“We are subtle miracles gliding the face of the skies
For the angels to make excursion on;”
- Miracles of the Absolute Creator speak to us telling they cannot exist unless someone caused them to exist and this someone is not of the nature of this universe. Every created being is a miracle.
- When we look at anything in creation, it reminds us that we are here in this universe to be entertained by an Honorable Host.
- Stars should make us feel at home.
- If we do not pay attention to our existence, we will not feel the entertainment.
- Problematic approach: Why would an Absolute being entertain me?
- Problem arises when we interpret the things from God’s perspective.
- My reality: I am created and I am given existence. I am being entertained by the Absolute Creator. Nothing in this universe can be the Creator.
- It is not the Quranic approach to ask “why” questions, we have to reason the answers to “how” questions.
- We ought to come out of this mentality: Science answers the how questions and religion answers the why questions.
- How can I explain my existence here?
- We have to go through a Paradigm Shift.
- Religion is sent to me to make sense of my own existence and my own reality so I will understand why I am created.
- Religion is a guide, not an authority instructing you to do something.
- Example: If a verse says to look at the constellations as it is deliberately decorated for you. This verse is speaking to you and it is your choice to look and reflect on the constellation. You will then conclude that this act of creation is deliberately done by someone who is Absolute.
- We are here to acknowledge the Owner of the universe along with the decors He has set up to entertain us. This is how we feel it.
- When we study this world, we are given the ability to question about it.
- I am given the consciousness to be aware of my existence.
- I am given consciousness to be aware of the existence of the rest of the world.
- I am given consciousness to question how and why we exist.
- My self-consciousness is my reality which prompts me to question any matter from my own perspective not from God’s perspective.
- How are the things ordered in a certain way?
- The attempt to understand the meaning behind what happened is related to me.
- Read the Quran and the universe as it relates to you.
- Disease: We read scriptures from speaker’s perspective which turns religion into mythology.
- Asking questions from God’s perspective is invalid because it is impossible for me to comprehend the view from His perspective. I have to bear in mind that He is speaking to me at my level and I should try to make sense of the message from my perspective. God is my Creator and the Creator of everything is expected to know my capacity and speak to me accordingly.
- Religion is my own conclusion of what the Speaker tells me.
- Example: God says that you have to declare Him as the Great One!
- In order to verify His speech, I have to come to my own conclusion. This conclusion must resonate with what HE says in the scripture.
- God asks me to pay attention to my environment and notice that everything is in fact glorifying Him. God asks me to glorify Him after I notice that they are glorifying Him. As a result of my conclusion, I then glorify Him.
- Our conclusion must come after receiving the guidance.
- We have to make the Quran into our religion after He had told us what is in the Universe and we experienced it.
- Similarly, we have to make the Quran into our religion after experiencing the Universe and confirming what He has told us.
- There is a big difference between confirmation and imitation.
- Analogy: A guide tells you that there are two stairways on a particular floor. You may either check it or just take the words of the guide.
- Similarly, if you just confirm the verses without experiencing the universe, then you are imitating religion.
- On the contrary, if you actually gather evidences from your experience of observing the universe, then that will lead to confirmation.
- Imaan/Belief means to feel secure in your own conclusion.
- There are more than a trillion act of Creation in the universe every moment.
- Ghaib needs to be confirmed as a logical conclusion. Your human qualities must be satisfied with this conclusion.
- I need to extract the meaning out of ghaib. For example: Love, beauty and hatred is an emotional side of existence which is ghaib.
- Confirming ghaib means that you are sure of a Creator’s existence even if you have not met Him.
- We are “not” confirming the essence of God: As if God is somewhere out there.
- We Are Confirming the Necessary Existence of God: THERE MUST AN ABSOLUTE CREATOR!
- In reality, everything is our conviction.
- We can even come to a conclusion by observing a table. There are an infinite number of cells employed in the existence of the wood of a table. Each of them has many qualities pointing to the existence of its conscious maker.
- We can be sure of the existence of ghaib with more certainty than the existence of the physical world. The more we go into the particles of the matter the more we lose its physical existence. But we are always sure that every quality of the matter points to the quality of its creator.
- How can we make sure that what we have concluded is right or wrong?
- To make sure of the truthfulness of our conclusion, we need to check it with our human qualities.
- Analogy: If you are driving a car, the car is nothing in decision making, it has no choice.
- Similarly, the physical body is like a car and the driver is “me” inside the car. The driver matters. The body helps to take the driver where he wants to go.
- I am made with a need of a guide to teach me how to get the answers to my questions, or, rather, how to use my humanity to investigate the right answers.
- The One who made me must send to me a handbook to teach me how to use myself. I have to hear and confirm it by using the qualities within me.
- Example: When you learn a subject, there is a teacher and a textbook to guide you. When the teacher teaches you something, you discover what is within you. If you do not hear the teacher, you would not know what to explore or how to investigate the answer to you inquiries.
- I have to seek education so that I can get guidance which will be appropriate to my human qualities.
- Religion is confirmation of the guidance you receive by using your human qualities.
- Some people reject religion because they think they cannot imitate it.
- In and of itself, religion has nothing to do with imitation.
- Religion is a way of life which is your own confirmation of your reality.
- You should do rituals as a result of your conviction.
- Get yourself known to your Lord through acknowledgment. By experiencing creation through your own human qualities endowed in you, you will come to know who your Lord is.
- Example: You are kind to your neighbors. While you are practicing this, the ultimate purpose of this practice is not to be kind to neighbors but to understand that your Creator is kind to its creation. By being kind to your neighbor, you are recognizing who your Lord is.
- “God loves His creation” will change from rhetoric into confirmation.
- Through practicing religion, you will feel secure in your existence because you know that: You are not alone in this universe; you have your Lord with you.
- HE is giving me existence right now, I am not alone!
- If I can fully acknowledge that I have a Lord, I belong to Him and He has decorated the world for me, then it becomes inevitable to confidently say: I fulfill my purpose of existence!
- We have to follow His plan rather than our plan. How can I confirm the reality that I have to follow His plan?
- Our expectations need confirmation.
- I have to focus on my existence: I am here to know who my Lord [Maker] is. While I am experiencing anything which contradicts my expectations, it is the way I get to know who the Lord is.
- The ultimate realization of your reality is the creation of “death”.
- Purpose of existence of death= I do not control my life. I am 100% dependent on Him. Through this, we ask the question: who controls my life?
- If I fully understand that I cannot guarantee my existence and l belong to Him, then this realization is the purpose of my existence.
- Everything in me depends on its Creator. If I feel confident in my existence, I will feel confident in the One who gave me existence.
- I ought to build confidence in my existence.
- No one can achieve a 24/7 state of awareness but we have to aim at reaching that ideal state.
- Can you still confirm your reality without a guide?
- Given: The universe exists as it is; I exist as I am. I have the ability to question my existence and I cannot find the answers to my existential questions within the conditions of the universe itself. As I question my existence I know that it extends to the existence of the universe. The universe itself needs to be explained what it is; it cannot be the source of the answer to my existential questions.
- Fact: The reality is out there because I have my questions. It is inevitable to receive guidance from my Maker, Who is the One who endowed me with the ability to ask these questions. Since I can understand the speech, I must expect an answer in the form a speech from my Maker.
Claim #1: If He does not provide the answers to my existential questions, then the universe must be a meaningless thing to happen.
Claim #2: My assumption that: here I am in this universe and I can find the answers to my existential questions on my own.
- We cannot build arguments based on unrealistic claims.
You have to ask yourself: Why would He make me with the ability to ask all of these questions if there is no answer to them?
- I have to be definite with the fact that whoever made me and this universe, must answer my questions because I exist within the context of this universe.
- First question: What is the meaning of my existence?
- If someone does not start from questioning his own existence, he cannot build up his belief system/religion. Everything will fall into imitation and become cultural.
- Speech of God in the form of Quran, Torah or Bible may be answers to human questions as they claim to be from the Creator of the universe; we have to check them with the universe.
- Analogy: Most test preparation books have an answer key at the end. We do not go on and memorize the answer keys without actually doing the exercises.
- Similarly, the speech of God is the answer key to our human questions. Without doing the exercises, it is pointless to read the Quran, the Bible or the Torah. If I do not have questions, then these scriptures do not speak to me.
- WAKE UP: We have to redefine religion!
- The Prophet (pbuh) received revelation because he had existential questions.
- The Prophet (pbuh) did not go to the cave (Ghar-e- Hiraa) looking for solutions to the atrocities in Mecca as interpreted in most Seerah books.
- If you are disturbed with the injustices going on in the society, you are supposed to be actively involved in it. You cannot solve any social problems in the cave.
- Prophet (pbuh) went to the cave to get answers to his existential questions.
- If someone does not have existential questions, Quran does not speak to that person.
- If you have a social question, you have to be active in the society. If you have an internal question, you have to be isolated from the society.
- You need some time alone to get answers to your existential questions.
- Solution is: Read/Iqraa! In order to get answers to your questions.
- Who brought me here in this universe? The One who is the most Charitable One.
- Without questions, you may turn the speech of God into a secular humanitarian book.
- No secular book says: do not help others. What’s the difference between the Quran and these books then?
- Throughout history, a revolution is carried mostly for the welfare of society or humanity. Instead, any act I do should be to get the answers to my questions and confirm the meaning of my existence in this world. Example: I will feed the hungry to know how Generous my Lord is.
- Questions are asked to reach the Source of Existence: God.
- We ought to check the validity of everything we hear from religion.
- Doubt is “sacred”.
- The Prophet (pbuh) was not sure that it was God’s speech revealed to him in the cave. He was doubtful.
- These doubtful periods have been created by a conscious being for a purpose: to make sure that what is happening is my reality, not imagination.
- Without doubt, there is no search for the truth.
- We are created with the nature to ask, doubt, search…
- You doubt: can it be the source of existence of this universe, which is God?
- Answer: no, this cannot be God. “Lailaha” is the answer to your doubtful question.
- My secure feeling: I am sure and confirm it. “La ilaha illallah” is the answer key.
- Without practicing your abilities, you cannot confirm your reality.
- I have to come to a conclusion before expressing my gratefulness of the Creator.