This is an excellent piece! Today I was reflecting on a message I heard recently from a rather conservative/fundamental speaker .. and comparing it to the reality of globalization - and many different cultures and religions living together and learning to work with one another. This piece answers it perfectly - Jazak'Allah Khair, brother!
Ron Abdul Latif Coleman wrote: > > All art is at once surface and symbol. Those that go beneath the > surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their > peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art mirrors. - Oscar Wilde > > Kuwait City - It is neither a secret nor a surprise that the first > manifestation of religion was in art form. Cave drawings and > hieroglyphics shine a light on the mind of early man seeking meaning > in life. The abstract pictorial representations were gradually > solidified into idols and idolatry was born. But when the Abrahamic > tradition took centre stage, idolatry was abolished throughout most of > the world. Or was it? > > Art is the only language that all humans share in common. Anyone can > look at art and tell you what they think it means. A word can be > written in hundreds of languages but each word only makes sense to > those few of us who understand that specific language. Even then, > words within a language can have various meanings based on the context. > > Take the word iqra in Arabic. Iqra is credited as being the first word > revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the Holy Qur'an. Ask most Arabs > and they will tell you that iqra means "read". They will also tell you > that the Prophet was illiterate. And when asked why God would order an > illiterate man to read, most will just shrug their shoulders. Why? > Idolatry of the word iqra. > > When people first communicated through the use of images, idols were - > well, idolised. As methods of communication improved, the written word > - in the form of holy books - often took the place of these idols. The > more concrete the interpretation of a word, the more the actual image > of that word is being idolised. Words communicate a depth and breadth > of meaning that transcend the sum of their letters. For example, it > just so happens that the word iqra can also be defined as "to spread", > as in spreading a message or a religion. In essence, then, a rigid > interpretation of God's words by man is nothing more than idol worship. > > All Muslims believe that the Holy Qur'an is for all time and place. > There are some Muslims who believe that the Qur'an is alive and is as > adaptable to today's society as it was in the day of the Prophet. But > then, there are some Muslims who believe that there is only one > interpretation of Islam, and like George Bush's interpretation of > democracy, we should export it in a one-size-fits-all box throughout > the world. > > As a writer, I have had to negotiate abstract representations of my > work with various ministry officials in various countries. I have met > with people whose thoughts are so set in stone that they would make > the mountains proud. It is a real shame that censors are still the > intellectual gatekeepers of the world, the high priests of the idols > we worship. > > The human mind follows the same rules as the rest of nature. In all > living things, diversity is the key to success and losing diversity is > equivalent to certain death. For example, the less diverse the gene > pool from which one selects a mate, the more likely the offspring will > be diseased. The human intellect works in the same way: the less > access to a variety of ideas, the more "diseased" the intellect. > > I grew up in a part of the world where George Orwell's Animal Farm was > banned. It was also banned in the former Soviet Union. The Kremlin > banned it because as a totalitarian regime, it did not want democratic > messages to be spread within its borders. The censors in the USSR > chose to go beneath the surface of the allegory, understand the > message in the book and ban it accordingly. In my neck of the desert, > it was banned because there was a pig on the cover. Go figure. > > The Holy Qur'an was revealed in an Arabia that was alive with the > richness of Jahiliya (pre-Islamic) period poetry. The miracle of the > Qur'an was not only in its message, but also in the complexity of the > syntax used to communicate that message. Its prose is unmatched in the > history of the Arabic language. It is an absolute shame that the > Qur'an continues to be held hostage by those who favour the idolatry > of words over the depth of their meaning and the elasticity of the > human intellect. > ___ > > * Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa is the creator of The 99, the internationally > acclaimed group of superheroes based on Islamic archetypes. For more > information, please visit www.the99.org. This article is part of a > series on freedom of expression written for the Common Ground News > Service. > > > Copyright @ 2008 Al-Mutawa.com > > */ > /* > > > > > -- Linda *http://freedetainees.org <http://freedetainees.org/> "If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear..." - William Shakespeare * --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "bangla-vision" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bangla-vision?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
