Arguments for Messengership – Part 21

The Reasonings (Page 127-128)

An Indication and a Reminder

This greater proof is absolutely true.  For, if you study the lives and works of the Prophets, all of whom have been recorded at the top of the list of the pride of humanity, and consider the meaning and mission of Prophethood, which is the basic common point among them, beyond the influences of the considerations developed over the course of time, then you can easily understand the following reality:

The rights of the Creator and the created are the lights of Divine favor and munificence and form the rays of abstract beauties in existence.  All the Prophets, upon whom be peace, adopted and strictly observed these as the basic principles in their actions.

We first must know ourselves, only then as a response when we accept that we are created then we may refer every part of our existence to the rights of the Creator.  First, we must know ourselves.

What are the rights of the created?

Answer #1: I have a right to practice my freewill in the way that I want to act.

Slight correction:  As I am given the freewill and the need to practice the freewill, I must use the right to practice now.

Answer #2:  I would want the knowledge or the guidance to be given about my existence.

Slight correction:  It means the answers to your human questions must be provided.

• Example: If I am given hunger, then I have the right to expect that the hunger must be satisfied. So, food must be ready for me.  I did not create myself hungry or give myself this quality.

We have the fundamental right to exist.  Since everything is brought into existence, our main purpose is to keep existence going.

First Stage:  I have the right to exist because I have been given the opportunity to taste existence and I do not want to lose it.  No one wants to lose existence.  My existence must be guaranteed, just like my stomach’s needs are provided. (haqqul wujud).  Everything is given their own right of existence.  Tree does not want to die.  Animal also do not want to die.  If you try to catch the animals, they run because they are given the taste of existence.

If I am created with the need for food, it must be provided.  Air must be provided.  We need sunlight and it must be provided.  We need shelter and it must be provided.

• We do not reflect on this deeply: The fundamental need is keeping the existence.  The rest is secondary matter.
• Why do I want to carry on with my life?

Second Stage:  Right of life.  Why do I want to keep my life?  I want to exist and be conscious of my existence.  If I concentrate on the physical need, then those are temporary.  Yes, we need them, but they are mostly related to our body.  Our body is temporary, and we are going to die, and our body will be nothing.  As a human being, I know that I must keep my life because I am in need to keep my existence.  We must reflect on existence first.  “I need to exist, but I must be conscious of my existence as well.  I know that if I am not conscious of my existence, then my existence would mean nothing”.

• Consciousness of existence requires life.
• Without life, I would not be able to be conscious of my existence.

That is why I want to be alive.  I do not want to die as I have this need to keep my existence continuing.  All our arguments should be based on this, rather than the needs of our bodies.  Example:  I am given eyes and I need light.  Is this the fundamental human need?  No, because after I die, my eyes do not function, and I do not need light anymore.  Needing light is a temporary endeavor.  What is permanent and essential is that I am conscious of the value of being able to see, “I want my power of sight i.e. the ability to see to exist forever”.  I do not need eye.  I need to see, and I need to be able to see.  I do not need ears per se, but the ability to hear.  Yes, I am in need of my ear until I die because it is temporary.  After I die, I do not hear but I want my hearing, the ability to speak, enjoy the taste of everything to eternally exist.

When we go to the needs of human beings, we understand that we are made in this form which needs to be fulfilled and we did not make it such by ourselves: “let me make myself in need of existence i.e. being able to see, hear…”. Rather, whoever made it for me, it is my right to ask It to provide it right now.

• “You showed me, you let me taste it, so provide the satisfaction from these sustenance for me eternally”.

These kind of needs i.e. existential needs are not temporary.  Physical needs in this world are temporary, and they are met to experience that the One who gave us existence is keeping Its Promise.  It is a conditional Promise, as long as you live in this world, I will give you food, eyes and bodily requirements.  By providing the bodily needs, my Creator is demonstrating in front of my eyes that It is keeping Its Promise.  Food is ready.  Light is ready.  Air is ready.  I need to see, and eyes and light are the means of seeing including my brain can see that all the material things are ready for me in creation.  As far as my physical experience in this world is concerned, the One who is providing all of that is demonstrating that It is keeping Its Promise. 

• “You promise me life and You promise to protect my life within a certain limit until I die, how about my need of eternal satisfaction with these experiences that I am aware through my consciousness that you gave me? I did not create consciousness and this consciousness says that I want to exist eternally, and I want to experience my existence in the Perfect Eternal form.  That is my need.”

Who wants anything with defect?  Don’t you want things to be pleasurable?  Would you like anything that is ugly?  Normally not.  Only the corrupt people who are not satisfied with this world and they do not know that there is an alternative, what do they do?  They corrupt themselves and say that they do not need anything and just get the ugly things.  When I die, everything finishes and so they get angry.  It is just a reaction resulted from not being satisfied and not having any hope that it may happen.  Example: when you give chocolate to the child and take it away after the first bite, child gets angry and react: “Give me my chocolate!”  That is the attitude of the people who have distorted their expectations because of the disappointment they think which is really the conditions they have put for themselves: “Since there is no Eternal Happiness and this transient experience for happiness is a source of torture for me, let me not even care about anything.” This is the result of their not thinking about the Source of all of these readily provided facilities to sustain their existence and life.

• They do not get angry with God because they have no concept of God, rather it is the reality that they are experiencing according to their perspective and reacting to it saying: “I am going to wear my cloths torn off and untidy. I will not wash my cloths.  Clutter cloths everywhere.”  This is a reaction out of disappointment caused by their own misconception of existence.

We must understand people’s psychology.  Why don’t they organize their lives, tidy their lives and take responsibility about their life?  They see no point.  We should not blame them either.  Why shouldn’t they drink?  Why shouldn’t they do drugs?  Because of lack of hope.  We should understand why they are reacting because they are missing something.  Because their intellect and human consciousness ask for Eternal Happiness and there is no hope for it from this universe.  Just like the chocolate is taken away from them.  Try it!  That is the reaction of this late generation, trying to beat God without really being aware of why they are doing what they are doing; just blindly following the fashion.

There is a famous Philosopher starting this philosophy of “Fighting with God”.  Just like Jacob wrangled with God in Hebrew Bible.  Getting angry with whatever it is, they are not satisfied with their own existence because they are aware intellectually that they need Eternal Happiness, but they are not aware that it must be satisfied by the One who is demonstrating that He is satisfying all our needs here.  As far as the life conditions of this existence is concerned, He it is who is satisfying it to the fullest.

Comment: Someone having a right over something, that also means that this entity is obligated to grant them that right.  How can my existence be a “right”?

Taste of chocolate is given by someone else.  Mother is a means.  If mother was the one who gave the desire to get the chocolate until its full satisfaction, and then gives it for one bite and take it back, then the child has all the right to beat the mother.

Comment:  Does that put the Creator in a position where there is a sense of mandatory duty that they cannot choose to do otherwise?

Since the One who created me gave me the desire or the need for the whole chocolate and gives me one bite, then He is contradicting Himself.  I can conclude easily that “as a created being, You gave me the need and you did not satisfy It, then You are contradicting Yourself.”

Lights of Divine Favor and Munificence tells me that It will do it i.e. fulfill its Promise. The first bite was for your bodily need.  “This is enough for you until you die but your existential needs/desires that you are aware of through your consciousness is given to you, but this first bite is a demonstration to show that I am (your Creator) who is performing this and fulfilling whatever your body needs here”.  Intellectually, you need the whole bar of the chocolate and It is the One who gave you this want.  If we reduce our existence to bodily creation only, then we see that whoever created me (nature or any other source), then we see it as Its fault as far as I am concerned.

• As far as my understanding from the sign (the need for the whole chocolate) is concerned, this Creator is obliged to do it and He promises that He will do it, through the messages of the Messengers.

That is why we need the Messengers to bring this news to us.  Otherwise, if there were no messengers, what would I do?  I cannot wrestle with God, He is not here like a piece of the universe.  I can only get angry with Him, deny and fight with Him.  Famous saying of a Philosopher: “I know that you are up there, and I would not believe”.

• This Philosopher is right because he is not listening to the message and the promise that the whole bar must be given to Him, must be so.
• As far as I am concerned, I cannot order my Creator, God.

Some say: “We cannot command God to do something for me.  Who are you?”  Yes, we cannot, but we can conclude that definitely He will fulfil His Promise which is presented here in this type of creation. Because I am a man created by Him with this need then it is my right to expect Him to keep His Promise.”  That is why all created beings have the right to exist eternally because this need is created for us by Him from our perspective.  I cannot beat him up, only fighting against him by denying him just like some Philosophers do because they know that He exists, but they are not going to submit to Him because He is torturing us in this world until we die.  They do not really reason that He is satisfying their needs here as far as their existence within the conditions of this kind of creation is concerned.  However, my intellect and human expectations are not satisfied here which are given to me by Him.  What is expected of me now?  To understand that from my perspective, it must be satisfied and accomplished.  Not only that I am hoping that It will give me Eternal life, but I am sure that It will give me Eternal life.  “That is the Promise from Him that He will give me, and I expect It”.

I cannot impose something on my Creator, but I can deduct from my experience and conditions in this world that He will keep His Promise as He kept His promise by creating me with needs and providing the means of satisfaction of them.  As far as I am concerned, He must keep it and I must exist eternally.  People say that we cannot impose anything on God, He did not have to create me, however, thinking about this more, we should conclude that after giving me this ability to realize what I need, from my perspective He must keep His Promise.  He must give you an Eternal Life by giving you the need for it.  As far as I am concerned, He must fulfill His promise because He gave me the need for it.

• The ability to expect from my Creator to give me Eternal Existence is given to me by Him. I did not get it from somewhere else.  I am not the Source of the existence of this ability.

Unfortunately, the general culture needs to be put aside, (sometimes it may be useful) but mostly fundamental matters are all missing in the presentation of religion.  Does God have to give you eyes?  Instead, since He gave me the need for eternal seeing, it is a Promise and He must do it.

• As the Source of existence of Power of Sight, He is the One who gave me this need and from my perspective, He must fulfill this Promise eternally.
• From the very beginning, He gave me the existence and all the needs.
• After giving it, I understand that He must keep His promise. How can I make sure that He will keep It? 
• Through the message of the Messengers. Otherwise, in this kind of creation, there is no sign of hope of the existence of Eternal Satisfaction.  Everything and everyone dies here.  When you take this world as the only existence then you will be disappointed and get angry with the One who is the Source of existence of this type of universe.
• In Islamic theology, they say that existence itself is nothing but Mercy.
• Existence is nothing but Grace of the Creator demonstrating that He is not a tyrant and so we will expect that He will accomplish our needs and desires for an Eternal Existence.

Comment: Can you elaborate more on Jacob’s wrangling with God?

It is a narration only; the date and time is never specified.  Although The Quran does not mention this narration at all. We do not see any details about ethical teaching of the Quran.  Lots of the details are skipped.  That is why some people taught that human history starts only of Adam and Noah… We do not know if there are some centuries in between.  Every Prophet is followed by another one and the Quran treats them as their descendants.  That is the literature quality of the Quran which skips the unnecessary part.  Torah, on the contrary flows in a sequence and connects everything and makes the reader think that history of human kind is no more than 6, 000 years.  Quran says that your counting of one year is 50,000 years in the counting of God.  Historically, no one can prove that human kind have been living in the world for only 6,000 years.  Perhaps the first event took place 100,000 years ago.  The Old Testament narration says, this person wrangled with God.  In 19^th century, Nitche started this new Philosophy of fighting with God.

Anyone who is following the fashion of civilization is the follower of Nitche, whether s/he is a believer and prays five times regardless.  S/he is fighting God, looking for satisfaction in changing worldly physical life conditions, not with the Promise of the Creator of the universe that the Messenger tells you about that He will keep His Promise.

• If you do not have the hope from your Creator who created you with the need to exist eternally, with the need to have life eternally and with the need to experience the pleasures of life eternally, then you must replace it with other elements.

If someone reduces his/her existence to the physical conditions of this existence, then they must look for satisfaction within the conditions of this physical existence which is fundamentally based on your bodily needs and satisfaction until you die.   At the same time, you may see the contradiction in your existence and so you get angry with God saying that I am not going to expect any hope from You, I am going to expect some hope by trying new forms of pleasure in my life in this world.  Example: if you want to change the taste of food every time, you must keep changing the food you eat to experience some form of pleasure in this life.  That is why Jacob’s wrangling with God is like following fashion.

• Anyone at any time who does not consciously think of his/her Source of Existence has to fall in this mistake regardless of any philosophical current or civilization influence on him/her.

The form may change, one of them wrangles with God and the other one denies.  Jacob wrangled with God, but for some it may turn into denial.  It means you exist, but I am not going to submit myself to you.  The Prophet says calm down, the One who satisfies your life conditions within the conditions of this existence is promising you that He is keeping His promise according to this type of existence.  Your world needs eyes now to see.  After you die, eyes are no good.  Intellectual awareness teaches you that you need to see eternally, and you do not want to use your power of sight temporarily.

• This is a contradiction which can only be solved by paying heed to the Prophetic message.

Rights of the Creator is the result of our understanding of the rights of the creatures.  After understanding that we have all right to make the Creator in our world obliged to give us eternal happiness because He gave us the need for it and He must satisfy it.  That is my right to have life eternally.  That is my right to experience all the expectations that I am given.  That is my right.  Just like, birth right, that is called “existence right.” My desire for eternal happiness is a creation and it exists now with me and it has its own “existence right.” This right must be granted since its given existence.

Comment: I am having a hard time with the rights of the Creator.

I want Him from my essential existence to keep His Promise.  His right is very simple to trust Him that He will give it.  Do not get angry with Him and deviate that something else will satisfy my needs.  That is why following the fashion is equal to wrangling with God.

• Do not look for other sources to expect to satisfy your needs.

“That is my right now to keep the covenant between you and Me eternal.  Through creating you, I signed my covenant that I am going to give you what you yearn for.  Now it is your turn, as a party to sign the contract knowing that I will give it to you.  “I accept that only You can give it to me.”

• That is the right of the Creator, just acknowledge it and live your life accordingly in acknowledgment of God keeping your promise and fulfilling it that “You are going to do it. Yes, you are.”

Look at the signs here which are related to temporary life.  It is a Promise: “I gave you the body and I gave you the need for stomach, seeing, hearing and speaking… I am keeping it within the conditions of this type of creation.  After I give you death, the life conditions change, what happens?  Spirit leaves the body aside but your spirit (consciousness) says that I need Eternity while I am living in this world.  While you are living in this world, trust me and live accordingly”.  What does it mean to live accordingly?  It means, do not deviate from the contract.  If I follow this, I will get satisfaction.  No, I will get satisfaction only through You, that is Your Promise.  Express it, with your tongue, actions and body by bowing, standing, making prostration that I cannot provide anything, and I admit that you will.

• When you prostrate, it means that He will and nothing else can do it because I cannot bow and prostrate before anything else. That is the summary of prostration.

Right of God is very easy, just respond back to keep the Promise.  In the terminology of the Quran, that is called “covenant” and we call it “contract” which is signed that you will get it and It will give it.  Example: when you buy a car, the car dealer says that I will bring you this brand of car from the manufacturer and you say that I will pay you the money and then you both sign the contract.  The contract gets signed and the car is given.  That is like the contract between the Creator and the created.  But this contract is presented to us through the act of creation. One may say, but I did not sign any contract like this, why am I responsible to keep it? Yes, we did not sign the contract before we were born into this world, but our existence is the signature from our side. Since we exist, our existence is one of the parties of the contract. We have been given consciousness to be aware of this contract. It is included in our being. That is why the Creator does not want any thing more from us. He only wants us not to deny the news our consciousness brings to us, i.e. not to contradict ourselves, our reality.

• Creator kept His contract by signing it in this world saying: “I am keeping my Promise if I let you live in this world. Now you keep this Promise as well by acknowledging that I am the only One whom you can expect the satisfaction for your needs that I gave you”.
• All the needs are provided by the Creator. Your duty is not to deviate from your side of the contract.  If you say that the food is satisfying me, then it is a violation of the contract.
• Other examples: If you say that if only I change the house, then I will be satisfied. None of the houses can satisfy you, they are all unconscious and transient, you need eternal satisfaction. Listen to yourself carefully. That is why this expectation of satisfaction would be a violation of the contract.  If you say the state guarantees my future, then that is the biggest crime contradicting the contract.  If you say that my father provides my food, then that is contradicting your contract conditions.

Our duty is only to connect all our needs to the Creator, not deviating from the straight path which is the shortest path between you and the Creator.  All hopes, appreciation, praises and thanks belong to the Creator.  It is very simple.

• Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen= Praise is due to only the One who must be the Owner of the universe. I cannot praise anyone else who is not the creator of all that exist.

All the signs are provided through the message of the Prophets.  Prophetic message says that your Creator has provided you with the abilities to acknowledge the qualities of the Creator manifested in this universe, you will have to discover it because you are given the abilities and the tools.  When I created you (Adam), I taught you all the Names, representing my qualities.  People take the names as dictionary words, like this is a “pen” which is my language, not the Quranic language for “Names”.

In the Quranic language, the names mean God’s qualities (asma-ul-husna) i.e. all the names belong to Him.  But we reduced the names to words such as “pen” as if God taught Adam the names, rather than the qualities implanted into our feelings and emotions.  How can we be replacing the Quranic concepts with dictionary meanings?  We must wake up!

Quran has its own concept.  When you say “bismillah”, what does it mean?  It means God’s names, a concept that I experience.  We understand that all the names (as feelings of what we experience) are taught by our Creator within our creation.  The names are inscribed in us and we are hardwired with them.  What we must do now is to discover the manifestation of the names through the tools created within us to discover all the names within ourselves by experiencing the universe.

The order of the universe does not only consist of galaxies and constellations.  Within this order which also exist within the existence of a smallest particle is also a manifestation of the qualities of its Creator, we must discover it.  Fundamentally, the teachings of the Prophets invite us to investigate and find out the manifestation of the Creator and get to know Him better so that you can keep your contract with Him properly: “Yes, I am absolutely sure that you are the Lord of everything.”  That is the meaning of alhamdolillahi rabbilaalameen.  We keep saying it because every time, we are expected to discover another manifestation of the qualities of the Creator which are praiseworthy.

• We must be aware which kind of qualities He has and how He is presenting those to me, so I will be thankful to Him according to the qualities manifested within me and within other creatures. Being aware and making sure that He will keep His Promise to me.
• From my side, He is obliged to do it. He must do it.
• Form His side, He says that I will do it.
• This communication is presented to us through the message that we receive through the Prophets, there is no other source which lets me know this.

The need for Prophethood is so obvious.  All educational institutions are proof of it.  We need teachers.  Whoever goes to school, practically confirms that I need Prophets, consequently it means that I need God’s teaching.

• Learning through the teachings of the teachers, the very practical life conditions that I am going through, prove that my intellectual questions and human questions need teachers as well.

Who can answer the intellectual questions which extends to eternity?

No one wants anything on a temporary base and with defect.  Human beings want everything eternal and with no defect.  Who can provide that?  Only the One who gave this need to me which is the One who created me with this desire must do so.  So, I expect this One must teach me because I need teacher.

Everyone needs receiving education.  Everyone goes to school.  The best teaching institution is created by the Creator under the leadership of teaching of the messenger.  Are we looking for the best teacher in educating our souls and know the conditions of the contract between me and my Creator?  Who does not value education?  Even people who failed to receive good education because of laziness and distressed want to accomplish their teachings.

• The Quranic teaching does not acknowledge age limitations. This culture encourages people to pursue their left-over education, which is very human nature.  “Adult Education”.

It is very essential to receive education for human beings.  How about educating myself as far as my intellectual expectations or requirements are concerned?  Who is going to teach me?  The physical universe outwardly teaches me how to get the best food, clothing, car…?  The conditions of this world can teach me by investigating the principles in creation that I can utilize the principles in creation only to satisfy my bodily needs, how about my perfect eternal human needs?  Can this world satisfy it?  Can the teaching education system based on materialistic understanding do that?  But the universe, while teaching me how to acquire physical needs, also teaches me the meaning in their existence of all their qualities silently referring to the Qualities of their Creator. We also need a clear verbal teaching of these Qualities, because we speak and understand the speech of others.

• People teach theology according to the life conditions of this universe.

Quran narrates lots of historical events and none of them have a date and place i.e. they are not historical then but for me to take heed right now.  Example: an unknown man named Moses was a good God acknowledging person which is called “abd”.  Joseph, another name, where and where did he live? These are not mentioned in the Quranic narrations, that is why they are not to be read as history.  We have historicized them by giving them lineage and names which has nothing to do with Quranic teachings.

The right of created-ness is a Divine Favor.  Since I have been given this desire and given these abilities, these desires and wants must be fulfilled.  He himself must teach me, He is my teacher, just letting me know that it will take place and I will get it.

Language of the Quran is not hesitant.  It is based on black and white conditions.  The Quran does not speak in between.  The purpose of the Quran is to show us the direction i.e. which way to take.  To make the distinction between the direction, you must point out the end destination.  That is, if you take this road, it goes to Hell.  It does not mean that everyone will go to Hell.  If you take this road, then you go to Paradise.  One is eternal bliss and the other is eternal torture.  Which way do you prefer taking?  When you take a couple of steps, it does not mean that you are in Paradise or Hell, rather it is the “path to Paradise”.

• That is why Quran says, “call people to the path”. Guide us to the straight path.
• When you are on the path, then you are saved. Only when you are in the path.

If you say that I am not in Paradise and those people who are not, they seem happy and yet they are not in Hell.  Everyone is on some path.  Similarly, some believing people may have certain harsh life conditions, but they are believers which means that they are on the path to Paradise.

• You cannot be in Paradise immediately, that is the life conditions of this universe. Intellectually, you can be in Paradise right now.  When you submit your existence to the Creator i.e. admit that your existence is from Him and He is the Owner of the universe (rabbul ‘aalameen), when you really sign the contract, accordingly you will feel Paradise within your existence immediately.  Those people who deny it, they feel Hell immediately within their own being.  In their body, they may be having the best things, but their soul is in prison within their bodies and they know that they are going to be destroyed eternally when they die.  They fall into annihilation they know it.  Although physically, they are not in Hell.

What does “abstract beauties in existence” mean?

Comment: The feelings that I have such as happiness and peace that comes in recognition of Divine Favor.

How can you satisfy these feelings while you are living in this world?

Comment: When my needs of this world are fulfilled.

What is the means of satisfaction of your expectations through these feelings or How can you satisfy yourself?

Through experiencing what is manifested in the universe, the qualities, not the physical things.  When I give you the microphone, you do not look at the microphone itself but the system of Engineering.  Through becoming aware of the qualities manifested in it, you become aware of which kind of Engineer He is.  The Engineer of the universe is revealing Itself to us through qualities manifested in existence presented to us within the form of physical beings.  When you have the physical body of banana, what do you see?

Taste and all sorts of qualities manifested in its existence.  The best way of demonstration for you to get to know the Creator: “I know You through the Wisdom, Form…manifested in the physical body of the banana.”    The qualities in the physical objects manifest the qualities of its Maker.  “It is a Promise that you need banana and I gave you the banana”.  How do we get to know that these qualities belong to the Creator?  Through the messengers.  Nobody except the Messengers in this world gives you information about the Source of its Existence.  Everything says that it cannot do anything by itself.  If I look at the physical body of the pencil, it says that I cannot make myself into a pencil or the banana.  All the qualities belong to its Creator.  Who gives this message to me?  No one whose concerns are only the physical existence of this universe can give you this message because for them physical existence consists only of matter but not the meaning.  They do not see the meaning.  We learn meaning from the Creator revealed to us through the messengers. 

All Prophets bring the same news.  The main concern bothering people who are believers outside the Muslim arena is: “How can I make sure that Muhammad is the last Prophet?”  What does the last Prophet mean?  Do you know that the number 100 includes the numbers from 1 to 99^? Likewise, the prophet of this age includes all the previous message of the Prophets.  He is the inheritor of the chain of all the prophets in his message i.e. 100 complete number.  Do not misquote the concepts.

 

Tags: Arguments for Messengership Series, Contract, Covenant, Eternity, Meaning, Message, Messengership