The Laws of the Universe

I understand that the laws of the universe are broken only by prophets with Allah's (subhana wa ta'ala) permission as a proof of their prophethood. Now, this is different from karamaat, which are highly unlikely events, but still within the normal laws of the universe. Would you please clarify this for me?

Walaikum assalam,

The position of Sunni Islam is that Allah is the creator of both causes and effects, and the relationship between these causes and effects.

The relationship between causes and effects is not in itself necessary, such that if the cause is found its effect is inevitable. Rather, it is a normative relationship that Allah normally sustains, of His Will and Power, for obvious wisdom. This can be thought of as a Sunna of Allah in creation.

This link is not in itself necessary and may be broken by Allah at any time. Therefore, while it is normally necessary for fire to burn, for example, it is not in itself intellectually necessary. As such, it is completely possible at any moment for this normative link to be broken, and for fire not to burn, for example.

This is why most types of major miracles have been authentically reported that which gives intellectual certainty regarding their truth: tawatur (multiple contiguous chains of narrators regarding a palpable matter, so numerous that the intellect cannot conceive that they could possibly agree on error).

Thus, the fuqaha, who are the most sober and questioning of people, accept the possibility of someone traveling from the West to the East in an instant or (my favourite) for the Kaaba to go and visit one of the righteous. [As mentioned in Kitab al-Ridda of Ibn Abidin's Radd al-Muhtar]

How?

Simple: Allah is the Willing and Powerful.

Anything that is in principle possible is possible for Allah to will and bring into existence. He told us this Himself, "And Allah has power to do all things," [wa Allahu `ala kulli shay'in qadeer] is repeated throughout the Qur'an. "All things" refers to everything that is in principle possible.

Sh. Buti's article [attached], deals with this eloquently. It is very important to read and understand this.

What he says in it represents sound Sunni understanding. It is what Allah explained in His Book, and what His Beloved (Allah bless him & give him peace) taught.

The way to understand reality is to read the Book of Allah with reflection. Allah has told us, “It is an exposition of all things.”

And Allah alone gives success.

Walaikum assalam,

Faraz Rabbani