Appearance
A Discussion of the Narrations
1. Creation of the “Bat” as one of the Miracles of Jesus (a.s.)
From Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (a.s.) who said: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (a.s.) was in the mosque of Kufa when a man from Syria stood up and asked him some questions. Among what he asked was: “Tell me about six beings that were not carried in a womb?” He replied: “Adam and Eve, Abraham’s ram, Moses’ staff, Ṣāliḥ’s she-camel, and the bat that Jesus son of Mary created and it flew by God’s permission.”(424)
Note: The emergence of animals typically occurs either through giving birth, whether by laying an egg or through reproduction and the nurturing of a fetus in the womb. What manifested through Jesus (a.s.) was extraordinary in both respects; that is, it was an animal created without egg-laying and without fetal development, and it was not of the kind of modern cloning that ordinary science is capable of.
2. The Miracle of Reviving the Dead
From Abān ibn Taghlib who said: Abū ʿAbdallāh (a.s.) was asked whether Jesus son of Mary had ever brought anyone back to life after their death such that they could eat, receive sustenance, live for a period, and have children? He replied: “Yes, he had a close friend who was his brother in God, and Jesus would pass by him and stay with him. Jesus was absent from him for a while, then passed by him and his mother came out to meet him. He asked her about him, and his mother said: ‘He has died, O Messenger of God.’ He said to her: ‘Would you like to see him?’ She said: ‘Yes.’ He said to her: ‘Tomorrow I will come to you and bring him back to life for you by God’s permission.’ The next day he came to her and said: ‘Come with me to his grave.’ They went until they reached his grave. Jesus (a.s.) stood there and prayed to God. The grave opened and her son emerged alive. When his mother saw him and he saw her, they both wept. Jesus had mercy on them and said to him: ‘Would you like to remain with your mother in this world?’ He said: ‘O Messenger of God! With food, sustenance and a fixed term, or without a term, sustenance and food?’ Jesus said to him: ‘Rather with sustenance, food and a term - you will live for twenty years and marry and have children.’ He said: ‘Yes, then.’ So Jesus (a.s.) returned him to his mother and he lived for twenty years and had children.”(425)
From ʿAbdallāh ibn Sulaym al-ʿĀmirī from Abū ʿAbdallāh (a.s.) who said: “Jesus son of Mary came to the grave of John son of Zechariah (a.s.), and he had asked his Lord to bring him back to life for him. He called him and he responded and came out of the grave to him. He said to him: ‘What do you want from me?’ He said to him: ‘I want you to keep me company as you used to in this world.’ He said to him: ‘O Jesus! The heat of death has not yet cooled from me and you want to return me to this world so that the heat of death would return to me?’ So he left him and he returned to his grave.”(426)
Note: Death and sleep share a true commonality and both are referred to as "passing away" (tawaffī). The difference between the two lies in the degree of severance. The return of the soul to the body after sleep is rational and common. The return of the soul to the body after death is rational but uncommon. What has been narrated about Jesus (a.s.) and similar cases is contrary to what is common, not contrary to reason and proof, for such a return is improbable but not impossible, and the source of its improbability is that it is not customary.
3. Reports of the Unseen by Jesus (a.s.) to the Children of Israel
From Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī (a.s.) regarding His words: “And I will tell you what you have eaten and what you have stored in your houses” - Jesus (a.s.) used to say to the Children of Israel: “I am God’s messenger to you and I create for you from clay the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God’s permission, and I heal the blind and the leper.” The blind (akmah) is the one who cannot see. They said: “What we see you doing is nothing but sorcery, so show us a sign that we may know you are truthful.” He said: “What do you think if I tell you ‘what you eat and what you store,’ meaning what you ate in your houses before coming out and what you stored away at night, would you know that I am truthful?” They said: “Yes.” So he would tell a man, “You ate such and such, and drank such and such, and put away such and such.” Among them were those who accepted this and believed, and those who denied it and disbelieved. And in this was a sign for them, if they were believers.(427)
Note:
The Children of Israel considered the miracles of Jesus to be sorcery. To prove the truth of his claim, he informed them about the food they ate or stored in their houses. Some accepted and believed while others denied and disbelieved.
The source of such unseen reports is indeed the existential capacity of the soul of the perfect, infallible human being who, by divine grace, is aware of what is apparent and hidden in others. This is also what is understood from the verse “And say, ‘Go on working: God will see your conduct, and His Messenger and the faithful [as well]’” (9:105).(428) Sometimes they are permitted to disclose this information and at other times they are not commanded to do so.
4. The Appropriateness of the Prophets’ Miracles for their Eras
Ibn al-Sikkīt asked Abū l-Ḥasan al-Riḍā (a.s.): “Why did God send Moses son of ʿImrān with the staff, the white hand, and the tools of sorcery, and send Jesus (a.s.) with medicine, and send Muhammad (s.a.w.) with speech and sermons?” Abū l-Ḥasan (a.s.) replied: “… And God sent Jesus (a.s.) at a time when chronic illnesses had appeared and people were in need of medicine. So he brought them from God what they did not have, and he revived the dead for them and healed the blind (akmah) and the leper (abraṣ) by God’s permission, and thereby established the proof against them.”(429)
Note: According to this noble hadith, the miracles of the divine prophets (a.s.) correspond and align with the conditions of their times. For example, in the era of Jesus (a.s.), medicine had a special prominence, and people understood, more than any other miracle, the healing of blindness and leprosy, and even more so the revival of the dead, and thus the proof was completed for them. Therefore, Jesus (a.s.) undertook to heal patients whom the skilled physicians of his time were unable to cure. Since they were medical experts, they fully understood the difference between ordinary medicine and supernatural healing, and thus the divine proof became clear to them.
5. The Heirs of the Prophets (a.s.)
From Abū Baṣīr who said: I entered upon Abū Jaʿfar (a.s.) and said to him: “Are you the heirs of the Messenger of God (s.a.w.)?” He said: “Yes.” I said: “The Messenger of God (s.a.w.) was the heir of the prophets, did he know everything they knew?” He said to me: “Yes.” I said: “Then are you able to revive the dead and cure the blind (akmah) and the leper (abraṣ)?” He said: “Yes, by God’s permission.” Then he said to me: “Come closer to me, O Abū Muḥammad!” So I drew near to him and he wiped my face and my eyes, and I saw the sun, the sky, the earth, the houses, and everything in the city. Then he said to me: “Would you like to remain like this, having what other people have and being accountable as they are on the Day of Resurrection, or return to how you were before and have Paradise exclusively?” I said: “I will return to how I was.” So he wiped my eyes and I returned to my previous state. He said: I told this to Ibn Abī ʿUmayr, and he said: “I testify that this is as true as the day is true.”(430)
Note: The People of the House (a.s.) have stated in some narrations that they can do what Jesus (a.s.) did, but they have not said that they can do what he was capable of doing. An example of this is this narration where the blind Abū Baṣīr, by God’s permission and through the blessed hand of Imam al-Bāqir (a.s.), gained sight, and the Imam gave him the choice between remaining sighted and being like other people, or returning to his previous state and receiving the reward of Paradise, and he chose the latter. Similar content appears in many narrations.(431)
In summary:
The perfect infallible human being (a.s.) possesses the necessary qualifications to be a manifestation of God.
What is presented in the hadith of divine proximity (qurb nawāfil) is fully and clearly realized in the complete divine manifestation, and the People of the House of infallibility and purity (a.s.) are the complete example of this manifestation.