I believe that this crucial point you make is what people so frequently miss: "They remind later generations that the message was not only spoken. It was inhabited." We are meant to INHABIT the teachings of these sacred messengers. If we don't try to habituate their teachings, then we have missed the whole point.
Yes, this is it! I love the word "habituate" here as well. Dwelling. Abiding. Habituating. This is fruitfulness! Awareness [da'as] is the seed of knowledge, produced by intentional listening [shema]. Works of justice [mishpat u-tzedek], that body of outward which "evidences" the inward alignment and integration, are the fruit. Praxes [as intentional habituation] are just as important.
Or, as Ya'akov ha-Tzaddik said, "Faith without works of justice is as useful as a corpse."
Thank you for this. I appreciate learning more about Islam. I also thought about how wives or domestic help are silenced because they do have the front row seat of when the message is NOT inhabited. Oh to be a fly on the wall!
Waking up to this is as if someone gently pulled the curtains open & at itz own pace, ever so gently but firmly,, the sun’s rays came sneaking in to warm, shed light, soothing, delicious, and whisper unknown truths filling your soul & mind & body with the essence & energy of two women who are the partners & witnesses of 2 men who inspired 2 major religions that are still alive & kicking & maybe wouldn’t be were it not for Magdalene & Aisha. I can;t just read this once. Not because my memory is losing itz sharpness but because I WANT to & NEED to in order to absorb & really feel & HONOR the women who made what happened with spiritual truths & ways of living that rocked the world by 2 men who are revered & have worldwide followings to this day. This is opening my eyes & heart & soul to so much truth I never knew & know now I needed. And wanted. Thank you for sharing this gift - more of Magdalene & for me, the introduction to Aisha & Muhammad’s life. 🫶✝️☪️💞
I love this. I also think it’s deeper than witnessing, it’s understanding. Women know things internally, namely the interconnectedness of all life. I know more about Mary and not enough about Aisha but she received the deepest teachings of Jesus. She ‘saw’ because she also knew.
The prevailing social hierarchy hushes these kind of things. Thank you for lifting up the witnesses and speaking with reverence of two sacred spiritual paths.
What a wonderful piece of writing, VMB! Placing these two women in "conversation" with one another this way is magnificent - and uncanny in its timing! In my own projects I have been meditating a lot on Aisha and her role in the communities after the Prophet passed away.
Hers is a song that must be sung louder. As is that of Miryam ha-Magdelah, the Tower of Witness herself. While Shimon bar-Yonah ha-Kefa was the block-headed foundation of the communities [kehillot], it was Miryam and her vision that knew how to orient that foundational stone in the first place. Is she not the Ambassador to the Ambassadorial Corps [apostolos ho-apostoloi]? Does this not suggest, as with Aisha, that hers was an embodied authority rooted in hard-earned memory and first-hand experience?
What a wonderful job you've done drawing out these threads: red, golden, and [for the Prophet, PBUH] green, and braiding them together so elegantly.
I believe that this crucial point you make is what people so frequently miss: "They remind later generations that the message was not only spoken. It was inhabited." We are meant to INHABIT the teachings of these sacred messengers. If we don't try to habituate their teachings, then we have missed the whole point.
Now *there* is wisdom. Well said!
Yes, this is it! I love the word "habituate" here as well. Dwelling. Abiding. Habituating. This is fruitfulness! Awareness [da'as] is the seed of knowledge, produced by intentional listening [shema]. Works of justice [mishpat u-tzedek], that body of outward which "evidences" the inward alignment and integration, are the fruit. Praxes [as intentional habituation] are just as important.
Or, as Ya'akov ha-Tzaddik said, "Faith without works of justice is as useful as a corpse."
Thank you for teaching us more about Islam.☪️ I haven’t learned enough about it before.
Thank you for this. I appreciate learning more about Islam. I also thought about how wives or domestic help are silenced because they do have the front row seat of when the message is NOT inhabited. Oh to be a fly on the wall!
I also love how much this page is a safe space for those who want to approach Islam with reverence and beauty. Such a rare jewel.
I had not heard of Aisha. I love how you brought out the authority both women carried of personal observation.
Waking up to this is as if someone gently pulled the curtains open & at itz own pace, ever so gently but firmly,, the sun’s rays came sneaking in to warm, shed light, soothing, delicious, and whisper unknown truths filling your soul & mind & body with the essence & energy of two women who are the partners & witnesses of 2 men who inspired 2 major religions that are still alive & kicking & maybe wouldn’t be were it not for Magdalene & Aisha. I can;t just read this once. Not because my memory is losing itz sharpness but because I WANT to & NEED to in order to absorb & really feel & HONOR the women who made what happened with spiritual truths & ways of living that rocked the world by 2 men who are revered & have worldwide followings to this day. This is opening my eyes & heart & soul to so much truth I never knew & know now I needed. And wanted. Thank you for sharing this gift - more of Magdalene & for me, the introduction to Aisha & Muhammad’s life. 🫶✝️☪️💞
I love this so much!
I love this. I also think it’s deeper than witnessing, it’s understanding. Women know things internally, namely the interconnectedness of all life. I know more about Mary and not enough about Aisha but she received the deepest teachings of Jesus. She ‘saw’ because she also knew.
The prevailing social hierarchy hushes these kind of things. Thank you for lifting up the witnesses and speaking with reverence of two sacred spiritual paths.
What a wonderful piece of writing, VMB! Placing these two women in "conversation" with one another this way is magnificent - and uncanny in its timing! In my own projects I have been meditating a lot on Aisha and her role in the communities after the Prophet passed away.
Hers is a song that must be sung louder. As is that of Miryam ha-Magdelah, the Tower of Witness herself. While Shimon bar-Yonah ha-Kefa was the block-headed foundation of the communities [kehillot], it was Miryam and her vision that knew how to orient that foundational stone in the first place. Is she not the Ambassador to the Ambassadorial Corps [apostolos ho-apostoloi]? Does this not suggest, as with Aisha, that hers was an embodied authority rooted in hard-earned memory and first-hand experience?
What a wonderful job you've done drawing out these threads: red, golden, and [for the Prophet, PBUH] green, and braiding them together so elegantly.
Thank you.
Fascinating!