On Lights

Hi guys,

As most of my current writings focused on book reviews, I'm thinking to upload posts of the better ones here. Algazel's "the Niche of Light" still sent shivers in me every time I think about the book. It is a single book which beauty could only be matched by the likes of Spinoza's Ethics. Nevertheless, this is a special post requested by my lover to elucidate more on the concept of Platonian ideas. We had a deep discussion regarding divine will and predestination (qadha and qadar) yesterday night and we stuck in a rut regarding my statement in "ON REALITY". So, here's hoping a more orthodox elucidation by Algazel can help us more in our discussion. 

p.s. To my lover (you're basically the only one who visits this blog), I appreciate our late-night discussion on things. With you, I love both the sweet, and the heavy stuffs too. 

To tell you the truth, all the time I was reading or even contemplating upon the subject of the book, my heart flutters. The heart flutters to and fro, between the sad realisation of ignorance and the excitement for discovering something new. Algazel's Misykat al-Anwar is one of his best writings, set to expound a verse in the Quran that so dense, it perplexed everybody who read it.

Now, aside from the pretty shite printing quality (but I have to opt for the cheapest edition, so the fault's on me) and the (high-browed) Orientalistic introduction, I have no qualms whatsoever with this book. The book set to expound a verse from the Quran, from the Chapter of the Light;

"Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth; a likeness of His light is as a niche in which is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass, (and) the glass is as it were a brightly shining star, lit from a blessed olive-tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof almost gives light though fire touch it not – light upon light – Allah guides to His light whom He pleases, and Allah sets forth parables for men, and Allah is Cognizant of all things."

Now as you can see the verse is so dense with symbolism and what not, it almost impossible to make sense of it in the first read. And here's where Algazel came into the spotlight.

He started of by expounding what is really meant by Light. He gave us three cases; 1) the things which aren't visible to themselves, nor they make other visible, these are the dark bodies, 2) the things that are visible to others, but they do not make other visible, these are the luminaries such as stars and 3) the things that are both visible to others and make other visible themselves, and this is what is meant by Light, in the truest sense.

Now even this definition of Light is held by the Many. Even among the Many, they still confused. When they saw a meadow full of green, they said "That is nothing but the color green". But think for a moment. Does green visible by itself? Surely not. It was made visible by the Light, which we already agreed are those that it itself is visible and make others visible too. And this understanding that there can't be anything visible without the one who sees, is what Light means among the Few.

But think again. Algazel gave us 7 defects of the light as understood by physical sign, which is not present in the Intelligence. Intelligence, by Algazel term, is also a type of Light, as we shall see why. The eye perceives the exterior part of a thing, but the intelligence breaks through its mold and frame; it discovers the thing's secrets, elicit their causes and laws, their origin, their formation, their characteristics, so on and so forth. Think of how a cube nevertheless seem to be made by one surface, while the Intelligence can know that it is not thus; it is a three dimensional item with 4 sides (which the physical sense alone can never grasp). These are what the Light means, as understood by the Few of the Few.

Now, we are ready to understand on where causality ends. To offer an example by Schopenhauer, scientific knowledge could offer us description, but never the origin. It somehow resembled the comic scene where an uninvited group of guests came visiting for a party. When asked who are they, they replied that they are this-and-that family, living in this village, this is my wife, and this is my children, so on and so forth. Alright, that is all fine and dandy, but who really they are? Science or knowledge of causality as we know in the realms of physics are equivalent to this comic lot of visitors. They offer us processes and descriptions, but never their origin. So did Algazel wants us to contemplate that the physical causality of everything existents are not as simple as we perceived them to be, nor they are as opaque as we believed them to be.

He offered a metaphor where, even the knowledge of causality produced by the Intelligence is just a mere step from the higher order. The floor which is illuminated in the night, was reflected by the mirror on the wall, which in turn was shined by the light of the moon form the window, and even this light of the moon owed its source from the Sun. Now, most people would not even think the Sun as the source of the Light; most would halt the order up to the moon. But everything has its ultimate source, and to Algazel, the source of the Light, is the Light of Light, which is Allah.

We have seen being, which its existent can be known, and by contrast we know of the non-being, which its existent cannot be known at all. And without Light, can anything be known? If none, is there anything aside from the Light? Everything contingent cannot be perceived aside from its state of perishing; they owe its existent-state as existing only from the Light that give its knowability in the first place. Even then, it cannot be said to exist by themselves; its existing state merely retained by the flowing of Existence from the Prime Reality. And it is thus what it seemed from the eyes of the Gnostics, that there is no existent aside from Allah. And in their passion and intoxication, they said certain incomprehensible words, heretical even. But upon their Descent, they knew what they felt is not of Identity, but of something resembling to identity. Aren't we in the throes of passion, we spoke our self and our lovers as one, while it is all impossible in and out? So did these Gnostics, who a poem line described them best, "The glass is thin, the wine is clear! The twain are alike...For 'tis as though there were wine and no wineglass there...".

And so, after reached this pinnacle of ecstacy, Algazel pulled us with firm hands back to the topic. It is of dangerous paths to go beyond without proper rites and understanding.

We have seen all along what is truly meant by the Light, and the graded order of Light. And now, to arrive for a clear exegesis of the Verse of the Light, Algazel proceeded to grade the faculty of the human soul.

There are generally 5 graded order of the human soul. The first is the sensory, the second is the imaginative/mnemonic spirit which able to retain the form of the sensory (the Pavlovian dog), the third: intelligential spirit, which can arrives to eternal truths and axioms. The fourth is the discursive spirit, ever possessing the capability to expand such axioms ad infinitum, perhaps akin to Kantian's synthesis. And the fifth, is the transcendental prophetic spirit, which its character is obvious to be described.

Returning back to the symbols in the verse; there are 5 of them. The Niche, the Glass, the Lamp, the Olive tree, the Oil. Now, perhaps it clear enough to hazard the guess. The Niche is the sensory spirit, the Glass is the imaginative spirit, the Lamp is the intelligential spirit, the Olive tree is the discursive spirit (it able to deduce eternal truthful axioms, free from any infection by space and time; thus the "neither eastern nor western". Last but not lest, the olive oil, which obviously can only came from the blessed olive tree, is the transcendental prophetic spirit. It gives light though fire touch it not. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we have reached the end of a journey.

I write this in a flurry of haze and daze, recalling every tiny bit I can remember and understand. It is a mere, based and meagre effect to reflect the jewels contained in this short work, I implore everybody, Muslim or not, to have a go at this treatise. It would not hurt you, it would give you wonders, as it did to me.