"And remember thy Lord within thy soul, humbly and in awe, being not loud of voice, in the morning and the evening, and be not among those who are heedless."
Quran, 7:205
What path is this year-long discussion of faith going to take? Well, I'm leaving that pretty open-ended. I suspect much of it will be related to specific passages from the Quran of the Hadith, but others might be a response to something happening in my day-to-day life (Ramadan would be an obvious example) or events in the news or newspaper articles or Tweets. Yesterday I repeated a post from two years ago where I reflected upon what Islam meant to me, which in turn has given it's name to this series. Today I chose one of my favorite passages from the Quran. It's funny, I can read the Quran many times, and as a Muslim I, by definition, read it many times in the course of a year, and then suddenly a particular verse will jump off the page. This one is a classic example. The 7th surah, being one of the first ones, at least in the structure of the Quran, is naturally one of the longest chapters and there are many concepts discussed in it. I don't know how many times I had read the surah before this verse hooked me. As I've discussed elsewhere, the Quran, something like fifty times, pairs the need to believe and perform righteous deeds together. Yesterday's repeated posting focused on my (and, as I will always emphasize, ONLY MY) take on what a righteous deed entails. So, what does it mean to believe? And believe in what? I'm sure I'll revisit this theme in the next year repeatedly, but this specific verse strikes me as a good place to start. It seems to me that one's relationship to God, no matter how you define it, should be a deeply personal and quiet and humble/humbling experience. As Muslims we're supposed to pray five times a day, although, as the good folks at Pew tells us, that's not a universal accomplishment (especially not for American Muslims). This verse is certainly not saying that you should only pray in the morning and the evening, but rather that beginning and ending the day thinking about God and faith is the best approach. That said, the first and last prayers of the day are the ones I find most fulfilling/meaningful - I'm hesitant to say enjoy the most - but rather they are the ones where I feel the most peace and connection; although that may also simply be a reflection of the fact that they're the ones that are more focused and less distracted or hurried.
Quran, 7:205
What path is this year-long discussion of faith going to take? Well, I'm leaving that pretty open-ended. I suspect much of it will be related to specific passages from the Quran of the Hadith, but others might be a response to something happening in my day-to-day life (Ramadan would be an obvious example) or events in the news or newspaper articles or Tweets. Yesterday I repeated a post from two years ago where I reflected upon what Islam meant to me, which in turn has given it's name to this series. Today I chose one of my favorite passages from the Quran. It's funny, I can read the Quran many times, and as a Muslim I, by definition, read it many times in the course of a year, and then suddenly a particular verse will jump off the page. This one is a classic example. The 7th surah, being one of the first ones, at least in the structure of the Quran, is naturally one of the longest chapters and there are many concepts discussed in it. I don't know how many times I had read the surah before this verse hooked me. As I've discussed elsewhere, the Quran, something like fifty times, pairs the need to believe and perform righteous deeds together. Yesterday's repeated posting focused on my (and, as I will always emphasize, ONLY MY) take on what a righteous deed entails. So, what does it mean to believe? And believe in what? I'm sure I'll revisit this theme in the next year repeatedly, but this specific verse strikes me as a good place to start. It seems to me that one's relationship to God, no matter how you define it, should be a deeply personal and quiet and humble/humbling experience. As Muslims we're supposed to pray five times a day, although, as the good folks at Pew tells us, that's not a universal accomplishment (especially not for American Muslims). This verse is certainly not saying that you should only pray in the morning and the evening, but rather that beginning and ending the day thinking about God and faith is the best approach. That said, the first and last prayers of the day are the ones I find most fulfilling/meaningful - I'm hesitant to say enjoy the most - but rather they are the ones where I feel the most peace and connection; although that may also simply be a reflection of the fact that they're the ones that are more focused and less distracted or hurried.
No comments:
Post a Comment