My sister’s a big fan of osteopathic medicine because of its holistic approach. Well, today at the University of Jordan I saw the holistic approach applied on a group of twenty-some students, only the initials behind the doctor’s name were PhD.
It was literature class and my professor asked for a volunteer reader. When the girl with the grey-toned scarf began reading our short story, however, the professor stopped her short.
“No. Not like that. We want someone who can give each letter its right, who can enunciate loudly and clearly. Pardon me as I take this tangent, but this is important. You know, last week I was at an academic meeting and I presented some ideas. Afterwards, another professor accosted me. ‘Where did you learn to speak so clearly? mA you speak fus-ha (classical Arabic) with uncommon mastery.’ But I didn’t go to any school to learn that. Back when I when I was in school, we didn’t even have phonetics classes like you do now. I learned to tame my tongue, to control it the way I do simply from reciting the Qur’an. If you want to straighten out your pronunciation — it doesn’t matter if you’re Christian or Muslim — recite the Qur’an, because the Qur’an is i’jaz (a literary miracle). It is clear from your pronounciation,” she said, now addressing the girl in the grey-toned scarf, “that you haven’t read enough Qur’an.”
Ouch.
I know that not all medicine is cherry-sweet, but I also know that not every student (i.e. I) will be publicly diagnosed without being a little resentful.
I’m not an easy one. I avoid antibiotics like the plague, I still can’t swallow pills, and I’m complicit in the mysterious disappearance of the brown dropper-capped vitamin bottles.
But I’m clearly not prototypical, because this student seemed to swallow her professor’s criticism with grace.
They say, ilhaki ilik wisma’i ya jara (the talk’s for you, and listen, oh neighbor).
I’ve fallen behind on my daily Qur’an regimen. If the doctor’s right, taking that daily dose may well cure my tongue of its heaviness. Not to mention, it may have a (welcome) side effect on another organ southeast.
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