Chapter Mursalat – Part 1

Chapter Mursalat (Those Sent Forth), part 1

The chronologically 33rd revealed chapter of the Quran.

From one aspect this chapter seems to be difficult to follow, and from another aspect it is a beautiful example of the Quranic eloquence.  Why is it difficult?  The traditional scholarship follows a specific way of interpreting this chapter with a seemingly contradictory way of approaching these kinds of verses of the Quran.  These verses still fall within the early Meccan revealed chapters. Historians say that this is around the 4th year of Messengership, and some people of that time when it was revealed were still resisting to accept the message.  The Prophet (phub) is becoming more vocal and people who are obstinate are getting annoyed and not wanting to pay attention to what the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is really telling them or wondering about what exactly is Muhammad after.  He just says: “Listen to this message that asks you to believe in God”.  They say: “we already believe in God”.  

If one believes in God, then one acts accordingly.  One lives with the understanding that there is a hereafter, that man will be resurrected and will be taken into account.  They say: “What are you talking about, seems like the legend/story that we heard from our ancestors.”  This is not a story but something serious.  They say: “What does submitting yourself to God mean?”  It requires you to act according to the will of God and leave your free will to Him only.  What does this entail?  Follow the purpose He created you for, which is to worship Him and act in His name.  It means that I must only be responsible before God and never follow my egoistic expectations and satisfaction.  Example: Do not claim superiority over others because of your wealth, family lineage and strength of your children.  

The family lineage was very important to the Arab nations.  The more sons you have, the more secure you will feel about your being in this world.  If someone is an orphan, then he has no power to protect his future.  Back then, those people who had strong family ties and relationships used to get married very young and by the age of 35 years, they were already grandparents.  Generally, the lives were shorter than what we experience now. Only the rich elite would live longer around 60 years of age because they had the means to take care of themselves by exploiting the poor who would die early. That is what the historians guessed from the Prophetic life narrations.

The people who did not submit to the Prophetic message did not like the message because it seemed contrary to the status quo or their established way of life.  Example: Change your habits, the arrogant side, don’t take pride in your good deeds but be thankful to God, and humble yourself before God.  The people who were annoyed were the ones who were exploiting the followers of the message and satisfying their ego by forcing their caprices on other people to feel great and superior over others.  The Quran keeps saying: “If you ask them, who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth?”  They will say: “Surely, it is God”(31:25).  Who holds the control over the universe?  They will undeniably say God.  Malakutu’s-samawati wa’l-ard, who owns the sustaining power of the heavens and earth?  (23: 84-89) This gives another aspect of what the Quran points to, the meaning side of things i.e., what they signal to?  My Creator is Absolute, My Creator is Knowledgeable, My Creator’s power is endless…  They do agree that these messages point to God, but this God is external to their living.  This God sets up the universe in motion and the universe is working by itself and now I must work by myself and satisfy myself by myself.  God is the Administrator of the universe and I am the Administrator of myself and so I do not have to follow God’s will and I do not have to look for what is the purpose of my life.  

At first glance similar to the other early chapters revealed, one does not know what this chapter of the Quran is talking about i.e., the language and content is difficult. However if you take the general mission of the Quran which is to acknowledge the Divine Source and put it within the whole teachings of the Quran thus far (Resurrection and Messengership), then you will understand that the meaning of “mursalat” in the upcoming verse hits five different purposes (aspects) at the same time.

وَالْمُرْسَلَاتِ عُرْفًا

77:1 “Consider these [messages] sent forth one after the other.”

Those things sent forth one after the other is the translation of mursalat. What is being sent continuously?  Some classical scholarship say that they are referring to the winds continuously blowing, some other scholars say that they are angels coming continuously down to the Earth, and a few other scholars say that mursalat refers to one Messenger sent after another and so on and so forth.  Some modern scholars, closer to our age say that it refers to the messages continuously coming to us one after another.  That is, the messages can be in the form of either creation or revelation i.e., revealing God’s word.  

Every generation and nation are sent messages as the Quran says: “And certainly, We sent into every nation a messenger” (16:36).  The continuous renewal of the world, the act of creation is continuously sending the message about the Creator of the universe (COU), His Beautiful Names are continuously renewed and refreshed.  The word “message” covers revelation and the Messengers (Nabee and Rasool i.e., different names and qualities of Messengership and Prophethood).  Either they receive the message and convey it, or they revive the message that one of the previous Prophets had already received and protected.  But when the people do not take notice of the Messengers, God sends another Prophet.  

As the creation of the universe is renewed and thus the message is renewed, the mission of the angels is executing the will of God in creation.  The creation seems to be dumb matter at first glance, lifeless and does not speak, but the way they are coming into existence and are formed into different shapes and qualities (each of them having different qualities) are a fulfilment and execution of the will of God i.e., via angels.  It means that the angels are coming and executing His will continuously.  As the universe is renewed, God’s will is renewed within an order continuously.  

Each act of creation has a target to fulfill.  The changes will present something meaningful one after another.  As the animals and plants grow, days change to night, the planets turn around the orbit and everything is continuously changing, new things are appearing constantly, and new angels are fulfilling and executing the will or command of the Sustainer of the universe.  God does not command but wills something to be there: “God wills that it should be there or manifested in this form, that is His will and preference”.  Whatever He wills, He is the Absolute Being and there is no way that the things should come into existence without the manifestation of His Knowledge, Power, Wisdom, Justice, Mercy, Planning; all the qualities are manifested together. That is, the manifestation of the creation which is executed by the angels for us to see that matter has meaning.  The meaning demonstrates that a conscious act is performed, an event is happening in front of you.

Example A:  When you text a friend, the message gets written and delivered instantaneously.  We all know that there is a conscious will acting behind it. Similarly, these conscious beings in the form of creation are angels, representing the manifestation of the qualities of the Creator.  

Angels are coming one after another demonstrating the qualities of the Creator distributing the messages that God wants human beings to take notice of, and become aware of the reality that everything is under the control of the Creator of the universe, and that everything is under His will. Hence, we should not follow our egoistic desires, rather we should seek out the will of God: “This Power who created the universe, He gave me existence, consciousness, the sense of responsibility and honor to fulfill the purpose of my existence so that I will not live in a meaningless way.  What should I do?”  Look for the guidance from the Creator, as our human nature asks: “O My Creator, why did you create me and what do you want from me?  Why did you give me existence and decorate me and equip me with enormous human qualities that I can experience all aspects of creation and I can be conscious of what is going on in the universe and within me?  That is, the human curiosity that we must seek out and try to understand.  For sure, as you ask, so shall you find; which means that you will encounter the message of God.  Just like Salman Farsi travelled the Earth to find out the truth.  It has been mentioned by Historians that those people were worshipping the sun and the fire which are all symbolic representations trying to symbolize God.  However, the COU cannot be symbolized in a form.  Now, as far as we understand, the mursalat is the things being sent forth continuously like the blowing wind, bringing new types of atmosphere, a continuous change happening where the sun is emitting rays, and the position of the earth is perfectly revolving, and each season is presented with a different manifestation of the qualities of Generosity, Wisdom and Mercy of God.  And so, the angels represent the creation of the universe, a continuous meaningful change of the universe.  

Angels are conscious beings that obey God’s command.  Is there anything in the universe which does not obey the Will of the COU, instead act on its own?  Is there one atom acting on its own will without obeying the will of the Creator which is manifesting in the form of the order of the universe?  Angels represent creation.  Just as in Example A, from the writing appearing on the screen and whatever is written, you can easily conclude that a conscious being is writing it and demonstrating it to me on the screen.  In other words, the conscious being here is the angel, bringing the news from God.  Are the angels the creators?  No, they just deliver the Will of the Creator by executing it as they are employed to do this mission.  As creation takes place when something is created, the angles disappear, and other angels come to write another sentence and letters.  This analogy needs to be thought about, how the universe is screened and the meaning is written on it, demonstrating that it is fulfilled by a conscious agent (angels), but at the command of the origin of existence, the COU.  It means the COU is the Creator of the angels and their actions because the angels do not have the power or knowledge, they just receive the message.

Another example, when I type on my keyboard, it acts like an angel because I type, and the result appears on the screen.  Every key obeys me, and they are not the source of what I see on the screen. Similarly, the angelic side of the universe is demonstrating that this universe is a conscious thing where meaningful actions are coming.  Is someone speaking or writing?  The universe is like a book where each being is a meaningful sentence.  

Comment: Can we understand this concept of angels as an author dictating to his secretary to type something?  Angels are like the secretary receiving information from the author to type.

Let us use a similar example that one of the commentators on some of the verses of the Quran, Said Nursi uses in his writing to help us understand this concept.  The President of a country asks the press secretary to arrange a press conference to broadcast his plans on decisions for certain matters.  Now, at the press conference, the secretary is not the source of the decree of what is being shared because the secretary is just performing what s/he is asked to do by the President.  Similarly, the Creator employs angels to demonstrate His act of creation to give us the news that He is speaking to us through these acts and angels.

Comment:  Angels do not have an error margin like humans for they do exactly what they are asked to do.  In the analogy above, the secretary is created in such a way to do things as s/he is asked to do perfectly.

Do we see any single minute being in the world that is coming into existence contrary to the general message that we get from the universe, somehow deviating and not fitting perfectly into the whole order of the universe?  No, otherwise, we could say that there is a mistake. For example in this world, the secretary or the spokesman may convey the message slightly deviated from what the President intends.  We should bear in mind that whatever example we give here cannot be 100 percent applicable to the example of the Absolute Being and His will.  I believe that angels cannot make any mistake at all not because the Quran told me this, rather I see no deviation and no minor cracks in the universe.  This means that the work is perfectly done.  That is why when the Quran says that the angels do nothing but exactly what they are commanded to perform and execute, I say: “that is correct as that is what I see in the universe.”  Is there anything that does not fit into the order, any exceptions?  No.  Whatever the angels/creation are asked to announce and execute, they do it with no mistake.  From my observation of the universe is how I confirm the verses of the Quran.  There is a hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) told something about animal rearing to some people in Medina.  The people there were surprised to know that he (phub) has experience with animal rearing, as opposed to the people of Mecca who were familiar with his background as a shepherd during his early life.  The Medinians said to him: “You seem to know how to care for the animals”.  To which he (pbuh) replied: “Is there any Prophet who has not been a shepherd (some of them even illiterate) in their early life?”  Am I ashamed of it?  No.  I am proud of the fact that I was a shepherd because as a result I realized what the nature of creation is exactly.  This opportunity of being a shepherd worked to his advantage for making sense of existence in an organic way, unpolluted from the human made artificial values of the civilization.  Farming is the best way to connect with the creation of God.

This man has no education, but he has a golden heart with pure intention, and he was wondering why all these magnificent things are out there.  Why do they exit?  I am wondering, what is going on here?  Why on earth am I questioning my own existence?  Why do I get this self-awareness and the questioning ability, what is the purpose?  “Read in the name of your Lord/Owner who created you”.  But I do not know how to read.  “You don’t have to go to school to learn to read”.  Again, read, what is going on in creation?   That is the first necessary step that we are advised and guided to: read creation, and never ignore it.  

Please note that this methodology of following the Quran is extremely important, rather than just imitating it without any thorough thinking (although the dos and don’ts need to be followed because they have some wisdom in them, which is another topic).  Also, please know that most of the Quran is guidance on how to communicate through the universe. Human beings through their experiences of social life refer back and confirm the message of the Quran. This back and forth confirmation is the key to have a fully satisfied strong certainty in my heart about my belief conclusions.  The conclusion is the result of my experience of this world.

That is why your belief is your conclusion based on your reflection; belief is not your acceptance at an intellectual level only.  We must think and contemplate a lot about creation: “Every evening, go into your room and ask yourself, what I am? What does my existence mean to me (not to my parents, not to my children)?  Everyone must take care of their lives.  

Comment: What are the 5 aspects of the message that are sent forth?

1. Creation represented in the form of winds.  It means that the wind represents the material existence out there.
2. Messages coming through creation i.e., angels.
3. The revelations (in the form of human language) as a message revealed to the Prophets. 
4. Every nation is continuously sent a new Messenger as the previous one is forgotten or ignored.
5. Human feelings that are continuously renewed with new experiences of life letting human consciousness to realize that the results of these experiences are the new messages from his Creator.

That is, all five aspects happen at the same time. In order to comprehend the message of the Quran, you can squeeze all of them into one word i.e., mursalat, which is nothing but messages; because creation is full of continuous messages coming down.  In a concrete sense, the Quran is a message and the Messenger’s life as an example for me is a message, the universe represented by angels is a message, my experience of these messages in my feelings – they all come at the same time.  Mursalat means all of them together.

Think about your existence, why do you have existence?  Self-reflection is necessary.  Always remind yourself and ask yourself why do I exist?  Initiate your reflection from yourself and you will see that you are given the capacity to encompass the whole universe and the meaning of your universe is communicated through your human side.  Material side is interacted within a limited way.  The whole universe needs to exist for me because I am a part of the universal will or law of the Creator.  Practically speaking, the air is there, water is there, and the sun and moon are there, and everything is provided here for our needs.  Sadly, the subject of Philosophy has reduced the world into 4 elements: water, earth, air, fire, as if the world is made up of these components only.  However, everything is full of meaning and all the subdivisions of these simple elements of air, sunlight, wind, matter, and water are full of meaning as well.  How about the design, atoms and subatomic world, life that we are living, consciousness, human ability and capacity and potentiality, which is endless?  Can you reduce the universe to consisting of only 4 elements?  Even the most primitive people (some tribes out there) who think about creation are more intelligent than the Philosophers who make lots of jargon.

The Arabic word ‘urf means habit, custom and tradition, i.e., something you are found in.  In other words, it is something that you are acquainted with and found yourself with.  All these messages (as laid out earlier as the 5 aspects of the message), is an ‘urf for you and you become acquainted with the message.  For example, the customs of the society that you are born into is not a strange thing to you.  Now, how about my human side which finds all these messages? These messages that come to me are known to me and I get acquainted with them. Is it a strange thing?  All the things that come to us as messages come continuously and renew the previous messages.  Like the words appearing on the screen in example A (a text from my friend), becomes a meaningful word, sentence or paragraph and I do not see them as a strange language. Rather, it is something that I understand; and I acknowledge the meaning of the sentences, which is shown on the screen.  This is not strange to me, rather it is within my acknowledged area (‘urf).  I understand you, you are not strange and contradicting me for I am familiar with you. If only we think of ourselves seriously and beyond the 4 elements of the Earth.  Is there anything in the universe, which is strange, meaningless, or purposeless for you?  

You feel the message in revelation and you feel the Prophetic mission that the Prophet fulfilled in their lives: “That is what I want to be, this is so realistic, comforting and not contradicting me.”  Example: if you treat a man like your slave and command him as if he is your property, how would your consciousness feel about it?  Not at ease.  On the other hand, if you treat a man honorably (speaking to him: how are you? Let us come together and enjoy food together?), do you feel guilty?  No, that is ‘urf to you.  In other words, we are already acquainted with what is our reality.  As you can see, we must go beyond the translation provided to us for urf i.e. “It is sent forth one after the other”.  Most of the time, the translations of the words that we are provided with is not enough to understand the meaning of the message, but we must study and reflect and try our best to get as much of the meaning as possible.

“‘Urfan”  in the verse  means that something is known to you, what a miraculous way of addressing you!? If you pay attention to it, you will say that this message is just my friend speaking to me, and it is already taught within me.  The Quran says that I taught Adam, a human being, all the names of God manifested in everything (2:31).  It is in my spirit because my spirit is breathed by the breath of God.  When I read this, my spirit shakes from God’s spirit as the Quran directly says wan nafakhtu minruhee: (15: 29 and 38: 72) “I am carrying the manifestations of the qualities of my Creator, when I read creation.” For example, I understand what qualities the Author of the universe has.  I am penetrating the qualities of the Author who may seem far away, (this is just an analogy of a book which helps us understand the Necessity of an Absolute Being, but it cannot describe an Absolute Being.)  

If someone asks me to show my consciousness, can I?  No.  Do I have consciousness?  Yes.  It is manifested in me.  How can you believe in something that you cannot show?  That is the most idiotic question asked by Philosophers.  They say that they are talking about facts, but they do not speak about reality i.e., they never ask themselves about what am I and why do I exist?  Human beings can become animals, but animals cannot become human beings.  The fact is that animals do not change but humans can change and become like animals, as the Quran says (7: 179.)

Human beings may change their nature, but animals keep their nature.  All animals are loyal and honest to their nature, the way they are created, they do not change.  But human beings change their nature and become animals.  There is no finger pointing to anyone here, but a general prevalent attitude invading the minds of people who study in the secular education system, mostly all of us have been injected with this kind of approach into our system (mind and feelings), seeing the world in only meaningless accumulation of matter, somehow formed by itself and changes by itself.

Comment: What brings change?  Change is constant, which is symbolized by wind in classical scholarship.  

Indeed, wind does carry change in weather.

Comment: When we dig deeper into the universe, the more there is to see.

Indeed, research into the miracles of the universe is endless.

Comment: Human beings can change their nature or deny their nature.

That is so true.  There is a sign in the Quran also pointing out this.  Seeing the Atheist attitude of being obstinate, people reject the message of the Quran.  Can I be called a human if I just eat, drink, sleep, make money and satisfy my bodily needs to reproduce?  What makes me a human being is my spirit which is revelation or revealing the qualities of my Creator in me and I am free to use them to go back and attach my existence to the Source of my Existence (SOE): “I belong to You and I understand that everything appearing in this page of the universe belongs to You.  We all belong to You.”  Then, it becomes easy to communicate with the Quranic message.

Reflecting on our existence is very important and whatever comes to our mind, we must share it, which is the Prophetic mission actually.

فَالْعَاصِفَاتِ عَصْفًا

77:2 “then violently storming,”

The literal meaning of Aasifat is blowing out storms with a decisive purpose.  Asfan is not a random wind blow, rather it carries a seed, changes creation and brings another type of atmosphere/climate and brings cold weather, distributes the clouds and being in the order of the universe, being the reason for the clouds to clash with each other and the striking of light and thunder…  All these are a result of a decisive will i.e., they are fulfilling a purpose, not a random happening.  No meteorologist can claim that winds are blowing accidentally.  Rather, they measure the pressure, determine the direction the wind will go, and measure the speed according to the capacity of the technology employed.  Everything is taking place within an order, it is perfectly arranged, purposefully designed, and executed.  All the violent stormy winds are happening on purpose.

Nothing here is a meaningless act.  Just like in the texting example earlier, after typing each letter, some meaning is manifested in the words. In the same way the universe is coming into existence full of meaning.  Not only the wind, but everything in creation is happening with meaning and all this is happening all at once.  Again, nothing in the universe is a stranger to you for you are familiar with it (‘urf). You are given the ability to read the meaning, understand it and assimilate it within yourself.  Through this meaning, you start becoming aware of the Speaker/Writer, who is speaking to you personally in your own screen of the heart, which is there.  In other words, you understand that this message is sent to your heart’s telephone and you can readily listen to it as it is addressing you.  

Everything is coming down continuously.  The violent storm coming in and hitting the purpose, which is the point, to let you express that you belong to the Creator of the universe and you are not a stranger in this land.  God is not distanced from you; He is the One who is whispering and speaking to you personally in a very friendly relationship: “I am here with you and you become aware of Me.  You have the ability to understand because I am with you and I am always hearing you, seeing you and protecting your existence and keeping you alive and your conscience is alive and aware of this.  I am only giving you the opportunity to respond back to Me.”  Now you say: “yes I acknowledge You and everything is from You and I belong to You and submit my will to Your will. Tell me how should I behave and what should I do in this world?  This is a very intimate friendship that you feel in yourself, your Creator, your Owner and everything that you have (life and existence) is a gift to you just waiting for you to acknowledge and respond back to Him.  The target is there to awaken you: “I am with you.”  Don’t say: “I am lonely in this world and I have no one to speak with.”  Don’t worry, the Owner of the universe is with you. What do you mean by loneliness?!  Why do you distract yourself and keep yourself away from your reality?!  Yes, we all love friends, the ones that remind me that our company is the One who is the Originator of the universe, the One who is the Owner of the universe and this “Boss” is not commanding anything on us, rather this Companion is waiting for us to respond back to Him: “Please tell me how I should behave in order to enjoy my life”.

When I communicate with my Creator in my practical life, it is not a command, rather it is a pleasure.  When I pray, I am enjoying physically my presence in front of my Absolute Creator.  I am communicating with Him and saying: “Praise be to You, my God, I worship You and ask for Your help.  Please guide me to the right behaviors so that I should not contradict my reality and suffer by doing wrong things against my consciousness and pretend to be happy but full of fear within myself because I know that I am transgressing the rights of other people, I am exploiting their ignorance and weakness” (paraphrased translation of Qur’an, 1: 1-7.)  The consciousness knows it.

Again, anything of this universe and the things that you accumulate or acquire are transient and leave you alone.  If someone defines his existence in terms of his material being, he must suffer with loneliness because his material being is leaving him alone helplessly and continuously (something exciting keeps coming and showing itself and as soon as you start to catch anything here, it disappears, like a phantom or shadow, which is not real).   As a result, you get tired of life and you look forward to retirement.  You cannot retire from existence by yourself, for your existence is continuously leaving you and you cannot escape from your reality so come to your senses.  Just become aware of what your existence means to you and how come your consciousness exists, question these.  Then you will realize that the One who gives you existence is trying to shake you so that you come to yourself from transience and poking you to look for a permanent point of support for yourself, a strong and permanent anchor of your existence.  When you realize God, you say that I understand that God is shaking me to come to myself.  From this transient world, I understood that the SOE of this universe is the constant permanent One.  That is the life experience, it is not knowledge, it is the reality of my being.  That is why, ’asfan means that the messages are coming one after the other like violent storms and my consciousness is continually disturbing me like violent winds that never stop.  That is beautiful (thank God it does not stop), otherwise if everything were static then we would not see the change that reminds me of the end of my life and this universe, then how would we realize our reality?!

Every moment we are given the opportunity to connect with our Lord. These ’asfan are reminders that we are lost and keep missing one opportunity after another, they remind us of our reality so we come to our senses (wa’l-’asr) (103: 1.)  The One who is reminding me and sending me zikr (the Quran and creation is a source of tasbihat or announcement of the glorification/Absoluteness of God), demonstrating the qualities of the Creator and poking human eyes and heart to take notice of the Absolute.  We keep saying that this life is boring, I am tired of life, everything is difficult, and I am lonely… No, you have made life difficult and stressful, and as a result these psychological problems are inevitable.  If someone does not wake up with a reminder, then You shake them more and more until the person comes to their senses.  That is what is happening globally now, our human consciousness is being shaken up with the reality of death.  That is ’asfan, attracting people’s attention continuously: “is there anyone who is going to pay attention to these messages?” (Qur’an, 54: 15, 17, 22, 32, 40, 51 repeated 6 times.) 

• That is what the Quran says, who will heed to these reminders and messages?

The creation, the Quran, the Prophet, and my consciousness are all messages.  What is not a message? My negligence, ignorance and turning my back to these continuously poking messages, which is the problem of our age as it has been for centuries.  

Comment: Change is good and should be reflected upon.

Indeed. That is why we are given opportunities to reflect on our reality more and more.

Comment: I feel that the first verse is a reflection to the Quran and the others to creation.  The messages capture our attention and afterwards, we are never the same.

Again, we cannot separate the messages, just as I cannot separate my mind from my heart or body.  Human beings cannot be divided, and similarly the message of the Quran cannot be divided.  We must find out the unifying point and go around this conversion point, which is Absoluteness of God (or ahad).  Everything that I use and do should be for His sake, to reach Him.  This converging point is ahad.  The wind, mountain, stars, human body… are signs to the One, the Single One, the only One, the undefinable One, the Creator of the universe, the Absolute One.

These sections of the Quran that we are studying convey the same message in a style speaking to the obstinate mind.  At the time of the Prophet, such people did not directly criticize the message, rather they said to the Prophet that he is a mad man (majnoon, receiving the message from jinns).  That is, they did acknowledge that the message is something extraordinary or from God.  They believed in God, but they do not want to submit to this Owner of the universe.

Finally, belief in God (imaan) is easy but submitting to God (islam) is not easy.  You cannot bring any counter evidence to deny belief in God and no one can bring a rationally counter argument against belief in God. However, belief in God does bring much responsibility.  What is difficult is to submit my will to God’s will.

We need to get strong in our conviction by fortifying our belief so that we can smash our obstinate ego to submit and accept that we do not have an independent existence; that we cannot make independent decisions according to our own criteria.  Take an arrow in your hand to target your obstinate ego who does not want to submit to its Creator.  By understanding the evidence of belief, we can be successful in submitting our ego’s desires to God’s will and humbling ourselves before our Creator.  The aim of our studies is belief training, and our target is to make my free will submit to God’s Absolute Will.