Chapter Buruj – Part 7
Buruj part 7
Recap: The Creator of the universe treats everyone according to what we deserve. He is the Loving and Forgiving One giving you the opportunity to start your life fresh.
85:17 “Has there come to you the story of the armies.”
85: 18 “of Pharaoh and Thamud.”
85:19 “Yet still the disbelievers persist in denial.”
Although the message of God reached most people, some did not listen to the message carefully, thus they destroyed themselves; and the result is created by God. If a crime is committed, it has its consequence or a punishment is applied. There are floods and earthquakes destroying many and some may say the innocent ones also got destroyed. However, the Quran always says that ‘We save the innocent people,’. That is to say, if these destructions are created as punishment (in the case of the majority of the community persisting in denial of the prophetic message in this world), it does not mean that all impacted creation through which innocent people are harmed is punishment. There is wisdom in every creation to educate human beings for the purpose of their creation. This is what we observe in the order in the universe.
In the Quran, all the stories of various people that are destroyed are descriptions of such people. However, people who were loyal to the revelation or true to their human nature, they are not harmed because of the sin of other people. This is the teaching of the Quran: “No one is punished because of the mistake of someone else”. That is, no one is going to carry the burden of another person (Qur’an, 35:18, 53-38). In my personal life, I experience that if I do not believe in God and submit my existence to an Absolute Being, I bear the consequences. When someone else such as a friend submits their existence to an Absolute Being and feels secure in their existence, I do not gain anything from such a person unless I pay attention to their worldview. I can benefit when I pay attention to the feelings and ideas of the people who feel secure in their existence; I can share those feelings and confirm the truth for myself as well and join them in living a happy peaceful life here with acknowledgment of the reality.
– If I do not believe, someone else’s belief does not help me either.
We must read these stories of the previous people told in the Quran carefully i.e. their towns were destroyed, storms attacked them, floods and plague came… All these are physical descriptions of what is going on in one’s heart and feelings. We can read these stories in several ways:
1/ Physically they are presented to us in a physical form. How are we to confirm that this particular flood came and destroyed a group of people? The Quran does not require us to confirm their destructions or investigate the events. The Quran only mentions a name. Example: Pharaoh, Thamud, Goliath, Noah… who are they? I do not know. Both the Quran and Torah describe these people and events as armies or towns… Even if I could investigate them and see some ruins of ancient people, I do not know if they were really destroyed by God for punishment or just an event happened in their lives similar to what we experience such as a tsunami, plague or flood…, which does not mean that God is punishing people. We all know that in these kinds of events, without any discrimination, anyone who is subject to these events (mostly referred to as “natural disasters” i.e. creation) is struck by it. That is, God is teaching to human beings in general and we know that we cannot guarantee our life here and at the end we are all going to die. That is a reminder for us that there is wisdom in the universe’s creation.
The destruction of certain tribes as mentioned in the scriptures was the result of their rebellion against the Messengers of God or the Prophets. People were destroyed because they rebelled against the Prophets, they insisted to shut the Prophets up and did not let them convey the message to innocent people. Thus God says, “they will be destroyed”. While the Prophets are living with them, they commit the crime of stopping the message of the Prophets. Accordingly, the Quran teaches us that only those who prevented the prophets from conveying the message are destroyed and innocent ones are saved.
What does it mean for us NOW?
After the advent of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), God says that “We have sent you as a Mercy to all the worlds” (Qur’an, 21: 107)). Now if you follow or do not follow the message of the prophet, We are not going to physically destroy any community. However, some people listen to the Prophet while some do not. Everyone experiences the consequence of their choice at the personal level or community-wide.
The point in teaching these scenarios, sometimes frightening and terrible, is for us to take these scenarios into our hearts and see the destruction i.e. how is the destruction happening within our own hearts. When we don’t pay attention to the Prophets, our lives are completely destroyed and we are punished within ourselves. These scenarios are presented to us not in terms of avoiding the physical destruction per se but more so the psychological and spiritual destruction within ourselves. We need to take lessons from these examples within our life conditions i.e. in terms of my living conditions I try to see the justifications of the disturbance within my own heart when I do not attribute my existence to an Absolute Being. What is happening? I may seem to be happy from the outside but from the inside, I am full of worries about my future. When I am young, I do not take notice of it, but as I get older, it becomes obvious and I cannot escape from this message anymore. I say, “this reminder is really for me.” If I do not pay attention to the message, what do I do? I cannot escape from its consequences anymore. Most people keep themselves busy in order not to face the reality of their own psychological status because no one wants to think that they are getting older and closer to death with the passage of time and they know that they cannot secure their existence and thus, keep themselves busy (with family matters and career updates for example) i.e. escape from reality. I may manage a little bit with my life by thinking that “now, I am enjoying my day at least” but still the hidden grief in my heart hurts me. Try to experience that if there was no God, purpose, meaning in existence, how would you feel? Check yourself for a moment how your feelings react to this experience. Obviously, this needs some serious thinking (consciousness). You will see what your feelings will experience because it is unbearable! And, if you keep yourself busy, then you will not feel it even for a moment because you are in a temporary release. However, when you come to terms with your human reality, think about it and your consciousness will experience it.
– We should not read the stories as stories telling results of some horrible people struck by some calamity from God because of committing a crime i.e. rebellion against the Prophet. What am I going to do with that information if I don’t relate it and practice it in my living, according to the conditions I find myself in?
– Our interest should be: “If I reject the Prophet who openly tells the truth/reality to me and if I keep following my egoistic desires/caprices, trying to shut this message out so that I will be comfortable in my worldly life, then is it possible? Try that.
Some people say that the Quran is full of descriptions of destruction portraying the wrath of God, an angry God punishing people. There is more loving news in the Quran demonstrating God being Compassionate and Loving, that “His Mercy encompasses everything” (Qur’an, 7: 156.). Even in His destruction, He is Merciful because it is a wake-up call for everyone. “Be careful, God’s warning is coming to bring me back to reality.” So, we can just sit and think about our reality i.e. whatever we are doing, is it true or not? Can I save myself from the inner punishment/destruction of denial i.e. rejecting the truth? “I will enjoy myself and go into non-existence after I die”. However, human feelings do not accept this and don’t feel comfortable in these interpretations because human feelings want never-ending happiness. That is how we are created and endowed with this feeling in order to realize that I cannot live in this world with this consciousness/awareness to live until I die and enjoy my life. It is impossible!
That is why as people get closer to their reality where everyone gets old/ ages, death becomes inevitable and sometimes they cannot manage their life and try to keep themselves busy with something else in order not to think about reality and escape from it. All the stories of the destruction of the previous people who rejected the Prophets are told for us to understand how horrible it is to deny our reality.
After presenting how God operates in the world, the Quran gives us physical examples of the destruction so we can say that: “Yes, the people presented in the story of the armies, the physical people mentioned here in the verses above (for example Thamud and Pharaoh), these people suffered from torment in the stories. Is that really possible?” If you deny the reality, do not accept the truth that you are given certain purposes for your life, everything created is meaningful and you have to decipher these meanings and attribute it to your own feelings and try to understand what your existence means for you (think about it), then you are at a loss. In other words, when I go against this reality, I cannot escape from being destroyed within myself by myself. This is the principle that the Quran teaches us: “God never harms people and transgresses their right of life.”
– It is as if God says: “Although I gave you the right to live, only you can deny and take the attitude of rejecting the reality, I do not harm you but you harm yourself”.
– If we think about ourselves: “If I believe in God, then I will feel comfortable about myself, my existence and it will be according to the nature of my own human feelings.” This will not be in contradiction to my human feelings.
If you say: “I want to be happy forever, but it isn’t possible.” Why? Don’t you think that the One who gave you this existence will be able to give you eternal happiness? It is the One that can give you eternal happiness that gives you this feeling for eternal happiness. Do you think that the One who creates this feeling cannot give you a life experience where this feeling will be satisfied? Who gave you existence from the very beginning? The Quran’s argument is very simple and clear: “The One who created you from the beginning is the One who is going to create you” (Qur’an, 36: 79) according to the desires that you cannot satisfy here, in this life experience”. How can He do it? Don’t you know that you are already existing!? This is the simple rational argument/example that we can find in the Quran. So we can understand that God is not an enemy, rather God is so Compassionate that He warns us seriously to not take the risk of falling into a mistake: “Check the Pharaoh and Thamud in you.”
Most people are familiar with Pharaoh’s example, who wanted to destroy the followers of the Prophet. The followers of the Prophet left their place for another place because they wanted to live free from oppression. Pharaoh wanted to keep them under his aggressive administration as slaves of his own nation i.e. the Egyptians. The children of Israel were Pharaoh’s slaves as narrated in history. Bottom line, Pharaoh wanted the immigrants to be slaves, that is why he did not want to let them go and chased Moses and his people with an army. What happens in the story of Moses in the Quran?
– The sea they came across let the followers or the believers of the Prophet (Moses) go through whereas the same sea destroyed and drowned Pharaoh’s army.
We need to understand the metaphorical teaching here. That is, the same water that saved the followers of the Prophet destroyed the army or rejecters. Usually, in the Quran, water is represented as rain coming from the sky (from high) and giving life to living beings. Water is always told in the Quran as parallel to revelation coming from the heavens/God.
– Rain comes from the sky and gives life to physical beings.
– Revelation comes down and gives life to the spirit/heart.
The heart is saved by the same message brought by the Prophets.
– How is the human spirit saved?
– If you confirm the message, then you are saved.
– If you reject the message, then you know what you are doing and that destroys you from within.
Because of our false pride and egoistic desires, we struggle in submitting to the truth. How can I as the leader of the society follow a shepherd who is a “nobody”? But from within I know what is true. The Quran says that if I do not send a messenger to a people, then I do not take these people to tasks (of responsibility). That is, the ones who did not get any message do not feel the pain of rejecting the truth because they are not aware of it. However, the people who are aware of the truth will suffer i.e. the one who knows it. We can experience this within ourselves. Example: if you harm someone (unknowingly) without noticing, then you don’t feel the pain of hurting someone. You feel it when you know that you are harming someone with no justification.
The same message is also told to the people of Noah where the flood engulfed the people and they were destroyed. The same flood that saved Noah and his followers destroyed the deniers. This analogy is so obvious that the same message that saved the people who are innocent with good intentions (and submit to the truth) destroys more so the heart and feelings of people that deny the truth.
We shouldn’t get lost in physical descriptions of these people such as I do not know who they were, or were they destroyed for rejecting the message? BUT, what does it have to do with me?
- Why does God tell me this story, although He promises that He will not punish any people after the advent of Muhammad, the messenger of God (pbuh)?
- We know that we are not going to be physically destroyed. That is the promise from the Creator because everyone will personally feel it for themselves now. The Quran always repeats that the message that God sent to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is clear. Now, you can accept it and feel the peaceful pleasant security in your life or deny it and you know that you are denying it. The truth will not remain hidden anymore.
We know that the message from God does not give physical explanations about the matters related to “belief in ghaib” i.e. belief in the things and the realities that cannot be experienced in material form within the conditions of this universe because this universe is only a sign to the reality of the ghaib. However, the reality of ghaib cannot be physically experienced within this universe.
– If ghaib was able to be experienced within this universe, then it would not be ghaib.
– We cannot really translate “ghaib” as mostly defined to be “unseen and unknown”, these are very limited understanding because we don’t have the vocabulary to define it (not blaming anyone here).
We should understand that ghaib means something that cannot be materially observable and perceivable within the conditions of this universe but everything in this universe refers to “ghaib”.
– Example A: When I read a book, I can see the book. The knowledge that I extract from the book which comprises only letters is an abstract process. That is, the abstract knowledge is there, and I can experience it and learn it. This experience of learning is not physical. Can you touch knowledge? I cannot deny the understanding/meaning that I receive from the book and at the same time, I cannot show it physically to you. It is impossible and that is our reality!
– Example B: When we hear a Speech, we get a meaning while experiencing the speech physically. That is, the meaning that you extract from the voice cannot be physically experienced. BUT, human capacity/ consciousness is sure that such a thing (that which we are communicating with via waves or message carriers known as “angels”) must exist.
Belief matters or “ghaib” i.e. believing in God/in Angels/message that God spoke to Prophets (we don’t see God saying to someone sit down and listen to me carefully). Speech is not physical, rather it is an abstract notion. God is not a physical being, rather an Absolute Being that cannot be presented within the physical world. In other words, the capacity of the physical world cannot represent the Absolute Being and the physical existence of eternal living.
I know such a thing must happen because my feelings always desire it and it is with me. The One who provides me with this feeling must satisfy it. Because it is a promise from the Creator that such an existence will definitely take place. It is a promise! I am the witness of this promise and I am living with it within my own soul. But, can I experience the physical existence of the permanent existence here (eternity)? No, this world is temporary, subject to continuous changing, going away and leaving us behind but the existence of the permanent existence/life cannot be describable within the conditions of this universe. That is why the existence of an eternal life is “ghaib”. We know that such a thing must really happen because there are signs of it here.
The revelation in general speaks about belief matters. That is why, “belief matters” cannot be presented to us in physical terms. Signs and examples are given to us in physical terms, but the meaning and signs are referred to something which cannot be presented to us in physical terms. That is why all the messages of God use metaphors, analogies, parables, allegories, idioms, similes… Also, the message of God uses the practical life of people who lived in the past and their state of being (suffering or happiness) is mentioned as a teaching for our heart and spirit. Within my conditions in this universe, the revelation must speak to me through literature in the form of metaphors.
– If a physical description is given to us teaching us how denial is horrible, we have to take it as a parable or allegorical teaching for us.
Seriously think about it: Can I really prove who Moses or Thamud was for example? Since the Creator tells me that this event took place physically, I take it because I understand the teachings of the Quran are from God and my expectation is that God is not going to teach me with an example that doesn’t benefit me. I cannot verify whether something did or did not occur in the past (history teaches us what human potentialities are capable of). Rather, I have to take the occurrences of the past/history for my own inner experience, test it within my inner world. This is the human reality!
In the story of Joseph (pbuh), God says: “I will tell you a story (qasas) and it is for the people who question/investigate.” (Qur’an, 12: 7) What does this mean? It means that I am not given my intellect to investigate what happened to Prophet Yusuf, rather, I am investigating my life experiences and how I can extract lessons from them and learn from my past.
Example: You wake up in the morning and you feel fresh. It is a sudden change in our routine, but we are accustomed to it and therefore, it doesn’t catch our attention. We should not lose ourselves with an accustomed or familiar attitude about things. They say that the earth is revolving, now that is something to catch our attention. This huge globe of the earth is revolving around the sun. How? That should also catch our attention. Unfortunately, we just take it as a physical law that is naturally happening, rather than questioning: “How come it is arranged in this way, perfectly working?” Especially as the Quran mentions several times that “you see the moon how it is perfectly working and showing us the dark/bright side i.e. the relationship between the sun, the earth, and the moon?” How is everything consciously measured and arranged? How can a person not wonder about its reality? Can it be an accident? How come?
– We have to question!
God says: “If you question all the many things that you experience in your life, then I will tell you how I am arranging everything for you in the form of a story.” I will tell you what happens to a human being that I created in the past and his name is “Joseph”, for example. Everything was unexpected, his father, brothers, the event when he was thrown into a well as a child, slaved, imprisoned, employed for the king, given important administrative power… Take this parable, and you can go into all stages of your human life, how God is arranging and putting you through all different aspects of life experiences so you can understand that this is deliberately arranged by God to educate your feelings under any kind of life experiences that you cannot imagine. A slave becoming a king, someone innocently put into prison, and then becoming a chief executive of the state as an immigrant/stranger (in a different language and culture). This was only possible under the surveillance of God. This is a life experience.
Moses’ story is also another life experience. You can take any instance in it as well that resonates with you and see how God arranges my life for me to educate me, train my feelings to get closer to God. Nothing here is an accident. “We did this to you” i.e. everything is arranged by God and we have to take it seriously and try to find a way that I can train and educate my feelings so that I become aware that everything is arranged by God.
We understand now how to experience some of these life examples.
85:19 “Yet still the disbelievers persist in denial.”
Although these examples are given to them, so that they take it to heart and experience it within their own feelings, they still persist in denying the message. Why? What benefit do they get from it? If someone denies the existence of the Creator, what benefit does this person get in their feelings? At a physical level, they may seem happy but physical things are transient. Example: you eat a delicious meal and it disappears. You cannot get it back again. It does not mean we should not enjoy our life. Rather, we should understand that this life is a present and gift from our Creator. So, we have to learn to know the Creator through these life enjoyments. There may be some experience which we do not like but under every life experience we are going through some training and education.
85:20 “And God encompasses them from every side (without their notice)”
When someone denies the revelation (Prophetic messages), the person puts himself in such a position that he cannot get out of his grief of denial. You cannot say that I deny and say that at night I will be happy. Your feelings are with you always and whatever you feel, you cannot get out of your reality. You can try to forgo your feelings BUT you cannot get out of your reality. You may temporarily not feel the pain of denial because of temporary pre-occupations. In other words, there is no direction to find a way to escape.
85:21 “Certainly! This is a Glorious Quran!”
If you look at revelation as coming from God, then it’s a speech. If you look at revelation from your perspective, you read and listen. Both interpretations are valid. This is a clear revelation, and nothing is obscure in it and about it. There is nothing in it that you cannot understand. It clearly speaks to you in a straightforward way to your feelings. There is nothing. ambiguous in it. This should not be meddled in with the jurisprudence side (fiqh) of the revelation (which mostly consists of less than 3% of the Quran. Some verses talk about the physical side of the matter and at the same time teaching the feelings as well. It does not mean that the physical side of the matter is not significant.
Example: Your body is significant to you. You have to spend a small portion of what constitutes you as the body towards the physical rituals (i.e. pray, fast, charity…). In other words what should I do physically here? Fasting, Ablution, helping the needy… but the majority of these activities are directly related to your feelings. That is, in prayer, your body is turned in a certain direction performing some specific mechanical movements. In other words, the purpose of performing prayer includes not only the body movements but at the same time the purpose of prayer is directly related to your spiritual experience. The spiritual experience tells you that you are in front of an Absolute Being and you are speaking to Him, expressing your feelings to Him through His language, as a respect of His language and Him being your Lord. You speak to Him with His language during your prayer: “You taught me this and I am using this phrase (alhamdulillah, all praise is Yours) and presenting it back to you saying, you taught me this and I conform it in the way that I also speak with You by repeating your words. I agree with it and I am happy with it.” It is a beautiful way of communicating and conversing with your Lord. Mostly prayer is about spiritual experience along with the bodily side that works along to support the spirit.
We shouldn’t lose ourselves with the seeming negativity of some verses. Example: God says don’t kill whereas some other verses state that you have to fight with those who expelled you from your homeland and, if necessary kill them. And also we hear that the Prophet (pbuh) was involved in war conditions and he was the commander in chief. How should we understand this? One must defend themselves if attacked by an enemy with a weapon in the legitimate battle field for example, otherwise don’t kill. Certain conditions need to be explained, like the ones that seem ambiguous such as a war condition at the time of the Prophet (pbuh). This needs speciality in the practices and sayings of the Prophet (pbuh). Also, there are no narrations saying that the Prophet (pbuh) killed anyone with his sword. Again, it does not mean that a physical war is prohibited. Bottom line, you have to physically defend yourself if there is a physical attack. For physical matters, one should seek a specialist and follow their expertise of the subject matter. However, when it comes to one’s spiritual experience, the spiritual training is one’s personal experience and you cannot imitate anyone on that. You can go to a doctor who recommends a pill for a physical discomfort, however, in order to feel comfortable in your spiritual life, you should seek out your human consciousness, the universe and guidance from the Speech of God. The Quran is clear (Mubeen) in this regard i.e. you should be able to find its message in line with your innate human expectations (queries and desires).
85:22 “inscribed on an imperishable tablet.”
Some additional verses to study along:
“He said Moses, I have raised you above other people by [giving you] My messages and speaking to you; hold on to what I have given you; be one of those who give thanks.”
“We wrote everything for him in the Tablets which taught and explained everything saying “Hold on to them firmly and urge your people to hold fast to their excellent teachings. I will show you the end of those who rebel.” Araf 7: (144-145)
In other words, I will show you how to feel relaxed in your life if you believe. If you do not, then you feel horrible. God sent these messages which are written and preserved in “the tablet.”
What is this “tablet”?
Human memory is a tablet. The memory of your phone is a tablet where data is stored. It is also written in myriad copies of the books containing this message all over the world, and you can protect it. This means that no one can ever change the written corpus of revelation. At the same time, how about its meaning? Its meaning is also protected. No one can challenge it and come up with a counter argument and destroy the argument of the revelation. It is protected in the tablet which is firmly and securely protected. People say that no one will change the Quran because it is protected as stated in this verse below:
“It is We Ourselves who have sent down the Quran, and We Ourselves are its Guardian.” Hijr (15:9)
– The wordings of the Quran are not going to be destroyed as guaranteed by the One Ever Living who continuously speaks.
Some scholars say that it is Allah’s Absolute knowledge, no one can distort it. True, God’s knowledge must be Absolute, and no one can meddle with it. God says that I am going to protect it. We can see it up until now that no one can change the real format of the Quran as it is everywhere online, in the hearts of people, and written books.
There is a deeper meaning to this. God says: “I am going to protect this book; it is guarded by Me.” This not only refers to the language of the Quran, but also the Quran is bringing a message to human beings from beyond this universe (ghaib) and about it. The message that connects human beings to an Absolute is preserved as well”.
Let’s say that the new discoveries in the world may find out that what the Quran says is wrong and it is contradictory to the reality that we experience in the universe. Such a claim had never been demonstrated and proven and still all the new scientific discoveries are further confirming the information in the Qur’an, though it was revealed 14 hundred years ago in an environment that there were even no basic education institutions either. And so, the Quran guarantees that this meaningful aspect, the meaning of the Quran cannot be challenged. It is protected by the Infinite Absolute Knowledge of God i.e. the Absolute knowledge encompasses from the beginning of existence to Now and Here with continuity of existence (including after resurrection). That is, its meaning which points to “something not of the nature of this universe” is protected from the beginning of my existence to the continuity of my existence beyond the realm of this universe.
God challenges anyone that you will study the universe and what you discover from it is to be used to think about Me, its Creator. “Do you think that the One who creates does not know?” (Qur’an, 67: 14). Impossible! What we are discovering is the act of creation of God which is already within the order and knowledge of the Creator of the universe. There is no way to come out with a counter argument saying there is no Creator and we found something in some corner of the atomic world that there are some things that have the power to create. Rather, the Speech of God says that I am the One that creates everything and makes you discover everything so that you get to know Me better.
Not only the physical wording of the Speech of God is protected, but also the Absolute knowledge of the Creator manifested in revelations. We understand that the Quranic message is not going to be challenged within its physical existence (registered book, mushaf) preserved in various forms. The meaning that it refers to cannot be challenged as well. Any discovery we make is already known and is under the order of the Creator of the universe and we discover it at a specific time. The more we discover, the more we get to know the Creator’s order, and as a result, our amazement and appreciation about the Absoluteness of the Creator increases.
Wherever I go, I take my heart with me. Whatever I do, my feelings are with me. I can never get out of my feelings. God has encompassed me from all aspects of my existence. That is, as long as I exist within the conditions of this universe, my feelings and heart are with me. Whatever I feel, it will be with me. I may try to forget it temporarily by occupying myself with worldly matters, but my heart is always with me. That is the dilemma of material sciences, some people may try to reduce the creation to the result of “cause and effect” sequences, they cannot find any source of existence within them, but their human feelings are with them, they have to endure the consequences of their obstinacy. All the things that we are using, phones and other technologies were discovered within the already existing order of the universe, and are in the knowledge of God, and must be established by Him. The One who speaks in the Quran is the one who creates this universe here and now. Finally, no one can bring evidence that can contradict with Absolute Speech and Knowledge as presented to human beings through the Revelations.
Some wonderings: this realm of the universe seems to be a never-ending machine. Will this universe keep existing after I die, none of our business? All I know is that I am here now and when I depart from here, this will not matter for me anymore after I leave my body here in the universe. I am not the body. The universe must have a beginning and it seems eternal. Will it seize to exist after I depart? That is what I am wondering about.
An answer: the universe is continuously changing, and scientists are now predicting the lifespan of the sun for example, therefore the universe. There is no sign of permanence in this universe so yes, the universe is aging.
Tags: Al-Buruj, Buruj series, Creation, Prophethood, pure spirit, Repentance, Turn back to God
