(1) HOW WAS THIS LONG LIFE GRANTED TO
AL-MAHDI
In other words, is it possible for a man to live for
many centuries, as is the case with the Expected Leader,
for the change of the world, whose age must be actually
one thousand one hundred and forty years, or fourteen
times the average age of an ordinary person who would
pass through the phases of life from childhood to old age
normally.
The word possibility here has one of the three
following meanings, namely. Practical possibility,
scientific possibility and philosophical or logical
possibility.
I mean by practical possibility that a task is
feasible in a manner that enables me, you or a third
person to perform it, such as taking a journey across the
ocean, reaching the depth of the sea or going to the moon
, all of which are practically possible since they have
actually been performed by people in one way or another.
By scientific possibility I mean that there are some
tasks that neither I nor you nor a third person can
practically perform with the means that are accessible to
present civilization. However there is nothing in the
alterable trends of science which can indicate a
justification for the rejection of the possibility of
these tasks and their occurrence conforming to certain
special circumstances and means. For example, there is
nothing in science that could deny the possibility of
travelling to Venus, because all its existing trends
indicate the possibility of such a task, although that is
still not possible for me or you Since the difference
between going to the moon and travelling to Venus is only
one of degree. The latter representing a stage of
overcoming some relative difficulties stemming from the
fact that the distance is longer. From this we deduce
that it is scientifically possible to travel to Venus
even if it is still not feasible from a practical angle.
Contrary to that is the idea of travelling to the sun
in distant space since it is scientifically impossible,
meaning that science would never entertain the
possibility of this task, for one cannot assume
scientifically or empirically the possibility of
inventing that preventive armour that could protect the
body against the heat of the sun which is like an
enormous kiln constantly burning with a degree impossible
to imagine.
By logical or philosophical possibility I mean that
there is nothing in the intellect, conforming to what it
knows of previous laws - (preceding the experiment) -
that could justify the rejection of a task nor decide
that it could not occur.
Say, for example, the grouping of three oranges into
two equal parts, this is logically impossible, since the
intellect knows - before carrying out such an experiment
- that three is an odd number, thus it is impossible to
divide it into two equal parts, first it would turn into
an even number, which would be a contradiction, which is
impossible in logic.
But if a man were to be exposed to fire, or if he were
to go to the sun without burning, that would not be
impossible from a logical point of view, since there is
no contradiction in the assumption that heat does not
penetrate into a body of lower temperature from one of
higher temperature.
That would only run contrary to the experiment which
proved that h eat actually penetrates into a body of
lower temperature from one of higher temperature until
both bodies get an equal temperature.
Therefore, we come to realize that logical possibility
has a wider scope than scientific possibility and that
the latter is wider than practical possibility.
There is no doubt about the logical possibility of the
prolongation of human life for some thousands of years,
because that is not impossible from an abstract
intellectual point of view, also there is no
contradiction in an assumption of this sort, since life
as it is understood does not fathom sudden death and no
one can dispute this fact.
Also, there is no doubt or controversy that this
prolonged life is not possible from the practical aspect,
as is the case in going down to the depths of the ocean
or ascending to the moon. That is because science with
what it owns of modern means and instruments, that were
made available by concomitant human experiments, cannot
prolong human life for hundreds of years, this is why we
find that even those among people who are more eager
about life and more able to utilize scientific
possibilities can only live to the extent of what is
usual.
As far as Scientific possibility is concerned, there
is nothing in science, nowadays which could justify the
denial of that fact from a theoretical point of view.
This inquiry is in reality related to the nature of the
physiological interpretation of the phenomenon of old
-age and decrepitude among people. Does this phenomenon
indicate a natural law that compels the tissues of the
human body and its cells to harden gradually and become
less efficient in the performance of their task once they
have reached the summit of their growth, until they die
at a particular moment, even if we were to isolate them
from the influence of some external failure? Or is this
hardening of the bodily tissues and cells and the lack of
efficiency in the performance of their physiological
tasks a result of their struggle against certain external
factors, such as microbes or poison that penetrate the
body from an excess in food or from the heavy work that
the person might perform or any other factor.
Now this is the question that science has to find an
answer to, y et many answers present themselves on a
scientific level in this respect.
If we are to consider the scientific point of view
that tends to interpret old-age and the weakness that
goes with it, as a result of reactions against some
external factors, it means that it is theoretically
possible, once we have isolated the tissues that compose
the body from these influences, to prolong life to the
extent of surpassing the phenomenon of old-age and even
overcoming it.
On the other hand, if we consider the other point of
view which sees old-age as a natural process with regards
to the living tissues and cells, it will mean that they
hear within themselves the seed o f their own ultimate
death, once the phase of old-age has been completed.
I say: If we take this point of view into
consideration it should not mean that there is no
flexibility in this natural law, rather the assumption of
its existence shows that it is in fact flexible, Since we
find in our everyday life, in addition to what has been
found by scientists through the experiments that they
carry out in their laboratories, that old - age as a
physiological phenomenon has no fixed time, since a man
can be very old and yet possess tender limbs, with no
trace of old- age appearing on him as has been mentioned
by some doctors. Moreover some scientists take advantage
of this flexibility and prolong the life of some animals
by a hundred times their natural age, by creating certain
circumstances and factors that delay the process. of
old-age.
Thus it has been proved scientifically that this
process can be postponed, by creating specific
circumstances and factors, even if this experiment has
not been carried out by science on a particular
complicated creature such as the human being, owing to
the difference in the difficulty of carrying it out on
the human being and other organisms.
This means that, from a theoretical point of view,
science, with all its alterable orientations, has never
had any objection to the prolongation of human life,
whether old-age has been interpreted as the product of a
struggle and close contact with some external influences,
or as a result of a natural process of the cells and
tissues that leads them towards their death.
Thus we deduce that the prolongation of human life and
its survival over many centuries is possible logically as
well as scientifically but it is still impossible from a
practical angle, and that nevertheless scientific
progress has a long way to go before realizing this
possibility.
In light of what has been discussed we shall deal with
the age of al-Mahdi (peace be upon him) and what has been
surrounding it of wonder and surprise.
Thus we notice that since the possibility of this
prolonged life has been confirmed both logically and
scientifically, science is in the process of gradually
transforming the theoretical possibility into a practical
one. There is no room left for wonder except the
remoteness of the probability that al-Mahdi might have
preceded science in this transformation, before that the
latter could have, in its evolutionary course, reached
the standard of actual capacity for such a
transformation, which would make him equal to that person
who had preceded science in discovering the cure for
cancer.
The question now is - How could Islam which determined
the age of the Expected Leader - have preceded science in
the field of this transformation?
The answer is that this is not the only field in which
Islam preceded science. Has the Islamic shari'ah
(revealed law) as a whole not come before science and the
evolution of human thought by many centuries? Did it not
promulgate certain symbols that submitted plans to be put
into practice, which man could achieve only after
hundreds of years of his independent activity? Did it not
formulate certain regulations perfect in wisdom, the
secrets of which were realized by man only after a
certain length of time? Did the Divine message not reveal
mysteries about the universe, that could never have
occurred to people's minds, which science came later to
confirm and support?
So, if we are convinced by these facts why then should
we regard as too much that the sender of this message -
the Exalted - anticipates science in determining the age
of al- Mahdi?
Here I mentioned only those aspects of precedence that
we can notice in a direct manner, we can also include the
aspects of precedence mentioned in the Divine message,
for example, when it informs us about the night journey
which the Prophet undertook from al- Haram Mosque to al-
Aqsa Mosque. If we are to understand this journey within
the frame of natural laws, we will find that it shows
that these laws were utilized in a way that science could
achieve only after hundreds of years.
Therefore, the same Divine knowledge which enabled the
Messenger (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him and
his progeny) to undertake this fast motion before science
could achieve it, has also enabled his designated
successors to have a prolonged life before science could
realize such a project.
Certainly, this prolonged age that Allah, the Exalted,
has bestowed on the Expected Saviour may see m rather
strange, if it is considered within the limits of the
everyday in people's lives and what has been achieved by
the experiments of scientists. But is the decisive and
transformative role which has been prepared for this
Saviour not strange within the limits of the ordinary in
people's lives and what they have experienced of
historical evolution? Has he not been entrusted with the
task of changing the world and rebuilding its
civilization on the basis of justice and truth? Why
should we disapprove if the preparation of this great
role is characterized by strange and unusual aspects,
such as the prolongation of the Expected Leader's age?
For this remoteness of those aspects and their unusual
aspects, however great they are, cannot surpass the
remoteness of the great role that has to be achieved on
the appointed day? Therefore, if we approve the validity
of that unique role from a historical angle in spite of
the fact that there has never been in the history of
humanity a role similar to it, why should not we also
approve that prolonged age which is still unique in our
ordinary life?
I wonder if it is a coincidence that only two
individuals should carry out the task of emptying human
civilization of its corrupt elements and rebuilding it,
which means that they must have been of an excessive age
many times superior to our ordinary lives. The first is
Nuh (Noah) who had assumed his role in the humanity's
past. The Qur'an mentioned that he had lived among his
people for nine hundred and fifty years. His role was to
reconstruct the world after the Great Flood.
The other one is al-Mahdi, who is to assume his role
in the future, who has lived among his people until now
for more than a thousand years. It has been ordained that
he will reconstruct the world on the appointed day.
Why then should we accept Noah, who must have reached
a thousand years at least, and yet reject al-Mahdi?