| Isfet in hieroglyphs | |
|---|---|
 Isfet ı͗zf.t Injustice/Violence |
Isfet or Asfet (meaning "injustice", "chaos", or "violence"; as a verb, “to do evil”) is an ancient Egyptian term from Egyptian mythology used in philosophy, which was built on a religious, social and political affected dualism.
Principles and ideology
For many Kemetics (if not most) these two concepts have a particular importance on many levels. Living and sustaining Ma’at is a basic religious and moral precept.
Ma’at encompasses (but is not necessarily restricted to) the ethical concepts of ‘cosmic balance’, ‘universal harmony’, ‘truth’, ‘order’ and even ‘justice’.
Ma’at the goddess is the personification of these concepts.
‘The goddess represented the divine harmony and balance of the universe, including the unending cycles of the rising and the setting sun, the inundation of the Nile River, the resulting fertility of the land, and the enduring office of kingship; she was considered to be the force that kept chaos (isft), the antithesis of order, from overwhelming the world.’
Isfet on the other hand is not just chaos or disorder. It is complete destruction, un-creation, nothingness. Isfet is a complex concept just like Ma’at and one could say they are the perfect opposites.
Ma’at keeps things together and Isfet tears them apart then sends them into nothingness. With Isfet and its agents (such as the dreaded Ap/p who threatens the Sun God Ra himself) there is no beneficial chaos, no destruction to make room for creation, no reason. It just is and it wants more. It wants everything. It constantly tries to creep up on creation and all it entails.
Isfet and Ma'at built a complementary and also paradoxical dualism: one could not exist without its counterpart. Isfet and Ma'at balanced each other. Ma'at was to overcome isfet, "that which is difficult," "evil," "difficult," "disharmonious," and "troublesome." Isfet was to be overcome by good and to replace disunity with unity and disorder with order. An Egyptian king (pharaoh) was appointed to “achieve” Ma'at, which means that he had to keep and protect justice and harmony by destroying Isfet. A responsible kingship meant that Egypt would remain in prosperity and at peace of Ma'at. However, if Isfet were to rise, humanity would decay and return to a primordial state. Decay was unacceptable as a natural course of events, which meant that the world was separated from the cosmos and away from order. The universe was cyclical meaning it had repeated sequences: the daily sunsetting and its rising, annual seasons and flooding of the Nile. On the other hand, when Ma'at was absent, and isfet unleashed then the Nile flood failed and the country fell into famine. Therefore, Ancient Egyptians believed through their rituals of the cosmic order it would bring forth prosperity to the gods and goddesses who controlled the cosmos.The principles of the contrariness between Isfet and Ma'at are exemplified in a popular tale from the Middle Kingdom, called "the moaning of the Bedouin":Those who destroy the lie promote Ma'at;those who promote the good will erase the evil.As fullness casts out appetite,as clothes cover the nude andas heaven clears up after a storm.
In the eyes of the Egyptians the world was always ambiguous; the actions and judgments of a king were thought to simplify these principles in order to keep Ma'at by separating order from chaos or good from evil. Coffin Text 335a asserts the necessity of the dead being cleansed of Isfet in order to be reborn in the Duat.
Isfet is thought to be the product of an individual's free will rather than a primordial state of chaos.
In mythology, this is represented by Apep being born from Ra's umbilical cord relatively late.
It was also believed that the physical representation of Isfet was through the god, Seth.
It was also believed that the physical representation of Isfet was through the god, Seth.
Role of the King
When the king made public appearances he was surrounded by images of foreigners which emphasized his role as protector of Ma'at and the enemy of isfet which were foreign enemies of Ancient Egypt. As such, the king is mainly shown 'smiting' foreigners to maintain Ma'at.
The king also maintained the Temple Cult to prevent isfet from spreading by ensuring the cults were performed at defined intervals which were necessary in preserving the balance of Ma'at against the threatening forces of isfet.
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