Finally, a good four days of holidays are upon us!
Ever since I began working, the thing I miss is the lump of holidays between the semsters, where the profs frantically try to start and wrap up their own projects before the term starts. These used to be about 2.5 months long. And I'll usually spend them reading and going out (there was once I spent it working as a temp deejay/cashier/boot exchange man at Snow City for a rare $8 an hour). Now, there's work much of the time. The only free times are the public holidays. Even those you have to be on standby for work sometimes for one thing or another.
But on to these 4 nice, juicy days: I'm just going to catch up on some Arabic and reading. My poor Arabic's taken a beating ever since I took a two-month vacation for my marriage. I started attending classes two weeks back, it's been pretty confusing to catch up. My verbs, nouns and vocabulary are so bad I can make the Bedouins go crazy. So I'm going to revise everything.
Right now I have 4 outstanding books to read. The one I'm finishing up now is Seyyed Hossein Nasr's very eloquent "Ideals and Realities of Islam" written back in 1966, but still relevant today. In a language that gives away the constant conversations he probably has in his mind, Mr Hossein provides a narrative on several topics that contextualise Islam for the westernised Muslim. By westernised Muslim, I mean the Muslim who has grown up in a secular environment where the bulk of his/her education and worldview are formed by non-Muslim philosophies and ideologies. Hossein attempts to rationalise the meaning of Islam in the context of the prevailing ideologies existing in the contemporary world today, in a language he thinks will appeal to the educated westernised Muslim. He is largely successful, using comparisons with other world religions (he's an expert in comparative religion by the way) and how Islam is the truth that mankind has been presented, to either accept or reject. He also explains quite a bit about Shi'a Islam, which I found very eye-opening because I've always wondered why Sunnis always didn't give them a proper hearing. The bottomline is that Shi'a Muslims approach Allah differently from Sunni Muslims. To know more, read the book.
The other books that I've planned to read right after this are:
I'm also going to engage in some mindless entertainment. Apart from reading, I'm planning to watch this show called "Thalainagaram" starring director-turned-actor Sundar C. Sundar, who used to direct blockbuster comedies in Tamil decided to act in a gangster flick after someone told him to do so. Thalainagaram was a hit. I don't know what the hell made it a hit, so I'm going to watch it and find out.
If you're starving for Harris Jeyaraj's new songs, look no further than "Pachaikili MuthuCharam" and "Unnale Unnale". As mentioned in my previous post, all are in one way or another a rehash of one song or another. My favourite of all these repeated tunes is "Karu Karu Vizhi" from PachaiKili. Go check it out ya'all.
To all readers, happy holidays.
Ever since I began working, the thing I miss is the lump of holidays between the semsters, where the profs frantically try to start and wrap up their own projects before the term starts. These used to be about 2.5 months long. And I'll usually spend them reading and going out (there was once I spent it working as a temp deejay/cashier/boot exchange man at Snow City for a rare $8 an hour). Now, there's work much of the time. The only free times are the public holidays. Even those you have to be on standby for work sometimes for one thing or another.
But on to these 4 nice, juicy days: I'm just going to catch up on some Arabic and reading. My poor Arabic's taken a beating ever since I took a two-month vacation for my marriage. I started attending classes two weeks back, it's been pretty confusing to catch up. My verbs, nouns and vocabulary are so bad I can make the Bedouins go crazy. So I'm going to revise everything.
Right now I have 4 outstanding books to read. The one I'm finishing up now is Seyyed Hossein Nasr's very eloquent "Ideals and Realities of Islam" written back in 1966, but still relevant today. In a language that gives away the constant conversations he probably has in his mind, Mr Hossein provides a narrative on several topics that contextualise Islam for the westernised Muslim. By westernised Muslim, I mean the Muslim who has grown up in a secular environment where the bulk of his/her education and worldview are formed by non-Muslim philosophies and ideologies. Hossein attempts to rationalise the meaning of Islam in the context of the prevailing ideologies existing in the contemporary world today, in a language he thinks will appeal to the educated westernised Muslim. He is largely successful, using comparisons with other world religions (he's an expert in comparative religion by the way) and how Islam is the truth that mankind has been presented, to either accept or reject. He also explains quite a bit about Shi'a Islam, which I found very eye-opening because I've always wondered why Sunnis always didn't give them a proper hearing. The bottomline is that Shi'a Muslims approach Allah differently from Sunni Muslims. To know more, read the book.
The other books that I've planned to read right after this are:
- The Sealed Nectar or Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum by Safi-ur Rahman Al Mubarakpuri - An award-winning biography of the Holy Prophet s.a.w.
- Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an by Toshihiko Izutsu - I bought this at Page One at Vivocity, as I thought it'd complement my Arabic learning
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - This was a gift by a dear old friend three years ago, I haven't managed to finish it, shame on me!
- The Emergence of Islam by Muhammad Hamidullah - A book published in Pakistan, I have no clue what to expect from this book.
- Self Development in the Context of Man's Relationship with Allah by Amin Ahsan Islahi - This was an amazing chapter from a book called "Tazkiyah - The Islamic Path of Self-Development". It was so amazing I photostated the chapter to read again. I don't what what genre/school of thought it is from, but it really invigorated my imaan.
I'm also going to engage in some mindless entertainment. Apart from reading, I'm planning to watch this show called "Thalainagaram" starring director-turned-actor Sundar C. Sundar, who used to direct blockbuster comedies in Tamil decided to act in a gangster flick after someone told him to do so. Thalainagaram was a hit. I don't know what the hell made it a hit, so I'm going to watch it and find out.
If you're starving for Harris Jeyaraj's new songs, look no further than "Pachaikili MuthuCharam" and "Unnale Unnale". As mentioned in my previous post, all are in one way or another a rehash of one song or another. My favourite of all these repeated tunes is "Karu Karu Vizhi" from PachaiKili. Go check it out ya'all.
To all readers, happy holidays.
