“Intellect and ignorance, light and darkness, beauty and ugliness, peace and anxiety, healing and pain”—all are created by God!
Al-An‘ām: 1 الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذي خَلَقَ السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضَ وَ جَعَلَ الظُّلُماتِ وَ النُّورَ ثُمَّ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ يَعْدِلُونَ
Praise belongs to God, who created the heavens and the earth and brought forth darkness and light. Yet the disbelievers set up equals and partners for their Lord, despite the signs of His oneness and uniqueness being plain in the creation of the world.
The creation of ugliness is inherent in a creation that serves as a trial.
Ugliness cannot be something purely nonexistent, nor can it be merely relative.
From one perspective, we cannot say that blindness is simply the absence of sight, since blindness is understood in relation to sight. For example, we cannot call a stone or a plant blind!
Although questions of beauty and ugliness, light and darkness, can be discussed in terms of relativity, ugliness and darkness are also, in one respect, realities that exist.
God Most High created both beauty and ugliness!
God’s original creation is pure beauty, even though created beings and phenomena may later fall into the categories of beauty or ugliness.
A being’s shift from beauty to ugliness comes from departing from the laws the Creator has set for it.
Thus every being is given a sphere of choice and agency—like a field of competition. Those who enter the test and contest, by observing or violating its established rules, fall within the bounds of beauty or ugliness.
The very subtle point is that the Wise Creator, with “astonishing artistry beyond our comprehension,” portrays ugliness as utterly beautiful!
فَقَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ خَلَقَ الْعَقْلَ وَ هُوَ أَوَّلُ خَلْقٍ مِنَ الرُّوحَانِيِّينَ عَنْ يَمِينِ الْعَرْشِ مِنْ نُورِهِ فَقَالَ لَهُ أَدْبِرْ فَأَدْبَرَ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ أَقْبِلْ فَأَقْبَلَ فَقَالَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَ تَعَالَى خَلَقْتُكَ خَلْقاً عَظِيماً وَ كَرَّمْتُكَ عَلَى جَمِيعِ خَلْقِي قَالَ ثُمَّ خَلَقَ الْجَهْلَ مِنَ الْبَحْرِ الْأُجَاجِ ظُلْمَانِيّاً فَقَالَ لَهُ أَدْبِرْ فَأَدْبَرَ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ أَقْبِلْ فَلَمْ يُقْبِلْ فَقَالَ لَهُ اسْتَكْبَرْتَ فَلَعَنَهُ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ لِلْعَقْلِ خَمْسَةً وَ سَبْعِينَ جُنْداً فَلَمَّا رَأَى الْجَهْلُ مَا أَكْرَمَ اللَّهُ بِهِ الْعَقْلَ وَ مَا أَعْطَاهُ أَضْمَرَ لَهُ الْعَدَاوَةَ فَقَالَ الْجَهْلُ يَا رَبِّ هَذَا خَلْقٌ مِثْلِي خَلَقْتَهُ وَ كَرَّمْتَهُ وَ قَوَّيْتَهُ وَ أَنَا ضِدُّهُ وَ لَا قُوَّةَ لِي بِهِ فَأَعْطِنِي مِنَ الْجُنْدِ مِثْلَ مَا أَعْطَيْتَهُ فَقَالَ نَعَمْ فَإِنْ عَصَيْتَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ أَخْرَجْتُكَ وَ جُنْدَكَ مِنْ رَحْمَتِي قَالَ قَدْ رَضِيتُ فَأَعْطَاهُ خَمْسَةً وَ سَبْعِينَ جُنْداً فَكَانَ مِمَّا أَعْطَى الْعَقْلَ مِنَ الْخَمْسَةِ وَ السَّبْعِينَ الْجُنْدَ الْخَيْرُ وَ هُوَ وَزِيرُ الْعَقْلِ وَ جَعَلَ ضِدَّهُ الشَّرَّ وَ هُوَ وَزِيرُ الْجَهْلِ وَ الْإِيمَانُ وَ ضِدَّهُ الْكُفْر ...
Al-Kāfī (Islamic edition), vol. 1, p. 21. Al-Kulaynī, Muḥammad ibn Ya‘qūb ibn Isḥāq, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, Tehran, fourth edition, 1407 AH.
Imam al-Ṣādiq (AS) said: “God, Mighty and Majestic, created the intellect. It was the first of the spiritual beings to be created, from God’s light, on the right side of the Throne. Then God said to it, ‘Turn your back,’ and it did so. Then He said, ‘Turn towards Me,’ and it did so. Then God, Blessed and Exalted, said, ‘I have created you as a great creature and honoured you above all My creatures.’
“Then He created ignorance from a dark, briny sea. He said to it, ‘Turn your back,’ and it did so. Then He said, ‘Turn towards Me,’ but it did not. God said to it, ‘You have grown arrogant,’ and cursed it.
“Then God appointed seventy-five forces for the intellect. When ignorance saw how God had honoured the intellect and what He had granted it, it felt enmity towards it in its heart and said, ‘My Lord, this is a creature like me. You created and honoured it, and strengthened it, while I am its opposite and have no power against it. So grant me forces like those You granted it.’ God said, ‘Yes—but if you disobey Me after that, I shall cast you and your forces out of My mercy.’ Ignorance said, ‘I am content.’ So God granted it seventy-five forces as well.”
Among the forces granted to the intellect was goodness, made its minister. Opposed to it was evil, made the minister of ignorance. Likewise, there was faith, with disbelief as its opposite...
If we regard the intellect as the representative of beauty and ignorance as the representative of ugliness, the discussion at hand continues as follows:
In the original creation of the intellect and ignorance, both are understood to have been in a state of perfect beauty. Even if we suppose they were created from different substances, we may still suppose that, at the beginning, the names “intellect” and “ignorance” indicated neither beauty nor ugliness. Perhaps “ignorance” was not the original name of a phenomenon called ignorance at all; it may have acquired that name after disobedience.
Had ignorance obeyed God’s command from the outset, it would have been beloved, just like the intellect. The same would have been true of the forces of ignorance!