Dicussions on TIME- 2

i am working on the article, taking each paragraph one at a time....but after reading this email, i'm not sure that's the most wise approach. i think at this point i'll simply read the rest of the article and then go back over what comes to mind rather than dissect each paragraph one at a time....i will leave my initial comments and make note where i've changed strategies so you'll know.

i feel it necessary to explain something for which i also apologize. due to my illness of Multiple Sclerosis (a disease of the brain/spinal cord), my cognitive functioning has been affected. a simple way of explaining it would be to state that for me, the speed of processing information has been affected. the actual nerve impulses do not travel at the same speed for me as they do other people. so i must think carefully and it takes longer for me to accomplish what perhaps you can accomplish in a much shorter time. your thoughts are deeply and highly intellectual and are almost instant regarding your processing of what you say whereas i see myself having to think long and hard about what you say...it doesn't come "easy" to me like it seems to me that it does for you. this is fairly consistent across the board for everything for me, but perhaps in particular i notice it more when i'm dealing with complex, deep, intellectual issues that we discuss in the halaqa or here in email. i am sorry for that, please forgive my shortcomings and my rate of responding to things. i wish my mind were as quick as yours. sometimes it is, but i think my comprehension is slower. oh, that reminds me....when i am finished with the article on TIME, i want to email you about something you said to alanmali...i had a huge revelation about something which i think is significant, not just as it relates to me or my illness, more that it relates to what you were saying about how we spend our time and what we consider our priorities to be. but i will save it for later...i want to focus just on this article of TIME for now...that is my project today until i finish it.

i must say this again. here in this email once again, you have pointed out things that never would have occurred to me, and i thank you. about the word "reality" and its definition you are quite correct in that i need to be careful how i use the word "reality". you then say:

"That is real, that is something which we experience here in this ever created world."

yes, i agree that what we experience is real. but are there other things that are real that we do not experience?
can we ever answer that question? if the answer is yes, then how do we know they're "real" if we don't experience them? if the answer is no, how can we possibly know this for sure? it's another enigma for me now...

"Our disability to catch an instant does not necessarily mean that it does not exist. It does exist in a way that it cannot sustain its existence, it is ever dependent on the Giver of Existence. "kullu men 'aleyha fan. Wa yabqa wajhu Rabbika zu'l-Jalali wa'l-ikram." "All that lives on earth or in the heavens is bound to pass away: but forever will abide your Lord's Self, full of majesty and glory." (55: 26-27)."
i almost cried when i read this from the beauty and truth contained in it. and i was not thinking about the finer points you made and reminded me of. yes, what we cannot do does not mean a negation of its existence, excellent and very critical point!!! each thing truly is "ever dependent on the Giver of Existence" to continue creating its existence. that is profound wisdom just by itself.

"As if the Creator is telling us that we can be in the presence of their Creator without being distracted by the created things."
i used a different color because there's something else in this statement that deserves close attention and care. though i cannot quite identify precisely what that "something" is, it does in fact involve the creatures themselves. the very fact that the creature itself exists regardless of the reasons of how or why it exists. for example, we know Allah created the elephant, and we know the continuing existence of each elephant is constantly being created. BUT that there is an elephant is ALSO very significant indeed, for each thing Allah brings into existence has their own inherent worthiness, their own special purpose...or Allah would not have created it. i feel that if we do not ALSO consider the actual thing itself, then not only are we disrespecting the sacredness of the actual being or thing itself, but we are losing an unknown amount of wisdom which potentially awaits our learning/discovery BY ADDITIONALLY considering that very being or thing.

"Not because our human-ness is too small compared to Omniscient.... but because we cannot make any comparison between the created things and the Creator. They are totally different in nature, one is being created and the other one is being Absolute. Do we think if we were "too big" (capacity wise) we would be able to comprehend the Absolute? Not at all. We conclude and thus believe that the Creator must be Absolute just by observing the way the things are being given existence. They are totally in need of being given existence because, as we observe them, they cannot sustain their existence even for a fraction of time."
yes, i really do get the difference between that which is "being created" and the "Absolute" which is our Creator, but again, this paragraph is loaded with very fine, important points which i am still cognitively processing...it's as if even though i get it, i also need to really think about it for it to really sink in, take hold and become as easy for me as easy as it seemingly is for you. it is not that simple for me, it is challenging...how much of my challenge originates naturally from it being novel ideas and novel thinking (which initially takes time anyone to easily embrace) vs the actual MS illness i don't know, but for sure my disease affects my cognitive ability to absorb complex things...i'll be re-reading this several times until it's as easy as 1, 2, 3. This is true for the remaining paragraphs of your email...i definitely understand all of what you've said, but i'm working on making it sink in and take hold so that these thoughts/ideas are "easy" in my mind as opposed to challenging.

i return now to working on TIME....but i'll share two things i think in what i've read and worked on so far:

we must be careful when we say "the future does not exist"....why? because it DOES exist. how do i know that? the same way we all know it. Allah gives us evidence of the existence of a future in:
1) his words of the hereafter,
2) in the things that will happen to us if we do or don't do this or that,
3) in things that will happen which He shared with the Prophets (peace be upon them all).

so it's not the future which doesn't exist per se, it's our knowledge of that future. perhaps (or could it be) that Allah brings into our knowledge or conscious awareness and experience at least some if not all of the future that already exists. or perhaps Allah is in fact contstantly creating the future but knows ahead of time what He will create. maybe it's a combination of bringing what already exists to us as well as creating what does not yet exist. how can we ever know which? we can't.

another point in TIME is that our "imagination of the future" is "merely HOPE". are you sure that's all it is?
i say not true! why? well, let's add another word....we also have FAITH. and with FAITH, we can imagine much about the future. but in order to do that, we must include an understanding of the word INSHALLAH, for without that understanding we lose the true meaning of future is based on falsehoods. future is Creator dependent.

what i'm not yet clear about is how to relate or connect two seemingly contradictory things: 1) the thought/idea that we can only project in our imagination of the future that which we know from the past.....and.....2) the human ability to make something "new" which hasn't existed before....say, a new book, painting, structure, newly discovered information, anything "new".

ok, i'm going back to TIME.....

Julie,
..........................................................................

Assalamu alaikum, Dear Sister Julie,

Thank you for your time, i really appreciate your taking this article seriously. I am, of course, not sure what i said was all or partially correct, but i feel that understanding what time is important. We need to pray Allah to guide us to a true realization of the concept of time because it help us live in the presence of Allah always.

Reality is one and cannot be divided.

Depending on the sphere we can talk about one reality. On the sphere of creation, the things are real; on the sphere of what the creation refers to, the Creator is the only Reality. We need to make this distinction: We can talk only from the perspective of creation and use them as evidences for our conclusions. When we talk about the creation it is multiple, it appears to be coming into existence gradually and within a cause and effect relationship. This is the sphere we say, the causes cannot be responsible for the existence of the effects because the causes have no quality to be the sources of the effects attached to them. This is the way of coming into existence, i.e. how the things are created: The order of creation. Since the causes cannot be the creator of the effects, i.e. "La ilahe", then, the qualities apparent on the effect necessitates the existence of a Source which must of necessity for our reason be Absolute. This is "Illallah."

Why absolute? It is because of "continuous creation", equality of numbers, complexity, quality, beauty... before the Source. Only for the Absolute there is no difference between different numbers, different qualities, complexity or simplicity etc.

We can conclude about the Absolute, we cannot imagine and we cannot talk on His behalf. He may say and demonstrate that He is Omnipotent, Omniscient etc, but what i can only say, He MUST BE Omnipotent, Omniscient etc.

We need to be careful not to use a language on God's behalf. Such as, since God is Omnipotent, so He does this or that. Nobody has the right to act as God's advocate. Of course, praying to God is a special attitude, "O God, (i realized and confirmed that) You are Omnipotent, You can do this or that, i beseech You to do this or that for me, i need Your help!" This statement is true only for prayer purposes, NOT FOR REASONING PURPOSES. NOT IN ORDER TO REACH A CONCLUSION THAT THIS WORD NEEDS A CREATOR FOR ME TO EXPLAIN ITS EXISTENCE.

We usually confuse the spheres in our reasoning. Reason works only within the sphere of causes. Reason only concludes about the result of our experience. That is called 'Belief", "IMAN". If the conclusion is about something beyond our "experience", then, we cannot bring this conclusion into our reasoning back and base our further reasoning on it. This is a very crucial point. Usually the believers are quick in bringing their conclusions into the argument and base their reasoning on their previous conclusions. That is not belief based on confirmation and certainty. This is a belief based on previous belief, (may be driven from reasoning or -most of the time- taken for granted. This second option is mostly true for so-called "born-Muslims") This kind of belief is called "imitation".

In order to avoid imitation, we need to be aware of "TIME", i.e. continuous coming into existence, or, continuously given existence.

We also need to be very cautious about all the statements we make while reasoning about the things around us, how we should interpret their existence.

Let's go back to this statement, "Reality is one". That means, if we are talking about things, the universe, the reality is "every thing needs to be brought into existence; there is no exception to this in this universe." That is what i observe. If somebody does not agree with me, it is up to her/him. That is my observation: To my mind, the things themselves cannot give existence to themselves, as i cannot give existence to myself. Neither can be result of chance or random chain of accidents. That is my reasoning. The reality is, for me, "La ilahe". If you notice, in this case, reality is subjective, relative to my understanding, or, to the understanding of somebody else. We are free here to chose. Why? Because it is so obvious that every human being can see it; there is no mystery about it; it is within our capacity of investigation and/or experience.

My conclusion about the Source of this wonderful existence is this: the Source must be Absolute (as is discussed above). Then, the Reality is again one: It is Absolute, by definition for human mind, Absolute cannot be divided or more than one. So, Absolute cannot be relative, or, subjective. If somebody concludes that there is a Creator, then, this Creator must be Absolute and not subjective. So we cannot talk on behalf of that Absolute Creator. That means, we cannot say, "Since God....." We only say, "I observed in this world such and such and then concluded that the Creator God must be absolute in His all attributes."

Every moment we need to experience the reality of this created world and the Reality of the Creator. There are not two realities: One is created reality, the other is Absolute reality. As far as my experience is concerned this world is real. As far as my conclusion about the source of this real world is concerned this world does not have any reality from itself. It is totally dependent on its Creator. When i reach my conclusion, then, the Creator is the only reality. This seemingly contradictory statements are combined in one sentence which states the only reality: "La ilahe illallah."

In Islamic scholarship this matter is summarized as follows: "Every thing has a reality. And their reality depends on The Names of their Creator." This summary says: The things have reality as created beings, not as Absolute reality. Only the Absolute reality exists by itself, the creatures exist because there are given existence by the Absolute Reality. Their existence points to the existence of the Absolute Reality.

The difficulties arise from this kind of statements: I hope we realize now that we cannot speak while we are not in the position of prayer as these statements say: We are in the sphere of the creation, and not start the sentence which states something from God's sphere. Let God say this and we conclude that what God says is true and confirm it, not imitate it.

"we know Allah created the elephant"

"Allah would not have created it"

We look at the elephant and conclude that it must be created by an Absolute One, whom i call God.

For the second sentence again, how we can speculate something about God? We cannot. The elephant is created, that is our reality, we are experiencing it here on earth. If there was no elephant how could i talk about it? We need to stop using this kind of language.

If we read the Risale-i Nur to get a method of reasoning we can understand the significance of this approach, This what i understand from the belief perspective of the interpretation of the Qur'an by Risale-i Nur.

If we listen to the Hutba, (sermons) and reason accordingly, it is inevitable for us to speak from God's perspective because they usually use their previous conclusions, if not previous cultural belief, to base their reasoning. I think it is NOT reasoning it is just repetition of themselves. Mostly, claims. As "Hutba" it is fine, NOT as our reasoning while we are not in the position of Speaking to God in the form of prayer.

As for the last piece of your email. Do you now understand that when we say, "the future does not exist", it is a statement which is said in this sphere of creation in order to reason about the existence of the things i experience now. I do not experience the future, it does not exist FOR ME. Nothing more than this. Why do we bring into the discussion what we had concluded about before. We are reasoning now, we are expected to come to a conclusion and say that the Source of this creation MUST know what it is going to be created, because He must be Absolute, and there can be no boundary of time or space for the Absolute. He is the Creator of the time and space.

Again, while reasoning, there is a confusion of the spheres in the last sentences of the email.

About FAITH, i would only say, "What do you mean by FAITH?" Which sphere are we talking now? The sphere of the creation, then we have no guarantee that it will exist, the future depends on something else. It cannot guarantee its existence. If we are talking about the sphere of God, then, God is Absolute, He cannot be limited by anything, if He wills He creates, if He does not will, He does not create. It depends absolutely on His Will.

As far as we are concerned, we only can HOPE. We only can beg God to create something what we need. That is prayer: "Please God, i want this to be created. You are the only Creator. I beg you to create it for me." This is prayer. This is not reasoning. Faith is the conclusion of our reasoning. That is called "belief". I am hopeful about God's Mercy, He will answer my prayers. This are not to be used while we are QUESTIONING about THE SOURCE OF THIS WORLD. Afterward, we conclude and say, INSHAALLAH. that means, "If God wills", this is a phrase to recognize that ever thing is given existence by God's Will. That means, i am hoping from God Will, Mercy etc. that He will respond my prayer. These are prayer words, not reasoning words. We need to be careful about the difference, so that we will have a satisfied heart about our conclusion that every moment is created by an Absolute One, whom i call. GOD.

InshaAllah i will come back to your other email. I have to leave now.

Thank you very much for bringing the importance of this sphere differences to my attention once more.

InshaAllah we are hopeful about the future that this discussions are going to give fruits of strength in our belief in God.

May Allah guide us to the Straight Path.

Fi amanillah.

Your br. ali