before you accuse me…

A reminder to myself, first: according to Matthew (and Luke), Jesus, peace be upon him, said

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Tim Dobbs – ‘London New York Pontycymmer’

In ‘London New York Pontycymmer… A day in the artist’s studio,” Tim Dobbs takes us on a tour of Kevin Sinnott’s home and studio. I’d call Sinnott’s painting “expressionist figurative” or “figurative expressionism,” something like that: brushy, splotchy, sketchy, a bit comical in some ways (the few in the zine, anyway: I’m not familiar with Sinnott’s other work), and quite fun.

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there but for fortune…

There’s a Phil Ochs song that I sometimes think about, the hook goes “there but for fortune go you, or go I,” and I give thanks to Allah for guiding me to where I am, and I ask Him to guide me to better in this life, better in the next life, and to save me from the punishment of the fire. Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said

انْظُرُوا إِلَى مَنْ هُوَ أَسْفَلَ مِنْكُمْ وَلاَ تَنْظُرُوا إِلَى مَنْ هُوَ فَوْقَكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ أَجْدَرُ أَنْ لاَ تَزْدَرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ أَبُو مُعَاوِيَةَ ‏”‏ عَلَيْكُمْ

Look at those who are beneath you and do not look at those who are above you, for it is more suitable that you should not consider as less the blessing of Allah.

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