{"id":5,"date":"2019-10-21T01:48:17","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T01:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/?p=5"},"modified":"2019-10-21T01:48:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T01:48:17","slug":"week-3-reverse-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/2019\/10\/21\/week-3-reverse-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 3: Reverse Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

In week 3, we discussed the sacred nature of the Quran, and the complexities and controversies in its codification and translation.\u00a0 Moreover, we reflected on the importance and beauty in its recitation and calligraphy, and watched the film, the Koran by Heart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Throughout the week, I struggled with the idea of a single translation of the Quran. As a Muslim myself, I\u2019ve always felt that Islam and the Quran is up to an individual\u2019s interpretation of both\u2014but also, I recognize the need for at least some unification in the basic translation and understanding of the Quran. We learned the importance of vocalization and punctuation in the text, which can lead to significantly different interpretations and translations of the text\u2014a concept I both appreciated and struggled with tremendously.\u00a0 This made me wonder\u2014why is one translation more valid than another? How do we know what the original punctuation was intended to be? However, despite this confusion, I know that what makes one translation valid, or what people consider to be valid is support for that translation. Our beliefs and understanding of the Quran is rooted in our community\u2019s beliefs and understanding. Due to the patriarchal tradition within the world at large, often times translations and interpretations of hadith have been used to reinforce sexist traditions or read systems of inequality into text that did not previously exist.<\/p>\n

In order to depict this confusion for different \u201ctruths\u201d in Islam, I wrote the following \u201creverse\u201d poem, or a poem that can be read forwards and backwards and have a different or opposite meaning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A woman is half a man.<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t believe it if you hear<\/p>\n

That equality should exist.
\nFor as the essence of Islam has taught us<\/p>\n

A woman is not to be trusted.<\/p>\n

Her word is twisted and<\/p>\n

I refuse to listen when people say<\/p>\n

It is a mistranslation<\/p>\n

Of our holy book<\/p>\n

For that is a disrespect<\/p>\n

To what our community leaders have told us<\/p>\n

Close your ears to<\/p>\n

Feminist nonsense.<\/p>\n

What they call<\/p>\n

Islamic truth is<\/p>\n

Nothing beyond western drivel<\/p>\n

They try and tell us it is<\/p>\n

Scripture says<\/p>\n

Men and women are equal.<\/p>\n

They lie.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In week 3, we discussed the sacred nature of the Quran, and the complexities and controversies in its codification and translation.\u00a0 Moreover, we reflected on the importance and beauty in its recitation and calligraphy, and watched the film, the Koran by Heart. Throughout the week, I struggled with the idea of a single translation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9755,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9755"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mysticalmusing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}