A Discussion of the Narrations

1. The Secret of the Miracles of Jesus

Ibn al-Sikīt said to Abū l-Ḥasan al-Riḍā (a.s.): Why did God send Moses son of Imran with the staff and his white hand… and sent Jesus with medicine and sent Muḥammad with speech and sermons? Abū l-Ḥasan said: … And indeed God sent Jesus at a time when chronic diseases (zamanāt)(202) appeared and people needed medicine, so He brought them from God what they did not have the like of, and with which he revived the dead for them and healed the blind and the leper by God’s permission, and established the proof (ḥujja) against them through it.(203)

Note: New scientific and practical needs require new solutions. The most advanced scientific industry must submit before the corresponding miracle of that same field so that God’s proof (ḥujjat Allāh) may be conveyed and the ground for people’s faith may be better prepared.

2. The Issuance of All Miracles by God’s Creative Permission

From al-Riḍā (a.s.) in his assembly with the people of religions and holders of doctrines concerning monotheism (tawḥīd)…:

Al-Riḍā (a.s.) said: O Christian! I ask you about a question. He said: Ask, for if I have knowledge of it I will answer you. Al-Riḍā (a.s.) said: What do you deny that Jesus used to revive the dead by God’s permission? The Catholicos (jāthalīq) said: I deny that because whoever revives the dead and heals the blind and the leper is a lord deserving to be worshipped.

Al-Riḍā (a.s.) said: Indeed Elisha (al-yasaʿ) did the same as what Jesus did - he walked on water and revived the dead and healed the blind and the leper, yet his community did not take him as a lord and no one worshipped him besides God; and indeed Ezekiel (ḥizqīl) the prophet did the same as what Jesus son of Mary did, for he revived thirty-five thousand men after their death by sixty years…(204)

Note: The creation of something non-existent, whether in an ordinary manner or extraordinarily, if it occurs independently and without need for the Necessary Being, is a sign of the lordship (rubūbiyya) of the Creator. But if it is by the creative permission (idhn takwīnī) of the Necessary Being, it is a sign of the creativity of God; not a sign of the lordship of the authorized person. All the miracles of the prophets are of the second type, and their issuance from the prophets in an independent manner is impossible. In this respect, there is no difference between Jesus and the other prophets.

3. Evidence of the Revival of the Dead by the Hand of Jesus

From Abū ʿAbd Allāh (a.s.) when he was asked: Did Jesus son of Mary revive anyone after his death such that he had food and sustenance and a lifespan and children? He said: Yes. He had a friend who was his brother in God, and Jesus used to pass by him and visit him. Jesus was absent from him for a while, then passed by him to greet him. His mother came out to him, so he asked her about him. She said: He died, O Messenger of God! He said: Would you like to see him? She said: Yes. He said to her: Tomorrow I will come to you and revive him for you by God’s permission. When the next day came, he came to her and said to her: Come with me to his grave. So they went until they came to his grave. Jesus stood over it, then called upon God, and the grave split open and her son came out alive. When his mother saw him and he saw her, they wept. Jesus had mercy on them, so Jesus said to him: Would you like to remain with your mother in this world? He said: O Prophet of God! With food and sustenance and a lifespan, or without food, sustenance, or lifespan? Jesus said to him: With food and sustenance and a lifespan - you will live twenty years and marry and have children born to you. He said: Yes, then. So Jesus handed him over to his mother, and he lived twenty years and married and had children.(205)

From Abū ʿAbd Allāh who said: Jesus son of Mary came to the grave of John son of Zechariah, and he had asked his Lord to revive him for him. So he called to him and he answered him and came out to him from the grave. 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 subsided from me, and you want to return me to the world and the heat of death to return upon me.” So he left him and he returned to his grave.(206)

Note: a. The weakness of the chain of transmission (sanad) and lack of confidence in the authenticity (ṣudūr) of the mentioned reports prevents extensive discussion around such traditions (aḥādīth).

b. The apparent meaning of the first report is that the renewed life of the dead person is natural worldly life.

c. Since natural life brings natural death in its wake, and natural death brings with it the difficulties of the departure of the soul (nazʿ al-rūḥ), John refrained from accepting renewed natural life.

d. What was achieved for John in this scene was the basis for renewed natural life, not natural life itself; otherwise the same problem of the difficulty of natural death would have been raised, unless the mentioned difficulty is specific to someone who has lived in the world for a considerable period.