The Legend of Abu Nomaan

Last Ramadan, my brother in law spent the last 10 days making i’tikaf in a local mosque, which we will call for purposes of this post the Islamic Center of Abu Nomaan (I CAN).   There he stood witness to the incredible spectacle of the most prolific worshiper he had ever seen:  Abu Nomaan. 

Abu Nomaan is well known in our community.  He leads Tahajjud at I CAN every night, every Ramadan.  He takes off from work every year for the entire month and spends all of his time in the mosque reading, contemplating, worshiping, and organizing and leading prayers.  God bless Abu Nomaan for his efforts.

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PASTOR TERRY JONES WANTS TO BURN THESE WORDS

Updated on Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 11:29PM by The QB

Pastor Terry Jones's bushy bracket of a talking mustache and the body to which it is attached have certainly made themselves famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) in recent weeks, as they have peddled their ignorance on every available medium to people who can't seem to focus on anything even resembling a real issue during an election season. While the publicity has certainly been a boon to his book sales, it hasn't done much for his public image, at least among mainstream Christians and other reasonable people (I use "reasonable" here pretty loosely; even Caribou Barbie has come out against TJ's plan, although she stopped short of asking all "peaceful" Christians to "refudiate"). (By the way, the book sales can't really be the motive behind the actions of this beacon of patriotism in his crusade (jihad?) against evil, can it? No true patriot would ever intentionally put American lives at risk to further his own narrow self interests. That would be pretty despicable, wouldn't it?).

Now while I really didn't start this blog to talk politics, a statement made by Pastor Jones this week really struck me as interesting and worthy of some type of response.

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Fridays in a Cave

I haven't written in over nine months. Felt like a quick poem to start things off again...

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He Who Makes Mountains Move

And so he cried out through the Depths of Darkness: "There is No god but You, Glory be to You!  I was indeed [wrong]!"

So We listened to him, and delivered him from Distress; Thus do We Deliver those who have faith.

So now here we are, a third of Ramadan having disappeared behind us, the remaining two-thirds threatening quickly to follow.  We are in the midst of it now: praying, fasting, struggling to fight off feelings of familiarity and routine; feelings that are the bane of a worshiper’s focus, the enemy of a dedicated heart.

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Steeds and Greed

They drip from our tongues like honey, and yet we rarely taste their sweetness.  Their appealing rhymes regularly fill our ears, and yet we often fail really to hear them.  They are the surahs of the last part of the Quran, the 30th part.  Many Muslims can recite the words of the surahs of the 30th part by rote, having committed them to memory when they were very young, or when they first found Islam.  Being very short and rolling off the tongue with melodic ease, the surahs in the 30th part are conducive to easy memorization and thus lend themselves to regular recitation in our daily prayers.  Despite their brevity, however, they are packed with meaning and busting with the significance of powerful messages.

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The Folding Up

Just read this and let the words sit on your tongue for a spell.  Feel the words wash over you and let the images they evoke shake your soul.  This relates in a way to our next blog post, which I will iA post as soon as I can break loose from the pile of work I am under:

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There but for the Grace of God go I

An alligator was eating my son, and my wife and I were helpless to stop it. That was my wife’s dream last week. A large alligator. Eating our son. And we were helpless to stop it. Ridiculous, right?

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Ramadan, in Three Parts

This Ramadan, I have decided to blog thematically. The blog posts in the first 10 days of the month will, God willing, revolve around the theme of God’s Rahmah, mercy, grace, and compassion. The middle 10, God willing, will be about forgiveness and repentance.

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Here Comes the Grace

Some rambling words on this Ramadan Eve.

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The Straight Path - II

After we pray for guidance regarding the Straight Path, the ayah continues with some further identifying descriptions: The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, Those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

I have seen two common ways in which this language is interpreted.  The first implies that the two identifying descriptions that appear at the end of the ayah (“those whose portion is not wrath” and “those who go not astray”) are counterpoints to and elucidate the meaning and identification of the path. The second (A.Y. Ali’s view) is that those two identifying descriptions are counterpoints to and elucidate the meaning and identification of God’s ni’mah (translated above as “Grace,” but which can also be translated as Blessing/Favor/Tenderness).

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