affirm him nor obey his commands, and how fortunate are those who affirm him and say: “We have heard and we obey!” Now offer praise and thanks to God for Islam and belief!
EIGHTEENTH SIGN
The greatest miracle of God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), an eternal one, is the All-Wise Qur’an, which comprises hundreds of evidences of his prophethood, and forty aspects of whose own miraculousness have been proven. The Twenty-Fifth Word has explained concisely and proved those forty aspects in its approximately one hundred and fifty pages. Therefore, referring that supreme miracle, a treasury of miracles, to that Word, here we shall explain only one or two points.
First Point
I f i t i s a s k e d : The miraculousness of the Qur’an lies in its eloquence. But all classes of men have the right to a share of its understanding, and only one learned scholar out of a thousand can understand the miraculousness in its eloquence?
T h e A n s w e r : The All-Wise Qur’an has a different kind of miraculousness corresponding to the understanding of each class; it indicates the existence of its miraculousness to each in a different way. For example, to the scholars of rhetoric and eloquence, it exhibits the miraculousness of its extraordinary eloquence. To the poets and orators, it shows its exalted, beautiful, and original style, which no one can imitate although it pleases everyone. The passage of time does not cause its style to age; it always remains fresh and new. Its prose and word-order are so well-ordered that it is both elevated and pleasant. To soothsayers and other diviners of the Unseen, it displays its miraculousness in its extraordinary reports concerning the Unseen. To historians, it demonstrates its miraculousness by giving information concerning events of past ages, as well as those of the future, and of the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter. To social and political scientists, it shows the miraculousness in its sacred principles. Yes, the Supreme Shari‘a, which proceeds from the Qur’an, indicates that mystery of miraculousness. To those occupied with knowledge of God and cosmic truths, it shows the miraculousness of the sacred divine truths in the Qur’an, or else it indicates the existence of that miraculousness. To the Sufis and saints, it shows the miraculousness in the hidden mysteries of its verses, which constantly rise and fall like waves in the sea of the Qur’an. And so on. To each of forty classes of men, it opens up a window and shows its miraculousness. The ordinary people even, who only listen to the