Section Jathiya, part 4

Recap: Mostly, historical information about Quranic narrations does not help us much because we do not know how reliable the historical source is.  Example: We see a narration coming from a companion of the Prophet (pbuh), who comes from a Judaic background, who is likely to blend his previous information with what the Quranic message is actually saying  What would be helpful is that we directly confirm the message presented in the narration from the Quran by relating it to our lives right now.  Otherwise, just like any other narrations, I cannot benefit from mere stories.  We must concentrate first on what the Qur’an says rather than relying on historical information and trying to understand what the Qur’an is teaching us. We should also pay attention to the way the Qur’an presents the message to us and be careful with the grammatical structure of the Quran in order to understand  the message being conveyed to me.  We would not be able to get all the details encapsulated in the message, for which one must be an expert not only in the grammatical side but also in the Quran’s rhetorical side as well. In any case, first of all a special attention needs to be paid to the objectives of the Qur’an.

The word “ayah” (sign) has 3 aspects that are intertwined, i.e. verses of the Quran, the miraculous creation in the universe, and the human being. The companions used to recite and narrate “ayahs” from the Quran to the people.  The arrogant  people would hear it but pretend to not listen to it because they just want to reject the message of God.  Serious scholars say that the miraculous signs also refer to the ayahs in creation.

مِّن وَرَآئِهِمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَلَا يُغْنِى عَنْهُم مَّا كَسَبُوا۟ شَيْـًۭٔا وَلَا مَا ٱتَّخَذُوا۟ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَوْلِيَآءَ ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

45:10 “Hell will follow them and what they have gathered will not benefit them nor that they took protectors instead of God.  Theirs’ is a great punishment.”

What does Hell represent in the teachings of the Quran?  It represents the unbearable suffering of fire, which means something burning.  The burning can be physical or the burning of the feelings.  Example: a mother is excited to wait for her child to come home from school, then hears the bus crashing in the street, and finds out that her child died.  That news will burn the mother psychologically.  We must understand the nature of the spirit, which is our human potential, what makes us human beings (our five senses, feelings of love, hate, anxiety, like/dislike, consciousness…).  These feelings cannot operate without a means/body which is the means to experience creation.  Anything that is created is created within the order of the universe, as we observe to be within a “cause & effect” relationship here. I have to sow the seed, water the soil and then the plant appears as a result.  As far as our perception of things is concerned, we know that if the order is not followed, then nothing happens, i.e. the effect/result is not created.  Example: you must sow the seed for the plant to come out.  Do you think that God cannot create the plant without the seed?!  It can, but only after you follow the order in creation.  

Since you are in this world, you must follow the order of creation to get the results.  Your consciousness and intellect cannot operate without the spirit.  Example: If one takes the eye out of the  body, and keeps it aside for 10 minutes, can the eye see?  No.  So, why do people say that the eye sees, and the brain thinks?  What type of logic is this?  How can the eye as a matter or lump of meat get the signal without the spirit being installed in the body?   We know that the physical eye is a tool for the spirit to see.  Without the human spirit, the eye cannot see.  At the same time, the spirit cannot perceive something without the material eye.  The body and the human spirit are dependent on each other.  Therefore, the pain and pleasure in the next creation must take place after the spirit is separated from the body in this world, and then resurrection happens, as described in the Quran, i.e. a new body is created according to the conditions of the new creation, called “hereafter.” The spirit has  a countless number of tools to connect to its Source of existence.  What is the Source of Existence of the spirit?  As mentioned in the Quran, the spirit is directly coming from its Source of Existence.  Let us connect all the descriptions in the Quran that mentions the spirit and body.  Example, after making Adam out of clay, the description of how the human being was created, God says that I blew into this body a spirit from my Spirit.  It means that without any created cause, spirit is given.  Our spirit is not part or a piece of The Spirit of God.  This means that our created human spirit cannot operate without the body, it must be given tools to operate.  The spirit recognizes that it needs a body to operate, and it came from the same source of existence as the body (Arabic for wa ilaiyhi turja’oon).  This circular journey from the spirit to the body and vice versa goes back to its Origin, the Source of your existence (ruju’ in Arabic means going back to God).  I have to consciously acknowledge that my Source of Existence of my power of sight is the Creator of the universe.  Therefore, after I die, this spirit which was trained through this acknowledgment/belief will get its recognition i.e. God will say that you did not attribute these given gifts as qualities to nature, rather to the Real Source, and now I will reward you with a permanent body i.e. Paradise.  Again, without the body, the spirit cannot entertain the pleasure, it must taste and get the sample.  Similarly, without the body, the spirit cannot experience the pain of Hell. In the mother child example mentioned above, the separation of not being able to embrace her child burns (i.e. the lack of pleasure).  We experience the pains and pleasure in this world.  That is, if we do not return these feelings back to its source of existence, then my spirit feels the lack of its satisfaction.  Just like the mother who has experienced the pleasure of embracing a child and then losing the child must return both feelings back to its Creator. 

Comment: What does it mean for the spirit to exist before the body?

When the body is developing as a fetus, its Creator gets it ready as a functioning human body. 

As far as the Creator is concerned, there is no before and after.  We only see something after it is created.  The spirit existing is a direct creation of the Creator, so we cannot talk about “before & after”.  

Comment: Do we get a different type of body at Resurrection?

According to the living conditions of the next creation, we get resurrected with a body fitting for that creation  There is no repeat of acquiring the same body from here i.e. no incarnation.  Reincarnation is the idea for people who do not believe in the existence of a Creator.  They mostly believe in the existence of this world only.  They recognize that human beings do not want to die and disappear.  Since this sense of not dying is given to us, they look for some way to keep one’s existence within the universe.  If I were to stay in this world, then what is the point of death?

Comment: Is there material existence in the Hereafter?

There must be because the spirit needs some means/material to function.  The Quran mentions that we are going to return the body to you in the next creation.  The next creation must be the re-creation of our body.  This civilization reduces human beings to body and  matter only.  Example: the brain is just matter.  Can you define yourself as a brain?  These are meaningless claims which people accept because we are not deeply reflecting on our existence.  What does it mean to exist?!

The verse under discussion mentions that there is punishment through the body in the Hereafter.  The resurrection is subject to the body, not the spirit, as the spirit does not die. Let us investigate the law of freezing to understand this.  When it is hot, does the principle of freezing operats?  No.  There is nothing frozen in hot weather.  Water only freezes in the winter when the law of freezing exists, otherwise, in the summer, the law of freezing disappears.  Similarly, the human body is subject to only functioning in this universe where we can observe the law (spirit)operating.  When the body becomes dysfunctional, the spirit leaves the body, but the spirit needs a new functioning body suitable to the conditions of the new creation.  

Let us take another example.  Phone applications only function when there is a physical phone where it needs to be installed into.  What happens when the phone gets broken?  There is a need for a new physical phone to run the applications on.  If we understand these concepts, then can we say that our great grandparents died?  No, only their body died, and they must be given new bodies suitable to the conditions of their new creation.  

• When your body becomes dysfunctional, the law of creation of life will not manifest on the body anymore.  Like when a piece of ice loses its heat for any reason, the order of creating the ice does not manifest on it but the order of liquid manifests there. When there is a functioning body, then life starts operating. When the liquid is subject to cold then the freezing order of creation operates on it again. This shows that when the body becomes dysfunctional the spirit does not disappear from existence but as if waiting for another body to operate. 
• Death is not something frightening for a conscious being who is aware of the fact that the order of the creation of the spirit does not become nonexistent when the body becomes dysfunctional.  
  

Let us go back to the verse, is Hell physically behind the denier?  No, because they still feel the pain now in their consciousness until they die.  We imagine that whatever we are enjoying is directly going into the past.  When our enjoyment goes into the past, two lack of pleasures are happening simultaneously:

1. The disbelievers think that they lost the pleasure today and it will happen again tomorrow.  They feel the loss of enjoyment today while they have the pleasure because they know that it will disappear and die.
2. Since the disbelievers are unconscious of the reality of Creatorship at times, then they get into despair because they know that at the end, they will die and disappear from existence. This feeling, as the above verse describes, of continuous loss of hope never leaves them alone as long as they insist on denying the Absoluteness of the Creator.

With such lack of consciousness, double Hell is being lived.  However, if you are conscious of God, as a believer, you are not losing anything.  As mentioned in section Rahman of the Quran, the word “jannatain” means double Paradise.  When it goes in the past, two pleasures are happening simultaneously:

1. I lost the pleasure today and it will happen again tomorrow if I am given existence, but I understand that is how the law of creation operates as set by its Creator who is an Absolute Being. Every changing moment demonstrates the One who creates and administers the universe and everything in it is Ever-Manifesting his Presence.
2. The creation is permanent with Him, but my experience of the pleasure in this world is transient.

For example, you eat a delicious apple, and the enjoyment is gone, but the taste stays with you.  As a believer you know that the Creator is creating such a taste that I am experiencing. This news lets me know that the Creator is permanent, so the taste is also from Him (Permanent).  Although I am not physically experiencing this Permanence, I am aware that the Creator of the taste has the Permanent taste of the apple that I long for.  I acknowledge It, and I return to It.  That is Belief/Imaan, which means connecting the taste to its Real Owner.  

Let us take another example.  When a child eats breakfast, does the child worry about dinner?  No, he knows that his parents will provide.  Similarly, the believer knows that my Creator has my pleasurable experiences, and He can create it anytime.  After I die, my spirit which I connected to God will be with me.  After experiencing something, if I acknowledge my Absolute Being, and when I am taken out of this world and returned to the Source of my existence, then I will find those experiences with my Creator, that is called “Paradise”.  People who did not acknowledge the Source of Existence (i.e. denied God) will experience the lack of Paradise (or pleasure).

Comment: when people reject the truth, it is from arrogance, where does this arrogance come from?

Let us first look into the word “mustakbir”, why is it translated as “arrogant”. The word “istikbar” comes from the verb “K-B-R”, which means to be big.  “Mustakbir” means although it is not big, it pretends to be big.  Do we have the capacity to deny the truth?  Do we have the capacity to tell a lie?  Yes.  Telling a lie is pretending that something does not exist.  Our capacity works this way.  Example: I see a table in the room.  As soon as I say, “there is no table in the room”, I know that my friend Ken has it.  What did I talk about?  The nonexistence of the table with respect to Ken’s room.  In this example I told a lie. In the same way, if I pretend to be more than what I am, I am telling a lie in order to be more than what I am. The meaning of “Mustakbir” is this lie, which is translated into English as “arrogant.” I can only talk about existence and either I confirm it or deny it by using my free will. The denial of reality is, in its essence, does not exist.  Me, as a lying person exists, but the content of the lie does not exist. Existence is real, and the human mind and our free will work with pairs or “zauj” (in Arabic) and we are free to choose the real or to deny it.  

We have spoken about “zauj” in previous sessions when studying Section “jinn”.  “Zauj” refers to a pair, one of the pair is the spirit which acknowledges reality, and the other is “Satan” which represents what does not exist.  The spirit acknowledges the truth and Satan represents the opposite of the truth.  We always function in between two options and we must understand how we function, so we can accordingly evaluate what it is that we must do.  In the example above, the spirit acknowledges the existence of the table in Ken’s room, but Satan represents that there is no table in Ken’s room. If I want to deny reality then I follow Satan’s suggestion. Similarly, the spirit acknowledges its Creator and Satan’s whisperings suggest that there is no Creator.  You cannot get rid of the whisperings because everything in creation exists with its pair, and that is the reality of creation.  That is why in the Quran Allah presents lailaha illallah as a pair.  Lailaha represents “non-existence”, and it is the area of Satan and illallah represents “existence” and it is the area of the spirit.  That is how we observe the balance in the universe, with opposites, North & South, Attraction & Repulsion.  In other words, the universal law of creation is based on gravity, in physical terms.  We are here with the Sun on one side and the Earth on the other side.  We cannot attribute this balance in creation or anything in existence to accidental happenings.  Accidents cannot create opposites to keep itself in balance. In fact, there is no accident in the act of creation, accident is the concept Satan suggests to us. We are free to choose to attribute the creation to an Absolute Creator or to accident. But spirit recognizes the truth. Within the balance in creation, we observe that pairs are contradictory in nature, yet with complementary actions.  Hence, it is impossible to attribute such gravity to ‘accidents’!  We must be satisfied with this understanding.

Now, arrogance or “istikbar” comes from my reality, and as soon as I see that my reality needs to be created, my mind automatically calls its pair that you may not need to be created.  “Istikbar” is denying the the state of my being NOW.  You can either confirm the reality or deny it.  That is why the Quran defines the enemies of the Prophets as “mukazziboon”  (those who deny) or “affaak”, which means those who fabricate something which does not exist or has a reality.  

The reality of existence is how things exist.  That is, everything exists with the reality of its qualities.  If something does not have any quality, then it does not exist.  For example, I am created with my body and the abilities to think, see, and feel.  That is how I am created, and I ask, what is the Source of Existence of the way I am together with my qualities?  When deniers  say that it is how your “nature” made you,  because as they call my qualities “nature” is nothing but how I exist.  When I question my existence I am questioning the existence of my qualities. Deniers claim that my qualities are creator of myself, and it becomes a tautology. In this case, “istikbar” is accepting that things happen “naturally” or “by accident”.  You can acknowledge the existence of truth by rejecting its opposite i.e. false.  Similarly, if there was no darkness, would you be able to acknowledge light?  That is how our essence is, we only understand existence through its opposite.  Example, if there was no lying, then we would not know the truth.

Comments: What about Angels?

Angels have no freewill and they do not need to choose.  If they do not need to choose, then they do not have two options.  That is how the Quran describes the Angels, whatever they receive from God, they obey it (get it and transfer it in the form of this universe).  Only human beings are free not to perform their duties, because they are created with free will.  Example, a student knows that s/he must study.  Will knowing his/her duties for the class compel him/her to do the assignment?  No. The student has the option not to submit the assignment.  Similarly, our free will works in the same way.

Comment: If we follow our free will in the right way, do we become Angels?

No!  Angels do not have bodies, but I interact with the universe with my body.  Example, I must eat the food to taste it.  Let us take another example, if you love to play basketball, make sure, you attribute the pleasure of playing given to you by your Creator, of being pleased with the Creator of the universe.  You must attribute the experience of the pleasure in playing basketball to your Source of Existence.  Also, when your friends call you to the game and you are delighted, this happiness is created by Him, it is not an accident.  If the Creator would not have created you with the taste of happiness for playing basketball, then would you be able to recognize your Creator as to be the Source Of Existence of pleasure?  No.  Therefore, whichever way that you are created, you must attribute it back to its Source of Existence (“rujoo’” in Arabic means acknowledging and turning back to its Origin i.e. your Creator). When you acknowledge the Creator with “bismillah” and “alhamdulillah” that you enjoyed today by playing basketball, then according to the living conditions of the next life, you will have this pleasure.  That is why, the Quran describes Hell and Paradise with the examples of this world for we cannot imagine the “Hereafter”.  For example, “fire” is used in the Quran to describe Hell, and everyone is afraid of fire because no one wants to get burned.  Also, fire never gets satisfied, i.e., the more you give, it keeps burning.  It means that the pain of lack of something does not get satisfied, because there is nothing.  That is why, the Quran mentions to go and ask your partners/associates or whatever you assigned to be the Creator and attributed as giving you satisfaction to create Paradise for you, they cannot. You will suffer from the lack of Paradise as there will be no response from their “idols” (shirk in Arabic) or ‘nature’ and ‘accidents’, they themselves do not exist and therefore cannot create what you want.

Comments: What about our pre-Earthly existence, which is not experiential, but we still testify to it?

Because of the nature of the spirit, we cannot testify to it.  We cannot assign time to the spirit.  Ideally, we recognize that we cannot assign time to the spirit but we can only understand that it is created when God willed it to exist.  If I am not able to describe something in “time-dimension”, can I say, “before & after”?  No.  It exists.  

Comment: Why are we given a body in the Hereafter?

The nature of the spirit cannot operate without the body. This is the principle of creation as referred to by materialists to be the “laws of buoyancy”.  For example, people find out the principle of water, how the water is holding up against gravity.  If a ship has a certain volume and weight, then it can float in the water, based upon the density of the water.  If there was no body of water, can you ever know the existence of the principle of buoyancy?  No.  The spirit is described in the Quran as the law i.e. “amru rabb”, where “amr” means command.  

For example, the commander-in-chief tells the army to stand up in the middle of the night when every soldier is sleeping.  The law/command/order is there for the army to follow.  Now, after looking into the existence of this universe, we understand that it is the result of a command, i.e. “kun fayakun”, which means be and it is.  Similarly, if there was no universe, would you know “amrullah” (God’s command)?  No.  Only after the universe comes into existence, then can you confirm the law.  Hence, by definition of something to be a law, we cannot assign a “before & after” time to it.  Our body becomes dysfunctional and then decomposes, but the law of life and the spirit do not disappear.  That is why, the body dies, and the spirit does not die, because the spirit is not subject to time and change.

Example, we cannot talk about God to have existed a million years ago, however, are we sure that such an Absolute being must exist?  How do we conclude that?  By seeing the body of what is created, i.e. the universe.  Let us assume that you have not seen the universe, can you talk about what God created or God is the Creator?  As far as we are concerned, we cannot reach the idea that the Creator of the universe exists without experiencing the existence of this universe. “lailaha” means this universe cannot be its own creator, and any part of this universe cannot be the Creator of this universe.  Therefore, since it exists, there must be an Existence Giver, Creator i.e. “illallah.”

Comments: Our spirits have been created in the realm of the existence of the Spirits, so what are my duties here?

There are many realms of existence as far as we understand: The realm of existence of “matter”, the realm of existence of qualities manifested in the creation of “matter.” The realm of existence of the endless meanings communicating with us manifest in the material aspect of the universe which are called by the Qur’an “angels. There is the realm of existence of the Source Of Existence of everything in the universe, called God, which cannot be describable in terms of this universe. As far as your experience in this realm of creation is concerned, your responsibility is to acknowledge the truth by choosing your free will.  Do not confuse the things with the “before & after”.  RIGHT NOW, do I know that we need to be created by a One who created the universe and must be the Creator of the universe and who puts me in connection with the whole context of the universe?  Every feeling lets me know that I am at the center of my universe.  You have the option to say that I do not care, or you can choose the other option that says that this is a serious matter, and I must be honest because I have been given this sense.  When you tell a lie, do you know that you are doing something wrong?  Yes.  If you did not know, then it means that you are not telling a lie.  We know from our own life experience that when I acknowledge the truth, I know that I am doing right.  As human beings, we can distinguish and acknowledge what is right and wrong.  That is why we are responsible because we have been given the potentiality to acknowledge what is right and what is wrong.

Our foundations must be established firmly when we talk about worship or recreation , and only then we can try to understand the meaning of the rituals, practical side (which is important) and understanding the technical terminology of Paradise and Hell.  Focus on: “I belong to the One who creates the whole universe, and He creates me with the ability to communicate with Him through the universe with no limitations via my spirit”.  The spirit does not acknowledge time and space. 

“alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen” – every quality manifested in creation can only belong to Allah.
Who is Allah?  “rabbul alameen” – the Owner, Provider and Sustainer of this whole universe. (you can add more qualities such as the Compassionate, the Bestower, the Healer…)

The whole universe belongs to Allah, but this creation is created in a linear time dimension.  Matter cannot be the arranger of this intricately interwoven conflicting yet complementary form of existence.  Everything must be created by an Absolute Being, about whom we cannot talk about time-space, numbers, or any limitations with it.  We cannot describe Absolute because we can only describe things within the conditions of this universe, and Absolute is not within the conditions of this universe.  This universe is the work of an Absolute, can you describe the Artist within his/her art?  No.  The Artist must have another level of existence, and the art is the work of the Artist.  The essence of the existence of the work/creation and its Creator is irrelevant to each other.  At the same time, the qualities that we see in the work refers that whoever made this art must be the source of the existence of the quality in the art.  How do we know that such a thing we call art must have existence?  Because it manifests qualities.  Can the qualities of the art make the art?  Again, the art is created with its qualities, and we cannot separate the art from its qualities. It is so SIMPLE! The elements of the piece of art cannot be its artist and we should confirm his/her existence although s/he exists in another realm of existence, not in the realm of existence of the piece of art.

It is important to bear in mind that the word “Creator” is a conclusion, and we cannot establish any reasoning on a conclusion.  We must say that the conclusion of my reasoning about the Source Of Existence is called in scripture “God”.  When we pray, we say God created the universe, but when we reason we say that the universe must have an Owner called “God”.  We must start with “there must be” (lailaha), and then the conclusion is “God” (illallah).  Therefore, in this world, while reasoning, we must start with “lailaha” (the qualities of this art cannot make itself and this art cannot be the Source of existence of the qualities that I am seeing), so where did the art of creation come from with its qualities?  There must be a One who made it, and this One we call it “Allah”, “ilallah” i.e. God is the conclusion or the end of our reasoning.  That is how God introduces Himself in the Quran, that I am the One who created the universe (rabbul ‘alameen), and who am I?  God.  Always confirm God at the end i.e. there must be a Creator called “God” or “Allah”.  The Speech of God reveals the way of how we reason.  

While we are reasoning, we must go through “lailaha illallah”, which means that whatever I am interacting with does not have the qualities to give existence to anything, so there must be a One that brings these qualities into existence.  In section “ikhlas” or “Absoluteness” of the Quran, the first verse, “qul huwa allahu ahad”,  the word “huwa” is referring to there must be something who made the qualities that I observe in the apple for example. He is Allah, an “ahad” the Absolute.  

• What is “ahad”?  It means an Absolute One that I cannot describe, but there must be a Maker of this universe, and I do not know His essence, His realm of existence, which is not of the nature of this created world.  “Allahu ahad.”  
• What is “samad”? It is Someone who gave existence but is not like this existence.  Why?  Because existence needs to be created and the Source of Existence should not need to be created.  A needy one cannot give existence to something that did not exist. But everything which needs to be given existence depends on His act of creating. 

“Lam yalid walam yoolad” is still describing “huwa“.  “Lam yalid” means He gave His qualities to no one i.e. in the universe, you cannot find anything with the quality of its Maker.  Example: a mother gives birth to a baby who has the same qualities as his mother; the baby grows and becomes like her mother. But the Creator has given birth to no one.  This means that you cannot find any quality of the Creator within what He has created.  Any part does not represent the Creator. 

• What is “walam yoolad”? It means that He cannot have any qualities of the created beings such as “neediness”.  Some people unthinkingly ask the question, can God create another God?  Believers react to this, rather than reasoning with: “if something is needy of createdness, then it cannot be God.”  The Creator cannot be begotten. The question does not make sense. It is a self-contradictory question. 

“walam yaun lahu kufuwan ahad”, you cannot find any equivalent of the Creator within the created being.  That is, you cannot find the Artist within the art.

Again, while we are reasoning, we must start from “lailaha” and end up with “illallah”.  I confirm the idea of God because I know that the universe needs a Creator and there is no Creator in the universe.  This Creator is called “God” or “Allah”.  Unfortunately, the believers are mostly reminded of the list of their belief subjects, rather than the reasoning of their beliefs.  We are trying to work on our belief in God in such a satisfactory way that no one can challenge this belief.

Comment: My spirit comes from God and is always connected to God.

I need someone to give me existence, that is what I am.  I cannot exist by myself.  Now, I start investigating.  Who and what can be the Source of my existence?  I am given the ability and the free will to question this, so I use it.  What can be the Source of my existence?  The food that I ate today.  The food does not know my feelings, but my body functions with the nourishment that I receive, but they cannot be the Source of my Existence.  Who gave me the ability to be in connection with other people, family, and friends? Is it soil?  DNA?   Example: the ink in the book is made of particles.  Can you say that the particles wrote the book?  No.  Can matter be the Source of information or the Creator of the existence of the information?  No, but there must be a One who knows the information and uses ink to write the book.  Similarly, there must be a One who gave me existence with all its information i.e. feelings, brain…  Again, we are going through the process of “lailaha illallah”.  Coming to the conclusion of “Ilallah” is the result of the “lailaha” process.  We must use this way of reasoning with every experience.  Example: this feeling that I do not like cannot exist by itself, the One who created me with this sense tells me not to like this feeling.

We must follow the Quranic method which perfectly fits our human qualities, with reasoning.  When we conclude by observing the universe that I am sure there must be an Absolute Being called “Allah” in the Quran; this Quranis giving me the news of the true Source of existence.  It also says to” practice this conclusion in your practical life as My Prophet taught you, as I trained him to teach you.  Come to Me with this conclusion and say that today my experience told me again that You are my Lord, that is why I am coming to represent my conclusion to You, “Allahu Akbar”.  In this way, the meaning of prayer becomes so powerful in my life that I feel I must confess my conclusion to my Creator.  That is why I am here to worship  my Creator.  Before worship, we must go to the reasoning process.  The more we exercise this, the quicker it becomes.  While we are thinking, we must say that the earthquake, for example, does not happen by itself, it is the purposeful planning of its Creator because the Earth cannot decide what to do, and how to construct itself.

We must learn to read the Quran without prejudice.  For example, in the verse we are studying, how do I know that Hell is always after the deniers?  When I deny reality, I know that I cannot get rid of  what my conscience tells me that I am telling a lie. I am automatically experiencing Hell, lack of the truth.  The Quran says that you will experience this lack of truth forever after death.  Example, if you do not go to school, and deny the purpose of the existence of the school and do not attend classes and learn, you know that after graduating, you will be as ignorant as ever.  The students who just enjoy hanging out in the cafeteria, know deep down what they are missing out, their consciousness makes them realize the pain.  There are many verses in the Quran that catches our attention of taking up the responsibility of our existence when we keep postponing to get to know the truth. For example:

وَقَالَ لَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَآ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِّنكُمْ يَتْلُونَ عَلَيْكُمْ ءَايَـٰتِ رَبِّكُمْ وَيُنذِرُونَكُمْ لِقَآءَ يَوْمِكُمْ هَـٰذَا قَالُوا۟ بَلَىٰ وَلَـٰكِنْ حَقَّتْ كَلِمَةُ ٱلْعَذَابِ عَلَى ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ

39: 71 “… its keepers will say to them, ‘Were you not sent your own messengers to recite the revelations of your Lord to you and warn you that you would meet this Day?’ and they will say, ‘Yes indeed we were.’ But the sentence of punishment will have been passed against those who rejected the truth.”  

Apart from the message of the Prophets the warner is always with us.  The Quran speaks about the Hereafter which will take place after we die. But while we are experiencing the signs of the Hereafter in this world we can confirm the news of the Hereafter mentioned in the Qur’an.  The point is that after graduating from this universe, this consciousness will continue.  Without going through the confirmation phases of confirming what the Quran says, you cannot follow the Quran.  That is, you can only follow the Quran after reasoning. Unfortunately, when believers have problems, they do not go to the Quran and study its message, rather to a therapist because their belief was not satisfactory.