Epistemology and Methodology

  

Dajjal (Anti-Christ), the Qur’an and the Beginning of History

Epistemology and Methodology

 

Methodology of Connecting the Beginning of History with the End

When the Ayah, or verse, of the Qur’an declared that Allah Most High, in addition to being the first and last, is also the outwardly manifest as well as the inwardly hidden, and that He has full knowledge of all things, it implies that knowledge of the beginning, and of the end, and of that which connects them together, can be accessed only through an epistemology which harmoniously integrates Zahir, i.e.,  the externally observable historical process, with Batin, i.e.,  the internal reality of that externally observable historical process. Hence it integrates visible historical events with their hidden or concealed eschatological reality. 

 

The verse of the Qur’an (al-Hadid, 57:3) has thus provided a quartet of ‘beginning’, ‘end’, ‘observable’ and ‘hidden’ which have to be fully integrated by the research student into a harmonious whole for the proper study of both history and eschatology. Only those who are firmly grounded in knowledge can therefore penetrate and grasp the movement of history and the events which unfold at the end of history.  This explains why we cannot attempt to understand Dajjal, the False Messiah, who is a major actor at the end of history, without studying the beginning of history to attempt to locate at the beginning, that which connects to our subject in the end of history. This, perhaps, explains why so few are even conscious of the implications of such monetary events as the IMF ban of the use of gold as money. There are many Christians who cannot see the mark of the beast in the present bogus monetary system of paper, plastic and electronic or digital money!

 

The Qur’an has directed attention to the epistemology with which this subject must be studied. It has done so in a passage in Surah al-Kahf of the Qur’an which describes the encounter between Nabi Musa (Moses) and an elusive mystical sage known as Khidr (ʿalayhi as-salām). The word Khidr in Arabic means Green. An Orthodox Christian friend once commented to this writer that Khidr bears an uncanny resemblance to Jesus. We have analyzed that passage of the Qur’an in our book entitled Surah al-Kahf and the Modern Age.

 

There is another reference in Surah al-Kahf to the importance of epistemology in respect of methodology for study of history. Two major evil actors in the historical process are to be released into the world in the end-time. They are Gog and Magog. (See my book entitled An Islamic View of Gog and Magog in the Modern World). The Qur’an informs us that when the time comes for their release, Allah Most High will destroy a barrier built by Dhul Qarnain, which effectively contained them and protected mankind from their evil. When that happens, then disbelieving people who suffer from an incapacity to see and to hear, would find themselves living in a hellish world spread out before them:

 

(Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:100–101)

On that day Allah Most High will present hell to the disbelievers, plain to view; those whose eyes were hoodwinked from His reminder, and who could not bear to hear the truth which He sent down. 

 

It should be obvious that the Qur’an has referred in the above to internal sight as well as to an internal capacity to hear.

 

We now return to Surah al-Hadid to note that the first two verses of the Surah, which precede the third verse concerning the first and last, expand a conception of the philosophy of history to include a vertical dimension, i.e., above with below, which complements the horizontal dimension of first with last:    

(Qur’an, al-Hadid, 57:1–2) 

All that is in the heavens or parallel universes, and on earth or the material universe, glorify Allah; for He alone is Mighty and Wise!  To Him belongs sovereignty over the heavens, or the parallel universes, and the earth, or the material universe; He gives life and He takes life, i.e., He causes death; and this should provide evidence enough that He has power over all things.

 

The implication of the above two verses of the Qur’an, when studied in the context of the third verse, is that cosmology continuously impacts upon the historical process in such wise that events here-under cannot be fully understood without reference to cosmological reality located in the world above, i.e., al-Ghaib or the unseen world. The most dramatic evidence of the relationship between these two worlds can be found in true dreams and visions, —and hence the abiding importance of Surat Yusuf of the Qur’an. 

 

But even more important for our subject is the need for us to recognize that it is not possible to connect the dots of history—from the beginning to the end—without such interaction with the world above that would deliver both spiritual ‘strength’ and ‘spiritual light’. Unless we can see with the ‘internal eye’ we would not recognize an even more important eschatological implication with which, we hope, Orthodox Christian eschatology will agree, —to wit, that there is more to the end of history than the mere unfolding of events already prophesied. Rather, the Lord-God can intervene in the historical process with events that will occur at the end of history concerning which neither Islamic nor Christian eschatology have any information or knowledge at this time. 

 

If anyone is to have any knowledge of coming events, it can only come through true dreams or visions. This reconfirms the strategic importance of dreams and visions which is the topic of one of my books.  At the request of one of my students, I now disclose precisely such a dream which I saw when I was 26 years of age and still studying at the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in Pakistan. I saw a mighty river which was in very high flood and with dangerous currents, and I saw all my fellow students (as well as many others) struggling in the dangerous currents of the river, and in great danger of drowning; and I saw myself swimming to them one by one, and taking hold of them, and swimming with them to safety.  I went to Maulana Ansari next morning and narrated to him my dream. He responded immediately to declare that I was destined to do precisely that in real life.

 

In consequence of this dream, and my teacher’s interpretation of the dream, I have consistently persisted in my mission in the cause of truth all through life, even though I have so often been a lone voice crying in the wilderness!

 

We now turn to the description in the Qur’an of enigmatic events that occurred at the beginning of history which, we believe, have significant eschatological implications, — significant for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as all the rest of mankind. All these events occurred in a transcendental realm of existence before the commencement of man’s biological or material life on earth, i.e., in the material universe. 

 

to be continued

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Jesus, the Jews and the Chosen People

  

Dajjal (Anti-Christ), the Qur’an and the Beginning of History

Jesus, the Jews and the Chosen People

 

The Jews had a major problem with Nabi ‘Isa, i.e., Jesus ʿalayhi as-salām, because he condemned them with very powerful language while dismissing their claim to have a special status with Allah Most High as His chosen people.  

 

Jesus declared of the Jews that the Devil was their father. In other words, instead of recognizing them as the chosen people of the Lord-God, he declared that they were, in effect, the chosen people of Satan since their conduct was satanic. He considered them to be one-eyed, i.e., internally blind, and declared them to be “a nation of vipers”:

 

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44  

 

You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  Matthew 12:34

 

For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' Matthew 13:15

 

The Qur’an supported the response of Nabi ‘Isa, i.e., Jesus ʿalayhi as-salām. In fact, it not only rejected the Jewish claim to that special status with the Lord-God as false, but went on to challenge them to seek or desire death if they were convinced of the truth of their claim:

(Qur’an, al-Jumu’ah, 62:6–8)

Say: O you who follow the Jewish faith! If you claim that you alone are close to Allah, i.e., chosen by Allah Most High, to the exclusion of all other people, then you should be longing for death—if what you say is true!  But never will they long for it, because they are aware of what their hands have wrought in this world, i.e. their sinful evil conduct; and Allah has full knowledge of evildoers.  Say: Behold, the death from which you are fleeing is bound to overtake you—and then you will be brought back unto Him Who knows all that is beyond the reach of a created being's perception as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature's senses or mind, whereupon He will make you truly understand all that you were doing in life.  

 

The Qur’an again challenged them concerning their belief that heaven is reserved for them:

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:94–5)

Say: If an afterlife with Allah, i.e., the abode of heaven, is to be for you alone, to the exclusion of all other people, then you should long for death—if what you say is true! But never will they long for it, because (they are aware) of what their hands have sent ahead in this world: and Allah has full knowledge of evildoers.  

 

The Qur’an asked with great logical compulsion, if the Lord-God chose you to be His ‘special’, ‘chosen’ and ‘beloved’ people, why then, does He punish you for your sins?

(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:18)

And both the Jews and the Christians say: We are Allah’s children, and His beloved ones. Say: Why, then, does He cause you to be punished for your sins? Nay, you are but human beings of His creating. He forgives whom He wills, and He causes to be punished whom He wills: for Allah’s is the dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and with Him all journeys end.

 

The Qur’an laid this alleged Divine preference for the Jews to rest when it declared that the Divine classification of human beings is based on piety rather than on lineage:

(Qur’an, al-Hujurat, 49:13)  

O men! Behold, We have created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another, i.e., in respect of classification of humankind. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the one who is most pious. Behold, Allah is all-knowing, all-aware.

 

Prophet Muhammad ṣallā -llāhu taʿālā ʿalayhī wa-sallam also dismissed that Jewish claim to a special (birth right) status with Allah Almighty when he declared:  that all of mankind are as equal in His sight as are the teeth of a comb”. (Sahih Bukhari)

 

We must now ask, —where from came this arrogant Jewish claim to a birth right of superiority over all of mankind? 

 

The Qur’an confirms that the Israelite people descended from Nabi Ibrahim, i.e., Abraham ʿalayhi as-salām, and also confirms that Allah Most High conferred on Abraham alayhi as-salām the status of Imam, i.e., spiritual or religious leader, of mankind. Abraham alayhi as-salām responded, however, with a request that his seed should also share in that status conferred upon him. As a consequence, the Jews came to the conclusion that since they were from the seed of Abraham alayhi as-salām, they had a special status divinely conferred upon them. But the Qur’an explained that Allah’s response to Abraham’s request was to grant it conditionally:

 

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:124)

And remember that event when his Lord-God tried Abraham by His commandments and the latter fulfilled them. He said: Behold, I shall make thee an Imam, i.e., leader, of men. Abraham asked: And will You make leaders of my offspring as well? Allah answered: My covenant does not embrace the wicked. 

 

The condition was that this status would not be conferred on those of his seed who were unjust, wicked in conduct, or oppressors. Allah Most High went on to fulfill that favor unto Abraham alayhi as-salām, by choosing Imams from his seed, hence the phenomenon of a continuous line of Prophets chosen from the seed of Abrahamalayhi as-salām, who were all sent to the Israelite people. The most that the Jews could claim, therefore, is that Allah Most High accepted the request of Abraham alayhi as-salām and blessed his righteous seed by choosing a continuous line of Imams or Prophets from that righteous seed. Believing Israelites, who are righteous, can therefore claim that Allah Most High chose Prophets from ‘our’ ranks.  

 

Hence it was that Prophets of Allah were always chosen and appointed from the righteous seed of Abraham (since the Covenant excluded those who were wicked). This continued uninterruptedly until the birth of the Messiah, Jesus the son of the Virgin Mary ʿalayhi as-salām. Mary’s mother is referred to in the Qur’an as a woman of the House of ‘Imran, and Mary herself is called “sister of Harun” who, himself, is the son of ‘Imran. 

 

It is very strange indeed that there is no evidence of ‘Imran having the status of a Nabi, i.e., Prophet of Allah Most High. Yet he is a father of two Prophets—Musa, i.e., Moses, and Harun, i.e., Aaron ʿalayhi as-salām. The Qur’an mentioned the names of Adam ʿalayhi as-salām and Noah ʿalayhi as-salām as Prophets who were raised to a special status over all of mankind. It then mentioned that the same status was conferred on the progeny of Abraham ʿalayhi as-salām, but it then went on to provide the additional information that this status was also conferred, strangely so, on the progeny of an unknown Israelite named ‘Imran, who resided in Egypt. The Qur’an is otherwise silent on this strange subject.

 

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