Avoiding Darkness
The song Midday (Avoid City After Dark) carries with it an important message, especially for young men and women living in the dark urban maze. Having gone through what most kids experience in that developmental age in the sub-gutters of Soho and the seedier side of the West End of London – and still remembering some of the scars – I realize much could be avoided if my mentors and goals were different.
The pressure of social conformity is hard to escape with the confines of the city, and human beings find it easier to go with the current rather than move against it. There are always those who will submit to the stronger in appearance. The fact is, appearances are often extremely deceiving.
The enduring battle of light verses darkness is not going to go away, but it helps to know there are some who are ready to put on the armour of light and goodness and follow the path of radiance, till the sun rises from the West.
LIGHT AND DARKNESS IN THE QUR’AN
God is the friend and protector of those who believe (in Him). He brings them out of the (depths of) darkness into the light. As for the unbelievers, they have Taghut as their protector, who drives them out of light into the darkness. (The Qur’an, 2:257)
The word Taghut literally applies to everyone who transgresses the limits. The Qur’an uses this word for one who rebels against God, falsely presenting himself to be a master and sovereign over God’s creatures, and compelling the weak amongst them to become his servants. Though taghut is singular in form, here it is plural in meaning, for the one who abandons God becomes a slave not of one but of several forms of Taghut. One of these is Satan who goes on tempting him with many false and alluring temptations. Another is his own self that makes him a slave of passions and lusts and misleads him into crooked ways. A human being’s rebellion against God has three degrees:
(1) One is fasiq (disobedient) if one claims to be a loyal subject but of the Divine but, in practice, acts against enlightened guidance and commands;
(2) One is kafir (unbeliever) if one believes he is independent of God; or chooses allegiance to something or someone else;
(3) One is taghut if one rebels against God and exerts to make His subjects subservient to himself.
Such a one may be Satan or in extreme cases, even a religious or a political leader or a king. Therefore no one can be a true believer of God unless he disowns Taghut. ‘Darkness’ stands for the darkness of ignorance that causes one to go astray from the Right Path, and to spend all one’s efforts and energies in wrong ways. In contrast to this, ‘Light’ stands for the light of the Truth which enables one to see clearly the Reality and perceive the real aim of life and follow consciously and deliberately the Right Path, in loving submission.
