The Inherent Connection between the Ethical, the Ontological, and the Light within: A Reflection on the Surah Light (24)
This
is my point: we are walking on a Razor’s Edge: We can fall into darkness either
by indecency and following our lowest desires, or by rigid puritanism and
seeing evil all around ourselves in those who don’t fit into our measure of
purity. We need to start from ourselves and with setting clear boundaries
and punitive laws, and coextensively with love and forgiveness help others to
walk the Razor’s Edge from darkness to Light.
The
24th surah, Al-Nur or The Light, is named after the Verse of
Light (verses 35-6) where God’s light is contrasted to the darkness in which
the disbelievers find themselves engulfed:
“God
is the Light of the heavens and earth. His Light is like this: there is a
niche, and in it a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, a glass like a glittering
star, fueled from a blessed olive tree from neither east nor west, whose oil
almost gives light even when no fire touches it– light upon light– God
guides whoever He will to his Light; God draws such comparisons for people; God
has full knowledge of everything– shining out in houses of worship. God
has ordained that they be raised high and that His name be remembered in them,
with men in them celebrating His glory morning and evening: men who are
not distracted, either by commerce or profit, from remembering God,
keeping up the prayer, and paying the prescribed alms, fearing a day when
hearts and eyes will turn over. God will reward such people according to
the best of their actions, and He will give them more of His bounty: God
provides limitlessly for anyone He will.
But
the deeds of those who disbelieve are like a mirage in a desert: the thirsty
person thinks there will be water but, when he gets there, he finds only
God, who pays him his account in full–God is swift in reckoning. Or like
shadows in a deep sea covered by wave upon wave, with clouds above– layer upon
layer of darkness– if he holds out his hand, he is scarcely able to see it. The
one to whom God gives no light has no light at all.” (24:35-40)
Before
these moving Verses, 1) the surah consists of a series of instructions and laws
about sexual, marital, and ethical conduct such as adultery and how to enter
houses and deal with people. I will come to these verses later, but for
now I wish to show the structure of the surah. Then, 2) after the Verse
Light, 3) God shows how everything is prostate to this Light, how everything is
under the control of this Light. In the next step, 4) the surah discusses
the rule of obedience to the Prophet in judging between them. Afterward,
5) the surah briefly reminds the believers that if they follow the light of
God—pray and do charitable deeds—God will make them inheritors of the
land. Penultimately, 6) God sets the rule of privacy, eating, and
greeting. And finally, 7) the surah ends with God’s knowledge of inner
state of people and that everything will be revealed about their conduct on the
Day of Judgement. In this reflection, I will just focus on (1) and (2).
My
question is: What do ethical rules have to do with the Verse Light?
It is not difficult to guess the connection, but I wish to highlight an
important ontological relationship between the Light of God and Ethics: our
being here, as human beings, ought to be structured in a way that we let the
Light in. The existential point is that in order to attend to the Light
of existence, I ought to let this Light structure my behavior. There are
ways of conduct that hinder the light and ways of conduct that facilitate
it. Prayer and clean conscience open the gate of existence to
spiritual-ontological Light. Following one’s whims and desires, setting
one’s passion as a god[1], hinders it.
For
secular ethics, the point of ethical conduct has no ontological import, but
only rational or practical significance for the sake of survival, pain or
pleasure, or at best, self-actualization. I would argue that my claim is
more than promoting a ‘divine command’ ethical theory, it is to show there is
an inherent connection between ethical conduct and the spirit or soul.
The root of the ethical is in the divine Light and so the spiritual connection
between the ethical and the divine defies the modern and postmodern ethical
relativism (anything goes based on culture) and secular
ethical realism (intuitions of good and bad based
on pragmatics of life). Understood in the right way, divine
ethics as well defies fanaticism and rigid absolutism, because in every action
one ought to see the connection to this Light, the mechanism of spirit, rather
than empty legalism.
What
does this mean? It means the destiny is set that in the last analysis we
learn to let the Light of God in, through digested-understood-owned up ethical
behavior, not only for fear of punishment and hope for reward, but seeing that
the punishment and reward, the reckoning and the Day of Judgment are tied
internally to our light or the lack thereof—and this is connected to the nexus
of our biology. It means to see God present in each moment and to refrain
from shameful behaviors-those which are buried under social norms but register
in our conscience. It means to understand the logic of Light, to
understand God’s presence and observance in every moment, not in terms of
policing—but as that which renders our ontological-existential
being-in-the-world meaning and directs it to an awe-inspiring and ineffable
eternal Light. To Remember, constant Remembrance (zikr[2])
of God’s presence, not only as fear and trembling in falling into the abyss of
darkness or the hope for entering into the eternal Light, (whose undercurrent I
feel all the time now), but in terms of what overcomes the friction of our
duplicity and duality and releases us into Oneness, at-one-ment. This is
the meaning of ethical behavior which rejects nihilism and moral relativism and
legalistic-absolutism and redeems (buy back) the individual into freedom of
owning up to one’s ethical choices in seeing its inherent connection to the
Light of God. Desiring Eden and thoroughly listen (obedience), with
understanding.
In
this Light, let’s look at God’s instruction for ethical behavior in this surah
(24). God let’s this scenario unfolds: “The initial context for the
surah is the false rumor against Aisha, the Prophet’s wife, who was left behind
unwittingly by her travelling companions after wandering away in search of
a dropped necklace. She was escorted back to Medina by a Muslim man coming
later who found her there.”
Now
this is the situation: a rumor about Aisha, the Prophet’s wife, committing
adultery with another Muslim man was spread, mostly by Mistah, one of relatives
supported by Abu Bakr, father of Aisha, just for the fact that she was escorted
by that Muslim back to Medina. The surah starts with these verses:
“In
the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy
This
is a sura We have sent down and made obligatory: We have sent down clear
revelations in it, so that you may take heed. Strike the adulteress and
the adulterer [Jalada in Arabic means ‘hit the skin’ with the
hand or anything else. There are reports that people used shoes, clothes, etc.
(Bukhari, Hudud 4)] one hundred times. Do not let
compassion for them keep you from carrying out God’s law––if you believe in God
and the Last Day––and ensure that a group of believers witnesses the
punishment. The adulterer is only [fit] to marry an
adulteress or an idolatress, and the adulteress is only [fit] to marry an
adulterer or an idolater: such behavior is forbidden to believers. As for
those who accuse chaste women of fornication, and then fail to provide four
witnesses, strike them eighty times, and reject their testimony ever
afterwards: they are the lawbreakers, except for those who repent later and
make amends––God is most forgiving and merciful.” (24:1-5)
Remember
that the Light Verse (24:35-40) quoted above comes later in the surah.
And to our modern and postmodern ears, floating in the waters of succumbing to
desires, striking an adulterer and adulteress one hundred times sounds so
harsh. Pay attention that no accusation is accepted and the accusers must
bring witnesses to adultery prior to punishment being executed.
There
is no physical punishment for adultery and excess in the West, besides some financial
consequences in some states in the U.S. At the other extreme, we have honor
killing and violence against women for educational and cultural poverty and
lack of understanding the logic of God’s commands and laws in some of the
countries in the East. Indeed, those who become intolerant and oppressive
against women have made their own whims into their god, their own passions and
lowest desires, narrow mindedness, jealousy, revenge, empty piety. But
what is the option? Neither excesses, east or west, takes us to the
Light. Any excessive pendulum swing opens a door to Satan.
Aren’t
we, in the West, now living in a permissive culture of fornication and lack of
proper boundaries due to being already reduced to animals in our general
secular perception of life? Our state of falling is partly because
of nihilism--the devaluation of all values and separation of ethics from
spirituality—a strong tendency among the youth. The package paradoxically defines an “agent”
who proceeds more and more in our scientism and reduces individuals into
“sovereign individuals”. These ‘agents’ are essentially animals through and
through, and carriers of selfish genes, lost in moral relativism, identify
themselves with machines and electrical circuits, and see themselves as the subclass
of death, whose dream is getting lost in the principle of sensual-aesthetic
pleasure, fame, honor, wealth, because our sciences and secular philosophy
can’t give them anything better.
Adultery
and sexual indulgence—following the principle of pleasure—diminish the divine
light within us and push us to the darkness of animality. Setting
social-ethical boundaries with understanding and without falling into dry
legalism is essential for securing this Light. God asks for punishment
for fornicators and those who accuse women of fornication. However, in
each step there ought to be ‘witnesses’ from believers to prove the adultery
occurred in the first place, and if is proven, a group of witnesses ought to
monitor the execution of punishment so that it doesn’t fall into excess and
cruelty. We need education and setting examples; we need as well clear
boundaries with understanding. The kernel of all these instructions is that
the individual ought to start from himself or herself, rather than accusing
others. “You hypocrite, first take
the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck
out of your brother’s eye.” (Mathew 7:5). So, in the story of slandering
Aisha, God refers individuals to their inner voice, the place that the Light
shines or dies through our own actions in the microlevel:
“When
you took it up with your tongues, and spoke with your mouths things you did not
know [to be true], you thought it was trivial but to God it was very
serious. When you heard the lie, why did you not say, ‘We should not
repeat this– God forbid!– It is a monstrous slander’?” (24:15-16)
This
point is missing from our secular ethics: there is an essential ontological
relation between the way we think, speak, and act and the state of our
soul/body. Our body registers every lie and every case of cheating,
because we are well aware of the shame of doing them, and the awareness returns
back to us at our cellular level in terms of discordance. To clean this
darkness and to let light in, the Quran is clear: we need to repent and to
repel evil and darkness with good. This fundamental relation of our
intentions and actions to our body/soul and salvation is immanent. This
is the point that Mill’s Utilitarianism misses and ends up into separation of
moral behavior from the individual’s disposition. His consequentialist
principle, maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain for the most, sounds
liberating but indeed it exorcises the spirit of the ethical, because the
hedonistic measure of pleasure and pain doesn’t elevate our spirit and
disconnects it from the purpose of all these precepts: Socratic
cultivation of the soul and connection to the Divine Light, the
ontological-existential need that brings us to oneness and at-one-ment and ends
internal bleedings, frictions, contradictions, and restlessness.
The
Quran is clear that pain and pleasure are ramifications of our internal
disposition. What we do returns to us as
pain or joy and is immediately connected to our actions and purification of our
souls—how we hinder Light or let it come in:
“A
painful punishment waits in this world and the next for those who like
indecency to spread among the believers: God knows and you do not. If it
were not for God’s bounty and mercy and the fact that He is compassionate and
merciful . . .! Believers, do not follow in Satan’s footsteps– if you do
so, he will urge you to indecency and evil. If it were not for God’s bounty and
mercy towards you, not one of you would ever have attained purity. God purifies
whoever He will: God is all hearing, all seeing.” (24:19-21)
The
goal is purification and letting Light in—it is the ontological condition of
our existence and the internal nexus of our soul. The consequence of this
process is pain and agony or peace and joy, internally AND externally—in body
and soul. However, as much as Satan distances us from the Light by
tempting us to succumb to our whims and lowest desires and so lie, cheat,
commit adultery, or indecent behaviors, the evil also works through rigid
demands for purifications, where one falls into the devilish state of seeing
evil all around oneself, and forgets the messianic message: start from yourself
and be forgiving.
Mistah,
who was supported by Abu Bakr, participated in spreading the rumor against Abu Bakr’s
daughter, Aisha, the Prophets’ wife. When
Abu Bakr swore that he would never support Mistah again, God teaches the lesson
of mercy and forgiveness to him and to all instead of rigid righteous
indignation:
“Those
who have been graced with bounty and plenty should not swear that they will [no
longer] give to kinsmen, the poor, those who emigrated in God’s way: let
them pardon and forgive. Do you not wish that God should forgive you? God is
most forgiving and merciful.” (24:22)
This
is my point: we are walking on a Razor’s Edge: We can fall into darkness either
by indecency and following our lowest desires, or by rigid puritanism and
seeing evil all around ourselves in those who don’t fit into our measure of
purity. We need to start from ourselves and with setting clear boundaries
and punitive laws, and coextensively with love and forgiveness help others to
walk the Razor’s Edge from darkness to Light.
By
default, we are self-and-other-blind. It means while we can partially
know ourselves and others, we can’t fully see ours and others internal
disposition. God judges us on the Day of Judgement. While God is
forgiving and merciful, if we pass certain threshold of darkness, due to our
own actions, then our own body will bring witness to our fallen state in the
Day of Judgement:
“Those
who accuse honorable but unwary believing women are rejected by God, in this
life and the next. A painful punishment awaits them on the Day when their own
tongues, hands, and feet will testify against them about what they have done–
on that Day, God will pay them their just due in full– and they will realize
that God is the Truth that makes everything clear. Corrupt women are for
corrupt men, and corrupt men are for corrupt women; good women are for good men
and good men are for good women. The good are innocent of what has been said
against them; they will have forgiveness and a generous provision.”
(24:23-26)
[1] “Think [Prophet] of the man
who has taken his own passion [hawahu; Al-Ahwaa’; singular: hawaa' (Arabic:الھوٰی)] as a god: are you to be his
guardian? Do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are
just like cattle– no, they are further from the path.” (25:43-44) (Araayta mani ittakhatha ilahahu hawahu
afaanta takoonu AAalayhi wakeelan)
[2] A
form of devotion, associated chiefly with Sufism, in which the worshiper is
absorbed in the rhythmic repetition of the name of God or his attributes.
