Al-Khaaliq (The Creator)/ Al-Baari' (The Producer)/ Al-Musawwir (The Fashioner)

I believe this is what humans do with God’s creation. They can make it more complex without any real knowledge of the thing, basing their notions on theories and building complexities from there. But truly, look at us. We’re human, yet there’s so many things going on in our bodies that make us function and age. It’s miraculous, yet we’re never able to replicate something as truly unique and simple as what we see. And most of what we do as humans is discovering the next complexity. This signifies the foolish plights we take, and yet pat ourselves on the back when we make it more complex than it needs to be.

This validates the first note I added in Creativity about simplifying something to be the act of human creativity. And it’s not to be lessened in its feat, but it’s nothing in comparison to the complexity of design and creation Allah has planned and produced and fashioned. This is something that requires the right mind and the right heart to look at something complex and to try to simplify it to share it. Yet the part of simplicity can easily be reductive and fall into minimization and reducing the quality of a thing. This is also a feature of humans to make things to simple without thought. But this is not what this note is referring to as I see it.

This relates to Al-Khaaliq, Al-Baari’, and Al-Musawwir since Jinan Yousef described what humans do is not really creativity rather it’s discovery. And simplicity of the complex is an act of discovery, not only for the creative person doing the creativity for others to benefit, but also the observer of the creativity who will then form their own connections as it pertains to their life. Essentially, the act of sharing this simplicity in an elegant, good, helpful way is the sport of creativity for humans, yet we cannot claim that these creations are somehow unique and cannot be replicated, as it all can be copied and remixed. Something I find upsetting about our human creation as I’d love to experience the act of creating something never seen before or known, yet this would only be my discovery and through the agency of God.

Emerson’s wording is curious as it’s both useful to the individual realizing themselves through the act of “commonplacing,” yet is devoid of a connection to a divine thing. As if divinity can be made up and assumed without due credit to the Originator or Creator that made us so. That a “Bible” is now a word for “authority” rather than true “divine authority” and that it can be made up and pieced together like a quilt. A quilt can be beautiful and made well. It can also be made horrendously and look and function like trash. It is unique, but it does not make it good and beautiful. Whereas, if we look at scripture, I wonder if Emerson’s leanings, as there are many Christians who feel this way, that religion is a made up thing, and therefore put that on all religions, and don’t seek out beyond what has become sacrilege in reforming the Injeel, and do not look beyond to learn more about the God’s divine word and wisdom. Because one could never, ever produce something as unique, good, divine, and beautiful as the Qur’an. But somehow they’ve done it with the Bible and it refers to their whole worldview of religions, which is sad, limiting, regressive, close-minded, and self-aggrandizing.