Recap: The people of the right are asking those people who are corrupt: What has brought you into hell-fire? It’s just a dialogue but a teaching for us that if we indulge into these acts, we will find ourselves in hell and the next creation will be an Eternal hell. The corrupt ones answer as follows:
74:43 “They say: We were not of those who prayed;
This is third year of Prophethood where there is no established form of prayers. That is, the ones who did not make effort to acknowledge their reality remained in hell. “Salah” (Arabic for prayer) means to support the message, the truth or to be pro truth or the message. But we need to have our reasoning why we should support the truth. This is a confession of the people of hell that we were not looking for the truth or paying attention to the message of the messenger. We have to search for the truth and if we come across a messenger who claims to receive the truth from the Creator, we have to take it seriously. Supporting means being open to the truth. The confession further goes on: We were looking for an excuse not to lose our previous way of life that we found our forefathers into or just going with the societal flow that is not looking for the truth.
- It is a dialogue for me i.e. if I do not look for the truth or follow it, then I will find myself living in a hell-like life.
74: 44 “And neither did we feed the needy;
Who is the needy? What is the need?
- Needy is all of creation.
- We are in need to connect our being to an Eternal Source.
Need has two aspects, physical need and human need. The important need is human need i.e. finding out the meaning of existence? If we conclude that I have a Creator and then try to find out how to connect my human qualities to it, only then can the human side will be satisfied. The other need such as the physical need can be felt by all of creation. To support physical need does not require you to be in acknowledgment of the Source of their existence.
This dialogue is a confession that human consciousness is aware of where it is in error. We have to bear in mind that if one is not given the capacity to know something, then s/he will not be responsible to know it. When we do something right, we know instinctively if something is right or wrong.
Human freewill is the main element in our humanity for our responsibility. We are not responsible for the existence of our consciousness. We are responsible to use our consciousness or not to use. Example: when we tell a lie, we know that we are telling a lie, hence misuse of freewill. When we decide not to follow our reality, we invent excuses to cover up to justify. When you are absolutely sure what you are saying is right, you do not get angry and attack the opponent because you are comfortable within your existence. Why do we get angry in a debate if the opposite side does not accept what we say? Because we are not comfortable within our existence.
- Human beings can recognize the truth if only they are free from any biased attitude.
- Consciousness knows the truth.
- If you condition yourself, you try to justify yourself.
We did not feed the people means that we did not do actions to get to know the Lord as recommended by the Prophets. Neither did we choose to look for opportunities to introduce the Lord of the universe to people, which is the most important element for the human beings to feel secure in their existence. The Prophets were advised not to oppress people or get upset if they are not accepting the message.
Question: Am I acting in the name of God or acting in my own name?
Quranic message is defensive not offensive. Just to defend yourself, not to force anything on anyone.
74: 45 “And we used to indulge in vain talk with the vain talkers;
vain talk= nothing in the name of God, meaningless discussion bringing no value to your existence, media talk, weather gossip…
- For the sake of socialization people get into vain talk = disease of this culture.
- Denier indulge in vain talk.
- In the present culture we don’t have fun in talking the truth. In fact, we should indulge in discovering the truth and satisfying our human soul, the real fun.
- Vain talk adds nothing to one’s humanity.
Anything that adds value to your humanity does not fall under vain talk. Example: Develop an understanding in the name of the Creator so that your work/school/family matters may become a form of your worship i.e. adds value to your humanity where you acknowledge the Source of your existence.
74: 46 “And we used to deny the Day of Judgment,
I am given something in order to pay something in return. Whatever I am given as a human being, if I do not realize that I have to pay back, then it would be too late. Why am I given these human qualities? How can I pay back?
By using our human qualities in order to get to know their Maker, this is the way to pay back, i.e. return them to their Real Owner.
- So I can acknowledge the Source of the qualities.
- Use your human qualities for the purpose that they are created for.
- “Bismillah”: use your human qualities to perform and do acts in Its name.
You pay back as much as you utilize your human qualities. If I learned 50% of engineering, I am 50% engineer. After getting a degree, I get how much I trained. That is, after we die, we get an Eternal life based on how much we have used our human qualities to get to know its Source of existence. In other words, how much we have become aware of the Lord’s qualities that much will be paid back to us.
74: 47 “Until the Certain End came upon us.”
When we realize that life has gone, then we could not go back to anything and change ourselves to do things differently. If you develop certain habits in life, you become addicted to them and it’s hard to go back without them. Death means Absolute submission to your creation i.e. I do not sustain myself. Death symbolizes the ultimate submission of human reality.