One thing that has been confusing me is the miracles said to happen at the lourdes water .http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/lourdes/miracles1.html Could you kindly explain these?
I am confused about why miracles happen at the hands of those who associate partners with Allah. As I thought that miracles or karamah only happened at the hands of awliya as a sighn that they are on the right path.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
The karāmāt (extraordinary occurrences with the friends of Allah) happen only at the hands of those who staunchly adhere to the Quran and the Sunnah. It is something bestowed by Allah on certain awliyā (the friends of Allah) for reasons He knows best.
Believing in these karāmāt is part of our creed as stated in Al-Aqīdah Al-Tahāwiyah:
“And we believe in what has come down to us regarding the karāmāt of the awliyā and authentic narrations about them proven from trustworthy sources” [i]
However the occurrences of such karāmāt are neither an objective nor the end goal. A Muslim can be a high-ranking wali of Allah without exhibiting any karāmah.
It becomes clear from the above that only those extraordinary events that occur at the hands of the awliyā would be termed karāmāt.
As for those extraordinary events that occur at the hands of those who disbelieve in Allah or are involved in shirk, they fall into one of two categories:
1. A deception, trick or an illusion: By using means such as false witnesses, sleight of hand, making up stories, falsifying records and so on, common people are fooled into believing a supernatural or an extraordinary event has occurred.
2. Istidrāj: This is when idolaters and disbelievers spread falsehood and invite to kufr by performing supernatural or extraordinary acts. Allah in His Infinite Wisdom allows such acts to occur wherein the faith of true believers is tested. [ii]
Such events also occurred in the time of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them).
Once, Zaynab, the wife of Abdullah bin Mas’ūd (may Allah be pleased with them both) was feeling pain from an eye discharge and when she went to a yahūdi healer, he would read over her and she would feel better.
When she informed her husband, Abdullah ibn Mas’ūd (may Allah be pleased with him) about this, he told her that this was the work of Shaytān who pricks the eye and would let go when the healer would read over her. [iii]
This healer’s action would make it appear that he was healing the pain when in fact it was not really pain at all, but rather the interference of devils.
In the explanation of the above hadīth, Mawlāna Khalīl Ahmad Sahāranpūrī (may Allah have mercy on him) has written that this proves that the healer took the help of devils in his ruqyah. [iv]
The above leads us to two conclusions:
1. Extraordinary or supernatural acts that occur at the hands of disbelievers cannot be used as the only criterion of their being on the right path because every religion claims such events. If one were to use only this as a criterion of truth or falsehood then each would claim being the true faith based only on such events.
2. While it is technically possible for a person to be healed in one way or another through an extraordinary act at the hand of a disbeliever or through the intervention of a devil it will never be termed a karāmah, rather it is istidrāj and talbīs iblīs (the deception of Shaytān, the accursed).
Sohail ibn Arif,
Student Darul Iftaa
Chicago, USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
ونؤمن بما جاء من كراماتهم ، وصح عن الثقات من رواياتهم [i]
متن العقيدة الطحاوية، ص. ٣١ دار إبن حزم
[ii] عقائد الاسلام، ص. ١٧٤ مولانا إدريس كاندلهوي
إن الرقى والتمائم والتولة شرك . قالت : قلت : لم تقول هذا ؟ والله لقد كانت عيني تقذف وكنت أختلف إلى [iii]
فلان اليهودي يرقيني ، فإذا رقاني سكنت ، فقال عبد الله : إنما ذاك عمل الشيطان كان ينخسها بيده فإذا رقاها كف عنها ، إنما كان يكفيك أن تقولي كما كان رسول اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول : أذهب البًاس رب الناس ، اشف أنت الشافي ، لا شفاء إلا شفاؤك ، شفاء لا يغادر سقما
سنن أبي داود الرقم: ٣٨٨٣
.أي إستعان في الرقي بالشياطين [iv]
بذل المجهود في هل أبي داود، ١٦/ ٢١٣ دار الكتب العلم