Reza Aslan is again in news as he is starting a series of his travelogue of religious exploration on CNN. I tend to agree with him as at the end, it is all about belief that either you lean towards accepting a divine power or not. This let me go back to my own experience and readings of different religions, cultures and societies. I firmly believe that no part of the human existence is left without divine intervention - whether it is a far flung village in Africa or a high mountain of Tibet. Reza wrote a beautiful article as a prologue to his series: "Why I am a Muslim" (here). I am in same boat as he is.
Nothing makes me believe in Islam except Quran, as Umar Bin Khattab famously said after listening Surah Haqqah that it can't be a human made poetry (It is a very poetical surah). I start reading Quran to affirm my atheism and agnosticism, but at many places I had to close book and wonder about it's teaching. Surah Asar had a massive impact on me, though I am still a very confused spiritualist but those two simple lines are core guiding principal for any human life.
My biggest shock came when I reached Surah baqarah ayat 94 to 96. Being a man of science, I always believed that humans will eventually conquer many diseases, and life span of humans will go up to 1000 years, once gene therapy takes off. I saw that prediction right there.
I took some flakes when I wrote post of Pir Shams Multani (here), but in truth human journey is far from over. Many more catalogs of human intellects, war and peace, destruction and resurrections, death and misery, happiness and achievements, many more civilizations alike Romans, exploration of far corners of universe and star wars have yet to be written.
Abhi picture baqi hai mere dost
Nothing makes me believe in Islam except Quran, as Umar Bin Khattab famously said after listening Surah Haqqah that it can't be a human made poetry (It is a very poetical surah). I start reading Quran to affirm my atheism and agnosticism, but at many places I had to close book and wonder about it's teaching. Surah Asar had a massive impact on me, though I am still a very confused spiritualist but those two simple lines are core guiding principal for any human life.
My biggest shock came when I reached Surah baqarah ayat 94 to 96. Being a man of science, I always believed that humans will eventually conquer many diseases, and life span of humans will go up to 1000 years, once gene therapy takes off. I saw that prediction right there.
I took some flakes when I wrote post of Pir Shams Multani (here), but in truth human journey is far from over. Many more catalogs of human intellects, war and peace, destruction and resurrections, death and misery, happiness and achievements, many more civilizations alike Romans, exploration of far corners of universe and star wars have yet to be written.
Abhi picture baqi hai mere dost
7 comments:
Never thought about it-I quickly read the translation after reading your post.
:) I do the same
Mystic I think 1000 yrs old prediction has happened already as Prophet Noh (Noah) preached for nine hundred some years to his people before he was told to leave his people behind ...
I don't think gene therapy is going to bring it back ...I maybe very wrong but that's how I understood it that its referring to the past events how people kept at Shirk and Kufr as previous Ayas are dealing with Musa / Jews and referring to their sarkashi despite having the Prophet of Allah among them .
I will have to dig deep in my notes for the shaan e nuzool of these ayats...but that's how I understood these ayas .
I did not feel the 100 year life wish is or was meant to be a prediction but just n arbitrary figure to say long long life (even then nothing will change for them)
Being a scientific man myself I am of the opinion that no therapeutic marvels are gong to increase the human lifespan because each new therapeutic discovery is soon followed by or even accompanied by another untreatable disease
I had fel5t that before as I lived through the "antibiotics" and the bugs they kill. I dont need to explain you already know my point
Yes i agree "human journey is far from over"
Also, baitay, You will continue to be excited about one aya or the other all your life and this "hairat" will never end about this book. I still do. In fact the more you read the more you become convinced
I have so much more I can say for just "Al-Haaqqah" not just the poetry part.
I feel also that there is built-in Music in the recitation of Qur'an. If you have a chance to hear from a good reciter who does according to Tajweed rules
There is on U-Tube some Quran recitation annual competitions of "children" held in Kuwait or Egypt etc. When and if you have time jst click out from Google and listen to the amazing reciters
Agree with Bsc ...Quran is miracle in itself that never stops to amaze us time after time ...Oh I Love Mishary Alafasy's recitation .
I agree that this 1000 years is a notion of "very long lives".
The most important lesson and message of the ayat was a prediction which everyone agree on is :: "No matter what how long human live (living short or long is relative), death is imminent. Human will never be able to overcome death and one day he is answerable".
BooknS : I had many discussions with many literate people (aalim) in translation of quran and there was no consensus that whether this ayat is a prediction, assumption, just an example, statement or mere fact statement. In such those discussion, it was mentioned many times about super long lives of previous humans, and it has been said:: Cycle of humanity has gone through same pathway many times. Unfortunately, we don't have any scientific proof of such existence but we all are in journey.
I mentioned, surah asar on similar context because irrespective of how long human live, human is a loser unless he keep trust of a divine power, do good and live a life of truthfulness and patience. At the end tat what matters.
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