Chapter Qari’ah

Chapter “The Qari’ah” (The Calamity)

More than half of the Quranic content speak with rhetorical devices.   How am I going to deal with the descriptive illustrations in the Quran to apply it to my human feelings?

The Quran speaks to human beings within the conditions of this world because I can only observe the things within the conditions of this world.  Also, I can only use the evidence within the created world, and I cannot use the evidence which is beyond my reach.  

• Anything beyond my reach cannot be used as evidence, rather I can conclude about them.  

When the Quran speaks as to be God’s speech, it speaks to me and comes down to my level.  Now, if He is the Creator of the universe and my Creator, then He must know my capacity (by definition).  I expect Him to speak to me within my capacity and help me understand what this created world refers to?  The fact of the matter is that I clearly understand that this world is well balanced, organized, arranged, designed, and purposefully created.  I am given the ability to see all these qualities, but I cannot perceive what all these qualities refer to.  The reason being: “if I am not introduced to a world which must be beyond the capacity of this universe, then I cannot imagine that such a thing may exist because it is beyond my capacity to imagine it”.  

When the Quran speaks, it addresses two aspects/realms at the same time.  This is an essential principle to understand to communicate with the Quran (read it/study it):

1. Materially observable, perceivable, and experiential world.
2. Not materially/physically observable realm but can be experienced if one pays close attention (i.e. we are sure that such “things” must exist, but we do not know what they are, for example my human feelings and meanings).

How do I explain the existence of my human feelings?  I have feelings, intelligence, consciousness, and endless emotions, but I cannot perceive them physically with my hand, eyes and ears.  However, I am sure that such things exist because I am experiencing it i.e. living with them.  In the same way, the universe also has two aspects.  

• Book analogy: I see paper, ink, and symbols on the paper, and I derive meaning from reading the book, but I don’t know where the meaning came from because I have not seen the author.  At the same time, I am sure that the author must exist.  
• Similarly, right now in our existence, we are experiencing a myriad of things i.e. getting happy about completing tasks, checking off to do lists and feeling pleased, getting emotional for the weekend and looking forward to it and getting excited about the taste of the delicious food.  But I do not know where these feelings of happiness and excitement are imparted from.  

• How can one explain this non-observable side of our human experiences?  (These feelings must be coming from somewhere, there must be something sending these messages in.) 

• At this stage, if my human conscience is not introduced to a realm beyond the capacity of this universe, then I get perplexed and fall into despair.  Why?  Because I cannot imagine something beyond the capacity of this universe by myself.  Whoever has put me in this condition of existence must tell me and reveal this news to me.  Hence, revelation that claims to be the Speech of God (by definition) introduces me to something beyond the capacity of this universe.

Another main principle of the Quran is that it speaks about death and life after death:

1. death of every moment.
2. death of every particle.
3. death of every animal and species.
4. death of the whole universe.  

 

• How much do I relate the death of every particle to my death i.e. the death of every moment?  What does “death” mean anyways?  A disappearance from this universe to another place beyond the reach of this universe.

 

The Quran strangely talks about a new creation and keeps reminding us that “you have never experienced life after death, and you cannot imagine what is beyond death, but such a thing exists i.e. I can give you some evidence and I will guide you on how to have access to the Necessity of this kind of existence (a new creation)”.  

While the Quran speaks about human emotional analysis and teaches us about the new type of creation, which we have never experienced, the Quran uses some examples that I can experience within my existence.  All the arguments about “belief” and “unbelief”, “obedience” and “disobedience” to the Creator, being “grateful” or “ungrateful”, using human senses in the “right way” or “wrong way” is addressing our human freewill.  That is, am I conscious of how I am choosing to exercise my freewill?  The alternatives of our choices are open to us.  For example, one may choose to kill someone, one may choose to burn a forest, or one may choose to tell a lie.  

• The Quran uses the evidence of the human feelings alongside the physical descriptive examples and combines them together by referencing each other.  

• Example: If I am ungrateful and use my feelings accordingly, then from one side, it is something that I feel within myself and from another side, it is physically described in a physical form such as fire in “Hell”.  On the flip side, if I am grateful about something and use my feelings accordingly, then it is physically described in a physical form as a pleasant life in “Paradise” (enjoyment of all things.)

While the Quran is describing “Hell conditions” or “Paradise conditions”, it hits two targets with one stone.  That is, it paints the picture of one condition and makes us recognize the alternate condition.  By using the word “Umm”, it describes how the fire is bursting out to embrace us and hold us down with compassion, like a mother holding her baby compassionately i.e. hugging the baby, what does it mean?  Mother’s compassion is according to the nature of a mother and fire’s compassion is according to the nature of fire and it never leaves you.  Again, what does it mean?  

• It is a physical description of one’s feelings when one denies the truth and goes against their nature which has a consequence not only in this physical world but also the hereafter, in a new creation.  Sadly, the consideration of the latter part is often neglected.  In other words, a physical description is a physical one according to the conditions of this world.  This physical description points to a new creation which is not the same as this creation, rather it will be another type of creation beyond what I can imagine (because that which I imagine is subject to the conditions of this universe).  At the same time, the physical description gives some clues to the human mind:

• Can you imagine how fire consumes everything and burns down everything?  If there is fuel, fire has no limit.  

The Quran says that the fuel for the fire of Hell is the human being himself/herself (consequence of my choice to deny my reality) and “the stones”.  What are the stones doing there, can you burn it?  

• Yes, false idols and the images that you assign Divine qualities to (not something material).  It means that this is the one for me who gives existence to certain results and things, we may call it “nature”, “natural laws”, “causes”, “matter” or “the cell” itself.  It is like a stone because it is lifeless and has no will and no knowledge.  
• It will be your fuel: “Here you are, go and ask your “idol” or “stone” to give you your needs.  You denied the Creator, you said that nature created me, and this existence is something “natural”.  Now go and get eternal pleasure from these stones.” These feelings of the human beings right now, where they appropriate false objects of worship here will be the fuel of the unbelievers represented by stones.

If “nature” is responsible for your existence, can you communicate with nature?  What I call “nature” is a concept that I pick without any thought and consideration and it does not have any qualities from itself to provide me anything and be in obedience to my needs.  Nature cannot go out of its way, it is conditioned to creation, the universal law i.e. the order of the universe.  The order of the universe is not in the hand of the causes.  The order of the universe is already programmed in the universe by the One who gives existence to the whole universe.  The universe itself cannot produce its own order.  How can something that needs to be given existence give existence to itself?  That is a tautology!  

• For the universe to exist and to have its order, how can the universe produce its own order while it does not exist? It can exist only within the order of the universe. Matter and the order need to be given existence together at the same time. No matter, no order; no order, no matter. That is what we observe in this universe. Even if we imagine the existence of an atom at the very beginning of the universe, still this atom must exist within an order in itself. Thus we cannot imagine the existence of anything without an order. What seems to be chaotic is in fact what we cannot calculate in the order, like a storm or movement of an air molecule.

• If something exists, then it is subject to the order by the One that gives existence to that thing within an order.  

How can the universe be controlled by the order of the universe both of which (the order and the universe)  need to be given existence at the same time?  This illogical contradictory view is my idol now, it is going to be my fuel. When my feelings are expecting fulfillment from these created things, I will feel the meaninglessness not only in this world, but in the next creation as well.  In this world, you can experience that you cannot disobey the order and subjugate the order to yourself. Rather, you are subjugated to the order and you cannot get out of the order, we are the slaves of the order and we cannot do anything against the order.  For example, all the technical gadgets are produced by obeying the already existing order; you can utilize them if the order allows you to, otherwise you cannot.  We are subject to the order itself.  

If you say that the order is the Source of Existence (causes give existence to the universe), then what you are insinuating is that the order is the Source of Existence of itself and the universe acts according to the order.  In other words, you are saying that the order is what is in the universe and the universe is subject to the order and the order creates in the universe, as if they produce each other and are the creators.  

 

• The inevitable feelings that occur on such a view: “I am the slave of this order which will kill me at the end and there is no end.  When I die, I am out of the order of the universe with no help from the universe. It only rots my body. My spirit has nothing to do with matter, and thus my spirit is not subject to the order of the universe.”

 

The Quran says that there is an establisher of the order who established the order in such a way that He demonstrates His qualities to you, introduces Himself to you and you have to acknowledge that the universe and its order do not happen by themselves.  This order has a conscious Creator and this Creator is just calling you to Himself to acknowledge Him, He gave you life and your consciousness, awareness, intelligence feelings and a body, He is going to take you away from this place, after giving you the opportunity to know who your Creator is, so that you can turn your feelings to this Creator.  

• This Owner must be a conscious Being, it is not like this universe which is His product.

• What makes us human beings is our feelings and like my body they all are subject to His will, power, mercy, wisdom, arrangements…the universe is His product, and you can also call yourself as His product i.e. we are subject to His will and His order, not “the order” in and of itself.  

• When I follow the order of the universe, my body obeys the order of the universe, but my consciousness obeys the Order-er, the Source of Existence of the universe.  

Analogy: Just as when I see a book, I see letters written in there.  Letters are not the source of meaning; the author arranged the letters in such a way for conscious beings to deduce the meaning from it. We can say paper and letters represent our body, but the meaning of the sentence is our soul, i.e. the feelings. 

• Letters are obeying the will of the author of the book.  
• The author makes the meaningful sentences out of the letters. 

• While you are reading the arranged letters and getting meaning from it, you are communicating with the author.  
• Similarly, we are communicating with the order-er.  

• Every particle is a letter of the book of the universe.  
• Everything that we see here is being conveyed to us by its Author, the Creator of the universe.

In the analogy above, if I do not acknowledge the author of the book, I look at the letters, words and sentences, get some feelings and admire the letters, what happens?  These constituent parts of the book do not have the consciousness to give me the meaning, they are a means to get the meaning but not the source of the meaning.  If I want guidance from a book, the author of the book will give me some sentences and tell me to get the meaning from it.  The letters themselves don’t produce the meaning.  

• If I think that the meaning is coming from the objects themselves, then that becomes my idol or the stone, which is the fuel for Hell.  

• In the new creation, the letters will tell me: “Do you think that we were the source of the meaning?”  

• We must pray to the Creator of the universe to save us from such a situation!

Some of the figurative descriptions in the Quran are not that obvious to grasp.  That is why we must develop a familiarity with the Quran so that we can understand the descriptions mentioned in the Qur’an of the Prophet’s life in Mecca and the life of a believer in a battlefield for example.  These are all the figurative explanations of the human tendencies explaining what the reality of this creation is.  Some more descriptive examples such as “castles with water running by gardens and children serving us with pleasure and birds singing with no copyright payment expected.  Is it not true?  Yes, to a degree multiplied by infinity i.e. I can only understand it with the physical means that I experience here.  At the same time, these physical descriptions are and must inevitably be accompanied by our feelings.  

• How do I feel within myself when I realize that my existence and the universe I live in and experience every day is a gift from my Creator in order to introduce Himself to me and give me the comfort by saying:  

• “I am a Conscious Author (a Living Entity beyond your imagination and comprehension) that presents to you a meaningful book (of creation) where I describe Myself to you, not as a compilation of atoms/letters, rather as a Creator of your feelings/consciousness (and meaning) so you can get to know Me and trust Me and understand who your Creator is. See how perfect My Knowledge and qualities are that you experience in the universe?”  

• He is introducing Himself to you to teach you who you are and who He is, so that between you and your Creator, there will be a communication described as “worship”.

A human being is the One who worships i.e. acknowledges and obeys from the descriptions He receives from his own spiritual world and says: “I do not belong to the universe. The universe and I belong to the Owner of the universe.  If I acknowledge Him, I will live a pleasant life in this world in my soul.  My body will be here, and it will be comfortable temporarily, but my spirit will experience eternal happiness as I become aware that it belongs to an Absolutely Perfect Being.”  

• That is how the human being experiences Paradise while living in this world according to the capacity of the universe i.e. as much as your consciousness allows you to expand the vastness of creation.  
• That is why the Quran says to get ready for a new type of condition: “you were nothing and I created you from a cell.  I developed you in this form in order to teach you that you are being taken care of by a Conscious Being.  As you grow in your age, I create you stage by stage, and I reveal my qualities to you so you can know who operates on you.  You cannot become a perfect creature functioning comfortably with the rest of the universe by yourself.  After a certain age, you can think about it and conclude that this cannot be an accidental act of existing, it is perfectly designed.  

 

• Can you go on living without even knowing how it all happens?

• We develop in such a way where we see everything as appropriate to the conditions of this world.  

• After the education stage in our existence is over, we are taken out of here slowly, gradually, and consciously as we were brought into this creation in the form of a cell.  

• “Your spirit will become another cell for another type of creation”, that is what I am telling you within your own feelings.”

 

When we read these kinds of descriptions, we have to bear in mind that my Creator is teaching me by showing me the evidence within the physical form and at the same time within my feelings and conscience.  And the results of my choice (acknowledging my Creator) will be manifested in a physical form in the next creation.  The signs of this choice will be experienced while I am living here in this physical world (i.e. the result of belief or unbelief within my own spiritual world, my soul and my feelings).   

• As the Quran says: “the human being is a witness to the truth by himself.  

• We don’t need any extra witness; we just need to know how to use ourselves.  
• And so, we need a lab to experience this reality within ourselves and see the compatibility with the external world to conclude: “I am consciously prepared and given existence within the conditions of this universe by a conscious Being. Both the universe and I are arranged in a perfectly compatible way”.  

• That is how you should read the Quran i.e. see the physical description of something in the Quran and turn to yourself and ask: “Am I experiencing this in my world?”  

All the scriptures speak about this compatibility between the human being and the universe.  However, most of the revealed scriptures by God have been meddled in with human interventions, except for one, the Quran, which is preserved as it was originally revealed.  The translations of the Quran can never convey the whole message of the Speech of God in its full sense because the Speech of God is not only Absolute (as mentioned previously) but more so, any translator is only limited to one word to approximate the original Arabic word.  However, as a reader, I must use that translation by wholeheartedly involving my human feelings i.e. what do I feel within myself and somehow feel something by imagining the descriptions.  For example, in the translation of these coming verses, we may feel frightened.

101:1 “The calamity!”

In Arabic, “Qari’ah” is something that comes at night (unexpectedly for you) and knocks at your door very hard while you are sleeping and as a result, you instantly wake up.  Example: In the movies we see how a swat team raids the house of an antagonist in the middle of the night with focused lights on the individual, so that s/he surrenders himself/herself to them.  For us here and now, it is the Owner of the universe that will create living conditions in such a way that things will happen to you that will awaken you.  

101:2 “What is the calamity (qari’ah)?”

Qari’ah is not a physical description of an event that I can visualize. However, it has to do with me and my feelings, when I do not submit myself to the Creator of the universe i.e. when I see myself as the product of unconscious matter: “I accidentally exist like this!”  The Quran tries to help us imagine how horrible the results of such a choice and reasoning would be.  That is to say, the calamity will be something that hurts you and knocks at your consciousness, intelligence, and feelings.  Do you know what it is?

101:3 “What will explain to you what the calamity is?”

If you don’t think about how the universe and you come into existence, then nothing of this universe will explain to you what Qari’ah is?  The universe is perfectly working, however, what is happening within your own soul, you cannot find any explanation of it in the universe.  One finds themselves in a state of feeling the existential questions desperately or what we may call “an emergency” and the need to seek answers. 

101:4 “On a Day when people will be like scattered moth,”
But, I (your Creator) will tell you: “You will be in a day, a moment that when you think about it, you will be in a situation, where you will be like a scattered moth, with no meaning, no purpose, completely dissolved with no hopes”.  Also, when we look at how wool that is extracted from the animal is scattered around, it seems to have no power, no consistency, no resistance, and falls aimlessly.  Similarly, I may find myself in this situation when I do not submit myself to a Conscious Creator, Will and Knowledge to which  the existence of this universe refers to.  That is how we feel it, i.e. anything that we enjoy in this universe and then suddenly the news comes that you may die tomorrow (God forbid!), all your hopes are drowned.  Just the idea that I am entertaining myself here and it is going to leave me, and we will not be together again puts us in despair.  

This entertainment of worldly life is just a fleeting condition ready to disappear at any time.  As a result, all your hopes collapse and you cannot keep yourself up because you have no point of support for your existence, nothing can keep you in existence and you will die in the universe like a moth scattered everywhere.  Your spirit will be scattered according to your understanding because you will disappear from existence.  When you see the body of a deceased man – what happens?  It smells horrible, we feel disgusted and want to throw it under the earth where the body disintegrates.  That is the inevitable feeling of disgust, hopelessness that we get if we don’t believe that we have a conscious Creator.  You don’t have to wait until you die to have this experience!  

101:5 “and the mountains like tufts of wool.”

Even the mountains that we see in creation cannot support each other without being subject to an order established by a Conscious Order-er.  What do you think is keeping tact to the order of the universe and the mountains?  Everything is created in the way that the establisher of the order has willed.  How do you explain the existence of crumbled mountains?

This is the chapter revealed during the 3rd year of the Prophethood.  He (pbuh) was speaking to the people who were obstinate not to accept the message.  The Quran through the mouth of the Prophet delivered this message and we cannot challenge it because it is our obvious reality.  People may close their eyes and ears, but they cannot close their human feelings and souls.  Their spirit is there, and consciousness is there.  That is why people who are conscious of their reality do not want to think about death and numb themselves by not thinking about their death.  

Aren’t you now experiencing your dead-end?  You know that everything will be gone, every moment, you are getting closer to the end of life, death.  You are working hard to upgrade your living standards, but you will be left alone in your graves because you reduced yourself to atoms only which will rot.  

• How can you stop from falling into complete despair i.e. helplessness and hopelessness with no pleasure?  

• We do all sorts of distracting activities to run away from our reality rather than concentrating on the fact that: “Nothing else other than the Owner of the soul can give the news of an eternal satisfactory existence which brings hope to you”. 

• If you don’t understand that you are protected by the Owner of the universe, a Generous Host, then matter is your end.  

• It is horrible and frightening if you do not acknowledge your reality that you are given existence by a One who is able to take care of all your needs because He is the One who gave you all your needs.  

• He is promising that: “I will fulfill your hopes of eternal expectations as I partially and temporarily satisfy your needs here.  As I am doing it here, don’t you believe that I can do it as your spirit requires it and demands it?!” Remember, I am the One Who created these demands within you.

When this message was recited to the first audience of the Quran, they tried to deny the message and stopped the messenger that they do not want to be reminded of this reality (because if one does not believe in the Creator, it is not only frightening but it puts the human being into despair).  That is why the Quraish that ruled Mecca threatened the Prophet/Messenger and intended to use physical force unless he (phub) stops disseminating the message as the Speech of God; without having any challenging counter argument for their basis.

This chapter describes the unbelieving state by painting a vivid picture about how we may shun away our reality.  It is knocking at the human being’s door of consciousness when one is in a state of heedlessness and busy making plans for tomorrow to satiate the body only and rejoicing over past moments to satiate the ego.  Where did yesterday go?  Scattered in the past, unknown without any access to them in a physical form and impossible to bring it back again (only in the form pictures, videos, and memory).  One day, I will lose access to everything here i.e. the appointed hour of death and the start of a new beginning.

Comment: Is it talking about the day of Judgment?

It is talking about my feelings “Here and Now” as a scattered moth.  How do I feel when I deny my Real point of support Here and Now?  My reality is that this universe does not satisfy my human expectations for eternal happiness and this expectation must be satisfied and created within real terms.  I don’t know how the day of judgement is in the next creation, but it must be so.  

• We know that our spirit is experiencing transience here and seeks the existential human expectations for eternity.  

• How did the spirit get this feeling of wanting eternal satisfaction in its existence?  From an atom?  The atom itself is a slave to the order and needs to act according to a Conscious Will, the Order-er of the universe.  These feelings are given to me by something that is not of the nature of the universe.

• Never jump into religious terminology without realizing what it means.

• Religious language comes with its own pre-packaged concepts that need to be unpacked.
• One can hide under that terminology and thus never learn.

• As a conclusion you draw from your experience here on earth, you can say that the “Al-Qari’ah” news is real (for example) and must happen to my soul after graduating from the school of this world as well.

• We are trying to establish the “methodology of reading the Quran”.

• We must try to work on how to reason by being critical with the information disseminated to us so we can be satisfied in our existence.
• The conclusions from your reasoning need to be presented (as a response) in one’s worship or communication with their Lord.  It is so simple!

We must experience the same emotional impact that the first addressee(s) of the Quran experienced.  

• Are we shaking and trembling that such a thing may happen to us if we do not submit ourselves to the Creator of the universe?  

• Anytime you recite this verse, the feelings that come with the meaning must accompany your beautiful recitation. It is for your spirit.  

• Do people read poems without getting emotional with its meaning?  

• We must feel the meaning coming from these verses of the Qur’an.

The Quranic literature is in such a way as to have a tremendous impact on the emotional side of the human being so we can experience the “day of judgment” (or yaum ul deen).  That is to say, when you read the Speech of God, you should be able to experience the message within your own life conditions happening Now:  “My existence cannot end with a dead-end, I am such a precious and valuable conscious being with innumerable feelings and capacities.”  None of the poets of that age could challenge the reality described and presented to human beings in the text of the Quran.  Yes, we should appreciate the meaning and not reduce it to religious terminologies only, without knowing why we accept such conclusions.  While we are reading the meanings of the Quran as having a spiritual effect on us, we should never hide behind “borrowed languages” or “religious terminologies”.  

• We should reason in order to come to the conclusion that: “I am 100% sure that my life is not without any purpose i.e. I will be taken into account and everything will be asked about all the things that were presented to me here”.  

• That is to say, I will be taken into account: 

• What have you done with the capital that I have given to you?  
• How did you utilize your life here and benefit from it?  
• “Or did you use it extravagantly without taking into consideration the consequence of it being given?

101:6 “The one whose good deeds are heavy on the scale.”

What does it mean for the scale to be heavy?  The translation of “good deed” is limited.  What makes a “deed” a good deed?  My consciousness, knowing the reality and confirming the reality, i.e. acknowledging the real Owner of the things and acts.  You know that this is the truth and I submit myself to it.  That is what makes any deed to be the “good deed”.

101: 7 “then he is in a pleasant life”

If your acceptance and confirmation of the reality is heavier than your ignorance and negligence, then you are in a pleasant life and you will be pleased with it.  Is this really true?  If my consciousness and awareness is functioning more than negligence, then I have a pleasant life, feeling in the presence of my Creator and I trust my Creator, He has given me everything.  

• That is, I am not an ungrateful one and I acknowledge Him and I am sure that He will give me eternal Paradise and forgive my negligence and forgive my mistakes.  

• It is inevitable not to make mistakes.  We always make mistakes and misuse our feelings rather than using them for the purpose they are created for: “to acknowledge the Creator and submitting myself to Him, being grateful to my Creator and confirming Him”.  

Mostly, what we do is that we spend our feelings aimlessly.  Example: There is a small spot on a t-shirt, and I get disturbed by it.  I don’t know why I am disturbed with that spot?  Which kind of feeling is this? How do I know that the spot is bad?  Where did I get this feeling?  Who taught me this?  Yes, I dislike dirt and spots, but I do not think about the sense of disliking!  

Asking for forgiveness i.e. deleting the negligent moments of my life is possible, just acknowledge Him as the Owner of all your provisions and human faculties.  Never get frustrated by your mistakes.  Am I not going to be sorry for my mistakes?  Yes, your being sorry must turn to your seeking pardon, forgiveness and receiving the forgiveness from your Creator and turning to Him, repenting and expressing to Him by asking for His Mercy to forgive you”.  That is the best way of a solution for the human being to acknowledge all the favors of His Lord.  Otherwise, the spirit cannot stand all the mistakes that it has made.  When we remember all the mistakes we made in our past experiences, they become so heavy and put us down and into despair.  However, when we say: “O my Creator!  You are Generous!  You are always Merciful, and Your Mercy encompasses everywhere.  Everything is out of your Mercy and You are so Merciful that You must forgive me.  Please forgive me, you can do that.  You are promising your Mercy to me by treating me in a Merciful way, so I trust your forgiveness (it’s not guaranteed but we must trust His forgiveness).”  

Also, from our own feelings, we can understand that if someone does wrong to me, and ask for forgiveness, can I stop myself from forgiving the person?  No, we forgive them.  That is our feelings which are given to acknowledge which kind of Creator do I have.  

• Within your own self you can experience the qualities of your Creator when you don’t deny and distort your feelings.  That needs some training and concentration.  

• While you are concentrating and thinking, don’t say: “Allah is ghaffir and He forgives”.  Rather, you have to experience the pleasure of forgiveness so you can say: “That is my Creator revealing Himself to me through this sense of forgiving or ghaffir”.

• This experience and realization will be your reality and that is what confirmation is, “certainty in belief” i.e. “yaqeen” which can happen.  During the prayer, you present your conclusions and during these discussions, you use your reasoning and being critical to yourself, is it true, can I experience it?  Yes, you can.  Be brave to ask these questions, otherwise seek for the answers.

Now, the people living with the consciousness of their Creator in their lives, know the Power and Mercy of their Creator, how Generous and honorable He is and honor Him.  Your Creator loves you and wants the best for you AND does not want to put you down!

101: 9 “But the one whose good deeds are light on the scale”

How is the heedless going to get pleasure from his life?  Impossible!
The one who fails to utilize his senses for their purpose, to search for an answer to what his existence is given for, to deny that he and this universe have an Owner suffers accordingly.

101:10 “then his home is a bottomless pit.”

The literal meaning of “umm” means mother.  If you were to translate the above verse by inserting “mother” instead of “home”, the meaning would be bizarre.  Therefore, as we studied in the previous classes about “how to read the Quran”, we must interpret these rhetorical devices in a proper way to get a practical meaning for myself.  Yes, home is a place of comfort.  Now, how can a bottomless pit or fire become my home?!  The word “haaweyah” is translated as a bottomless pit.  

101:11 “What will explain to you what that is?”

Now, what is “that” in reference to in this verse?  Is it talking about the bottomless pit or “haaweyah” again?    Who will tell me what the essence of haaweyah is? I (Your Creator) will explain it to you.

101:11 “It is a scorching fire.”

Not a simple fire but a scorching one.  That is, as soon as you put something in it, it will melt, like a furnace fire that melts all the metals.  In other words, it burns your spirit i.e. you are in complete despair with no hope for the future and you see your existence as futile, expressing: “If only I did not exist.” 

•  Because your consciousness keeps reminding you and knocks at your spirit: “Hey, you will disappear from this existence.  What will happen to you?  You will die.”  

Every day you are dying and losing your existence and life.  You cannot bring it back at all.  You only keep the picture on your phone or an album.  Your pictures remind you that you lived a pleasant life and it is gone.  Now, you feel in despair.  As the hope goes away, it reminds you that tomorrow will also be gone, you cannot keep anything here.  It is as if you go down towards the pit of the furnace day by day.  

• In this state, the spirit feels no security i.e. when you don’t submit your existence to the Owner of the universe.  

• What a real description of the spiritual feelings of the believer and unbeliever in this world (in an allegorical way).  This will make us realize Now the life after death, which is the preparation of our future life after we die.  That is why we are brought into this world and taken away from this world in order to be given the results of our scale. 

• From now, we are informed of it and we can feel it in ourselves: “Yes, death is with me and that is my reality now, how can I deny it?  

• Death is a shocking news to anyone who is receiving this message now, just knocking at your door of consciousness and you say: “this is really true”.  

Of course, I am taken into account Now within myself.  I cannot get out of myself; I can keep myself busy with other things, but this reality (death and the consequence of the consciousness of my existence or acknowledgement of my Lord here) is with me and I cannot run away from myself.  

• Where can I go?  

• I am within myself and my spirit cannot go out of myself.

Why don’t I spend the periods of myself conscious of my Creator and become aware of my reality!?  

• That will make your life pleasurable.  That is what we are created for!!!  

• If I do not, then the fire will hug me like a mother hugs her baby.  Not because the mother/fire is angry, but that is the nature/essence of denial.

• The essence of denial is “fire” for your spirit.  
• Can you live here with no purpose?  Why are you feeding your children?  Why are you loving your mother/father or relatives?  

These verses make one think about their reality and purpose in existence and rekindles their desire for an eternal life that is pleasurable. It also paints the picture of how horrible it is to live without an Owner.