Chapter Mursalat – Part 6

Mursalat, part 6

This section is one of the early periods of Messengership, when the message started to be delivered by the Prophet, the elite people in the society were getting alarmed, because they thought that their position and status was being threatened.  The Prophet was continuing to convey his message and people who had no status in the society (poor people) in the eyes of the elite people, started joining the circle of the Prophetic mission and supporting their devotion to his message.  Later, the elite of the society were demanding that the Prophet stop conveying the message for they felt that he was challenging their ancestral heritage, but he continued delivering his message with a peaceful resistance (i.e., he was not saying anything back but just continued on his mission).  In his message, the Prophet emphasized the importance of the nature of the universe, how things are fragile in their existence, and they cannot keep themselves in existence by themselves for they are dependent and are transient.  We cannot put our trust in creation.  In addition, our bodies are fragile too.  

77:16 “Did we not destroy earlier people [who denied the truth]?”

People may say that a geological action or disaster happened, and people of the past are dead now.  Our principle is to bring the meaning of the verse of the Quran to our life right now.  The word “destroy” relates to what?  Destruction is subject to what?  The human spirit and the human feelings are not material and are directly related to the Creator (it is from Him).  However, the universe, in its material form is fragile and in its meaning is permanent; pointing to the Absolute Being and the meaning cannot be destroyed.  Example: If you watch a video, you get the idea about its content/story.  Now, can you burn the meaning you extracted from it?  No, meaning is not material.  Destruction is subject to the matter, the material aspect of the things, not the meaning or feelings.  As far as humans are concerned, my body is subject to destruction, not my spirit.  We see that the bodies of the previous generation were destroyed and now rotting in the soil.  Who is doing this? The One who gave existence to the body is destroying it.  Analogy: you live in a house and if you get out of the house and it gets destroyed, you are still alive.  Similarly, the house is my body and the people living in the house are my spirit and my feelings.  My feelings are not of a material nature, and they are not subject to destruction.  The Creator created my spirit without any physical body.  The Quran is talking about the destruction of the physical body of the people i.e., destruction is subject to the body.  This means that denying the truth is the act of the spirit, which cannot be destroyed, only the denier’s body is destroyed. As a result of denying the news of the prophetic message about the resurrection, it is preserved in their spirit. They will be treated according to how they felt here, no hope for anything, total despair of any human expectations as a recompense of their choice of denying the news of the prophetic message and the news they are given in their human feelings.

How can a person guarantee his existence if this person defines himself only in terms of his/her body?  This person’s body is subject to destruction because only his body is destroyed.  How about his spirit?  That is not going to be destroyed.  Example: The universe is our school where our spirit is educated.  The education institutions are for educating our human feelings, not the body.  There is knowledge, and information transferred to the mind, and the mind and feelings are being educated in these institutions.  When the people graduate and leave the school, the people remain with what they learned from the knowledge.  The school may be destroyed but the knowledge remains with them.  

The learning from knowledge and information is not in a material sense, however, the means through which information and knowledge are disseminated is in a material form.  The destruction is mentioned for the people who define themselves as body only. Again, it means that the deniers themselves are created by the One who created their feelings (heart and spirit) and their feelings are not subject to destruction. For example, the people who lived before us, their bodies are destroyed, but their spirit must be kept by the One who created them, just as the meaning of the book is kept in the mind of the author. Even if the paper of the book is burned, the meaning remains as ever fresh.   Again, the destruction of the body does not mean the destruction of the spirit.  The destroying is subject to the unbelievers because that attitude defines themselves as body.

Comment: it seems as if the Creator is destroying according to our choice.

Indeed, if I define myself as a body, then I will be fearful to die.  Although, my body keeps transforming and renovating i.e., my body from last year is not here anymore, it is destroyed, and I am still alive, and I (my spirit) is conscious of it.  Would you be convinced that when you die, your consciousness will remain as it is now after death even though the consciousness or the spirit’s connection with the body is separated? That is the only thing that happens when we die.  Never give a chance to the thought that when you die, you will lose yourself.  Not at all.  Maybe for a period, like the sleep we have.  When I sleep, I may not be aware of my existence (depending on one’s understanding of existence), but when I wake up, I become aware of my existence, it does not disappear.   

• Death is like going to sleep and resurrection is like waking up.  That is how the Quran describes it and gives the example of sleep and waking up; change of day and night, it is an example of taking the spirit out of my body now and transferring it into another body that my spirit will exercise exactly as it learned here at the same level.  

We are all experiencing continuous destruction right now such as I am aging and losing my abilities.  The Quran says that don’t you see that the previous generation who defined themselves as body, they all died.  If you do not want to lose your existence, be careful how you define yourself.? If you really understand that what makes you a human being is not your flesh and brain, rather your feelings altogether with the intelligence, learning ability and training your abilities, then you are on your way to succeeding in your responsibility as a human being.  

77:17 “Then we made others to follow them.”

My great grandparents are separated from their bodies and the grandparents are also separated from their parents and bodies.  This means that you too will also be separated from your body and loved ones. That is, you will get out of this physical/material aspect of creation, the school of the universe, so prepare yourself for it.  

77:18 “This is how we deal with the wicked.”

The wicked people mean the ones that are rejecting the Creator’s grace and rejecting that they are created by a Conscious Being for a purpose to educate, learn and get ready for an eternal life.  The people who do rejections are called “wicked” people; they harm themselves by denying their reality as if they are going to gain anything by contradicting their human side.  The human side does not want to lose its existence and the pleasure of existing in this world.  If you do not attribute your existence to an Absolute Creator, then you are bound to define yourself as a body, which is continuously experiencing the destruction, and human consciousness continuously reminds through human feelings that you don’t want to disappear from existence.

The people who are wicked and deny reality, do so for a simple reason: “I do not want to submit myself to the Creator who gave me existence, I want to claim ownership over my existence.”  If that is the case, then protect yourself and sustain yourself, guarantee the needs that your human feelings desire, let alone giving existence to yourself is impossible.  We found ourselves existing and our existence is given not by us but someone else.  Can you stop aging?  No.  What is wrong with you then?  Why do you harm yourself by reducing yourself to meat?  This arrogance is so meaningless and purposeless, not to submit oneself to His Creator.  We sometimes say that belief matters are important and must have the priority of our concerns.  Even if the belief is established, the difficult thing for the human ego or human false pride is to submit to the Creator.  That is why people avoid belief in the Creator because they do not want to submit themselves to the Creator.  They go against their nature and deny the Creator so they can hopefully feel free.  If someone accepts His Creator, then he knows that He needs to submit to His Creator and be thankful to Him.  Try to see the purpose He has created me for, we must all search for this and that is our responsibility to educate ourselves here by being honest to ourselves (not contradicting ourselves).

We are not going to do anything more than not contradicting ourselves and thus, complying with the nature of our being, that is what belief and submission is. I cannot create the orange, sunlight, happiness, or atom.  What do I create?  Nothing.  So, what is wrong with me then?  However, human beings are free to choose to be arrogant, wicked, or dishonest to their reality at the cost of suffering spiritually.  Belief in God and submitting to the Creator is not extra to our nature.  We need to understand that belief in God is the most comforting reality for my nature.  I did not produce my feelings, but my feelings require me to submit to God.  

Whether I was introduced to a notion of God or not, my feelings accept that I am given existence by something else.  I did not create myself and senseless matter cannot create me either, my human side did not choose to create my body.  My human side has no will and power and everything is subject to the order that is under the desire and the will of its Creator, whoever originated the order.  Matter is subject to the order, and it cannot be the originator of the order. It is obvious for the human mind that the order needs to be given existence, alongside the matter and the existence will continue according to the will of the Creator of the universe.  Just as the brick of the house cannot be the originator of the house, someone needs to put the bricks together, there must be a blueprint for that.  This is my reality; I cannot change my cells and change the order of the universe.  I am obeying the order of the universe; my body is obeying the order of the universe.  Why should I abstain from obeying the order of the universe?  Why should I contradict my reality so that my feelings will suffer from falling into despair of continuously losing my existence and getting to a dead end according to a wicked understanding of the universe (which means the end of one’s existence)?  No one wants to lose his life, unless s/he goes out of control under severe emotional stress or depression (like suicide), otherwise no one wants to lose his life.  

As I choose to be a wicked person, my inevitable result is to experience the destruction of my existence continuously.  It is an inevitable end for me, and I must experience destruction continuously.  I am happy when I get something and when I know that I will lose everything, I lose all my hopes and pleasure in gaining.  I cannot change this reality.  

77:15 “How horrible is that Day for those who deny the truth?”

If I choose to be wicked, then there is no way for me to take pleasure for my life here and in the next creation according to the capacity of my human body, whichever way I trained it here.  Did I educate it here by submitting myself to my Creator and admitting that He is the Owner of everything that I am benefiting in this world?  If so, then I will have a new creation deserving according to my level of education here. That is, whatever I learn I will practice it in my life.  

The life of the world is like a seed with the DNA encoded in it.  What we do here is that we write our own DNA for the next creation in the form of a seed, just like the students in a school get ready for life after graduation.  They will be successful as much as they learn during the education system.  Whatever I write here in my DNA structure, accordingly my seed of life in this world will grow into a tree which gives fruits based on its own nature.  Can you expect a lemon seed to grow into a tree which will be sweet like grapes?  No, lemon is not sweet.   Just like the Quran describes the tree of Zaqqum (pain) as to be a poisonous tree, whereas the tree of Tuba (happiness) to be a pleasant tree.  This is how the Creator is teaching me, take care of my seed of life in this world, write your DNA here for the next creation: “Out of this tree, which is My order in creation that whatever your seed of life has written on its DNA, I will create your tree in the next life creation giving the same fruits as were appreciated by you.”

If I torture myself in this world with an interpretation of my existence as just existing by itself, with no conscious Creator taking care of my needs, everything is accidentally happening, then the seed will grow into a tree of Zaqqum (poisonous).  You are hungry and you eat poisonous food because you did not say that the Creator blessed you when you were in the world.  You said that chance caused you to exist as a human being.  Call your chance or idol to help you now.  The idol of this age is nature, the things happening by themselves or accidents.  “Call these idols of your understanding now!”

When I say that I believe in God, it does not solve my problems, rather it is just the beginning of my salvation.  Example: I believe in God and the money I earn sustains my life or the Government takes care of me.  I am nourishing my children. When I die, my Creator will say that is the seed that you grew in this world, you denied Me and believed that it was nourishing you.  In other words, call your food now to feed you because you did not accept that I am the One feeding you.  You said that food is the Source of nourishment, go and ask the food, which is rotten and destroyed, even while living in the world, the food gets destroyed.  That is why destruction is only for those who deny reality and reduce themselves to matter only.  Matter is subject to destruction, continuously changing, one thing does not change, the quality of the Creator is constant in its existence.  Anything that exists witnesses that my Creator must have the Absolute quality of power, knowledge, choice, freedom, and wisdom… This is exciting to realize.  However, if I do not accept that matter is continuously changing and demonstrates that my Creator is an Absolute Being, and Owner of an Absolute Knowledge (you can list all the qualities that you observe in the universe), then I am not identifying myself with the Owner of these qualities, rather with matter itself, which is subject to destruction.

Comment: What is truly promised for resurrection?  The body part bearing witness and destruction where the body suffers?  It seems that the new type of creation is a completely different creation.

According to the capacity of your spirit and education or the seed that you developed here, the tree will be created according to the nature of the seed that you and I composed here. It is not the body that will suffer in the hereafter, but the spirit, which is given appropriate to its nature, the quality to enjoy or suffer.  In fact, the spirit is suffering, and it will be exercised through the body as it is here.  Example: If I do not have eyes, then my power of sight cannot operate.  My spirit needs tools to operate, but the tool, given in the next creation, must be according to what my spirit deserves.  The seed will grow according to its nature, and how it is composed, the tree will grow and give fruit of exactly the same nature.  In other words, if I torture myself by claiming that I consist of body only, and this body will rot and I will continuously experience the rotting body, and physically experience it in me (spirt as well).

We should not confuse the training here, to the Resurrection.

Comment:  Resurrection is corporeal and will be dense or ethereal depending on one’s orientation in this school of life. But corporeality of resurrection is definite, i.e., necessary.

Yes, it is a logical conclusion. The nature of my spirit is such that it requires a permanent realm to operate all its capacity.  It is not that I designed that spirit in such a way, rather, my Creator has created me in this form, and I am experiencing it and I am conscious of it.

Comment: I do not feel satisfied with being limited to a body.

Look at myself, can I experience my Creator without having the tools of this material existence?   Can I have the knowledge of the author without reading his book written on a paper?  Can I understand the knowledge of a person without listening to his voice?  Voice is a material thing, vibrations of the air molecules.  Our spirit is created in need of the body and we cannot imagine the existence of the spirit without the body.  That is why the transmission from this life into the next creation must be alongside with the transmission of this body to the appropriate body, i.e., how I prepared my spirit to grow into another form of material tree, so that this tree will give me the fruit and I will entertain the fruit of my tree of life in the hereafter.  We do not have the likeness of this next creation here, and we cannot imagine it, but we know that it must be appropriate to the capacity of my spirit.  That is the justice of my Creator.  Just as when you open up a school and start the education system, students come there and learn, some students don’t learn and remain ignorant.  That is the reality of this universe.  When graduation day comes (death), these people will graduate and get into life according to their capacity, how much they have trained the capacity of knowledge, how they trained themselves during the school days.  In exactly the same way, in the hereafter we will be given a life which is appropriate to the qualities we gained in this world.  That is, a rotten body or a good healthy body, depending on how we trained our seed of life here in this education center of the universe.  Which kind of tree is it going to be out of my seed of spirit here?  I do not know. Before I was given a body here on earth, I did not know what kind of a body I was going to be given.

Can you imagine you found a seed and you have not experienced the plant of that seed at all?  What can you say about that seed?  The seed is a small plant or a huge tree or some color, there is no way for you to imagine by looking at the seed itself.  How can you make sure which kind of seed it is?  The order and justice of the Creator is out there, and He is demonstrating His justice in the creation of this world, i.e., sow the seed in the soil and new shoots will come out of it and you will see which kind of plant it is.  Only after experiencing the physical form of the plant, then we understand that this is the seed which grew into this plant.  Similarly, that is how resurrection will be.

We are here to prepare our seed in the most realistic manner as we can do it here i.e., realistic to the expectations of our spirit.  Do not contradict yourself and prepare your seed accordingly because you will practice it in real life after graduation.  The new creation, resurrection needs to be from the order of the universe.  Example: without the body of the universe, can I in any way understand who the Creator is?  If there was nothing created, can I become aware of the Creator?  That is our reality, we must experience the physical existence of the things through physical means, eye, brain, ears, tongue, nose…  Without the nose, I cannot smell, without the tongue, I cannot taste, although the ability to smell, taste, see and hear is in my spirit but it cannot operate.  That is how the Creator is demonstrating to me that without a physical tool, your spirit cannot operate.  In the next creation, the physical body must be created in order for your spirit to continue experiencing its qualities, as they are prepared.

The universe is full of examples for it and my life is a real example for me and my logic confirms it and the Prophetic message confirms it, there is no contradiction in the creation, my existence and the message that we receive through the Messengers of God.  It is obvious that the Messengers are uneducated people, deliberately selected because they would not brag about their credentials.  Some people will say that the notions of the seven layers of the sky exist in Greek mythology, and so Muhammad must have stolen it from there.  How ridiculous!?  In Mecca, no one knew the Greek language at all and after the death of the Prophet, some people around Mecca went to Mesopotamia and learned that the Greek also mentioned the seven layers of the sky.  There was no education system in Mecca at the time of the Prophet’s revelation.  In other words, if someone does not want to submit to his reality, he must make up stories, there is no other way.  We need to take care of ourselves.  There is wisdom in choosing an illiterate person (innocent and honest), only then we can understand that we should have no reason to doubt about the revelation that Muhammad has received, not from himself but from the Creator of the universe.  As the message of Islam tells us, every nation is given and sent a prophet, some may realize it and some may not.  Most of them are forgotten about as the message of God, but some remnants of them remain in any tradition.  

How horrible is that moment for those who deny the truth?

When you deny the truth, you experience it on a transient basis.  When you compose your DNA of the seed of your life with poisonous experience of life (I am going to disappear from existence and have no hope for getting out of this desperate end), at the end, this DNA will grow into a tree experiencing this horrible bodily resurrection in the next creation.  

Why do some religious people say that we must forget about the material worldly life?  The spirit can only experience through material existence, there is no other way.  Even if there was no physical revelation, then there would be no Prophet.  If there was no Prophet, then there would be no revelation either.  However, the reality is out there, and revelation is passed onto us through the existence of a physical being, a Prophet, a human being, so we hear it from his mouth.  We cannot not hear it from God who is speaking to me now, but I can understand that this revelation is the Speech of God.  And I can imagine that my Creator is speaking to me right now, which is an imagination, not a physical experience.  Whereas, when I listen to the Prophet reciting the revelation to me, I am hearing and experiencing it physically.  These religious people are not aware of the value of physical existence.  What they mean by saying not to pay attention to the physical side of it and don’t try to satisfy your bodily ambitions, is that do not try to satisfy your physical side only, but satisfy and nourish your spirit i.e., what the spirit desires.  They do not emphasize the fact that I can only satisfy the desires of my spirit through material experience where God’s qualities are manifested.  

How would you know that God is so much loving you if you do not appreciate the beautiful creation out there, the delicious food on the table that you are enjoying?  How would you know that God is so merciful to you and the Designer of this Beauty and Mercy?  We should interact with the physical being in order to read the meaning they carry to me.  That is, I should carry the book not for the sake of the decoration of the paper, but the meaning in it, in order to interact with the meaning of the book, can I reject the book that this is just a paper?  How can I access the meaning?  Can I access the meaning without the paper?  No.  Can I get any value from a thing by appreciating the paper value, rather than the meaning in it?  We need to understand this balanced interaction i.e., we need to eat to experience the presence of God’s Mercy in me.

I have to look at the beautiful creation in order to experience the quality of the art of the Creator.  At the same time, I should not love the beautiful flower for the sake of the material body of the flower only, it will disappear.  But if I see the beauty manifested in the flower, which is coming from the Absolute Creator, His Absolute quality of the beautifier, then He is the Originator of the beauty in this world and I will be with this Absolute Infinite Originator of beauty and I will attach my spirit to Him, rather than the material body of the flower. Without the body of the flower, I would not recognize that my Creator is the One who is the Artist of this universe, who exhibits in it endless degrees of beauty for my enjoyment and entertainment.  Afterwards, I will say that I love the beautifier Creator making everything artfully and beautifully who is the Creator of the universe.  I am attaching my being to Him rather than the matter itself.  This is the balance, we should never ignore it and that is how my reality is, the reality of the universe is and how the Quran presents, i.e., how should I get in touch with the Creator through looking at the mountains, clouds, rain coming down, plants, animals, flesh and milk of the animals, even what tools I receive through the hands of human beings, like ship, how many times the Quran gives reference to the universe, in order to witness that they are created by an Absolute Originator of the universe, called God.  That is the balance we must keep in mind, rather than criticizing the people saying different things.  We need to understand the reality within our own case and make it real and practical for us.  

The principle of the teachings of the Quran may seem as if it is changing the subject from one point to another.  In fact, one aspect is demonstrated and presented to us and the other aspect follows it.

77:21 “Did we not create you from contemptible fluid?”

Don’t you see that we created you out of disgusting fluid, so how can you be arrogant and not submit your existence to the Sustainer of your existence?  What were you from the beginning?  This is very realistic.  First, this draws our attention that the wicked people are destroyed, my body will be destroyed but I am not going to be destroyed for I am always as I am.  Now, turn back to yourself, who are you? What do you think you are?  Are you making yourself?  Do you think that you are a dignified person now?  You are created out of a contemptible fluid, then what is this arrogance for?  How can you be proud of yourself as an independent existent being?  Please behave yourself, pay attention to yourself and your essential reality of what you are?  

77:22 “and place it in a secure place.”

The Creator is speaking now, we gave you a secure place in the womb of your mother.  You did not go there by yourself; you did not choose that, it is how you were prepared, consciously, deliberately within a certain knowledgeable order.  The Creator demonstrated there what He is going to do, He knows what He is doing, and He prepares you stage by stage, so that you will understand that you have been taken care of from the very beginning of your existence in this world by a Conscious Being. The atoms and particles of your cells have no knowledge, free will, power to decide and make you develop into the best form of existence.

77:22 “for a determined period?

It does not mean that your existence will continue to develop randomly, rather, there will be a time that your body and tools will start deteriorating materially, not spiritually.  Your feelings will be as they are always.  Your feelings are alive.  Example: John had difficulties in seeing, his spirit wanted to see perfectly, his eyes were not able to, and he was disappointed.  God showed him a way of curing this problem and he can see now.  While his eyes were not able to see, his feelings/qualities of power of sight were the same as he was in his young age.  He wanted to see as he could when he was 20 years of age.  In other words, my spirit never gets old, but my body gets old.  For my body, there is a determined period.  Who did this?  Do you think that atoms have consciousness?  How do you see and interpret yourself?  Are your atoms consciously preparing themselves for your future?  Do they have any quality to do that?

Comment: Without materiality, spirituality cannot be discerned.  Materiality is the black dot on the endless white wall, thus showing us what white is.

Comment: The object will disappear; the experience is what remains. And we honor and praise the Creator of that experience.  

Everything is controlled by a Conscious Being giving the opportunity for us to educate in this world. Example: College education is mostly 4 years.  Every education level has a beginning and end.  The end of High School is the beginning of College, and the end of College is the beginning of one’s real life.  That is how we are experiencing life in this world, the order of the universe, and so, the end of my life here, is the beginning of my life in the next creation, this is inevitable because my spirit never gets old.  We need to make sure of this.

77:23 “So we determined it! How excellent determiners We are!”

The demonstration of the universe tells you that you are here constantly changing.  Death is the time of appointment to get out of the school of the universe, and it is perfectly teaching you your reality in this world, so you should not mislead yourself.  

77:24 “How horrible is that day for those who deny the truth!”

If someone does not deny his own reality then s/he does not deny the Revelation, because the Revelation is nothing but a verbal explanation of my reality.  I need to confirm my reality here, so that I will confirm the revelation which is explaining what my reality is, nothing more than that.  The reality of existence out there, the reality of my body, the reality of my spirit, my consciousness is aware of all these elements. How horrible is the moment of the person’s life who denies his own reality, the universe, existence, and the message that the Prophets bring to us from the Creator of the universe?  I am from the Creator of the universe.  The universe is from its Creator, the message is also from its Creator.  Everything comes from the same source, and so they should not contradict each other. The same source is manifesting Itself (His qualities) in 3 different forms, the universe/body (1), spirit (2) and the Speech in the revelation manifesting Itself and presenting Itself to my consciousness and spirit.  If I deny this, I will be experiencing a horrible life because I deserve it and I denied every kind of reality such as the example of the previous people.  I did not take notice of the end of previous deniers, my own creation, the way I was subject to be prepared and grow in my life here, I denied that as well, and the message passed on to me through the messenger.  We must be fair to the Creator and say that “I have tortured myself; O God forgive me.”  Otherwise, if I deny and reject all these sources together, I am composing my DNA in the form of a seed which will grow into the tree of Zaqqum.  That is the description of Hell, a poisonous tree, which gives poisonous fruit, that is what “Zaqqum” is in the language of the Prophet describing Hell.  The more you eat, the more you poison yourself.  If you do not eat, then you will suffer from hunger, lack of God’s Mercy because you denied it with no evidence.  That is so logical and confirmable.  May we exercise our choices in the direction that listens to our consciousness!