Are miracles that will make people believers contrary to the mystery of testing?

- They say that it is contrary to the mystery of testing to show the existence of Allah in a way that will make everybody accept it. – The Quran states that the people whose hearts are sealed will deny even if they see a miracle. – Then, why are the miracles that will make people believers contrary to the mystery of testing?

Dear Brother / Sister,

- There is a famous quote of Napoleon: “Tell me a sentence; I can execute you by interpreting it.” It means it is possible to interpret any sentence differently.

As a matter of fact, the polytheists who saw the Prophet (pbuh) split the moon into two with a gesture of his finger said,

“This is (but) transient magic.” (al-Qamar, 54/2) 

The Arab polytheists who were astonished by the rhetoric of the Quran did not hesitate to describe it as magic. (al-Muddaththir, 74/18-25) 

- The miracles that will make people believers are not contrary to the mystery of testing. As a matter of fact, many people could not resist and had to believe in the face of miracles. The issue is as follows: There were some people who believed in the face of a certain miracle but there were also others who interpreted the same miracle differently and did not believe. The meaning of it is as follows: Even if a miracle is extraordinary, it does not remove the free will of people and do not compel them to believe, which will be contrary to the mystery of testing. The existence of both those who believe and who do not believe in the face of the same miracle is definite evidence about it. 

- Badiuzzaman Said Nursi’s words related to the splitting of the moon and our issue are as follows:

“Miracles are for proving claims to prophethood and for convincing those who deny such claims, they are not for compelling people to believe. They have therefore to be shown to those who hear such claims to an extent that will persuade them. It would be contrary to the All-Wise and Glorious One’s wisdom to display them all over the world or in so self-evident a manner that everyone would be compelled to believe. It would also be contrary to the mystery of man’s accountability For, this requires ‘opening the door to the reason without cancelling the power of choice'.

If the All- Wise Creator had left the moon split apart for a couple of hours so as to show it to the whole world as the philosophers wished, and it had been recorded in all the general histories of mankind, then it would have been like all other occurrences in the heavens and   would not have been an evidence for Muhammad’s (UWBP) claim to prophethood, nor been special to it. Or else it would have been so self-evident a miracle that it would have annulled the reason’s power to choose, and compelled it to accept it; it would have had to assent to his prophethood. People with coal-like spirits like Abu Jahl would have remained on the same level as people with diamond-like spirits like Abu Bakr the Veracious; the mystery of man’s accountability would have been lost.

It was due to this mystery that, being both instantaneous, and at nighttime, and at a time of sleep; and due to time differences, mist, and cloud and other factors concealing it, it was not shown to the whole world and did not pass into the histories." (Sözler, Otuz Birinci Söz'ün Zeyli)

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