DUA
The next stage that that we're going to cover is the time element and this is where history comes into place now within the if you look at the the actual Quranic narrative the quran is not a history book there are definitely historical elements in there the quran is using
historical examples but they are used in
an a historical placing in other words
the story of pharaoh and moosa' it's
irrelevant when it occurred it's even
irrelevant if it occurred what is being
taught is something very powerful right
I mean the Quranic narrative is that it
did occur but that is not what is
relevant from the story the story is
used and as a teaching example to learn
something of what happened in the past
in order to prevent its repetition in
the future so there is definitely a
historical element now my friend
professor Khalid Blankenship who's at
Temple a very fine historian told me
that one of the frustrating aspects of
the Quran as a book is that it does not
allow the historian room to examine in
other words he said that like there are
many examples in the Bible that we have
that are historical in the sense that we
can actually look at them as historians
whereas within the Quranic narrative the
the historian does not have evidence
there to either negate or verify much of
the Parana narrative or he accorded to
his opinion any of it really and he said
what and he said it's almost a warning
for for him as a historian like he found
it significant that it's almost like
courting him to let him know that that
is not the point that the to give you a
good example in the in the whole
narrative we don't know if it's if it's
a Ishmael or Isaac who is taken up on
the mountain some of the Muslim scholars
said it was Isaac and some said it was
Ishmael unimportant as the as a detail
in the story which is why the Quran does
not mention either one by name although
the narrative would indicate that it was
Ishmael which is differs from the Jewish
tradition which is Isaac but the point
is that that is not the point of the
story the point of story is a man's
being tested and and and fulfilling the
test in the way that we're most pleasing
to his Lord now the next section here
after email and xn is to tell me about
the hour and the word in Arabic for our
is Sam which is related it's related to
the moment sat like I can say farm I'm
insanity he he got up immediately from
his son or I can say come son what time
is it like the Arabs if they want to ask
what time it is they say come son so I
can ask what times it or I can say it's
the time of the whole now this son does
not relate to historical time which in
Arabic would be called
probably either Zaman and then there's
another Arabic word aha
and there's another one in the Quran
used called Vasa the man is relates to
time as a historical phenomena a SAR is
more like an age or a period and I can
also use a man for that as well son does
not have any of this down if you look it
up it's interesting word in the Arabic
language there's a hadith that says do
not curse AHA because the hair is God
and and the hadith if you look in the
earliest Arabic dictionaries doubt
according to err
it was time stretched out in other words
this time-space right and the idea here
of saya is the actual moment in which
the universe comes to an end and it's
called the hour traditionally in in in
the English literature the hour which I
don't know i don't i think the i mean we
have the idea in the in the christian
tradition of the last hour right now
there is also an idea of the last days
hospitals MN see that the last Zemin the
last period of Zemin so there's an idea
that the human being begins in time and
is moving in X or ibly to an end of time
so Adam is the first man and this is the
beginning Adam and how up and the human
condition is you know from a prophetic
point of view it is prophets that show
up throughout time and what is important
in the continuity a movement of time is
a prophetic tradition itself right this
is the this is the way the Quran is
looking at it is that there is a
conflict going on and this is why the
historical stories in the Quran relate
to prophets coming up against oppressors
coming up against tyrants pharaoh and
moosa' is the most repeated story in the
quran very important story the Lewis
Mumford in wrote a two-volume work
called the myth of the mega machine and
in that book his thesis is that
basically what he called him the axial
prophets these prophets that come around
I think about a thousand BC until
Muhammad which he considers the last of
these axial prophet and he said what
these prophets do is that they're really
shutting down the mega machine right in
other words the idea of this massive
social project that relates to the world
the Pharaoh has his pyramids and he's
going to build them and there's a lot of
people that are going to die in the
process but they're going to carry those
rocks and they're going to carry it and
do it all all for the glory of the
Pharaoh or the society or whatever so
Mumford said that that you know he
thought the Jewish tradition the idea of
the Sabbath was a way of just shutting
down the Machine can't do it sorry not
allowed to move anything right it
literally shuts it down
the idea of five prayers a day it's fair
I mean a lot of Western people get very
frustrated in some of these Muslim
countries where everything stops rule
they're frustrated about a lot of things
right but but definitely the prayer is
something that's very frustrating for
many Western people that go there they
got business to do and the guy says that
we have to stop for prayer right so it's
a problem and Mumford saw it really as a
way of shutting this thing down because
he saw it as a very negative thing now
one of the things that Mumford says is
that there is a movement this historical
movement towards the mega machine that
in Prior times it's nuts and bolts were
human beings right the whole social
project and he thinks that pharaoh and
moosa' is the best archetype of this
phenomenon that the Musa Moses comes in
and is directly a challenge to the
firaon ik project that the prophets
literally challenged this idea that we
are here for the glorification of a
hierarchy and at the top is this elite
and so the Quran uses this idea they're
called the Mela the the people up the
high people the elite the elect of the
world you know there's a film can't
remember the name the where there was
conversation going on at a table and one
of the women's of sinologist and there's
a banker there and the banker asks how
many people are there in China according
to your statistics and she said oh about
a billion
and he said no they're not there's only
12 people in China and I know all of
them right and the idea there was here's
a banker who the way that he views the
world is that the only significant
people in China are his friends who also
are bankers so the idea of being is that
there are a you know at you get to a
certain level in societies where people
really do view I one of wonderful things
I read was I think it was Linda Crawford
who's a model who was up flying and the
actual helicopter crashed Cindy Crawford
helicopter crashed and they were like at
Aspen or some are going up to ski the
powder and they were looking down and
somebody said to her oh look at all the
little people and right then the
helicopter just wanted to this spin
right so she got a very interesting I
mean I thought that was a very
interesting thing that she kind of
picked it up or made the connection you
know that be careful about thinking how
special you are because we're all right
in the in the hands or in the protecting
care of God right so there are people
that really do like Helmsley was out her
name who didn't pay only little people
pay taxes right only little people pay
taxes there are people that really do
think like that right and the poor on is
really constantly bringing this up and
even goes into their inner discourse
which is fascinating literally you can
hear what they talk about when they're
you know because one of the things is
he's telling his melih he said listen we
got to get rid of this guy Moses because
he's going to corrupt our people right
so he sees you know this is a corrupting
out because he's going to teach him not
to worship us right not to say the
Pharaohs God not to give me the
authority that I'm entitled to that is a
disrupting element to the power elite
when you have a teaching that is
literally challenging the very
foundations of that of that structure
and this is something very powerful in
the padang and there are many examples
of it so if you look here then the idea
that time is coming to an end now the
Prophet Mohammed
peace be upon him according to the his
tradition is that he is the first sign
of the end that he actually his coming
was the first time damn time that's how
the Muslims view that now all according
to the Muslims all religious traditions
have told about the end of time there is
a hadith in which the Prophet said no
prophet has come except that he told his
people that time would come to an end
and there would be certain signs so we
have in the Christian tradition about
the end of time one of them you will
hear there will be famines and
earthquakes in many places and you will
hear of wars and rumors of wars which is
very interesting also that especially
with modern CNN and all this stuff right
which is a type of just talking about
wars and also potential things and then
you have the Book of Revelations which
deals also with the phenomenon of the
end of time and many many Christians if
you go into Christian bookstores just so
many books on the end of time right
really a lot of books and as we approach
the millennium I think we're going to
have more and more of this because
you're starting actually to see I mean
you know when the publishers get greedy
when they start publishing these kind of
because some of these books are way out
there
right I mean you read and this poor guy
who wrote he's the most famous how
Lindsey he's the most faint
this guy he has to revive his books
every 10 years because he identifies
like one year at Kissinger is the
Antichrist but you know chess injures
not around anymore since to revive it
every so often because they literally
trying to take the Bible and apply it to
immediate events and there's actually a
television program in some states where
there's a guy he's like a newscaster
with his wife and unbelievable like
every event up well hey there's Daniel
3:14 you see Daniel says that this will
happen this and there you have it look
isn't that wonderful
you know Iraqis are being bombed just
like the Bible said it's so wonderful
Jesus is it's all you know and it's
really interesting it wants these
characters
but they're out there and people tune in
and and get very interested and then
national Enquirer's also got their
little you know you get these the globe
right the end of the time coming so you
have a lot of it's always become comical
you know the guy with the thing the end
is not that there really is a lot of
craziness and traditionally the muslims
have really kind of seen every single
book i've ever seen whether it's the
from the third fourth fifth sixth
century they say well all the signs are
there the end is nigh the idea being in
reality the end of time is the end of
our lives i mean that is the ultimate
end of time that we will die and so that
is an end of time but there is also an
end of human time and so within the
tradition I think the most definitive
hadith about it which I think is also
the most wonderful is that the Prophet
Muhammad said if the end of time comes
upon you and you're planting a tree then
finish planting it in other words don't
become millennia Aryans don't become
people that run off and just the end is
it no do what you're doing keep working
keep doing it if it happens it happens
and you happen to be there when it
happens but don't let that stop you from
action so there is an idea of yes there
is an end of time there are signs now in
the tradition here the first thing he
asked him about the end of time he says
tell me about the the sign the hour and
he says the one being questioned doesn't
know any more than the one questioning
in other words I don't know and he says
well then tell me about its signs and
then the Prophet says peace be upon him
the slave girl
will give birth to her mistress now
that's it's that's an interesting
statement the slave girl will give birth
to her mistress and the scholars
traditionally dealt with that in a lot
of different ways one of them as they
said at the end of time
slaves who in the Islamic like for
instance the Malik became rulers and
many of the scholars said this is it but
ma Malik were slaves in Egypt and they
actually became rulers they said here
they are they've become the Masters
another interpretation was that children
would treat their parents like this is a
traditional interpretation that children
would treat their parents like servants
they would order them around it would
tell them what to do that there would be
a loss of respect amongst in that
relationship but I think probably the
deepest interpretation is that there
would be a radical disequilibrium in
social structures when you look at the
relationship between a servant and a
mistress the relationship is like a
mother and a daughter the mother is to
be obeyed nurturing the daughter the
daughter obeys the mother when that is
turned upside down then you have a
radical disruption in the social order
if you look in the Quranic narrative the
first and foremost expression of a
Touhey de qward view of a belief in one
God is a son to the parents beauty to
the parents showing beauty to the
parents the Quran says and God has told
the human being to honor his parents the
mother first it says o Muhammad Atta
women Allah when the mother gave
nurtured and gave birth to the child
sapped and weakened right so the nine
months of nurturing a child in the womb
giving birth suckling the child raising
the child changing the child doing all
of these things that there is a great
debt owed the child to the parent
particularly the mother and this is why
the Prophet said that the paradise is at
the feet of the mothers is literally at
the feet of the mothers and the Prophet
was once asked who is the most worthy of
my companionship and the Prophet
answered your mother and the
said and then who he said your mother
and he said and then who he said your
mother and he said and then who he said
your father and then in another
tradition a man came to him and he said
the artists will allow a Messenger of
God I am cleaning my mother in her
decrepid age the way she used to clean
me is that filial piety and he said no
that's payback he literally said that's
recompense right you're just you know
recompense in what she did for you so
the disruption of the the parental child
relationship is a deep disruption within
a social order and we can we can see
that really I think not simply in our
own societies but it's it's becoming
quite a global phenomenon
the idea of rebellion there's an idea
and our culture certainly that there's
it's a given that children will rebel
right this does not happen I you know
soon Iman yang who's from the wool of
culture right I mean in the wolf is
there any idea of that of a adolescent
rebellion against the parents I'm just
curious there might be do you have any
idea in your culture of like adolescent
rebellion against the parents
it was not there that would be
consistent with my experience in
Mauritania that they really had no