By January 21, 2024 Read More →

Section Jathiya, part 3

Recap: We must take notice of the word ‘ayah” which refers to not only the miraculous creation in the universe but also the sentences of the Quran.

وَيْلٌۭ لِّكُلِّ أَفَّاكٍ أَثِيمٍۢ

45:7 “Shame (and misery) to each sinful person who fabricates lies.”

Nowadays, people do not attack religious values, rather they fabricate lies.  People who fabricate lies against the reality of this universe should be ashamed of their doings.  When people who study the universe in labs come up with facts, they present them as their interpretations of the existence of this universe, which is akin to telling lies.  They interpret the working of this universe in a way that does not substantiate the reality of the existence of the universe.  The demonstration of what is going on in the physical world (act of creation, chemical reactions, and DNA structures…) are facts.  What do facts represent?  It represents how creation is taking place and how things are created, which is “the order of the universe”.  Rather, scientists while explaining this order by giving it a title of “natural laws”.  Now, the interpretation has shifted from facts into a fabricated language.  The so-called “laws” are how the order is functioning, the principle in creation. Even the Speech of God says that we never change the way we created, the order of the universe, for it is the creation principle of the Creator of the universe.  

When you say “nature”, what do you mean by ‘nature’?  Do you have any evidence that things are happening naturally?  Have you heard of anyone who defines what “nature” is?  I am created in such a way that in my creation, there are principles, laws, that is how my body works.  For example, when I see, how do I see and who is seeing?  My eye does not see, rather my power of sight sees.  The eye is a tool, like a telescope that  a conscious being uses to see stars and planets.  They deny this power of sight, as a quality given to me by the One that gives existence to me.  They say that the quality of seeing is “natural”. We all know that if a person loses his eyes he still wants to see. It is not the eye that sees, it is the human being who is equipped with the power of sight that sees. Eyes are only tools for human beings that we call “human spirit.” When you ask what is the Source of my Existence?  They say ‘nature’.  Again, what do you mean by “nature”? My question is “What is the source  of my Existence together with its qualities?”  We all know that nothing can exist without its qualities. We cannot talk about “nature” separately from the thing itself. They say that nature gives existence to you.  In other words, your existence gives existence to you.  What does this mean?  Nothing! This is a tautology.  

Is there anything in the universe that demonstrates ‘nature’?

Let us go into the morphology of the word “أَفَّاكٍ” translated as “fabricating lies”. The letters of the word  A-F-K” means to fabricate, slander and “أَفَّاكٍ” means continuously producing fabrication.  Scientists continuously come up with theory after theory. How are natural laws defined in civilization?  They are defined as “intrinsic qualities”, that is how I am made.  Example: what makes an iPhone work?  if I say that “the nature of the iPhone works by itself”, would that make sense?  No.  It sounds like an obvious contradiction.  We must be careful with the tricky language that is being used as part of the explanations using facts.  It becomes challenging for people to make the distinction between “law” (which is correct), while the concept behind “natural” is fabrication.  All the instinctive qualities (sight, hearing…) are what makes me a human being.  When I ask who made me with my nature?  They say that your nature is what gives existence to you.  How can we swallow this lie?   The universe exists in such a fashion that it is impossible to explain it from within the qualities of the universe.  Believers must wake up and shout out this reality!  The Quran says that there will be people among you who will see the creation and hear the Quran and will reject it by finding out the excuses that are prevalent in civilization such as “natural laws”. Material scientists freely interpret the universe as they will by undermining religion as unscientific, non-factual.  However, people cannot play with the Quran, because it is a verbal speech and explanation to the existence of the universe, but the creational signs do not speak verbally leaving it to be interpreted loudly by scientific experts.  The creational signs speak silently in the way that they are created. We must pay attention to these signs by using our given human abilities by thinking, reasoning and feeling. 

The material scientists  make the excuse of the universe’s silent speech to reject a Creator of the universe.  That is why the Quran is sent to us in the form of verbal speech,;it speaks out to let us know what the universe is saying silently.  This Section Jathiya makes it clear (with the word “ayah”) that we need both silent and verbal speech to understand the existence of this universe.  Again, the word “ayah” refers to the creation and to the verbal speech of the Quran. You can use the word “ayah” in both ways.

Example: If I say to you that I read today.  You will ask, what did you read?  I would reply, an orange.  I read a verse in the orange while eating the orange.  Most people would think that I am crazy, perhaps some believers may get alerted about the action wise verses referenced in the Quran describing to pay attention to the “ayah” signs in the universe.  The other religious scriptures do not focus much on action wise speech, only the Quran focuses on the unity between the universe and the word of God and requires that we combine them. 

 

يَسْمَعُ ءَايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ ثُمَّ يُصِرُّ مُسْتَكْبِرًۭا كَأَن لَّمْ يَسْمَعْهَا ۖ فَبَشِّرْهُ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيم 

45:8 “They hear God’s revelations recited to them, then persist in denying arrogantly as if they did not hear them.  So, give them good news of a painful punishment.”

What is the difference between “hearing” and “listening”?  Hearing means that the voice comes to you, and if you do not listen to it, then it has no effect on your being.  In the Quran, there are two words with the same literal meaning i.e. “يَفْعَلُونَ” which means doing an action and “يَعْمَلُونَ” which is translated as “good deeds”.  Example: when my pen drops, do you hear it?  Yes, I hear it regardless of paying attention to it. That is an example of “يَفْعَلُونَ”.  That is not your gain or loss because you do not have responsibility towards it.  For the word “يَعْمَلُونَ” is to do something action wise   using your freewill and attempting to deliberately hear it.  The verse is indicating that they have to pay attention to what is recited to them, but they choose not to listen to it, because they know that the truth is announced, and they cannot come up with a counter argument.

What do you mean when you say that you believe in God?  It means that we looked at the universe and listened or paid attention to it.  That is, “amal” from the word “يَعْمَلُونَ”, not “fil” from “يَفْعَلُونَ” which everyone does.  “Amal” is intentionally done.  When I do something intentionally, there is no way to deny that things need to be brought into existence by a Conscious Being.  Example: can this chair happen to be in existence by itself?  No.  Even in a million years, this chair cannot happen to be perfectly existing because of accidents.  There must be Conscious deliberate Actor.  A deliberate action needs consciousness.  Let’s say that you use your consciousness, and you go out of the house using the window, not the door.  If it is deliberate then it must be a conscious act.  Hence, nothing in this universe is taking place unconsciously or is meaningless.  There is no counter argument to cover up the truth, so they try to oppress or insult the prophets and consequently religion.  

For example, what does Islam teach?  The Absoluteness of the Creator (tawhid).  Can anyone come up with a counter argument?  No, but people are free to mock or defame religion, so that people do not listen to religion.  The deniers pretend not to hear the truth.   God says in the Quran, that if I did not send any Prophets/messengers to be delivered to certain people, then I will not take them to task or punish them.  The fundamental problem that we are having is that we hear the message but do not listen to it.  The good news is given in the form of a sarcastic language i.e., a painful punishment, which means that you deserve it.  The punishment mentioned in the Quran is not in the form of revenge.  The word “عَذَابٍ” has the meaning of something tasteful that you will like but is harmful, it is described as poisonous honey by some scholars. You do not enjoy it after all, because it harms you.  That is the treatment of God.  From one aspect, you feel hurt.  That is what you need!  Example: if you promote someone without them doing anything, are you teaching anything or are you encouraging them to be lazier?  This will increase their laziness.  Rather, you should demote them, otherwise they will never feel the need to do the job properly.  Is there pain in this?  Yes.  Is there sweet honey there?  Yes, because they learn that they need to do the job better, and so that it becomes not poisonous.  If people do not learn to look for the truth, they will suffer in their spiritual life with pain.  Some of them hide the pains, while others go to the counselors.  The main problem is to let go of the arrogant attitude and start trusting and submitting to their Creator.  If people do not do that, they will always be disturbed mentally.  Pain is a warning for them to understand who they are in this world and what their mission is, which is to learn.  Any pain resulting from biological reasons isa different case. Pain is a warning to help us understand who we are and what our mission is in this world, i.e. turn back, it is the wrong way, and you are not created for this purpose.  People who are arrogant, do not want to understand what the message is saying, and do not want to be honest with their human qualities, to correct themselves through the pain/warnings.  That is why, they will suffer from their human journey as long as they insist on not submitting themselves to their reality.

Let us assume that God is a loving God and should never punish.  Now, if I am doing something wrong and the one who takes care of me is not punishing me because s/he loves me, and if I do something wrong, s/he forgives, is it doing good or harm to me?  We must understand that these kinds of punishments (عذاب) are God’s compassion and care for us.  Example: you are speeding on the highway, and you see signs to slow down, but you keep speeding, what happens?  You get a ticket or die in a crash.  A Speeding ticket is a warning to save your life.  Do you like people who give warnings?  Yes!  Similarly, the Prophets are Warners (nazeer), who tell you to go in a safe way so that you may save yourself from destruction.  The Quran also gives warnings like this, if you do this, you will be given a warning, which will be hurtful.   We must be thankful toGod for being a punishing God (Qahhar), in a teaching way.  

One may say “I do not believe in God” and keeps entertaining himself here. Just because there are no consequences to wrongdoings physically, psychologically he would find himself in an empty purposeless meaningless existence.  Then, you start saying that if there is no conscious Creator, what does it mean to live in this world where I will die at the end?  

We must love God because he created death.  Thank God for creating death, because if there were no death warnings, we would not take notice of the purpose of our life at all.  If I do not believe in God, then I will keep enjoying my life and stay happy BUT thanks to death I will keep thinking about my purpose of living. What is the purpose of piling up on wealth and properties?  This attitude and way of life does not fit into my existence because at the end sure I will die.  This does not mean that we should commit suicide because we are given the sense of not wanting to die, and despite this sense, our body dies but not our spirit.  I should not love death, but I should not hope to die i.e. I should not commit suicide, rather, I should be thankful to the One who created death.  Because of death, I take my life seriously, try to find a true way of living in this world, which fits my creation.  This condition of the human being seems to be contradictory, but it makes sense.

Example: Let us take students that attend schools where everyone gets a degree at the end.  However, students who learn will be happy and successful.  After graduation, the students who did not learn, will complain that they wasted their time in school because they did not learn anything.  They will keep complaining that no one warned me in school.  Similarly, before I die, my Creator says that “I will warn you.  If I did  not warn you, would you benefit from being in this school of the universe?”  The Creator warns us by death, His message, assigning prophets, and giving us psychological pain.  Pain teaches us that we are created for a temporary base and we have a Creator and that we must use our human qualities to connect our existence to this Creator.  This connection with the Creator is called “submission” in Islam.  In Jewish and Christian tradition, those who sincerely submit to God are believers (followers of the Prophets) described in the Quran.  Some people who are imitating religion as they are taught are innocent.  Every follower of the Prophet is called “Muslim”. However, by submitting their existence and free will to God signifies that they have accepted that their existence belongs to God, the Creator of the universe who has chosen to give me existence. Such a person is called a “muslim”.

Comment: can someone make the excuse that they were not warned despite seeing the ayah/signs at every moment of life.

We are given the potentiality to understand reality to a certain level.  Example: I use my phone, and I am sure there is a purpose for me to be using it.  What is the purpose?  I may  not know exactly, but it is a wonderful tool and it makes sense for me when I use it.  Similarly, the universe seems to be meaningful, but it is a silent speech.  The phone by itself does not bring much value unless I get a manual with it (verbal speech).  Otherwise, I cannot use it properly.  If we appreciate the phone we wish that the maker of the phone would provide us with a manual to help us benefit from it best. We should look for it, if we find it we will be responsible to benefit from it, if we do not, then we should use our best to try to use the phone without forgetting that it is a gift from its maker. We should not treat it as accidently happening to be or nobody’s property. There must be an Engineer to the phone who has created it perfectly functioning, who is the Engineer?  He must be a conscious, genius, and compassionate one who knows what I need. 

The Prophets worked hard to deliver the message in the best way.  If someone comes to the Prophets and insults him and the message, does the Prophet have any right to attack this man?  No.  Only physical attack is responded back.  That is how the physical side of the universe works.  Even the most Atheist state mandates self-protection, which is human.  To respond back to rejections and insults, we must take the message and find a better way to deliver it  to them: (Invite all to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and kind advice, and only debate with them in the best manner. Surely your Lord alone knows best who has strayed from His Way and who is rightly guided.” Qur’an, 16: 125) .  That is why the Prophet always responded to those who deny his message by praying to God: “O God! Forgive them because they do not know the truth”.  That is how we must take the exemplary life of the Prophet.

 

وَإِذَا عَلِمَ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا شَيْـًٔا ٱتَّخَذَهَا هُزُوًا ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌۭ مُّهِينٌۭ

45:9 “And when he comes to know anything about our signs, he ridicules it!  Such people will receive a humiliating punishment.”

You are losing every pleasure, that is the pain that we all experience, so what is there to ridicule then?  Example: There was a famous man who attacked belief in God, and he took the example of a carnivorous animal having the ability to smell the urine of its prey.  He said in a sarcastic way, look at this, God is taking care of the smell of the urine of the animal so that the carnivorous animal will get its food. In a way mocking that God is busy with such low level abject tasks. Now, if you think about it, this is the most miraculous example that God displays to us i.e. by creating the urine with a particular smell and giving the ability to the animal to recognize its prey, God creates an arrangement for the predator to get its nourishment in the form of a prey.  What a delicate arrangement?!  Can you attribute this arrangement to accidents?  The most miraculous way of creation of God is ridiculed in a nonsensical way!  

Another example to ridicule the message of God.  When they hear the Prophetic warnings, they say that this is the story of the ancient tribes.  They do not see the meaning in it.  The Quranic mention of the Prophetic life is full of lessons directly related to our lives.

How is the universe witnessing to what the Quran says?  The Quran must be combined with the news that we get from creation along with the speech of God.  That is, combine and relate them both to each other.  The students of the Quran must learn to read the Quran alongside the universe.  The universe witnesses what the Quran states, there is a need to emphasize that the news of the Quran and the universe be combined and disseminated together.  If the Quran is not read under the guidance of the witnessing of the universe, there is no way to understand the Quran as it deserves to be understood.  Reading, teaching, and making interpretations/”tafseer” (exegesis) of the Quran without supporting these interpretations with the witnessing of the creation of the universe and of the human potential would not be as effective as it is expected to be in this age; we must support it with the witnessing of the universe. It is impossible to convince the general public, especially those who have undergone a secular education system just via scripture as it needs evidence which is the universe.  We must have a concrete, palpable, experiential, and physical example to show what the Quran says really makes sense to those people. .






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