An event horizon of a black hole is the boundary surrounding a black hole beyond which no light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation can escape. Essentially, it marks the point at which the gravitational pull of the black hole becomes so strong that escape velocity exceeds the speed of light, rendering it impossible for anything that crosses this boundary to return. If someone was traveling through space and was to cross the event horizon, the point of no return, it would be impossible for them to ever escape.
Similarly, consider an individual who initially follows a virtuous path but gradually begins to erode their moral integrity. It might start with minor ethical breaches, slight bending of rules, and rationalizations of small misdeeds. However, as they persist on this trajectory, each decision draws them nearer to their own moral event horizon—a point where their ethical degradation is so profound that redemption becomes out of reach. This threshold represents when an individual irreversibly surpasses the possibility of moral recovery, and their deeds become so tainted that returning to a state of righteousness is no longer feasible. But the critical questions remain: where does this boundary lie, how can we prevent ourselves from nearing it, and how do we recognize if someone has irrevocably crossed it?
Righteousness Defined
For millennia, there has been a debate about whether righteousness is determined by one’s beliefs or actions. Historically, the Jews put more emphasis on actions, that despite what is in one’s heart, if they performed the actions in a certain way, they will be redeemed, irrespective of belief. Christians who followed Paul took the other extreme, that actions are irrelevant, but it is 100% about belief. The Quran addresses this conundrum by stating that righteousness requires both belief and action.
2:177 Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Righteous are those who believe in GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture, and the prophets; and they give the money, cheerfully, to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and to free the slaves; and they observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat); and they keep their word whenever they make a promise; and they steadfastly persevere in the face of persecution, hardship, and war. These are the truthful; these are the righteous.
In order to have the right belief and the right action to be righteous, there are two other prerequisites. Firstly it requires the ability to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. Secondly, it requires the ability to freely choose between right and wrong.
Knowledge of Good and Evil
God has placed the innate knowledge of the worship of God alone inside every human being.
30:30 Therefore, you shall devote yourself to the religion of strict monotheism. Such is the natural instinct placed into the people by GOD. Such creation of GOD will never change. This is the perfect religion, but most people do not know.
The word “alham” ( أَلْهَم) used in the verse above signifies “innate knowledge,” and this informs us that every soul has been given innate knowledge to be able to distinguish between immorality and righteousness.
Free to choose
To have the right beliefs and actions, one needs to distinguish between right and wrong and, secondly, freely choose between them. If someone cannot distinguish between the two, we can’t say they are responsible. Or if someone is forced to do something good or bad, we cannot call them righteous or evil. These terms occur only when the person is aware of the distinction and freely chooses which path to choose for themselves.
90:10 Did we not show him the two paths?
90:11 He should choose the difficult path.
90:12 Which one is the difficult path?
90:13 The freeing of slaves.
90:14 Feeding, during the time of hardship.
90:15 Orphans who are related.
90:16 Or the poor who is in need.
90:17 And being one of those who believe, and exhorting one another to be steadfast, and exhorting one another to be kind.
90:18 These have deserved happiness.
90:19 As for those who disbelieved in our revelations, they have incurred misery.
90:20 They will be confined in the Hellfire.
33:72 We have offered the responsibility (freedom of choice) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid of it. But the human being accepted it; he was transgressing, ignorant.
So what happens when someone who knows between right and wrong freely chooses to persist in immorality?
At first, they may attribute their shortcoming to weakness, but this will cause discomfort in the form of dissonance for the person. Because most sensible people dislike beliefs that are incongruent with their actions. So eventually, the dissonance will get to be too much, and they will slowly start to self-justify and create excuses for their bad behavior and feel more comfortable in their sinful ways. Once this happens, then over time, the person will no longer be capable of distinguishing between right and wrong.
Consider a person who initially values honesty but finds themselves in a competitive work environment where bending the truth is seen as a way to gain an advantage. Initially, they might resist engaging in dishonesty, attributing their reluctance to their strong moral principles. However, under continuous pressure to succeed and witnessing others benefit from dishonest practices, they might tell a small lie to secure a deal or promotion, justifying it as a necessary action for survival or success in their field.
Over time, as they continue to compromise their values, the initial discomfort with dishonesty diminishes. They begin to rationalize their behavior, convincing themselves that everyone does it, that it’s the only way to stay ahead, or that their actions are justified by the outcomes they achieve. This rationalization serves to reduce the cognitive dissonance experienced between their actions and their original moral beliefs.
Eventually, if this pattern persists, the person’s moral compass becomes distorted. The innate knowledge of right and wrong (“alham”) becomes overshadowed by a series of justifications and rationalizations. In this state, distinguishing between ethical and unethical behavior becomes challenging because their decision-making becomes muddled. They might no longer feel guilt or moral conflict about actions that they would have considered wrong before, indicating a shift in their moral baseline.
God knows our innermost thoughts
The Quran informs us that God knows our innermost thoughts.
3:29 Say, “Whether you conceal your innermost thought, or declare it, GOD is fully aware thereof.” He is fully aware of everything in the heavens and the earth. GOD is Omnipotent.
11:5 Indeed, they hide their innermost thoughts, as if to keep Him from knowing them. In fact, as they cover themselves with their clothes, He knows all their secrets and declarations. He knows the innermost thoughts.
The literal Arabic for this expression, translated as “innermost thoughts,” is what “the chest possesses.” This is because, as humans, we are incredibly good at self-justifying and creating narratives after the fact to rationalize our decisions, and this can cause us to deceive ourselves without even perceiving it. Therefore, someone can be morally depraved and not even realize it.
2:8 Then there are those who say, “We believe in GOD and the Last Day,” while they are not believers.
2:9 In trying to deceive GOD and those who believe, they only deceive themselves without perceiving.
2:10 In their minds there is a disease. Consequently, GOD augments their disease. They have incurred a painful retribution for their lying.
2:11 When they are told, “Do not commit evil,” they say, “But we are righteous!”
2:12 In fact, they are evildoers, but they do not perceive.
40:56 Surely, those who argue against GOD’s revelations without proof are exposing the arrogance that is hidden inside their chests, and they are not even aware of it. Therefore, seek refuge in GOD; He is the Hearer, the Seer.
In a famous set of experiments on split-brain patients in the 1960s and 1970s, neuroscientists observed a phenomenon they called “confabulation” or the “interpreter effect.” In these experiments, patients who had undergone corpus callosotomy (a procedure severing the corpus callosum to treat severe epilepsy) exhibited interesting behaviors when different stimuli were presented to each hemisphere of their brain. Since the corpus callosum connects the brain’s two hemispheres, severing it prevents the hemispheres from communicating directly.
In one of the experiments, different information would be presented to each hemisphere of the brain. For example, the non-speaking right hemisphere of the brain would receive the word “bell,” while the left hemisphere (responsible for speech in most people) was shown the word “music.” Then, the patient was asked to point to an image representing which picture best represented what they saw. All four pictures would be music-related, yet the person would pick the bell. Then, when asked why they picked the bell, they would rationalize their actions with a logical explanation that had nothing to do with the actual stimulus. This was because the left hemisphere, which generates explanations and rationalizations, was unaware of the information presented to the right hemisphere.
This led to the understanding that the brain’s left hemisphere acts as an “interpreter,” constantly creating explanations for our behaviors and feelings, even in the absence of complete information. In another experiment, when emotional responses were artificially induced through electrical stimulation of specific brain areas during surgery, patients would sometimes attribute these feelings to something in their environment or their thoughts rather than the stimulation itself. So, for instance, they may start laughing, and then when asked why, they would say something like the clock looks funny. Or they may start crying, and when asked why, they would say that they just recalled a sad event in their life. This demonstrates how the brain seeks to maintain a coherent narrative of our experiences and actions, even when external interventions are the actual cause of our sensations or emotions.
In the case of immorality, a person who self-justifies not only fools themselves to their actual motives but compounds this with the gradual erosion of moral clarity, and eventually, the person will not only fail to discern right from wrong but will convince themselves that their evil behavior is righteous. When someone has done this, they have crossed the moral event horizon and will be unable to return because they will no longer be able to distinguish right from wrong.
35:8 Note the one whose evil work is adorned in his eyes, until he thinks that it is righteous. GOD thus sends astray whoever wills (to go astray), and He guides whoever wills (to be guided). Therefore, do not grieve over them. GOD is fully aware of everything they do.
26:16 “Go to Pharaoh and say, ‘We are messengers from the Lord of the universe.
26:17 “‘Let the Children of Israel go.'”
26:18 He said, “Did we not raise you from infancy, and you spent many years with us?
26:19 “Then you committed the crime that you committed, and you were ungrateful.”
26:20 He said, “Indeed, I did it when I was astray.
26:21 “Then I fled, when I feared you, and my Lord endowed me with wisdom and made me one of the messengers.
26:22 “You are boasting that you did me a favor, while enslaving the Children of Israel!”
10:88 Moses said, “Our Lord, You have given Pharaoh and his elders luxuries and wealth in this world. Our Lord, they only use them to repulse others from Your path. Our Lord, wipe out their wealth, and harden their hearts to prevent them from believing, until they see the painful retribution.”
29:53 They challenge you to bring the retribution! If it were not for a predetermined appointment, the retribution would have come to them immediately. Certainly, it will come to them suddenly, when they least expect it.
29:54 They challenge you to bring retribution! Hell already surrounds the disbelievers.
29:55 The day will come when the retribution overwhelms them, from above them and from beneath their feet; He will say, “ Taste the consequences of your works. “
The first entity that we see to have crossed the moral event horizon was Satan. When God created Adam, he commanded all the angels to fall prostrate, yet Iblees (Satan) did not fulfill the commandment of God.
7:11 We created you, then we shaped you, then we said to the angels, “Fall prostrate before Adam.” They fell prostrate, except Iblees (Satan); he was not with the prostrators.
When God questions Iblees (Satan) regarding his decision, Satan doesn’t ask for forgiveness, nor does he repent or reform. Instead, he doubles down on his decision and asks for a respite till the Day of Judgement so he can attempt to prove his point. And it is because of that reason Satan is beyond redemption and destined for Hell
7:12 He said, “What prevented you from prostrating when I ordered you?” He said, “I am better than he; You created me from fire, and created him from mud.”
7:13 He said, “Therefore, you must go down, for you are not to be arrogant here. Get out; you are debased.”
7:14 He said, “Grant me a respite, until the Day of Resurrection.”
7:15 He said, “You are granted a respite.”
7:16 He said, “Since You have willed that I go astray, I will skulk for them on Your straight path.
7:17 “I will come to them from before them, and from behind them, and from their right, and from their left, and You will find that most of them are unappreciative.”
7:18 He said, “Get out therefrom, despised and defeated. Those among them who follow you, I will fill Hell with you all.
Contrast this with the response we see from Adam. Even thought both Satan and Adam disobeyed God, the difference was that when Adam was called out for his wrongdoings he did not turn arrogant, but instead repented to God, and God redeemed him.
7:19 “As for you, Adam, dwell with your wife in Paradise, and eat therefrom as you please, but do not approach this one tree, lest you fall in sin.”
7:20 The devil whispered to them, in order to reveal their bodies, which were invisible to them. He said, “Your Lord did not forbid you from this tree, except to prevent you from becoming angels, and from attaining eternal existence.”
7:21 He swore to them, “I am giving you good advice.”
7:22 He thus duped them with lies. As soon as they tasted the tree, their bodies became visible to them, and they tried to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. Their Lord called upon them: “Did I not enjoin you from that tree, and warn you that the devil is your most ardent enemy?”
7:23 They said, “Our Lord, we have wronged our souls, and unless You forgive us and have mercy on us, we will be losers.”
So the reason one had their fate sealed for Hell, while the other was given another chance to redeem themselves was due to their response, and as we will see their response was determined by their past works.
The Difference
The above scenario was a test for both Satan and Adam. Both of them had some level of moral decay, so God created the situation by which each of their innermost thoughts would be brought to light so they could see for themselves their moral deficiency. Just like a person cannot fix what they don’t know is broken, one cannot repent for what they don’t think is unrighteous.
The difference between Satan and Adam is that Satan refused to recognize his arrogance. Instead, when his arrogance was pointed out to him by God, he begged God to exile him from His Kingdom as long as he was allowed to attempt to prove his point to show that the human being was unappreciative. This forever sealed his fate. He will never seek God’s forgiveness since he doesn’t recognize his moral failure. Therefore, he will never repent and reform since he will never seek God’s forgiveness.
Protection from Falling in Sin
Satan’s objective in this world is to get the human being to disbelieve and turn unappreciative of God, yet his power is limited to only those who stray from God’s path and become susceptible to his influences.
15:39 He (Satan) said, “My Lord, since You have willed that I go astray, I will surely entice them on earth; I will send them all astray.
15:40 “Except those among Your worshipers who are devoted absolutely to You alone.”
15:41 He (God) said, “This is a law that is inviolable.
15:42 “You have no power over My servants. You only have power over the strayers who follow you.
14:22 And the devil will say, after the judgment had been issued, “GOD has promised you the truthful promise, and I promised you, but I broke my promise. I had no power over you; I simply invited you, and you accepted my invitation. Therefore, do not blame me, and blame only yourselves. My complaining cannot help you, nor can your complaining help me. I have disbelieved in your idolizing me. The transgressors have incurred a painful retribution.”
This is why God informed us that the best thing one can do to recieve God’s protection from sin is to maintain righteousness.
7:24 He said, “Go down as enemies of one another. On earth shall be your habitation and provision for awhile.”
7:25 He said, “On it you will live, on it you will die, and from it you will be brought out.”
7:26 O children of Adam, we have provided you with garments to cover your bodies, as well as for luxury. But the best garment is the garment of righteousness. These are some of GOD’s signs, that they may take heed.
7:27 O children of Adam, do not let the devil dupe you as he did when he caused the eviction of your parents from Paradise, and the removal of their garments to expose their bodies. He and his tribe see you, while you do not see them. We appoint the devils as companions of those who do not believe.
When anyone falls into disbelief, the Quran informs us that this is reflective of some evil sins they have done in the past.
3:155 Surely, those among you who turned back the day the two armies clashed have been duped by the devil. This reflects some of the (evil) works they had committed. GOD has pardoned them. GOD is Forgiver, Clement.
So, since Satan disbelieved while Adam repented, this indicates that there must have been something preceding these decisions by these two entities that caused the respective responses to the test. Yet, while both had this deficiency that made them vulnerable to disobeying God and thus falling into sin, we see that it was Satan who schemed against Adam, but who then schemed against Satan?
But if Satan duped Adam, then who duped Satan?
The Quran informs us that one of the idols that people put up for themselves is the ego. This manifests itself in the form of personal opinions that run counter to the commands of God.
45:23 Have you noted the one whose god is his ego? Consequently, GOD sends him astray, despite his knowledge, seals his hearing and his mind, and places a veil on his eyes. Who then can guide him, after such a decision by GOD? Would you not take heed?
In the following response from the governor’s wife, who made the false accusations against Joseph, when she confessed her wrongdoings, she made the following statement.
12:53 “I do not claim innocence for myself. The self is an advocate of vice, except for those who have attained mercy from my Lord. My Lord is Forgiver, Most Merciful.”
When Satan was called out for his crime, he advocated for himself and his own opinion over the commandment of God. Therefore, Satan duped himself. There also appears to be a pattern in the Quran where it gives the name Iblees ( إِبْلِيسَ) to Satan before he defied God’s commandment to fall prostrate before Adam, and after his exposure, he is referred to almost exclusively as Satan ( l-Shaitan / ٱلشَّيْطَـٰن). This may indicate that Satan came into manifestation when Iblees chose his own ego as his god. If this is the case, then what did Satan do beforehand that caused him to fall into disbelief?
Iblees’ Shortcoming
The book of Isaiah provides us some details of the evil that Iblees had hidden inside his chest that God wanted to expose. The following passage from Isaiah 14 is understood to be about the supercilious thoughts that Satan had before his fall.
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. [ b]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
Isaiah 14
Adam’s Shortcoming
Despite Adam being created in the best design, his design had a self-imposed flaw. In the following verse, there is a linguistic subtly that isn’t fully encompassed in the English translation.