Malik Bennabi (1905-1973) said that there are three key factors in building a civilization: man (al-insan), soil (at-Turab), and time (al-waqtu). To process these three things into a civilization, requires a catalyst that we call religion (ad-Deen). If we tadabbur on surah Al-Asr, then there are four factors in it.
There are five lessons that we can learn:
- Allah swears by time at al-Asr. So, what is the meaning of al-Asr? So far, we understand that it is time. The problem is that which time or period? In my opinion, time or period that was designated by the word al-Ashri is current time, contemporary, end of time, or current civilization.
My reasons:
- Al-‘Asr and al-mu’shirah originated from the same word, whereas al-ma’ashiroh means current time or contemporary;
- Al-‘Asr is current time or contemporary meaning, because Prophet Muhammad pbuh and Quran will be revealed to mankind in the end of time;
- Al-‘Asr will have meaning, if we associate it with civilization concept proposed by Malik Bennabi above;
- Al-‘Asr also means “squeeze”, so the Arabs call “juice” with Ashir. It means that civilization is the result of human who utilizes his/her brain, heart and limbs so as to produce the work in a given time.
So, when Allah swore”wal ‘Ashri” (By Contemporary Ages), then automatically our thoughts and feelings are drawn to this contemporary century. Thus we are encouraged to reflect on, what is about this contemporary century?
2. After swearing to ‘contemporary century’, Allah told us that man are in a state of loss. It is very interesting, that Allah used the word al-insan, not al-basyar or an-nas, whereas these three words in the Quran means human. So what is the difference among those three words?
- Al-insan means human in terms of spiritual being who has intelligence, heart, and soul. Spiritualism is what separates man from animals, plants and objects, even amongst other humans. Therefore, contents of human brain at the time of Prophet Adam AS and Prophet Idris AS were different, especially in the time of Prophet Muhammad and our current time. Because of the different contents of the brain, then behaviors on how to talk, how to dress, how to make a home, and the likes progress over time.
- Al-Basyar means human in terms of a body which have five senses. From this perspective, there is no difference between a man and an animal. Each have a head, ears, eyes, brain, legs, hands, and other parts of the body. Even elements in the human body, are not much different from elements that exist in plants and in animate objects. Humans as al-Basyar mentioned, do not develop into different forms and since Prophet Adam to the last human will be the same, for example, both have one head, two eyes, two legs, and so forth.
- An-Nas means human, from human interaction point of view, human cannot live alone; or social beings. From social interactions, humans generate families, clans, tribes, communities, and nations. Differences in place, time, and human in physical form, creates differences in how to think, how to feel and how to act. This is what we call culture and civilization.
Therefore, only humans have cultures and civilizations. Other creatures do not. Thus, home and language for ants in the past, present and future, remain the same, likewise as other animals. Please read next article for lesson number 3 to 5.
