Thinking and Un-thinking [Part 2]

A continuation on the essay from where we left off last time. This is the final part!

***

This question of infinite-within-finite is something that had boggled me…It is something that mathematics had explored through the elementary concept of integration (summing up an infinite number of parts to arrive at a finite value rather than an infinite one). Thinking un-mathematically about the idea, however, is one way that one can easily hit the idea of God; borrowing from the spirit of the First Cause argument or (its derivative) the Kalam Cosmological Argument. Consider this: If we are to assume that there is an infinite number of experiences available in the universe, and if we follow the definition of ‘mind’ as a finite concept capable of understanding and evaluating an infinite number of possibilities for thought and feeling, then it follows that there must be one mind capable of registering all those experiences. In other words, it is logical to conclude that all the possible thoughts and experiences can be put in one particular mindset. And if we are ever to find a human with such a mind, it would follow that this human’s mind is infinite. The premise we’re making here is that it’s impossible to find a human with such a nature, since human minds are finite (as previously proven). Therefore, such a being would not be human. If that being exists, that being is God.

Which brings us to another question: Does God approve of cogito, ergo sum? In other words; is God’s existence similar to our limited understanding of ourselves; as beings with certainty in existence of our own minds, and uncertainty in our conceptions of ourselves and our physical appearance? To put it in more simpler terms, I guess the question we should ask for is: How does God see Himself? Such a perception is more religious than theological; it is something we should consider in the context of one’s own belief system. For example; Catholics will tell you that God (the Father) perceives of Himself and that perception is the Son; the love and connection between the Son and the Father is the Holy Spirit. Which would naturally give God a Trinitarian nature; a fundamental theological movement of mainstream Christianity. Muslims will tell you God perceives of Himself as the ultimate existence. By ‘ultimate existence’ we mean the only certain existence in mindset and physicality. Any other being is incapable of having such a certainty in both elements of mindset and physicality; according to the infamous cogito, ergo sum.

So it would be interesting to explore this Muslim side of things and allow the reader to observe how it can differ from other theological approaches in different religions in substance and thought. The Qura’n states in its Arabic form:
وسع كل شيئ علما
“..all things He comprehends in His knowledge.”
God’s omniscience is stressed on many other locations in the Qura’n including in Surat Al-Ana’am [Cattle / Chapter 6] verse 59:
وَعِنْدَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ لا يَعْلَمُهَا إِلَّا هُوَ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِنْ وَرَقَةٍ إِلَّا يَعْلَمُهَا وَلا حَبَّةٍ فِي ظُلُمَاتِ الأَرْضِ وَلا رَطْبٍ وَلا يَابِسٍ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ
“With Him are the keys of the unseen, the treasures that none knoweth but He. He knoweth whatever there is on the earth and in the sea. Not a leaf doth fall but with His knowledge: there is not a grain in the darkness (or depths) of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered), but is (inscribed) in a record clear (to those who can read).”
…and in Surat Taha [Ta-Ha / Chapter 20] in verse 7:
يعلم السر و أخفى
“…He knoweth what is secret and what is yet more hidden.”

A central part of the Islamic perception of God would be the question: Is God’s omniscience a condition for his omnipotence? In other words, does God have to know how to be omnipotent in order to be omnipotent or do we have to consider these two attributes on completely different grounds? We can say that God’s omnipotence depends on His knowledge of how to be omnipotent. However, we are forced to equally say that God’s omniscience depends on His power to become omniscient. It would seem that the two arguments circulate around themselves, which is true. It, therefore, follows that God is omnipotent if and only if He is omniscient; each implies the other from the pair of arguments we just talked about.

The moral of the story would be that, in terms of the Islamic perception of God, a question of ‘how’ or ‘what’ with a being with omnipotence and omniscience would be redundant. The omniscience answers the ‘what’ and the omnipotence answers the ‘how’. However, neither attributes fully describe the ‘why’. This is the most meaningful question of all. As Stephen Hawking would put it; if we somehow reach a complete theory of physical sciences, we would be able to take part in answering a question that had only been answered by religious belief: why is it that we and the universe exist. And, still quoting Hawking here, if we can answer that question, we would have reached the mind of God. This is true in every sense; it is only through omniscience of all physical sciences (through the complete theory proposed by Hawking and, before him, Albert Einstein) of the world around us that we can ever hope to comprehend the reasons the Creator would offer for His choices.

I say, ‘hope to comprehend’, because, even then, we would not be as sure. As you can see, cogito, ergo sum goes in and spoils all the fun! The complete theory would be our basis of understanding the physical world around us; a world of which we are philosophically unsure of even existing in its current physical form. So, modestly adding to Professor Hawking’s thoughts, we can say that a complete theory would give us a complete perception of our physical world and why it exists as we currently perceive it. We would know a little bit about how God thinks, yes. It still remains open to debate whether another perception of the world exists or not; and until all questions of different perceptions are covered through a complete theory; it would seem rather snobbish to say that we would know the mind of God any time before that. In fact, saying that we will never reach the mind of God is optimistic when compared to the reality of the matter: that we are logically incapable of understanding the mind of God. Our mind is bound, as we explored before, incapable of picturing another perception than what it receives from external stimuli. This idea, seemingly dark and almost illogical to the atheist is a source of hope and peace to the religious in its inherent simplicity. And while the atheist may call it madness; the religious preserve another word for it: belief.

Thinking and Un-thinking [Part 1]

This is the first part of an essay I've been working on that's purely just a bunch of ramblings on various matters!

***

I always liked Descartes. As a seventh-grader with a passion for math, you cannot help liking the guy who thought of the rectangular coordinates…And for a period of time, I actually thought about the whole cogito, ergo sum thing. On first read, the exotic Latin words that literally translate to, ‘I think, therefore I exist’ are so hugely interesting that you cannot help but accept them as fact. You are enchanted by their simplicity and their beauty and the way they seem to circulate around themselves to bring you to the ultimate conclusion that perhaps the world is not so futile, after all. Maybe we really do exist. When I first read the cogito, ergo sum argument; I thought: This is it! This is the peak of philosophy…Of course; I realized later that I was just scratching the surface. Not to mention, very far from what the idea of cogito, ergo sum really stood for.

I’m not a philosopher…I cannot look at things and try to think of hidden and simple meanings behind them. I have never read a novel and thought deeper than the events embedded within it; and I don’t read your average, page-turner, thrillers either. I yawn while reading criticism of other people’s work and I am easily bored by philosophical evaluations of anything I ever write. I never write to exemplify philosophy or my method of thinking…I write because writing is a knack. I have come to a point where I had given up on really ever thinking philosophically about anything and therefore have adapted a much more comfortable position: to say my opinion in what other people claim is philosophy. Ignorant and surrendering as it is; I think that’s one way you can think productively without getting a headache.

Perhaps the cornerstone of all Western philosophy is the argument we’re facing now: I think, therefore I exist. A common misunderstanding that you will get from most people is this: So cogito, ergo sum just means that you most definitely exist in your current way and form if you’re thinking about your own existence. No, that’s not it. You think in your dreams, does that mean your dreams, in their entirety, exist outside of your own mind? No. Similarly, the fact that you’re thinking now simply means that your own conscious mind exists; and nothing else. It does not say your physical existence is a certainty. Your mind is the part of you concerned with thinking; to Descartes it is the ultimate fact that it does exist. He is, given just the cogito, ergo sum approach, unsure about anything else. To put it in simpler terms: Given that a ‘part of you’ exists, cannot, be used as proper evidence that ‘you’ exist… This is as illogical as generalizing that an entire class knows Spanish because one student can speak the language.

But, to me, the deep question was never whether my mind existed or not; but that (provided that it does exist) what is the nature of its existence? What is so special about my own mind that it has no problem in understanding the mathematical concept of infinity when it is, as it stands, bounded to an end one day or the other? And if all things are bounded to an end, why is it impossible for my mind (as it exists) to perceive its own end? The true paradox, to me, was this: Within finite time and space, my own mind (the one sure element of my existence, as Descartes would put it) is subject to an infinite number of possibilities of learning, achievement and thought. Hauntingly similar to the dichotomy problem that the Greek philosopher Zeno presented thousands of years ago; the thought was a little interesting.

And if we argue that my mind is infinite since the ‘mind’, as we perceive it, is a purely conceptual idea then how can one tackle the fact that my mind (given its infinite possibilities and assumed infinite existence) is also bound by bounds of irreversibility? In the same way that an irreversible chemical reaction can never be reversed; my mind can have an infinite number of possible things to think about yet it is unable to do the expected opposing natural process; that is to consciously un-think anything. In fact, my mind cannot easily define such an activity and if you ask anyone (including yourself) what they can tell you about ‘un-thinking’, they will usually just say they have no idea what you’re talking about. This means that not only is my mind bound on the axes of space and time, but that it is also bound in the conception of its most fundamental process: thinking. It, thus, goes without saying that your mind cannot be infinite.

To be continued inshAllah...

Until then,
Take care and check this out if you have not already!

God bless!

Zeno's Paradoxes

I don't remember blogging about them...But they are quite an interesting way to fire you up into logical thinking and the border between mathematics and philosophy. I think a paradox lies at the heart of that, really...It starts out in mathematics and ends in philosophy. A lot of math does that.

Take the time to read more on this set of ancient paradoxes [that demonstrate the wonders in simple actions] on Wikipedia here...My favorite is the dichotomy problem!

Sometime I'm going to reach the exact half of this post [in word count]; perhaps I already did. If I did, then I must have covered a quarter of it earlier. If I had then I must have covered one-eighth of it earlier; if I did I must have covered one-sixteenth of it earlier and so on...Which means by the end of this post; I would have finished doing a seemingly finite task (in terms of time) in a number of infinite sub-tasks. 'How can that be possible?' is the question the dichotomy problem asks.

Some other things I've been reading into just today that may also be of interest [if you're a fan of hashing and hashing algorithms]:
The Birthday Problem
Merkle-Damgard Construction.

If you have any advice to start me up in the right direction when it comes to learning more about hashing algorithms, methods and programming, I'd appreciate the information!

God bless and check this if you have not already.

Chicken Ala Carte [Short Movie]

8. And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive,-
9. (Saying),"We feed you for the sake of Allah alone: no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks.
10. "We only fear a Day of distressful Wrath from the side of our Lord."
11. But Allah will deliver them from the evil of that Day, and will shed over them a Light of Beauty and (blissful) Joy.
12. And because they were patient and constant, He will reward them with a Garden and (garments of) silk.

--Surat Al-Insan (Man / Chapter 76), verse 8-12.

Watch this short movie with your hearts before your eyes. Those might be the most moving 6 minutes of your life...



I think it's not enough to be 'just moved' by this movie.

At least, appreciate the blessing you are in and think a thousand times before throwing leftover food into the garbage next time you're done eating. And next time you sit in the food court, think of all the people at the backs of restaurants waiting for the garbage cans to fill up. If they are not in this food court, they're in some other food court around the world!

Until we meet later,
God bless and check this if you have not already!

Ibn Al-Haitham's Billiard Problem

Perhaps my first science-oriented post on the blog, so here I go!

Today I present you with a problem and leave you with the task of attempting to understand [and search for] the rather complex underlying solution.

Because this is one of the easiest problems to state and one of the simplest looking ones; I chose to put it here. The problem was, originally, proposed by Ptolemy [a Roman-Egyptian by the way and who died in my city, Alexandria!] and discussed [in the context of optics] by Muslim scientist Ibn Al-Haitham (Latin: Alhazen) [who also lived a part of his life in Egypt!] who is often called the father of optics. Because Ibn Al-Haitham stressed himself out so much over this particular problem in his writings, it eventually became known as Alhazen's Billiard Problem or Alhazen's Problem.

Ibn Al-Haitham's contributions to the understanding of the nature of vision and his experimental verification that light traveled in straight rays were some of the earliest explorations in what later came to be called the scientific method (briefly: the idea of observing, developing hypotheses, experimentation of the hypotheses and developing conclusions).

Enough babbling then, to the [modernized] statement of the problem:

Given a circular billiard table, find the point on the circular edge at which the cue ball must be aimed in order to strike the edge once before rebounding to strike another ball at another given point.

Simple enough, eh? In a circle, draw an isosceles triangle whose legs pass through two points inside the circle. Good luck doing it with a compass and a pencil though! Alright, that was mean...The solution starts with the word 'Neumann'. Now time for your own research!

Until we meet later,
God bless and don't forget to check this if you haven't already!

P.S: My interest in Ibn Al-Haytham, though I was interested in him a long time ago, was revived through watching an episode of Ahmed Al-Shekeiry's Khawatir [Season 6] that spoke of Ibn Al-Haytham's experimentation with the idea of imaging.

Time To Get Better!

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

--Goethe [legendary German poet]

So what's the plan? The plan is to change individuals, that's the plan. The world is moving fast. And you can't stand still and watch. You have to take part. And soon. Before somebody takes your part for you.

So all you have to do is this...A promise to yourself that every single day you will do two things:

1) You will learn something new and useful to you.

2) You will do something useful to your society.

Easy! This second one: It can be anything...You can just remove a stone from the pavement or give some money to the poor or help a child cross the street or pick up a wrapper from the ground. It can be anything. And learning something new can't be that hard...In effect, the total time for both things over the length of your day will end up being a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. Tiny teeny bit, really.

The plan is that things will start to get addictive...You will find learning one thing isn't enough for a day. And doing one useful thing isn't enough either. Hopefully. This is what we're working for! And this is to myself, before it is to anybody!

If you're joining in on this simple pact with yourself, make sure you leave me a message in the comments! I need the encouragement!

God bless!

The Science & Art of Qira'a: An Introduction (3)

Welcome, everyone, again, and I apologize for being late this time in posting as I have been a little too occupied with all the matters of college registration, a horrible case of paratyphoid fever/possibly just flu and an external course I am currently attending. However, I think I remember where we left off and where we should pick up today.

So the question we were trying to answer was: How come there are different readings of the Qura'n in the first place? Being Muslim, most Muslims are accustomed to hearing something of the following:

Christian books were from God but are now distorted. Human hands have tempered with it to the extent that if you pick up two Bibles, you might find so many differences between them. Even affecting meaning. And look at our Qura'n, alhamduli-Allah [thanks to Allah], if you pick up any two Qura'ns from anywhere around the world, they will read the same to the last letter, subhan Allah.

Well you now should know better than to listen idly to someone saying that! You can come back and strongly. And I'm saying this not because I'm a Christian-apologist or that I 'like Christians' but because I believe that Muslims must understand their religion. The above is not an animosity towards Christians as much as it is ignorance of one's own holy book, the Holy Qura'n, its methods of reading and the science we're introducing here.

So now, back to our topic. A hadith you will find rendered by many qari's and teachers in the science of qira'a:

The Qura'n was delivered on 'seven letters' and so read what you can of it.

The hadith is recorded in Sahih of Imam Muslim and in other Sahih books of hadith. The hadith is used to identify with the existence of readers [all relevant to the prophet PBUH] but certain scientists on the matter believe that to be not true. Certain explanations go as such: The idea was the the Qura'n was delivered in the different accents of the Arabs and their tribes [seven at time of delivery], including Quraysh [the prophet PBUH's tribe]. When Uthman-bin-Affan (May Allah Be Pleased With Him) later gathered it then, he gathered it on the letter of Quraysh and the readings we have today are on this letter of Quraysh.

Imams agree that differences exist between readings that will affect both pronunciation and meaning in certain cases. This is nothing to be ashamed of as a Muslim but something to be proud of. Many Muslims believe this verse of the Qura'n:

9. We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).

which is from Surat Al-Hijr (Chapter 15), to mean that Allah SWT has already revealed to us the way in which He will guard it from corruption, i.e: through two copies of the Qura'n not being different, etc. Of course, that is a little ignorant and naive. God works in ways above us and in ways we cannot, should not and will never understand.

So conclusion: This is a matter of religion and something you should be proud of knowing and understanding [I know I don't get all of it] not something that should cause or rise to doubts.

Simple differences are easy to spot of course. If you ever prayed behind an Imam reading with the reading of Warsh-An-Nafei then you will listen to him reading the common 'Malik yawmo el deen' in the Fatiha (Chapter 1 of the Qura'n) as 'Malk yawmo el deen'. Differences, of course, go deeper than that and can reach a complete change of word.

Now another issue in the science of qira'a is the science of makam. What is a makam? This article here will shed much better light on the matter than I can. Suffice to say, a makam is an essential tool for many readers including many many many of the Egyptian greats. Some common makams:
-Nahwand.
-Bayati.
-Saba.
-Ajam.
-Seeka.
-Rast.
-Kurd.
-Hijaz.

Word has it the total number extends to 400 or more makams! So what's the use of this to reading the Qura'n, you ask? Well: Imagine being able to manipulate your voice to fit particular verses with particular tones to instill the meaning deeper in the listener. This is what a makam is capable to present to its fair and intricate practitioner. It's a valuable tool used by many but also disliked by many who think it a new and unprecedented matter in religion and that, therefore, should be fought. Since our purpose is knowledge, we will mention it, however as it is part of the reading culture of today to a large extent, especially within Egypt.

Sheikh Mishary-bin-Rashid Al-Efassy displays his skills with some of the common makams:


Dr. Ahmad Ne'eina displays some makams on the same Surah:


Until we meet later, take care of yourself!

God bless!

The Science & Art of Qira'a: An Introduction (2)

Eid Mubarak to everyone! The first day of the Hijri [Islamic lunar calendar] month of Shawwal is tomorrow inshAllah, may this Eid be an occasion of happiness and joy for everyone reading this, Ameen.

Continuing on where we left last time, we will first start by mentioning the explanations of two terms we had left for further explanation on the last post; tawator and ijaza.

-Tawator: The process of 'tawator' is the process whereby the Holy Qura'n was transferred to us through this day and is still being transferred to further generations. It goes without saying that the main issue is not preserving the Qura'n on paper but to preserve it in the hearts and minds of those who memorize it. For this reason, there are many people who memorize the Qura'n (in any of one of the aforementioned qira'as) and who carry it to future generations. Tawator is a simple idea: Suppose that I, a new qari, will learn how to the entire memorized Qura'n from someone who learned it and memorized it already. The sheikh who teaches me has authority on his sheikh and that sheikh on his sheikh and so on until the lineage is related back to one of the ten readers and, thus, authentic to the prophet PBUH. This process of transfer of the Holy Qura'n from one authorized sheikh to another is referred to as tawator.

-Ijaza: Once a qari has finished memorizing and learning how to read the Qura'n on the hands of a sheikh, the sheikh will give him an 'ijaza' on that reading. Of course the sheikh already had an ijaza himself. So what is an ijaza? A certificate of authorization and allowance of a person to read the Holy Qura'n, that also relates the names of the chain of people that go back to the prophet PBUH in learning and reading the Qura'n on that particular reading. As you can see, gaining multiple ijazas sounds like a huge achievement requiring a lot of dedication and effort; and it actually is.

***

-Now, we will take a moment to understand different 'styles' of reciting the Holy Qura'n, also a fundamental part in the art of Qira'a. There are mainly three different 'styles' or [in Arabic] marateb al qira'a; those being:

1)Tahkeek [التحقيق]: This refers to reading the Qura'n with huge emphasis on every letter and in very slow speed to allow the reader to appreciate the meaning and truly feel it. This is a very famous method of recitation in Egypt and in many other countries but Egypt has been famous for it for generations. Readers who had read with tahkeek include Abdul-Basset-Abdul-Samad, Mostafa Ismaeel, Dr. Ahmad Ne'eina, all from Egypt, among others from Egypt and various parts of the world. An example video [of Surat Al-Duha (The Morning Hours/Chapter 93)] showing tahkeek is shown below, from the reading of Sheikh Abdul-Basset Abdul-Samad. Note the slow speed and the freedom in repetition of verses to emphasize meaning:



2) Hadr [الحدر]: This is the fastest method of reading the Qura'n. It does not focus on every word, let alone on every letter. It is very common in Saudi Arabia and the gulf countries. One of its famous practitioners is Sheikh Al-Sudais, from Saudi Arabia. Shown below is an example of this method of reading. Note the huge difference in speed, although it is the same Surah shown earlier:



3) Tadweer [التدوير]: This varies from hadr in the fact that it is a little slower than it and a little faster than tahkeek. Tadweer is one of the commonest methods of reading. It's not too fast and not too slow in its reading. An example (I think!) is shown below from Sheikh Mishary-bin-Rashed Al-Efasy:


NOTE: This is the only example where I cannot be sure exactly if this is tadweer or not. But it most probably is. And Allah knows best.
4) Tarteel [الترتيل]: The common factor of all readings; reading the Qura'n at regular speed with all rules of pronunciation and tilawa [a bit on the rules might be explained later] taken into account and satisfied.

The following video [in Arabic] is of Dr. Ahmad Ne'eina, a famous Egyptian qari, explaining the above methods and demonstrating them. The above four are just a variation of what is usually present. The actual number of types is usually in the range of three to five.


-A good question is: Which readings are common? The most common two readings are the rewaya of Haffs on the reading of Imam Aasem-Al-Koufey and the rewaya of Warsh on the reading of Imam Nafae-Al-Madani. The former is by far one of the most common, if not the most dominant reading of all. And Allah knows best. However, the remaining readings are known to various qari's around the world and to the people in charge of the science of qira'a; enough for all ten to be transferred through tawator. All ten readings are printed in various copies of the Holy Qura'n and can be easily found through a Google search and in various places around the world. Certain copies of the Holy Qura'n also come with the text of the Qura'n with a particular reading, and along the edges are the differences from the other readings.

Today's session was a short one and it might be our last. If there will ever be a next post I'll put in what I know on why and what are some of the common differences in the different readings of the Qura'n. For now I leave you with just a taste. Here is the same Surah we referred to earlier when explaining the different 'styles' of reading recited in two different readings [both by Sheikh Mishary-bin-Rashed Al-Efasy].

1) Reading of Imam Aasem Al-Koufey from the rewaya of Haffs:



2) Reading of Imam Hamza Al-Koufey from the rewaya of Khalaf:



Until our next meeting,
Take care and may Allah SWT bless anyone reading this, Ameen!

Eid Mubarak again!

The Science & Art of Qira'a: An Introduction (1)

So lately, I decided to read up a little on why the Qura'n had different sounds from different people! In fact, and this may be new information to many Muslims [including myself until very recently], different 'readings' of the Qura'n may have different wordings in different verses. This may and may not affect meaning, depending on the verse.

Since I wanted to keep a record of all I learned, I decided to share every bit of information I reached here. Most info. I got was through videos and articles and I begin here step-by-step just like I actually started. The information is organized in the form of short paragraphs for ease of viewing. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

NOTE: The information I share here takes in mind that some readers may not be familiar with the Arabic language terminology used and so there is some Arabic and lots of translation done as best as I could.

****

-First, we must understand what is meant by the Arabic words 'qira'a' and 'rewaya'. Dr. Ayman Roushdy Sowaid, a professor in the science of reading the Qura'n, explains:

"In the age of Tabe'een (literally translated as 'Followers' about the next few generations after the death of the prophet PBUH), there arose readers of the Qura'n. They were called readers (in Arabic qari and plural qora'a) not because they read the Qura'n in a method of their own invention but because each of them had an isnad (chain of narrators) up to the prophet PBUH on how to read the Qura'n. Therefore, much like the four famous Imams of the Sunni Sect (for those unaware; those are in historical order: Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafe'ei and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah be pleased with all of them), there arose ten readers of the Qura'n. Their readings were transferred to us through a process called tawator [explanation of this term follows later on] and those were the readings that were called The Ten Readings Transferred Through Tawator (in Arabic, Al-Qira'at Al-Ashr Al-Motwatera). "

Dr. Ayman is one of the most prominent names in the science of Qura'n reading and he also was a regular guest on a show that was concerned with the rules that the Qura'n should be recited with [ahkam al tilawa] on Ikra TV Channel.

He obtained his Ph.D in the Arabic Language from Um-ul-Qura University in KSA. He has 8 ijazat of the Holy Qura'n [the meaning of the word 'ijaza', plural 'ijazat', is explained later on. Suffice to say now that having one ijaza is considered an extremely high achievement in the life of a qari and is more than enough for many qari's].

-Each of the ten readers had a rawi (the ten we're talking about, each had two). In layman terms, a rawi, plural rowah, is a narrator who narrated the reading of that reader, not to the accuracy of a word but to that of a letter and the specific way it should be pronounced. The ten readers with their rawi's are as follows:

1) Imam Nafe'e Al-Madani with his rawi's Kaloon and Warsh.
2) Imam Ibn Katheer Al-Makkei with his rawi's Konbol and Al-Bezeyy.
3) Imam Abu Amr Al-Basrey with his rawi's Al-Doory and Al-Soosey.
4) Imam Ibn Aamer Al-Shamey with his rawi's Hisham and Ibn Thikwan.
5) Imam Aasem Al-Koufey with his rawi's Haffs and Sho'ba.
6) Imam Hamza Al-Koufey with his rawi's Khalaf and Khallad.
7) Imam Al-Kasa'ay Al-Koufey with his rawi's Abu-Al-Harith and Haffs-Al-Doory.
8) Imam Abu Ja'afar Al-Madani with his rawi's Ibn Wardan and Ibn Jamaz.
9) Imam Yacoub Al-Basrey with his rawi's Rowais and Rawh.
10) Imam Khalaf Al-Boghdadey with his rawi's Ishak and Idrees.
For more information on the above 10 Imams and their rawi's such as their full names and dates of death, etc. please check this link [English].

-A good question to ask at this point is: Did anyone else know any other reading? The answer is yes. At the time those ten readers appeared, different readings existed as well. However, because only those ten had authentic chains that go to the prophet PBUH, those were the ten that stayed and lingered to our present day. Any other reading that differs from those ten readings is reffered to as 'qira'a shatha' or 'weird/unauthorized reading'. I shall try to explain what I know of those in later posts inshAllah.

-How do the different readings differ? Well to start, we must understand that the smallest building block of the Qura'n is the letter. Again, in very simple terms, every Arabic letter [of a total of 28 letters] must have one of four 'movements' (in Arabic, harakat, singular haraka). Those being:
1) Fath...Adding the sound of the letter 'alef' ('ah') to the letter.
2) Kasr...Adding the sound of the letter 'ya' ('ee') to the letter.
3) Dam...Adding the sound of the letter 'waw' ('oo') to the letter.
4) Sukoon...Simply put: To pronounce the letter as it is with none of the above additions.

Of course a linguist would much better explain this than myself! Our current purpose, however, is the readings so we return to those:
The readings differ regularly in the pronunciations of the letters through the haraka. And frequently, we will also find variation in the letters themselves so that a letter present in a word in a verse in one reading will be replaced by a different letter in another. Or a letter is added, etc.

****

I will stop here today. I will continue inshAllah as soon as I find time and effort in me. On my next post, I will share some interesting videos to explain some more interesting concepts in the science of qira'a and continue from where we stopped. I will also try to share with you examples of the variations between different qira'as.

Until then, take care of yourself and may Allah SWT bless you!

Don't Let Barney...

...go gangsta on you.

Brought to my attention by UmK (whose blog Makorani you may find through my Blogs You Wanna Read list). Enjoy.

Five Nursery Rhymes That...

...can be horribly misunderstood.

Picked off my (two-year-old) nephew's nursery rhymes DVD, I present you with the five nursery rhymes titles that would sound twisted provided you have the right mindset. Let's get IMMATURE!

1) London's Burning.
Okay, first of all; how is that suitable material for kids? The city is burning. That's not a nursery rhyme tune. That's a 911 song.

2) Ride A Cock-Horse To Banbury Cross.
I'd...rather take the train?

3) On Top of Old Smokey.
I don't know who Old Smokey is but I' m pretty sure I don't want to be on top of him.

4) This Is The Way The Ladies Ride.
*giggles*

5) Boys and Girls Come Out to Play.
Sounds like something Freddie Krueger would say!

That's it for now, boys and girls!
Adios!

UNDERGROUND: Basata

Relying on such 'buried' talents as Hisham El Gokh and Khamis Ezz El Arab in their lyrics, with one of their hits authored by one of the masters of colloquial Egyptian poetry; Ahmad Fouad Negm; Basata proved one of the greatest acts that you may ever have to hear. The music is from the gut, the lyrics are from the heart and the feeling you get once you finish a Basata song is one that's very rare to find in any music scene...The feeling that only verbally translates to, 'I gotta hear this thing again'.

Basata's melodies are usually simple, fueled by simple beats and often coming from one of the most interesting musical minds of our age; Nabil Lahhoud who seems to be the godfather of the band. His daughter, Mareez Lahhoud is the lead vocalist and the one responsible for presenting most of the combined beauty of voice, lyric and music. She succeeds brilliantly. Basata chose two logos by the way to represent themselves and which, I think, represent them best. The first one is:

مزيــكا و غنا من هنــا
which roughly translates to:
'Music and song from here'

And the second one is:
هنغــــني للحب و الحاجات التــانية
which roughly translates to:
'We'll sing for love...And other things'

I leave you with one of Basata's most heart-breaking songs. Authored by Ahmad Fouad Negm ages ago (and sung by the late Sheikh Imam with his melody), this beautiful poem was re-composed and made to fit with Basata's beautiful musical style and structure. Enjoy!

Requesting Meaning!

So I need someone from Belad El Sham (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine) to explain the following Fairouz lyrics for me please =D

-Chalbeyya in 'El Bint El Chalebyya...3yonna lawzeyya'
..from El Bint El Chalebyya.

-Bosta in '3a hadeer el bosta...Kanet na2letna'
...from Hadeer El-Bosta.

-Day3et in 'Men day3et 7emlayeh 3a day3et tanoreen'
...from Hadeer El-Bosta.

-Tehdor in 'Tehdor 3'eneyyat'
...from Sahar El Layali.

-Malla in 'Keyfak enta...Malla enta'
...from Keyfak Enta.

-This sentence from Nasam 3alyna El Hawa:
في منتورة طاقة و صورة خدني لعندن يا هوا

I just don't get it!

-Fai in 'Yezra3 shams wa fai'
...from Sahar El Layali.

Thanks in advance to whomever can explain =D

UNDERGROUND: Black Theama

No more underground I guess...More 'over'-ground than ever now with their first album released. Black Theama represents everything I ever loved about the Egyptian underground music scene: the experimental-ism, the pure and un-electronic voices and the originality and crispness of the lyrics. The words you hear with Black Theama are so diverse, interesting and often surreal that at points; it doesn't feel like you're hearing a song at all but, quite literally, living it.

I'm addicted to particularly four songs of their album Bahar (Sailor). Those being: Zahmet El Metro (Crowded Subway), A'ol Ah (I Say Ah) and Ensan (Human Being). Of course, the major attraction to me was that the title did not include anything about loving, missing, kisses, hugs or leaving the ones you love. We sure got a whole load of that the last three or four decades.

More underground music bands will be covered in later posts...Well not exactly 'more', probably just two or three more. Here is a YT video of Black Theama's Zahmet El Metro...Possibly my favorite song of their album. The starting violin solo, the closing lines and the dreamy and vivid imagery involved in the lyrics are incredibly captivating. Enjoy!

Bel Alwan El Tabieyya (In Natural Colors) (2009)

Bel Alwan El Tabieyya is, by far, one of the strongest and most thought-provoking movies ever to come out of the Egyptian movie industry. Stylish in its direction and screenplay, the movie combines fast pace with deep, intricate ideas that pass swiftly in a scenery that is, at its heart, an ironic and heart-breaking caricature.

At the center of the film's plot is Yusuf, a high school boy whose mother screams and wails when he receives the news that he will study art and not medicine in university. He's talented and innocent and communicates with God at many points in the film. In the faculty, Yusuf is shocked. His professors ask him and the students to draw nude models in the name of learning. Disgusted, he returns back to God. He asks for His forgiveness and asks Him to guide him to use his talent in useful ways. He tells God he will never do this madness again..."Except this year because it has year work marks", he adds shamefully.

Yusuf's idea of God as we begin the movie is a very superficial one. He sees God as a dictator ready to punish at any time and we sense that he worships God out of fear, rather than love or honesty. He expects God to constantly answer him, to guide him and he is not aware that God sometimes likes to give him the steering wheel over his own life.

Yusuf is tormented and lost by the meaning of life. He cannot find truth anywhere and everywhere he looks, he sees faces that are as fake as the ones in his paintings. He sees faculty members that are not ready to teach and students who are not willing to learn. He sees contradictions on every turn and extremes on every way. Even the love of his life goes from one extreme to the other. All this happens in such an interesting pace and supported by surreal characters that seem to haunt Yusuf rather than help him on his path towards redemption.

What Yusuf realizes at the end of the movie is profound and interesting. As he paints his interpretation of The Divine Comedy for his graduation project, Yusuf explains that God's Hell would not be a physically tormenting one but the idea of simply being away from God...Of being away from all His love and kindness is the true torment of Hell. On the other hand, being close to God and His love is the true blessing of Heaven. This is simply one of the many many many questions and views that the movie asks and promotes.

I had my jaw dropped as I watched Bel Alwan El Tabieyya since I just could not believe the smoothness and beauty of the cinematography and the intricate way the scenes are filmed to the psychedelic and addictive music of Soap Kills. Arabic movie buff or not (I know I'm not!), you should watch this movie soon; you won't regret it.

Luxor, Aswan, Matrouh...

...and an upcoming trip to Hurghada! All this summer! After four fascinating days in Luxor, Edfou, Komombo and Aswan, I returned to the modernistic, busy, uninteresting (but internet-supported) Alexandria!

I got about 600+ photos in between Luxor, Aswan, Edfou, Komombo and Aswan, most of em of things I sadly don't even remember what they really were. Sadly (that's the second sadly), all of em are too big to attach here!

I leave in a couple of days to Hurghada...Red Sea awesomeness and absolute relaxation! Can't wait!

Have fun people!

Shoutbox Locked

Due to some moron who keeps coming here and posting under my nickname; the shoutbox was locked. For the same reason and just in case, I'm disabling unauthorized comments.

Sorry folks if anyone was offended by that idiot.

Peace,

Hey Jude - The Beatles

"And any time you feel the pain,
Hey Jude, refrain,
Don't carry the world upon your shoulder.
For well you know that it's a fool,
Who plays it cool,
By making his world a little colder"

I was reminded of this a couple of days ago by a friend of mine. It's a beautiful and energizing Beatles song that seems to rise in spirit as it progresses.

It sums up everything great about The Beatles: the energy, the charisma, the vision of making rock music and the astounding beauty and mainstream-ness of the music produced. This is purely McCartney so far as I understand and it's something I've always enjoyed listening to when I was down. Not down now but I still love listening to it! Enjoy!

Aranda - The Post-Grunge Revolution

There was always something rather demeaning about the word 'post-grunge'. To me it always rung like, 'just after grunge but not as good'. It definitely IS good. The beauty in post-grunge is usually in the challenge of making something that sounds mainstream while still maintaining the spirit of hard rock from which the genre derives its taste and originality.

Bands like Creed, The Foo Fighters, Shinedown and Seether have always managed to impress me with heart-felt performances and dedicated music. One of the most recent post-grunge bands that came to my attention lately was Aranda.

With a rather talented lead vocalist and rather energizing angry music; I think those guys will enjoy immense success with their next few albums.

My favorites from their only album:

Happy Sham-El-Nasim

To all our Christian brothers and sisters: Happy Easter!
To all Egyptians: Happy Sham-el-Nasim.

And some may ask: The hell is Sham-el-Nasim? A little background: Sham-el-Nasim is an ancient celebration in Egypt that has been celebrated in Egypt for more than 5000 years. The ancient Egyptians believed that was the day creation began and the word Sham-El-Nasim is derived from the hieroglyphic shamo meaning the revival of life. When Christianity entered Egypt, Sham-el-Nasim was a day after Easter and thus, while today is Easter, tomorrow is Sham-el-Nasim, a national holiday in all of Egypt and the day Egyptians decide is the beginning of summer! It's a symbol of life and freshness and one of my favorite days of the year!

So...Go paint your eggs, eat salted feseekh (if you're Egyptian enough you'd know there's no such thing as salted feseekh! It's already salted!) and have fun!

Cheers,