May Way [1]

By Paul Anka

And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I’ll say it clear

I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain

I’ve lived a life that’s full

I travelled each and every highway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few

But then again, too few to mention

I did what I had to do

And saw it through without exemption

I planned each charted course

Each careful step along the byway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew

When I bit off more than I could chew

But through it all, when there was doubt

I ate it up and spit it out

I faced it all and I stood tall

And did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried

I’ve had my fill, my share of losing

And now, as tears subside

I find it all so amusing to think I did all that

And may I say, not in a shy way

Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has not

To say the things he truly feels

And not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows

And did it my way

Yes, it was my way

It has Always been My Way

By Ziad Aazam

And then, when the days were young

I faced the opening curtain

My friend, I shall tell a story I sang

With cries and laughs to which I was awaken

I crawled a tender life, and then I stood tall

To make a choice at every crossway

And some more, I thought I could

Do it my way

Sorrows, I had but none

It was just fun, to live a life of a freshman

I dreamt of days to come

Of possible worlds without exception

I walked on less traveled paths

In dreams that reached the Milky Way

When I thought I could, yes, I would

Imagine it my way

No, never I had a time of doubt

When I stumbled or worn-out

For I was free like a wind

That blew on treasure fields, never pinned

I flowed in hope and thought I could

Do it my way

I didn’t worry, I was nothing yet happy

I had my joy, my chances of glory

And now, as I stand here today

I wonder if life has passed me away

And if I stay some more, I say

Oh, yes, I am on my way

For what a human is about

If not for one’s right is devout

If not being oneself, what good is the other

Give in, I shall not nor yield to smother

My heart says I have done what it takes

To do it my way, never sway

Lock me away or block my byway

I shall never give up My Way

Ziad Aazam

Thursday, December 29, 2011, 11:08 pm

[1] Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/i+did+it+my+way_20815694.html

For an account of the song My Way and links see: http://bit.ly/rLUGQy

U + R

Beautiful Minds

Fly like birds

Facebook faces

Smile with Likes

Who are we?

If not souls and places

What are we?

If we don’t take chances

Where are we?

If not in-between like Bridges

Let in no agony’s thrall

No tears to fall

No one to crawl

Rise from ashes

With Likes and Faces

Tweets and wings

For what a letter U can do

With love and actions

R can do

To start Revolutions

Ziad Aazam

Thursday, December 29, 2011, 1:19 PM

Image Source: http://www.adzif.biz/site/medias/TEEF0016.jpg

Clarification: The poem I wrote (right), was inspired by Fatima AlBanawi’s beautiful poem (left), line by line, literally. In fact, three lines are hers (shown in orange). I was so moved, inspired and taken by her bold statements and sharp language. My intention was to write a poem that sprang from it, and to learn from her words and thoughts in the process; it was that beautiful for me. After I had finished the poem, I realized that its soul was not mine, even though I wrote it and that due acknowledgement has to go to her.

I suggest that the cause of this high level of anxiety we all experience may be explained by high connectivity characterizing our modern condition.

We live in a highly connected world through so many means, both digital and physical. This high connectivity means that local and global troubles, emotions, knowledge, suffering, etc., the ingredients of life, whether news, just information, or impact, real and immediate effects, spread quickly from everywhere to everywhere in our world network, both local and global. The world network here applies on many levels: (1) local only, for example, Bridges Bookstore[1] Network in Jeddah, or (2) global only, such as the UN, or (3) both local and global, such as the Arab Spring[2]. At the local level, with so many means to connect, news, physical and emotional impacts spread quickly locally, and depending on its degree of intensity it may spread regionally and globally. An example of this is the Arab Spring that not only affected the region but also inspired the ongoing revolution in the US against capitalism and Wall Street called Occupy Wall Street[3] and Occupy Everywhere[4]. The financial crisis of 2008 is another example of this global impact that started locally in the US at systems and structural levels.

In order to understand the impact of this high connectivity on our conscience, which is the source of our anxiety, one has to compare older world conditions or places of less connectivity, like Amazonian tribes[5], to our modern condition. Conditions with less connectivity means isolation, which either means ignorance or having a peace of mind; both lead to less anxiety. For example, if someone has no idea what happened to Bridges Bookstore or Syrian people, this person is living a lesser degree of anxiety than the person who does. If you add all possible news and impacts in this highly connected world, one can appreciate the magnitude of the anxiety for our generation in comparison to previous ones. This simply means that the higher the connectivity, the higher the anxiety.

The remedy is simple; difficult to apply for conscious souls, easier to apply for dormant souls: live a less connected life by adopting isolation measures, or live a highly connected life but adopt a less conscientiousness life with no values that induce anxiety on the conscience.

These are the flames of mind and heart. I am burnt by the flames.

i

Risk is embedded in the calculation of profit and loss.

The Rizq Principle vs. Risk Principle is a subject worth investigating in terms of meaning and cultural differences. I read once in some scholarly work that the English word ‘Risk’ is, in fact, comes from the word ‘Rizq’ in Arabic. The sound similarity is very obvious yet the connotations stand in opposition. The Online Etymology Dictionary indicates uncertain origin of the word:

‘Risk (n.) 1660s, risque, from Fr. risque, from It. risco, riscio (modern rischio), from riscare ”run into danger,” of uncertain origin. The Anglicized spelling first recorded 1728. Sp. riesgo and Ger. Risiko are Italian loan-words. The verb is from 1680s. Related: Risked; risking. Risk aversion is recorded from 1964; risk factor from 1971; risk management from 1963; risk taker from 1944.’ Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

The verb dates back to the 1680, leaving us with a thought that the word’s birth must have been a few centuries earlier when Arab Muslims culture of trade and business exchange language happened in Europe’s Mediterranean region. Here, we have a very interesting concept of opposition that deserves an investigation into meanings of two cultural values. The two words appear as if they are mirror image of themselves Rizq/Risk, with a root in the word Rizq. The word Rizq (رزق), as pronounced by Muslim merchants, denotes God’s written profit, in which freedom in the individual’s effort to seek God’s bounty is balanced by the predetermined dividend distributed by God from that bounty. Al-Raziq is one of God’s 99 names meaning the Giver. At times of first transactions and exchanges by Muslims and Europeans merchants in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages, the calculation of profit by the faithful Muslim merchant was based on the Rizq Principle, which meant that one could never know for sure what would be the profit at the end of the day. However, when the very word Rizq transmitted to Non-Muslims, it returned its sound but, in the absence of the Rizq Principle, the word flipped its meaning to its opposite. Risk became the calculation of the danger that could affect the calculation of profit. Similarly, Muslims used the word Rizq to justify their actions upon travelling to unknown worlds seeking God’s bounty, i.e. Rizq; while Western explorers used the word Risk in the 16^th and 17^th centuries as they embarked on their voyages to unknown worlds of danger.

That was then, when the influence was impacted upon the Western World by the Muslim World. When conditions flipped and as the impact was reversed, Muslims are now learning the Risk Principle to calculate the dangers associated with making a profit; while forgetting to apply the Rizq Principle that calls for making the best effort to seek God’s bounty while accepting God’s dividends.

Yet, the issue that concerns us here is not only the etymology of the word Risk[1], although a lot can be learned from that since it has already penetrated our vocabulary and action, but also the meaning behind these two words Rizq/Risk and how they reflect opposition and a whole set of cultural beliefs, worldviews, applications, operations, political and economic implications that create two worlds at the core. It is not only the West’s task to understand the word Risk but also ours. Today, the word Risk has completed its transfer to us with all its heavy attachments whether philosophical as in the cultural worldviews discussed above; or operational as in the application of probability theory and risk assessment that penetrates into mechanical depths devoid of human spirit, etc.; or political and economic as in the politics of fear used deviously for power and financial gain. All of which are recent phenomena occurring at the expense of our understanding of the Rizq Principle.

This is not to say that we call for exclusion but rather an understanding at the core level, which, as we speak, the West is trying to fathom this unexplained emerging success of Islamic Finance and Sharia Law that govern an integrated socio-economic system, at least in principles, while Capitalism and its financial institutions and principles are in crisis. In fact, what I am provoking here is to raise the questions that lead to answers for what I may call One Word/World; I am also calling both worlds to participate in this search for opposite meanings; in the hope that a concept of a third word/world may emerge based on the complementary union of the two words rather than their inherent opposition. Of course non-Muslims will rightly say that a third word/world will never emerge out of the two principles since the Rizq Principle is based on a belief system that they couldn’t subscribe to. So, it is more of our duty to bring the principle of Rizq back again to our and their attention by searching the meaning of these two words. Mind you, that the Risk Principle itself is based on a belief system too.

I believe that the world is made up of discrete entities. These discrete entities, such as, atoms, cells, electrons, digits, numbers, waves, molecules (DNA), genomes, elements and neurons can be found in all life’s manifestations. However, humans, as agents of creating the artificial world from the natural world can also be considered as discrete elements, where cognition and consciousness reside in humans and nowhere else in this life but there. The humans as agents enabled by cognition and consciousness, move in the world by language, where words are discrete entities that carry meanings that shape the world. This world moves in time and space and interacts with nature producing artifacts. Understanding words as discrete entities in the makeup of life is key to understanding the world. Read the first set of verses in the Quran, where ‘word’ and ‘clot’, which I interpret them as discrete entities, are juxtaposed side by side in these verses:

‘Read in the name of your Lord who created – (96:1) Created man from a clot. (96:2) Read, and your Lord is the most Generous – (96:3) Who taught by the pen – (96:4) Taught man that which he knew not. (96:5) No! [But] indeed, man transgresses. (96:6) Because he sees himself self-sufficient. (96:7) Indeed, to your Lord is the return. (96:8)’ Al-Quran – Surat Al-`Alaq, The Clot 96:1 to 96:8.

Note: The above is just my own thinking about the two similarly sounding words Rizq vs. Risk, which expanded from a brief reading of a scholarly work by an orientalist hinting to possible origin of the word Risk in the Arabic word Rizq. I did a brief research on the etymology of the word and I found that the West is hesitant as to what the origin of the word Risk is and how the meaning evolved[2]. I am not a linguist; I am only raising a question mark in the presence of a strong similarity of how the two words Rizq/Risk sound, in addition to the assumption that the word Risk is unstable and without clear origin and account of the evolution of the meaning despite its importance to the West.