Satisfying Hearts – Part 6

As per the Scripture, in order to have a satisfied heart, we need to follow its teaching, i.e. we have to interact with the universe. That is how we can establish “belief” within ourselves.

• • Analogy: Your friend tells you about how skillful a tennis player is. You may trust your friend’s judgment but in order to have a satisfied heart for yourself, you have to go see the tennis player perform. Only then can you confirm how skillful the tennis player is.
• Similarly, the Quran claims to be the Word of the Creator of the universe. In order to believe the text, we have to go through our own observation in the universe and confirm the text within ourselves.
• The Creator says: “Trust Me, I am going to give you news which is not accessible to you”. This means that the news is coming from somewhere beyond i.e. ghaib (not of the nature of this universe).
• “Trust Me” means that we have to see its manifestations in this universe.
• Scripture doesn’t offer us anything which is contradictory for us to confirm.
• When we observe the universe, we have to look at it with ourselves included in it. Observe analyzeconclude.
• We are not independent from the universe; we are a constituent of the universe.
• Whoever made the universe is the Source of our existence as well. Therefore, our existence and the universe are given to us by our Creator.
• Even our senses of “like” or “dislike” are given to us by our Creator.
• No one can claim that they exist by themselves.

Scripture is a revelation from our Creator which needs to be confirmed. We always need to refer the text to the act of creation and gather our own evidence to reach a conclusion.

• We have to be consistent with reading the text.
• We search for the Creator in our existence in this universe by questioning the text which claims to be the Word of the Creator.
• When we investigate the content of the text we are not questioning God, rather we need to question the legitimacy of the text.
• Only through our investigation will we reach a conclusion about the existence of a Creator and thus acknowledge Him.
• Because the Creator is not of the nature of this universe, we can never be sure of that which He wants us to conclude.

When we read the text, we need to verify whether it is the Word of the Creator. The text claims that it can be verified under the witnessing of the universe. How can I verify that which the text claims?

• Analogy: A singer has a nice voice. In order to confirm the talents of the singer, we need to listen to his/her voice ourselves. We do not have to see the singer in person.
• Similarly, the One who gives existence to the universe keeps demonstrating His act to us and we need to confirm His existence and His qualities through His performance.
• What are we expected to do in this universe?

1. See His performance as it manifests in the universe.
2. Search for the Source of these manifestations within this universe.

• As a result of our investigation, we will come to the conclusion that:
• The Source which is performing in this universe must be the One who gives existence to this universe.
• The Source cannot be comprehended within the capacity of His Own work as being manifested in the universe. But the universe points to His existence and the existence of His Qualities.
• Therefore, the Source is Absolute i.e. not of the nature of this universe. “Absolute” means that the Source cannot be described within the vocabulary that we use in the universe. Example: We cannot describe His capacity of putting things in order with the concept that we develop in this universe, it is always beyond it.
• Absolute can only be one. By definition, when we say God, we say: “the Lord of the universe”. The One who creates the universe must be the One who creates everything from scratch.

Majority of the language in the Quran refers to “believing”. “Believing” is not “knowing”. When we hear something from the Quran, we have to confirm it through our observation.

• Example: The stories of the Prophets are not mentioned to teach us who the Prophets were in their respective times.
• On the contrary, the Prophets are mentioned to teach us who we are i.e. needy, powerless and dependent beings.
• We need to verify and confirm the message they brought to us through the scriptures.
• Without “personal verification”, all claims that we may carry remain baseless.
• Doubting enables us to question.
• In present times, we are suffering from not teaching the “message of the Creator” in a way that does not go beyond the capacity of the audience.
• Example: The Ascension of the Prophet (pbuh) needs to be understood within our own existence. We should not get lost in the physical ascension of the Prophet (pbuh) only.
• We need to apply the message of the “ascension” to ourselves i.e. ascension is the highest form of worship a person may undergo. If the Prophet (pbuh) did it, so can we within our capacity.
• In order to learn the Quranic message, we need to clean our mind from our ancestral understanding which has turned into an “ethnic culture” in the course of time.
• We need to find the real purpose of our existence in the universe.
• The Creator is the Lord of the universe. He organizes everything. We are subject to His order.
• The Creator is the Educator teaching us that which we do not know. Through the opportunities He presents to us, we are learning who our Lord is.
• If we are not comfortable with our existence here, we may just look to end our existence. This would contradict our human nature because we are here to use our existence to know who our Lord is:
• “As a created being, I am the one who is subject to His rule which is prevalent within the order of the universe, and I am here to acknowledge who the Creator is”.
• If you need something, how do you ask Him? You follow His rules in creation.
• Example: when you are hungry, you eat. When you follow the order in the universe, it teaches you how to communicate with Him. While you are hungry, you understand that you do not own yourself. If you were never hungry, you would never know who your Lord is.
• The Educator is training us to help us fulfill our purpose of existence here in this universe which is to know who our Lord is.

When we look at a particular object, we may “like/dislike” it. Our sense of “like” and “dislike” is given to us by the Creator. The point here is to explain the existence of this sense and to acknowledge that the sense of “like/dislike” is given by the Creator who must be teaching something.

• Example: Person A “mistakenly” kills M and Person B “voluntarily” saves N. In this example, action is not important but how do you explain both actions is important.
• Person A says: The One who created me gave me the sense of forgetting and not noticing M.
• Person B says: I am helping N because I am a generous person.
• Who is guilty here? Person B because he is not fulfilling the purpose of his existence i.e. realizing that the sense of being generous is given to Him by His Lord.
• While helping other people, the point is to acknowledge God’s grace to you. Otherwise, we may end up appropriating God’s wealth to ourselves.
• Example: While praying, you forgot how many units you prayed. Does that matter? No because your purpose was to acknowledge the Creator and express your position before Him.
• When we are praying, we present our case to the Creator i.e. I am a created being and you are the Creator.
• The “consciousness” of the “reality” of the action matters i.e. being aware of the “conscious agent” behind any act is important.
• Everything exists in order to teach us who the Creator is.
• Example: Some people may claim that there are a millions of “stars” in the universe while others may claim that there are less than a million.
• The “stars” exist in order to teach us who the Creator of the “star” is.
• Who gave them the existence? The point is to know that the “stars” are given existence by the Lord of the universe.
• Knowledge of the universe itself is not important, what the universe refers to is important.
• Text is the speech of the One who creates this universe. There should be no contradiction between the text and the universe.
• The act of the Creator of this universe must be confirmable with His speech and vice versa.
• If something contradicts your nature, it cannot be the word of the Creator.
• You have to verify the text within yourself; that is belief/imaan.