Chapter Sa’d – Part 20

Recap: How the consequences of our choice (confirming or contradicting our reality) determines how we will be treated in this world and the next world?  The next world is a continuation of our existence, a kind of existence which will be different, but we will be the same human beings because our spirit will not change.  We will not have a different personality, rather we will have different living conditions.  My spirit will remain the same, as much as I prepared myself for good/bad, accordingly I will be given living conditions, and receive my new life conditions.  Those who prepared themselves well, will get their degrees accordingly, and the ones who fail will be treated according to their level of failure. Just as we prepare ourselves at school, accordingly we get our degree.  Again, the next creation will not be like this creation.  

There is nothing wrong with this creation, but the human needs and feelings in this world are not satisfied.  This world is transient and is continuously falling into the past, which is out of our reach, and we cannot keep it.  We don’t know what will happen to us in the future, at the same time, the eternal existence cannot be like what we are experiencing here, otherwise there would be no need to change this type of creation and turn it into another type of creation.  

• In our practical life we can see how the Creator gives different lifestyles to different living beings, which is a witness for us letting know that the Creator can create any kind of living conditions for us.

We are given the hope through our feelings that I want a permanent happiness, I don’t want to go through the struggles of life.  The past and future are beyond my reach.  We are always hesitant about what will happen tomorrow.  In the next creation, as our feelings desire eternal satisfaction (they are created with this capacity), God says that I will satisfy your expectations, you will be secure in your existence, you will not be sorry as you are here with your past.  The new creation should not be transient, we had enough of transience and there will be no time.  There is no time for eternal existence, time is the result of temporary existence, as it passes.  The future is unknown.  In eternal existence, there is no such concept of time, only existence.  We shall all be looking forward to permanent existence if we have trained ourselves well, what a pleasure to have no worries about what will happen to me tomorrow, that is what my spirit with infinite qualities require.

After telling the two options (Paradise and Hell), the subject changes to Adam & Eve, Devil and Angels, but the topic of “consequence of our life” remains the same.  We must get our minds ready for it.  We don’t know what happened to these previous people. The story of the prophets must have to do for our education, rather than telling a story. The event which is presented to us has taken place in Paradise, in other words God wants to introduce us to a Paradisiacal life.  It is possible that we may lose this opportunity.  The change of the subject has an introduction given in the verse below.

38:36 “And say, I had no knowledge of the highest assembly in heaven when they differed creation to man.”

This verse is speaking to me and you.  We do not have knowledge of the highest assembly in heaven, i.e., the two different attitudes between Angel and Devil.  I find myself created with an Angelic and Devilish position, but my creation, nature and human feelings are perfect.  My bodily creation is also perfect but transient (that would require to change when it deteriorates).  Bottom line, we have a spirit and body.  Since we don’t know what happened in Paradise or another kind of creation which is perfect, we must find out how to see ourselves in Paradise.  

The Devil (Iblees) does not want to serve human beings and benefit them.  This evil side of me rejects reality and takes an obstinate attitude.  At the same time, the Angels represent submission to the truth.  The truth means acknowledging how God creates, not distorting what the creation tells me about its Creator.  We must accept that the order of the universe is created by God and that existence is nothing but the manifestation of the will of God.  When we obey the reality that we experience in this world, we don’t obey the world, but we obey the will of the Creator of the world.  That is represented by our spirit.  On the other side, we have another option represented by the attitude of Iblees.  

Iblees becomes Satan when it is created on this temporary Earth life.  Iblees represents the obstinate attitude, and Satan represents the result of this obstinate attitude.  That is, since I do not want to submit to the realty, and claim my own superiority, I must take revenge against my opponent, Adam.  There is a difference between Iblees and Satan.  Iblees is the obstinate and disobedient side of me, and Satan is not only the disobedient side of me but tries to gain supporters, deviate other people from the right attitude and convince them not to obey God and declare their independence.  Satan’s position is to deceive the human beings, whereas Iblees’s position is to not obey God and because of this obstinate attitude, s/he does not accept to serve human beings.

The Angels on the other side accept reality and obeys the will of God and serves the human beings.  There is an important change of course in our reasoning.  Angels are the ones who receive the message and transfer/execute the message or will of the Creator and turn it into the universe, material existence of the world.  This material existence of the world is not only matter, but also full of meanings.  Like a book, speech, and mirror, declaring the qualities of its Creator.  The functions of the Angels are to carry the news from the Creator that the Creator discloses Himself to human beings with their capacities to let them know who their owner is.  In other words, God introduces Himself to the spirit He created in human beings with the ability to acknowledge the Creator.  We must understand our reality.  We must be more concerned about learning who we are in this world.

I have an Angelic aspect which communicates the message that I receive from the Creator, and from the Speech of God to give me guidance of not to fall into the trap of an adamant enemy or reality of the human side i.e., Satan.  In Paradise, Iblees tries to deceive human beings.  Now, he approaches me from everywhere possible.  Example: I say that I am a believer, Satan may use a stratagem saying that I am a great person, and I must be proud of myself as the leader of the believers, and I am the best person who never falls into mistakes.  Hence, developing a sense of arrogance in me, self-confidence in my own position, rather than having my confidence in God.

This civilization always imposes us to have self-confidence, in what?  We must question that. This is a tricky language developed in all societies.  Everyone wants to be the leader and develop self-confidence, and no one wants to admit their neediness and in need of God’s guidance. (what is self-confidence, what it should be, how should we gain it, and what is the best way to develop my self-confidence? These are to be discussed separately).  This civilization is based on ego-centric confidence.  

The spiritual side of me (Angel), my egoistic side (Devil) is presented to us in a scenario, regardless it is talking about me.  I was created in the form of a lump of meat, then grew into an embryo loaded with God’s spirit.  My spirit acknowledges its reality because that is the function of the spirit.  My side which follows material concerns, represented by my bodily desires is represented by Satan.  Previously we are warned about the life in Hell (the consequence of denying my reality) to be horrible and how wonderful the reward of confirming the truth will be in the hereafter and as this is also experienced in this world through our feelings.  This verse is preparing our mind that we must be cautious about this, which way am I following?  Now, our individual and personal reality is presented to us so we can make an analysis within our own existence and being.  Be careful from the beginning that I have two sides.

We are living beings in the fetus of our mother, not human beings yet.  When the spirit is loaded in my body, then it becomes a human being.  Just as the mechanical side of a machine is made first and foremost, then the processor or programs are loaded.  Without a program, that machine cannot be called a laptop.  Just as without matter, the program cannot function.  Just as without the body the spirit cannot function.  That is how creation is and God teaches us how He is going to create a new body for our spirit to function.  Just as a plant is matter and then it is made to bear fruits, similarly, a cow is like a human body, and it is made to give milk.  The only difference with human beings is that we are given reasoning abilities to make sense of what our existence points to and thus acknowledge the Creator.  Again, we must think about ourselves.  Without a body, we cannot be human beings.  Without spirit, we cannot be human beings.  As soon as the body is destroyed, another body will be given in another form, this transition is called “resurrection”.  The spirit is the same, but the body will be different.  Example: the bodily existence will be different as we were in the form of a cell and fetus.  The Creator has demonstrated that He can create any form for us.  In the course of time, by the age of 13-15, we realize who we are.  Before that, we are not aware of it, because our spirit/program is not mature yet.

When God decided to make this program, the human body, one side ready to receive the Angelic whispering, and the other side ready to listen to the Satanic whispering.  Did we know about it at birth?  No.  We become aware of this reality after a certain age, i.e., what am I and how I am created?  Hence, the verse says that I had no knowledge of how God creates and arranges my reality from the beginning, which I become aware of gradually. 

I become aware of my reality after my spirit starts fully functioning.  If we see this event which took place in Paradise that happened before human beings were created, I have no idea how I should confirm it here and now.  However, if I refer to this verse to my existence now, then it is relevant.  When I am speaking to a child who has not reached the age of realizing the two sides (right and wrong), age of puberty/maturity, I must treat this child accordingly.  We must be careful while speaking to our children, who have no ideas about what Satan is, because then we are indoctrinating the child with something that is irrelevant to them.  We must know at what stage to convey to people.  In other words, speak to people according to their capacity.

38:70 “It is only revealed to me that I am here to give a clear warning.”

The Prophets give us the clear warnings as revealed by God.  That is the Prophetic mission.  We cannot claim to be Prophets, rather we say that “in my own individual experience, my Creator has given me the ability to understand my reality, which I must take as a warning for me.”  That is, I must always bear in mind that I have two options in front of me and I may follow one of these options.  However, I must make sure whether I am doing right, that is the warning.  Otherwise, if I do not check in whether I am doing something right then, I may fall into the alternate option without realizing that I am misleading myself.  Rather, I may think that I am developing my personality, improving my self-confidence and all the traits that the outside civilization injects in our minds as to be leaders of the community.  As a result, we become “religious nationalists,” and try to take care of only the material side of the human beings rather than what the human beings need to be aware of, which is to acknowledge their Creator.  WE ARE HERE TO DEFINE OUR EXISTENCE IN TERMS OF OUR CREATOR, RELATING EVERY CHOICE THAT WE MAKE TO OUR CREATOR.  IN OTHER WORDS, USING EVERYTHING AS A MEANS TO DIRECTLY COMMUNICATE WITH OUR CREATOR.  WE MUST BE VERY CAUTIOUS OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN OUR LIVES.  In other words, turning our lives into worship by acknowledging Him, admitting my reality and confirming who the Creator is.  This is the warning that we must keep reminding ourselves: “Be careful, you may fall into mistake anytime.”  Even when we feel a bit insecure, that is a warning to be watchful for.  However, this civilization encourages us to be self-satisfied and comfortable with ourselves.  Hence when you fall into a mistake, you don’t warn yourself and you don’t keep an eye on what you are choosing.  Without questioning whether my free choice is right or wrong, I may follow the wrong without realizing that I am developing into an arrogant and egoistic person (Pharaoh like).

It is very difficult to work on oneself, and that should be our priority rather than just focusing on others and looking to correct them.  If we do not, then the Prophetic mission becomes external (secular) and not internal.  I must correct and work on myself first, otherwise I do not benefit from my existence, and religion is not effective in my personal life.  The message of God is a warning for all of us, so I keep checking how I am using my free will?  If I do not pay attention to myself, where my reasoning lies and whether I acknowledge the Source of my Existence or not, then I will be at a loss.  Although the present civilization imposes on us to gain comfort by having confidence in ourselves, this attitude leads to loss of my humanity replacing it with arrogance.  As believers, one should always be on guard and alert with their reality.  We should try to follow the Prophetic mission and in our practical life, this mission must function at a personal level.  The self-centric secular civilization offers Satanic whisperings that you are doing good by staying confident in yourself.  The Satanic worldview only looks at the universe with a horizontal view, physical basis and immediate satisfaction.  This attitude of relying on the self does not make you strive for your humanity, and one becomes an ego-centric person.

The Prophetic mission teaches me that I must concentrate on my spiritual responsibilities.  My human side needs to be trained.  Therefore, I must bring the message of the Quran to my personal life right now, otherwise external knowledge will have no benefit to me.

The body and the spirit are both created by God, I just need to be alert with how I am interpreting existence and my experiences.  For that, we must always stay alert, and make sure to appropriate the qualities and all the bounties to the Real Owner, the Source of Existence of this universe, rather than to ourselves or the created beings.

• Learning starts from ignorance, but our potential is always ready to develop.
• I learn through opposites and making mistakes, even messing things up.

For this reason, the creation of Satan is perfect, because through the wrong choices, I get to know what the right option is.  We just need to be careful with our choices, the rest is perfectly set up.  That is where human responsibility lies.  The Creator has created us perfect, if we can be at peace with this, then we build our trust in our Creator.  We have the option to improve ourselves, we are not like a tree or a cell.  Improvement is not something extra to our creation, it is just a realization.  The more I learn how to use a laptop, the more I become acquainted with its functionalities.  Similarly, the more I realize about what I am and what I need, the better I become acquainted with the Source of my Existence.  That is, the better connection I develop with the Source of my existence when I make progress in my human side.  The potentiality to acknowledge the reality is infinite and paying attention to the warnings will improve my capacity of acknowledging the truth/reality.

• I must be careful not to spoil and corrupt myself.
• I always need warnings: “Have I chosen this way consciously?  Is it right to do it this way?”
• That is the only way of improving our potentiality and turning into capacity.

We must have self confidence in the Source of our Existence.  That is what we need to work on.  I cannot rely on myself; I need a point of support to help me with my affairs at an existential level.  We should never lose confidence in what is created including my choices, because that ultimately points to trusting my Creator.  I always need warnings about my choices and that gives confidence in my Creator’s Perfection.