Session 26 Notes
The Muslim world needs to wake up and reclaim the understanding of the universe from the materialist/secular scientists as the Qur’an orders with its hundreds of verses. Before going into this subject we need to bear in mind these: In order to understand the message of the Qur’an, there are certain principles that we must be aware of. When the Qur’an narrates certain historical events using the past tense, it is a narration of an event that took place in real life conditions. This means “this event is experienced by people like yourself and it exactly relates to your real life as well.” When the Qur’an uses past tense describing what will happen in the future, it relates the subject to the Hereafter although past tense is used. The Rhetoric of the Qur’an in using the past tense in most of the cases is not for the sake of the tense but to affirm certainty: “it surely would be done”. Many scholars and translators understand this rhetorical use of the past tense to mean, “This will happen”.
Another principle of the Qur’an is that when the past tense is used to describe an act of the Creator, it signifies a constant, present reality. Rather than indicating an event finished in the past, it implies that the act is happening definitively in the present moment. .
Some examples for the last principle mentioned above:
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ مِن سُلَـٰلَةٍۢ مِّن طِينٍۢ ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَـٰهُ نُطْفَةًۭ فِى قَرَارٍۢ مَّكِينٍۢ ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا ٱلنُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةًۭ فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةًۭ فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْمُضْغَةَ عِظَـٰمًۭا فَكَسَوْنَا ٱلْعِظَـٰمَ لَحْمًۭا ثُمَّ أَنشَأْنَـٰهُ خَلْقًا ءَاخَرَ ۚ فَتَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقِينَ
“We create humans from an extract of clay, then We place him as a drop in a secure lodging, then We create the drop into a clinging form, then the clinging form into a lump, then the lump into bones, then We cloth the bones with flesh; then We produce him as another creation. Glory be to God, the best of creators!” (23:12-14)
Here, we see the word “خَلَقْنَا” is in the past tense for “created”. The past tense in these verses should be rendered in the present, as the Quranic style employs the past to underscore the absolute reality of Divine acts. It suggests that these stages are not merely historical events, but are actively being sustained by God at this very moment. This is why I must try to understand the universal message of the Qur’an which cannot be obtained by reading it literally.
In the verse, pay attention to “We” as the One who creates by giving the example of the fundamental elements of a human at different stages, being created continuously. We humans perceive the act of creation as a process that unfolds over time. In accordance with this perception of ours, the Quran first states that the human body was created—broadly speaking—from clay. It then proceeds to describe, in a sequential manner, how this body took shape. This narrative demonstrates to us that creation was realized within a specific order. However, this does not imply that the human body develops or evolves of its own accord. The Quran attributes every stage of creation directly to God’s own creative act, employing the collective pronoun “We” for all such actions: it declares, “We create, We place, We clothe, We produce.” This emphasizes that there is no other creator but Him. Thus, glorify the best of creators. There is no “natural selection”, “nature”, “natural laws” but only the Creator of the universe is manifesting His act of creation at every moment. This miraculous creation can only be the work of this Creator who must be glorified.
An example of using different words to indicate the stages in creation in an appropriate manner to human perception can be clearly seen in this verse:
ٱلَّذِىٓ أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ خَلَقَهُۥ وَبَدَأَ خَلْقَ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنِ مِن طِينٍ. ثُمَّ جَعَلَ نَسْلَهُۥ مِن سُلَـٰلَةٍ مِّن مَّآءٍ مَّهِينٍ. ثُمَّ سَوَّىٰهُ وَنَفَخَ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِهِۦ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ
“It is He who makes most excellent everything that He creates. And He begins the creation of man out of clay; then makes his descendants from an extract of humble fluid; then He fashions him; He breathes from His Spirit into him; He gives you hearing, sight, and minds. How seldom you are grateful!” (Sajdah, 32:7-9)
The passage comprising verses 7-9 of Section Sajdah is in the past tense; but since it relates to a continuous act of creation, it signifies the present and the future as well as the past, and may, therefore, be suitably rendered in the present tense.
The words “سَوَّىٰهُ وَنَفَخَ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِهِۦ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ” translated as “He fashions him; He breathes from His Spirit into him; He gives you hearing, sight, and intellect.” is indicating that man is appointed to a higher position to fulfill his purpose in this world. The Qur’an speaks to people at their level, in my eyes a human being is given a higher status in the different stages of creation he goes through. For a denier, these stages would be a lower degree of creation. However, the meaning is the same in terms of the source who is doing it; God is saying that “I am the One who is doing all the stages of this creation. I do not need any material to create. Everything is newly created at every stage”.
Another principle of the Qur’an when it speaks to people at their level, to what they see, is to respect human honor. This is a beautiful psychological aspect to teach people. I am taught to respect human honor as well when I am talking to people. Respecting beings is so important that we hear in a narration that the prophet (pbuh) stood up on witnessing a funeral, teaching to respect the creation of even the human body let alone the body with spirit, which is from God’s spirit and deserves infinite respect.
…أَلَا لَهُ ٱلْخَلْقُ وَٱلْأَمْرُ ۗ تَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
“…Unquestionably, His is the creation and the command. Blessed is God, the Lord of the worlds.” (7:54)
The word “أَلَا” translated as “Unquestionably” signifies to pay attention, watch out, is there any doubt, bring your evidence to the contrary if you can at all! The word “ٱلْخَلْقُ” translate as “creation” and then “ٱلْأَمْرُ” translated as “command”. There are no synonyms in the Qur’an even if two apparently synonym words are used in the same verse or in different verses, they are not synonyms at all. According to us, “ٱلْخَلْقُ” and “ٱلْأَمْرُ” are closely related as they take place at the same time, they are two different things. One is to bring something into existence that did not exist before. For example, I may not realize it but I am a newly created being today, freshly being created continuously at every moment. How I am going to be today is different from yesterday. Every moment, I am different from my previous moment of existence and this is the result of continuous change which is “ٱلْأَمْرُ” aspect of the order applied in the act of creation. What appears to us as “laws” in creation is the order in creation. The verse emphasizes that the “ٱلْأَمْرُ” (order) aspect of creation also belongs to the Creator of the universe. That is why we glorify God as being Pure, Holy, with no blemish, no imperfection, no purposelessness, no being in need of any material in His act of creating. He is the “Rabbul Alamin”, the Lord of the worlds, who perpetually sustains the ever-new creation of the universe in every instant.
The conciseness of the verse is another aspect having to do with rhetoric where the placement of the words is done in a particular way, unlike the conventional Arabic language. Another way is to update the 3 letter word into many other forms to convey some special meaning. This caught the attention of the early generations who were peculiar with word placement and poetry. For example, in standard Arabic, the phrase would start “ أَلَا ٱلْخَلْقُ لَهُ”, “Unquestionably, the Creation is His, or creation belongs to Him”. Instead, the word placement is “أَلَا لَهُ ٱلْخَلْقُ ” emphasizes on his uniqueness and exclusivity, to “to Him alone does belong creation, only to Him but no one else”.
Another example of the rhetoric of the Qur’an:
ٱلَّذِى لَهُۥ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ شَرِيكٌ فِى ٱلْمُلْكِ وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ فَقَدَّرَهُۥ تَقْدِيرًا
“He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, who has not taken a son and has no share in dominion, and who creates everything and determines it precisely.” (25:2)
The way this verse is structured, it seems as if the topics are disconnected. For example, what does not taking a son have to do with the topic in the rest of the verse. The “son” represents that the Creator does not bequeath, transfer His qualities to anything created. Some may interpret this as a refutation of some of the Christian theology which claims of Jesus being the son of God. However, within the context of the verse we see it is highlighting that only the Absolute Creator creates (Tawhid), to Him belongs everything created in the universe, He does not give or transfer His qualities to anything including to any human being which needs to be created and transient in the universe which are precisely measured and created perfectly.
Everything we observe in creation shows that they are precisely measured. No two moments of existence are ever identical; we only witness the unique creation occurring in the present, distinct from all other points in space and time.. I am subject to time and space whereas the Creator must not be subject to this as He is the creator of time and space.