One Week

In one week I'll be leading another class on the way to Jordan. Normally on foreign travel it's at this stage when I'm regretting that I ever considered going on the upcoming trip.  However, that never seems to be the case with Jordan, which is one of the innumerable reasons why Jordan is clearly my favorite country. Jordan is beautiful and so historically and culturally rich, and, well, from our point of view it's simply the easiest trip to plan. Our great friend Fadi from Petra Moon Tours whips everything into shape with minimal fuss. I can't sing their praises too highly if you're thinking about heading to Jordan and need some assistance please check out Petra Moon. It's hard to believe that my friend Cyndi and I threw the first Jordan trip together in almost no time six years ago. At the time even though I had been to Jordan repeatedly I have never led a student trip there and the problems seemed insurmountable, and now by comparison the thought of going to Jordan seems so natural; essentially, I'm going home.

The camp in the Wadi Rum where we'll be spending Thanksgiving.

GS: later note - actually, that's not where we ended up staying after all. We went back to the Rainbow Camp, where we stayed on our first trip. We've been so successful in attracting large groups of students that we outgrew this camp.

What It Means - Day 243

"' . . . My wealth availed me not. My power has passed from me.' Take him and shackle him. Then cast him in Hellfire. Then put him in a chain whose length is seventy cubits. Truly he did not believe in God the Magnificent, and did not urge feeding the indigent."
Quran 69:28-34

This passage is drawn from the 69th surah, al-Haqqah, here rendered as "The Undeniable Reality." The language here is very typical of the Quran, including the reference to the Hellfire as part of a discussion of the punishment of the day of judgment. Is the Quran nothing more than an endless litany of threats of eternal damnation? No, of course not, and I'm hoping the many passages we've examined over the year (can't believe we're already 243 days into this venture) show. That said, there are certainly enough passages that deal with the Hellfire. You know me, I inevitably come down on the side of a metaphoric reading of the Quran (and all holy books, for that matter), and, as always, I'll throw in my disclaimer that I speak for me and me alone and certainly not for Islam or even a healthy minority of Muslims. Even if you do side with a more metaphoric meaning of things it does emphasize the importance of considering every one of your actions seriously, because, in the end, any discussion of a day of judgment is really a discussion of your own personal conduct. If you absolutely believe in the day of judgment as laid out in these powerful words and images then it is still absolutely a clarion call to focus on the weight of your actions. Having said all that, what strikes me about this passage is the emphasis, also typical for the Quran and for Islam more generally, to look after the needy. At the beginning of the passage an individual is lamenting the fact that in the end of all things "My wealth availed me not. My power has passed from me." Consider his crimes: "Truly he did not believe in God the Magnificent, and did not urge feeding the indigent." We've talked at length about the centrality of the message of belief and performing righteous deeds, and I would argue that this is just one more example.

What It Means - Day 242

"That is because their messengers brought them clear proofs, at which they said, 'Shall a human being guide us?' So they disbelieved and turned away; yet God is beyond need. And God is Self-Sufficient, Praised."
Quran 64:6

This passage, drawn from the 64th surah, al-Taghabun, here rendered as "Mutual Dispossession." It starts off with a theme that is common in the Quran, the notion that the Prophet's critics attacked his teachings because how could a mortal man speak for God. It then transitions into a concept that is both "duh" and complicated: "yet God is beyond need. And God is Self-Sufficient, Praised." God is, well, God, and so it would make perfect sense that, as such, God would be self-sufficient. In this commentary Nasr adds, "That God is Self-Sufficient could indicate that God has no need of them or no need for them to believe in Him; thus He did not compel them to believe in Him despite His ability to do so." In this case Nasr is referencing the non-believers, but it would naturally relate to the believers as well. If God doesn't need anything from us then what would we ever do to impress God? Talk about a tough challenge in the office Secret Santa drawing: what do you get someone who has everything? If God is self-sufficient and doesn't need anything then how would you ever "impress" God and earn salvation? Obviously, it's a question that transcends Islam, and gives us an insight into how the Calvinists settled on predestination (another complex concept). However, after saying that, I do think God needs something from us, and it's not ritualistic and external that is related to the demands of religion, but rather something more organic and internal that that is related to faith: kindness. If God is good then we as humans were created because the good by nature share their goodness, and so if we were created in an act of goodness then what God wants from us is to simply share that goodness.  Everything else is commentary.

What It Means - Day 241

"Truly men who give in charity and women who give in charity and lend unto God a goodly loan, it will be multiplied for them, and theirs shall be a generous reward."
Quran 57:18

We've seen similar passages from the Quran before, but nevertheless I still culled this verse out of the 57th surah, al-Hadid, here rendered as "Iron." It reminds us once again about the importance of charity, and we know this is one of the foundational Five Pillars. I guess it hits home with me right now because of the work I've been doing with TechDren and the South Burlington Food Shelf, but also because we're cycling towards the end of the year - the year is getting colder and people are in need, but we're also drawing towards that time of year when we begin to reflect upon what we owe the rest of humanity. Our mosque is very well-represented at the South Burlington Food Shelf, both in regards to the folks working there but also the food which is being left at the masjid (which I'll in turn convey to the Food Shelf). Also, I think this passage is important because it represents men and women equally in regards to their duty to provide charity (now, truthfully, in regards to the Food Shelf it is the sisters who are dominating in showing up to work). Having said all this, as a faith I think we need to make certain that we're not asking equal sacrifice from the female members of our ummah without in turn offering equal benefit. Yes, in the end these issues are always in the hands of God, but in this world we can work a lot harder to give women equal access at the mosque.

What It Means - Day 240

"Truly it is a Noble Quran in a Book conceals. None touch it, save those made pure."
Quran 56:77-79

I often tell my students the story of my friend Debi being in Morocco and buying me a small travel Quran as a gift (years before I converted, ironically). She placed the Quran in her bag and headed towards a public toiler. At that moment the shopkeeper ran after her and, politely, insisted that she let him hold the Quran while she entered the toilet. He wasn't assuming that she was going to do something to defile the Quran, but rather that just taking it into that place was being unintentionally disrespectful. Debi handed it over, entered the toilet, and found him waiting for her. After handing it over he walked back to this shop; he had been insistent, but completely respectful and polite the entire time. That story leads us to today's post. These three very brief verses are drawn from al-Waqiah, the 56th surah, here rendered as "The Event." Yes, you should not do anything to defile or besmirch a Quran, as you shouldn't with any other holy book; even if you don't believe in that particular religion or its perceived holy scripture why would anyone go out of their way to be disrespectful? That said, in this case there is a far more profound, and thus important, meaning. It deals with the sense of being spiritually pure, or at least more pure, as you try and tackle the Quran. We've talked before the concept of wudu, or ritual purification, before, and even if you view the process as being completely metaphoric it doesn't make the need to make the need to try and get yourself in an intellectual, emotional and spiritual place to understand the words any less valid.

What It Means - Day 239

"Truly We have created everything according to a measure."
Quran 54:49

I culled out this very brief passage, which I may actually examine again at length, but for now I mainly wanted to use it as a vehicle to show the complexity of Islamic theological debate. It's drawn from the 54th surah, al-Qamar, here rendered as "The Moon." Maybe in some ways this is the opposite of yesterday's blog posting on the purchase and refurbishment of our new mosque. Yesterday was the practical side of any faith organization, the "why aren't the lights working?" side of things. Of course, there's also the other side, the wildly philosophical side of things. Clearly I have a major man-crush on Seyyed Nasr (in fact I just emailed him on Friday, more on that later, maybe) and I wanted to cull out a couple pages from his Study Quran. These two pages plus of micro-print are an attempt, and I'm sure what Nasr would characterize as an unfairly brief attempt, to sort out the meaning of one brief sentence. As Nasr tells us, "This verse can be understand as a straight-forward affirmation of God's creation of all things." I guess it wasn't really all that straight-forward after all. It's a section of commentary that I love, and which I revisit quite a bit, not simply because it deals with an issue that I find central to Islam (the question of human free will) but also because I'm drawn to the complexity of the debating claims. Certainly gives non-Muslims a clearer view of the faith, which is sometimes considered to be very simplistic and literal, when clearly nothing could be further from the truth.  Like I said, I'll doubtless revisit this again and, briefly, lay out some of the arguments in regards to the issue of free will, and talk about the one that I find most convincing (or at least the one that makes the most sense to me).

The commentary of this one brief sentence begins in the lower right of the right page . . .

. . . and then carries all the way through the next two pages.

What It Means - Day 238

I don't think this is what faith means, but the more practical aspects of running your particular house of worship are at least a part of what it means to be part of your faith community. Whenever I bring students to the masjid I walk them through what they're going to see and hear, and inevitably point out that right after the sermon someone who is not the Imam will step forward with a bunch of practical announcements about potluck dinners or community volunteer days or reminders that people haven't paid their annual membership, etc. We are an ummah, and that means many things.

When I was running around yesterday I stopped by, late, for a workday at our new mosque location, which was the first time I had the chance to see inside it. Several months ago we had the chance to purchase one of the two Mormon churches in Burlington. It was a good deal, the asking price being much less than its perceived value, but it was still a lot of money. Truthfully, and although I donated several times, I didn't think we'd be able to raise the funds (which I guess is even more evidence, as if we needed more evidence, that I'm not a person of great faith). Amazingly we raised over a million dollars in less than four months, and now it's ours. There's a goodly amount of work to do to get it ready, and I, clumsily, helped out a bit yesterday, but we might be there before the end of the year.

It's located on Swift Street, next to a synagogue and down the road from a church, so we're becoming a fairly ecumenical little corner. When I first saw it I was struck by how big it is, but we do have a growing community.

Here the main prayer area and folks are lovingly refurbishing it, and making sure that everything is treat respectfully as part of the transformation. There are no pews in a mosque, everyone sits on the floor, so we had to find a new home for them. In mosques you pray facing Mecca (the qibla is the actual direction, and the mirhab is the niche or at least the designation inside the mosque that indicates the direction) and that doesn't line up with the layout of the church. Essentially, the qibla would be facing towards the wall to the left (which is why I chose this picture). I think negotiations are still on-going (I'm not in the inner circle on these things) and the sermon might be given with the left wall as the "front" or we would face the traditional front of the old church for the sermon and then turn ninety degrees to face the qibla for the actual prayer (I've seen this in other mosques). 

And we now have our own gym, which will be great for expanding our youth programs.

It's a pretty expansive space, especially as compared to our old mosque.

It features lots of classrooms, certainly more than we need, so we have many options.