Chapter Qaf, part 2
The Quran takes us through the development of the life of the human being/the messenger within the message embedded in its content. In other words, the Quran goes through a human life journey, and the Prophet’s life represents one’s societal life journey. If the society opens up to the message from their Creator, they will also develop as a well-rounded human being. How did the people around the Prophet make the progress from a primitive pagan life to a most developed society on Earth? This kind of subject must be settled down in our mind so that we can understand the parallel between a person’s individual life journey and the human societal life.
From one aspect, the Quran improves the life of the human being, how can the human being locate his position here, start analyzing what this existence is all about? The contradiction between human feelings and the nature of this universe is the framework that the Quran provides. As a result, the human being looks for guidance from their Creator and opens to that guidance. From there on, the human perfection in relation to their Creator paves the way to the acknowledgement of their Creator, who He is and what the universe is. In this quest, the human being tries to use the message from the universe and make the search for the source of the message of this universe. That is to say, everything is meaningful and manifests many qualities. Human beings get access to all these qualities, with the introduction of God (there must be a God), and more importantly which kind of Creator He should be is the journey to undertake.
After realizing which kind of Creator, He is, is He a self-sustaining being, then the human being starts communicating with this source of existence. Human beings start realizing that they have something more than the body. These qualities are so enormous that they need to be satisfied along with the human needs. This relationship is the beginning of the acknowledgment of the Creator and takes the human beings with a worshipful relationship with the Creator of their human spirit. Only then the human beings become in sync with their spirit, that is called ascension, from being a lowly animal creature to a worshipper of the Creator. The human being becomes the guest of the Creator within this created world. This journey is realized in the journey of Adam, representing the whole human race. We say that Adam is me and you. This journey does not stay here even if we are created within the conditions of this world. Within the conditions of this world, I must interact with the created beings and the members of my species. I must take a position in my social life. In my social life, how am I going to start implementing a Divine guidance of a Creator that I have established?
I need principles of life. We are going to study verse 2, which switches the subject from the Quran’s revelation to the human being, and then to the societal level. There is an organic connection between the speech of God and the Prophet, the one who brings the message from his Creator. We must understand the organic relationship between the Quran and the Prophet and see the parallel between creation and its Creator. In the 23 years, this relationship with the Creator of the universe (ascension) takes place at the level of the individual and then the society. How am I going to connect myself as a worshipper of my Creator and connect with the society as a worshipper of God and following God’s guidance as “sharia”? This unfolding is represented from a pagan life start to a most developed lifestyle.
50:2 “But they deem it strange that a warner has come to them from among them; the deniers say this is a strange thing.”
There are some fundamental queries that we must first internalize:
- How can I make sure that a person who claims to be appointed by God has received a message from Him? Who is this person? Is he an important element in society? They think that God cannot be speaking to a person, and if God speaks, then He must be speaking to a person equal to him as in “son of God”, because the human mind cannot grasp the essence of God.
- Why would God speak to an ordinary man, like you and me? Can a king speak to an ordinary man on the street?
Almost 4 billion people in the world are not aware of or not satisfied with the message or simply do not care about it, as if Muhammad is an extraordinary man unlike us. We need to understand these points through the guidance of the verses we will study. The kafiroun (people who deny the relationship with their Creator) will say, who is the messenger? If a person does not realize that Muhammad is an ordinary man and he is an addressee of the Creator, not in a material form but inspired with a message which is from God, then this person cannot establish a relationship with God. What does it mean? God has reflected his qualities in the body of the human being, known as the Prophet Adam. Who is Adam?
Adam is me, my body that reflects my being, just like the sunlight reflects itself in a glass/mirror. The Quran says that God is the light of the heavens and the earth. It means that all the qualities are manifested in the heavens and earths. Everything is the manifestation of God’s qualities. All these qualities are equally condensed and manifested in the mirrors of the human being.
The Creator has enabled the human body to be a mirror which will be able to reflect the qualities of the Creator in everyone. In my glass is reflected all the qualities of my Creator, just as all the qualities of the sun are reflected in each mirror. This subject should not be dealt with at a simple level.
Human ascension (from pagan to a perfect being) is worshipping His Creator as the One who deserves to be worshipped and I am the One qualified to address my Creator. I did not get this consciousness from a market. All the human qualities are given to me by the One who created the whole universe. He enabled them to address me. I am the created being, and He is my Creator. I am totally dependent on Him; He is the Source of my existence who willed me to be an addressee of Him.
The human being needs education and training. Everyone including illiterate parents strive to get their children to get education. Parents struggle to feed us. Everyone wants their children to get a good education, that is how the societal setting is, in compliance with human nature. “Go get a profession, do something, and learn”, it is very human nature to push people to learn, that is how we are created. No one can say that I do not need education. I am not going to learn painting on my own, for example. Even if you want to become a sanitary worker, you need some training. Everything requires training. Human beings need education.
How about our human spirit? Those things also need education, training and we need instructors, practices, and exercises, we need to develop under the instructorship of a teacher. This is not the same as going to classes, rather going to the practical lab, getting training under the instructorship of a teacher, just as you cannot become a doctor by being born in a family of doctors. We need physical exercise, not just the textbook as part of the teaching and learning. I must ask questions; the teacher will give me answers. If I study, I ask the questions again, that is how human beings develop and learn.
How about our spirit, how does it develop its potentiality from capacity to ability?
You can learn how to become an Architect, it is within your potentiality, but if you do not go through the stages of learning, can you become an architect? No, potentially, you can become an architect, otherwise if you do not train and learn, you do not. The One who created me with this ability knows that I need a teacher, training, and education, to make progress within my human capacity and social life, in my relationship with other beings in the world, how am I going to treat my mind, consciousness, feelings and use my body, interact with others, I need training?!
How do mothers educate their children? First, they attend to the baby within the needs of the baby. Every 2 hours, you must breastfeed them. The baby has a small stomach, and the muscles are not strong enough to suck nourishment as much as they need. Gradually, as the muscles develop, they will be able to suck within a shorter period. That is how creation happens in this world. Then you can expand the nourishment time to every 4-6 hours, depending on the age of the baby. Do not spoil the baby, the food regulation, and the order, for we are all created to obey an order.
Seasons and day and night are all within an order. My relationship with the rest of the universe takes place within an order. God does not spoil the human being, similarly, the mother should not spoil the baby, you need to take care of your responsibility, as a result, the baby follows the order accordingly. When the baby is hungry, do not make him cry. The baby gets hungry, that is how he is created and is educated. Apart from this, the baby needs cleaning and is subject to complaining with cries here and there. God created the baby with this capacity within a perfect order.
Why do we need guidance or the Prophet on an ontological level? We must establish the principles of life from a base foundation. Human beings need limitations, not strictness. When the baby is ill and needs certain conditions, adapt yourself to it. The best condition is a loving relationship between the baby and the parents. The mother follows her responsibility carefully and educates the baby to follow the order.
The Quran is full of reminders, do not go beyond the order, do not deviate from the path, otherwise you will be tortured. The Prophet comes and reminds people with the guidance he receives from God that you will be destroyed, and you will not be able to sustain your existence. Nothing can sustain its existence, this is not a warning, rather it is just giving the good news: “if you follow the order, you will be happy and consistent within your own self, be at peace and comfortable, and will enjoy your existence. If you deviate, then you are at loss”.
The mention of Hell in the Quran is more than Paradise. The deviation is within us and guidance from God comes to put us on the sirat, the direct road which goes to God, and takes your relationship to God. Do not direct your sense of worship to anything else but God alone. You must learn how to live by following the order. If you damage your body, you will feel the pain, otherwise you will not. Some people realize that after they are given illness that they have this balance in their lungs, ears, and eyes. “I always produce something liquid, and my eyelid continuously cleanses it, how miraculous!?” Unless you are given an ailment, you do not realize the intricacies of the universe, for example, how your heartbeat works, such a peaceful existence. When there is something wrong then you realize and start feeling the pain.
If you obey the order, then you will be at peace and comfortable. Otherwise, you will suffer. Illness is just a warner. This warner is a reminder. “It is Me who prepared this work for you, so you know that you are blessed with the Mercy of your Creator”.
Mother treats the baby to keep it within the order and she just obeys the order, nothing more. Mothers are curious about protecting the safety of the toddler, they never leave the child alone. Why restrictions? It is for safety measures as a warning and a reminder not to do something wrong. Human beings are created in need of training and education.
We need training and education for the spiritual side of our humanity, for our relationship with other people. We need teachers, not only a textbook without an instructor, that is how the reality of the nature of this creation is. If we deny this, then we deny our reality. The Prophet (pbuh) must be employed for teaching. How is the teacher going to become “my teacher”? God employs the most appropriate person to uphold this job.
Can an angel be my teacher? No. I cannot learn from an angel. Our existence level is different from angels. The angel does not have a physical body. I must learn how to treat my body and learn how to communicate with other people through the body functioning. The teacher must be in the form of man, educated by my Creator and presented to human beings as “a teacher”.
Why must a human being be appointed by a Creator and educated by Him and assigned as a teacher? The Quran cannot be put in practical life without the exemplary life of the Prophet. Just as the constitution of any country cannot be practiced unless it is transformed into law, and only then, it establishes the justice system. The Creator’s constitution orders that you must follow the law of the Prophetic life and make decisions in the court of the universe. This practice must be available as an exemplar in the life of a human being.
Even if someone is not satisfied with Jesus, Solomon, Moses, and Muhammad as the appointed teachers by God, they must look for a man appointed by God and look for guidance of God to practice in their life journey. Regardless, you still must look for a Messenger.
If you are an honest man with no prejudice, you will see that the message of the Quran perfectly fits your life. After seeing the practices of the Prophet in his life conditions, you will understand that he is employed by God to train your human feelings by presenting examples for you.
- To understand if there is a God, we must look at the universe and understand that the universe must have a Creator.
To understand that the universe is not able to answer human questions, we must understand that human capacity goes beyond the universe. “I need infinite pleasure and an infinite comfortable existence. Whoever made me must satisfy this need.” I must establish that my Creator must guide me with how to solve this puzzle, a seemingly contradictory position. I cannot satisfy this universe, and the universe cannot satisfy me, I want everything perfect, and I am aging, the universe says that I cannot save you from dying. Stars are dying and I cannot save them too. Human beings are in a dilemma which demonstrates that my Creator of this need must have the answers and so His message is necessary.
- “O my Creator, you must send me the answer for why you put me in this dilemma, beautiful contradiction”.
Can you find any source which describes God with no defect?
If you are not satisfied with the Quran, then try to look into other sources, but you should never give up the need for guidance from the Creator, always find a qualifying message which demonstrates that this is the message from the Creator of the universe. There is no other source than the Quran. You must freely think about it!
One may argue that people from this race are better. Preferring a certain race, and being dissolved in the universe, we see that the whole universe and creatures need to be created and their source of existence is the One who is self-sustaining called “God”. Lailaha illallah. Everyone is in need to be created, everyone is equal before God, and no one has any superior position. Everyone is created with a tendency to develop their potentialities into capacity, or we may have certain tendencies that prefer things a certain way.
A diverse society must exist, and communication must also take place, we must exercise any given opportunities to follow God’s guidance in our life. No one is superior in existence. I may be a good tailor and you are a good actor. As far as our need to be created, we are all the same. No one is superior from birth, even if your father was a king. If you are qualified for the job, then you will be elected by the people for that job.
We must understand the mission of Messengership under the guidance of the Quran. Let me check you with the reality of the universe, the practical life must match the reality of the universe, and the manifested qualities of God within me and all around me.
We must check the messenger with the criterion of the message. Is this person loyal to the message? When the Quran puts articles of faith related to my life, then how can I apply them? If this message makes sense to me, I say this messenger is the appointed teacher by God.