Section Al A’raf – Part 13

 Part 13

7:28 “Whenever they commit a shameful deed, they say, we found our forefathers doing it, and God has commanded us to do it.  Say, No! God never commands what is shameful.  How can you attribute to God what you do not know?”

Interpreting events as natural events, enjoying things as they are by not acknowledging the Source of existence are to be understood as “shameful deeds”.  People do not talk about the existential side of the universe in scientific subjects at school (Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics…).  Similarly, social sciences (Psychology and Philosophy) just deal with principles bound to this universe.  Therefore, we must be careful and question the secularist approach to any solution to human problems.  Also, these subjects do not take into consideration human beings as to be endowed with spirits from their Creator.  The spirit must be the criterion to understand human beings.  

7:29 “My Lord has commanded justice.  Set your faces in every place of worship (masjid) and call on Him, making your religion sincerely His.  As He originated you so you will return.”

It may seem to me that God has created me with these societal values, and I cannot reject the societal values, and go against the whole community and stick out as a quirky man in the society. But what this verse is suggesting to us is that we have to behave in such a way that the people will say that this man always does everything based on his purpose in existence and evaluates everything from His Creator’s perspective.  Rather than doing something which is against the law, this person says that it will be a resentful act towards the Creator, if I follow the society blindly.  People who believe in God have two options, whether God’s purpose of creation is the criterion or mixed up with secular values.  The danger part for me is to mix up societal values with my human nature.  Example: I do not drink alcohol or gamble by obeying religious principles.  How about treating an animal?  It is a sign for me to see the animal as a messenger from the Creator to communicate with.  The creation of the dog is made beautifully by its Creator, rather than only saying that its owner did a good job training the dog, forgetting the qualities in the creation of the dog.

Comment:  Human tendency is to stick to our habit, and we are inclined to go back to what we are used to feeling comfortable with.

We do not mean that we should disobey the order of the society when things do not sit well with our human nature.  It is important for us to notice that we are intellectual beings. Example: this dog is beautiful, and it behaves well.  I must take my own attitude saying that it is created perfectly by its Creator.  The One who created the dog, gave this dog the ability to learn nicely and accordingly its master wants the dog to be obedient to the human being.  Human beings enjoy having dogs as companionship.  We must appreciate the friendship, even dogs are used for impaired people as helpers.  Hence, we admire God’s creation.  If someone is open to listening to me, then I can share my opinions, otherwise, never try to cause conflict between your views and the value of the society.  However, when you are given the opportunity, you must share your stance on subjects.

We do not have to be a weird person in society.  As long as I do not disturb people in the society, I should follow my own values.  Intellectually and emotionally, we must have our own understanding of the world.  We must build up our own values, and nowadays, it is challenging to have your family and children listen to you.

Comment: As an individual, you have the responsibility to come up with your own conclusions, rather than imitating your forefathers.

That makes sense.  Whatever the Creator has established as principles for us, it is for our benefit.  However, let us establish the foundations first.  God has never created you with the ability to go against what is true, and appropriate according to the purpose of God’s creation.  All the tools that He has installed in your creation, never lets you breach your natural tendencies.  Also, the Creator never creates anything in the world which can be taken as evidence to deny the Absoluteness of its Creator.  These are fundamental matters that we must understand.  God never commands us to do what is not beneficial for us.  We cannot find anything in creation which does not point to its Creator’s perfect attributes (qualities of its Creator).  Similarly, human quality can never justify anything which denies the purpose of our creation, i.e., to acknowledge our Creator.  We cannot find any evidence and show that we are the product of nature.  People can interpret existence as they want but anyone with a sane mentality can understand that this idea/interpretation of denying the Creator does not make sense.

What does acting justly mean?

Justice should be understood as giving the right to every creature in the universe as it deserves to be.  Yes, we must respect other people’s rights, knowing that things are given to people by their Creator according to what they deserve.  How can we do justice in our existence?  Taking the dog example, if I attribute the actions and existence of the dog to natural events or something of the universe, then that is insulting the dog and its Creator.  Everyone is God’s creature. We cannot say that something is bad, rather the wrong idea is what you cannot approve because we cannot approve mistaken interpretations.  In other words, we should respect the person, but not respect his/her wrong deeds and ideas.

• We must be careful not to treat any part of creation without respecting their rights.
• We have no right to treat humanity unjustly, including myself.
• I cannot treat my feelings unjustly and I must use them in the way that they are created for.

The Quran describes that we will be questioned under the witnessing of our own body and the Messengership of the Prophets (who are sent to guide me as a Mercy from our Creator).  Their messages and the Quran will be a witness for you.  If we do not appreciate the message that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) brought to us under the witnessing of the universe, then we will fail.  We are not aware of what the Quran talks about!  We have not given just the message that we have received from the Prophets.  At least, we must be in the way of learning the message of the Quran.  Even the Prophet will say that you underestimated the Quran.

Example: if someone does not take care of their child justly, the child protective services take the children away from their parents.  Similarly, if we do not treat the message of God rightly, we will be in trouble.  The immediate addressee of the Quran are people who are aware of their human reality.

Where is the place of worship?

The whole universe, and when I find my reality, I prostrate for not having the ability to create one atom, before the One, who is not of the nature of the universe and only who can create.  Prostration means to put yourself to a zero level, I do not have any share for the creation of any event, only You have it.  Prostration is only possible before the qualities of the manifestation of God.  Example: A beautiful sunset makes manifest beautiful colors, and it is marvelous.  It also reminds us to get ready for winter.  Also, creation in every stage reminds us of our stages of life, childhood, adulthood, old age and grave (winter).  Every year we are reminded of the stages of our life.  We feel comfortable when we understand that the One who does this all is taking care of us, therefore we must see wisdom in the creation of what we like/dislike.  These are educational techniques, used to recognize our source of existence.  Example: you dislike something and look for the reason behind it.  “Call on Him” means to remember your Lord.

“Sincerely” means that we must refine and clean our belief, religion and way of life without letting it soiled and corrupted.  We must purify ourselves.  The way we treat everything, analyze things and we should not pollute ourselves.  We must try to follow what the Quran offers without polluting it with our egocentric tendencies or the culture that I inherited without questioning whether it is right or wrong.  You must work on it, get into the action of purifying it, that is “ikhlas”.  Can we make ourselves 100% pure?  Whoever aims at perfection is impossible because the CREATOR IS THE ONLY PERFECT BEING.  We must be on the way to perfection and do something in order to reach our destination.  When we are on the way to perfection, we do not know where we are.  Example: when you draw a line which represents infinite, you have no location on that line since it is continuous.  Hence the ideal point is to be in the direction of perfection.  Finally, we must be mindful of being on the right path. 

We are going back to our Creator, that is our purpose to go back, as long as we are not soiled.  Therefore, we must try not to corrupt our creation to the best of our ability, that is what returning to the Creator means.  That is why God is reminding us not to spoil His creation.  Nothing of this universe can claim any share in the creation of anything, only the One who creates the universe can claim it.