Section Al-Furqan – Part 24

We are continuing with our study of Section Al-Furqan of the Qur’an where we last studied the verse emphasizing the prophets asking for help. We discussed in which sense do the prophets need help with. The verse from Section Anbiya 21:89 was investigated that mentioned the prayer of Prophet Zakariya to not be left alone. The latter part of the verse used the phrase “ٱلْوَٰرِثِينَ” to describe that everything is inherited by God.

The word “ٱلْوَٰرِثِ” is usually translated as inheritor. If we take the phrase “وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ ٱلْوَٰرِثِينَ” literally, it means that “you alone are the best of Inheritors”. When it comes to inheritance, we usually think of some property being given. The translator tried to avoid this misunderstanding and translated the phrase as “You will remain when all else has ceased to be”. The “You” is obviously referring to God as the Creator of the universe. The verse seems to say that everything will cease to exist, and God will inherit all of creation in the universe. 

Isn’t that strange if we understand that God is the creator of the universe then what does it mean that He will inherit His creation? We will study these kinds of verses in detail. When I express this prayer of Zakariya as well, what does it mean for me: “Don’t leave me alone. You are the best of inheritors”.

Let’s take the presentation in the Quran of Prophet Moses and Prophet Zakariya when they prayed to God for getting some help from human beings, particularly from their family. What is the “inheritance” for them? As evidenced in the life of the prophets, they do not leave behind or bequeath any property. If there is any property left when the prophets die, it gets transferred to the public treasure, not to their children. Prophets are not meant to pile up property so that people understand clearly that they are not there to make money from the message or get any worldly benefits. The practical life of the prophets is a message for us where we should not be piling up on properties, being only concerned with our worldly life. We must have our priorities straight, which is to prepare for our eternal life. Our spirit is created for eternal life, it is not a candidate to reside in this transient world. We know that the body deteriorates in this world; there is no permanence in this world and the spirit requires permanence. We understand that the prophets distribute the message of God to people in order to satisfy their spirit. The first addressee of the message are the prophets themselves with the mission to prioritize their spirit first and then spread the message to others to satisfy their spirits, without any concern for material return for the distribution of the message. Again, the prophetic mission is to spread the message of God that has to do with one’s eternal life and not be concerned with any material return for it. 

When Zakariya says, “don’t leave me alone in this world God, You are the best of inheritors” We should not confuse this message of praying to God to give me a helper from my family for inheritance purposes. It is not the inheritance of some property but the relaying of the message to those in need. 

For example, Prophet Solomon inherited the kingdom from his father Prophet David. If we read literally, we will not grasp the prophetic mission where the kingdom of David transferred to Solomon is the prophetic message to be conveyed to the needy ones. We need to be careful in the figurative presentation of prophets being kings, as it is related to their mission of prophethood. In the Qur’anic presentation, queen Sheeba visits Solomon’s palace which is transparent and clear. Can we physically imagine a palace like that which is clear like glass? This means that the prophetic message is clear in understanding; there is nothing hiding or ambiguous. In the end, queen Sheba declared that she is submitting herself, her worldly authority in this world to the Lord of prophet Solomon. The message of Solomon declared clearly as to who is the Lord of the universe. There is nothing obscure in this message which is all transparent presenting the truth as it is. This is how the Qur’an figuratively presents using metaphors, allegories, etc. Let’s think about this, how can I relate myself to a rich king when I am a poor person and have no kingdom? The message in David and Solomon’s kingdom has nothing to do with material inheritance when we understand the prophetic mission. The figurative speech used in the Qur’an gives the reader something to benefit from at their level and capacity. The Qur’an cannot be read as a novel, history of the past, story book, law book, etc.

Similarly, Noah’s ark must be understood as the prophetic message, whoever takes the message (boards the ark) is saved from the (flood) of denial. Noah’s ark represents saving myself from worldly concerns, materialistic understanding of not seeing the declaration of beings in the universe where they announce the qualities of their Creator. 

In the example of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), he was the leader of Medina Administration which became a huge state ready to compete with the larger Roman and Persian empires. Was the prophet a king of this third largest state? We know that upon his death, he didn’t leave anything behind besides his armor and swords as he was always ready to protect the community when necessary. He was living mostly on a daily minimum with reliance on His Lord for tomorrow. He was living with his mission of a prophet which is to spread the message even as the administrator of the community that grew tremendously. When we read his biography, we notice that most of them only relate to his physical material life, not much to his being the prophet of God charged with spreading the message He receives. For example, how will my spirit benefit in knowing that his eyes were beautiful? What does that detail have to do with his prophetic message? The original authors of the early biography books were historians, not having any exposure to the scholarship of the prophetic message, his narrations, etc. They do make some good points, but most of them are not related to the prophetic message.

The mission of the prophets is to spread the message which teaches people about the aspect of the universe that manifests, announces, declares the qualities of their Creator. The message teaches people how to learn the declaration of the universe regarding the qualities of their Creator, introducing them to their Creator. The help asked by prophets in this world is to help convey this message to those who need it.

This is the help that we should ask God for in learning and sharing the message with others who need it. When I learn something, and benefit from it for my eternal life, I must distribute it to others. The most precious property is not temporary material property but should be one that helps me nourish my eternal life. People are dying to get eternal satisfaction, but they don’t know where to find it. We are very active in collecting money at fundraisers, to buy food and feed the needy and help in their temporary bodily satisfaction, but the most essential need of people is to save their eternal life. Temporary life needs temporary attention whereas infinite life needs infinite attention.

Religious brotherhood should not be exploited for worldly benefits. God’s threatening verses are very severe. Religious brotherhood should not be used to make money for this temporary life.  I can work with a brother not because he is a Muslim, but because I can trust this brother to help me in my worldly life. This should not be mixed up with his religious side, of him being a Muslim. The Qur’an specifically emphasizes that if I am rich, I must give to the needy ones, miserable relatives, travelers, people who are ill. It does not specify to give to Muslim people or believers, but stresses on needy people. The Qur’an makes it clear not to mix religion with the worldly help that one must do if they are able to.

Primarily, I should ask God to help me learn and spread His message that satisfies one’s need for eternal satisfaction.

Let’s examine another set of verses along the same line that describes all beings in the universe will perish except God’s face.

كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍۢ

وَيَبْقَىٰ وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو ٱلْجَلَـٰلِ وَٱلْإِكْرَامِ

55:26-27 Every being on earth is bound to perish. But the face of your Lord will remain forever, full of Majesty and Glory.

The choice of the words used in the Qur’an are important to be paid attention to. In the verse, “Kullu man alaiha” is used and not “Kullu man alaiha. The word “ma’ ” is used as “what” in English whereas “man” would be “who” in English to describe a conscious being. Rather than use “Whatever is here on earth”, it would be “Whoever is here on earth” emphasizing conscious beings are transient and must perish. A mountain in English would be “what” as something unconscious, but the Qur’an says it is conscious just like everything else, thus indicating the usage of “who”. 

When I observe the universe, apart from human beings and some animals, the other beings seem to be unconscious. What about the stars, sun, moon, trees, plants, air, mountains, earth, snow? According to the Qur’anic message, although matter seems to be unconscious, the way they exist, they consciously reflect and demonstrate their Creator’s qualities. The Qur’an is inviting us to see the conscious declaration side of these material beings, their declaration is conscious which I must pay attention to. I can communicate with their conscious declaration and get the message from them. It is like a conscious being is speaking to me giving me news about the qualities of their Creator. In another example, the Qur’an also makes use of the phrase “Rabbul ‘Alameen”, translated as “Lord of the heavens and earth”, where the “‘Alameen” part of the phrase refers to conscious beings as well. The singular noun of the word is “‘Alam” which has two forms of plural. One is “‘awaalim” which is used for unconscious beings. The other one is “‘alameen” which is used for conscious beings. In the Qur’an, God describes Himself as “Rabbul ‘Alameen” teaching us that we should not think that the universe consists of nothing but unconscious beings.

This is an amazing understanding for the use of “مَنْ” relating to conscious beings. This is referred to as “ijaaz” science, speaking in a concise way where the shortest ways are used to explain large, tremendous meanings. In principle, we must know that when the Qur’an speaks about something, it means that thing, and when it doesn’t speak about something, stays silent, then it is conveying thousands of meanings.  For example, “in the Name of God,” the Qur’an stays silent and doesn’t tell me what “in the Name of God”. By remaining silent, it says whatever I do, I walk in the Name of God, eat in the Name of God, drink in the Name of God, give to charity in the Name of God, etc. A piece of matter in the way that it exists, speaks in the Name of God to its Creator’s qualities. Things are coming into existence in the Name of God. It is “In the Name of God” that Revelation comes down. In the Name of God, the Prophet (pbuh) receives the Revelation from Gabriel. The Prophet will convey the message to others in the Name of God, not in his own name. This is incredible of how the Qur’an says a lot by remaining silent. 

We need to pay attention to such matters in reading the Qur’an and see what the purpose of the Qur’an is, what it is aiming to teach me. If I don’t pay attention to this message where everything in the universe is consciously declaring qualities of their Maker, then I would say why is God telling me that everything will perish when I see everything is dying right in front of me. Why does God tell me something that is obvious to me? There are many layers of meanings to be discovered in these verses but at least we should get some general understanding that nourishes my spirit.

The latter part of the verse uses the word “وَجْهُ” referring to face that will remain. Recalling the previous verse 21:89 in the prayer of Zakariyya, it was said that all will perish but God alone will receive everything back. In a way saying that: “You are the Creator and Owner of everything where everything will disappear, but You will remain.” When we pay attention to every being as conscious, announcing the qualities of their Creator then we can understand that the aspect of beings that announces the Creator’s qualities will remain.  

What does “Face of your Lord [Rabb]” mean? Figuratively speaking, “the face of the Lord” (not His Being or Essence) manifests forever, but the things are created in the universe on a transient base just to function like a mirror. The material side of the things seem to be fixed but the announcement manifested in the matter’s existence, continuously being created remains. Things in the universe are transient and will die, but their announcements will remain in the world, in our mind, continuously declaring that my Creator is the Most Knowledgeable One, Most Wise One, Most Powerful One, Most Beautiful One, etc. Things in the universe leave and new ones keep coming, declaring the qualities of their Creator. We thus can relate God to be “the Inheritor” in terms of the aspect of the beings in the universe that announce their Creator’s qualities which will remain forever. 

Whenever I look at something, I see it has two faces. One aspect or “face” of them is transient, continuously disappears, and the other face that looks to their announcements of their Creator’s qualities, is permanent and remains there. The Qur’an says that this second face of beings which relates to their announcements of their Creator is “God’s Face.” For example, when we see a man, we see his Creator to be the Most Knowledgeable, Most Wise, giving the Best Design, Best Form, etc. When the man dies, the children demonstrate and announce the same qualities. Whatever they announce remains in the following creation and remains forever. This is why God is the best of Inheritors.

Everything perishes but the signs manifested in their being never perish. God’s Names remain with Him being the Owner of those qualities. They keep manifesting in each being at every moment. We see that Absolute Power for example is needed for each being at every moment. Every being in its every stage of existence exists within the context of the whole universe. All the other qualities are manifesting in the same way.

I should not lose myself within the transience of the universe but see the permanence of the qualities. We must learn how to communicate with our environment. There is an aspect to them as being transient, and there is a far more useful aspect where they demonstrate the qualities manifested in them which are permanent. I must pay attention to this aspect and learn to make my life meaningful.