Chapter Sa’d – Part 10

Part 10

Recap: 

When we read the Prophetic stories in the Quran, they must be related to our lives. Otherwise, it would be reading someone’s philosophy.  When we read the Hadiths or Prophetic stories, it is not to see only how the Prophets carried out their acts, i.e., treating people, performing pilgrimage, prayers, fasting…  The main mission of the Prophet is to teach us who Our Owner is, introduce Him to us, rather than just letting us know that the universe has a Creator, and His name is “God”.  What should I do about it, a God who creates the universe?  How am I going to get to know Him?  What kind of qualities does He have?  All these sides of one’s belief aspect are shown in the Quran.  

Apart from introducing God to us, the Prophet teaches us what does belief in the hereafter mean?  How can I live in this world with the presence of God speaking to us through the Prophets, including now?!

The last Prophet died years ago, what shall I do now?  How do I concentrate on hadith narrations, is it to communicate with the Prophet, or is it to communicate with God while having the concept of Prophethood?  I need to have the concept of the Prophet while I am living in this world!  

• Does the Prophet now exist for me, or did he die? 
• The message of the Prophet must be alive with us.

When we look at the universe, we see mass of matter, interestingly acting in harmony within an order.  Most people believe that this order is created by God, which is correct, nothing wrong with that, but again what should I do with it?  Now, the Prophetic message comes and explains the reality of this existence like a book, a mirror, and conversation between me and the Creator of the universe, reflecting the qualities of its Creator.  The attributes of God (al-Asma) are reflected anywhere in the universe.  These are the qualities that we are all detecting in the universe.  Example:  Let’s say that you look at a piece of art which is made up of stones, there is art there.  That is, we see the qualities of the artist reflect on the stone. Similarly, the universe is full of qualities, introduced to us through the messages of the Prophets.  

The unbelieving philosophers claim that things are happening by themselves.  When we look at the universe, without the explanation of the Prophet, we just see some mass.  What is my position in it?  Nothing, because I am a part of this meaningless mass.  The Prophet comes and changes everything into a meaningful living world, that is the Prophetic message.  We must look at the universe with the lens of the Prophet, “look at the universe, this is what my Creator is demonstrating to me”.  Without the Prophet demonstrating the message to me, my life will be meaningless, in other words, within a meaningful universe, there will be meaninglessness.  We must expect from the stories in the Quran and the hadith narrations, as giving me the inner dimensions of the meaning of existence.  Anything that was captured 1400 years ago as a hadith narration must be the important part that was compiled by the people.  We must look at them to understand what belief matters are.  Which section should I learn so that I will learn belief matters?  Narrations in the behavior of the Prophet are the second part we must pay attention to, the practical side of belief, how belief is practiced in one’s life.

When you encounter difficulties in life including some stress and problems, what is advised to you is to be patient.  The first aspect of the mission of the Prophet is to introduce who God is to us.  The second aspect of the mission of the Prophet is the practical examples, i.e., turn theoretical belief into practical matter. In other words, educating us with how the message of God must be practiced in our lives.  The third aspect is missionary work i.e., calling people to the truth or “dawah”.

The Prophets are all struggling within themselves in their lives, so why did they bother about dawah?  They know that a remedy that helps solve their own personal existential query must be shared for others to benefit from.  We should not be selfish and conservative. My duty includes sharing the message with others as well.

The Prophets have two missions in this aspect, educating the people who have already accepted the message by having them strive towards increasing their belief, at the same time, introduce the message to people who have no idea about this life and its consequences.  The point is to spark people’s interest about this existence, and what it points to.  Why do you think that you are here?  We must take care of every person’s need to acknowledge that we are not left alone in this world to our own power and choice.  We are given material and immaterial gifts from Allah, and we must share it with others.  It may be ideas, education, or insights.  If you are enjoying a vision, then you must share it with others out of the love of other people, even if they don’t love you, try to save them from a meaningless life. “I am very happy now, I understand what my life is all about, i.e., how should I live in this world according to the real Owner?  Why should I not make other people happy?

The most important obstacle nowadays is to tell another person what you are doing is wrong, according to my understanding.  We cannot tell this to people because of the cultural taboos. You must tell them, what is wrong with them as long as they look for a solution, and the reason why they are unhappy? Our strive to help them is our due, without forcing anyone to listen to us, rather showing in various ways our willingness to help them.

The third aspect of the Prophetic mission is nothing more than to help humanity, improve our understanding of the meaning of our existence, make our happiness at a higher level, we should not stay where we are, rather, I must seize any opportunity to solidify my belief.  Invite your friends and relatives with the intention that if something satisfies you with your life and you are being happy, then share it.

When someone is hungry, we don’t feel ashamed to offer food. But, when it comes to belief, it is tabooed in the societies that we live in to offer spiritual food.  Personally, we must assume this responsibility, for example, what should I do now to help a family member?

The Prophet shared his concerns with the family members in a kind manner. Try to see as much as possible to find a common point, without any competition which will be satisfying your ego.  We believe in God, that is our common point.  Do you think that the things that happen to us are evidence of what we believe in?  Let’s say that you are interacting with a happy position, and when something bad happens, it does not mean that God is being harsh, rather it is evidence to be used to witness what you believe in.

38:39 “This is Our gift, so give graciously or keep without any limit.”

Everything is God’s gift, whether you share it with others or not.  That is how God treats us.  “I am giving all My gifts to you, and I am letting you free.”  There are many people that God gave property to, but they don’t share.  Does God take property from them?  No, He shows that property remains here, but you will be gone.  While I am alive and owning them, I am free to share it or not share it and keep it all for myself.  You are free with your actions, until you die.

38:40 “And surely, he enjoys exclusive nearness in Our presence and an exalted position in the Hereafter.”

We are always expected to be keeping the consciousness of God in our minds and feelings and live accordingly.  How can I say that my Creator is not near to me?  I must keep God consciousness with me, so I will feel His nearness in me, that is my responsibility.  When I remember God, He remembers me.  If you don’t remember Me, do you think that I will forget about you?  It means that there is a constant relationship between me and my Creator.  Who is changing my existence?  Someone must be busy with me.  Can my particle arrange everything?  How about the human body and human feelings, how is everything working here?  When you touch any part of the human body, let’s say the nervous system, it communicates through the brain but is felt by the spirit.   

The spirit can communicate with the world only through the body.  In the hereafter, I must be given another body to enable my spirit to function, so that I will enjoy, and not feel sad.  This communication must take through the body. Feeling side exists even if it does not function through using  the body, but if I don’t communicate with the body, then I don’t experience the function of the feeling side. For example, if someone loses his arm, the feeling for using the arm remains with this person and keeps hoping that his arm was there functioning. 

Life and body are different from the human soul.  The material civilization reduces living beings to body and life.  Human reality is not only the body but the spirit as well.  Through experiencing our feelings, we dislike separation, and we must use this feeling not to separate ourselves from our Creator. If we lose someone we love, separation is experienced in our being as “sadness”. However, we should not get out of control saying that I lost my beloved grandmother, for example. We all will die, there is no way to escape from death. What is death? The pain of separation is a real human feeling.  Will I be angry with my God that he took my grandmother away?  He gave me the sense of disliking separation. Did you lose your beloved all together forever? Your grandmother is a body with a soul, which is an independent entity.  

What is the condition of living in the form of a soul?  The world of the souls/spirit is another level of existence.  Soul never dies, after resurrection, the soul is given another body.  Living in this world we can only think of creation in terms of this world. For us, the future is going to be created, but for the Absolute Creator we cannot talk about past, future, present. When we think of the future we need to talk in the future tense. That is the reason why the Qur’an speaks of the hereafter using the future tense. It speaks to human beings, therefore, speaks in terms of how we perceive it. When the soul is given the body, that is the resurrection. While we are in the world, we experience a long time. This is the concept of existence, whereas, in the world of the souls, there is no time that we can talk about, i.e., how long does it take to experience resurrection? This question can only be thought of in these conditions of the universe.  When our soul is separated from the body, the soul must find itself in the world of the spirit.  The grandmother is in a completely different level of existence; we are separated in this world only, and she is not lost. 

While we are doing one task here, our imagination may go in different ways. But there is no confusion in the creation of this universe. That is a sign that God is ever present everywhere.  The power of memory from 50 years ago, comes as a remembrance instantly. Even the childhood experiences come as if the distance of my childhood to now in my memory is not distant, and my spirit experiences it at the same speed.  The memory of our imagination is not subject to the time conditions of this universe. In this way we experience that the time concept is completely different for the creatures in different levels of existence. That is why we can conclude that the Creator of this universe must be an Absolute One.

Through all our experiences and memory recollections, God is introducing the reality of existence and His power in an amazing way, so we must be aware of the types of differences of existence in this universe and what it points to. Different levels of existence are taking place at the same time everywhere without any confusions. , 

We must enjoy exclusive nearness in God’s presence, if I keep God consciousness continuously in my life, as a result my spirit becomes so much acquainted with its Creator, that it sees the action of God presented to him/her.  When you look at the sculpture and concentrate on it, you do not see the stone, rather, you see art manifested there.  That is how we understand living in the presence of God.  All that is happening in this world is the functioning of the Creator’s qualities introducing themselves to us.

Prophet Solomon was given a lot, the more wealth he was given, the closer he became to God, because all these gifts reminded him of His Lord.  Solomon was introducing God’s qualities to its spirit through experiencing the Perfect Art in the creation.  The capacity to acknowledge and perceive the Creator’s qualities is how human free will can either let one connect or disconnect from their Source of Existence.  

You can achieve ascension “Miraj”, nearness to your Lord, by experiencing the manifestations of the Qualities of the Creator in this world by training your free will and get ready to be in the presence of its Source of existence.