Section Ya-Seen – Part 14

We will continue with our study from Section Ya-Seen of the Qur’an from where we last left off. As a summary of the last few verses, we saw in some detail the situation of the people that rejected the message of the prophets suffered the consequences in this world in terms of physical or spiritual pain which carries over to the next world. In the next creation the spirit continues to experience with another body what it experiences here in this world. It all depends on how we utilize our body to experience this world either resulting in a satisfied spirit or a suffering spirit.

We also noticed how the subject of the verses suddenly changed to discuss Paradise. This context switching is common in the Qur’an where the subjects seemingly look unrelated. However, the subjects are related to the fundamental teachings of the Qur’an where it can be either an extension to the previous subject or another aspect that looks to our life such as addressing our social life, personal spiritual life, personal ethical life, personal civil life, family life, economical life, or administrative life. The combination of these teachings is commonly employed in the Qur’an everywhere. The teachings of the Qur’an show wisdom where the early stage of revelation (Meccan years) is different from the later stages of revelation (Medinan years), gradually developing human beings. All aspects of human life are combined in these stages for me to increase my belief in God and the Hereafter. Accordingly, I will see that my individual, personal and social life need to be adjusted to that level. The Qur’an teaches in a holistic way where several aspects address my individual and social life at the same time. 

Another feature of the Qur’an is the repetition that one may find. One may question why the Qur’an keeps mentioning the same topics repeatedly. We are usually used to reading books from chapter to chapter and the Qur’an doesn’t follow this but seemingly jumps from one topic to another. 

The Qur’an is a book of law, of morality, ethics, sociology, psychology, and many aspects related to our lives. It is a book giving news of “ghaib” that we do not know unless we are informed of It. I cannot read the Qur’an as I read a biology or physics book.

For example, while the Qur’an is speaking about one’s relationship with parents, family and neighbors describing how one should behave and live, there is also a reminder that comes on why are you doing this? The Qur’an starts speaking about being confident in one’s belief in God, the Hereafter and following the prophetic life. In the example, I am having a nice relationship with my family to have a worshipful relationship with God. Otherwise, for what purpose am I doing all these things? I do it to obey the Will of my Creator who gave me this need and I must perform the act in His name, not that I am a nice person. I am being helpful to others so that I fulfill my duty of obeying God’s Will. 

To be a lovable person, one does not need to be a believer in God or a worshiper of God. While describing how I should arrange my life to worship God, the Qur’an suddenly brings the topic of Resurrection and the Hereafter. There are surprising repetitions in the Qur’an where we must stop and see why the subject changed suddenly. For example, many verses related to war conditions revealed in Medina where the believers had to defend themselves from the physical attacks of the unbelievers are repeated in other places. The subject suddenly changes to discuss the Hereafter or to follow the prophetic message. We must understand that these seemingly repetitions in the Qur’an are not repetitions as they deal with reminders that I need to defend myself not for the sake of my anger or hate of the enemies but to worship God alone. For example, the encouragement to give to charity is to practice my belief in God that the property does not belong to me but the Owner of the universe. Yes, it gives me spiritual satisfaction, but it is not for my sake. It is for my purpose in this life to acknowledge God as my Owner and Lord. When I do any action, I must do it to recognize my connection with my Creator. I am doing my duty to fulfill the purpose of my existence which is to get in contact with my Creator, acknowledge Him and be His worshiper, worshiping no one else including our human satisfaction but Him alone. This should not prevent us from being happy, enjoying what we are doing as something right. In fact, our happiness and satisfaction are enhanced when we remember that we are doing whatever we are doing only to fulfill the purpose of my existence in this world which is to recognize who I am and who my Creator is. While performing the action, I understand that He is my Owner of my feelings, I am doing this in His name. He is preserving my actions, and it is not my memory or video recordings that can preserve them for my hereafter. The Owner of the universe is keeping my records not my personal devices of this world. Unlike the data recordings on devices that perish, my Creator’s recordings stay with Him, who is Infinite, i.e. Absolute. My pleasure is multiplied by Infinity. 

The universe is created for me to understand that my feelings are not fully satisfied here in this world as things die; to live in this world to satisfy our life in this world only is pointless.

Let us continue with the following verse where people are now in Paradise:

لَهُمْ فِيهَا فَـٰكِهَةٌۭ وَلَهُم مَّا يَدَّعُونَ

36:57 There they will have fruits and whatever they desire.

The Qur’an uses fruits to describe His blessings in the Hereafter. Why specifically fruits? There are many kinds of fruits that are beautiful, enjoyable, have different sizes, shapes, decorated, filled with sweet syrup, sour syrup, etc.  One doesn’t really have to work much on a fruit tree as in cultivating vegetables. The fruit tree is planted once, and you are given plentiful fruits for many years without much human labor.

Another question arises where Paradise is always described in the Qur’an in terms of this world. Why do you think it does this? We have prophetic narrations describing Paradise in terms of you have never seen anything like it, it is beyond human imagination. We have discussed other verses mentioning Paradise as being of a completely different kind of creation that we cannot imagine. Why am I not given some description where I can use my imagination to understand? 

The Qur’an gives very substantial examples such as fruits that we experience in this world. There are also examples of running rivers, palaces, and the creation of things in pairs. They are all descriptions of Paradise from this world only. Why is that so?

We cannot understand anything if they are not described within the conditions of this world. The Qur’an describes God’s Attributes or Names described as “Husna”, a form of beauty that is hyperbolized as Perfect qualities such as Perfect Beauty, Perfect Wisdom. The term “beautiful names” is not properly understood by those unfamiliar with the literature of the Qur’an. It can be mistakenly understood as the name of a person.

All the Perfect qualities of God are described in terms of human feelings. For example, I get introduced to them such as: “I am the Most Merciful, the Most Forbearing, the Most Compassionate, the Most Powerful, the Most Rich”, etc. All of them are what I can experience with my feelings. We must be able to relate to these qualities. I must feel these qualities within me to appreciate them and confirm that they are true. For example, God says that I am not just merciful but the Most Merciful. I must be exposed to this Mercy as I see billions of beings are experiencing His Mercy. All over the universe, creation is taking place in a Merciful way that I can understand who my Owner is, who is the Owner of the universe. I don’t feel alien but cordial to the universe. 

It is essential that the Qur’an must give examples from a world that is experiential to me which is why sometimes it gives simple examples. I must be able to relate to them and the qualities should resonate with me. For example, when wrongful actions are committed, they are rejected and the punishment is described in terms of this physical world such as earthquakes, storms, etc.  We must appreciate the simplicity of the Qur’an as the message speaks to everyone. Unlike other specialized books such as for medicine, where I need training to understand it; we can all easily confirm the Quran’s message without any specialized background.  

The Qur’an speaks to everyone at every stage of their lives. For example, the Qur’an speaks about creating the world in 6 days, I don’t need to study Cosmology to grasp this. The day is defined in terms of the rotation of the earth around its axis. However, the creation of the universe in 6 days does not mean the time concept that we are familiar with. At the beginning of the creation of the universe there was no solar system and the concept of the day that we experience exists only within our solar system. When we get out of the solar system there will be no “day” as we experience here in the solar system. If we imagine ourselves living in a galaxy cluster our day will be billions of times longer than that of what we experience here on earth. The concept of “time” is relative to our construct of understanding of the way the universe is being created. The “day” in the Qur’an means the moment of change that we perceive as happening in time, life a fraction of a unit of a second. The Qur’an defines the creation of the beginning of the universe to the end all happening in one day, as one unit of time. We must understand in which context the term “day” is used where it can be a moment of time that has a beginning and an end as far as I am concerned. I had a beginning in terms of days for me and when I die, I reach the day of the Hereafter and God says that “the day of the Hereafter has no end”.

سَلَـٰمٌۭ قَوْلًۭا مِّن رَّبٍّۢ رَّحِيمٍۢ

36:58 “Peace!” will be a greeting from a Merciful Lord.” 

This is wonderful news coming from my Lord whose Mercy is Infinite, He promised me that my life in Paradise will always be in peace. I will never experience any dissatisfaction between me and my Creator, whatever I like to have will be ready so that I will never be disappointed with my Creator. The word used is “رحيم” and not “رحمن” as this feeling is taking place in the Hereafter, the eternal existence that needs Eternal manifestation of Mercy. The world “رحيم” means eternally merciful. The word “رحمن” is used for Mercy manifested in this world. The words share similar root letters, but the form changes the meaning. Everyone gets equal Mercy in this world according to their belief or unbelief, regardless of their following the prophetic message or discarding it. After I die, it is His Mercy “رحيم” that will manifest endlessly, the Eternal Mercy of my Lord.

What is the significance of “Merciful Lord is greeting us” with “Peace”? One aspect is appreciating the Source of Mercy. This Mercy does not come from anything in the universe but from the Lord of the universe, my Owner is saying: “Welcome, Peace”. The specific declaration of “Peace” that we receive will be from the “Merciful Lord”. 

For example, I am walking in a dark street and don’t see what is happening around me. Someone is approaching and I start feeling distressed and this person declares “peace”. I understand that this person is approaching me with peace between us. This does not mean that I will not have any other trouble with someone else. This one instance of peace does not secure my life. However, if the Owner of this whole universe tells me “You will be at peace in this land, everything is under my control. I am declaring peace between Me and you.”. Do I have a sense of fear anymore? This declaration secures my life at every moment.

The singular form of the word “سَلَـٰمٌۭ” means “Such a Peace that you cannot imagine!”. For example, when I say, “I ate a fruit today that was delicious.” As far as you understand from my statement, I might have referred to all kinds of fruit that existed in the world. This “a fruit” linguistically can refer to any fruit we can imagine. As far as I am concerned, this “fruit” that I am referring to means every possible fruit in the meaning of a fruit. But if I say “I ate the fruit” that will mean only one fruit that you and I know. This does not include in meaning all the fruit we can imagine. In the same way, this single form of “peace” represents all forms of peace. Another example, when I say “ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ” to someone, it means that we have peace between us, we agree to treat each other in a peaceful way. It may be only today, but tomorrow there may be no peace between me and that person. But when God says to me “Peace” in a singular form, that means there will be peace between me and my Creator whatever the kind of peace I need with no exception.

This “Peace” mentioned in this verse in a singular form without any specification, i.e. it is open ended, is something that I cannot imagine, the Infinite form of Peace, that I cannot describe. In every aspect that I can imagine myself to be in, there will be “Peace” from my Lord. This singular form of words is sometimes used in the Qur’an to  indicate something that one cannot imagine, the thing being beyond one’s perception. In this verse it is “salam” or Peace, but it can be anything.