We will continue to study the following verses from Section Ya-Seen of the Qur’an.
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا فِىٓ أَعْنَـٰقِهِمْ أَغْلَـٰلًۭا فَهِىَ إِلَى ٱلْأَذْقَانِ فَهُم مُّقْمَحُونَ
36:8 We have put shackles around their necks, reaching to their chins, so that their heads are forced up.
These verses in the Qur’an seem to be giving descriptions of what may seem to be for the hereafter, but they are applicable to us now as well. They describe what a human being would experience in their feelings, their spiritual life as it is experienced within their own selves. This experience is a result of one’s attitude to the truth and to reality.
We must think about the situation of disbelief in terms of what it brings into one’s spiritual life in this world. The verse says “We have put shackles” meaning that God has placed the shackles on them. How should we understand this? On the surface it may sound as if God is putting them in this situation, but we should understand that the situation is created as a result of what one has chosen in this world. The result is felt in this world as well. In this verse, God describes the situation of the people who have chosen the wrong way and as a result of their choice, God creates their spiritual life accordingly. The disbelievers are described as having shackles around their neck with their heads being forced up because of their obstinacy, their arrogance in not accepting the truth, not accepting their reality. They act as boastful people expressing confidence in their conclusions on the outside but do not disclose their inner state which must be unstable having unsatisfied feelings. It is obvious if someone denies the Creator of the universe, he will find himself in trouble where life would be unsatisfactory with no hope in their feelings. They may appear to be confident in their lives, but God describes them to be in the worst form of slavery which is a result of their own pride and self-conceitedness.
We must be careful in understanding that God is not putting them in such a horrible situation, He simply creates the result if one denies reality and contradicts their own selves, contradicting their consciousness and intellect. They are forcing themselves to deny the reality that they are created beings in this temporary world.
We experience that the order of the universe is established in such a way as it is Willed by its Creator. That is His decision. We are here as created beings and we know that the order does not change. If I cut a tree it dies. I learn this from the order. Since I am given free will I am free to choose to cut the tree or not cut the tree; this is my free decision. If I cut it, it is God’s decision that a dead tree will be created. In His message of the Qur’an He tells me that if I choose to contradict my reality the result will be created by Him that my feelings will suffer from this contradiction that I have chosen. This and all other similar verses of the Qur’an states about what God creates in His order and if what I choose the result will be created by Him. This message of the Qur’an’s language says, “I put shackles around their necks, reaching to their chins, so that their heads are forced up” letting us be aware of how His order of creation works. This language can never be taken to mean that He is deciding to choose “to put shackles on someone’s necks” without the prior choice of human free will. It is the Creator who creates the results of our choices according to His order of creation, which is established by Him; does not mean that He forces us to choose what we prefer with our free will prior to His creation. We all experience in our lives that first we choose and then the result is created according to the order. Thus we are not surprised when we experience the result of our choices. This is so true that even some people confuse and say, “Of course, if I cut the tree it dies.” We should notice that this language of ours must be consciously used and be understood that this result is not arbitrarily and naturally happening but as a result of the order established by God who is the Creator of everything in the universe at every moment. I cannot create a dead tree but I only ask the Creator to create a dead tree by choosing to cut it so the Creator creates a dead tree in the next moment of creation in an orderly manner.
وَجَعَلْنَا مِنۢ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّۭا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّۭا فَأَغْشَيْنَـٰهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ
36:9 We have put a barrier before them and a barrier behind them and covered them over, so that they cannot see [the Truth.]
The phrase “لَا يُبْصِرُونَ” translated as “they cannot see [the Truth]”. It is not that they are blind to the truth, but they choose to ignore the truth deliberately as a result of their arrogance.
In the hereafter it is up to God to decide on any punishment based on the attitude that one takes while living in this world as He knows how arrogant this person was in the world; we do not know his heart. If disbelievers choose to insist on being arrogant in their rejection they themselves close the door of turning back, repenting, and admitting their reality. They have to give this arrogance up. Otherwise, they freeze themselves in their arrogance; they cannot change their present and future life which is the barrier placed before and behind them. They cannot go back to repent, to reconsider the attitude that they have taken so that they will rectify their wrong choice. As long as they insist on being arrogant they cannot get out of their frozen state to give up their arrogance of denial and are adamant on their decisions to never reconsider their stance. They will always be in the same position, feeling this slavery position in their lives, not having satisfaction in their lives even though they may not admit the dissatisfaction of their feelings outwardly. God says that if you choose to follow this way of distorting your reality, that is what you will feel.
We should understand that these verses are informing us that if one denies their reality of createdness, they would be experiencing shackles around their necks within their feelings. On the other hand, the believers feel satisfied as they recognize their existence has been given by the Lord of the universe. They say, “Thank God” and do not feel any of the suffocating feelings. They realize that my Creator, Owner is the Lord of the universe, the One who gave me life from the beginning till now. He created me with consciousness where I am aware of my existence which is a blessing for me. I live with the confidence that the Owner of my being is the One who is the Owner of this universe and He blessed me with life and consciousness that I feel secure in my life and I have no fear of death because it is going to be created by Him. He definitely knows what desires He has created within me and these desires are nothing but His promise to me that He will satisfy them. If He is not going to satisfy them then why would He create them in me? He is the All-Wise One as I witness in his universe that everything He creates has endless wisdom.
إِلَّا مَن تَابَ وَءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًۭا صَـٰلِحًۭا فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ ٱللَّهُ سَيِّـَٔاتِهِمْ حَسَنَـٰتٍۢ ۗ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا
25:70 As for those who repent, believe, and do good deeds, they are the ones whose evil deeds Allah will change into good deeds. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
To repent means that one has committed a serious crime and now they want to repent, to believe means that they did not believe before, to do good deeds means that they did not do good deeds before. What happens if they repent and believe and start doing good deeds, then, God turns their bad deeds into good deeds, i.e. counting the bad deeds as good deeds. For indeed, God is All-Forgiving and Most Merciful. This is the wonderful news the Qur’an gives us.
We usually have the understanding that when one sincerely converts to Islam, all their past sins, all their time of not believing in God at all or in a shaky way are all forgiven, and they are like a newly born baby. No matter what background one is coming from, if they realize the truth and enter the fold of Islam, repent of their sins, they benefit from this news.
For example, in a movie production, certain scenes that are not needed can be deleted. Sins are deleted with sincere repentance. If someone commits the biggest sins, denies everything, but if they repent, not only will God forgive them, but God will replace their bad actions with good actions. We need to seek sincere repentance and believe in God. As a result, God will transform their bad actions into good actions. This is a blessing, good news for anyone. We should never lose hope in the Mercy of our Creator.
We can understand this transformation of bad actions or disbelief into good actions and belief by taking an example. Let’s assume a scientist studied the certain sections of the creation as believing that these were happening “naturally” and disseminating this idea by giving the examples from his experiences. As he continues his research he realizes that all that he experiences in the lab is impossible to reduce to meaningless “nature”. The scientist claims that these wonderful creations can come into existence by chance and develop by themselves while they are nothing but blind matter. However, he decides to give up his arrogance and submit that they must be created by an Absolute Conscious Being who is the Source Of Existence of the entire universe. He uses all his previous information he had learned before and starts disseminating the belief in God. What happened now is that all of his knowledge became a means of belief and good action. We are learning from this verse that God is informing us how His order functions if we repent and submit to the truth. That is how God creates the result of our choices.
وَسَوَآءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
36:10 It is all the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them, they won’t believe.
This verse is open to misunderstanding where one may say that: “We should not bother about those who are lost in their arrogance, in their self-conceitedness or those believers who are not considering the negligence of their belief and take it superficially. We should forget about them, there is no need to talk to them.”
This verse is a description of the attitude of a person who is insisting on their conceited behavior, their bias. If they do not give up their bias, they will not receive any warnings, any message that is conveyed to them.
This means that we should be open to taking any advice from anyone. I should consider whatever I have been doing and see if it is right or wrong. I should think about what I have been doing and believing in is right or wrong for me. I may be lacking something or missing some point which means that I am not a perfect person. If someone doesn’t accept that he may be insufficient in his understanding, in his own conclusions, his own behavior and feels within himself that he is already perfect then he closes the door to receiving any message. If someone says that I am perfect but doesn’t see that their understanding may be lacking something, then that is a problematic attitude. If I listen to anyone thinking that I am already perfect, I don’t need to listen to them. If I listen to them only to find mistakes of the speaker without analyzing what the other person is saying, then I do not benefit from the message even if there is truth in it. I take myself as the criteria for the truth which closes the door to getting any missing message. That is the worst attitude that I may take, which is not to see my shortcomings, and not see my mistakes. I will not know what is wrong or lacking in my understanding.
This attitude of always being correct is a danger for those who claim to believe and submit their existence to their Creator. We must look for the truth. Whatever we are convinced with so far, we should go along with it. Never claim that I am perfect. I am sure that there is no way that my practice, act, or belief is perfect.
It doesn’t mean that we should not give advice to anyone. Upon giving advice if I feel fully conceited in my own way, then I will not be taking any lesson, any warning from anyone. I would not benefit even from the Qur’an. I may interpret the Qur’an as I want based on my attitude which may be arrogant. I only get what I am looking for in my interpretation of the Qur’an. We need to be open and share our understandings with others with the intention that they will remind me if I am wrong in my understanding of the truth.
In today’s world, certain material scientists are misleading the younger generation with the tricky language they use by distorting the interpretation of the scientific facts in a way that is completely contradictory to the reality of these facts. Their interpretation is biased. It is true when they mention they have the facts which are based on their observation of the way things are functioning in the universe by studying them, where the beings in the universe follow a certain order or pattern. However, they are hiding their corrupt interpretation behind the way things are created. The young people do not pay much attention to this. We must be careful with how they trick us as we are shown that technology works because of their scientific research. When they study, these material scientists demonstrate in their presentations exactly how things are created. They gain credibility in young minds by claiming that they are showing the facts from their research. However, where is chance and accident in how they interpret their findings? They interpret what they are showing as a result of their findings in creation and they interpret it as due to the nature of the elements themselves as if the elements have their nature by themselves or by accident. Where is nature, does it have free will? Where did nature get its existence from? Where did nature get its qualities from?
For example, I have an instinct to drink a glass of water when I am thirsty. It is the way that I am created. It doesn’t mean that I self-exist or this instinct self-exists. We must watch out for their baseless claims on how things are coming into existence which they hide behind the scientific facts. These scientific facts are coming into existence by the Will and Choice of their Creator as He creates them within an order, and this Creator cannot be within the matter itself. We cannot say that the engineer of the computer is a piece of the computer within the computer or within the nature of its parts. However, they deny this and show how the computer works. That is correct that the computer works and they demonstrate. However, where they distort the reality is that without questioning how it came into existence with these qualities to work, they jump into their baseless interpretation and claim, “Look how the parts of the computer act as a result of their nature.” This is the dishonest way of presenting the results of their research.
The most influential people of this age are the scientists. The most obvious evidence for the Qur’an in order to prove what it says is the universe. For some reason, the Muslims have stopped studying the Qur’an alongside the universe which leaves the universe to be interpreted by scientists as they want. Who is challenging the material scientists? Unfortunately, the current Muslim population has left the universe behind and thinks that the Qur’an alone suffices them. It is the Qur’an that encourages man to look and witness the universe. The scientists say “nature” and the “natural laws,” which are fabricated and named by them taking the words from Latin, which sounds “scientific,” are governing the universe. Of course, they cannot show this “nature” in any beings that happened to be accidentally. They indicate that this huge, perfect order of the universe comes out of nothing, or unconscious matter produced it and then it subjugates itself to this order. This is contradicting human logic! How is it that they are in perfect order which definitely needs conscious choice? Can one really attribute this perfect order showing signs of Knowledge, Will and Power to “blind matter”? Does matter have any quality to itself?
We should understand that some of the materialist scientists do not give up their arrogant behavior. Whatever the believers tell them does not make them change their logically inconsistent interpretations. We should not be disappointed with what the Qur’an presents, its fundamental teachings that are extremely powerful but have no effect on them. We need to work on how to present the message of the Qur’an to them. The message has to be understood with a free mind, when one is not holding a bias.
إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ مَنِ ٱتَّبَعَ ٱلذِّكْرَ وَخَشِىَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنَ بِٱلْغَيْبِ ۖ فَبَشِّرْهُ بِمَغْفِرَةٍۢ وَأَجْرٍۢ كَرِيمٍ
36:11 You can only warn someone who follows the message and stands in awe of the Merciful even though He is beyond his perception [physically -ghayb]. So, give him good news of forgiveness and a generous reward.
One may believe in God but may find themselves carried away with the materialist scientists’ mindset. Living the message of the Qur’an means not following its message seriously. The Qur’an clearly mentions that you should believe in “Ghayb” (not physically perceivable as the Source Of Existence) when you look at the universe and interact with anything. By examining matter, don’t fall into the interpretations of the materialist scientists and, with a free mind, see that the Creator of a being cannot be within the created being itself. Human logic can easily conclude that the maker of anything cannot be a part of or within the thing. The Creator of the universe cannot be within the universe, be a part of the universe or cannot be of the nature of the universe.
This verse gives good news about forgiveness and a generous reward. If someone stands in awe and is conscious of this merciful Creator, we think that he is safe now. The Qur’an continues to give him good news of forgiveness and a generous reward. Why does the Qur’an mention to stand in awe, being conscious of the Merciful One? It is for us to understand that the creation of the universe is nothing but out of mercy. There is no reason why the Creator should create the universe. There is no reason as to why the Creator should create me as a human being. Why am I given existence, do I deserve it? I am expected to realize that my existence in any form, in any way, is nothing but the mercy of its Creator. I should understand that everything in the universe is a result of the mercy of the Creator.
Sometimes, we may not like some things that happen in the world. This is a side note to our subject as what we experience in the universe is not always to our liking; the creation does not depend on our liking. We should understand that the sense of dislike is given to us by the One who creates it. Human beings are allowed to choose, making a request to God to create. God creates the result out of His Mercy if the order in the universe is followed properly. We must understand that this setting of the human condition is very meaningful. We must see mercy in those events. If it was merciless, then the One who created me, creates the event but also gives me the sense to dislike that event. Being given that sense of dislike is an interesting setup where the Creator of the sense is telling me something. I must see the wisdom in its creation and conclude that it is a merciful act of creation. Every kind of creation is a result of Mercy by definition. In connection with my feelings, whatever is created, I must try to see the wisdom in its creation. If the event is a merciful act of creation, then I should be able to see mercy in its creation through the way it is given existence with Wisdom. I must go through this stage where I must see the wisdom in its creation and then conclude that it is a merciful act of creation.
What is the wisdom/purpose in my creation? Life is temporary and we are going through many options, we experience many different types of creation and then we are given death in this world. We must search for wisdom in this whole life journey. I must ask: What am I doing here? Why am I experiencing different kinds of creations every day, why is it so? These are all the questions that force us to look for wisdom in their creation. We should not forget the reality that everything that exists is out of His mercy. I must be given the senses and abilities to realize this, otherwise my existence would be meaningless. By looking at the existence of the universe, I can easily conclude that there is nothing meaningless in creation. By creating some things which make a small part of creation, the Creator is educating me and preparing me for the purpose of my existence, which is: To learn who I am and who my Creator is. Because of the familiarity, I may take the existence as if it has to be always as it is and it does not have any Owner and I have no purpose in this world other than enjoying my life on a temporary basis until I die.
The verse concludes with giving good news of forgiveness and a generous reward. Why forgiveness? We are given enormous potential but how much of it do we use? In this age of information, everything can be searched by using the Internet. Our human potential is more than just storing information. If one asks the neurologists that specialize in brain function, they mention that human beings are only using a small fraction of what they are capable of in terms of thinking, reasoning and learning; the potential is there to further advance oneself. We are always behind perfection and need forgiveness for not using the tools we are given. We may think that we are perfect believers, but we cannot achieve perfection and would need forgiveness. We should realize that we are always lacking in our belief and should repent, ask for forgiveness for not benefitting from what our Creator has given us, not only asking for our mistakes and negligence.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نُحْىِ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ وَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَدَّمُوا۟ وَءَاثَـٰرَهُمْ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَىْءٍ أَحْصَيْنَـٰهُ فِىٓ إِمَامٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ
36:12 We shall certainly bring the dead back to life, and We record what they send ahead of them as well as what they leave behind: We keep an account of everything in a clear Record.
The verse mentions bringing the dead back to life. We understand that the Qur’an is speaking to us. As far as we are concerned, we are going to die. In general, the superficial understanding is that one is afraid of death and describes it as if he is going to lose his existing life here and disappear from existence. God is promising us not to worry about it as He is going to give life to the dead, i.e., resurrect them. The verse continues that “We record what they send ahead of them as well as what they leave behind.” When you die, everything is over. Whatever everyone did in life is recorded. What was neglected is huge and it is also recorded. What we have done is a little bit compared to what we neglected and didn’t do. Why is it recorded? Because we are going to be brought back to life.
For example, when one goes to school, what one has learnt stays in one’s memory, what was not learnt is not with us. There are a lot of things that we miss out on. We cannot claim that I am perfect in a particular field. We usually improve our skills in a certain area and specialize in one or two. How many professions are there that we have not learnt? They are infinite. The biologists say that everything is recorded in the cell and transferred to the next generations. We also hold on to the memory of many events that we have experienced. There must be a purpose in recording things. For example, one goes to visit a new place and takes pictures and videos to remember it and share it with other people. Students go to school to learn skills that they will use after graduation. If I am not going to use those skills, why am I learning them? Similarly, if I am not going to use what I record for something else in another time, why am I recording it? It would be useless and pointless. We understand that God’s recording is different to our recording where there must be a purpose to our living in this world and being given death. Does being given death make life useless? We understand that there is a purpose in this life where we are being prepared for another life.
There is a huge emphasis on “We” who do things. It is “We” who are doing this. We bring the dead back to life; it cannot happen by accident. You are not going to give life to yourself, you are not going to give life to your dead body. The word “إِنَّا” which is “Indeed We”, the following two words “نَحْنُ” and “نُحْىِ”, all three are mentioning “We”. The emphasis is prompting me to question: Why don’t you think about this huge universe, who is creating this universe? Why don’t you think of the One who is creating this whole universe and see how the demonstration in the universe shows that He is Powerful, Wise and Knowledgeable? Who is this One creating me while He was not obliged to do that. Who is creating in me the desire for eternal life? Why don’t you think of this One who is teaching me through His demonstration in the universe who He is. Why create in me the desire for eternal happiness? We have to make sure within ourselves that resurrection, being brought back into life again, being given a body again is only possible by “We,” the Creator with all of His Absolute qualities. For sure, He does it.
The phrase “أَحْصَيْنَـٰهُ فِىٓ إِمَامٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ” is translated as “We keep an account of everything in a clear Record.” Every detail is created and all of them are kept in a clear Record. This clear Record is also called the tablet which represents God’s Absolute knowledge encompassing the past, present and future at the same time. Everything is stored and recorded just like our data is stored on servers (referred to as “cloud storage”). I may lose my computer but whatever is stored in “the cloud” can be recovered. The cloud servers are limited but God’s knowledge must not be restricted to any limit.
Nothing in the universe can have knowledge of the future. No one can understand the whole complete order of the universe but may guess. One can conjecture from the signs observed such as the movement of the clouds and the type of clouds to forecast rain. There is no guarantee to how the wind may behave and change the course of cloud direction. The wind may change direction because of the perfect balance in creation. I cannot know from the obvious principles in creation as something unknown may happen. Some scientists talk about this uncertainty with the butterfly effect that changes the things in the universe.
There is no absolute certainty about the future, but God says that it is within My Absolute Knowledge. The phrase “إِمَامٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ” says that it is within the Knowledge of God clearly written, recorded. Nothing will be forgotten, everything bad or good will be recorded. We should never lose our hope from our Creator.