Recap: A’raf comes from the letters, ‘A-R-F. It has various meanings, for example, “’urf” is one’s acknowledging something from within, not as information. Therefore, we chose to translate a’raf (the plural of ’urf) to be cognizant and aware of from within. This is the longest section of the Meccan revelation; we must be patient with studying it. We will go through an interesting journey, and it will seem to be talking about various subjects, as if the paragraphs and verses are building upon each other in relation to what we are as human beings, what our responsibilities are, what is the reality of creation, and how are we going to communicate with our Creator. We must bear in mind and get ready for it.
7:3 “Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord; do not follow other masters besides Him, How little do you remember!”
Remembrance or Zikr has various grades of meaning, remembering, mentioning, and reflecting. We must get all the meanings together, it is one of the principles of the commenting on the Quran, i.e., if the grammatical side of the language of the Quran allows to have any meaning, then this meaning is meant to be understood in an all-comprehensive manner. Example: the word “zakkara”, can be translated as mentioned, reflect, remember the truth/reality. It depends on what one’s interest area is. Is it arbitrary? No. As long as the meaning you have chosen does not contradict the context of the paragraphs, immediate verses, prior verses, and subsequent verses, i.e. the context. Also, it should not contradict the purpose of the Quran, what the Quran is teaching us. We must be careful not to interpret any word, (even if the meaning is included in it) which contradicts the purpose of the teachings of the Quran. Otherwise, you harm yourself because you mislead yourself. People are free to do anything, they can deny, confirm, twist the meaning, but the responsibility remains on them. Why shouldn’t we interpret any verse and phrases used in the Quran in contradiction to the purposes of the Quran?
- Because you cannot interpret any text against the intention of the whole purpose of the book (where the author intended to write something). Example: you cannot read a Biology book and interpret the sentences according to Physics. If you do it, it would be a wrong attitude and understanding, you will mislead yourself. Another principle we must be careful about is to understand the “verbs” in the Quran, which has different meanings in various contexts. Example: anzalla in this verse is used for Revelation, “the Quran”, but it is also used for rain coming down, angels coming down, Mercy of God coming down. Whatever is sent down to you or revealed to you, follow it. That is what the verse says at the first stage. We must question, what is sent down here? Revelation? Yes. Angelic side of creation? Yes. Acts of the creation? Yes, because the universe is called “tanazzulati ilahiya” or God descending to the level of human beings and revealing Himself through His actions which are limited because human beings cannot comprehend the Absolute, It is Limitless. Also, the creation of the universe is “nuzul”, revelation and Mercy of God is coming down. What does it mean? The names of God are Absolute, but they come down in a limited form which is the universe, created and transient form. We must understand all the Names manifesting on a thing at the same time to appreciate the qualities of its Creator.
The book, which is mentioned in the verse, refers to two things in the Quran. The Revelation, which is called, the Quran and the kitab, which is what we find in a written form, which you can read, interpret, and understand. The universe is comprehensible. The universe is from the Creator manifested in a created form, but the Quran is the Speech of God with no causal veil, i.e., nothing can be seen as the Cause of it within the universe, because the Speech of God is not in a created form. Whereas the Revelation of the creation in the form of a kitab is presented to us in the form of a causal relationship. That is why we say that the universe in its created form, because I am seeing it. Whereas the Quran as the Speech of God is not in its created form. What is the significance of it? The scholars greatly emphasized this matter. At the end, they concluded that the Speech of God cannot be created, it is coming from the manifestation of the infinite Knowledge of God and addresses all human beings at every time in their every moment. Hence, the Quran must be Absolute. The “mushaf” (the written form), on the other hand, is limited, and my understanding of the Speech of God is limited within my capacity. We should not confuse that. When I hear the Speech of God through the mouth of any creatures, it is limited as well, because the voice and written form is limited. When I write it, and say it, it is limited within the letters. . When I understand something from it, my understanding is limited and created. However, the knowledge of God in His Speech, which is called “the Quran” is infinite.
Again, why did the Muslim scholars spend great time and energy on this? First, when you start dealing with any subject which is alien to you, you must speculate, gather information, analyze it, argue from one aspect, another group interacting with each other, and opposing each other…At the end, the matter becomes clear, it takes a few centuries, it is not an easy subject.
The Islamic Theology is called “kalam”, which means “Speech”. Why? Because all these discussions started from how do we define the Quran in its entirety, not necessarily in its essence (which is impossible to define the essence of anything). Second, the Christian Theology, as being widely spread in the world, sees Jesus (peace be upon him) as the word and speech of God. If one were to think about this matter, one can conclude that the body of Jesus is the “mushaf” or spoken form of the Speech of God, but the message that Jesus received from the Creator is the Speech of God, Absolute Creator. Christianity does not want to make this distinction because their emergence is about Christianity, not Jesus as the Prophet. (Again, people are free to interpret however they like). Prophet Jesus’s religion is not Christianity, which is a form of interpretation of how people understood the teachings of Jesus. The title “Christianity” was given after certain centuries. The original message of the Prophet Jesus was “religion of God” as “Prophet of God” or God’s Messenger. Prophet Jesus spoke to the people, and soon after they turned it to Pauline Christianity, a certain way of understanding of the Bible, because they did not want to identify themselves with the Children of Israel’s religion (Judaism). They rebelled because they knew that as soon as they accepted that Jesus is a Prophet of God, it meant that Jesus would be considered one of the Prophets of Israel. That thought also would be a reduction of Jesus being a Prophet of the Judaic tradition. Of course, the Quran owns all of them, because they are the Prophets employed by the same God. They are all coming from Prophet Abraham, Ismael, Isaac… That is why these people were very alarmed with how to define the Speech of God or Revelation. (Also, Prophet Jesus criticized the Jewish Rabbis for this because the Rabbis interpreted the Torah in terms of the benefits of a certain race called the Children of Israel and made it belonging to a certain race as if no one can join them. They accept conversion with gentiles but do not propagate Judaism, which can be reflected in their social, economic, and political life. No one can take Judaism as their point of reference because they do not have any intention to propagate Judaism as the religion of Moses. They only struggle to impose the superiority of the race of the Children of Israel, a type of racial zealousness. We must be careful not to fall into the same mistake of nationalism, and racism. One should spread the religion, not the people of the religion. Whoever believes in one unique God is a believer.
Example: the Quran encourages to give charity/zakat to any needy person, not Muslims alone. The Quran also emphasizes to not waste. What does waste mean? We should not waste our human capacity (mind, intellect, feelings) which is the most important property that we have as referred to in the Quran. Also, not to throw food and buy unnecessary items, or wasting body energy.
What is revealed to us is revelation, the universe, the order of the universe, the Mercy of God coming and serving us. We cannot say that we are servants, rather we are being served. We just consume whatever is served to us in creation, and we must use our human qualities to
the Source of existence of all the things that we consume. Who is providing all these properties (brain, feelings…) for us to use? We must take lessons from the way the universe is created, the order of the universe, from our feelings, without corrupting and diverting them. Be free, how can I not divert my feelings? How can I not corrupt creation? How can I not corrupt the revelation? TO PRACTICE IS DIFFICULT, BUT TO UNDERSTAND IS EASY. How does the Quran describe the Torah? It is corrupted, because rather than accepting the revelation of God in its universality (the universal message), just making it a unique tradition for a certain population, rather than all humanity, thus turning it into a story of a certain race. It is a revelation from God which must be universalized. Example: the Quran is revealed to the Prophet who was living with the Arab race. Does the Quran declare that the Arab race is sacred or superior? No. The Quran says that you were the worst people, that is why we revealed it to you, because you needed to be guided. Hence, you cannot be proud of it, rather you must be ashamed of it if you are attaching importance to race. The Arabian Peninsula was the least civilized community, Bedouins with no civilization. At that time, Asia was the center of Science and Industrialization. The Arabs were importing goods from Asia through Syria. The Romans and Jews had some sort of civilization. Therefore, the Quran was revealed to the very bottom level people and elevated them to the highest of the high if they followed the Quran.
The Creator of the universe serves you in order to make you feel comfortable in this world, so you enjoy it, by sending you revelation, so that you will have a peaceful and tranquil feeling as a human being. That is why “Lord” means someone who is taking care of you, rather than a boss who commands you and waits for your service. What service must the Creator of the universe need from us while He is serving us? Of course, acknowledgement of the Source of your existence, the Creator of the universe is not service. Through acknowledging the One who is serving you, you will feel great within your human capacity. If someone helps you immensely, and if you are grateful, thankful, and kind to Him, humble before Him because of His Generosity and kind treatment to you, you can comfortably say that at least I can say thank you. How can I pay back all the grace that I have received from the Creator?
When we recognize that we are given bounties, then we feel the need to acknowledge this appreciation. Therefore, the source of existence of these feelings employs messengers for us to teach us how to practice this sense of gratefulness to our Lord.
Who is my Lord? Is it the tree that bears fruit or is it the Creator of the tree and the fruit? What takes care of us here? Everything is employed for us at our service, and I wonder who my real caretaker (wali) is. Just as the parents are the wali/caretaker of their children, similarly this quality points to an Absolute One who is our wali. We do not serve our parents, rather, they serve us. When they become needy, then it is our turn to serve them. But the Creator is Absolute. We can never think of the Creator as getting old and being tired. So we do not serve our Creator, we need to acknowledge Him and worship Him, meaning appreciate His service to us and follow the way He shows us. The messengers are sent to people to let them know how to connect with the Source of their existence.
We all experience the need for eternal love and happiness here, however, we may shun it away with addictions such as work, alcohol, gambling… Even when we sleep comfortably, the need for an Eternal One to give us eternal comfort is there. The Speech of God lets us know about this reality which resonates with us and then advises us to follow the exemplary life of the Prophets to keep the consciousness of our Creator while dealing with our daily chores.
When we do something wrong, we feel the consequence of it within ourselves. The sense of punishment is felt there, definitely there must be an eternal justice about any wrongdoings if it is not applied here. Some say that the disbelievers are enjoying their lives. Everything is based on one’s worldview, if you think that your life consists of this universe only, then death is eternal annihilation. However, can one’s conscience really accept this? Think about it: if you didn’t have any Source of Existence to rely on, can you right now feel secure in your existence? Your conscience will rebel against this! How do you explain the existence of the conscience? Can you kill your conscience? No.
Some may claim that the Speech of God addresses a certain low-level community, and it does not apply to me, or it cannot have anything to do with me. However, the Speech of God speaks to everyone at every time. There are certain traditions like the Israelites who claim that the Children of Israel are chosen people. They can be chosen to reveal the message necessary for them at that time, but one cannot reduce the message of God to a limited time and period.
What is remembrance of God (zikr)? We should be reading and deeply reflecting at every moment. “Lord” means the One who takes care of you, serves, and provides everything that you need for you. Hence, we must acknowledge It and we must not follow any other “Lord” or “Master”. Another type of master in Islamic theology is “awliya”, i.e., a close friend (singular form is “wali”). Example: the parents are the wali of their children while serving them. The verse is drawing our attention towards not taking any false wali thinking that it is serving me, helping me, or the tree is providing me with the fruits. Is the tree taking care of you and is being generous to you as a conscious being preferring to provide you with benefits? No! As if the Creator is telling me in the way that He creates that “I am your Source of Existence; your Lord and Master and I am giving the fruits and the tree to you! Don’t make the mistake of saying that the tree does it, otherwise I will say that this person does not deserve any generosity anymore, and I don’t want to deprive you of the bounties.” Example: If a person is very kind to you and helps you, you appreciate it and say thank you. I am given this feeling of being grateful to the source of kindness. Now, if I am ungrateful to that person, I feel ashamed if I don’t say thank you. Now, if I don’t say thank you to that person and s/he helps me several times, then after a while, the person will say that this man is ungrateful and does not acknowledge my generosity. I gave him the most expensive car, for example, and he damaged it a few times, then I replaced it with a new one, but s/he insists on saying that I found the car in my parking lot. DO NOT EVER DO THAT!!! What type of lie is this?! More so, what type of human being are you!? No one likes this type of behavior. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THAT ONLY THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE CAN BE THE SOURCE OF ALL THE BENEFICIAL THINGS THAT YOU ARE RECEIVING, YOUR EXISTENCE, YOUR LIFE, YOUR HUMAN QUALITIES, ALL THE THINGS THAT YOUR BODY NEEDS, ALL THE THINGS THAT YOUR INTELLIGENCE NEEDS, ALL THE THINGS THAT YOUR FEELINGS NEED, THEY ARE ALL PROVIDED FOR YOU IN THE FORM OF PHYSICAL EXISTENCE AND THEY ARE EXPLAINED IN HIS SPEECH. LOOK INTO ALL THE FAVORS THAT I AM DOING FOR YOU AND DON’T BE UNGRATEFUL!! This is very understandable, don’t take any other route as your wali who/what takes care of your needs, everything is provided for you and taken care of for you. Can you show that the tree can be the source of the existence of its fruits? Can the cow be the source of the existence of the milk it produces? Use your BRAIN and Intellect!! Otherwise, you will not be reflecting on what is going on in this world, within the universe and outside the universe.
We are trying to understand the Quran with all its possible meanings as related to my life right now. This should always be kept in our mind. Our interest area is, how can I benefit from the message of the Quran as related to my practical life right now?
7:4 “And how many cities have We destroyed, and Our punishment came to them at night or while they were resting at noon.”
The way we understand “punishment” in our terms is such that when someone does something wrong, the judge (or the order of the society) punishes him/her. Similarly, when I am not happy with a situation, I may take revenge by harming the person. Does God do the same with us? Although punishment is conventionally understood to be taking place in the hereafter, it is also experienced right now, as some Islamic scholars interpreted by bringing up the examples of the towns/cities destroyed as mentioned in the Quran. These scholars made an interesting point which is directly related to me and that which I experience right now, the punishment within my human feelings. Any denial, an ungratefulness, is automatically treated with the punishment within myself, unhappiness, being not satisfied with my life and not satisfied with my expectations. Here, all my hopes, expectations and wishes are all destroyed as a result of denying the Source of Existence and reducing the universe to unconscious matter only. Be brave right now and think of yourself as a non-believer in God, just imagine if you attribute yourself to nature itself, how would you feel? Be realistic! Can you say that my life is accidental and that I am nothing, just another form of matter, happened to be alive? I happen to be self-conscious, and this consciousness disturbs me, why does it disturb me? I should just shut it up and not think about the future, however the consciousness is still there poking into your conscience within yourself, hey you will lose everything any time soon. Whatever you gain, as soon as you get it, you will lose it. What is the point in living then? But I am winning bread or taking care of my family. Yes, you must enjoy but since you are a lump of matter in a different form, at the end, whatever you benefit from, it is gone. And at the end of the tunnel, you will see your whole being gone into non-existence. This always lingers with our consciousness, never leaving us alone. We can try to keep ourselves busy with work, life, drugs, entertainment, shopping…, and doing things for the purpose of satisfying my bodily needs, but your spirit is still there, always reminding you and shaking you about your reality.
THESE FEELINGS AUTOMTICALLY COME AT AN UNEXPECTED TIME. AS SOON AS SOMETHING HAPPENS UNEXPECTEDLY, WE GET ALARMED.
Whatever we have, it is gone. Everything is in “yesterday”. Whatever you get comes to you with the reminder that I am perishable, and I will go away into the past. You can never revert the past and get it back. You can only take a picture of it and like a child cheat yourself with the picture or video, which is not real. Example: as soon as you chew on something, you get its delicious taste, you like it, enjoy it, you smile, and the taste is gone. It was a message, which you did not get, and it is gone. Another bite, and it is gone again. Example: While eating a delicious pear, I say I love this, it is delicious, bite it and it is gone. I love the pear, where is it? Gone. I will get another one, and another one, and then end up putting on weight. We have lots of hopes and expectations within ourselves through experiences, which becomes unbearable. Only by cheating ourselves through temporary satisfaction, we try to avoid the need for Eternal Pleasure, otherwise it is always with us, and in unexpected times, it pops, even while we are resting in the best of our time, noon. That is why we must understand the punishment of the Creator not as an external punishment, rather within ourselves. Example: For a non-believer, death is eternal punishment, for a believer, death is an eternal existence, happiness. What a diametric difference? One is short lived pleasure while the other is eternal pleasure. Ask your feelings which one are your feelings craving for?
If people don’t acknowledge the message of God by all the means and are trying to chase away the messengers or the Prophets, or the meaning of creation, reducing the creation to meaningless matter, activities of matter by themselves with no way to explain how they act, then they will suffer the consequence of this choice eternally. If you investigate the act of creation, ask yourself, what is the source of existence of this action, then you are in line with your human disposition? There is no way to explain the source of existence within the universe. That is why we must conclude that whoever has given existence to this wonderful universe and activities within the universe, He must be the one who is the source of existence.
7:5 “And their declaration when Our punishment came to them was only that they said, “Indeed, we were wrongdoers!”
In the hereafter, it must be so, however, how can I understand this news of the Quran as pertaining to me now so that I can confirm the news of the Qur’an that it must happen in the next creation? believers acknowledge that we are wrongdoers. The unbelievers don’t acknowledge that they are wrongdoers, on the contrary, they say that the believers are just cheating themselves, we are realistic because we are basing our claims on the facts of this world. The reason is that the unbelievers speak of matter only and attribute everything to matter only. That is their understanding of the fact, the reality, and the truth. Any human being who uses his mind understands that matter itself needs to be given existence, so no one can say that matter can be the source of existence of itself and exists by itself eternally. The matter is continuously changing according to certain rules and this change is taking place according to certain rules. The matter cannot be the source of the rule which it obeys! I create the rule and I will obey it, what does it mean? I am the Creator of the rule, so I shall make it my slave, rather than obeying the rules or principles of creation that I make and then becoming its slave. The way we are created says that when I don’t acknowledge the reality of my own existence, I clearly understand that I am not getting satisfaction at all. Although I may claim to be happy within the definition that I made for my being, my existence momentarily and then disappears. Example: I am an animal, and I consist of only body and my feelings are also coming from the results of my body actions, and the brain, hence my brain is controlling me. If I say that I am controlled by my brain (I think about this, I do this, reflect on this), then I find myself in a dilemma: Am I a robot and my brain is controlling me? How? The brain exists and something is controlling it, which is “I am controlling it”. I have a free will and I direct my brain to think in this way or the other. Do I really have the power to control my feelings and emotions? These are fundamental understandings that need to be cleared up. When we choose to take the attitude that I consist of matter only, then I see everything in my life as meaningless, pointless, and purposeless. Although I want meaning, if I attribute the creation to unconscious matter, then everything that I do becomes meaningless. Similarly, when it comes to my existence, I have to say that I have no meaning then. This contradiction burns within oneself, and I may choose to not pay attention to it, enjoy my life right now, don’t think about it. I have money, I can buy vacations for tomorrow, and I try to convince myself about short pleasure, however this feeling always discomforts me if I choose to listen to it. Consciousness cannot be killed, although I may get drunk in several ways by losing myself temporarily (with vacations, food, casinos, any kind of consumption…), no one can cover up this reality permanently, you cannot do that.
Comment: It seems punishment comes during the period of rest, when one cannot distract themselves from busyness.
When we try to feel comfortable, then it really hurts if we do not accept that we are created by a Conscious Being. The message of the Quran resonates within us. When we read the Quran, we must reflect on how to make it relevant to us right now. This approach never excludes the traditionally and generally known understanding of religion. Example: the unbelieving tribes were destroyed. We have no evidence to disprove this, however, here, and now we see so many groups making remarks about denying religion, and we don’t see them being destroyed. However, the message has to do with us now, and so we can relate this to our human feelings (i.e. when one disbelieves and does not pay attention to their reality, then they feel in turmoil…) At the same time, we cannot exclude that in the next creation the punishment will never come. We must confirm that, in the next creation, as I deserve to be punished, it is the consequence of my own attitude. It must be so, and we wonder how can I confirm this because I have not lived in the hereafter and came back? How can I confirm this news? I must inevitably have evidence for this, which must be experienced and observable now, so I can say yes. Therefore, the promise of the Creator says if you believe then Paradise is for you, and if you disbelieve, then Hell is waiting for you. After experiencing the signs of this news we can easily conclude that it must be so. Just as a student who does not study fails, because he did not study and do his job, hence he will remain ignorant because he did not perform his duty. That is understandable as I am experiencing it here. Without experiencing it here (not attending the class and not learning), one remains as ignorant as s/he was. That is what we experience. If I don’t submit my existence and admit that the All-Generous One’s blessings (a Conscious Agent) is what I have received in this world, then I am not being thankful for His service, I am not being a worshiper and acknowledging Him. We are just benefitting from the service that He is providing for us. All the things are provided by Him and so we declare our gratitude to Him. I say: “O my Lord who is providing everything I need for me, how would I declare my gratitude to you?” He says: “I will send to you exemplary teachers who are My messengers, and I will give them instructions and you will receive it, because you cannot communicate with me directly, I am the Absolute One and you are the created One. I will give the instructions to a certain person who will deliver it to you and be an example through his own life, so follow My message that he conveys to you and follow his exemplary life (sunnah of the Prophets). Hadith is different from sunnah, it needs to be interpreted by the expertise of the scholar. As a result, we receive the tradition of the Prophetic life as the application of God’s will, how can I present my worshipful attitude responding back to Him as a response to His service to me as my Lord, Owner and Helper. I receive every benefit from Him with one condition to acknowledge him and respond back to Him with gratefulness. That is the gist of our duty in this world.