Philosophical Explanation of Miracle and Kiramah from Sohravardi's Viewpoint

In human history, all prophets who claimed to have missions from God appealed to miracles and kiramah to prove the authenticity of their claim. Muslim philosophers like Ibn Sina, Mulla Sadra and Sohravardi, have all discussed the issue of quality of miracle and kirama and provided intellectual and philosophical explanations for it. They have also tried to explain the distinction between the two concepts and magic. Sohrivardi, in many of his works, has studied human powers, the quality of revelation and divine inspiration as well as miracles and kiramah. According to Sohrivardi, because the human powers in the prophet are pure and elevated compared to ordinary people, the soul of the prophet can influence the natural world as well as his own soul. In other words, the miracle and kiramah issued by the prophet constitute the external influence of his soul on the material world. Therefore, the hypothesis is that a miracle is the external influence of the soul on the material world, while magic is the influence of the soul on people’s imagination and senses. The present article is an attempt to address the fundamental question of the difference between miracle and kiramah and magic from Sohrivardi’s point of view using a document analytic method.