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Subtleties and Allusions ​

Divine Signs ​

Divine signs are of two types:

  1. Something external to the human body; like the fish falling into the water in the verse under discussion, which was a sign from God for Moses to find the scholar from whom he was commanded to learn knowledge at a specific location.

  2. A sign in the human body; like God’s sign to Zechariah regarding having a child: When Zechariah asked God for a child: “grant me from Yourself an heir”(58) and God gave him the good news of John’s birth: “O Zechariah, indeed We give you good tidings of a boy whose name will be John”(59), he asked God for a sign of this good news, and God Almighty told him that for three days and nights, despite being healthy and having no problem with his palate, tongue, or mouth, he would not be able to speak to people: “He said, ‘My Lord, make for me a sign.’ He said, ‘Your sign is that you will not speak to the people for three nights, being sound’”.(60) When Zechariah found this sign in himself, he realized that the divine promise was near.