Could this be real? What's the message conveyed?

The discovery of human skeletons of unbelievable, phenomenal size at the desert "Rab-Ul-Khalee" or the Empty Quarter in Saudia Arabia in 2004 still haunts some people, including me. There were many feedbacks and comments made on the discovery.

The Middle East, though to the very best they can tried to secure the news from leaking out, was of the opinion that these were the remainings of people of 'Ad (during the days of Prophet Hud A.S.) who were penalised by Allah for being arrogant and stubborn in accepting and embracing Islam. The Western, however, insisted that the pictures were hoax and linked them with some sort of propagandas, thus pointed their fingers to the Talibans, Jamaah Islamiah, Hamas... everybody... for faking the pictures.

Discovery made by the ARAMCO Exploration team

I don't care what these people said. I am more interested in looking at the pictures from a different perspective. Of course we can't simply swallow what is put in front of us without investigating its reliability. So I made some research. I went to the library and dug out some facts about human beings who lived thousands of years ago. Then I searched further on the history of the People of 'Ad. This is what I found:

Ancient people used to have a very long life span, for example, during the time of Prophet Shu'ib A.S. he lived for 254 years, Prophet Saleh A.S. 180 years, and Prophet Adam A.S. and Prophet Nuh A.S. each lived for 930 and 950 years respectively!!! Masya-Allah! This is amazing! With this very long life span, it is not possible that they have huge body frame.

Photo credit to Swamibu, taken from the flickr photostream.

Just look at the architecture of the pyramids  and sphinx in Egypt. I have been there myself when I visited Luxor and Cairo several years ago. And I marvelled at the art of the people who built them. The blocks are amazingly huge and I am sure they are heavy too, so the people back then must be of a very big size to be able to transport and erect these pyramids. 

This photo belongs to Eliseo Oliveras, taken from the
flickr ptohostream

And the statues of Pharaohs, they are also of big sizes, indicating the size of those people at that age back then. SubhanAllah! I used to read about giant from story books like "Jack and the Bean Stalk" but never had I imagined that such 'giant' really exist in this world!!!









Oh! by the way, have any of you had the opportunity to see for yourself the sword of our beloved Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. ? It's huge! I have witnessed it. To hold the sword and use it against the enemies would require energy, unless you are really really big and strong that the size of sword is not a problem to you. Even though the Prophet was not as big and tall as any other prophets before him, I posit that him and the people during his days were of much bigger size compared to us.

Back to the story of our Prophet Hud A.S., he lived for about 165 years. He was sent to disseminate da'wah to his people, the 'Ad, to stop worshipping lifeless and helpless statues they carved themselves and named 'Shada', 'Shamud' and 'Al-Hava'. He conveyed to them the warnings from Allah S.W.T. and the consequences if they refused Islam, but the people were so stubborn, so they challenged him to ask Allah to befall unto them what He has warned. So Allah S.W.T. sent down a terrible punishment as mentioned in Surah Al-Qamar...

"The 'Ad (people) also rejected (the Truth): Then how terrible was My penalty and My warning? For We sent against them a furious wind, on a day of violent disaster. Plucking out men as if they were roots of palm trees torn up (from the ground). Yes, how (terrible) has My penalty and warning! And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember: Then is there any who will receive the teachings?"  Al-Qamar (54:[18-22])


We must look back at the history of the people before us as a reminder that those who strayed away from the true religion of Allah will be punished severely. And beware! Allah is patient and always gives us the opportunity to repent. He gives us warnings beforehand to remind us that we have sinned. He allows sufficient time for us to revoke, but it is us who failed to observe and realise the destructions that we have done to ourselves.

Even in the modern days we can still see the signs and warnings from Allah Almighty now and then. Let's not forget how Allah has reminded us of our sins through the fatal waves of tsunami in December 2004. It took only 10 minutes to eradicate more than 100,000 lives from the earth! And look at how Haiti being completely destroyed through the massive earthquake.  Flood in China. Hurricane in the USA. Volcano eruption in Iceland. Wildfire in australian desert. Prolonged draught in Darfur.  Astaghfirullah hal 'azhim! We are so weak and tiny in the eyes of Allah S.W.T.

Oh Allah the Almighty.... Please forgive us for all our wrongdoings!

May we all be protected from such disasters. Ameen.