Chapter Sa’d – Part 19

Recap: What happens to those who confirm/deny the reality of their existence?  What type of spiritual experiences do we have in this world?  This spiritual realization will continue in the next creation, where we will be given another body which will enable us to experience however we have developed our spirit.  The nature of the spirit is such that it has the potentiality but cannot operate without the body.  Through the tools of the body, the spirit operates and makes us human beings.  The body is like the cup or covering, and the spirit experiences its reality through the body.  The body is equipped through the tools and the spirit’s potentiality operates through these tools.  When the body is taken away, the spirit is left alone as it was trained in this world.  Then, the resurrection is the re-creation of the body.  The spirit is of the nature of the law, although the body changes, the law/ principles of creation do not change. But the consciousness of the spirit may become more aware of reality or deny it. Accordingly it will be treated in the next creation as we experience the results of our understanding of reality in this world.

The spirit has developed in the negative or positive way, educated itself or denied and not improved its potentialities, that is how we will be treated, and that is how creation also demonstrates here.  Example: if you use the body, the muscles get better and improve the capacity. If we don’t exercise, the body loses its quality, that is what we are taught here.  The potentiality is there, and we have been given the ability to learn and we must learn.  Our human side, i.e. spirit communicates  with the universe through the body. With this communication we develop our spirit  by training ourselves within the capacity of this creation.

At the end, we die; the body and the spirit are separated, and the spirit is relieved.  We cannot speculate about life in the grave/qabr.  Spirit alone feels what it is, but it cannot experience it within the nature of this universe. As soon as resurrection happens, spirit starts experiencing physically whatever it learned in this world, and it must be at a different creational level.  If it was not a different creation, what is the point in death of the body then? According to my capacity after graduating from the education of this universe, I would start practicing what I learned or what I have not learned.

We will experience what we have educated our spirit with, denial or confirmation.  Denial is hopelessness, disappearance from existence (according to the denier)) and the continuation of the next creation will be experiencing hopelessness.  Accordingly, what everyone deserves, they get it. “I am a just Creator, and you see how everything is adjusted accordingly and you get exactly what you deserve.”  There are millions of creatures, and they are arranged and given what they need according to their body and matching each other.  Example:  The snakes are created in a way where they adjust themselves to the environment, and they can survive and take care of their lives.That is the demonstration of the Creator that He creates everything according to what one needs.

An uneducated spirit is in a completely hopeless situation, by the experience of their body.  A convinced spirit must improve so that after graduating from here, the person will experience what they enjoyed or experienced the pain of hopelessness through denying the purpose of life here.  These theoretical descriptions have been discussed in detail previously.

38: 65 “Say: I am only a warner, and there is no deity except God, the One who holds absolute sway over all that exists.”

That is what the mission of anyone who follows the Prophetic mission is: “I am only a warner, and I cannot force and impose anything on anyone.  I should just let the people know and spread what I have learned from the Speech of God, explaining the reality of the existence of this world.”  The gist of the message that I am warning myself and other people about is that there is no deity except God.  How can I understand such verses?  It seems to be the declaration of a conclusion.  We have been training to read how to study the Quran in a way that does not contradict our human nature and human expectations.  You cannot force anyone, but you can only remind people.  

Why is it that warning is more emphasized than giving glad tidings?  We know that in our nature, our creation is perfect.  Our responsibility is not to improve our human side, rather our responsibility is not to corrupt our human side.  Our human side works perfectly as it is made.  The message says: “Be careful not to spoil your human side/humanity and break it.”  

• That is why our human nature needs to be warned not to make mistakes. 

We don’t need to be warned on how to improve the potentiality of our spirit, it is perfect.  Example: you get a new laptop, it is perfect.  Just as you open the manufacturing packet of the laptop, the machine, in and of itself is perfectly working.  What you need warning about is not to misuse the laptop and break it.  That is what “taqwah” means, God consciousness.  The root meaning of “taqwah” is to “be careful” on how I use my human feelings.  I must be very sensitive and careful not to use myself in a wrong way, where I get corrupted just like the program of the machine gets corrupted.  If someone wants to say something to me that is for my benefit, he must warn me not to corrupt myself and use myself carefully.

The Quran mostly talks about warnings.  The Quran also talks about good news, i.e., if you keep your laptop in good condition, then you will enjoy it.  Be careful not to corrupt it. Human beings have already been endowed with the qualities to keep their original perfect creation, thus they need more warning not to corrupt it needing good news if they did not corrupt it.  That is why the Prophets are called “warners” because our option to corrupt is there and we can damage our human nature if we were not warned about it.  Everyone has a good side in them, and we must grow our seed, support it to make a beautiful tree.  It does not fit to say that a person is 100% corrupt (as per definition of creation).  People are in between good and bad.  Which way should I go?  The perfection way?  The corruption way?  The answer is clear!

We are reminded that there is no deity except God.  If you want to save yourself, you must make sure that there is no deity in this world.  That is, there is nothing in this world which has the power to create and control or have real power from itself, so that it will operate independently freely by itself.  I must be careful about not assigning any Divine power to any created being.  The Absolute is creating anything because of its own will and capacity, i.e., giving existence to something.  The Divine power is the Creator of the universe.  Is there anything that can give existence to itself?  The necessary sequence to it is illallah, i.e., the only One, the Absolute One, the One who has the quality to create and hold Absolute sway over all that exists.  He is the Source of the existence of every single being in this world, over the entirety of the universe that is working perfectly.  Hence, that is what we need to be careful about and are warned about.

38:66 “Lord of the heavens and the Earth and whatever is between them, the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving.”

We can logically conclude that I don’t see anything in this universe that can give existence to itself or anything, everything here is subject to the order.  Example: my stomach is working, and my heart is working perfectly. Who is employing them? The One who is the Creator and the Source of existence of the Heavens and the Earth.  Every single being, no matter how much you divide something, all their qualities need to be created.  The things cannot create themselves; the things are being created as they are.  He is the Almighty and most Honorable One.  Everything is subject to His will. He is the most honorable One and nothing can challenge Him.  To grasp and treat every single being at every moment is not possible for any human being or any creature.  

We cannot create anything including free will, we just obey the order of the universe. Through the order of the universe, the Creator tells me that if you follow these options that I provided for you, i. e. follow my order, you shall reap the fruits.  Human beings are subject to the order of the universe.  We are created with consciousness and are aware of what is presented to us, i.e., we choose from given options. We are not giving existence to anything else than what is already existent in the universe. Choosing from given options is arranged by the will of the Creator.  He arranges my human qualities in such a way that I can operate within the given order.  Can I choose something that is not within the given order?  NEVER! 

Although I am free to choose, I am not free to change the order of the universe, the limit of the order is under the Creator of the universe who has the power to change it as He wishes.  The principle of the order does not change but what is created within the universe is subject to change.  This seemingly contradiction tells me that the Creator must be an Absolute Being.  Changing everything at every moment, without changing the order, only the Absolute can do it, without any crack.  The order changes within the order, to help the human understand that the Creator of the universe must be an Absolute One.  The human mind wonders: “How can something develop by itself?”  The order does not change because the principles of the order do not change.  That is what scientists do, discover the order and present it to us on how it works, then manipulate it around and claim that they invented something rather than discover the order.

Comment: My interconnectedness with the universe dose not make me slave to the things but connect me with the Absolute Owner of the universe consciously. If this is a warning in the verse, it is a great warning to be aware of my reality of existence.

Let us reconsider “making me slave of things.”  That is human consciousness, I should not feel that I am a slave of the things, things are not my master, my master is the Creator of the things.  The things themselves must obey the order of their Creator and they cannot operate over me; I am utilizing them.  We can only say that everything in the universe is the slave of the Creator of the universe, and only the master (aziz), the Most honorable One must be the Creator of the universe. That is human logic.  

Those people who don’t accept and confess that our reality is nothing but just follow how we are created, are not reasoning properly. We cannot get out of how we are created. We cannot change how we are created, but only follow the order of the universe. If someone denies this and says that the universe happens by itself, then how can reasoning allow us to conclude such understandings?  These people must feel that they are enslaved by matter and the things of this universe.  Those people who understand that they are subject to the will of the Creator, accept that we are created as we are. Example: the stomach cannot do what the kidneys are doing. They cannot change their function and must follow the order. If something goes wrong according to the order, they start malfunctioning.

Human beings can free themselves by being slave of the things. The will of the Creator says that you must worship Me only and declare your freedom from being slave of the things.  In human relationships, master exploits the slave. When I say that I am the slave of the Absolute One, this should not be understood as we see people treating their slaves because He is not utilizing me and asking me to help Him to do things, then we need to reconsider, who is serving who?  The Creator is serving us, I am benefiting from His service, that is why I can never use the word “slave” for any being because we all are being served by our Creator.

My Creator is doing everything for me, creating my conditions of life, He is serving me. When I was in the tummy of my mom, I was taken care of.  I was brought out of my mother’s stomach into this world, I found everything serving me, employed by my Master/Owner.  I must acknowledge Him.  Example: Someone tells me to go wash my hands when they are dirty.  Here, I am being asked to keep healthy and so I must thank this person for the warning, rather than feeling that I am serving the demands of a person.

Acknowledging your reality and admitting your reality is “worship”. That is needed for me, the training of my spirit, to put into practice and assure that I am not obliged to serve matter, but only acknowledge my Creator. That is “worship”.  In Arabic language, there are many words “Ghulam”, “abd,” “jaariyah,” “fataa” used for slaves.

Master means the One who benefits and exploits and asks to do labor for him or her.  As far as my relationship with my Creator is concerned, I am not doing anything for Him, He is providing everything for me.  The word “slave” is to be used carefully. We must be sensitive about the vocabulary related to the Quranic context.

Reminder: You cannot read the Quran according to dictionary meaning. It is mundane, secular, and gained meaning through human experiences. Whereas the Quranic words come from Absolute knowledge according to the purpose of the speech of God and the message of God.  According to the general purposes of the Speech of God, all the words have gained a meaning within the context of the teachings of Quran.  Example: Abd means worshiper, i.e., acknowledging and practicing my reality. 

My reality is to acknowledge what I conclude from the experiences of this universe. Who is my Lord? I must accept, understand, practice, conclude and remind myself on every occasion.  There are some forms prescribed to us according to our needs, don’t steal, don’t tell a lie, don’t enslave yourself with created beings, they are lifeless, no consciousness and don’t have the power from themselves to function as they do, for they are all created.  Just like the machine, everything functions well and is made by its Engineer.  How can I say thank you “screen” to show me my program for example?  I say thank you Engineer, you made this for me and employed the unconscious matter for me, made it in such a way according to the order of the universe.

“I am thankful to the Creator of the order of the universe. You are the Maker and the Originator of the universe.

38:76 “Say, this is a great message.”

38:77 “Yet, you ignore it.”

There is no creator in the universe but only the One who creates the heavens and the Earth. He must be All powerful and all Forgiving. That is what we learn from our Creator, but we deny it or ignore it.  Ignorance seems to be innocent, but it is not because I am turning my back and saying that I am not going to accept and confess that you are the Creator of the universe.  Here, I want to declare my own independence.  “If you want to be irrational, reject your own reality, I have given you the free will to do so, the consequence remains on your shoulders”.  You must live as a human being, rather than getting ready to be executed, getting closer to non-existence, purposeless end, leaving this world to fall into annihilation, non-existence.

Example: Someone is invited to a person’s house.  The host says, here is what you need, tell me what you want, and I will give it to you.  Even if you don’t ask, everything is arranged.  This man says that this host is doing all this for me and at the end he will throw me out and kill me.  How can you enjoy his perfect treatment of you?  Anytime he does something good to you, you say I know you will kill me.  Why does he keep treating me well in this world?  I know that people die at the end. The person who treats me well here, is bringing other people in, he has no sign of injustice, everything is perfectly arranged for everyone to entertain.  In other words, the Host is letting us know that I will take you out of this school of the universe and give you a profession to practice based on your education level here, suited for your human needs. I will lose my existence in the end, it may seem, but how is that possible?  This one who brought you into existence, why can’t He not give you another status of existence for He demonstrates here that He is a kind host.  What is He going to do by killing you?

Those people who believe have good intentions, while the people who obstinately reject their reality are contradicting their human reality.  Sometimes we ignore, but that is not rejecting, it is “neglecting”. Neglectfulness is mostly a believer’s problem, i.e., one is not deliberately ignoring the reality.  We must be careful about being negligent, we forget, I cannot keep my consciousness  and awareness of my status of enjoying the Mercy and Compassion of my Creator in this world always alert.

Example: The snow that I am experiencing is for me, reminding me that the One who will present me with hot days of summer will bring me water, so that the plants will get their food, and provision.  They will get their vegetables, and all of them are given to me at my service.  If we don’t use the fresh vegetables, it rots away.  The Quranic message: “Eat, drink and enjoy your provision that I have provided for you.”  (Qur’an, 52: 19) However, we forget it.  We say that this is coming from the farm or market.  You got the fruit from the Mercy of God, not the “market”, don’t be negligent.  

My reality is explained in the Quran in a majestic way. We must discover that!