Recap: There is coherence between the spirit and the body. Just as an app needs a smart phone to function, similarly the spirit needs the body to interact with the universe. Otherwise, I would not be able to analyze the data my spirit collects from the body (experiences). Example: If there was no creation of taste which we experience by using our tongues, I could never enjoy a delicious peach
When we learn something new, we just discover what is already within us. Thus, we reject ignorance when we learn something new. The teacher is just an aid to help us uncover our potentialities. If we do not go through an education system, we would never learn. A teacher teaches me how to utilize my human qualities to interact with the physical world. This teaching is “guidance”.
Analogy: Jane went through first grade and learnt something. In fact, what her teacher taught her is what was already within her. What she learnt in first grade is obvious to her now and helped her build the foundations to what she knows now.
Similarly what we learn through the teachings of the Quran is in fact already within us in the form of potentialities which need to be developed into a capacity. This teaching is in the form of guidance, helping me uncover my potentialities.
The essential questions are:
- Am I in need of guidance?
- Do I need a teacher?
Yes. I need guidance to manage my overall being which consists of spiritual side (human qualities, senses and consciousness) and my physical side. Some serious scholars point out that about 95% of the Quranic teachings provide guidance for the spiritual side and 5% of the Quranic teachings provide guidance for managing the practical physical side of my being. These 5% are referred to as jurisprudential matters (i.e. “fiqh” in Arabic). You only need to know/learn these once. For example: the mechanics of praying is not in the Quran which just says to pray. So, I need a teacher to teach me once on how to pray with respect to the mechanics.
Similarly, the duration of fasting, laws of inheritance…are just mechanics. The fiqh side is the formula you need to know in order to apply to your practical life which involves executing all your human qualities, senses and feeling i.e. analyzing and evaluating your spiritual side. I cannot ignore the 5% because then I would be left to creating my own formulas which are nothing but following my ego mostly fed by societal influences. (WATCH OUT!!!)
Since you learn rules once, the proportion allotted to teaching fiqh is only a small percent of the Quranic wisdom. The rest is allotted to how to think and develop one’s awareness at a higher level and make life clearer to build up confidence in one’s confirmation. Just as you start building a sense of trust in a friend by sharing one experience and you build on it with more experiences to consolidate that trust. Similarly, you need to experience the Speech of God more and more in order to build firm trust in the Source of your existence. How do I build the trust? Well, by educating myself in letting my being know who my Lord is and getting the meaning of my existence, all of which have endless degrees.
- What do I need in order to experience who my Lord is and feel Its presence in my life?
- I need guidance and a teacher. That is why the Quran provides us with different experiences of different Prophets (Joseph, Moses, Noah, Muhammad…) so we may analyze the purpose of our existence under the lens of different cases. These different life experiences are needed in order to establish the presence of the Absolute Creator in my life.
Now to answer the second essential question, I say: “Yes, I need a teacher to help me understand the guidance from My Maker.” I need a teacher to help me unravel my potentialities. I need a teacher who lets me know who I am and reminds me what my purpose is. When I learn something new, I am able to understand it on my own but I need a teacher to help me apply it to my practical life so I understand everything to the fullest.
I need guidance to manage both sides (physical and spiritual) because they necessitate each other. That is, the spirit needs the physical body to interact with the universe. Without training my spirit, my physical side cannot follow organically. I need both training concurrently i.e. physical side and spiritual side.
Feeling the need for guidance is one’s personal choice which depends on one’s own understanding of their being: WHO AM I? I have to ask questions and go through a whole process in order to come to the conclusion that I am created and that I have a Maker. How one comes to this conclusion is another subject. If I am sure that I am made + I am given freewill to choose => I need guidance in terms of how to use this free will. The One that gives me existence must definitely send a teacher so that I may uncover my human qualities and use them appropriately for their purpose .
How can I search for guidance in this universe? What am I expected to look for? Actually, when I feel this inner voice searching for guidance within my being, at this stage if I decide that I need guidance, then messengers employed by the Maker to act as teachers, come into my life. Since I cannot communicate with the Creator directly in this universe because I am created and He is the Absolute (not of the nature of the universe), I expect It to employ somebody to teach me how to communicate with it in my practical human life conditions. Just as a student in school needs a teacher, similarly, conscious beings in this “school of the universe” need teachers as well otherwise without teachers, any institution is meaningless. We need to look for teachers. It means we should look for employed teachers by the Creator. Which one is the right teacher for me is not the subject right now but we can get guidance only through teachers employed by God.
- I need a human being like myself going through the experiences of life to demonstrate to me with evidence which way is the best way to choose, So I have to look at the evidence and his teachings to analyze if it is appropriate or not to my human nature.
Let us conclude with the following analogy: A student takes a chemistry class and studies the textbook. It is required that he attends the lab as well. The instructor in the lab guides him on how to conduct the experiment that he learnt in class. Similarly, the Prophets are like the instructors of the universe. The Quran is like the chemistry textbook full of theory. The Prophet expects you to study the Quran. If I study the Quran, only then can I experience the universe according to the teachings of the Quran.
We can summarize the above statements as follow: As we are created with our given potentiality we need to improve our humanity by learning. This process takes place with a text book and the teacher.
- Without the text, Prophet means nothing.
- Without Prophets, text is not enough.
Messengership is essential to get guidance: Without Messengership, we could not get guidance/uncover our potentialities. Prophets come to help me express my acknowledgment to my Creator. In order to worship God, I need to express my thankfulness in both spiritual and physical form.
How do I express my thankfulness? Through my understanding which makes everything meaningful. Everything must come from within. As I feel happy, my facial shape changes according to this happiness that I feel within me. This happiness comes from feeling the presence of my Lord within me. Without going through belief training via the Quran the practical side of the Prophetic teachings (as in doing experiment in the lab before learning the theory) cannot make sense.
Belief in Messengership must be established and be used as a liaison between the judicial matters and belief foundations.
Jurisprudential matters are important only after establishing belief training at its root. In order to give life to Jurisprudential matters, we have to go through belief training via the Quran. Only then can my spiritual side look like a lively human being, otherwise without proper understanding, the physical side looks like any physical training. Therefore, I cannot only be a spiritual being nor can I just be a physical being in this universe.
Question: Are the jurisprudential matters fixed or they vary per case?
Answer: Just as there are a lot of ways for me to express my happiness, similarly, everyone’s ways of prostrating varies according to their experiences. Example: while putting the forehead on the floor, everyone’s feeling to this act is different. There are different experiences to the number of people on Earth. Let’s extend the example: There are two rakats (bowing in prostration) in Fajr (morning prayer) and everyone has to do the same physical action (physical side) but everyone’s experience is different (spiritual side). This difference is inevitable. We must understand that everyone must have their own feelings and personal responsibilities. My body and spirit both need guidance and the Prophet is the liaison helping me connect spirit and body. Prophet represents this connection. Now, according to my understanding of the Prophetic teaching, physical laws make sense accordingly. Also, for certain conditions, the rules vary and I have to only focus on what really matters: DO I NEED GUIDANCE? Do I need to use freewill in order to learn through the Prophet? Am I aware of it?
Analogy: You have a plumbing problem at home. Since you do not know anything about plumbing, you call an expert. Similarly, I cannot study the Quran on my own and therefore I have to follow an expert’s teaching. I need to follow instructions in order to understand the Prophetic way. When I get the ruling from an expert, I am just following the message. There may be another expert with a different understanding and so I need not to get lost in arguing about which ruling is better. My main concern is: “Am I looking for the Prophetic example in my life?”
Ask yourself: “why do you do what you do?” For instance you sleep and wake up in the morning according to what criteria? Do I even question the existence of such phenomena? That is where the need for Prophetic guidance comes into life. My Creator presents me with several options to choose from, I need guidance to pick one. My intention is not to follow the person (a scholar per se) but the Prophetic example this scholar brings to me. If the scholar is wrong, it’s not my mistake. I trust them because they are experts. If I do not trust them, then I need to seriously study the Prophetic message on my own. The DANGER lies when I do not study on my own and neither do I consult an expert. Then I am left to my own doings, claiming that I know God better and I do not need the Quran = egotistic = self-centric.
Naturalists and Atheists are aware that matter is not the cause of its own production and that there is something beyond matter which they attribute to something that is unknown. To them, what they call “nature” is unknown to them. Similarly, to believers, “God” is unknown to them. There is really no difference between the believers and the naturalists when they speak about their conclusions. We have to work on defining God. I am not here haphazardly. I am here today; I may not be here tomorrow. What is the purpose of being given existence? This is a serious matter. When you realize that the universe must have a Creator, that is when the Prophetic guidance comes in from my Creator helping me define “God”. I need to search for God, the stage I am in does not matter, as long as I am in the process of searching is IMPORTANT.
Searching for God is an eternal endeavor. My existence is given to me to do the search, if I do not use this universe and myself as a place of searching for God, then I will not be successful. Prophets are the appointed teachers as part of this universe. If we liken the universe to a book, prophets are the most meaningful sentences of this book.
I cannot simply follow someone who seems like a wise man. I should look for a teacher who teaches in the way that God employed teachers do. Under the guidance of this teacher I need to go deeper and make progress in my learning and see the consistency in my definition of God and my relationship with God.