Arguments for Messengership – Part 49

The Reasonings (page 142-143)-

“Knowing something beforehand in no way requires that we base our present actions on that knowledge, neglecting what is happening in the present. For the sake of the guidance of future people, those who live in the present cannot be neglected.”

I cannot try to understand a text from the 7^th century by ignoring the present conditions of the 21^st century.  I must take notice of my present situation.  I may take either of the two attitudes in this endeavor:

1. Ignore this text which belongs to the 7^th century life conditions.
2. If the text says I am the word of a man, I can read it to see what those people back then thought.

If the text says that I am neither 1 and 2, rather a Speech of an All-Knowledgeable One, then by definition the text must be written by an All-Knowing One who must know my conditions at any time.

I must read this text according to the data that I have available for me now.

The text says that I am not written by a man, I say, by whom then?

“Quran is written by Muhammad” is a biased attitude.  The man Muhammad says that it is not my production. I am given this text as a trust to be conveyed to you. My position is, to an extent, similar to yours. I am appointed to be teacher of the text. I have to introduce the text to you and represent it in the form of a human being.

I am open minded now and read it as a text presented by an All-Knowing One where I verify for myself the legitimacy of the content of the text within my conditions.  The text addresses me and all the previous and future generation. The previous generation have studied it and reached certain conclusions about the content of the text within the conditions of their space and time. I may benefit from their conclusions and interpretations of the text as I study the previous findings in the scientific field and continue to investigate further. The next generation must think about it for themselves and that is not my concern.

What am I supposed to do?

• Question the text for me in my time. That is, my evidence to confirm belief matter is time confined.
• If data available is rich, then you analyze with the rich data.

“Everything glorifies God”.  This is the text’s claim. Example: the seed of the oranges are glorifying God.

In the example, the sentence must be applicable to my life conditions and I must be able to make sense of it.  Does each seed glorify its Creator, or does it say that I belong to the qualities manifested within me?

The seed say: “All the qualities you see in me do not belong to me, they are given to me”.  Is the seed together with its all parts standing as an independent source of existence of these qualities or is it given those qualities?

The description of the physical objects (data) must be applied to the new conditions, but the fundamental message should not contradict.  If the Quran said that the smallest thing in the orange is the seed, or its cells, it means that the seed or the cell is not being the smallest particle anymore in this century.  New data will obviously disprove such claims.

Quran’s aim is not to mention about the physical things, which part of the orange is the smallest, for instance.  The objectives of the Creator of the universe must be to guide me so I understand the meaning of my life.  “I am giving guidance for human being to make sense of their existence”.  Even biology can help me make sense of my existence, but the ultimate human question is: How the things come into existence and why? My ultimate concern is to find out the meaning of my existence: Why do I exist?  How did I come into existence?

Let’s assume that I claim the following:

• I do not expect guidance about manipulating my physical life here.
• I have a conscious Creator who is called God and accordingly I give meaning to my existence.
• Atheist materialistic claim: “Human beings themselves with no acceptable reason created the concept of God.”

Well, if the concept is not within me, then how can I develop such concepts?

If my forefathers started the idea of God and when this idea is passed down to me and it does not resonate with me, then why should I bother about such concept?  However, the Atheists do not say that this idea does not resonate with me, rather, they say that this idea has been inherited from your forefathers and you keep repeating it and there is no answer to it, hence it is just an imaginary thing.  Yes, I can imagine a super power (imaginary) that I can attribute my existence to.  However, my question is: Who do I belong to?  Yes, my father told me this as well and he may or may not be right. I must be open to question whether for me it is right or wrong. I cannot ignore what I hear from others. If it was not the case, then we cannot confirm what we learn in classes.  Example: Professor told me this and I have nothing to do with it.  If you say yes or no, it means that it resonated with you and you either confirm or reject based on whether it made sense to you or not.  This event is taking place within yourself i.e. I have this quality within me to learn.  You can learn from your Professor, parent and cultural background. What is important is that do you really feel what you learn within you and, can you really confirm it?

• It is within me to admire powerful figure and I need powerful figure to attribute my existence to. Even if it is cultural transmission of certain concepts, then I check if it resonates or does not with me now, that is how I am.

This biased materialist attitude is used not to admit the reality and rejecting one’s own reality. Can you learn from your teachers by straight away rejecting what the teacher teaches you?  No, we check to see if it resonates with me or not.  Example: If your father tells you to record videos on voice recorder and you cannot record it, then you conclude that father was wrong because it does not resonate with your reality.  However, you just need to be guided to use the recorder.

This materialist attitude exploits people’s simplistic attitudes towards human being’s serious existential inquiry because people generally think under the influence of the media, and thus do not question the serious matters.

I must take the principles of the Quran and interpret according to my conditions and see if they work or not.  Interpretation of the message from this perspective is not only legitimate but also necessary and it should make sense to me now within my life conditions.

Comment: They say that Quran completes other religions.  Are other scripture incomplete?

The other religious messages are given to the people according to the life-time conditions of those people and the message does not say that it is Eternal guidance, rather it says that it is guidance for humanity until the next guidance comes.  However, in the case of the Quran, it says that I am universal guidance addressing all humanity, nothing more. That is why it is complete as far as the preservation of the original text is concerned.  When the other scripture says that I am Divine guidance, I have to read them according to the century the texts claimed to have been revealed.  Example: I can read Torah until the next claim comes by Jesus.  From this time period, I have to see the applicability of the message for human beings.  From Jesus to Muhammad’s time, I have to read Bible from its first days of revelation.  However, present day New Testament Bible is not teachings of Jesus, rather interpretation of historians.  You can read some teachings of Jesus and benefit from them until the time of Muhammad.  By definition, Quran is not going to be corrupted by its own claim.  Now, 1400 years later, I see that the text is preserved in its originality, but the manifestation of phonetics is not the same.  That is, you cannot change the fundamental message.  The text is there, so it will not be corrupted in its message and it will be valid until now as far as I am concerned.  Next century, it is not my problem.  I do not know the data that the next generation will bring.  That is why emphasizing on another prophet coming up is not my concern.  If there was anyone besides Muhammad revealing the message of God and if it makes sense, then I will take that into consideration, and I will reject the current message.

Everyone receives inspirations which are confused by people as to be revelations.  Inspirations maybe corrupted with external factors.  Depending on what you want, and so you are reminded of something.

• I cannot say that this is Divine guidance for millions of people for a hundred years, rather it is guidance for me since the time it was revealed.

Every century, science uncover data available in the universe.  This is not to confuse with interpretations.  All understanding of the order of the universe changes every century.  Example: this table weighs 50 lbs.  That is scientific discovery.  An interpretation would be that the table happens to be 50 libs by itself.  I must make sense of whether the table is made 50 lbs. by itself or an agent?  Which one is correct for you?  Accordingly, you take the position.  When I go to the doctor, do I deny the Establisher of the order of the universe?  No.  By obeying the order, I am obeying my Creator.  I go to the hospital to seek help from the professionals because they know how the order works better than I do.  This does not mean that there is no external Agent for the creation of the order.  How inconsistent is this atheists’ logic!

We need to have confidence by being serious in our own position.  If I am not serious why I am in this world, then I become suspicious because I do not know, and I think that everything said by a scientist is right, because they are experts. We need to pay attention to these two matters: Is it what is discovered within the universe or, is it “materialist scientist’s personal interpretation”?  Scientific discoveries may or may not be correct. But it does not mean that scientist’s personal interpretation of the existence of the physical facts is correct.

Example: A doctor prescribes you medicine.  There are two interpretation:

1. The medicine is going to have an effect on you by itself.
2. The order established in the universe gave duty to the medicine to function in a way as a result of the will of its Creator. The order of the universe has been established by its Creator in this way. That is His choice.

The order in the universe is just employed.  Just like you need a brick to make the wall, but it does not mean that the brick is making the wall.  Materialist says that this is what it is, brick makes the wall.  Counter argument is that there is an external agent making the wall by putting the bricks there.

The universe is given existence by an Omni-Present agent.  Scientists say to show me scientifically that a conscious agent is interfering in it.  But everything is acting according to the order of the conscious agent. Can you ask a question: “Show me that this external agent is making the wall with bricks? “This challenge does not make sense since I am saying the agent who made the wall is not within the wall, not of the nature of the brick or the wall. How can you ask me to show the agent? But you are claiming that the bricks are making the wall. You have to show me the ability within the brick to make the wall by itself. The brick has no knowledge, no power, no free will to choose to make the wall. On the contrary, it has to follow the order established by the Maker of the wall.

They say, then, how do you explain the origin of existence since everything is eternal, they say?  There is no origin of existence.  Just a minute ago you said to demonstrate an Omni-Present God scientifically, well, then demonstrate to me that the universe is eternal.  You cannot demonstrate that because you cannot find anything eternal in the universe because if there was something eternal, then it must be a self-Subsisting One and so Absolute and not subject to change.

When we come to belief matters, which interpretation makes sense to you?  That is, belief is the result of the interpretation of the existence of the universe which makes sense to you.  That is why, we say that belief is one’s logical conclusion.  Example: we are both looking at the same table.  I say that the table weighs 50 lbs. and you say that the table is made 50 lbs. in weight.  Scientifically, 50 lbs. are what is the reality out there, this is just an observation.  Or, is it made by an external agent with a 50 lbs. weight.  You say that the weight being 50 lbs. is a physical reality.  Both are interpretations of physical facts.  We must think of which interpretation makes sense to me.  One reacts: Are you denying physical facts?  The other one questions: Are physical facts brought into existence by itself or by a Conscious Agent.  Let us logically study that.

They say that science will explain, be patient.  Lab does not gage consciousness or measure existence.  This is against the lab studies.  Even knowledge cannot be put into lab.  Where is knowledge in the cell of the table?  Is it working by itself?  Lab only work with physical conditions i.e. as the order is.  It is so unbelievably simple.  Why do people just go with the flow and less people think about the purpose in their existence.

”For this  reason, both  eloquence and guidance require that the truths that are manifest to the people in the present and the thought that serves as guidance should be mentioned with their clarity, but the truths unknown at the present and that will be brought to light in the future should either be ignored or, if we think we should mention them, mentioned in broad terms and allusively.”

Quran does not say that an event is valid only for a certain era.  Rather, it gives an example and says that this is an example for you.  Physical reality is out there, the way things are exposed.  The physical realities need to be interpreted for you and me.

“Minds should also be prepared and kept ready for them, invited to investigate them.”

You (the future generation) are invited to investigate the meaning which is revealed in the 7^th century.  Some people say that interpreting the Quran according to the scientific discoveries is wrong.  That is, interpreting the subject mentioned in the Quran according to the scientific discoveries is right but interpreting the Quran according to some scientists’ theories of scientific discoveries is wrong.  Example: studies from stars and galaxies show that the big bang theory is right for the moment.  Tomorrow, they will get some other signals from galaxies and conclude that some more billion years ago, the universe came into existence.  This discover is subject to change.  What is not changing here?  The universe is continuously changing and expanding, so it must have a beginning, a Source.

• Not only every time we experience a new universe but also the physical existence must have a beginning. Hence, the universe must have a Creator, Originator.  Every moment the universe has a new form.

Universe must have a beginning is not a theory.  Anything subject to change must have a beginning.  This is basic logic.  If something is getting old slowly or fast, then it must have a beginning.    If I am not subject to change, then can you say that I must have a beginning?  No. If I say that I am absolute, can you assign me a beginning? If someone shows me one particle which is not subject to change then I do not believe in God.  Why should I?  That would mean that this particle has a self-existence. That means it can exist by itself and sustain its existence by itself, then I do not need for a source of its existence. That claims means The Divine Authority is in the universe because it sustains its own existence and is not subject to follow the order in the universe, so why should I believe in God, then?

Either you must accept that the universe is given existence by an Absolute Being or every part of the universe is the Absolute Being, there is no in between.  That is, you cannot say that sun is created by an Absolute Being, but the plants or particles or cells, or DNA are not.

Order has two dimensions.  1. The physical form (sun, air, gravity, climates, orbit of earth and moon, location…., are all inter-related.)  They are interrelated, but they change continuously.  None of the objects in the universe has a constant existence by itself.

2. This change is also taking place in an order. The mater itself cannot be the SOE of the future of the order. That is, change will happen according to order. It means that agent of change must know the future and it will make change not arbitrarily but, in an order, again.  The change is not realized by the elements of this universe because they are subject to change themselves.  The One who establishes the order must not be part of the universe or subject to these dimensions.  If it were so, then it would not be Self-Subsistent.

You cannot use a language which is used for the universe and transfer it to the Source of Existence of this universe which by definition is Absolute.  What number gave existence to infinity?  No mathematician will agree on this.  Yes, science is discovering what is created.

• Materialism is not fact, rather a false philosophy.
• Universe is not “materialism,” it is matter. Human beings are free to interpret how things are coming into existence.

When I interpret the existence of matter, that is my philosophy.  But which philosophy makes sense to me is my choice.  Investigating the matter and see how things come into existence makes 100% sense and corresponds to the reality of the universe.

Some may claim: The particles, or DNA are created from the beginning now they are acting independently by themselves. Someone cannot be servant and Lord at the same time.  That is a contradiction.

Another aspect of this subject:

Miracles of the Prophets is a subject for me to investigate what it means for my life.  Example: Jesus (pbuh) cured the blind.  In the 21^st century, it means that I am given the ability to perform eye operation on you. This is an invitation for investigation.  That is, everything happens with the will of the Creator and there is a message for me in the universe right now i.e. there must be a cure for whatever I experience here.  It means that a couple of centuries later, people must investigate how to deal with the blind people.  Example: Now, cataract in the eyes can be removed.  Blind people will be cured as well by new discoveries and getting to know the order in creation which operates under the will of God.  Everything is under the will of God.

Solomon (PBUH) employing invisible creature is under the will of God.  That must also have something to do with me.

The cure in creation is within the will of the Creator.  Within this order, knowledge of the Creator has so many layers that the more you discover the more you feel secure in your conclusion that knowledge of the Creator is endless.  That is why the Quran requires to study the universe in order to disclose the manifestation of its Creator.  Evolution is also a theory.  Quran and Science (what are manifested in the universe) are not contradicting.  Science just discover what is manifested in the order of the universe.

“This is what the Qur’an does. It is completely contrary to eloquence and guidance to throw minds into confusion by burdening them with what they cannot bear. “Speak to the people according to their mental capacities!” is a principle of wisdom. You can consult all the premises in the first part, including particularly the first one.”

If you want to appreciate the Artist that exhibits this universe, you have to study its Art more and more.  That is why, we must study the creation more and more without neglecting the purpose in our existence.