I wanted to throw this into the Qur'an business.
This video of tajwid (rendering beautiful) the recitation that is the Qur'an seemed appropriate to the question of whether or not we're receiving a text when it has yet to be, as the expression goes, music to our ears. ALSO, shout outs to Stephen Archer (who jumped into the conversation in the original Qur'an post). I can't think of him without recalling our common interest in Peter Gabriel's Real World label maybe 15 years ago and his love for Sam Phillips' song "The Private Storm" which (I think) resonates with some of the issues discussed. I'd post the song if I could. Here are the lyrics in the glorious meantime:
we lock the hurricane indoors
looking for shelter, we deny and ignore
afraid that our words bring clouds we talk in code
the thunder or cruel perfection covers love
and we're cold
the private storm
and our souls are worn from the tears
the private storm
and it rages on through the years
no warning the ground pulls out from underneath
we tiptoe through air until we see the blood on their teeth
time doesn't heal, the scars turn into wounds
as we walk lightly silence screams in the storm
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Cheik Abdelbassit
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http://www6.comcast.net/news/science/galaxies/slideshow/view/13/
Thank you for jumping in, Stephen, and thanks for the questions. As I understand it Allah is Arabic for YHWH in the same way that God is an English rendering of the same word. I mean to worship the God made known in Jesus (Jesus' obedient life, words, way of regarding other people), and when I think of the gospel, I have in mind the good news of the kingdom/regime/reign Jesus proclaimed. In light of this regime, I'm trying to figure out how to respond to the Qur'an which I think might be helpfully regarded as a sort of Dake bible commentary in oral form (transcribed after the death of its witness, Muhammad). I understand how a song or a written text or a painting might be deemed a delusion, but I feel constrained (by Jesus, for starters) to not characterize anyone's creative output this way. I think I can lend a speaker or a singer my ear without pledging allegiance to him/her. And I think I can be critical ("I don't like this bit in the Qur'an so much...I don't know what to do with it.") without denouncing. I put my trust (or hope to) in the all-redeeming God whose deep affection for Peter Gabriel, Sam Phillips, the self-described Muslim, you, and me surpasses everyone's understanding. And (I'd like to throw in) my understanding of this God has been/is deeply enriched by the mixtapes, the music you've made, the coffee, and the conversation I've shared with you over the years. I didn't assume or even guess that you'd recently come to regard these artists (or any good art) as somehow divorced from the goodness of God. Let's keep talking about it. Does Jeff Johnson (or Sarah Masen) make the cut these days? Thanks as ever for helping me think more redemptively of the world God so loves and for keeping the dialogue going. You are and have been an intense inspiration
Fondly,
jdd
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