Ethical Lessons from the Quran, part 3

Ethical Lessons from the Quran, part 3

Recap: Last session, we reminded ourselves that we are using an inquiry-based approach to understanding the Quran as it applies to our practical lives. We are not criticizing the translators of the Quran who provide a general translation which we can take as a starting point.  We appreciate their work, which gives us a general understanding of the message of the Quran and we can use it in a way where the message relates to our lives.  If someone claims that they have fully understood the Quran by only reading the translation, then that is a very misleading approach to understanding the Quran which must solve our human existential questions, and expectations.  We emphasized on the importance of the Quranic word “hasana” which is usually translated as “good” and we related it to living with the awareness of God.  

Today, we will cover the following verse:

An’am, 6:160 “Whoever has done a good deed will be rewarded tenfold, but whoever has done an evil deed will be repaid only with its equivalent.  They will not be treated unjustly.”

In this verse, we see the Arabic word “hasana” again and it is translated as “good deed”, which is grammatically correct.  The Arabic word “al-hasana” means a “specific good deed”, and if the word is ending with “ta”, then it gives strength to the word “hasana” and makes it copious.  Hence, the word “al-hasana” in this verse refers to a “very good real deed” as the Quran describes it.

Let us study the verse now, there seems to be something out of balance in the message, when you do a good deed, you are given a tenfold repayment, while you only get an equal repayment for an evil deed.  Why not a tenfold repayment for an evil deed?

1. Can we truly call this inequality unjust?  Is there any difference between “equality” and “justice”?

For example, if a child does something wrong, we just let it go by telling him to be careful next time.  However, if an adult does something wrong, we get furious and reprimand the person.  There is justice done with the child and the adult, but it is not equal.

God, the Creator of the universe, is treating His creatures and human beings with His Mercy, although we deserve nothing.  Seriously, think about it, do we deserve to exist?  We found ourselves existing.  Do we deserve to be alive?  Life is given to us freely.  There are other living beings existing with us.  Do we deserve to be human beings with immense capacity and feelings which enables us to communicate with the universe and understand what it means?  No.  I just find myself given existence with all these amazing abilities such as reasoning.  In reality, we are being favored with Mercy when we don’t deserve anything!

Let us take a simple example of a school to understand this case of deserving nothing.  A teacher teaches me by giving me resources such as class notes, textbooks, online resources and lectures, which I would use to get ready for the final exam.  In the final exam, when I perform and write what the teacher taught me, I am not presenting my work to the teacher but what the teacher had taught me. The teacher already knows what I ought to know. I am presenting my work to the teacher to demonstrate the skills and knowledge that I have gained and learned in his/her class.  When the teacher gives me a 100% grade and says good job, do I really deserve such praise?  No, because the teacher taught it to me.  However, the teacher appreciates it when the student learns well.  Similarly, God’s treatment to its creatures is like the teacher’s treatment towards the students. God gave everything to us, intelligence, memory, ability to improve ourselves, and all the human feelings are given to us freely.  

In a way, all the materials and tools are given to us by God to use.  For example, I want to become a gardener and plant new produce.  For that, I discover how God has set up His creation here, and I follow the order of creation accordingly.  Let’s say that you need to grow an apple tree. You will have to sow the seed, tilt the soil and water the plant, just to name some basic steps. In this process of all your doings, you do not invent anything, create anything; rather you just discover what is already in the textbook i.e. the universe.  

The Quran is the spoken textbook, but the universe is the real application of that textbook.  I am learning everything from the universe.  Going back to the student example above, it is as if the textbook is taught by God, and I am just learning, writing and preparing for my final exam.  

• In the final exam, I need to answer to God, “what have I done with what You have given me?”  We will either get a “congratulations, welcome to Paradise (degree)”, or its opposite, “sorry, you are deprived of Paradise(degree)”.

In the Islamic culture, many scholars say that Paradise is God’s mercy, we do not deserve it.  We must ask ourselves: what is not God’s mercy?  Everything is God’s mercy!  Hence, the onus is on our side, because we block ourselves from learning.  We do attend the class, but we may or we may not be attentive to what the teacher is teaching.  Can learning happen if  a student distracts himself by giving importance to social media feeds, and doesn’t pay attention to the teachings of the teacher?   No. That is what the Quran says, the eyes that I gave them are blind, the ears that I gave them are deaf, so we put a stamp on them (See the Qur’an, 2: 7).  Why would God put a stamp, people may argue?  Just like in a class, when the teacher is speaking, the student chooses not to listen to the teacher and is the one who puts the stamp on himself.  Similarly, in the universe, God is always speaking to us, and we may choose to not be attentive by acknowledging Him to keep the communication alive.

Let us take further examples to understand what it means for God to put a stamp on people.  If a teacher is presenting by showcasing slides, I see the colorful slides with some texts, but I choose not to read the meaning in them, not paying attention to what they point to.  Similarly, I may be doing the same thing in the universe, looking at the wonderful, colorful creation, and not reading its meanings.  We should ask ourselves, “Do I see the universe according to the purpose of its creation and try to understand what it is telling me?”  If not, then we are blind, because we are not listening to what is meant to be learned from the universe while its Creator, God is speaking to me through His work. That is what it means for God to put a stamp because we may choose not to read the meaning in the universe.

What does stamp refer to?  You have already chosen not to see what is taught in the class, and not to hear what is taught in the class, therefore God says that I am creating what you are choosing.  For example, if you take a knife and cut the nerve on your wrist to commit suicide, then you are choosing death and asking God to create this act of killing.  There was a well-known Philosopher who said that he will decide to give an end to his life, and not let God decide it for him. He still had to obey God’s order by choosing death, although he thought that he did not obey God.  His claim was that God decided to give him life, and now he will decide by himself to give himself death.  God clearly says in the way He creates that if you choose the option to end your life, then I will create death for you.  Similarly, if you do not see the meaning of what I am showing you, then I will create the death of your seeing and hearing for you i.e. put a stamp according to your demand.  You ask, and God creates the result for you.  It is all human choices; hence the stamp placed by God is the result of human choices.

When a student performs well on the final exam, s/he is given an honor degree.  The teacher appreciates such students more, that is how God has created us with such senses.  If a student does not perform well, and presents an empty paper, the teacher will not appreciate such a student, in turn will feel insulted, and give the student a failing grade.  That is how human feelings work, and the Quran is reminding me who I am?

We must first be honest with ourselves to understand the message of the Quran.  The One who created me gave me the ability to understand Him.  This ability i.e. human spirit consists of a bunch of abundant human potentials, which are expected to be connected to its Source of existence.  Again, we must first recognize who we are as created human beings.  

Everyone accepts that God gave spirit to the human body.  In the story of Prophet Adam, Adam is made of clay, our material body, and God blew from His spirit to this clay/body.  The starting point is from God and ending to me.  In other words, the Source of my spirit is from God and I use it and end up acknowledging its Source of Existence, which is God Himself.  Thus God has given me the ability to connect my existence to His Absolute existence by acknowledging Him. It means that all the qualities of God are possible for me to understand as they originated from Him, i.e. where they came from?  That is, we must see ourselves that we are created to recognize our origin of existence.  Who made me?  Where should I learn it?  The Quran implicitly says to use yourself!  I am expected to connect my human potential to recognize its Source of existence.  Example: when you are interacting with a baby, every act of the baby is adorable, and you love it.  The question is, when I look at a baby, am I seeing an artwork presented to me by the baby’s Artist introducing His qualities of artistry to me?  Through the baby, God is expressing, “Don’t you see how artful I am (Saani’ in Arabic) as your Creator and the Creator of the baby!?”  Rather than saying, look at this cute baby, God is saying to connect with Him through the baby, i.e. through His artwork.  

While we are praying and saying the verse, Ihdina ssiratal mustaqeem, the conventional translation is Oh my God!  Guide me to the straight path.  We must ask, what is the straight path?  Is it the shortest path?  It means going without diverting from the truth, i.e. use your human capacity and study His textbook i.e. the universe.  When you study His artwork, you will connect your feelings directly to Him, it means that we must go and find the origin of every created thing, where it is coming from. Sirat al mustaqeem means that if you look at the universe and see what is manifested there, the baby for example, you see a wonderful artwork, and you wonder, who is the Artist?  When I find the Artist, and acknowledge Him, it means that I am directly connecting the ability to recognize the art to its source, the Creator, i.e. straight path.  When you pray Ihdinas siratal mustaqeem, bear in mind that you are begging to God “please help me to connect my feelings, observations, and my learnings directly to its source, which is You.”

The result of Ihdina ssiratal mustaqeem is then iyyaka na’budu, only to You that we worship.  That is, I acknowledge you directly, and I connect to You only.  That is how a deed can be described as a good deed.  Again, in the language of the Quran, such a good deed is referred to as al-hasana.

The Arabic words ihsan comes from the same root, i.e. husun and hasana.  There is a famous hadith, where the Prophet (pbuh) was asked what is ihsan?  The Prophet explained that you must worship God as if you are seeing Him, although you do not see Him, make sure that you become aware that He sees you.  It means that the relationship between you and God is always alive, just become aware of it.  If you communicate with Him through His artwork including yourself, then you are fulfilling the purpose of your existence.  That is why it is important to understand that good deed through anything is only accomplished, if and only if I directly connect my qualities to their source of existence, as a result, I am on the straight path.  When we connect ourselves to the source of existence, then it is a good deed, which is appreciated by God because we have been given the sense to respond back.  When we respond back, God says that I will give you tenfold.

Any action that we are doing with this consciousness of the connection with my own existence, the existence of the universe and the source of existence of us all, God, is a good deed.  If you attribute the qualities and actions to yourself, then there is a diversion.  As far as the purpose of the Quran is concerned, it is to teach us the purpose of our existence i.e. why we are created here.  We are created to get to know who our Creator is, get acquainted with Him and connect with Him.  This is the meaning of the understanding of the Quranic term of hasana.  For example, last week we tried to understand the meaning of the word yateem, which is mostly translated as “orphan”, someone abandoned with no guardian or parent to take care of.  Again, within the purpose of the Quran, every action and interaction is an orphan when we do not attribute it to its true source of existence (refer to part 2 notes from this series for further elaboration).

The Quran uses the Arabic words of its time of revelation and also employs some specific rhetorical verses which need a special study of its own.  This is not our subject here, but the Quranic Arabic words have many meanings, just like poetry is used to convey certain meanings.  At the time of revelation of the Quran, the Bedouin Arabs had so many great poets and poetry was very renowned.  For example, we may think that Shakespearean language is very eloquent, but if we seriously study Arab poetry of that time, we will be amazed and have a hard time understanding its rhetoric.  The Quran also uses the same rhetoric, but the content of the meaning varies.  Again, within the context of the Quran, everything can be an orphan, depending on how I view creation.  For example, when you are looking at a tree, and saying that it is a natural being randomly developed by itself, then it would not mean anything to you pertaining to the purpose of its existence.  Wouldn’t that be an insult to its Creator!?  Just like the teacher presenting using slides and you do not read and study it, then isn’t that insulting the teacher?  If the student says that the teacher gave us a bunch of slides today without seeing their purpose, how will the teacher feel?  Insulted!  This sense of inquiring “who our Creator is?” is given to us, and we do not need the Quran to teach us that.  Even the feeling of being insulted and insulting someone is given to us; we do not need the Quran to teach us that either.  The Quranic message is there just as a reminder for us to not deviate from the straight path.  

Also, if you see the tree to be a useful creation for you as it benefits your material being such as bears fruits and provides shade, then you will protect it as much as you can, like the humanists and the environmentalists see it, a good deed that is not a “real” good deed according to the teachings of the Quran, which is to acknowledge its Creator.  In the Quranic term, you must act in such a way that anything presented to you is a means of directly communicating with your Source of existence.  People who declare that they know Arabic think that the word hasana means good deed only.  That is a start but a reduced approach to understanding the Quranic message. A good deed must be understood within the context of the Qur’an which teaches us the purpose of the existence of everything. When we do anything, we should do it in order to acknowledge Him and connect ourselves and our actions to Him alone..  

We must understand that whatever is given to us, if we respect it and respond back accordingly, then God says that you will be repaid according to what you deserve.  Let’s say that you are given this laptop by its engineer and that you use the laptop to only 20% of its capacity such as writing emails and watching online videos only.  If the engineer sees you using it to only a reduced percentage of its capacity, then they would feel insulted that you are not using the laptop for its other functionalities such as programming, designing web pages, and creating slides.  Whereas, if the Engineer sees that you are using the laptop to 90% of its capacity, and trying to figure out more features, then the Engineer will feel honored. They will gladly replace your old laptop to give you an updated laptop.  Similarly, the Creator of the universe treats us the same way, if we use our functionalities to connect with the Creator, then we are given Paradise i.e. a fully functional updated body.  That is why we must be watchful to not waste ourselves and the universe, rather we must exhaust ourselves to appreciate it to the best of our capacity.  For example, when you observe a bird flying and sitting on the branch of a tree, you must communicate with your Creator and say, MashAllah, what a beautiful art God is displaying to me.  It is a great opportunity and presentation presented to you by your Creator to communicate with Him. The more we use our human qualities, the more we are fulfilling our purpose of creation: “You deserve more”, is what tenfold means in the verse.  

Let us try to understand why an evil deed is repaid with only its equivalent, rather than tenfold.  When I use my eyes, I can observe so many things and use it as an opportunity to appreciate and communicate with my Creator through His art and my spirit.   When I close my eyes, what happens?  I cannot observe anything.  It is as if I do not have eyes to see.  Not being able to observe anything is the equivalent of closing your eyes, that is Hell.  

What does Hell mean and why does the Quran paint a horrible description of Hell?  To let us know how we are going to feel if we do not use our eyes, ears, our ability to speak, think and reason…  When I do not use my given tools, then it makes my spirit dysfunctional.  As a human being, if you remain blind, ignorant, obstinate and heedless to deny your reality, then you will be treated accordingly, which is Hell, a place where you will not experience your tools in an Eternal sense.  What you will experience there, in the hereafter is a result of what you have asked for in this world.  In the teacher and student relationship analogy from above, it is what you have presented about your learning to your teachers, in the school of this universe that you will be congratulated for.  If your exam sheet is empty or contains randomness and natural causes to be the source of existence of you and this universe, then you will experience the consequences of a failing grade, i.e. nothing.  This is a “fair treatment” for you to get what you deserve.  Now, if the teacher treats someone who performs well on the exam and someone who does not attempt to perform the exam equally, then that is an unjust treatment. Human feelings are given to seek justice!

There is an important fine point to be vigilant about.  If I perform well on the exam and attribute the virtue and what I learned to myself, rather than the teacher, then that is an evil deed indeed.  What I learn belongs to the teacher only who is 100% worthy of the praise.  If the teacher is bad and I could not learn, then I can blame the teacher.  Choosing to perform well on the exam by making the choice of studying and learning is my choice, but the act of performance and the result is created by the Creator, hence the appreciation can only belong to the Creator of the universe alone.

• If I do something good, then that appreciation and virtue goes to my Creator for He is the perfect Being, just as the well-functioning laptop lets us know that the engineer of the laptop is perfect in his/her engineering.  

The Creator says that if I give you something, then I deserve to be acknowledged and thanked.  Just as the tree bears delicious fruits, who are you going to appreciate, the tree or its Creator?  If you appreciate the Creator, then that is a good deed, whereas, if you appreciate the tree, then that is a bad deed although in both cases you are appreciating the fruit as a means to be appreciative of the Creator of the fruit.

We must be able to distinguish between the two Quranic words, hasana (i.e. using my qualities in the way that they are created for) and sayyiah (i.e. not using my qualities in the way that they are created for).  That is why the Quran is revealed, as a distinguisher between right and wrong (al-Furqan)

For example, a poet writes a beautiful poem with a description of the Washington Square Park, appreciates the things created in the park, but does not appreciate the One who is creating them, and demonstrating them, then the poet fails to fulfill the purpose of his/her existence.  How can you appreciate a tree which is wood/matter only and has no consciousness to make itself into a beautiful tree?  The trees are needed in our parks as they provide oxygen which we need to survive, just to name a few of its qualities.  Who is arranging this ecological system for us?  Who is employing the tree for the survival of human beings?  Only the One who creates the tree within the  context of the universe.  With this understanding, do I appreciate the wood or the One who has created the tree with this capacity?  As human beings, when I am going to utilize the universe, I must be careful about which way I go to attribute qualities to, the objects itself or the Creator of the objects?

2. If a person who is not a believer in God does good deeds humanly, is there a tenfold reward for him as well?  How do you define “good deeds” for him?

No.  As we discussed earlier, if your good deed is not according to the teaching of the Quran, where you are advised to use your reasoning to acknowledge the Creator of the universe, then there is no reward for you.  We can understand this case with the use of analogy #3 given below.  The three main analogies that we mostly use in these classes are:

1. Book of the universe: The Speech of God (the Quran) manifested in the universe, which is a book and goes in parallel with the Quran.  So, what should we study then!? The universe which points to its Author/Maker.
2. Piece of art: Any creation in the universe is a piece of art manifesting the qualities of its Creator.  So, who should we glorify then!? The Creator, for creation points to its Creator.
3. School of the universe: Human beings are students in the universe and the teacher is the Creator of the universe speaking to us to study and learn.  So, how can we be good students then!? We must study the book of the universe, observe the pieces of art in it, and communicate our gratitude to the Creator of the universe, with you and I in it.

The universe is a school. If someone does not feel as a student of the universe, then they lose out on the learning and waste themselves.  There are 3 types of students attending this school of the universe:

Student #1: students that do not learn but are respectful to the teacher and the other students, and do not prevent other students from learning (representing harmless unbelief).

Student #2: students that are jealous of the other students that are learning, distract them and prevent them from learning. (represents harmful unbelief).

Student #3: students that are listening carefully to the teacher, taking notes and learning. (represents belief)

Question: Can all these 3 students be equal? 
Answer: No.  Although student #1 is not causing any disruption in the class, s/he is not learning anything and will be treated differently than student #2, causing corruption.  We can all relate to such types of students in this world.  The message in this verse is also informing me that God is letting student #3 know that I am not going to treat student #1 and student 2 equally.  In other words, people performing good deeds with no God consciousness will be treated differently from people causing discordance (fitnah) in human society.

Nowadays, an example of “fitnah” prevalent in society is through social media, where content producers try to corrupt our minds with “random theories” promoting disbelief.  

3. What do you understand from the “tenfold” reward?  Does it represent something else?  If yes, what can it represent?

Tenfold is not an exact number like a ten or ten thousand, for example, but it is used to let the reader be aware of the abundance of satisfaction that a person can ascertain while journeying as student #3 in this universe.

Finally, when we read an English translation of the Quran, we should be alarmed that we are only traveling on the surface of this deep vast ocean of the reality of the universe.  We have not yet reached the deep level of the oceans and admire the creation there.  Alhamdulillah, as long as we are traveling in the ocean, we are understanding the general message of the Quran.  However, we must be mindful that there are more deeper meanings to unravel.