SURAH AL-FALAQ
Tonight we shall speak on another Surah, which comes before the last Surah of the Noble (Adhimushan) Qur’an. Maybe we shall not be able to finish with this Surah tonight, but surely we shall begin it. It is the Surah Al-Falaq. Both the Surah An-Nas and Surah Al-Kalaq are known as Mu’awwidhatayn. They are the Surah which the Prophet (PBUH) edicts for us to read these Surah when we are in distress, agitated or depressed. As I earlier mentioned in the previous lectures that the Qur’an does not only have the comprehensive dimension and in fact the verses of the Qur’an are passwords, codes through which the gates of spirituality are granted, the gates beyond the horizon, through which the contact amid the creatures and the Creature is established, and this contact is very important. One of the most important contributed discussions ever held sine antiques (I say antiques since antics has been written and systemized whereas philosophy has existed even prior it), arising from Tales, Aristotle, Plato, Anaximenes, Anaximander have been dedicated on the establishment of the contact amid metaphysics and the physical; among that which is not seen, existing on the other side of nature (the word itself metaphysics means beyond physics, beyond substance, something not belonging to this side, something which we cannot experience through the senses, to apprehend it or percept it) and mainly delineating how this contact is established.
The only contact which enables us to enter in a discussion with metaphysics is religion, the revelation. Aside from the revelation, in other words the Qur’an, the sacred descend, we have no other alternative to trespass into contact with the metaphysical dimension, especially as we are well aware that this contact exists. We even know from ourselves that we are not only the part of us which others can see.
Apart from this which others can perceive, we have an inner world which cannot be seen, as we still know we possess this inner nature. The moment when a loved one passes away. (each one of us has had cases of death, and 5 seconds even 10 seconds before death, that person is very lively the person can speak communicate and the 5-10 next seconds, the same person who was speaking to us, laughing with us, is not moving, this shows there is something metaphysical, something we cannot see, the body silences and this is the soul).
Indubitably the contact affixed with the metaphysics is settled by our soul. With what? Through the Qur’an. The Qur’an is a sacred revelation, through which we affix the contact with the other world.
Hence both these Surah, as well as the Qur’an, with special emphasize on these two Surah, moreover the Prophet (PBUH) says that they are passwords, which close doors, of all evil principles and powers which cause harm and problems to us, yet on the other end we open gates, the gates of the firmament, the gates of spirituality, in order for us to experience the spiritual contentment.
Both the Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas descended to the Prophet (PBUH) during the times of Mecca. The Revelation, descended to the Prophet (PBUH) in the course of 23 years; the Qur’an did not descend all at once as one entity. The Qur’an had been memorized completely by the companions of the Prophet (PBUH), and thus here in our world, the Hafiz are considered the victorious of the ummah of Muhammad (PBUH) (Ummah means the followers, companions of the Prophet (PBUH). In one hadith (transmission by the Prophet (PBUH) he says: “Eshrafu ummetii hameletu’l-kur’an (The victorious of my ummah (my followers) are those who transmit (memorize) the Qur’an.” The first generations have all memorized the Noble Qur’an adhimushan by heart and thus later the Qur’an was written.
The cryptogram of the first verses of the Qur’an was done in the time of Abu Bakri, in other words the first Halifah after the Prophet (PBUH), to this reason Hafiz have a special place in Islamic tradition. Hafiz means a person who has memorized the Qur’an by heart. (These entitlements among our society are greatly confused, hafiz means a person who might not know the meaning of the Qur’an, might not speak the Arabic language, but one who knows by heart the verses of the Qur’an, thereupon he has the entire Qur’an memorized by heart).
The Noble Qur’an since its eventuation, since the time of the Prophet (PBUH), it has been a code through which this corporeal world and the other world have kept and have been connected. Furthermore the Surah An-Nas, as well as the Surah Al-Falaq, have descended to the Prophet (PBUH) in Mecca. The Revelation descended for 23 years. From the total number of years, 13 years have taken place in Mecca and the rest of the 10 years took place in Medina. This shows that the 13th year of the Revelation the Prophet (PBUH), the 622 year after Jesus, he moved from Mecca to Madina, in a town found is 500 km away from Mecca, and from there proceeded with the spread of Islam. He conducted this migration, for the inhabitants of Madina kept calling for him, whereas the inhabitants of Mecca were practicing coercion on the Prophet (PBUH) and the ashabs (companions of the Prophet (PBUH)) with who were by him. As a result, the second period, the following 10 years, is characterized as the period of Madina.
The verses which descended to the Prophet (PBUH) in Mecca practically correspond to the character of man, the enhancement of man’s character and to a great extent refer to the individual, whereas the verses which descended to the Prophet (PBUH) in Madina are verses which have a social connotation, they speak on the relations which Muslims must accompany, moreover they speak on building a society and the institutional organizations, as well as establishing a republic, for the constitution of institutions which shall advocate in keeping the Muslims firm and viral. As an example are the verses of the Surah Al-Baqarah, the Surah At-Tawbah and so forth. Namaz for instance, became an obligatory act of conduct two years prior Hijra, before his migration (hijra means the migration of the Prophet (PBUH) from Mecca to Madina) and that year, the year of 622, in addition is the beginning of the Islamic Calendar. The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, according to the Moon and has 355 days, whereas the beginning of the calendar is the migration of the Prophet (PBUH) from Mecca to Madina.
This Surah Al-Falaq as well as the Surah An-Nas descended to the Prophet (PBUH) in Mecca and thereupon to a great extent they correspond to the dimension of faith, the scope of building the solid character of the adherent. Both the Surah Al-Falaq as well as the Surah An-Nas, begin with a decree, with the imperative kul – say. Then when Allah Almighty behests to us in this fashion, it means that He is beginning a direct dialogue with the one reading the Qur’an, in direct dialogue with those who should read the Qur’an, those who ought to learn it in order to transmit the Qur’an to others.
Indubitably that Muhammad (PBUH) was the first one to have accomplished reading the Qur’an, as well as all those coming after the Prophet (PBUH) shall read the Quran. At this moment when we, read Audhu Bi Rabbil falaq, we enter in a direct dialogue with Allah Almighty, for this decree read, think, study, discuss, issue, in your head is directed to us as well.
Have you noticed how the believers, but also people in general, prefer to pontificate to others religion, and not to themselves. We mainly come across this characteristic among those who practice religion to a very small extent or those who have little consideration on the fundamental matters of religion, and instead they approach debates, polemics on matters of religion. There is a significant weakness, precisely here. Man is convinced that if he issues, questions he shall be established on a higher grade and be integrated, from the religion point of frame. No, man could only be integrated spiritually and religiously if he only pontificates to himself, to his person the truth and to this reason the Qur’anic verses are primarily directed to the individual.
Inasmuch when I say Kul, Allah Almighty addresses each person individually. And at the moment when the individual begins to ask this question: “What should I say” the sacred answers reflect: Audhu bi Rabbil falaq – say that I seek refuge, I enter under the tutoring, under the mainstay of God who delivers the sunrise.
Falaq, in the translation of the Qur’an in other languages is translated as dawn, the source where light is emitted, early dawn, but, falaq, in the Arabic language, simultaneously beholds the meaning of cosmos, of the universe. At the instance when we say Rabbul falaq (if you recall from the earlier lectures we have said that the word Rabb, is the word for God, but simultaneously it has the meaning of the Discipliner, Sustainer of the universe since the universe has one prostration and complete deity before the Creator).
Most of you might have heard that one of the signs of the Qayamat (the signs of the world’s destruction) is the sunrise of the Sun from the West. When the Sun shall have its sunrise from the West, the very day before the sunset, before the arrival on East, the world shall perished, Qayamat shall occur; cataclysms. Inasmuch apart from its actual, real dimension, this is a metaphor which shows that when the bodies in the universe shall cross God’s respect (since the Sun is ordered to have its sunrise from East and to meet its sunset from West) the moment when the Sun shall rise from West, it will be excluded from God’s primary order and the world shall be destroyed. Precisely to this we say that Allah Almighty is Discipliner, Sustainer of the universe.
One of the basic arguments on the argumentation of God, even encountered and mentioned among us scholars as an argument, yet later Christians secured this as their argument, is the theological argument on the existence of God. Even Imam Ghazali himself (Imam Ghazali is one of the most significant scholars of the middle ages, he has lived in the XI century – the calendar according to Jesus (PBUH)) mentions it as one of the most important argumentations on the existence of God. Theology infers the argumentation on the ideal function of the system and the order of the universe. Theology means coherence, the science upon the order of the universe.
The universe has one system, an order which nobody from the human spectra can abnegate. The identical argument we see at Thomas Akuinas (one classic Christian who speaks on the argumentation of God in Christianity, whereas his arguments, the five paths which lead to God, he has framed from Imam Ghazali. One of the works of Imam Ghazali we have translated into Albanian: “Al-Munkidhu mine’d-dalali- “Shpëtimi prej dyshimit”, – or as it is in English “Deliverance from Error”, we have this both in Bosnian. The translation in Bosnian is a significant one. It is a translation of one of my professors in Sarajevo, Prof.dr. Hilmo Neimarlija. The tittle in Bosnian is: “Izbavljenje iz Zablude”. Moreover we have a published book by Imam Ghazali, a work of his from a French translation, I believe I am correct, which discusses incoherence and trivial discussions of philosophy: “Tehafutu’l-felasife-Blladanjata na fillozofite” or “The Incoherence of philosophers”).
The establishment of this argument, in its outmost conveyance, we come across in the example which Abu Hanifah used in a polemics with a group of atheists. (Abu Hanifah is a very important scholar to us, from the Balkans and further this region we are med’hebi Hanafih. You must have heard this saying: we are Hanafih. Hanafiyyah is one jurisdictional Islamic religious school, academy which encompasses the orthopraxis Islamic forms, this refers to the manner which we pray namaz, the manner of giving zakah, and how we conduct hajj. There are four Islamic academies which are accepted in the Islamic world, one of them is the school of Jurisdiction Hanafiyyah. Abu Hanafih is the founder of this teaching Islamic academy). One day they invited him into a discussion with several atheists on the matter of existence of God. He had lived in Bagdad. You know that through Bagdad the rivers Tigris and Euphrates pass. The latter began his small trip but he arrived in delay on purpose. When he arrived among the group who invited him to debate on the existence of God, they told him: “we consider you a man of manners, an acknowledged scholar; you should not have been late.” Abu Hanifah answered: “No, I would have arrived on time, but I went close by the rivers, nearby Tigris, and I did not have with what to pass the river. I waited for a while and some wooden branches suddenly appeared, one hammer and several nails, and the hammer began hitting on the nails and to forge them on top of the timber planks until a small ship was built, and then I entered the ship and walked to the other side”. The group began laughing and asked how it could be that the timber planks began to build themselves, there is no way they could do this by itself. Then Abu Hanifah said: “I am surprised by the same thing, how can you claim that this universe, this cosmic ship, which functions in a fascinating indescribable way, how can it be that it is established by itself, when this simple ship in order to pass the Tigris river could not have been made by itself.”
This reflects the theological argumentation, the argument of order and predestination, God’s preference on the universe. (There is another book which Faqir has translated into Albanian; I do not know if you have come across it, it is by a Pakistani author, Mewlud, a contemporary author. The title of the book is: “The righteous understanding of the Qur’an.” The author in this book speaks on the order which exists in the universe). In the universe there is a very intense communication and under no circumstance the logic of man cannot come to understand that this communication this intense, can function without any order, to believe that a Predestinator who has assigned the order in which each cosmic body has its orbit upon which it motions; these are arguments on the existence of God. The theological argument perhaps is a more human argument. It clarifies to man and to his logic that truly behind this existence there stands a Creator.
Thereupon in the Al-Falaq Surah Allah Almighty says: Say! I seek refuge in Sustainer, to Him who brought sense and discipline to the Sun having its rise on the East, the One who disciplined the stars not to bridge, touch and cascade with each other, ordered maintenance to the planets which motion on a certain system and I seek refuge at Him Rabbil Falaq.
Simultaneously if somebody has been preoccupied with astrology, if nothing more a number of us read the horoscope. The horoscope is one astrology, several examples we can find there, valid or not, regarding man’s life based on the movement of stars. The stars and their motion have held importance for the Muslims as a Qur’anic decree, thus even astrology (ilmu’n-nujum) has been well advanced among Muslims. Do you know why? It was religiously requested from us to preoccupy with astronomy, for affixing the beginning of the Ramadan month, to follow the Moon inasmuch the stars.
In the ancient traditions stars have been interconnected with the spiritual dimension. Psychology and astronomy have been interlinked and oftentimes when an eclipse would occur people would be frightened believing something unpleasant would take place, since their psychology, the psychological understanding, has been closely connected to the movement of the stars. Allah Almighty knows this, thus seeks from us to say “I seek refuge in Allah even from those matters, from the individuals who misuse or misemploy the movement of the starts.
Is there such a thing? Listen! There is one element which is not compromised in science. That is: “as long as you do not know what, you do not experience something, then you cannot object it” this is claimed by positivists; materialists use it mostly, but even those themselves violate this rule. Why? They object religiousness without its experience, they object something of which they have no knowledge whatsoever, and moreover they object the experience of others which they have never undergone.
In various environments we come across this mentality being closely related to the stars, to the universe, hence when we shall read Kul audhu Bi Rabbin falaq, we shall be under the auspice of the Sustainer, Educator of the stars, of the primary Circle Who leads the rest. As a result none of it will be able to cause harm to you, nor from the spiritual comprehensive dimension, neither from the physical dimension. Religion delivers an interesting tranquility to man, which we could never attain anywhere else.
Things, whether we like it or not, shall occur. Most things are not in the competence as the individual, thus in most cases we cannot alter them. When we want to change them, but evidently we cannot then we are distressed, we begin to be depressed. Religion enables that once we have finished our duties, not to expect that we shall change the world, but rather once our duties we have completed, success shall follow from God Himself. This way of thinking psychologically brings peace to man. We have a very significant problem now in recent times especially due to the economic crises which we are experiencing. As you might have noticed yourself, there are many suicidal occurrences. Suicide, in most cases takes place subject to a sociological issue. The young man might have had all the wealth: a house, cars, money – attained in different way, and if at one moment he loses it all, if tomorrow he does not have them, he is unable to find a solution to his problem himself. Then he begins thinking, what should I do?! He asks himself this in such way bolstering himself that he cannot endure any longer, and thus hangs himself, since he does not have upon who to confide.
Religion teaches man that everything which is materialistic, Allah Almighty gives this to whomever He chooses, rizq (provision) is granted by God. Hence we say that one who prostates to God, shall not behave prodigal even if he generates 1 million of euro, as he also knows not be depressed when he is left with nothing. Merely the neighboring, the contact and sincere connection with Almighty Allah enables this. This contact enables the experience of the spiritual state. As a result from what we had said, we conclude that Allah Almighty says: you read kul Audhu Bi Rabbil Falaq and enter under the tutor, protection of Him, who has disciplined and sustained the universe.
One Sufi poet of our time, Erzurumlu Ibrahim Hakki says: ““Deme niçin bu böyle, yerincedir o öyle” – “ Do not question why things happen in certain way, it has been created as it ought to be” , “Görelim Mevlam ne eyler, ne eylerse güzel eyler” – “Let us observe what God does, whatever God creatures, He does better than any other.” This reflects prostration before Allah Almighty, deity on Allah Almighty which enables man peace, resulting in shaping joy and contentment of this world.
At whom do we seek refuge?, we seek refuge in the Sustainer of the universe. From whom? Min sharri ma khaliq – from the evil of what was created. Aside from God, every single other thing which has attained shape in creation we can observe from it some evil to be manifested. Thereupon Allah Almighty teaches, shows one how to pray to Him. I seek refuge in God from what? Min sharri ma khalaq – from evil, the evil doing from everything which He has created.
Everything which He has created is found under the control of Allah Almighty, and thus nothing can vindicate, cause harm if God does not allow this.
Allah Almighty says to us, that O God we pray to you we seek refuge in You from evil and the evil doing of all which You have created; amid the created things are the jinns, devils, men and then I shall encounter the rest of the verses and the most frequent ways which evil is done to individuals, people from the spiritual domain.
The most important thing is for us to seek refuge in Allah Almighty, and He is above all things. Existence has two domains, from one side we have Allah Almighty, who has real actual existence, and on the other side we have masivallah, everything aside God, but God. Everything which exists aside God has relative existence, it can exist, it might not exist, it can be or it might not be. God has real and eternal, infinite existence and He is the reason for our revelation onto existence, and inasmuch the moment we attach ourselves with the First, this moment afterwards all things receive a positive value on us. Both the jinn and the devil, if we are not attached to God, are positive for us, for they will challenge us, and we shall seek refuge, we shall engage in ibadah. Faqir, I have this translation from Ali Sheriat, one contemporary Iranian sociological therapist, “Uncountable Zeros before the one” is one poetic prose, a very significant one, I have translated this work 15 years ago. In the transmission of the essential message of the book, one can insert 1 million zeros, but they do not behold any value, if you insert the 1 number before them, then you know the more zeros you will insert behind, the more the value will grow. The identical matter happens with the value of creatures, as long as we do not have the One before, then the rest of the zeros are worthless. The moment we affix the One before, existence attains meaning.
You know why this takes place? Since man, if he does not have God, cannot explain to himself why he is sharing a stay in this world. Has he come to live for 30 years, 40 years or 50 years and to depart from this world without any sense, to become soil, and for this matter to end? No, under no circumstance has life meaning this way.
A few days ago on television there was a scholar giving some lessons from the past, and he said: “It has been said that in the past people have lived very long, at least 1000 years”. This states the Qur’an, for the lifelong of Noah (PBUH), as it says he called into religion for 950 years. Two people, middle ages ones of their time, two people of about 450 years, discuss among themselves on the houses they had built and they say: “ what is left from us, 300-400 more years, why did we build this house, for nothing!!!!. Then one of them says: “I have heard that there will come a time when people will live 60-70 years”. The other person answers: “if we would have lived in their time, we would have never abstained from sajda (prostration) to God”. Inasmuch we would have not wasted one moment without deity on Allah Almighty, the Creator of the universe.
I will now stop here, and we shall continue the following week.
Thank you.