IDEA 9
Recreating Ourselves as Witnesses
We shall manifest to them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until it is apparent to them that it is the Truth. Is it not sufficient that your Lord is Witness over everything? (Q41:53). In other words, the progress of Truth as the replacement of our ego-centred narrative with the GOD-centred outlook of the Final Witness will continue until we affirm that Truly He encompasses all things. (Q41:54) (IIQ, page 118)
With the advent of social media, especially since the rise of self-promotional video clips on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, many of us are struggling to be witnessed. We want others to see us. We pour hundreds or thousands of hours into creating hooks, snares, and taglines to attract attention and win likes and followers. The general result of all that crazed creativity is just more raciness and razzle-dazzle, a feverish scramble for the spotlight that grows ever more breathless and mindless.
Did we come into the world for this? Surely not. And when your Lord extracted from the spines of Adam’s offspring their descendants and He made them witnesses against themselves [by asking] “Am I not your Lord?” they said, “Indeed, we witness [your being Lord].” (Q7:172)
By seeking to be witnessed, we are striving to do the impossible — to recreate others in our image, or rather in the light of our image, so that they have no choice but to notice, follow, or believe in us. This is not only impossible because so many others, including those targets of ours, are striving for the same futile goal, but also because GOD created us and them to be witnesses to Him. He endowed us with creativity primarily so that we could recreate ourselves in the light of how we imagine Him.
Why GOD commenced creating anything is, as I said before, a mystery to me. But any creature, once made, must have a purpose, a raison d’etre. In Q51:56, GOD tells us our purpose — to worship Me. Worship, however, can only take place after witnessing. The first word a convert to Islam utters is “I witness …” Only then can worship, the active recreation of the witness as a servant of his/her Lord, get under way.
Witnessing, in short, is not just a passive seeing but a rational affirmation or verification of truth. We call it ‘faith’ insofar as we do not encompass or comprehend what we see, but only testify that we can indeed see and verify its presence. That was our original act when AL-LAH asked us, “Am I not your Lord?” We made an original affirmation that becomes apparent over the course of a lifetime. He continues to update us with His signs, in our struggles, heartaches, and momentary inspirations, until we realize that our witnessing is encompassed by One Who is not only to be witnessed but also the Absolute Witness … of Himself and of us.
Only then do we get what we always wanted … to be witnessed forever.
Download the PDF version for free at Ideas Inspired by the Qur’ān – Mont Redmond complete version, or purchase a hard copy at Ideas Inspired by the Qur’an: Redmond, Mont: 9781738842506: Books – Amazon.ca.
