Once I was invited to participate in a panel discussion as a Muslim individual.
Someone from the audience asked me to reflect on Prophet Mohamed PBUH's miracles because he couldn't point out any.
I told him that Prophet Mohamed had had many miracles, but we don’t focus on how
miraculous he was; rather, we focus more on his message and the legacy he left for Muslims.
Then, I added that one of the Prophet's miracles was obvious when his nanny (Haleema Assa'deya) found her yellowish, droopy desert-looking yard turned green as soon as she brought the Prophet to her home. Also, her sick goat got healthier, and
they were able to milk it. Everything she had was doubled in multiple folds.
The Prophet was known for his graceful ability to bless food and make it
enough even if offered in small amounts. One of the stories that was well known at this time was the story of Abu Huraira, the famous Hadith* narrator.
Abu Huraira was so hungry for days, he wrapped a belt with a stone around
his stomach, so he wouldn't feel how empty his aching stomach was. He was poor. Abu Huraira felt too ashamed to ask someone to invite him over for a meal. He met the Prophet while
he was sticking around. Abu Huraira passed by Abu-Bakr at first, then Omar Ibn-Elkhattab next (both of which were
the Prophet's companions); he tried indirectly to let them know that he was
hungry, but they didn't get it. When Prophet Mohamed PBUH saw him, he read his mind and immediately realized that Abu Huraira was starving. He invited
him over some milk, and right before Abu Huraira responded, he told him to go
and invite the people of Saffa. Abu Huraira got disappointed because he was assured that this
bottle of milk wouldn't be enough for the Saffa people, who were about 300-400
members. Abu Huraira thought that he would never get a chance to fulfill his
hunger, but he went on as instructed and went to invite the Saffa people like the Prophet
asked him to do. Then, the Prophet offered the gathering the milk, and all drank. Abu
Huraira drank the milk, and he said, "It was so filling, it felt like even if someone poked me with a pin, I would be oozing out milk." He referred that the
Prophet blessed the food and made it enough for all people despite its small quantity.
The Prophet was able to talk to animals and predict events before happening. The Prophet was able to travel to Quds on an
animal, and it only took him a few hours to travel ( during Israa and Miraj trip), which seemed impossible in ancient times as people would rely on camels to travel, and they would need months to travel from Mecca to Quds. Also, one of the
miracles was the moon splitting.
I believe that the most obvious miracle was that despite that the Prophet was illiterate, he could memorize and recite the Holy Quran. Narrating the past Prophetic stories and telling the future stories was itself a miracle. I should point out that the Holy scripture's Arabic language is a very rich and eloquent language. Formal Arabic in the Holy Quran is different from informal or slang Arabic. There are seven Arabic dialects, by the way.
People at the Arabian peninsula used to brag about their linguistic skills
and rich Arabic language, and the more poetic verses you could memorize, the more eloquent you were. They
even would hang their poems on the Kaaba walls out of pride. The verses could go longer
than 1000 verses.
Because the time was limited and I was speaking as a panelist for the first
time in my whole life, I was panicking. And guess what? I said literature instead
of saying illiterate. 🙈🙈🙈🙈
One of the attendees, who was also a non-English native speaker, corrected me publicly. I felt like I'm sinking deep in shame, and my heart was bounding out of embarrassment! After the talk was done, I wasn't able to think about anything but my grammatical errors. Sigh!
I thought to myself, what else have I done or said wrong?
I tried to distract myself by mingling with other attendees. A few minutes later, a teen American blond girl came and asked me, "There is one word you said, and I didn't understand..."
OMG! could that get any worse!
I smiled despite my embarrassment and asked her what this word was. She said, "Polytheism. What does this word mean? And you said monotheism, what does it mean?"
I smiled in relief and said, "Monotheism is worshipping one God, and polytheism means worshipping a plethora of deities?"
Phew!
"You mean, multiple Gods?" she asked.
"Yes. Exactly," I said.
Oh, God! Seems like when someone mispronounces a word, that means she learned it by reading. And when I quote something from a book that some native English speakers wouldn't understand, it means that I knew English. 👀
If someone asked me, "What was Prophet Mohamed's miracles PBUH?" in Arabic-my mother tongue-I would probably say more
than I could say in English.
Assuming that people could fully express their ideas in their second language because they have a light accent, or they are so familiar with
the culture they live in is probably wrong.
Let's see how to imply this in the Arabic language...
Let’s say that someone is named Rose.
The Arabic transliteration would be Warda.
The Arabic translation would be
Flower
The proper language localized translation would be
Someone named Warda
There is a significant difference between translation, which is what you said literally,
and language localization, which is what you intended to say, and transliteration,
which is how you pronounce it.
My Arabic-speaking fellows, make sure to be easy on someone wanting to cross-cultural barriers, be his helper. Be a good ambassador!
My thoughts represent me and are not affiliated with any organization I work/ volunteer for.
Hadith*: prophetic statement.
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