The Place of Miracles in Islam & Christianity
“They challenge, “We will never believe in you until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us, or until you have a garden of palm trees and vineyards, and cause rivers to flow abundantly in it, or cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces, as you have claimed, or bring Allah and the angels before us, face to face, or until you have a house of gold, or you ascend into heaven—and even then we will not believe in your ascension until you bring down to us a book that we can read.” Say, “Glory be to my Lord! Am I not only a human messenger?” And nothing has prevented people from believing when guidance comes to them except their protest: “Has Allah sent a human as a messenger? Say, “Had there been angels walking the earth, well settled, We would have surely sent down for them an angel from heaven as a messenger.” (Qur’an 17: 90-95)
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“If they were to see a piece of the sky fall down, still they would say, This is just a pile of clouds.” So leave them until they face their Day in which they will be struck dead.” (Qur’an 52:44-45)
“Moses said: “You cast.” So when they cast, they bewitched the eyes of the people and terrified them by a display of a mighty sorcery.” (Qur’an 7:116)
“But the Children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew.” (Qur’an 2:102)
“Do not be deceived if you see a performer of supernatural feats flying in the air. Measure him on the Standard of the Shariah – how he adheres to the limits of the Commands of the Shariah.” –Mystic Bayazid Bustami
Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri:
Allah’s Messenger (saw) told us a long narrative about Ad-Dajjal, and among the many things he mentioned, was his saying, “Ad-Dajjal will come and it will be forbidden for him to pass through the entrances of Medina. He will land in some of the salty barren areas (outside) Medina; on that day the best man or one of the best men will come up to him and say, ‘I testify that you are the same Dajjal whose description was given to us by Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him).’ Ad-Dajjal will say to the people, ‘If I kill this man and bring him back to life again, will you doubt my claim?‘ They will say, ‘No.’ Then Ad-Dajjal will kill that man and bring him back to life. Ad-Dajjal will say, ‘I want to kill him but I cannot.’ “
Source: (https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1882)
We know as Muslims that if someone does a seemingly supra natural act or supra natural feat that this does not necessarily qualify that individual as being upon the truth.
The truth is measured by what Allah (swt) has revealed in the Qur’an and what has been given to us by the Blessed Messenger (saw). We know that truth is measured by sound doctrine.
The text that the Jews claim is the Torah says that even if someone tells us the future it does not necessarily mean that this one is upon truth.
PROPHECY FULFILLMENT ITSELF IS NOT A MEASURE OF TRUTH.
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.” (Deuteronomy 13: 1-6)
“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect..” (Matthew 24:24)
We have an entire article on the above here:
“Indeed, My servants – no authority will you have over them, except those who follow you of the deviators.” (Qur’an 15:42)
“Yet he had no authority over them, but that We might know him who believed in the Hereafter from him who was in doubt thereof that your Lord is Guardian over everything.” (Qur’an 34:21)
“He said: by Thy majesty, then, I shall surely seduce them, all Except for Your devoted servants among them.” (Qur’an 38:82-83)
You have to wonder, based upon the above statement, what would differentiate Jesus from any number of Jewish mystic miracle workers common in Roman Judaea.
“Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11)
John the Baptist: how many miracles did he do?
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, & Muslims do not claim to drive out demons or perform miracles in the name of Jesus. The only people who do such activities are those who call themselves Christians.
Those who cast out demons in the name of Jesus or do miracles in the name of Jesus are not necessarily of Jesus. In fact, Jesus would say to many of them, “I never knew you!”
A KINGDOM DIVIDED ARGUMENT?
One day Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon was gone, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed, but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.” And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven.
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and a house divided against a house will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? After all, you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Luke 11:14-20)
How do you know that this is not an act?
What we mean is, let us say that a person is possessed by a demon and this demon agrees to leave the person when the exorcist — the one getting rid of the demon shouts in the name of Jesus, or Krishna, or Buddha, or Obi-Wan Kenobi come of her!
Then, when people see this, they come to believe that the deity that the person excised the demon in the name of is praiseworthy. Thus, the demons conspired in order for people to commit big sins like shirk—associating with and worshiping other than the one true God!
Not only that but the Bible teaches us that the kingdom of heaven is a place that is divided!
“Then all out war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” (Revelations 2:9)
Now there is nothing wrong with witnessing a demon perform some supra natural act. However, if you then worship that demon, or it leads you to commit an act of shirk, then the demon(s) have succeeded in leading you astray.
What better example than the Charismatics and Pentecostal movement today?
The majority of those in the Pentecostal groups believe in the Athanasian Trinity, and call themselves Trinitarians. A sizable minority believes in what they call the ‘Apostolic‘ or “Oneness” theological position. Both groups can speak in tongues, and do faith healing. But who is correct?
A block buster book was written on this subject: The Pentecostals; the good, the bad, the ugly by our brother Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansour (Surely he has his reward with Allah)
In conclusion: Supra natural acts, miracles, faith healing can be a cause for faith. Yet, they can also be a cause for disbelief and being led astray.
As Muslims, we are not thrown around by every passing wind. Our rock solid foundation is the Qur’an and the sacred teachings of the Blessed Messenger (saw).
May Allah guide the Ummah!
May Allah protect the Ummah!
May Allah forgive the Ummah!
Prima Quran 
Cheers and Jazak Allah Khayeer
Haytham
Within the broader mainstream Islamic tradition of the Quran and Hadith, is there any clear description of Jesus as an exorcist ?
Again thank you for asking the question under the relevant article. Not that I am aware of.
That is interesting, given the prevelence of exorcism within the Gospel traditions. Regarding the question of fulfilled prophecy, many pro-Ottoman muslims percieve the Capture of Constantinople in 1453 AD as completing an earlier Hadith prophecy. Whilst I understand that this remains a matter of contention, may I ask if you have a view on this matter ?
“That is interesting, given the prevelence of exorcism within the Gospel traditions.”
It is very interesting considering we seem to have a congruence between the TNCH and the Qur’an /Sunnah on this point.
1) There are no references in the TNCH to the messiah performing any exorcisms.
We would most likely have to take passages and reach deep with wild exegetical interpretations that would come across as a stretch than any meaningful engagement with the text.
2) What is even more interesting is that of the 39 books of the TNCH according to Protestants and the 46 books according to the Latin Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox we don’t really come across anyone exorcism at all per se.
The best we can come up with are the following:
“Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him (1 Samuel 16: 23).
Some have said that this refers rather to Saul having depression or some other mental disorder.
We also have the this passage in a book of disputed canonical authority.
“When they had finished eating, they escorted Tobi′as in to her. 2 As he went he remembered the words of Raphael, and he took the live ashes of incense and put the heart and liver of the fish upon them and made a smoke. 3 And when the demon smelled the odor he fled to the remotest parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him.(Tobit 1:1-3)
Then we have the very curious situation with the Gospel attributed to “John” we have absolutely no exorcisms of Jesus recorded.
Of even greater interest to myself are the debates held between Muslims and Christians (those that believe they have the authority and ability to excise demons) and not once has the Christian attempted to skip to the chase.
I have seem Orthodox and Catholic apologist claim that their opponents are ‘manifesting’ when these same claimants have some rather un-Christ like behavior themselves. But beside that point you have to wonder why don’t these Catholic and Orthodox simply excise the supposed demon out of the Muslim right then and there? What a grand opportunity to demonstrate the veracity of your faith!
One thing we will not find the Qur’an doing that the New Testament does is to attribute to Christ Jesus (as) him quoting some ghost text about healing the blind which is not even in the TNCH!
“He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:16-19)
Even then in some of these accounts we get outright contradictions in the Greek text.
” That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.” (Mark 1:32-34)
So Jesus is brought ALL the people who are sick and demon possessed and Jesus healed MANY and drove out MANY demons.
Where as whomever wrote the Gospel called ‘Matthew’ has it:
“When evening came, MANY who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed ALL the sick. ” Matthew 8:16
The Greek words πολλούς (pollous) & πάντας (pantas) get switched around.
So in the first instance they bring to Jesus ALL and he heals MANY So let us say that ALL is (20) and Jesus heals MANY (15)
In the account called “Matthew” they bring to Jesus MANY let us say the MANY is (20) and he heals them ALL (20).
A Jesus who heals and cast out ALL demons is certainly degrees better than a Jesus that merely heals and cast out MANY demons.
So yes the synoptics record about 9 different occasions of Jesus performing exorcisms.
So now that you have brought this to my attention it is fascinating the congruency between the TNCH and the Qur’an/Sunnah on the matter. 63 Prophets in the TNCH and we don’t really have anything on them performing exorcism. We have the Gospel that is named: “John” not recording a single exorcism event.
Thank you!
As regard the following:
The Blessed Prophet (saw) is reported to have said, “Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will her leader be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!” [Ahmad; Hakim, al-Mustadrak]
So some have said this is a reference to Mehmed the Conqueror in 1453 and others to some future conquest that has yet to happen. By that I take it to mean that perhaps Turkey has a future civil war between secularist and Muslims, between Sunni Muslims and Alevi (who may or may not be considered as Muslims)
A range of views are there. I hope this is helpful.