Session 41 Notes
We find ourselves in this universe and most of us go through the worldwide prevalent education systems that study this universe by claiming that they explain its existence within itself. The Qur’an is inviting us to study the universe carefully by (1) using the abilities that we are given and (2) seeing that things cannot exist by themselves but must have an Owner who must be the Creator of the universe. The Qur’an not only guides us to benefit from the universe but also to confirm the message that the universe conveys. In the previous session, we used the example of flowers, which represent the universe, given to a cow and a human being. When a cow receives the flowers, it uses it for its meal; this is how the cow instantly benefits from the universe without thinking of its meaning, contemplating on the wonderful creation of flowers which a human being does. When the same flowers are given to a human being, they recognize the purpose of its creation to convey the love and warmth of the giver. The human being is happy on receiving the flowers, which is a spiritual enjoyment because the human being sees the meaning in them which is not instantly bound with this universe only but also connects to an eternal source of existence. With this Quranic understanding, let’s remind ourselves that the universe is always screaming that it has an Absolute Owner which can be realized if only we pay attention to its unvocalized speech, that is a communication which is not done through words, but through physical presence. We must learn to listen to the universe alongside listening to the message of the Qur’an.
For example, there are two farmers, one is a believer in God and the other is ignorant. Without belief in God, one only sees the material bodily satisfaction. The farmer would say I am doing all this farming to fill stomachs. I am paying for the maintenance of the machines and other necessities and my crops benefit from the natural rain. Whereas the believer’s way would be to see the rain as not only benefitting livestock and plants but more so as a message from its Creator who creates abundantly and freely out of nothing. We must be mindful of our attitude towards creation and try not to be ignorant.
There are two current trends in the Islamic tradition of Muslim scholars:
- One group emphasizes more on the aspect of the universe that demonstrates the side of mercy and love of its Creator.
- Another group emphasizes more on the meaningful side of the creation of the universe
Both are correct in expressing one aspect of creation. Everything is brought into existence out of a meaningful mercy and love, bestowed upon us freely as a gift . The creation of human beings within the universe is also out of love where the Creator of the universe is introducing Himself to us. One may question that I am troubled in this world, how can that be out of love? We will study some verses and see that each one of us is going through an education in this world in order to get to know who our Creator is. Thus, we will see that what we think of as “trouble” is nothing but a means of learning what we need to be aware of. This is like a student who may think that going to the school and attending classes, taking notes and doing her assignments are “trouble”. But after graduating she will be so grateful for the days that she thought of as “trouble” which enabled her to be aware of what previously she was not.
Let’s examine the following verses displaying the rhetoric of the Qur’an:
وَءَايَةٌۭ لَّهُمُ ٱلْأَرْضُ ٱلْمَيْتَةُ أَحْيَيْنَـٰهَا وَأَخْرَجْنَا مِنْهَا حَبًّۭا فَمِنْهُ يَأْكُلُونَ وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا جَنَّـٰتٍۢ مِّن نَّخِيلٍۢ وَأَعْنَـٰبٍۢ وَفَجَّرْنَا فِيهَا مِنَ ٱلْعُيُونِ لِيَأْكُلُوا۟ مِن ثَمَرِهِۦ وَمَا عَمِلَتْهُ أَيْدِيهِمْ ۖ أَفَلَا يَشْكُرُونَ سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلْأَزْوَٰجَ كُلَّهَا مِمَّا تُنۢبِتُ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَمِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَمِمَّا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ أَفَلَا يَشْكُرُونَ
“There is a sign for them in the lifeless earth: We give it life and We produce grain from it for them to eat; and We have placed in it gardens of palm trees and grapevines, and caused springs to gush forth from in it, so that they could eat its fruit, it was not their own hand that made all this. How can they not give thanks?” (36:33-35)
The Qur’an gives simple examples that we observe highlighting events/objects to be purposeful creations that are preferred to be given existence by an Absolute Source of Existence. All sorts of grains, vines, olives are given to us as examples indicating that every bounty is purposefully created for us to recognize their source of existence as to be the One that made an abundance of things for us to eat; as a result, we acknowledge and thank Him. By carefully examining the existence of things in creation, no one can accept that they are accidentally created with such perfect properties and qualities. The inevitable conclusion must be that this creation can only be the work of a Conscious Creator continuously creating for me. We get to recognize who this Merciful Provider is, the Beautifier, the Nourisher, the Designer, the Smell and Taste Giver, etc. The multitude of qualities we see in creation are the manifestations of His qualities. The Qur’an speaks with royal “We” indicating all His manifested qualities in each being are to be found and recognized by conscious beings who pay close attention to creation.
The phrasing of “It was not their own hands that made all these things” is such a powerful reminder. I am being told that everything is made directly by “We”, the Lord of the universe and nothing in the universe can claim to be the creator of anything, bringing something into existence. What is our role then, what do we do? Let’s once again take the example of a traditional small scale farmer who wants to grow some corn expressed in Figure 1. The farmer tills the soil first, then takes his bag of corn and throws the seeds in that soil. To someone unfamiliar with farming practices, this process would look strange i.e. why is this person simply throwing and wasting edible corn into the ground?
Figure 1
The Qur’an asks rhetorical questions for us to reconsider our understandings:
أَفَرَءَيْتُم مَّا تَحْرُثُونَ ءَأَنتُمْ تَزْرَعُونَهُۥٓ أَمْ نَحْنُ ٱلزَّٰرِعُونَ
“Do you see what you sow? Is it you who makes it grow, or are We the grower?” (56:63-64)
The farmer is planting those seeds and waiting for the result of corn plants to be created for him. He is not giving existence to the splitting of the seeds, the creation of roots and its arrangement and grounding under the soil, the chemical reaction and distribution of nutrients from the soil and atmosphere, etc. The soil is created, the seed is created, the sun is created, air is created, the water is created, the list goes on where everything is “created”. The hand that is throwing the seed is also created. What are we doing then? We are simply asking the Creator of the universe to create the result of corn plants for me. By following the order in His creation, I am asking Him to create the result. I learn the order of creation by studying, experimenting and then using this order which is set up and arranged perfectly by the Perfect Absolute Being. This order in existence teaches us on how to practically communicate with the Creator of this universe with its perfect order. The Qur’an is reminding me that I am not doing anything to create something but simply petitioning Him.
Now let’s examine Figure 2 of a scientist in a lab. What is the scientist doing here?
Figure 2
We see that the scientist is in a lab investigating how the universe is created with a perfectly arranged order. By learning the order operating in the universe, scientists can work on building products. When it comes to creating something, there is no difference between a farmer and a scientist where both are incapable of giving existence to anything. The farmer is asking God to create corn for him by obeying the order existing in this world which conforms to His Will alone. The scientist is trying to find the order so that he will also obey the order and request that the result be created for him. Similar to the farmer, the scientist is not creating the order nor the result. Usually, when it comes to scientists we don’t notice the similarity with the farmer as we are mesmerized by the wonderful products. We need to be reminded that everything that we do is just petitioning the Creator i.e. knocking at the door of the Creator of the universe. The scientist in his experiments is asking God to create the result for him. Alas, many of us fall into the understanding that the scientist gives us the products because we fail to recognize the scientist as obeying the existing order and the creation of the product is subject to the Will of the Creator who creates the next moment of continuous creation. In order to make, let’s say a machine, the scientist needs to discover the order and obey it. This is similar to how the farmer learns the order to have the best crops. Everyone has to obey the order, i.e. obey the Will of the Creator of the universe. The language used by the materialist interpreters of scientific discoveries are put in a wonderful story telling way as if the material beings are conscious, have free will, wisdom, knowledge, purpose and power. These materialist scientists cannot show any of these qualities in the material beings, yet they attribute the existence of the results to material beings. The seed has a completely different category of existence than the plant, yet they interpret the seed as “evolving” or “adapting itself to the environment”, “splits and grows by itself”, claiming that matter has the quality to create the result. Can anyone consciously accept this interpretation? Can the meaning, information in a book be there by itself or be the result of ink and paper without a conscious author?
The phrasing of “how can they not give thanks” also hits strongly on the purpose of our existence. Be grateful to your Lord recognizing that nothing in the universe can create anything but the Creator of the universe. I must not be ungrateful to whatever is created out there but recognize that this has been specially created for me. I must be pleased with the One who creates. I am expected to respond back to my Creator by witnessing His acts of creation in the universe.
Let’s look at the following verses:
هُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءًۭ ۖ لَّكُم مِّنْهُ شَرَابٌۭ وَمِنْهُ شَجَرٌۭ فِيهِ تُسِيمُونَ يُنۢبِتُ لَكُم بِهِ ٱلزَّرْعَ وَٱلزَّيْتُونَ وَٱلنَّخِيلَ وَٱلْأَعْنَـٰبَ وَمِن كُلِّ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَةًۭ لِّقَوْمٍۢ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
“He is the One who sends down rain from the sky, from which you drink and by which plants grow for your cattle to graze. With it He grows for you: grain, olives, palms, vines, and all kinds of other crops. There truly is a sign in this for those who reflect.” (16:10-11)
I must comprehend that rain is not random but deliberately arranged in a perfect order and sent by the Lord of the universe. No drop of rain can fall accidentally. He creates all sorts of plants, trees and animals for human beings so that we understand that we have a Loving Creator who is mercifully providing whatever we receive. We want or need something and if it is not created, that means the Creator is teaching us something that we need to learn: Who is the Creator and who is the needy? This existence is a place of education and learning what the reality of existence is. This existence is a place of preparation for a life where all our needs must be satisfied by the One who created us with those needs. We must take the acts of creation seriously and not be ignorant of this reality.
In our education system we learn about the water cycle that explains the order in which things are observed. Unfortunately, materialists interpret the rain as the cause behind the creation of plants and nourishment of animals. The whole explanation is devoid of any cause of existence; they present the nexus of water and growth of the plant as if water knows what to do in the body of the plant and acts accordingly to give life to lifeless matter. As a result of this baseless, imaginary assumption they end up with a world-view which claims that lifeless water or other lifeless material beings are responsible for the existence of all wonderful, perfect living beings at every moment in the universe. Consequently we see that there is no Creator of the universe, called God in the picture of their interpretations. We can observe that everything is created in an orderly manner. Different experts study the different areas of this orderly creation of the water cycle which are all organized by their Creator within an order and working harmoniously. Creation is taking place in such a way that the Creator does not use something to make something. Continuous creation is happening anew at every moment. However, we see creation happening in an order one “frame” at a time where each frame is the result of a deliberate act of creation. To us as we see, it may seem that the rain is used to create the plants. However, that is not correct when we understand that every moment is different from its adjacent “frame” and in need of being created anew. The sequence of “frames” should not mislead us into imagining that each preceding frame of creation causes the succeeding frame. Every stage is a deliberate creation which the Qur’an mentions as “We create”. The Qur’an teaches us that previous materials are not used in creation but every stage is newly created.
The creation in stages is described in the Qur’an as we observe the universe. The following verses are only a few examples:
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
“And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh] and We made the lump bones. We covered the bones with flesh, then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is God, the best of creators” (23:12-14)
Every stage (“frame”) of creation is identified by “We did it”, as an independent act of creation where nothing in the new creation is brought from the past creation. Everything is happening in a perfect sequence of order that I can observe. Let’s have a contrasting example from a human action which cannot create but obey the order of creation, a house builder has to use existing materials such as bricks because nothing in the universe can give existence to something. This human example is such where we use already existing material. Whereas, the Creator of the universe creates everything anew. This observation of the universe in stages is how we come to conclude that this Creator must be Absolute, giving existence to every single being a new creation at every moment, yet there is no confusion or neglect or imperfection in the existence of anything.
Let’s study the following verses:
أَوَلَمْ يَتَفَكَّرُوا۟ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِم ۗ مَّا خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَآ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍۢ مُّسَمًّۭى ۗ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنَ ٱلنَّاسِ بِلِقَآئِ رَبِّهِمْ لَكَـٰفِرُونَ
“Have they not reflected on their own selves. God did not create the heavens and earth and everything between them without truth and an appointed time, yet many people deny that they will meet their Lord” (30:8)
When we reflect on our being, it is not simply our looks and body but our whole human self with our senses, emotions and feelings. How come I am able to understand that I exist with so many qualities? How am I able to have relationships with the creations in the universe? I will thus understand that everything in the heavens and earth is created with truth, i.e. Absolute Truth is manifesting Himself in creation; He alone can create beings with their qualities. I am able to comprehend this Creator to be the Absolute One.
Death is created by the same One who gives us life, who places within us both:
(1) the capacity for human experience and
(2) an innate desire to exist forever in perfect fulfilment.
Rather than fixating on death, we should reflect on these two gifts:
(1) the richness of our conscious life, and
(2) the longing within us that no temporary satisfaction can exhaust.
Consider a thoughtless young man. A generous benefactor not only brought him into existence but also placed within him a deep longing to live and flourish. He then lodged him, free of charge, in a magnificent house for a limited time. Yet this young man never asks who his benefactor is, or why the house was given so generously but temporarily. He spends his days anxious about the day he must leave. Such a man will never understand the purpose of his stay.
Many modern philosophers have fallen into a similar despair. They are consumed by the problem of death, yet fail to ask why life was given in the first place, or why we desire it so fiercely. This despair, it seems, is the expected consequence of a prior assumption: that life is merely the accidental product of meaningless natural processes. If life has no giver, it has no purpose; and if it has no purpose, death is indeed a cause for despair. But the desire for eternity written into our very human essence suggests a different conclusion entirely which should not put us into despair.
Why would one deny that they will meet their Lord? When we reflect on ourselves, we see that we are created and then after a certain time die to leave this world. We understand that our lives in this world are transient where a conscious Being generously has placed us in this world and takes us out of this world. There must be a purpose for this transience that would lead to something permanent which is what human beings want.
Last verse of Surah Yusuf:
لَقَدْ كَانَ فِى قَصَصِهِمْ عِبْرَةٌۭ لِّأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ ۗ مَا كَانَ حَدِيثًۭا يُفْتَرَىٰ وَلَـٰكِن تَصْدِيقَ ٱلَّذِى بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَتَفْصِيلَ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ وَهُدًۭى وَرَحْمَةًۭ لِّقَوْمٍۢ يُؤْمِنُونَ
“In their stories there is truly food for thought and contemplation for people of reason. This revelation is no fabrication. It is a confirmation of the truth of what was sent before it; and explanation of everything, a guide and a blessing for those who believe” (12:111)
In the story of Yusuf, there are symbols in this Section of the Qur’an to serve as a means of reaching the unknown from the known for the people who reason, i.e. you and me. There are some elements of truth in other ancient books as well. Human beings have access to some revelation as prophets have been sent throughout history. The revelation of the Qur’an is not inventing something new. We must put ourselves in the story of Yusuf where I am imprisoned in the materialistic worldview and need to free myself with the message of the Qur’an. The materialistic life has turned everyone into a slave; we have become voluntary slaves, begging for enslavement by our own choice. We need to find ourselves in the story of Yusuf and free ourselves.
كِتَـٰبٌ أَنزَلْنَـٰهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَـٰرَكٌۭ لِّيَدَّبَّرُوٓا۟ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ وَلِيَتَذَكَّرَ أُو۟لُوا۟ ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ
“This is a blessed book which We have revealed to you, so that human beings may ponder over its messages, and that those who are endowed with insight may take them to heart.” (38:29)
This verse amazingly talks to one’s feelings. I must ponder over the messages, think and reflect about the message of the Qur’an. Understand the reality of existence and take it to one’s heart and mind. The Qur’an tells me that it is the source of happiness, the medicine for my spiritual sickness, the antidote to materialistic ideas. Only those who reflect deeply on its message can find satisfaction from its message and use it as the medicine to get rid of the toxic ideas that are inflicted into the minds of modern people.