One year ago, I stood before a class of tenth graders and taught them the importance of diction. 'Listen,' I said. 'All verbs settle somewhere on a spectrum of meaning. ‘Witnessing’ is unlike ‘seeing,’ ‘listening’ unlike ‘hearing.’ So choose yours carefully.' They went off, sorting stacks of synonymous verbs by the degrees of their severity. But the study of diction fills minds beyond classroom walls. Near dimmed lights and tattered manuscripts a...
'And the mountains will move with an awful movement.' ﴿وَتَسِيرُ الْجِبَالُ سَيْرًا﴾
Mountains—symbols of permanence, anchors of the earth—will rise and drift like clouds. Those mighty peaks that watched over prophets, that held caves of refuge, will now be unrooted.
'Then woe that Day to the deniers.' ﴿فَوَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ﴾
Those who mocked the message, dismissed the Messenger, and belittled the warnings— their den...