Qur'an recitation

Hey Ms.. Prueitt here's my second post.

    In class I thought it was interesting that a lot of people were critical of little kids memorizing the Qur'an when they had no idea what thy were saying. I take the opposite stance on this, I believe Qur'an recitations can be beneficial whether you understand them or not. We talked about how emotions are transcendental in our recent term paper and I don't see any better example of this than with Qur'an recitations. I have no idea what any of the people in the video were saying when they were reciting the Qur'an, however I could just feel that it was important. It didn't matter what the words meant it only mattered what I felt when I heard them. To me it's like music. Everyday we hear music where we have no idea what the lyrics are however they still evoke emotion within us. I mean what are the guys  from Nirvana saying in "smells like teen spirit"? The answer doesn't matter! It's the tone of the song that makes it powerful regardless of the lyrics. So in my opinion the little kids are closer to child singer than tools of religious brainwashing. This is where I believe the contents of the documentary are more disturbing. Many of these father, although the documentary is clearly slanted, come off as middle eastern Joe Jackson's forcing their children into entertainment regardless of whether they want to or not. Now I realize much of this attitude may be culture based, however I still believe it's wrong to force little kids into a career before they are old enough to experience what the world has to offer. In my opinion the parents, especially the fathers, are in the wrong. However I do acknowledge that Qur'an recitations are a means to a better life for many of these kids and being forced into these recitations may ultimately benefit them in the long run. It's a matter of pros and cons and in the case of the winners of the competition the pros seem to outweigh the cons, but for many other kids I believe the opposite it most likely true.

Modern Times, Modern Qur'an

"There is a growing interest in the active roles and significance of scriptural texts in the years and centuries after original appearance and codification or canonization," (Graham 2)

The International Quran Reading Competition was started in the 60s, a micro year compared to the Qur'an's birth in 609 CE. This quote resonated in me because of a similar topic we had in my other south Asian class. Closer observations of sacred text and more traditional ways of observation have become the method of practicing and demonstrating one's devotion. The president of Maldives made this observation and used the example of women's clothes changing over the years to more conservative dress. Everyone had their versions of their Qur'an and what it means to observe the Qur'an properly.

"From the historian's perspective, the scarcity or holiness of a book is not an a priori attribute of a text but one that is realized historically in the life of communities who respond to it as something sacred of holy," (Graham 5).

The Qur'an is not just a religious text, as mentioned by the 'tv personality'. It is a guide for how to to behave, conduct meetings, act in marriage, etc. From the very beginning the Qur'an was communicated verbally. This is part of it's identity. The fluctuations are the most important part of the interpretations. It is interesting that this has become one of the most important aspects to religion versus understanding it thoroughly. It is hard to believe that one can extract from the text the full message when one does not know Arabic  A lot of key lessons can get lost in translation and yet a wrong pronunciation or a shorten sound seems to be a worse offense .

Lack of Meaning

In the documentary Koran by Heart, 110 people from around the world meet in Cairo, Egypt to compete in the world's oldest Koran recitation contest.  In these recitations, the perfection of rhythm, sound, vowel stress, and rules of tajweed are a key to success.  Why are understanding and analysis not other praised achievements when it comes to mastering the Koran?  Blind recitation trumps comprehension as recitation is, "one of the most venerated activities within Islamic culture and civilization" (Sells 162).

In the movie, the head of the competition repeats that the enemies of Islam, or those who commit crimes in the name of the Koran, misinterpret the word of God.  It is obviously wrong to practice violence, but how can they be blamed?  If the Koran is only read for its sound, and the meaning is rarely understood or discussed, ignorant practice is inevitable.  How is reading any text substantial if you don't have they slightest clue what you are saying?  The "word of God" is simply wasted if it is just "heard" and not acknowledged.  Religious war in the Middle East cannot ever be expected to cease as long as, "the written word of its scripture has always been secondary to a strong tradition of oral transmission" (Graham 79).

     What I enjoyed in the secularization reading was the talk about just how diverse Islam is but how knowledge of this diversity "may not be widespread" (Ramadan, 69).  I agree with the author's comments on how 9/11 caused a lot of grouping of all Muslims as radical extremists and how that is unjust.  Being Jewish, I've seen similar grouping myself.  A lot of people from regions with not many Jews picture all of them as crazy orthodox practitioners and tend to be surprised when they find out my religion.  Such "oversimplification is as dangerous as it frequent" (Ramadan, 69).  The way I see it is that religion is like a language.  While the main group is somewhat similar, everywhere you go there are always unique dialects.  Being able to connect to the text in this way was refreshing and I feel that increasing thought like that would lead to a much more understanding society.

Memorizing sacred texts

Having a contest where Muslims who don’t speak Arabic, memorize the Qur’an first appeared to be pointless. The participants were asked a question in which they had to recite the Qur’an verbatim. In order to receive full points during the competition, they had to properly pronounce each word, as well as, use certain vocal regions to express certain words. Reading Islam and the Arab Awakening has bought to life that certain sacred text’s original medium of expression was oral. Therefore, there are some aspects of the text that are best left orally transmitted. This helped me to recognize the necessity of reciting the Qur’an. Now I believe that it is necessary to send out a reciter when distributing copies of the Qur’an. I say this because the pronunciation seems to be what unifies the Muslim community. Often times, it is how the Muslim learns what is exactly mentioned in the Qur’an (and is able to recount it) as well and the interpretive meaning. Also, Islam and the Arab Awakening reminded me that there are many illiterate societies. Through oral transmission, an illiterate person can recognize the aesthetics of the text from the tajwid and attempt to memorize it. I have also recognized that oral transmission of a sacred text can bring a community together, as opposed to just an individual scholarship that brings revelations to just him or herself.  

The Vacuum of Faith

Sure, the sounds of Qur’anic recitation are mellifluous. Many of the holy book’s suras teach the ways by which Muslims may follow an ethical path. But what disturbs me about Koran by Heart is a quandary that plagues religious communities worldwide.

Nabiollah is virtually illiterate in his native Tunisian. His Qur’anic education has almost entirely subverted any secular knowledge he may have picked up. As the film progresses and Nabiollah impresses the panel of judges at the recitation competition, we learn that he doesn’t even speak Arabic. It seems safe to assume that he doesn’t speak ancient Arabic, either. He has solely been memorizing sounds and vocables which, outside of their obvious euphony, are bereft of any real meaning.

Sells confirms this problem: “In traditional Islamic cultures, children begin their primary education by learning to recite the short suras of the Qur’an,” he writes. (Sells  162) I’ve met rabbis who are fluent in Talmudic and biblical grammatical forms – ancient Hebraic and Aramaic roots and words – but can barely manage to put together a coherent email in modern American English. Admittedly, and thankfully, these rabbinic figures devote their lives to preaching the morals and pedagogic narratives of the Torah. But this notion propagates another a challenging issue: their students, seven and eight-year-old kids who will soon be twenty, thirty, and fifty-year old adults, can recite archaic Jewish statutes but are cripplingly inept in real-world, tangible activity.

These issues are accentuated and become even more problematic when religious and faith-based organizations find themselves deeply, often controversially rooted in ancient social norms that compel them to make decisions that are bizarre and downright unethical in modern society. When a church prohibits its employees access to free or subsidized birth control, citing obsolete biblical edicts, the holy nature of these texts aren’t meshing with modernity; they are fundamentally undermining the evolution of a just and moral society.

So I suppose that the problem is two-fold: on one level, students of religious texts – in this case, of the Qur’an – are simply being coached and immersed in an empty craft. The craft is, in some respects, just a string of sounds. And on another, more disturbing level: often, when religious texts are being taught complete with their morals, they are being taught independent of supplemental secular material. Living in an entirely religious vacuum seems unbefitting of those who are interested in comprehensive intellectual or social engagement.

Thoughts? Rebuttals?

reflection

The Quran is a crucial and central book in Islamic society as a guide for Muslims. Thus, performing the call to prayer is the most venerated act within the Islamic civilization; the ability to recite various sutras demonstrates one’s faith and reflects one’s religious identity. Tajwid, the Quaranic rules and standards of recitations, allows the reader to illicit aesthetic experience through its rhythm. According to Sells, the Quran’s literary and rhythmic qualities are “inherent quality of the text itself rather than superimposed musical ornamentations.” The text itself flows easily. I was very shocked at how these children from the movie were taught to memorize the Quran without understanding the meaning behind the text. Recitation of Quran, which is a reflection of one’s faith, creates a textual harmonics that creates emotional upbringings, but not understanding the meaning of Quran leads me to think that this kind of recitation is superficial. Only taught to memorize the physical nature of Quran, the speech and tajwid, the children are missing the point of the competition, which is to promote the understanding of Quran.

Knowing Without Understanding

 The film, Koran By Heart, showed me how important  quranic recitation is to the practice of Islam. The sells reading stressed the importance of tajwid, or reciting the qur'an, and how it is vitally important to correctly pronounce and sing the text in order to gain a greater emotional connection. Sells stresses the importance of precise rhythm and tone, and even states on page 164 that "sound and meaning are intertwined."I found this to be quite interesting, especially in relation to the documentary. In the documentary, recitation becomes almost like an obsession to not only to the participants, but also to  many muslims. I did not know how to feel about this, especially since I received the impression that some fundamentalists put a greater emphasis on recitation than understanding what the verse actually says. While the Sells reading stresses the idea that recitation is key to gaining an emotional connection to the text, the film showed that it can also overwhelm the balanced nature of the islamic tradition. It  shows this to the extreme. In the film, many of the participants, including the little boys from Tajikistan and Senegal, that they already are masters of recitation, but still cannot read their native arabic, and in the case of the child from Tajikistan, cannot even read his home language. This scared me in the sense that I began to understand the roots of islamic fundamentalism, which is a key overtone throughout the documentary. Even the minister of islamic affairs mentioned the ongoing struggle between religious fundamentalists and moderates. Today, this is even more relevant, with the ongoing struggle in Egypt between the Muslim Brotherhood and the more moderate political factions. I found the documentary to be a wonderful example of how something so important to any religion can be turned into something that can influence and manipulate people into forgetting the real reasons for belief.

Andrew

Improvisation in Qur'anic recitation

First of all, I really, really enjoyed the documentary we watched in class on Tuesday. I found it to be a very insightful look into the importance of Qur'anic recitation (as we have learned through our readings in Sells' Approaching the Qur'an).

What interests me most about Qur'anic recitation is the practice of tajwid - I find the codification of how one must pronounce various syllables (and so on) very interesting. And, as we have witnessed through the documentary on Tuesday, it makes for an enchanting and hauntingly beautiful style of recitation. I am rather curious about the improvisation apparent in individual recitations of the Qur'an. As I believe I heard while watching the documentary, each and every person improvises the melody they use (while, of course, following tajwid). To me, this seems as if it would make each person's recitation deeply personal - the melody "comes" to the person as they recite, almost making eaching person "one" with the text. Thus, wouldn't recitation be the ultimate way of understanding and incorporating the Qur'an into one's religious life? As Sells discusses in his text, the harmony and musical quality of the recitation almost gives "emotional coloring" to the meaning of the texts and the act recitation itself.

Anne Reynolds

Reflection

I absolutely loved "Koran by Heart." I was so surprised by the fact that most of the competitors are not even fluent in Arabic, but think it is a true testament to their faith and devotion. It's sort of hard for me to refer to what these performances are "recitations" because for me the implication of that word is reading, but what the Qur'anic reciters perform is music. The melodies and passion in their voices are absolutely beautiful. Music is an integral part of religion because when a person uses his/her voice to connect to whatever God they are worshiping, it makes the experience much more in depth. In Arabic the vowels define what the word means and so in recitation how long sounds are dragged out for are crucial to the meaning of the sura. Sells describes how the combinations of words and vowels "create a textual harmonics of sound figures that emotional, semantic, and gendered implications."

I think another important part of the movie was when the official from the competition was expressing his views on how the fundamentalist Islamic groups outshine the moderats and make the entire religion look bad. I feel like in America it is almost taboo to even express the slightest sympathy towards Islaman. Do you all think that over time this stigmatism will intensify or become less of an issue?

Finding the Balance

As seen through the documentary "Koran by Heart," it is extremely clear to see the immense role the Qur'an and Islam play in the life of many of its followers. Many times I have heard Islam being described as not only a religion, but a lifestyle. Even Sells comments that in matters of faith, the Qur'an is able to draw "people out of their Everest preoccupation to matters of ultimate concern." However, I feel that it is important to again leave all avenues of interpretation open when focusing on the Qur'an. In the documentary, it was apparent that many of the contestants had memorized the Qur'an for the sake of memorization, not for understanding. While memorizing the Qur'an in its entirety is an astounding and noteworthy feat, what exactly does it accomplish if the reciter does not even know what they are saying? 
One of the fundamental teaching of the Qur'an is balance, balance between dinn and duniya, or the spiritual and the material. Similarly, I believe a balance between tajwid and an understanding of that tajwid is extremely vital. The best comparison I can think of would be surgery (it's a stretch, but bear with me). Surgery can be extremely complicated, but after watching someone do it many times, one can attempt to recreate the movements. No matter how perfect the imitation is, no one would trust you to perform the surgery unless you actually understood the meaning and reasoning behind each incision, or in the context of recitation, the meaning of the Arabic. 

Memorizing the Qur'an

I never knew that a sacred text could hold so much meaning to life thousands of year after its relevance. The Qur'an is still very present in a Muslim's life - infact, it's more than just a religious text, it's a guide on how to live everyday life. In "Approaching the Qur'an," Sells describes the call to prayer as punctuating "daily life five times, drawing people out of their Everest preoccupation to matters of ultimate concern." If everyday, religious activities interrupted our activities, we'd have to always, constantly contemplating prayer, always thinking about Islam and the Quran.

In the HBO movie, it reiterated the importance of the Qur'an. From the age of 7 and up, children are taught to memorize the entire Qur'an. It becomes the sole lesson, even if the kids don't speak the language the Quran was written in. The movie includes a bit on how the 10 year olds boy's school was shut down from a government crackdown on extremist Islam. Now it was said in the movie because the boy performed so greatly at the competition, but I feel that the governments reasoning was solid. The teacher was only making the boys memorize the speech and "tajwid" ( the rules of recitation) but not the meaning of the Qur'an. The reason behind the Quran competition is to encourage the memorization of the Quran to understand and interpret it correctly. The religious conservatism plaguing the middle eastern world is because of the tainting of the Quran that Muslim leaders have instilled in their people by misinterpreting the Qur'an. In the film, the media personality says that all the problems are caused by people misusing the teachings of the Qur'an. So if the children of this generation are able to learn the entire Qur'an, perhaps they can correct the faults of the Islamic world.

Qur'anic Recitation: Tajwid

The Qur'an is the most precious and holy book of Islam. It is universally accepted by the Muslim ummah and often looked upon as the source of guidance, both religiously and materially. In many Muslim communities, it is very important to memorize the Qur'an at an early age. However, Sells emphasizes the importance of Qur'anic recitation in order to fully experience the holy text. Tajwid, or Qur'anic recitation allows the reader to connect to the text in an emotional way through its rhythm and methods of recitation. "Two of the most important effects governed by the rules of tajwid are extension (madd) and humming or nasalization (ghunna)" (Sells 163). These effects produce an emotion in the reader and help one emotionally connect with the words. (Sells 164). In the movie Koran by Heart when Nabiollah recited the verses from the Qur'an, one of the judges got very emotional showing the effect of the powerful text and tajwid. Hearing some of the verses was personally very touching. However, the Qur'an teaches to live a balanced material and spiritual life. Some of the children in the movie did not receive a proper education due to the time spent on memorizing the Qur'an. Another issue that I find with this practice is that many Muslims only memorize the Qur'an without knowing the meaning. Focusing on tajwid is important but one also has to gain an understanding of its meaning. Also, I found the film a bit irritating since it was making the beautiful art of tajwid a competition. Personally, I think that tajwid is extremely important; however, it is not something that should be practiced because of a competition or for glory. It is a personal connection that one has with the divine. Well, this is just my opinion. 

Lost Meaning

Yesterday's documentary Koran by Heart very much encompasses Sells's description of Qur'an recitation. By observing students all over the world reciting various sutras from the Qur'an, I could understand the concept behind the "...literary and rhythmic qualities of the text [being its] inherent quality"(Sells 162). The effect in which "sound and meaning are intertwined"(Sells 164), in my opinion, correlates with certain aspects of Indian aesthetics. Forms of art, in this case are passages from the Qur'an, have the capability to evoke certain rasas of wonder and intrigue which in effect "raises questions about the meaning of life...and sources of knowledge"( Sells 165). The reader's epiphany like experience results from far more than what is ready, but rather of how it is read. 

      The powerful "underlying sound vision"( Sells 164) plays a vital role in terms of comprehending the truth behind the sacred text of Islam. However, what good is a method of recitation if there lies a lack of literal understanding, a problem quite apparent in many students of the Qur'an reciting competition. The situation is far greater than not simply not knowing Arabic. The concerns lies within the effect on future generations and on the sacred text itself. Pure memorization loses its value if there is not basic understanding of language. Lack of language leads to lack on conceptual understanding. If a generation goes about learning by simply recalling verses, the subsequent generations will learn through the same method. As this goes on, the power within a sacred text diminishes. What its worth if its hidden meaning has been simply forgotten? Is society heading in this direction, and if so what role will sacred texts play in the future? Thoughts?

Free post!

Hi everyone!

I'm not feeling so hot this week, so I'm going to use my free post.

Mesmerizing the Koran

I had never before considered that there might be a competition for reciting the Koran. I cannot say that I was surprised to learn of one, but I do consider it ironic that a text emphasizing a personal connection to Allah can be placed under such judgment. To a certain degree the judges were exalting certain connections with the text and Allah over others, indicated by higher or lower scores.

I found the judges to be one of the most interesting parts of the competition. They were more emotional and compassionate than I would have imagined them. For instance, they allowed a flustered boy to recite the Koran in a prestigious mosque in Egypt and cried after one of the younger boys had a particularly beautiful recitation. This emotion demonstrates the power present in the Koran.

Additionally, I was intrigued that they were all Arabic speaking judges. One would presume that an international competition would have at least numerous multi-lingual translators if not judges from these other countries. In my opinion, this fact was a clear advantage for some contestants. However, it is presumably not necessary to understand Arabic in order to understand the Koran. An individual can connect with the Koran in other ways, especially sound. Sells addresses this point at some length in Approaching the Qur’an. He says:

“The point in presenting these commentaries is not that particular sounds have inherent meaning in themselves, but that the Qur’an shapes sounds into particularly powerful combination with meaning and feeling to create an effect in which sound and meaning are intertwined. Such combinations are not confined to a single word…rather, they cross the boundaries of words”  (164)

Sounds become a “powerful combination with meaning and feeling”. This mixture is possible for those who do not grasp Arabic to hear. By “cross(ing) the boundaries of words”, the message present in the sounds is possible for speakers of every language to grasp as long as they can listen to it.

I found even myself being drawn into the rhythmical chants of the Koran. I understand absolutely no Arabic, but I could feel the sentiment behind the words. There was a noticeable presence of a higher being.

Koranic Recitation: Obsession or passion?

I wasn’t quite sure how to react to Koran By Heart. The documentary certainly stirred up a plethora of powerful reactions for me: I was amazed at these children’s ability to memorize an entire book. I was in awe at the sheer beauty of the recitations. But I was admittedly very taken back by the extremism and single-minded view of some of the parents in the film. 

To be sure, I see nothing wrong with someone dedicating his or her entire life to Koranic recitation. If it makes you happy, brings you fulfillment, and that’s what you see value in, more power to you. However, I think a problem arises when young children are encouraged (and in some cases, as we saw, forced) to dedicate their lives to Koranic recitation at the expense of a comprehensive education and a well-balanced childhood.

Nabiollah was obviously a smart kid. Heck, he memorized the entire Koran, and he didn’t even speak Arabic. As Anna mentioned, he simply memorized the words and likely didn’t understand what they meant. This is a problem in and of itself, but I think the real problem is that he was illiterate because he was forced to spend all his time memorizing the Koran.

With that said, I must confess that the film did provide me with a better understanding of why the Koran has such a strong oral tradition; it truly is beautiful in its recitation. As Sells writes, “only God’s recitation could adequately enunciate its beauty and perfection” (145). Perhaps this is why these competitions exist: it’s a never-ending quest to come as close as possibly to replicating the beauty of God’s recitation.

On a related note, I think the fact that Quranic recitation is just as much about aesthetics (ie the rhythm and sound patterns) as the words themselves helps to answer a somewhat puzzling question: if revelation is transcendent, how can we describe it? Sells acknowledges this somewhat indirectly as he urges the reader to “imagine the effect of far deeper patterns extended through a sacred text that raises questions about the meaning of life, the source of life, the end of life, and the source of knowledge” (165). It’s interesting to see how it is not just Buddhism (note: the Vimalakirti) that makes use of aesthetics to help the reader have some sort of spiritual experience through a sacred text that elicits a powerful reaction (the image of one of the judges crying while listening to a recitation, for example). 

Confusion about Recitation

From watching the HBO documentary Koran by Heart, I found it interesting that the recitation of the Qu'ran could and has become such a science.  In Approaching the Qu'ran, Michael Sells constantly stresses the fact that Islam is a highly experiential religion because of the ritualized readings and recitations of the Qu'ran.  Much of the understanding of the text comes from hearing its original Arabic verses spoken aloud, recreating Allah's revelation of those very words to Muhammad. However, he doesn't really dwell on the subject of the conscientious, almost scrutinizing, obsession with the perfection of the recitation.

I thought about Christianity and how the majority of pastors and ministers I know read scripture out of the Bible.  There is no such culture (or competition) of memorization and perfect recitation of the Bible. However, it is easy to tell the difference between someone who is reading the Bible well and someone who is reading it poorly.  That is probably also the case with the Qu'ran. I was just a little surprised to see the tradition of the Qu'ran recitation competition, something that doesn't exist with any other religious text, being so particular about proper form and style when I had previously held the view that it was a more relaxed, all-inclusive practice.

Sells writes in his book that for some suras, like "The Sura of the Compassionate," "...only God's recitation could adequately enunciate its beauty and perfection." (Sells, 145)  I suppose the purpose of something like a Qu'ran recitation competition would be to find someone who comes closest to representing Allah's perfection of speech and tone.  However, this can be construed as a way to refine and diminish Allah's all-encompassing power, something Muslims and the Qu'ran are intent on not doing. Therefore, I am a bit confused about how the competition portrayed in Koran by Heart emerged out of and fits into the Islamic religion as we have studied it. Other than that, I found the movie thoroughly enjoyable and educational and I look forward to watching the rest in class tomorrow.

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I'm using my freebie this week because I have to battle the chem gods in my chem test tomorrow!!!!!!
I'll let you know if I come out alive.
Andie Belkoff

Cloud Atlas

    (clears throat) WHAT THE %$#@ DID I JUST WATCH?! I consider myself somewhat of a movie buff and I can't think of a single movie more epic than this one. It's like taking Blade Runner, Brave Heart, The Amistad, the Titanic, The Butterfly Effect, Walk the Line and Lethal Weapon and combining them all into nearly 3 hours of brilliance. Top this all off with three dimensional characters that must at one point or another confront their flaws due to the infinite continuity of the story and you get one of the better movies I've seen so far this year. During the first 20 minutes I was convinced that I had come in half way through the movie. The characters and story lines were flying by so fast that it was impossible to keep up with what was happening, however the individual story lines move slowly enough and connect with each other so effortlessly that by the end of the movie it is truly hard to be lost (even if you're watching the boot-legged version and can't understand a word future Tom Hanks and Halle Berry say). The acting in this movie is superb as well. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Jim Broadbent all put in above average performances. Jim Sturgess, the actor who played the main character in 21 and a someone I knew very little about before this movie, was so convincing in his different character roles throughout the movie that I found myself wondering if it was the same person at all.
     The movie portrays the concepts of Dharma, Karma, and reincarnation in a complicated yet easy to follow way. The story follows the sixmain characters through the past present and future. It shows how these people's Dharma are connected and how they interact through out history. The idea of Karma is summarized by the quote "by each crime and each crime we birth our future". The characters are shown to commit either acts of kindness of crime in their past lives and this all culminates toward their role in the inevitable future. The former slave owner is now an emperor, the abolitionist a revolutionary and the devoted wife a martyr clone. The idea of changing Dharma is also addressed in the movie.
     Tom Hanks was an extortionist in the past and is a chemist working for a corrupt oil company in the present. However when Halle Berry wanders into his office looking for proof that the oil company is behind planed decay of a nuclear powerplant he assists her in her quest. After helping her he says "yesterday I never would have believed what I did today. I feel like something important has happened to me." He goes on to be assassinated by the oil company, however in the future him and his daughter are the only ones in their village not murdered and he has approximately 50 children with Halle Berry.... sweet deal if you ask me.
    Reincarnation is portrayed as very empirical. The ideas and qualities that a person develops in a past life accumulate so that in the future you become the paradigm of your most abundant qualities, slave owner becomes evil emperor, abolitionist becomes the leader of the revolution, investigative journalist becomes investigative secret agent. The really interesting character is Tom Hanks. He was a coward in his past life and he is still a coward in the future. However by confronting his fatal flaw which manifests itself in the form of a monster eerily similar to Freddy Kruger, Tom Hanks saves himself and his daughter from murder and ultimately finds happiness.
    Cloud Atlas was a very good movie with complicated themes and deep character development, however there is a certain something keeping it from being a great movie. It's difficult to put into words however the mood of the movie never seems to capture that same feeling you get when you watch the StarWars or God Fathers of the world. Maybe it was due to the piece meal telling of the overall story or maybe it was due to the fury at which the stories sometimes fly at you. Whatever it was it was minuscule, because Cloud Atlas is one of the best movies I have seen all year. It is a very powerful, very intelligent, very well made movie it's just not great.

The Better Prize

            When reading Sells’ Approaching the Qur’an, the beauty and the power of the scripture when spoken in Arabic was mentioned frequently.  The oral tradition of this religious is always stressed.   In fact, “the written word of its scripture has always been secondary to a strong tradition of oral transmission and aural presence of scripture…” (Graham 1987: 79)  I never really grasped how the recitation of the Qur'an could differ to the oral readings of the Bible I listened to during church.  Well, Nabiollah provided me with a rude awakening.

            Koran by Heart is a documentary of a worldwide competition for the recitation of the Qur’an.  Nabiollah’s portion of the oral contest left me completely entranced (and many of the audience and judges).  I was in awe and captivated by every sound.  Now this is the compelling nature that Sells and Graham were describing.  I see why the Qur'an is meant to be communicated in the Arabic language.  There is a mysterious pull of the rhythm, pronunciation, and sounds that leave a listener captivated.  And the Holy Qur’an competition in Cairo brings students from ore than 70 students who share the same determination in perfecting the Islamic word.  However, I wonder if just memorization fully captures the Qur’an – the gap of comprehension still exists.

            Yes, Nabiollah’s voice was almost like an enchantment but he is almost illiterate.  Djamal cannot communicate in Arabic.  Other contestants are not well versed in the language as well.  They are simply memorizing but not understanding the religious text they rehearsed countless times.  This makes me wonder if they themselves truly grasp the words Mohammed heard from God.  I believe that the recitation of the Qur’an is rather empty and almost worthless when one does not know the meaning behind the words that are leaving his or her mouth.

            “From first to last the Koran is essentially a book to be heard, not read.” (Graham 1987: 80)  It is no doubt that the book is being heard, but in question is one’s true comprehension of this sacred book.  Memorizing 600 pages is an accomplishment.  Although, knowing and capturing the words in heart, body, and soul is definitely the better prize.

Free Post - Samie Park

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I would like to use my free post this week !
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Inaction as Action

I want to touch briefly on Arjuna and the Bhisma Parva, and the policy of inaction presented in the reading.

These ancient concepts that we find in archaic texts can sometimes slip into the depths of inaccessibility. I’d like to try to move us out of the broad, abstract, and merely theoretical, and into the realm of pragmatism and practicality. What does it mean for inaction to be a mechanism of real, substantive action?

Having grown up in a community and a family steeped in Jewish tradition, if my thoughts didn’t flash to the horrors of World War II. After the war, during the Nuremberg Trials and other judicial proceedings, European citizens who had been bystanders to the murders of Jews by the Nazi regime were prosecuted as war criminals.

Or take a more recent, far less extreme iteration of this idea: the Trayvon Martin case of earlier this year, that placed in the spotlight Florida’s “stand your ground law,” a rule that actually dictates that citizens must engage in inaction, a potent and effective form of action in cases of potential gun violence.

If I opt not to turn a paper in on time, I’m engaging in inaction, and accordingly engaging in an action whose consequences I will reap. Mahatma Gandhi utilized inaction as a powerful means of action in his many hunger strikes.

Just some thoughts.

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas...First of all..wow.
After watching the trailer and the fact that you wanted us to watch it did make me think that I would have to think deeply while watching the movie, but I didn't think it would be this crazy. I was mind blown by this movie; I'm writing this right after I got back from the movie so this is actually my initial reaction. I don't even know if it's a good mind blown or a bad mind blown but just simply mind blown...

The story is based on six different time periods. 1. about the time when slavery was prevalent 2. a time a little after that with a composer 3. about the 1970s with Halle Berry as a reporter 4. 2012 5. a future time period with Neo Seoul as the the setting and 6. a even more futuristic period with a valley tribe and cannibals. All these time periods are connected by characters and other small details. In the beginning of the movie, I was looking at the details for connections to the concepts that we learned about in class. But as I watched the movie more I realized that it was a much huger picture that and it wasn't about finding small details that related to the concepts we learned about.

I could summarize the movie here but that would just be pages and pages of words for I'll just think about a few themes that I thought about after I watched the whole movie. (There wasn't even time to think about stuff during the movie.)

One major theme that was probably the most obvious was reincarnation. The movie was built that one actor played multiple characters in different time periods. At first I didn't notice, but as the movie progressed I began to recognize the actors and actresses that would appear multiple times but as different people. If you think about each actor's characters in chronological order you can see that each character changes as a person in that they are either born as a very lowly person and reincarnates numerous times to become a high person in the end. Or the other way around a higher person continues to reincarnate to a lower person. I thought this was a theme that made the movie most interesting. I also think that this theme might be the main one that most people saw but I thought of some more.

At the end of the movie, the female clone character Somi 451, said something about how "from womb to tomb, our lives are not our own" and that we are all bounded to one another. This was how all the stories were connected because each decision that a character made in the past affected another character in the present and the future. Another way all the characters were connected was by pieces of writing which I thought was interesting because our class is based on sacred texts. Although the texts that connected all of them weren't religious or necessarily sacred, I wondered what the meaning behind the connection through the texts exactly was.

Another main theme in my opinion was about how important making decisions were. Each character made a decision that was highly unlikely such as the lawyer helping the stowaway slave or Tom Hanks helping Halle Berry even though he wasn't sure to trust her or not. These decisions aren't what most people would think to do but these risky decisions are what affect future generations.

The last thought that I had on the movie was that it seemed extremely open to interpretation, again related to Hermeneutics. I expected there to be a huge conclusion at the end that would tie it all together but there wasn't, meaning that the movie was open to any sort of interpretation. There are probably many more interpretations on this which made the movie even more crazy to me.

Honestly, I didn't know what the movie was about at all because the trailer really didn't show much. However, the movie shocked me and I am surprisingly intrigued by it. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get it out of my head for a while.....