Understanding the Qur’anic Miracle Stories in the Modern Age

Abstract

In the introduction to her Understanding the Qur’anic Miracle Stories in the Modern Age, Isra Yazicioglu writes about the dilemma of how readers are to understand such stories. She poses the question that if both the Qur’an and scholars of Islamic thought argue that Muhammad’s message is his miracle (p. 5) and that natural phenomena contain miracles, then why is there a need for such narrations? And since they are only narrations of miracles, for readers do not actually witness these miracles, do they “count as evidence of God’s power?” (p. 8). Stemming from these and other related questions, much of the book revolves around issues of causation and sources of knowledge. This book will appeal to advanced university students and academics interested in Qur’anic studies and especially in Islamic philosophy. Part I, “Medieval Muslim Debate,” includes a chapter on al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd. Each chapter includes a welcome biographical section on the scholar under discussion. Starting with al-Ghazali, we see the idea that God can and has sent miracles to verify His messengers and that this is fundamental in Islam (p. 18). These miracles enable people to discern between prophets and imposters (p. 19) and by creating miracles God “nonverbally ...