The Brutes of the Earth (Daba-tul-Arz)
by Prof. Habib-ur-Rahman, M.A., Model Town, Lahore, Pakistan
The Light (Pakistan), 8th July 1980 Issue (Vol. 60, No. 13, pp. 7–9)
Why have we fallen a prey to a peculiar melancholy? Why is our spirit suddenly aroused to consolidate our country from various sources? Why are the faces of different statesmen of the world clouded? Why are the families of Afghans in deep dejection? Since man’s fate is being ruled by deadly Sins like lust, malice, hatred, ire and avarice, the Brutes of the Earth have been prompted by God to move in action and to resort to extreme measures. These Brutes will play havoc and let slip the Dogs of War against those Muslims who are persistently guilty of transgression of the Divine Law. The following verses from the Holy Quran are predictive and uttered by Divine Inspiration and foretell future events:
“By those running and uttering cries! And those producing fire, striking! And those suddenly attacking at morn! And raising clouds of dust thereby; And penetrating thereby into the centre of the enemy forces; Surely man is ungrateful to his Lord. And surely, he is a witness unto that. And truly, he is very keen for the love of wealth, Knows he not when those in the graves are raised; And that which is in the breasts is made manifest? Surely their Lord this day is fully Aware of them.” (The Holy Quran, Al-Adiyat, Chapter 100)
Whatever other learned commentators may explain the significance of the above verses, I am of the firm conviction that the true interpretation of the prophetic verses is that the Assaulters are the Brutes of the Earth referred to by God in the Holy Quran. They have, at last, broken forth into sudden action.
The Assaulters with their tanks, big guns and bombers move at full speed to flare up the fire of the gunpowder. Their deadly weapons of destruction produce loud stunning sounds and create wide cracks and holes in the enemy ranks, in the cities and mountains alike. They make sudden raids on the enemy forces in the dawn and thereby raise whirls of smoke and dust. With their heavy armaments, the combatants enter into the midst of the enemy troops. They show power of effective action by their military strength to overcome resistance.
The Brutes of the Earth appear at the proper time to chastise the Muslims who worship Mammon and are devoted to the pursuit of wealth. The followers of the Holy Prophet [Muhammad (pbuh)] are extremely ungrateful to God, their Creator, despite all the favours and gifts with which He has enriched them. The supreme Lord has freely provided them food-stuff, riches, varieties of fruit, lovely children, sound health and brain, but they seldom move with a sincere reciprocation of all the Divine benefits thus received. They do not give alms as a charitable relief to the poor. Their inordinate desire of getting and hoarding wealth is a deplorable piece of madness.
These Brutes of the Earth have made a sudden appearance to display all their military skill and might by using their tanks, bombs and fatal poisonous gases and thereby kill indiscriminately the undefended Afghans, in order to reduce them to subjection. The Assaulters spare neither, men, nor women, nor children by their aerial bombardment. Under the continuous attack with shot and shell, the Afghans have abandoned their hearths and homes. Like houseless refugees they are entering helter skelter into Pakistan and Iran. They are unmercifully robbed of their strength, life and beauty, and thrown off their balance altogether. The cheerless refugees have almost grown numb with the agony of despair — Why?
It is due to the love of the World and its glamour; it is due to the complete indifference to Islamic teachings and the injunctions of the Holy Quran; it is due to the ungratefulness shown to the Lord. Their Sins have weighed upon their spirits heavily and chilled their hearts. As a result, they are choked with fear and despair.
The Daba-tul-Arz have been induced to action by Almighty God. God is not tyrant at all. We are our own enemies. We have forgotten the Day of Resurrection when this earth will cast off everything hidden in it. The dead will come to life. All their sentiments, hopes, secret yearnings, inherent motives and manifold sins will be clearly evident to the eye and brain on the Judgment Day. The sinners therewith will stand manifest of shame and remorse. God fully knows the inmost secrets of our hearts. We easily hoodwink ourselves, but we cannot deceive God.
We, Muslims, have slowly, steadily and fearlessly thrown aside the precepts of God and the teachings of our Holy Prophet [Muhammad (pbuh)] . We rather love worldly temptations and its glittering frivolities so deeply that love for God is almost being scorned by us, We hardly express any repentance by offering (not drill-like) absorptive prayers. Consequently, flashes of deceptive worldly pleasures cause traces of dejection and vexation in our morbid minds. We invariably hum tunes of sensuous joy, instead of hymning the eternal Lord for the remission of our sins.
So, we shall freeze to a stand-still, on the Day when earth will throw out all its underground physical and corporeal materials. With loudly beating hearts and muffled sobs, our eyes glistening with tears, we shall stand aghast before God to hear His Judgement. The wicked shall be held fast in the cords of his own sin. With undignified deportments and overburdened with sins, the swaying sinners will be dragged to the precincts of Hell. Everything is laid frankly before us like a painted picture, but all this is like an ephemeral dream — we forget, we revel, we sin and breathless with pleasure we bravely follow the satanic path. Consequently, the gates for the entry of the Brutes of the Earth burst open in accordance with the prophetic words of the Holy Quran.