Chapter Falaq – Part 3

113:2 “from the evil of what He has created”

What does “seek refuge with God” mean?  Some say you must seek refuge from Satan.  Have you seen Satan?  These are big issues to understand and make sense for us.  Do I gain anything by confirming whether Satan exists or not?  No. It is not our concern for the moment. What we experience matters for us. Do we experience that we always have options we are choosing from among? Which option I should choose is our concern?

How do I seek refuge with God?  We use these phrases daily. Is there some palace of God somewhere to seek refuge in? We often ask to take refuge with God from Satan the accursed. This taking refuge from the whisperings of Satan is described as at some occasions or position of a person who is not aware of the reality and then Satan approaches.  When the person realizes that he/she is under the influence of bad thoughts and alternatives (or not realizing the reality), Satan withdraws.  When the person loses attention leaning towards alternate ideas, Satan approaches again.  These whisperings are not to be taken as physical events as I don’t hear anything telling me to ignore my reality, ignore resurrection and try to enjoy my life – physically, I don’t experience or hear a voice telling me all this.  However, we do get alternative ideas in our minds quite often.  Quran uses the alternate ideas against what the reality is to be from Satan.  One does not lose or gain anything by confirming that Satan exists.  The aim of the Quran is to teach me that such a phenomenon exists.  On the wisdom of the Quran: “Any thought that comes to your mind out of your will is from an external being, not from you.  It is something else, whatever it is, it is external to you. Whatever comes to my mind as an alternative that I don’t approve of, do not pay it importance. Based on this teaching of the Quran, I am relaxed that this external idea is not from me but external.   If it is not from me, then I am not responsible for its being with me.

• All the unwanted, undesired thoughts, unintended whisperings/imaginations that come to our mind are not from me but external to me, and my Creator lets me know they are not from me. So, I feel relaxed.  “If it is not from me, then I am not responsible for their presence with me.”

113:2 “from the evil of what He has created”

One of the wisdoms from the teachings of the Quran is that all the unintended/unwanted whisperings that come to our mind is not from yourself, your Creator has appointed someone for it.  The way my spirit operates is this way i.e. my Creator says that I am letting you know that this is not from you, so you are not responsible for it.

• That is good news.

My mind works with imagination and I cannot deny that I imagine things.  This imagination takes a shape/form and you start to imagine a scenery symbolizing the thought.  Imagination is not from you because it does not come from your will as you will it.

In Psychology, if I ask you try not to imagine a dog.  The more you try not to imagine the dog, you imagine the dog.  That means that it is not out of your freewill.  If I say that you are free to imagine everything, then you are more likely not to imagine a dog.  This phenomenon is such that if you want it, then it does not come and if you do not want it, then it comes.  That is how the Quran describes Satan.  You try to get out of it, it comes and remains with you. If you just disassociate yourself from the whisperings when they come to you and do not bother about its coming to you,  it withdraws but it does not mean that it will never come again. It comes again, it comes to you which is the norm of this creation, you just need to not to engage with it. It is coming to you has nothing to do with you and especially with your responsibility. Whisperings do not come to a person because s/he has a bad person. It is needed for me to exercise my human free will, its function is to be an option. You need to just not associate it with you, leave it as an option which has no reality. Do not try to chase it away. The more you try to chase it away the more you keep busy yourself with it, thus it remains busy and makes you feel even worse, thinking that you are a bad person that is why baseless or bad ideas come to you. Just ignore it.

The sense of imagination is real, it is human to have it, like our power of reasoning. However, the content of imagination is not within the control of human free will.

Example: While prostrating in prayer, an undesired imagination came to you. It does not spoil your intention to express yourself that you are a created being and your existence does not belong to you but to the Creator of this universe altogether.

The way this universe and human creation works is that everything has its opposite, such as there is belief and there is unbelief.

Belief= opposite of denial i.e. rejection.

When you say that I confirm that the universe must have a Creator, it means that the alternate idea maybe accompanied.  This process starts with whispering from outside, that is how we are created.  The human side is open to alternatives at the same time, it has whisperings from outside, accompanied with imagination, which gives it shape.  As soon as you imagine a dog, the shape of a dog comes.  This is not what you confirmed, rather something happening out of your freewill.  Alternative thought starts processing now.  This is where the free will needs to be exercised to either entertain the alternate idea or reject it.

Until it comes to your heart to confirm/reject (symbolic teaching), that is when your free will starts interfering.  “Can I really confirm the idea that came to my mind?”  An idea comes to my mind, if I am not confirming it, then I am not responsible for it.  If I confirm it, then that is my decision as a result of freewill.

If  bad things keep coming to your imagination, if you blame yourself for their coming, then you start losing the trust in yourself, although it was not your choice.  If you confirm something, then you are responsible for your confirmation.  Mostly people who have psychological issues say that I do not want to remember this. This means that their heart is being spoiled as they consider themselves to be a bad person.   As soon as you blame yourself for something you do not confirm, you have a split personality now.  Blaming yourself means that you are confirming it. Why do you blame yourself because it is not your fault, it is coming from outside?

• Quranic teachings: All whisperings come from outside for which you are not responsible.

What does “seek refuge with God” mean?

What does “God” mean, does it have something to do with you?

I am a part of the universe. The universe and I are created by this Creator. Thus, I have a Creator and everything in my being is created by Him. Power of reasoning, power of imagination, everything existent including Satan must all be created by Him.

• Whisperings are always non-real things i.e. the content of whispering does not exist.

Can you say that God is the Creator of something which does not exist?  That is, God creates something which does not exist.  No, I cannot say that.  If something does not exist, then we cannot talk about its Creator.  There must be something, and I may argue whether it has a Creator or not.

• If there is nothing existing, then there is no way for human mind to assign a Creator/an actor/a Maker for it.

Example: The glass is broken.  The alternate idea is “the glass is not broken” and that concept comes to our mind.  That is a concept which does not really exist. Content of imagination is either real or not.  I need to confirm that.  When I confirm something, then it must have real content within it.  How does it work with concluding abstract ideas?

• If I confirm the existence of something, then it means that it must exist for me.

Seeking refuge with God means be realistic with yourself and do not imagine something which does not exist.  Seeking refuge with God means investigating whether the content of whispering really exists or not, so accordingly you will assign a Creator for it.

When you remember God, you remember investigating the content of the imagination whether it exists or not; when you will realize that it does not exist, so you will ignore it.

• If something is real, then you assign an agent to it.
• If it does not exist, then you do not confirm its existence. Anything non-confirmable is satanic and not you.

If something does not exist, then you cannot define its Creator.

“But as for anyone who chooses to remain blind to the remembrance of the Most Gracious, to him We assign an [enduring] evil impulse, to become his other self:  whereupon, behold these [evil impulses] bar all such from the path [of truth], making them think that they are guided aright!” (zukhruf, 43:36-37)

Does any denier get bothered that why does this idea come to his/her mind?  No.  Only people who believe in God bother about why such idea comes to mind.

Hadith: Some people came to the Prophet and complained that “O messenger! Some doubts came to our mind.”  Messenger said: “doubt is a sign of belief/imaan.”

Only through doubts you can confirm the truth.  The alternate ideas help you confirm the truth because you further investigate and reconfirm your belief. This is why doubt helps to perfect belief in God.

An idea came to mind that God may not really exist.  I feel bothered with this doubt.  This doubt forces me to investigate further and confirm my belief in God once more.  Why does this doubt keep coming to my mind?  Am I a bad man? No.  Every time a doubt comes to mind, you become a stronger believer.  If you think that since this doubt always comes to my mind, it means that I am not a real believer which is a SIGN OF DESPAIR.  When despair comes, you stop believing.  As a result, you become a depressive person.  Everything bothers you then.  Is it your reality?  No.  Then, it means that you are created in such a way where you can confirm your reality, otherwise if you cannot confirm something which does not exist, then why bother, you are doing something right.