O my soul! That the creation should praise the Creator is clear, both from Scripture and from reason.1 But how is man, who alone among observable created beings has reason,2 to praise his Creator in sincerity?3
Praise in sincerity is his who climbs the Mountain with no thought of return.4
His first-light praise is blithe against of the jagged silhouette which overspreads the valley, while his first pink-footed Infant step turns to iron the fact that he must die.
His dawning praise mocks the foothills with the certainties of Youth, while the Summit, as yet a Promise merely squinted at, sits like lead and commands the gentle reds of the yet-unfolding sky.
His midday praise reviews in miniature the verdure down below, known now by Experience, and the Precipice resolves into the unsinkable remainder of every mature calculation.
A solitary peak now compels sojourn, and the sky extinguishes the embers of all his yesterdays, yet his sunset praise is Gratitude: for he held back nothing by which to seek the empty solace of the valley. While much which was known was loved, nothing which was known truly was loved overmuch. The night sky hovers at the edge of the World wreathed in jet and lace. He rests upon the Ledge with his back to all but God, and no-whither for stepping but onward.5
His night praise greets that Truth which is unveiled in Death.6 His back unclings the rock — the final bookend in his treading board of days — and he is enfolded in Him who set the Mountain before him and was his Path upon it.
This post forms part of the Meditations series, the introduction to which is here.
The footnotes below lead to the online version of The Qur’an: A Complete Revelation. It is free to use and is designed to aid students of both the Qur’anic text in English and of the original Arabic. You can download the full work free or purchase it in hardback (at 10% less than with online bookstores).
Commenting subscribers are invited to identify errors in syntax, spelling, in my reference links, or deviations from clear sense — as well as to suggest additional references.
In either case, they are asked to include the excerpt from my text their input relates to, and in the case of suggested additional references to link to them using the copy link function from the dropdown feature found at each verse here.
Hi Sam,
Thank you for this vivid and Quran aligned meditation.
I enjoyed the poetic style of your writing such as "His dawning praise mocks the foothills with the certainties of Youth, while the Summit, as yet a Promise merely squinted at, sits like lead and commands the gentle reds of the yet-unfolding sky".
Your use of similes, personification and other literary devices provides a richness I have been seeking to praise God.
Just one typo, I spotted n the title of your post... I am assuming it is meant to be "Meditation" not "Mediation"? Apologies if I am incorrect.
This fits conceptually and thematically very well with the 'Ninth Word' from Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's "Words", in which he looks at the five canonical prayers and maps onto them the times of the day, the times of the year, the times in a human lifespan and even the times in the lifespan of the cosmos.