Chapter Sa’d – Part 5

Sa’d, part 5

38: 17 “Be patient with what they say.  And remember Our servant, David, the man of strength.  Indeed, he constantly turns to Him.”

1. Whatever the opposing view says, patience is advised to us when people are criticizing us.  Prophet David (peace be upon him) was a man of strength, he was the Administrator of the country he was conveying the message to the people as an administrator.  He was also very patient to the people who were rejecting the message.

• Not accepting the message and being indifferent towards the message is different from rejecting the message and trying to stop it from being spread to others.
• The Quran is pinpointing the people who were trying to reject the Prophetic message, because the message was promoting peace, equality, and justice, hence contradicting the “notables” or chieftains’ egoistic ambitions.

1. These ideas of the poor being equal goes against the leaders and the rich in the society and hence they tried to reject the message.
2. David as the administrator of the people was in a powerful position but he was always seeking refuge with God, i.e., looking towards his responsibility and making sure to check himself (psychological feelings), “am I being arrogant or submissive to the Creator? “Am I misusing my power as an administrator?” Also, the power of God is incomparably beyond and above my power.  My power is in the hands of the Creator’s power”.

• The more powerful status the Prophets are given, they become more humble.
• The Prophets did not accept any material benefits as it was prohibited by God.
• We must give priority to needy people, and then ourselves, that is the advice and guidance from the Creator.  However, we are weak people, and we should always be in the “giving” position.
• We must always go back to ourselves and check our status with our Creator to build a better relationship.

38:18 “We made the mountains join him in glorifying Us at sunset and sunrise.”

In Arabic, sunset and sunrise refers to day and night, in general terms.  When we look at the sky with sophisticated telescopes, we admire the clusters of stars and beings that are innumerable. But that is not our life experiences, as opposed to being on Earth where we can have more physical experiences with creatures on Earth.  Example: mountains seem strong, while the rest of creation is dying.  In the eyes of the people, the most powerful things seem to have a significant effect on us.

All the Speech of God directs our attention to look at creation around us and see the Absoluteness (everything pointing to the same Source) in the existence of things.  Out of other well-known Speech of God, the Psalms are the least corrupted documents with the Torah that is at our disposal narrating the Songs of David and Soloman .  There is an interesting correlation between the two texts that teach us how to connect with God.  That is, establishing a worshipful relationship with God. While David was glorifying God, the mountains echoed that glorification, that is a literal understanding which is not wrong. However, what does it mean? What is the significance of this matter that the Quran mentions? Why does the Quran tell me this?

We see that every single being is wonderful, but they have no freewill and qualities of their own.  They are not acting by themselves but obey the order of the universe.  Their forms are interesting.  Every plant has its own unique way of flourishing.  Every species has a different shape and breathes in a different way.  Every species feeds themselves in different ways.  These qualities demonstrate that whoever is creating these things together, must be an Omnipresent One who creates everything with its unique Personality.  My way of speaking is different from everyone else.  From one aspect we have the same properties (tongue, lips, and lungs…), but from another aspect we are all unique and different (tone, voice, facial features, abilities…).  Every single being is glorifying God through the manifestation of the quality of their Creator.

The strongest elements close to us are mountains, Prophet David was also given that type of strength as the ruler of the country. The verse is letting me know that the mountains and the ruler of the country (David) both together acknowledge the power is not from them but manifested in them.  And so, I must also declare that my power is given by my Creator.

• At night we see the stars and how they demonstrate the power of the Creator standing up there.  The order is perfectly arranged so that everyone stays in its orbit. This system demonstrates that a star cannot create itself and be subject to another central star, and altogether they are subject to the order of the universe which is established by its Creator.
• Daytime also demonstrates to us that all things are representatives of the manifestations of the power of God.  Both day and night are different demonstrations of the magnificence of God.

• Prophet David was taking a lesson from these demonstrations of the act of creation and always glorifying God alongside the universe, and under the witnessing of the things around.

We must also look at the sky at night and come to the wonderings that: how is this arranged? Can matter arrange this? Things are just witnessing the qualities of their Creator.  They exalt the qualities of their Creator, and we should join their glorifications, make the glorifications alive and embrace the whole universe as much as we can imagine. The billions of galaxies proclaim and demonstrate that the Creator’s power is Absolute, ruling and dominion belongs to Him, because He is exalted over everything.  

• Eye, mind and feeling should feel no doubt at all when we witness the universe.

How am I going to connect myself to my Creator? How am I going to make my worship realistic on an experiential basis?  

• Otherwise, accepting with no witness gives way to doubts and does not satisfy anyone’s heart. 

The Quran speaks about the truth firmly.  Matter cannot be the originator of its power.  Is it the existence of its qualities?  Unfortunately, the perfect systems of this universe are attributed to randomness.

38:19 “The birds too in their assemblies: [together] they all would constantly turn to him [who has created them].”

The birds also represent their own species, just like humans.  How do they know each other when flying together?  They are employed to entertain us.  They are expert in the wind directions, how do they know which part is warner?  We check the weather forecast every morning.  The birds know better than us.  They have their intrinsic qualities; how did they get it?  It is coded in their DNA, who coded it?  The DNA just formed itself during billions of years is a “fairy tale”.  Randomness can not happen here to present us with perfect order.  Claiming such and just rejecting the Prophetic messages is being arrogant and makes up one’s own way of interpreting the universe without even giving the possibility that guidance may be needed from the Creator of the universe.  How can I explain existence?  I need my Creator to speak to me to explain my existence, what does it mean?  No one can create one fly out of randomness, and existence cannot happen naturally!  

17:44 “The seven heavens and the earth, and everyone in them declare His glory.  There is nothing which does not glorify Him with praise, but you humans fail to understand the manner of their glorification. He is All-Forbearing, Most-Forgiving.”

Everything is a slave of the order of the universe and declare the glory of their Maker.  We obey one or another option with our freewill.  When I use my freewill with no bias, I realize that I am the slave of the order of the universe.  Believers make the “tasbihat”, i.e., glorification along with other creatures to conclude that God is great! That is, creation is beyond the capacity of this universe, “that beyond” is also His work.

57: 1 “Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies God – He is the Almighty, the Wise.”

Nothing is an exception in glorifying Him.  It is inevitable not to declare “God is great!”