Discussions on TIME-6 (Response)

Assalamu alaikum, Sister Julie.

Thank you very much for this inspiring and sincere mail. I am learning a lot from your experiences, responses and questions.

Now, i go over the points you have made and write my comments on them.

"if someone were to ask, "how can i learn about my Creator?" i imagine your exquisite answer may be something like, "go and read the Words of your Creator in the Quran which has been brought to you and to me and to all of us by God's Holy Messenger. always think deeply and carefully about what God and His Messenger are telling you and what the Words mean, and you will come to understand more about the truth of your Creator!"


I would NOT say this only, i would say exactly what you said at the end of the paragraph. That is why we are talking about how to observe the creation. Our subject, TIME, is important for an appropriate observation of creation.

Creation is the SPEECH of the Creator by ACTION, and the revelation is the SPEECH of the same Creator by WORD. They are expected to compliment each other as well as interpret each other.
it's like the difference between learning from textbooks in the classroom vs learning by doing in the field. now, this is my opportunity to integrate another way of wisdom of God which is utterly foreign upon initial encounter yet also truly awesome ...i'm so fascinated as i continue to ponder how wonderfully both ways compliment each other."

i'm a bit lost once i think of anything other than the present. and how are we to forget things when Allah created us with memory? what is the puporse of memory then?

We are not really talking about TIME per se. We are trying to understand what we are observing right now. If we have an understanding of TIME as an independent existence, then we would not be able to make a right observation of existence.

The conclusion of the article is this: Time is our conception, there is only act of creating, bringing things into existence, is taking place. If we had given an independent existence to time, then we may, most probably, miss the ever repeating new coming into existence of the things. So, we will miss the opportunity to see the truth and thus to live ever in the presence of the Creator.

As to your question: We are created every moment as we are, i.e. with our memory as well. The purpose of this study is not suggesting to think of the present; it is suggesting to observe the ever renewing act of creation. When we observe the creation we should make a new "witnessing" (shahada) as the manifestation of the attributes of the Creator renews themselves. We should never try to change the situation we are created with (not to try to forget the past - we are now being created with it); rather, we should RESPOND the creation anew as it is demonstrating itself anew. We should not say, "The God Whose manifestation i observed yesterday is now again manifesting His quality again." That would be a repetition. Since the manifestation is not a repetition, our response to it should not be repetitive. EVERY MANIFESTATION IS ANOTHER DEMONSTRATION OF THE ABSOLUTE QUALITIES.

Thus i conclude there is wisdom in the creation of the elephant otherwise "Allah would not have created it". that seems perfectly reasonable and logical to me. if we conclude All-Wise must be an absolute attribute of God, then how is it speculation to conclude God is not going to do something UNwise?
Put it simply: The elephant i observed yesterday and as a result of my observation i concluded that, "This elephant cannot come into existence by itself (naturally) or as a result of coincidence; it must be the result of an creative action of an Absolute Creator Who, at the same time, must be Absolutely Wise. Now, today i am observing an elephant which looks like the one i saw yesterday, not exactly the same, a new act of creation. Since it is a new act of creation, my response to it must also be a new response. Although i remember my yesterday's conclusion, still i am exposed another act of creation and i am seeing it, i am reflecting on it with the abilities given to me anew, today. Why should i not let the purpose of creation be fulfilled by making another "WITNESSING" (shahada) to the new creation. If i do not do that, just use my "memory of yesterday", what is the purpose in the creative act that i am made to observe today? I would ask myself: Is the Creator of this world repeating Himself, and repeating Himself for no purpose? No one can say this. Every time i get hungry is another demonstration of the need and the fulfillment of the need etc. Another demonstration that the One Who fulfills my need is ever taking care of me. I am experiencing this through my hunger and food.

If we take this position toward the ever-renewing act of creation we will be ever in the presence of God, and we will be always consciously thanking God, only. If this is not the case, there is a probability of forgetting the source of the creation and start talking about the price of the food we bought, or, about the country from where it has been imported, or, which company has distributed it etc etc. God will be just a figure, at best, at the beginning "to be mentioned only" in a ritualistic form.

That is why i kept saying, we should not speak from God's sphere such as God is not going to do something UNwise."

I would say, "How do you know?

The answer would be: "I concluded from my observation yesterday.

But it was yesterday's conclusion, and it was like this: "The One Who created this elephant must be All-Wise" That is fine. Today, we are not expected to carry this conclusion and turned it into a decision about God. Look at the sentence: "God is not going to do something UNwise"

I would say: "We should not decide about God, let Him demonstrate Himself if He is going to be or not to be UNwise. We are NOT God's advocates."

As we observe the creation and the way He creates we do not expect God to be unwise, but to say this is not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to observe what He is manifesting, and respond to it: Make witnessing. The One who created this elephant must be God and my conclusion is that The Creator God is Absolutely Wise because i am observing the existence of the elephant. If i have experienced it yesterday, i would say, i experienced it yesterday. And i am experiencing it today as well. My yesterday's and today's conclusions are the same.

I hope this explanation makes the case clear. We are worshipers, God is the Worshiped One. Worshipers respond to God, they do not try to imitate God, and do not speak on His behalf. He speaks for himself; He is capable of this :) He says, "I am All-Powerful, I can Create anything I like." We look at what He does and respond to this statement and say: "Yeah, what You are saying is really, true, AS A RESULT OF MY OBSERVATION OF THE THINGS I AM CERTAIN THAT THE CREATOR OF THIS UNIVERSE MUST BE ALL-POWERFULL. THEREFORE , I CONFIRM THIS STATEMENT THAT IT IS THE WORD OF GOD, THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE.

THAT IS WITNESSING THAT WE ARE EXPECTED TO RENEW EVERY MOMENT. AT THE END, IT MAY BECOME, inshaAllah, A REFLEX, A SPONTANEOUS HABIT (in Arabic, "hads") FOR US.

Still, then, we should never ignore the witnessing process in our lives. The companios of the Prophet who were given the good tidings of the Paradise while they were on earth, never neglected their study of the Qur'an and reflections on the verses of the Qur'an. They were even more concerned with the new revelations. They never ignored their confirmation of the Truth in their later lives.

1. are we ever not in Allah's presence? or is it that we need to confirm we are through this method of reasoning.

Yes, we do need to confirm we are in the presence of our Creator, God.

Of course, if we are created and being continuously created, then, the Creator is always with us. Again, this is the sphere of the act of creation which looks to the Creator. We are to be concerned with our own choice, not with God's. Are we in the presence of God? Are we aware that it is the case? Are we conscious of the fact that we are always in the presence of our Creator?

While we are having our dinner, or, breathing the air; the food and the air are created and offered to us. The Creator is there. Are we conscious of His Presence in our dinner and in the molecules of air we are breathing. That is our responsibility. Again, this universe has a Creator, whether we accept it or not. But this does not qualify us with experiencing the pleasure of living in the presence of God, the Eternally Merciful One, the Provider of our needs etc. That is the start of experiencing the eternal happiness of Paradise which is integrated into the BELIEF IN THE ABSOLUTE CREATOR while we are on earth. That is the most exiting reality in my life!

Otherwise, we would keep talking about how wonderful the food was or the chef was, the prices are going up or down, economy etc. The clean air, fresh air, thanks to the NATURAL GAS, BUTANE GAS, CHEAP GAS, EXPENSIVE GAS ETC.

2. "in Allah's presence"......so where is Allah?
You made me lough with this question, of course, out of sympathy. If we believed that this universe has a Creator, then, the question where is God would be redundant. No one can ask where the Creator of space and time (as we experience here), if we are aware of what we are talking about. We are talking about the Creator of space and time, the universe. We are not talking about a piece of the universe :))


in a nutshell this email contains these fundamental lessons:
In principle, i would say mashaAllah, you have summarized it beautifully. Why in principle? Now, we all need exercises how to make these lessons real in our lives. That is what i understood from the first paragraphs of your email : Turn them into WISDOM. Make them a part of our humanity. That is another process: Using our human qualities as units of measurement in order to experience the belief in God through our human senses.

so even though the book is not the author and the created things are not the Creator, the attributes they reflect are Absolute and eternal because they reflect the Creator who is Absolute and eternal.
Again, a very minute but crucial point: "... the Creator who is Absolute and Eternal." I would be careful to use this expression. I would rather think in this way: The things bear witness through the qualities manifested on them that these qualities require a Source which must of necessity be Absolute. If we, human beings, imagine that these qualities might have come from a source which is not absolute, human senses (reason, heart - the representative of senses, emotions etc) would not be satisfied. So, the sentence need a little bit modification and then we need to construct our way of reasoning accordingly. "...the Creator Who MUST OF NECESSITY BE ABSOLUTE AND ETERNAL." Why is this modification important? Only concluding from our sphere is our responsibility: To confirm what we observe; not to repeat our previous experiences.

I will repeat for the sake of clarification: God Himself may say that, "I am Absolute and Eternal." Ours is to confirm it by evidences taken from His manifestations in the created universe, and then say, "Yes, He MUST be Absolute and Eternal, otherwise, i cannot make sense of explaining the existence of this universe." When we read the Revelation (The Qur'an, for instance) we may respond to the Revelation, only if we are satisfied with the evidences here on earth, 'Yes, what the revelation is saying MUST be correct. In order to be the Creator, He MUST be Absolute."

PS. There is a wonderful study on this topic by Said Nursi in his book called The Rays (The Second Ray which is on Tawhid).

That is our conclusion after observation of the existence, and that conclusion is BELIEF. Without our own conclusion at every moment we cannot be a believer at every moment. That summarizes the importance of studying TIME. It was expected from the article that it will bring this witnessing in every instant we experience in our life, God willing.

Thank you very much for your painstaking consistency in assimilating the topic into your real life. This made me happy and exited. I say, al-hamdulillah, there are still people who take the serious matters seriously.

Please, do not hesitate to pick up the points which does not seem to be sound. Forward them to me, i really find challenging encounters teaching and educating for me.

I look forward to hearing your insightful comments.

Thank you very much for your time and good intention in your afford to find the Straight Path.

May God lead us to it.

Your br. ali