Chapter Abasa – Part 2
Recap: When someone approaches us, we should always be open to sharing our understanding of our existence. For that, we need to prepare ourselves to be able to present our understandings in an easy to digest way. Quran, the speech of the Creator of the universe, assumes the responsibility of reminding people of the meaning of their existence, especially human existential questions are answered in the scriptures. What does “existing” mean for us? The meaning that the universe communicates to human qualities corroborates with how the universe is described in the scriptures.
Universe says that “my Creator is not like me, and my existence with all those qualities you observe are coming from Him.” The Creator of the universe cannot be likened to anything of the universe. I have existential questions and the universe is silent on them, it cannot answer them. The answer to my existential questions must be answered by my Creator.
Human beings are free to choose either to acknowledge or not acknowledge the Creator of the universe. How can I reduce my existence to a meaningless happening? The Creator’s reminding or guidance, Speech of the Creator (Scripture/Revelation) are needed for people who are in search of the meaning of their existence.
If someone wants to teach me something in order to correct my understanding of the guiding Speech of the Creator, then I should be open to receiving their ideas as well. As a result, human communication will be realized, and we help each other to make our existence meaningful.
- Each person is responsible for his side of the matter (be open to give and receive.)
Verse 6:52 from last week, to be in good terms with the Source of your existence, you need to respond back and acknowledge Him as your caretaker and Provider.
80:5 “As for him who thinks himself self-sufficient”
- What is self-sufficient?
- Thinking that I can do anything on my own without any external agent, not of the nature of this universe. Can I bring myself into existence?
- Deliberately rejecting the Creator of the universe (most of those who deliberately reject God say that people who believe in religion are just indoctrinated).
- Not in touch with reality and do not think about existence.
- What is reality?
- For some, the reality is that “nature” is the one responsible for the change we see in the universe. Is that the reality?
- The universe itself is not reality but is created within reality (Arabic al-haaq). When I see the universe, the universe witnesses the truth in its existence. That is, the universe points to the Real Agent behind its existence (pointing to the truthfulness of an Absolute Creator).
- If I exist, then whatever I communicate with is in existence as well and so I can confirm that I exist and must have an existence giver, the Agent of Existence.
People say the universe itself is the reality. Can the universe itself represent the reality or does it witness to the reality of its Creator?
The qualities manifested in the entirety of the universe do not come from themselves, rather from their Creator. Example: A carpenter made furniture. The furniture is manifesting beauty. In the existence of the piece of furniture, there is an art and that is real. However, the concern that the human mind has is whether the art belongs to the furniture itself, pieces of wood, or does the art in the furniture witness to the qualities of its Artist. According to the Quranic teachings, the art that we see in the furniture witnesses to the reality of the artistic qualities of its Artist. Materialists claim that art belongs to the furniture itself.
- Yes, there is art manifested.
- But wood cannot be the Source of art manifested in the furniture.
Can I be self-sufficient in my existence? Do I need any external agent to provide me with the qualities manifested in my existence?
A sane mind can conclude that my soul, feelings, emotions, human qualities do not belong to me. However, can my being (with the universe) be the Source of the existence of my qualities? If a person thinks that s/he is self-sufficient, then that person does not need to know the Source of Existence of anything.
Self-sufficiency is not in physical terms, rather human existential terms. I do not need an external agent to teach me what to do in order to sustain my life here. Example: When I am hungry, I need food. The scripture is not meant to teach me that as I can easily find that out in the universe. Rather, I need the Speech of God to tell me that when I eat food, the Creator of the food is satisfying me and not the food.
Where does the power of reasoning come from? Can the universe answer this? Can you answer this for yourself? When you have a question, you can get answers from other people like yourself, does that make you sufficient? If I can prove that things can manage their interactions by themselves, then we all are sufficient beings.
- Which one makes sense to you?
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- If I with the help of other human beings can explain my own existence within the context of the universe, then I don’t need reminders as I am self-sufficient.
- If I cannot explain my existence within the context of the universe then I say that whoever the Source of existence is, my existence belongs to It.
- Concerns of the Quran are only related to existential questions, reminding human beings about their reality. By definition, the Quran is the Speech of the Creator and it is a reminder.
Self-sufficiency means not believing in guidance from the Creator. “I can answer the questions I ask by myself. OR, I do not need any one’s advice to answer my questions.” Example: Joe does not believe in a Creator and thinks that he happens to be in existence like this. He needs food when hungry and does not need anything else (a denying attitude). Frank thinks that the universe has been created and the need for food is created and the universe is created in such a way that food is in need to be created by the Creator of the universe. I need Him to create everything, I do not need food to be the agent of my satisfaction, it is only a means provided for me by its Creator. Which one can it be? Reasoning happens to be like this.
- The source of my satisfaction is not the “food” but the Creator of the food (a believer’s attitude).
- If a person feels that the Creator is the agent for everything, then s/he does not need anything as a source of satisfaction, but only the Creator of the food and hunger.
Do you want anything beyond this universe?
Yes, there must be a meaning to this universe and death cannot be the end to my existence. There must be an Eternal life for sure and that is what we proclaim in our worship.
- Worship means to declare that nothing of this universe can be the source of satisfaction of my need, but everything is prepared by a Conscious Will/Creator.
80:6 “to him you give attention”
- Don’t spend time with those who claim self-sufficiency (are resolute in their convictions), and don’t approach you to convey anything about the reality of existence. You will both waste your time and energy.
80:7 “Although you are not accountable for his failure to attain to purity.”
- Your message is purely to convey the truth.
80:8 “But as for him who came to your striving earnestly.”
- Help the ones that are seriously searching for the truth. But remember, I don’t see answers coming from myself, can we?
80:9 “being apprehensive”
- Frightened or afraid of something is the literal meaning. A person who is in “awe” of the news from the Creator of the universe, is very apprehensive/careful of not making a mistake. “I am afraid of making a mistake and I want to be turning my back to the reality of existence”.
- Someone is very concerned about the message and ready to take heed to the reminder of the Creator of the universe.
80:10 “him you disregard!”
- If I dismiss them, then I will be a wrongdoer.
How are we going to approach those people whose minds are constructed?
- As said earlier, we can only approach the one’s seeking the truth or in search of some meaning in their existence.
- It is said that the Prophet (PBUH) would give out general statements to people who would be impartial to seeking the truth (either with constructed minds or no one around them to probe them with questioning their existence).
Also, how are we going to approach our family members?
- With family members, siblings can be more approachable than elder ones such as parents/grand-parents. The reason being that siblings are more like friends/peers and so it is easy to strike a friendly conversation. However, with parents we have to be careful because most adults do not like advice from the younger ones. In such case, we can only talk about what they know about, rather than what I know about. Most verses in the Quran dealing with parent-children relationship focuses on this matter and advise the human being to stay kind towards the elders (arabic ma’ruf).
- Again, it is not easy to discuss belief matters with the older ones. Perhaps, that’s the wisdom behind the Prophet (pbuh) being an orphan and not having to share his thoughts with his parents.
Tags: Abasa Series, Al-Abasa, Blind Man, Despair, Frowning, Help, Mistakes, Purification, Speech of God