Ethical Lesson from the Quran, part 15

Ethical Lessons from the Quran, part 15

When we observe the universe, we see that everything in creation is balanced and they function in a perfect way.  What we call “gravity” is a combination of two opposing qualities i.e. forces of attraction and repulsion that coexist simultaneously.  That is, one cannot exist without the other.  Yet, as a result of the combination of these opposing qualities a perfectly harmonious and purposeful universe is created. What a perfect arrangement from whoever sets up the universe?!  For example, if all the organs and faculties of a bird did not function perfectly simultaneously in unison, it would not survive. If even a single organ failed to function properly, the bird would be unable to sustain its life. How, then, can one claim that this organ would gradually adapt and perfect itself over time? For the bird to live, all its organs must already be functioning flawlessly. Why, then, would there be any need for them to improve themselves if they are functioning perfectly—especially when these organs possess neither awareness nor the ability to choose, nor the knowledge, nor the power to fulfill any desires, let alone produce the bird’s feelings and instincts? This perfect balance cannot be the result of a random act.  Impossible!  There must be a deliberate Conscious Agent giving existence to such balanced perfection in creation.

Everything in creation if observed attentively should amaze us.  Let us investigate the human digestive system.  How does food and vitamins that we eat know where to dissolve in our body?  Each organ and part of the human body needs specific nutrients.  For example, you need specific vitamins for healthy hair.  How do the cells of the body know what nutrient to intake and absorb for healthy hair growth?  How can the digestive system be clever enough to make sure that the vitamin intake reaches the scalp and hair?!  It is mesmerizing if we think about it, and that makes one express SubhanAllah, Glory to the One who creates everything in perfect balance and harmony!

In the way things are created, they manifest the quality of “perfection”.  Who is arranging such a perfect order?  The One who creates this universe gives existence to things in a perfect way.  It is as if everything in its existence is confirming the perfect qualities of its Creator.  For example, just observing the various positioning of the sun throughout the day makes us confirm the manifestation of an Absolute Designer, Absolute Organizer, Absolute Timer.  When one feels pleasure by taking a walk outside on a sunny day, they confirm an Absolute Generous One, Absolute Merciful One, and a One who wills to give existence to this experience of sun for them.  All these qualities are essentially pointing to the truth of “Ultimate Beauty”, as mentioned below in the verse under discussion.  All the names and the qualities of God are known to us through observing the universe.

فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَىٰ وَٱتَّقَىٰ       وَصَدَّقَ بِٱلْحُسْنَى.        فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُۥ لِلْيُسْرَىٰ        

Layl, 92: 5-6-7 “There is the one who is charitable, who is mindful, who confirms the truth of ultimate beauty.  We will facilitate for him the way of ease [happiness, satisfaction.]”

There is a direct connection between what the universe says, and what the Quran says.  The universe manifests its beautiful qualities, and the Quran says that these beautiful qualities belong to the Creator of the universe.  The Quranic message claims that the reality of what it presents is confirmable with the way that the universe functions.  You cannot have one without the other.  In other words, we need the Quranic message to make sense of the universe and our human feelings.  Taking the “shahada” means that I am witnessing what I see in creation as belonging to its Creator.  The word “shahada” comes from the root word of “mushaahadah”, which means to observe and experience.  Every day we must keep renewing our “shahada” and confirm the evidence of an Absolute Creator of the universe.

If someone does not pay attention to the existence of an Absolute Creator in their lives, then they are bound to reduce existence to a meaningless experience ending with death.  Similarly, if we do not listen to our human feelings that require perfect permanent satisfaction in everything (which this universe cannot offer), then we would just live life with a purposeless aim.  Without the belief of an Absolute Creator, His Messengers (the Quran and the Prophets) and His promise of an eternal life (Resurrection), we will always feel at a loss in our interactions with the universe.  The feeling of loneliness also stems from a one-sided worldview where we think that this world is meaningless and death is the end of our existence, because we do not notice the messages in creation sent from the One who has created us. Although every piece of creation is always communicating with us bringing the news from its Creator, if we do not pay attention to this silent speed, we think we have no one to communicate with. Most people do believe in a Creator of the universe, but they do not take the understanding of “believing in God” seriously by practicing it in their daily interactions.  For example, what does it mean to believe in a Creator of the universe?  How does this belief in God help me with my life?  If I am bound to disappear from existence at death, then why even bother creating me?  What is the point of any of our experiences if the end goal is “death”?  Therefore, if we do not shift our worldview by confirming the reality of our existence alongside the witnessing of the universe, then we will live in this world with no substantial pleasure.

The Quranic message comes in and lets us know that we must confirm the manifestations of the qualities of the Creator i.e. “Ultimate Beauty” that we see in creation, and at the same time, we must be aware that our existence is guaranteed under His protection.  The Creator of the universe is the One that created you and gives you the feelings of not wanting to die and wanting everything to be perfect, therefore He will take care of me after the “death” of my body as He is taking care of me now.  Since my Creator has given me the feeling to have a happy life, He must have a reason for giving me that feeling. That feeling is a promise from Him that He takes care of my existence. Therefore I must trust Him so that I can be at ease and enjoy my life.

The last part of the verse mentions how belief in a Creator who created the world with His most perfect beautiful qualities can facilitate an easy life for any human being.  This does not mean that we should not strive to achieve anything here, otherwise life will become boring.  We must keep ourselves engaged with various activities as required at different stages of our lives.  For example, after retirement, people try to pick up a fun hobby such as gardening or playing pickleball, because no one wants to lose functioning of their human qualities.  Human beings are hardwired to seek an eternal happy life.  No one wants to age.  We all want to be healthy and young forever.  That is the need for “Paradise”.

How are we going to secure a Paradisiacal life here?  Is it possible?  Yes.  We must be hopeful, and the Quranic message consolidates this hope.  It depends on how we understand who we are.  If we define ourselves in terms of body only, then the body ages and we cannot stop that.  However, our feelings and human side never ages.  All our human expectations remain with us as fresh as they were in our youth.  It is true that the body is deteriorating, but the latter part of the verse is not referring to the bodily side of creation, rather it is speaking to our human side (spirit).  The most important element of our human side is our “consciousness”, which is the awareness of our human reality.  So, how is this human side supposed to attain eternal satisfaction here knowing that everything (body and the universe) is constantly subject to change?  The human free will is a tool which controls the feelings that we are given.  We must use our free will to direct our feelings towards its Creator.  That is, I must be conscious of who my Creator is, an Absolute Being creating the universe continuously with no difficulty and without any gap.  This awareness helps me live in the presence of my Creator, because I am trusting my feelings to Him and declaring Him to be my Source of Eternal Satisfaction.

God says in the Quran that He created human beings with earthly matter and taught them His infinite qualities.  To understand this, we can take the analogy of installing software into a laptop. Just like the computer works with the software, my body works along with my spirit.  It means that we are endowed with the potentiality to witness the qualities of our Creator manifested in the universe.  In other words, human consciousness can connect its feelings with the perfect qualities of its Creator and become aware of who their Owner (Creator) is.  All the tools within my existence acknowledge the qualities of its Source of existence.  Let us now connect this understanding of human potentiality with what we experience in our lives.  That is, the beautiful perfect existence of this universe is the manifestation of the Names of its Creator.  The Names of the Creator that I have the ability to recognize within me, are presented to me through interacting with the universe.  My consciousness can connect with my feelings and the perfect manifested qualities of the Creator and become aware of who my Owner (Creator) is.  

All the tools within my existence acknowledge its Source, its Origin.  For example, my feelings seek perfection and the universe displays perfection in its existence.  I want beauty and the universe is beautiful.  I want a tidy and neat life, and everything in the universe is tidy and neat in its existence.  We just need to acknowledge and confirm this reality of desiring eternal perfection in everything that we experience because human consciousness requires it, by witnessing the signs in creation that point to their Perfect Creator. Only this Creator can satisfy my desire to seek perfection. Otherwise, without these feelings of wanting eternal perfection and satisfaction that are given to us, how else are we going to communicate with God?!  

Whatever I experience in this world is a means of communicating with the Owner of the beautiful qualities manifested in creation.  Just as when reading a book, we communicate with the author of the book.  Similarly, when reading creation, we are always in communication with our Creator through everything that we interact with.  Our responsibility is to read the manifested qualities of our Creator to be in His presence.  

Belief in God must be real, it cannot be based on imagination, because human imagination cannot go beyond the confines of this universe.  Just like when we are using the laptop, we know that the Engineer of the laptop exists.  Although we have not seen the Engineer, we are appreciative of the functionalities that the laptop offers.  Similarly, while using the universe, we know that the Creator of the universe exists, but we cannot imagine Him.  However, we appreciate what He sets up in the universe for us and this consciousness helps us connect with our Creator.  That is how the facilitation of ease happens if I realize that the communication with the Creator of the universe is established when I connect my feelings and interactions with Him.  

There is no other way of confirming the Truth of Ultimate Beauty besides communicating with the universe.  Just as a laptop needs to be connected to an outlet for electricity, similarly, we need to connect with our Creator to confirm the truth of Ultimate Beauty in all our transactions, as mundane as they may sound.  For example, when you are drinking water, you get pleasure from it.  This act must be used to communicate with its Creator.  You had a meaningful conversation with someone, use this opportunity to thank your Lord by acknowledging Him.  You look at the sun and are presented with beautiful weather.  Use this experience to connect this feeling of pleasure with its Source of Existence.  Always question the existence of everything and remember to ask yourself, how come this exists?  This process of activating your consciousness will lead you to acknowledge its Source of Existence through the qualities manifested in creation.  As a direct consequence of connecting with the Creator of the universe,  Eternal Satisfaction becomes easier. Your connection with your Absolute Creator, who is the Creator of the universe, instills in you a deep sense of security in your existence, bringing the feeling of Paradise into your heart.

Without connecting our experiences with its Source of Existence, we cannot solve the human problems that are prevalent in the general societal culture.  Everyone is worried about finding a way to feel satisfied in their existence, because yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is not here.  So, then, how can I enjoy my life with this transient nature of the universe?  Unfortunately, the discipline of Psychology offers self-help books to cope with this human existential dilemma, however, no one brings our attention towards what we are losing with the passing of time.  No one wants to talk about “loss”  and the coming of “death”, because it is frightening.  When people remember death, all their hopes and pleasure collapses.  There is a Hadith, where the Prophet (pbuh) reminds human beings that we are not created for this world, and we should always remember “death”.  It means that I should not reduce my life to bodily existence, which is decaying every moment.  Where has your babyhood gone?  Where did yesterday go?  Think about it?! Try to find the Source that instilled in you the desire for permanent satisfaction—who could it be? Isn’t it clear that only He can fulfill it? Instead of falling into despair and attempting to escape the reality of death, seek the One who alone can satisfy your heart—the Creator of the universe.

وَأَمَّا مَنۢ بَخِلَ وَٱسْتَغْنَىٰ         وَكَذَّبَ بِٱلْحُسْنَىٰ           فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُۥ لِلْعُسْرَىٰ

Layl, 92:8-9-10 “There is the one who is miserly, thinks himself self-sufficient, and denies the truth of ultimate beauty.  We will facilitate for him the way of hardship.”

Human free will is given by God for us to make choices.  We are left free to either choose to follow the path of ease or the path of hardship.  Mostly 5% of the Quranic message is about providing us with guidance to arrange our worldly life, while the rest of the message in the Quran pertains to belief matters.  Belief matters encapsulate the training of human feelings and learning how to be living with the awareness of a Conscious Creator.  The belief side of the Quranic message needs to be emphasized on, because we must help humanity with making sense of their existence on an intellectually sound base.  For example, you can see that this universe must have a Conscious Creator.  The eye of your intellect can conclude that easily.  However, what does it mean to have a Conscious Creator?  What is required of me by this Creator?  Our efforts must be concentrated on fulfilling the spiritual aspect of our existence.  We must help people satisfy their spiritual needs, rather than just being satisfied with providing financial material help to people by engaging in charitable events only.

We think that we are taking care of ourselves.  We spend our efforts in making money to live a more comfortable and prosperous life.  The money is used to acquire bodily temporary comfort.  Human beings work for approximately 35-40 years, and achieve worldly satisfaction for fulfilling the need for food, shelter and amenities.  However, can money satisfy one’s spiritual needs?  We all know that after retirement, death is coming up.  What can satisfy the human being then?  Can money help one prevent death?  No.  

Human beings can only take care of themselves for the maintenance of their bodily needs.  So, how can one claim to be self-sufficient then?!  Finally, the person who denies Ultimate Beauty will have a hard life, although they pretend to be happy. 

Next time, we will go over the meaning of “denying Ultimate Beauty”. Is the Quran saying that the world is ugly or is there a deeper meaning to it? Stay tuned.