Practices in Reading the Quran Here and Now: Chapter Qalam (Pen) – Part 4

“The slanderer that goes about with defaming tales,
a preventer of good, transgressor, sinner,
Cruel and, in addition to all this, utterly useless.” The Pen (68): 11-13

The verse is addressing to the psyche of the one who believes in the message of God with an emphasis to be conscious of lies out there i.e. not to give in to the opponents of the revelation as it was done at the time of the Prophet (PBUH). All the descriptions in the verse is not only an accusation towards the opponents of the Prophets but rather supporting the psychology of the believers implying that whatever the deniers or opponent do or say is nothing but untrue to one’s reality. The opponents of the message as revealed by God through the Prophet (pbuh) are spreading false stories by insinuating that people who heed to the message are not honorable individuals since they are mostly slaves. What they are spreading contradicts our human reality. Think about it, no one chooses to be born into a poor or rich family. Hence, these people are preventers of good. These people are not innocent because they need to question why they feel superior over others.

What is good for human beings?

• It depends on your definition of good. Some may think that doing good deeds has to do with helping others.
• The real good is helping human beings build a personality that is appropriate to their human needs or purpose of human existence.
• The opponents are preventing human beings from finding out what is really good for them. Think about it, engaging in moral (social) activities prevents anyone from realizing what they are here for really i.e. what is the purpose of existence.

But the social activities do not seem to be utterly useless. Yes, it is good for this worldly life only or to benefits one’s physical life only. However, as far as one’s human nature is concerned, these activities may be cruel because they may take us away from the real human nature or reality.

Why does God speak to human beings?
Here is a list of some of the biggest questions:

What is the purpose of the Quran?

• To remind me of my true nature and my reality.

Why are we created in this world/body?

Why are we presented with endless creations?

• To question existence.
• When you question creation, what do you get out of it?
• Its purpose in existing.

What is the purpose in existence?

• To teach me about its Creator and the connection creation has with me.

How come I am aware of all this?

• Human consciousness necessitates an awareness to realize that qualities we experience here exist.
• Human consciousness pushes us to question the Source of our existence.

Why am I given existence?

• To know that I belong to the One that creates the universe and has endless qualities.
• Knowing who I belong to is the solution to all human problems.
• What am I expected to get out of this knowledge i.e. my Creator is the One that creates the universe?
• That is what a human being is i.e. if I know who I belong to, I start defining my existence accordingly and live my life according to the will of the Creator of the universe.
• What is the will of the Creator?
• Since everything (human qualities) is given to me, I am expected to find out why it is given to me. That is what worship is. We are given existence to act and use our human qualities (tongue, eyes, ears…) and find out who the Owner of the human qualities is i.e. who my Lord (Owner) is, the One I am indebted to. My relation with my Lord requires me to acknowledge that I am indebted to It. That is the foundation of worship of God.

What do I do after getting to know It?

• I carry on my investigation about finding the purpose of my existence (which is why we are here on earth) and I live according to the Will of my Creator. As a result, I cannot say that this is my idea, feeling or preference for example because I do not own anything and I am aware that nothing belongs to me (lailaha).

Hence, the purpose of my existence is to let me know where I belong to and my life will become meaningful otherwise my life will have no meaning. Even if you are fed chocolate every day, does it give you meaning? Will you be happy? Will you get rid of stress? No, I will get fed up of chocolate at the end and it will have no meaning.

• • • • The real good is to know that I belong to the Absolute Creator of the universe.
• As soon as I am convinced that I belong to the Absolute Creator, I am in Paradise.

Alas, we underestimate the importance of realizing that we belong to an Absolute Being. If we THINK about it SERIOUSLY, we will have no worries.

• Go to your room and concentrate on your reality, you may then understand that you belong to an Absolute being that is Eternal. As a result, all your human worries will disappear.
• Practically, we do not appreciate it because we are after minor satisfactions. Example: I belong to the Eternal One but I want this job. After two years, you will get fed up of it. After 10 years, you will be looking for another one. After thirty five years, you will be retiring.

We are playing a very small game in our acknowledgment of the One that we are indebted to. We are underestimating finding out the Source of our Existence. That is why our existence does not seem to be satisfactory. We are lost in small minor things. Example: bad hair day, troubling relationship with friends… If I am sure that I belong to the Absolute One, every worry goes away because I belong to It and death is from It. Death takes me from one stage of existence to another. When I get acquainted with the Creator of death, then all my worries go away. Unfortunately, we are obsessed with minor temporary satisfactions and we fail to see or question the bigger questions. We busy ourselves satisfying our ego without paying attention to what will happen afterwards. Unless I find the Absolute Source of existence, then everything becomes a gift or a present from It. Creation here is serving me to introduce my Creator to me to make sure that my existence says secure.

People who think that life only belongs to this world do not see the purpose in finding the Absolute Source of existence. If I do not take notice of my Creator, I will fall into annihilation and everything becomes purposeless because eventually we die. People who do not see the affiliation to belonging to an Absolute Source think that they are doing something good to the society. The Prophets come to reveal the message of God saying that as long as you find your Creator, you will have pleasure in your life, otherwise there is no pleasure whatsoever. That is the conflict between the Prophetic message and its opponents. It still happens now i.e. you follow societal norms geared towards worldly satisfaction indirectly implying that the Prophetic message has no reality or it is the tale of the ancient people.

• If you want to make any good for anyone, introduce this person to his/her Owner.

Egoistic desires prevent me from reaching Eternity. Example: My spirit wants Eternal satisfaction but my ego wants appreciation from relatives. Ego says to forget about Eternal life and fulfill your desires now. Egoistic desires are not essential desires for human beings. The most important matter is that I got an Absolute Creator, my life here is transient but my existence is not transient. I will be trained in this world and transferred into another type of creation.

• Everything in this world is prepared to help you get to know who your Owner is or who you belong to.

What else does the Quran brings to us? God is One, God reveals his message to us through everything and speaks to human beings to make them understand what their reality is, employs messengers and Eternal life is waiting for us i.e. get ready for the Eternal life. This life is only to prepare ourselves for Eternal life, we do not belong here, this is a training place.

• This kind of creation is very temporary and simple. I just need to prepare for the Eternal life.

If we do not introduce the qualities of the Creator to ourselves or pay attention to creation and how the Creator is revealing Itself to us, we would not know Eternal life. When I die, my human capacity will be as much as I learned here. That is, I am potentially able to understand who my Owner is but if I do not pay attention to creation, I graduate from this universe with no experience. That is what Hell/Paradise is. Either I learn that my Creator is Generous (Paradise) or I would not know (Hell). There is no end in learning.

• Hell= knowing that I am deprived of the Mercy of my Creator.

The opponents of the message reject the purpose in the transient nature of this universe. The verse says to not pay attention to these people but to learn what the Prophet teaches us i.e. attach your being to God and live accordingly:

• Everything belongs to God and nothing belongs to me.
• Can you live like that?
• I can try.
• Is it easy?
• Practically no.
• We do not have the training. We may claim to be Muslims by doing religious duties.

If I do not have the intention to get to know who my Creator is, rituals do not help me to introduce my Creator to my spirit. Hence, I need to get to know It better and establish a convincing relationship between me and my Creator. I will feel comfortable if I become aware that my Creator is the One that gives everything to me; I do not get anything by myself. Everything is given to me by It. Realizing that seems simple but it needs work and effort from my end. All I need to do is to introduce myself to my Creator. As a result, I will be happy.

“Simply because he possesses wealth and children. Whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, he says, Tales of ancient times,
We shall brand him with indelible disgrace.” The Pen (68): 14-16

Children= support

In our heart we think that if we have more wealth, we will be better off. Criteria to happiness for us is wealth. Every one of us struggles to get more. What do I need to have in order to be the most powerful person? Wealth? No. I need to introduce myself to the Creator.

Most people live in this world in order to get appreciation of a few people around them. The value of this civilization does not see existence as being Eternal. What the Prophets teach and what the present civilization teaches is different. Prophet says that this world is transient, hence get ready for an Eternal life. On the contrary, civilization says to entertain your life in this world until you die. Nothing reminds us of an Eternal life in our worldview. We think we believe in God but our worldview is attached to this world. Our concerns are attached to this world. See the effect of this verse to me, what excites me in this world? This universe has a Maker and this Maker is treating me right now. Does it occur to me to think that this universe has a Maker?That there is an eternal life? Not really. That is why belief in God as a Creator does not bring any value to our world. Each action I perform must be seen as an action of my Creator, practically. When I practice belief in my daily life, I see that this universe is the creation of the Absolute One.

DANGEROUS ATTITUDE: I am a religious person and now I am done. This attitude prevents anyone from further investigating.