2013 Meme

Usually I get this done before the end of 2013 but I've got a cold and I just didn't feel like it. But now here it is!

1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?

Took my life into my hands and ate a slice (with the seeds in because I'm an idiot) of what may or may not be a Ghost Pepper. There's debate on it because they don't look like the pictures we've seen exactly but the peppers are super hot. So they might be a hybrid of some kind. Whatever. 

There was not enough milk in the house for that fire.

Also I took another job which I have literally never done before. I have had the same job my entire career.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't usually make New Years resolutions, so I had none to keep. But this year I'm resolving to be a better blogger. :)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope. Eve's due this year with Baby Bakin'.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Happily, no. 2014's meme will likely be very different on this question.

5. What countries did you visit?

Middle-Earth. *eyes you* It is totally a real place. Hush.

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?

A pony. :p

7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

 

*thinks* Nothing really stands out actually.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

As always, no murders. You're welcome.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I've been slacking on my blogging and my writing in general. I feel like that's a failure since I really enjoy them.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

*sniffles pathetically* I caught the cold that's going around my office. But over all nothing too bad.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

I don't know...I bought lots of books which were generally wonderful and some movies and hmmm...I helped buy the bikes for the Angel Tree again this year so I don't know. Cora's Duplo's for Christmas were also fun.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My parents are awesome.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Everyone else. All of you. Well, not my friends, but all the other people on the planet. I am ashamed of you. 

Yeah.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Pht. BABY. My dog Baby. I spent $500 in one month on his fuzzy butt because he got an eye infection that turned into an ulcer and just...*headdesks* I probably spent more money on my car (which is almost paid off! WHOOO!) and insurance, etc. of course but he was the most expensive non-normal cost.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Have you met me? So many things. Iron Man 3. Thor: The Dark World (LOKI IS BEST I WILL FIGHT YOU IF YOU DENY THIS EVEN THOUGH HE'S A MANIPULATIVE LITTLE JERK). The Hobbit.

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2013?

Anything by Imagine Dragons. I've been listening to them for the past couple of months.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. Happier or sadder?

ii. Happier.

iii. Thinner of fatter?

iv. Thinner. *Slightly* thinner but I will take it!

v. richer or poorer?

vi. Poorer. *looks at dog* I'm gonna make him get a job at this rate.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Everything. There are not enough hours in the day.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Sleeping. I went through a down phase with my thyroid where it was low and I slept more than I usually do, which is one of the symptoms.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

I watched Alien & Aliens and played with my Legos.

21. How many one-night stands?

Zero. I'm on a one-night stand diet.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Ummm...again...have you met me? I like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Blacklist and Grimm and Once Upon a Time and Hannibal and Elementary (my God do I love Elementary) and Sherlock (NEW EPISODES SOON FEEL MY GLEE) and Sleepy Hollow and American Horror Story...

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

I've got no hate.

24. What was the best book you read?

I read 218 books this year. As always, my favorite was Good Omens. It might not have been the best but it's my favorite.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

The extended version of Far Across Misty Mountains Cold.

26. What did you want and get?

Books, movies, etc.

27. What was your favorite film of this year?

ALL the movies. Okay, can't pin it to one so we're going with Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World (LOOOOKKKKKIIIIIII), Star Trek: Into Darkness and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

28. What did you do on your birthday?

I don't remember. I probably read.

29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?

Blue Jeans.

30. What kept you sane?

My sanity.

31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

*cackles* Such a terrible question to ask a fangirl. Lee Pace. Tom Hiddleston. Jeremy Renner. Orlando Bloom (he's Legolas and I dare you to judge me. I DARE YOU.) Idris Elba.

32. What political issue stirred you the most?

I did a lot of talking IRL about smaller political issues, I guess, but no one can ignore what's going on in the world. It just seems like there's so much going on, how do I pick which thing pissed me off the most?

33. Who did you miss?

*thinks* I don't think I *missed* anyone in the general sense. There were quite a few times I wished Heather lived close to me so we could fangirl in person.

34. Who was the best new person you met?

It might be the cold medicine but I can't remember meeting anyone new in 2013.

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.

My sister is, in fact, Typhoid Mary reborn. Avoid her at all costs for she will get you sick.

Mahwidge...

I'm about to finish God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage by Bishop Gene Robinson (Episcopal, of course).

I intend to do a post about it, because it is interesting, but first I wanted to get you guys' thoughts on what exactly marriage is. Get as detailed as you like: what is marriage? Who does what in a marriage ceremony? (Not like who stands where, but what is the role of the pastor/priest/imam/officiant, the family/friends, the individuals getting married, like that.) At what point are the couple married? Secularly? Religiously? What's the point of marriage? Stuff like that.

A couple of things, one of which is Book: Standing Alone in Mecca - Asra Q. Nomani (there's kind of sort of a theme...)

I kind of hate writing book reviews because I have a real problem walking the line between not telling people enough about the book and telling them too much. Also I tend to just talk about whatever comes to mind about the book, rather than doing it in some sort of actually helpful manner. You have been warned.

Also, I've been trying to write this post for a couple of days. The universe does not want this post written apparently.

AS A RANDOM (or maybe not so random) ASIDE:

I am thoroughly convinced that there is some sort of magical/mystical download that happens into the brains of women who convert to Islam and become hijabis. It's the only explanation for how they can all do it and make it look natural and perfect and I can't, no matter how many tutorials I watch. (Heather denies this, but I suspect that she's been sworn to secrecy vis a vis this process)

Lemme show you a thing:

This is the face of a woman who really wants her hijab to look good but knows that it doesn't. It is also the face of a woman whose one eye is red and swollen because Allergies and Florida, not because she has some horrible disease.

Admittedly I didn't bother pining it or anything, but still. This is a symptom of my disease. I love hijab, but it doesn't love me.

Also, glasses! Because my allergies are so bad right now that I can't wear my contacts. People tell me I look cute, but I think they're lying because they can see the seething hate behind my eyes.

Basically, I think I look like Bruce Banner when I wear glasses.

Which is fine, you know, if you're a guy. Which I am not.

GLASSES!!!! *shakes fist at sky*

Moving. On.

I picked up this book about four years ago and I'm sure there were a couple of reasons that I chose it, but mainly I recall picking it up because it was a description of someone going on Hajj. Why, you may ask? Because I REALLY would like to go to Mecca. Really a lot.

I will not, because non-Muslims aren't allowed, and I respect that even as I wish it wasn't so. Thusly, I have resigned myself to not ever going to see Mecca and have determined to get my fix vicariously. (As much as I ever resign myself to anything, which is not a whole lot, to be honest.) Still, you know, if they changed that rule (I know this won't happen) I would be there in a hot minute (assuming I could afford it) in spite of the fact that I hate crowds (it's very crowded) and dirt (from what everyone says there is a trash problem) and hotels and travel and....still. Mecca was the reason I picked this book up.

It is about Mecca, and the hajj, to a certain degree. But it's more about how the authors' experience in Mecca changed her and what she did with that change when she returned home. I should say that I've read nothing else by this author and while I'm aware that she's something of a polarizing figure in the American Muslim community I'm not up on any or all of the precise issues surrounding her. All I can talk about here is this particular book and my impressions from it.

Ms. Nomani was a newspaper reporter and it shows in the style of the book. The chapters are broken into sections that resemble newspaper articles more than anything else. They're concise episodes within the larger framework of the book and that makes it an easy book to pick up and read a bit, then set down and come back to later or to read through in longer chunks when you have the time.

I enjoyed the descriptions of Hajj, but I have to admit to being oddly dismayed to be told that the mosque has grown to include the path that Hagar took between Safa and Marwah. Why dismayed? Good question. I'm not entirely sure why this bothers me. Maybe it's because I, in my remove from the emotions of the event, am looking at it and thinking that they've sanitized this remembrance somehow. Does it take away from the impact of what they're doing for the people performing hajj? Probably not, or at least I hope not.

I was also maybe a little more than a bit freaked out by the crushing crowds that are described once or twice. Especially with the author having brought her infant son with her. I'm not claustrophobic, generally, but I think that would have been too much for me. Of course I also should like to think that I wouldn't bring an infant to a place like Mecca with all the possible diseases (not like ewwwwwwwwww *foreign* people, but whenever you travel there are strains of bacteria that you can encounter that are not native to your system, thus they hit you harder than the ones you're used to and with a baby...well. It's not the choice I would have made is all.) and the knowledge that people have died on Hajj due to fires and being crushed by the crowds (some people died during the Stoning of the Pillars on Ms. Nomani's Hajj).

Some of the depictions of Mecca itself made me sad, mostly the commercialization of the place with KFC's and other fast food type restaurants seemingly all over the place. I understand that it is a city and that there are millions of pilgrims, but in my head it's a holy city. KFC seems so out of place.

The question of the disconnect between the mixing of the genders at Mecca and the strict lines that can be encountered in other mosques all over the world stuck out to me too. Why is it okay for women and men to pray side my side in Mecca and not elsewhere?

I have to admit that I kept being surprised by how many things Ms. Nomani didn't seem to know about her own religion until she started looking into it due to the murder of her friend Daniel Pearl and the conception/birth of her son out of wedlock (and being abandoned by her son's father). It seems odd to me, but then I remember how many born Christians believe that the Bible was written in English originally.

My biggest problem, I guess, comes when Ms. Nomani returns home. She has, up until this point, not been involved in the local Muslim community. Due, it seems, to it not being a particularly inviting one to women. But I have to wonder if part of her perception, as a child, of it being uninviting is her mothers' aversion to the mosque. Her mother and father came from India and her mother came from a (according to the authors' book) very traditional area and family. She was never allowed or invited to participate in the community life of the mosque and never felt welcome. So I do wonder if that attitude trickled down to her daughter to a certain degree.

Ms. Nomani, on her return, goes to her local mosque and finds it wanting. Rather than become a part of the community and try and change things from the inside, she seems to appear and immediately begin demanding that things change and change right away to her way.

She refuses to use the women's section of the mosque but rather settles in the back of the men's section, refusing to leave when asked, ordered or threatened. While I can appreciate the point that there is no real reason for the women to be forced to pray in a room that leaves them feeling disconnected from the community, a room that is not equal in cleanliness or access, this felt so harsh to me, coming from someone who is basically a new comer to the community she is demanding change.

I was especially struck when Ms. Nomani describes a young woman who comes to the mosque to convert. She is not permitted to convert in the nice men's (main) hall, in front of the whole community, or even to have a microphone in the women's section so that the community can hear her take her shahadah. Instead she converts with only the other women present, and according to Ms. Nomani, laments that "This isn't the Islam I was promised." as she leaves. And I can relate, not to the specific circumstance, but to finding a religion not as promised.

I think we can all relate to that, to one degree or another.

*looks over 'review'*

I told you I was bad at this.

Anyway. Generally, I enjoyed the book. I'm not sure that I would like Ms. Nomani in person, but I found her writing to be easy to digest, informative, and it certainly kept my interest. Not so useful as an introduction to Islam (I have no impression that it was meant to be), it's definitely a memoir that gives you one point of view on the religion.

ARQ Project: Surah Yousuf

So...yeah. Life happens. I had very good intentions for getting back to blogging but then Some People Who Will Remain Nameless decided to send me two large projects to do at work that *had* to be done the next day. When, normally, such projects would take several days to do.

And then my poor Baby dog got an eye infection that just won't go away, so he's on stronger antibiotics that have to be put into his eye every three hours. Guess who's waking up every three hours to squirt stuff into his eye? *raises hand* It's like the feedings that I've missed out on wisely managed to avoid by not having children have caught up to me!

*le sigh* But I digress. It's Friday and I have a lovely salmon pinwheel cooking and so we're going to try and be productive here.

*cracks knuckles*

Right. Joseph. Not Joseph, husband of Mary and step-father of Jesus, but Joseph of the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Coat of Many Colors fame. You know, Old Testament Joseph.

This coat. Man...this *coat*. It's like a rainbow threw up on fabric. I hope, sincerely and deeply, that this is not an accurate representation of what Joseph's coat looked like. Or maybe it's like that sweater that your grandma buys you with the googly eyed turkey's on it and you have to say that you love it, but really you're hoping to be mauled by a random wild chinchilla so you can 'mourn' the sweater.

12:3 - We do relate unto thee the most beautiful of stories, in that We reveal to thee this (portion of the) Qur'an: before this, thou too was among those who knew it not.

I don't know why, but I find it odd that Mohammed would never have heard of the story of Joseph before. There were Jews and Christians in the area, he was a trader by...trade. Maybe he didn't know the details by heart, but surely someone would have mentioned Joseph before. Or maybe I'm just relating too much of my knowledge backwards?

Before we get going, maybe we should refamiliarize ourselves with the story of Joseph in the Bible, it's a long section, so I'm just linking to it here: Genesis 37-46.

12:4-6 - Behold! Joseph said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrate themselves to me!" Said (the father): "My (dear) little son! relate not thy vision to thy brothers, lest they concoct a plot against thee: for Satan is to man an avowed enemy! "Thus will thy Lord choose thee and teach thee the interpretation of stories (and events) and perfect His favour to thee and to the posterity of Jacob - even as He perfected it to thy fathers Abraham and Isaac aforetime! for Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom."

The Qur'anic version of events differs from the Biblical narrative in that Joseph doesn't relate his dream to his brothers, but rather to Jacob, who warns him that all of his brothers are evil little jerks. It makes more sense, to me, for a younger brother to brag to his older brothers about these dreams and for this to be some kind of last straw for the older brothers. After all, they know that their father prefers Joseph over them. He gave him that nifty coat after all. (Also, Joseph was the son of the wife he loved, rather than the wife he got tricked into...) And you would think that if Jacob knew that his other sons were...ah...murderously jealous (given that they'd shown a talent for violence in the past especially) that he'd have been more careful about letting Joseph go out with them. Poor parenting? Perhaps.

I find something odd in the next couple lines.

12:8 - They said: "Truly Joseph and his brother are loved more by our father than we: But we are a goodly body! really our father is obviously wandering (in his mind)!

We have the brothers speaking amongst themselves, clearly.

12:9 - "Slay ye Joseph or cast him out to some (unknown) land, that so the favour of your father may be given to you alone: (there will be time enough) for you to be righteous after that!"

They go from speaking in the plural (our, we, our) to speaking to the singular (ye, your, you, you). Have they chosen one brother, perhaps angrier or more wounded than the others and started to pick at his emotions to drive him to kill Joseph so that they can claim clean hands? '*He* did it, not *us*!'

12:12 - "Send him with us tomorrow to enjoy himself and play, and we shall take every care of him."

This verse highlights a question I have, which is how old is Joseph supposed to be in the Qur'an here? He's 17 according to the Bible, which is old enough to be married and a father at this point in that culture. Past old enough, really. I get the impression from the Qur'an that he's much younger, but that could just be word choice here and how afraid Jacob (who, fearing his other sons murderous jealousy, should really not even be thinking about letting them borrow Joseph for any reason at all) is of letting him out of his sight.

12:19 - Then there came a caravan of travellers: they sent their water-carrier (for water), and he let down his bucket (into the well)...He said: "Ah there! Good news! Here is a (fine) young man!" So they concealed him as a treasure! But Allah knoweth well all that they do!

I find the lack of surprise from the travellers here amusing. They just pull up a young man out of a well and are like...'Hey! Another one! And this one's handsome! Woowoo!'

There's also a difference between the Qur'anic version and the Biblical one here. In the Qur'an Joseph seems to be found by accident - these travellers just happen by. In the Bible he's sold by his own brothers.

12:21 - The man in Egypt who bought him, said to his wife: "Make his stay (among us) honourable: may be he will bring us much good, or we shall adopt him as a son." Thus did We establish Joseph in the land, that We might teach him the interpretation of stories (and events). And Allah hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not.

I find this to be a little too out of the norm for human behavior for it to be entirely believable for me. A man buys a slave and says 'Hey! Maybe we'll adopt him as a son later! So place nice.' I know the story of Zayd and Mohammed, so perhaps this is meant to be an echo of that? Or a justification of the behavior? I can't imagine that it was common to free and adopt slaves in Mohammed's time either. But even if it were the case, Zayd and Mohammed had a long standing relationship whereas, at least from what we see here, Potiphar (to give him his Biblical name) buys Joseph and immediately decides that maybe he'll adopt him later.

12:26-27 - He said: "It was she that sought to seduce me - from my (true) self." And one of her household saw (this) and bore witness, (thus):- "If it be that his shirt is rent from the front, then is her tale true, and he is a liar! "But if it be that his shirt is torn from the back, then is she the liar, and he is telling the truth!"

I don't find this argument as compelling as Potiphar appears to, to be honest. A shirt can be torn in a great number of ways and certainly some of them can indicate direction of force, etc.

Also, I'm not sold on the verses that follow where the women of Egypt are giving Potiphar's wife a hard time because she's trying to seduce a pretty slave boy. That would have been common. Slaves had a lot of uses.

12:100 - And he raised his parents high on the throne (of dignity), and they fell down in prostration, (all) before him. He said: "O my father! this is the fulfilment of my vision of old! Allah hath made it come true! He was indeed good to me when He took me out of prison and brought you (all here) out of the desert, (even) after Satan had sown enmity between me and my brothers. Verily my Lord understandeth best the mysteries of all that He planneth to do, for verily He is full of knowledge and wisdom.

Joseph's mother is dead. So how did he raise his parents high? Or is this supposed to be a metaphor? Or perhaps it counts the mothers of his brothers as his 'mother' in some sense? 

I think this is one of the most complete stories that we get in the Qur'an. 

Any thoughts on this chapter? Anything that I overlooked or missed?

Book: The Book of Mormon Girl by Joanna Brooks

So obviously there have been no new Qur'an (or any other kind of) posts for a while. I've been busy, sorry. Work. Always with the wanting me to actually work. :p Bah.

And now I'm on a little mini-break, taking a four day weekend to just basically not go to work. Ahhh...

In order to not feel like a *complete* slacker, have a post!

I picked up The Book of Mormon Girl because I saw an interview that Joanna Brooks did with...it was either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. I'm gonna go with Jon Stewart at this point, but I won't swear to it because it was a little while ago. Anyway. I saw the interview, enjoyed it, and I've read some of her posts on ReligionDispatches and her own blog. I like her style and I thought hey, the book would be interesting and informative.

And it was interesting. So there's that.

This is something of a strange position for me to be in, but here: I enjoyed this book, but I didn't *like* it. Maybe it's because I had certain expectations for it that it simply wasn't designed to meet?

I expected to learn something of Mormonism from this book and I didn't. Everything that was touched upon, and I feel touched upon very briefly, was something that I was already aware of. And I honestly don't think that I know all that much about Mormons. I don't, to my knowledge, know any Mormon's in real life. I live in a small Southern town. I don't even know if we have...hang on. To the Google!

Hey, lookit that. We have Mormons! Who knew? Okay.

Small, small town. I'm not even kidding.

Still. Without ever having met a Mormon, I feel like I live in a realm of relative ignorance about them. Joseph Smith, golden tablets, Jewish tribes that became Native Americans, bees, seagulls, polygamy, driving across the country to try and find someplace they could practice their faith, the US government cracking down on them, no African American priesthood (until recently), 'traditional' male/female roles, something about eternal pregnancies in the afterlife and getting to heaven through plural marriage. "Secret" (read sacred) temple ceremonies.

Baptism for the dead. All the dead. Even my ancestors, theoretically, I guess. If I have a relative who's a Mormon and does that.



PS, theoretical Mormon relatives: Don't.

And nothing in this book made me think any differently about Mormons or taught me anything I didn't know. It was a really easy read and like I said I did enjoy it but I came away feeling like it was a beach read. Girl grows up in fairly conservative, sheltered environment. Goes away to college, meets real world. Finds that she doesn't agree with everything her childhood culture taught her. Abandons much of it, feels guilt, waffles back and forth. Finds true love, marries. Babies, career, pretty good life. The end.

I'm seriously, honestly, left with only one thought or question.

Are these purity pledge things a real, actual, *thing*? Because I must have missed that somehow. I'm not saying it's a Mormon thing, because Rachel Held Evans mentioned that she signed a purity pledge at one point as well. But I just don't recall anyone ever coming up, even in my Southern Baptist run middle/high school, and telling us that we needed to pledge our virginity to God or our fathers or even ourselves. Every time I hear about them I'm just...confused.

Are these seriously a thing? REALLY? In the current century?

And then I remember that purity balls are a thing. And it just all becomes terribly depressing. And disturbing.

Mostly disturbing.

Book: A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans

I remember reading, and really enjoying, A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically a couple of years ago. So when I heard mention of a woman who had done a similar project whose book was coming out I put it on my 'wishlist' (which is actually just a way of keeping track of things that are coming out that I want to read eventually) and waited.

When it finally came out I picked it up on my Kindle and read it while at the gym. So it took me a little while to finish it but not because it's a slow moving of boring book. Just because I was reading it in 30 - 60 minute chunks five days a week. I'd read some of the authors blog entries and knew that she had an engaging and personable style so I thought that at the least I wouldn't hate the book. The question was whether I'd like it or not because the author identifies as an evangelical which is a word that tends to send me skittering in the other direction.

It's (probably) a prejudiced misconception that I have but when I hear the word 'evangelical' I have a mental picture of people who are narrow minded and *angry* all the time. People who yell from the pulpit (I don't like that. I don't care who you are or what you're saying but if you yell from the pulpit I'm done. Unless you've just been stung by a wasp or found a spider crawling across your notes. Those would be acceptable exceptions.) and just wander around judging people and declaring that everyone who doesn't believe the way that they do is going to hell. But I picked up the book - it didn't hurt that it was on a really good sale - and I have to admit that I really enjoyed it. There's a combination of truth and humour that I think most people can relate to. She takes her project seriously but is aware enough to admit that there are some ridiculous moments in the course of the project.

"If God is the God of all pots and pans, then He is also the God of all shovels and computers and paints and assembly lines and executive offices and classrooms. Peace and joy belong not to the woman who finds the right vocation, but to the woman who finds God in any vocation, who looks for the divine around every corner." - on how God can be found in any vocation, not just the 'homemaker' vocation that 'Biblical womanhood' touts as being the be all and end all of God's plan for women

"None of this information is easy to swallow. In light of passages like these, I have come to regard with some suspicion those who claim that the Bible never troubles them. I can only assume this means they haven't actually read it." - after a list of some of the really truly terrible laws about women in the Bible. Wherein the author basically just says what I think.

"Jesus once said that his mission was not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. And in this instance, fulfilling the law meant letting it go. It may serve as little comfort to those who have suffered abuse at the hand of Bible-wielding literalists, but the disturbing laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy lose just a bit of their potency when God himself breaks them." - An interesting perspective. Did Jesus break the Law? Or did he break the law? If, as Jesus says, the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love one's neighbor, then in pursuit of fulfilling those commands if we break a 'law' (such as Jesus' healing on the Sabbath) are we guilty or vindicated by obeying the greater command?

"I took some comfort in the fact that the woman hailed as my model for submission wasn't any good at it either. Saint Peter chose an unlikely candidate in Sarah, who in a pivotal moment in Israel's history usurped the wishes of Abraham, and apparently won the support of God in her defiance." - when you think about it, the wives of the Patriarchs did kind of over rule their husbands when they wanted to. We remember them for being obedient or being wronged or being the mothers' of great men, but do we ever really think about what they themselves did?

On the 'Proverbs 31 woman':

"She's like the evangelical's Mary - venerated, idealized, glorified to the level of demigoddess, and yet expected to show up in every man's kitchen at dinnertime. Only unlike Mary, there is no indication that the Proverbs 31 woman actually existed."

"Like any good poem, the purpose of this one is to draw attention to the often over-looked glory of the everyday. The only instructive language it contains is directed toward men, with the admonition that a thankful husband honor his wife 'for all that her hands have done' (Proverbs 31:31). Old Testament scholar Ellen F. Davis notes that the poem was intended 'not to honor one particularly praiseworthy woman, but rather to underscore the central significance of women's skilled work in a household-based economy.' She concludes that 'it will not do to make facile comparisons between the biblical figure and the suburban housewife, or alternately between her and the modern career woman.'"

"But according to Ahava, the woman described in Proverbs 31 is not some ideal that exists out there; she is present in each one of us when we do even the smallest things with valor."

I didn't realize it until I started to make this post but I made 22 highlights in this book. I don't want this post to get excessively long so I'm leaving it at just the above couple of quotes.

It was fascinating for me to read through the months in this book and briefly meet some of the women around the country who live 'Biblical' lives in different ways.

I was deeply amused by the authors' repeated statement that she has trouble with multitasking. It's not a 'woman' or a 'man' thing, I think, but different from person to person. My amusement came mostly from reading what she was trying to do and laughing because I know I could do that with a lot less drama than what was going on on the page. :)

My one quibble, or I guess you could call it a wish, is that she didn't live the rules out for a full year. Not all of them. She broke them down into things to do from month to month and while I'm certain that that was instructive and helpful I think it would be interesting to see how someone unused to the lifestyle manages all of it for an entire year rather than a little bit at a time.

But all in all I enjoyed the book and I plan on picking up the authors other (first) book Evolving in Monkey Town at some point in the future. I've also started following her blog and I'm really looking forward to future posts in the year long series she's doing on sexuality and the church.

ARQ Project: Surah al-An'am

The Cattle.

There is a story about cattle in here, towards the end, but I'm not sure I'm going to include it. Because, honestly, I didn't find it that interesting.

I didn't make a whole lot of notes for this surah. I'm actually finding a lot of the Qur'an, so far, to be repetitious. Not word for word, but it's all on a couple of themes.

1. The people who had the revelation before messed it up. They turned away, yadda, yadda. They're misguided.

2. God is awesome and you should listen to him and his prophet Mohammed (and all the other prophets too). If you don't, there's hellfire.

3. Good things await those who believe.

4. Food & Women. The ones you can have and the ones you can't.

But let's look at the couple of notes I did make.

8. They say: Why hath not an angel been sent down unto him? If We sent down an angel, then the matter would be judged; no further time would be allowed them (for reflection).

This is, I believe, in the context of people wondering why Mohammed was chosen as prophet. And I'm fairly certain that this isn't the idea that was meant when this was said/written down, but I can't help but think about so many of the angelic visitations in the Bible. They weren't, generally, good things. Sure, there's the visitation of Gabriel to Mary, the Annunciation. And the visit of the angels to Sarah and Abraham and Raphael's journey with Tobias. But in many more cases if an angel shows up bad things are about to go down. See: Sodom and Gomorrah. The death of the first born in Egypt. My note on this one is literally: 'angels are bad news'.

35. And if their aversion is grievous unto thee, then, if thou canst, seek a way down into the earth or a ladder unto the sky that thou mayst bring unto them a portent (to convince them all)! - If Allah willed, He could have brought them all together to the guidance - So be not thou among the foolish ones.

Again, probably not what the point of this ayah is, but I can't help but be reminded of the story of John he Baptist being hidden from Herod and Jacob's ladder.

The story of John the Baptist in extra-Biblical, taken from the Protoevangelium of James:

22. And when Herod knew that he had been mocked by the Magi, in a rage he sent murderers, saying to them: Slay the children from two years old and under. And Mary, having heard that the children were being killed, was afraid, and took the infant and swaddled Him, and put Him into an ox-stall. And Elizabeth, having heard that they were searching for John, took him and went up into the hill-country, and kept looking where to conceal him. And there was no place of concealment. And Elizabeth, groaning with a loud voice, says: O mountain of God, receive mother and child. And immediately the mountain was cleft, and received her. And a light shone about them, for an angel of the Lord was with them, watching over them.

And I think we're all familiar with Jacob's ladder, but just in case you're not:

¹⁰ Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ He ^[a]came to ^[b]a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it ^[c]under his head, and lay down in that place. ¹² He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And behold, the Lord stood ^[d]above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your ^[e]descendants. ¹⁴ Your ^[f]descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will ^[g]spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your ^[h]descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have ^[i]promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
¹⁸ So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put ^[j]under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place ^[k]Bethel; however, ^[l]previously the name of the city had been Luz. ²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I ^[m]take, and will give me ^[n]food to eat and garments to wear, ²¹ and I return to my father’s house in ^[o]safety, then the Lord will be my God. ²² This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Though I have to admit that as a child, picturing angels climbing up and down a ladder seemed utterly ridiculous to me. Of course now I imagine it was more like a staircase. *Much* more logical. :)

46. Say: Have ye imagined, if Allah should take away your hearing and your sight and seal your hearts, Who is the Allah Who could restore it to you save Allah? See how We display the revelations unto them! Yet still they turn away.

I should probably just title this post: Amber reading meaning that was probably not the intent of the author or the meaning anyone else sees in this. Reading this ayah all I could think about was Jesus' healings in the Gospels. He restored sight, the ability to walk, he healed diseases, he brought the dead back to life. All things that belong to the realm of God, right? And yet Jesus did them. I understand, the argument could be made that God did these things *through* Jesus the prophet. That it wasn't *Jesus* who did the healing, but God and Jesus was just the point man, so to speak. But on the other hand, assuming the position that Jesus is God, then the healings only go to prove that point.

Or at least those were the thoughts I had when reading this ayah. Again, my blog, I do what I want.

74 - 82: (Remember) when Abraham said unto his father Azar: Takest thou idols for gods? Lo! I see thee and thy folk in error manifest. Thus did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he might be of those possessing certainty: When the night grew dark upon him he beheld a star. He said: This is my Lord. But when it set, he said: I love not things that set. And when he saw the moon uprising, he exclaimed: This is my Lord. But when it set, he said: Unless my Lord guide me, I surely shall become one of the folk who are astray. And when he saw the sun uprising, he cried: This is my Lord! This is greater! And when it set he exclaimed: O my people! Lo! I am free from all that ye associate (with Him). Lo! I have turned my face toward Him Who created the heavens and the earth, as one by nature upright, and I am not of the idolaters.

His people argued with him. He said: Dispute ye with me concerning Allah when He hath guided me? I fear not at all that which ye set up beside Him unless my Lord willeth aught. My Lord includeth all things in His knowledge. Will ye not then remember? How should I fear that which ye set up beside Him, when ye fear not to set up beside Allah that for which He hath revealed unto you no warrant? Which of the two factions hath more right to safety? (Answer me that) if ye have knowledge. Those who believe and obscure not their belief by wrongdoing, theirs is safety; and they are rightly guided.

I don't know why, but this passage struck me as strange. All this emphasis, in conversations, is placed on following the faith of Abraham. Abraham the father of monotheism. But I read this and I just...it just makes Abraham seem kind of silly to me. He worships the first neat thing he sees, and then when it proves to not be eternal or to change or what have you, he casts it aside and worships the next neat thing until he runs out of things. Or maybe I'm just reading it funny.

Do any of you have thoughts on this?

112. Thus have We appointed unto every prophet an adversary - devils of humankind and jinn who inspire in one another plausible discourse through guile. If thy Lord willed, they would not do so; so leave them alone with their devising;

I found this one interesting as it sort of works with my personal theory on the devil which is that he's just a guy doing his job. Free will is all well and good but unless you have *options*, what do you do with it? How can you choose 'right' when there's no 'wrong' to contrast it to? My Dad has this thing where he talks about how lucky we are to be living when and where we are. He talks about how miserable he'd be in a time without internet or power or clean water, etc. And he just doesn't get it (I think) when I point out that it's only because we can see the difference between the two times/places that we think we'd be miserable. If we were born in the 1500s we'd be as happy or as unhappy as anyone else in the time period had the chance to be. We wouldn't be mourning for our lack of satellite tv because we wouldn't know it existed in the future. You can't mourn or make choices between things that you don't know! 

And so, yes. This is a post of general rambling that has, I fear, very little to do with the actual content or intent of the surah.

I never said I was good at this stuff!

ARQ Project: Surah an-Nisa

In which it is all about the women. So there. Let's get right into this.

2. Give orphans what is theirs and do not substitute your worthless things for their good ones, and do not devour their substance along with your own, for verily it is a great sin.

Let me just say how amused I am reading this first ayah. Not that it's a silly ayah or unimportant, because I think it is very important that people who have charge of orphans who come with, perhaps, an inheritance that you are keeping in trust for them not treat that trust ad though it belongs to you. It's not yours. What I find amusing is the mental image I get of someone dividing things into two piles, the orphans' belongings and the guardians, and going, 'Your shit', pointing to one pile, 'Not your shit.' and pointing to the orphans' things. Could just be a me thing though.

3. If you fear that you cannot act justly among orphans, then marry women who seem good to you, two or three or four, and if you fear that you shall not deal justly (with many), then (marry) only one, or whom your right hands have acquired; that is more proper for you else you should err.

Okay, at first I read this and I thought that it was telling the men to marry the orphans, and that was giving me issues because I picture orphans as like...Little Orphan Annie, you know? Definitely not marrying material. Then I was typing it out for the post and I had this thought: what if it's just saying, if you become responsible for an orphan and oh don't think that oh can act 'justly' which I assume means keeping up your responsibility to not touch use their shit like it's yours, then get married and our wife/wives will keep you on line. Slacker.

Also, *points up* I know that technically the Qur'an allows for polygamy, so does the Bible, I don't care what oh say about Jesus changing that, unless you can point me to where Jesus (or one of the prophets speaking for God) specifically says 'One wife at a time.' then polygamy is still on the Biblical table. But. There's a very important caveat up there; 'if you feel that you shall not deal justly (with many), then (marry) only one' - it goes on about 'right hand possessions' but since we all agree that slavery is *wrong*, we're not going to go there. No one should have slaves anymore, but you could maybe have multiple wives (or spouses). The idea being, to my mind, that it's permissible/allowed for someone to have more than one wife but *only* if they can deal justly (fairly) with all of them. This comes back later, so just keep it in mind.

4. Give women their dowry freely (without any) restraint; but if they of their own accord are pleased to give up to you anything thereof, then (you may) spend it with pleasure (and it shall be) wholesome (to you).

Womens' money/property is theirs, not their husbands. If the women decide to share it or to put in for expenses, then that's their business. But it doesn't automatically become the husbands' property once they marry. Just...throwing that out there.

5. Do not give away your property which God has made for you (a means) for sustenance to the weak-minded, but maintain them therewith, and clothe them, and speak to them with words of kindness and counsel.

So I have a question about the above ayah. Does anyone else think that it's referring to dependents who are never going to be mentally mature? People with Down's Syndrome, for example, or similar conditions. 

Inheritance laws are covered in ayah 11 and 12. Here's an accurate visual representation of my face reading these: @.@ I hate math. Maybe that's my problem. I start reading about half of this and one eighth of that and I start going LALALALALAAAAAAAAA until the numbers stop. Does anyone understand the inheritance laws set out in the Qur'an in a way that they can explain them to me? Fractions man. Fractions.

15. As to those who are guilty of lewdness among your women, bring four witnesses against them from among yourselves, and if they bear witness, confine them to their houses till death takes them away or God makes some way for them.

What's the definition of 'lewdness' here? When I hear 'lewdness' I think of flashers, maybe, or people having sex in public. Both are 'lewd' behaviors in my mind. And they get, I guess it sounds like permanent house arrest here.

18. Repentance is not for those who (continue to) do evil until, when death comes to one of them, he says: "Now surely I repent," nor for those who die unbelievers; these are they for whom We have prepared a grievous torment.

So no death bed conversions in Islam? Or just no converting because of fear of death maybe. I would assume that someone who converted shortly before their death, through sincere reasons that had nothing to do with being afraid of death, their belief would be accepted.

The 'no fly zones':

22. Do not marry women whom your fathers had married, except what has already passed, for it is shameful and abominable and an evil way. 23. Forbidden to you are your mothers, daughters, sisters, paternal aunts and maternal aunts, the daughters of your sister, your foster-mothers and your foster-sisters, the mothers of your wives, and your stepdaughters in your guardianship (born) of your wives to whom you have had cohabitation-but if you have not cohabited with them, it shall not be a sin on you (to marry them) - and the wives of your sons who are of your own loins, and that you combine two sisters (at one and the same time in wedlock), except what has already passed; God is Forgiving, Merciful. 24. All protected (married) women (are forbidden unto you) save those whom your right hand possesses. (This is) God's written guidance to you. Other women are lawful for you, provided that you seek them with (dowries from) your own property, taking them honorably, not in debauchery. Those whom you marry for a fixed period of time (i.e. in mut'a), give them their dowries, and there is no blame on you concerning whatever you mutually agree after what is appointed. Verily, God is all-Knowing, Wise.

I actually have a question only about a short part of the next ayah, but I don't want to not quote the whole thing:

25. Whoever of you does not have enough means to marry believing women, then (let him marry) from among those whom your right hands possess (slaves or captives) from among your believing maidens; God has full knowledge of your faith. You are one from the other, so marry them, with the permission of their masters, and give them their dowries justly, being chaste, not committing lewdness, nor receiving lovers (secretly), and after they are protected (in wedlock), if they are proved guilty of lewdness, then on them shall be half the punishment (prescribed) for free women. This is permission for him among you who fears falling into evil; and that you show self-restraint is better for you, and God is Forgiving, Merciful.

My question is about the half-punishment for married slave women. From earlier, the punishment for wives caught in lewdness is house arrest until their death (or until God finds another path for them, which I'm not sure what that means). So what would half of that be? House arrest for half their life?

31. If you avoid the great sins which you are forbidden, We will remit from you your misdeeds, and We will admit you into Paradise, an honorable place it is indeed.

I read this as saying if you manage to avoid the Big Sins (like shirk, I assume), then God will forgive you any minor sins that you haven't repented of/made amends for.

32. Do not covet that whereby God has raised some of you above others; for men shall have the benefit of what they earn, and women shall have the benefit of what they earn, and ask God of His Grace; surely God knows all things.

Women keep what they earn. It does not automatically become the property of their husband. Which is an attitude that I have seen in certain extreme Christian groups, by the way. And it used to be the law of the land. Women belonged to their husbands (and by 'land' I mean the US just so you don't get confused) and everything that they made belonged to their husbands.

34. Men have authority over women on account of that with which God has caused one of them to excel over the other, and for what they spend of their sustenance; therefore, righteous women are obedient, guarding the unperceivable just as God has guarded. As for whose whose disloyalty you fear, admonish them, then keep away from them in bed, then beat them (lightly), and if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; God is ever-High, ever-Great.

In the first part of this ayah we have the 'reason' that men are in authority is because God has said so. But a part of that is that they're responsible for the upkeep of their household - they have to pay for everything and their wives can have jobs and earn money and they don't have to contribute any of that money to the house. So in appreciation of the men running and paying for everything, women aren't pains in the asses and guard what God would have them guard. The...sanctity of the house, maybe? Like the story of Ishmael's wives?

As for the beating (lightly). Well. No. I'm reading that as a time/culture thing because you don't beat your wife. Not ever. Not anymore. And I guarantee you, any husband of mine ever tries to beat me he's not going to wake up the next morning. I have Strong Feelings about abuse, okay?

36. Worship God and do not associate anything with Him, and do good deeds to your parents, kinsfolk, orphans, the needy, the close neighbor and the neighbor who is a stranger, to a companion by your side and to the wayfarer, and to that whom your right hands possess; surely God does not love the proud, the boastful.

I read this as something similar to the lesson learned in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Do good deeds for *everyone*, not just the people nearest to your heart or your geography.

48. Verily God does not forgive that anything is associated with Him, but He forgives what is besides that to whomsoever He pleases, and whoever associates anything with God has indeed committed a great sin.

What about people who don't realize that they're associating anything with God? In the Islamic viewpoint Trinitarian Christians are associating partners with God which, according to this verse, is something God does not forgive. But if you speak to Trinitarians they believe that the three Persons make up One God and so to their minds there are no 'partners' with God, just God. So would God forgive people like that if they realize their error do you think?

129. You will never be able to do justice between your wives, even though you may be intent (on it), so do not turn away (from a woman) altogether, so as to leave her (as if it were) hanging (in the air), and if you effect a reconciliation and guard yourselves (against evil), verily, God is oft-Forgiving, Merciful.

Remember above, in ayah 3, where it said you can marry up to four but only if you can deal 'justly' with all of them? Boom. You can't. So it's probably better to only marry one. But the Qur'an, or at least my reading of this, doesn't want these men to just abandon wives once they realize this which is what I see with the whole 'don't turn away from them altogether' part here.

Okay, I'm doing a bad thing by pulling out just one ayah out of a section but:

156. And for their disbelief, and for their utterance of a grievous calumny against Mary;

I'm wondering what the 'grievous calumny' is here. The ayah before it is talking about the Jews' hearts being covered  and breaking their covenants and the ayah after it is talking about them claiming to have killed Jesus when they really didn't because God didn't allow it. I'm not seeing the calumny against Mary in those.

And that's what I've got for this surah. Any thoughts? Questions? Things I missed or didn't address?