NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US -
Man Is Self-Made: The Solitude of Becoming
In every age, human beings have sought refuge in some form of rescue from the weight of existence. They have placed their hope in "God, Prophets, Imams" and destinies, in families and friendships, in institutions, governments, and even in the faint promise of their own despair. It is not wrong to expect, for man is a social being; yet both history and the quiet testimony of consciousness reveal an unalterable truth: no one is coming to save us. Help may arrive in material form, but inwardly, the well being of soul remains our own responsibility. Peace, happiness, and tranquility cannot be bestowed, they must be achieved within. For man is, in the truest sense, must be self reliant, not because he is the "best product of evolution", but because he alone has the capacity to awaken to what he is meant to become. Life is not a procession of external saviors, but a ceaseless mirror in which man must confront his own self - bare, accountable, and free.
Solitude is therefore sacred - it is the crucible of transformation. In the silence of the desert, every illusion burns away until only the essence remains - “Everything is perishing except His Face.” - (Quran 28:88) - The philosophers, the scientist, the thinkers, the poets - all have walked through this inner wilderness where faith matures into knowing.
In Quranic language, “Face of Allah” (Wajh AllAh) symbolizes that the Divine Presence, His Knowledge is everywhere (2:115) the Essence as manifest, or that aspect of the Real that confronts all illusions.
Face is not a body part of Allah, but rather, the direction of Being itself - that which when everything faces it extinguishes.
Thus, when the Quran says “except His Face remains,” it means:
Only that aspect of Reality which truly is - Being itself - abides.
All multiplicities dissolve back into that One Presence.
And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing (Quran 2:115)
Rumi puts it poetically:
“Forms are many, but the Face is one — it is seen in every mirror, yet belongs to none.”
The Myth of Rescue
From childhood, we are conditioned by hearing magical stories, fairy tales of divine help from unexpected quarters: a parent, a guru, a god, or a system that will lift us from our suffering. This expectation becomes an emotional habit - a quiet dependency upon forces beyond our control. But no belief, however comforting, can replace the inner work of consciousness.
Religions, too, when stripped of their mythic garments, point to this same truth: no prophet or saint can walk your path for you. They can only point toward the inner reality that must be realized through your own awareness. Those who are enlightened will never call themselves saviors; they are only awakeners. The Bible and Quran signifies, “The kingdom of God is within you.” The book Quran declares, “No soul bears the burden of another.” - (Quran - 6:164)
He must walk through the storm of his own becoming; he must wrestle with his own shadow; he must learn that the "hand stretched from heaven" is the very strength awakening within him.
Indeed, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.” - ( Quran 13:11) -
This verse is not a call to despair but to dignity. The Divine does not abandon; it entrusts. Allah withdraws only that man may learn to stand. Thus, even within sacred traditions, the final responsibility returns to the self. Guidance is given; the walk must be done alone.
No scripture promises comfort without struggle. No light descends without an awakening heart to receive it. The illusion of rescue is the sleep of the spirit; awakening begins when the seeker says, “This burden is mine to bear.”
The Solitude Journey of Consciousness
To be human is to stand in the anxiety between dependence and autonomy. Yet the mature soul recognizes that solitude is not abandonment but initiation of the unique journey ahead. The universe does not desert man; it invites him to grow by withholding the trust within. Every silence from the higher consciousness is a question awaiting to be answered.
The philosopher stands where the believer often hesitates - at the edge of uncertainty. Man is born to be free, no one can make our choices for us. For freedom means that man’s being is not fixed - it is open, fluid, capable of endless self-renewals and on going changes to reach where he belongs.
Even in the midst of companionship, our journey remains solitary at its core. Every choice, every action, and every inner awakening is a personal encounter. The Quran highlights the need for self-accountability:
“O you who believe! Be conscious of Allah, and let every soul consider what it has sent forth for tomorrow.” - (Quran 59:18)
“And truly you have come to Us alone (furada), as We evolved you the first time, and you have left behind whatever We bestowed upon you.” - (Quran - 6:94)
This verse is the most explicit expression of “coming and going alone.”
It means that all our identities - social, familial, material - are borrowed garments of existence. When the soul departs, it returns naked, as it first emerged from the realm of Being.
In Quranic philosophy, this furada (aloneness) is not loneliness but the pure meeting of the soul with its Origin, beyond the illusions of possession and relationship.
.... "Indeed we belong to Him, and indeed towards Him is the return." - (Quran 2:156)
This verse, “Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rāji‘ūn” (2:156), is among the most profound and philosophically rich statements in the book Quran. Though often recited in moments of loss, it is, in truth, a complete metaphysical declaration - an entire worldview compressed into a single line.
Let’s unfold it step by step -
1. The First Clause: “Indeed, we belong to Him” (إِنَّا لِلَّهِ)
This is the ontological affirmation - the recognition of origin.
It declares that Being itself is not self-generated. We are not separate entities existing independently, but expressions of all being belongs the Divine Being (al-Wujūd al-Ḥaqq) or Real Existence - The Term: al-Wujūd al-Ḥaqq (The Real Being) is used by Ibn ‘Arabī (1165–1240 CE) - the greatest exponent of metaphysical (غيبي) concept of the book Quran.
Philosophically, it negates the illusion of ownership and separateness.
When one says “We belong to Him,” it means:
- Our existence, consciousness, and will are on loan from the Source.
- The self (nafs) is not a possession, but a trust (amanah) of Being.
- Every form, every breath, every thought is a manifestation of the One Reality - moving, acting, and evolving within Divine Being.
2. The Second Clause: “And indeed, to Him is the return” (وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ)
This is the teleological affirmation - the recognition of destiny and direction.
It tells us that every motion, conscious or unconscious, every unfolding of existence, is a journey back to the Source.
The return (ruju‘) here is not about death or loss - it is the perpetual return of awareness to its Origin.
- Every moment of awakening, repentance, or remembrance (dhikr) is a return.
- Every dissolution of ego, every act of surrender, is a homecoming of the soul.
Thus, the verse is not an epitaph; it is a philosophy of existence: all that is scattered must re-unite with its Center.
In Philosophical thought, this is called the circle of being (dā’irat al-wujūd) - where creation is the outward journey of manifestation (tanazzul), and return is the inward journey of realization (su‘ūd) - Ibn Arabi uses su‘ūd (ascent) and tanazzul (descent) to describe the two halves of the ontological circle.
Meeting with Allah - The Lone Journey to the Inner Conscience
The Quran speaks of an inevitable encounter:
“O human! You are laboring toward your Rabb (Consciousness), a striving, and you shall meet Him.” (84:6)
This liqa’ Allah - the “meeting with Allah” - is not a distant event awaiting us beyond the horizon of death, but a reality unfolding in every moment of conscious awareness. The journey to Allah is not through the sky or the earth; it is through the depth of our own being. He is not found by moving to "holy places", but by inner awakening. Meeting with our Conscience (Allah) is very important part of our Inner Journey - The journey is always alone.
Those will have lost who deny the meeting with Allah , until when the Hour comes upon them unexpectedly, they will say, "Oh, [how great is] our regret over what we neglected concerning it," while they bear their burdens on their backs. Unquestionably, evil is that which they bear. (Quran 6:31)
"O atmosphere of jinn and ins, did there not come to you rasuls from from you, narrating upon you My signs and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours?" They will say, "We bear witness against ourselves"; and the worldly life had deluded them, and they will bear witness against themselves that they were disbelievers (Quran 6:130)
In Quranic thought to meet Allah is to meet one’s true self, the inner conscience (al-ḍamir) that reflects the Divine Light when the dust of heedlessness is cleared. The heart is the mirror of the Infinite, but man, lost in the noise of appearances, mistakes the reflection for the Real. Thus, Quran calls: “We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.” (50:16)
Who took their deen as distraction and amusement and whom the worldly life deluded." So today We will forget them just as they forgot the meeting of this Day of theirs and for having rejected Our verses - (Quran - 7:51)
Indeed, those who do not expect the meeting with Us and are satisfied with the life of this world and feel secure therein and those who are heedless of Our signs (Quran 10:7)
This nearness is not spatial - it is existential. Allah is the inner witness (al-Shahid), the consciousness by which we see, hear, and understand. To meet Him, then, is to awaken to the One who has always been within, the silent seer behind every thought.
To face life alone, then, is not punishment but a willing participation in the evolutionary cycle of existence itself. No one else can make these choices for us, no one else can perfect our consciousness. We are together in the world, but our inner reality - our awareness, our intentions, our moral compass - is ours alone.
The Dilemma of Self-Making
Whether one believes or not, man is self-evolved like other species. He shapes himself by a higher consciousness, the truth remains that he fashions his own destiny. In his restless striving to bring order to the chaos around him, he often drifts away from his original essence - yet this very wandering becomes his means of self-discovery. Man must sculpt his being through the tools of choice, discipline, and awareness.
Each act of honesty, courage, and introspection becomes a stone in the architecture of his inner self. No "divine intervention" can replace this sacred labor of becoming. Even when grace descends - in the form of love, beauty, or sudden illumination - it can only settle into a soul that has been made ready to receive it.
“And that man shall have only what he strives for.” - (Quran 53:39)
The universe rewards effort, not entitlement.
The one who seeks truth through inner honesty (Imaan) becomes self-made, not by arrogance but by awakening.
The Islamic Philosophers called this mujahad - the struggle with the lower self, the purification that no teacher can perform for another. Rumi wrote:
“You have no companion but your own shadow.
The path is one of fire - walk it yourself.”
“The wound is where the Light enters you.
Walk alone through your pain — that is the way home.”
Thus, self-making is both a responsibility and a revelation. Man discovers his divine likeness not by waiting for rescue, but by becoming the rescuer of his own soul.
The Paradox of Aloneness
To face existence alone is not to fall into despair, but to realization into authenticity. When one ceases to seek external validation, one begins to hear the voice of inner intelligence - that silent witness within which is neither ego nor emotion. In this awareness, solitude turns luminous.
When man ceases to beg the "heavens", he begins to hear the quiet rhythm of the Real within his own being. He discovers that solitude is not emptiness but presence - not isolation but feeling of intimacy. The Quran calls to rely only on the Real Source.
"And when My servants ask you, concerning Me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me that they may be rightly guided" - (Quran 2:185)
"Fear not, I am with you both, I hear and see” - (Quran 20:46) -
This is the Divine Voice of Consciousness speaking to the awakened knowledgeable intellect (Moses) and the purified courageous heart (Aaron). The message is within not in History - when one’s intellect and heart are aligned in the remembrance of the Real (al-Haqq), fear dissolves, because the Divine Presence accompanies awareness itself.“We are closer to him than his jugular vein.” - (Quran 50:16)
Ibn Arabi declares: “You are not apart from the Real, only unaware.” Nietzsche, stripped of all theology, cries, “Become who you are!” - each speaking the same eternal truth:
You are the maker, the mirror, and the meaning of your own world.
To face it alone, therefore, is not abandonment; it is awakening. "The divine does not save from heaven" - it unfolds from within. Hence we are not alone if our Inner Divine Kingdom is alive.
To face existence alone is to discover that the One you thought was absent was never apart. The outer rescue you longed for was hidden as the strength, the vision, the awareness within. This is the secret of all thinkers and sages: the journey outward returns you inward. The rescuer you awaited is the soul awakening to its Source.
Conclusion: The Dignity of Standing Alone
The mature human being ceases to plead for rescue and begins to take responsibility for perception itself. He learns that his joy and his ruin both arise from how he sees. The true deliverance is not from life’s burden, but from the illusion of helplessness.
To stand alone before existence is the highest form of dignity. It is the moment when man ceases to be a beggar at the gates of fate and becomes a participant in the mystery of being.
Thus, the self-made man is not proud - he is aware. He does not deny the Divine; he embodies it through the courage to live without intermediaries. No savior is coming because the savior is already within, waiting to be realized in consciousness.
“The way out is not elsewhere,” said the sages,
“The way out is deeper in.”
The self-made man is not he who denies Allah, but he who reflects the Divine through self-responsibility. He no longer cries for rescue because he sees that the rescuer has already taken residence in his consciousness.
He learns that his despair is the shadow of his unawakened power, and his loneliness the veil of the One Presence that never leaves.
“And say: The truth has come and falsehood has vanished - for falsehood is ever bound to vanish.” - (Quran 17:81)
To stand alone before existence is to participate in the majesty of evolution. It is to accept the crown of freedom, with all its weight and wonder.
Man is self-made because he is self-aware. And when he awakens fully, he realizes that his very self was the reflection of the Real all along.
“He who knows himself knows his Lord.” is not a verified hadith, but a deeply rooted Islamic aphorism - found in philosophical, and ascetic writings (Hasan Basri, al-Ghazālī, Ibn ʿArabī, al-Jīlī, Rūmī) - Meaning Self-awareness is the mirror of God-awareness - This aphorism has Quranic roots - 41:53, 51:21, 91:7–8, 50:16 and many more verse; it won't be wrong if I say this little aphorism contains the crux of entire message of the book Quran.
Epilogue: The Inner Light
The axial sages have passed, the teachers have spoken, the books have been written - now the silence belongs to you. Within that silence, a single truth whispers:
No one is coming.
But the One has never left.
To face life alone is not to reject divinity - it is to embody it.
The final rescue is not arrival but realization.
Wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah - (Quran 2:115)
And in that vision, man ceases to be a seeker of rescue and becomes the radiant witness of his own becoming.
No scripture promises comfort without struggle. No light descends without an awakening heart to receive it. The illusion of rescue is the sleep of the spirit; awakening begins when the seeker says, “This burden is mine to bear.”
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