Session 55 Notes
Do we feel the need for guidance in our living? Are we happy with temporary pleasurable moments that we keep craving for but they pass away quickly? Are we looking for eternal satisfaction; does our feeling yearn for it? We discussed last time the situation we find ourselves in with bodily limitations where we are aging and cannot stop it. We are only experiencing a slice of fleeting existence at every moment. The past is gone into memory and the future is uncertain and out of our control. The second limitation is intellectual which makes one question what the existence of this universe refers to but the universe provides no answer. How are things coming into existence? This question can only be answered by something that is not of the created universe. The third limitation is the universe we live in. As big as it is, it is still created and restricted where no one can get out of the universe; no matter the galaxies one ventures out to, they would still be within the universe. Our feelings and spirit look for eternal satisfaction, they have no limit unlike the limitations that are mentioned. We have questions and need guidance from a Source that is able to satisfy them; this Source must be unlimited, He must be a conscious and Absolute Being.
When we understand our limitations, and what our spirit is looking for, we all need guidance that satisfies us. The one who gave me the need for eternal satisfaction must be the one to fulfill it. Again, there is no eternal satisfaction found within the universe. The brilliant scientists tell us that the universe is transient and bound to die. This universe is transient and does not recognize us, it cannot satisfy our human needs. Human logic says, whoever gave me this immaterial feeling for eternal satisfaction must satisfy it. Since it cannot be in this material universe, it must be the Creator of the universe, the one who gives the universe and us existence. We must ask this Creator, how is He going to satisfy our eternal needs? He sends His message to humankind through other human beings which are prophets, His messengers. The prophetic examples in the Qur’an all are for our guidance.
Let’s study the following verse:
وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمُ رَبِّ أَرِنِى كَيْفَ تُحْىِ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ ۖ قَالَ أَوَلَمْ تُؤْمِن ۖ قَالَ بَلَىٰ وَلَـٰكِن لِّيَطْمَئِنَّ قَلْبِى ۖ قَالَ فَخُذْ أَرْبَعَةً مِّنَ ٱلطَّيْرِ فَصُرْهُنَّ إِلَيْكَ ثُمَّ ٱجْعَلْ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ جَبَلٍ مِّنْهُنَّ جُزْءًا ثُمَّ ٱدْعُهُنَّ يَأْتِينَكَ سَعْيًا ۚ وَٱعْلَمْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
“And when Abraham said, ‘My Lord, show me how you give life to the dead.’ He said, ‘Do you not believe, then?’ ‘Yes’, said Abraham, ‘but just to put my heart fully at rest.’ So God said, ‘Take four birds and train them to come back to you. Then place them on separate hilltops, call them back, and they will come flying fast to you; know that God is all Powerful and Wise.’” (2:260)
This verse is a prophetic example where the prophet is asking a question to God. Do we think that we cannot ask the same question to God? We usually are told that prophets are perfect. No, the prophets are a perfect example for us human beings. Our Lord is teaching us through the human example of the prophets. Let’s be clear on this, for example, when the prophet said, “Oh, this sun is my Lord”. There is no reason to say the prophet was mistaken as it has nothing to do with him; we are the ones who need guidance. This is an example of a prophet who is an example for me. This example should speak to all of us: “Oh human beings, you are venturing in this universe trying to find someone eternal. Who created the universe, who created you? Do you think that the sun or anything in your eyes as powerful as the sun can be your creator?” This is a very human question to ask. We are learning through prophetic examples, being taught, being educated on how we should go step by step to find out the truth. The prophet Abraham said, “My Lord, show me.” This phrase “show me” needs to be paid attention to.
Prophet Abraham is an example for us, teaching us to see the demonstration in the universe to have a satisfied heart. He is not saying to just believe in God blindly. Unfortunately, the Muslim culture would ask: “aren’t you a Muslim? Aren’t you a believer in God?” The logical conclusion of God is good for the intellect but it is different when it comes to the heart. To believe in God as the Creator of the universe and the Almighty One, who is all-powerful to create anything, we may quickly conclude that He is powerful enough to give life to the dead. This is belief in God, but to believe in the Resurrection is another item of belief and needs evidence from the universe to be satisfied in our hearts as well. In this example, God tells prophet Abraham to take 4 birds, train them just like humans train domesticated animals including birds, dogs and cats. The 4 birds are to be trained to come back. They are placed at separate hilltops and called back, which they do because of their training. What does this mean for us? Don’t we think that the One who created us knows who we are? The One who gives us life, can He not give life again? He must know us for sure. He is the One who gives life and who gives death. Can He not give life again? We are doing our training in this universe just like the birds were trained in the prophetic example. In this existence we are expected to train for an eternal life. When our Creator calls us back, we will definitely be returning back to Him. This verse gives an excellent example of Prophet Abraham for us to have our hearts satisfied that we will definitely be called back to Our Creator.
In some classical commentaries of the Qur’an, they portray this scenario as a miracle. Some scholars say to cut the birds into pieces and throw them at separate hilltops and they will come to life and will come back. This interpretation of making the event a miracle is not helpful for us; no regular human can relate to this event. The prophetic examples are not prophetic miracles which we should take notice of. The miracles have a particular purpose which is to demonstrate the person’s claim that he is employed as a prophet by the Lord of the universe. He should be taken seriously as being employed by the Creator of the universe. The miracles serve nothing more than this. Human beings cannot relate to something that is deemed as a miracle. This narration is about evidence in this physical world that we can relate to the resurrection and our hearts will be satisfied.
There is another famous example of prophet Muhammad going into the desert and taking with him around 400 people as the historians narrate. The event is such that they need water in the middle of the desert. The Creator of the universe creates a miracle, something extraordinary not seen or experienced by people, from a handful of water which becomes a river enough to fulfill the water needs of the army. The miracle was given to the prophet to draw attention to him being a responsible person employed by the Creator of the universe who only Him can change the order of the universe and create extraordinary events. The lesson for us cannot be to demonstrate a miracle by using a handful of water.
Unfortunately, by making prophetic stories in the Qur’an as miracles, we would not be able to relate to them and benefit from the guidance in them. We need to be careful because almost half of the Qur’an relates prophetic examples in the form of prophetic stories.
The meaningful Paradox – 1
Our intellect concludes after seeing the signs manifested in the existence of the universe and concludes that the universe cannot exist by itself.
The first step is to start with “la ilaha” (there is nothing to create anything in the universe), and then conclude with: but there must be a Source of Existence “illa hu” (except He. That means, there must be “Something” other than the universe itself). However, the intellect wanders who or what is “He”; we cannot empirically experience it.
We are created in a way that we need to be taught who “He” is. Who can teach us?
To go through the first stage is important. When we question the universe, we can conclude that it cannot exist by itself. There is nothing in the universe with the ability to create anything in the universe. The Qur’an teaches us this step by step process; it first states that there is nothing in the universe with any quality to bring anything into being. This simply means there is no god in the universe. Then the Qur’an continues “Ilallah” (but God.) Where is this God? Shall I find God in the universe? For no unconditioned human being can claim that something existed out of the blue. Look for it and you will see that nothing in the universe has any divine qualities. Divine quality means giving existence to something which did not exist before. For example, the universe or any part of the universe. There is no creator in the universe but there must be a Creator who brought the universe into existence. We cannot expect the Creator of the universe to be a part of the universe with the same nature as He has created. This is obviously a logical conclusion. Thus we understand that we cannot experience this Creator empirically. To conclude there must be a Creator is one’s logical conclusion. This is the core teaching of the Qur’an.
Our intellect asks who created the universe. Who can teach me? The one who created me and the universe can teach me who He is. He introduces Himself to us because He created us with the need to know who our Creator is. We just need to understand who we are and that we need guidance from the One who created us with the ability to ask this question and the need for a satisfactory answer for it.
Unfortunately, some philosophers claim that the universe existed by itself, happened accidentally. Of course, consequently they have to declare that the existence of the universe is meaningless. Why does one take care of their family, has responsibilities? Why do they do any of these tasks if it is a meaningless existence? If one comes to you and asks you to do something that you don’t know the reason for, would you do it without learning the reason for it? You will definitely ask: “what for, why?” Humans look for meaning to do whatever they do.
Let’s study the following verse:
إِنَّمَآ إِلَـٰهُكُمُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًا
“[Then Moses addressed his people] Your only god is Allah, there is no god, except Him. He encompasses everything in His knowledge” (20:98)
Usually when we hear about prophet Moses, the first thing that comes to our mind is his challenge with Pharoah. However, the crux of prophetic Moses’ example is between Moses and the ideas of Samiri. Historically, we know that prophet Moses went to receive the message of God and while he was away Samiri influenced the people to his ideas. For us, rather than Moses’ contention with Pharoah, our situation is related to Samiri right now. What does Samiri do? He calls on people to bring their precious stones, valuables, gold, silver, jewelry, what they value, their egoistic desires, to him. He will make a god out of it but he will also put in some elements of the prophetic message. This now has some religious aspect to it: “You are free to practice your religion, may it be Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism or Islam but at the same time you should also entertain yourself.” For example, follow the fashion trends, adopt them by shopping for those goods, so that one stands out to be superior in society. Nowadays, this Samiri way is available everywhere in our lives with all sorts of entertainment. We are engulfed with advertisements, the way we use the internet, social media, etc. No one tells people that they cannot pray, have a mosque, a church or a synagogue, study the revelation, “Samiri” is fine if one continues doing that as well along with the entertainment catering to the egoistic side and contributing to the economy by shopping regardless if one has the need for things or not.
The prophet Moses comes back with the message and says this is not the way of living. Similar to other prophets, they destroy the established civilizations who choose to live a life based on all sorts of corruption and without questioning why they are living in this world. The prophetic mission is to establish a new civilization that lives with the guidance of their Creator who guides them to a lifestyle appropriate to the purpose of their existence in this world. This is the reason why the Qur’an reminds us in the prophetic stories about the old nations being destroyed. The civilization has some remnants of the prophetic message mixed in with their habit of consumerism and entertainment. We may hear people say that they are free to practice religion, so they feel comfortable with their established social life. They may not realize that they are being lulled into a stupor by this false religious freedom. Consequently, they feel there is no need to ask why they are created, what is the purpose of existence, just live life with some religious elements and become a part of consumerism and social media..
The verse mentions Moses speaking to his people which is put in brackets to contextualize the statement which is applicable to all people. He says: “your only god is Allah”. Who is this “Allah”? The verse continues: “there is no god except Him.” This means that one cannot find any creator within the universe. The one who created the universe is named “Allah”, except Him there is no creator.
Let’s look at the following verses describing who God is:
هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْمَلِكُ ٱلْقُدُّوسُ ٱلسَّلَـٰمُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُ ٱلْمُهَيْمِنُ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْجَبَّارُ ٱلْمُتَكَبِّرُ ۚ سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
“He is God who is save whom there is no deity: the Sovereign Supreme, the Holy, the One with whom all salvation rests, the Giver of Faith, the One who determines what is true and false, the Almighty, the One who subdues wrong and restores right, the One to whom all greatness belongs! Utterly remote is God, in His limitless glory, from anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity! (59:23)
هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقُ ٱلْبَارِئُ ٱلْمُصَوِّرُ ۖ لَهُ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ ۚ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ
“He is God, The Creator, The Originator, The Shaper of all forms and appearances! His alone are the attributes of perfection. All that is in the heavens and on earth extols His limitless glory: for He alone is almighty, truly wise!” (59:24)
All the beautiful qualities we see in the universe belong to Him because He is their Creator who has these qualities to create. How can one know? Observe the endless qualities manifested in this huge universe which is like a masterpiece of art. The universe is created with His endless qualities of perfection declaring His qualities to us. These qualities teach us who this Creator of the universe is. For example, a piece of art declares the qualities of its artist. The material elements of the art cannot create the art qualities. The artistic qualities in a sculpture cannot be the result created by marble itself. We should be confident to know who God is; He is not unknown. He is the One who created the universe where everything declares His qualities. Our duty is to study the universe and observe everything in it carefully.