Did Cain invent burial after watching the raven?

well that I've that I've mentioned by the way he mentions this um And he highlights that look this is uh you can take either of these meaning he says look either is valid but it most this so this is the understanding that I'm looking at okay that they've had this this fight he's killed his brother he's he's left him in a very ugly state because it mentions so that this ugly state to look at is called so in Arabic and he's there.

Now, why a raven? I think it's incredibly interesting that Allah mentions this. Some people have understood from this that, oh, Abil Kain was the first person to invent a grave. Prior to this, humans didn't have graves. I don't think that's true. Uh because human beings have been burying uh their dead for about 100,000 years now.

I mean prior to the cognitive revolution and there's some thoughts on whether neanderals some may have had some kind of funerals as well. So I don't think it's this some have a lot of you might read this in taped in the past they said oh maybe he's the first person to invent a burial. I don't think that was the case at all.

And I think the fact that Allah has mentioned a is very interesting. You see kids the whether it's going to be a crow or a um a raven. Now ravens are usually slightly larger than crows. These are you see these are very fascinating creatures. Incredibly fascinating.

Now in recent times crows have been associated with negativity been associated with death or bad news or something uh a disaster or something uh this is what they've been in recent times associated with. But if you go far back in history several millennia you will see that crows were actually uh associated with with life.

with uh with life and resurrection and spirit and it was actually they were seen in a very positive light previously. uh it is only in the last you know two centuries just under sorry not centuries two millennia that you have this kind of negative rep that they start to get um and maybe because people freaked out because of them and stuff like this but generally they were seen really revered in ancient history and they seem to also represent an archetypal

feature. Now, why many people overlook the fact that crows are some of the most intelligent creatures on earth? I mean, obviously not human keeping human beings out of the picture. But as far as animals are concerned, crows are incredibly intelligent.

Okay? They can do things like uh they have abilities such as uh as keeping track of numbers recognition. They can facial recognition. So humans we have a certain region in our brain called the FFA facial uh fusififor area which recognizes faces human faces. But crows are amazing at recognizing human faces.

They they have unparalleled features. um they they have been they at problem solving at empathy at emotions. If I show you uh as an example some fact right here that this is fascinating that look that ravens these and ravens and crows are from the same family which is called corvids a bit like covid [laughter] but they can spot a cheetah and this check this for a sense of empathy and justice you know it's it's it's very

fascinating so you get uh that Not only can they spot the birds, they work together for equal amounts. Now, if they notice another raven taking more than his fair share, they immediately lose trust and won't cooperate with them in the future. That's now here's another fun fact. You see that they use hand gestures to hold up objects to get each other's attention.

Aside from uh primates, they are the only wild animals that can communicate in this way. So just think about that. Check this for crows are quite similar to humans and visit their aging parents. Wow. that that that's I mean just just the thought of that right that even after they've left the nest now more fascinating than all of this people

crows the concept that crows hold funerals for their dead now what what exactly does I know and that's something which may seem strange but you you'll have so many articles and things on this. But what I'm what does that mean, by the way, when they say crows hold uh funerals for the dead? Now, it it doesn't mean necessarily a funeral the way we understand a funeral.

But what when crows see a dead crow, one of them will land and they give off this alarm which calls a bunch of others and then they stand around this corpse, this dead crow and they just observe it. They just stand in this kind of silence just kind of observing it. Sometimes for between 15 to 30 minutes they'll just stand there. And this is it's called a mob.

Okay. Uh even and [laughter] A crowd of crows is called a a murder which is unfair really. I mean they people have been unfair to to crows. They have the intelligence by the way it's been argued of a six or sevenyear-old human child. That's how intelligent they are. And they've done studies nowadays with computers where they have to uh they have to kind of like uh t tap the screen and they have to recognize things and and they pass all these tests.

Unbelievably. Um, but what coming back to the funeral thing, they stand around this, you know, this mob called mobbing. They stand around this dead and just observe. And it's interesting. Scientists still ain't exactly sure why they do this. And one of the reasons is that they learn from this dead crow. They see that is there any reason how it got killed?

And they kind of learn from that and pass it on to other uh other crows as well through certain cries because there's been experiments where people certain researchers have uh so they will go and feed certain crows. So they kind of get them coming to them. Then they will turn up with a particular mask and they will present they'll put lay down a dead crow and within minutes the crows will start mobbing.

He'll one will land, send off the alarm, others land, and they notice that person with the mask. Now, whenever they see that person with the mask, they see that mask, they will send off that alarm. And researchers had made other people wear that mask and walk around and they will send off the alarm, but not with other masks or with other people. So one theory is that they are learning why this comrade of theirs has fallen.

Another reason which I think um is also there is this sense of empathy. I mean, it's not just me. Other researchers have said it, but we they obviously it's hard to prove these things. But what you just saw about how they visit even their appearance after having left the nest, they come back, this sense of empathy that crows have ravens have.

I feel that there is this sense of that empathy, it kind of has this shocking effect on them. And this if this were the case that look a crow lands by its dead let's say if this was the uh the was in this case as many mufas say that there was a dead crow but you see maser said that oh maybe two crows came and fought and one killed the other it doesn't say anything like that and I I doubt that that's what happened but there may have been a dead crow

and a crow comes and it lands close by and it observes it. Uh because it says and it kind of seeks out what's happened to this and then it stands in this kind of like almost like a sorrowful remorseful stance. Like if you see you can go on YouTube and watch um crows uh at a what they kind of wake or their funeral.

They it seems really and sometimes yeah they can be wild as well. Sometimes they do things like uh they may even um you know have h have sex or whatever copulate with the dead crow but that's in it's only been reported like 4% of the time. The majority of the time they won't they'll they'll just observe when they do. And this you see what witnessing that in this raven triggers this sense of remorse in Cain or at least momentary remorse

where he feels that damn like look here is a bird and how it stands over it almost seems to honor and dignify its dead with a bond that is still lasting and here was I like you know not only have I killed and left him you know so in an ugly state like he how he killed him it doesn't mention but it mentions that he's in a horrible ugly state bleeding he must be maybe torn up or you know whether he stabbed him as they as they would have with those tools and cut

him up or whatever he did and here's me just couldn't have a kid and this triggers that sense of uh remorse for us and then he feels that look the least I can do is honor him uh rather than having scavengers just come and feed off his remains.

So it's not that he didn't know what a grave was. He did know what a grave was, but he wasn't interested until he kind of feels this sense of remorse. But it's incredibly interesting that the Quran uses this this verse to highlight the role of a crow or a raven. And because even in its archetype, ravens are incredibly powerful that you know it's been argued that men have because it's only it's only beyond really you get certain um uh insects

that things like bees or things that have colonies like ants and termites who will do things like remove the dead and bury the dead. But that's more so for hygiene purposes because of the colony. But otherwise to be kind of um in a state of shock and almost empathy for their dead is only displayed by crows, corvids.

It's displayed by dolphins and elephants mainly. This is not I mean you'll get it in primates but primates because they're so close to humans. But generally in the mammal kingdom it's not like that except with crows. I mean I mean they're not mammals but I mean except with obviously elephants, dolphins and then crows uh or ravens corvids. So, it's I thought this was definitely worth sharing those of you that I did have as well for you, but I may have uh not I did have a