Section Ya-Seen – Part 23

We will continue with our discussion of Section Ya-Seen of the Qur’an where we last investigated verses that mentioned how God creates everything for our benefit directly, i.e. single handedly. Everything is prepared perfectly and offered to us as a gift. Despite all these gifts, we may not appreciate God’s work, His creations which are deliberately created for our benefit, and seek help from other beings. The last verse we investigated (36:75) described how these imaginary concepts they come up with cannot help them. For example, the term “nature” as used in current civilization cannot help us, but we may try to defend these imaginary sources of help. We cannot find anyone or anything within the universe as the source of help, but we must follow, obey the way that they are created. If one thinks about this, we ourselves also cannot get out of the way we are created within this universe. Whether we are aware of this reality or not we are subjugating ourselves to the will of the Creator of the universe who has employed all these creatures for my benefit. He lets me benefit from all the created beings freely showing me signs of His Wisdom, Knowledge, Power, and Mercy. When I understand this truth, I can relate my feelings to this Creator of the universe as the universe itself does not satisfy my feelings. I can exclaim: “Oh my Creator, You provide all these needs for my body, You gave me senses, desires and feelings, and only You can satisfy them. The way this universe is created is not enough to satisfy the infinite needs and feelings of human beings. That is why I expect that my Creator must create another world for me where He can satisfy my human needs that cannot be satisfied in this type of creation. We need this universe to be changed by the same Creator to create another creation where we can satisfy our feelings. We must notice that the feelings that are given to us are the promise from our Creator. 

Let’s investigate the following verses:

فَلَا يَحْزُنكَ قَوْلُهُمْ ۘ إِنَّا نَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ

36:76 So do not let what they say grieve you. We know what they conceal and what they reveal.

When God says that He knows, does it mean: “I know what they are concealing and revealing, leave them to Me. If they don’t stop insulting you, grieving you, leave them to Me”? I would say why are you mentioning this to me? 

Historically, many people did not appreciate the Prophet (pbuh) who was seen as someone becoming strange suddenly. Hopefully, we will appreciate the prophet (pbuh) in our lives. When he (pbuh) was delivering the message, people first rejected and oppressed him. He (pbuh) wanted to save them from living without realizing what they are created for, and he was relentless in giving them the news entrusted to him from their Creator, God. When people kept rejecting the message, he was grieved as the message was not taken seriously. There are a few verses that describe this situation of the Prophet (pbuh) like this verse. We will see how it applies to the Prophet (pbuh) first and then to us right now as well.

See for example, “But would you, perhaps,  torment yourself to death with grief over them if they are not willing to believe in this message?” (Qur’an, 18: 6) 

The verses mention that the Prophet (pbuh) was exhausting himself so much as if killing himself. He was so concerned in trying to save the inner conflicts of those who are rejecting God’s message that he (pbuh) kept trying to deliver the message even to those who were becoming his enemies and were harming him. This situation grieved him enormously as he was trying to help them get meaning and satisfaction in their living, he was concerned about their future. If someone keeps denying the message, he will deprive himself of the Mercy of the Creator of the universe.  The prophet was sure as seeing that this denial would lead to suffering in this world living purposelessly and the next creation. Human beings want satisfaction and there is no satisfaction for human feelings from this universe as they feel they are going to disappear from existence at the end no matter what. There are easy ways to satisfy our body, but it is not so easy to satisfy our feelings. In the Qur’an God says, “perform your duty and leave them to Me”, i.e. “deliver the message and if they listen, let them, if not, leave them to Me.”

For example, a teacher in a school would want all the students to succeed in their studies. A good teacher would try their best to educate in the best way that they can for the students to succeed and have a bright future. A student has the option to study or not but the teacher is concerned about their future. They would not want to see anyone destroy their future by failing the class, wasting themselves as well as wasting time and money. The administration of the school sees that the teacher is overwhelmed with work as some students are not listening and informs the teacher: “leave them to us, we will deal with them”.

Practically we see that people who deny their Creator suffer in this world. I want to help them, but they do not listen to me. I try my best to help but cannot do anything more to make them listen. Many people are unaware of the satisfaction that belief in God brings to their human feelings, and they suffer with sorrow and pain of meaninglessness. By living in the wrong way, having an unimaginable life they are making their own hell in this world. Nowadays with the usage of social media, they keep themselves busy with false images and tricks of people. We cannot help them if they do not question their own lives and try for a life worth living. We can only do as the Prophetic example is given by not grieving over the deniers and leaving them to God if they insist not to question why they are in this world.

I must not overwhelm myself with the situation but try my best at what I can do. In situations not under my control, an area where I cannot do more, I leave it to God, who must be aware of my situation. I must realize that everything is arranged in this world with perfect Wisdom. The Creator of the universe must be aware of the situation that I am in. I must preserve my hope and energy to do what I can do best rather than grieving and losing this hope and energy. I must not feel like a failure in an area where I cannot do anything anymore. For example, I cannot go to the street and stop people from wasting their lives: “you are leaving the opportunity of a life that will give you the best satisfaction. You are spending your whole life for bodily satisfaction. Spare some time to address your spiritual needs.”  All of us must try our best to help people and leave the rest to Him, as He knows what He is doing, arranging everything with perfect Wisdom. Even though we cannot grasp the infinite Wisdom of our Creator, we must calm down and concentrate on what we can do.

What do you think they are concealing and revealing? Historically, we don’t know what people used to conceal and reveal during the Prophet’s time. We have some recorded narrations mentioning people accusing the Prophet to be a poet or a magician because of his demonstration of miracles. What is going on in the world today? What are people revealing and concealing these days? They conceal something but reveal something artificial and lies to others. Although, in their hearts they know they are doing something wrong, they pretend to be happy upon satisfying their body and egoistic expectations. 

For example, when I am on the right path, I feel happy. However, when I take a wrong route in my life, I know that I am doing something wrong. I may tell a lie to get some material benefit or to satisfy my ego. I may pretend to know something, although I don’t know. I know that I am hiding something within myself. Human caprices and expectations are endless. We must refer our expectations to our Creator otherwise we will be driven by our caprices. Our caprices cannot be satisfied within this world, so they go against our feelings where we experience contradiction within ourselves. The artificial life and appearance of trying to look happy but suffer within ourselves is common in this civilization. They put a masquerade on their face to hide their internal suffering. We know from our own experience when we pretend to be something we are not. This is the example of revealing and concealing in our practical lives.

Another concealing that happens nowadays is when something takes place where we cannot do anything such as a war.  We know that it is wrong, and the authority conceals it knowingly that what they are involved in is wrong. They use many tactics such as politics and financial power to oppress people, to suppress their feelings.  All the wars are a matter of gaining political power, control, and financial superiority over others. One can be against wars but does not realize who is producing all these weapons used in war, who is encouraging this industry to produce and trade weapons? If there were no weapons, there would be no war. They are concealing the truth by using tricky manipulations and social media for their agendas; it is a matter of financial benefit and political superiority to them. The Muslims of this world are suffering from not knowing what their religion is, they are mostly preoccupied with worldly concerns.

Another obvious concealing and revealing are in the scientific community. No one really knows how this group is organized and financed as they are more powerful than a country who conceals many ideas put forward by other scientists. Who is giving them power and why? Although they reveal in public that they are serving us, they conceal ideas like dictators by silencing other voices.  We witness in academia as well the same kind of dictatorship prevailing. They know that their scientific explanation of existence does not hold so they use social media and support of the like minded political power to suppress other voices that are in contradiction to theirs.

We pray to God to have our consciousness alive, try to do whatever we can do, and leave the rest to God to deal with them either in this world or the hereafter. We must pray that they wake up to their senses and stop their aggressive dictatorship. I must learn to trust in my Creator and leave matters to Him. My Creator knows how much of an effort I put in; my actions must be within His Knowledge. We must do something rather than sitting in the house and talking about situations, do whatever we can do.

I cannot separate wisdom from mercy and compassion. The essence of existence is derived from Mercy and is freely created. The Creator of the universe doesn’t accept anything in return. In fact, we need to appreciate His work as we benefit from the existence of the universe. I must not be ungrateful to the Owner of the universe by ignoring His favors for me. He can be acknowledged in everything. The creation is arranged by this Creator of the universe for my living. I don’t have to do much but choose within what His order allows, and God creates. I must realize that the entirety of creation is within His Absolute Knowledge, Wisdom, and Mercy. If we do not understand His Wisdom, we may miss His Mercy in everything. God creates according to His Wisdom by creating what I deserve, and in that creation there is Mercy.

For example, many innocent people are killed such as during wars, political embargos. There is wisdom accompanied by mercy in this creation. We must understand that it is not whatever we are doing is God’s concern, God looks at me according to my level, wherever I am. If I am a primary school student or a college level student, God looks at me whether I acknowledge that I  am a student or not. As long as I am a student no matter at what level, I must pay attention to the priorities in my life. A student needs food, he needs to sleep, and have some human relationships. When you ask the student what he does, he doesn’t say that I eat or sleep but says that I am a student where all of the other needs are auxiliary to support my student life, they do not need to be stated.  All these other things in my life must serve my priority of being a student. 

Unfortunately, the so-called Muslim people’s primary concern is no longer the Qur’an. Muslims are the group that is expected to get guidance from the Qur’an, the most precious trust to human beings. I must consider the value of this guidance and make it a priority to become a student. Am I a student of the Qur’an, is it my priority or not? If I am not prioritizing it, God will continue warning and reminding us. I must live in this world by learning His message, make it my priority by applying it to my life. I am responsible for being a custodian of His message. We can observe that after retirement, many people are unable to sit seriously with the Qur’an as they haven’t trained themselves and now their abilities are also diminished. It can be observed that compared to other forms of entertainment, many are unfocused when it comes to the Qur’an and even fall asleep.

To be a successful student, we must be careful in prioritizing to be the student of the Qur’an. If one does not make it a priority, then God will not let them entertain in their worldly life either. People will keep themselves busy and continue suffering in their materialist purposes. I get warnings in my life so that I can realize that something is going wrong.

One may ask: When will God’s help come? Don’t worry, Allah’s help is near, an open invitation to the truth. God’s mercy keeps reminding us. Realize that instead of looking for a solution in power hunger choices, I must make the choice seeking truth. God says “We will take care of the oppressors when they complete their time and I give them death, do your responsibility. Give priority to the truth rather than your power.” I must make the Qur’an a part of my life, the point of my support. What did the prophet do in Mecca? He relied on the truth and then God gave him power. While he was given success in Medina, during the Meccan period he did not rely on power but on truth. There are narrations mentioning that he was studying the Qur’an along with some other people at “Darul Arqam” (the house of Arqam). We must learn how to read the Prophet’s “Seerah” (biography) in order to apply it to our living conditions in this age and time.

On this topic, we can reflect on the following verse:

وَلَا تَهِنُوا۟ وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا۟ وَأَنتُمُ ٱلْأَعْلَوْنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ

3:139 Do not falter or grieve, for you will have the upper hand, if you are ‘true’ believers.