Recap: This section of the Quran was revealed during the 2nd – 3rd year of revelation to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Revelation unfolds to all of humankind. It is like a star in the sky appearing and showing itself to everyone. The word “hawa” has two meanings, one of which is to come down slowly. The second meaning of “hawa” has to do with human caprices and egotistical desires i.e. to see if those things are reflected in the one employed to convey the message of God. Let’s say you know someone for a while closely, you are familiar with their past, and therefore, you know that the person is not deluded and does not speak to satisfy his own egotistical desires by imposing himself/herself on others. Rather, the message that s/he is conveying is not from his/her own self, from his caprices but from a Source, which is not of the nature of this universe.
In other instances, when the Quran speaks about Revelation coming down, it uses the word “nuzzul” which means that the message of God is coming down step by step.
عَلَّمَهُۥ شَدِيدُ ٱلْقُوَىٰ
53:5 “The Mighty Power has taught him,”
The Revelation cannot be from something of this universe, otherwise it will not be considered a Divine Speech. Human beings have existential questions and the answers to these questions cannot be found within the universe. Furthermore, the answers from Revelation must make sense to me and it must be consistent with what I experience in the universe. Therefore the Revelation, Divine Speech cannot be the product of anything created by this universe. When you study the Revelation, you can challenge it in order to see the consistency with what it reveals. For example, you can come up with an opposing idea to what the Revelation presents and try to criticize it to reject its message, but you will see that is impossible. The answers that the Revelation provides will satisfy you under the witnessing of the universe. Only by going through this process of thinking and reflecting, will you realize that the message in the Revelation is consistent with your human expectations. Thus, you can conclude that nothing of this universe can provide satisfactory answers to your human existential questions.
ذُو مِرَّةٍۢ فَٱسْتَوَىٰ
53:6 “The possessor of absolute authority then, stood firmly”
The word “istawa” means to cover everything completely. Our expectations from Revelation is to give us the full picture of its message i.e. to convince my human expectations fully. What we expect from the Quran is to give us the answers to our human questions that we cannot find in the universe. That is why the only way that Revelations speak to us is through parables, similes and analogies, rather than a straight forward language. And, the evidence to what Revelation reveals or claims is in the universe. Evidence must be in a form that I can deduce and reason from my observations and experiences in the universe.
We expect from our Creator to tell us how to utilize ourselves in this universe. The Revelation tells me how I must use the universe to fulfill the purpose of my existence. In my existence, I see that I am dependent, transient and subject to death. Whoever brought me to life is taking me away from life, although I do not want to decay. Why am I in this position? I understand that there must be a purpose in my existence but the universe does not tell me that. Therefore, I ask the One who gave me existence to explain to me why I am put in such a contradictory position? This One must tell me what is expected of me to do in this universe? That is why we expect Revelation from the Source of Existence to come down to human beings.
We cannot expect the Source of Existence of Revelation to come directly to the universe, otherwise the Source of Existence would not be Absolute. The universe is created; any message from the Creator and qualities of the Creator must be performed and manifested within the conditions of the created world. For example, a painter has a scenery in his mind. How can this painter transfer this scenery to its audience? Only by painting the scenery. Similarly, Revelation must reach me by means of something in this universe. Revelation needs a means to reach me. The physical form of Revelation is the universe.
The Revealer of Revelation must explain to me in verbal form why the universe is out there, because I understand through verbal speech by observing the physical speech i.e. Revelation of the universe. Only then, I can understand what the physical world represents. Otherwise, in and of itself, the physical world is wonderful but it does not answer my human questions. For example, how am I going to use my feelings? Why am I expected to use my feelings by being presented with options? How can I use my freewill in the way that it ought to be used?
The Revelation in spoken language must come through a means, in the case of the Quran this means is through the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who claims that what he has received is the revelation of God; received through an angel.
What are angels? In short, they represent the meaning of existence. When you see something, it communicates endless meaning to you. The meaning carriers or the message carriers are referred to as angels. In this universe, we do not know the essence of the source of existence, but the message from the Source of Existence is brought to us by angels.
When you see the universe, do you see angels? It depends on which aspect of the universe you look at? For example, if you look at a picture of a man, you can see the physicality only and/or you can see the meaning expressed in the picture. The man may be carrying a certain facial expression telling you that he is in need of something. Similarly, the universe is meaningful, and carries lots of messages from its Maker to us, reflecting the qualities of its Maker.
Let us take another example. When you see the latest laptop, you may only concentrate on its functionalities. Whereas, someone may wonder about how the engineer of the laptop is thoughtful and wise to deliver such products for human needs. Similarly, this universe has two aspects depending on your vision. One aspect may look at how the order is perfectly set up to meet our human needs. The other aspect may concentrate on thinking about the One who presents us this universe in a perfect set up must be a Wise One, a Knowledgeable One, a Caring One, and a Merciful One.
If we want to live with the angelic side of creation, we must try to see the wisdom in the creation of everything. For example, someone dropped coffee on you this morning in a crowded train. You can keep getting mad, bothered by this incident and a stained shirt. That is one aspect to live with. The other aspect would be to reflect on the purpose behind the existence of such events i.e. use your feelings to communicate with its Source of Existence such as what is my Creator teaching me with a stained shirt. What Revelation does this message bring to me to fulfill the purpose of my existence? Now you are seeing the angelic side of this event. If you do not look at the meaning of any event as carrying a message from your Creator, then you are not looking at the event from an angelic perspective.
Angelic perception is Revelation speaking to me. Revelation is transferred to us through a means which is not in the physical form (angels) but it is a meaning coming to us. In verbal form it is going to be transformed into a voice through a man (Prophet Muhammad, pbuh), but the meaning is coming through angels. The Source of Existence of the Revelation and its meaning is the Absolute Being.
As a human being, we need to understand this case from our perspective. What do I need in this universe? What is the nature of this universe? Where can I get answers to my questions? Where did I get the questions from to begin with? If we are not convinced about a Creator of the universe being an Absolute Being, then we cannot talk about Revelation.
I must understand that this Revelation is coming from an Absolute Source per se. In order for me to make sure that the content is correct and confirm that this is from my Creator, I must use the evidence presented in the universe. The evidence can be in the form of physical beings and events that I must interpret to get the meaning from its Maker. Human beings look for meaning behind everything that requires them to get the answer to their question: What is the purpose of my existence? Where am I going? Why is their life and death? That is how the framework of Revelation proposes to us to reflect upon, have the questions to get the answers. In other words, what Revelation presents to us and what we see in the universe must be consistent with each other (as we discussed in part 1 of this series), otherwise if death was the end to my existence, then why bother about anything?!
If human beings are not concerned with fulfilling the purpose of their existence, then they live like any non-human being ensuring that their physical life conditions are met. However, human beings are not animals, our human side looks for meaning by taking the evidence from the universe and interpreting their meaning under the framework of Revelation.
As a human being, I want to be eternally happy and satisfy my human expectations in full sense. Nothing in this world gives me the promise of an Eternal Life. However, my Source of Existence in Revelation promises me to give me another type of existence upon death that would be appropriate to my human condition of seeking eternal existence. For example, you enjoy a banana because your tongue communicates with the taste bestowed on it. That is how the Creator of the universe introduces Himself to you and lets you know that this transient experience is an example of an Eternal Life that you seek. By providing you with everything that you need, your Creator is promising you Eternal Existence. The air that we breathe is needed for our lungs to function properly and act as a blood cleanser, which is a sign to how we are being taken care of by our Creator. That is how there is meaning to be read in everything that we are made to experience, and Revelations directs us towards that meaning. The need for desiring eternal satisfaction and eternal happiness must be provided to us by our Creator, only when we acknowledge Him and live our lives with this awareness and consciousness. That is how we confirm the message of the Revelation by witnessing the universe.
We must always apply the same logic when trying to interpret events that are perceived as negative. For example, a tsunami wiped out millions of people, and you may wonder, where is God’s mercy here? Your position should always be to question, what is the purpose of your existence? Where did you come from? Why are you giving various feelings? All human qualities are given to us to get to know the Source of our Existence. These events are presented to us to go through the stages of reasoning to conclude our Source of Existence, so that our feelings can be satisfied only by Him. We are learning here how to make sense of what we conclude.
وَهُوَ بِٱلْأُفُقِ ٱلْأَعْلَىٰ
53: 7 “While he was at The Highest Horizon”
The word “ufuq” comes from “ifq” which means telling a lie or insulting something. In this verse, it means that the Horizon which is not what we understand from our daily language, because depending on your Geographical location it may vary. Similarly, one’s capacity of seeing may differ from another person’s capacity. For example, a banana to one person may mean Mercy from his/her Creator, while another person may see it as a gift from an Eternal Merciful One and Beloved One. As much as you can see creation, that much Revelation provides an answer for you and that much would be the highest horizon. In other words, Revelation gives an answer to your Horizon. That is, if you develop and reflect on the subject more, your questions become deeper and wider in range. As a result, you will find Revelation speaking to you at the highest level of the moment (Horizon).
When you reflect further, you get deeper answers. When young children are asked about their senses, they usually refer to taste, hearing, talking, smelling and seeing. When adults are asked about their senses, they add a few more such as consciousness, feelings… Is there any limit for a human being to come to an end of his/her given senses? No. Human lifespan is not enough to get to an end of human senses (Horizon). The symbolic representation of angel Gabriel spreading his/her wings at the Horizon means this. That is the meaning in creation being transferred to us from its Creator and the angels are proclaiming the qualities of their Creator i.e “tasbeeh”. Proclaiming God means that He is so Great and Absolute that you cannot put a limit to Absolute. That is the mission of angels, proclaiming the Absolute qualities of their Creator. In Quranic terms, angels are referred to as “malakut” i.e. angelic side of the Heavens and the earth. This means that all the meaning of the universe has been directly attached to its Creator and we cannot attribute the meaning of the universe to anything else but to its Source of Existence i.e. manifestation of the qualities of the Creator.
We must be attentive towards the angelic side of the universe, which points to the qualities of its Creator. Rather than looking at a banana as a tasty fruit, look into it as manifesting the qualities of its Creator to you with its perfect shape, color, texture, as a gift presented to you from the Owner of the universe. This demonstration of the attributes of the Creator in the universe is represented by angels. That is why all the Speech of God mentions angels to let us know that the universe is meaningful.
ثُمَّ دَنَا فَتَدَلَّىٰ
53: 8 “Then drew near and came close”
If you get into the meaning side of the Revelation, you understand that the Absolute Being is speaking to you at your level. That is how your Creator comes down to your level, by talking to you at your capacity and presenting you with examples/evidences that you can communicate with in the physical world using human qualities such as reason, intellect, feelings. The evidence presented in the universe needs to be reflected upon about their purpose, and we must make logical conclusions by reasoning about existence i.e. why are things like this? What is the mission in their existence? How does this relate to my existence?
Revelation comes to my capacity. If I increase my capacity, it provides me accordingly with the necessary answers to satisfy my human questions. It provides each one of us with our Horizon which is subject to change, because we are not static beings. Never think that Revelation will leave you at a certain point, and then you have to work by yourself from there on. Just as your capacity is endless, so is the meaning that the Revelation provides.
Our relationship with Revelation varies wherever you are; it comes and speaks to you. For a child, an angel is a bird, but as you develop, you understand better what angels mean for you (as we mentioned earlier). When you are communicating with the Quran, you should never feel alienated. Your “ufuq” or lying level is temporary, and you should know that. If you reflect further, your Horizon (meaning of existence) widens. That is why the Quran is considered to be “mubeen” i.e. clear, at all levels.
We must know our capacity, otherwise we would be insulting the meaning of creation with that level of understanding. That is, thinking that our understanding of the Quran is fixed and claiming that we know what the Quran conveys which is a lie and an insult to the message of God, Revelation. Similarly, we must be aware that the translators of the Quran are bound within their capacity, and we must not insult anyone for their understanding. That is how we can rightly benefit from the Quran.