What It Means - Day 166

"When a person dies, his deeds are cut off, save for three things: a righteous child who makes supplication for him; a charitable deed that continues [to bear fruit] after his death; or knowledge [he has imparted] from which people benefit."
Muhammad, Hadith

This is a very famous hadith, or saying of the Prophet, and in this case I borrowed it from the Nasr commentary from the 55th surah, al-Najm, here rendered as "The Star." It was part of a discussion of the first Quranic reference, chronologically, of the notion that "none shall bear the burden of another," which is a key Islamic concept. One of the points here is that you own your deeds, for good or bad, and that you have a set amount of time to make things right (or wrong). In the end you might live on, but almost certainly not in the way you think. We, in a vain attempt to either place an exclamation mark on our lives or maybe redeem them, spend way too much money on a fancy funeral (and, of course, I'm thinking of the Lucinda Williams song) when we should have devoted more time to living our lives. What I like about Muslim funerals is that there's very little fancy, or, for that matter, funeral, about them. At the same time, there's another side to this. I was recently in Indiana and stayed at my father's house for several days. On one of them I was talking to my dad and his wife and the subject of his funeral came up (to be fair, it wasn't that organic because I raised the subject) because I think it's important that we're all on the same page (my mother passed a couple years ago and my siblings and I are still talking/arguing about what she wanted). I know my father wants to be cremated and have his wife or youngest daughter spread his ashes in Hawaii, but I wanted to sound him out on the ancillary parts. He made clear that he didn't want a funeral or service or even an announcement in the paper. On the one hand I get it: growing old really sucks, and he, obviously, has a couple decades on me. It's rare when anyone pops into my office to talk (or even see if I'm still breathing) and increasingly the only reason that I know I'm alive is because of the physical pain I feel. My father's words sounded like a man who was angry with life, the bitterness we feel at the pain and humiliation that come to dominate our existence and the frustration that our lives haven't turned out like we wanted. It's one thing to quote Marcus Aurelius's admonition that soon "you will have forgotten the world and the world will have forgotten you" and another to be facing it up close. It's not a mystery to me why Woody Allen's characters talked about death consistently in the moves he made when he was in his 40s and not at now. While I have a problematic relationship with my father he's led a life where he did a lot of good for a lot of people, and I would argue that he could check off the boxes of this hadith, and in that way his deeds will outlive him.

What It Means - Day 165

"Do they not contemplate the Quran? Or do hearts have their locks upon them?"
Quran 47:24

This passage, drawn from the 24th surah, Muhammad, is one of several passages (4:82; 23:68) in the Quran that ask a similar question: are followers actually studying the Quran? Nasr, as always, provides essential context in the notes from the Study Quran:

"Although recitation of the Quran is enjoined in several passages, it is also noted that one must contemplate, understand, and implement the Quran's teachings to the best of one's ability. In this vein, Ibn Mas'ud is reported to have said of the Companions, 'The Prophet used to recite for them ten verses, and they would not move on to the next ten until they had learned everything about [the first ten]. Thus he taught them the Quran and the deeds based upon it together.' Regarding the knowledge to be obtain by meditating upon the Quran, the fourth Shiite Imam, Ali Zayn al-Abidin, is reported to have said, 'The verses of the Quran are stores of treasure. So whenever you open one of them, you must see what lies inside.' Another famous hadith says, 'The best of you is one who learns the Quran and teaches it.'"

In Islam we use the term Hafiz to refer to someone who has memorized the Quran (Hafiza for a woman who has memorized it). During Ramadan the entire Quran is recited in Arabic, one section a night, until it completed, and we usually bring in a visiting Hafiz to stay with us the entire month. I don't speak Arabic, but it is a moving experience, coming at the end of the day; although, truthfully, I don't hang around until the end on most nights. That said, is it possible that we devote more time to memorizing it than studying it? Our new Imam has started a nightly study session, which I should start attending, although, sadly, I haven't (it doesn't help that it's around ten every night, after I'm in bed reading). Now, I suppose that all religions must struggle with this question in one form are another. Some religions or divisions inside of religions are more well-known for battling away over the deeper meaning of their scripture; Jews and Jesuits would be great examples. If you're not studying your texts, and I would argue challenging them, are you we really working at our faith or simply memorizing things, a much more comfortable existence.

What It Means - Day 164

"And We indeed made a pact with Adam aforetime, but he forgot. And We found no resoluteness in him."
Quran 20:115

There's a great scene in the film Memento where Teddy is talking to Lenny and says, in frustration, "But you forgot, like you always forget." (I'm sure it popped into my head because I always show the film to my student in Concepts of the Self, and we were just going over the syllabus on the first day of class)  This may seem like a strange transition to today's blog post, but there's actually an odd logic here. This passage is drawn from Ta Ha, the 20th surah, which is usually just rendered as, well, Ta Ha. As Nasr in the Study Quran proposes, "He forgot denotes Adam's forgetting his pact or abandoning it. The Prophet is reported to have said, 'Adam forgot, and thus his progeny forgot.'" The point here is that God reached an agreement with Adam, but Adam, being human, simply forgot, and thus all humans forget the nature, validity, and, well, existence of the agreement. Some of my Muslim friends, when trying to be clever, will point out that no one converts to Islam, rather they just revert to Islam, since that was/is the initial state of things. In Nasr's The Heart of Islam (which, again, you really should read, even if you're not a Muslim or thinking of ever becoming a Muslim, because it is truly fascinating) he makes the point that while the greatest crime in Christianity is disobedience, the greatest crime in Islam is forgetting. The point that Nasr is making is that it would be, from an Islamic point of view, inconceivable that you would not choose God, but it is possible that you might forget; again, not that forgetting is worse than disobeying, but disobeying is almost beyond comprehension.  So why do humans forget? Isn't this another one of those questions centered around around "how could ______ be true if God is truly omniscient?" How could Adam or anyone ever forget God, or even just the nature of a relationship with God, if God is, well, God? Could it be that not only are we "allowed" to forget, but we're supposed to forget? Forgetting allows us to remember, and like many relationships that featured some time apart, our relationship with the divine might prove stronger after we "remember" it and recommit. In a broader sense, moreover, if human beings are free, and what's the point of choosing faith if we're not free, then we also, by definition, have the freedom to forget. So, is forgetting then a gift?

What It Means - Day 163

"As for those who cling to the Book and perform the prayer - surely We neglect not the reward for the workers of righteousness."
Quran 7:170

As we've discussed innumerable times one of the perceptions from outside Islam is that it is an intolerant faith and one that doesn't respect other religions. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth, and if I accomplish anything through this year long discussion of faith (and me accomplishing anything ever on any front is sketchy at best) it's to help people see that there perception is not only overly simplistic but also essentially wrong. Does that mean that we don't have dreadfully intolerant folks inside of Islam? Of course not; we are humans after all, and we have more than our fair share of ignorant zealots. This passage, drawn from the 7th surah, al-Al'raf, rendered as "The Heights", is addressing Jews specifically, but it could also be considered more broadly to consider to folks of all faiths. As Nasr reminds us in the Study Quran, "This verse indicates that those who are Jews and continue to follow the Torah and Mosiac Law will be rewarded for their good deeds; see also 2:62, which states that Jews, Sabeans, and Christians who believe and 'work righeousness' shall have their reward with their Lord." As I'm wont to opine, there are a thousand paths to God.

What It Means - Day 162

"As for one who gives and is reverent, and attests to what is most beautiful, We shall ease his way unto ease."
Quran 92:6-8

I think this is the first time I've drawn anything from al-Layl, the 92nd surah, here rendered as "The Night." As we know by now it has a nigh number so it's a short surah, only around six sentences in English. In the Study Quran Nasr tells us that most beautiful refers to belief in God or simply God Himself/Herself/Itself. But what does that even mean? I've grown to feel that at the heart of everything there is a kindness and compassion and quietness, and, well, beauty at the heart of all things, which we mainly see in nature anymore (or at least what's left of nature; as the great Canadian philosopher opined decades ago, we do have nature on the run). We see those horrible pictures of kids being dragged to White Supremacist rallies so that they can learn to be racist; in their natural state, kids are not racist. Again, it brings us back to Mencius and the well. To me, God is not, has never been, and will never be, a terrifyingly powerful and judgmental figure sitting on a throne, doling out rewards and punishments as She/He/It sees fit. I think this view borders on the absurd, and, more importantly, is an insult to God. Rather, I think God is that ineffable beauty that is always just beyond our ability to comprehend fully. When we want to approach God, to worship God, then we do our best to manifest those divine qualities in how we treat one another.

What It Means - Day 161

"To me, Islam has almost nothing to do with saying your prayers in Arabic or making the hajj to Mecca, and everything to do with how you treat other people every moment of every day."
GS, August 2019

I try not to quote morons on my blog, but I'll make an exception here. This is something I found myself saying yesterday, and I don't know what I would add to it. I suppose this is a continuation of my discussion about my personal war between the internal and external aspects of the faith, but it also reflects the blog post discussion the other day about the difference between attending and participating in the communal service (and that would be any service from any religion) and quietly reading and meditating upon your religion's holy writings. Again, I keep coming back to the foundational Islamic concept of returning the worse with the better, and our emphasis on small kindnesses. Does any of this matter if we're not being consciously and consistently kind and compassionate and forgiving to the people, near and far, in our lives? I can't control the end of the world but I can control what I do with this one moment.

What It Means - Day 160

"And when I inspired the apostles to believe in Me and in My messenger, they said, 'We believe. Bear witness that we are submitters.' When the apostles said, 'O Jesus son of Mary! Is thy Lord able to send down to us from Heaven a table spread with food?' He said, 'Reverence God, if you are believers.' They said, 'We desire to eat from it, so that our hearts may be at peace, and we may know thou hast spoken truthfully unto us, and we may be among the witnesses thereto.' Jesus son of Mary said, 'O God, our Lord! Send down unto us a table from Heaven spread with food, to be a feast for us - for the first of us and the last of us - and a sign from Thee, and provide for us, for Thou art the best of providers.' God said, 'I shall indeed send it down unto you. But whosoever among you disbelieves thereafter, I shall surely punish him with a punishment wherewith I have not punished any other in all the worlds.'"
Quran 5:111-115

This famous passage, which essentially gives the name to the fifth surah, al-Ma'idah, "the Table Spread," is one of the two miracles associated with Jesus that appear in the Quran but not in mainstream Christianity (at least not in Pauline Christianity; they do appear in the Jewish Christian tradition, as is laid out in Mustafa Akyol's fascinating The Islamic Jesus, which I suspect I'll talk more about in the future). The other is the story of Jesus breathing life into the clay birds, which I discussed earlier. It's a fascinating section for any number of reasons, one of them being that it suggests doubt on the part of the disciples. As Nasr discusses in the Study Quran, "The apostles' question seems to suggest a certain doubt in God's Omnipotence, since they ask whether God is able to send down the table spread with food. They may have desire such food for either simple nourishment or the spiritual blessing of consuming heavenly food, or both." (p. 335) This causes Jesus to rebuke them for their lack of gratitude, and maybe for their lack of faith. Nasr continues: "Although this story has no direct parallel in the Gospel accounts, some consider it something known only to Muslim through the Quran, it may be linked with the Gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes." Many Christians who are unfamiliar with Islam are surprised to find Jesus in the Quran, although, as we know, he's mentioned many more times in it than Muhammad is. You can then imagine their surprise/astonishment that there would be miracles associated with Jesus that are unknown in Christianity.