By November 8, 2017 Read More →

Quran-Universe Parallel Reading: Chapter Takwir – Part 15

Recap: The universe continuously renewing and the scripture continuously revealing meaning is a sign of a continuous speech.  The scripture that the human race received is from the Creator of the universe.  In other words, the Speech Maker’s speech is Absolute (Arabic for Mutakalim).  It means that if I conclude the Creator of the universe to be Absolute, then its qualities must also be Absolute. We cannot describe the whole content of Absolute but I may develop my understanding to understand the content of its Speech by referring to its Absoluteness.

According to Islamic traditions, scholars continuously renewed their understanding of the Quran according to their life conditions and capacity. We cannot constrict the Speech to a limited meaning.  Whatever meaning you derive from the Speech Maker is only applicable to you within your own personal life conditions and capacity.  This means that 15th century interpretation of the Quran may not be applied to a person living in the 21st century.  As far as the life conditions of the people of the 21st century are concerned, interpretations need to be updated accordingly.  People from every century need to make their own effort without legitimizing their claim based on some well-known scholars of previous time.  The effort is to use the same methodology as used by previous scholars and apply it to your own reality.  That is, go according to your own interpretation today because you will be a different person tomorrow.

  • Meaning of the scripture is unfolded as time passes.
  • Human development takes place within their own time.

Question: what is the point of interpreting the Quran?

If you are enlightened by something for yourself, don’t you want to share it with others to enlighten them as well?

By definition the Speech Maker is Absolute and we cannot give any beginning and end to It. If we cannot give a beginning and end to something, then it means that in its being Absolute, there is no increment or degradation. Anything that has a beginning and end is limited. When something is limited, it is changing and has a dynamic nature i.e. changes from one state to another. Just like creation and all of us. We are brought into existence and go through transformation, get old and die. Same thing happens to the galaxies and stars. They are given existence and die. But when something is concluded to be Absolute, we cannot put any measure to its capacity which means that the qualities must of necessity be “Absolute” as well and therefore, its Speech must be Absolute. However, my capacity to perceive the Speech maybe limited and I may develop it and increase in understanding the content of the Speech. Although, the Speech seems to be static in its written scripture form in the form of a language, its meaning is coming from Absolute Knowledge, Absolute Speech Maker, and Absolute Creator of the universe. And so, the universe delivers or reveals endless meaning and its speech also in nature of its congruence action must be endless. That is why, we cannot treat scriptures as “static” statements, and its meaning must therefore be dynamic. Also, due to my dynamic nature i.e. capacity, I cannot get to the end of Absolute because there is no end for Absolute by definition.

Meaning we extract from creation and ourselves must be dynamic. There needs to be a parallelism between act of creation the universe exhibits and the meaning we extract from this dynamic action must be paralleled to the dynamic nature of the speech. That is why we cannot take the speech limited to a certain culture and understanding. Additionally, there are various meanings to a word and so we will never do justice to an Absolute Speech by translating it according to the dictionary meanings. It means that the Speech must be treated as a dynamic speech and I have to extract as much as possible according to my understanding, capacity and life conditions.

The universe is a “throne” where the Source of Existence manifests its qualities in the universe. A leaf or one cell is the throne of its Source of Existence. I cannot attribute the existence of galaxy to itself or the existence of one cell to itself. The throne is everywhere with no exception and only the Creator’s qualities and power prevails over it. That is what “praise be to God only” means, any quality manifested can only be attributed to its Source of existence, which is the Creator. There is a harmony between throne of God and God. That is, you can praise the Creator of the universe by studying anything in this universe with no exception. We can talk about the Creator from our own perspective i.e. how do I see God in the universe? Manifested form of its qualities, nothing else. Everywhere in creation you find the manifested form of the qualities of the Creator of various objects.

How do we perceive these qualities, understand them and be conscious of them?

Through the angels carrying the meaning of the quality to me and my human qualities (or detectors) perceive it and become conscious of it. Connection between quality and me takes place through angels. Only after the meaning arrives to me, my consciousness becomes aware of its existence. The relationship between me and the universe is a dynamic one. I can shut off my detector and chose not to see, hear and comprehend. The message always come to me because of the dynamic nature of the universe.

When we read the Quran, the Speaker is by definition the Creator of the universe which is your Creator speaking to you. You are reading the Quran as a listener within your capacity as much as you understand, not from the Speaker’s perspective. The dialogue between the Creator’s speech being Absolute and my perception is limited to my capacity. The Speaker knows me that I will receive this message within my capacity, so It speaks to me according to my capacity. When I read the Speech of God, I read it from my perspective and knowing that the Speaker is aware of it. Example: verses that say: “I seal your hearts” means that if I as the receiver has chosen to remain blind to the reality. Since I chose this way, God creates the result which leaves me in darkness according to the order He established. By saying “I seal your hearts,” He is reminding me His order of creation.

Another example: When you speak to me, I hear you. Who is creating this phenomenon where waves come and brain is working. These are all tools for your consciousness to become aware of its meaning. Who is arranging this order? The Creator is only the one who establish this order and has the final word. That is, everything is created by the will of the Creator of the universe and I am free to choose to close my ears or listen in.

If we do not establish this way of reading the Scriptures, we can fall into the following ways:

  1. Everything is set by the will of the Creator so I do not have to bother to choose anything.
  2. Everything is set by the will of the Creator and It chooses to blindfold me.
  3. Scriptures speaks non-sense i.e. denial, because it contradicts to what I experience in this world.

Speaker speaks in order to introduce itself to me and I will understand from my perspective. It can either show me guidance or keep me blind is all within its order. Now, I have to choose which one I want it to create for me.

81:23 “And he did certainly see the Angel Messenger on the clear horizon.”

What is a message?

A meaning that comes to you (which things include in their existence) or the manifested form of the qualities of the Creator comes to you. There is no doubt about it as the message is so clear and obvious.

Example: Flower manifests beauty in it. Is there any obstacle to understanding beauty? No. Similarly, everyone gets the message according to his own capacity.

Analogy: A College Professor delivers College level instruction to elementary school students. A student say: “I do not understand what you teach.” The College Professor is wrong for not following the wisdom while he is speaking to elementary school students. The student is right with his own capacity because he expects the Professor to speak to him at his own level.

Similarly, the Speaker in the Quran is my teacher who is expected to know my conditions. Whatever I understand from the Speech is subjective to me and it is within my capacity.

A real teacher must speak with you according to your capacity and your need because he is expected to know your conditions much better than you know about your own conditions. He is expecting you to get out of your conditions and interpret it in a right way. If a teacher speaks to you in a way that does not make sense to you, you have the right to ask him or her to address you according to your capacity or level. The Speaker in the Quran is my teacher who is expected to know my condition.

81:24 “ And he does not withhold concerning the unseen.”

You have to understand something according to your capacity and you have the option to either divert it or distort it. Whatever you understand from creation, (by definition) is a message from “unseen” or “Absolute” or “ghaib”. You have to interpret what “unseen” is. Example: when you look at a beautiful flower, you say: “I like it.” What are you talking about? “unseen/ghaib/absolute”. By looking at the flower, I am just extracting meaning. The flower itself is just a physical object which means nothing to me. It only becomes meaningful to me after I communicate with the message in its existence and extract meaning from its being (how come it exists?). Anything that you extract meaning from is the manifestation of the qualities of its Maker which is the “unseen”. How do you get meaning from things? You get them through message carriers.

Without understanding the concept of angels, we cannot believe in God. In the creed of belief, immediately after belief in God is the belief in angels. If God is not of the nature of this universe then it is “Absolute” because I cannot physically experience it and observe it. But Its existence is so obvious that if I am aware that any meaning that I extract from anything existing is nothing but a manifestation of the qualities of its Creator. Science books are talking about the qualities manifested on the physical objects. The manifested form of the qualities of the Creator of the object is what we interact with and extract. Man is free to distort it or deny it and put a label: “this is happening by chance or nature.”

See= Clear vision, what you perceive, reflect, realize… Just as in daily language, we say, do you understand what I mean? Do you see what I mean?

The Source of any quality must be “Absolute”. Look at the universe, whatever comes to your feelings is coming from “Absolute” introducing Itself to you through the act of creation which is continuously taking place at the same time, everywhere and with no difficulty or confusion. We are immersed in the sea of messages about “Absolute” but we may choose to blindfold ourselves or distort its meaning saying that it is happening by itself.

I am free to interpret meaning in any way because by its own nature, it is a message from “Absolute”. The messenger or the One who brings the message to us is not “stingy” about revealing the reality of “Absolute”. Every news mentioned in the Quran is mentioned for the sake of “Absolute”, in order to disclose itself in verbal form. With this awareness, can you then read the Quran as a story or narration from people from a certain time? No, because it would contradict the nature of the Speech of the Creator. Everything that is narrated is coming from “Absolute”. One should bear in mind that the stories are told to us in order to introduce the qualities of the Creator manifested in a particular event. The event is just a means to manifest the qualities. What is the purpose of the existence of the universe? Why does the universe exist as it is? To disclose and uncover “Absolute” to human beings. Example: Yes, I observed the sun setting but what do I understand from the sun being there? What kind of emotional engagement have I established between the sun being there, the universe and myself. That is what is expected in our existence and the existence of the sun being there. If you have not connected your emotions to the “Absolute” (the manifested qualities of its Creator) i.e. if you are not connected to the manifested qualities of the Creator of the sun or any other object, then you are denying the reality.

Stop insulting the Creator of the universe by saying “This dog is clever” for example. Instead, say “The dog is created this way in order to demonstrate that its Creator is wise and well-ordered.

SubhanAllah= God is exalted! Glory be to God!

The above glorifying of the Creator or emotional expression after being emotionally engaged with creation is worship. That means, “Look at my Creator, how wise He is, how Merciful He is!” That is it, appreciate the Creator. That is what the Quran is teaching essentially.

Comment: After acknowledging the Creator, then what do you do?

In your physical world, you have a body which needs to be monitored i.e. it needs to accompany you. That is why when you say “subhana rabbiya’l-al’azeem,” you tell the body to say it in its language which is “bowing”. “O Lord, you are the highest Lord! I glorify you and I appreciate you and I accept you!” Since I am witnessing my body here, so I have to be responsible within my physical environment and put my head on the floor by saying: “subahana rabbiya’l-a’laa” or “I acknowledge you” and my body must acknowledge as well. You command your worldly life and your physical existence by accompanying your human consciousness. Whatever conclusion you reached, you have to become aware of it together with your consciousness and physical body.

Communicate with the tree: “You are the best messenger bringing me message from Absolute. I am grateful for your existence to your Creator but I am respectful to your existence and I am not going to harm you, just water you”. This is a connection with Absolute through physical means. That is why the rituals are introduced through the practice of the Prophets.

In summary,

  • Communicate with your Creator while communicating with the universe, know that you are communicating with “Absolute”.
  • Whatever happens in this universe is from “Absolute” but we have to be aware of it.
  • Whatever we extract from the universe is coming to us through the angels carrying the meaning of the things which brings news from Absolute. We are in the ocean of information and news transferred to us. Everywhere there are angels communicating with us, if only we can open our eyes and reasoning and not close it. No excuse that I have not seen “Absolute”.



Tags: , , , ,

Post a Comment