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Allah Erased Memory Of Ahd-e-Alast Doesn't Make Sense
As the title says, it doesn’t make sense because…
1. First Allah erased our memory and then in many places in Quran, Allah says “Don’t you remember”. If he erased our memory, why does he say if we don’t remember.
2. For a test to be valid, erasing the memory was not necessary. Adam, a prophet, who remembered Allah and lived in heaven, still made a mistake. This shows erasing human memory of meeting Allah and seeing heaven was not necessary. Actually the test would have been more valid, if people remembered and still committed sins.
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19 Replies
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Allah Erased Memory Of Ahd-e-Alast Doesn't Make Sense
updated 3 years, 6 months ago
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19
Replies
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“Don’t you remember” in various verses of the Quran is used in the context of worldly events.
There’s no information regarding whether or not Adam’s memory was erased before he committed the error so it’s not a valid argument.
Quran 7:172 informs us that God took a covenant from all human beings before we were born. This covenant has now become an inherent part of human nature (fitrah). Since we don’t consciously remember the event, its memory has been erased from our brains. For further explanation of fitrah and also a detailed discussion regarding the covenant, please refer to:
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Adam’s (pbuh) memory doesn’t seem to be erased because he was in heaven and he remembered that eating the fruit was prohibited.
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In Ghamidi sahab’s opinion Adam and Eve both lived in a garden on earth.
The only memory being erased was that of the event of the covenant.
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The knowledge of the future has not been given to us with 100% certainty. We can infer the future and make plans with some level of certainty but a greater degree of certainty would stop us initiating those projects that are going to fail but result in a lot of learning essential for humanity to continue progress on their mission to excel in good deeds on Earth by co-creating solutions.
Similarly, a too vivid memory from the pre-birth period would have made us wonder if we ever deserved the hardship of this worldly life after having lived in a far better world. We can still infer the covenant with some level of certainty but a clearer memory would have hindered our ability to excel in our mission on Earth as co-creators.
That is the only somewhat plausible reason i can think of as I don’t buy into the argument of erasing memories in order to test us – that doesn’t make sense at all.
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Good discussion everyone. Still, no a conclusive or a solid reason is found.
If I would “GUESS”, perhaps Allah erased our memory to give us, the humans, a reason to avoid hell forever and receive less punishment because we didn’t remember. If we had clear memory of heaven and our promise to Allah and then we had committed sins, it would have been more severe sin and a stricter punishment would become justified (Conversely: Although Adam was not punished severely and forgiven for merely asking Allah for forgiveness).
On the other hand, why does Allah says, “Recall” when describing events before our birth?
“PERHAPS” Allah is challenging us to try to recall. I wonder if someone tried to recall using technology or perhaps using Hypnotism. As I read that Hypnotism has been used successfully to recall erased memories.
Here are some verses where Allah asks us to recall our memories from prebirth.
[2:30] Recall that your Lord said to the angels, “I am placing a representative (a temporary god) on Earth.” They said, “Will You place therein one who will spread evil therein and shed blood, while we sing Your praises, glorify You, and uphold Your absolute authority?” He said, “I know what you do not know.”
[7:172] Recall that your Lord summoned all the descendants of Adam, and had them bear witness for themselves: “Am I not your Lord?” They all said, “Yes. We bear witness.” Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, “We were not aware of this.”
[20:116] Recall that we said to the angels, “Fall prostrate before Adam.” They fell prostrate, except Satan; he refused.
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Furthermore numerous times, Allah repeats this word “Recall” or “Remember” for prehistorical events in this World that we do not have a history or memory?
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We have to see who is Allah addressing in those verses. Is it Prophet (SW)? Maybe he had the ability to recall events.
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here is one more verse indirectly related to our memory
[33:72] We have offered the responsibility (freedom of choice) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid of it. But the human being accepted it; he was transgressing, ignorant.
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Nadeem sahab I think that Quran translations are causing you some confusion. You can read the translations in Al-Bayan; I’m sharing one below:
Quran 2:30
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi / Dr. Shehzad Saleem
[Ask them O Prophet (sws) about their baseless denial of the Almighty] and [in order to make them understand Our scheme regarding this world, narrate to them the incident] when your Lord said to the angels:“I am going to create someone who will be given the sovereignty of the earth.”They said: “Will You create in it a creature who will make mischief therein and shed blood ? – whereas we glorify and sanctify You, while praising You?”He said: “I know what you know not.”And [in order to make them understand] He taught Adam all the names;then He brought before the angels [the people whose names had been taught to Adam]. Then said: “Inform Me ofthe names of these people if you are truthful [in your claim].”They said: “You are free from all flaws; of knowledge we have none except what You have taught us: in truth, it is You who have knowledge and wisdom.”He said: “O Adam! Tell them their names.” Then when he had introduced them to the angels, God said: “Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of the heavens and earth,and I know what you are revealingand what you were concealing?”
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The use of words “recall“, “remember“, “Have you not seen” in classic arabic have literary signifance. They’re used to give reference to events in history which do not necessarily have to be seen with naked eyes by the addressees.
I think the reason why memory was erased for this event had to do with the nature of test. Had the memory not been erased, the test would’ve been only a single-fold test i.e. test of deeds; but with removal of memory, the test has become two-folds i.e. test of both knowledege and deeds. And this I think removes the element of hypocrisy in its entirety i.e. your deed should commensurate with your knowledge and every one will be judged based on their deeds in accordance with their knowledge.
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Just like other creations we are here to play a role. The test is a control to motivate us to excel in our role. The test is a means to the end and not an end in itself. It’s like if I hire someone to grow my market share in US and pay salary as a compensation. My purpose of hiring would not be to pay salary but to grow business. If God wanted to make the test harder for us He would never have sent so many prophets and books. So if the memory could have helped us do better in our test God must have given it to us. That’s why the “test” argument does not make sense.
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I agree with your point that this scheme of test does help a human get the best out of him in both worldly and religious spheres. The extensiveness of the test is not constant for every human being i.e. it is not a static test. The premise remains the same that it’s a two-fold test, but how those dimensions unfold for a human being and how deep the test goes changes from situation to situation. In the absence of a Prophet, the realization of a creator and good deeds (universal ethics) would suffice for one’s success. But with the introduction of prophethood, now the test becomes deeper, as there’s sharia to be followed as well and knowledge becomes more clear as to who is God and what God wants and about the day of judgement etc etc.
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Yes true.
God has helped many people with their tests of knowledge and deeds by giving miracles to His messengers rather than leaving the knowledge test purely on people’s mental capacity to infer the faith logically. The memory of the covenant could have helped the same way as miracles, if not better.
2nd, unlike a common misconception, there are no two spheres of life i e worldly life and religious life. Whatever we do if done with a God conscious mind it is religion. If i am a doctor i am helping patients get well and patients are helping me feed my family by paying fee both acts are acts of virtue. But this is a different topic so lets leave it here fir some other time.
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Erasing memories to help human avoid hell doesn’t seems right. That’s because Allah can always forgive whoever He likes and there is no one to object on His judgement. He doesn’t need excuses to forgive people.
Let’s say you are the President of United States and you have to send troops on a mission to a country. Wouldn’t you like them to forget their families back home in the battle ground so they can focus on the mission? Guess that’s why our prebirth memories were erased so we can focus on our mission on Earth.
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Brother Wadood, your argument is starting to make sense.
Yes, if we remembered everything from prebirth, then we would have behaved dramatically differently in this World. Perhaps people will not be as interested in this life and human race may not function well as compared to how it is functioning now.
Conversely, If everyone remembered and they lived in a certain way, then that would become normal life. Even with the memory humans would need to struggle for survival and they would still be greedy, stingy, jealous, angry, sad and in search of luxury and comforts. I guess it would not change human behavior much.
The Adam’s sons somehow knew who’s deeds Allah accepted. So somehow they had closer contact with Allah. Still one brother killed the other.
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Human brain and memory is everchanging and developing throughout life, more so in first three years of life. Does one remembers his birth, early infancy childhood and even adult life incidences except a few? Does any one remember what promises were done by parents when he was 1 or 2 years old. If not, then how one expects to remember the promises done before birth. It doesn’t need long discussion. It is inherent property of brain. What was the loss of one remembered everything of infancy and childhood, every promises made by his parents. But it is not so?
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Yes, limitations of our brain could be the reason why we don’t remember prebirth life. Since our life on earth is subject to the natural laws and therefore it would be too much to expect to remember anything from the prebirth period. It would need a miracle.
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Interesting discussion
1. I agree with brother Umer that the word recall or remember is not mentioned in the Arabic ayahs but added by translators to help make the translation more flowing or coherent
2. Question remains that why did Allah did not make us remember it if we had chosen it. World would be a better place if we remembered the covenant. Their will be no need to send all the prophets, books etc. greatest of evils could’ve been avoided and mankind would’ve directed its energies in exploring its God and His universe than wasting time in false ideologies and false gods.
Here’s what I think would be a plausible answer
Allah mentioned 33:72 that He presented the Al Amana to every creation but all were afraid except human being. This seems that Allah created everything and made them self conscious and gave them free will. Once humans accepted the challenge then consciousness and free will is taken from everything else
Afterwards Allah created time and space and began process of creation of our universe and ultimately us. Since our brain and body did not exist before but created much later as a vehicle to carry consciousness and free will, it doesn’t have memory of our covenant with Allah because nothing can remember anything BEFORE it’s existence/creation.
The test is simple, what will u do if u r given self awareness and free will. It doesn’t require any memory of any sort. Once we believe there is a God who created us, it’s easy to accept fact that we had accepted the challenge. Mere existence of consciousness and free will is explanation enough of a creator and day of judgement. Self awareness and free will doesn’t help humans survive any better from evolution standpoint so it has to serve some other purpose.
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I agree with you except for your last para.
“Once we believe there is a God who created us, it’s easy to accept fact that we had accepted the challenge”.
Thats the covenant under discussion. Had we remembered it from the past life, we would have focused more on the next steps. A lot of time and energy is being wasted in funding God and His Will so we know our job earth.
2ndly, “Self awareness and free will doesn’t help humans survive any better from evolution standpoint so it has to serve some other purpose.” This statement is far from the fact. If dinosaurs had the knowledge of the right direction to run in for survival, they would be walking among us today. Because of the freewill humans have escaped many pandemics, natural calamities and accidents that helped human race survive so much better than any other species on Earth. From a few 100 thousands we are a thriving community of billions in a very short span of time.
If you wish to discuss this point further you’ll have to create a new discussion as it is kind of irrelevant here.
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We don’t have to remember but understand just like we understand our childhood memories likes/dislikes from trustworthy sources (parents, siblings, photos etc)
the real challenge is to identify a “higher” consciousness or God. Test is not to avoid haram, but to identify Allah. That is why shirk is unforgivable but everything else, in general and in a personal way, is subjected to Allah’s mercy
once we identify Allah, it becomes clear that we had chosen to accept the challenge otherwise Allah wouldn’t go against our free will and put us here. He doesn’t do that here does He? (Free will is freedom to take an action and NOT decide an outcome)
When u drive and someone comes in front, do u think and then make a decision or ur instincts take over? samething happened with dinosaurs, when meteorite hit earth, they just ran
we have to identify differences between consciousness, learned behavior and instinctive actions.
we appreciating a car crossing the road as 1 experience, although speed of light is much faster than sound but our consciousness merge the 2 and we experience it as a singular experience, thats consciousness (I am avoiding higher functions of consciousness purposely)
we play piano, learned behavior
avoid eating something if it tastes or smell bad, an instinct
sure brother, we can discuss consciousness separately if it helps clarifies any question or doubt
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