What It Means - Day 173

"Whosoever does evil or wrongs himself, and then seeks forgiveness of God, he will find God Forgiving, Merciful."
Quran 4:110

Here is another passage from al-Nisa, usually rendered "Women," the lengthy and very important 4th surah. I suppose all religions have similar messages of hope and forgiveness, and, if they didn't, what would be their point? However, I still felt moved to include this passage because there is still this popular perception that Islam is a terribly angry and vindictive faith. Instead, in Islam God is consider to be so essentially forgiving and merciful that he is Forgiving and Merciful, meaning that these are such fundamental concepts that they cannot be separated from the divine. Why would we worship, and for that matter even perceive, of a god and cruelly judged everyone of our actions? Yes, in the end what you say and do and think matter, and they matter because they impact the rest of the planet and its inhabitants, but does that equate with god moving a divine abacus back and forth in reply to every thing we do? As I've pointed out many times I associate God with the quiet stillness, the undeniable beauty, the inherent kindness and compassion, that is at the heart of all things, and forgiveness and mercy both reflect that essence but would also act as a magnet for those who practice those attributes.

What It Means - Day 172

"As for those who believe, and those who are Jews, the Sabeans, the Christians, the Magians, and the idolaters, indeed God will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection. Truly God is Witness over all things."
Quran 22:17

After pointing out yesterday that I had never drawn anything from al-Hajj, the 22nd surah, obviously rendered as "The Pilgrimage," here is the second straight day with a passage from it. This is similar to a couple other Quranic passages that reference the Jews and Christians and Sabeans, and speaks to different paths to God, as long as a follower believes and performs righteous deeds. What's interesting about this one is that we have a reference to Magians, which would specifically apply to a priestly class from ancient Persia and more generally apply, at least from an Arab view, apply to Zoroastrians. If you're Christian would would undoubtedly have made the association with the Magi who visited the baby Jesus in Matthew's account. So, we're adding Zoroastrians to the more grouping of Jews, Christians and Sabeans (we've talked before about the argument about who, exactly, were the Sabeans). Sadly, there has been, and continues to be, tension between the Arab and Persian/Iranian worlds, and this shows up in the Persian epic the Shahnameh, but also in some of the stories in extra-Quranic literature. It has been argued by some that Zoroastrianism may actually be the oldest monotheistic religion in the world, or at least a competitor with Judaism for that title, and it was a popular presence during Jesus's time and certainly influenced early Christian thought. As Nasr tells us, "During Islamic history, many jurists (such as al-Shafi'i) accepted Zoroastrians as People of the Book, as we also see very generally in Persia and among Muslims of the Indian subcontinent." (p. 834) So, this provides an interesting glimpse into the dynamic between Arabia/Persia and Islam/Zoroastrianism, but to me the most important thing is the reference once again to different paths to God, and not simply an emphasis on Islam alone as the sole path.

What It Means - Day 171

"And among mankind some worship God upon a brink; if good befalls him, he is content thereby, but if a trial befalls him, he is turned over upon his face, losing this world the Hereafter. That is the manifest loss."
Quran 22:11

Here is a passage drawn from al-Hajj, not surprisingly rendered as "The Pilgrimage," which is the 22nd surah. I'm pretty certain this is the first time I've drawn anything out of this surah. Doubtless all religions have similar passages or sayings to this warning against only remembering your god when things have taken a turn for the worse. I think I'm so concerned about this that I seemingly never "ask" God for anything during prayer. Mainly it ends up being a litany of thanks, as I tend to view prayer as a time for personal reflection and meditation, and devoting time to appreciating what I have. Plus, as my great friend Dave points out, God is not an ATM. Not only should God exist solely to wait around in case you need anything, but also the notion than an omniscient God took Her/His/Their eye of the ball and had to be reminded what's happening. I think you remember God all the time because, at least to me, you worship God when you're kind to those around you, so if you're doing that on a consistent basis you're already remembering and worshiping God.

What It Means - Day 170

"By the declining day, truly mankind is in loss, save those who believe, perform righteous deeds, exhort one another to truth, and exhort one another to patience."
Quran 103:1-3

This is the entire 103rd surah, al-Asr, here rendered as "The Declining Day." When interested non-Muslims ask me what surahs they should read I often direct them first to surah 18, Maryam (Mary), because it includes characters, notably Mary and Jesus, that they would recognize and would probably be surprised to find in Islam, but also because it includes many important themes of Islam. Or, I might direct them to the following surah, the 19th, al-Kahf, "The Cave," because it is utterly fascinating and includes brilliant metaphors, which help people understand that Islam is not the intellectually dry, literal faith that it is sometimes described as. And I always send them off to read this surah, one of the shortest in the entire Quran. It's my favorite surah, and one that finds it's way into my prayers constantly. It was the first surah where the obvious pairing of belief and righteous deeds first jumped out at me, and launched me to counting the number of times that they are paired in the Quran (over fifty), and that shaped my perception of what the faith means. Plus, in a very simple way, it explains what, at least to me, the faith is about. As Nasr tells us in the Study Quran, "From one perspective, these three short verses contain the entire meaning of the Quran." He then quotes the scholar al-Shafi'i who opined, "Were the people to ponder this surah, it would suffice them."

What It Means - Day 169

"Indeed, he prospers who purifies it. And indeed he fails who obscures it."
Quran 91:9-10

This brief passage is drawn from the 91st surah, al-Shams, here rendered as "The Sun." The "it" referenced here is, not surprisingly, the soul. In the related commentary from the Study Quran Nasr tells us, "Nonetheless, there is a subtle reciprocity in every step one takes toward God, for as 13:11 proclaims: Truly God alters not what is in a people until they alter what is in themselves. The literal meaning of purify (zakka) is 'to grow,' and according to most the literal meaning of obscure (dassa) is 'to bury.' These verses could thus be translated, 'He prospers who grows it, and he fails who buries it.'" In turn, this also reminds me of the famous line from the Sufi poet Rumi, "Everyone sees the Unseen in proportion to the clarity of their heart, and that depends upon how much has has polished it." (Nasr p. 1489) And this builds upon a hadith from the Prophet: "For everything there is a polish, and the polish for the heart is the remembrance of God." To me this all means that faith is a reflective process, but also an intensely active process. Essentially, you have to work at it. But, can you work at it so hard that the very effort is distracting? In Hinduism followers are warned against distracting passions and desires, and one of them is the desire for enlightenment. In Buddhism you find the term satori, or sudden enlightenment, which means, on one level, that you can work and work at finding enlightenment, but it's also likely to happen quietly and unexpectedly. A friend of mine is on a spiritual quest and all it seems to bring her is unhappiness. Yesterday she spent over an hour yesterday complaining about her religion of choice and asking how one is supposed to know the meaning of life.  I think she's running so fast that she can't see the beauty of the quest and the world around her. I think the purity of the soul, or the clarity of the heart, have absolutely nothing to do with the outward trappings of religion, and everything to do with the quiet place inside all of us (maybe Marcus Aurelius's "peace of green fields").

What It Means - Day 168

"They took their oaths as a shield and thus turned from the way of God; so theirs shall be a humiliating punishment."
Quran 58:16

This passage, drawn from surah 58, al-Mujadilah, here rendered as "She Who Disputes," reminds me of one of my favorite proposals: that you should treat your faith as a guidepost and not a shield. I guess I'm thinking about this in the light of yet another mass murder here in the glorified shooting gallery that passes for a country, in this case the horrific events in Odessa, Texas. I found myself trolling a Texas representative on Twitter after he would never support any infringement upon his god given right to bear arms. While I don't know if I have many trigger issues, this defense of gun ownership is rapidly rising to the level of one. I found myself Tweeting in response: "I would not claim to be in on God's decision making process, but I'm pretty certain it didn't include assigning individuals the right to own assault rifles. This was a decision made by humans, and it can, and should, be amended by humans. #GunControl" Leaving beside my to be expected painfully left-wing call for greater gun control for the moment, what really bothered me was his reference to his God given right to bear arms. Seriously, WTF? Beyond the arrogance of thinking that you speak for God - and the extraordinary hypocrisy of using God to justify your politica (and doubtless NRA-funded financial) position - he's also clearly using his religion as a shield. We've so normalized this phrase that no one even flinches anymore when people say it.

What It Means - Day 167

"And indeed We have made the Quran easy to remember; so is there any who remembers?"
Quran 54:22

This passage, drawn from al-Qamar, the 54th surah, here rendered as "The Moon," brings together a couple themes that have been running through my commentary lately. Muslims will sometimes propose that while Islam is not necessarily an easy faith to faith, it's an easy faith to understand. I think I would definitely agree on both fronts. In many ways I am a very simple man (I'm from Indiana, after all) and the more I study the Quran and the ahadith the more I think the faith is simple, at least in regards to what really matters: there are enough trappings of the faith to keep your busy for a lifetime, but the essentials of how you're supposed to treat others is more manageable. The notion that the Quran, and the faith, are easy to understand is presented as a gift from God, but here you also have the lament that even considering this fact/gift few people actually remember it.

And this is where it ties more directly to a point I was making about our emphasis on memorizing as compared to studying/analyzing/understanding the faith. In the related commentary in the Study Quran Nasr quotes a famous hadith: "The best among you are those who learn the Quran and teach it to others." My father, is is early attempt to try and convince me to be a physician (or, as he would opine when comparing that choice to the one I made, "a serious doctor"), would quote the famous line from the medical field: see one, do one, teach one. It may be true for aspiring doctors and nurses, but I would argue it's also true in regards to faith. When we're simply memorizing something are we truly learning it? The final point of the old medical school bromide, "teach one," implies that if you know a procedure well enough to actually teach it then you truly know it. However, to get to that point you have to have passed through "see one" and "do one." If we place such tremendous emphasis on memorizing the Quran, but also sometimes discourage the more difficult discussions associated with the Quran and faith, are we insuring that we never get past the "see one" phase? That's not what I think our faith should be about. There has been a centuries long history of arguing and debating about the different possible interpretations of Quranic passages, as much as the Wahhabis might try and squelch that practice, and the concept of kalam, or speculative theology was, and still should be, an essential part of Islam. Moreover, isn't this what the Prophet was saying in, "The best among you are those who learn the Quran and teach it to others"? You can't teach it unless you truly know it, and that means living it and experimenting with it. That said, in the preparatory words before every Friday prayer we're warned that all innovations lead to the hellfire. While an innovation that leads leads to polytheism would, by definition be bad, can we also take that admonition too generally and too definitively and shut down all reflection?