1. 'men who celebrate the praises of God, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth (with the thought): 'our lord! not for naught hast thou created (all) this! glory to thee! [surah al-'imran, 191]
2. 'if the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than wold the words of my lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid.' [surah al kahf, 109]
3. Allah talks a lot about those who barter eternal peace in al-akhirah for the illusions of the dunya. i am intrigued by the merchant/trader language. He even talks about the 'miserable profit' (2:174) -- 'those who purchase unbelief at the price of faith, not the least harm will they do to God, but they will have a grevious punishment.' (3:177), '...and vile was the price for which they did sell their souls, if they knew!' (2:102), 'there are the people who buy the life of this world at the price of the hereafter; their penalty should not be lightened, nor shall they be helped' (2:86), 'and believe in what i reveal, confirming the revelation which is with you, and be not the first to reject faith therein, nor sell my signs for a small price; and fear me, and me alone.' (2:41), 'these are they who have bartered guidance for error: but their trafic is profitless, and they have lost true direction.' (2:16)
today, where everything has become commodified, even prayer (buy a prayer) and spirituality, the notion of bartering and profit within the practice of religion carries even more meaning. maybe at a mere semantics level, i am curious as to why Allah used the merchant metaphor to articulate the chose of dunya over akhirah.
4. 'so also did we show abraham the power and the laws of the heavens and the earth, that he might (with understanding) have certitude. when the night covered him over, he saw a star: he said: "this is my lord." but when it set, he said: "i love not those that set." when he saw the moon rising in splendour, he said: "this is my lord." but when the moon set, he said: "unless my lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray." when he saw the sun rising in splendour, he said: "this is my lord; this is the greatest (of all)." but when the sun set, he said: "o my people! i am indeed free from your (guilt) of giving partners to Allah. "for me, i have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall i give partners to Allah."' [surah al anaam 75-79]
from a july 26 facebook posting: after watching the sunset yesterday i reflected on how Allah creates so much beauty. i am just a humbled witness to all of this. i spent about 10 minutes earlier in day watching an ant carry it's tiny body across my hands. with all this beauty we at times fall into error. we begin to worship the beauty itself rather than the He who created such beauty.
5. iftar tonight--low on protein so i had some ahi ahi fish. it didn't taste very good, but at least i got a protein boost.
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