Satan | A fallen sibling, envious of the first human androgyne who was taught the 99 Names. Believed the Creator was wrong to make a representative on earth. Instead of apologising, maintained a superiority complex and asks for a reprieve. Has little power (38:82) except the power of suggestion. The androgyne became a pair and they made a mistake too, but apologised. Both siblings were granted time before accountability. Our fundamental foe is a superiority virus that corrupts our desires to turn us into mini-gods.

the Qur'an | Its opening chapter is likely the most recited text in human history, at bare minimum 323 million times a day (assuming only 1% of the world's living Muslims prayed 5 times that day). Muslims believe the Qur'an is the Creator's word as first revealed to a highly literate community of 7th century Arabs by Muhammad (peace be upon him), an illiterate and reputable orphan husband of a successful older woman. The Qur'an self-identifies as both oral revelation and sacred scripture, so it is meant to be both recited and read. It contains 6236 verses / signs composed into 114 surahs / chapters. Its surahs are interrelated and consistent despite being revealed in parts over 23 years then arranged by length instead of most recently added. Although revealed in the 7th century, non-Muslims were the only English translators for 285 years before it was translated into English by a Muslim for the first time in 1934. The Qur'an speaks about itself, its Revealer, its purpose, its...

second-order thinking | "Let every soul consider carefully what it sends ahead for tomorrow." Second-order thinking is to look beyond the first obvious result of something and consider effects that are long-term, indirect, or hidden. It’s about asking, “What happens next because of this?” and considering the long-term effects or hidden consequences of a decision. It’s like thinking two or more steps ahead, not just about now.

So, I do swear by the twilight! And by the night and whatever it envelops! And by the moon when it waxes full! You will certainly pass from one state to another. So what is the matter with them that they do not believe, and when the Quran is recited to them, they do not bow down ˹in submission˺?

Quran | Al-Inshiqaq [84:16-21]

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The basmallah, the very first (1:1) and most recited Quranic verse is a declaration, invocation, commitment and goal. It declares that Allah is widely and indiscriminately loving, kind and merciful to every individual life. It invokes this Rahma upon the reciter of the basmallah, it binds the reciter’s actions to this Rahma and it hopes for an outcome that is Rahma. It brings Allah’s Rahmaniyyah to the front, out of which the world is created; and Allah’s Rahimiyya, through which each creature in this world is sustained and cared for through continuous and repeated acts of Rahma. Both Rahman and Rahim are rooted in ‘rahm’, the womb, the loving and nurturing source of life.

— Dr. Ghazala Anwar

There is a time to turn inward and a time to expand (2:245). Plants show us this in the way that they withhold and extend.