A Chapter on Creation, Mortality, and Consciousness

Al-Mulk is one of the most widely recited surahs in Islamic devotional life. Comprising thirty verses, it belongs to the group of texts revealed in Mecca during a period when the emphasis fell on the most fundamental questions of existence: Where do we come from? What is the purpose of life? How do we relate to the creative force behind the universe? The surah opens with a powerful declaration: all sovereignty belongs to the Creator, who established life and death as a trial to see who acts with the greatest excellence. This is not an abstract theological concept but an invitation to self-reflection that touches on the very core of what it means to be human.

The text challenges the reader to gaze at the starry sky and search for cracks or imperfections in creation. Whoever does so, the surah tells us, will turn away with a weary and empty gaze. The harmony of the created world serves as a mirror: if the universe has been designed with such extraordinary care, how carefully are you designing your own inner world?

The Trial of Life as a Building Project

Within Freemasonry, life itself is the building upon which we constantly labor. The rough ashlar must be shaped into a perfect cube, fit to take its place within a greater structure. Al-Mulk paints a strikingly similar picture: earthly existence is not accidental but a conscious trial. The Arabic word used in the original text implies a test of character, not merely of obedience. The question at stake is who proves most excellent in their deeds.

This resonates with a principle that Freemasons have recognized across spiritual traditions for centuries. The eighteenth-century clergyman and Freemason James Anderson, who drafted the first constitutions of modern Freemasonry, emphasized that brethren are united by a universal moral law regardless of their particular religious convictions. The trial of life as a call to virtue is a theme that occupies a central place in both the Islamic tradition and Masonic thought.

Light and Darkness: The Path of Knowledge

One of the most striking passages in Al-Mulk poses a thought-provoking question: suppose all the water in the earth were to sink away, who could bring it back? Water, the source of all life, becomes a metaphor for that which sustains us yet lies beyond our control. In Freemasonry, we find a comparable dynamic in the concept of light. The candidate who first enters the lodge finds himself in darkness. Receiving light is not an automatic right but the result of an inner willingness to seek, to learn, and to grow.

The surah repeatedly warns against those who refuse to think, who close their ears and eyes to the signs that surround them everywhere. This is not a condemnation but a call to spiritual vigilance. Aristotle described wonder as the beginning of all philosophy. Al-Mulk places that same wonder within a spiritual framework: whoever looks sincerely at creation cannot help but be struck by the awareness of an order that transcends human understanding.

True sovereignty does not begin with power over others. It begins with the capacity to examine yourself honestly in the light of something greater than yourself.

Mortality as a Teacher

The opening of the surah names life and death in a single breath, as two sides of the same trial. In the Islamic tradition, death is not an ending but a transition — a mirror that gives life its urgency. In Freemasonry, the confrontation with mortality plays a remarkably similar role. The Master Mason degree, in which the legend of Hiram Abiff takes center stage, places the brother face to face with finitude. The purpose is not to inspire fear but to awaken a deeper appreciation for life itself.

Michel de Montaigne wrote that to philosophize is to learn how to die. He drew from the Stoic tradition, yet he touched upon the same universal truth that Al-Mulk articulates: only those who look death in the eye truly learn to live. The surah invites us not to avoid that confrontation but to embrace it as part of a conscious existence.

Where the Surah and Masonic Values Converge

When we lay the themes of Al-Mulk alongside the core values of Freemasonry, the parallels are both numerous and profound. Both traditions call for honest self-reflection as the foundation of moral growth. Both present creation as a harmonious structure that demands attentive contemplation. The trial of life as an incentive to act with excellence, the confrontation with mortality as a source of wisdom and humility, and the lifelong search for light and knowledge as a spiritual imperative — these are shared commitments that transcend the boundaries of any single faith or philosophical system.

A Shared Language of Wonder

In Islamic devotional practice, Al-Mulk is a text believed to offer protection, and believers are encouraged to recite it daily. Beyond that specific religious context, the surah carries a message that resonates well outside Islam: that true sovereignty lies not in worldly power but in the ability to relate oneself to the mystery of existence. Freemasonry shares this conviction. In the lodge, no dogma is taught. Instead, the brother is invited to seek for himself, to ask his own questions, and to grow through his own efforts.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, himself a Freemason and a tireless seeker of knowledge, embodied this very spirit. His lifelong pursuit of understanding — across science, art, and philosophy — mirrors the dual invitation found in both Al-Mulk and Masonic ritual: to look outward at the wonders of creation and inward at the unfinished work of the self.

The sixty-seventh surah of the Quran and the teachings of Freemasonry spring from different traditions, yet they speak a remarkably similar language — a language of wonder, humility, and purpose. Both remind us that the most important sovereignty we can exercise is not dominion over the world around us, but mastery over the world within. In the stillness of the temple, in the quiet recitation of ancient verses, the same truth echoes: we are here to be tested, to grow, and to build something worthy of the light we have been given.

Copyright text & image: devrijmetselaar.nl
Texts are based on the ideas and content of the author of devrijmetselaar.nl, reviewed, corrected, and supplemented with the assistance of OpenAI. Images are created based on the ideas of the author of devrijmetselaar.nl using OpenAI/DALL-E.

The message Surah Al-Mulk and the Freemason’s Inner Journey first published on De Vrijmetselaar.