EDWARD SAID: MY COMMENTS

If I could be an intellectual with 1/8 the ability of Edward Said I would a shining thing. Really I posted those videos for two reasons. The first being that I wanted to share Mr. Said with those that might not know of his work. I have mentioned his name to a gazillion Muslims and Arabs and no one seems to know who he is which leads me to the second reason I wanted to share him. 

One of the biggest and perhaps most important teachings of the Qu'ran is that of scholarship. I spoke about this in my first blog posting but I want to elaborate and stress again this point. I also want to define what the literary canon is all about. First let me define the literary canon for those that don't have the time or inclination to read a bunch of books on the subject. The very simplistic definition of literary canon is the understanding that one thing can not be written unless this other things was written. That nothing exists without the other. For example Stephen King could not exist without the works of Edgar Allen Poe, and Poe could not have come about without the works of Washington Irving or Hawthorne. Now the next examples I give I am sure will upset a few folks but come along for the ride, and quote me right because you actually read my words. 

The Qu'ran could not have been written without the Old Testament and The Old Testament could not have been written without The Torah and The Torah couldn't have been written without The Iliad. 

Edward Said could not have written Orientalism without all of the before mentioned books because all of those above mentioned books are all examples of self exploration. One set being self exploration of self at our best and the second being self exploration as only humans can do. Looking for answers where there are no pat ones. That is what humans do. We write books, like Poe, (or Irving, or Hawthorne, or put your favourite author here),  in the language (read: the only way we have at our disposal), in an attempt to learn and figure out the meaning of life. Not your life but the life each of us is trying to lead and discover. All art is an attempt to discover the meaning of life. That is why all literature, for a Muslim, is important to read. Because the authors of those other books are the other people you share this world with. And those other people God loves too. He created them in the same way he created you. And since you are not the only one with something to say, it is a religious obligation to hear as much as you can about what God's other chil'rin is thinking.

What do you think the point is in having a zillion other people on this planet, other than you, is? Can you convert them all? I doubt it. If all you do is converse with God and ignore me (or some other person you deem worthy of ignoring) then in my book you have ignored some so fundamental that I would guess that you can't see the nose on your own face. If God created us, me, you, and you ignore me, aren't you basically telling God you aren't too crazy about one of his creations yet you ooh and ah over a sunset. Isn't that convenient...

I am excited about learning. I am excited about Edward Said. I am not suggesting that you run out and try and get what it is that Said was trying to say. I am suggesting that you run out and try and understand anything that you don't understand. Edward Said, though he never mentions the Qu'ran in these videos is following the very teachings of the Qu'ran and is therefore to be respected on principle alone.

Finally, for all of you who got through the videos, but still had no idea what he was talking about and perhaps wished that the book came with pictures... I want to inform you that much if not most of the artwork that was shown in the documentary is on permanent exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Go explore the world around you. That is the best way to know God.