We are now at the last 2 verses of Section Ya-Seen of the Qur’an which are extremely important. Let’s investigate them:
إِنَّمَآ أَمْرُهُۥٓ إِذَآ أَرَادَ شَيْـًٔا أَن يَقُولَ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ
36:82 He is the only One who when He wills a thing to be, He but says for it only, “Be” – and it is.
This is a very well-known verse among believers. Many scholars have studied this verse in depth, and we will try to benefit from their understanding and apply it to our living. Although this verse is appreciated by believers, it is also criticized by those who are looking for an excuse to deny the Qur’an being God’s word. Why do they criticize this verse? They say by looking at the literal meaning of the verse, if God wills something then He says to it “كُن فَيَكُونُ”, translated as “Be! – and It is”. He doesn’t have to do anything but only has to say to it: “Be”. They say that this doesn’t make sense. For example, if someone says to someone: “Be”, the person will now exist when the person is already there, present in existence. They think as if God is speaking to someone or something which already exists: “Be”, for it to come into existence and then they come into existence. And they also raise their objections stating that “does God need to say ‘Be’ to a thing to exist?” This doesn’t sit well with them as understanding the way the Qur’an speaks is misunderstood.
The Qur’an speaks to human beings, to their feelings, emotions according to their experience of the world. The Qur’an tells human beings: you “will” something to exist and whatever you are willing to exist, say “Be” for it to come into existence. Whatever you are willing to exist is within your knowledge, not physically existing. However, whatever is in the knowledge of the Creator of the universe, must exist in the form of knowledge, then if God wills for it to exist, it exists as a result of His will only. The Absolute being, God, should not be in need of doing anything. This is the way to teach me that whatever I want to do or get, I cannot get by just willing it to exist. By speaking to me in the Qur’an in a way that gives me the opportunity to make a comparison between what I do and how the things are brought into existence. The way things are continuously being changed in a new form and qualities but we see no evidence that the Creator is using a means to bring them into existence. We experience only the existence of things without any interference at all.
For example, I want to have an orange. By willing it to exist, does it exist? I cannot say: “Be” for the orange in my knowledge to exist! However, God is telling me that He does it this way. In order to get something, I have to obey the order in the way things come into existence, and wait for the result to be created. This tells human beings that you cannot “will” for something, for it to exist. Human beings learn their reality and the difference between what they are and Who their Lord is. There is a difference between what and how we do and what the Creator of the universe does. If I “will” for an orange, I must do certain things. I cannot bring an orange into existence despite my obeying the way the things are brought into existence, but wait for the Creator of the universe to create the result for me in the next moment. It challenges human beings: “will” for something so that it exists. Only the Lord of the universe wills for anything, and it comes into existence. As a comparison, God is introducing His capacity to me as an Absolute, Divine Being. Whatever a human being has to do, we see that God does in the opposite way in order to give an opportunity to realize who I am and who He is. That is why the verse speaks in the way that it does to show me how I can make the comparison and understand that I am a created needy being and He is the Creator of the universe and does not need anything.
In the verse “إِنَّمَآ أَمْرُهُۥٓ” translated as “He is the only One” who does this, there is no one else. Anything that comes into existence can only be from His Will and Power, which is His capacity. God is introducing His capacity of being a Divine One. His capacity says that whatever the human being has to do, God is the opposite of it. The capacity of the Creator of the universe is unimaginable. Humans learn from things that already exist in the universe, but the source of existence must not learn from something already created in the universe, He must be the Knower of the things, Originator of the things, and be the Absolute One. We can know the Creator of the universe, how He creates, from the demonstration of His Absolute qualities which are known only by studying the created beings.
We must focus on the creation of things which is the heart of the matter. For example, a piece of art is said to be someone’s “creation”. If the artist has many works, then it is referred to as having a collection of “creations”. These are the common expressions that are purposefully used for which they say: the art was not there before, and this artist “created” it. These are the essential matters to pay attention to. How does an artist make a piece of art by drawing? What does the artist do? He learns from the way things are created, develops by learning, develops his abilities such as imagination that are already created within himself. The artist utilizes these given abilities that are gradually developed by learning and practice. The artist needs material such as brushes, paints and paper or canvas to work on. These materials must already exist and be available for the artist to use. Did the artist create, give existence to anything or did he utilize the abilities and materials already provided to him? The ability to learn, to paint, to reflect, to imagine and to develop his already existing potential are all given to him. One only needs to utilize their abilities and use them to learn to acquire skills. We are already created in this way to learn. He also uses all these already existing elements and by obeying the way the things are created he expects the next moment to be created. This next moment is created by the one Who creates the whole universe continuously including the results of their choices.
The Qur’an speaks to human beings so that they can learn by making comparisons between other beings, examine how the things are happening in the universe and understand their Opposite. We found our existence here already given. We cannot just “will” for something that would result in something happening or bringing something into existence. Whatever we use for our needs in terms of materials, He is the creator of those materials and ingredients. The qualities that we observe in creation and other beings, He is the opposite. We are needy, He is the source of that need and Himself must not be needy. We utilize our abilities; He is the Creator of those abilities. His creation is not dependent on time, or instruments, or means, or any conditions whatsoever. He is independent of the proximate or any “causes”.
Familiarity with creation prevents us from seeing the continuous creation happening. For example, I observed a tree last year and now this year, I may say that tree has grown to a bigger size. It may appear to us that God used last year’s tree to make this bigger tree being observed. This is how it appears and is superficial. The Qur’an brings the news that if the source of the existence of the universe, referred to as the Divine Being, not of the nature of the universe, Wills for something and it happens. For example, in our observation of the tree, we saw that it had the existence of a seed where each stage is created. The stage of the tree as a seed may be in our memory but the seed no longer exists. A new creation in the form of a tree is standing out there slightly different from the previous stage of existence. If this Source of Existence brings into existence as He only Wills and the thing exists, does this Source of Existence need any material which existed before in order to be able to create a new one?
Divine Being Wills and it happens, doesn’t use any material. He is the creator of the causes. If we examine the universe at the micro level, there are movements observed. Theoretically, the particles of the cell can be studied. Their nature is not static, but they are always in motion, vibrating. The particles are observed as a vibration through human eyes using mathematical equations and the scientific tools we have.
Does the Creator need to say “Be!” to create? Do we hear anything like that? We do not hear that, but we are only experiencing beings coming into existence continuously with no time gap at all. This is an obvious sign for the Creator that He must be an Absolute being. God doesn’t need to use the previous material for giving existence. Every moment is coming into existence as a result of God’s Will which is described in the language of the Qur’an as: “كُن فَيَكُونُ”, “Be- and it is”. We are observing things coming into existence, at the micro level, they are seen as vibrations. It is not that something fixed is vibrating, but a new creation is happening at each moment with no time gap. There is continuous creation taking place that is taking place perfectly and smoothly. No one can give a time dimension to this creation as it is continuous. Every moment a new existence is taking place that is not using the previous existence. In the language of the Qur’an: (كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِى شَأْنٍۢ” (55:29”), “every moment something new is coming into existence”. This is an explanation of how things are coming into existence with just His Will, nothing else, no proximity. That is, He must not be physically in touch with something as we human beings have to do, only Wills and it happens. We know this from our inability to do anything by just “willing” for something to exist. We use already existing material, obey the order in creation and wait for the result to be created. I learn from this order and ask, seek His favor to create the result by obeying the order which I am taught. He does not even need to say “Be” when He wills things come into existence, i.e. God doesn’t need to use the word “Be” to fulfill His act of creation. The verse uses the word “أَرَادَ” which is translated as “He wills”, it is in His knowledge, and it happens. How? We cannot comprehend the Absolute, but we can understand the Absolute Being through the opposite, created beings like us. We are trying to understand the Source of Existence of these beings which is being introduced to us in these verses.
Can we say, “creation is being repeated”? Do we see any gap between two instances of coming into existence? If not, what does that mean for us? We discussed earlier that creation is not repeated. Creation is infinitely continuous, which is the most obvious sign that its creator must be an Absolute Being, beyond imagination. Some say that imagination has no limits which is why: beyond imagination which means Infinite or Absolute.
The phrase “إِنَّمَآ” is translated as “only”. His act of creation is nothing but “will”, “prefers to create”, He does not need to prepare anything, no need of any materials. Every human being can know from his own existence that I was completely different 10 years ago. The capacity that I have developed by using my free will is different, I am a new creation. If I focus on the smaller and smaller infinitesimal time segment, I will realize that I am a new creation at every moment.
The phrase “أَمْرُهُۥٓ” is translated as “when He wills”, He doesn’t have to do any action. His act of creation is unique to Him where He wills, and it exists. He does not have to do anything like created beings have to do something. He must be independent of time and space as these are our human concepts. He is the Creator of whatever we see, experience, describe, and name it.
Creation with “أَرَادَ”, translated as “he wills”. His act of creation takes place everywhere at the same time with no time and space limitations for Him. The whole universe exists at the same time as He wills. What we see is what we are exposed to in a sequence of moments. However, the thing exists at every moment all together. It is a continuously changing existence that is not repeated, but a new existence at every moment. That is why we say, “Allah hu Akbar”, (God is beyond any imagination) as we cannot describe or fathom this Awesome Being.
فَسُبْحَـٰنَ ٱلَّذِى بِيَدِهِۦ مَلَكُوتُ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
36:83 So, glory be to the One in whose Hand is the sovereignty of all things, and to Him you will all be returned.”
What does “مَلَكُوتُ” translated as “sovereignty” or “angelic aspect” mean?
We frequently talk about the importance of the “مَلَكُوتُ” (angelic aspect of the universe) in our discussions. The appearance of anything shows materials are combined and mixed, but whatever piece of universe I can see or experience, at whatever moment, is a completely different existence. The essence of creation, the way things come into existence is directly connected to its source of existence. We can experience the manifestations of the qualities of the Creator in each being. For example, we see the qualities of the artist manifested in the piece of art. In this example the artist and piece of art are both created beings. As far as the acts of creation in the universe, we don’t see material as independently existing, we see the way the material comes into existence is manifesting directly the qualities of its Creator. When I look at a tree, I say it is beautifully designed, colored, and the shape is meaningful and wise. The cell structure tells me how delicately it is designed and shows me how wise Its creator is. The angelic side of the tree are the qualities manifested to us in the existence of the tree. The power, knowledge, art, will, wisdom, design, harmony, balance, and the way to bring the tree into existence is the angelic side. Things may seem opposite and contradictory to each other, but they are complementary to each other. The Qur’an mentions that all these qualities one sees are in God’s “hand”; His will is manifesting them.
The phrase “وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ” is translated as “to Him you will all be returned”. Is it possible that we are continuously going into nonexistence? Where are my previous lives stored so that they can be returned to my Creator?
In the simple language of the Qur’an, it is described as (إِنَّا ِلِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ” 2:156”) where God is teaching me that “I came from God; I belong to God, and I will return to God.” He will replace my existence into a new type of existence as He wills. Where did I come from? From His knowledge. Where do I go? To His knowledge.
We must understand that creation is taking place as a result of the “Will” of the Source of Existence. All the meaningful sides of the universe cannot be attributed to matter because the meaningful existence of matter needs to be created; it cannot create itself. My existence from yesterday, which is my perception now in my memory, came from an Absolute source and where I am going to is also to the Absolute source. All my existence is with Him, with the Absolute source of existence.