What It Means - Day 196

"According to Mu'adh ibn Jabal: 'A man gets no credit for a Prayer in which he deliberately notices those on this right and left.'"
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship

I'm hopping back and forth between the Quran and al-Ghazali's work, and for the worst of all reasons - sometimes I have one in front of me and sometimes I have the other in front of me. Do we really need any more proof of why I'm such a terrible "scholar," let alone a terrible scholar. This passage spoke to me because it it circles back to the issue of "monkey mind" and my propensity to lose focus during prayer. Again, I'm trying to be honest, and not just say what it sounds like I should say. If you're noticing the person praying next to you or envisioning yourself praying, then clearly you've lost the thread. Does this mean that your prayer is invalid? I'm sure al-Ghazali would say yes, and my Imam would be moved to say yes (but being a good soul he would make the point more gently). I'm not certain that your prayer in that distracted instance would be invalid, but it certainly wouldn't be very productive. To me prayer is a moment of something akin to meditation, where you are removing yourself from the madness and transience of this world and trying (trying) to focus on something more quiet and pure and eternal. If your mind wanders I can't believe that the entire process is worthless, but you're definitely not taking advantage of an increasingly rare moment to link up with something profound, even if that profundity is totally within you.

What It Means - Day 195

"Those who disbelieve among the People of the Book and the idolaters will not desist until the clear proof comes upon them."

Quran 98:1

Here is the opening verse from al-Bayyinah, the 98th surah, here rendered as "The Clear Proof." I decide on what I'm going to blog about on any given day for any number of reasons, and this one is rather peculiar. In this case I chose this one because, well, it's not clear. While I often quote Nasr's commentary from the Study Quran I don't normally quote a huge amount of Nasr, but this time I'm going to do so simply because it speaks to the complexity of the Quran and the need for study. Nasr tells us:

"Some commentators consider this verse to be among the most difficult verses of the Quran. According to most commentators, those who disbelieve among the People of the Book refers to disbelievers among both Jews and Christians, though some say it refers only to the Jews of Madinah. Most read this verse to mean that disbelievers will leave their disbelief until the clear proof of revelation has come to them. Others say that it could mean that they will not be punished or destroyed until the proof of revelation has been brought to them, in which case the idolaters will not desist could be translated 'the idolaters will not be abandoned,' meaning that God will send them the clear proof and they will then be rewarded or punished based upon their acceptance or rejection of it. This interpretation accords with many passages confirming that God will not punish any for wrong belief until they have been presented with the truth and then rejected it, as in 17:15 And never do We punish till We have sent a messenger. In this vein, the verse can be seen as a specific reference to disbelief in the prophethood of Muhammad, not necessarily to disbelief in God. Most interpret the clear proof as a reference to the Quran, as in 6:57 Truly I stand upon a clear proof from my Lord, and you have denied Him. Others take clear proof as a reference to the Prophet Muhammad. But it can also be seen as a reference to the phenomena of revelation and thus to the books and prophets sent to all communities, since the dozens of references to clear proof(s) throughout the Quran are used in relation to many different prophets and the books with which they were sent (see the introduction to this surah). In this interpretation, disbelievers among the People of the Book refers to those who are said to have altered the scriptures that had been sent to them through previous prophets." (p. 1542)

So, I guess rabbit holes didn't actually begin with YouTube after all. Going back to my original point, I don't know how one can begin to make sense of the Quran without something like the Study Quran at their side. From a Muslim perspective the complexity is proof of the miracle. Just as we will say how could an unlettered merchant have produced such poetic verses, how could Muhammad have produced such a spiritually and intellectually complex book? In the end, however, I'm still coming back to one of my main recurring points: even if God is as close as our jugular vein, I sometimes think that we need to read the Quran from a distance. I think we need to think of the entire message in a larger context, trying to get at the essential core messages, and not get so distracted at little corners of the work (no matter how fascinating they are) because then we can be very guilty of cherry picking out the passages that back up our own interests.

 

What It Means - Day 194

"The life of this world is naught but play and diversion."
Quran 6:32

Here's another passage from al-An'am, the 6th surah, here rendered as "The Cattle." I know I've touched on similar points in the Quran before but, as we know, I'm a generally disorganized person, or at least I tend to follow my instincts and desires (and, yes, I get the inherent irony of that statement in explaining how I ended up here at this moment for this verse). I think passages like this one make people think that religions, especially Islam, are dreary places where folks sit around and lifelessly stare at religious texts pausing only to criticize the behavior of others (not that we don't have our fair share of those folks, obviously). Instead, life is supposed to be a gift from God, and why would He/She/It want us to be absolutely miserable? Rather, the joys of this life can be distracting from bigger issues. As Nasr tells us, "This world is described as mere play and diversion (see also 29:64; 47:36; 57:20) insofar as play and diversion involve a certain delusion in which the inner reality of things is obscured by outward appearances. The pejorative description of the world as play is meant not to disparage play of any sort, which is certainly permissible in Islam, but rather to make the point that many of those things accorded great weight and significance in this world as a mere child's play in relation to the reality of the Hereafter." (p. 350)

I keep finding myself hearkening back to Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, which I really should reread (again). His points about how are minds are dominated by rapid entertainment and how it impacts, impacted and will impacted education and politics (one only has to look at the Trump phenomenon) read like prophecy. Similarly, his point about the corruptive influence on education was also spot-on. A couple years ago I went to a Christmas mass at a nearby Catholic Church (this is just an example, not taking a specific pot shot at them - they tend to stay on point much more readily than their other Christian siblings) and they had invited a local radio team (they were upstairs where the choir would normally be) to provide music and entertainment during "dull" moments in the service. I was appropriately horrified, and not simply because there are few things more uncool than the appropriately uncool trying to be inappropriately cool. However, it ended up being distracting and embarrassing. So, there's plenty of room for play but there's also a time for study and work. Didn't the psychologists prove that multi-tasking is not actually a thing?

What It Means - Day 193

"Whosoever brings a good deed shall have ten times the like thereof; but whosoever bring an evil deed shall be recompenses only with the like thereof, and they shall not be wronged."
Quran 6:160

I know I've posted similar passages before but I'm revisiting the concept because I think it's an important one, not only because it speaks to the external perception of Islam but also in regards to religions more generally. This specific passage is drawn from al-An'am, the 6th surah, here rendered as "The Castle." The point is a simple one, but one that sits at the heart of Islam: good deeds "weigh" more than evil deeds. Do I think they "weight" ten times more, and that God sits around with a gigantic scale measuring them? No, not really, for any number of reasons. However, do I think that good deeds are more important than bad deeds?  Yes, I think they do. Moreover, this speaks to the fact that, despite popular perceptions to the contrary, that Islam is actually a very positive religions. It focuses on the positive benefits of doing the right thing, no matter how small the act, hence the emphasis on small kindnesses, as compared to threatening punishment. Are there references in the Quran to the "hellfire," yes, certainly, and doubtless too many of them. They pale in comparison to the number of references to doing the right thing. Early in this process we asked why it was that Islam was growing so fast, both globally but also here in the US. I think one of the reasons is that it is a very active, positive faith, and not one that gets people to tow the line for fear of hell. That said, there are definitely good many Muslims who operate within that intellectual/spiritual universe, but if we were just afraid of avoiding the hellfire that wouldn't explain why so many people love the faith.

What It Means - Day 192

"The calamity; what is the calamity? And what shall apprise thee of the calamity? A day wherein mankind shall be like scattered moths, and the mountains shall be like carded wool."
Quran 101:1-5

There are many passages in the Quran where you get a glimpse of the poetic majesty of the work, even when you're reading it in Arabic. I would argue that this is one of them, which probably explains, at least initially, why I chose it. These are the opening five verses to al-Qari'ah, the 101st surah, here rendered as "The Calamity." It is a beautiful, although terrifying, image of the day of judgment that is painted. At the same time, and this gets us to the second reason why I chose it, it is a terrifying image if you believe in a day of judgment or at least a day of judgment that would take that form. Truthfully, I don't know how I feel about the notion that one day the stars will shatter and the sky will split asunder, which is why I continue to study and pray and meditate on my faith. As I've said, trying to be honest and not to just say what my brothers and sisters would prefer me to say, I think a lot of this is a metaphor, a way of explaining the ineffability of the divine. I think every action that we take moves us close or further away from the quiet, still, kindness at the heart of everything - and I do think your actions matter - but does that equate with the end of the world as it is often painted (and not just in Islam)? I don't know. Is it only a metaphor for the fact that your actions and words have a weight and you should measure them because someday you - and the people you hurt or helped - won't be here anymore. Is that enough? I'm still working on that one.

What It Means - Day 191

"Vying for increase distracts you, till you visit the graves. Nay! Soon you will know. Indeed! Soon you will know."
Quran 102:1-4

Here are the first four verses from the 102nd surah, al-Takathur, here rendered as "Vying for Increase," which draws its name from this opening. It is one of the many warnings in the Quran against focusing our attention on the accumulation of wealth as a means in and of itself. As Nasr points out in the related Study Quran commentary, "According to a saying attributed to the Prophet, it means gathering wealth without right, withholding it from those to whom it rightfully belongs, and hoarding it." (p. 1555) Not surprisingly, I suppose, it sounds like something that the Ghost of Christmas Present who have said to Scrooge, which I guess speaks to the universality of the message. How many centuries have we been reminding ourselves of this essential truth, and yet never learning the lesson?

What It Means - Day 190

"May the hands of Abu Lahab perish, and may he perish! His wealth avails him not, nor what he has earned. He shall enter a blazing Fire. And his wife, carrier of firewood, upon her neck is a rope of palm fiber."
Quran 111:1-5

Here is the entirety of surah 111, al-Masad, here rendered as "The Palm Fiber." It's one of the shortest surahs, as we would expect from a chapter so near the end of the 114 surahs that make up the Quran. It's a very straight-forward surah, but also one that is at times difficult to process. By way of context Nasr, in the related commentary from the Study Quran, tells us, "Abu Lahab was the wealthiest of the Prophet's uncles and one of the Qurayshi leaders who most opposed the Prophet and persecuted his followers." (p. 1576) This is interesting on several levels, being that calls out an individual, and one living at that moment, for an attack. It's not that societies and individuals (even if they are only identified by position, as in, the Pharaoh) aren't called out in the Quran, but they are usually dredged up out of the past and used as exemplars of bad behavior who deserved punishment. Abu Lahab was living during the time of the revelation. So, did God specifically identify Abu Lahab in this revelation? Or, does this give us an insight into the process of how revelations work. That is, God sent a message through Gabriel to Muhammad, but that message was more of a concept, which Muhammad "translated" into a specific revelations. So, God identified a type of behavior that was worthy of condemnation, but it was Muhammad who "identified" the specific person, in this case his uncle who was terrorizing him. It's an interesting way to think about it, but also that is, obviously, fraught with pitfalls. One of the biggest pitfalls is the sense of anger, even justifiable anger, that it might express on the part of Muhammad, a person that we don't normally associate with anger.