One thousand but not two

8/14/2019 One thousand but not two

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Haddad: One Thousand But Not Two...

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One Thousand But Not Two!Towards the End of the Second

Millennium: Narrating the Future!Telling the Future

People of all cultures, at all times have always wanted toknow what is going to take place, and what has been hiddenfrom them. The fear of the hidden, unclear and unknown

future has motivated them to try to see the future, forecastthe hidden and to know what will happen ahead of time,both out of curiosity and out of a desire to try to plan for it,to prepare for dangers which the future will lead, and to tryto change the future using sacrifices, vows and prayer.1All early nations developed methods and ways of seeingthe future, in the East, in Assyria and Babylon, in Egypt, in

Greece and Rome, and also, of course, in ancient Arabia2

.In Egypt, Pharaoh's priests did not succeed in interpretinghis dreams and foreseeing the future, until Joseph did it 3.In Mesopotamia, there were many methods, such asspinning the famous top. In Greece they had the DelphianOracle.

In the Bible, Moses and the prophets prayed to God andasked to know what would happen. King Saul turned to the

1Najeeb Badawy:(Arabic):Optimism and Pessimism,Cairo,1978,p. 57

2ibid 68

3Genesis 41


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witch of Endor 4, and Solomon looked at the clouds inorder to know the future 5.

Others saw the future with the help of the internal organs ofsacrifices which were killed:

If they were healthy and complete - the message waspositive, and if they were damaged, the message was scaryand threatening

In ancient Arabia there were more than a tree and an idol totell the future. The ancient Arabs developed many methodsof telling the future. The most famous methods were:

With the aid of their priests: They believed that their priestshad demon servants. The demon-servants would listen and

eavesdrop over what was happening in the heavens, behindthe curtain hiding the Almighty Throne. They would reportthe news to the priests.

The priest could ask the demon-servant anything he wantedto know about, and the servant would quickly come backwith the answer 6. The ancient Arab chronicles retained alist of priests. The flood and destruction of the Dam of

Marib in the fifth century7 was foreseen by a woman-priest

4 1 Samuel 285

(Hebrew):Legend of Three And Four,Bialiks version,p. 345-3526

A(l) Nowairy:(Arabic):Nihayatu (a)l Arab Fee Funoon (E)l Arab, Cairo

1943,Vol. 3,p. 1287

Hitti Ph. K.:History of the Arabs, London 1958, p. 54


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called Tarifa 8, the falling of the Persian Empire in theseventh century was foreseen by the priest Satteeh 9, andothers.

Not only prophets could uncover the future and expose itssecrets. Also plain people and other folk heroes could: TheYemenite king Tubba Hassan who stole Jalleelah from herlover - fiance - cousin Kulaib did not know that among hisbrides servants was found Kulaib himself in a clown

costume. And on the night of the wedding, before joiningwith his bride, Kulaib exposed his real identity and wantedto kill Tubba and save the world from his crimes. Tubbaasked for time and in a rhyming classical epic, and veryquickly, he told Kulaib all about what would be happeningto him and the world for the next hundreds of years10 !

The problem is that no one can verify if the descriptions ofthe prophecies were written after the historical eventswhich relate to them, or if they were really writtenbeforehand!

People also used birds flight patterns in order to reachconclusions about the future using specific criteriadeveloped over the years. They interpret and explain the

general direction of the flight, the direction in relation tothe man himself, the type of flight, and the number of birds.In this way, for example, upon leaving for a special task, if

8Qissas el Arab (Arabic),vol. 1,pp. 80-83

9ibid,ibid, pp. 90-93

10Sirat A(l) Zeer,(Arabic folk epics), Beirout 1983,pp. 55-58


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a raven flies overhead ,you will succeed, but if the ravencalled from over a dry tree, there is no way to succeed11.

Also, in such a way Umayya the famous poet foresaw theend of his life 12. There is no doubt that this method wasdeveloped and improved after the flood, when the raven didnot return to Noahs ark, but the dove did return andforetold the end of the flood by bringing an olive branch13.

Optimism and pessimism are tools for foretelling thefuture14. Different signs and symbols have received certainsignificance over the years, even if for random and illogicalreasons, they have hinted at the essence of the future: goodor bad? This category includes all folk beliefs whichattribute certain traits to specific places, animals or birds.For example, the camel is a symbol of suffering and wealth

in the Arab culture. The horse is a symbol of nobility, ablack cat crossing is a sign of a disaster which will occur, araven portends a bad thing, the owl is identified with thenight, cannot bring good news, because it lives only in theruins15.

Al-Firasah (intuition) along with searching and uncoveringfootprints are a tried method of foretelling the future:

According to certain signs in a persons appearance, his

11A(l)Nowairy,ibid,p 134

12Qissas el Arab (Arabic),vol. 1,pp. 94-96

13Genesis 8

14A(l)Nowairy,ibid,p. 143

15Hasan (Arabic):Civilization of the Arabs before Islam,pp. 32-33


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future could be told. His footprints showed his traits16.Clearly this is the most scientific method of all because itis the compilation of all of the knowledge and richexperiences which the various generations gathered andtransferred to the coming generations.

The future was also foretold using arrows shot in thedirection of an idol. If it fell on one side it was a good sign,and if it fell on the other side it was a bad sign, so Imro

Elqais , the great Arab poet from the era before Islam, didwhen he wanted to avenge his murdered fathers blood, inorder to find out the results of the future war ahead of time.He turned to the arrows because telling the future in thisway was accepted and common in his days. He shot a fewarrows towards a certain idol. The arrows fell on the wrongside, which meant the poet would not succeed. He reshot

the arrows twice and the negative results did not change.Then he hit the idols head with the arrows, turned andwent on his way...17

The oysters near the ocean also foretold the secrets of thefuture to those who listened to them and were able tounderstand what the oysters tried to whisper in their ears.In the East, the Gypsies used to throw handfuls of oysters

and draw conclusions from the way they fell and wereplaced. An additional method was to draw different lines

16A(l)Nowairy,ibid,pp. 149-152

17 Imru (E)l Qais (Arabic),the Diwan(the complete collection of ghis

poetry),the introduction


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in the sand spontaneously and then explain thesymbolism in the lines according to different and variedsigns18.

Cards were also used as a method of telling the future:Cards were shuffled and one random card was drawn.Every card signified something specific: The ace signifiedsuccess, rule, kingdom; the queen signified women, love,romance; The king symbolized stability, wealth, honor but

also health problems (because of the age)19.

An additional method was the Mandal: A mixture of oiland other materials which were mixed in a bowl and lookedat with deep concentration. The shapes, drawings and thereflections seen in the mixture were explained accordingto a certain theory of symbols and signs20.

The most common method of telling the future of all timesin the Arab East, was probably coffee: Coffee has beenattributed with supernatural traits in the East and it has therole of telling the future in addition to its otherconventional roles. When someone drinks coffee, hisfuture comes out of it from his mouth and is poured intothe cup. This draws various diagrams in the coffee dregs

remaining in the empty cup. Then the dregs dry, thedrawings can be explained according to certain symbols: abird denotes good news; a circle symbolizes an engagement

18Al-Jawhary (Arabic): Science of Folklore,vol 2,p. 211

19From an interview with a professional future-teller on 15.4.1998

20From an interview with another professional future teller on 16.4.1998


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or wedding ring; dark dregs show sadness and anger; lightdregs show happiness and welfare; and the more that thedrawing is closer to the edge of the cup, the sooner thesigns will take place. The lower down it is, the fartheraway it is.

An additional method is the numerical horoscope: Onecomputes the numerical value of the persons name and hismothers name (A=1,B=2,C=3,etc...). This is divided by the

twelve known zodiacal signs in order to set his sign. Thesign plus the remainder are the code for ones future whichis interpreted using books of ancient Arab culture and otherancient cultures. These are also related to dreaminterpretations of classic cultures21

The movement of the stars and the appearances of comets

were an excellent method of foretelling the future. Cometsprophesied disaster. The elders continue to tell how theirparents told them about the comets which appeared beforethe First World War and the Second, immediately afterwhich the war started and led to death, destruction, hungerand plague22.

The last method is holy writings which are somewhat a

continuation of the prophecy of the distant past. One opensa holy book randomly (the most liked book is Psalms) andturns seven pages, counting seven lines and begin to read.If we find the name of God there are good things, comfort

21 From an interview with third professional future-teller on 19.4.199822

From an interview with a man who was born in 1909,hold in Al-

Boqaia,on 22.4.1998


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etc., then the future is good, if not then the opposite willoccur23.

In summary of the methods, there are three maincategories:

1. A religious category which believes that the words of theholy books hint towards the future and can explain it.

2. A category which accumulated the experience of pastgenerations and attributes every symbol, drawing or sign,significance which have been validated in the past andare known as good or bad signs.

3. A category which depends on random things which haveno connection to logic or belief and are closer to trickery

or fraud.

Telling the future, without relating to any specific methodof course, is common enough that we can say that almostall of the daily Israeli newspapers and all television andradio stations publish a daily astrological forecast. Theweekend sections, and the year end sections of the paperinclude at least two pages on weekly forecasts. The official

astrology industry alone receives large sums of moneyyearly, more than $350 million, in addition to the fortune

23From an interview with a village Greak-Orthodox priest, 70 years old,on

24.4.1998


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tellers who make their money and manage their businessfar from the eye of the media24.

Symbols and Abnormal SignsIn principle, it is possible to say that every abnormal thingor anything which deviates from the norm draws specialattention to it. This creates a complete system of beliefs

and ceremonies connected to it. Especially, attribution ofsupernatural or magic forces and the ability to understandthe future and uncover the hidden meanings!

King Solomon had the trait of understanding the birds andanimals languages and speaking to them, attributed to him.Not only Solomon, but also the poet Umayyah had controlover this language. Zarqaa El-Yamamah, was given this

name because her blue eyes were unusual in the ArabSemitic culture. They say that after her death blue material(Kohl, eyeliner) was discovered in her eye sockets, butwhen she was still alive she was attributed with the trait ofseeing to a distance of three days walk, which is very fareven by todays standards!

It was as if her eyes were like radar for her tribe. Everytime the enemies attacked, she discovered their movementand warned her tribe, who went out towards the enemy andbeat them. Only the last time, the enemy camouflaged

24 Mamon-weekly-suppliment of the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth,Tel-

Aviv 15.5.1998 pp. 4-5


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himself in the branches of the trees. She told her tribeabout this and warned them that they were camouflaging inthe trees, but no one believed her, and the tribe wasdestroyed. This motif was well known regarding ZarqaaEl-Yamamah many hundreds of years before Shakespeareused it in his Macbeth25.

In any case,anything out of the ordinary awakens the fearof humans, and their imagination creates infinite

interpretations regarding what is about to happen

Magic, Religion and ScienceAny unusual occurrence turns quickly into a portend ofsomething, clarifies something or turns into a warning fromheavens in a way that is not understood, whether on thepersonal, family, social, local, regional or even worldwidelevel.

This phenomenon is more common among religious,conservative and undeveloped cultures than among moreadvanced cultures. However, even in the most atheistculture, when something not understood or illogical occurs,they will say it happened because of luck or coincidence,

and they will return and believe in unseen powers whichcontinue to influence and control our lives.

This is the way of the world and this is the nature ofhumans: when we could not influence nature and explain

25Zaidan G.(Arabic),The Arabs before Islam, Beirout 1966,p 89


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things that happened we needed magic and sorcery. Andwhen these did not help and their time passed, religiousbeliefs were embraced. However when science suppliedrational interpretations to events and the logical answers toquestions were given, they turned their backs to religionand magic26!

The most evident example is rainfall: In the beginning, inearly times, sacrifices were made in order to cause rain to

fall or in order that the rivers be filled with water.Afterwards they began to pray and go on pilgrimages toholy places in order to cause rain to fall, but when sciencesupplied the solution, they sent the planes to disperse silveriodide in the clouds27 !

However, the moment that the hand of science is too short

to be of salvation, people return quickly to religion, and ifthat does not help, they look to magicians and sorcerers,witch doctors and fortune tellers. Certain people sufferingfrom difficult or malignant illnesses which science cannotcure are an example of this phenomenon. Barren womenwhom science cannot help, quickly swear oaths, and go onpilgrimages to holy graves, and when this does not helpthey turn to the writers of hexes, witch doctors and

sorcerers28.

26Haddad Monim (Arabic):Palestinian Heritage between Obliteration And

Revival, Nicosia 1989,p.927

ibid,ibid,p. 2228

Mamon,(note 24),ibid,ibid


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The Personal and the GeneralThis is valid on all levels: personal, familial, social, local,national, regional and worldwide.Personal appearance or behavior which is not in the spiritof adults ,for example, can awaken a response which saysclearly that the end of the world is nigh, or that the after lifeis beginning

Political and war related events, and natural disasters areexplained as signs of the end of the world.

Military revolutions or political revolutions in variouscountries, inter tribal wars, world wide crises, all are signsor the end of the world, in addition to earthquakes, volcanoeruptions, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. Even El nino -the proof of which, they will tell you, is that it was giventhe name of baby Jesus.

It is clear that also improper interpersonal relations, theincrease of individualism, and the ignorance of tribal spiritand collective responsibility, the dissolution of the familyunit, personal behavior, loss of values, rise in crime,

increase of violence and drug use, all are seen as signs ofthe imminent end.

You dont have to go out looking for people to tell youthese things. In the market, on a taxi or a bus, in thesupermarket, and the hospital, and even in the schools thestudents act poorly compared to the past. Everyone will


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tell you that these are signs of the end of the world beprepared!

It is worthwhile to note the fact that many grocery storeshad used to sell on credit. After certain military eventswhich took place on the Lebanon border, not far from us,they stopped selling on credit with the claim that these weresigns that the end was near!

The End of the World Whatis it?

People can describe in detail what will occur at the end ofthe days:

At the end, the liar or the trickster Al-Dajjal,or the

Antichrist29 will come from the north, and make his way toPalestine.

When he passes through a place he will lead many peopleastray by showing them visions of rocks which look likehills of meat and rice. Rivers and ponds will look likedrinks tasting like the Garden of Eden. Many will follow

him and among them even many good men, all because ofthe difficulties of the times and the difficulties which willreign in these times; the skies will be like steel, theearthquakes and volcanoes will cause damage, plagues willdecimate them, drought will lead them to difficulties, wars

29Al-Mawrid,Arabic-English Dictionary,p. 537


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and robbery and lack of security will destroy everythingthey have.

His army will grow and occupy the entire land. Hisenemies and opposition will fight with no success. Thebattles will be blood filled. The armies will go up on thewalls of Acre.

The waters of the Naamain river from the south of the city

will be red from the blood spilled into it. The roads ofJerusalem will be rivers of blood. Bodies will cover theplace.

The deciding battle will take place in Lydda, where he willmeet the Christ who will come down from the sky and killAl-Dajjal, putting an end to his black rule. Then the post-

wicked era will begin, the era of happiness, peace and lifefor the righteous, but not before the Christ will judge theworld, and the Al-Qiamah will take place30.

Resurrection of the DeadThe direct translation of the term Al-Qiamah isawakening, or resurrection. It signifies confusion and

disaster also. The descriptions of Al-Qiamah are taken, itseems, from the many descriptions that the monotheisticprophets brought and from the holy writings about the endof the days, the day of judgment and the resurrection. Themost popular religious description is as follows:

30see note 22,and A(l)Nowairy,vol 14,pp. 275-285


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One heavenly blow of the trumpet will cause a greatearthquake. The graves will open up their mouths and allof the dead will arise from the graves31. No one candescribe how they will look, skeletons only or if they willgrow skin and veins and be covered with flesh. Will thesouls return to them? How?

Everyone will stand in true judgment, righteous judgment

before the Christ, and woe to the religious leaders on thatday, because they know best of all their responsibility andthe need to act properly. If one of them sinned hispunishment will be much worse than any other regularperson.

Christ will judge everyone. Everyone will stand before

him. The wicked will be sent to his left, to the burning fireof hell, to the brimstone, tongues of fire, the thirst and thehunger, the torture that the demons will perform32.The righteous will be sent to the Garden of Eden (theParadise), to the good eternal life, to spiritual enjoymentand all other good things!

The Place!The place that the resurrection will take place is a point ofargument. There are those who point to general spots as theplace of the resurrection. This place is usually limited to the

31A(l) Nowairy,vol. 14,pp.286-28832

Al-Afeefy:(Arabic):Safety from the Horrors of Al-Qiamah,the whole

book describes these horrors.


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limited geographic knowledge of the individual - theirvillage or a close place.This is the center of the villagepeoples life. Others believe that the holy monotheisticreligious places are the place of the future miracle. Thereare also those who say the garden of Eden (The Paradise) isthe place, and point to Eden in the south of the ArabianPeninsula, to Yemen, Iraq, Babylon, Aram, Mesopotemia,Palestine, and other places in the Middle East, such asEgypt, the Nile Valley, where all humans will gather for

judgment on the final judgment day33.

More religious people regard Jerusalem and specific pointstherein as the spot, as Jerusalem is the holy city of thelargest number of monotheistic believers, more than anyother city in the world, and therefore is worthy of being theplace of judgment. This is the direct influence of the holy

shrines in the city.

When?The most difficult question is when will this miraclehappen? This is a most difficult and complex question. Onone hand, people will tell you: God shares this secret withhis modest and inferior creations. On the other hand, only

God has answers!

Most people look for signs for the end in ongoingevents.Political and other events are seen as signssignifying the end.Unusual occurrences signify the awful

33Al-Jameely(Arabic):Stands of the Al-Qiamah,the whole book

describes it.


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disaster which all are afraid of. As we already said, thecommon denominator between all of the descriptions istaken from the descriptions of the end of the days in thevarious holy books. Al-Qiamah will take place in a worldthat is all good, or more specifically: in a world which is allevil!

When the wickedness and sins get stronger, hate increases,love decreases, love and respect step aside for evil and hate

34.

Hints to this can be found in the various holy books35.

It is enough that an old woman does not like the moderndress and make up of her daughter or granddaughter or herbehavior does not find favor in her eyes, or that an elderly

father does not like his sons behavior and long hair, andthey will say to one another, this is surely the end. Theworld it at its end or drawing to a close...

Very many see the end of the second millennium,and thebeginning of the third as the appropriate time for theoccurrence of Al-Qiamah.There is more than oneexplanation for this:

One Thousand and its

Significance34

A(l) Nowairy,vol. 14,pp.23235

see,for example:Ezkiel 39,Zechariah 14,Revelation 20


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One thousand was thought of in the ancient Arab culture asthe final number, larger than others and absolute. Onemillion did not exist. Arabs used multiples of one thousandto note higher quantities: one thousand thousands, tenthousand thousands, etc.One thousand signified exaggeration. Until fifty years ago,it was said about the richest person: His piastercompleted one thousand, that is, he had one thousandpennies, or ten Liras36, which were the apex of richness, a

real multi billionaire in our terms. All because of thedearth of money and the fact that one thousand signified alot, a great and infinite number.

A poisonous snake which is old and even worse than thesnake who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and causedher departure from there, has it said about him the

thousand snake, that is, he has reached one thousandyears!

When the Moslems conquered Persia in 637 37, these desertpeople ravaged the beautiful treasures of the Persianpalaces.One Bedouin took a sack of camphor,a whitepowder of perfume, and thought that it was salt. He addedit to his cooking and saw that the taste did not change, so he

decided to trick a Persian and sell him this worthless salt.He looked and looked and finally found someone. After

36The Lira was the official currency in Palestine during the era of the

British Mandate on Palestine (the

years 1918 - 1948), ,it was didided to 00 piasters.37

Hitti Ph. K.:History of the Arabs, London 1958, p. 155-159


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long bargaining, the Bedouin succeeded in tricking thePersian and multiplying the price many times from tendinar to a thousand dinars. He took the money and returnedto his camp, happily. His commander, who knew whathappened, turned to him and told him that it was a perfumeand not just worthless salt. He wanted to prove him anignorant boor, and that the sack was worth many times theprice which he got.

The Bedouin answered him that first of all, he did not knowit was perfume and not salt.Secondly, If I knew a number greater than one thousand, Iwould have asked for it, but you know that one thousand isthe biggest number in the world, right? commander?38

In ancient Arabia, they used to grow camels. But when the

number of camels reached one hundred, they feared the evileye and maimed the one hundredth camel. When thenumber of camels reached one thousand, they were veryafraid, because one thousand signified completeness andinfinity, and therefore they gave the thousandth camel agreater wound, because they believed that this defended thecamels from the evil eye and from robbery and harm39.

In the eighteenth century, in the Galilee in the north ofPalestine, there was a Bedouin Emir named Dhaher ElOmar. He ruled with law and order, and woe to the personwho dared to break the laws. Therefore, justice reigned in

38 A well-known folk story,(a version of literary story mentioned in many

books about the fall of Persia).39

A(l) Nowairy,vol. 3, p. 128


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the land and his days were known as peaceful, constructiveand secure. They say that once they stopped someonebecause of a certain criminal act. The guards did nothave handcuffs and therefore they bound him to awatermelon vine and sent him to Acre for judgment. Theconvict traveled very far, a distance of a number of dayswithout daring to untie the watermelon cuffs. On theway he passed through Shafa-Amru town. At that timethey were building there a fortress and palace for the Ali,a

son of Dhaher. This was a special day.They were intendingto put the last stone on the building in a festive ceremonysignifying the end of the work. Alis daughter saw theconvict with his watermelon handcuffs and asked him whatthis meant. He told her the story. At that time she said tostop the work and not to continue it and not to place the laststone. Everyone was wondering and expressed their

disappointment, but she met with her father and explainedto him:

Father, your reign has come to its end, father! But I am at the height of my strength, daughter, peace

reigns in all places!

This is what frightens me father! Why my daughter?

Because you have reached the top! Perfection! Andperfection is only for God, and so...

And so what my daughter? Therefore perfection is the beginning of the end, and you

should prepare for the end which is coming soon40.

40Moammar T.(Arabic):Dhaher (E)l Omar,p. 276


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And so, not many years later, Dhahers rule reached its end.

Therefore, after perfection, comes the end, or the beginningagain, just like the moon...

If this is not enough to clarify the meaning of one thousand,then look at Arabian Nights, known in Arabic as: OneThousand Nights, and considered to be the greatest literarycreation of Arab culture, known worldwide, and which has

been translated into almost all languages.

A Special ExpressionThe Arab expression "" Tuallef WalaTuallefan belongs to classic literary Arabic. Itsgrammatical form is the dual form which does not exist in

the local spoken colloquial language. Even so, theexpression is common among the people, especially theilliterate. It is not common among those who speak inliterary Arabic.

A thorough search in the classic resources dealing with theapocalypse, in the various dictionaries, in indices andamong the researchers, did not uncover anything regarding

this expression, although the masses recognize theexpression and can explain it. It is based somewhere infolklore writings which were written but were neverseriously disseminated.


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The meaning of the expression Tuallef Wala Tuallefanis: It will complete on thousand but will not complete twothousands! This is talking about the universe and the world!

The explanation given for one thousand is special: It speaksabout the universe in which we live that it will only reachone thousand, and if it makes it past this, it will not be ableto complete another thousand.

The question, what will then happen? There is anunequivocal answer: the Al-Qiamah will arise, whoseliteral meaning is: The reawakening will arise! Judgmentday will arrive, the end of the world and the end of life willarrive!

The Beat of the EndThe signs for the end of the world, the judgment day, Al-Qiamah among the folk, are: the revelations of variousprophets to believers in various opportunities. Thenewspapers often publish descriptions of the appearance ofVirgin Mary in various places in Palestine and Israel: InBet Jala, near Bethlehem, in Galilee, and in other

places.People claim that the Jesus Christ, St. George andother saints appeared to them, and healed their illnesses.

Wonders and miracles which took place in recent years:Sometimes there are descriptions of people who havepictures of holy people that have dripped oil, sweat orwater.


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The appearance of false prophets: More than one personhas claimed to have supernatural powers given to him bythe heavens or outer space, and by which he can cure thesick and perform miracles with no effort.

The UFO scares: There are articles in the papers aboutUFOs which came from outer space, landed here anddisappeared after leaving various traces.

The rise of violence in the world: wars and tension in allareas of the world point to the closeness of the end. All ofthe evening news broadcasts on television do not disappointus regarding the approach of the end.

Natural disasters also are a clear sign that the end is near:volcano eruptions, floods, famine and drought, these all

portend the end.

Revolutions are also signs of the end because these explainthe descriptions of the end in the collective folk images,just like wars and international skirmishes.

The phenomena of confusion of times is a very clear sign.When the rains continue to fall in the late spring and the

beginning of the summer in a Mediterranean climate, thiscauses fear, because it says: if God is angry with you hewill turn your summer to winter41!

41As happened this year, when it was raining during all the second half of

May 1998


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An this year, it rained at the beginning of June in Galilee.These rains are a sign that the coming of Christ andJudgment Day are upon us.

For this there are also clear signs and computations. Thesecomputations show the end of the second millennium andthe beginning of the third as the time to expect Judgmentday, and end. The reasons for this are many.

The declaration of the judgment day will be done in twobreaths or two blows of the trumpet, separated by forty. Noone know if this is forty days, forty months or forty years.What is important is that the first blow will causedestruction of everything, and the second blow will signifythe resurrection42!

The approximated time is the end of the millennium. If thefirst thousand passed and nothing happened, then certainlythe second thousand and the beginning of the third is theestimated time of arrival!

The matter of " " Tuallef WalaTuallefan clarifies this well, but not only this, one bookquotes the following conversation:...And then it will be said: Oh, people, hurry to your godsStand them up because they are responsible. Say: Thensay: Take out those saved from the fire and ask from when?and it will be answered: from ONE THOUSAND NINE

42A(l) Nowairy,vol. 14, pp. 285-289


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HUNDRED NINETY NINE. Say and this will turn babiesinto elderly43.

Additional quotes from Christian sources (Revelation) tellson the end of the days:

... An angel come down from heaven,having the key of thebottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laidhold on the dragon, that old serpent,which is the devil,and

satan,and bound him a thousand years.And cast him intothe bottomless pit,and shut him up,and set a seal uponhim,that he should deceive the nations no more,till thethousand years should be fullfilled: and after that he mustbe loosed a little season....

... And when the thousand years are expired,Satan shall be

loosed out of his prison.And shall go out to deceive thenations which are in the four quarters of the earth.Gog andMagog ...And the devil that deceived them was cast into thelake of fire and brimestone,where the beast and the falseprophet are...

And I saw the dead ,small and great ,stand before God, andthe books were opened... 44.

All of those who were not resurrected will be so with Christfor one thousand years. The rest of the dead will not liveuntil one thousand years are completed.

43Al-Jameely(Arabic):Stands of the Al-Qiamah,p. 15.

44Revelation 20


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This is the first Al-Qiamah. Whoever arises in this Al-Qiamah will not die again, and will be a priest to God andChrist and rule with him for one thousand years.

How easy to do this calculation: Christ imprisoned theSatan and redemption of Adam from original sin. Thistime lasts one thousand years. The second thousand theSatan celebrated and did all the evil he desired. Now the

second thousand is ending. Upon its end the Christ willreturn the second time and redeem the world again.

We are in the last three years of the millennium, on thethreshold of the third millennium.

Therefore upon its completion we should expect everything

mentioned above.The future Al-Qiamah does not have to be the destructionof Sodom and Gomorra in its literary version. Hiroshimaand Nagasaki were also Al-Qiamah in the Second worldWar.How much more so can Al-Qiamah take place soon duringthe coming days, in light of the present balance of powers,the stress, the struggles, the arguments, the wars and the

ecological attacks and natural disasters, and especially inlight of the nuclear weapons spreading in the world.

Certain folk interpreters 45 identify the biblical Gog andMagog as coming from the north.

45Most of the aged people in Al-Boqaia town.


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Other powers are clearly seen and point out political andmilitary powers and see them as the danger in the cause ofthe coming Al-Qiamah.

The religious conditions of the Al-Qiamah are alreadymature.The political,military situation worldwide in generaland in the Middle East in particular also seems to be on theverge of explosion!

At this point, both science and religion agree!

We can only rely on God!

Selected Bibliography1.Al-Afeefy Taha Abdullah (Arabic):Safety from the

Horrors of Al-Qiamah,-Beirout-Cairo 1983.2.Al-Jameely A(l)Sayyed (Arabic):Stands of Al-

Qiamah,Beirout 1987.3.Al-Jawhary Mohammad (Arabic): Science of Folklore,

Cairo 1990, 2 vols.4.-Nowairy Shihabu (E)Ddeen Ahmad (Arabic):Nihayatu

(A)l A'rab Fee Funoon (E)l Arab, Cairo 1943,14 Vols.5.Baalbaki Rohi: Al-Mawrid, Arabic-English Dictionary ,

Beirout 1991.

6.Bible:Ezkiel, Genesis, Samuel 1, Revelation (NewTrestament), Zechariah

7.Haddad M.(Arabic):Palestinian Heritage betweenObliteration And Revival, Nicosia 1989.

8.Hasan Hussain (Arabic):Civilization of the Arabs beforeIslam,Beirout 1984.

9.Hitti Ph. K.:History of the Arabs, London 1958.


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10.Imru (E)l Qais (Arabic),the Diwan(the completecollection of ghis poetry),Cairo 1982

11.Interviews with informants on:15.4.1998, 22.4.1998,24.4.1998, 6.4.1998, 19.4.1998

12.Legend of Three And Four (Hebrew) ,Bialiksversion,p. 345-352

13.Mamon-weekly-suppliment of the Hebrew dailyYedioth Ahronoth,Tel-Aviv 15.5.1998

14.Moammar T.(Arabic):Dhaher (E)l Omar, Nazareth

1979.15.Najeeb Badawy: (Arabic):Optimism and Pessimism,

Cairo,1978.16.Jadul Mawla M. ,Bajjawy A..,Ibrahim A.F., (Arabic):

Qissas el Arab, Cairo 1979,4 vols.17.Sirat A(l) Zeer,(Arabic folk epics), Beirout 1983.18.Zaidan G.(Arabic),The Arabs before Islam, Beirout

1966.

Documents

One thousand but not two