Berrin - your view is exactly that of eh's when he explains why he believes the Sun stopped in the sky for a day as described in the Bible - i.e. it was a Miracle performed by God. He doesn't have a scientific explanation for the sun stopping in the sky - so 'it was a miracle' is the only explanation he gives.
Let's look at the purpose of miracles first..What makes a miracle "a miracle" is it’s supernatural qualities which cannot always be explained by science! The miracles of God, upon his wisdom, shared by all monotheistic religions, If we read the stories of prophets we can clearly see that In order to make each prophet credible, God granted them miracles, pertinent and understandable to the people to whom they were sent to attract them by millions to worship one and only creator and to implement and uphold the laws of him. In those times scientific research and discoveries were not advanced, as science was not used as a method for self-conviction to witness God’s existence in his every meticulous intelligent designs as we discover to be the facts/knowledge of today..
Hence the further humanity developes and monotheistic religions spread, the lesser the strength and influence of miracles become.
We can look at miracles from various dimensions too. Ie. Muslims believe that the way the Quran was formed and preserved as divine text is a continuous miracle of God. Also for instance I don’t believe that humans will create perfect humans from scratch without needing a human womb/body combination! Now, to me this is a total miracle that I think scientists will never be allowed to explain the whole process of our creation so as to not overwhelm the omnipotence/Omniscience attributes of the creator which in the end undoubtedly will lead scientists to accept the existence of a major outside force called God while of course they will be given the knowledge to cure diseases therefore prolong human life span.
When it comes to Eh’s case, he can use any excuse he wants to justify his belief in Christianity rather than islam or anything else. It doesn’t surprise me the fact that he uses God’s miracles to justify - the sun stopping in the sky for a day.. that’s simply because Christianity too was fed from the same divine source as Islam is.
Muslims shouldn’t base their dissussions with christians on the proof of what God can do and cannot “in the light of science/the law of the nature” but rather it should be on the bases that islam is the final message and religion of the same God who is the source of all monotheistic religions.
So as Muslims our only proof is the Islamic texts to convey and convince, and if we can find scientific explanations in support of quranic texts than we can use them whenever possible, otherwise we cannot challenge one religion against the other over the strength of Gods power, as islam already superseded prior monotheistic religions and that we are no longer able to assess the originality of the biblical texts since islam's arrival.
It a bit like Shafique you saying that muslims don’t eat pork becouse scientist find a lot of harm in pork meat but rather becouse God commands us to not eat it in the first place thus any scientific explanation make Islamic revelations no more worth or less then what they are other than just prop Gods statements.
I don't believe that God needs to break the laws of Nature (which He set up) to perform miracles in favour of His servants.
I don’t think God breaks the laws of nature at all. When he allows miracles he does it upon his own will or to intervene where humans are found in odd situations in which intervention becomes the part of his justice due to human free will or just by the determination of divine destiny which are all along within the knowledge of God.
ie. While most people jump to commit sucide from 200 mts high bridge, will die instantly, some will jump but survive also with minor damages as part of God’s miracle which happens over human free will and divine destiny working together- all within the knowledge of God. Otherwise scientifically we would have no choice but to suggest that someone who jumps from such hight should really die if not instantly at least through major internal damages.But this is not always an evidence..
In the case of the Al Naml verses, there is a rational alternative to the 'it was a miracle' explanation - i.e. that the verse actually refers to a tribe called the Al Naml.
Never heard of this. Can you please give me links to read?
I don’t believe that in surah where ants were referred as An-Naml was actually the name of a tribe. The verse with ants is very clear to distinguish and I feel that it does not need rational alternative as prophet Solomon and his army marched towards the area known as Sheba but not Al-Naml.
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/2435/viewall/I don't believe that God needs to break the laws of Nature (which He set up) to perform miracles in favour of His servants.
It then becomes a matter of choice - whether to choose the 'it was a miracle, forget about science' angle that eh takes with the Bible, or the alternative 'God is describing an encounter with a people called Al Naml, in a valley and village named after ants'.
Shafique I am much interested to hear how other muslims interpret your point of view?
Since English is your native language, Do you think you can go online to debate with islamreligion.com and tell us how it all went?
Thanks..
Btw, I searched the net but couldn't find relevant info to debate here other than this one
..
http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/in ... 41135.html
