Between Rock And A Hard Prayer

Years ago I attended a study on zikrullah, the remembrance of God, the symbolism in the Baha'i scriptures, and so on. I was so excited to hear one of the very familiar verses in the Long Healing Prayer in [I think?] Arabic. The verse goes,

Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One.

The verse in Arabic was so rhythmic, to my heart it was beautiful.

Today I was a little weary and listened to selected contemplative tunes on my iPod to try to stay focused on prayers at Ethnic Fest. Again I sat behind the booth and off to the side, so as not to be noticed or associated with the booth [who's that weird, large redhead muttering to herself?]

In the afternoon the proprietor of the Walk Fitness booth across the way returned with her light aerobic "walking" routines, a microphone, and extremely loud, rhythmic music. "Who says that just walking is not a good workout! You can do this right where you are! I lost seventy-seven pounds on this routine! Anyone can do this at whatever level you are! Work those abs! Walk walk walk walkwah, kwaw kwaw qua, quacquack . . .

The music was loud and strident.* So I gave up the narrative prayers in my prayer book, gave up the iPod, and sat on the bench by the Baha'i booth to say prayers along with the rhythm of the music. No one passing could have known, as I said them in my head. [Okay, maybe my lips were moving, like in first grade.] It's better not to resist, but to join the flow.

If you ever need to do this, here's the secret:
Ant al kafi, vant al shafi, vant al baqi, ya baqi,
Ant al kafi, vant al shafi, vant al baqi, ya baqi.

Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One . . .

Just call me the baqi lady.

* There's a pun in here.