Sometime earlier…
“THEY KILLED HER… THEY KILLED HER FAMILY TOO…THEY DIDN’T EVEN SPARE THE CHILDREN” The young man who entered the house of the mentor ‘Galal’ with hands covered with blood shouted in agony and pain and falling to his knees. Galal who was shocked to see his disciple this way brought a cloth and tried to help his weeping disciple rubbing blood off his hands. Then helped his disciple to stand up and sit next to him on the bench he was just meditating on. “I told you, you can not save them this way, people are wicked by nature”, the disciple added. Looking into his eyes with great compassion, the mentor asked his disciple to tell him what had happened, and so he did.
The sun almost reached its zenith in the clear sky of that day when the disciple and the mentor finally reached the village after their long magical journey. Although the village was the same, the disciple felt it entirely different, but he knew that it wasn’t the village that changed, but himself. After walking in the streets for a while, the disciple, as well as the mentor, found another different thing about the city but was physical this time. The streets were almost empty. It was like the town had been deserted. “Adam!!!! where have you been?” a rough and familiar voice called the disciple after another couple of minutes and he turned to find his uncle coming towards him. “O uncle Hafez, How are you? Where is everybody?”
Hafez greeted Adam and his mentor then caught up his breath after rushing into them. “Where have you been? Have you heard about the new prophet who was sent by God to our villages? He is doing miracles! and people from all around the village are heading to the big market to see him. You have to come with me and see for yourself, he is amazing. I saw him yesterday walking through fire without getting burned and today he promised he is going to walk on water. You have to watch him!!!!”
The mentor, ‘Galal’, who was shocked by what he had heard commented, “Another imposter!!!” In an obvious tone of anger because of what Galal said Hafez replied, “No!!! he is not an imposter!! He is different than the several tricksters who came to our village in the last couple of years. What he is doing is different than anybody did before. Once you see his miracles and hear words of God sent to us through him, you can’t just but to believe him! You have to come and see for yourself.” “Thanks for the invitation Hafez, but I can’t join you as my old body needs to have some rest. Maybe someday later. Adam! You can go with your uncle now, I am going home.” then greeted them both and walked away.
Galal reached his small humble and comfy house after a few minutes. He sat on the bench which was part of the house’s front wall and checked the flowers in his small garden. The flowers seemed to celebrate his arrival by shining in vibrant beautiful colors. He smiled and checked the system he invented to keep his plants hydrated in his absence and found it contained water that could keep his plants alive for another couple of days. It was like ten minutes of watching this colorful silent celebration before it was interrupted by Adam’s voice saying “Master, please tell me why did you judge that man as imposter before you see and talk to him.”
Galal laughed in joy and said, “Is this more important for you than seeing miracles? Why didn’t you go with your uncle?” “My uncle didn’t give up easily and told me everything about the new prophet and his previous life… but your comment kept ringing in my ears so I asked my uncle to excuse me and promised I will catch up with him later…” It was a moment of silence and Galal felt his disciple wanted to add something but was hesitant to do so. “I guess you already found the answer yourself dearest Adam,” Galal said in a joyful way. “Yes… I think I found an answer, but still not sure it is complete.” “Then come and rest your tired body next to me and speak up O beloved disciple, what do you think.”
“During my trip to here, I just asked myself what is the point of miracles!!… You know Master when I came to you, you showed me no miracles, but what you helped me to live through had done a miraculous transformation to my mind and soul. You never went through fire or raised above ground, but all that you did was teaching me and let me experience every word you say myself. When I was close to your house, I could see no point in miracles at all, but I know you have more things to teach me about this situation.”
“You are already halfway there beloved Adam. You can complete the other half yourself when you ask about what comes after a miracle. How a regular person would respond to miracles.” Eyes of the disciple widened as a result of finding the missing piece of the puzzle then said “Yes master, I think I see now. My uncle Hafez told me after you left that a blessed man doing miracles like these must have come with the truth. He already accepted all his words and teachings before knowing all of them not to mention experiencing them himself. A prophet who speaks the word of God, would never show people miracles or ask them to accept what he says blindly. He would only ask them to experience what he came with, maybe without even telling them it is the word of God at all, his words and teaching would prevail as much as the truth they reveal…just like…”
“Add no more words dear Adam and let’s dive deeper into the nature of miracles and try to find together what the miracle really is” Galal interrupted his disciple, which was the thing he doesn’t usually do.
-“A miracle is something that defies laws of nature which proves the holiness of a man or a source” Adam replied quickly.
-“But we don’t know all laws of nature, are you sure that regular human beings are not able to perform some ‘unusual’ things using certain knowledge, conditions, and training?”
-“You are right, there are many things O wise Master yet to learn about the universe and ourselves that will seem to us like supernatural or unusual now, like for example, the primitive tribes that still exist and consider our abilities to shape metal into swords, a miracle. So let me think again. A miracle is a demonstration of special abilities. May it be a trick, certain knowledge, truly unusual abilities discovered or gained somehow with training, or bestowed by Gods, we may never know that.
– “And what is the ‘purpose’ of the ‘demonstration’ of these unusual abilities to masses?”
– “I think it is to persuade people of the holiness of miracle performer and his connection to a higher power.”
– “Do you remember beloved disciple when we talked about the difference between having learned and having believed and said although they both create persuasion, they are entirely different?”
– “Yes, master I remember, we also said beliefs can be true or false, but knowledge can’t be true or false. It is either man has the knowledge or lacks it. So, although they both lead to apparent persuasion, they are entirely different in their essence and source.”
– “Great! now I need to ask you now, what miracles do? Create beliefs, which can be true or false about some man or some matter, or help people know this holiness themselves?”
-“Oh beloved Master Galal, I think I now see your point. Miracles are to create beliefs not knowledge.”
-“And furthermore, Adam, if you were a member of one of those tribes you described ignorantly primitive just because they are not technologically advanced as we are, and had some knowledge you wanted to teach them, what would you do? Create beliefs about your superiority or mentor them into knowledge without giving the slightest care for what they think of you?”
-“I will, of course, choose the second.”
-“Let’s say you had a special power of making the moon or sun disappear, and none of the tribe’s people found even the slightest wisdom in your words, what would you do?”
-“This is a tough situation Master Galal. Although I am not after any credit, I would want to help them the best that I can. So, If I use my powers they will certainly follow what I say, but they will be like enchanted slaves and will never understand the true essence of my words. If I don’t they will remain in darkness…I guess…”
Adam kept thinking and Galal kept waiting for his reply that never came, so Galal wanted to save his disciple from the apparent difficulty his question gave him, “It is alright dear Adam, questions that truly matter may take years to answer. Just remember you and your actions have to embody what you are trying to convey to others and never get attached to the results of your actions. This is enough for today, now you can go and join your uncle in the market, you need to keep your promise and also you may catch up with some of the tricks of that guy. What is his name by the way?” “His name is Safwan Ebn Elmalek, my uncle says he used to live in our village long ago. You may have met…..” Adam couldn’t finish his sentence as the name he mentioned triggered the worst worried look on Galal’s face he had ever seen. “Do you know him, Master?” Galal didn’t reply and kept silent with the same worried look on his face. “Are you alright Master?!!” Galal in faint voice replied, “Wait for me Adam I have to come with you to the market, that man may not be an imposter at all. He is something totally different….”
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