Alhamdulillah (All Praise is due to God)

Alhamdulillah (All praise is due to God)

“In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds
The Beneficent, the Merciful,
The Master of the Day of Judgment
You alone do we worship, You alone do we ask for help
Guide us to the Straight Path,
The Path of those whom You favor, not the path of those who are astray.”
Quran (1:1-7)

We praise God for granting us life
We praise God for sustaining us
We praise God for empowering us to bring new life into the world
We praise God for taking our lives
We praise God for returning us to our eternal home.

God is not in need of our praise
He is not in need of our prayers
He is not in need of our charity
We do these acts of praise, prayer, and charity for ourselves and for each other, not because they add anything to the infinite knowledge, infinite wealth, and infinite life of God.

I praise God for my caring, generous, and brilliant family.
I praise God for my education and the knowledgeable, dedicated teachers He put in my life.
I praise God for my health.
I praise God for Islam, and Islam is enough as a blessing.

Song Analysis – “Please Don’t Leave Me” – P!nk

Song Analysis- P!nk – Please Don’t Leave Me

I don’t know if I can yell any louder
How many times have I kicked you outta here?
Or said something insulting?
[A couple is having a fight. They have an on-again off-again relationship. They break up and make up. She’s trying to recall how many times she’s kicked him to the curb or how many times she’s dissed him.]

I can be so mean when I wanna be
I am capable of really anything
I can cut you into pieces
[She’s on a power trip, realizing that she can hurt her partner so badly so easily.]

When my heart is
Broken

Please don’t leave me
Please don’t leave me
I always say how I don’t need you
But it’s always gonna come right back to this
Please, don’t leave me
[She desperately wants him to stay. I think inside she’s very vulnerable, but she puts on a front of being strong. She realizes that she does need him.]

How did I become so obnoxious?
What is it with you that makes me act like this?
I’ve never been this nasty
[Now she’s blaming him for her behavior. She thinks it must be some flaw in him that brings out the worst in her.]

Can’t you tell that this is all just a contest?
The one that wins will be the one that hits the hardest
But baby I don’t mean it
I mean it, I promise
[The fight is really a battle of wills. She knows that if she’s tough, she can keep control of the relationship. But she doesn’t want to hit him so hard that he wants nothing to do with her.]

Please don’t leave me
Please don’t leave me
I always say how I don’t need you
But it’s always gonna come right back to this
Please, don’t leave me

I forgot to say out loud
How beautiful you really are to me
I can’t be without
You’re my perfect little punching bag
And I need you
I’m sorry
[The line, “You’re my perfect little punching bag,” captures the essence of this song. She constantly puts him down and yells at him, but really she loves him deeply because he fulfills an important role in her life.]

Please, please don’t leave me

Baby, please don’t leave me
No, don’t leave me
Please don’t leave me
I always say how I don’t need you
But it’s always gonna come right back to this
Please, don’t leave me
Please don’t leave me
I always say how I don’t need you
But it’s always gonna come right back to this
Please don’t leave me
Please, please don’t leave me

Down in the River to Pray – Alison Krauss

“Down to the River to Pray” –Alison Krauss
From the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord, show me the way !

O sisters let's go down,
Let's go down, come on down,
O sisters let's go down,
Down in the river to pray.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way !

O brothers let's go down,
Let's go down, come on down,
Come on brothers let's go down,
Down in the river to pray.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord, show me the way !

O fathers let's go down,
Let's go down, come on down,
O fathers let's go down,
Down in the river to pray.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way !

O mothers let's go down,
Come on down, don't you want to go down,
Come on mothers, let's go down,
Down in the river to pray.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord, show me the way !

O sinners let's go down,
Let's go down, come on down,
O sinners let's go down,
Down in the river to pray.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way !

[This song is clearly rooted in a Christian worldview. The verses about going down to the river are referring to baptism. In baptism, the worshipper is sprinkled with water which symbolically washes his or her sins. In fact, in an antiquated church in Greece, one can find the following palindrome on the baptismal fonts: “NIPSON ANOMIMATA MI MONAN OPSIN.” The palindrome means, “Wash my sins, not only my face.”

Islam has a similar rite to baptism – wudu. In wudu, a Muslim prepares for prayer by washing himself or herself including the hands, arms, head, and feet. The act of wudu is an act of physical and spiritual purification that not only washes the face but also washes off sins.

The “good old way” in this song is Christianity or perhaps, Christ himself. Christians believe Jesus, on him be peace, said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Incidentally, some Christians cringe when people say, “by the way,” and see it as a form of cursing because they believe Christ called himself “the way.”

The robe and the starry crown are garments of heaven. These are marks of nobility reserved for God’s elect. Traditional Islamic sources speak of the citizens of heaven wearing beautiful garments of silk. Also, on the Day of Judgment, believers will shine from the parts of the body that they washed in wudu. I do not know of any ayahs of the Quran or Hadith (Traditions of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) speaking of believers wearing crowns in heaven, but Allah knows best.

The song addresses its audience in various ways – “brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers.” Speaking of believers as if they are one family is part of the common heritage of the monotheistic faiths. The Jews call themselves the “Children of Israel.” Christians and Muslims speak of each other as brothers and sisters.

The song also calls out, “O sinners.” This is something I have heard Christians say but not Muslims. When Christians say it, I think what they are testifying to is that we are all imperfect, and all in need of redemption. Islam similarly sees humanity as flawed and sinful, yet neither Allah nor His Messenger ever commanded us to refer to one another as “sinners.” Muslims should see themselves as slaves of God who sin from time to time, but not sinners who only obey God from time to time. It may seem to be a subtle difference, but it actually underlies a fundamental paradigmatic difference between the two faiths. Christians believe that it is only through the sacrifice of Christ that they can be saved. On the other hand, Muslims believe they can stand before God on their own two feet with no one to answer for their sins except themselves.]

Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer”

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came — next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams — visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation

*God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!*

Then came the “long” prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory –

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, “Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside — which the startled minister did — and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

“I come from the Throne — bearing a message from Almighty God!” The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. “He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import — that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of — except he pause and think.

“God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two — one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this — keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

“You have heard your servant’s prayer — the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it — that part which the pastor — and also you in your hearts — fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ That is sufficient. the *whole* of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory–*must* follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(*After a pause.*) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!”

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

---

Twain apparently dictated it around 1904-05; it was rejected by his publisher, and was found after his death among his unpublished manuscripts. It was first published in 1923 in Albert Bigelow Paine’s anthology, Europe and Elsewhere.

http://www.ntua.gr/lurk/making/warprayer.html

Song Analysis – Don’t Trust Me – 3OH!3

Black dress with the tights underneath,

I got the breath of the last cigarette on my teeth,

And she’s an actress (actress),

But she ain’t got no need.

She’s got money from her parents in a trust fund back east.

T-t-t-tongues always pressed to your cheeks,

While my tongue is on the inside of some other girls teeth,

T-tell your boyfriend if he says he’s got beef,

That I’m a vegetarian and I ain’t f*&king scared of him.

 

[A trust fund is a legal instrument designed to protect assets in the case of death or in the case of a spendthrift tending to spend money unwisely. Some trust funds prevent minors from being able to use money that has been set aside for them until they reach a specified age.

 

People really love this bit about beef. It’s a clever little pun here playing on the two meanings of “beef.” A beef can be a conflict between people, but it can also be the meat of a cow.]  

 

She wants to touch me (Woah),

She wants to love me (Woah),

She’ll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh),

Don’t trust a ho,

Never trust a ho,

Won’t trust a ho, (cause a ho)

Won’t trust me.(whole part x2)

 

 

X’s on the back of your hands,

Wash them in the bathroom to drink like the bands.

And your setlist (setlist),

You stole off the stage,

Had red and purple lipstick all over the page.

B-b-b-bruises cover your arms,

Shaking in the fingers with the bottle in your palm.

And the best is (best is),

No one knows who you are,

Just another girl alone at the bar.

 

[Purple lipstick seems to be a symbol of being a Goth. One website I looked at sells purple lipsticks called “Wicked” and even “Apocalypse.”

 

I’ve seen two different interpretations for the symbology of the X’s on the hands. The more common one is that the X’s are a symbol of the Straight Edge movement – a group that strives to live clean, i.e. without drugs, tobacco, or alcohol. Washing off the X would show that one does not want to appear as a hypocrite when drinking. Another interpretation is that at concerts, security will mark the hands of underage youth to indicate they should not be allowed to purchase alcohol.

 

The shaking of the fingers could refer to DT’s or delirium tremens, a condition associated with drinking, although these usually occur after a long period of drinking rather than during it.]

 

She wants to touch me (Woah),

She wants to love me (Woah),

She’ll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh),

Don’t trust a ho,

Never trust a ho,

Won’t trust a ho, (cause a ho)

Won’t trust me.(whole part x2)

 

Shush girl, shut your lips,

Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.

I said, Shush girl, shut your lips,

Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.

I said, Shush girl, shut your lips,

Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips…

 

[People either think the reference to Helen Keller here is incredibly funny or incredibly offensive. There’s not a lot of middle ground here. Helen Keller was an author and a political activist with Socialist views. She has a quite fascinating page on Wikipedia that I would recommend checking out. Of course what most people remember about Keller is that she was deaf and blind. She was mute in her childhood, but did eventually learn to speak.]

 

Woah, woah, woah, Woah, woah, oh, oh, Woah, woah, woah

 

She wants to touch me (Woah),

She wants to love me (Woah),

She’ll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh),

Don’t trust a ho,

Never trust a ho,

Won’t trust a ho, (cause a ho)

Won’t trust me.(whole part x2)

 [FYI, the band takes their name from the telephone area code of their home town,  Boulder, Colorado.]