A Wave Of Oblivious People

“Suddenly, madness was everywhere, and I was determined to learn about the impact it had on the way society evolves. I've always believed society to be a fundamentally rational thing, but what if it isn't? What if it is built on insanity?”
― Jon Ronson, The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry

Beetles comprise the largest group of insects, with an estimated 5-8 million species, or 25% of all known life forms on Earth; yet, Humans with but one species make the bigger impact by far. It can be argued that God must really love beetles since He made so many of them, but it seems that People demand more of His attention.

Beetles and People are just 2 of the host of Communities (masses) found of Earth. The word for Community or Folk is the noun ناس ‘nass’ (v. , ‘wave’ ; adj., ‘oblivious’ or ‘forgetful’) and Surah 114 Nass, the last Chapter in the Quran, deals with all the inhabitants or Communities God created, not just people per se (i.e., Jinn, Angels, Cactus, Fish, Peonies, Orcas, etc.).

114 Surah An-Nass (Communities/Masses, Waves, Oblivious)
114:1 قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ
114:1 Say: I Seek Refuge in the Lord of the Masses
114:2 مَلِكِ النَّاسِ 114:2 King of the Masses
114:3 إِلَهِ النَّاسِ
114:3 God of the Masses
114:4 مِن شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ
114:4 From the Evil of the 'Weakening Whisperer' (one who causes weakening/ineffectiveness via regrets/hesitation)
114:5 الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ
114:5 That 'Whispers in the Masses' Breasts' (causes unrest/unsettles by what is being released/published or emanated by or into the midst of a community)
114:6 مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَ النَّاسِ
114:6 From the Committees (or flora, fauna, spirits, etc. or segregated organizations such as alphabet agencies, etc.) and the Masses (People, Jinn, animals, etc.) {The Source of the unrest in 114:5 is caused by factions from the midst of the created communities.}

In terms of genetics People as a species are remarkably homogeneous. And while small variations in the human genome cause distinguishable hereditary traits, none are significant enough to form subspecies in the Human Populace.

Instead, it is more effective to group people in other terms, such as by belief (for example; Sabaen, Christian, Muslim, Jew); regional or ethnic attributes (i.e., tribe, nation, culture; like Romans or Egyptians); by occupation or affiliation (as in Prophets, Poets, Confederates); and by circumstance/condition or unifying characteristic (such as aptitude, disposition, or shared activity).

Analysts invariably translate Sign 114:6 to mean 'Of the Jinn and Mankind,' but the words expressly mentioning Jinn in the Quran are either جِنِّ 'Jinn' or جَآنَّ 'Jan,' the latter being the singular form whereas the plural or generic (like Men or Mankind) is the former rendering.

However, the word الْجِنَّةِ 'al-jinati' in Ayeh 114:6 is not a common contextual occurrence for Jinn, and it is used elsewhere in the Quran to mean either 'spirits' or 'madness/bliss' or even mistaken for the plural form of the word 'garden' or the definitive 'Paradise' due to subtle pronunciation differences between the words 'jinati' and 'janati.'

And there is a secondary meaning to the word Ljinat or jinata meaning 'committee.' So the understanding that the Source of the unrest is not from among Jinn (the Unseen) and Mankind but rather from ill-spirited (quite possibly mad) subgroups or committees (either elected or appointed) that act or function on behalf of the larger group or host community (the 'nass' in this case); and the mechanism by which they spread conflict is by controlling information.

I had a friend in college that whenever he was given any kind of information or asked to give information would qualify what he heard or what he said with, 'Yes, but consider the Source!'

Whether he may have been alluding to something out of a DC Comic or seriously vetting information one could never be sure, but in retrospect he must have held the Wisdom of the Ages to bring 'The Source' of any and all information to everyone-he-came-into-contact-with's attention.

Since, it seems much of the perceived distress and unrest prevalent within Communities is likely rooted in 'bad information' propagated by 'mad' (read: 'private agenda') subgroups or Committees (read: 'self-interest' or 'special interest', not for the 'greater good' or simply 'incompetent') founded by the very Communities they are expected to serve.

The Quran mentions several ancient communities including 'Ad, Thamud, Pharoah's community, b'Nai Israel, Gog and Magog among others; and there are some chapters titled after specific Nations including: 15 Hijjr, 27 Naml, 30 Romans, 34 Saba, 105 Fil, and 106 Quraysh.

________________________(Rock-Hewn Dwellings-- Al-Hijr)

The lesson pertaining to the demise of some of these civilizations is that no matter how highly developed and thriving they once were, they were all eventually brought down and in some cases completely annihilated due to some intolerable failing on their part. Surat Al-Hijr recaps doing away with Lot's community and that of Madayin and mentions that while Al-Hijr were technically advanced for their time and felt themselves secure, dwelling in hewn limestone mountain sides, they were not immune to God's reproach.
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The Hijr had succeeded the Thamud and were at the crossroads of regional trade, yet just as the Thamud were overtaken by an earthquake, the Hijr were lost to what appears to be lightening strikes; this is probably derived from the words الصَّيْحَةُ مُصْبِحِينَ 'al-sayihatu musbihin' which translates to 'screaming flame/by the next morning'.

The latter interpretation for musbihin deriving from both the root 'sabah' for morning conjugated as 'musbihin' meaning 'by the morning' or 'waking up to' and 'm.sbah' for flame or light.

15 Surah Al-Hijr (Stone Dwellings at Madina Saleh)
وَلَقَدْ كَذَّبَ أَصْحَابُ الحِجْرِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ 15:80

15:80 And likewise the People of al-Hijr denied the Messengers
15:81 وَآتَيْنَاهُمْ آيَاتِنَا فَكَانُواْ عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ

15:81 We gave them our Revelation and they were Opposed/Exposed to it
 وَكَانُواْ يَنْحِتُونَ مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا آمِنِين15:82 
15:82 They would sculpt secure dwellings in the Mountains
فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الصَّيْحَةُ مُصْبِحِينَ 15:83
15:83 Yet the Sayihatu had taken them by the next morning
فَمَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُواْ يَكْسِبُونَ 15:84

15:84 And they were none the richer for what they earned

Further supporting that the 'nass' in Surah 114 refers to all Communities and not just Humanity may be inferred from Solomon's gifts that are mentioned in Chapter 27 The Ants (Naml):

Surah 27 Naml (Ants)

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ عِلْمًا وَقَالَا الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي فَضَّلَنَا عَلَى كَثِيرٍ مِّنْ عِبَادِهِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ 27:15

27:15 And likewise we bestowed onto David and Solomon Knowledge and they said, 'Thank God who has favored us much among His Faithful Servants.'

وَوَرِثَ سُلَيْمَانُ دَاوُودَ وَقَالَ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ عُلِّمْنَا مَنطِقَ الطَّيْرِ وَأُوتِينَا مِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْمُبِينُ 27:16

27:16 And Solomon succeeded David, and he said, 'O, all you Communities! I have learned the language of 'all that flies' and have been given insight to everything; truly, this is an obvious favor (apparent preference).'

وَحُشِرَ لِسُلَيْمَانَ جُنُودُهُ مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ وَالطَّيْرِ فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ 27:17

27:17 And (there) gathered onto Solomon Forces from the Jinn and the Communities and 'That which Flies' for they were dispersed (distributed).

حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَوْا عَلَى وَادِي النَّمْلِ قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّمْلُ ادْخُلُوا مَسَاكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَانُ وَجُنُودُهُ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ 27:1

27:18 Until they reached the Valley of the Ants (Naml), (she) the Ant said, 'O, you Ants! Get inside your dwellings lest Solomon and his Forces trample you unintentionally!'

And I bet Solomon got a kick out of that because he went on to express his gratitude for being privy to all the dialogue going on around him; including the News one hudhud (a little bird) shared with him about the Queen of Sheba (Saba'). And while it is easy to dispute that Solomon could indeed understand the language of all Communities and had mastery over the unseen forces such as the Jinn, this disbelief is founded on lack of awareness rather than any credible evidence; and I suppose that's why the existence of UFOs ('that which flies') is a hotly debated topic, even today.

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Surah 34 Saba (Sheba)

أَفَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُم مِّنَ السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضِ

إِن نَّشَأْ نَخْسِفْ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضَ أَوْ نُسْقِطْ عَلَيْهِمْ كِسَفًا مِّنَ السَّمَاء

إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُّنِيبٍ 34:9

34:9 Do they not see how much lies (open) between their hands and how much is (lies) hidden in the Heavens and Earth...(in other words, how little they see of what lies open and hidden in Heaven and Earth?)

And it would appear that no Community is ever brought down without it first proving itself truly ungrateful as indicated in Surah 34 Saba' (Sheba):

34 Surah Saba' (Sheba)

لَقَدْ كَانَ لِسَبَإٍ فِي مَسْكَنِهِمْ آيَةٌ جَنَّتَانِ عَن يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ كُلُوا مِن رِّزْقِ رَبِّكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لَهُ بَلْدَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ وَرَبٌّ غَفُورٌ 34:15

34:15 Likewise there was for the Sheba (Saba') dwelling among gardens to their right and their left; 'Partake of your Sustainer's Gifts and be thankful to Him'; they had a goodly existence and a Forgiving Lord.

فَأَعْرَضُوا فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَيْلَ الْعَرِمِ وَبَدَّلْنَاهُم بِجَنَّتَيْهِمْ جَنَّتَيْنِ ذَوَاتَى أُكُلٍ خَمْطٍ وَأَثْلٍ وَشَيْءٍ مِّن سِدْرٍ قَلِيلٍ 34:16

34:16 Yet, they opposed, so We sent them the 'arim flood (broken dam) and We exchanged their gardens for two gardens that yielded bitter fruit, the tamarisk and a few lote trees. ذَلِكَ جَزَيْنَاهُم بِمَا كَفَرُوا وَهَلْ نُجَازِي إِلَّا الْكَفُورَ 34:17
34:17 So We Recompensed them for their ingratitude and thus do We Reward the Ungrateful.
وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ الْقُرَى الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا قُرًى ظَاهِرَةً وَقَدَّرْنَا فِيهَا السَّيْرَ سِيرُوا فِيهَا لَيَالِيَ وَأَيَّامًا آمِنِينَ 34:18
34:18 And there was between them villages blessed by their visible proximity; and We enabled easy travel between them during the day and security by night

فَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا بَاعِدْ بَيْنَ أَسْفَارِنَا وَظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ فَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَحَادِيثَ 
وَمَزَّقْنَاهُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ34:19
34:19But they said, 'Our Lord, this is a far distance to travel,' and wronged themselves, so We made them into fables and scattered them; in these are Signs for everyone who is patient, grateful.

The many Communities in situ with Humanity, our Awareness or our Oblivion, reacting to questionable information from self-serving Sources, and the downfall or success of a given group of people is summed up rather eloquently in the first 6 Signs of Chapter 30 Romans.

Surah 30 Ar-Rum (The Romans)

الم 30:1

30:1 Alif. Lam. Miim غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ 30:2 30:2 The Romans are Defeated

30:3 فِي أَدْنَى الْأَرْضِ وَهُم مِّن بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ

30:3 In the Lower Land, but they will after their defeat be Victorious
فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينَ لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِن قَبْلُ وَمِن بَعْدُ وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ 30:4

30:4 In a few years, God's Command from Before and After, and then the Believers will Rejoice.

بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنصُرُ مَن يَشَاء وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ 30:5

30:5 God Makes Victorious whomever He Wills, and He is the Mighty, the Merciful.

وَعْدَ اللَّهِ لَا يُخْلِفُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ 30:6

30:6 God's Promise; God does not rescind His Promise, yet most People (Communities) are not Aware.

The defeat of the Romans followed by their victory were events that could not have been readily foretold at the time of the Revelation, just as in Surah 105 Fil (The Elephant), the Companions of the Elephant could not anticipate the unexpected outcome of their war campaign.

In the Year of the Elephant (about 568 AD), tradition holds that a mighty contingent using war elephants, led by Abraha, marched on Mecca in order to divert worshippers from the Ka'ba to Abraha's house of worship.

Indigenous to Mecca were the Quraysh, and it is said that Abraha's troops defeated several tribes on the way during their march to Mecca. Tradition also holds that just outside of the city, the war elephants knelt and refused to march on Mecca and it was at this point that Abraha and his army were pelted by 'birds carrying clay stones.'

It is said that only the army and Abraha were injured or killed during the onslaught and that the animals were all spared.

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As usual, the word 'tayrin' is translated to mean 'birds' when in reality it is a more general form meaning anything that is airborne or flies.

There seems to also be a consensus that the invaders were pelted with 'clay tablets' or 'stones of clay' but the literal translation of 'hijrn min sijil' appears to be 'stones of inscription'.

This would mean that the Companions of the Elephant were defeated by an airborne presence 'as written,' which would mean that their demise was pre-ordained.

That the animals were spared points to the invaders having possibly succumbed to an airborne agent that targeted only the humans, such as a viral infection (or in a contemporary context, 'airfreshener'--God forbid!).

105 Surah Al-Fil (The Elephant)

وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيل َ 105:3

105:3 And Sent to them 'tayrin ababil'

تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ مِّن سِجِّيلٍ 105:4

105:4 To pelt them with 'hijrin min sijil'

Chapters 105 The Elephant and 106 Quraysh were often read together; but its worth mentioning that while Quraysh prevailed against the Companions of the Elephant they had at one time been antagonistic toward the early Muslim community and had themselves been defeated by the Muslims.

This lends credence to the claim that favoring one community over another is not forever fixed and is in fact pliant; depending on what each community happens to be doing or not doing at any given point in time.

In fact, Quraysh were openly admonished for their disbelief in Surah 54 Al-Qamar (The Moon):

أَكُفَّارُكُمْ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أُوْلَئِكُمْ أَمْ لَكُم بَرَاءةٌ فِي الزُّبُرِ 54:43

54:43 Are your Unbelievers (addressing Quraysh) better than your predecessors or have you an assurance in the Holy Scriptures?

But having mended their errant ways and for preserving the Ka'ba the Quraysh did win favor eventually:

106 Surah Al-Quraysh

لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ 106:1

106:1 By the Covenent with Quraysh

إِيلَافِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَاء وَالصَّيْفِ 106:2

106:2 Having Secured for them the Winter and Summer Travels

فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ 106:3

106:3 So Worship the Lord of this House

الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍ 106:4

106:4 Who has Fed you from Hunger and Secured you from Threats (Fear).

In a similar way that Chapters titled after specific Nations record significant events pertaining to those communities, Chapters are also titled after communities grouped according to affiliations and include: 21 Prophets, 23 Believers, 26 Poets, 33 Ahzab (Confederates), and 109 Kafirun (Unfaithful).

Having expressed that there is a multifaceted creation comprised of many communities, the emphasis in Surah 21 The Prophets is the the Unity of the Community of Prophets and by extension that of the Believers.

While the Chapter addresses the Prophet directly, the others among his community mentioned by name or by reference are Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Lot, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, David, Solomon, Job, Idris/Ezekiel, Zul-kifl, Zaccharia, John, Mary and Jesus.

21 Al-Anbya (The Prophets)

إِنَّ هَذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ 21:92 21:92 Truly, this your Community is but One community and I am Your God (Sustainer, Keeper), so Worship Me.

Whenever the first person pronoun is used in the Quran there was never any mistaking that the 'Me' refers to God and not the person speaking or delivering the message, that is why it is clear that while many honor the Prophet, none have ever worshipped him. In a like manner, whenever the royal 'We' is used, it is understood to mean a Singular God and not a whole bunch.

There probably was a great deal of soul searching on the part of anyone granted Revelation as to what purpose it all serves and on a more personal level the inevitable 'why me?' and 'what does that make me?' So it is not surprising to find insight as to what it's all about in this chapter.

Signs 21:7-21:8 assure us that the Prophet and the entire Community of Prophets that preceded him were all mortals regardless of the Gifts they were proffered. Sign 21:25 emphasises the fact that the Message was being Reiterated one last time, reinforced by describing the common experience of each and every Prophet or Messenger that preceded the Seal of the Prophets, in that they were all thoroughly convinced, either by direct contact or some mode of Inspiration, that there was a Singular Diety, their God, Sourcing the Revelation.

That each one was compelled to carry the Message, having come to know this, is also in the subtext. By extention there was to be no subsequent Sanctioned Revelation thereafter, the Final Truth is really nothing more than this Final Message, possibly in a different language or format, but basically Quran.:

The Finality of the Quran meant that the 'ship had gone off course' for the very last time; so if things seem to be off keel in your neck of the woods, you simply have not gotten the Message, yet.

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ فَاسْأَلُواْ أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ 21:7

21:7 And We never Sent before you any but men, that We Inspired, so ask 'the people of Remembrance' if you do not know

وَمَا جَعَلْنَاهُمْ جَسَدًا لَّا يَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ وَمَا كَانُوا خَالِدِينَ 21:8

21:8 and We did not make their bodies without need of food, nor were they immortals...

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وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِ 21:25

21:25 And We never Sent before you a Messenger but We Inspired (Convinced) him that there is no God except Me; so Worship Me (they only worshipped Me; they are My Servants).

And the impetus as to why Revelation is manifest to the Communities is also included in Chapter 21 such that the Messengers' mission is clearly detailed as to what the Outcome will be.

وَكَمْ قَصَمْنَا مِن قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ ظَالِمَةً وَأَنشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ 21:11

21:11 And how many Unjust villages (towns) have We Exterminated and Established after them latter Folk.
21:12 فَلَمَّا أَحَسُّوا بَأْسَنَا إِذَا هُم مِّنْهَا يَرْكُضُونَ

21:12 Once they felt Our Might they would Flee from it لَا تَرْكُضُوا وَارْجِعُوا إِلَى مَا أُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيهِ وَمَسَاكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ 21:13
21:13 "Do not Run Away, and Return to your temptations and your dwellings; to be held Accountable.":

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وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لَاعِبِينَ 21:16
21:16 And We did not Create the Heavens and the Earth and all that is between them for play (amusement)
لَوْ أَرَدْنَا أَن نَّتَّخِذَ لَهْوًا لَّاتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا إِن كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ 21:17
21:17 Had We willed to have a diversion, We would have Created it within Ourselves.

The Believers (Chapter 23) continues the theme of Unity among the Messengers and those who truly heed the Message. It reminds everyone of the humble matter from which they derive (a drop of sperm) and contrasts that with God's Might.

While there was a passing reference to 'the people of Remembrance' in Chapter 21 Sign 21:7, that is expounded in Sign 23:95:

23 Surah Al-Mu'minin (The Believers)
وَإِنَّا عَلَى أَن نُّرِيَكَ مَا نَعِدُهُمْ لَقَادِرُونَ 23:95
23:95 And indeed We are Able to Show you (make you Witness) all that We Promise them.

In this we see that God preserves Witnesses from among the Believers for the Purpose of relating that they have come to See, Know, or Witness what is being related in these Signs is True and they serve as a core group by which to Verify all that's been Related.

They are also the manner by which God preserves His Teachings.

And I would be remiss if I neglect to mention that the acid test for what does or does not qualify someone as a Messenger is that at some time during their Mission they are all accused of being down right Crazy:

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ بِهِ جِنَّةٌ بَلْ جَاءهُم بِالْحَقِّ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ لِلْحَقِّ كَارِهُونَ 23:70
23:70 Except that they say (about the Prophet, or Messenger) ‘he’s crazy!’ ('there is madness in him') although he came to them in Truth and the majority of them detest the Truth (abhor what’s Right)

{As an aside, you won't catch me saying that; although being accused of lunacy puts me in good company, I can only say 'Thanks for lending me a quarter when I was a nickle short, and for being the Front Man in all of this'--but I still don't appreciate the 'antenna on her head' wisecrack!}

Insight into what 21:11-21:17 imply is Riveting.

While these Signs re-inforce that the main drive behind Revelation is a Final Justice, it is Justice served on Multiple Levels.

At first glance, it is an Unjust Community that is held accountable and done away with to be supplanted by more deserving people; but on finer inspection, it is not only communal punishment, but the Accounting is to take place on a Personal level.

Moreover, the Accounting is taking place contemporaneous to and not in lieu of Life going on as usual. It is clear that those meted out Punishment are actually expected to continue to frequent their 'temptations' and their 'dwellings' while they are at the same time Accounting or taking stock of what they are doing. 'Do not Run Away,' or 'do not leave', would indicate that they are held in place.

This is quite ominous, since it would seem that even the Grave is not an escape hatch from what one does in Life.

Where is Heaven? Where is Hell?

It would appear one need not look any farther than at their next-door neighbor or their own backyard!

This Realization brings to the fore the pressing nature of Revelation, and why it is important to be aware that this is what is going on.

It could be that not only do we not know what Time it is, but many of us are completely Oblivious to our own demise since it all might look the same to the Uninformed. (To get the picture, consider earlier postings on Multiple Dimensions and Escher's work 'Relativity')

Surah 26 The Poets continues the narrative about some of the Prophets mentioned in Surah 21 The Prophets, and adds lesser known ones such as Saleh and Hud.

And while each Prophet's speaking part, either addressing God or their respective communities, is captured in the narrative the message centers around the need to delineate the differences between the manner in which Prophets speak versus what Poets have to say.

It is indicated that while Prophets say what appears to be the most astonishing things, they are coming from a place of Knowing exactly what it is they are saying, compared to Poets who may be saying more acceptable things but for the most part they are just hitting on the right elements by chance (in their wandering/creative process).

It is hard to pick any one quote over another of the Prophets' in this Surah, but in Abraham's appeal, the ultimate goal that each is striving for is summed up rather nicely. So I selected a sound bite of his, given that he is arguably the Father of all the Prophets, and it connects very well with the discourse here about the Message and why it is propagated:

26 Al-Anbya (The Prophets)

وَاجْعَل لِّي لِسَانَ صِدْقٍ فِي الْآخِرِينَ 26:84

26:84 (and Abraham prayed) "And grant me the language (tongue) of verity (genuienness, ratification) among those who come later (progeny)."

So for Abraham it was of paramount importance that the Message find its way into all languages and be carried on to the next generations without distortion (Ratified); and that over time the Truth of the Message would prevail and in so doing it would be Authenticated as it propagates.

One can appreciate what a daunting task this must have been before the advent of computers and telephony; but then, it is also understandable why things got lost in the translation.

While some Prophets promoted it 'by the Sword', and others 'by the Pen', it is not by chance that Mary is mentioned in Surah 21 The Prophets. Mary established her unique place in the Prophethood in that how she 'carried the Message' can never be replicated; Kudos to Mary (pbuh) for scoring the highest points in all categories, including Creativity, Difficulty, and Delivery.

And if anyone is of the opinion that God would in any way harm her endevours by 'Sacrificing' what sprung out of her, go back and read about multiple dimensions.

The Quran is adamant that Jesus was not Crucified and that it only 'appeared so to them'.

They saw some effigy of what they passed on as history and while those who followed from that lost community go around having 'Elvis sightings'*** nowadays, the rest of us who know better get Jesus to walk us home after a three-day trip to a tech convention (he is forever young and still a redhead and he obviously never sat for a portrait!). :

If the categorical refutation that the Crucifixion took place, as related many centuries after Jesus, seems like pulling the rug out from under what is understood to be Christianity--it is not at all, since the fundamental definition of a Christian is 'one who recognizes the Christ'; it has nothing to do with vicarious redemption by the Crucifixion, believing Jesus is God in the flesh, being born to suffer and atone based on the concept of 'an Original Sin' (they've all been tried by now) or any other doctrine that came at the heels of having learned about Jesus (pbuh).

While it is convenient to sort or categorize people by their beliefs or culture, their occupation or affiliation, it may be that the way to differentiate among people most clearly is in the way they act or their mannerisms. To this end there are Chapters that mention groups of people according to a characteristic or condition, including: 37 Saffat, 59 Tahashur, 62 Jum’a, 77 Mursilat, 83 Mutaffafin, and 107 Ma’un.

In 37 As-Saffat, the roots صاف 'saaf' meaning 'unclouded/clear' or 'puristic' , صف 'suf' meaning 'row' or 'queue', and صافي 'safi' meaning 'net', are all just as valid in the understanding of the text in the preamble, but it is very clear that the meanings 'ranked' or 'ranged' are the primary sense of the words when those speaking in Signs 37:164-37:165 make it perfectly clear that there is not one of them that does not know that they each have a known denominator or 'common characteristic' and that 'they are indeed the ones arrayed or ranged according to rank.' Although 37:164 is often interpreted to mean 'there is not one of us who does not have a known place,' the word مَقَامٌ 'maqam' primarily means 'denominator' and I think the misunderstanding has to do with confusing it with another similar word, 'makaan', which means 'location' or 'place.'

And while, historically, it has been understood that those speaking in 37:164-37:165 are in fact the Angels, there is nothing to keep this arrangement from being the accepted structure of how everything else is organized and propagating in similar fashion throughout Creation.

37 Surah As-Saffat (Ranged, Clear, Perfected)

37:1 وَالصَّافَّاتِ صَفًّا

37:1 By those Ranged In Ranks (And this Clear Ordered Description)
فَالزَّاجِرَاتِ زَجْرً 37:2

37:2 Thus the Injunctions are Enjoined (By it the Injunctions are Imposed)

فَالتَّالِيَاتِ ذِكْرًا 37:3

37:3 Such that Subsequently there is Remembrance (In that those that next follow are Men)

إِنَّ إِلَهَكُمْ لَوَاحِدٌ 37:4

37:4 Indeed your God is One (Singular) (You have Only One God)

:

وَمَا مِنَّا إِلَّا لَهُ مَقَامٌ مَّعْلُومٌ 37:164

37:164 And there is not one of us but has a known 'denominator' (known common characteristic; degree or level of quality; average standard)

وَإِنَّا لَنَحْنُ الصَّافُّونَ 37:165

37:165 And indeed it is we that are arranged in ranks (orderly arrayed, but also 'networked', 'making things clear')

And just as Surah 37 is referring to both Messages or Injunctions and Ranged 'Nass', Surah 77 Mursilat seems to be talking about the Weather (Clouds or the Winds as Emissaries) while simultaneously informing us of the activities of الْمُرْسَلَاتِ the 'Mursilat' as 'trasmitters, despatchers, dispatchers, senders, shippers'.

Surah 77 Al-Mursilat (Winds, Transmitters...)

وَالْمُرْسَلَاتِ عُرْفًا 77:1

77:1 By the Customary Emmissaries (Usually taken to mean the Clouds or Prevailing Winds; alternatively--'By the Known Transmitters' or 'And the Transmitters Know'; 'By what the Posters Impart'; 'And the Senders Realize'...)

فَالْعَاصِفَاتِ عَصْفًا 77:2

77:2 Thereby the Stormiest Winds (Thereby Devestating the Unruly)

وَالنَّاشِرَاتِ نَشْرًا 77:3

77:3 And the Publishers Publish (And the Diffusers (those charged with softening or spreading the Light) Broadcast or Widely Make it Public)

فَالْفَارِقَاتِ فَرْقًا 77:4

77:4 Such that by Differences Team (So that those with Differences are Differentiated or are grouped by differences)

فَالْمُلْقِيَاتِ ذِكْرًا 77:5

77:5 And those Lying are Admonished (What Lies Open is Remembered; alternatively-- 'Those Fired are Men')

عُذْرًا أَوْ نُذْرًا 77:6

77:6 Apologies or Vows (Excuses or Promises)

إِنَّمَا تُوعَدُونَ لَوَاقِعٌ 77:7

77:7 Indeed, what We Promise Is Reality (What We have Appointed for you has Befallen)

فَإِذَا النُّجُومُ طُمِسَتْ 77:8

77:8 So when the Stars Blur (are Effaced, Obliterated)

وَإِذَا السَّمَاء فُرِجَتْ 77:9

77:9 And when the Sky Gaps

وَإِذَا الْجِبَالُ نُسِفَتْ 77:10

77:10 And when the Mountains Blow Up (Sinking, Blasted...)

وَإِذَا الرُّسُلُ أُقِّتَتْ 77:11

77:11 And when the Messengers are Received (Arrive at their Appointed Time; alternatively 'the GNU kernel is completed'--sounds like you have some work to do)

لِأَيِّ يَوْمٍ أُجِّلَتْ 77:12

77:12 Any Day Postponed (Any day may be Postponed)

لِيَوْمِ الْفَصْلِ 77:13

77:13 For the Day of Distinction (الْفَصْلِ 'al-fasl' used here to mean 'Distinction' has synonyms with equal weight including: Separation, Disjunction, Detail, Elaboration, Disentanglement, Segregation, Differentiation, Dissociation from, Judgment...)

Astute followers of this blog may remember why Disentanglement is a valuable activity; given the earlier description of how the 'the firmament is interwoven.' And like we have come to expect, the Quran teaches by presenting dichotomies or dualities for consideration; so just as there are those performing beneficial deeds, there are those whose deeds only serve to make things worse. They are mentioned in Surah 83 Al-Mutaffifin.

Surah 83 Al-Mutaffifin (Defrauders, or Those Who Short The Measure)

وَيْلٌ لِّلْمُطَفِّفِينَ 83:1

83:1 Woe betides the Defrauders (those who Short the Measure, Cheat the Balance)

الَّذِينَ إِذَا اكْتَالُواْ عَلَى النَّاسِ يَسْتَوْفُونَ 83:2

83:2 Those that when they gather (amass, collect) from the 'nass' (others) want payment in full (others to meet their obligations in full)

وَإِذَا كَالُوهُمْ أَو وَّزَنُوهُمْ يُخْسِرُونَ 83:3

83:3 And when they have to pay they diminish their scales (short the measure, lessen their balance)

أَلَا يَظُنُّ أُولَئِكَ أَنَّهُم مَّبْعُوثُونَ 83:4

83:4 Not thinking those are Envoys (it would appear those noticing the shortage are official representatives or emissaries)

لِيَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ 83:5

83:5 To a Great Day (Important Day)

A cursory glance at the first 5 Signs of Surah 83 makes us think 'Well, it's business as usual!', but the deeper meaning is that the 'Cheaters' are those that want great things for themselves while depriving others of the very same (Think 'Mid-East Crisis', and see why it's funny--how many of you saw the large UFO over Israel in August 1996? If it was not Mir in its orbit over the course of those 3 nights then it was 'just Jerusalem landing'--again, this time on camera. I still can't figure out if they spat on me or sprinkled me with Holy Water for that trick--I thought I was being Creative.)

And just like the Defrauders make it bad for others while making things worse for themselves, the Liars, Hypocrites and the Dispossessors are duly mentioned in Surah 107 Al-Ma'un.

Surah 107 Al-Ma'un (Basic Necessities, Small Kindness)

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّينِ 107:1

107:1 Are you Aware of those who deny The Faith (personal beliefs and values, moral law)?

فَذَلِكَ الَّذِي يَدُعُّ الْيَتِيمَ 107:2

107:2 And they Repulse the Orphan

وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَى طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ 107:3

107:3 And they Do Not Provide for the Feeding of the Poor (Indigent)

فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ 107:4

107:4 Woe betide the Hypocrites!

الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ107:5
107:5 Those who are Heedless of their Prayers (Feign to Pray)
الَّذِينَ هُمْ يُرَاؤُونَ 107:6 

107:6 They who Show Off (make a prentese at prayer for appearances sake)

وَيَمْنَعُونَ الْمَاعُونَ 107:7

107:7 And Disallow the Least Kindness (do not allow others what is considered lit. 'acceptable' (like showing one's face in public, getting an education, or an opportunity on par with others); basic necessities, a small kindness)

Well, you might wonder, where does that leave the rest of us? It appears in order to get a ringside seat we should avoid doing what the sorts in Chapters 83 and 107 are discovered doing by the Emissaries (aliens that we cannot readily discern from the rest of the crowd); and to answer the call along with others who Congregate when we hear it, as outlined in Surah 62 Jum'ah; and in light of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti recently, Sign 63:10 serves as an appropriate reminder to be Charitable.

Surah 62 Jum'ah (Congregation; Gathering)

62:9 يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِي لِلصَّلَاةِ مِن يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

62:9 All You Believers! When You are called to Prayer on the Day of Congregation it is more Virtuous to Remember Your God and forego trade, it is Better for You if You but only knew.

Surah 63 Al-Munafiqun

وَأَنفِقُوا مِن مَّا رَزَقْنَاكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ
 فَيَقُولَ رَبِّ لَوْلَا أَخَّرْتَنِي إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُن مِّنَ الصَّالِحِينَ 63:10

63:10 And spend something from what We have provided you before Death approaches you and you say, 'My Lord, please allow me a Respite so that I may spend in Charity and thereby be among the Righteous." (Note: 'spending something' does not necessarily mean money, it can be anything you feel you have been given, including your time).

I can just hear the chorus of the trite refrain 'If there is a God why are there Earthquakes?'

The short answer is that when People behave Peacefully, the Earth will settle down, too--bizarre, but True.

The Good News is that the 'Haitian Recruits' are much more lively and chipper than the ones coming out of the Middle East right now, who tend to be crotchety at best. So, the real issue is what will this Test demonstrate about all the rest of us still left 'alive' (behind)?

In trying times we may choose to remain Oblivious or be best served to consider this Reminder::

59 Surah Al-Hashr (Al-Tahashur, The Gathering)

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْتَنظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ 59:18

59:18 All you Believers! Observe your duty to God. And have each Soul consider what it has sent forth on the morrow. (And again) Observe your duty to God for He is Aware of all that you do.
وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَأَنسَاهُمْ أَنفُسَهُمْ أُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ 59:19

59:19 And do not be among those who are Oblivious to God (those who Forget God) so God has made them Oblivious to their own selves; those (who) are (now) Reprobates.

And if somehow this all seems like a tall order for us to fill, it is a pittance when we all stop to consider Who is asking us to Evolve.

Maybe the reason we get so easily tangled up in our little lives and lose our Perspective is because we are at times Oblivious to our own Origins (where we are in the Field) or maybe we have never truly learned how Expansive our Maker is:

59:22 هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ هُوَ الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيمُ 59:23 هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلَامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْعَزِيزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ 59:24 هُوَ اللَّهُ الْخَالِقُ الْبَارِئُ الْمُصَوِّرُ لَهُ الْأَسْمَاء الْحُسْنَى يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ

59:22 He is God, Whom there is no other Deity except Him. He Knows The Hidden and (what is) Witnessed. He is The Merciful, The Beneficent (Dispenser of Grace).

59:23 He is God, Whom there is no other Deity except Him; The Sovereign (King), The Holy, the Source of Peace (and Perfection), the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme (Perceptible). All Praise is due to God (for He is) above (having any of) the partners they attribute to Him.

59:24 He is God; The Creator, The Evolver, The Bestower of Forms (The Depicter).

To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names:

whatever is in the Heavens and on Earth, extols His Praises and Glory:

and He is The Exalted in Might, The Wise.

If you've made it to this point, you may be thinking I meandered too far from the main topic about the 'Nass', or the 'waves of communities' that God makes provisions for, whether they are Aware or Oblivious to His Care.

Apparently He Cares enough to keep them informed so that they may all Evolve while maintaining some focus as to what could be causing so much discord among them.

A main cause of the dissonance is Reacting to information from uncertain sources--rather than Responding based on their own Reason to what is Learned from a Reliable Source.

As mentioned in Signs 59:22-59:24 above there is a God worthy of our obeisance and judging by the description it is not in the Nature of such a God to have ever been incubated.

He can make His point in a less mundane manner. But it could be that no matter how hard one tries, there are those who choose to remain unconvinced that there even is such as thing as God or perhaps cannot come to terms with a God that is above having the need to assume a tangible form.

I suppose if I ever feel the need to worship some guy there is always my Husband, because at some level he, too, provides for me and is capable of making my life a Heaven or Hell--but I'd rather not.

For all the others that prefer to deny this Truth by defining or depicting God any other way the Quran has this to say:

109 Surah Al-Kafirun (The Nonbelievers, Deniers)
قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ109:1
109:1 Say: O you Disbelievers
لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ  109:2
109:2 I do not worship what you worship
وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ 109:3
109:3 Nor do you worhsip what I worship
وَلَا أَنَا عَابِدٌ مَّا عَبَدتُّمْ109:4
109:4 I do not serve what you worship
وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ 109:5
109:5 Nor do you serve what I worship
لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ 109:6
109:6 You have your Religion and I have (my) Religion (Way, Moral Law)

The most interesting thing Surah 109 illustrates is that even when there is a major divide keeping people ('nass') from seeing eye-to-eye on an issue, even one as hotly contested as Religion, at the heart of the Message is concluding Sign 109:6 espousing Tolerance; basically, 'You go your Way and I go Mine'.

I suppose believing in my God can make one feel like they can have bullets bounce off of them, but we are reminded daily that we are mortal here (and accident prone).

I s'pose that's how Depth of Faith gets tested.

While I do not recommend that you take a flying leap off a tall building to prove me Right (the landing will hurt even though you will 'survive on some level') the moral of this treatise is that you should always 'Consider the Source' before acting on any information, second to that you might want to think about the Motivation.

Around the face of the Globe, 'bad information' manipulates the populace into marginal lifestyles and often can lead to all out warfare.

In the United States the general, apparently well-founded, distrust of information and its sources translates into a plethora of conspiracy theories. : Have you heard the one about how the 'government' has a psychotronic warfare weapon that projects images against the sky that fill the horizon?

It goes by names like HAARP or BlueBeam but I like to call it 'As of 2009 they still don't have enough Bandwidth for that' Show (including soundrack).

So, if you think you have seen one (Sky Movie, Sky Holograph), remember to give credit where it's due. _______________________________________________________ ***No sooner had I penned the 'Elvis Sighting' remark (Jan. 13-14, 2010) when the very next day my teenager brings home a friend and when I asked her what her name was she said 'Elvis' and she insisted that it was her given name and not a nick name. I just about fell over backwards!

Magic And The Occult

It’s been said that there is a fine line between pleasure and pain; then how much slimmer is the joy and sorrow boundary? Nothing expresses the finely-tuned gauge of this faint irony more than Sign 52:44, classically interpreted to mean 'And if they see a piece of the sky falling down they say ‘A Heap of Clouds!’'
(Note: In arabithmatic terms a 'heap' is defined as follows:

"In abstract algebra, a heap (sometimes also called a groud) is a mathematical generalisation of a group--basically what you get froma  group when "forgetting" which element is the unit, in the same way that an affine space can be viewed as a vector space in which the 0 element (starting point) has been "forgotten". A heap is essentially the same thing as a torsor, and the category of heaps is equivalent to the category of torsors, with morphisms given by transport of structure under group homomorphisms (see travel, degrees of freedom, projective force, naval...), but the theory of heaps emphasizes the intrinsic composition law, rather than global structures such as the geometry of bundles." (refer to wolframalpha or wikipedia)

52 Tur
52:44 وَإِن يَرَوْا كِسْفًا مِّنَ السَّمَاء سَاقِطًا يَقُولُوا سَحَابٌ مَّرْكُومٌ

This rendering approximates the message contained in 52:44 but it is somewhat misguided since the word كِسْفًا ‘ksfa’ is understood to mean very similar words, either ‘ksma’ or ‘ksra,’ that actually mean ‘piece’ or ‘fragment.’ Should the true sense of the word كِسْفًا ‘ksfa’ be applied it imbues the message with an altogether different flavor.

The root of the word كِسْفًا ‘ksfa’ is comprised of the three letter word كِسْفً ‘Ksf’ which in verb form means to eclipse or outshine; the noun form of which is كِسْوفً 'ksoof,' primarily meaning an eclipse or occultation; the adjective form of which means ‘solar.’ An occultation is typically the eclipse or transit of one astronomical object by another, temporarily hiding it or a portion of it. The word occult, the root of the word occultation, usually refers to magic or a supernatural phenomenon; but also to things which are not readily understood, or secret. The broader term syzygy, in addition to meaning an astronomical transit or occultation, implies a mystical union in which the participants unite while each one does not lose a sense of their own individual identity.

In Arabic, the letter كِ ‘k’ when prefacing a word usually means ‘akin to.’ By extension the root سْوفً ‘soof’ in كِسْوفً ‘k.soof’ means to temporize or use a delay tactic to gain time and so whatever is happening in the sky is doing something akin to temporization or stalling for time.

The word for falling is سَاقِطً ‘saqt,’ which also means ‘lapsed’; denotes either an actual descent or a state of being in a momentary failure; having a gap in continuity or gradually coming to a stop. A lapse can also mean becoming void through disuse or death, or to elapse, as in to go by in a gradual way.

So what exactly is 52:44 referring to them seeing in the Sky if not a piece or fragment of it falling down?

We can try to discern what it is by analyzing their reaction to it when they say it’s ‘a heap of clouds.’

In a similar vein as the analysis above we start with the basic root سَحَبٌ ‘s.hh.b’ which means to pull or drag something, so the things that appear to be dragging along or pulling along when looking up at the sky are typically ‘clouds,’ and that is why سَحَابٌ ‘shba’ is understood to mean ‘clouds.’

But modern usage of the word سَحَابٌ ‘shba’ is literally ‘sky-scraper’ which may mean a tall building or something that literally appears to be scraping by (or passing over while touching) in the sky.

And the word مَّرْكُومٌ ‘markoom’ derives from رْكُمٌ ‘rkm,’ a word that means lumps or accumulations and by extension mar.koom means something that gathers or accumulates. What’s a modern term for 'accumulator'?--'Calculator' is one, since it adds and stores and does other things related to رْكُمٌ ‘rkm.’

So, here we are seeing for the first time what all the excitement was about that caused the onlookers in 52:44 to remark. Granted that clouds accumulating over the desert is a rare and remarkable event worthy of exclamation, but what would elicit a more incredulous response is that what they may have also been seeing is a ‘sky-scraping accumulator’ descending from the sky, whose function appears to be akin to a time stalling tactic which also acts to occult or cover a portion of the sky while passing by gradually---a UFO! (Phoenix Lights, anyone?!--can You tell I'm still miffed that You shut off the hailing frequency?)

Of course 52:44 is taken from Surah 52 Tur which means Mountain, and when stated as the definitive at-Tur it refers specifcally to Mount Sinai (the quintessential 'skyscraper' of yore). It is quite lovely to recite given its staccato rhythm of the first 4 signs and their consistent rhyme scheme ending with the sound '-oor,' followed by the next 6 lines rhyming in this fashion رًا رًا عِ عِ رِ عِ (calls to mind do-run-do-do-run-run..).

52 Tur (Mountain, Mount Sinai; Evolved)
وَالطُّورِ 52:1
52:1 By the Mount (Mount Sinai, alternatively 'those evolved; developed')
وَكِتَابٍ مَّسْطُورٍ 52:2
52:2 And Delineated Book (written line by line)
فِي رَقٍّ مَّنشُورٍ 52:3
52:3 In a Published Scroll
وَالْبَيْتِ الْمَعْمُورِ 52:4
52:4 And the Frequented House
وَالسَّقْفِ الْمَرْفُوعِ 52:5
52:4 And the Ceiling Raised (High) (The Sky)
وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ 52:6
52:6 And the Sea Corraled (encircled; fenced)
إِنَّ عَذَابَ رَبِّكَ لَوَاقِعٌ 52:7
52:7 Truly, your Lord's Torment is Reality (will take effect)
مَا لَهُ مِن دَافِعٍ 52:8
52:8 There is No Defense Against Him
يَوْمَ تَمُورُ السَّمَاء مَوْرًا 52:9
52:9 A Day the Sky Passes (through something) in a Transit (Passage)
وَتَسِيرُ الْجِبَالُ سَيْرًا 52:10
52:10 And the Mountains Move Mysteriously (are Secretly/Imperceptibly Gone, or are Propelled in some way)

It does sound like Magic, but there is always a Reasonable explanation behind it. There is one other remarkable effect to look for in the Sky (but you need not stop there, thanks to fractals you can also look for it in similars).

55 Ar-Rahman (The Beneficent)
فَإِذَا انشَقَّتِ السَّمَاء فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ 55:37

55:37 And should the Sky cleave (split along a plane of natural weakness; spiracle in order to vent) as it were a Rosette like an oil painting (دِّهَانِ means a painting or paint, but also derives from the word for 'lipids' and 'smear'; and since this is an outcome of cleaving the Rosette (Rosace) concerns patterns found in certain plane transformations)

Since images of the Rose Nebulae came back to Earth, many think that was the only significance to 55:37, and while 55:37 describes the Rose Nebulae accurately, it would be imprudent to think that is all there is to Sign 55:37. Consider that some virus chrystals and lipo-protein crystals also grow in rosette geometries (...As Above, So Below & Multiplicity)


The Magic Continues...

2 Al-Baqara
2:102
وَاتَّبَعُواْ مَا تَتْلُواْ الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَى مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ وَلَـكِنَّ الشَّيْاطِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ عَلَى الْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَارُوتَ وَمَارُوتَ وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّى يَقُولاَ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌ فَلاَ تَكْفُرْ فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ وَمَا هُم بِضَآرِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلاَ يَنفَعُهُمْ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمُواْ لَمَنِ اشْتَرَاهُ مَا لَهُ فِي الآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلاَقٍ وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْاْ بِهِ أَنفُسَهُمْ لَوْ كَانُواْ يَعْلَمُونَ

2:102 And they followed what the devils falsely related against the kingdom of Solomon. Solomon was not unfaithful; but the devils disbelieved (were unfaithful), teaching mankind Magic and what was revealed by the two angels in Babel, Harut and Marut. Nor did they (the two Angels) teach it to anyone unless they had said: 'We are only an incitement (a temptation to draw somebody into participating in wrongful acts)', so do not transgress (do not disbelieve in God's guidance)'. And people learned from them (the two Angels) how to cause division between a wife and her husband; but they harm no one by it save by God's leave. And they learned that which harms them and is of no benefit to them. And surely they do know that whomever trafficks in it will have no good in the Hereafter; and surely evil is the price for which they sell their souls, if they but knew.

Sign 2:102 is one of the overt signs pertaining to how mankind historically seems to be drawn into doing only what is harmful with information gleaned from Revelation, despite all cautionary advice, you think they would have come to know better by now.

95 Tiin (The Fig)
95:1 وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ
95:1 By the Fig and the Olive
95:2 وَطُورِ سِينِينَ
95:2 And Mount Sinai
95:3 وَهَذَا الْبَلَدِ الْأَمِينِ
95:3 And this Land Secure (Blessed)
95:4 لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ
95:4 Surely, We Created the Human in the Best Calibration
95:5 ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ
95:5 Then he Retaliated to a Fallen Low-Life,
95:6 إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ
05:6 Except such as those who Believe and Work Righteousness; for them is a Great Reward Unending
95:7 فَمَا يُكَذِّبُكَ بَعْدُ بِالدِّينِ
95:7 What can hence cause you to deny this Moral Law?
95:8 أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَحْكَمِ الْحَاكِمِينَ
95:8 Is God not the Best Judge/Ruler?

OK, Let's Talk About The Weather

If it wasn't for the Weather most people would not have a good segue into polite conversation, unless they ask about the Time. And while many people talk about the weather just to start a conversation, it is often reported that Norwegians suspend all activity when the weather report is on. The Norwegians' obsession with weather may be due to their weather being fickle; but that's just as well since they seem to just love to talk about it.

Previously blogging about Cloudy and Clear conditions not necessarily always having to do with the weather, leads to my having to add a few related items here. Chapters 81, 82, 84 and 97 for instance, that while on the surface seem to be alluding to natural phenomena, (like the weather and astronomical and geophysical observations and events), bolster the understanding that the message to a more mature (experienced) audience is in fact more to do with stating a Case, presenting Evidence, rendering Verdicts, and passing Judgment.

Society is never any better or more vital than its weakest member. So no case can ever be more indicative of a Society's health or its viability than how that Society treats its weakest members. And, by extension, while there are few more compelling cases, the ones that speak loudest against a Society's survival are those in which that Society cultivates the kind of environment and breeds the type of criminals in which a defenseless child is slain.

In Pagan Arab cultures females were deemed a draw back to the Society's viability; they were in danger of falling into enemy hands in the event a warring tribe would lose a battle, and so on. So, the birth of a female infant was quickly dealt with by literally pitching the poor child over the highest cliff or to leave her outside on a cold night to die of exposure. Many children born with whatever else could be deemed a handicap were dispatched in a similar fashion, I would imagine.

Moving forward to present day, while the Modern Civilized Society would not consider doing such things, there are more heinous crimes carried out against young children in these 'Civilized Societies'. For reasons as to why this happens we don't need to reinvent the wheel, since it is clear that the basis to do harm to someOne is tied in with their being objectified and reduced to a status of someThing rather than someOne. It is easy to say the criminals carrying out such crimes are sick, sociopathic, or just plain psychotic; but more than likely it is because they themselves have been treated in such a matter somewhere along the way by the very Society that then has the onus of making the criminal pay for their crime.

Surah 81 Taqwir (The Contortion of The Sun; ie, balling up and plumbing out (yes, this refers to the Plumbum (lead) abundance in the Sun and the fact that the Sun moves off-center) relates just how shattering such News is when a young girl plaintiff appears for Judgment. The case of Somer Thompson, the young Florida girl found in a Georgia landfill this year, leaps to mind but there is no dearth of these types of cases in this here United States.
81 Taqwir (Contortion of the Sun; balling up and plumbing out; refers to lead abundance levels/cosmic chemistry and off-centering)وَإِذَا الْمَوْؤُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ 81:8
81:8 And if the little girl buried alive asks

بِأَيِّ ذَنبٍ قُتِلَتْ 81:9
81:9 For what crime was she slain...

It would be of interest to compare the incidence of these types of crimes in American Society to other Societies sharing the Globe today. It may be that we feel they are excessive because they make for sensationalized evening news and get reported more often than other types of crimes, but such a spotlight probably serves as an added incentive to carry out such things in a mind that is already crying out for attention.

And it may be no matter what our shortcomings that we are just too polite as a Society. When we finally catch the culprit all they have to contend with is their day in court and endless appeals while enjoying the best our prison system has to offer. It has been said that death row inmates actually have the better deal than those in for more conventional crimes, since not only do they get better room and board, but they die of natural causes after living a long and healthy life on the taxpayers' dime long before they actually have to answer for their crimes.

How Barbaric! Considering that the little girl's mother gets to lose sleep and sanity over something we as a Society did.

Here is the short answer to this quandary. We find whoever did it, prove beyond reasonable doubt who did it, and the very next day (okay 3 days later so they can set their affairs to order) the Society that created the criminal publicly executes the criminal. Others even remotely thinking of committing similar crimes will be given pause to think about it. Society shows its Mercy toward the child's loved ones and collectively repents for having created the criminal by showing that they will no longer abide such behaviour in that Society.

The Down Side is the Penetentiary system may start to lose some money, but we can always divert the money to the Educational system, where it is always badly needed. And maybe then Society can afford to Teach the proper way to deal with Each Other and Identify those at Risk and likewise stem the flow of producing more criminals.

The Up Side is the poor Aliens would not have to come down to Watch over us, since we can Take Care of ourselves without even the need to create a Police State; Caretaking would be its own reward. Just like a Gardner toils for no other Benefit than the Satisfaction of bringing about the Seasons' First Bloom.
82 Infitar (The Mushrooming of the Sky)
وَإِنَّ عَلَيْكُمْ لَحَافِظِينَ 82:10
82:10 And indeed, over you are Caretakers (Watchers, Keepers),

كِرَامًا كَاتِبِينَ 82:11
82:11 Honorable Scribes;

يَعْلَمُونَ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ 82:12
82:12 Knowing all that you do

{Yes, but that doesn't make me miss You any less and that's why it would be nice if someOne else takes over. Oh, before I forget, Homework assignment for blog visitors looking in while A Page In The Life is not being advertised, 'Letters From Earth,' posthumously pulished works by Mark Twain.}



Now, as for all the rest of what is presented of Surah 82 Infitar, the information given is that when certain Signs are evident, including the Certain Realization that the Individual is a Created Being, shaped and formed in whatever way their Creator sees fit for them, Man will also realize the Sum Total of what they were doing. The Reminder that there have been others Observing and Recording Man's actions bolsters the Fact that Man is not Fully Aware of their Own Reality until a Certain Transition takes place (described in 82:1-82:9; note that there are multiple aspects to these Signs, a relevant one in this case is if taken to mean changes/alterations in the Physical State of the Human Brain).

Ok, I'll rise to the bait, but if I ever find out
this is Your way of having me do a Post-mortum on myself, I warn You that there are limits to even my very wide-ranging sense of humor.
82:1 إِذَا السَّمَاء انفَطَرَتْ
82:1 when the highest region/highest functioning
region (like neocortex) mushrooms (swells, or grow rapidly in a mushrooom shape a form similar to a fleshy mass on a stalk)
...anyone more acquainted with Brain physiology mayfeel free to comment or Name the actual part(s) or condition(s) of the Brain to which 82:1 is referring
82:2 وَإِذَا الْكَوَاكِبُ انتَثَرَتْ
82:2 and the verticils/whorls/or orbitting bodies
disseminate/or spread...
...82:2 may be a reference to something pertaining to
Cellular whorls like those generally regarded as reliable diagnostic criteria in the differential diagnosis of meningiomas or functional/physical brain mapping Graphs composed of vertices (corresponding to neurons or brain regions) and edges (corresponding to synapses or pathways)...
82:3 وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ فُجِّرَتْ
82:3 and the sea/fluid (blue?)/brine/water swells and
or blows up (examined under high magnification or in detail)
...the obvious cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a saline
solution (brine) and 'water on the brain' is one condition where there is an excess or 'swelling' of such fluid; examining under blown up conditions can mean magnification as well as growing cultures from it...
82:4 وَإِذَا الْقُبُورُ بُعْثِرَتْ
82:4 and the final resting place/or the vault where
something is buried (in this case the terminus of a neurotramission, say) are scattered/disunited/disassembled/in a messy state...
...this may be describing a host of brain signaling
activities descending into chaos as could be the case in say disturbed GIRK channels that no longer can effectively 'sink' spurious signals...
82:5 عَلِمَتْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ
وَأَخَّرَتْ
82:5 (these are indicators) that the Self has learnt
what it has Provided (produced/offered) and what it has Delayed (owed or withheld)
And it would seem the type of Global Prespective
afforded the Self in 82:5 One can only reach upon the Culmination of their Life; or once they have Died (my morbid interpretation). For those who still count themselves among the Living, these Signs may say alot about Learning and Memory; and any major change in an Individual's Existing Learning and Memory may be thought of as a Quasi Morbid State since the Basic or Original Identity of that Individual is Altered or Destroyed by such Large Scale Changes...

84 Inshiqaq (The Cleaving of the Sky)
يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِنسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلَاقِيهِ 84:6
84:6 O! Man, you are toiling for your Lord diligently; indeed you will meet Him.
:
:
بَلَى إِنَّ رَبَّهُ كَانَ بِهِ بَصِيرًا 84:15
84:15 Yes, indeed your Lord ever Sees him
:
:
A Reminder that there are Reliable Witnesses Charged to oversee one's actions is so that we are duly Noticed to Keep this in Mind even when we are not Aware these Witnesses are recording our deeds--so we can't plead 'Entrapment.' The Status of these Scribes is such that their Honorable Eye-Witness Accounts weigh heavily as Evidence when forming a Judgment. They are just one Instrument by which God 'Sees' us.
لَتَرْكَبُنَّ طَبَقًا عَن طَبَقٍ 84:19
84:19 You will travel through (surmount) it layer upon layer (tier over tier, phase after phase, layer after layer...)

{If I am going for some type of 'miles logged' record, now is the time to let me know; else, it's still a good idea to have someOne else take over.}

Sign 84:19 is referring to traversing the various stages of Human development as well as eventually travelling the many layers of Reality.

Taken in context with other Signs up to 84:19, the point made is that we will Transit or Traverse all these different layers of Development until it becomes Undeniably Apparent that what is being Related about these Keepers or Witnesses is True.
فَمَا لَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ 84:20
84:20 So, what is amiss with them that they do not believe?

وَإِذَا قُرِئَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقُرْآنُ لَا يَسْجُدُونَ 84:21
84:21 And if you Read over them the Quran they do not prostrate?

The rhetorical questions posed in 84:20-84:21 are not veiled braggadocio, but meant to drive home the point just how Miraculous Untainted Revelation is. In Knowing the Full Force behind the Quran, are those hearing it with understanding for the first time not in complete Awe of it?

In the year 2009 CE, we can try to understand through advancement in Science, Medicine, Sociology, Philosophy, all present-day Knowledge, but how much more Spectacular is it when considering it was Revealed over 1,400 years ago.

We think we see 'UFOs' on television and hear about 'Aliens' from discredited sources, but at the Time of the Revelation, these Phenomena were witnessed by not only the Prophet, but members of the Community. Those living at the time could still identify that these Events were UnEarthly, OtherWorldy, from a Greater Reality, which lead to Expansion, not only geo-political but in every School of Thought. Because those heeding the Message Understood there is something that existed outside of the Narrow Scope of Human Experience; Some One Else...

And, no, it is not some Government Conspiracy...

Those first receiving the Message Understood it to be From God and for the Greater Good; the Conflicts that ensued were Man Made; and I think that's why I have had a Massive Systemic Reaction to All Things Man Made...
بَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُكَذِّبُونَ 84:22
84:22 Yes, those who disbelieve give it the lie (deny it),

وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يُوعُونَ 84:23
84:23 But God Knows all they conceal.

Those who disbelieve, referred to in 84:22, give it the lie for no other Reason than that Denial is a very effective Coping Mechanism. It Forestalls (in their Own Mind) having to Come to Terms with what Their Hands Have Wrought, but the final Realization is that they are Subject to an Originator other than their Own Mind...SomeOne that Demonstrates Their Existence over 1400 years Ago was True Then and Is Still True Now.

Who Wrote The Quran? Who Sent It? How Was It Sent? What Force Of Nature Can We Name that Acts In This Matter?

If you can Read with Comprehension Surah 97 Laylat-al-Qadr and not feel like it's God Talking, I would very much like to meet you.
97 Laylat-al-Qadr (The Night of Power)
إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ 97:1
97:1 Indeed, We Sent It (the Quran) During Laylat-al-Qadr

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ 97:2
97:2 And do you know what is Laylat-al-Qadr?

لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ 97:3
97:3 Laylat-al-Qadr is more Blessed (Better than) a thousand months

تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ 97:4
97:4 The Angels and The Spirit Descend during it with God's Authorization (Permission) of Every Command
سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّى مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ 97:5
97:5 Conveying Security/Blessings until the Break of Day