Way of The Seekers — Page 18
18 THE Again we confront a variety of answers. According to some, morality springs from control by human reason of aggression and sex. Aggression and sex are like two wild horses. Reason is the rider controlling both. When he does it well, controlling each, he displays moral activity. If the rider makes a mistake of one kind or another, he deviates from the moral path. This power to think–to weigh and consider and judge–is called Nafs-i-Natiqa, or the rational self, by Mohyuddin Ibn Arabi. According to him all morals spring from a mixture of these three dispositions, a mixture, say, of reason and sex, or of reason and aggression, or of all the three viz. , reason, sex and aggression. Elaborating the metaphor, he regards reason as the male partner and aggression and sex as his two wives. The union of man and woman gives birth to a child; in the same way, reason and aggression or reason and sex give birth to morals. Still others think that man’s strongest desire is to seek pleasure or happiness. When desire for happiness combines with reason, it gives rise to morals. In my view the question of the origin of morality–moral qualities, moral actions–has not been adequately understood. It has to be spread over a wide enough context. Muslim philosophers should have considered the question in the light of the Holy Quran, but they have not done so. I have applied the principle of the Quran to the question and have found that the origin of morals or morality is very deep and goes far back into the origin of things. If morals were the prerogative only of man, descriptions and definitions by ordinary men would have been adequate, at least relevant. But morals or pseudo-morals are to be found in beings lower in the scale of life. For instance, it is said that reason, sex, and aggression, give rise to moral qualities like love, but love is found in animals also. Then it is said that reason and sex, or reason and aggression mixed together give rise to morals. Animals do not have reason. But they do display the quality of love which counts as a moral