Even if the one who claims that the prophets’ miracles are merely psychic forces is someone who categorically denies them, we have nevertheless proven a number of those miracles by several independent paths: through mass-transmitted reports; through the unanimous convergence of Prophetic traditions upon matters that could not have been agreed upon without prior collusion; and by other means besides.

Ninth point: the influence of souls is conditioned by their awareness. The soul is a living, willing entity; it acts only by its own volition, and volitional action presupposes consciousness. Many of the wonders granted to the prophets, however, do not meet this condition. Some occur while the prophet is unaware of them; others take place without his intending them, and thus cannot be attributed to the activity of his own soul. Indeed, some occur before he even comes into existence or has acquired any capacity at all, and others after his death, when his soul has left this world.

It is obvious that whatever happens before a prophet possesses any power cannot possibly be ascribed to his power, for what does not yet exist has no power. A case in point is the story of the People of the Elephant: when the elephant was brought to Mecca, God sent against them flocks of birds pelting them with stones of baked clay, so that He made them like stalks devoured (Qur’an 105). The army of the elephant were Christians, and their religion was better than that of the Meccans at that time, for the latter were idolaters, and the religion of the Christians is superior to that of those who worship idols. Yet the event was, nonetheless, an honour granted to the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—on account of the sanctity of the Sacred House. The Year of the Elephant was the very year of his birth, some fifty nights before he was born. At that time he possessed no psychic force by which to exert influence, no awareness of what transpired, and no will concerning it.

The same is true of the happenings that accompanied his birth—peace and blessings be upon him; of the soothsayers’ predictions regarding him and the information the jinn relayed to them about his forthcoming prophethood—all were beyond his power, knowledge, and intention. Likewise with what the People of the Book foretold and what was found written among them