Author: WhyIChoseIslam

Reason #57: Zamzam, a living miracle on Earth?

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From Ikhlasul Amal at Flickr.com

What if I told you there is a living physical miracle on Earth, would you then believe in God? That’s the question you have to ask yourself before you are told of anything that might be a miracle. What is your mindset? If something clearly cannot be explained scientifically, will you dismiss it or as at least consider that something supernatural is at play?

So what is Zamzam? It is water coming from a well in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. As Islamic traditions explain, when Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) was ordered by God to leave Hajar and his son, Ismail, alone in the middle of the desert, a miracle happened. After his mother was looking tirelessly for people and water, Ibn Abbas, the companion and cousin of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), explained that Angel Gabriel hit the ground with his heel and water gushed out.1 From that moment thousands of years ago, we have the water well today.

So for thousands of years, in the middle of the desert, from the time of Abraham to this day2, a water source has been supplying millions and millions of people. When you see the well, or visit Makkah and Madinah and see the countless people drinking the water at any given moment, and contemplate how gallons and gallons of it are being transported throughout the world, it’s incomprehensible. How is any of that possible? To add, to this day, we don’t know the source of it. How is it not linked to another water source? How is the water still coming? Surely, it would have dried up by now… but it hasn’t.

  1. Sahih al-Bukhari 3365.
  2. Except a brief period before Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) when the well was lost.

Reason #56: An authentic look at Mary, mother of Jesus

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It’s fundamental for a Christian to believe in and love Mary. After all, she is the mother of Jesus, peace be upon them both. It may come as a surprise that, in Islam, one has to believe in and love her as well. You cannot be a Muslim otherwise.

If you open the Qur’an, you can easily see the status she has in Islam. You will notice that one of the Surahs or chapters is named after Mary (or Maryam in Arabic). She is mentioned more than 30 times in the Qur’an and is the only woman mentioned by name in it.

She was praised for her truthfulness and exemplary obedience to God:

And [the example of] Mary, the daughter of ʿImrān, who guarded her chastity, so We blew into [her garment] through Our angel [i.e., Gabriel], and she believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures and was of the devoutly obedient.

[Qur’an 66:12]

She had miracles given to her to the point Prophet Zakariya, peace be upon him, was motivated to pray to God for a son, despite reaching old age. She was also exalted for her chastity and given the miraculous conception and birth to Jesus, despite not having any relationships with a man. To encapsulate all her traits, Mary was given the greatest honor you can ask for from the Lord of the worlds:

And when the angels said, ‘O Mary, Allah has chosen you and purified you.

[Qur’an 3:42]

She did not achieve greatness just for being the mother of one of the greatest Prophets to ever live; she achieved it on her own. However, in contrast to Christianity, Islam does not ascribe divinity to anyone or anything other than God Himself. Maryam is human. Jesus is human as well. Thus, no questions or confusion that get brought up with the trinity. Ex: If Jesus is God, how did a mortal give birth to something divine? Did Jesus have to rely on a mortal? Is Mary divine to begin with? If so, what is her true relationship with Jesus? Or the Father?