Bewilderment as Enlightenment

It seems a ubiquitous idea that in absence of the ability to perform a function, man and mankind delegate; we entrust certain tasks and responsibilities to those whom we know are better suited to execute them. It’s the reason the United States isn’t a muddled direct democracy, but a republic, in which we hand off critical choices to our representatives. It’s the reason that the executive chef at a restaurant doesn’t make the salad dressing, and why the the Dean doesn’t teach comparative religion.

Michael Sells notes a Qur’anic passage in which Allah proclaims that he is “the hearing with which (his beloved servant) hears, the seeing with which he sees, the hand with which he grasps, the feet with which he walks, (and) the tongue with which he speaks.” (Hadith Qudsi) In essence, a “complete” or “kamil” (perfect) human being is the byproduct of an unfeigned, uninhibited, unvarnished collaboration by God and his earthly constituents. (Sells  77) A person in her or his purest form is bereft of any veil, with complete divine awareness and the capacity to carry out God’s intent.

At this point, however, the analogy between ideas like representative democracy and a theological notion like this one is lost on me. Sure, allowing ourselves to fulfill the will of the divine is a profound ethical challenge and a virtuous aspiration. But realistically, how are we to “fully embrace all aspects of both transcendence and immanence,” when we might not even know where to begin? (PowerPoint 10/30/12)

The Muslim tradition – and particularly Ibn Arabi – answers my query. “Bewilderment,” to the great Islamic commentator, is synonymous with “knowledge.” (Sells  101) In his telling of the story of Noah and the Polytheists, he recognizes the righteousness and nobility in uncertainty. Such an equation (evolving confusion and enlightenment) isn’t a novel one in the history of the Abrahamic faiths. Yisrael (anglicized as “Israel”) literally means, in biblical Hebrew, “struggle with God.” According to the Torah’s narrative, both Moses and Abraham, at the burning bush and Sodom and Gomora respectively, engaged in struggles either to interpret God or change God’s mind. Yet again, we stumble upon logical contradiction.