Evil

[psyah]

@ravage

Beyond the simple situations where being ‘evil’ in a religious sense brings harm, and can be seen as immoral in non-religious frameworks, do you necessarily see as desirable being on the ‘good’ side in the cosmic narrative of good and evil - where evil could be defined as being opposed to the God.

On the face of it it seems like the easiest religious question you could be asked. But in context, not really. Especially for someone who values individualism, freedom and rationality.

Iblees can be seen as having fallen from grace because he reasoned before God, arguing against a religious injunction that didnt make sense to him. khalaqtani min naariw wa khalaqtuhu min teen.

A line of attack is used often in religious discussions when people talk about Khudsarri… rebelling based on intellect and questioning the Divine. But is not intellectual rebellion in the face of authority a heroic thing? Perhaps this is because of how we come to see Authority with experience of human politics. But I digress.

If you allow momentarily the dichotomy of the faithful and the rational/individualist, where would you be? Where would you be if it were argued, as it sometimes is*, that the rebelliously rational equates the evil? Would the consequences scare you into abandoning your free thought and rationality beyond the point it starts rebelling against religion? Again, assume the interesting case where there is no way to reconcile your thought and religion.

*If we were to grant the validity of the question

Posted from my blog

Peace ravage

Wow … now this is a topic and Alhumdulillah you seemed to have attracted all the minds, pity I’ve come along now to put an intellectual dampener on things.

Intellectual rebellion in the face of authority … heroic? … I’m sure if you read Socrates and Plato and in turn from Imam Al-Ghazali you’ll fathom that courage is on the axis of what can be cowardice and what can be recklessness … too much of it bad and too less of it bad … to be a hero or courageous the assumption above needs to be elaborated on. To rebel against the Ultimate Authority is not heroic.

Then if you want to contrast what the angels said with what Iblees said … regarding humanity … They asked Allah (SWT) Surah 2 verse 30 … “Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You?”

Here you can see that the angels are making two claims … 1) that they are better than man for they praise God and the man will create mischief … 2) They maintain that God deserves worship and with their apparent contest against the vicegerent they complement their rebellion with praise for Allah.

However, the rebellion of Ibless of void of this Adab … as Iconoclast mentions.

For sure he should have first prostrated and then made his attempt to reason, but his desire to reason prevented his obedience. Rather he knew he had failed the moment he was asked to prostrate. Rather his reason was loaded with self worth … pride which is an adornment of Allah (SWT) that’s what he should have known better, being the most perfect in worship of his time.

One can only conclude that his attempt of reasoning aimed against the Most Wise was really a facade … he was decorating lies as reason and he was not ashamed of doing that.

Look at how he complained after his folly … Iblees blamed Allah (SWT) for being led astray whereas compare this with Adam and Eve who after being led astray asked for forgiveness and said that they have wronged themselves.

See the contrast and see why this scenario is not befitting. His rebellion and hence his fall was due to PRIDE - the first sin. Then DISOBEDIENCE, then a LIE and then SHAMELESSNESS …

And of course how can we assume that Allah (SWT) The Most Just banished Iblees as a result of his incapability … no … he was fully capable of obedience and his rationale was in tact.

As for where we stand … primarily we are told to stand with our leaders not against them. We are told to obey even a tyrant ruler if his tyrrany is aligned to promote God, however, we must use wisdom to curb that and perhaps change that … First we must be faithful … to use intellect and rationalism to dissent requires these things …

1. Time
2. Patience
3. Wisdom, etc