Chapter Lay’l – Part 7

92:15 “None should be cast to it but the most wretched,”

Quran does not accuse the human beings because the way we are created is pure and perfect.  There is no defect in our creation.  If I keep my nature unspoiled, I will never make a mistake.  If I let the outside influence (which is acquired) penetrate my being, then I will spoil my nature because the purity will get mixed up with impurity.

• Belief in God does not fit a spoiled or mixed up character. God created us in the best form with no defect. The Qur’an states that it is the outside factor, which is called “Satan,” that human beings get influenced if they open the door to its whisperings.

The unspoiled nature has to do with letting the whisperings of Satan to be acquired by you.  Because of which, you let your creation be shaped according to the outside world.  This option comes to you with a choice which is bound to destroy your innate disposition i.e. the fitraa.  For one’s innate disposition is not bound to contradict the truth.

Analogy: If you mess up with the default setting of any device, you corrupt the device.  Similarly, if we mess up with our default setting i.e. fitraa, then we do not see the truth.  Just like a camera lens that has dirt on it, we do not see the truth clearly.  In other words, my acquired biases make me not understand my reality.

Satan has no power over me, but I allow it or appoint power to it.   Whispering of Satan is adopted by me and I accept it as my reality.  Is it the dirt on my camera lens or the reality out there?  I must be free to question this.  Are my measurements according to my nature or acquired values?  The most wretched one is the one who has dirtied his/her lens.

We must be watchful with using value-laden vocabulary.  For example, when I use the word “naturally”, it is an invented and acquired terminology which has no truth to it.  Satan has no evidence for itself or what it proposes.

• Ask yourself: Have I appointed Satan on my lens?

92:16 “Who calls the truth a lie and turns its back.”

Being innocent is different than being a liar.  If I do not know that there is a pencil in my bag, and if I am asked if I have a pencil and my answer is “no’, then I am innocent.  If I know that there is a pencil in my bag and I deny the pencil in my bag when I am asked if I have a pencil and my answer is “no”, then I am lying.  Similarly, if I know that there is a truth that I need to study and find out about and I decide not to do so, then I am lying to myself and turning my back to what is the truth.

When you have a bad habit and you are aware of it but do not acknowledge your bad habit and use your biases to justify it, then you are lying to yourself.  If you know about your bad habit and you know that you cannot give it up, then you are being truthful to yourself because you are not denying your consciousness.  Be honest to yourself.  If you cannot give up something easily, accept it and it will be easy to give it up.  At least, you are aware of your sinning and there is hope with such acceptance and awareness.  When you accept your mistakes, that will mean you are ready to repent and ask for forgiveness. It prepares you to give up your mistakes. If there is no denial involved and/or qualities are being attributed to objects/events, then you are not turning your back to the truth.

• Ask yourself: Is it the correct attitude for a human being to welcome the bounties of God, admit it and submit to its beauty?

If someone appreciates the truth, then they will be on their way to accepting the truth.  If someone denies the truth, then they will be in Hell.  Hell is for deniers, not sinners because deniers cannot get out of it.  If I do not deny the truth and I am aware that I need to get out of sinning, then I can get out of Hell because I believe in submitting to the truth.  There is a hadith that mentions that believers will get out of sin and get out of Hell.

How can I save myself from falling into this world?

Read the Quran as guidance for you about your life right now.  Usually, our misinterpretations of things make us fall into despair.  Do not take the advice from the Quran as an accusation.  Just as a doctor start interrogating you by questioning, the doctor is not accusing you of anything, rather investigating in order to give you advice for what not to do and do.   Similarly, the Quran is a guide to guide me into the way that I am created to free me and purify me from the influences of the outside world i.e. Satanic whisperings.

• Ask yourself: Is it my prejudice or my true human nature? 

If it was not possible to see my real mirror, then the Creator would not guide me.  When I misunderstand something, the problem is in my mirror:  Did I dirty it?  I see the outside according to the conditions of my mirror.  Outside world is always the same.

• Satan is out there to offer human beings an option to what is not the reality, in order to give them the opportunity to exercise their freewill.
• Satan is the negative attitude:
• Am I slave of the Creator? I must adapt to my human nature.
• Am I worshipping myself? I do not want to submit to the Creator.

Finally, to solve all your problems, ask yourself: Which kind of Satan have I appointed over me?  With what biases or outside influences have I distorted my mirror?  Where did I make the mistake?  If one is not looking for themselves to be pure, then they will never be guided.  One’s feeling must always work in harmony with their innate disposition and act.