Section Al-Furqan – Part 2
We will continue with our study of Section Al-Furqan, the 25th Section of the Qur’an. We started this section by analyzing the first verse and saw how it was introducing to us this One, the Lord of the universe who must be glorified without explicitly specifying God. We also looked at the general structure of the Section, and the way it is organized. Based on the argument against the prophet where the deniers claimed that he is fabricating the message, the first verse lets us know that the prophet (pbuh) is not acting on his own, but he is supported by God, the Lord of the universe. The Qur’an mentions that he (pbuh) is an “‘abd” of this One, “his honored guest or creature in the universe”.
The word “‘abd” being translated as “servant” or “slave” in the English language is not a good translation and inappropriate that goes against the teachings of the Qur’an. The Qur’an speaks to human beings at their level where the message is valid for every being at every moment of time they are in. The term “‘abd” has a long history of being used in terms of the word “slave” where the literal dictionary meaning of “‘abd” is “slave”. When someone hears the term “slave” in English, it gives the notion of a relationship between two people, where the slave would have an owner, a master or sir depending on what the culture uses. We must bear in mind that although “slave” seems to be a modest word, when it applies to human beings’s relationship with Almighty God, we must ask: does God need a slave? Unfortunately, even serious people use the word “slave” as a translation of “‘abd”. No one understands what being a slave of God means and never consider questioning whether God needs slaves. Besides the translation of “slave” which is worse, the word “servant” is not a correct translation as well.
Unfortunately, some traditional scholars use the term “slave” or “servant” to portray one as being humble before God. In English speaking culture, no one understands that a servant is just before God to make them feel humble. If someone has trained themselves in Arabic, understands the word structure of “‘abd”, then they wouldn’t translate as “servant” or “slave”. Even some of the “mufassirun”, interpreters and commentators of the Qur’an aren’t sensitive about it. When I say “servant”, what do I understand nowadays from this word? Is that someone who does my house chores and I pay for the service? Is that the relationship I have with my Creator? We must avoid using such translations, the word “‘Abd” refers to someone who is God’s creature and does “ibaada”, or worship. We are not serving God, but God is serving us where the whole universe is created by God to serve us. I am benefitting from whatever is created by my Creator.
Let’s dive into the second verse:
ٱلَّذِى لَهُۥ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًۭا وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ شَرِيكٌۭ فِى ٱلْمُلْكِ وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍۢ فَقَدَّرَهُۥ تَقْدِيرًۭا
25:2 “It is He who has sovereignty over the heavens and the earth, and Who took not a child, and Who has no partner or helper in sovereignty, and Who created everything, then determined it with precise determination.”
In Arabic, to speak in this way using the phrase “فَقَدَّرَهُۥ تَقْدِيرًۭا” is a rhetoric way of describing something: determined everything in the universe perfectly as they deserve to be determined. This phrase translated sounds strange in the English language, but in Arabic, it fits well to convey the very precious message fulfilling the purpose of the Qur’an. Generally, it is difficult to translate the Arabic phrases precisely in English. We must learn to appreciate the beauty of the Qur’an and how to understand the Qur’an in the Arabic language by also paying attention to the rhetorical side.
Let’s tie up verses 1 and 2. The term “God” is not mentioned in the first verse. It starts with “Blessed is the One”. The human mind asks this question, “Who is it?”. The verse continues, “the One who sent down the Criterion to His ‘’Abd’, His worshiper”. I would continue to ask: “Who is that One?” The challenge is of being born into a Muslim family; I may say that it is obviously referring to God which is my preconceived knowledge. Most of the English-speaking people do not know what the Qur’an is all about, they say: it is the Muslim’s sacred book, religion for Arabs. When engaging with this verse, I must ask: What is it? Who is it?
When we read the English translations, we must bear in mind the background of the English concepts which are limited to this world. We easily miss out on the beauty in the depth of Arabic language grammar, literature and rhetoric. We take belief in God for granted. The Qur’an speaks in a secretive way by prompting the human mind to question. I must wonder: Who is this blessed One? Whatever He does, the One who does this is mentioned and introduced to me. That is how the Qur’an introduces this One to its addresses: He is the One who does this, these are the qualities this One has and then at the end, one can say that He is named as God. First, look at the act, the qualities manifested in them and then conclude about God. However, the culture goes the opposite where they start from God and then talk about the qualities. In principle, we should not begin a sentence starting with “God”. This is how the Qur’an introduces God to us by using for example “Huwa”, understood as “He it is”, the One Who is called God. This is an amazing rhetorical way of the Qur’an to teach us to reason on this: “Who is it that does this?” In this Section, the phrase “ٱلَّذِى” is used to describe “the One Who”, meaning a conscious Being rather than “مَا” which is sometimes used to describe something ambiguous, either conscious or unconscious.
Once again, the verse starts with “It is the One Who” as a way of introducing God to us. This is an indication to us that we must talk about God like this. This is the One who has sovereignty of heavens and earth, who has not taken a child, only His decision is valid in this universe and nothing else can have any share to decide for every single being. Each of the phrases in the verse are talking about someone who does this. I must learn that I can only describe what is going on in the universe, I must ask: who is the One who does this. I conclude that the One who does this is the One I worship, and He is called God.
In some other verses, the letter “مَا” is used which can be understood to question: “Who set this up so wonderfully?”, for example in the phrase “وَٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا بَنَىٰهَا”. The Qur’an is teaching: “I present to you heavens as witness, so reflect on the creation of the sky. How wonderfully it has been set up. Think about it! Can a non-conscious being do it? “. When “مَا” is used referring to God, it is not necessarily talking about a non-conscious being but prompting me to think whether a non-conscious being can do this.
Materialism explains that things are acting by themselves, non-conscious beings are having qualities inherent to them. Recently, materialism which reduces everything to matter is undergoing complete bankruptcy. The same materialism now declares, which is known as the post materialist period, that matter does not exist as we used to think but is nothing but quantum vibrations. Talking about matter to be the source of existence of anything is impossible. Now, the non-believing scientists studying Quantum Mechanics say that they need to look for another explanation as the qualities manifested in beings cannot be derived from some substantial entity because there is no such entity in the micro world that can sustain its existence even for a fraction of nanosecond. Surprisingly, Nursi who had no expertise in physics, or any sciences writes in the 1930’s in his book the Words, the smallest particle called “zarre” is nothing but vibrations. Ironically, the nobel prize was awarded not long ago for the discovery of vibrations when it was already mentioned in the 1930s.
In the phrase “وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًۭا”, (and Who took not a child) why is “not taking any child” important? Is it used only to reject Christianity or to compete with another religion? The Revelation of the Qur’an is completing and perfecting previous revelations that were somehow manipulated and partially corrupted by humans. Historically, to hold political and socio-economic power, human beings have corrupted many Revelations for their self-interests. Much of the translations trickled down and lost the original essence of the message. Rather than competing with religion, we are trying to establish the true meaning behind the Revelation of God. The language used in the verse “وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ”, translated as “Who took not a child” is in the past tense. Within the grammar of Arabic literature and rhetoric, any past tense concept is surely always happening in the present tense. The meaning of the phrase then comes to: “Definitely, He never takes a child as happening always.”, which is valid in the present tense and is continuous.
The phrase “وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ” is grammatically correct but rhetorically wrong. The Qur’an obeys Arabic grammar often using very exceptional forms of rhetorical usage of the grammar. The Arabic language is mostly descriptive, never straight to the point as some other languages like English making it appropriate for the message of the Qur’an with its heavy descriptive, rhetorical qualities. It makes use of many figures of speech. If one pays attention they will see that about two to three percent of the Qur’an is “fiqh” or jurisprudence related whereas the rest of the 97% is all figurative language that needs to be interpreted. If I am a student of the Qur’an, I must ask: what does it mean by using such grammar?
When this verse was revealed, only a few merchants were aware of Christianity being practiced by some people on the south and west end of the Arabian Peninsula. They had heard that they worshiped God and gave some sanctity to Jesus. The concept of prophet is quite different in Christianity where they see the role of the prophet as a predictor of something that would happen to the children of Israel when they start imitating foreign religions. The concept of trinity also varies among many denominations. Using this phrase, the Qur’an is teaching generally about an Absolute Creator, not to compete with any religion. By principle, we must never compete with another religion; never argue with a Christian or a Jew. We must present and defend what is true, distinguishing it from wrong. I must present evidence to counter atheism and reject unbelief in the Absolute Creator. Many arguments currently prevailing have nothing to do with Judaism, but are political Zionism. I must respect Judaism and Christianity as monotheistic religions.
In the phrase “وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ”, the “و” is explanatory where it explains “ٱلَّذِى”, the One to whom all the heavens and the earth belong to. The verse then continues that this One never has a child. Rather than the translation of “و” as “And”, where it is meant to explain this One referred to in “ٱلَّذِى”, it could be translated as “that is”. We can read the verse as explanatory: “That is He who never takes a child, that is Who has not transferred his absolute qualities to any of His creatures so that they also will have the quality to create.” All of the explanations go to “ٱلَّذِى”, such as “ تَبَارَكَ ٱلَّذِى” which is “Blessed is the One” in the first verse . Everything goes back to this Unknown, conscious Being which is referred to in the verses with “ٱلَّذِى” explaining as the One who created everything and has sovereignty over everything. In the phrase “فَقَدَّرَهُۥ تَقْدِيرًۭا”, the “و” changes to “فَ”, which means this One created everything by determining them perfectly and precisely. In His act of creation perfect determination is manifested. Without precise determination, there is no act of creation, i.e. perfect determination is found within the act of creation, not to be thought of as created first and then perfected but perfection is included in the act of creation. This is how the verses guide us to understand creation where created means in the Qur’an as beings are perfectly arranged, created orderly, in a wise way, occurring at the same time in the act of creation. The act of creation includes in it all the qualities of the Creator manifested, integrated in the act of creation.
The phrase “not taking a child” has been discussed a few times, particularly in section Ikhlas of the Qur’an that has nothing to do with Christian theology. Giving birth means to bequeath, or transfer qualities which must not apply to an Absolute Being. The word inheritance has been used by the Materialist minded people where they say that matter has inherent qualities, which means inherited from its previous state. This way they justify evolution where matter uses its previous position to choose a better position. It is a speculative theory that can never be scientifically proven. For example, the baby comes out of the mother’s womb as if the mother’s cells have bequeathed their codes to the cells of the child. It sounds as if the cells are consciously transferring their codes to other new cells so that their codes will remain, and perfect themselves even better so that their existence will continue, which is very naïve. Who wrote the codification, the plan? Who is changing that plan? As if the DNA is deciding, which has no knowledge, consciousness or power. We can logically conclude that this must be done by a One who is not of this universe, not a part of His work, He must be another Being.
This One not taking a child, in fact, especially in our times, has nothing to do with the Christian understanding of Jesus being the son of God. Jesus represents in the eye of materialist theology as a created material being, a part of this universe. What is the difference if some say Jesus has inherent divine qualities and the scientist says a particle, a part of this universe, has inherent divine qualities? The sanctification of Jesus is a Christian problem. We must be careful not to sanctify any created being. We must understand the sanctity has another figurative meaning according to the teachings of the Qur’an, such as Jarrusalam or Mecca and Medina are sanctuary cities, not as the Materialists understand. We must present the appropriate understanding of the Qur’an according to the needs of this century that we are living in. The universality of the Qur’an is applicable to all needs of all generations.
Is the phrase “شَرِيكٌۭ” translated as “partner or helper” related to “a child”? We understand that only an Absolute One has the authority, nothing else has any authority or sovereignty over anything, not even a fraction. Nothing exists between created beings and the Creator.
What does determination “فَقَدَّرَهُۥ تَقْدِيرًۭا” infer? Can it be the ultimate purpose of creation? Everything in its existence is perfect. For example, a cancer cell in its existence is a perfect creation. I am advised by my Creator with my feelings to avoid getting those cells, seek refuge with God, take preventative measures by studying His order of creation, learn on how to avoid it to keep away from harmful germs and viruses. All the diseases are determined perfectly. The scientists do studies to find cures accordingly. Muslim people believe that there is a cure for every disease, look for it, see how God creates the disease along with the cure.
I must keep away from meaninglessness, purposelessness to avoid spiritual harm. The creation of human free will is given to me to be used to make the right choices. Without freedom, humanity cannot be humanity. The freedom to choose comes with equal responsibility.
Tags: Belief, Feelings, human qualities, Life, Lord, Quran, Worship, Ya Sin, Ya-Seen, Ya-Seen Series, Yasin