Graduation from Medical School
What blush brings the night that sits upon your cheek?
What henna of sympathetic care stains your hands?
Which precious fine damask imprints the sun
to use for your graduation robes
in that princely gathering of laureates?
What color brings the day for your crowning gele?
Who is the Master Dyer who adorns your hands
with patterns magisterial to heal
all of mankind’s maladies and ills,
in your university of devotion.
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notes
More Colours! Many, many colours!
And lots of notes!
(1) Graduation from Michigan State School of Osteopathic Medicine.
(2) gele - the flamboyant and colorful Nigerian ladies head garb.
(3) The Master Dyer is Allah, or God.
This poem came about when I came across different translations of the word صبغة
or “sibgha” in Chapter 2, Verse 138 of the Quran. I was very surprised at the various interpretations of the word:
We see the old Muslim commentators seeing a reference to Christianity, a reference to the Christian ritual of baptism, a connection which I had never heard of before. I suspect many have not. Indeed, St. John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, has a title الصابغ
"saabigh", meaning “The Baptist”, but it also means “(one) who is dyeing things, a dyer”.
'Abid A worshipper [of God]. A term generally used for a devout person. The word frequently occurs in the Qur'an: e.g., Surah ii, 132 {sic} "The baptism (sibghah) of God! And who is better than God at baptizing? We are worshippers ('abidun) of God!"Hughes, A Dictionary of Islam.
The word sibghah is translated by Professor Palmer "dye"and "dyeing", but Sale, following the Muslim commentators, Al-Baizawi, Jalalu 'd-din, and Husaini, who say it refers to the Christian rite, translates it "baptism".
Others say that it means fitrah or din, the religion of God, with an adaptation to which mankind are created. See Lane's Lexicon [BAPTISM].
Modern translators handle it:
Yusuf Ali:
(Our religion is) the Baptism of God: And who can baptize better than God? And it is He Whom we worship.
Zohurul Hoque:
"The dye of Allah, and who is better than Allah in dye? And we are worshippers of Him."
T. J. Irving:
[Such is] God's design! Who is better than God for a design? We are serving Him.
T.U. Hilali-M. Khan:
[Our Sibghah (religion) is] the Sibghah (Religion) of Allâh (Islâm) and which Sibghah (religion) can be better than Allâh's? And we are His worshippers. [Tafsir Ibn Kathîr.]
M. Pickthall:
(We take our) colour from Allah, and who is better than Allah at colouring. We are His worshippers.
M.H. Shakir:
(Receive) the baptism of Allah, and who is better than Allah in baptising? and Him do we serve.
http://www.qurantoday.com/BaqSec16.htm
So we have connections across cultures that were – to me at least – unexpected and very interesting, and we have an ancient connection between colors and religion and faith.
That is where this graduation poem comes from.
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3 comments:
Interesting. The ambiguity of the word applied to John the Baptist exists in the Greek (in Mt. 3:1) and in the Anglo-Saxon as well (in Old English, the Baptist is sometimes called the Fuller). It must be one of those things that prior to the industrial age would have been a natural connection -- the fuller or dyer is the person who spends his life dipping things and scouring them to make them clean.
Thanks so much for the Anglo-Saxon information. I'm sure I will us it.
I agree with your understanding of the terms.
However, there seems to be a bit more in the notion of "dyeing". Today the colloguial way of saying "How are you?" in Arabic is something like "Shlawnik?".
The "-lawn-" in that expression is the Arabic word for "color", and the expression means "What's your color?" literally.
Beyond that, the connection of Allah to baptizing creates and even stronger connection between Christianity and Islam, implying that Allah indeed baptizes.
This strong bond may be intensely resisted by conservatives of both religions, who want more distinction, not less, between dogmas.
And it's translation is so unclear that it underscores that no matter how divinely inspired and perfect a holy scripture may be, our understanding is an approximate approach to its meaning.
And this is the logical flaw of fundamentalism: assuming that that which is Holy is clear in a simple sense.
Google suddenly has my name as John.
I do not know why. It used to be Montag.
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