Chapter Najm – Part 14
Recap: The reward for your endeavors will be rightly received. We cannot have more than what we strive for. Also, what we strive for will be recompensed accordingly, nothing will be neglected (positive/negative.) These kinds of verses are translated in terms of an after-life and accordingly we will be rewarded. We don’t deny that there will be a judgment day, everyone will be accountable for how they spent their life here in some capacity. In order to confirm that this news of reward/after-life in the revelation (scripture/God’s inspired Speech) must be true, one needs to check in their life events accordingly here and now. God will reward the human being with whatever s/he deserves, is a common point in most divinely inspired religion.
In our approach in understanding scripture, we don’t claim that this is the only way that the scripture should be taken. There are many different approaches to analyze scriptures as the scriptures are open to these types of analysis. Some people approach the text linguistically, others with its literature value, eloquence of the text, historical analysis and how to physically arrange our lives. Scripture is out there to answer every kind of human question but not to answer how to follow the order.
- Example 1: while growing the potatoes, how am I going to interpret what is going on? My relationship with the soil, water, seed, crops that I harvest, how will I evaluate that relationship and what do I think of it and my responsibility in terms of how I use it? These sorts of evaluations are the subjects of the scripture. In other words, whatever I can learn by studying the order of the universe, scripture says that the order of the universe is arranged by the Creator, opened for the human beings to investigate and learn, which is explained in the scripture and you have to discover it in the universe.
- Example 2: what type of weather is it going to be tomorrow? That is your responsibility to find out from the order of creation. What you need help with is your question related to your position in the universe and your nature as a human being.
What is the mystery of this kind of creation? When I was a baby, I was perfectly taken care of. This kind of creation makes me experience old age. I am given existence without my will and I am treated in an honorable way but I encounter some hardships of life here. What is going on here? Can it be accidental? Human beings are given the ability to question all this and we are aware to be conscious being looking for answers. I turn to the universe and myself, but I find no answer.
We hear that there are some people who received the word of God. I can question them (the messengers/Prophets), investigate them. Without hearing answers from the people who claim to be messengers, the universe is silent. Creation is continuing, can it continue by itself? Example 3: the sun is declining and getting ready to set. How is this happening? What is the meaning of it? The universe is silent in this regard (does not answer my questions), yet everything seems so purposefully arranged, whether the result is good or not. After a certain time, plants and vegetables die. Are they going into non-existence? How did I come into existence? If I am going into non-existence, then it means that I am coming from non-existence. That bothers me a lot! Can I come here without an actor? If I come from non-existence, then what is the Cause of my existence?
These kinds of questions are answered by non-educated people, Prophets. Literacy percentage was very low back then in the time of revelations of the scriptures and the Prophets did not get any formal education. These messengers/people received a text which answers human questions and we must read the text in order to understand these answers and, if they make sense to us, confirm it.
53:40 “And that his striving shall be seen.”
What does “Shall be seen” refer to? Let’s say that if you try to learn something and as much as you focus on it, you learn accordingly and get the answers on the spot. Now, you are talented about the subject. Let’s take another example: If you hit your hand on the wall, you immediately get the answer, sound and pain. If you do something good, then you start feeling good spontaneously, an answer.
Sometimes we may fail to get the answers. Example: When I put a corn seed in the soil, I prefer to sow the seed rather than not sowing and use my free will. My intention was to expect the corn to grow. However, the seed is taken away by a bird and the corn did not grow.
- The scripture does not say that when you sow the seed, you will get the result. Rather, the scriptures draw your attention/consciousness to your perception of the world.
“I obeyed the order when I sowed the seed”.
- Are you aware that when you obey the order, you are obeying the will of the creator?
- If you are not aware, then you do not know what you are doing, and you will sow the seed to get 1000 grains of corn. Here, your life has no purpose.
- What is the purpose of human life here? To acknowledge the reality of your existence. The purpose of sowing any seed is acknowledging that I am not going to create the corn (result). The corn that I am expecting is going to be created by the Establisher of the Creator of the order of the universe which is my Creator as well. That acknowledgment is the purpose of my coming to this world, to acknowledge my reality, who I am, who my owner is, who my master is and communicate this acknowledgment to it:
- “You are the one who creates the corn, not me.” My human side needs this acknowledgement and consciously responding back to my Creator.
- When I obey the order and submit my freewill to His will that I cannot make corn (or produce results), then I fulfill the purpose of my existence.
Any created thing (soil, water, sunlight…) or matter is subject to the order and cannot be the Source of existence of anything that I experience here or interact with. This order is the will of the Order-er. When I am consciously aware that this corn is going to be created by the Creator, then I am submitting my being to His will i.e. I am not claiming that by leaving the seed under the soil, I am creating the corn.
The purpose of my existence is to submit my will to the Creator’s will. Scripture says that your duty is to respond back to the Creator and acknowledge Him as your master/owner. Did I fulfill my duty?
- Yes, because I sow the seed and submitted my will to the Creator. That was acknowledgment and the result is immediately rewarded i.e. my striving has been fulfilled. To give the result (corn) or not is His will. I need to communicate that I am needy of my Creator and I did that with the acknowledgment when I submit my will to His will.
- The submission/acknowledgment has something to do with my feelings and emotional status: “O Creator of the universe, only you can create the corn because this universe is your act. You are demonstrating yourself to me in order to call me to communicate with you which I have done now.”
In example 3 (above), I did not create sunlight. I am just using it as a means to acknowledge Him as the Source of Existence of all my needs. I am in need of Him, my existence belongs to Him and I say: “I am not a meaningless matter here, accumulation of atoms/particles acting by themselves, I have a meaning to my existence.”
When I sow corn, that is my physical relationship with my Creator. Scripture must be read according to what it claims to be. Scripture is not a book on agriculture. Agriculture is a subject of the order of the universe just like medicine and mathematics for example. Unfortunately, people find out the order and learn it without feeling the need for extra information to understand the meaning of what they are doing i.e. purpose of one’s existence. That is how the secular education system is set up.
Only the purpose of my existence makes me realize how precious of a creature I am. This is the only point learned through scriptures. Only scripture talks about purpose, meaning and end-result of my existence. The scripture says that I am a guide for you to make your life meaningful here, as I gave you your intelligence in order to reach confidence in your existence and how to utilize your human capacity in the best way. If I make any physical attempt with this consciousness in this world, then I get the reward of feeling secure in my existence immediately.
Human beings are endowed with so many potentialities (intelligence, emotions…) Where do these feelings, intelligence and consciousness go when I die? Does matter have any capacity to give me existence? Matter itself is subject and a slave of the order and has no free will to choose anything. Everything including your body is perfectly created. Example: I want to see, my eyes are given, analyzing what I see and trying to see the meaning of why I am given the power of sight is my human side. What is arranging all this? Who is the architect of this edifice of human beings? I must question, why am I like this, can I be like this by myself?
- We are just subject to the order, which is subject to the will of the Creator.
Existence is a source of information to intelligent creatures like human beings in order to make them use and become acquainted with the Source of Existence. Personal Conviction is necessary in order to have confidence in your conclusions. Every human being must question and get conviction by themselves without imitation. We must use our human qualities to reach confirmation in our conclusions. Whatever you strive for, you get the answers.
If only I do not age and become ill, it’s a human expectation. Similarly, being energetic and perfectly enjoying life is also a human expectation. Where did I get my intelligence, reasonings, expectations…? Matter is silent and numb, only says that I am subject to the will of the order-er of the universe. In this type of creation, there is no such thing that meets these human expectations. When I do not see anything here to meet my human expectations, I go into despair.
Quran says: “Those people who do not submit their existence to the Creator of the universe, they just bend down and look only at their toes.” (67: 22) It means they just see only what is apparent, present, not the future because the future is meaningless, hopeless and I am going to disappear/all my feelings are going to be extinguished completely without being accomplished.
“I came from His will and is going to His will. My owner is not the matter, I am a human being and I am my soul, consciousness, spirit.” We all need an enjoyable life, the one who confirms what the universe demonstrates to him and does not look at his toes only but all of horizons, then s/he gets what is being strived for. The universe is given existence by an Absolute Being who is called “God” and the universe is His act of creation and He is just demonstrating to us who we are and who He is.
- Whatever we strive for, we are immediately given (the understanding/worldview/confidence).
53:41 “Then he shall be paid for it with the fullest payment.”
Don’t you see that things are fulfilled here?
- Example A: you were expecting your paycheck today and the postman delivered the mail which says that you are fired. Immediately you start feeling despaired, what am I going to do now, no payment and no future.
- Example B: your boss calls that we cannot keep you here due to the budget crisis and now you become unemployed. In the morning, you receive a message that the employer has decided to keep you and promote your position with a higher payment. You feel happy immediately.
- These examples demonstrate that in this life on earth we experience the result of creation immediately in our emotions.
- Accepting your reality and submitting your will to the Creator of the universe automatically turns your life into hope/happiness.
- Denying your reality is like cutting off/turning the switch off. Your existence becomes immediately meaningless. If you turn the switch on, then it becomes light i.e. the result is paid.
Belief and unbelief automatically work at the same time. That is how the teaching of the scripture needs to be understood in terms of my purpose of life and my relationship with the Creator i.e. the result of my striving. This verse can only be understood within the purpose of the scripture, not with our expectations in terms of this universe.
Example: When Bob is ill, he asks for health. To create health is His will and this acknowledgement of His creatorship is immediately paid: “I cannot create anything while I am physically practicing it. Only the Owner of the universe can and only He creates the result.” What Bob is saying is that my existence belongs to Him. I do not belong to my body and nature; they cannot make me as I am. Just as the bricks of the building do not have the capacity to make the building.
Even one cell in our body is a wonderful artwork which is impossible to imitate, let alone our feelings, intelligence, expectations, sense of love, laughter, crying… what are the elements that can be responsible for this? Impossible to talk about! I can see that nothing in the universe can have this capacity at all. When I immediately realize this, my payment is fully paid. “I belong to the absolute power, absolute knowledge, absolute planner, wise one, why should I bother about my future?”
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- Just acknowledge this reality and deal with it: “I say that this acknowledgment is a gift from my Creator, I am pleased with you O my Owner.”, what a happy relationship!
- What do you want me to do here, O my Creator? His response in the scriptures is: “Submit your will to My freewill.”
Whatever you are given, you have to be grateful for it and acknowledge that it is a gift from your Creator (something you like or don’t like) is a deliberate creation by your Creator teaching you who you are and who He is. The Creator of the universe is establishing and not changing the order.
Everything is created within a set order and within the orderliness, we see acts of creations. The Creator is not bound by the order He creates, and He is presenting the order in order to let human beings know how to communicate with Him and to demonstrate that the Order-er is demonstrating Absoluteness of His qualities and doings. Just as all leaves on various trees are brought into existence, although the order is the same, none of the leaves are the same.
Universe is created in such a way that demonstrates that the Order-er has Absolute free will. When we communicate with the Creator of the universe, we get results immediately. Whatever we get here, my result is created unique to my case particular to me.
- When I receive that which I enjoy, I must be grateful.
- When I receive that which I do not enjoy, I need to seek refuge with my Creator: “I am in need of your Mercy to get (the negativity) away from me. I cannot do it by myself in the order. I am in need of your Mercy to give me Eternal Happiness.” That is called prayer i.e. communicating with God.
- I have to go back to Him and submit my need to Him, I cannot do it by myself, I need Him and I acknowledge Him as the Source of my Existence: “Please show me a means, you are the source of cure, for example. I cannot be the Creator of my health”, that is acknowledgment.
- I am here to acknowledge that all the means of all that I use (qualities/blessings, existence…) is provided by Him. My job is to acknowledge that everything is provided by the Source of my Existence.
53:42 “And that truly your Lord is the ultimate end
Everything points back to Him. This sense is given to me by my Creator. The ultimate aim of this act of creation is to teach me that I am not the health Giver (for example), I cannot guarantee anything, only He can do it. Who is He? Creator of the universe arranges the universe in such a way, that I can easily comprehend my position here.
My consciousness acknowledges that nothing can be the source of existence of health, the Creator of the universe is the ultimate aim, which is to be aware of my Source of Existence, to communicate to Him, acknowledge Him and submit my freewill to His absolute will. “I know that you are the Creator and I am not.”
While living here in this world, I am not a perfect person and I shall not idealize myself. We fail and failures may turn into despair. We have a list of mistakes where we ignore our Creator i.e. I use his gifts without realizing that these are gifts from my Creator in the process of fulfilling the purpose of life. Creator says: “I know that you make mistakes, just turn back to Me and say O Creator I failed, I should not have failed, please forgive me and give me another opportunity so that I should not fail again.” (Contextual translation of these verses: 2: 186 and 3: 135)
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- Through negative sides/experiences of lives, we can still end up with ultimate aim to acknowledge our Creator.
- Failures should not make you down, rather use them as ladders to climb up to your ultimate aim, by acknowledging that only your Creator deletes your mistakes which are in the past, you cannot go back, only the Absolute Being holds the past. “Yesterday I made a mistake and only you can delete it”.
The ultimate aim is with my Lord. Everything must be turned to the Source of our Existence which by definition is an Absolute Being, not a part of the universe. Everything (all my feelings, mistakes…) can be used to acknowledge our Creator, to realize that our Creator is the ultimate aim and nothing of this world is the ultimate aim, otherwise the ultimate aim becomes non-existence.
Can human beings get honor by assigning their existence to an ultimate aim? Yes. Try not to torture yourself by turning your reality into meaninglessness, purposelessness, non-existence, compost. “Human beings are created in order to be honored” (Qur’an, 17: 70) and get a position which is dignified.
- When we submit our existence to the Creator, we become honorable human beings.
- When we become arrogant, we destroy our human dignity.
Finally, the solution to any problem rests with your Creator.
Tags: Absolute Source, Al-Najm, Answers, Despair, Failures, Mistakes, Najm Series, Non-Existence, Questions, Speech of God, Will