Symbols

Wonder, Wander

 in Poetry / Symbols  tagged allegories / Gratitude / Harmony / highernature by (updated 2581 days ago)

Wandering through Creator's expanse

Wandering
Through earth’s valleys,
This lowest life,
Its mirage,
Through cacti and prickly pears
Adorned with spikes—
Wands,
Casting spells
Of fear—
While pointing wanderers to what’s inside:
Life,
For the thirst-blistered wanderer,
The wonderer
The lover of God,
Of Goodness,
How sweet is its nectar!
When you wander
Through the world’s parchment
Parched,
Deserted,
Meeting God
Only when you realize
You were never, ever alone.
Truth.
Wonder
Wander
With the Creator
Through his beautiful expanse.

God is Greater 4

 in God-conscious / Poetry / Symbols  tagged GodisGreater / Light / Truth by (updated 2944 days ago)

Arabic Writing: God is Greater

Allahu Akbar:
God is Greater.
Greater than
any victimizer
Greater than the heedlessness—
the diseased mindlessness,
void of its Creator—
That fuels lowly
Light-less behavior
infects us
Like bites
of vampires
Converting us
into something other
than your True You
A virus
spreading, plaguing

Remember:
Our true immunity
Is what God inspired
Innately
In You
Reach this essential Truth
Yes, Within You
Through
Honesty,
Humility,
Goodness.
Why let viruses:
dishonesty, pomp, injustice,
Infect you too?

Remember
God is Greater
than any victimizer
than their behavior
Borne of Godlessness
God is Greater
Because God-mindfulness
Even Heals the victimizer!
Like a Light
Shining upon night
In the face of evil,
You be You
Your True You:
Repel the evil with better
and your enemy
will become
Your bosom friend (41:34)
This is Truth!
Light upon Light
This is what God calls you to,
Light that shines within You

God is Greater
than despair,
than blame
Hope is God’s name,
And Trust is our refrain

Ceaselessly
Seek the True
And submit
Only to it
Not to material
mindlessness—
lost in denial
and disease
ridden with pomp
and dishonesty—
And when we do interact
With behavior borne of night,
Repel the evil with the better!
Always Remember
God is Greater:
Allahu Akbar.

Follow Surah Fatihah

 in Poetry / Symbols  tagged NoCalf / ServeGod / StraightPath by (updated 3029 days ago)

Follow Surah Fatihah Not Path of Calf

Through time’s woven patterns

We see History

Repetitively

Repeating

In our own time—

Our life—

we see

History

Repetitively

Repeating

In Surah Fatiha

we read

“Guide us on the straight path

Not the path of those

Who earned anger

Nor of those who go astray”

This speaks

Of history

A pattern of behavior

Choose the pattern best

To repeat:

The Straight Path:

The path of Growing, Learning,

Reforming and Performing

Kind Acts,

Honesty, Humility

Don’t follow the way,

The path,

of other religious communities,

misled or wronging,

But how did they stray?

In what thing

did they engage?

Worshipping

the calf (4:153)

The symbol of the herd,

To blindly serve

“Whatever” Leaders

Whether religious or others

Nay, should you serve

God First,

Only,

before you serve

the community dearest

nearest to you

that community is not you

God is He that our identity

belongs to

From the Truth, Never Swerve

Even if it be against you or yours

rich or poor (4:135)

Or Against Your calf.

 

If you do not,

you will follow the path

of communities other

That do the same

And fail.

The Two Hemispheres of the Quran Part 3—Allowed or Not?

 in Balance / Symbols  tagged allegories / mutashabehat / Quran / symbols by (updated 2645 days ago)

Mountain with "mutashabehat" written beneath

If you’ve read part 1 and part 2 of this blog post, you’ve discovered the balance between the two types of Quranic verses: mutashabehat and muhkamat. You’ve also discovered how beautiful the mutashabehat are. But should we really reflect upon all those beautiful symbols in the Quran? Since the mutashabehat don’t have a clear meaning but can resemble many things, wouldn’t it be better not to reflect upon them and avoid all the uncertainty?1Some take that position and cite the following verse as their motivation:

He is the one who revealed the Book to you. It comprises verses that are unambiguous [muhkamat], they are the foundation of the Book, while others are unclear and allegorical [mutashaabehat]. As for those in whose hearts is deviance, they follow what is unclear and allegorical thereof, seeking discord and its (absolute) interpretation. No one knows its (absolute) interpretation except God. Those firmly grounded in knowledge say, “We believe in it. The whole of (the Book) is from our Lord.” Yet only those possessing intellect understand (3:7).

Is interpreting the symbols really forbidden? Let’s read a little closer. What’s forbidden is the specific context mentioned in the verse: a deviant heart that ignores the muhkamat and interprets the mutahsabehat with the intention to do harm. These people seek an interpretation that causes disunity & disharmony.

How can an interpretation of a symbolic verse lead to disharmony? One way is that the interpretation is itself not in harmony with the rest of the Quran—and nature. It must be consistent with the whole book. For example, in part 1 of this blog post we discussed the “garment of God-consciousness” and how it connects to Adam and Eve’s nakedness when they ate of the tree. This interpretation is in harmony with the rest of the Quran (in fact, the verses mentioning the garment and Adam and Eve becoming naked are just a few verses apart: 7:22 & 7:26).

If someone interpreted that the “garment of God-consciousness” is what blades of grass wear every night, then this would be an interpretation that’s not in harmony with the rest of the Quran. Any interpretations in disharmony with the Quran will also lead to discord beyond it.

Another part of verse 3:7 is that no one knows the absolute meaning of the symbols in the Quran. Only God does. Only God holds the keys to the mysteries of the Universe. That doesn’t preclude our striving and searching for answers. We can gain a piece of the answer but will never know it in its entirety. No one knows the absolute truth about anything.2 We can study the physics of space but the more we learn, the more we realize we don’t know. By us not knowing and striving for answers, the Creator sets the stage for a beautiful student/teacher relationship!

Remember verse 59:21, mentioned in the previous post. This verse acknowledges the mutashabehat and tells us that their purpose is for us to reflect and engage our minds:

Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have seen it humble itself and split apart from fear of God. Thus do We provide examples to mankind so they may reflect (59:21).

Thinking about the Quran’s symbols and allegories, seeking their deeper meaning, allows us to experience the Quran’s beauty for ourselves—each of us individually. It engages our minds and sparks our imaginations. Imagine the magnificence of a mountain whose peaks are so grand that they pierce the highest clouds. Yet even these dominant structures split apart and crumble from their humility and fear of God. Now contrast this with the hearts of some people that are so hardened and sick with arrogance that no amount of truth penetrates.

Everything in our existence is connected. When you see how the many symbols in the Quran are in harmony with each other and how they’re in harmony with nature, you begin to breathe an awareness of the beauty that surrounds us.

Reflecting on the mutashabehat is not only allowed, but it’s commanded. What’s not allowed is going to extremes, like only following one type of verse and ignoring the other, especially with the intention of being dishonest and doing wrong.

 

Footnotes:

1. Mutashabehat most literally means things which “resemble each other.” In terms of the Quran, it refers to verses that are symbolic and allegorical, as the meaning of one concept resembles meanings of another.

2. No person’s knowledge of anything is complete, since we are not God. This verse explains it best, “[…] Above every possessor of knowledge is a one (more) knowledgeable” (12:76). If a person’s knowledge were complete, then they wouldn’t need the Creator.We are all inherently dependent and always in need of God, The Independent.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

The Two Hemispheres of the Quran Part 2 —Beautiful Symbols 1

 in Balance / Symbols by (updated 2645 days ago)

Symbolism of Tree and Quran

If you’ve read our earlier post, “The Two Hemispheres of the Quran Part 1,” then you’ve tasted a little bit of the beauty of the mutashabehat, the Quran’s symbols.

Isn’t beauty subjective though? It is in the eye of the beholder, so everyone wouldn’t consider the mutashabehat beautiful, right? The beauty of the Quran’s symbols is like the beauty of nature surrounding us: like the beauty of the moon, or Niagara Falls, or Mount Everest. You may find some arguing that nature isn’t beautiful, but who really does that?

The following is a bit of a digression: We cannot consider nature ugly without considering ourselves the same since we are also part of nature. We also can never consider ourselves ugly—absolutely none of us—because our Creator is the Most Beautiful. Since we are the creation of the Most Beautiful, we are necessarily beautiful. No matter what worldly minds may think, each of us, as a creation of God, is indeed beautiful.1

Anyway, back to the topic of this post 🙂

Nature is the closest thing humans have to an objective standard of beauty. But didn’t I equate the beauty in nature with the beauty of the Quran’s symbols? Is there any strong evidence for such a conclusion? Yes, there is!

Isn’t God the author of nature? And for us, isn’t he also the author of the Quran? Well, take a peek at this verse:

We have revealed to you the most beautiful message,a book that is allegorical [mutashaabehan] and repeating […] (39:23).2,3
When God, the author of all the beauty in nature, says that symbols are part of what make the Quran beautiful, we can confidently say that the Quran’s symbols are as objectively beautiful as the moon, or Niagara Falls, or Mount Everest.4

And there you have it! The mutashabehat are beautiful indeed. The author of nature and the Quran says so. It’s up to us to discover this truth for ourselves. Open the Quran and start reflecting!

Some caution that we shouldn’t reflect upon the Quran’s symbols because no one really knows their true meaning. They use verse 3:7 as their basis. We’ll discuss this idea in part 3 of this blog post, but until then here’s a quick preview with a verse telling us just the opposite:

Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have seen it humble itself and split apart from fear of God. Thus do We provide examples to mankind so they may reflect (59:21).

The verse above is a symbolic, allegorical verse. No doubt about that. And God tells us directly that he made it for the expressed purpose of engaging our minds and having us reflect. No doubt about that either 🙂 See you next post!

 

Footnotes:

1. Behavior can make a person seem beautiful or unattractive, but even people who have behaved in the worst ways are still beautiful as creations of God. Actions are ugly, but the person is not. As long as they breathe, they can repent. Reform is a beautiful thing, and each of us, no matter what, has the Light of God in our hearts. Let’s harmonize with the Light within 🙂

2. In Arabic, the word ahsan used in this verse can mean both “best” and “beautiful.”

3. Mutashabehan is an adjective form of mutashebehat.

4. We may use different terms in English to define the word mutahsabehat, such as  symbols or allegories, but both English meanings can be encompassed by the word “mutashabehat.”

 

Please feel free to leave a comment.

The Two Hemispheres of the Quran Part 1 7

 in Balance / Symbols  tagged allegories / Brain / commands / Quran / symbols by (updated 3099 days ago)

Brain top view copyright Confirmwithin.com

Have you ever thought of the Quran as an allegory of the human mind? We know that the Quran is made for the human brain, but did you know that the human brain is also made for the Quran? Let’s clear this up. The brain has two hemispheres, right? Well, so does the Quran. It has two types of verses:

He is the one who revealed the Book to you. It contains verses that are clear [muhkamat], they are the foundation of the Book, while others are unclear and allegorical [mutashabehat] [. . .] (3:7)

The verses called the muhkamat are about laws and religious duties, like prayer and fasting, while the other verses, called the mutashabehat, are figurative and symbolic. (We’ll discuss the rest of this verse 3:7 in Part 3 of this blog post).

If we look at how the brain deals with language, notice that the left hemisphere recognizes the grammar and laws of arranging words while the right hemisphere mostly senses the emotional meaning of language through the rhythm of sounds.1

Isn’t this duality simply astounding? Not only do the brain and the Quran have two parts to their setup, but their functions mirror each other!2 The muhkamat deal with laws just like the left hemisphere, while the mutashabehat deal with abstract things like allegories and figurative language, much like the more abstract concept of emotion that the right hemisphere helps with.

Here’s an example of a mutashabehat verse. Do you remember the verse about the “garment of God-consciousness” being the best clothes we could ever wear?

O Children of Adam! We have given you garments to cover your shame and as an adornment. But the garment of God-consciousness [taqwa]—that is best. These are among the Signs of God so people may benefit (7:26).3

Being conscious of God/taqwa is a state of mind, but it isn’t clothes that we wear like a garment. So what could this mean? How could we wear taqwa? This verse is figurative 🙂

Let’s reflect on this a little to figure out what it means. What do we use clothes for? Clothes protect us from the heat and the cold, they beautify our appearance, and they cover our shame. Now think about being aware of God. What a beautiful and powerful state of mind. The garment of taqwa protects us and beautifies us like no other garment ever could!

Isn’t it interesting that Adam and Eve, peace be upon them, became naked when they ate the fruit of the tree?

Then [Satan] misled them through deceit. When (Adam & Eve) tasted (the fruit) of the tree, their shame became apparent to them and they began covering themselves with leaves in the Garden (7:22).

Did you notice something? What garment did Adam and Eve lose that exposed their nakedness? They lost their garment of taqwa! This is what left Adam and Eve naked and vulnerable, exposing their shame.4

Adam and Eve’s nakedness via the “original sin” of eating from the tree is in the Bible too, but the deeper understanding we have comes from the symbols placed so conveniently side by side in the Quran: 7:22 mentions their nakedness and 7:26 mentions the garment of taqwa! Adam and Eve didn’t just become naked as some people often think. They became naked because they lost their garment of God consciousness! This is indeed the worst kind of nakedness.

God is certainly our Master Teacher!

Let this beautiful symbolism be a divine warning. Do not let the embodiment of evil, Satan, strip us of our garment of God-consciousness, leaving us naked, vulnerable, and exposed to our lower nature, but let our garments be a source of protection and beauty.

Wow! The Quran is marvelous indeed, and we better understood its beauty by reflecting on its symbols, the mutashabehat. When you have two things residing in the same place, you must end up with balance. There’s a balance in our anatomy between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, and there should just as importantly be a balance in how we read the Quran. Let’s appreciate both types of its verses: the muhkamaat and the mutashabehaat. We are a “community of the middle way” after all (see 2:143).

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post discussing the beauty of the Quran’s symbols and the divine command to reflect upon them 🙂

 

Footnotes:

1. Carl Zimmer, “The Big Similarities & Quirky Differences Between Our Left and Right Brains,” Discover Magazine, April 2009, accessed March 14, 2015.http://discovermagazine.com/2009/may/15-big-similarities-and-quirky-differences-between-our-left-and-right-brains

2. At least in terms of how the brain deals with language.

3. Taqwa is the Arabic word for being aware and mindful of God, so the word “God-consciousness” is often used as its translation.

4. A friend mentioned this beautiful connection to me. Its credit is due to the deep-sighted Imam Warith Deen Muhammad.

 

Please feel free to comment.