A Pilgrimage of the Mind and Heart

Great Blue Heron (photo by author)

The Hajj pilgrimage is described in Surat Al-Baqara 2:196-203, as well as in Surat Al-Hajj (22:25-38) and elsewhere. This blog discussed it here in reference to animal sacrifice and the narrative of Prophet Abraham’s sacrifice; and here regarding the essential rites of equality, focusing on the current regime that exerts control over and provides services such as provisions for the Hajj. Here we shall show how the Hajj is a pilgrimage of the mind and heart, taking a different approach.

In the Company of Prophets: The Raised Status of Mary in the Quran

Mary gave birth to Jesus alone, beneath a date palm, and her pain is described in the Quran.

In order to show how Allah the Exalted raised up the status of Mary/ Maryam the mother of Jesus/ ‘Eissa and why this is significant, it’s imperative to know the characteristics of true prophets. This is because after examining these characteristics and comparing them with Mary’s life as narrated in the Quran, it is clear that she meets all the qualifications of a prophet; all that prevented her from being called a prophet was her gender which in the society of her time could not assume a traditional leadership role or earn the degree of respect required for that role. Both her story and that of the prophets contain fascinating and revealing details often disregarded or not given much study.

Islam vs Kufr: the Futility of Denial (Al-Kafiroon Analysis)

Yellow verses 1 and 6 frame verses 2-4 in center

Surah 109, Al-Kafiroon, is not a straightforward ring composition, but rather takes a form one could describe as “circuitous” that makes a clear point about its subject matter: kafiroon, often translated as “disbelievers,” but the word deniers or denial is closer in meaning to the root word kufr, even in English sounding like “cover” as in “to cover up”:  In the Quran, Truth is Reality, not a “point of view” or “opinion.” “Belief” in English is used to mean an assumption of truth, not reality itself. Denial itself can be a kind of “religion” or path with a focus on worldly values, debunking and mocking Divine wisdom, thus closing one’s heart to it.

Quranic Architecture’s Cosmic Connection: the Zodiac Transformed

Indeed, within the heavens and earth are signs for the believers.

Surah Al-Jathiya 45:3

Before the modern era, “evidence” was usually thought of as something outstanding that showed us a truth, like guideposts. The flights of birds, the way ships float on water, the huge variety of colors and characteristics of plants and animals, all these and more are mentioned in the Quran as “signs,” often “signs for those who reason.” These signs provide evidence of Allah’s relationship with all life, indeed with all creation, and in turn, of the complex interrelationships within creation itself. Such signs are dismissed in today’s dominant culture of empiricism as vague or lacking the rigor of scientific proof; but science by definition avoids the “unscientific” search for meaning as that which gives direction and value to life.

In this PDF download, the Quran’s architecture and its relationship to the Zodiac as a celestial view of the sky as seen from earth and its use for timekeeping is discussed.

the-zodiac-transformedDownload

Drawings of ancient Arabian zodiac figures. Writing is in Safaitic, an ancient Arabian script.

Ayat Al-Kursi Ring Composition: Deeper Insights

Ayatul Kursi Ring Composition

Although this important aya has been analyzed by the scholar Raymond K. Farrin in his paper “Surat Al-Baqarah – a Structural Analysis,” I used a different translation to keep the literal words “between their hands” because this Quranic image directly correlates with free will, which is at the heart or center of this aya and indeed of our relationship with Allah the Exalted. It is also translated “what is before them and what is behind them.”

If you’ve seen this post before, I’ve just made a major change in calculations, with apologies. Although the number of words in Ayat Al-Kursi is, as previously mentioned, 57 (3•19), which is exactly half of 114, the total number of suras in the Quran, and also 57 is the number of Surat Hadeed (“Iron”), an element whose production in stars is the point at which a star explodes into a supernova, but I’ve recalculated the letter count and found my original (in which the letter count too was a multiple of 19) was wrong, and so I’ve corrected it below.