Practices in Reading the Quran Here and Now: Chapter Qalam (Pen) – Part 5

“The example of the worldly life is like a water which has come down from the sky, so it is mixed with the plants of the earth from what mankind and the livestock eat. Then the Earth takes its shape and becomes beautiful and its inhabitants think that they have mastered it; then our judgement comes by night and by day, so We make it as wasteland as if it never prospered by the yesterday! It is such that We clarify the revelations to a people that think.” Yunus (10):24

Revelation comes to construct our human mind and feelings. The first revealed verses emphasize on the transient nature of this universe. That is, nothing is stable here. The descriptions of doomsday allude to the dependent nature of this universe. That is, every object in this universe declares it dependency on a contingent Being and thus is subject to death at every moment and complete departure from this universe at a specific moment. Example: I am a mountain, I am made strong but I can be destroyed anytime.

Human mind and feelings are being trained and shaped here to conclude that nothing can guarantee its existence here. This is the first aim of the Quran, reminding the one who reads it that this universe can be demolished anytime. That is, for you, this universe is subject to death. Hence, this place cannot be permanent and you cannot rely on it.

How do I know that the universe is subject to death?

Nothing is stable in its existence. Since everything is changing, it means that everything is dependent. Yes, we are changing, plants are changing. Everything is subject to an operation of something else (Being). It means that nothing can guarantee its existence by itself and nothing can keep its existence as it is. Everything in this universe is continuously changing and this changing process is stable. That is why we need to prepare our feelings for knowing this reality.

• Example: The universe is here but I know that I will go away. My life here is not stable.

Quran emphasizes on human creation so we may reflect on it. That is to say, I was just a cell, came out of a fluid, so how did I become what I am now? The Quran speaks in a contemptuous way. So, how can I claim to be noble over others? Human being should value their qualities but it should not be used to classify yourself as being superior over others. Quran is a reminder to think about our reality.

As people investigate the order of creation, they think that they are taking control over the order. What are scientific investigations? It is the discovering of order. As investigation continues, people think that they can manipulate order. We just discover and obey order i.e. we use the order as it is and since we get accustomed to the order, we think that we are manipulating it every time we discover something new. Example: I cannot turn off the machine as I want. In order to turn off, they are certain rules that I have to obey. Since I cannot guarantee the existence of anything, it is important that I prepare my human feelings with this reality i.e. to submit my feelings to the Creator of the order of the universe.

The early revelations are related to shaping human feelings and human emotions. That is, one should stop being arrogant: “I have no right to claim anything; I am just subject to the One who gives me existence”. For 18 years, the main aim of the Quran was breaking human arrogance so the soul may be ready to submit to its Creator. Belief in God comes as a result. Afterwards, submit to the will of the Creator. Rituals were not the main theme of the earlier revelations.

Are we living in a world where the messenger is still alive?

There are many tales related to ancient tribes that the Quran addresses. They are familiar to our situation now. Example: Among pagans, the concept of Prophethood was lost. They rebelled the message of the messenger. The first addressees of the Quran did not have the concept of messengership. What about you and I, do we have the concept of messengership? How can I make sure that a messenger should be employed by God? It is not easy to swallow that a man has been chosen to convey God’s speech. How come the Creator of the universe will speak to a man? Our reality is that we don’t know what Messengership means and at the same time, no one has any reason to deny it either.

What is difficult for most people is to accept the legitimacy of the person who claims to be an envoy of the Creator. “Creator of the universe spoke to me” is a big claim to accept. Since Prophets were not one of the educated elite, people were questioning them: “who are you to claim that God spoke to you? Example: Jesus (pbuh) was not a learned scholar like rabbis of that time. The reality is that people oppose the status of the messenger rather than the content of the message the messenger brings. The scholars were concerned that they should be the ones to be employed by God. That is why it becomes difficult to comprehend Prophethood. Pagan culture was destroyed during the lifetime of Muhammad in the Arabian Peninsula means that their belief and concepts were shifted.

Miracles were performed by Prophets to get people to think about the Prophet seriously. Hence, I better take life seriously because it seems that this man is telling the truth and so I should obey to the truth. A person who is employed to carry the message of the Creator has nothing to do with coming from a particular noble lineage.

Since we are lacking understanding of Messengership, we are not comfortable about religion. It is easy to have an abstract belief of God but it does not introduce me to the Creator in my social and personal life. We can attribute things to the Creator but to see that instruction exists to apply belief in God in my life requires a deeper understanding.

• Example: I know that the laptop has an Engineer but I use the laptop as I want. We cannot make use of this universe as we want. Messengers are representatives of the Creator employed to convey to us how to use ourselves in this universe.

Messengers are representing the content of speech of God as an extension to one’s belief in God. The understanding that the Creator is the one to shape my life contradicts with our current lifestyle, what we are accustomed with. That is, the prophet brings the news that I cannot use my freewill as I want because I am using the property of someone else. My mind and tongue is not my property so I cannot use it as I wish. This belief in God which is brought to us by the prophets is called religion.

• Ritual is the end product of your belief.
• Rituals were introduced in the later revelations as the means to express your conviction.
• Rituals are practical way to acknowledge your reality with utmost consciousness.

Practicing belief i.e. conviction that my freewill must be submitted to its real owner is not an easy task. Opponents in every generation follow their own cultural religion and they have a hard time taking in the message because it contradicts their accustomed way of life.

• Religion has to do with knowing your position in this universe. That is, how to submit freewill to its real Owner.

Most difficult task for anyone is to challenge the accustomed way of life and face the reality. Meccan revelations were training the feelings of the people without instructing them about rituals.

Islam is submitting to the truth with full conviction. There is no citizenship in Islam. Anyone is free to embrace the truth, there is no restriction whatsoever and people are treated fairly.

Prophets demonstrate how to apply the abstract notions such as “justice” into real life. Example: if a non-savvy farmer coming from the outskirt of Mecca bringing in his produce to the market, the Prophet (pbuh) instructed people of Mecca not to buy goods from this farmer before coming into the market and learning the market value of his produces. That is how fairness is encouraged. Mostly what happened is that people would get goods from the non-savvy farmers at a low price since they did not know the market value and they would they would then sell it at the market value.

Finally, early revelation speaks to us in a way to make us realize our reality. One has to pay specific attention to the tone of the Speech. It speaks to us in a way to wake us up from our heedlessness and shake us in a way where we become aware of our consciousness.

We learn from the way the Qur’an speaks:

1. By paying close attention to the tone (balagha) of the speech can one submit to the reality.
2. By shaping our feelings and human qualities can belief be practiced.