One of the amusing paradoxes about the Islamic tradition is the
fact that the conception of God is quite simple (radically One),
but the conception of the human being is subtle and nuanced.
That subtlety is expressed in myriad ways: the incomparable sage
Rumi says: “The human being is like a jackass, with wings of
angels tacked on.” We are all mixtures of good and evil, light
and darkness, lower than the animal, and more sublime than the
sublime. This is what the Qur’an expresses as God having created
the human in the “loveliest of forms” (fi ahsan al-taqwim,
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ ﴿95:4﴾) and
then bringing us to “the lowest of the low.” ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ
أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ Rumi continues that same paradox by a story
he adapts from the Greek philosopher Diogenes: Rumi states: Last
night the spiritual teacher was wandering around the town, with
a lit torch at hand. He said: "I am sick and tired of these two-
legged beasts. I want to find one real human being." Everyone
said: "O, t