All Things will Die

"All that is on earth will perish: will abide (for ever) the Face of thy Lord,- full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?" (Surah al-Rahman: 26-28).

All Things will Die

All Things will Die

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing

Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing

Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating

Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
O, vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are call’d–we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
O, misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Thro’ eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

:sigh:

Every time that I don't clear the cooking time on the microwave after I've finished heating something and there is some time left over, I feel like I'm recycling by using it at a later time.

Found this online...

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

O, swear not by the moon...

"O, swear not by the moon, the fickle moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circle orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable."

This quote is from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The context of the quote is that Romeo is offering to take a vow and swear by something to prove that his love is true. He sees the moon and decides to swear by it. Juliet counters by saying the above quote and stressing that since the moon changes throughout the month eventually disappearing, Romeo's love may also disappear or at least be less than constant.

I've read this before, but I heard it recently when my school went on a field trip to go see a production of Romeo and Juliet at Chicago's Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. What struck me was this:

Juliet says that Romeo should not swear by the moon because it is not something constant for fear of his love eventually diminishing.

Allah the Most High also swears by many things in the Qur'an. If Allah were to swear by the moon, someone could argue the same as Juliet did. Allah in Surah al-Shams, however, swears by the sun first saying, "By the sun and its brightness." Allah the Most High then swears by the moon, but He does not swear by the moon itself but also links it with a certain action of the moon. "And by the moon when it follows it (the sun)."

The alteration of the sun and the moon is a set an consistent process by which Allah can surely swear without anyone being able to object. This just shows another aspect of the incredible depth that exists in the Qur'an. It seems that everyday the Qur'an unveils a new beauty to me and further proves that Islam is the true path. SubhanAllah.

Journals...

Journal prompt: Write about your biggest mistake.

Student journal entry: My biggest mistake was trying.

Donkey for sale

I found a note the other day that was being posted on students' backs. It read: حمار للبيع (Donkey for sale). This is what I found when I searched for it:

I really wish my students would use their creativity for something productive. It was funny nevertheless.

Back at it...

I've returned to teaching. Is that why I found my first gray hair in my beard today?