What It Means - Day 300

The Foundation for Greatness

Greatness

Is always built upon this foundation:

The ability

To appear, speak, and act

As the most

Common

Man.

Hafiz

First off, how have I reached three-hundred posts in my year of faith discussion?  Of course, that pales in comparison to the seven-hundred thirty-seven blog posts that it took to grind my way through Proust. Obviously, I could devote years and years to this quest, and certainly will in a quiet, less formal way. For some reason the other day I was thinking of the things that I end up doing every day without fail: 1) study the Quran or the ahadith (and that will be true when this blog assignment is over), 2) go to the gym, 3) reach out to the world via Twitter, and 4) read literature of some form or another. So, this more public side of the quest will draw to a close in a little more than two months, but rest assured that it will continue in a quieter fashion (inshallah).

After saying all of that, I was drawn to this particular poem because of it's emphasis on acting as a "common man." Humility is stressed in Islam, and it's one of the things that drew me to the faith (and it's certainly something I need to work on since I'm the poster child for hubris).