Symbols in Islam

I know we are currently not studying Islam, but rather the Baha'i, but I figured that since the Baha'i came out of Islam, it is similar, so I looked up Yusef Islam's songs and found this one.



Though it mentions thoughts, people and actions more than specific symbols (such as the moon and star), these are symbols in their own right. Symbols can be not only actual items of religious importance, but rituals and belief can also be forms of symbols. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are recognizable because they so often go door to door the preach their word, this action is a symbol of their religion and their beliefs. Similarly, for Islam, the month and rituals of Ramadan are a symbol of the Muslim faith. The definition of s symbol is "something used to represent something else". Therefor, rituals can be interpreted to be symbols because rituals often are meant to signify something else. In some Christian faiths, on a certain day palm fronds are paraded through the church by children, this ritual is symbolic of the palms that were waved upon Jesus' entry to Jerusalem shortly before he was killed. Just as an item such as the Pentagram is symbolic of important parts of a certain religion (Wicca in this case), rituals and beliefs also can be symbols because they help to identify someone as part of that certain group or belief system. This, I think is one of the two primary reasons for symbols in religion: identification as part of that group, and representation of events or beliefs that are important to that faith. And rituals or actions and thoughts can certainly fit into these catagories because they can do either or both.

Yusef Islam's song is showing the different beliefs and things that are important to the Islamic faith, and through his music he points out these symbols and ties them into language and morality making them very much a part of every aspect of the life in this faith.

the journey of new faith

To quote Susan Sarandon's character sister Helen, when told she has powerful faith she replies "its not faith, its work". This seems to sum up quite nicely the way that different faiths seem to come about. It is no easy road to create a new religion, it takes time, patience, suffering and many other things.
The Baha'i faith takes the path of pretty much every religion in it's formation (at least that of those we have studied). I have read some other blogs already and they all mention the necessity of a charismatic leader, so I will try to focus on another aspect; the work it takes to form a religion. In the Baha'ullah biography, the inciting incident for the Baha'i faith appears to be the importance of the Bab, and the conversion of Baha'ullah. However, this is not a simple, easy transition to a different faith. The Bab had to be mixed with Islamic aspects to create new ideas of a life-way. The road to a religion is a long and hard one, it is extremely political, with the Baha'i and other faiths, because the state the people are in is religiously affiliated. It appears that every religion in its making was not accepted and its followers were persecuted, arrested and tortured, before something happened to make them a legitimate religion. (in this case, it was the joining of the Baha people under Baha'ullah).

So, like others have said, a charismatic leader is indeed essential, but religions come about slowly and their formation is often quite a political affair that takes perseverance and time.Faith is not faith (recognized and legitimate) until hard work has been put into it. The travails of the people who followed Baha'ullah, are fairly typical of any forming religion. This is due to the fact that most religions are a form of political statement (what the current government believes is wrong, here is what's right). Of course any power does not like being old that it is wrong, and religious uprisings can be dangerous to an administration because if there are too many followers, then the entire political system could change.
To conclude, the formation of any religion takes time and work and courage, and is almost always a political motion (whether it was meant to be or not.)

The Core

So, our mention of The Core church in Appleton made me want to find out more about just what the core is, so I went to their WEBSITE and found out some interesting things. The mission of the Core is to "transform lives for Christ through faith that is real, relevant, and relational." However, it does not come across as the upbeat, modern, contemporary church that I thought it would be. True, they do claim to have modern music, and their website's design resembles that of a rock band or TV show (such as Supernatural), but what was said regarding the church did not really address any other modern features such as cupholders, popcorn, or layout. Instead, they focused on somewhat traditional aspects, such as spreading the word and focusing in on Jesus' importance. While I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that, I was just surprised that there was not more of a new-agey vibe. I think perhaps it would be interesting to learn more about how this particular community that seems so focused on past events (aka Jesus) actually views and deals with the very modern aspects of their church. I have actually sent them an e-mail, asking something to the effect of how do they address this modernism and I hope to get a response soon! But in the meantime I can speculate and then compare my speculations to whatever response I get (if I receive one).
Perhaps, this church is not 'bringing the modern into their religion' (seeing a cupholder and somehow fitting it into their way of thinking), but it appears to be fitting their religion to the modern, by finding contemporary songs that express their religion and attempting to appeal to the younger generation by using modern website techniques to express themselves.This modernization would probably benefit them in the long run, as religions need to change and adapt with the times, but I am not sure how they are doing it. I look forward to learning more later, and will have a more clear idea of just what The Core is then.

Peace in Rastafarianism

After viewing the Rastafari video, I was struck by how structured the life was. In the readings and discussions, I got the impression that the Rastafari, while they did have traditions such as smoking Ganja, were a fairly loose, hippie sort of people. However, in the video they seemed similar to devout Muslims, in that they had gatherings for prayer or reflection several times a day, wore specific clothing such as the red turbans, and were focused on the homeland and their eventual return. They were not a group of wild hippies but instead they were a community brought together by symbols such as the red turban over dreadlocks. I noticed that the colors we discussed (green gold and red) were everywhere. The three were painted on houses, woven into flags or clothes, used to paint notices or biblical messages. Even mother nature joined in with yellowish earth, reddish tree bark and green leaves. This group of people living a fairly simplistic lifestyle seemed very at peace with their world. Brought together by their many many prayers and symbols, the community was tranquil. This was not expected by me, I pictured political turmoil, activism and outgoing ganja use, not his tropical, peaceful paradise.
Though, perhaps this community is fairly isolated as it is far up in the mountains and not near any sort of city. I am not well versed by any means in the ways of the Rastafari, but I assume that in more densely populated areas the observation of the Rasta faith would be different and perhaps more politically charged. As far as Bob Marley goes, it is difficult for me to picture the mountain people listening to his music, simply because it is more modern and requires electricity and his place did not seem to have that. I can see, the people perhaps learning of his music and attempting to replicate it themselves for its spiritual and aesthetic value. Again, I was most surprised by the spiritual peace of this people, they were nothing like the political uprisers that I pictured the Rastafarian to be (and I say all this not meaning to criticise any type of Rastafarian).

Big men

Here is something to listen to while you read. It also has some pretty cool Rastafarian-type pictures.


So, reading the Rastafarian book, the author mentioned Charisma and its effects quite a lot. I got to wondering, in many non-state societies there are people (usually men) who hold high prestige and have political power over several villages because they are considered 'big men'. It seems that one would want to be a 'big man' and have people look up to and respect you, however, a big man has nothing but prestige. He has no way to back his will other than with his charisma, also, in order to become a 'big man' one has to: give many gifts to people (to demonstrate wealth and generosity), do much work to show a good example (for, by showing what should be done by example, perhaps others will join in.) one also has to be continually trying to improve ones status and competing against others who also want to be 'big men'. Is this all really worth it? What benefits come out of being prestigious? Is it worth the sacrifices and work? True, one can try to influence other people, but to what end? I suppose the biggest reason for wanting to be influential is that one believes something needs to be changed or maintained and one wants to facilitate that. In the Rastafairan book, many of the leaders that were mentioned had something they wanted to accomplish, and to do so they needed more than just themselves. So to conclude, being a 'big man' is alot of work, but if one truly wants to change things, one will need to work hard and probably die tired, but they will have accomplished something they believed in.

The Queen of Sheba

In the Kebra Negast the Queen of Sheba is at first portrayed as beautiful, wise and wealthy. She hears about this wise king Solomon, sends a messenger and, after hearing great things, decides to visit him herself.
The Queen of Sheba represents Ethiopia (not metaphorically but rather a queen represents her country). She is powerful and wise (Solomon recognizes she is wise when she tells him that he is wise.) However, the queen falls. She is tricked and twisted into sleeping with Solomon and it is because of this perhaps that she says there will be no more queens to rule Ethiopia.
What does this say for the country? Well, first off, it puts the country in a good light femininely; that is, they have had a female ruler (and in fact, up to her ONLY queens could rule), therefore they are a step above the rest in terms of equality. But, the affair that the queen had with Solomon is troubling. Was this her fall from grace? She appears to be ashamed and says afterward that no woman may rule again. Perhaps because she was tricked into her disgrace, she wants to make sure that no ruler will ever be tricked in such a way again.
I personally was surprised to learn that Ethiopia was one of the first christian countries (and not colonized and converted). This reading also impressed me in it's conviction. It was not saying "you need to believe this or else" but rather, it was portraying this wise queen who found her way to a God and religion. Because she was so influential and intelligent, the realization that she goes through is very convincing. Perhaps it makes one also want to experience this amazing God.
Perhaps the biggest thing that makes the reading convincing was that all of her knowledge of this God came not from the God itself, but from a man. (A devious man but a man nonetheless). So, she did not have a supernatural experience, but instead was taught by a wise person. If a wise person says something (and his person is renowned for his/her wisdom) then it is far more believeable for the many than if one person claims to have heard a voice speak from a rock.

Metaphor, the elephant of religion

In the article on conceptual blending, Giles Fauconnier brings up two very interesting points that I would like to touch on. First, structure mapping, or simile and metaphor recognition and creation, is a way to construct meaning that we regularly take part in. This recognition of metaphor helps us to understand and make actions according to the world. In his use of the ski teachers advice on thinking of holding a tray of croissants and champagne in order to ski down a hill better, Fauconnier demonstrates the basics of this recognition and imagination. We constantly use this form of thinking to compare tasks to others (e.g. it's just like riding a bike, or, when a horse throws you off...). Second, he points out later in the chapter, that metaphor is not meant to be taken literally (this may be confusing and maybe I am using this assumption wrong but bear with me), that is, a metaphor is never perfect in every aspect. Much as the computer uses the shadow of things when you click and drag (a non-perfect metaphor) so do other metaphors (e.g. riding a bike, obviously it is not JUST like riding a bike). How does this relate to the bible, religion and St. Augustine? Well, in this excerpt from a question and answer session, Guy Consolmagno gives a bit of an explanation that I found fascinating.

Here is the clip



So, much like St. Augustine says, the bible (and indeed, this could be applied to other religious texts) is not meant to be taken literally, but rather figuratively. Still, the metaphors are not perfect, even they must be taken figuratively. Obviously, when the people of God are referred to as sheep, it does not mean that God shears them yearly, or slaughters them for meat, rather, one must find the most sensible meaning for this metaphor and only take that bit away from it. Religion is full of metaphor. This is largely due to it's need to reach people and to be interesting (poetry rather than textbook). Also, the use of metaphor in religion gives way to more deep and profound thinking and room for interpretation. If it is simply said "the people who are the followers of God will be kept safe" that is all well and good but does it not better grab your attention to say "You are my flock and I your shepherd. Follow me and I will guide you, I will keep the wolves from your backs and I will give you pen and sustenance"? This is a much more powerful statement. Even if this is not preferred because it is not as clear, and is perhaps therefor less sure; it can be interpreted to mean several different things (wolves could be other people, sins, travails etc.) and is therefor applicable to many situations and problems, making it more powerful and thought provoking (not to mention more elegant which goes into the whole 'elegance is the appearance of wiseness' that Augustine talks about). Lastly, metaphor makes religion more personal, instead of this overarching 'this is how it is' textbook style; metaphor brings religion down to earth and makes it open to each person's different interpretation cased on moods or feelings that change and shift as time progresses.

On a bit of a different note. Metaphor can be found everywhere. For me, it has always been something that is only found in poetry, or profound speaking or literature. But I realise that it can be found in virtually everything. (I was astonished by the computer analogy. I had never thought of computers as metaphor places). I do know, however, that there is a lot of speculation as to what is metaphor for what in different films. I enjoy very much contemplating this idea that films can be metaphors (often religious or political ones). I found this video while I was looking for the other one and I enjoyed it, it is a little basic but it brings the idea of metaphor and film to light.