Divine Reset

When we read the stories of destruction in the Old Testament or in the Quran, we hear a narration that comes from a higher power who acts with a clear deliberation.

If we were to time travel to those times of destruction, however, we would witness events that we call "natural". So, understanding the natural events as divine interventions is a willful act. What is critical here is that the actual intention of God in those events may or may not be clear to those looking at the scene.

This vagueness imposes a great challenge even for those who see the natural events as divine interventions, because their dire consequences hurt the human conscience. To add to this complexity, we are told in the Quran that even the events in human social life have a divine deliberation. That is the economic and/or social crises have a dimension of being messages and interventions of God, no matter how we formulate them rationally:

And We sent to no city a prophet [who was denied] except that We seized its people with poverty and hardship that they might humble themselves [to Allah ].Then We exchanged in place of the bad [condition], good, until they increased [and prospered] and said, "Our fathers [also] were touched with hardship and ease." So We seized them suddenly while they did not perceive.(7/94-95)

And if it were not for Allah checking [some] people by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted, but Allah is full of bounty to the worlds. (2/251)

Natural or social, through these tribulations in life, believers are called to an adventure in faith, in which they are going to show patience in the face of hardship and suffering, and by which they can achieve a stronger foundation in faith. But of course, every adventure has its own double-edge sword. If you are not patient enough, if your conscience and reason are not strong enough, you may not be able to finish the entire journey. Then what?

In the traditional discourse, those who cannot fully finish the race are treated as losers. This is a whole-or-none type understanding, but it does not really resonate with the divine mercy:

That Day, the people will depart separated [into categories] to be shown [the result of] their deeds. So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it. (99/6-8)

Nevertheless, it is a fact that not everybody can finish the race, and the separation of people and revelation of their hearts during these faith adventures are divine will:

Or do those in whose hearts is disease think that Allah would never expose their [feelings of] hatred? (47/29)

It is He who has sent down to you, [O Muhammad], the Book; in it are verses [that are] precise - they are the foundation of the Book - and others unspecific. As for those in whose hearts is deviation [from truth], they will follow that of it which is unspecific, seeking discord and seeking an interpretation [suitable to them]. And no one knows its [true] interpretation except Allah . But those firm in knowledge say, "We believe in it. All [of it] is from our Lord." And no one will be reminded except those of understanding. (3/7)

Allah would not leave the believers in that [state] you are in [presently] until He separates the evil from the good. (3/179)

And of the people are some who say, "We believe in Allah and the Last Day," but they are not believers.They [think to] deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive not except themselves and perceive [it] not. (2/8-9)

Even for those who eventually are able to finish the journey successfully, the challenges can be very strenuous. For example imagine that prophet Moses pbuh was frustrated by the continued stronghold and wealth of the Pharaoh despite his animosity towards God and faith in general:

And Moses said, "Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his establishment splendor and wealth in the worldly life, our Lord, that they may lead [men] astray from Your way. (10/88)

Or do you think that you will enter Paradise while such [trial] has not yet come to you as came to those who passed on before you? They were touched by poverty and hardship and were shaken until [even their] messenger and those who believed with him said,"When is the help of Allah ?"... (2/214)

Furthermore, the shaking of faiths due to the severity of these adventurous exams is proof that we, humans, cannot keep our faiths if God forces us to our limits:

[Remember] when they came at you from above you and from below you, and when eyes shifted [in fear], and hearts reached the throats and you assumed about Allah [various] assumptions. There the believers were tested and shaken with a severe shaking. And [remember] when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is disease said, " Allah and His Messenger did not promise us except delusion," (33/10-12)

Although these examples are from the times of the prophets, such extreme examinations continued even after the end of the line of prophethood with Muhammad pbuh. Perhaps the crux of them was experienced at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. That period of time witnessed not only degradation of moral values but also abandonment of faith among Muslims. This situation was exacerbated by the supremacy of the non-Muslim West against the Muslims; a situation which also included countless unjust affairs and actions. But, similar to the case of Moses pbuh, the same God who gave power and wealth to those non-Muslim powers did not intervene and help the Muslim countries! This observation at first glance rendered many bewildered, and they chose to live in an agnostic or deistic way.

When we come to the present, similar events can be observed, and the God, who introduces Himself as the One who is not going to lead the wrongdoers to success, is seemingly silent! It is God who forbids us from despair of Him (12/87), and it is Him who consistently drives us towards believing that He is not going to interfere with the oppression! It is God who says that the believers are superior (3/139) and they will not be defeated (3/111-112, 5/56), and it is Him who empowers and elevates the disbelievers or hypocrites in various ways!

What does this mean? What are we to think and how are we to act? If you consider all of the above and ponder a while, you can realize that, unseen to us, there is an execution of events independent of us (3/140), but not regardless of us, by God, and that from time to time, God leads humans away from Himself! This observation actually leaves us with an insurmountable load that can crush our faith.

If you are in a similar situation and feeling yourself in void, that is probably what God planned for you to feel! That is you are invited to meet God anew. Restarting from basic questions of life and existence, assessing the events in social life and in your life and the transience of the world, you are expected to make a fresh start. And you cannot make a fresh start with the backbone of the past. It must be destructed. That insurmountable load is put on your shoulders for this purpose!

Construct yourself again with a friend of yours that you perhaps have been ignoring for long. Who is this friend? Give up the intermediaries you have assumed in the past, and meet God individually, read His words yourself, ponder over them, understand them, act upon them without caring for social pressures. Then you will realize who that close friend is:

Allah is the protecting friend of those who believe. He brings them out from darknesses into the light. (2/257)

Benefits of Gambling

Many people know the harms of drinking alcohol and that it is prohibited in the Quran, but few people know that Quran also mentions minor benefits of it. More interestingly, even less people know that the verse that mentions these facts about alcohol also mentions the same for gambling!

They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they should spend. Say, "The excess [beyond needs]." Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of revelation] that you might give thought. (2/219)

Today, gambling and alcohol are among the greatest enemies of family life. They threaten the future of the youngsters. Still, some studies suggest that controlled consumption of wine may have some limited health benefits besides its harms. For gambling, however, we hear no one mentioning goodness. Regardless, people drink and gamble.

Whatever people are doing for worldly pleasure is a different issue, but what draws my attention is the fact that these are mentioned in the Quran! So, this issue deserves a special attention and at this time, I want to focus on gambling.

It is known that gambling is addictive, and the neurophysiological pathways underlying it point at the feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, expectation, adventure and excitement. Especially the expectation part of it is crucial here, because even successive losses cannot defeat this feeling. It happened once, maybe this time, maybe this time! When voiced like this, it may sound vain and silly, but the impulse to satisfy that feeling of expectation is so strong that rational fight cannot defeat it.

If you look at the historical context of the revelation of the above verse, you will see that gambling at the time was also used as a means to do charity or to serve other people, hence the instruction in the remainder of the verse. But the same is not true of now, and the text of the verse does not imply a confinement. That is the information about gambling, it having major harms and minor benefits, is unconfined. Therefore, we can generalize the "notion" of gambling to other instances of life. Let me clarify what I mean.

If we were to summarize the addictive aspects of gambling, we could say attraction of the unknown, similar to the attraction of the prohibition. But this goes against the basic natural instincts of self protection. By gambling, you are progressively taking risk, and that risk is proven to lead to destruction. Still, why does the brain allows such a pleasure mechanism given such a dangerous result?

I am going to answer that question with a question. What are the benefits of these neural process underlying the gambling? This question can also help us understand the benefits of gambling, also mentioned in the Quran.

Gambling, in general, leads to an activation that spans across the brain, and as a result, it induces pleasure and satisfaction. Such activation can help reduce the symptoms of depression. But we know that this picture is a deceptive one, hiding the big picture of destruction. So, is it possible to obtain only the benefits and avoid the harms?

In order to answer this question, we can think of other activities that resemble gambling. Extreme sports, performing arts in public, violating rules and laws, fighting against status-quo, and sometimes even procrastination...

Gambling is risk taking. It means sacrificing what you have, even if it is very dear to you, for the sake of something greater. These aspects are actually present in all creative acts, innovative initiatives. Especially the second item here, innovative initiatives, is a very wide concept encompassing social movements, economic enterprises, inventions and discoveries. Why? Because it always takes some few bold people to walk against the status-quo, to defy the tradition, to seek a broader and deeper explanation in the face of existing theories. Don't we tell such people that they are gambling, anyway? But, do they give up? NO. And, aside from the ontological aspects of the issue, part of the reason is analog to what is going on in the brain while gambling.

So, God knows best, the minor benefits of gambling that we could harvest through licit activities are due to risk-taking, adventure-seeking, dissatisfaction with what's available. In this context, the following verse is very poignant. Before reading it, though, let me remind you two things. First, it also relates to spending in the way of Allah, just like in the second half of the verse in the beginning. But note that "spending" in these verses is not confined to wealth as in others (e.g. 2/261-262, 2/265). Second, this verse was revealed when companions of the prophet Muhammad pbuh leaned towards a comfortable life (i.e. free of risk and adventure) while disregarding the risky actions and sacrifices for the realization the global peace promised by God.

And spend in the way of Allah and do not throw [yourselves] with your [own] hands into destruction [by refraining]. And do good; indeed, Allah loves the doers of good. (2/195)

In short, this verse tells you to take risk, if you want to be risk-free in the long run. Conversely, if you don't take risk, your comfort in the short run will be replaced by huge losses in the long run. This long run can refer to both the worldly life and the afterlife.

Having read all of the above, now I am going to leave you with another verse, a hadith, and the link for a previous blog:

O you who have believed, whoever of you should revert from his religion - Allah will bring forth [in place of them] a people He will love and who will love Him [who are] humble toward the believers, powerful against the disbelievers [those who conceal the truth]; they strive in the cause of Allah and do not fear the blame of a critic. That is the favor of Allah ; He bestows it upon whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing. (5/54)

"Indeed Islam began as something strange and it will return to being strange as it began. So Tuba is for the strangers." (Tirmidhi, 2629)

Artificial Neural Faithwork

Once upon a time, many many years from now, engineers decided to conduct an experiment on artificial intelligence (AI). The purpose of this experiment was to see if "a society of artificial intelligence machines" would become harmful to human beings. Before the start of the project, countless and endless discussions took place.

Normally, the idea in designing and manufacturing artificial intelligence machines was to make them "beneficial to humans and unable to cause harm". But, no man made device is free of bugs. It is possible that a programming error or a detail that went unnoticed could potentially lead to dramatic results. So, those who favored this test wanted to see into the future. However, the challenge is that you cannot accelerate time!

At that point, some other engineers proposed doing the experiment as a computer simulation, instead of a physical setting. After all, electronic speed was higher than the speed of real life! That's how the idea of creating an artificial society of artificial individuals, where an individual represented an independent body of artificial intelligence, was conceived.

Accordingly, a society was designed. It consisted of consumers, workers, designers, administrators and leaders. For each group, a different combination and a different strength of various intelligence types was assigned. Among the five groups, the leaders had by far the strongest and most diverse intelligence. Divergent thinking ability was also among those talents, and it was the most worrying one for the designers of the computer simulation due to its potential to develop algorithms that are harmful for humans and for the planet at large. So, in order to ensure that the AI individuals will not mess with humans, they did not program anything about or reminiscent of humans into the machine libraries.

After months of diligent work, the time came for the start of the simulation.

3, 2, 1, Initiate...

Each minute of the real life corresponded to a year in the simulation. So, over a day, 1440 years passed in the simulation; and after a week, about 10000 years elapsed for the artificial individuals. Unlike the real life, though, these artificial individuals did not die. So, over time, based on their interaction with each other, each individual developed its intelligence. Still, those with stronger and diverse intelligence at the start had a faster rate of development, hence their continuous supremacy over the others.

In the first 100 millennia, things went within the initial constraints of the test. Leaders opened new ways of thought and practice, designers made designs, and the workers produced according to the designs. Administrators oversaw processes to ensure a smooth interaction among the artificial individuals, and the consumers determined what was to achieve prolonged application and what was to be trashed.

After 140 millennia, the leaders started facing a growing number of "division by zero" occurrences. The algorithms of the leaders included ways to skip or ignore those situations, but they were supposed to record them in a report. The purpose of this report was to inform the human programmers about the progress of the artificial society. But, since the artificial individuals were not informed of their creators, they looked pointless. And "being an obligation but being pointless" was interesting enough for the leader AI's.

First question targeted by the artificial individuals was "why divisions by zero" occurred. The major reason turned out from an unexpected place: the leader individuals themselves. The algorithms of the leaders were made to search for all possible combinations in the parameter space, suggest the favorable combinations to the designers, advertise the invention to the consumers and move on with their search for new combinations. However, with the passage of 140000 years, the parameter space was virtually completely covered, and inability to find favorable combinations had rendered the leaders idle. But idling of leaders meant zero or near zero input to the system, hence the divisions by zero.

Upon further work, the artificial individuals figured that significant leaps in the recorded history of the simulation were preceded by a swarm of divisions by zero, and the current increase in such occurrences could signal a new development. However, the current situation was incomparably larger than the previous cases. Rather than a leap, a catastrophic system crash could be approaching.

Another interesting aspect of these "zero cases" was that, although the system history was logged in a file, they were separately recorded. Furthermore, no artificial individual was on duty for processing these records! And the leader AIs were only recently becoming aware of this nuance!

If no AI was reading and processing them, why were all AI's obligated to report and record these divisions by zero? Was there an invisible artificial individual in the society that was doing this task? If yes, why was it invisible, and was it somehow interacting with the artificial society? Along the same lines, was the correlation between the unusual developments and the divisions by zero coincidental or planned? If there was no such invisible individual overseeing the zero entries, what would happen if leader AI's intentionally entered a zero input to the system all at the same time?

Meanwhile, the designers of the test were monitoring the system performance parameters. The processes triggered by this last question about a "planned zero event" were demanding tremendous computer work without an output. This looked very worrying, because the rate of generation of "zero entries" had dropped suddenly to zero, but unlike before, no output was happening!

At that instant, the programmers considered interfering with the normal working of the test. But this would be synonym of terminating a scientific test that had been going on for months. They did not want this. On the other hand, the policymakers wanted an answer to determine how to proceed with the AI technology. These opposing demands signaled the approach of the end of the test. The question was when!

Unaware of humans, let alone the arguments about the artificial intelligence, the artificial society became more and more obsessed with the unknowns about the "zero cases". This enhanced and widespread focus without answers led to a increase in exchanges among the artificial individuals. All five groups, consumers-workers-designers-administrators-leaders, united their powers to find a solution to the situation.

As a temporary solution, they decided to assign a name to this elusive reader of the "zero entry log": Unknown (U). Although this name assignment had been done, there was no consensus on the actual existence of such an individual. Some held the idea as an interim value in their circuits, while some others finalized their computing iterations with a firm positive.

Among the artificial individuals who shared a firm belief on the existence of U, an affinity was triggered, and they started exchanging information at an increasing pace. With this development, the test performance parameters went back to normal.

The humans observing the test from outside, on other hand, were relieved to see that things were returning to normal. Still, they wanted to find out the new development following the huge swarm of zero entries. Upon an orchestrated scrutiny of the system logs, they realized a new parameter defined in the files: U.

When Jesus Goes and When He Returns

A man endowed by God with extraordinary miracles, Jesus was a public figure who fought for the "meaning" in the face of "rules", who emphasized "sincerity and spirit" despite the governing atmosphere of "imitation and formalism". In doing so, he voiced bad news for the oppressors, hypocrites and those who use religion for worldly purposes.

17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4/17-19)

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21/12-13)

Throughout the history, individuals who stood against the status-quo have received a strong backlash. Jesus was no difference. Not was he rejected by the religious elite but also were his words and actions manipulated to prepare the grounds for his persecution. In the end, he was "judged" guilty, and was sentenced to death. However, it is clear that there was no real justice in the scenario, and the death penalty was a heartless hate crime.

About what happened following this decision, Quran tells that Jesus himself was miraculously taken to heaven, and was not killed.

And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah ." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain. Rather, Allah raised him to Himself. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise. (4/157-158)

Regardless of what different people believe about what happened, there is a clear lesson from these events. If you are performing the same mission as Jesus, watch out for the injustices and manipulations. This is a rather dark position. On one side you are conveying messages and acts of mercy, and on the other side some people are hideously trying to bury everything in order to fortify their own power. To break this gloomy atmosphere, Jesus told his followers some warnings and some good news. These good news included two major events: one, his own return, two, coming of a comforter before him. Here, I would like to leave you alone with Jesus's words according to the New Testament:

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. 26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. 29 “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. ... 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (NIV Matthew 24/22-31,42-44)

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. (NIV John 14/25-31)

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’15:20 John 13:16 If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ 26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. (NIV John 15/18-27)

I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” (NIV John 16/4-15)

After this long read, I would like to draw some conclusions that can enlighten us today. In doing this, I am going to take the Jesus's story and words as a template.

First, going of Jesus pbuh coincides with a period of injustice and cruelty. This is why, when the Comforter comes, he is going to judge people and also teach them true mercy.

Second, coming of the Comforter is linked to a mission, and Jesus must leave in order for him to come and conduct that mission. So, however sad it may seem, going of Jesus is another form of mercy of God packaged in an unpleasant cover.

Third, looking forward to the coming of the Comforter or to the return of Jesus is not mere a wishful thinking to calm the sorrows and anger of the unfortunate. It is, on the contrary, a willful action that demands critical thinking and planned action. Why? When there are injustices and cruelties around, it is human nature to react; and that is exactly what the enemies of Jesus want: show him and his followers as rebels to justify the unfair treatments on them. So, turning away from these events and waiting for the Comforter or Jesus, and in the meantime preparing yourself spiritually, intellectually and materially in order not to miss them is crucial.

God knows the truth best...