Bibliofreakblog

FreeVerse: From the Sura of Mary

Today is Christmas Eve Eve.  So naturally I wanted to find something either festive or Jesus-y for today’s FreeVerse.  

I thought of using this poem I wrote like, ten years ago, but I couldn’t find it and I think my only copies of it are back home in Michigan (Oh Cara!  If FreeVerse was held on Fridays, I could have used it because I go home tomorrow).

But then I thought I am nothing if not an out-of-the-box thinker, especially when it comes to religion because I like to be all cross-cultural and shit.  And also a tad subversive.

So, I broke out the Holy Koran, and flipped to the Sura of Mary, and this is lines (stanzas?) 16-37 of said Sura.

from “Mary” by the Prophet Mohammed, Peace Be Upon Him, trans. by A.J. Arberry

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

And mention in the Book Mary
when she withdrew from her people
     to an eastern place,
and she took a veil apart from them;
then We sent unto her Our Spirit
that presented himself to her
     a man without fault.
She said, “I take refuge in
the All-merciful from thee!
     If thou fearest God…”
He said, “I am but a messenger
come from thy Lord, to give thee
     a boy most pure.”
She said, “How shall I have a son
whom no mortal has touched, neither
     have I been unchaste?”
He said, “Even so thy Lord has said:
‘Easy is that for Me; and that We
may appoint him a sign unto men
and a mercy from Us; it is
     a thing decreed.’”
So she conceived him, and withdrew with him
     to a distant place.
And the birthpangs surprised her by
the trunk of the palm-tree.  She said,
“Would I had died ere this, and become
     a thing forgotten!”
But the one that was below her
called to her, “Nay, do not sorrow;
see, thy Lord has set below thee
     a rivulet.
Shake also to thee the palm-trunk,
and there shall come tumbling upon thee
     dates fresh and ripe.
Eat therefore, and drink, and be
comforted; and if thou shouldst see
     any mortal,
say, ‘I have vowed to the All-mericiful
a fast, and today I will not speak
     to any man.’” 
Then she brought the child to her folk
carrying him; and they said,
“Mary, thou hast surely committed
     a monstrous thing! 
Sister of Aaron, they father was not
a wicked man, nor was they mother
     a woman unchaste.”
Mary pointed to the child then;
but they said, “How shall we speak
to one who is still in the cradle,
     a little child?”
He said, “Lo, I am God’s servant;
God has given me the Book, and
     made me a Prophet.
Blessed He has made me, wherever
I may be; and He has enjoined me
to pray, and to give the alms, so
     long as I live,
and likewise to cherish my mother;
He has not made me arrogant,
     unprosperous.
Peace be upon me, the day I was born,
and the day I die, and the day I am
     raised up alive!”
That is Jesus, son of Mary,
in word of truth, concerning which
     they are doubting.
It is not for God to take a son
unto Him.  Glory be to Him!  When He
decrees a thing, He but says to it
     “Be,” and it is.
Surely God is my Lord, and your
Lord; so serve you Him.  This is
     a straight path.

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