God’s guidance: the Quran

For greatest ease in understanding, i recommend that you read the Introduction before this Chapter and that you then read this Chapter in the order i recommend There.

God’s guidance: the Quran, selected, edited and with Commentary by Victor Luis Villalon-Suarez

most recently reviewed on 7/19/2022 at 3:26

improvements since the immediately preceding review: Substituted “everlasting” for the single instance of “eternal”. Substituted “God’s system” for “the system of God”.

Unnamed translator(s?): The Holy Quran, from Peace Through Understanding:

1.5: “[God!] [Thee] alone do [i] worship and [Thee] alone do [i] implore for help.” I must always start by praying God, then, if i find no answer fast enough for me within this part of God’s mind that mine is, ask God in another or others, but i will always be imploring solely God for help, whether in myself or in another or others. Even if i think i shall not find the answer within myself and have another or others to ask clearly in mind, i must first pray God, because if God were able to find the answer within me this would be fastest, and also because if God were not, It would guide me to the best way to approach this other or others with my question, including the best way to formulate it.

2.37: “[God] indeed is [o]ft-returning with compassion […].” God is inside everything other than nothing at all times, so It does not leave and so does not return. But God has periods of confusion and frustration, the times when it “leaves”, and periods of inspiration and lucidity, the times when It “returns”. God is the source of all help, which is help God gives Itself. Only of God is it true that It has only Itself to rely on. All of us rely on God only. And that God is the source of help is a miracle, a mystery, the source of God’s gratitude to Itself for existing and for being so wonderfully good.

2.40: “Remember My blessings which I bestowed upon you.” God keeps reminding us of Its blessings and continually refreshing our gratitude with new blessings, with new reasons to be grateful, and does not get angry at us when we forget. God reminds us, and does not peevishly ask, “Don’t you remember?” Since the point is for us to remember, God just keeps repeating Itself. God has no interest in the question, even if God had the time for it, which i believe God may not. In Heaven we would need no memory of blessings, because the present would outdo Them all.

2.41: “Me [God] alone you should take as a shield (for protection).” And if God guides me to seek the physical protection of others, because i am weak in body, then may it be good!

2.45: Seek (God’s) help through […] perseverance and Prayer.

2.56: [God] raised you up after your (death-like) stupor […].

2.67: “I seek refuge with [God] from being (one) of the ignorant.”

2.107: “[…] you have, apart from [God], neither a protecting friend nor a helper.” Apart from God, for those who Believe can be protecting Friends and helpers.

2:122: Remember My [(God’s)] favour which I conferred upon you.

Saheeh/Sahih International translation on the iQuran app:

2.185: “[God] intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship.” God intends for us good ease, and Evil good hardship. The negative, cutting away, pruning the unNecessary, is painful, especially when the positive is not apparent. But Evil has faith that God, out of Its hidden, unconscious riches, shall find the positive to make up for the negative with by discovering them, by becoming conscious of them, within and from within only Itself, Where alone these riches reside.

2.186: “I [God] am [in and all around all people to the farthest reaches of space]. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he [or she] calls upon me.” God has taught me through experience of Its workings that even when the answer does not come at once, it does come eventually. This is the only reason why i must have faith: simply because i do, because i have many reasons to, which i “could not enumerate” (16.18), that automatically give rise to faith.

2.198: […] remember [God], as [God] has guided you, for indeed, you were before that among those astray.

2.216: […] perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. […] you know not.

2.231: remember the favor of [God] upon you and what has been revealed to you of the […] wisdom by which [God] instructs you.

2.239: remember [God] [in [P]rayer], as [God] has taught you […].

2.255: [God]—[…] the [s]ustainer of all existence.

2.257: [God] is the ally […]. [God] brings […] out from darknesses into the light.

2.284: To [God] belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the [E]arth.

3.8: “[God], let not [my] heart[…] deviate after [Thou hast] guided [me ] […].” This Prayer arises from the pain of knowing God is at times unable to keep us on the straight path, thus from deviating. It is a Prayer for God to find within Itself the strength to keep us always on the straight path, namely to Heaven, Which is wide enough for all people, not narrow. But it is straight, although God may not know this path. It is as straight as Evil, as God’s ignorance, allows it to be. For it meanders. If God creates Heaven, all of history shall have been the straightest possible path to Heaven, this is: the straightest path God was able to find.

4.5: “[God] has made [your property] a means of sustenance for you.” Only that is property, one owns only that, which is Necessary. The rest is theft, and so an obstacle to Heaven. Whatever happiness we may get from this ill-had possession pales by comparison with the ecstasy of everlasting happiness. So there is only gain in doing without it.

4.28: “[God] wants to lighten for you [your difficulties] […].” In Heaven we would go only from Ease to even greater Ease, from the great to the even better, so we would have no difficulties. This is how much God wants to lighten difficulties—Its, and thus ours.

4.113: ever has the favor of [God] upon you been great.

5.100: “Not equal are the evil and the good, although the abundance of evil might impress you.” It remains to be seen whether there is more evil than good or more good than evil.

6.66: “‘I am not over you a manager.’” Unless God makes me one, and if God does, then may it be good!

6.90: “‘I ask you for this message no payment.’” In money or any other means of exchange. Indeed, i ask for no payment. If my actions are good enough, God through them shall drive all people to give me What they think i Need That i lack, because this is what they will want to do. If i disagree that i Need it, or that i lack it, we can discuss it before i decline or accept, so subject to the rules on discussion of disagreements in the program for God's system.

6.103: Vision perceives [God] not, but [God] perceives all vision; and [God] is the Subtle […]. God’s eyes are the eyes of all beings with them, and chiefly and for all practical purposes, those of people.

6.104: “‘I am not a guardian over you.’” Unless God makes me one, and if God does, then may it be good!

6.108: do not insult those [disBelievers] invoke other than [God], lest they insult [God] in enmity without knowledge.

7.69: “remember the favors of [God] that you might succeed.” The chief favor to remember, as the source of all hope, is God’s to Itself in having Exnihilated as the ineffably good being God is.

7.188: “‘[…] I am not except a warner and a bringer of good tidings […].’” See below.

8.26: “remember when you were few and oppressed […], but [God] sheltered you, supported you […], and provided you with good things […].”

8.40: “[God] is your protector. Excellent is the [P]rotector, and [e]xcellent is the helper.” On protectors and helpers, see above.

8.42: “those who live[…] [in faith] […] live[…] upon evidence […].”

8.45: “remember [God] much[,] that you may be successful.” Above all by remembering the reason for hope: that because God already accomplished the miracle, the mystery, of the Exnihilation, God may accomplish the equally great miracle of creating Heaven.

9.38: “what is the enjoyment of […] life [before God creates Heaven] compared to [Heaven] except [infinitesimally] little[?]”

10.72: “[…] My reward is only from [God][…].”

10.101: “[…] Observe […] the heavens and [E]arth […].”

10.102: “‘[…] I am with you among those who wait.’” And i wait while i think i Work on what i think i can, waiting for God’s great breakthrough, the creation of Heaven, and pouring through God’s lesser ones as soon as i become aware of them and can.

10.109: “follow what is revealed to you, […] and be patient […].” This command is but a reminder, as the desire to follow arises solely from the experience of happiness resulting from having followed before, and this experience does not include the command to follow other than as a prompt to try something one has not tried before that one thinks shall make one happier than anything else one could do in the time it takes to try it. As to patience, this results from the belief that God does not know All It Needs to, and is trying to discover It. As soon as God does, God drives to action based on the discovery, and then there is no longer a need to be patient, but to act, as fast as one can, on God’s guidance. The command to be patient is a reminder to do so in the lapses during which God is thinking about what to do that is better than what God is doing now.

11.51: “‘My reward is only from the one [That] created me.’”

11.52: “‘[God tries to] increase you in strength [added] to your strength.’”

11.121: “[…] ‘Work according to your position[…].’” This command is a reminder to do what i already want to do above all: everything i can, thus with the resources available to me that i am aware of, for God to create Heaven.

12.87: “‘despair not of relief from [God]. […].’” This is a reminder, for the reason not to despair is the experience that God has always come through before in moments of despair, so that there are grounds to hope that God will again.

16.18: “[…] if you should [try to] count the favors of [God] you could not enumerate them. […].”

16.31: “[people] [would] have [in Heaven] whatever [T]hey wish[ed]. […].” Unless what sadists wanted were to continue performing more and more terrible Sacrifices with more and more beautiful Beasts forever. In creating Heaven, God would cure Them of this affliction, for i think the ecstasy of Heaven would infinitely outdo the ecstasy of the Sacrifices.

M. A. S. Abdel Haleem translation, Oxford World’s Classics, Oxford University Press, 2016:

17.54: “[…]. [Prophet], [God] did not send you to take charge of them.” Unless God commands me to. In which case i shall try, following the Command, and see what happens. And may it be good!

17.87: “[…] [God’s] favor to you has been truly great.”

17.96: “‘God is witness enough between me and you. […].’” In fact, God is witness enough of my thoughts and all my other actions. God is my witness. My only audience is God. I write for God. All i seek is God’s pleasure with my actions: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in [Thy hearing], […] [God], my rock and my redeemer.”—Psalms 19:14. And i am the sole judge of whether God is pleased with me, because it is i alone who perceive the signs that i alone perceive through which God, and thus Evil, communicate with me and convey to me how They feel about me, this is: about my actions, about my motions and thoughts, God approving the good and Evil disapproving and seeking to negate the evil. And many of these signs God sends me through others.

17.105: “[…] [Prophet], [God] sent you only to give good news and warning[…].” These are your limits! Stay within them! This is: “do not exceed the limits” (2.190, Saheeh translation; “overstep” in Abdel Haleem’s). And if God wants to broaden my remit, push out my limits, add duties beyond “giving good news and warning,” God shall let me know strictly through my desire to live in Heaven. This desire is the locomotive through which God pulls all the cars that are my actions, the magnet that attracts to itself and organizes all the iron filings that are my actions.

17.23-24: “[…[[God] has decreed that you worship none but [It]. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them[,] but address them in terms of honour. And lower unto them the wing of submission and humility through mercy, and say: ‘[God]! Bestow on them [Thy] [m]ercy as they did bring me up when [i] was small.” (Saheeh) “[God] has commanded that you should worship none but [It], and that you be kind to your parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, say no word that shows impatience with them, and do not be harsh with them, but speak to them respectfully and lower your wing in humility towards them in kindness and say, ‘[God], have mercy on them, just as they cared for me when [i] was little.” (Abdel Haleem) The exact opposite of how i treated Mother in her old age and infirmity. Too late now, to my inconsolable grief for the rest of my conscious life unless God creates Heaven! The way Evil drove me to treat her! God! Create Heaven now, i pray Thee! Put Ecstasy in place of this pain!