Searching

 I know I've said this before, many times, but for me the absolute best part of Ramadan is the time that the month gives us to devote more time to study. Granted, that time is always available to us, but life always seems to have other plans. The solemnity of Ramadan helps to refocus us. It's a pity, again, as I too frequently lament, that we turn the entire month into a competition about who can fast more assiduously. Fasting is very important, obviously, but if we're doing that in isolation from devoting ourselves to a deeper dive into study the Qur'an and the Hadith and related writings then we're missing out on the essence of a transformative experience. What amazes me every year is that every time I reread the Qur'an I discover deeper and deeper meanings. Essentially, I perpetually ask myself, "How has this particular passage never jumped out at me before?" For example, this is the one that I found myself underlining and writing corresponding notes to myself in the margin: "Why should God punish you if you give thanks and believe? God is Thankful, Knowing." (4:147) When I'm asked to speaking about my faith I almost always end up pointing out that I simply can't understand why we're so determined to turn our perception of God, no matter what form it takes, into an angry, vengeful deity. The phrase I tagged above makes the point about as cleanly and simply as I can imagine - and, again, it makes me wonder why that line went unmarked the previous 124,000 times (typical number in Islam for "a whole bunch") times I read over that passage?