A Brief Reflection on Surah Al-Hijr (15) and Hubristic Doubt

In the surah Al-Hijr (the Stone), God highlights a kind of doubt which is rooted in hubris.  After explaining the origin of the universe and how disbelievers doubt it is created by God, even if God “opened a gateway into Heaven for them and they rose through it, higher and higher, they would still say, ‘Our eyes are hallucinating. We are bewitched.’” (15:14-15), because their hearts, out of hubris, are not attuned to Truth, then we have the story of creation of human beings and how another “doubt” (Satan’s doubt), out of the disposition of hubris, creates the cosmic war. 

What is interesting is that in both these cases the root of problem is not an innocent intellectual doubt, which is always legitimized in the Quran, but it is a kind dispositional doubt that creates a hiatus in the individual and cosmic soul/body: it is a doubt based on “I am better”, doubt based on “separation and disconnection”, doubt out of the illusion of autonomy.  

In the first case, a variation of disbelieves’ doubt is based on a blunt belief that brute and dead proximate causes should explain everything, otherwise we would violate the law of sufficient reason: nothing is without reason.  This identification of “reason” with causal law-like connections between material and phenomenal objects is rooted in a disposition of the soul, which translates itself into a presupposition: there is no God; don’t believe it under any condition; there is only interaction of objects (atoms, particles); and whatever cannot be inferred from the witness of our senses is not true.  This whole dispositional doubt is based on a despair and seeing our being here as a chance event, which turns into an ethical downfall.

The second doubt, the Satan’s doubt is purely based on hubris.  Surah Al-Hijr continues:

“We created man out of dried clay formed from dark mud– the jinn We created before, from the fire of scorching wind.  Your Lord said to the angels, ‘I will create a mortal out of dried clay, formed from dark mud.  When I have fashioned him and breathed My spirit into him, bow down before him,’ and the angels all did so.  But not Iblis: he refused to bow down like the others.  God said, ‘Iblis, why did you not bow down like the others?’ and he answered, ‘I will not bow to a mortal You created from dried clay, formed from dark mud.’  ‘Get out of here!’ said God. ‘You are an outcast, rejected until the Day of Judgement.’  Iblis said, ‘My Lord, give me respite until the Day when they are raised from the dead.’  ‘You have respite,’ said God, ‘until the Day of the Appointed Time.’  Iblis then said to God, ‘Because You have put me in the wrong, I will lure mankind on earth and put them in the wrong, all except Your devoted servants.’ God said, ‘[Devotion] is a straight path to Me: you will have no power over My servants, only over the ones who go astray and follow you.” (15:26-42)

Satan thinks because it is made of fire (a jinn, not angel), it is better than human beings.  Iblis (Satan) doubts God’s wisdom, after God breathes God’s spirit into human being, and calls itself better than human beings.  In the Quran, as I discussed in “Reflections on Some Verses of the Quran”, God takes charge for everything, good and evil, belief and disbelief, in the sense that God could stop evil and disbelief but is not willing to do so.  God could illuminate Satan about the truth and convince Satan to bow down to Adam, but God didn’t do that.  So, Satan says: “Because You have put me in the wrong, I will lure mankind on earth and put them in the wrong.”  The Quran repeatedly expresses that if God wanted there would be no dispute and disagreement and no disbelief and evil, but God treats us as those whom God’s spirit of wisdom is already breathed into.  God wants our maturity to arrive to the fact that, while we exist as independent beings with freedom of the will, we ought to purify ourselves with knowing our shadows and dissolve the doubts that are rooted in the permeation of lie and hubris in our souls.  Not strange that after showing this ethical corruption appears in disbelief and disconnect from God and consequently to ethical downfall in the story of Abraham and Lot, God states:

“We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything between them without a true purpose: the Hour will certainly come, so [Prophet] bear with them graciously.  Your Lord is the All Knowing Creator.  We have given you the seven oft-recited verses.” (15:85-87)

[Surah “The Opening”:

1 In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy!

2 Praise belongs to God,

Lord (The Arabic root r–b–b has connotations of caring and nurturing in addition to lordship, and this should be borne in mind wherever the term occurs and is rendered ‘lord’.) of the Worlds, (Al-alamin in Arabic means all the worlds, of mankind, angels, animals, plants, this world, the next, and so forth.)

3 the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy,

4 Master of the Day of Judgement.

5 It is You we worship; it is You we ask for help.

6 Guide us to the straight path:

7 the path of those You have blessed, those who incur no anger (Note that the verb here is not attributed to God)

And who have not gone astray.]

And then the surah continues:

“…and the whole glorious Quran. Do not look longingly at the good things We have given some to enjoy. Do not grieve over the [disbelievers], but lower your wings over the believers and say, ‘I am here to give plain warning,’ like the [warning] We have sent down for those who divide themselves into bands 91 and abuse the Quran––by your Lord, We will question them all about their deeds. 94 So proclaim openly what you have been commanded [to say], and ignore the idolaters.  We are enough for you against all those who ridicule your message, who set up another god beside God– they will come to know.  We are well aware that your heart is weighed down by what they say.  Celebrate the glory of your Lord and be among those who bow down to Him: worship your Lord until what is certain comes to you.” (15:88-98)

 

And this is the purpose of the creation of the universe and human beings.  We are part of the divine cosmic endeavor and war for truth: the straight path to God without doubt.  First and foremost, this “war” is spiritual.  And it doesn’t mean killing intellectual doubts but arriving at certainty through reflection and wisdom.  However, there are other kinds of “doubt”, such as the doubt of Satan and those whose soul and body is tainted with hubris, those who set intellectual and phenomenal knowledge as the only knowledge, who won’t be able to see the truth, unless they purify themselves through ethical-spiritual practices and remove the sickness of their hearts.

A Brief Reflection on the Story of the Fall and Ascent in the Quran

“Children of Adam, We have given you garments to cover your nakedness and as adornment for you; the garment of God-consciousness is the best of all garments– this is one of God’s signs, so that people may take heed.” (7:26)

The Story of Fall in the Quran

“We established you [people] on the earth and provided you with a means of livelihood there––small thanks you give!  We created you, We gave you shape, and then We said to the angels, ‘Bow down before Adam,’ and they did. But not Iblis: he was not one of those who bowed down. 12 God said, ‘What prevented you from bowing down as I commanded you?’ and he said, ‘I am better than him: You created me from fire and him from clay.’  God said, ‘Get down from here! This is no place for your arrogance. Get out! You are contemptible!’ but Iblis said, ‘Give me respite until the Day people are raised from the dead,’ and God replied, ‘You have respite.’  And then Iblis said, ‘Because You have put me in the wrong, I will lie in wait for them all on Your straight path: I will come at them– from their front and their back, from their right and their left– and You will find that most of them are ungrateful.’  God said, ‘Get out! You are disgraced and banished! I swear I shall fill Hell with you and all who follow you! 19 But you and your wife, Adam, live in the Garden. 

[God said] But you and your wife, Adam, live in the Garden. Both of you eat whatever you like, but do not go near this tree or you will become wrongdoers.’  Satan whispered to them so as to expose their nakedness, which had been hidden from them: he said, ‘Your Lord only forbade you this tree to prevent you becoming angels or immortals,’ and he swore to them, ‘I am giving you sincere advice’– he lured them with lies. Their nakedness became exposed to them when they had eaten from the tree: they began to put together leaves from the Garden to cover themselves. Their Lord called to them, ‘Did I not forbid you to approach that tree? Did I not warn you that Satan was your sworn enemy?’ They replied, ‘Our Lord, we have wronged our souls: if You do not forgive us and have mercy, we shall be lost.’ He said, ‘All of you get out! You are each other’s enemies.  On earth, you will have a place to stay and livelihood– for a time.’  He said, ‘There you will live; there you will die; from there you will be brought out.’  Children of Adam, We have given you garments to cover your nakedness and as adornment for you; the garment of God-consciousness is the best of all garments– this is one of God’s signs, so that people may take heed.  Children of Adam, do not let Satan seduce you, as he did your parents, causing them to leave the Garden, stripping them of their garments [innocence or God-consciousness] to expose their nakedness to them: he and his forces can see you from where you cannot see them: We have made evil ones allies to those who do not believe.” (7:10-27)

The Simile of Garment for Body and Soul

In the Bible, Genesis 3-23, the story of creation almost concludes the same as the Quran.  In the Bible, God doesn’t say to Adam and Eve that you will become “wrongdoers”, but God forbids them to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis: 2:17).  And Satan seduces them to eat from the tree.  In Bible, Serpent says: “You will not certainly die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (3:4) In the Quran, Iblis says: ‘Your Lord only forbade you this tree to prevent you becoming angels or immortals’.

In both Bible and Quran, being aware of their nakedness is the sign of knowing good and evil.  In the Quran, God tells them you will become “wrongdoers” if you eat from the forbidden tree.  This is a very interesting point: you will become aware of the desires of body and also the struggle for purification.  No animal knows it is naked; human beings are exceptional in having garments on.  In our time, there are nudist movements who think by taking off their cloth and overcoming the shame of nudity they can liberate themselves.  The Quran highlights the fact that this is the seduction of Iblis to lose your shame and objectify your body. 

Something happened after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  We obtained a sense of “self” and “freedom of the will” to see two different possibilities: to be graceless or graceful.  So, a path of evolution was set for us that, unlike Darwinian evolution, it is not only about “survival” but for achieving virtues and “God-consciousness” (taghva).  The Fall is the story of realizing the attachment and detachment from the body and coming to self-consciousness.  This self has to find the balance between good and evil and to choose: to be immersed in the pleasures of the body shamelessly (attachment) or in balance purify the body and soul in God-consciousness (detachment).

And a medium for this purification is “proper shame” that we attained after the Fall. The Fall and the experience of shame indicate both opening our eyes to a self (freedom of the will) and that “proper shame” is itself a way to purify the self, to become righteous and one in body and soul, to refrain from obscenities and indecencies. I call it coincidentia oppositorum: the very emotion of shame that was a symptom of the Fall is the medium of Ascent, keeping the garments of grace on us. Good and evil are separate but excess can turn good to evil. So, for example, shamelessness and toxic shame (excess) both trap the self in the body, but proper shame hinders our soul from being tainted by obscenities.  

The Quran plays with the word “garment” as a symbol of God-consciousness and grace.

“We have given you garments to cover your nakedness and as adornment for you; the garment of God-consciousness is the best of all garments– this is one of God’s signs, so that people may take heed.

Again, before the Fall, Adam and Eve had garment of innocence and were naked.  After having the forbidden fruit, they feel ashamed and seek a garment.  After the Fall, they must live on the earth and Iblis tries to seduce children of Adam to take off their garments and become naked.  But this time, this becoming naked is not going back to the God-consciousness and innocence of Garden of Eden but to swing from good to evil—to follow one’s desires and objectification of the body and losing shame.  When there was no shame there was also no knowledge of good and evil.  When they gained the seed of knowledge, they experienced shame.  Now if they lose their shame after eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil and become naked, which means living in lust and objectification of the body, they will lose their virtues and become graceless.

Look at the world now! In the West, losing the garment of grace: hedonism, shamelessness, gracelessness, and objectification of the body (especially for women) is a serious social issue. In the West, we see gender confusion and obscenity. In the East, losing the garment of grace occurs through totalitarianism, corruption, and hypocrisy. It seems to me that God could foresee the future, that how humanity, especially in the West, will fall into the trap of sexual liberation, nudity, and obscenity. So, in the Quran God forewarns us about nudity and gender confusion and calls for securing the garment of virtue for men and women.

Almost immediately after the story of the Fall, the Quran continues:

“Yet when [these people] do something disgraceful, they say, ‘We found our forefathers doing this,’ and, ‘God has commanded us to do this.’ Say [Prophet], ‘God does not command disgraceful deeds. How can you say about God things that you do not know [to be true]?’  Say, ‘My Lord commands righteousness. Direct your worship straight to Him wherever you pray; call on Him; devote your religion entirely to Him. Just as He first created you, so you will come back [to life] again.’  Some He has guided and some are doomed to stray: they have taken evil ones rather than God as their masters, thinking that they are rightly guided.  Children of Adam, dress well whenever you are at worship, and eat and drink [as We have permitted] but do not be extravagant: God does not like extravagant people.  Say [Prophet], ‘Who has forbidden the adornment and the nourishment God has provided for His servants?’ Say, ‘They are [allowed] for those who believe during the life of this world: they will be theirs alone on the Day of Resurrection.’ This is how We make Our revelation clear for those who understand. (7:28-32)