Section Al-Furqan – Part 22

We are continuing to study the verses from Section Al-Furqan where we last studied the verse mentioning that the Qur’an is sent to us as a gradual Revelation, explaining the truth step by step. We broke the verse into 3 phrases and investigated them to understand them further. The first one was that the Qur’an is not sent down all at once which was the complaint of the opponents of the Messengers. The second phrase was God’s reply saying that the Qur’an is sent this way to strengthen one’s heart, and the third was the Revelation of the Qur’an happens gradually. This was discussed in detail in the previous set of notes and gives us the perspective of how to integrate the Revelation of the Qur’an into our practical living experience.

We will continue with the next verse. 

وَلَا يَأْتُونَكَ بِمَثَلٍ إِلَّا جِئْنَـٰكَ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَأَحْسَنَ تَفْسِيرًا

25:33 They cannot put any argument to you without Our bringing you the truth with the best explanation.

The phrase “جِئْنَـٰكَ بِٱلْحَقِّ” is translated as “bringing you the truth”. This verse continues from the previous one with God responding by mentioning that whatever is revealed by Him is nothing but the truth. The opponents of the message cannot bring any counter arguments that would have any element of the truth. Only after God reveals the truth, they claim something against that truth, coming up with an excuse from another perspective. For example, there are verses where they say: “if what is told is the truth, ask God to bring harm to us. You mentioned the promise of God that if you don’t follow His message, you will be punished spiritually in this world and physically in the next.” The heavy pain is described in the Qur’an as the burning of feelings, being deprived of satisfaction and the body will also feel pain when the feelings are not satisfied. 

The verse mentions “وَأَحْسَنَ تَفْسِيرًا” translated as “with the best explanation”. Arabic grammar makes it clear that God sends the message with the truth and sends it explaining the truth in the best way with a clear, easily understood explanation. This must be paid attention to first before one can make any excuses or come to a premature conclusion. It tells me to look at creation, listen to my spiritual side, feelings, use my consciousness and intellect. My human qualities tell me that I don’t like something meaningless and purposeless. My life is coming to an end, and it needs to be purposeful otherwise it hurts that it will be meaningless. The message of God tells me that I am created by God for a purpose. I look at myself and see how I am perfectly fitting within the universe. The universe and I are complementing each other, harmoniously living without any contradiction within my feelings. Everything is prepared physically in the universe to satisfy my body, and spiritually I see in creation the signs demonstrating a One who must have Absolute Power, Absolute Knowledge, Absolute Free Will, Absolute Wisdom, etc.  This universe demonstrates that everything comes into existence from His Absolute Will which is completely free; things cannot come into existence otherwise. My intellect understands that it must be so. God says that He has given me the tools to understand that this universe cannot come into existence by itself. I must investigate the universe and arrive at this conclusion. This is how the Qur’an speaks clearly with evidence.

What do the materialist scientists claim? They use terms such as “it seems to be”. For example, when I see a piece of art. Can I say that the artistry manifested in the art piece is inherent to the material of the art piece? No one can say that artistry seems to be inherent to the material side of the art piece. When I look at a beautiful table that demonstrates artistry. Can I say the skill and artistry of a table seems to be inherent to wood or is it coming from the carpenter? Everyone will agree with the obvious that it comes from a carpenter that we have not seen. I am familiar with the table or piece of art that an agent is doing. We are familiar with the way qualities are manifesting in matter as they must have an agent behind them. It is obvious that the laptop computer does not have any inherent qualities to them. My reasoning is sure although I haven’t seen the artist or the engineer who had built it. I understand easily that matter cannot have a quality of itself to do or prefer anything by itself. Its continuous existence seems to be that matter is acting on its own power and will. Only superficial attention takes it as if unconscious, senseless matter is acting with its own power and will. 

When we look at the universe, the same familiarity functions in the opposite direction.  Everyday, I see what is going on in the universe. We say “it is happening like this, it is snowing”, etc. We conclude as if there must be something inherent within these physical things. This familiarity prevents us from seeing an agent operating in them. When we start thinking we may say that there is something magical in these physical beings that they are functioning. The inherent qualities are responsible for the designs of the trees, the birds, galaxies, atoms for example. Familiarity prevents us from not being able to see that there is an intelligent agent creating all physical beings. We only see the qualities of this agent manifested on them like the quality of art manifested in a piece of art. 

The Qur’an prompts us to carefully study these beings where I will see that each being is created by an agent. Every being must have been given existence by the One who creates it within the context of the whole universe where it is continuously changing and the harmony with the other beings is never broken. My imagination allows me to expand time and space to understand that every being created must be by the One, an Absolute Being who is the Creator of the whole universe in its entirety. That is how God is introducing Himself to me in the Qur’an where I cannot imagine Him, have a picture of Him because I can only see His work within the limitations of this universe. He describes Himself as: “I am the Creator of the universe, My existence is completely different from created beings.” That is what the verse is saying by “We bring you the truth with the best explanation.” The best explanation allows my heart to be convinced and to be fully satisfied.

The deniers of the message cannot come up with a single argument. They cannot come up with anything that would contain any truth. All verses of the Qur’an are speaking to me in the best way. That is how we can intellectually come to an understanding. However, let’s put these understandings into our practical life. 

What is the relevance of this verse to the previous verse (25:32)? The Revelation of the Qur’an walks with us throughout our life explaining itself. Whatever experience that I may be going through, I will see a verse that would be related to guiding me in that situation. I would be able to say, “this verse guided me in this situation.” Revealing the Qur’an gradually is the best explanation for our life. We must at least get a general comprehension of the Qur’an and see on which subject the verse is referring to. Throughout my life, I must see that the Qur’an is walking with me, how God is treating me with His Mercy. When I neglect the purpose of my existence and do something wrong, God warns me by creating sorrow in my feelings: “Don’t do this, I am warning you.” When I do something right, by creating the feelings of happiness within me, God is telling me “You are doing well, continue to do good”. When we are in stress, unable to sleep, God tells me, “Something is wrong in your attitude to what I have created, you are misinterpreting My creation. Be careful” These worries, spiritual pain and anguish in our lives are reminders from God that we are misinterpreting what is created by God. The Qur’an also comes to our aid to explain what is right and what is wrong in our living conditions with its verses each of which is related to at least one instance of our living conditions. The verses always point out the extreme end of the direction we take in our life, as if it says “If you keep on living in this way you will end up with this result, usually described as deserving severe punishment, called Hell, or deserving unimaginably pleasurable life, called Paradise.

The previous verse states the same reasoning to see the Qur’an walking with us in our practical living. The Qur’an states its evidence to strengthen the hearts of the readers. We must do the same to bring the truth, the best explanation of the message to ourselves first and then to others.  I must have the best and satisfactory explanation that fits the reality of life based on what we experience.

Does the Qur’an always respond with explanations to the objections raised by the opponents of the messengers of God? Most of the time the Qur’an doesn’t answer their questions but responds with a challenge to investigate His work. If the believers ask questions, by asking for clarifications, then the Qur’an presents the answer. If one challenges to object to the message, then there is no answer, and the Qur’an continues with the message it wants to convey. For example, “you say that God will destroy the rejectors. We reject, let your God destroy us.” The Qur’an does not give an answer to this but describes what these rejectors say. It mentions that “don’t they see what they are saying. Don’t they see the evidence that we have provided them”. There is enough evidence within their feelings and what is created out there in the universe.

Nowadays, many live with objecting to God’s message and God still treats them with His Mercy. God treats everyone equally without any discrimination to their physical needs in this life. Their spiritual situation depends on their attitude towards life and creation. Either I would receive encouragement when I take the right step, and am satisfied within my feelings, but if I do something wrong then I would feel the pain and anxiety within me. The Qur’an leaves out the objections of the rejecters and keeps treating them with His Mercy. 

One may question that there are verses in the Qur’an where God mentions that the people of a town were all destroyed for rejecting the message. There are many examples in the Qur’an where they are destroyed in many ways. That is not an answer to the challenge of the rejectors, but God describes the outcome when someone rejects the teachings of the prophets. If the whole community, the great majority of the community, unite in rejecting the prophet’s message, try to kill or expel him from their town, then God takes the small number of believers along with the prophet away and destroys the whole town. Until that moment of destruction, everyone has been treated equally with God’s Mercy. Equality means according to one’s endeavor; one gets the results. There is no special physical treatment for believers, but everyone is treated the same with His Mercy.  Spiritually, everyone feels mercy as it physically treats them according to their attitude regardless of whether they confirm or reject the truth. 

In our practical life, if one is a believer and lives accordingly then he must not wait for the physical favor to be created. Similarly, for denying, one must not wait for something harmful to be created. As a believer in God, I cannot expect any extraordinary physical creation from God. In the Qur’an, God presents the truth, and it is up to me to confirm the truth or not. I am always reminded of the pleasure and pain within my feelings here, whereas at the end of my life I will be feeling pleasure or pain physically as well. It all depends on how I use my free will, the choices I have made in my life. The example that fits well is that of a university that is equally serving every student to benefit from the teachings. Those students who study and prepare themselves for the finals would feel the pleasure of graduating to the next stage. During university time, everyone is free to either study or not, but it is towards the end that the outcome is obvious where everyone will see what they have learned or not learned during the education time when they receive their degree or not. That is why the Qur’an’s response to the rejectors is bringing the truth and bringing it in the best way. 

Most of the time the Qur’an brings up the objections of the opponents of the prophets but the response to it is not in a way to create what they say, but it is like “they will see what We do…” Going back to the example of university education. If a student challenges the administration by saying “You keep warning me that you will punish me severely. What can you do if I do not attend the class and do not do my assignment, come on, show it to me now?” The administration does not respond to him back but lets him benefit from the facilities and says “You will see what I can do when the graduation day comes.” Or, just ignores the student and keeps warning that he should attend the classes and do the assignments.  What could be the reason for answering in this way? 

The phrase  “Our bringing the truth with the best explanation” is actually the best answer and explanation. What else does one expect God to do for them? This is the answer to their objections and challenging demands. God only presents the evidence to what He teaches and leaves their claims aside. We must do the same in our interactions with others. We must also speak the truth with the best explanations rather than reacting and getting angry at others. We must make the message clear by using simple examples where it cannot be logically rejected. I must explain according to the level of the audience that I am addressing.

ٱلَّذِينَ يُحْشَرُونَ عَلَىٰ وُجُوهِهِمْ إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ شَرٌّۭ مَّكَانًۭا وَأَضَلُّ سَبِيلًۭا

25:34 As for those who are dragged facedown to Hell, they will be in the worst place as they are the most misguided from the path.

The verse indicates those who are not only rejecting the prophet but are also trying to prevent the spreading of the message, to let him speak. All the prophetic stories describe the opponents trying to shut the prophets of God down. There is a well known expression in English: “truth hurts”, for those who don’t want to hear the truth, are not ready or willing to accept it. 

This and the other similar verses of the Qur’an sound like talking about something that will happen in the Hereafter, which we cannot be sure of. As if they are just to frighten us with something that will happen in the future. The verse describes Hell as the worst place. Where is it, I haven’t seen it? How can I understand this message to confirm it? 

The deniers have not paid attention to the content of the teachings of the Qur’an and without knowing what the Qur’an is stating, they straightaway reject it. They are putting themselves in the worst state of life in this world and the next because of their choice. The Qur’an only states the consequence of our choices and lets us think about our reality if we deny the Creator and the next creation. God reminds us to take notice of His message that guides and teaches me on how I will satisfy the expectations of my feelings. 

If I don’t pay attention to His message, then I would be “dragged face down to Hell”. What do I see when my face is down, I see the ground out of humiliation and shame. Physically, I would only see the step that I am on, I don’t see what is ahead, the future. This is the best description of the deniers who see only pleasure in the moment they are living and do not want to see the future. Psychologically, they are frightened to think of death, the end of their life and are mostly concerned with “Enjoy yourself now”. The huge universe manifests meaning in its existence, but they only see where their body goes on earth. They are only concerned with their bodily life without paying attention that they are created by an Absolute Being who is treating them with Mercy in this life where everything is provided by Him. If one rejects this, they reduce their existence to only bodily existence that carries the fear of death, the spirit will be in pain for disappearing from existence. This spiritual situation results in hopelessness that harms one’s physical body as well. Stress turns into depression and results in physical illnesses. This is the physical and spiritual description when one does not see reality in fulfilling the purpose of their existence. 

We must see the descriptions of the Qur’an in the spiritual, psychological sense and to a certain extent in the physical sense as well. Whereas in the Hereafter, both the spiritual and physical aspects would be clearly practiced.