Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!crackers!m2c!wpi.WPI.EDU!bigboote.wpi.edu!shari
From: nnk@cs.wayne.edu (Nasir Naseem Khawaja)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: A HADITH ABOUT WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST ?? (or my misunderstanding)
Message-ID: <1990Dec13.142110.4048@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 13 Dec 90 14:21:10 GMT
References: <1990Dec12.022307.20468@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Sender: news@wpi.WPI.EDU (News)
Organization: Wayne State University, Detroit
Lines: 83
Approved: shari@wpi.wpi.edu
Originator: shari@bigboote.wpi.edu
Nntp-Posting-Host: bigboote.wpi.edu


In article <1990Dec12.022307.20468@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
goer@midway.uchicago.edu (Richard L. Goerwitz) writes:

>Is it legitimate to superimpose meanings on words that were not known 
>in the Prophet's day? Certainly, "black gold" only originated in a period 
>when oil was of great industrial importance.  Before then it was mainly 
>just greasy black stuff, and wasn't even all that easy to find.  To say 
>that a hadith predicts a war over oil therefore superimposes on the words 
>something the Prophet could not have intended them to mean.

   
      Since we (Muslims, Christians and Jews) believe that our
      respective prophets knew of the events before they happened
      (i.e, could see into the future, hence the word "prophet"),
      it should not be surprising to us that they mentioned the 
      happenings that would occur centuries from their time. 
      
      The reason that these prophecies were made in a so called
      encrypted language which prompts us to read between the lines
      was because the people of that time would not have understood
      the concept. 
      
      For example, if prophet Mohammad (PBUH) had said:
      
           "and the people would fight over oil that helped in
            running the automobiles",
           
      the people would have certainly gotten more and more confused
      since they did not know that oil could also be made to run 
      something totally made of iron (let alone understand the word
      "CAR" :-).
      
      Which prompts me to quote some more of the prophecies that
      the prophet (PBUH) made. I don't have any written proof of
      these with the appropriate bibliography, so don't ask me for
      them....
      
      As an answer to a question by one of his disciples (ashaabah) about 
      the lifestyle of the people of the further age, the prophet
      (PBUH) replied [paraphrased], that there would come a time when
      people would ride on horses made of iron and eat with weapons.
      
      The people at that instance were very surprised as to how a
      horse made of iron could walk but we see that today's cars
      can be called "horses made of iron (even saw a commercial 
      that compared a horse to a truck :-)" and even though riding 
      the camel was the preffered means of transportation, the 
      Prophet (PBUH) chose to mention a horse and we see that today, 
      we measure the strength of an engine by it's "HORSEPOWER".
      
      As for the explanation of people eating with weapons, the 
      cuttlery we use today IS (and can be opted for) weapons.
      However, it is understandable that those people in the 
      Arabian peninsula, who were used to eating with their bare
      hands, found the whole idea quite new (not to mention downright
      painful :-).
      
      
>Are such interpretations legitimate? 


      I don't think that there is such an issue about legitamacy
      in interpreting what our Books and Prophets said as there
      is about getting guidance from these sources and strenghtning
      our beliefs. After all, we muslims do believe that the Holy
      Qur'an is a guidance for ` ALL ' times. Hence the interpretations
      that were made at the time of the Khilafat were, and SHOULD be
      different from those that are made today since those were different
      times from today and people back then had different needs.
      

>-Richard (goer@sophist.uchicago.edu)
      
      Nasir.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: >>>>>>>>>>>>>> ./   \.    Nasir Khawaja                  |              ::
:: >>>>>>>>>>>>> ./  |  \.     Wayne State University      -.-           | ::
:: >>>>>>>>>>>> ./       \.    Detroit, Mi 48202            |           -.-::
:: >>>>>>>>>>> ./    |    \.    (313) 577-8513                 ___  |    | ::
:: >>>>>>>>>> ./           \.                               __/__/  |  @   ::
:: >>>>>>>>> .///////|\\\\\\\.  nnk@cs.wayne.edu       ____/         \___/ ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::