tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407624264627208128.post4976920660598329576..comments2024-01-26T21:38:25.924-08:00Comments on Duane's PoeTree: Umid Ali writesDuanesPoeTreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053093400086634552noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407624264627208128.post-2853951274346005152017-08-13T17:19:39.488-07:002017-08-13T17:19:39.488-07:00The 36th surah (chapter) of the Qur’an is known as...The 36th surah (chapter) of the Qur’an is known as the Sūrah Yaʾ-Sīn (Yaseen) after the first two letters of its first verse. According to Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph, his cousin/father-in-law Muhammad told him it was one of the seven names Allah had given the prophet. The surah focuses on establishing the Qur'an as a divine source and Muhammad as a prophet, warns of the fate of those that mock God's revelations and are stubborn, reminds of the punishments that plagued past generations of nonbelievers as a warning to present and future generations, reiterates Allah’s sovereignty and omnipotence as exemplified by his creations through signs from nature, and presents arguments in favor of the existence of resurrection and of Allah’s sovereign power. According to the hadith collected by `Abd Allah ibn `Abd al-Rahman al-Darimi, Muhammad claimed that if people recite Ya’Sin at the beginning of the day, their needs for that day will be fulfilled. After asserting Muhammad’s role as a prophet rather than a poet (“We have not taught the Prophet poetry, nor could he ever have been a poet"), the surah concludes, "When He wills something to be, His way is to say, 'Be'—and it is! So glory be to Him in whose Hand lies control over all things. It is to Him that you will all be brought back.”<br /><br />Daffodils (jonquils, narcissi, asphodels) have long been associated with death, beauty, wealth, and good fortune and as symbolic of spring. Traditionally they were believed to open on Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) and to die on Easter. The Chinese and the Kurds associate them with the new year, and they symbolized beautiful eyes in classical Persian literature, along with other flowers that equal a beautiful face with a spring garden, such as roses for cheeks and violets for shining dark hair. Muhammad advised that "Whoever has two loaves of bread, sell one and buy [daffodils], for while bread nourishes the body, the [daffodil] feeds the soul." The anonymous 7th-century BCE Homeric hymn “To Demeter” claimed that the flower, which Earth made to grow at the will of Zeus and to please the Host of Many, to be a snare for the bloom-like girl -- a marvellous, radiant flower. It was a thing of awe whether for deathless gods or mortal men to see: from its root grew a hundred blooms and it smelled most sweetly, so that all wide heaven above and the whole earth and the sea's salt swell laughed for joy.” As Persephone gathered their blooms she was kidnapped by Hades, and daffodils grew in meadows along the Styx in the underworld. It I one of the most-often cited flowers in English literature; for instance, e.e cummings was able to utilize many of the flower’s associations in his<br />hunched, <br />parkfriendlyplay-<br />fully(feel<br />he feeds &<br />robins) through <br />soft bars <br />sunshined <br />of whys &<br />democraticyellow<br />daffodils of ><br /><br />(now)<br /><br />Old poet <br />coppes<br />silken web <br />truthtulles <br />of April --<br />triangulating: <br />(i) third-person <br />love, &<br />(ii) singular simple <br />time, w/ <br />(iii) always present > <br /><br />(death) &c.<br /><br />But their most famous appearance is in William Wordswoth’s 1804 sonnet:<br /><br />I wandered lonely as a Cloud<br />That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills,<br />When all at once I saw a crowd<br />A host of dancing Daffodils;<br />Along the Lake, beneath the trees,<br />Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.<br /><br />The waves beside them danced, but they<br />Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: --<br />A poet could not but be gay<br />In such a laughing company:<br />I gaz’d – and gaz’d – but little thought<br />What wealth the shew to me had brought.<br /><br />For oft when on my couch I lay<br />In vacant or in pensive mood,<br />They flash upon that inward eye<br />Which is the bliss of solitude,<br />And then my heart with pleasure fills,<br />And dances with the Daffodils.<br />DuanesPoeTreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17053093400086634552noreply@blogger.com