Supernatural power of great divine people from a Qur’anic viewpoint
With utmost explicitness, the heavenly scripture of Islam mentions the names of a number of righteous servants of God who, by the decree of God, have such extraordinary power. Below are some instances:
1. The supernatural power of Ḥaḍrat Mūsā (Moses) (‘a)
God, the Exalted, ordered His prophet, Mūsā (‘a), to strike a rock with his staff and fountains of refreshing water gushed forth:
﴿ وَإِذِ اسْتَسْقَىٰ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْناً ﴾
“And when Moses prayed for water for his people, We said, ‘Strike the rock with your staff.’ Thereat twelve fountains gushed forth from it.”[1]
2. The supernatural power of Ḥaḍrat ‘Īsā (Jesus) (‘a)
Various instances of the supernatural power of Ḥaḍrat ‘Īsā (‘a) are mentioned in the Qur’an, one of which is the following:
﴿ أَنِّي أَخْلُقُ لَكُم مِّنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ فَأَنفُخُ فِيهِ فَيَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَأُبْرِئُ الأكْمَهَ والأَبْرَصَ وَأُحْيِـي الْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ ﴾
“I will create for you out of clay the form of a bird, then I will breathe into it, and it will become a bird by Allah’s leave. And I heal the blind and the leper and revive the dead by Allah’s leave.”[2]
3. The supernatural power of Ḥaḍrat Sulaymān (Solomon) (‘a)
The Glorious Qur’an points to the supernatural power of Ḥaḍrat Sulaymān (‘a) and states:
﴿ وَوَرِثَ سُلَيْمَانُ دَاوُودَ وَقَالَ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ عُلِّمْنَا مَنطِقَ الطَّيْرِ وَأُوتِينَا مِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْمُبِينُ ﴾
“Solomon inherited from David, and he said, ‘O people! We have been taught the speech of the birds, and we have been given out of everything. Indeed this is a manifest advantage.”[3]
No doubt, the gushing forth of fountains from the rock which Ḥaḍrat Mūsā (‘a) stroke with his staff, the creation of a real bird out of clay, the healing of incurable ailments and the revival of the dead by Ḥaḍrat ‘Isā (‘a), and Ḥaḍrat Sulaymān’s (‘a) knowledge of the logic and language of birds are extraordinary affairs which are considered as kinds of acts of supernatural power and authority.
Given that many Qur’anic verses point to the supernatural power of the worthy servants of God, will our belief in the purport of these explicit verses of the Qur’an, which bespeak of the extraordinary power of such great divine people, be regarded as tantamount to polytheism [shirk] or innovation in religion [bid‘ah]?
From this, it becomes evident that the belief that righteous servants of God have supernatural power does not mean that they are regarded as gods or authors of divine acts. If such a belief were to imply their divinity [ulūhiyyah] and lordship [rubūbiyyah], then according to the Qur’an such prophets like Mūsā, ‘Isā, Sulaymān, and others (‘a) would be taken to be gods, whereas all Muslims know that the Holy Qur’an considers great divine people as righteous servants of God.
Thus, it is obvious that if in the belief that the nearest ones to God have supernatural power, we can consider this power to be relying on the inexhaustible power of God and regard great divine people as instruments for manifesting divine power. This belief will not only mean rejection of polytheism but it will also be totally congruent with the principle of true monotheism because the criterion of monotheism and Unity of God is attributing every power in the world to God and believing that He is the author of every power and every movement.
