knower of things hidden.when allah says: o jesus, son of mary! remember my favour unto you and unto your mother; how i strengthened you with the holy spirit, so that you spoke unto mankind in the cradle as in maturity; and how i taught you the scripture and wisdom and the torah and the gospel; and how you did shape of clay as it were the likeness of a bird by my permission, and did blow upon it and it was a bird by my permission, and you did heal him who was born blind and the leper by my permission . . .” (qur’an 5:109-110)

not all of these miracles are recorded in the canonical gospels, the four gospels contained in the christian bible.

the fact that jesus spoke while he was yet a baby is not written anywhere in the bible.  this should not be surprising, because none of the gospels can claim to recover every single event in the life of jesus.  instead, the gospel according to john seeks to emphasize that the events were too many to record.

similarly, the miracle of breathing life into a bird made of clay is not attested by the christian bible.  this too should not make us wonder.  it is obvious that the writers of the gospels could write down only the tradition that was available to them.  furthermore, they could not write down everything they knew about jesus for they were writing on papyrus material that were very limited in length.

what is worthy to notice here is that prophet muhammad, may peace and the blessings of allah be upon him, was honest enough to promulgate this information about jesus.  the religion taught by god through muhammad would deny the divinity of jesus.  any human being, therefore, who wished to deny the divinity of jesus would have tried to belittle jesus.  since christians looked upon the miracles of jesus as a proof of his divinity, we might expect that any human being who tries to deny the divinity of jesus would not have informed people of miracles not previously known to them.  he might have even tried to deny some of the miracles recorded in the canonical gospels.  on the other hand, prophet muhammad honestly conveyed the message delivered to him from allah.  (may the peace and blessings of allah be upon him.)

allah tells us the truth without fear.  human beings trying to win followers tell us only what is conducive to winning us over.  they usually withhold information that could lead to opposite conclusions.  on the other hand, allah informs us about the miracles of jesus even if people use this information to support their prior commitment to the doctrine of the divinity of jesus.  allah does not need to win worshippers.  those who worship allah does so for their own good.  and those who worship false gods do so to their own detriment.

what allah emphasizes, though, is that the miracles of jesus do not prove he was divine.  the miracles he performed were a sign, a proof, that he was god’s messenger.  he performed them with god’s help and permission.  those who use his miracles as proof of his divinity would choose to forget the following sayings of jesus:

“i can of my own authority do nothing”. (john 5:30)

they also forget the declaration of peter:

“jesus of nazareth, a man approved of god among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which god did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves know”. (acts 2:22 kjv).

these passages suggest that jesus did not do miracles on his own.  these, rather were accomplished by god’s leave.  allah reminds us of this.  jesus also constantly repeated to his audience that the miracles he performed were by god’s leave.