The Second Point

There are various kinds of possibility: imkān-i aqlīRational possibility; a possibility that the intellect regards as possible on the basis of certain indications. (rational possibility), imkān-i urfīCustomary possibility; a possibility based on usage, convention, habit, or general acceptance. (customary possibility), and imkān-i ādīOrdinary possibility; a possibility that is always present in itself and may occur at any time. (ordinary possibility).

If an event does not fall within the sphere of imkān-i aqlīRational possibility; a possibility that the intellect regards as possible on the basis of certain indications., it is rejected. If it does not fall within the sphere of imkān-i urfīCustomary possibility; a possibility based on usage, convention, habit, or general acceptance., it is a miracle, but it cannot easily be accepted as a karāmahA miraculous event granted by Allah through a righteous believer who is not a prophet.. And if, both according to principle and according to common occurrence, there is no comparable event, then it can only be accepted on the basis of a decisive proof at the level of direct witnessing.

According to this principle, the extraordinary states of Sayyid Ahmed-i BadawīAn Egyptian Sufi saint of Moroccan origin (c. 1199–1276), associated with the city of Tanta and regarded as the founder of the Badawiyyah Sufi order., who did not eat for forty days, fall within the sphere of imkān-i urfīCustomary possibility; a possibility based on usage, convention, habit, or general acceptance.. They may be both a karāmahA miraculous event granted by Allah through a righteous believer who is not a prophet. and an extraordinary, yet still possible, habit.

Indeed, it is transmitted at the level of tawāturThe transmission of a hadith through so many independent narrators in every generation that it is inconceivable they could have agreed upon a falsehood, with an unbroken chain reaching Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). that Sayyid Ahmed-i BadawīAn Egyptian Sufi saint of Moroccan origin (c. 1199–1276), associated with the city of Tanta and regarded as the founder of the Badawiyyah Sufi order. (q.s.) experienced wondrous and deeply absorbed spiritual states. It did occur that he ate only once in forty days. But this was not constant; it happened at times as a kind of karāmahA miraculous event granted by Allah through a righteous believer who is not a prophet.. There is even the possibility that his state of spiritual absorption made him feel no need for food, and thus this became like a habit for him.

It has been reliably transmitted that many awliyā(sing. walī) Those who seek the pleasure of Allah and attain elevated spiritual ranks through worship, obedience, and sincerity., like Sayyid Ahmed-i BadawīAn Egyptian Sufi saint of Moroccan origin (c. 1199–1276), associated with the city of Tanta and regarded as the founder of the Badawiyyah Sufi order., displayed similar wondrous states. Since, as we proved in the First Point, the stored natural provision can last for more than forty days; since it is, according to habit, possible to go without food for that period; and since this state has been reliably transmitted from extraordinary persons who manifested such states, it certainly cannot be denied.

The Second Question

In connection with the second question, two important matters will be set forth. Since the sciences of geography and cosmography, with their brief laws, narrow principles, and small measures, could not rise to the heavens of the Qur’an, nor uncover the seven layers of meaning in the stars of its verses, they have foolishly attempted to criticize, and even deny, the verse:

اَللّٰهُ الَّذِى خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمٰوَاتٍ وَمِنَ الْاَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّAllah is the One Who created seven heavens and, of the earth, the like of them. — The Qur’an 65:12

The First Important Matter

This matter concerns the fact that the earth, like the heavens, consists of seven layers. The philosophers of this age, however, regard this as untrue, and their scientific views concerning the earth and the heavens do not accept it. On this basis they object to some truths of the Qur’an. We shall write a few brief indications concerning this.

First: the meaning of the verse is one thing, and the individual concrete applications of that meaning are another. If one concrete application of a universal meaning is not found, that universal meaning is not thereby denied. Concerning the seven layers of the heavens and the seven layers of the earth, seven concrete applications of this universal meaning are outwardly visible among its many applications.