# Does the Quran predict that modern industrial society will collapse?

*Surah Yunus 10:24 read as the oil age, and whether modern life can last*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/14/
- Date: 2020-07-10 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Shaykh Omar Baloch | Cynicism, Consumerism & the Catch 22 of Riba | Mindtrap with Mufti #30 (50:17–52:47)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCe73zqCi_I&t=3017s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/

**Topics:** Tafsir and verse study; Islam and modernity

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The guest reads Quran 10:24 as a warning that oil-based modern life will collapse; Mufti Abu Layth expects human knowledge to find new energy.

## Longer summary

The guest gives what he calls his own take on Quran 10:24: the world economy was agrarian until the Ottoman era, then the earth 'took on its ornament' in oil, iron and copper and the Industrial Age, people thought they had full control, and the verse's ending, as if it had not flourished the day before, means modern society is not sustainable because oil will not last. Mufti Abu Layth replies that although there will not be oil forever, human beings and knowledge work in a way that will develop alternatives such as nuclear energy and power from light. The guest says that by game theory most intellectuals foresee negative outcomes, whether from climate change, resources or war.

## Sources and names cited

- Shaykh Omar Baloch
- Quran 10:24: https://quran.com/10/24
- Ottoman Empire

## Transcript (machine tier, 50:17–52:47)

[49:38] and they're just kind of everywhere people have them as workers at home and they have them doing stuff and and some of them kind of get gained consciousness but the it's interesting because this is just so it's so relevant to that much better than Netflix of course your guilt-tripping me now no no no but I'm sure you will find this interesting okay there's a versatile unis and I'm gonna give you my take on that verse

[50:17] okay this is my take on the verse meaning there it could you can take it another way and I can okay and that is Massa Massa retired dunya combine and I know who Mina Samantha a lot of universal art so yeah who knows well in Iran okay so there was a phase in history of human beings where the economy of our world was agrarian society was agriculture okay okay up to the Ottoman Empire it was the agriculture which was running the economy until hata uni this is the shirt

[50:54] until this time right had either a garage who was we cannot until the earth brought out its ornaments meaning oil Iren copper and you had the Industrial Age okay so now you move from an agrarian society to in this industrial age okay had that either and what is the result was a Annette or Serena and it became beautiful and what happened was I knew her and whom God you do now honey her and the people in it they thought they had full control

[51:31] and what is the end result the end result is is John now has he been Columbia tough no never lumps we made it as if there was no yesterday it was all because this whole modern society is not sustainable you cannot have oil forever don't you feel that you see it's true we wouldn't have oil forever but human beings would work in a way and knowledge works in a way that we would develop things that so for example nuclear nuclear energy can nuclear can but it

[52:09] won't happen no but I mean yeah but what I'm trying to say the way these so for example certain batteries are powered electrical energy it is I mean it's a never-ending source I mean it's in I mean we get it from light it's not something that's going to disappear what I'm trying to say don't you feel that humans were just discover yes you can go in many different directions most of if you take a you know game have you heard of game theory yeah it came through yeah okay if you take game theory and look at what are the positive and negative

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment wCe73zqCi_I/s/14. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/14/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.