poetry, limericks, literature
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Limericks to Engage the Faith-Based Mind: 2
Here are some more limericks highlighting, not just religious themes, but also faith-based conundrums and challenges (an earlier helping can be read here): I A hippy who was ever so calm, Thought that peace was the whole of Islam. His faith got derailed; God’s Oneness, he veiled; For a penny, he’ll now read your palm.… Continue reading
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Limericks to Engage the Faith-Based Mind: 1
Here are a collection of limericks, short and snappy, through which a variety of religious themes and faith-based issues are served-up as quirks, curiosities and, of course, food for thought: I A lad who watched Starsky & Hutch, Then got the Khawarij-like touch. As his raged unfurled, He said: ‘I must change the world. ‘I… Continue reading
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Hunger Games & Harmful Hopes
Poetry, it is said, is ‘the spontaneous overflow of powerful meanings.’ The following poem is no exception. For the poem speaks of a love beyond earthly love; of a deep yearning for what may soothe our sorrows. Though not at all religious, believers may uncover in the poem powerful symbols of religious sentiment: seekeing, yearning and a love sublimer than any… Continue reading
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Big Brother: Who Watches Who?
During the first half of the twentieth century, many books were written which warned about the dangers of giving the state control over new and powerful technologies. The nightmare visions of society these books conjured up have left an indelible mark upon our collective consciousness and subsequent social and historical development. George Orwell’s 1984, and Aldoux… Continue reading
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Going In Sorrow, But Not in Grief: Islam, Tolkien & Dying Well
It was the summer of 1979 that I visited the local Harrow Green library to borrow Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Around about four years earlier, over the course of a few months in morning assemblies, the head teacher of my primary school, one silver haired Mr. Smith, read to us Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I was expecting… Continue reading
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The Imortal “If”
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: ‘There is wisdom in poetry.’ [Bukhari, no.6145] He also said: ‘Poetry has the same status as prose – good poetry is like good prose, bad poetry is like bad prose.’ [Al-Daraqutni, no.495] That being said, the Sunnah cautions against over indulging in poetry, as per the following hadith: ‘It… Continue reading