A Unifying Light: Lyrical responses to the Qur'an (East-West Bridge Builders)

Martin Bidney’s A Unifying Light contains 140 original poems that respond to passages of the Qur’an. This unifying scripture of Islam is a work of poetic depth. The lyrics deal with five barrier-breaking themes. Interreligious unity. The Qur’an is a book of comparative religion. The Jewish Torah and the Christian Gospels are each called “a guidance and a light” in the Qur’an, and the Psalms of David are sacred to Muslims. Torah, Psalms, Gospels, Qur’an—four holy books of Islam. Shared orientation. The three chief orienting texts within the holy books of the three religions are one in spirit. These include the passages “Hear, O Israel,” “Our Father,” and “The Opening,” initial chapter of the Qur’an. Each conveys the serene joy of shared wonder, relating the wakened heart to the Encompassing Boundless. Theory of metaphor. The Qur’an urges the centrality of likeness, metaphor, emblem, and similitude to the comprehension of the transcendent. We gain perspectives on poetry—and on the value of sharing metaphors. Interscriptural Parables. The Qur’an is filled with parables of major figures from the Jewish and Christian scriptures, with some parables about the Prophet Muhammad. Discoveries are abundant in new stories about all three traditions: the people embody the moral themes. Love as the Unifying Moral Light. The four Qur’an-taught virtues most exalting and heartwarming are subsets of the theme of Love. These are generosity, peace of mind, forgiveness or pardon, and stewardship. Each is a state of being and a mode of action. All arise from a comprehensive empathy appropriate to the world-illuminating “Lord of the Daybreak.”