CROW AND RAVEN

Allah Almighty says in verse 31 of Surah Al-Ma’idah:

فَبَعَثَ اللّٰهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِي الْاَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُ كَيْفَ يُوَار۪ي سَوْاَةَ اَخ۪يهِۜ قَالَ يَا وَيْلَتٰٓى اَعَجَزْتُ اَنْ اَكُونَ مِثْلَ هٰذَا الْغُرَابِ فَاُوَارِيَ سَوْاَةَ اَخ۪يۚ فَاَصْبَحَ مِنَ النَّادِم۪ينَۚۛ

“Meanwhile, Allah sent a crow that scratched at the earth to show him how to bury his brother’s body. ‘Shame on me,’ he said. ‘I could not even do what a crow does; it did not occur to me to bury my brother’s body.’ He was remorseful.”

The crow, the intelligent bird mentioned in the Quran, and its larger, better-equipped relative in the extended crow family, the raven, are among the most intelligent creatures not just among birds, but in the entire animal kingdom. In zoological studies of intelligence, they can pass complex problem-solving tests that sometimes defeat even humans. Their mental abilities surpass those of parrots. Some of us remember crows approaching us with an offer to share a nut they have brought if we crack its shell. The crow mentioned in the Quran is also known to bury food that will keep in the ground, storing it to eat later.

These animals can, when they wish, imitate the voices of humans and other creatures, as if to say ‘tût-i mucize-gûyem’ (I am like miraculous parrots). They recognize their reflection in a mirror as themselves and possess self-awareness, as well as a strong memory and social bonds. For example, if someone torments a crow, steals its food or targets it, the crow, by some means we do not yet understand, describes this hostile human to its flock and gets other crows to target that person.

These animals have been known throughout human history, and their influence has found its way into proverbs and idioms. The children of Adam are aware of these birds’ mental abilities and the impact they can have.

Thanks to their powerful digestive systems, crows and ravens also eat carrion. When hungry, they do not shy away from eating humans either. There have been instances of them eating wounded people alive when they could not defend themselves. When food is scarce, a battlefield full of dead and gravely wounded people after a battle is a feast for them. Thus, when a member of the crow family sees large groups of people advancing steadily towards one another from afar, it realizes that feeding time is approaching. The flocks of black birds circling overhead are, in turn, an omen of ill fortune for those being followed on the ground.

The crows dancing above armies marching towards one another are also known to lead people towards wolf packs. Those who unwittingly follow the birds, assuming there is food wherever they go, fall into the trap of wolves that know what is happening. Tactical cooperation is common among animals, much like the ‘Teşvikiye vote’ cast in the 2015 elections to help the PKK-backed party cross the electoral threshold so that the AKP would lose. Dolphins and sharks, mortal enemies, have been filmed hunting together in groups. Animals are pragmatic. They do what serves their purpose.

Inexperienced people being eaten alive by wolf packs and crow flocks working together is the origin of the warning in our Turkish language that those who proceed without knowing what they are doing will become ‘food for wolves and birds’. 

Our saying that ‘those whose guide is a crow’ will never be free of trouble refers to crows deliberately leading groups of people to disaster. Contrary to popular belief, it is not recent slang but is rooted in thousands of years of experience with nature. Indeed, there are people posing as experts who have found their way into governments as advisers, yet survey the scene from a bird’s-eye view in anticipation of a feast for themselves.

The saying ‘Either rule or be carrion for ravens’ is another Turkish expression inspired by the experience that a course marked by permissiveness and loss of control at the very top inevitably leads to catastrophe and annihilation on the battlefield, where the dead are devoured and the gravely wounded eaten alive.

Prof. Dr. Kutluk Özgüven

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