Quran-Universe Parallel Reading: Chapter Takwir – Part 4

81: 10 “And when the records are displayed.”

One aspect of the “record” refers to the qualities of the Maker manifested in the beings (as discussed in the previous class) and the other refers to our inner capacities. When would my records be displayed? Whatever is written in me is displayed. That is, I may display them fully or a 1% based on how much I have developed my potentialities.

It is a common analysis that every human being is equal to the universe. Am I equal to the universe? Depends on what you understand from the meaning of this universe. Since everything here is a kind of “record” of the qualities of its Maker and I am also given the same potential qualities recorded within me, then as far as the qualities are concerned, human beings are equal to the universe. That is, when I am able to cultivate my potential qualities, they are my records which are equal to the qualities manifested in the universe. How are we expected to display them here? Just like a seed that displays its record when it becomes into a tree. How can a human being display his/her record and become a tree of the universe (quality wise)?

How can I grow into a universe which displays endless qualities? The universe is an open book which displays the manifestation of its Creator’s qualities. What we see here is all temporary but what are constant in the universe are the qualities of its Creator which are endless.

• Example: The universe exists. In its existence, what qualities manifest?
• The quality of “Creatorship”, the One that sustains.
• Example: The universe exists within an order. Which quality manifests?
• The quality of “Orderer”.

The quality of the Creator’s Creatorship manifests in the record of the universe and you can see order in the universe thus manifesting the quality of “Orderer”. How about within me, do I acknowledge the order? In other words, am I practicing the order in my being using my human qualities such that the potentiality in me which appreciates or acknowledges the order will be displayed as equal to the display of the order in the universe but within my own capacity? Physically, I am a small universe which encompasses all the qualities of the Creator manifested in the universe (which is included in my creation). That is why the scholars say that each human being is equal to the whole universe as far as being able to perceive the qualities manifested in the universe and in my being is concerned.

When we display our records, put them into practice and realize them, they become apparent in our lives.

81: 11 “and when the heavens are unveiled,

We will use the analogy of the ascension of the Prophet pbuh when he went to the heavens. How do we really represent the qualities of the Creator of the universe as manifesting through me and equally as manifesting in the universe?

Universe is an open book but I am a closed book. That is why my records need to be displayed through my own choices or will. I have to unlock them by realizing who my Creator is and every human quality, emotion and sense is a detector to one quality of the Creator and I can use it as a means of acknowledging the Source of this quality or just ignore it. I am free. I may develop into a universe or a seed may develop into a tree. I am the seed in this analogy. There are two types of trees:

1. Tree of Paradise(Tuba)- represents the obvious manifestations of the Creator.
2. Tree of Hell (Zaqqum)- everything is hidden there, covered up, imprisoned and not blossoming.

What do we see in this world? We just see matter. Do you see the qualities manifested in the matter? Example: this is just a book. What happens is that I am seeing the material appearance of the book, the paper and ink. But if I am not seeing the meaning, then I am blind as per the description of the Quran. Those people in Hell will complain that you created us as “seeing” human beings and now I am blind. Why? But you did not see the meaning they contained and conveyed to you. You ignored the meaning and the matter/paper disappeared; only the meaning is left. You did not see the meaning; you did not develop your qualities to see the meaning manifested in the creation which refers to the qualities of its Creator. You did not read the meaning with your eyes. Your eyes were only trained to see the matter form of the things which are destroyed now and for you there is nothing left to see. That means blind.

Question: We must unlock our potentiality as that would enable us to see the meaning of the creation, what they refer to. If I look at anything within the universe, let’s take the sun as an example which shines on flowers and overtime the flowers blossom and I see meaning within that. That is, the sun does not have the will to do so because I look at the universe from my perspective and I have nothing to do with the sun so I do not think about what the sun is doing. In this way, act of creation is happening before and I conclude the meaning (which refers to the Creator’s qualities) afterwards. When it comes to myself as an individual and unlocking my potentialities so I can see, I need to take the action first so I can see the qualities of the Creator. I just find it harder to unlock something without being fully convinced as to why I have to discover it?

Let us take a peach as an example, it is much simpler and vivid since you all can see it right now. What is this? If you say it is a “peach”, it means nothing; it is just a “name”. It could have been an “apple”, “orange” or any other fruit. The physical eye sees the peach but human potentiality see the qualities manifested in the peach. That is what humanity is all about. A bird also sees the peach and if it is ripe will eat it. So if a person says that it is a nice peach, I loved it and I enjoyed it. It means the relationship between the peach and this person is the same as that of the bird and the peach. What is expected of us is to use our human qualities. Human qualities see that it exists, it is decorated and it has a certain shape, it is embellished with different colors and it has a taste.

We can share our experiences only in approximation. No one can ever describe the taste of this peach, beauty of the peach and the enjoyment one gets in other words their experience with the peach in totality. The experience is personal to each individual. We can deduce the qualities of the Creator for ourselves and point out that there are different qualities but we cannot really share same experience as other people. Everyone is unique and experiences unique qualities manifested in the existence of the peach. My belief is for me, your belief is for you, scholar’s belief is for them and the Prophet’s belief is for him. You have to take care of yourself!

Comment: It seems that this creates a certain foundation for how people should interact with one another because if recognizing the qualities of the things within the universe is part of realizing our true humanity, I cannot really do that for other people. It would seem to imply creating a general basis for creating mutual respect among each other regardless of knowing what the other person’s true purpose is.

That is valid as far as judging other people is concerned. As far as encouraging others to use their humanity to find out the meanings contained in the existence of the peach, we can only share our experiences as much as we can. You have to develop your own being yourself. No one can help you. You have to want it, question it, ask it and desire it. Otherwise you cannot just believe by following a certain community without being convinced for yourself. Everyone has to develop their own belief!

• Belief is individual.

We have to take care of ourselves and mind ourselves. We can share it with others but only in approximation. Example: how can you explain the existence of this fruit? What can give shape or taste to this peach? Nothing in this universe can give existence to the peach exactly as it deserves to be. People speak about it is written in the DNA. Who coded the DNA? DNA does not function by itself. It is the order of creation, not the cause of creation. We need to understand this! The order of the creation is taken in this century as the cause of creation. We have to bear this in mind that this is how the things are made. It does not mean that DNA creates the taste. The taste is created within a certain order and DNA is part of the order, not a conscious being that is going to develop and give a certain taste to the fruit. We have to question the Source of existence of everything rather than describing the order of the creation (mostly what science does).

As far as we are concerned, we have to uncover what is in us (the records) and let them be apparent in our understanding, our consciousness and actions. In this way we have to be compatible quality wise with what we see in the universe. The eye sees the material aspect of the peach and human quality sees the meaning aspect (quality) of the peach. Qualities of the peach are equal to the qualities of the universe. This peach is equal to the universe. That is, peach says that I have a Maker. The universe also says I have a Maker. The peach says, my Maker gave me a form. The universe says, my Maker gave me a form as well, He is the Form Giver. My Maker made me beautiful both the peach and the universe says that. Human beings say the same thing in their bodily existence. We are expected to use our human qualities to display them, to make it clear for us. If my eyes see the peach but do not see the Mercy, Compassion or purpose in its existence, then I am not using my human qualities for the purpose they are created for. You can look at the peach, eat it and after having an experiencing the peach disappears. What remains in you are the qualities you experience. Death of human beings is the same. I am going to be taken away from my body i.e. my physical side will be taken away. Only my qualities that are recorded in me known as “human soul” will be left with the qualities that are experienced in the existence of the peach or the universe. They will be equal i.e. my qualities recorded and the qualities manifested in the universe.

If human soul has never acknowledged Mercy in the existence of the peach, then human soul will never acknowledge the Mercy in its own being which points to the Source. That is Hell, which is deprived of Mercy, Compassion and meaningful existence because I have not trained my potentialities to acknowledge what they have. That is why the Quran says they will be blind in the hereafter. Because there, the soul which was trained in this life will be given the right tool to experience what s/he has learned. If I have not learned something to do with my soul or record, I am not going to be given the tool for it. That is called deprivation as one will be deprived of all the physical and non-physical tools with which one can see Mercy, Compassion and meaning. Quran says that they will be blind, not because their eyeballs will be taken out of their body (a dead body is already decayed) but more so because they will have nothing to work out any acknowledgment. This metaphor is real and beautiful. We have to get ready to make our soul be able to see the qualities engrained in our human side. If I develop this or if I display my records for myself, then I will be ready for Paradise as much as I display the records or acknowledge the qualities. If I have not developed, I will be ready of Hell, no pleasure, no meaning, no taste, no seeing. That is like being dead but you feel that you are deprived of certain qualities that you want to experience but you have no tool to experience. In this world a person maybe created blind and s/he know that s/he has to see but s/he does not have the right tools. The new type of creation means giving the right tools appropriate to the qualities of the soul just as we are given the qualities to educate our soul to live in this world such as we reflect, we get enjoyment, excitement, we cry, we laugh… That is, we are given the right tools to communicate with the universe but with one condition such as if we use our freewill to develop our human qualities by using tools. Example: looking at the peach, thinking what is the meaning included in the existence of the peach. If I use this quality, then my soul becomes acquainted with the qualities manifested in them, it means that it is trained. Life on earth is training. Everything here is training and if you feel that something is a “test”, then it is just a training. A teacher does not want to punish her students by giving tests. A test is an opportunity to check for understanding and learn. Every test is beautiful.

Comment: In principle, we say that the Quran becomes a living speech for you only when you ask questions or when your consciousness is active in asking the questions. The universe is an open book and objects can be vehicles only if we are asking questions and looking for our Maker and why we are here momentarily. The pre-requisite for the peach to be a word for me means I must be consciously asking the question of who am I? Who my Lord is?

First question: What is this? Why is it there? How come it exists? Which kinds of qualities are included in its existence? Every human being can deduce the qualities manifested in the existence of the things. We are given the potentiality and we need to train and educate ourselves so we develop i.e. the soul becomes ready to get a new body appropriate to the new type of creation. With that new body, the soul will operate. Example: If you study something and understand something better than others who have not studied the same subject, what you do now is that as soon as you see the object, you can deduce your previous conclusions immediately and you can understand it and benefit from your previous education or training.

• If I have not educated myself, then my soul cannot benefit from the qualities manifested in the object that I am expecting to get meaning out of.

81:10 “And when the records are displayed.”

I have to display my records as much as I can. My reality will be with the displayed quality. I am a human being and if I have never used my potentially, what I can display is only my body and when I die my body decays. My soul is left with nothing. If someone uses his/her quality fully and when s/he dies, the soul has developed its qualities so the Creator says that I will give you a body according to the developed level of the soul. This soul will use this body as a means of communicating with the new type of creation. New type of creation is not transient. If it was going to be transient, then there is no need to die as it will be a waste of creation or action. That is why the revelation says that it will be a new type of creation and everyone will be treated according to the development a person has made as far as the spirit is concerned. As far as body is concerned, it is left here and gets rotten. Therefore, we have to get ready by displaying our records.

Comment: This verse is applying to me right now. Obviously I utilize myself and the universe to work out. I am supposed to be utilizing myself to get meaning from the universe, it’s a two way communication. So whatever meaning I get from this two way communication between my human qualities and the qualities manifested in the universe, that meaning would be the record that I am made to display or the connection I am making.

• How do I display my records? Only by developing my human qualities through using the material objects, creation and my material means such as eyes, taste, smell, sight, brain, feelings… so to be in harmony and compatible with the qualities manifested in the universe and in my being and make it equal. That is what records means now.

Comment: So when the records are displayed with this two way communication, it is really the meaning I derive at for myself in terms of the purpose of my existence.

That is why we are given the qualities like a seed. Why do you think the seed is given all the qualities of a tree written and registered in its existence? It is expected to grow into a tree and it does. When the earth or other means are prepared for it, it grows. It is valid for myself as well i.e. when I cultivate my human qualities within a certain communication with the rest of the universe (the order), what happens is that I start developing my human qualities or I become aware of my human qualities manifested in myself and manifested in the universe. So the universe becomes a laboratory where I train myself and experience what is in me. If I have not taken the class for the lab, what do I do? Nothing. I have to learn and train so I can use the lab properly. I have to work on it and train. We have to question and educate our human qualities so we can get ready for a new lab and learn what to do there. New lab is the new type of creation. In the new type of creation, human beings will be able to experience permanent manifestation of the qualities of the Creator with no veil. Here we see that the tree is growing by itself apparently but in the new type of creation, we will see the Creator’s act of creation obviously manifested there. There is no way to think who is making it. As if you hear a music, you enjoy it and you know the Singer. In the new type of creation, there will be no way to doubt and investigate it will be so obvious who the singer is. The Creator’s qualities will manifest directly and the soul (if it is trained, educated and qualified), will see the manifestation directly. Quran says every human being will see his/her Lord with bright face that this is the Singer or the Creator who is manifesting Its qualities in front of my eyes. Quran says the faces will be bright and shining looking at their Lord clearly with nothing hidden from them. This is true only for those people who have gotten ready and trained their soul here. That is why displaying the records that are included in our human side is really becoming aware of the qualities that are included in us. This needs reflection which starts with questioning otherwise your human qualities will not be able to see the manifestations of the Creator.

Comment: Why create this opportunity to learn in the first place? Why not create our souls in such a way that they are already able to appreciate?

There is a fallacy in the question as it is asking from God’s perspective. How do you know God is created? What is the reason for something to be created? You have to look at yourself and you have to question your qualities present in your being and then come to the conclusion that I am made in this way. You should not go to the Creator’s side but start with yourself. Since I am created in this way, what can be the reason that I am created with these qualities? The question “why did he create me in this way?” that is why the Creator created you in this way to ask your question from your perspective. It is a common disease to ask question from God’s perspective. Who is God? Without reflecting on your own created qualities, you cannot conclude that God created you in this way. When you reflect on your own being, then you conclude that I am made in this way. Then you ask yourself this question: “why am I made in this way?”

• Asking questions to God is not the way of human reasoning!
• Ask yourself: Why do I think that I have the ability to think?

Why the Creator of the peach has created it, is an invalid and meaningless question? You are seeing the peach and you are able to acknowledge that it is made and you are able to question who the Creator is, so think within your own capacity. Do not jump to the Creator! The Creator says: “You will understand why I created it when you understand the creation of the peach. That is why I created the peach for you to investigate why I made it. Find out yourself; do not ask me because I already set up the case for you.” This logic is not common at all. Mostly, people are accustomed to hearing: “God created the peach so we have to thank Him.” There is no reasoning involved here as it makes one imitate what s/he hears from culture. We are trying to get rid of this non-questioning culture, it is as if we are engulfed in a cocoon and trying to find a hole and get out and be free like a fly.

Question: why do I think the peach has been created? In its creation, I will see its reason by myself. Example: What is this? It is a book. Why the author of the book has written it? Don’t be silly, read it and you will understand why I wrote it? Without reading it, the book becomes redundant. The author will say when you read the book; you will understand why I wrote it. I have made the peach for you to discover why I have made it, so read the peach.

• Ask the question to the book: Why are you written?
• Ask the question to the peach: Why are you created?

Comment: This verse is talking about judgment day.

The terminology from the cultures needs to be proven and questioned. What is judgment day? Who is Pharaoh? Who is Moses? We need to get rid of this cultural epidemic and saying things without any evidence under the label of “religion”. Culture is external to one’s being. Belief is certainty in one’s own investigation. No one can become a believer in one day. Just as we spend 25 to 30 years studying for our professions, why do we reduce religion to a layman’s profession? Quran cannot be read without relating it to ourselves. We have to develop a methodology of understanding our being here in order to receive God’s Mercy at the highest level in Paradise! I am expected to display the records right now.

If you are aware that you are made, your Creator has prepared you to gradually grow and learn.

Comments: Aren’t the hardships from God?

First of all, there are no hardships in life. Everything is a learning opportunity. Do you feel that? That is how you are expected to utilize it and understand that it is purposefully done. Do you become a doctor in one day? Do you become a doctor by hearing patient’s illness? No, we need to go through a gradual training process to educate ourselves.

• There is only opportunity to train yourself.
• We just need to use our human qualities and question.

Even if the roof falls and you are squished in between, you have to question: why is it happening? What does it mean for me? It is a way of training. Every trial is an opportunity. When the teacher gives you a test, is it a hardship or an opportunity to become aware of what you have learned and not learned. Both. If you see the test as a hardship and the teacher as your enemy to torture you, then you are not a student because you do not know what you are doing.

You have to see the test as a means to check yourself, what you have learned, what you have not learned, what you need to learn. It means that is being a student otherwise you think that the teacher who taught you for 4 months gave you a monster to give you hardship.

• Think about it: There is no hardship in creation; everything is a means of training.

81:11 “and when the heavens are unveiled.

“Heavens are unveiled” and “records are displayed” are the same thing. What is opened up? My reality i.e. the qualities manifested in me and the manifested qualities of the Creator. When the records are displayed means when the heavens become apparent.

What does the heaven in the verse represent?

Heaven (or reality) represent the ultimate purpose of things. Heavens in the Quranic message means the meaning included in the things i.e. what they point to. In other words, the meaning the material objects transfer to me. When I realize the meaning included in the existence of every single being, I reach “heaven” or the ultimate purpose of its existence.

• Why do you think the ascension of the Prophet took place in the “heavens”?
• He was able to reach the ultimate meaning that creation refers to.
• When the spirit gets out of its body and goes into the meaning of creation that is ascension.

What is the relationship between earth, heavens and your being (the potentiality that you have)?

• What is Earth? Peach is earth.
• What is the heaven of this peach? The qualities it transfers to me or what it refers to. In other words, the ultimate meaning in the existence of the things. When you realize or unveil your qualities, you become aware of the tools given to you to detect your potentiality. Hence, you become aware of the qualities manifested in creation.
• What is this (peach)? This is Mercy, Compassion, favor for me, just manifesting the qualities of its Creator to introduce its Creator to me.
• Humanity is speaking now!
• If you say this is a peach, I just bought it or a friend gave it to me. What happens? There is no heaven, you just eat the flesh and your spirit never benefits from the qualities manifested in it. You are only communicating with the earth. Let us not wait until we die to discover the heavens of the peach! In our records we have the tools to discover it right now!!

Short summary: The records are supposed to be the meaning that I derive at from interacting with the universe as far as the purpose of my existence is concerned. The records are displayed in two ways concurrently:

1. Within my own being, my potentialities that need to develop into qualities.
2. Within the universe, the qualities manifested all around.

1 and 2 are a two way communication; I cannot go in with one without the other. That is, I utilize myself (my given tools) and the universe to extract meaning which then become the records that are displayed for me right now.