Quran-Universe Parallel Reading: Chapter Fatiha (2017) – Part 5

Recap: Everything comes into existence in the name of the One who gives them existence, who is called “God”. Nothing can come into existence unless He wills it. How do we know? Because we cannot demonstrate the Source of existence of anything in this universe. That is, nothing has the quality to give existence to anything here (“lailaha”). Take yourself as an example. Are you causing yourself to age? No. How about the cells in your body, are they causing themselves to age? Do they have the option or they are subjugated to the Will of the One who gave existence to the order of the universe? Nothing here is the Source of existence of anything. As we observe the universe around us, we see various qualities manifested on the things. These qualities reflected on the things belong to their Creator. All sciences study the qualities of creation from different perspectives. Do the sciences study anything outside of this universe? No. Everything is demonstrable within this universe. Everything has certain qualities and these qualities are not random and arbitrary, they are perfectly arranged within an order. Everything in the universe is subject to this order. Every quality is a reflection of its Creator’s qualities because the things cannot be the Source of Existence of their qualities. Example: my atom cannot be the Source of Existence of my human qualities. This is a brief summary of what “In the name of God” means.

Now, as far as “Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem”, their meaning may be perceived as similar BUT in their application into our practical lives, there is a radical difference. The first is Mercy in creation within its order. That is, whoever follows the order receives the Mercy. Whatever exists in this universe exists out of the Mercy of its Creator because no one says that you have to create me. Even conscious human beings cannot say that I want to have a specific quality. In order to change the qualities that you have, you have to obey the order in creation. Here, we do nothing but obey the order in creation. When we obey the order in creation, we receive Mercy or Mercy comes to us. This is a brief summary of “Ar-Rahman”.

Ar-Raheem (ever Merciful) has to do with how human consciousness perceives the creation and as a result of his/her perception, the Mercy in the creation becomes Eternal for the one who acknowledges it. It is an extra level of mercy, something like 1 + infinity. Mercy is one Mercy, we experience it while we are here and everything experiences and receives Mercy in their existence that is what we observe. But if human consciousness realizes that this creation is coming from an Absolute Source i.e. all the qualities manifested here that I am temporarily experiencing is coming from an Absolute Eternal Source which is not limited as creation and is not the same nature as the universe is, then they come to an understanding that the Absolute is a completely different nature as the universe is because it is the Creator and It must be self-existent. If something is self-existent, then it must be Eternal. Allah Hu Akbar means that we cannot ascribe the Creator in terms of any quality or adjective belonging to this type of creation which is the universe.

When you become aware of and attach the existence of anything to its Absolute Source, you become aware that you are connected to an Absolute Source. It means that your existence belongs to an Absolute Source. This consciousness, awareness gives you the confidence that your existence will be Eternal as long as the Eternal One wills to give you existence. Since you belong to It, why worry about the future of your existence. That is, death becomes nothing. “Raheem” translated as Ever- Merciful means that you get the Mercy with no limitation. People who interact with this universe get Mercy as long as they communicate with it and benefit from it. Example: Dinner is given to me freely out of Mercy but when I die it is all gone. That is the difference between “Rahman/Merciful” and “Raheem/Ever-Merciful”. Mercy applies to everyone while Ever-Merciful only applies to the believing ones who are conscious of the Source of Mercy as the Absolute One, i.e. those that use their consciousness to realize the source of existence of whatever qualities they experience in the universe. Example: after drinking water while being thirsty, you feel comfortable. One does not have to be a believer to enjoy water when it satiates us. Non-believing attitude does not refer to the Source of existence of the water and thirst to an Eternal Creator. Instead, s/he is just thinking that here I am as a result of natural events, I was lucky to get water and tomorrow I may die.

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

All qualities that we observe here are praiseworthy in their existence. Example: A cancer cell. How can we say that the existence of a cancer cell is praiseworthy? In its existence everything is praise worthy BUT no one desires to have cancer cell or any other illness is very human. Similarly, in its existence, flame is perfect BUT no one wants to burn in it. We just want to use flame for the sake of cooking or heating only.

All praise is due to God alone means that we can attribute the qualities that we observe on the created beings to the One who is the Sustainer of the whole universe. Is there any other way to attribute existence to another thing? Can you say that a thing exists because something else within the universe gave existence to it? It is impossible to claim this. People who support or advocate atheistic ideas do not want to speak about “existence” because they do not have any answers as they limit their understanding within this universe only. They do not want to refer “existence” to any Source other than the universe itself because of their biases where they do not want to mention the possibility that the universe might have been given existence by something not of the nature of this universe, a self-existing and self-sustaining being. Because in order to be a Creator, you have to be self- sustaining i.e. not needing to be dependent in your existence. No one can ever show that there is something in the universe which is self-sustaining or which exists by itself because everything is subject to the order of the universe and they cannot even get out of this order i.e. they have no choice. So how can they be self-existing? Think about it! If you are self-existing, then your will/choice must have no limit and implying that you are self-existing (arabic: kayyuum), not needing anyone to exist and give you opportunities to do various things. Since only the Absolute One deserves to be attributed to all the qualities that we see manifested in the universe, hence it is the only one to be praised. Nothing here operates on its own. Everything here is subject to the order of the universe including your atoms and molecules.

1:3 “The All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.”

See above where this verse has been emphasized.

1:4 “The Possessor of the Day of Judgment (arabic: deen).”

Mostly, “deen” is translated as religion and understood as a way of life or guidance from the Creator. What is the Day of Judgment?

• Common heard responses: a day where we will be resurrected and judged for our appreciation of the creation and actions in it.

Challenge yourself: How do I know that I will be resurrected? How do I know that after I am resurrected, a judgment day will be set? What is my evidence? You must be joking because I do not see any day of resurrection here and I am free to do what I want.

We need to establish the base to reach our conclusions and be convinced about it. Let us try to understand “deen” within the context given above.

In a business transaction, when you buy something, you have to pay money for it i.e. when you buy something, you are in debt. While you are in debt, “deen” refers to the moment where and when the debts are paid, i.e. when the transactions are completed here as far as our worldly life is concerned. We have to investigate and then be convinced that whatever is happening is within the order of the universe here. Every moment, everywhere, the transactions must be perfectly fitting in the order so we can conclude that the One who has given existence to this order is really giving due debt to the debtor. Example: if you sow a seed and water it, the plant will eventually grow. That is, if you obey the order, everything is returned to you completely and the transaction is completed according to your level of perfection or obedience to the order. Whatever you do is paid back to you immediately through the order by the Creator of the order. Transaction works perfectly and is applicable to everyone. No one says that I obeyed the order but the transaction did not happen or I did not get paid. (Exceptional cases such as uncertainty about the future are still within the order.)

If you experience something in this world, anything that benefits or pleases you, you conclude that it cannot exist by itself. It is given existence only by the One who gives existence to the whole order of the universe. That is how we experience: “My existence also belongs to Him.” As soon as you acknowledge the Source to be an Eternal One, you receive a payment, a sense of satisfaction within your being. Bringing in the understanding of “Raheem”, I feel secure in my existence because I acknowledged the Source of Existence of that thing to be the Eternal Absolute One. Payment is within the transaction and paid back immediately. If only we obey the order and use our qualities according to the requirements of the order, we are paid back always. Example: I eat an orange today and it disappeared after I ate. But while I was eating the orange I was reflecting on the qualities of the orange and realized that this is the gift to me from the Creator of the orange because I enjoyed it. When you enjoy the orange you understand that it is a gift from the Creator. No one or nothing, even if all human beings get together, can not make one orange! Everyone has to obey the order to get the orange. They cannot create an orange. When you realize that the orange is a gift to you from the Creator of the orange who is the Creator of the whole order of the universe, then you feel a part of the universe: “I belong to It as well.” Although the orange disappeared but your consciousness received the payment immediately that you belong to an Absolute Source. You are a precious being and are the product of the Creator of the whole order of the universe. Since you made an effort i.e. you used your freewill and as a result of your effort, you received the payment of an Eternal pleasure within yourself. That is, you gain security in your existence which is the most important feeling for human beings. If the orange disappeared, there is no need to despair because the Mercy of the Absolute is there. That is, the universe comes into existence and other oranges are coming into existence. Orange disappears but the Absolute qualities of the Creator do not disappear. Since you fulfilled the transaction by acknowledging the Source, you feel secure in your existence. The experience with the orange does not go into annihilation for you as it has fulfilled its purpose in existence. Whether you are a believer or not, in your interaction with the universe, you are given the orange if you sow the seed. The farmers may not all be believers but they chose something and the debt is paid within the order of the universe. However, the believers in the Absolute Creator get an Eternal payment. Those who do not accept the Absolute Creator lose their lives every moment and feel that they are getting closer and closer to total annihilation.

Who is the Possessor or Owner of these transactions? The Creator of this universe. He is the possessor of the moment where a transaction occurs. That is justice. We are living in the Day of Judgment at every moment; hence we will be treated according to the justice of the Creator. When? Right now, and anytime that we interact with the universe. How? According to our quality of transaction, we receive the payment. If you receive one orange, you get the taste of one orange. If you use your consciousness and have a transaction through one orange as a gift from the Creator of the universe who is Absolute, your transaction turns into infinity. Because of all the qualities that you have seen in the orange, the orange becomes a means of acknowledging that your existence belongs to an Absolute One. This awareness causes Absolute certainty in your human expectations, and thus judgment happens.

When I am given death, based on how much I have developed my consciousness and how much my human side acknowledges the Eternal Creator/Absolute Owner of the universe, I get treated accordingly. My body is separated from my human side (or what we refer to as soul or consciousness). What makes me a human being is not my flesh and bones. Our consciousness of recognizing this reality is what makes us a human being. Body changes continuously. One day there will be a radical change, that is how the order is and we call that change “death”. My body or animal side does not experience the Eternity of the Creator but my consciousness or human side does. I use my consciousness to subjugate the animal side to acknowledge the Creator through verbal or physical expression. When I die, the body goes to the earth because it belongs there but human consciousness is aware of the Absolute Source of its existence. That is, the human side deserves to be treated to infinity as consciousness developed and improved itself.

Example: you learned something by going to school and even if you get old, what you learned remains. Although we think that when the body gets old and memory gets old, we forget it. That is the biological/physiological side of us which gets old. REMEMBER: human qualities must not be equated to human bodies. We are not bodies! We are communicating through bodies while our soul is residing in the body!

How is our communication taking place? Through consciousness. Like the orange you ate which is a means of acknowledging the qualities manifested in it, the body also functions as a means or vehicle for the consciousness to introduce Absolute Mercy to us. Orange in and of itself is a physical structure. The One who has designed the orange is communicating with you. Example: if I write something on a piece of paper and give it to you, are you communicating with the paper or with the one who gave you the paper? Am I communicating with your consciousness or with your eye? When two people are talking, my consciousness is communicating with the other person’s consciousness, nothing to do with the body.

What is consciousness?

Your spirit (arabic: rooh) or your human side. Your personality is your human side.

Where does the consciousness come from?

Is it from the atom? No. Atom is just matter and has no consciousness from itself. Atom is expected to exist as it is given existence. Atom cannot act independently but is subject to the order.

What is sub-consciousness?

Defining various terms is not the point. We need to understand that whatever sciences exist out there, they describe the various qualities that we observe. We just need to question the Source of existence of these qualities. Just know that something exists in you which is not your body. Any quality manifested on the matter is not the matter itself but the quality reflected on the matter, which is the quality of its Creator or the One who gave existence to it.

Example: If you read a book, can you say that the meaning is coming from the particles of the paper or ink? What is the Source of existence of the meaning you get from the sentence written in the book? There is an author who is not of the nature of ink or paper. The meaning you receive from the book is the communication between you and the author. But you are holding pieces of paper. We should not be misled that the paper of the book is the Source of the meaning. Similarly, any quality in creation cannot come from its molecular and atomic particles/constituents. They are just like the paper and ink in the book. Orange itself, its particles and molecules cannot be the source of the qualities of what we call “orange”. Even the relationship between the particles of the orange cannot be the result of the choice/will of the particles themselves because they have to follow an order what we refer to as “chemical reaction”. All the qualities out of this relationship point to their Creator who is Absolute. Let us take another example. Are the constituent parts of the laptop the source of existence of the laptop? Or a completely different man, an engineer designed and put the parts there to form the laptop? The result is coming from the Engineer’s qualities, not the qualities of the parts of the laptop. That is how the universe is, so simple! (Make your arguments practical and convincing so that any human mind cannot reject but submit).

When you realize that your consciousness, spirit or human side (not the body) is acknowledging the meaning in the existence of the things, then your spirit is communicating with the meaning of the things manifested in the universe. The universe is continuously renewed at every moment within a certain order. Everything is transient in the universe which is why our body is taken away at death. What is not transient? The Absolute qualities of the Creator are not transient BUT Permanent. Do the qualities of the Engineer disappear if the laptop dies? No, the qualities of the Engineer remain. Analogies must be understood within a certain limitations. That is, the existence of the Creator of the universe is Absolute but the Engineer is dependent and not Absolute and is just using the order in creation. How about the Source of existence of the order of the universe? It must be Absolute.

When you break the laptop, you cannot destroy the knowledge of the Engineer. When we die, our spirit cannot be destroyed. As the universe continuously changes, does the Source of existence of the universe disappear? No. Our spirit and the Source of existence of our spirit is in communication when I acknowledge It. If I do not acknowledge It, my spirit becomes ignorant of its Source of existence, that is called ‘Hell’. When I acknowledge the Source of my existence that is called ‘Paradise’ because my spirit is aware that I belong to an Absolute One.

Quran describes death as destruction, every moment we are dying. Our childhood is gone. For some, youth, middle age is gone. Since we do not know the beginning of our existence, we do not know what will happen tomorrow. As we are created, we exist. We are dependent beings but the consciousness continues in communication with the Creator of the universe. That is, you are paid here for all the transactions, your obedience in following the rules of the order with your humanity. You get the results here. When you die, your body rots but the Source of existence of the qualities manifested on the body remains. Orange is not important but the qualities manifested on the orange are important. We are created in such a way that without the written book we cannot communicate with the author. If I am aware that my consciousness is communicating with the consciousness of the author, then my consciousness is communicating with the Creator of the orange. Whatever the level of communication is between my spirit and the Creator of whatever I am interacting with, at that level I will be paid my debt. Example: If you are studying high school courses at the age of 30 let’s say, that is your level of education. The more you communicate with the Creator of the universe while doing your transactions with the physical side of matter, the more you will be paid. If you do not communicate at all or attend any class, you get no degree that is “Hell”. Your spirit has not been educated and is not aware of anything. Just as if you bought a book and put it on the shelf but never read it, what is paid? Nothing. You die but your spirit has nothing to do with the meaning inscribed in the book i.e. you have no communication with the author. Let us not carry the spirit to serve the body but get the meaning behind the body. Otherwise, if you are just communicating with the orange, then you feel despaired because you are not communicating with the meaning manifested in the orange. Isn’t that feeling a judgment? That is religion. Communication with your Creator, educating your spirit in connection with the qualities of the Creator that is your religion or the degree that you are going to be given in Paradise or Hell.

When you register at a school and if you pay 100% attention in class, that much of the results you will achieve. If you pay attention 75% , that much will you see results or are rewarded. However, if you just claim that you are registered at a school but never attend class and use your identification card for perks, can you cheat the administrators? No. Similarly, we may cheat ourselves here but we cannot cheat the Source of our existence in terms of how much we have developed our spirit in establishing our relationship with It.

If you feel that you have wasted your life with claims of being a believer, use it as a wake-up call. To believe in God does mean much, it is good as opposed to denying. Just as if one registers with a school but to live according to your belief at every moment is everything. There is a difference between sincerely believing that everything within the universe has been created by an Absolute Creator and registering with an association or school that says that everything within the universe has been created by an Absolute Creator. Just because you registered with that school, will you get the degree? No. It means that although it is necessary to register with that school but that school in and of itself means nothing. I am a believer means nothing. Are you attending the class? In other words, are you living every moment as much as possible in communication with the Source of Existence of the universe?

Physical body may be in class but without paying attention to the instruction, your spirit remains ignorant. Attending the class means communicating with the author. If you want to learn something from the meaning written in the book, you have got to have the book but to get the book does not give you any meaning. You have to read, reflect on it and communicate with the author, not the paper.

Nominal religiosity where you follow the rituals and avoid the prohibited things is not communicating with the author. They do have values only if you use the prohibitions or religious rituals as a means of communicating with the Creator and as a means of educating your spirit. That is the difference between belief and living according to your belief.

To have the book is one thing but to learn the meaning in the book is a completely different matter. That is what we do not know. We think that belief is doing actions. Even the actions will have value according to the communication with the Source of Existence.

Pay attention to living with your belief/consciousness, it will be reflected in your prayer, fasting and other religious duties. Otherwise, your actions or religious rituals will have values only as much as your conscious communication with the Creator of everything that you are communicating with. Try to read the book. It means try to read everything that you are encountering, the meaning manifested there. So when you pray, this awareness will automatically reflect on your prayers. If you do not have this understanding, your prayers will just be doing some physical exercises similar to carrying the book without communicating with the author. If you want to communicate with the author, you have to read the book. We cheat ourselves that I am a believer without any communication with the Creator or no transaction with the Creator.

When you try to learn something and you understand it, you are immediately paid back. That is the Day of Judgment, the moment of judgment manifesting itself that: “if you are consciously in communication with me, I will pay you continuously the pleasure of my Eternal Being. So, assure your existence within your spirit and you will be confident in your being. Otherwise, without educating your spirit or introducing your spirit to its Source of existence, you remain ignorant and uneducated.

Belief in God is necessary but in and of itself it means nothing. It needs to be practiced and made alive. Identifying yourself as a believer is nothing more than not being a denier. Only conscious relationship between your spirit and the meaning manifested in creation is everything.

We need belief training which is trying to establish a communication between our human side and the qualities manifested in creation, through our consciousness, with the Source of existence of the qualities. It is very uncommon to have belief training in the community.

Next time you encounter any act of creation as simple as a leaf dropping, question it, what it means, where is this order coming from? Why do you like these qualities? Stop wasting your time without communicating with the author of the book!

Finally, everything is paid equally with justice as far as our existence is concerned, that is what the Day of Judgment is.