The question concerns the mystery
of “time” and “knowledge” which governs all five things mentioned in the verse:
The knowledge of the Hour is with
God. It is He Who sends down rain, and He Who knows what is in the wombs. And
no one knows what it is that he will earn tomorrow and no one knows in what
land he is to die. God is all-knowing, All-Aware. (Luqman 31:34)
Let us look at each of the five
briefly in the order given.
God alone knows when and how the
Hour, the Resurrection will happen. As the Qur’an states this as a fact and
principle, it is improper for a Muslim to offer an opinion on the matter
without saying “God knows.” We affirm the truth of this from the well-known
hadith [1]
that tells when the archangel
Gabriel came and asked the Prophet to explain iman, Islam, and ihsan.
Gabriel confirmed the answers he got by saying “sadaqta” (he has spoken truth).
Gabriel’s last question was: “When will the Resurrection take place?” The
Prophet answered, “The one asked does not know more than the one asking.”
Thereafter, he mentioned certain of the signs and portents of events that would
occur close to the time of the Resurrection. Such was the courtesy of the
Prophet when asked about one of the “five mysteries.” Both the Prophet and
Gabriel in fact had some certain knowledge of it, but only God knows when it
will happen.
As for how the Resurrection may
take place, in terms of likely physical causes, we may surmise many, any of
which might suffice to bring it about: such as, a comet striking the earth, or
the sun, according to the laws of thermodynamics, extinguishing or exploding,
or people may unintentionally initiate some sort of chain reactions beyond
their control, and so on and so forth. But, again, only God knows the when and
how.
The second “mystery” mentioned in
the verse is that it is God who sends down the rain. This is one of the two
points raised in the question. People claim to know when it will rain by
meteorological analysis, and therefore argue that there is no longer any point
in counting rain as one of the mysteries. No doubt some people who put forward
such claims have it in mind to generate unease and doubts about the perfection
of the Book and the faith. Muslims must nevertheless deal sensitively with such
questions, even if they conceal a blasphemous intent.
I begin by asking how much of
what people claim to know though modern science and technology is truly related
to the unseen or what is beyond our perception. In fact, their guesswork about
rainfall, done after all the conditions for it and the signs of it have already
begun to be experienced in the visible world, has nothing to do with knowing
the Unseen (ghayb) at all.
Let me explain this by a simple
example. Turn off the ventilation of a room full of people, and introduce some
carbon dioxide into the air in the room, measure the oxygen and carbon dioxide
levels. Then make a forecast about how many minutes later the people in the
room will feel some kind of headache. What if our forecast turns out to be
accurate? Will we have known the Unseen? No. The Unseen is defined precisely as
that which God assigns only Himself to know. Guessing whether (or roughly where)
it will rain tomorrow is not knowing the Unseen. Knowing in all details where,
when and how much rain will fall, let’s say, in one, five or ten years’
time-that would be knowing the Unseen. Let alone in one or five years’ time,
can people forecast even how much rain will fall the next day? Moreover, we
sometimes see that what the meteorologists forecast does not turn out to be
accurate; sometimes, even the opposite of what was forecast takes place. That
tells us that they do not know for certain, but only make calculated guesses.
Besides, it does not need so many
gadgets and apparatuses to know whether the rain, whose symptoms have already
become apparent in the visible world (‘alam al-shahada), will fall or not.
There are many common folks who make accurate guesses on the basis of personal
experiences acquired over years of observation, and what they say is not less
accurate than what the meteorologists say. Let me tell you one of my memories,
since it is related to the subject.
Some American scientists came to
do research in a village. They saw a shepherd hastily herding his goats back
into the fold instead of heading out to the pasture which was in the opposite
direction. The scientists were surprised and felt the need to ask why. The
shepherd told them it would rain soon and went on with his business. The
scientists checked their instruments and saw no chance of a rain. However, it
began to rain after a while. The scientists also took refuge in the fold and
asked the shepherd how he knew that it would rain. He said, “I have observed
over years and learned that the goats lower their tails between their legs
before the rain comes.” Upon this, some of the scientists despised their
expensive gadgets for not being better than a goat’s tail! Similarly, Bediüzzaman
Said Nursi used to say that due to his rheumatics he felt the rain forty-eight
hours in advance. And even some of my fellow-villagers were making correct
guesses about whether it would rain or snow by observing the atmospheric
symptoms.
Therefore, in the light of
hygrometry, hydrostatics, dynamics, meteorology, climatology and other
sciences, by observing atmospheric phenomena-the clouds, their density,
humidity, change in the air pressure, currents, winds, frontal systems,
etc.-and then, using highly sophisticated instruments such as radars, computers
and satellites, making forecasts, people are only observing signs and symptoms
which are already there and even then only making guesses about the likelihood
of rain. Some people seek to present this guesswork as if it were knowing the
Unseen, knowing the exact time or amount of the rainfall, and by so doing they
pretend to refute the verses of the Qur’an. Their doing so is nothing but a
sign of ignorance and impertinence.
I will mention one of the miraculous
sayings of the Prophet, which is scientifically accepted today. He said: “No
year is more rainy than another.” [2]
We understand from this hadith
that the same amount of rain falls on the world each and every year. However,
it is unknown to us where and how much it will rain. That is of the Unseen and
cannot be known.
The third thing mentioned in the
verse is the second point asked about in the question. It is God Who knows
what is in the wombs. Some people say that doctors can know what is in the
wombs, boy or girl, by ultrasound and other medical procedures. It would be
better if they reflected on the fact that to know something whose signs and
symptoms have already begun to be experienced in the visible world, has nothing
to do with knowing the Unseen at all.
People also claim to be able to
predict the sex of an unborn embryo because they can find out the set of sex
chromosomes, XX or XY, in the fertilizing sperm. Again, being able to tell the
sex chromosomes of a sperm, whether in or out of the womb, has nothing to do
with knowing the Unseen. In one of his enlightening sayings, the Prophet said:
“If male dominates, it becomes a boy, or if female dominates, it becomes a
girl.” [3]
(This hadith has nothing to do
with being dominant in male-female relationships, as wrongly understood by some
interpreters in the past.) The fact is that if the sperm with male set of
chromosomes (XY) first arrives, manages to penetrate the membrane of the ovum
and fertilize it, then it becomes a boy; but if the female set first arrives
and does so, then it becomes a girl. Having some certain knowledge about the
cause and determining agents of a future event, does not justify any claim to
knowing the future in advance; to advance such a claim is sheer self-delusion.
The Qur’an says it is God Who
“knows what is in the wombs”; it uses the word ma here. It
does not say it is God Who knows whether it is a boy or a girl in the womb. The
“what” relates not merely to the sex of the unborn, but also to the question of
whether it will be born at all, and if so, how long it will remain in the womb,
whether it will be born alive, what its natural endowments and character will
be, its merits or foibles, what sort of a new individual it will be, prosperous
believer or wretched evil-doer, what role it will play in life, a blessing or a
curse to its parents and society, and the whole entail and outcome of its
existence in this world and the Hereafter. To know all these is unique and
peculiar to God. So what is truly of the Unseen is here indicated by the
inclusive word ma, and it is not just a matter of gender. What the Qur’an
refers to is comprehensive, general, and universal. Only knowledge of this
level could be rightly called knowledge of the Unseen. Claiming the same for
anything that humans can and do know is sheer delusion and folly.
To make the point clearer,
consider this simple analogy:
Standing on one side of a garden
fence, you see an apple tree. The root and trunk of it are on your side, but
its branches and leaves are bending over onto the other side, so you are unable
to see them. When it is the season to give fruit, you say that the branches on
the other side are full of apples now. When people check, they see that it
really is so. Does this mean that you knew the Unseen? Or are you just
reporting an ordinary event that everyone can normally know? Certainly the
latter. This is exactly the same as knowing the sex of the unborn baby in the
womb. It is not knowing the Unseen, but merely giving information about a tree
whose roots are in the visible world and whose branches are bending into the
Unseen. To attempt to invalidate the Qur’anic verse on the basis of such a
slight and false claim to knowledge of the Unseen is absolute foolishness.
The fourth point in the verse is
“no one knows what he will earn tomorrow.” “Earn” here means not only “earn
one’s livelihood” in a physical and financial sense, but also to reap the
consequences (good or ill) of one’s conduct generally. Nobody knows what
tomorrow may bring forth. All physical and spiritual enlightenment and solace
are within this earning. What a scientist adds to his knowledge and experience
is also an earning, and God alone knows when and how much it will be. Sometimes
you read several volumes of book, but you do not gain a line’s worth of
knowledge; on the other hand, sometimes a single line may yield to you whole
books’ worth of knowledge and flood your sources of inspiration.
However, even if we take the
reference in only the financial sense, it is not possible to know even how much
people on fixed wages will earn tomorrow. For an unexpected gift, or unexpected
expenditure, some accident or natural disaster, may dramatically alter the
day’s earnings. I see no point in giving more examples on this argument and say
as the Qur’an says, “no one knows what it is that he will earn tomorrow.”
The fifth point is “no one knows
in what land he is to die.” God alone knows where, when and how one will die.
The moment at which Azrail, the archangel of death, or his helpers will
pronounce “It’s time” is unknown to us. As no one raises any objection to this,
I leave it there.
The five mysteries summed
up in the verse are governed by God’s Knowledge and Law. We know some things in
ordinary life, but this amounts to nothing compared to Divine Knowledge. Our
knowledge is made up from superficial acquaintance with certain things, signs
and symptoms of which are given from the Unseen to the visible realm. We cannot
answer with any precision questions as to when, how or where. This is
particularly and acutely clear in the case of rainfall, and human life and
death. These remain great mysteries, and full knowledge is with God only.
Verily, God [alone] is All-Knowing,
All-Aware.
[1] Bukhari, Iman, 37;
Muslim, Iman, 1.
[2] Hakim, Mustadrak, 2/437;
Tabari, Tafsir, 19/22; Bayhaki, Sunan al-Kubra, 3/363.
[3] Bukhari, Manaqib al-Ansar,
51, tafsir al-sura (3) 6; Ibn Khuzayma, Sahih, 1/116; Hakim, Mustadrak,
3/548; Ibn Hibban, Sahih, 16/441-442
[4] http://youthcenter.islamiccenter.org/five-mysteries-mentioned-quran-still-mysteries/
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