Related Posts

Religious Pop Art

Yousuf Saeed has posted a web page of his work on Islamic[ate] pop art in South Asia. He’s got a really good write-up with fantastic examples. Spend some time poke around. It’s an interesting discussion about the localization of universal aspects of Islam to a new cultural reality. From the site: Although most Muslim posters available in India portray the shrines at Mecca and Medina or the Quranic verses in calligraphy, one can also find the portraits of local saints, their tombs, and the miracles, represented as vividly as in a typical Hindu mythological scene. It is important to explore…

Tweeting the #Quran 2013/1434 #ttQuran

Ramadan is back and it snuck up on me this year. It has already started for some folk. Time to talk about tweeting the Qur'an again. Previous years' thoughts and rules: Traditionally, Muslims read the Qur'an in its entirety over this time, in a section a day. The Qur'an is split into thirty sections, called juz', and one section is read each night. This year, I have been thinking it would be fun to tweet the Qur'an for Ramadan. Coincidentally, Shavuot came, and several people I follow on Twitter tweeted the Torah. Since that experience seemed to be successful, it further cemented my…

Rabbi, please continue to teach

Rachel does it again. I’ve been sitting on this post for too long. The Islamic tradition, according to Qur’anic injunction (17:78-79), is for three times prayer, dawn, just before sunset and just after sunset. And of course, many Muslims have seen the little prayer books for the pre-anything prayers, including going to the bathroom. Recently found one for a dua to say before having sex. Who says we’re a repressed people? Rachel’s post, and the obvious similarities to Muslim traditions, got me thinking about the meaning of ritual. The idea of using a symbolic language, in this instance ritual, is…