By August 13, 2024 Read More →

A Quranic Analysis of Prayer, part 2

A Quranic Analysis of Prayer, part 2


لَهُۥ دَعْوَةُ ٱلْحَقِّ وَٱلَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِۦ لَا يَسْتَجِيبُونَ لَهُم بِشَىْءٍ إِلَّا كَبَـٰسِطِ كَفَّيْهِ إِلَى ٱلْمَآءِ لِيَبْلُغَ فَاهُ وَمَا هُوَ بِبَـٰلِغِهِۦ وَمَا دُعَآءُ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ إِلَّا فِى ضَلَـٰلٍ 

 

13:14 The only true prayer is to Him: those they pray to besides Him give them no answer any more than water reaches the mouth of someone who simply stretches out his hands for it- it cannot do so: the prayers of the disbelievers are all in vain.

Recap: 

  1. When a believer does the same thing, will the water come to him?

Let’s say that for a billion years, a man keeps saying to water to come to his mouth.  Will water ever reach his mouth?  No.  The Quranic examples are always simple, which we must use and apply the principles it conveys to our current conditions.  For example, scientists explore the subatomic world to understand whether a particle can respond to the demand of another particle?  They come up with the explanation that particle A asks particle B to get together and unite to form particle C.  Can the particles communicate with each other by themselves asking each other to combine and come together to form water molecules for example?  No.  Just like the example in the Qur’an of a  man who is asking for water to come to his mouth is impossible because water is an unconscious being and is matter in and of itself. In the same way particles are unconscious beings that cannot act by themselves. The fact that they seem to be communicating with each other never justifies the claim of some scientists “since they seem to be communicating, then, they must have the quality in themselves inherited from the previous existence of things.” If matter itself has these qualities  then scientists should demonstrate it in the “nature” of matter to have these qualities because they claim that existence consists of matter only and matter exists by itself. Whereas, those who believe that matter needs to be given existence by someone not of the nature of the whole universe, therefore, must be an Absolute Being, say that matter cannot have these qualities of communicating within themselves by themselves because these qualities are not of the nature of matter at all. 

Starting from 1450 years ago and until now, the Quranic message is asking us to reflect on the same principles, and the answer will always remain the same: “Matter has no sense, no will and no power of itself.”

  1. What does the “prayers of the disbelievers are all in vain” mean?

Everyone gets what they want when they follow the process or order in creation regardless of being a believer in God or not. By following the orderly creation everyone obeys the Will of the Creator of the universe and consciously or unconsciously  gets the result in this world because this perfect order can only be established by its conscious Creator. Why is it that the prayers of the disbelievers are all in vain? The disbelievers pray for what they want valid for this world only without realizing and acknowledging the source of existence of their human needs. They will end up seeking satisfaction from material beings which have no will or power to satisfy them. If they ask “matter” or “nature” without obeying  the orderly creation they will get no response from them because matter has no sense whatsoever from itself. That is why they work on how the orderly creation of the universe has been established perfectly and trust its Creator and obey His choice by following it and only then do they get the result of what they have chosen. They cannot get anything from matter itself but the Creator creates the universe continuously according to the choice of any being in the next moment as a new universe. There is nothing in the universe which has the quality that can sustain its existence for even a fraction of a second. That is how we understand that the Creator must be an Absolute Being.

If a disbeliever in God asks for water to come to his mouth, it does not come.  Now, if a believer in God prays to God to make water come to his mouth, does the water come?  No.  The way the things are created never change, because God’s order of creation does not change.  God let us know that if you obey His order of creating, then He will create the result.  For example, if I take a cup and put it under the faucet, then I can get some water in my mouth.  That is how the creation is arranged for us by God.  However, if I do not obey the way God is setting up the order, then God does not respond to me.  For example, you are a farmer, you need an orange, and you are a believer in God who prays to God to give you an orange.  Will the orange ever come to you unless you sow an orange seed and cultivate it?  No.  Only God creates the orange based on man following/obeying His order in creation.

This reality of the way the universe is being created demonstrates that no matter who is obeying the orderly creation of the universe is a kind of prayer presented to the Creator of the universe. We all always are practically praying to the Creator of the universe, called God, whether we accept it or not, whether we believe in God or in “matter”, “change”, “random developments”, or “nature”.

DISCLAIMER: If you do not pay attention to the points bolded above, then you may miss the message of the verses going forward by making it applicable to your life right now.  The Quran claims to be the Speech of your Creator.  The Creator must have created the universe from the beginning.  No one can get to the end of the universe space and time wise.  As far as human capacity is concerned, the universe is limitless because we cannot get to the end, neither space wise or time wise.  If you cannot get to the end of something, then how can you make calculations of anything concerning the universe based on the number of atoms that Scientists have observed?  For example, counting the number of the chairs in the room where I am now and then, if I say that there are 40 chairs on this floor, but that is not true, because there are other rooms on this floor with chairs.  Hence, approximating the number of chairs will be wrong, if it is to claim the reality of the existence of the universe, it will be a lie.  Rather, we should say that we are guessing, assuming, and it is not the reality.  Similarly, how can you give a number to something which is infinite for you.  How do you know that number as you have not arrived at it?  If something is infinite for me, then I cannot give a number to it.  It is synonymous to saying that there are a billion times billion numbers in infinity, which is a logical contradiction in the discipline of Math. In these classes we discuss only what is missing in general religious education.

  • The main point to understand is that we are living “the way God creates, His Orderly creation which is called in practical life ‘Law’ which never changes” i.e. Sunnat Ullah (The way God continuously and orderly is creating.)
  • After understanding the main point above, don’t you wonder, why do you pray then?  What is the point in praying if God’s way of orderly creating does never change?  

What would make the prayers of the disbelievers all in vain?

When disbelievers wish something to happen, they expect it from “Nature” or “matter” itself. As if, for example, they are asking the water to come to them. And water itself never comes in response to their wishes. But the believers in the Creator do not ask for the water to come, rather they ask the Creator of the water to bring water to them by facilitating for them within His order of creation. Their prayer may be responded positively by the Creator of the universe depending on His Choice by creating the next moments of the universe including the response to their prayers while not changing the way of orderly creation. The Creator of the universe must be, by definition, an Absolute Being. Therefore, with His Absolute Qualities can arrange the orderly existence of the universe in any way He chooses.

What is the difference between the believer and disbeliever’s attitude towards creation?

According to the disbeliever, the Source of Existence of the universe is matter itself or it is nature, or that is how it is which is intrinsic to matter.  Although there are different theories laid out by materialist scientists, it all points to the same thing i.e. “matter.”  In my understanding, if matter exists by itself, then it is the creator of itself, as a consequence, the creator of the universe, then I could pray only to matter such as water, for example.  I will not be  praying to the Creator of the water if the water had no creator! With such a disbelieving attitude, no one can wish, hope or pray to the Creator of everything, called God because they do not believe in an Absolute Creator. They can only do so by directing their wishes to “mater” or “nature.”

Analogy: The way the computer is made points to the qualities of its Engineer.  Similarly, by observing the qualities manifested in the universe (the orderly creation), we understand that a Conscious Being must have given existence to this universe where His qualities are manifested.

In and of itself, matter has no qualities of its own.  Just as the laptop’s functionalities have been designed by its Engineer, and therefore, the qualities of the laptop do not function on its own.  How can we say that the qualities of matter are inherent to themselves?  Just as the new version of the laptop has not inherited the qualities from the previous version and thus, improved itself.  Where are the qualities of the Engineer of the universe inherent in matter itself?  If someone claims that qualities manifested in “matter”are inherent in it, then they must show them. On the other hand, by using the same analogy, a believer is only saying the qualities manifested in “matter” do not belong to the matter, rather, they must belong to the Engineer of the “matter”. When it comes to interpreting existence, what is happening to people that we are ignoring a Conscious Agent and just making calculations according to my capacity as (discussed in the disclaimer on page 2)?

This verse is disclosing to us that I should direct my prayers to be answered to the Creator of the universe, not in a verbal sense only but by action which is to obey the orderly creation of the universe as well, which is God’s way of creating.  For example, I do not have money, and I pray to God to fill my pocket with money overnight. That would never happen.  We pray with our mind, heart, spirit to the Spiritual side of the universe, which is pointing to the qualities of its Creator.  In a verbal sense, we pray to God to satisfy our spiritual needs. But to satisfy our physical needs, we pray with action by obeying the way its Creator creates everything.  For example, if I pray to God to give me a garden, the God answers saying that I can provide you with a garden only after you cultivate the land and follow my orderly creation.  My spiritual need is not getting the garden, rather acknowledging who is the Creator of the garden. It is what my spirit requires to secure its satisfaction. Whereas, my physical prayer by obeying the orderly creation can secure only a temporary bodily satisfaction. That is why the ultimate aim of human prayers should be spiritual acknowledgement of the Absolute Creator to reach the security to human feelings that require permanent perfect satisfaction. In this respect, the disbelievers never can experience permanent satisfaction at all, but only bodily and temporary satisfaction accompanied the pain of losing  them constantly. 

What does my spirit require?  I know that I am going to die in this life, but my spirit desires Permanent Satisfaction. It is only by acknowledging the Source of my Existence and the rest of the universe; He is the One who can satisfy my spirit.  For example, when I express Allahu-Akbar (Only God is great!) by putting my hands up in the air in the ritualistic prayers, I acknowledge that the Creator of the universe is beyond the capacity of the universe.  That is prayer, acknowledgement and declaration of my spiritual needs.  Unfortunately, we confuse prayers with the declaration of our needs for physical things.  For example, when you get sick, you pray for healing.  But if you do not follow the orderly creation and take the medicine, will you get healing?  No.  

We can conclude this section of the subject matter by stating that: “Verbal prayers of the believers must be performed with the consciousness that they are acknowledging that “matter” cannot satisfy their needs but their Creator is creating them in a way that they receive satisfaction. They express their belief and expect that the Creator will respond to them according to His wisdom, mercy and choice in the following moments of existence. 

In these series, we will get into a “comprehensive understanding of prayers”.  

When we perform the prescribed prayers, we should be aware of what we are doing, while standing, we utter “ihdina-s-sirat-al-mustaqeem” i.e. guide us to the straight path.  It means that we acknowledge You as the Source of existence of the universe, please guide us to the right path.  What does the right path entail?  It means asking for the spiritual right path i.e. acknowledgement: “Please show me the right path in order to understand that my existence is from You like everything else. For example, the car is a blessing for me, the roads are prepared as a blessing for me, I am very thankful to You for preparing the universe in this way and arranging people’s hearts in this way.”

The prayer of the disbelievers is in vain because they are praying to “matter,” and even if they ask for guidance for their feelings, they will get nothing for they believe that they live in a material being and have accepted that they will die and disappear from existence.  Can a materialist scientist claim that s/he will exist after death?  No.  They cannot show any reason by evidence because in a material sense, the essence of the universe is a transient being and they cannot change the order of the universe which they think happened to be as a result of random happenings.  Unfortunately, these materialist people live in matter and expect everything to be satisfied from matter, which satisfies only our bodily needs, excluding human consciousness.  

  • “Matter” cannot give existence to anything including my spiritual needs, which requires Infinite Permanent Satisfaction.
  1. I am a believer, when I pray, should I expect, the orderly creation will change if my prayer is accepted?

We cannot ask for an unconventional way of the order to be created, like asking for miracles.  Even the Prophets did not ask for any miracles so that people believe in Him, only Prophet Noah as known in scriptures, asked God to get rid of certain people causing disruption about the truth.  Miracles are created only at the will of the Creator when it is necessary, for innocent people only as they don’t know what the message is, hence they need some attractions, and God creates an unexpected miracle.  In the Quran, when people requested miracles from the Prophets, God does not create them because then people would ask for anything and start bargaining with God.  Otherwise, people will end up attributing Divine qualities to the Prophet themselves, rather than paying attention to the message the Prophets bring.  God did not change the way of His creation as a result of the Prophet’s prayers.

When we pray to pass an exam for example, we do not expect extraordinarily that we will get a good grade in the exam.  Rather, we must obey the order in creation, and it is up to God to arrange the universe in a way that creates results for us.  Regardless of our situation, we must do something.  However, we must be aware that we are praying to acknowledge Him.  We are not praying and making sure that we are not to miss a prayer for the expectation to score high on an exam.  Prayer is accepting that I am a needy being and you are the Creator of my need, and I acknowledge that.


 وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ٱدْعُونِىٓ أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ

40:60 Your Lord says: “Pray to Me and I will answer your (prayer.)

Doesn’t the message of this verse seem to collapse our understanding of what we just discussed in the earlier verse?  Yes, only if I understand prayer at a physical level.  At a spiritual level, we know that our existence is given to us by the One who creates the whole universe, and our spiritual needs require infinite permanent satisfactory existence, which only He can give it and, I acknowledge: “please give it to me in Paradise of the hereafter”.  You can ask for Paradise, which is the hereafter. We also can ask God to give what is best  for us. While praying to God we need to be careful not to fall into as if we are bargaining with Him, “I will pray and you have to give me what I asked from You” as if I am treating God like my servant: I will pay to my servant and s/he will have to do what I want. We need to know that the essence of prayer is nothing but acknowledgement of His being the Absolute Creator. Presenting in prayer what I need is also an expression of my being impotent to guarantee my future and neediness to the Creator’s Will to grant it to me. 

Essence of prayer can be summarized in these two items: 1- Acknowledgement of The Absolute Creatorship of God, 2- and acknowledgement of human impotence.

This verse prompts us to ask the following 3 questions:

  1. What is the purpose of prayer?
  2. Is the answer from God guaranteed? (We confuse answering with accepting.)
  3. But why when I pray sometimes, do I not receive any answer? (My prayer is not heard.)

But first, let us look into the following (taken from pg. 326 of the book called “TheWords” by Nursi.)

A comprehensive understanding of “Prayer”

What rises to the Divine Court from all the universe is “supplication.” 

This is either through (1) innate ability like the supplication of plants and animals, through which they seek existence from God, their Creator who created them with these needs.

Or it is through (2innate need. These are the supplications for all their essential needs – beyond their power to obtain – offered by animate beings. Through expressing themselves according to their capacity, the animate beings seek certain things from the Absolutely Generous One for the continuance of their lives, like a sort of sustenance.

Or it is supplication through (3) exigency [urgent existential needs], through which all beings with spirits who find themselves in some plight or predicament make supplication and seek refuge with God.

There are 3 stages of prayers:

  1. Innate ability: This is the ability given to beings where they want to keep their existence. If as a human being, you do not want to continue your life, you stop eating, breathing and commit suicide.  As a result, your prayer is answered/responded by giving you death.  Your body is created in such a way that it wants to keep its existence. That is why we keep eating and drinking etc.
  2. Innate need: When plants are thirsty, don’t they express it by looking poor and stressed. That is how they are created with this “innate need.” Similarly, when we are hungry, isn’t our stomach growling to look for food?  The way things are created demonstrates that they are in need of the Creator’s answering to their needs. When you see a plant about to die, you go and water it.  Similarly, rain comes to satisfy our innate need.  Our body is created in such a way that we are in need of sustenance and God supplies it.  That is how creation is realized or created.  When animals are hungry, they express it by making noise and through their needy appearance.

We are created to understand that in our existence, the need for the help of the Creator is innately ingrained in our existence, so we can know that we are created to pray to God in an existential way.  It is in our essence that we must pray.  This awareness will be a preparation for praying consciously or action wise doing something.  For example, you are thirsty and you are aware that there is a water fountain there.  You go there and get water.  Your existence is praying for water and God is answering/responding to it, but you must obey His way of creating by freely using your power of choice. Whether you believe in God or not, when you choose to eat, in fact, you are asking the Creator of the universe to create the next moment onwards and hoping from Him that you will be kept alive. Unless He decides otherwise, your life is granted for the next moment until the Creator decides not to grant you life in this universe anymore. Every moment of creation is arranged and created in a perfect way that nothing can have this quality to realize the existence of the universe in this perfection as it is.

What are essential needs?

Plants need water.  Can plants get water by themselves?  No. They are created in a way that their roots are under the Earth and grow towards wet soil.  How do they know?  Their innate need requires it to be such.  God creates the universe in such a way that everything is in need of something.  Who can provide their needs?  The One who creates the plants with this innate ability to grow towards wet soil and with their needs can provide their nourishment. That precision clearly demonstrates that every single unconscious particle is created with perfect universe wise correspondence with each other.    

Human beings are in need to express their needs physically and verbally.  What about our spiritual needs to God?  “Give me an eternal life in Paradise!  Give me a satisfaction in my heart that I am your creature, I trust You that You will keep Your promise for me!”  Human feelings are God’s promise in us!

Just as we came to this world with the need for nourishment, everything here is in need of something.  Who arranges food for us?  Do atoms have any consciousness in themselves to cater to human needs?  It must be the Creator of the universe who has put us in a position that we are always needy creatures. The reason is that we human beings will be aware that we need to be always in need of communication with our Creator through interacting with Him through actively presenting our needs to Him by using our free will to choose.

Just as the plants express their needs through their roots, leaves and the way they are created, the animal expresses their needs by making noise, and appearance. For example, there is a hadith where the Prophet (pbuh) went to visit one of his companions and encountered the companion’s camel.  The Prophet (pbuh) told his companion that his camel is complaining about him.  (This observation has nothing to do with the Prophet possessing some miracle of reading creatures).  It is an obvious human observation that when an animal or creature is created in dire need for nourishment, they express it with their appearance. The prayer of the camel is answered when you give the camel its water or leave it in the wilderness, that is where animals strive best.  Unfortunately, now we have domesticated animals that are in need of human support because they are kept under our shelter.

  1. Exigency (urgent existential needs): Whether people believe in God or not, when they are in dire need for something, some present their urgent need to the Creator of the universe, some  say if only they can get lucky or if by chance they can get it.  For they do not have an object of worship, because they cannot ask matter to do it for them. They are well aware that matter does not have any consciousness, will, knowledge etc. For example, they cannot say to water to quench their thirst. Rather they call it mother nature, chance or good luck.  These are all meaningless terms!  The human spirit yells: Is there something that hears me and responds to me? The universe says that I have a Creator, otherwise I cannot have these qualities by myself.  In exigency, everyone makes supplications to God.

Next week, we will study human existential supplication.






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