(2) THE MIRACLE AND THE LONG LIFE
Up to now we have seen that the prolongation of life
is scientifically possible. But let us suppose that it is
not, that the process of old-age and decrepitude is quite
rigid, that it cannot either now or in the long run
overcome nor alter its conditions or circumstances - what
will this mean? It will mean that the prolongation of
human life - as is the case of Noah, or al-Mahdi - runs
contrary to the natural laws which science confirmed
thanks to modern instruments of experimentation. Thus
this condition becomes a miracle that has hindered the
applicability of a natural law under a certain
circumstances, in order to preserve the life of a
particular individual whose role is to cherish the Divine
message.
Yet this is not the only miracle of its kind, nor is
it remote from a Muslim's faith, which derives from the
Qur'an and the sunnah. Moreover the process of old-age is
no more rigid than is the process of the passage of heat
from a body of higher temperature to another of lower
temperature until both of them become equal. This had
occurred in the case of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) when
the only way to preserve his life was by hindering that
process, when it was said to the fire in which he was
thrown:
We said, "O fire be cool on Ibrahim and
keep him safe." (Qur'an, 21:69)
So, he emerged from it safe and unharmed.
There are also other cases where natural laws were
hindered to protect some of the prophets or Proofs of
Allah on earth. When the sea was split for Musa (Moses),
when the Romans were misled in thinking they had caught
'Isa (Jesus) or when Muhammad (peace and blessing of
Allah be upon him and his progeny) left his house, while
it was surrounded by the troops of Quraysh who were
waiting for hours to attack him but Allah, the Exalted,
hid him from their eyes while he was walking in their
midst. All of these cases show a hindrance of the laws of
nature to protect an individual, whom the Divine wisdom
wished to preserve. Therefore, why not include here the
process of old-age and decrepitude?
From this we can deduce a general notion, which is
that whenever the preservation of the Prophet's life (the
Proof of Allah on earth) depends on the hindrance of a
natural law, and the prolongation of his life comes to be
necessary for the performance of his task, Divine care
then intervenes by delaying the process so that the task
of that individual can be accomplished. On the other
hand, once the Divine mission of that individual has been
fulfilled he either dies naturally or as a martyr
depending on what is determined by natural laws.
Thus we find ourselves confronted with the present
question in connection with this general notion: How can
the process be obstructed? How can the necessary
correlation that exists between natural phenomena, be
sundered? Does it not contradict science, which
discovered the existence o f that natural law or process
and defined that necessary correlation on experimental
and deductive bases?
The answer is that science has already solved the
problem by giving up the idea of necessity as far as
natural laws are concerned. To clarify this we can say
that science discovers natural laws through systematic
observations and experiments. For example, when the
occurrence of a natural phenomenon is followed another
one, we deduce from this a natural law which is: that
whenever the first phenomenon comes into existence it is
automatically followed by another phenomenon.
However, science does not propose a necessary
correlation between the two phenomena stemming from their
nature, since necessity is an invisible condition that
experimentation and the instruments of scientific and
inductive inquiry cannot demonstrate. Therefore, the
logic of modern science emphasizes that natural law - as
it is defined by science - does not indicate a necessary
correlation, but an uninterrupted connection, between two
phenomena. But when the miracle occurs and separates one
from the other, it does not mean that their correlation
was sundered.
The truth of the matter is that the miracle, in its
religious sense, has become, in the light of modern
scientific logic, more understandable than before, under
the classical view of causal correlation. This old view
assumed that every two phenomena, in which one is
followed automatically by the other must have a necessary
correlation, which means that it is impossible to
separate one from the other. However, this correlation
has been transformed thanks to modern scientific logic
into a law of correlation or of consecutive succession
between two phenomena without the hypothesis of invisible
necessity.
Thereby the miracle becomes an exceptional condition
with regard to this connective succession without running
against a necessity or leading to an impossibility.
So, in the light of the logical foundation of
induction we agree with the modern point of view which
says that induction does not demonstrate the existence of
a necessary correlation between two phenomena. We find
that it shows that there is a common interpretation for
the consecutive connection between the two. Since this
common interpretation can be formed on the basis of the
assumption of subjective necessity, it can also be formed
on the assumption of a wisdom that made the Creator of
the universe to continuously combine some particular
phenomena with others. The same wisdom sometimes calls
for exception; thus a miracle occurs.