Chapter Asr – Part 2

45:24 “And yet they say: There is nothing beyond our life in this world.  We die as we come to life, and nothing but time destroys us.  But of this they have no knowledge whatever: they do nothing but guess.”

This verse presents the opposite view of what we have discussed.  Those people who reject the Prophetic message (the Creatorship of God) or do not want to submit to this idea for whatever reason, follow a path which contradicts human nature.

When something is not within my capacity of observation (present day in my life), then that is another principle.  If something mentioned in the Quran was not known during the lifetime of the Prophet or time period afterward (because the message includes everyone), then, it would mean the Quran does not speak to everyone.  Quran speaks in allegory so that a particular subject becomes evident to everyone within their own time frame.

• Allegorical statements in the Quran need interpretation.
• Two principles to follow:

1. Grammatical rule.
2. Rational consistency within the context of the Qur’an.

• Quran is consistent in its grammatical structure within itself.
• Qur’an has developed its own concepts. Almost every word in the Qur’an used as a concept which needs to be understood within the purpose of the Qur’an itself, not only within the conditions of the time period when it was first revealed.

What am I expected to do?

When I try to interpret the allegorical language in the Quran, I must follow the grammatical structure.  The interpretation must not contradict the main message of the Quran.  Example: if I interpret Satan as an authority which challenges God’s authority, then I am contradicting the Quranic message because, by definition, an Omnipotent One cannot have an equal authority to challenge Him.

• Although I may confine the meaning of an allegory in the Quran according to my capacity, it does not mean that I am not being consistent with the main message of the Quran.
• Even hadith (Prophetic narrations) are mostly allegorical.

In principle, God/the Quran speaks to common people (i.e. Phenomenology).  Example: Moon is not getting larger; the moon is the same.  It is my view of the moon that is subject to change because of my positioning.  I only see the enlightened part which is subject to change and this phenomenon then becomes our way of measuring time and hence our calendar is born.  Now, we use apps to measure various things that we use.

Everything is subject to a perfect order. What is the force behind the perfect order that I observe?  We need to interpret this.  What is the main motif behind this change?

Quran says that our soul will continue its journey of existence.  Our body does not really experience anything.  Body is constantly appreciating and depreciating.  I am the one who reacts to the conditions of this world, not my body.  Death is the end of my body, cannot be the end of my soul.  My human side has no Source of Existence within this universe.  Nothing can claim that it is the Source of Existence of anything.

We start the process of death as soon as we come to life.  It means that my body dies as soon as it comes to life.  But, I am not my body.  How do I understand the Source of Existence of things?  My eye is not my power of sight.

• My body is limited to the physical universe.
• My soul is not limited to the physical universe.

What will happen to me after I die?  This is the main human concern.  My human concern goes beyond my life in this world.  Who am I to concern myself beyond this life?

We cannot experience God creating the universe.  Well, you cannot try to understand existence from God’s perspective.  We cannot use the language like “God created the universe” because intellectually it does not make sense. We may use a language such as “This universe must have a Source of its existence.”

I am not qualified to exercise my soul without referencing the universe.  Human soul is at the center of the existence of the universe.  My soul cannot be physically anywhere, but its potentiality can comprehend everything.  Only my soul interprets the entirety of the universe.  If there was no human soul, there would be no need for the universe to exist.

• Existence does not consist of time only. Time is only our conception of the constant act of creation.

No one can comprehend the Essence of the Source of Existence of this universe.  The Source of Existence cannot have a beginning or end.  We cannot define God within the conditions of this universe as He is Self-Subsistent (Ahad).  The One that gives existence to creatures cannot be in need to be given existence (Lam yalid walam yulad.) The meaning of “Ahad” is explained in the Qur’an as “Lam yalid walam yulad.” That means, the Creator of the universe has not given any quality or authority of Creatorship to any piece of the universe. And also, the Creator cannot inherit any quality from anything else. Logically, the one who is in need of being given existence by something else cannot be the Creator of that thing. Only the created things can inherit their qualities from their Creator.

Scientists cannot really prove what they claim.  They can only try to prove within the definition of their own approximation or assumptions.  They define the universe within their own biases that the universe does not have a Creator because the Creator cannot be experienced physically within the universe.  Science, as they claim, concerns itself with only the physically existent beings and that they can physically examine its nature in the world or in the laboratories. With this assumption what they say is correct. But what they claim at the end that there is no Creator of the universe is a definitely false and unscientific conclusion. Of course, the Creator of the universe cannot be a part of the universe. Therefore, the Creator cannot have a physical existence within the universe which He has Created. So, the scientists’ claim that everything exists by themselves, there is no need to conclude that these things are created by God because God cannot be proven, i.e. cannot be proven physically within the conditions of the universe. They ignore the fact that human mind concludes that anything within the universe is subject to change and obeys the order of the universe, therefore, they cannot be the Source of Existence of themselves. Things are subject to the order which is given existence by something else.  One cannot deny the conclusion of the human inquiring mind just because it is not within the scope of science which can only examine how things are given existence physically.

• Scientists can only experience what is created and examine HOW things are created, i.e. brought into existence.

Everything needs to be given existence by an Externally Existent Agent that gave existence to the universe and made everything within it subject to Its order according to Its Own Will as we observe in the universe.