Islam and Christianity

from all races and religions have joined the experiment, all having
attained the same success, regardless of their religion or race. As
it is sometimes seen in the Far East, in China and India, some
Chinese soothsayers and Indian fakirs can amaze us by displaying
unimaginable and unthinkable feats of skill. Some of them give
the impression that they are flying, while others climb
unsupported ropes thrown up in the air. On the other hand,
Buddhism, the system of belief held by the Chinese, is like a
system of philosophy. Buddha (563-483 B.C.), Confucius (531-479
B.C.), and Loatse were famous philosophers. The principles they
taught were the rules of high morality. Buddha teaches people to
give up various ambitions, to undergo ascetic austerities, to
perform good actions, to be patient, to help one another and to
struggle against evil. He says, “Do as you would be done by.” But
he does not mention the name of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Though Buddha
said that he was only a man, his disciples deified him after his
death. They built temples for him, and thus Buddhism was turned
into a kind of religion. The Indians’ original religion, fireworshipping,
is a kind of idolatry. Besides idols, they worship
some animals (cows, for example). Neither Buddhism nor fireworshipping
is a religion. But, still it is a fact that some people
belonging to them display some feats of skill that are very much
like miracles. They acquire great feats of skill through a special
training of self-discipline, which consists of abstinence, special
physical exercises, and by working hard for a long time. Likewise,
magnetism, which almost freezes a man by rendering him
senseless, and hypnotism, by which a man is inspired with
commands and his actions are controlled, are no more than
special kinds of powers that some people have.
However, what we have seen are not miracles. They are only
extraordinary talents. Today, scientists have established that all
people, more or less, have talents of this sort; that some have it in
a more developed form; that some people can improve their
abilities through special systems; and that everybody will be able
to awaken his sixth sense by new and easy methods that will be
discovered in the course of time. Then if a person invested with a
developed form of the “sixth sense” displays it not as a feat of
skill but in the name of a miracle, it must be regarded only as a
fraud.
Imam-i Ahmad Rabbâni (rahmatullâhi ’alaih) in his 293rd
letter, wrote: “Wonders and miracles are of two kinds. The first is
the knowledge and ma’rifat (gnosis) which belongs to Allâhu
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