within it, while stones pursued any who tried to flee. Nor can the psyche dispatch flocks upon flocks of birds bearing stones of baked clay that descend upon the People of the Elephant, striking them one by one—each bird carrying three tiny stones, one in its beak and two in its claws—until the entire host was destroyed and their stratagem rendered vain, for stones of baked clay were sent against them and they were made like stalks that have been eaten.

Nor is it within the power of the psyche that, every morning, manna and quails should descend in an amount sufficient for the army of Moses; that clouds should shade them wherever they travelled and remain with them for as long as they halted; that water should gush each day from the rock in twelve springs, a spring for every tribe; or that the sea should be parted into twelve paths, each path towering like a mountain, so that when Moses’ army had crossed and Pharaoh’s army entered, the sea closed in upon them and drowned them all.

Likewise, restoring the dead—human or beast—to life is among the wonders that lie wholly beyond psychic forces. God has mentioned this in several places in His Book, five of them in Sūrat al-Baqarah, where He says:

“And when you said, ‘O Moses, we will never believe you until we see God plainly,’ the thunderbolt seized you as you looked on. Then We revived you after your death, that you might give thanks.” (2:55–56)

He also says:

“So We said, ‘Strike him with part of it.’ Thus does God bring the dead to life and show you His signs, that you may reason.” (2:73)

And He says:

“Have you not seen those who left their homes in their thousands for fear of death? God said to them, ‘Die,’ then He restored them to life.” (2:243)