Life
By Katie Sullivan
|
April 18, 2002
The word "zikr" has three levels of meaning, according to Griffith Chaussee, an Asian and Middle Eastern Languages professor.
On the most basic level, it means "mentioned."
Used in the mystical sense, it refers to the repeated mention of God's name in order to reach a meditative state.
On a more secular level, it means reflective meditation.
All three of those meanings, Chaussee said, will be in effect tonight at ZIKR: Remembrance, an evening of poetry and prose in the Islamic tradition.
Chaussee, who speaks and teaches Hindi and Urdu, will be among the professors who will read personal selections.
He plans to read a poem by Saiz Ahmad Saiz in the original Urdu, and then read an English translation of that poem by Agha Shahid Ali in tribute to the translator, who died last year.
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