Happy Bloomsday!

Since my last few posts have all been about religion, I thought it was time to mix things up a bit and write about something else. And so today I am honouring Bloomsday, a holiday celebrating the Irish writer James Joyce and his infamous novel Ulysses, which takes place almost entirely on June 16^th, 1904.  Ulysses details the story of three characters – Stephen Dedalus, Mr. Leopold Bloom, and Molly Bloom – and their interactions and experiences in Dublin from 8am on June 16^th, 1904 until 2am on June 17^th, 1904. Bloomsday is commemorated in Dublin and by those who are familiar with Ulysses. Many people honour Bloomsday by walking the route that Mr. Bloom take throughout Dublin in Ulysses, visiting the various places that are mentioned in the novel, as well as with readings from the novel, entertainment, and pub crawls.

The first chapter, or ‘episode’ of the novel, is set at 8am, and begins from the point of view of Stephen Dedalus, a young man who has just returned to Dublin from Paris after having failed to carry out his artistic vision. The first three chapters (from 8am-10am) focus on Stephen, and then the time frame jumps back in episode 4 to 8am where the story begins again from Mr. Bloom’s perspective. Mr. Bloom is a pork-eating Jew, who feels tension in his marriage and becomes fond of Stephen. Their adventures around Dublin form the bulk of the novel until the final episode, where the narrative shifts to Molly Bloom’s point of view. In this episode, Molly’s internal thoughts are spewed out on paper with no periods, commas, or any other punctuation. In this episode, Molly pees, farts, has her period, contemplates the affair she just had that afternoon (even describing the man’s girth), as well as the rest of her sexual history and desires.

This was one of the most obscene books I have ever read (and not surprisingly it was banned in Britain and the United States for many years), yet it was also one of the most brilliant. Published in 1922, Ulysses is considered to be the quintessential novel of the modernist period (a period of experimentation in the arts that occurred from the late 1800s to mid 20^th century), and also has a reputation of being ‘hard to start, and even harder to finish’. Part of what makes this work so challenging is that it is primarily written in a stream-of-consciousness style, meaning that the sentences are written as if they are the internal thoughts of the character written out on paper. Furthermore, the narrative also jumps from one character’s thoughts to another, and so it is confusing to pinpoint who exactly thought what – Stephen, Mr Bloom, or the narrator (who seems to become a character himself). What also makes Ulysses so hard to read is the fact that there are so many obscure references to other literary, musical and artistic sources, Celtic and Irish mythology, and political events in the early 1900s. There have been books written that are larger than the text of Ulysses itself to explain all of these vague references! Many of the episodes are written in various ‘styles’ (as if it was a newspaper, a musical, a play, a scientific work), demonstrating Joyce’s ability to manipulate language and firmly establishing him as one of the greatest writers of the English language.

This will be the first Bloomsday that I am commemorating, but unfortunately I am celebrating it by having my wisdom teeth taken out. But, considering that Ulysses focuses on the mundane physical aspects of human life and also has a very trippy episode where characters change shape and gender, maybe having my wisdom teeth cut out of my mouth and feeling loopy from painkillers is in fact the very best way to celebrate Bloomsday!

So, Happy Bloomsday everyone!

Religious Misconceptions #2

Jihad means "Holy War"

This has, undoubtedly, become the popular Western definition of the word. It is partially correct, but it is little known that jihad actually means "strive". Jihad comes from the Arabic word jahada which means "to strive", or "to struggle" (against external forces). The root of the word, juhd, means "effort". Therefore, jihad simply means "exerting one's best effort", and encountering some form of "struggle" or "resistance", in order to achieve a specific goal. The word jihad can also be used in a generic sense, to mean "exerting the best efforts against something", even if that goal is not related to Islam. Even the Qur'an uses the verb jihad in non-religious contexts (see Surah 29:8 and 31:15).

The Qur'an also uses the term jihad specifically in the sense of "struggle/effort for the sake of Allah". Although this can mean fighting with arms, it also means resisting the evil drives and desires in one's self. And so, there are two types of jihad. The "greater jihad" is a 'spiritual' type. It means the inner struggle a believer has, to do the right thing, and resist evil. The "lesser jihad" is that of religious warfare. This "lesser jihad", or "armed jihad" is a response to armed agression, and is only temporary. The "greater jihad" is permanent, because there are always causes for it - one is always struggling against one's own weaknesses. This peaceful jihad can refer to anything instance of peaceful struggle undertaken by a Muslim against external forces, such as preaching in a hostile environment, opposing an evil act, or even donating money to the poor - because it involves struggling against one's selfish desires to keep one's money for one's own pleasures.

So, even though jihad can mean "holy war" - or rather resistance to armed agression - it is actually meant, first and foremost, to denote a believer's inner spiritual struggle.