People's need for miracles
It is essential for humanity to have prophets and messengers to show them the right path, and thus, the people's need for prophets is greater than their need for anything else. The messages of the prophets are the spirit, light, and life of the world, and without them, there would be no goodness in the world. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him light by which to walk among the people like one who is in darkness, never to emerge therefrom?}[Quran 6: 122]. This is the similitude of the believer, who was dead in the darkness of ignorance, and Allah The Almighty brought him to life by the spirit of the message and the light of faith, and made for him a light, by which he walks among people, unlike the disbeliever whose heart is dead and who lives a life of darkness. Furthermore, Allah The Almighty named his message a spirit, which if lost, directly ends life itself. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And thus We have revealed to you a spirit of Our command. You did not know what is the Book or [what is] faith, but We have made it a light by which We guide whom We will of Our servants.} [Quran 42: 52].
There is no prophet sent by Allah The Almighty except that his people denied, harmed and heaped accusations and lies upon him. In response to the suspicions of those who turn away from the message of the prophets and dispute by using falsehood, the wisdom of Allah The Almighty required to support His prophets with miracles to prove their truthfulness and to support the divine revelation they came with. This support is a sign of the perfection of His justice, mercy, and love for forgiveness and establishing evidence against people, for Allah The Almighty did not send a messenger unless He gave him a miracle that testifies his truthfulness in what he said. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {We have already sent Our messengers with clear evidences and sent down with them the Scripture and the balance that the people may maintain [their affairs] in justice.} [Quran 56: 25]. Moreover, Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet, , said: "Every prophet was given miracles because of which people believed, but what I have been given is divine inspiration which Allah has revealed to me. So I hope that my followers will outnumber the followers of the other prophets on the Day of Resurrection." [Al-Bukhari].
Here we are going to discuss the most important benefits and wisdoms of supporting prophets with miracles, but we should first understand what is meant by 'miracle'.
Miracles are supernatural phenomena that Allah The Almighty causes to happen at the hands of His prophets and messengers, (e.g. turning the staff of Moosa, may Allah exalt his mention, into a wriggling snake). Miracles are proofs that are not liable to refutation and invalidation, and prove the truthfulness of the prophets. Some scholars add an extra condition to this above-mentioned definition, which is that the miracle should be for the purpose of challenge to the obstinate deniers. In this sense, some transcendental incidents that happened at the hands of the Prophet, , like the flow of water from his fingers, increase in a little quantity of food, hearing pebbles doing Tasbeeh (saying Subhaanallaah) in his hands, trees coming to him, and the trunk's longing for him and so on, are not included under the definition of miracles, as they were not intended for challenge. However, the senior Muslim scholars, like Al-Imaam Ahmad considered 'miracle' a comprehensive term to whatever Allah The Almighty has given his prophets to prove their truthfulness, whether it is intended for challenging the disbelievers or not, and this is the right opinion.
Types of miracles
If we carefully consider the miracles of the prophets, we can find that they fall under three types:
1. Knowledge: It is the prophets' ability to tell people about unseen things or incidents, whether in the past or in the future. An example of this is when 'Eesa, may Allah exalt his mention, informed his people about what they ate and stored in their houses. Another example is when the Prophet, , informed us about the previous nations and about the coming events like the signs of the Hour, and the tribulations that his nation will undergo, all of which fall under the category of knowledge(of the unseen).
2. Ability: It is like turning the stick into a snake, curing the blind and the leper, giving life to the dead and splitting the moon.
3. Sufficiency: It is the protection that Alaah The Almighty of his Prophet, , from the people who wanted to harm him. It also includes his Wisaal (fasting all day and night continuously) without affecting his vitality and activeness.
It is worth mentioning that nobody possesses the perfection of these three qualities except for Allah The Almighty. Therefore, He, The Almighty, commanded his Prophet, , to announce his freedom from claiming to possess it. He, The Almighty, Says (what means): {Say, [O Muhammad], "I do not tell you that I have the depositories [containing the provision] of Allah or that I know the unseen, nor do I tell you that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me."} [Quran 6: 50]. Thus, the Prophet, , declared that he neither knows the Unseen, nor possesses the treasures of earth, nor is he an angel who is in no need of food, drink and money. In a word, prophets attain from these three supernormal qualities as much as Allah The Almighty give them, in such a manner that they know what Allah The Almighty taught them, and have the power to do what He enables them to do, and dispense by what He enriches them with.