Section Al-Furqan – Part 11

We will continue to study Section Al-Furqan of the Qur’an.  We last studied verses describing the situation of believers and deniers at Resurrection. The verses were asking us to reflect whether we wanted temporary pleasures or an Eternal pleasure which is Paradise. We are to benefit from these verses while living in this world before it is too late when we are given death. We discussed that I must use my spirit and feelings to recognize the Promise of my Creator to be fulfilled. The feelings of joy and happiness within me upon doing something good should be taken as the promise that my Creator will definitely fulfill His Promise in the Hereafter.

Let’s proceed further and investigate the following verse:

وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ فَيَقُولُ ءَأَنتُمْ أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِى هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ أَمْ هُمْ ضَلُّوا۟ ٱلسَّبِيلَ

25:17 And on the Day He will gather them [the rejectors] along with those they worship beside God, and [He] will say “Was it you who misled My servants, or did they stray from the path by themselves?”

Although the scenario being presented in this verse is depicting the day of Resurrection, we can benefit now from this teaching. The phrase “وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ” translated as “And on the Day He will gather them” can be understood as whenever we are gathered in front of our Lord, we will be seeing what we have done. Right now, everyone can question what he or she is doing. Let me examine my life seriously, question myself and see what I keep myself busy with. How am I living my life? I am faced with two options where the first is to live with the belief that there is a Creator of the universe, and the other is to ignore this truth and see everything acting by themselves for no purpose. To describe this in black and white terms, if there is a Creator, then there is only one way where the whole universe must be created by a One who can create the whole universe with His Absolute qualities, and I worship Him. The other option is not to recognize the Creator which leads to many theories in trying to explain the existence of the universe in terms of its material substance. Let’s say that one day “I am a believer,”  will everything become perfect with me immediately? To be honest, I would say “No”; what am I missing?

There is a narration of the prophet in this regard: One day the prophet was sitting with his friends known as his companions, those who are in his presence who help him to spread the message. The Qur’an refers to them as the “ansaar” (helpers). He (pbuh) drew a straight line on the sand and then drew some branches on that line. This is explained by the scholars that people divert their direct relationship with God (straight line path) by following other directions (diverting branches). 

Let’s bring this explanation into our living with belief in God.  Although, I may say that: “ yes everything in the universe is created by God”, but I may have some diversions now and then that takes me away from the straight line of recognizing God in everything. For example, I may say that everything is created by God, but I also have put in some effort in doing something. I may accept that the sun is created by God but may say that the sun is emitting the rays of light. The moon is reflecting light at night. God created the earth, but the tree is producing the fruit. Somebody else is taking care of my life, the state is protecting me from dangers.

We must understand that everything is created by God means to understand that the tree as well as the fruit is created by God. Sunlight, reflection of the moon are also all created by God. That is how I would stay on the straight line. The believers need to be very careful not to have any side diversions from the straight path. When I eat the fruit, I may say “Alhamdulillah” (Thanks to God) who created the tree, i.e. thank God for the creation of the tree but now if it is the tree creating the fruit, which forms my diversion from the straight path. I may say that healing is from God, but this Doctor cured me. These diversions are what the prophet beautifully described to his friends. We will be questioned about these diversions that we may take in our living at Resurrection. The believers will be asked about this but not as severely as the deniers would be asked. 

The phrase “ءَأَنتُمْ أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِى” translated as “Was it you who misled My servants” where God will be asking the thing seen as the source of existence by me. In the example of the tree, God is presenting to us an example where He would ask the tree: “Oh, tree, did you mislead my servant? Did you show any quality within yourself that you are acting by yourself to produce the fruit?” This is a kind of sympathetic treatment by God for the believers to remind them that they may miss certain points in recognizing God’s creatorship in their living. Whereas the deniers would be questioned directly about the creation of everything. 

Although this verse is talking about what will happen in the next creation, we know that this verse is a guidance for us here in this world. If it is so, how do we apply it to our life here now?

The main purpose of this verse is calling on the unbelievers to take notice of their reasoning. Inviting them to think about what they are doing? The verse mentions God saying “I am going to ask what you have assigned to my creation, as being the source of existence? I am teaching you; do you see any sign in the existence of any piece of the universe, what they seem to be doing, does their action originate from themselves?” If there is any sign in their existence to mislead you or let you understand that this is caused by the particle or the cell itself?” Although the plants are coming out of soil, have you seen any sign of life in the soil or in the particles of a cell, any sign or quality that they arrange anything? 

No one now says that the soil is the reason for the existence of the plant. Science now talks about the seed and within it are cells where there are elements that seem to work, to develop into a plant or tree by utilizing the elements in the soil, air, light, and water. The problem of this age is assigning creative qualities to the cell. 

For example, materialist scientists say that DNA needs enzymes to function. They also say that enzymes need the code from DNA to work. If DNA doesn’t work, the enzymes cannot work and vice versa. They are interdependent on each other. Which one comes first, the DNA or the enzyme? Both must function at the same time perfectly. If everything is perfectly functioning at the same time, then what is this evolution that they mention?  

This question was posed to an AI model which replied that what you say is true, it seems that you are criticizing evolutionary theory. Evolutionist scientists say that at the very beginning of development, evolution prepared the ground for the relationship between the DNA code and the enzyme proteins which is established by themselves and are now working perfectly in an evolutionary way. If both interdependent elements were to function at the same time in the beginning as it is now how would they have evolved and improved themselves? How is it in an evolutionary way when it is already working? When there is no evidence for their claims they refer to a point that is not really practically demonstrable in an empirical way.

One must question: Is there any sign within the fossils of anything that shows from the beginning that things have prepared the ground while they were not perfectly functioning for the perfect combinations now occurring? There is no sign; materialist scientists are teaching us lies knowingly. For example, we can understand that if one element of the computer doesn’t work, the whole computer wouldn’t work. Every part of the computer must work perfectly for the computer to work perfectly from the beginning when it is manufactured. We are being cheated and they must know that they are telling us lies. 

If the computer works perfectly, why do we need a subsequent model? Has the computer that I have evolved into a new model by itself, or is a conscious engineer necessary to develop a newer model? No model of a computer can improve itself into another model. A conscious agent is necessary to make every single model separately although the previous model may look very similar to its next generation. But we know that every model is a new design and new manufacturing. And every generation of the computer works perfectly as it is designed and manufactured. How are people misled by missing this? Materialist scientists use flowery and authoritative language to hypnotize people as if they know something. These deniers of reality are not modest at all. The believers being modest cannot pretend in their language as if they know something but in fact they do not. They think that everyone else is like themselves, and may understand that God is the owner of everything, but are under the influence of the flowery language of the aggressive authoritative language that is cheating them.

The Qur’an presents the case confidently: Can you find anything in the cell that has the quality to be the source of existence of what they are doing? The elements are there and may seem to be doing something. For example, when I look at the tree, it seems to be growing. We must use our logic, reasoning, consciousness, our human side to find out by questioning whether the cells of the tree have any qualities to do anything in the manufacturing going on in the body of the tree such as taking in carbon dioxide and converting to oxygen? There is no sign in the element to be conscious that would cause such activity. The verse mentions that God will ask me: “what have you worshiped? Did that thing have any sign in its existence that caused you to be misled?”  This verse is speaking to me right now. 

If we investigate the old scholarship, they didn’t have this problem that we are facing now. Their problems were simple, and they understood the Qur’an according to what they needed. Those scholars tried their best according to the conditions and needs of their time. It would be my mistake to misrepresent the Qur’an as well as the scholars of that time if I bring up the 8th century, or 12th century interpretation of the Qur’an right now. Although it was great in its time, it will not work for our age. For example, Ibn Abbas started studying the Qur’an at the age of 6 and he educated many others who wrote exegesis of the Qur’an later. We must be confident that these people were great and will be rewarded for their work. However, the living conditions have drastically changed now. 

For example, reading from a classical perspective: “The deniers are gathered along with those they worship besides God which are their idols of stones and marbles, and God will ask the idols: ‘was it you who misled my servants or did they stray from the path by themselves?’ The idols will reply, ‘No we did not, they strayed themselves. I did not do anything’”. 

This explanation is not applicable nowadays as the definition of idols has changed where the idols of this age are particles of matter, nature, whatever I may value or may see as the source of existence or the source of my satisfaction. In studying the old scholarship, I must look at how they analyzed the Qur’an in various ways and then apply those methods to my conditions.  Understanding the message of the Qur’an in their living condition was right for them but not right for us. The language of the Qur’an has such a quality that allows its teachings to be understood in every living condition at every age. We need to be aware of this.

Do you think this verse is inviting us to think about who we are really worshiping? I must ask myself: “Who is my object of worship?” The message from the verse is “Worship only the One who can be the conscious Source of existence.” This is an invitation to see the things that I value where everyone may have different idols that they value. For example, the idol for materialist scientists is nature, evolution, accident, random development, and adaptation which are all their personal interpretations. One should feel sorry for these people having such interpretations but at the same time notice how sarcastic and ridiculous their attitude towards believers is; they speak with big words having no evidence of their claims. 

There is a beautiful description in the Qur’an describing this attitude:

مَّا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنْ عِلْمٍۢ وَلَا لِـَٔابَآئِهِمْ ۚ كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةًۭ تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَٰهِهِمْ ۚ إِن يَقُولُونَ إِلَّا كَذِبًۭا

18:5 They have no knowledge about this nor did their forefathers, it is a monstrous assertion that comes out of their mouths, what they say is nothing but lies! 

It is as if the Qur’an knows what is happening currently. Thank God for the blessing of belief (iman). Although the verse is mentioning the deniers, but, at the same time, I need to check myself to be on the straight path and not diverge from it.

Let’s continue with the next verse from Al-Furqan:

قَالُوا۟ سُبْحَـٰنَكَ مَا كَانَ يَنۢبَغِى لَنَآ أَن نَّتَّخِذَ مِن دُونِكَ مِنْ أَوْلِيَآءَ وَلَـٰكِن مَّتَّعْتَهُمْ وَءَابَآءَهُمْ حَتَّىٰ نَسُوا۟ ٱلذِّكْرَ وَكَانُوا۟ قَوْمًۢا بُورًۭا

25:18 They will say, “Glory be to you! It was not for us to take any masters beside You. But You provided comforts for them and their fathers until they forgot your message and became a worthless people.”

The phrase “مَا كَانَ يَنۢبَغِى لَنَآ أَن نَّتَّخِذَ مِن دُونِكَ مِنْ أَوْلِيَآ” can be understood as: there is no way for us to have any other authority over us other than You. Nothing other than You is operating in our existence. Everything in our existence manifests only Your qualities. Everything that we seem to be doing by ourselves is nothing but Your act of creation, glory be to You. I have no way to show that there is something else other than You, the Creator of the universe, who is operating in my existence. My Creator, You have full ownership over my existence. It doesn’t befit me to say anything else at all. 

The phrase “مَّتَّعْتَهُمْ وَءَابَآءَهُمْ” indicates that “You have provided comforts in this world out of Your Mercy.” You are freely giving to them and their forefathers are getting this Mercy as well. Everyone is receiving this Mercy regardless of being deniers or believers.  The universe is likened to an educational institution. For example, whoever has set up the university invites students to come and get their education. Some students come to listen to the professor, and some don’t. The university facilities are provided for all of them equally. The university doesn’t prohibit a student from entering a class because he/she doesn’t listen to the professor. Everyone gets the same facilities equally; benefit from what the institution offers them. Everyone is free, has the choice to avail themselves of the facilities of the university or not. But, for example, only those who attend classes benefit from the teachings of the professors. At the end, the university gives the degree according to what one deserves, whereas those who fail do not get their degrees. The university doesn’t get angry if one does not deserve the degree, it just does not give them the degree. Whereas, the university appreciates and gives rewards, treats specially, and prepares ceremonies for those who are successful at the graduation. That is exactly what we are experiencing in this universe. The reality of this universe is this where comfort is provided for all including the forefathers. The difference is only at the graduation and afterwards. Successful students enjoy and practice what they have learned while in the university and benefit from their knowledge acquired while being students after the graduation as well. We hear many reminders from the Qur’an warning us that we have to think and prepare ourselves for our lives after graduation when our bodies are given “death.” 

The verse continues “until they forgot the message and became worthless people”. In our example, everyone entered as worthy people when they were accepted as students in the university and given the qualities to learn. However, some became worthless people because they did not use their qualities. They forgot what they had been given and became worthless people. The phrase “بُورًۭا” is not only worthless, but something futile, unsuccessful, disgusting to throw way. Those who do not get a degree make their way to Hell.

The Qur’an demonstrates in this verse what was mentioned in the previous verse relating to “those they worship besides God,” as if those things were speaking like conscious beings. They were witnessing through their existence that they cannot claim any quality of themselves to be the source of existence of anything.

I don’t have to go to the Hereafter and see then whether what this verse says is true. The verse is meant to address me in my living now. I cannot wait for the meaning of this verse to become clear to me once I die; it will be too late. Again, I must take the benefit of these verses while I am living here. I would not only be saying “سُبْحَـٰنَكَ” which is “Glory be to you” in the Hereafter and think that this will only happen in the Hereafter so I should not follow the deniers and live with unbelief. We are invited to examine this claim now to see if this is true or not.

We should read the Qur’an by asking: is this valid for me right now? Reading the Qur’an in a critical way is not to find faults in it. It means to see how I can benefit from the verse now. Since God is presenting the verses to me right now within my living conditions, my Creator’s speech must be a source of guidance for me in my life now. I should not read it in a way where I will imitate the message. I must be careful in my life now so that I don’t follow the disbelievers. The Qur’an must benefit and guide me in my life now if it is from my Creator. We must learn to engage with the Qur’an and see how I can benefit from the verses. I must analyze the verses bearing in mind to benefit from them in my living now.