Friday Frivolity: Now We Wait
Muslim Greetings
I’ve finally managed to get in contact with a local Imam! I’ll be meeting him next week to start working my way through the questions which arose from my reading of the first half of the Qur’an.
In preparation for meeting the Imam, I researched the appropriate Arabic greeting to give a Muslim. It turns out that, if you’re not Muslim yourself, the greeting which should given is:
“Assalamu alaykum”
Phonetically, this is pronounced:
“ass-sa-laam-muu ah-lay-kum”
…and means:
“Peace upon you”
The response to this is:
“Wa alaykuma asalaam”
..which is pronounced:
“wa ah-lay-kum as-sa-laam”
…which means:
“And peace upon you”
Here’s a video where you can hear these phrases pronounced:
Wise Words on Wednesday: The Gate of the Year
I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way.’
– Minnie Haskins, “The Gate of the Year” (1908)
The Message – Story of Islam
“The Message” was the first movie I ever watched about Islam. A copy of it was actually given to me by some Muslims after we had spent a Sunday afternoon in London’s Hyde Park discussing Islam and Christianity. It’s an interesting movie for several reasons, but in particular for the way it depicts the life of the protagonist. In keeping with the Muslim practice of never portraying their prophet, at no point in the movie do you ever see Muhammad on the screen or hear his voice. Needless to say, to accommodate this restriction, the filmmakers had to get pretty creative…
Since I’m taking a break for a few weeks from working through the text of the Qur’an, I thought that now might be a good time to share the movie in case you’d like to learn a little more about the story of the founder of Isalm:
Speaking Events In San Diego
I’ve resolved to be better at publicizing events where I’m speaking. I’ve got a few talks coming up this month and I’ve actually remembered to create Facebook events for them:
If you’d like to stay up-to-date, you can find details at my Facebook page.
Resisting Happiness
I woke up this morning and smiled when I remembered that I didn’t have to read any of the Qur’an this morning! So, instead of reporting on another chapter of Islamic scripture, I thought I’d write a little bit about one of the books I’m reading, Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly.
I’m only about six chapters through “Resisting Happiness” so far, but since we’re at the beginning of a new year, I thought it would be a good time to share the book’s central message.
Resistance
Matthew Kelly opens the book by describing what he calls “resistance”:
It’s that sluggish feeling of not wanting to do something that you know is good for you, it’s the inclination to do something that you unabashedly know is not good for you… It’s the desire and tendency to delay something you should be doing right now.
– Resisting Happiness, Chapter 1
Hopefully it’s clear why I think this subject is appropriate to discuss. We are at that time of year when everyone makes New Year resolutions which will, unfortunately, probably not last beyond February…
As with most of Mr. Kelly’s books, I’m sure his hypersensitive critics will complain about the style of this book. It doesn’t use hefty theological terms and, at least in the opening few chapters, it doesn’t identify “resistance” as “the world, the flesh and the devil”, the three enemies of the soul which are traditionally identified in Christian theology. Even though it’s not described in these terms, Mr. Kelly makes it very clear that “resistance” is to be fought and he uses imagery which should be very familiar to most Christians:
Make no mistake, resistance is your enemy. It will not quietly go away and leave you alone. You have to slay it like a dragon, and you have to slay it anew each day
– Resisting Happiness, Chapter 1
Music Monday: The Lion and the Lamb
We’re kicking off the year with one of my favourite bands and one who has a fantastic name, “Big Daddy Weave”. This is “The Lion and the Lamb”:
He’s coming on the clouds, kings and kingdoms will bow down
And every chain will break, as broken hearts declare His praise
Who can stop the Lord Almighty?
Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah
He’s roaring with power and fighting our battles
And every knee will bow before You
Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain
For the sin of the world, His blood breaks the chains
And every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb
Oh every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb
So open up the gates, make way before the King of kings
Our God who calls the saved is here to set the captives free
Who can stop the Lord Almighty?