Carpe Diem #1742 Hajj ... the muslim trail to Mecca

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new "act of devotion", all different pilgrimages around the world. Today I have chosen for the once in a lifetime pilgrimage of our muslim citizens ... the Hajj. As I was preparing this episode something strange happened. As I read Hajj ... I thought immediately to the first word of my salutation ... Hajin. Both words look very similar and even the sound of the both words is almost the same. The next thought I had ... "Is there a connection between Islam and Haiku?" Isn't it a strange idea? Our beloved haiku, originaly from Japan, and Islam. So I thought maybe there are haiku themed "Islam".

Mosque

I found a few haiku on Islam created by Ken Gaertner:

Sun glares on white sand.
Abayas flow with the wind,
Prayers float into thin clouds.

© Ken Gaertner

Or this one, also by Ken Gaertner:

Apple blossoms fall,
Sunlight in an empty cup.
Morning prayers chanted.


The ultimate goal of the Hajj is to walk around the Kaaba at Mecca in honor of Allah and as a tribute to The Prophet.

Kaaba Mecca

The Hajj ("pilgrimage") is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims, and a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and can support their family during their absence.

The literal meaning of the word Hajj is heading to a place for the sake of visiting. In Islamic terminology, Hajj is a pilgrimage made to Kaaba, the "House of Allah", in the sacred city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The rites of Hajj are performed over five or six days, beginning on the eighth and ending on the thirteenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, alongside Shahadah, Salat, Zakat and Sawm. The Hajj is the second largest annual gathering of Muslims in the world, after the Arba'een Pilgrimage in Karbala, Iraq.The state of being physically and financially capable of performing the Hajj is called istita'ah, and a Muslim who fulfils this condition is called a mustati. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God (Allah).The word Hajj means "to attend a journey", which connotes both the outward act of a journey and the inward act of intentions.

walking around
the house of the Creator
once in a lifetime

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 16th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... be inspired and have fun!

Carpe Diem #1382 Adam and Eve

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Peace be with you. What does it mean to say that? Well ... I think it's a wonderful greeting, because I wish you all peace of heart, mind and soul. This was what made me doubt if I should do a whole CDHK month about the Quran, the Holy Book of Islam. I love everyone unconditional and therefore I also love muslim, but as you all know the last years Islam became a feared religion through IS and that made me sad and doubtful. After thinking it over and over again I decided to create this month full of the wisdom from the Quran. Of course it's not my goal to convert you to Islam, but the Quran is a wonderful Book full of wisdom. Given to the world, especially for muslim, but there are also wonderful words in the Quran that can give peace of mind to everyone, not only muslim.

This month I love to share with you the wonders and beauties of the wisdom in the Quran and of course I will, without losing respect for the Quran, try to find similarities between the religious books we all know. (By the way as you have noticed maybe, I don't use Allah, but God, in our episodes. Not to be disrespectful, but because my philosophy is stated on the idea "All Gods Are One God".

Today I have chosen a verse from Surah 4: Ayah 1 (an-Nisa' or "women"). In this verse we can easily see the story of Adam and Eve as we know it from the Bible. Let me give you first the mentioned verse:

[...] "O people! Fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and created from it its mate, and propagated from them many men and women. And revere God whom you ask about, and the parents. Surely, God is Watchful over you." [...] (Surah 4: Ayah 1)

And this is what the Bible says about this:

[...] "So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

    for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." [...] (Genesis 2: 21-24 NIV)

ADAM AND EVE . This mosaic from the Cathedral of Monreale, Sicily, depicts the creation of woman in the Bible. Eve is shown emerging from Adam’s side. Most translations of the Adam and Eve story say that Eve was created from Adam’s rib, but Ziony Zevit contends that she was created from a very different part of Adam’s body.

The creation of mankind is in both scriptures the same, the only thing is the use of the words, but in it's origin the stories are alike.

As I said in earlier posts, Islam is a young religion and there are a lot of similarities with other religions. I however respect the idea that the Quran was given to Muhammed. Is it possible without being disrespectfull to look at this somewhat closer?

In my opinion, without being disrespectfull, I think that Muhammed was a very wise man seeking for inner peace and was wandering around the world to find peace of mind. Than he ran into all the different beautiful religions and philosophies and wrote it down? But isn't that the same statement I have made about the Bible? Because if we look at e.g. Jesus Christ, it sounds like Krishna. Hinduism is in my opinion the oldest religion on earth, except of course the religion of nature.

Isn't that wonderful in this short episode I said "All Gods Are One God" and if we look closer to all the different kinds of religions and analyze them we always arrive at the idea of only one God.

new life rises
after the cold winter
daffodils bloom

taken from her man's body
she was created by God's hand

© Chèvrefeuille

What a story this is ... and what a joy to read this in both the Quran and the Bible. God works in mysterious ways.

Hinduism

I also love to share how man and woman were created according to Hinduism, just to give you an idea, that there are similarities between all the religions:

[...] "He (Yājñavalkya) was not at all happy. Therefore people (still) are not happy when alone. He desired a mate. He became as big as man and wife embracing each other. He parted this very body into two. From that came husband and wife. Therefore, said Yājñavalkya, this (body) is one-half of oneself, like one of the two hálves of a split pea. Therefore this space is indeed filled by the wife. He was united with her. From that men were born." [...] (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4)

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 12th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your Japanese poetry with us all.