logos, qawl, word

just some reflections. an ayah that particularly struck me this morning was surah al an'aam, verse 73:

YUSUFALI: It is He who created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): the day He saith, "Be," behold! it is. His word is the truth. His will be the dominion the day the trumpet will be blown. He knoweth the unseen as well as that which is open. For He is the Wise, well acquainted (with all things).
PICKTHAL: He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in truth. In the day when He saith: Be! it is. His Word is the Truth, and His will be the Sovereignty on the day when the trumpet is blown. Knower of the Invisible and the Visible, He is the Wise, the Aware.
SHAKIR: And He it is Who has created the heavens and the earth with truth, and on the day He says: Be, it is. His word is the truth, and His is the kingdom on the day when the trumpet shall be blown; the Knower of the unseen and the seen; and He is the Wise, the Aware.

aside from the sheer power of the statement "His Word is the Truth," understood in context with the simple words before it that are often repeated in the qur'an, "yaqoolu kun fayakoon", there are just layers of meaning here. Allah says, "Be," and a thing becomes. not just a thing, but all the heavens and the earth. look around - everything you see is His Word, everything you see is The Truth. i don't want to use the word manifestation, because that is an unnecessary intermediate. the heavens and the earth, His creation, are not just a manifestation of Allah's power, but they are His Word, they are Truth. subhanallah.

anyway, after i read this post by svend and had to go look up "soteriology" in wikipedia, i ended up clicking links till i ended up reading about the word "logos". that page has a section describing the use of the concept of "logos" in christianity ("in the beginning was the Word," etc). in fact, the current pope (ironically, what svend's post was about) mentioned this concept in a speech as cardinal in april 2005 and again in the recent controversial speech, according to wikipedia, though he used the concept in its meaning as "logic," saying christianity has always understood itself as the religion of reason. (really?)

well, considering the shared heritage of christianity and islam i guess it's no wonder that the concept of the Word of God has a similar place of power in each belief system (i think it was actually tolkien who said that Jesus was the Word of God made into man, but there's a complicated explanation behind that). i just happen to find it one of the most compelling, beautiful, awe-inspiring aspects of islam... it sort of strips away all the niggling little pettinesses we argue over in trying to define our faith and leaves only, well, The Truth...

i have learned a great truth

you can put food in a child's mouth, but you can't keep it there

ramadan mubarak!

i don't know why i haven't posted in a while. i have had posts floating around in my head... even had an emotional hour after fajr lying in bed one morning where i composed a whole deep philosophical passionate post in my head and vowed to write it when i got up, but it faded away. it was probably too personal anyway.
but i figured i should at least say ramadan mubarak. and maybe post a picture of musa or something. this one is from his cousin's aqiqah down in raleigh sept. 16. the little shalwar kamiz is issa's, too. but i loved it on him! (issa got stuck wearing one of his dad's old shalwar kamizes... how cute!)



i hope everyone is off to a good start this month inshallah. i'm fasting while still breastfeeding nearly exclusively (he only eats a serving of cereal or two a day, and that is mixed with my milk so i'm still pumping). yesterday was our first day, and it went fine alhamdulillah. i'm so glad.
may Allah keep you all safe and healthy and accept all your prayers...

a note: the Wpost has an article today about how support for israeli settlements in the west bank is now reviving. not until the article’s 17th paragraph does it mention that all these settlements are considered illegal under international law. that’s called “burying” a fact. but maybe, being an american media outlet, the post simply does not find this aspect of international law with regard to the settlements important enough to establish early on... nobody really talks about it, anyway. i point it out just because when i worked for islamonline, and we wrote our articles about the conflict, it's the sort of thing we would always have mentioned up front. does that just make us biased in the other direction? how can you ever be objective if simply the placement of a fact in a story makes you biased one way or another, depending on the location of placement?
still, i have to say, in a story about the revival of popular support for AND construction in the west bank settlements, i think it would be better journalism to let readers know early on, when they are more likely to read it, where those settlements stand in the eyes of the law. particularly when they are pretty much the prime cause of palestinian suffering...

just to point out the fact that this is a purely political concern for me, i also want to say that i think it is cool the jewish high holy days are starting at the exact same time as ramadan! i sort of miss my muslim-jewish women's dialogue group from college park, coz we'd be able to learn so much from each other now. anyway, the coinciding of these two holy times started last year... i wrote this article about it for the laurel, md. community last year. back when i was a full-time journalist. what a different world. i am freelancing now, btw, for the same paper, as a dining reviewer. fun! especially for someone who doesn't eat non-zabiha meat or drink, and is not going to be eating or drinking anything at all during daytime for the next month :) but i'll make it work inshallah!