Chapter Mursalat – Part 7

Mursalat, part 7

Recap: There are various ways of receiving the message via the universe, our human reality, our feelings, and the revelations/the messenger and Prophetic mission.  How is the human being created in a humble way and how does the human being react against his own reality and the reality of this world (i.e., reject the Prophets and their message)?  We must be careful because the Creator determines everything in an excellent way, and He is always just to His creatures, and He treats human beings according to what they deserve.  He will reward those people who follow the message and accept their reality.  Therefore, their reality necessitates that they must submit themselves to their Creator.  This does not mean that the Creator says: “Here you are, and I am sending you a messenger asking you to submit  to Me, as an authority over you.”  Rather, the message says to accept your reality: “Look carefully at your own self and the things themselves, do not take an arrogant attitude, but accept what you are.”  As a consequence of this acceptance, human beings are expected to admit that they are created from a contemptible fluid, gradually developed, and prepared for the reality of this creation.  And the human spirit is also prepared to come to its own sense of reality and understanding that it is treated by a Compassionate, Wise, and Merciful Creator.  He is entertaining us here as guests, and now He is talking to us to look around and at ourselves: “look how you are treated as everything is perfectly arranged for your benefit, so be honest with yourself and don’t take an arrogant, self-conceited attitude, as if you independently exist.  No, your existence is dependent on something else, that is the Creator of the universe.  Hence, admit your reality”.  From this presentation, we understand that human beings are not required to do something more than what we are.  

Human beings are not expected to confirm something that they cannot witness the evidence to and be convinced within themselves or be obliged to do something because a person who claims to be employed by God, called Messenger/Prophet says that you must accept God and believe in Him (something external to human reality).  Rather, the message that the Prophets bring to us is telling us nothing more than what I am and what my reality is.  

The human ego centric aspect does not deny God, the Prophet, rather it denies his/her own reality and hence, denies the message which calls him/her to accept his/her reality.  Human reality says that you must submit and accept yourself as to be created within the confinement of a fragile existence.  You are dependent and you cannot sustain your life.  You know that you are subject to the will of someone else who is the Originator of this universe.  So, just accept your reality!

If a person still does not take this message seriously and go on with his own understanding/choice, which is completely based on a false assumption i.e., I can suffice myself, as if I am a self-existing being and not dependent on anything else, then he will cheat himself.  Accepting my reality or not accepting my reality is what the message is all about.  

The message that the Prophet brings to us is nothing external to us AND it is not something that we cannot understand.  Although it is called “ghaib”, it does not mean that I cannot see or know it.  Rather, I can see, know, and understand my reality. My logic tells me that I am dependent in my existence, in my sustenance, and in my everything.  Everything is given to me and provided to me freely, I must just ask for what I need, that is my responsibility: “I need this”.  

The order of the universe is created in such a way that the order tells me that you have to do this in order to acquire certain results.  Example: if you feel thirsty, you must drink water.  If you get hungry, go pick up the fruits, vegetables, and meat that is already readily created for you.  Also, if you want to grow new things for yourself, go till the earth.  You are not being asked to create the things that you need to go on with your livelihood here.  All the provisions are already created here.  That is why, people are not really forgiven if they reject this reality, because accepting and confirming this reality about ourselves that we are experiencing occurs while we utilize our given intelligence to understand.  If someone is not given intelligence, (people with a mental disability), then they have no responsibility because they do not understand, and God says: “I am not expecting you to submit because I have not given you the tools to realize your reality”.  

After studying and bringing the message to us, we understand that the message is telling me nothing more than what I have, in the creation and myself, witnessed by myself.  Although some people think that religion is full of descriptions of God who speaks with threat and as if He hates people.  The Quran is full of descriptions of Hell, but what is wrong with it?  Nothing.  If I do not accept my reality, then I will find myself in a miserable position experienced here.  I need to check myself.  The Quranic message is just a reminder, and it is not inventing anything new for you by giving the answers to your questions.  Your questions and requests are within your own creation, it is already given to you and you have not acquired the question from somewhere else.  We have not invented anything new except denying my reality.

We should not blame people who deny or who do not accept religion totally.  They have their share in that, but at the same time, we must look at ourselves.  What does it mean?  They are not right to deny their reality, but something needs to be done.  The people who convey the message of the Prophet which he received from the Creator, study the message, and then grow into another kind of self-conceited person.  “Look I confirm the truth and I am superior, this is the reality, and people must come and follow me and follow my acceptance”.  These are the mistakes in the society in the name of religion and other people are fearful of this attitude: “Why is this man calling me to follow him without any reasonable explanations?”  The way we present the message of the Creator which we receive through the Messengers is not that appropriate for human intelligence to conceive, confirm and identify with.  “Example: You must believe in God, otherwise, you will be thrown into Hell straight away.”

We start narrating the message literally, rather than using the figurative messages which tell us how the reality of the world is, rather than the physical appearance of the world.  The message of the Quran also speaks as if in a physical description of the world, Hell and Paradise.  It is drawing our attention to what these things refer to, so that we can think about it and understand what it means for us?  How do the Prophetic life examples narrated in the Quran should be related to our life conditions?  That needs interpretation of the figurative descriptions of reality.

If we call people to follow the literal appearance of the message, they will reject it. I must first make sense of it and practice it for my practical life right now, so that I will present it according to my understanding of the practical terms of the interpretation of the literal messages of the Prophets.  I must be first convinced within myself, and I cannot call people to my understanding of religion.  Rather, I have to call them by using their own intelligence, of how the text should be understood? I must present the people with the method of understanding the message.  I should never call people to obey me and join my community and covert to my religion.  That is the reason why people fear religion, religious people and their community, this friendly forcing which is not appealing.  The Quran is nothing more than your reality being taught to you.  But one may argue that when you read it, it talks about killing the people.  Sure, invite these questioning people to study our reality together.  

If I am convinced that this message corresponds with and relates to my feelings, then I can confirm it within my own feelings, free from a biased way of turning religion into my racial, community and tribal identity, rather than calling the people to look into their own reality.  Look at yourself!  Can you create yourself?  Can you provide anything for yourself or is it just prepared for you?  Example: what did you have for dinner? I cooked. Did you create the fire?  No. I cut the onions.  Did you create the act of cutting the onions?  No. You are just using them and are a consumer in this world.  This universe does not belong to you, but it is provided for you.  You are given the intelligence to understand this.  Go and listen to yourself and think about your reality.  People are not thinking about their reality.  Even believers don’t think about their own reality, they may just pass on what they hear to others without deeply reflecting on it themselves. What do you understand from Islam?  Only then can you convey the message to others.

In the last session, the verses drew our attention to see how the preparation in our existence is perfectly adjusted to fit our needs and understand our reality.  Sometimes you are desperately in need of many things and you cannot get it yourself.  That is the way that the Creator has prepared for you to make you understand that you cannot guarantee your existence and your needs.  “You cannot guarantee your expectations and satisfy your hopes and wishes by yourself, only We do it”.  If you deny this, how horrible will your situation be and the end of your life on Earth will bring your denial with you i.e., you will be faced with your own conclusions when you are given a new existence.

The previous examples were about our inner reality where we must reflect on our own existence to understand the values of the reminders to the previous generation.  All the messages are reminding me of what my reality tells me, nothing more.  

77:25 “Have We not made the earth a home.”

Your spirit is a guest here, and we have prepared everything for your body and spirit here.  We also prepared the food for your spirit so that you get to know Me.  That is, you wonder what is going on here while all creation is crying out to you that: “our Creator is the Absolute Being, with His qualities manifested in me”.  The things utter: “Look at me and benefit from me, eat me, walk on me, drink me, get the sunlight and benefit from everything in an incredible way.

• Don’t you look at everything, We provided it for you?!  Your body will remain in this earthly home.

77:26 “for the living and the dead.”

While I am living, I am benefiting from the beautiful blessings and bounties of my Creator.  When I am dead, my body benefits from the soil while it decomposes.  The body needs something in order to decay, rot in the soil, that is its home.  Don’t worry about your body or be crazy about it, yes, take care of it while you are alive.  But remember, that your spirit will remain with you, not the body.  This creation is the home for your body and spirit.  When the body and spirit is separated from each other, called death, your body will remain here and that will be its home.  

God is drawing our attention to the reality that He is creating everything here from dead beings.  Matter has no life but when they are formed into planets, they become alive, running, rotating, and turning.  Atoms are created out of dead particles.  When they are formed into atoms, they run and are alive.  Out of atoms, cells and molecules are created.  That is incredible, no one can deny existence for it is obvious evidence of the Absolute Creator that He is operating in this existence and manifesting endless qualities in one cell.  In one second, there are endless manifestations of His qualities and various chemical reactions going on in the body of one cell.  Imagine all the animal and vegetable kingdoms!

As the Quran says, “that is God who is doing this, show me one thing of the universe doing this?!”  The reminder that we receive from God is so evident that no human intelligence can ever deny it.  So, what is wrong with people that deny their reality?  That is why, God is begging, what are you doing, preparing your torture in this world and the next?  I am the One who created this world, can I not revive this world again as I am creating everything out of dead matter here?

We need to talk a lot about the discipline of sciences and how the cell works?  What is going on inside the cell?  Cell is alive, what does it mean?  Do you think the sun is not alive? It is continuously working instantly, running and turning around other parts of the galaxies.  All galaxies running around the others and altogether making one unit.  Everything is alive according to its capacity.  A worm is alive according to its capacity.  The bird is alive.  Human beings are alive.  Cells are alive, what is life?  Can anyone describe what life is?  No one can do so, because life is not from this world.

If something is not from this world, then we cannot describe it.  Can we describe our human side?  No. Are we alien to our human side?  No, we are experiencing it.  That is what I am.  Can I deny life?  No.  Can I describe life?  No. My not being able to describe life/spirit does not necessitate that I should deny it.  My not being able to describe God, the Absolute Being, does not necessitate that I should deny Him.  That is my life and reality. Being able to describe something is different from knowing that it exists.  It is out there and within my own experience.  

The existence of life is within my experience.  Inanimate beings are working and growing, doing lots of wonderful things. They have no consciousness of their own. It means that they have another quality that I cannot describe and, yet they exist.  Just as I cannot describe my spirit and human side, but can I deny that I have feelings, expectations, questions, wishes and hopes?  Can I describe it?  No. it is within my perception.  How about God?   Can I describe God?  No.  Can I deny that in the existence of every single being, the qualities manifested in it cannot be attributed to the things themselves because the things themselves have no capacity to accommodate these qualities within their capacity?  No.

None of the reminders that God sends to us through messages is deniable, not because we may not be able to describe its essence, rather we cannot deny its existence.  Can you deny the meaning that you read from creation?  No.  When we are looking at something or eating something, can we deny the beauty, ugliness, or the taste of that thing?  No.  Can I deny the delicious taste of the food that I ate?  No.  That is what the Quran mentions, “belief in ghaib” is all about this, not that it is beyond my capacity, rather I cannot describe it.  At the same time, I cannot deny its reality.  This is a wonderful creation, and we can confirm our reality with the usage of our free will.  We can either be so contradicting to our reality and causing conflict within ourselves and choosing to deny the reality or we can choose to follow the truth.  We are free.  That is why the Creator comes to our aid to help us: “don’t make this grave mistake, you are harming yourself”. Just as the parents are talking to their children, do not do this wrong thing that will harm you, don’t follow the media, choose nice friends…  Do you think that young people don’t know this?  They know this but need encouragement, that is why parents are employed to help, guide, and warn them. That is what God is creating in the heart and spirit of the parent, and that is why as a parent they feel more sorrow than the children harming themselves.  As a parent, no one can deny this, and they feel the pain of the harm that the children do to themselves.  The children go and sleep comfortably but the parents cannot.  Parents are more careful of the security and happiness of their children than the children themselves, that is how we are created.  What atom caused these feelings in the parents?  How can we explain this?

People say that the cell of your brain is causing it.  Where did the cell get this ability?  Only the One who creates the dead thing is the Cause of existence of dead matter and life. Out of dead matter, we see life is coming.  Dead matter cannot be the source of existence of life, it means that someone is operating on it.  The book example can be applied to every subject: Is the dead body of the paper, ink, shape of letters giving the meaning to the sentence? Can they come together by themselves? If a scribe does not write it or an author does not convey his knowledge into the sentences, can the combinations of the letters come together by themselves to cause the meaning?  Can the sentence convey meaning by themselves?  The materialist people say that the particles of the cells are causing the meaning that is written on the DNA.  How can one respect such ideologies, choice, and arrogance that is poisoning the mind of young innocent people?  Look at your own reality, can you confirm what they propose?  No.  Tell them that they are in error and they need to wake up, that is the Prophetic teaching, to say what is right!

Who can give life to dead things?  Who can take away life out of dead things?  The One who does it all, will give life.  Who will give life to a dead body?  The One who gave it here, will give it there as well, appropriate to the conditions of the next creation.  After the graduation of your education here from the school of the universe, you will have another type of life according to what you deserve. That is our reality here, just like life in College and after College.  So, how can I deny resurrection?  After graduation, we experience resurrection of what we have learned here, how I educated myself, accordingly, I will be treated in another creation.  That is what this Earth is teaching us and prepared for us by its Creator.

77:27 “and placed upon it towering, firm mountains, and given fresh water to drink?”

Who is arranging the system in the world where water comes down from the sky clearly?  Clouds are created in such a way that they do not get lost in the sky. It is so balanced, that they do not go further up after a certain time, like an army they come down. Each molecule of water is dropped and becomes an army and thrown like the bullets of Mercy and then evaporates.  That is how the wisdom of the Creator operates and requires, so that the human beings understand that death is a perfect balanced order and refined measurement.  So, we will question, who puts this order, the matter or atom itself?  The atom needs to be given the ability to give out energy and it cannot be the source of any of these actions.  These actions need to be created and given existence.  Who gives existence to these atoms?  There must be something, that is “belief in ghaib”, there is an Agent.  There must be an Originator who is able to do all this.  The book is there and I am seeing it.  The book itself cannot be the source of the meaning, there must be an author of the book, which I cannot describe it in terms of the material body of the book.  

An intelligent person will conclude that the book must have an Author, otherwise what am I going to do with the meaning only if it is not to conclude about the existence of an Author and what type of Author It is.  

What can be the Originator of the meaning?  How about the qualities which are full of meaning transferred to us that we can communicate with?  Example: I love this, I do not like this, I want to have this, I want to use this, I want to eat this.  Why?  Things have some qualities that you appreciate or dislike and throw away.  You are always interacting with the qualities.  Do you think that you are always interacting with the dead meaningless things?  If the things were meaningless, then why do you bother about anything then?  Why do you prefer certain things over other things?  They all carry some meanings to you.  Just like a fruit tells you to eat it.  Example: Go to an orchard and you see how the grapes are getting ready in clusters.  Each cluster has its own drops like pearls ready with juice and seed in it.  When you eat it, you do not have to worry about not having it again, because its seeds guarantee the overflowing abundance.  The fruits communicate with you to use it, for you are a guest here, looking for the Host.  Who is our Host here?  Nature?  The One who created the universe is entertaining us here, telling us to benefit from the bounties here and I will take you out and put you in another place where you will be treated, as you deserve to be treated.  Prepare yourself and behave yourself.   Do not act arrogantly in my palace, be respectful to yourself and others.

If someone does not respect himself, he does not respect other creatures, and therefore His Creator.  Firstly, self-respect is necessary for me, I have to respect my creation and my reality and then I will act accordingly.  If I respect myself, then I will appreciate the honor of another creature, not only human beings, but also an ant trying to get some food.  How does the ant know to carry food in order to feed its young?  Within the conditions of this universe, who is taking care of the young baby ants?  Yes, God employed them.  Similarly, the human babies, God created them, but who is taking care of them within the conditions of the order of the universe?  The parents.  Who employed them?  The parents enjoy the presence of the baby in the house. That is how we are experiencing our reality here in this world.

Then when we look at other creation around us that is observable, why does the Quran give examples of the mountains?  Who is arranging this?  We cannot say that the mountains are ostentatious, rather they are arranged perfectly to fulfill their duties.  In order to feed the rivers and strings, mountains are employed to slip the water, so that the water will run and come to my home and I use it.  This is just one of the myriad functions of the mountains.  The geologist says that the mountains are tall so that the Earth does not shake, because inside the earth is liquid and it is boiling.  However, we do not feel it, rather we feel secure, as if we are on board a ship under water and if I step under water, I will sink.

It is as if on the ship of this earth, people play different sports, and underneath is water.  How is the balance of the water given so that a certain surface of solid beings does not sink?  Who is arranging this order so we can move a huge amount of goods we want to transport from one side of the world to another?  As a result, human communities can communicate and benefit from different kinds of gifts of our Creator, so we will interact with each other.  No one will live alone and everyone will be in communities interacting with each other so we will have different experiences of life and living conditions.  Through these different experiences, we will learn about the different creatures in existence in the world.  Example: In New York, the landscape is given apples and in Florida, the landscape is given oranges.  We eat bananas in New York, but there are no banana trees here, so how does banana come to my table?  Then we conclude that there are some parts of the world where human beings are gifted presents of bananas by the Creator.  What I am enjoying here happens because God created water in such a way that the ship can run over it without sinking.  Everything is so meaningful around us and there is no end to talking about it.  

Also, the Quran mentions clouds, how they travel from one place to another like an army employed by God to distribute fresh water to the people in different parts of the land.  The water from the sea evaporates and goes up to the cloud, and the water comes down as rain.  How can the water in the ocean which is so salty be evaporated to give us rain?  If a land is irrigated with sea water, the crops will die.  Who is arranging this perfect balance?  Do you think that lifeless matter can do this?  Everything that is created is miraculous and shouting to the ear of the people that: “There is a Conscious Creator taking care of you, so appreciate His kindness, Mercy and His Love for you.  Don’t be an ungrateful person, you will suffer if you are ungrateful and you will be depriving yourself of everything that you need including His presence in your life.  As a result, you will not get the security in your existence to express: “I belong to the Absolute Being, and I have no fear of protecting myself because I belong to an Absolute Being.”  Nature cannot secure my life, only the One who creates myself as I am and the universe can secure it because He has already done it in front of my eyes by presenting me with different stages of creation here.

77:28 “How horrible is that Day for those who deny the truth!”

If you deny your reality, then you will have a horrible life because you will be depriving yourself of how to attain security in your life.  In other words, if I do not learn, then I will remain ignorant.  So, after graduation, how can you say that I want to know because you remained ignorant for 4 years in the schools of the universe?  How can you deserve eternal security?  If I don’t learn anything now, I am losing my opportunity one by one given to me in every class.  This is justice.  Whatever we learn here, we practice it and after graduation which is how the order of the universe is. Whatever I learn, it is for my benefit.  If I do not learn then it is my loss.  The benefit of learning is multiplied infinitely because every time I use the same information, I gain something.  Just as you use the same information you learned in school and practice it in a company and get the salary/payroll running for you, as long as you work there.  This is the condition of this world, and for the next creation, in my relationship with God, it should be the same.  That is, how much I appreciated Him and am grateful to Him, accordingly, my payroll will continue running as much as His capacity allows for it.  His capacity is Infinite.  That is what I want: infinite happiness, guaranteed, why bother about death?  Being scared of death is not human, it means that something is wrong with us if we are.  This does not mean that we should kill ourselves.

77:29 “They will be told by God to what they used to deny.”

You did not learn anything, so I can recompense you?  Now, it is too late. I was telling you to learn while you were in school/world, i.e., do your job and confirm your reality, don’t be ungrateful and don’t be arrogant.  When the appointed time arrives, no one can save you, even the tech geeks cannot come up with an invention to save anyone from death, like they cannot give you life.  Even your doctor cannot give you an eternal pill.  You cannot decide about your appointed time here and neither can you find anyone to save you.  Do not be an arrogant person and reject this reality!

There is no way for anyone to stop the appointed time, even the best technology cannot prevent your appointment with the death angel.  Just as no one chooses the period of life to come here, we were brought here.  We cannot determine our date of birth, place of birth, our parents, they are all given.  The same One who gave your life, birth, parents, and place in this world, the same One is going to take you out of your life.  And you will be in front of your Creator, He will give you another life as He gave it to you here.  No one gave birth to you as they liked, (you did not even know that you existed until you reached a certain age), no one can expand or bring back or change the time of appointment to meet your Lord.

77:30 “Go to a shadow of smoke! It rises in three columns.”

1. Dead material.
2. Life given to it.
3. After this life is taken from here, resurrection.

If we don’t trust in our Creator, these items are smoked or existence is blurry, with no shape or protection from the flames, it throws sparks that you cannot get out of.  If I say that there is no Creator, it looks like I turned off my switch.  If I turn off my switch at night, who can give me light?  I need to turn on the switch to get the electric power.  It seems simple that I have a powerful light system, but if the switch is off, then I cannot benefit from its existence.  If my connection with my Creator is off, my intelligence, mind and feelings are useless and a burden on me.  We can feel it now, before we die, because I cannot guarantee what will happen to me tomorrow or to my child tomorrow.  I cannot guarantee whatever I wish to have, and so I believe in “good luck”.  What a horrible claim!?  Excuse me, is luck in nature?  You are making up mythological concepts, which does not make sense to you.  Luck is our description of an accidental happening.  If you say so, then you will be punished as you deserve to be punished, because nothing here is the result of chance or accidents.  What is good luck? Where is it? Is it God?  Is good luck the Creator of the universe?  If so, then you are believing in the Creator of the universe, which is “ghaib”, not describable within the nature of this universe.  Instead of calling “existence” an accidental happening, why don’t we look at the universe and see the signs that it is originated by a Conscious being?  Instead of believing in luck, why don’t I believe in something that really makes sense to me?  Why is so much arrogance enveloped in our ego?  What is wrong with us that we are torturing yourself with accidental happenings?  If something happens by accident, then I will be lucky.  What do you mean by lucky and fortunate man?  Who is deciding your events and existence for you?  If you say God, then it is His decisions, it is not luck but His determination.  

This meaninglessness and torture in my spirt is like a giant firing rope tying me up and putting me in a prison or in a disability where I say that everything is accidental.  Yes, II cannot guarantee anything, and so I hope and wish for goodness, not luck.  Rather than good luck, we should say that conscious Creator will determine.  Pray to God to determine the best for you as you ask Him to create it for you.  

Here is another meaningless concept: some of us are more fortunate than others. 

We must use our reasoning carefully before we speak!

77:35 “This is a day that they do not speak.”

After graduation day, we cannot ask the Professor to forgive us because we are out of the class.  I am not a student now; I am in my real life.  

77:36 “and they are not given permission to offer any excuses.”

We cannot use any excuses such as I was so young, I did not know what to do.  Please forgive me and give me a passing degree.  Sorry, now it is too late.  How many times were you reminded to study?

77:37 “How horrible is the day for those who deny the truth!”

There is nothing you can do now then to lament for it is too late.

77:38 “This is the Day of Distinction, We have gathered you and earlier generations.”

That is Divine justice, you get what you earn.

77:39 “So if you have a scheme, then scheme against Me,”

If you want to cheat Me, then go ahead.  How can I cheat my Creator?  After graduation, I have a degree that says “failed.”  Who cheats who?  It is so obvious.

77:40 “How horrible is that Day for those who deny the truth!”

We are advised to take notice of all these messages, so please take your precautions right now.  It is time to think about our first creation, real life on Earth and the consequences of our life.  There is no way to cheat ourselves here and there is absolutely no benefit from turning blind to our reality.