grafstee 3
Once...
when Hz Abu Bakr as-Siddiq was the Khalifah...
Hz. Umar al-Faruq (RA) is saying, one day he saw that Hz. Abu Bakr was going somewhere, and he followed him from a distance. He saw Hz. Abu Bakr going to the outside of Madinah, stay in one tent for some time, and then leave.
When Hz. Umar asked permission to enter the tent, he saw an old blind woman who lived there with her two children. When he asked her, “who are you?”, she said, “I am an old blind lady and I live in this tent with my two daughters. Their father died and we have no support.”
Hz. Umar asked her, “do you know who that old man was who visited you?” And the blind woman said, “No. He is an old man who comes every day to sweep our tent, make our breakfast, and milk our goats.”
When Hz. Umar (RA) heard this, he started crying very hard and said, “you have burdened the Khalifas after you, ya Abu Bakr.” This is the Way of Siddik al-Akbar. But where can we learn this? Where can we live like this? Where can we find people to help?
The Ottoman Sultans used to pray, “Ya Rabbi, please let us always find people that we can give, that we can help.” Look at the wisdom, that they prayed for that, to always be able to help people. Because today, for so many, as our Sheykh is saying, that blessing is lost. That money is worthless.
grafstee 2
Without separating!
Saying “this is Jew, this is Christian, this is black, this is white, this is green, this is yellow.” In originality, we are all created from the same thing, we have the same material, same creation material. So Allah saying to us in the Holy Quran, “We have separated you in different nations, in different tribes, to go find one and each other, to learn from each other, to exchange, to learn, to improve yourself, to become better ones.”
To become better ones to the Divine service.
In reality, we are áll for Divine service.
We are not for our own service, our own ego’s service, but for the greater service. We have to be in His service, when we are in His service, that time, we will be able to look at His creatures, saying “this is His creature, my duty is to serve that creature. If I’m serving my Lord, my duty is to serve that creature.”
Our duty is to love each other as Insan, and to respect each other, respect each other’s rights. And learn how to know, how to communicate, how to love each other. When we learn how to love each other, then we will be able to reach to our Creator.”
Today, we live in a world that is even empty...
from the opportunity to make Hizmet from each other.
Why is this? Because in this country today, if you go and knock on your neighbor’s door and say, “can I come in and help you? Do you need anything?” They will call the police on you.
But Islam is saying, Tasawwuf is saying, our Sheykh is saying, put others before yourself. Put the needs of others before yourself. The Siddiki Way is saying, give everything in the Way of Allah and the Prophet.
grafstee 1
Humanity.
Being human. Understanding what is Hazreti Insan. All of mankind, from Muslims, to Christians, to Jews, to Hindus, to Buddhists, everyone has lost this today. Because they see human beings as having no value.
That is why they can invent weapons that can burn all of humanity in seconds. They are racing to build this up. That is why they can take humans and put them in camps and prisons to torture them and take away their dignity. That is why they can do every kind of zulm and cruelty without feeling anything in their hearts, and there are millions who support this.
Imams today are not teaching people how to be Insan. Scholars are not teaching it. Politicians and activists definitely they are not teaching it.
The only Path...
the only Way, the only Caravan that brings a man to the understanding of how to be-come Hazreti Insan is the Way of the Sheykhs. Not through books, or poetry, or memorizing sayings. It is by living the Way of Tarikat. It is by spending time in a Dergah. It is by making yourself a servant of the Servants of Allah.
As Sheykh Saadi (KS) is saying: “Without Hizmet-e-Khalq, without service of the creation, your ibadat [worship, service] means nothing. True ibadat is not in your tasbih [gebedssnoer], or in your sejjade [gebedskleed], or in wearing tattered [gescheurde] clothes.”
Sahib el-Sayf is speaking about how important this Hizmet-e-Khalq is to our faith, saying: Islam is founded on two principles - one is to learn how to worship your Lord. Second, learn to help and to reach His Creation. If the person does these two things, then he will reach to the highest stations.
donderdag 24 september 2020
al ben ik sluimerloos ik veins te slapen
opdat een droomgestalte van jou mijn droomgestalte vindt
en ik sluip tussen de tenten weg om heimelijk
en alleen mijn ziel over jou te vertellen
geduld? er is slechts één nacht voorbij -
zacht, mijn liefde, totdat nachten vervliegen
ik zie tijd en dagen vervliegen en tot een einde komen
maar jouw liefde groeit ononderbroken
madjnoen
(8e eeuw)
kalief 4
Allah (SWT) says that...
He does not change the condition of a people, until they change it themselves.
The condition of the Muslims was honorable and majestic. But the people wanted to become disgraceful and ashamed. So they ran to bring the Sultan down.
Seyh Efendi is saying:
When it came to Sultan Abdul Hamid Khan, he checked saying, “How many people, what’s the percentage that is uprising?” So Sultan Abdul Hamid looked, and he checked. He checked those nations that were under his ruling, and he saw that they were uprising. Against what? They said, “We want to be free.” Free means what? Without the laws of Allah.
He saw that these are the nations, this is how much percentage there are in each nation uprising, and Sultan Abdul Hamid sat and waited. He said to his people, “Don’t do anything.” The Generals said to him, “Oh Sultan, we have a big power. We have a big army. We can crush them down.”
He said, “No. All these soldiers who are with me, if one dies in this way then I will be very sorry in the Judgment Day. They should not. But they may become martyrs with me.” And they didn’t take military action. He didn’t use the army. He let them uprise.
They took him, they sent him to exile, and he died as a martyr too.”
Sultan el-Evliya is talking...
about what Sultan Abdul Hamid Han was going through, saying:
“One Sultan, who you threw out with all kind of accusations and still you accuse him - Sultan Abdul Hamid Han, Jennat mekan. One man alone, pay attention. On his own, for 40 years he ruled a country of 10 million square kilometers with justice - on his own for 40 years. In the end they had him dethroned by evil ones, who came and said to the Sultan: 'The people don’t want you'. And they dethroned him...
If he had wanted, he could have captured those people coming to him. But he knew, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, Innahu Hamidun Majid (11:73) Sadaqallahuladzim.
The Khilafat ends in the “Hamidun Majid” so he didn’t object.
He said “Ok, if people don’t want me, I leave. I leave it to the people”.
They captured Sultan Hamid, who was such a Sultan that he is a symbol of justice. They made him get on a train in Istanbul-the Salonica converts, the Bulgarian gypsies & some other shaytans. And they didn’t leave him in Istanbul. They took him to Salonica to insult him.
When he got off the train, the cursed ones there came and called him “corporal Hamid”. Such a great Sultan, they called “the corporal Hamid”. The Sultan took out his handkerchief and ripped it apart and said “May Allah make you like this. May you become like this”.
Have they become like this? They have.
Does this nation know these things? No, they don’t.
~bron~
kalief 3
Seyh Mevlana is telling us...
that the German King Wilhelm II said...
“I have met many monarchs and rulers in my life and have found them all to be my inferiors, beneath me, or at best my equals, but when I entered the presence of Abdul Hamid I began to tremble.”
He worked non-stop for Islam.
Sultan Abdul Hamid Han Jennat mekan built the Hijazi Railway to connect the whole Muslim world to Makkah and Madinah. He reduced the debts of the Empire by more than 90%. He kept Quds Sharif in the hands of the Muslims. He was the Khalifa in maybe the hardest times that the Ummat had ever seen.
He was writing poems...
asking for help from Allah (SWT), saying: “My Allah, I know You are the Aziz. There is no Aziz but you. You are the One, nothing else. My Allah, take my hand in these hard times. My Allah, be my Helper in this dangerous hour.”
~bron~
kalief 2
He was sending aid and help...
to the Muslims in Africa, in India, in Indonesia...
everywhere to wake them up and bring the body of the Muslims together. He even started to spread Islam into Japan. The Emperor Meiji sent a letter to Sultan Abdul Hamid saying, “I am asking you to send us scholars to teach us Islam, which can build a moral relationship between you and us.” He was sending help to the Christians where their own kings and their own queens were forsaking them.
The aim of Sultan Abdul Hamid Han...
was to continue the mission of Holy Prophet (AS),
to spread the light of La ilaha il-Allah, Muhammadur Rasulallah
into every household.
-
And yes, he inspired fear...
in the enemies of Islam, with his Heybet.
In France, they wrote a play to insult the Holy Prophet (AS)...
When this was informed to Sultan Abdul Hamid Han, he told the French, if you put on this play, I will declare war on you from the Seat of the Khilafat, on behalf of the entire Alam-i-Islam. The Prime Minister of France himself stepped in, and stópped the play from being performed. Today’s Muslims cannot even stop a newspaper from printing a cartoon humiliating our Prophet...
~bron~
kalief 1
Allah (SWT) is saying through the Holy Prophet (AS)...
Allah loves that, when your intentions and your aims are big.
We have become a nation that although we are two billions, our aims have become very small, very very small, very tiny, very useless. Because our aim has become just about our own comfort, about our family, about eating and drinking and about this dirty dunya.
Our aim is not the aim of Islam anymore. The aim is not the aim of the Prophet anymore. The aim is not the aim of the Khilafat anymore. Our aim has just to do with our own everyday comfort, for us and for our family. If you stretch it just a little bit bigger, just our own nation, nationalism, not about the ummat, you can talk a lot about the ummat, but just your nation.
But Sultan Abdul Hamid Han...
his concern was the whole nation of the ummat.
There were those who were sitting next to him, and pretending to be his advisers they were against him and they were plotting against him. But he had the Intelligence of a Believer, and he was looking with the Noor of Allah, and he saw through their plots. And he preserved and protected the Office of the Khilafat. And he worked to wake up the spirit of Islam again.
~bron~
safar 3-
wie
door
vuur ?
en wie door vuur, wie over water
wie in de maneschijn, wie in het zonlicht
wie door het laatste oordeel
wie door mensenrecht
wie in de mooie mooie maand van mei
wie in welk ander jaargetij
en wie
zal zeggen
waar ik ben ?
en wie in het dagelijks leven
wie in het leven na de dood
wie in het rijk van de liefde
wie in het rijk van de hel
en wie in diepe smart, en wie in geluk
en wie van dorst, en wie van honger
en wie
zal zeggen
wat ik ben ?
en wie met toestemming
wie gewoon toevallig
wie in eenzaamheid
wie in de spiegel
en wie van hoger hogerhand, wie door eigen hand
wie zonder kracht, wie met alle macht
wie
zal zeggen
wie ik ben ?
safar 2-
safar
maand van inkeer
naar binnen gaan
repentence, spijt, berouw
werken aan je eigen tekortkomingen
vergiffenis vragen
vergiffenis schenken
schone lei
na tien dagen aldus
op Jom Kippoer, Grote Verzoendag
'schoon' voor God
geen karma meer
geen schuld
klaar
voor de hemel
want wie niet klaar is
zal gelouterd worden...
and who by fire, who by water
who in the sunshine, who in the night time
who by high ordeal, who by common trial
who in your merry merry month of may
who by very slow decay
and who
who shall I say
is calling?
and who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt
who by avalanche, who by powder
who for his greed, who for his hunger
and who
who shall I say
is calling?
and who by brave assent, who by accident
who in solitude, who in this mirror
who by his lady's command, who by his own hand
who in mortal chains, who in power
and who
who shall I say
is calling?
safar 1-
sjofar
sjoufer
ramshoorn
hoofd van het jaar
rosj hasjana
niéuw jaar
bij het begin
van het nieuwe jaar
de waarschuwing
bazuin !
on Rosh Hashanah it is written
and on Yom Kippur is sealed:
how many shall leave this world
and how many shall be born
who shall live, and who shall die
who in the fullness of years, and who before
who shall perish by fire, who by water
who by sword, who by a wild beast
who by famine, and who by thirst
who by earthquake, who by plague
who by strangling, who by stoning
who shall rest, and who shall wander
who shall be serene, and who disturbed
who shall be at ease, and who afflicted
who impoverished, and who enriched
who shall be humbled, and who exalted
donderdag 17 september 2020
wevend -iv
Bruegel’s breathtaking panoramic painting...
shows a scene set in harshest winter.
The weary [vermoeide] hunters of the title are returning home at the end of a disappointing hunt (the rewards of their labours, as we see, are meagre, and even the dogs look a little sorry for themselves, though the expansive view they - and we - are looking down on, is spectacular and uplifting).
The scene is described with striking spareness [spaarzaamheid], the poet picking out details that make up the composition as a whole, making us aware of “Bruegel the painter” bringing these elements carefully and strikingly together.
Hunters in the Snow
William Carlos Williams (1962)
The over-all picture is winter
icy mountains
in the background the return
from the hunt it is toward evening
from the left
sturdy hunters lead in
their pack the inn-sign
hanging from a
broken hinge is a stag a crucifix
between his antlers the cold
inn yard is
deserted but for a huge bonfire
that flares wind-driven tended by
women who cluster
about it to the right beyond
the hill is a pattern of skaters
Brueghel the painter
concerned with it all has chosen
a winter-struck bush for his
foreground to
complete the picture
~bron~
The Blue Guitar (Picasso)
Wallace Stevens
I
The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.
They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."
The man replied, "Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar."
And they said then, "But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,
A tune upon the blue guitar
Of things exactly as they are."
~bron~
wevend -i
Poetry has always inspired artists.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Dante’s Divine Comedy are two of the most enduring. And according to Art Everywhere, of which I will say little here but have written about elsewhere, the nation’s favourite painting is inspired by a more recent poem: JW Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott shows the ill-fated [noodlottige] heroine of Tennyson’s famous verse moving inexorably [onverbiddelijk] towards her watery death “like some bold seer in a trance”. The second favourite is, incidentally, another narrative illustration of an ill-fated heroine on the point of meeting her watery fate – Millais’s Ophelia.
The Victorian era was the last big hurrah of literature-inspired visual works of art, and it was decidedly gothic in flavour. But the 20th century saw the death of narrative painting, and illustrations from myth and literature dropped out of fashion.
Painters were still influenced by literature, of course, but the influence, with a few notable exceptions, played out in more abstract, nebulous ways. Instead, we find a decisive switch – it’s writers who turn increasingly to the works of painters and sculptors. Poets looked to the historical canon – I haven’t included it here, but surely Larkin’s An Arundel Tomb is the greatest postwar poem to be inspired by a single work of art. But more often Modernist poets, particularly in America, looked to Modernist artists for inspiration.
The conservative Larkin was no fan of Modernism, seeing ugliness and destruction in its methods. Yet for many other writers, Modernism in the visual arts appeared regenerative in its violence to form. Like visual artists of the 20th century, writers were no longer portraying a window on to the world as it had appeared since the Renaissance, but obviously filtered and changed by the imagination in startling ways. To quote Wallace Stevens (no.4), responding to Picasso’s The Old Guitarist, “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar.”
Below, responding to old and modern paintings...
I’ve chosen nine 20th-century poems...
and one 21st-century one.
The poems are illustrated by the paintings...
that directly inspired their thoughts.
~bron~
grot graf ٦
When Mawlana Shaykh (Q) is teaching...
about the people in the back who clean the shoes.
What the shoes mean in tariqah? Shoe means ego. The one who sits in the back and cleans the shoe, is that one who is like a mureed for the shaykh... He goes amongst the other muhibeen and carries their burdens. He cleans the shoes of those egos, that constantly washing, spiritually and physically. What difficulties come to them, they absorb, and they pray for forgiveness. And if they offended you, they chase after you and beg your forgiveness.
It’s not a shaykh, eh, if you go in the presence of the shaykh he speaks, he speaks. You like it, you like it, they don’t care. These representatives and anybody representing Mawlana Shaykh (Q) anywhere in the world, we have to know our job is just to run after people.
Job is to run after people and make people happy, make people to love the Shaykhs. Ask to carry the burdens and the difficulties and to clean the shoes of the followers, to make sure that they are happy on their journey.
That our whole purpose is to die, is not to be anything, not to be anyone, but to seek a path of complete annihilation. We pray that in this month and the month opening, that they open more and more realities for us, more and more understanding of nothingness...
that we are all trying our best to be nothing...
in an eternal, vast ocean of everything.
~bron~
about the people in the back who clean the shoes.
What the shoes mean in tariqah? Shoe means ego. The one who sits in the back and cleans the shoe, is that one who is like a mureed for the shaykh... He goes amongst the other muhibeen and carries their burdens. He cleans the shoes of those egos, that constantly washing, spiritually and physically. What difficulties come to them, they absorb, and they pray for forgiveness. And if they offended you, they chase after you and beg your forgiveness.
It’s not a shaykh, eh, if you go in the presence of the shaykh he speaks, he speaks. You like it, you like it, they don’t care. These representatives and anybody representing Mawlana Shaykh (Q) anywhere in the world, we have to know our job is just to run after people.
Job is to run after people and make people happy, make people to love the Shaykhs. Ask to carry the burdens and the difficulties and to clean the shoes of the followers, to make sure that they are happy on their journey.
That our whole purpose is to die, is not to be anything, not to be anyone, but to seek a path of complete annihilation. We pray that in this month and the month opening, that they open more and more realities for us, more and more understanding of nothingness...
that we are all trying our best to be nothing...
in an eternal, vast ocean of everything.
~bron~
grot graf ٥
Mawt Qablil Mawt...
Death of desires before physical death...
You are dead before death...
That is the spiritual reality that we are trying to reach. That, when you are not affected by happy or by sad, that your heart is content, you understand the testing.
Then at thát time, they start to give you a title, because you are dying before dying, you are annihilating before annihilating. Then they tell you, that ‘You are my representative. Put here a turban, a hat and go and represent me.’
And then, you think you are something.
And only at thát time, they are teaching us...
that ‘No, you are not a shaykh. You are now asking just from muhibeen [lover of the cave] to enter the ocean of mureed [devoted disciple].‘ And the mureed is that they crown you with a fake title of a shaykh.
He is not a real shaykh... A fake title of a shaykh that Mawlana (Q) has many people that they don’t understand the system of tariqah and says, ‘Oh, you are representing me here, there, wherever.’ At that time, it means they are trying to take us down, down, down.
At that time, they put something on your head, say, ‘You go represent us.’ It means, now learn what it is to be a mureed in Sufism. It means: carry the burdens of all the other mureeds. Not that you are a shaykh, but to realize tariqah today everyone is a shaykh, and you are the only mureed.
Because everyone going to be upset, and you have to chase after them, and ask their forgiveness. You have to beg them for forgiveness. You have to carry their burdens. They know it or they don’t know it, doesn’t matter. Carry their difficulties.
~bron~
Death of desires before physical death...
You are dead before death...
That is the spiritual reality that we are trying to reach. That, when you are not affected by happy or by sad, that your heart is content, you understand the testing.
Then at thát time, they start to give you a title, because you are dying before dying, you are annihilating before annihilating. Then they tell you, that ‘You are my representative. Put here a turban, a hat and go and represent me.’
And then, you think you are something.
And only at thát time, they are teaching us...
that ‘No, you are not a shaykh. You are now asking just from muhibeen [lover of the cave] to enter the ocean of mureed [devoted disciple].‘ And the mureed is that they crown you with a fake title of a shaykh.
He is not a real shaykh... A fake title of a shaykh that Mawlana (Q) has many people that they don’t understand the system of tariqah and says, ‘Oh, you are representing me here, there, wherever.’ At that time, it means they are trying to take us down, down, down.
At that time, they put something on your head, say, ‘You go represent us.’ It means, now learn what it is to be a mureed in Sufism. It means: carry the burdens of all the other mureeds. Not that you are a shaykh, but to realize tariqah today everyone is a shaykh, and you are the only mureed.
Because everyone going to be upset, and you have to chase after them, and ask their forgiveness. You have to beg them for forgiveness. You have to carry their burdens. They know it or they don’t know it, doesn’t matter. Carry their difficulties.
~bron~
grot graf ٤
Prophet’s ﷺ movements are eternal.
It means there was a time in which he did it, but there is an eternal reality that is meant for us. So we don’t read their history as, ‘Oh, that event happened to them.’ The event happened for them but his teaching is that you are eternally in that movement. As I am 'moving from Makkah to Madina', it means I am moving from the busyness of the heart to Madinatul Munawwara, the ‘City of Light.’
Where is the maqam of Prophet ﷺ?
Where his body is buried.
It means...
he is in a state of fana and annihilation... in Allah’s (AJ) Presence.
Move from the busyness of your heart to the fana of your soul. So, we are asking to move from the busyness of this material world and all of its attachments, all of its attractions, to the reality of the soul.
Then we have 'to seek refuge in the cave'.
And we have to 'be from the People of the Cave'.
~bron~
It means there was a time in which he did it, but there is an eternal reality that is meant for us. So we don’t read their history as, ‘Oh, that event happened to them.’ The event happened for them but his teaching is that you are eternally in that movement. As I am 'moving from Makkah to Madina', it means I am moving from the busyness of the heart to Madinatul Munawwara, the ‘City of Light.’
Where is the maqam of Prophet ﷺ?
Where his body is buried.
It means...
he is in a state of fana and annihilation... in Allah’s (AJ) Presence.
Move from the busyness of your heart to the fana of your soul. So, we are asking to move from the busyness of this material world and all of its attachments, all of its attractions, to the reality of the soul.
Then we have 'to seek refuge in the cave'.
And we have to 'be from the People of the Cave'.
~bron~
grot graf ٣
So, I am repeating again...
they say third time is a blessing...
because talking from Thursday, Friday, Saturday, so repeating for myself so that it goes deeper into my reality and my understanding, that, at every moment Mawlana Shaykh is warning for me:
‘SEEK REFUGE, seek refuge, seek refuge! First from yourself! Don’t think that you are something. Don’t think that you are anything. Don’t think that you have achieved anything, but seek refuge in your Lord and ask to be nothing.’
Although all the world may come to try to make you something, make you to be important, Everyone telling their children that, ‘You are special. You are the best one’... And all of that influence to make us sick...
And awliyaullah, the saints, come into our lives, and say, ‘No, no, no, you make sure you are nothing! Only in that nóthingness, you can achieve the reality that they want to give to us.'
~bron~
they say third time is a blessing...
because talking from Thursday, Friday, Saturday, so repeating for myself so that it goes deeper into my reality and my understanding, that, at every moment Mawlana Shaykh is warning for me:
‘SEEK REFUGE, seek refuge, seek refuge! First from yourself! Don’t think that you are something. Don’t think that you are anything. Don’t think that you have achieved anything, but seek refuge in your Lord and ask to be nothing.’
And awliyaullah, the saints, come into our lives, and say, ‘No, no, no, you make sure you are nothing! Only in that nóthingness, you can achieve the reality that they want to give to us.'
~bron~
grot graf ٢
You are meant...
to come here, experience and go.
You are not from here, the Earth, hoping to taste from the Heavens. You are heavenly beings, sent to experience and quickly go back up, not become attached to what is here.
So, then as soon as you land on this soil...
you see the oppression, you see the difficulty, you see the hardship...
and then Allah (AJ) says, ‘Seek refuge!’
Just like refugees...
Now everybody coming into airports from oppressed countries, and immediately they go to the airport, they have visa. No visa, they say, ‘I am refugee,’ and you are put aside and safety, given food, given apartment, given salary...
and the Divine is saying, ‘This is an example.
That why don’t you seek a refuge in Me...
from all of these difficulties...
and seek My way?’
~bron~
to come here, experience and go.
You are not from here, the Earth, hoping to taste from the Heavens. You are heavenly beings, sent to experience and quickly go back up, not become attached to what is here.
So, then as soon as you land on this soil...
you see the oppression, you see the difficulty, you see the hardship...
and then Allah (AJ) says, ‘Seek refuge!’
Just like refugees...
Now everybody coming into airports from oppressed countries, and immediately they go to the airport, they have visa. No visa, they say, ‘I am refugee,’ and you are put aside and safety, given food, given apartment, given salary...
and the Divine is saying, ‘This is an example.
That why don’t you seek a refuge in Me...
from all of these difficulties...
and seek My way?’
~bron~
grot graf ١
This is the kingdom of shaitan...
this dunya (material world).
That is the whole example of Adam coming to this dunya, is that from you are a heavenly being. We are heavenly souls for a dunya experience. We have been sent here as heavenly beings for a dunya experience and to return back,
﴾إِنَّا لِلَّـهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ ﴿١٥٦
2:156 Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oon
(Surat Al-Baqarah, The Cow)
Indeed we belong to Allah
And indeed to Him we will return
this dunya (material world).
﴾إِنَّا لِلَّـهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ ﴿١٥٦
2:156 Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oon
(Surat Al-Baqarah, The Cow)
Indeed we belong to Allah
And indeed to Him we will return
einde -4
“Ja, de Holocaust is uniek...
En niet te vergelijken met iets anders...
Maar er zijn ook ándere genocides! Er is discriminatie! Het kan zijn dat leerlingen daar op school ook aandacht voor willen, dat ze zeggen: het gaat steeds over de Holocaust, maar hoe zit het met óns?”
repliceert Frishman.
“Anti-semitisme onder moslims is een moeilijk punt.
Sommigen hebben het meegekregen uit het land waar ze geboren zijn. En ik weet niet of het allemaal anti-semitisme is... Het in brand steken van 4 mei-kransen is kwetsend, het is trappen tegen de heilige koe van het zogenaamd tolerante Europa. Het valt op, en daarom doen ze het. Ze willen gezien worden... Iemand als Wilders heeft het veel over anti-semitisme, maar hij gebruikt anti-semitisme vooral om te laten zien hoe slecht moslims zijn.”
Frishman wil zich daar verre van houden.
Liever zegt ze: “Sta op, en kijk hoe het de ander vergaat. Zoek het in interesse in de geschiedenis, en in solidariteit. Het gaat er niet om de ander eruit te werken. Maar om in te leven, om mee te denken, en mee te leven met de ander.”
~bron~
En niet te vergelijken met iets anders...
Maar er zijn ook ándere genocides! Er is discriminatie! Het kan zijn dat leerlingen daar op school ook aandacht voor willen, dat ze zeggen: het gaat steeds over de Holocaust, maar hoe zit het met óns?”
repliceert Frishman.
“Anti-semitisme onder moslims is een moeilijk punt.
Sommigen hebben het meegekregen uit het land waar ze geboren zijn. En ik weet niet of het allemaal anti-semitisme is... Het in brand steken van 4 mei-kransen is kwetsend, het is trappen tegen de heilige koe van het zogenaamd tolerante Europa. Het valt op, en daarom doen ze het. Ze willen gezien worden... Iemand als Wilders heeft het veel over anti-semitisme, maar hij gebruikt anti-semitisme vooral om te laten zien hoe slecht moslims zijn.”
Frishman wil zich daar verre van houden.
Liever zegt ze: “Sta op, en kijk hoe het de ander vergaat. Zoek het in interesse in de geschiedenis, en in solidariteit. Het gaat er niet om de ander eruit te werken. Maar om in te leven, om mee te denken, en mee te leven met de ander.”
~bron~
einde -3
"Met Joden heeft Nederland nooit goed raad geweten...
en met de groei van moslims ook niet", oordeelt Frishman
"Als je dat zegt, krijg je steeds te horen dat Nederland zo’n tolerant land is, maar dat is niet zo. Je moet dit in een veel groter perspectief zien, en met een scherper historisch bewustzijn. Het verleden houdt je een spiegel voor.
Net als Joden sinds de veertiende eeuw, zijn zwarten gediscrimineerd, en nu moslims. Nederlanders willen dat niet zien, en ze willen het ook niet geloven dat iemand dat zo ervaart.”
De populariteit van Forum voor Democratie van Thierry Baudet, ook onder studenten, baart haar wat dat betreft grote zorgen. “Moslims hoeven van hem niet dood, maar hij wil wel de grenzen voor hen sluiten. Wat hij roept over homeopathische verdunning, ik krijg er de rillingen van over mijn rug.
Dan zeggen mensen tegen mij: ach, hij heeft het alweer wat teruggenomen, hij doet het alleen maar om reacties uit te lokken, hij is gewoon een enfant terrible. Maar ik vind het op het randje en voor de positie van moslims is het heel slecht.”
Frishman vindt het ‘fascinerend’...
de positie van moslims te vergelijken met die van Joden.
Misschien gaat ze daar nog verder onderzoek naar doen in Cambridge. Ze weet dat ze daarmee ook in Joodse kring kritiek riskeert. Relativeert ze daarmee de Holocaust en de uniciteit van de Joodse geschiedenis? En negeert ze antisemitische uitingen van moslims?...
~bron~
en met de groei van moslims ook niet", oordeelt Frishman
"Als je dat zegt, krijg je steeds te horen dat Nederland zo’n tolerant land is, maar dat is niet zo. Je moet dit in een veel groter perspectief zien, en met een scherper historisch bewustzijn. Het verleden houdt je een spiegel voor.
Net als Joden sinds de veertiende eeuw, zijn zwarten gediscrimineerd, en nu moslims. Nederlanders willen dat niet zien, en ze willen het ook niet geloven dat iemand dat zo ervaart.”
De populariteit van Forum voor Democratie van Thierry Baudet, ook onder studenten, baart haar wat dat betreft grote zorgen. “Moslims hoeven van hem niet dood, maar hij wil wel de grenzen voor hen sluiten. Wat hij roept over homeopathische verdunning, ik krijg er de rillingen van over mijn rug.
Dan zeggen mensen tegen mij: ach, hij heeft het alweer wat teruggenomen, hij doet het alleen maar om reacties uit te lokken, hij is gewoon een enfant terrible. Maar ik vind het op het randje en voor de positie van moslims is het heel slecht.”
Frishman vindt het ‘fascinerend’...
de positie van moslims te vergelijken met die van Joden.
Misschien gaat ze daar nog verder onderzoek naar doen in Cambridge. Ze weet dat ze daarmee ook in Joodse kring kritiek riskeert. Relativeert ze daarmee de Holocaust en de uniciteit van de Joodse geschiedenis? En negeert ze antisemitische uitingen van moslims?...
~bron~
einde -2
Met haar pensionering...
heft de Universiteit Leiden de leerstoel jodendom op.
Volgens een woordvoerder is er altijd veel geld naar deze leerstoel gegaan, en dat is ‘ten opzichte van andere, eveneens sterke en belangrijke groepen niet langer verantwoord.’
-
“Dat is heel triest”, vindt Frishman.
Er komt weliswaar een docent voor het jodendom, maar dat is maar voor vier dagen in de week, en voor de komende drie jaar, en daarmee in haar ogen ‘erg minimalistisch’, ook al omdat eventuele verlenging afhankelijk wordt gemaakt van beschikbare financiering en behoefte.
“Wie bepaalt dat, of er behoefte is?”, smaalt Frishman.
Haar leerstoel werd in 2008 deels gefinancierd...
met 3 ton aan sponsorgelden, ingezameld bij een galadiner.
Na een reorganisatie van de Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen in 2014, moest ze zélf een paar miljoen binnen zien te harken. Haar werd meermaals gevraagd of de Joodse gemeenschap de leerstoel niet wilde subsidiëren.
“Dat sluit aan bij het vooroordeel van de rijke Jood, wat Nederlandse Joden niet zijn”, zegt de academica. “En waarom moesten de Joden betalen voor een eigen leerstoel, waarom heeft die geen vaste plaats, zoals andere leerstoelen voor andere religies dat hebben?”
Er is vanuit religiestudies wel gestreden...
voor behoud van haar leerstoel, maar dat was tevergeefs.
Frishman: “Soms heb ik het gevoel dat we terug zijn in de negentiende eeuw. Dat we moeten bewijzen dat het de moeite waard is om het jodendom te bestuderen...
"Ik wil niet vervallen in het argument dat Joden hebben bijgedragen aan de samenleving. Dat klinkt zo verontschuldigend. Er hoeft evenmin een leerstoel te blijven vanwege het anti-semitisme. Je bestudeert de islam ook niet omdat er islamofobie is.
Nee, het simpele feit dat Joden hier honderden jaren hebben gewoond, dat Nederland een bijzondere geschiedenis heeft met de Joden, dat is de reden om de gemeenschap te bestuderen. Dat is met moslims net zo.”
~bron~
heft de Universiteit Leiden de leerstoel jodendom op.
Volgens een woordvoerder is er altijd veel geld naar deze leerstoel gegaan, en dat is ‘ten opzichte van andere, eveneens sterke en belangrijke groepen niet langer verantwoord.’
-
“Dat is heel triest”, vindt Frishman.
Er komt weliswaar een docent voor het jodendom, maar dat is maar voor vier dagen in de week, en voor de komende drie jaar, en daarmee in haar ogen ‘erg minimalistisch’, ook al omdat eventuele verlenging afhankelijk wordt gemaakt van beschikbare financiering en behoefte.
“Wie bepaalt dat, of er behoefte is?”, smaalt Frishman.
Haar leerstoel werd in 2008 deels gefinancierd...
met 3 ton aan sponsorgelden, ingezameld bij een galadiner.
Na een reorganisatie van de Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen in 2014, moest ze zélf een paar miljoen binnen zien te harken. Haar werd meermaals gevraagd of de Joodse gemeenschap de leerstoel niet wilde subsidiëren.
“Dat sluit aan bij het vooroordeel van de rijke Jood, wat Nederlandse Joden niet zijn”, zegt de academica. “En waarom moesten de Joden betalen voor een eigen leerstoel, waarom heeft die geen vaste plaats, zoals andere leerstoelen voor andere religies dat hebben?”
Er is vanuit religiestudies wel gestreden...
voor behoud van haar leerstoel, maar dat was tevergeefs.
Frishman: “Soms heb ik het gevoel dat we terug zijn in de negentiende eeuw. Dat we moeten bewijzen dat het de moeite waard is om het jodendom te bestuderen...
"Ik wil niet vervallen in het argument dat Joden hebben bijgedragen aan de samenleving. Dat klinkt zo verontschuldigend. Er hoeft evenmin een leerstoel te blijven vanwege het anti-semitisme. Je bestudeert de islam ook niet omdat er islamofobie is.
Nee, het simpele feit dat Joden hier honderden jaren hebben gewoond, dat Nederland een bijzondere geschiedenis heeft met de Joden, dat is de reden om de gemeenschap te bestuderen. Dat is met moslims net zo.”
~bron~
einde -1
In haar lange carrière...
heeft de Leidse hoogleraar jodendom Judith Frishman...
slechts een enkel college gegeven over anti-semitisme.
Dat vindt ze in principe een taak voor niet-Joodse collega’s.
Bovendien draait het in de geschiedenis en cultuur van het jodendom volgens haar niet om anti-semitisme. Zij leerde haar studenten over de rituelen en gebruiken van joden, over cultureel jodendom, over de positie van Joden in de samenleving ook.
-
Een van haar stellingen is...
dat de moeizame integratie van Joden in de negentiende eeuw in Nederland...
grote overeenkomsten vertoont met die van moslims nu.
Aan die lange loopbaan is een einde gekomen.
Frishman is 67 jaar.
Ze is nog lang niet klaar met werken, maar ze moet met pensioen.
Vrijdag hield ze haar afscheidscollege.
Wegens corona slechts voor een beperkt gezelschap en - tot hun beider grote spijt - zonder haar moeder van 91, en twee zussen uit New York. Judith Frishman (1953) groeide op in New York, in een liberaal joods gezin. Vader was rabbijn, moeder was de tweede vrouw die als voorzanger afstudeerde aan een liberale joodse opleiding in New York.
In haar woonplaats Amsterdam is de net gepensioneerde hoogleraar actief in de liberale joodse gemeente. Ze nam er studenten religiestudies mee naartoe, om te kunnen zien en ervaren, wat ze bij haar in de collegebanken leerden.
~bron~
heeft de Leidse hoogleraar jodendom Judith Frishman...
slechts een enkel college gegeven over anti-semitisme.
Dat vindt ze in principe een taak voor niet-Joodse collega’s.
Bovendien draait het in de geschiedenis en cultuur van het jodendom volgens haar niet om anti-semitisme. Zij leerde haar studenten over de rituelen en gebruiken van joden, over cultureel jodendom, over de positie van Joden in de samenleving ook.
-
Een van haar stellingen is...
dat de moeizame integratie van Joden in de negentiende eeuw in Nederland...
grote overeenkomsten vertoont met die van moslims nu.
Aan die lange loopbaan is een einde gekomen.
Frishman is 67 jaar.
Ze is nog lang niet klaar met werken, maar ze moet met pensioen.
Vrijdag hield ze haar afscheidscollege.
Wegens corona slechts voor een beperkt gezelschap en - tot hun beider grote spijt - zonder haar moeder van 91, en twee zussen uit New York. Judith Frishman (1953) groeide op in New York, in een liberaal joods gezin. Vader was rabbijn, moeder was de tweede vrouw die als voorzanger afstudeerde aan een liberale joodse opleiding in New York.
In haar woonplaats Amsterdam is de net gepensioneerde hoogleraar actief in de liberale joodse gemeente. Ze nam er studenten religiestudies mee naartoe, om te kunnen zien en ervaren, wat ze bij haar in de collegebanken leerden.
~bron~
dai sijie 6
En 1968...
dans un Tibet déjà chinois depuis dix-huit ans...
les jeunes gardes rouges de Mao Zedong se livrent [houden zich bezig] à la profanation zélée [ijverige ontheiliging] des temples bouddhistes, et de tout ce qui se rattache [verband houdt] à des coutumes « contre-révolutionnaires ».
Arrêté, brutalisé dans les caves du palais du Potala à Lhassa, Bstan Pa, ancien peintre du dalaï-lama, se remémore sa vie et semble porter le deuil [rouw] de sa culture sacrifiée…
L’écrivain et cinéaste chinois Dai Sijie...
qui écrit en français...
inscrit son septième roman dans des thèmes qui lui sont chers: les affres [pijnlijke weeën] de la révolution culturelle, lui qui fut envoyé de force dans les campagnes du Sichuan dans sa jeunesse (ce fut d’ailleurs l’inspiration de son premier opus Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse Chinoise)...
mais également l’art pictural dont l’analyse est profondément poussée dans Les Caves du Potala. Loin d’être un prétexte, la profession de peintre officiel de Bstan Pa s’avère [blijkt] un vecteur profond de sens, de foi et de transmission des valeurs du peuple tibétain.
L’analyse des thangkas, ces peintures sur rouleaux traditionnelles, est poussée extrêmement loin [zeer doorgedreven, diep] tant d’un point de vue technique que théologique, et leur destruction est perçue comme une grave désacralisation.
La culture tibétaine...
n’est pas forcément familière à tous...
et les nombreuses références très documentées aux notes de bas de page (hélas en fin d’ouvrage) peuvent rebuter [afschrikken] le lecteur investi, dès les premières pages. A cet égard, se documenter un peu sur le bouddhisme tibétain avant la lecture en renforcerait les enjeux, et il paraît difficile de se plonger dans l’œuvre sans avoir vu un thangka ou à quoi ressemble un stupa.
de découvrir avec autant d’intimité...
des facettes fondamentales de cette culture unique dont Dai Sijie loue [prijst] l’harmonie et la pureté.
Une pureté qui semble en inadéquation avec un monde moderne impitoyable [meedogenloos], inculte [onbeschaafd] et brutal : à cet égard, l’interrogatoire [het verhoor] de Bstan Pa apparaît comme un prétexte pour nous raconter de grandes histoires, que ce soit une visite à l’empereur de Chine à Pékin, ou la fascinante recherche mystique du tulku, réincarnation du dalaï-lama décédé.
Une structure narrative qui rappellera Le Dernier Empereur de Bernardo Bertolucci. Mais ici, plus que l’histoire, ce sont la foi et la recherche de l’harmonie qui soutiendront le fil du récit.
~bron~
zondag 6 september 2020
dai sijie 5
in China
zijn ze al verdwenen
de échte bibliotheken
wanneer bij ons ?
zijn ze al verdwenen
de échte bibliotheken
wanneer bij ons ?
hoe indrukwekkender de buitenkant
hoe armzaliger vaak vanbinnen...
dai sijie 4
A futuristic Chinese library...
has wowed book lovers around the world with its white, undulating shelves rising from floor to ceiling, but if you read between the lines you'll find something is missing. Those rows upon rows of book spines are mostly images printed on the aluminium plates that make up the backs of the shelves.
Pictures of the sleek [gestroomlijnde] Tianjin Binhai Library have gone viral on Chinese social media and abroad since its opening last month, with headlines trumpeting it as "the world's best library" and a "book lover's dream". On weekends, an average of 15,000 visitors flock to the six-storey space in the eastern port city of Tianjin.
Designed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV, the building looks like an eye when viewed from the still unfinished park outside, with a spherical auditorium as the iris at its centre. The library contains 200,000 books and it has grand ambitions to grow its collection to 1.2 million.
But...
readers expecting to pluck tomes from most of the terraced shelves...
are in for a surprise.
Most books are in óther rooms...
with more classic library bookshelves.
"There's quite a big difference between the photos and reality,"
said Ms Jiang Xue, a 21-year-old medical student, left perusing [doorlezen] one of the more robustly stocked sections: propaganda about the ruling Communist Party's recent congress.
An essential part of the original concept was for the upper bookshelves to be accessible via rooms placed behind the atrium, MVRDV told AFP, but a fast-tracked construction schedule forced them to drop the idea. The decision was made locally, and against the MVRDV's wishes, its spokeswoman Ms Zhou Shuting said.
But Mr Liu Xiufeng, the library's deputy director, blamed the desígn... for putting them in a bind. Mr Liu said the plan finally approved by authorities stated that the atrium would be used for circulation, sitting, reading, and discussion, but omitted a request to store books on shelves.
"We can only use the hall for the purposes for which it has been approved, so we cannot use it as a place to put books," Liu laughed, adding that they would likely soon have to remove all those temporarily on display!
There's another quirk [gril] !
The irregular white stairs have proven hazardous [gevaarlijk] for selfie-snappers with eyes glued down to their phones or up at the stylish ceiling. "People trip a lot. Last week an old lady slipped and hit her head hard. There was blood!" said one guard, who yells warnings at visitors.
China is notorious...
for building astronomically expensive cultural facilities...
that open to great fanfare...
only to end up standing empty...
without concerts or programming to fill them.
It is also no stranger to controversy over book faking.
Last month, Beijing's Liyuan Library, a non-profit space, internationally recognised for its beautiful wooden reading spaces and design, suspended operations after its books were found to contain pirated [illegaal gekopieerde] and explicit content.
But the Binhai library's viral image has boosted readership, with checkouts quadrupling since the opening. The children's rooms downstairs bustled with families flipping through illustrated stories.
"The architecture they completed, is like a newborn infant, delivered into our hands. Now it's up to us to give it a soul," said Mr Liu.
Building membership, however, may prove a challenge for Liu in a country where readers increasingly flip through novels on smartphone apps. The popularity of reading apps has led to a boom in online publishing.
Shares in China Literature – the country's biggest player in the business, comparable to Amazon's Kindle Store – shot up more than 60 per cent on their debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange last week, after raising $1.1 billion in an IPO.
Mr Yuan Jiwen, an e-commerce major fond of online novels set in the Three Kingdoms period, held an unread paperback like a prop as he people-watched in the atrium. "I don't usually touch real books," he said. "But it feels appropriate to be holding one here”.
~bron~
has wowed book lovers around the world with its white, undulating shelves rising from floor to ceiling, but if you read between the lines you'll find something is missing. Those rows upon rows of book spines are mostly images printed on the aluminium plates that make up the backs of the shelves.
Pictures of the sleek [gestroomlijnde] Tianjin Binhai Library have gone viral on Chinese social media and abroad since its opening last month, with headlines trumpeting it as "the world's best library" and a "book lover's dream". On weekends, an average of 15,000 visitors flock to the six-storey space in the eastern port city of Tianjin.
Designed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV, the building looks like an eye when viewed from the still unfinished park outside, with a spherical auditorium as the iris at its centre. The library contains 200,000 books and it has grand ambitions to grow its collection to 1.2 million.
But...
readers expecting to pluck tomes from most of the terraced shelves...
are in for a surprise.
Most books are in óther rooms...
with more classic library bookshelves.
"There's quite a big difference between the photos and reality,"
said Ms Jiang Xue, a 21-year-old medical student, left perusing [doorlezen] one of the more robustly stocked sections: propaganda about the ruling Communist Party's recent congress.
An essential part of the original concept was for the upper bookshelves to be accessible via rooms placed behind the atrium, MVRDV told AFP, but a fast-tracked construction schedule forced them to drop the idea. The decision was made locally, and against the MVRDV's wishes, its spokeswoman Ms Zhou Shuting said.
But Mr Liu Xiufeng, the library's deputy director, blamed the desígn... for putting them in a bind. Mr Liu said the plan finally approved by authorities stated that the atrium would be used for circulation, sitting, reading, and discussion, but omitted a request to store books on shelves.
"We can only use the hall for the purposes for which it has been approved, so we cannot use it as a place to put books," Liu laughed, adding that they would likely soon have to remove all those temporarily on display!
There's another quirk [gril] !
The irregular white stairs have proven hazardous [gevaarlijk] for selfie-snappers with eyes glued down to their phones or up at the stylish ceiling. "People trip a lot. Last week an old lady slipped and hit her head hard. There was blood!" said one guard, who yells warnings at visitors.
China is notorious...
for building astronomically expensive cultural facilities...
that open to great fanfare...
only to end up standing empty...
without concerts or programming to fill them.
It is also no stranger to controversy over book faking.
Last month, Beijing's Liyuan Library, a non-profit space, internationally recognised for its beautiful wooden reading spaces and design, suspended operations after its books were found to contain pirated [illegaal gekopieerde] and explicit content.
'GIVE IT A SOUL'
But the Binhai library's viral image has boosted readership, with checkouts quadrupling since the opening. The children's rooms downstairs bustled with families flipping through illustrated stories.
"The architecture they completed, is like a newborn infant, delivered into our hands. Now it's up to us to give it a soul," said Mr Liu.
Building membership, however, may prove a challenge for Liu in a country where readers increasingly flip through novels on smartphone apps. The popularity of reading apps has led to a boom in online publishing.
Shares in China Literature – the country's biggest player in the business, comparable to Amazon's Kindle Store – shot up more than 60 per cent on their debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange last week, after raising $1.1 billion in an IPO.
‘I DON’T TOUCH REAL BOOKS’
Mr Yuan Jiwen, an e-commerce major fond of online novels set in the Three Kingdoms period, held an unread paperback like a prop as he people-watched in the atrium. "I don't usually touch real books," he said. "But it feels appropriate to be holding one here”.
~bron~