CHAPTER 5 – SEEKING REFUGE WITH THE RABB OF THE AGITATED MIND
Surah 114 - سورة الناس
AN NAS - THE AGITATED MIND
PURPOSE OF THE SURAH:
The
main concern of the respected author is to explain the role and position of Rabb/Allah in the entire Quran; surah An-Naas, the last surah of the book Quran is one of that attempt. The respected author
wants to emphasize on one of the characters of the Rabb, that is an agitated Mind /
Consciousness by help of this surah. The purpose of portraying the attributes
of Rabb does not mean to encourage the trend of counting His name on beads but
its main purpose is to identify the quality and importance of the Rabb of
An-naas - i.e. agitated mind or an unsettled mind / consciousness can also be very
dangerous if not taken care properly.
The instruction is given to readers about the character of An-Naas and surprisingly An-Naas does not mean mankind. An-naas is the agitated or disturbed person with agitated mind-set who cannot decide his course of action and he / she is concerned about the welfare of his life and the world at large. This confused or agitated character is in the human nature maybe that’s the reason the traditional translators have translated it as mankind. This character of agitation can be good if applied in right sense or it can be bad if the intention is bigotry.
The instruction is given to readers about the character of An-Naas and surprisingly An-Naas does not mean mankind. An-naas is the agitated or disturbed person with agitated mind-set who cannot decide his course of action and he / she is concerned about the welfare of his life and the world at large. This confused or agitated character is in the human nature maybe that’s the reason the traditional translators have translated it as mankind. This character of agitation can be good if applied in right sense or it can be bad if the intention is bigotry.
But
all of mankind does not come under this category as some are content in
whatever state they are in. The root word of Naas isن و س and
the root word of insaan is ا ن س. Here the
addressee is the listener or the reader. He / she is instructed to be aware of
such perturbed personalities, whose mind is so perturbed and they are prone or
vulnerable to unintentional evil thoughts. The mind is the God (ilah) and the
Owner (malik) of such agitated people. If the evil thoughts enter the mind, it
will corrupt that person. A corrupt mind is like an evil master ruling over us.
So seeking refuge from such conditionings which corrupts the mind /
consciousness is what the respected author’s main concern.
In surah Fateha "Quran" states that the Rabb is Malik i-yaum-i-deen. And here too "Quran" emphasizes that He is also Malik-i-Naas. In both the surahs the emphasis is on Rabb as Malik or Boss. Having a good boss is very important in life. And our Boss, the mind has an anomalous character which depends upon our own behavior or the thoughts we are entertaining. Becoming an obedient employee and not falling prey to the evil prompting is the key message of the surah An- Naas and Quran at large. In this surah the emphasis is given on An-Naas i.e. -The agitated mind / Consciousness – One of the behaviors of the Mind is to get agitated.
In surah Fateha "Quran" states that the Rabb is Malik i-yaum-i-deen. And here too "Quran" emphasizes that He is also Malik-i-Naas. In both the surahs the emphasis is on Rabb as Malik or Boss. Having a good boss is very important in life. And our Boss, the mind has an anomalous character which depends upon our own behavior or the thoughts we are entertaining. Becoming an obedient employee and not falling prey to the evil prompting is the key message of the surah An- Naas and Quran at large. In this surah the emphasis is given on An-Naas i.e. -The agitated mind / Consciousness – One of the behaviors of the Mind is to get agitated.
Do
we really act as His slave or are we really concerned about the evil sneakers
around us, who are ever ready to spoil / corrupt our mind / consciousness? We should remember that we are the manifestation of Rabb - "Quran” mentions
that we are Insaan, which means a social and helpful character. An agitated man
or a disturbed mind (An-naas) cannot be construed as a common human (Insaan)
who is social and take care of others. An-Naas is a reclusive character with
burning desire to have all the answers to their questions. Such people are advice to take care of
their mind, because without right guidance nobody can have all the answers. To have questions in mind is good thing but sometimes the answers a late to come. The period between a question and the right answer is the moment of agitation.
It is not easy to serve humanity (Insaaniyat) without taking care of our own Rabb. By just
imitating the physical appearance and eating habits of the “honorable Messenger”
no one can attain the ‘halo’ status of humanity. We have to be with the Rabb,
our Master, our ilah, our Malik all the time 24/7. We cannot become Insaan
(human) in the day and become Haiwaan (animal) in the night. The surah is reminding us that the Rabb is our Owner and our God who is always with us and we should take care of not letting it get agitated. The Surah is about An-Naas and not about Insaan. An-Naas is an agitated character whereas Insaan is social or benevolent character. So care should be taken not to make the agitated mind take any wrong steps so as to become violent or aggressive. The mind should always remain balanced and cool by our righteous thoughts. The peace of mind can only be achieved if we ward off sneaking evil thoughts from our surroundings and our system of consciousness. We should take precaution or be safe from such evil thoughts as they are prone to sneak in the mind and ultimately can cause mental damage to us and the society at large. The agitated characters are the people of action, if any negativity enters their mind they are prone to act in a hurry. Peer pressure is the biggest cause of negativity.
Critical Analysis of the surah:
Same mistake is carried forward by the translators from surah Al-Falaq to surah An-Naas. They have botched up the verses of the "Quran" by fidgeting with their vague assumptions. They do not have an iota of fear of accountability and responsibility towards the community for misleading the followers of the noble "Quran". One fifth of the world population relies on this book for guidance and to misguide them is a heinous crime against humanity. In surah Ikhlaas they have comfortably changed the meaning of Ahad into Wahid. And here they have fearlessly changed the meaning of the agitated mind (ناس) as the mankind (الانسان). This does not mean that the eminent translators lack Arabic translation skills. This shows that their mind is not clear from their preconceived notions and their beliefs or their cultural understanding is more valuable to them than making an attempt to recheck the meaning of Naas from the classical lexicons and change their stance.
They are so blinded to the facts that they cannot differentiate between the two simple words which even a beginner of Arabic language can identify. The onus of responsibility falls on them, for misleading the lovers of Quran and distorting the message that is full of psychological ethics, meant for the guidance of people who are confused between two opinions or the courses of action to be taken. "Muslims" all over the world rely on this book for guidance. The world will not forgive these eminent "scholars of Islam". The malady in which the whole world is suffering, especially "muslims", is only because of distorted interpretation by these self-proclaimed “protectors of Islam” and the masses that follow them blindly.
Because of these terrible mistakes while translating the Glorious Quran, the masses who love the Quran tremendously, fail to extract the correct guidance from this wonderful book and the result is some become blind followers, ready to die for every word of the holy text while some expel themselves from the folds of “Islam”.
If the "muslims" truly want to change their present condition they should change their doctors and should go in for a second opinion, and question their prescriptions - Why is their plight not improving? This can happen only if we open up the omnipotent mind and stop following blindly, these so called doctors. The respected author emphasizes that the Mind is the jugular vein of our body and our existence. The mind is also termed as Nafs by the Arabic lexicons. So it is our duty to protect the mind from negative and wrong influences as it is a vital part of our evolution. This can only be possible if we safeguard our mind from evil forces.
قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ -کہہ دو میں لوگوں کے رب کی پناہ میں آیا (urdu translation)
- Verse 114:1 in urdu: Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind". This traditional translation makes one feel that we are seeking refuge from the Rabb, in the same way as we ask for refuge from the Shaitaan - بالله من الشيطان الرجيم أعوذ - Since childhood I knew that we ask for protection from the satan - the accursed one, but this was perplexing to me as to why do we have to seek protection from the Rabb or in the lord of mankind ? Instead of asking for help from the Rabb, we are asking for protection from Rabb or with Rabb as though Rabb is as dangerous as Satan. But the message gets drastically clear when instead of mankind we replace it with an agitated mind. The agitated mind is a dangerous companion without proper guidance and care.The honorable author warns that the mind of an agitated person is always wavering, so he should be careful about his Rabb / Mind as it is prone to go astray. Because if the mind is influenced with wrong ideas then there is no place of refuge or safety as mind / consciousness is our continuous companion and we cannot detach ourselves from it. The safety of mind is equally important; therefore it instructs us to seek refuge along with the Rabb / Mind.
The traditionalists have portrayed it as though there are different lords for different species. Translating Rabb as Lord of Mankind, Lord of Animals, and Lord of Worlds smells as if Lord is an anthropomorphic Boss. I had always believed throughout my life that God was only one and that no vision can grasp Him. I could not understand this anthropomorphic nature of lord in the entire "Quran" at that time. I could not imagine Rabb / God in that form and it was beyond my intellect to accept such interpretations. Interpreting verse 1 as “Rabb of agitated mind”, cleared my confusion and it also vindicated my point that Rabb is mind / consciousness and sometimes it could get agitated too.
How the evil forces penetrate into our mind, is explained in verse 4-6. Man is endowed with free will and we have been warned by the author to be careful about the unseen forces and the sneaking temptations which may corrupt us. It is up to us to make our Rabb either our friend or our enemy
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
With the identification of the System, The Self Explanatory, The Most Helpful.
Interpretation:
1) قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ
Say " I continuously seek refuge with the Governor / Fountainhead (Rabb) of the agitated mind
2) مَلِكِ النَّاسِ
The Owner of the agitated mind
3) إِلَـٰهِ النَّاسِ
God of the agitated mind
4) مِن شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ
From the sneaking of evil whisperer
5) الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ
That whispers in the girth/mind of the agitated mind
6) مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ
From the process of hidden passion of the agitated mind”
Contextual and Lexicon Meanings:
قل = Say (order to repeat)
أَعُوذ = I seek protection/preservation/refuge- (seek here means to desire to have protection)
بِرَبِّ = With Fountainhead / Governor / Consciousness
مَلِكِ = Owner
إِلَـٰهِ = Ideology, doctrine, god, controller, one who is adored, worshiped
الْخَنَّاس = The sneaking
مِن = From
شَرِّ = Evil
يُوَسْوِسُ = Whisper, temptation
صُدُورِ = minds, highest part, chest, heart, returning to origin, backward, girth
الْجِنَّةِ = The Unseen [knowledge], Covered, hidden, invisible, latent (forces)...
وَ = Generally used as conjunction but it is also used to explain or elaborate
النَّاسِ = The agitated people / mind - in a state of commotion* also means jinn - EWL page 2866
When we have understood that the Rabb is our constant companion in the state of happiness or sadness. We also know that the negative peer pressure or glamour can lead us to depression (Iblees) and can take us to a point of stagnation (Jahannum) where we are unable to think. If we wish to protect our Rabb from these negative forces which can spoil our basic knowledge of peace, then we should guard our-self from wavering individuals which can dethrone our position of bliss to the position of hell.
The respected author of the “Quran” is emphasizing on us by uttering Qul (say - mental verb) in order to gain the attention of our senses who are listening. When an important announcement or reminder is made by the teacher he makes sure that the student is attentive. So the teacher makes sure that the student repeats his sentence or paragraph. This is done in order that the valuable message gets imprinted in the mind of the student. Here the student is our own senses The cosmic mind keeps on reminding (Zikr) the listener these verses that the state of bliss is more important and it needs to be protected from daily temptations. If the mind gets corrupted it will rule over him / her and drag him to the state of stagnation (Jahannum). If we store good things in our mind, the cosmic mind and our mind will have the same frequency which will lead us to a Peaceful Life. What we feed into our mind, the same thing controls our life, so be careful while feeding because our mind is our continuous associate. The thoughts are our main food of the mind, so be cautious what thoughts we feed it with. Ultimately we will be governed or ruled by what we have fed it with.
Important note:
The root word of ناس (Nas) is نؤس - the basic meaning is a state of commotion, moved to and fro, hanging down, agitation, wavering etc. When AL is added to Naas it becomes a peculiar quality of specific class of people with specific mind set and not the entire mankind as perceived by many. The character of such people is to ‘agitate’ because of the agitation in their mind. They are restless souls and always in a continuous thinking process, working in specified field, they keep on changing their mind until they find a break-through. Some among these classes of people are committed to their cause, whether right or wrong . The author is emphasizing on us that we should be aware of such characters as they are hidden from the society and they are not easily recognizable. They have a burning passion inside them to find the solutions which bothers them.
The root word of الْجِنَّةِ is جنّ. The basic meaning here denotes concealed or hidden. When Al is prefixed, it becomes a specific function. Majnoon, junoon and janana are its derivatives - possessed by strong emotions, pregnant woman respectively. Furthermore with the suffixed ة (feminine marker) to الْجِنَّةِ it indicates some hidden mechanism or process of knowledge, pregnant with knowledge...all inside man.
صُدُورِ = The basic meaning is to return, revert, turned or went back, issued, proceeded of any affair, highlighted part, upper part or highest part, precedence or priority, girth – Sadur also means what is in the mind (intellect) رحيب الصدور = Free-minded – المصدر = Chief Judge or Prime minister to the King.
LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM THE SURAH:
1. Your Conscious / Mind / Governor (Rabb) is your God
2. Your Conscious is your Boss (Malik)
3. Protect your Rabb from negative whispering (Khanas)
4. Seek refuge from agitated Mind / Consciousness / Governor
5. Agitated mind can be very dangerous, take care of it, be a Mutaqi.
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