Does God break the laws of nature with miracles?

No. The laws of nature are God’s own laws, and He does not contradict Himself. A miracle happens according to laws we do not yet know, and the greatest miracle is the victory of truth over the powerful.

The question often starts from a picture in which nature and God are two separate powers. Nature has its laws, and God would have to break them to perform a miracle. But the laws of nature do not exist independently of God. He created them, and they express His will. To break them God would have to act against Himself, and He does not do that. The first verse above says that God’s way never changes.

How, then, can something extraordinary happen? There are layers of laws. A higher law can prevail over a familiar one without cancelling it. A magnet, for example, lifts a piece of iron off the table even though gravity is pulling it down. Gravity still applies, but at that moment another force is stronger.

Many things that earlier generations considered supernatural are understood by science today. The supernatural of yesterday is often the natural of today. So it is not that something happens against nature. We simply do not yet know all of its laws, and God’s own being is beyond our grasp in any case, as the second verse above makes clear.

The greatest miracle, however, lies elsewhere. Again and again in history, prophets stood almost alone against mighty opponents. They had neither wealth nor weapons nor a large following. By every human standard they should have failed. And yet they prevailed, as happened with the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw). This shows the unseen hand of God, standing on the side of the weak.

A miracle, then, is not a crack in the order of the world. It is a sign that behind this order stands a living God who keeps His promises.