Would you consider this evidence Islam is true?

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

To be fair, I don’t base my belief in God on miracles.
If all the miracles were explained away tomorrow by totally believable natural causes, I’d still believe in God because the case for God still stands without the extra “proof” of miracles…

 

[mrsdizzyd]

Does it follow then that “Catholic” miracles don’t tell us anything about the veracity of Catholicism?

Some miracles are only meant to show the existence of God. There is nothing wrong with that.

Eucharistic miracles, miracles regarding the BVM, or miracles regarding Catholic saints (just a few examples) are pretty specifically related to the Catholic Church.

(Like Scarlett above me, my belief in God does not rest on miracles.)

 

[Odilon]

I would consider it sorcery.

 

[midori]

There’s a famous nun with a healing ministry. This is one of her anecdotes from her book:

While in Japan giving a retreat, an Irish priest said to me (Sr. Briege), “Briege, it would be awful easy to believe if I could see a miracle.”

I told him, “Father, the Lord uses you every morning to perform a miracle.”

He said, “I know about the mass, but you know what I mean. If only I could see somebody healed if they were blind or had bad legs, it would be very easy to believe.”

I said, “Oh, do you think it would, Father? I’ve seen a lot of people healed, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I still have to keep praying and many times I find myself thinking, ‘Oh that person’s so sick,’ and wondering if healing is possible.”

He said to me, “Oh, I think I’d be different. I think if I could see a miracle, I would really believe.”

[…three days later…]

Among the Jesuits [at the retreat] there was an elderly French priest who had a very severe gangrene in his leg. The doctor had told him he should have the leg amputated. He asked the doctor to let him make the retreat and then he would go for the amputation.

Fr. Frank asked us to gather around and pray for healing.

The next morning, we were getting ready to go to breakfast. The French priest came up to me gesticulating and making all kinds of signs to me, pointing to heaven and to his heart and just carrying on. I couldn’t speak French or Japanese; I just kept looking at him. I thought with a little inward smile, ‘This poor man’s getting a heart attack or going mad.’ So I just walked away.

I went in to breakfast and this same priest came running into the room with the legs of his trousers rolled up. He was showing everyone that his leg was perfectly healed.

Three seats down from me was my Irish friend. I looked over at him and said, “Father, there’s your miracle you were talking about the other day.”

The Irish priest looked at him, and then he looked at me, and he said, “My God, it’s awful hard to believe! Did he have gangrene at all?”

Then I said to him, “See, Father, it doesn’t make it easier to believe.”

 

[neophyte]

First off, there is no truth in Islam.

Are you saying that it’s not true that there is only one God? Or that it is good to give alms? Or that one must refrain from greed, lust, and other such things? All of those are taught in Islam.

 

[neophyte]

My point is whether or not an Islamic prayed for miracle is evidence of the truth of Islam

If we had no other knowledge of either Islam or Christianity, then it would be reasonable to take it as such since it would indicate that he was a friend of God.

 

[Juvenal]

If an Islamic Imam prayed to [Allah] for an amputated limb to regrow and it did so before your eyes would you consider this evidence that Islam is true? If not, why not?

Assuming this event was legitimate …

It would be evidence a limb could be regrown using sufficiently reliable methods for the Imam to predict the event. Growing limbs on humans is roughly, and conservatively, 50 orders of magnitude less than what would suffice to show the existence of a universal creator.

This applies to all miracle claims used to support the existence of such a deity.

Really, what’s needed is an event directly tied to claims made specifically by the religion it’s intended to support.

For instance, if Jesus, (setting aside any discussion of which Jesus we’re speaking about), were to walk through my wall, grab a slice of pizza, and invite my to put my hand into the holes in his side, I would consider this direct evidence of at least that much of his resurrection story, and likely much more.

I still wouldn’t believe his dad killed off the dinosaurs, which, given the evidence of recent history, was probably a mistake.

 

[KevinK]

What in the world does your post have to do with the question?

 

[SpearOfMichael]

I was responding to Neophyte.

 

[therese1998]

That just proves God

This. Miracles happen; the vast majority of them we don’t even know about. When a miracle happens, be it to whomever, it is proof of God, not proof of Catholicism or Hinduism or Islam. Our miracles are not our teachings and we don’t believe in God BECAUSE of the miracles He does. We believe in God because we’ve been given the grace to know He is All.

To be fair, I don’t base my belief in God on miracles.
If all the miracles were explained away tomorrow by totally believable natural causes, I’d still believe in God because the case for God still stands without the extra “proof” of miracles…

This. Not sure why OP believes miracles are God’s (or Mohammed or Allah’s) proof. That is like a child who says I know my Daddy loves me because he gives me candy.

 

[neophyte]

neophyte:

Are you saying that it’s not true that there is only one God? Or that it is good to give alms? Or that one must refrain from greed, lust, and other such things? All of those are taught in Islam.

First off they do not believe in the Triune Godhead.
Giving alms will always be endorsed by every mainstream religion because heavy coffers keep the rails rolling.
If Greed were not endorsed they would not force non-muslims into either servitude or paying an insane tax.
If lust were not endorsed then why does the Hadith indicate Mohammed married and bedded an eight year old? Furthermore, why is a harem of virgins the gift for “devout” men? Why is there no such explanation of heavenly gifts for “devout” women?

rolleyes

 

[Roguish]

If an Islamic Imam prayed to Muhammed

Not sure where you’re coming from (i.e. antagonistic toward Islam or not), but these opening words alone betray quite a lack of understanding (even just scholarly) of Islam. I know you corrected yourself a few posts down, but this “little” mistake makes it fairly clear you could do a bit more study before launching probing questions.

Nevertheless, to address your question (somewhat): whether the limb regrew or not has no bearing on faith in Islam, and neither would it in any other religion including Christianity. Does a Christian lose his faith in God, Christ, the BVM, the saints, if his prayers aren’t answered with a stupendous miracle? Of course not. So why would it have a bearing on the “trueness” of Islam? It doesn’t. And if the limb did regrow, would it bolster a muslim’s faith? No. Neither a sincere muslim nor a sincere Christian nor the sincere believer of any religion throttles his faith depending on whether or not he has witnessed a “satisfactory” miracle.

Miracles are not meant to be “proof” of one religion or another, or even of God Himself. On the contrary: miracles occur for those who already have faith. Indeed, one may say that the occasional miracle (big or small) is evidence of faith – though the faith is still there in the absence of miracles.

 

[dochawk]

If an Islamic Imam prayed to Muhammed for an amputated limb to regrow and it did so before your eyes would you consider this evidence that Islam is true

I probably wouldn’t notice, as I’d be shouting at the flying monkeys to bring my pet unicorn back (a much more likely thing to worry about).

 

[giuseppe96]

Remember that Pharoah’s magicians could mimic the same miracles that Moses and Aaron were performing.

 

[goout]

First off, there is no truth in Islam. Once we agree to that fact, we can discuss its miracles.

Might be your opinion but the Catholic Church officially and dogmatically recognizes elements of truth in other religions, and the fullness of truth residing in Catholic Church. We acknowledge the commonality of faith in Abraham.

From that starting point, we can talk about differences in theology, which are much disputed and easy to research.

 

[goout]

If an Islamic Imam prayed to Muhammed for an amputated limb to regrow and it did so before your eyes would you consider this evidence that Islam is true? If not, why not?

Will that person die? If so, what is the point of the hypothetical miracle?

Do you base your life’s trajectory and your life’s initiatives on miracles? Or do you trust in something else…
In other words, why does this question even matter to you, that you form a hypothetical around it while at the same time rejecting miracles as a basis for your faith?

 

[ProdglArchitect]

If an Islamic Imam prayed to Muhammed for an amputated limb to regrow and it did so before your eyes would you consider this evidence that Islam is true? If not, why not?

No, I would not.

God is not limited in His capacity to perform miracles. He can perform them for atheists if He so chooses. I have no doubt that most Imams have sincere faith in God, even if that faith is malformed by the founder of their religion.

At the end of the day, I believe that Christ is the Son, God incarnate. Mohammad rejects this. As such, I am incapable of believing that Islam is true.

 

[goout]

God is not limited in His capacity to perform miracles. He can perform them for atheists if he so chooses.

a very wise and open hearted observation. All of existence is miraculous. Not one person here can give reason, explanation, or meaning to his own existence. We are all contingent in every way, and a sane person recognizes the tenuousness of his existence, and appreciates the breath of another day, and doesn’t arrogate these realities to his own powers.
The alternative is to believe that life is a random accident devoid of meaning or inherent worth. Or that one is responsible for his own existence. And that leads to some dark places.