Quran-Universe Parallel Reading: Chapter Fatiha (2017) – Part 4

1:1 “In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.”

In the original language of the Qur’an “Rahman” and “Raheem,” both of them refer to “Mercy.”  “Rahman” is one of the titles of the Creator when It creates. The Creator creates everything out of Mercy.  The arrangement of the order of the universe is done through Mercy.  We have to see Mercy in the order of creation.  More so, we have to see Mercy in “Existence”.  Existence is what we usually skip, which is the most significant manifestation of Mercy.

• Only through Existence, do conscious beings become aware of their own existence and the existence of other creation. That is, only through being aware of the existence of things, we human beings can reason, question and understand where things are coming from.
• We have to investigate the existence of things!!!

Scholars/students of the Quran have emphasized that everything which exists is out of Mercy otherwise things would not come into existence in any other way. If things would not come into existence, then there would be nothing. Nothingness is something the human mind cannot comprehend and it is beyond our scope of imagination.  Nothingness means unimaginable. Through existence we understand our value in our existence. That is, we look for a reason for our existence: Why do I exist? And we look for the source of our existence: Who do I belong to? Or, who does my existence belong to?

Nowadays, we are accustomed to following a short cut by not questioning existence and following the order heedlessly without questioning: “How are things working?” But before this, the fundamental question that needs to be asked is: “How are things coming into existence?” Usually, we do not take notice of existence and go on with our daily interactions and comments about our experiences of the universe. Example: I am wealthy, thank God.  I am healthy, thank God. I am lucky… This state of mind lacks the fundamentals of belief i.e. awareness of existence which leads to Eternal satisfaction about our existence.

We have endless opportunities to appreciate the existence aspect of things. Mostly, people who are followers of a certain religious tradition skip existence, and thus fail to see Mercy in existence. Mercy is engrained in the existence of everything i.e. the atom and its qualities.

Comment: I fail to understand Mercy in the creation of illness.

Answer: If someone is ill or healthy, the creation of illness or health is out of pure Mercy. It is inconsistent with human nature to skip existence and attribute existence to the thing itself, nothing or anything else in the universe.  REMEMBER that everything needs to be explained in terms of their Source of existence. Example: If I say A caused B to be in a form C, then you need to question if A caused B? But before this questioning, the pre-requisite is to be able to explain the existence of A and B AND then the qualities of A, B and C. You will find out that there is no way to explain the existence of A, B and C within the universe. Whatever exists has qualities and these qualities are a witness to the Source of their existence. If we see any quality in a thing, we have to question the Source of existence of the quality of that thing. Again, we have to see Mercy in existence fundamentally. Even if you are in physical or emotional pain, you have to see Mercy in the existence of the pain. Through existence, you understand the Source of existence and you attribute your existence to the Source. Also, if you are honestly questioning the Source of existence, you will find out that the Source of existence is not within this universe but the whole universe is given existence by It and you belong to the One who is not of the nature of this universe i.e. Absolute. Hence, in pain you will realize that you belong to an infinite One. Everything is from It.  All qualities are from It. We have to think about it!

Alas, we are lost in making comparisons about the expected results and the results that are provided unto us or given to us. As a consequence of the result, we tend to define our lives as being happy when the expected result is achieved or being unhappy when the expected result is not achieved. INSTEAD, we should be making comparisons between existing and non-existing. Non-existing is impossible because we cannot imagine non-existence. REMEMBER whether you are in pain or something did not happen according to your expectations, your existence belongs to the Absolute One. Through recognizing the existence of pain, you understand who you belong to and that you are here to get to know your Lord. Your Lord introduces Itself to you through pain or something unexpected for you. Through pain, you recognize the Mercy in its existence because you cannot imagine otherwise.  Existence has no alternative because you cannot compare existence to anything else.

An example: Being healthy and being in pain are alternatives of each other. To prefer a healthy life and not prefer pain are how we are made. But when it comes to the existence of health and pain, in both cases, existence has no alternative. Nonexistence is not an alternative, we cannot even imagine nonexistence; nonexistence does not exist! We cannot imagine that which does not exist. But, in practical language we use the term “nonexistence” without referring to anything. Knowing this, makes us realize that everything that we experience is in existence.

My existence is dependent on something that gives me existence. The One who gives me existence must have Absolute Existence. That is, It must be Self-Existing! Otherwise, It cannot be the Source of existence since It also needs to be given existence. If something needs to be given existence, It cannot Self exist, therefore, It cannot be the Source of anything which exists, including itself. Since everything we see and experience in this universe is given existence, we can comfortably conclude that the source of existence must not be of the universe.

Through realizing our dependent existence, we realize the Self-Existing One, called God.  Everything is related to God because existence has no alternatives, it is pure good.  Through existence which comes in any form do we become aware of the Source of Existence and that we belong to It. It is difficult to understand this because we omit existence in our reasoning. As a result, we do not see Absolute Mercy in Existence.

• It is through Absolute Mercy that we realize that we are the product of an Absolute Source and we become free from all anxieties because we are aware that our Owner is the Absolute Source.

Since we omit the above point (or stage), we only see Mercy in what we like or dislike. This has become a common disease spread by the materialists. Example: “Spring is beautiful” is such a meaningless argument because with this reasoning, Mercy is only seen applicable under certain conditions. How about a winter storm? In this example, we are judging Mercy according to our likes/dislikes. In fact, we are given the quality to like and we are given another quality to dislike. It is uncommon to think like this under a material mindset. How many people think about the value of a thing under the lens of its existence?

We are selfish beings i.e. when we dislike something, we are accusing the Creator for not being Merciful. Yes, we are given the quality/sense to dislike something But it is not to judge about the Creator, rather the sense of dislike is given to us to see how we exercise our freewill not for our preferences BUT to fulfill the purpose in our existence, i.e. acknowledging the Source of existence under any circumstance. After reflecting more and more, we realize that Mercy is everywhere as far as the things exist because non-existence does not exist. We must go through this paradigm shift of recognizing Existence and Mercy in order to get to know the self-existing Absolute One.

1^st stage is to use your freewill to know the purpose of your existence.

2^nd stage is to use your freewill to know the Source of existence of your likes/dislikes.

Finally, we usually fail to see Mercy in the creation of an unpleasant event for us, we mostly miss the existence of not liking that event. Question: where did you get the feeling or understanding of disliking illness?

Science talks about how things are working but does not talk about the Source of existence of things and qualities. Since the Source of existence of things is not questioned, materialist scientists jump into the types of existence and makes comparison between them (eg. solid, liquid, gas). People who subscribe to this method miss the existence point. People who do not believe in a Creator subscribe to the causal chain and they too miss the existence point. Materialist scientists deliberately omit the existence point because they do not have an answer to how things are coming into existence.  Without considering existence, there is no way to produce counter arguments against atheistic ideology emerging from Materialism.

We have to see Mercy in existence fundamentally, that is “Rahman.” Everyone is a recipient of receiving “Rahman.” How about “Raheem”? As far as I am concerned, “Raheem” is related to human consciousness. That is, without establishing the acknowledgment of “Rahman,” we cannot talk about “Raheem.” We usually use a simplistic way of approaching this subject thinking that “Rahman” and “Raheem” are the same, coming from the same linguistic origin but differ in its structure. Quran explains that “Raheem” has an ever-lasting connotation. How so? Let us study the following verse by breaking it down into parts:

• …”It is He who blesses you, as do His angels, in order to lead you out of the depths of darkness into the light. He is Ever-Merciful towards the believers.” Ahzab (33): 43

“Raheem” is an extension to one’s belief. That is, what makes someone a believer is his/her consciousness that everything points to an Absolute Source of Mercy.

First Part: What does it mean that God blesses you? To the one who listens to the message or pays attention to creation and is in acknowledgment that whatever exists is out of Mercy. God’s blessing/Mercy is universal.

Second Part: What does it mean that Angels bless you? To answer that, we first need to understand what we mean by Angels.

What are Angels?

• Angels mean the meaningful side of creation our consciousness receives.
• Creation always conveys a message.
• Angels are given existence in such a way that they are announcing the qualities of the One who gives them existence, the Creator.
• My RESPONSIBILITY: I have to decipher the meaning in the existence of creation because everything is continuously emitting meaning in their existence, hence glorifying its Creator.
• REMEMBER: Creation is out of Mercy in its Existence.

Comments: I still do not understand angels. Is that an abstract notion? Are they created beings?

Let us take an analogy. A book has something written on it through which it conveys a meaning. If you do not read it, you do not become aware of what it is conveying. Similarly, when you are reading the meaning in creation which refers to the qualities of its Creator, you are in communication with the angelic side of the matter.

Let us take another analogy. A painting on a canvas is done with a brush and paint. You see art manifested in the painting in the form of atoms and molecules. Atom is one type of existence and the meaning pointing to its Creator (artist) is another type of existence. This meaningful side of the painting exists and is referred to as “angels”.

• Angels bring news to you about the Creator of the things that we observe in the world.
• Angels are glorifying their Creator.

The universe displays endless pieces of art at every moment. Just look at a fly and see how its existence glorifies its Creator. We are always given two options:

1. Looking at an object within its atomic structure.
2. Looking at the meaning the atomic structure reflects or points to. (believer attitude)

Let us take a tree as an example and see how art is manifested on the tree. The trunk, the branches, fruits and leaves altogether form the tree. The tree has various qualities such as perfect design, beauty, and Mercy to name a few. These qualities openly declare that the One who gives existence to me is the Source of Existence of the tree and It is Absolute because It gives existence to the whole universe. The whole universe (everything whose existence of which I am aware of) belongs to the One who gives existence to these qualities.

• Now, take this whole argument to yourself and be consistent with your humanity: “In my existence, I have some qualities (Yes, I have to think about the qualities in my existence). These qualities are continuously announcing/declaring the Absolute Source of their existence.” You just need to change your perspective, that’s it!

The verse clearly mentions that the Creator blesses the one who sees the manifested qualities because through these manifested qualities i.e. through this aspect of creation, s/he CONNECTS himself/herself to the Absolute Source. As a result, there is no worrying about anything (job, family, loneliness…), which is the blessing where the individual realizes that s/he belongs to the Absolute One. This feeling is a response from the Creator of the universe that lets human beings know that any meaning that they extract from creation, the angels also blesses them. It means that we are given several opportunities to feel comfortable in our existence and the whole universe works to our advantage. Yes, everything belongs to the Absolute One. This concludes the answer to the Second Part of the question.

NOTE: We need to remember that we use our free will first to acknowledge the Source of existence in any form, and then, to choose what is made preferable for us through our senses, like health rather than illness. We use our free will to prefer this job rather than that job.

We need to get used to thinking this way because the traditional understanding of religion/belief is mostly left just as a claim. Belief needs to be worked out for each individual as their own personal conclusions, NOT “inherited” claims. Again, study creation deeply and look at the aspect of creation which is witnessing the Absolute qualities of its Creator.

• If someone does not have the right understanding of angels, this person CANNOT believe in God as it should be!

Third Part: What is the blessing to people who look for Mercy in creation/order in the universe?

• Their Source of existence leads them out of depths of darkness into the light.

What does coming out of darkness mean?

Materialists get lost into the material structure of the atom rather than the meaning it transfers. Example: Your body feels satisfied as soon as you eat food, which is some matter made up of atoms. Thinking that your body will get energy from the food is what needs to be questioned. Question how is energy created? Is the particle the source of existence of energy? Without such questioning there is no hope for future because we will eat and keep eating until we die. Without extracting meaning from creation, we are sure to keep facing hopelessness in our existence.

A believer is someone who tries to see the meaning transferred through creation (including the food you keep eating) and intend to understand it. We are all given the ability to extract the meaning which points to its Source. If there was no creation, we would not be able to extract/derive any meaning from creation. If the universe is in existence, then its angelic aspect continuously keeps bringing message from its Creator. If you are able to acknowledge the meaning you extract from creation which points to the Absolute Source, then that is how you get out of darkness and step into light.

“Zulumaat”=darkness

Angels are not names but meaning we extract from creation. Just as Mercy is a meaning represented with a name and all other qualities are represented with a name as well. All the qualities that we observe and extract from creation exist for sure and we can communicate with them. The meaning (angels) is in existence. If meaning would not exist, how would you communicate with the Source of existence of that thing, which is called God?

• Only through communicating with the angels and the Creator of the universe, we can gain meaning for our existence. This meaning is Absolute/endless because every single being declares that its qualities are given to it by the One who gives existence to the whole universe. Anything that is given existence is in connection with the rest of the universe or order, cannot be isolated from the rest of the universe.

When you expose yourself to the meaning or angelic side of creation, you connect yourself to the Absolute Source. That is the blessing because you have identified yourself in terms of an Absolute Source and that is what makes one a believer. After being comfortable about the Source of your Existence, the One who is blessing you is Ever-Merciful to you.

In the existence of everything, we see nothing but Mercy. But as far as the One who reads meaning in creation (acknowledges Mercy) and reaches the conclusion about the Source of Existence as being an Absolute One, this person becomes the recipient of Eternal Mercy. Let us take a mango for example, if you do not see Mercy manifested in the existence of the mango, you deprive yourself of Eternal Mercy. Mango’s physical being which consists of atoms and molecules are transferring meaning to you: Mango is sweet, delicious, it has beauty, fragrance, color, size and shape. Who gave existence to the atoms of the mango or its sweetness, shape, chemical reactions in it, nourishing quality and above all the relationship between the mango and me, and my ability to think about all these? When you start questioning, answers come. That is, you start seeing Mercy in the existence of the mango. When you start seeing meaning and acknowledge Mercy, it takes you to the Source of Existence of the mango which is Absolute. As a result, you not only get to communicate with the atomic structure of the mango which is Mercy/Rahman manifested (while eating), but also through belief, you get Eternal Absolute Infinite Mercy. “I belong to the Absolute Being!” Thus, the aspect of belief which takes you to acknowledge Mercy becomes Absolute Eternal Mercy. The non-believing attitude only receives “Rahman” which they are not even aware of and deprive themselves of “Raheem” or (Eternal Mercy).

1:1 “In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.”

In the Name of God: everything comes into existence only through the manifestation of the qualities of their Creator. Otherwise, we cannot explain the existence of anything. Existence is Mercy and its alternative does not exist. As stated earlier, non-existence does not exist. The Creator is also an Ever Merciful One. People who try to see meaning in creation, the meaning takes them to the Source of their existence. That is belief. Meaning makes you attach your being to an Absolute Source. When you get in touch with anything, see the meaning transferred to you and communicate with the meaning; otherwise you will only be left with “Rahman” and not realizing Eternal Mercy in its existence. Work on being a recipient of “Raheem” or Eternal Mercy.

1:2 “All praise is due to God alone, the Sustainer of all the worlds.”

What is praise? Any quality in a being which is worthy of being glorified. Example: Mango has special beauty, taste and nourishment qualities. To what can you attribute these qualities? The qualities can only be attributed to the Source of their existence. The Quran challenges you that you cannot attribute these praiseworthy qualities to anything but to the One who gives existence to it. These praise worthy qualities are the manifestation of the qualities of its Creator. The Owner of the universe gives us answers and expects us to investigate whether its claim is true or not. When you investigate, can you attribute the delicious taste of the atom to itself, the farmer, or the Source of its Existence? Everything is in need of its own Source of Existence. Whatever I see as far as the qualities are concerned, I need to attribute it to the Source of its Existence. All praise is due to God alone, we can all confirm that.

Speech of God is not to be imitated but confirmed. It brings an idea about a guide and instill in us to investigate and search for it, and at the end It assures us that we can confirm It. Nothing in this universe happens accidentally. Everything is so tied in together. Just as one knot of a carpet is so interwoven with the rest of the carpet, similarly the whole order of the universe is so intertwined together. Nothing can be isolated from the rest of the universe. Any praise is due to a One that is the Source of Existence of everything. That is, for one quality to be given existence, the whole order of the universe comes into existence. That is the meaning behind “rabbul-al-ameen,” (The Sustainer of all the worlds) which is what we express in acknowledgment/confirmation.