I think deep down we knew this was the reality. Nice to get it confirmed though, moreover, by Seymour Hersh himself…!
Seymour Myron “Sy” Hersh (born April 8, 1937 Chicago) is an American Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, DC. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters. (read more about him here.)
A folktale rewritten..
Once there was and once there wasn’t, a long time ago, a young boy named Tariq with a VERY bad temper. When his mother called him to get up for school in the morning he would yell at her, “I’m up, leave me alone!” even though he had just opened his eyes.
If he wanted spaghetti when his mother made macaroni and cheese, he would get mad at her for not asking him before cooking.
When his little sister accidentally touched his toys he would yell at her. Always. He HATED it when someone touched HIS stuff, especially his sister.
When his friend missed the ball in a soccer game and their team lost, he yelled really bad words and his friend decided not to be friends with him anymore. Well, it WAS all his friend’s fault anyway, and who needs friends!
His father was a sailor and left home often to sail on ships around the world. He wasn’t home a lot. One day, his father came home from a long trip while Tariq was working on a model ship on the table.
His father roared out “Assalaamu ‘alaikum, I’m home!” and his mother and little sister came running happily from the back rooms to greet him. A gust of wind from the open door blew down the newly glued mast of Tariq’s model ship. Tariq screamed in rage. “Shut that door! You just ruined my model!”
Tariq’s father, mother, and little sister stared at him in shock. Everyone stayed away from Tariq for a while, while Tariq’s father had coffee and talked with his wife and daughter. There was lots of news of the family to catch up on.
Then, when Tariq’s mother went to start supper, Tariq’s father called him out to the storage shed in the back yard.
“Tariq, see these nails? See this hammer? I want you to take a nail to the back fence and hammer it in, for getting mad about the breeze disturbing your model earlier today. And from now on, I want you to pound in a nail each time you get angry.”
Tariq didn’t understand why he should hammer a nail, but he did as his father ordered. It was hard to hit the nail square on the head, and once he hit his finger instead of the nail. He got mad at the hammer and threw it across the yard. Tariq’s father made him nail in another nail, for throwing the hammer in rage.
The next morning, Tariq was almost late to school because he had to hammer in 5 nails for yelling at his mother, father, and sister for 5 different reasons before breakfast. By the end of the day he had hammered in 37 nails, and he was pretty tired of hammering. He was getting better about not hitting his fingers though.
Day by day Tariq hammered nails. Why did his father insist on it? Looking at the fence, with its many nails, Tariq was embarrassed by all the proof of his bad deeds.
Some of the kids from school knew about the fence, because he accidentally told them. They called it the “Mad Fence”. They asked many times to come and see it but Tariq wouldn’t show it to them. But little by little, he found that the thought of the fence made it easier to hold his tongue and he gradually began to yell less often, and when he yelled, he was able to stop more quickly.
Then, one evening, he was building a block castle and his sister, who had come over to watch, dropped her stuffed bunny on the blocks, making the whole thing come down. Tariq stood up quickly, took a big breath to yell, and, instead of saying something mad, suddenly burst out, “OK, I’ll get a nail!”
His father came out to the fence as Tariq pounded in the new nail. They talked about how he was pounding in fewer nails now. He had made great progress. He was even starting to have some friends again. Friends were nice to have! That was slow going though, because they remembered how mad he used to get and didn’t trust him yet.
“I’m glad I don’t have to pound so many nails anymore, Dad. Seeing all the nails in the fence is ugly.”
Then his father suggested that Tariq could remove a nail each day that he went all day without losing his temper. Day by day Tariq looked forward to removing a nail from the fence before Isha prayer. It was often difficult to pull them out and he had to struggle, but it felt good to remove the signs of his bad deeds.
Finally, the day came when he removed the last nail. He called his family to witness the great event. He felt very proud.
His mother was so happy, she kissed him and promised to make his favorite dessert for after supper.
His father, however, said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say, “I’m sorry”. The wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.”
The family stared at the fence solemnly. It was a witness of Tariq’s battle with himself. Then his father hugged him and said, “May you grow to be a strong man, Son”.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “A strong man is not the good wrestler but one who controls himself when he is angry.” (Bukhari)
One of my friend sent me this and I simply had to post it here, image is edited by me.
“As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg.
No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.
“Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”
I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.
Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?”
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less. We buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgement, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years.
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this post to you, and a time when you can choose either to ponder and share this insight, or to cast off from favour and reproach the writer for stating the facts.
Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.
Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
Valentines Day - The festival of love, which is celebrated on February 14 each year is an expression of 
what the people believed in their pagan religion to be divine love. This festival was invented more than 1700 years ago, at a time when paganism (shirk) was still prevalent among the Romans. In ancient Rome, the festival of Juno Februa was celebrated on February 13-14 and February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia - a fertility celebration commemorated annually. Pope Gelasius I recast this pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine’s Day.
Who is St. Valentine?
Which St. Valentine this early Pope intended to honor remains a mystery: according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by that name. One was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Interamna (modern Terni), and of a third St. Valentine almost nothing is known except that he met his end in Africa. Rather astonishingly, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14.
Most scholars believe that the St. Valentine of the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic begins. According to one legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and beaten to death with clubs and was executed. Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed “from your Valentine.” Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.
In 1969, the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, known officially as the Roman Martyrology, was revised as part of a larger effort to pare down the number of saint days of purely legendary origin, the Church removed St. Valentine’s Day as an official holiday from its calendar.
First link to Romance:
It was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love. According to UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, it was Geoffrey Chaucer who first recorded association of Valentine’s Day with romance in Parlement of Foules (1381):
“For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.“
[For this was on St. Valentine's Day,
When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.]
This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2, 1381. (When they were married eight months later, he was 13 or 14. She was 14.)
[ref: Oruch, Jack B., "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February," Speculum, 56 (1981): 534-65. Oruch's survey of the literature finds no association between Valentine and romance prior to Chaucer. He concludes that Chaucer is likely to be, "the original mythmaker in this instance."
ref: Kelly, Henry Ansgar, Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine (Brill Academic Publishers, 1997)
ref: Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV, Published 1912]
Traditions in Modern Times:
In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester, Mass., began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.
According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. [if one card is on average 3USD then.. well, do the maths!]
Ever wonder what Love is? I had been doing research on this proposed subject for quite some time. But a strange thing happened that after a long long research & study & writing, I came across ‘An Essay by Jailed Uyghur Writer Nurmuhemmet Yasin‘. Immediately after reading it, I had no choice but to put his essay here and neglect my own. And here it follows:
“What is love? This mystical, mythical question goes back to ancient times—without a coherent answer. Each person’s experience of love is uniquely varied, and each person’s understanding of love is different from the next. Love varies from one period to another along the length of a human life; a person can have many loves, but each experience will be different from the next. Summing it up, or pinning it down, are both impossible.
“Love is like a continually shattering mirror that always leaves behind images etched in people’s hearts; but it will itself remain a mystery forever.
“Many people give themselves over to this mystery, but while love can produce the most tender and delicate feelings in anyone’s soul, it alone can open a window in the hearts of a very few.
“A simple analogy might be that of spring water which satisfies an extremely thirsty soul. Imagine, in the intense heat of midsummer, a very thirsty shepherd, using both hands to scoop the running water from a roadside creek to drink with a joy that satisfies his thirst. Such a sensation is beyond compare.
A transformative process
“Similarly, when a tired and weary person returns home from far away, he says to himself, ‘Finally, I have come home,’ before stretching himself out on his bed to rest. This joy, too, is beyond compare. Again, when a writer who has been up all night working puts the last full-stop at the end of his article; this, too, is boundless consolation for the heart. These all are phenomena of love.
“In fact, love is a sort of deeply pleasing satisfaction, but with various manifestations. It defies explicit definition. Gibran Khalil Gibran gives us an extremely vivid description: ‘For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. That is to say, love can occupy the deepest places of your mind, shake the foundations of your life, and force you to leave your native land. Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are pliant; And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.’
“Love is the kind of process described above; it makes you understand yourself. Only through this process, will you be able to become a soul, to become a part of life. Gibran uses a real life image to describe it, precisely because it is so difficult to give an explanation. A profound understanding of the process is even more difficult.
“Everybody has a different explanation and a different definition regarding the love they experience. The majority of people can suddenly fall in love with a stranger. If you ask them what they see in their lover, sometimes they can’t give you a clear answer. But the fact of their regard for each other is indisputable.
“Regardless of the secret mystery of love, it is a process in your feelings and in your heart. Love, too, always manifests itself in the body. Love will appear repeatedly in your life. In fact, the Gibran description of love is also talking about a solid, concrete form of love. Still other forms of love exist secretly in a human life.
‘Performance of the self’
“Love is a kind of performance of the self, a satisfaction of the self; love is a kind of need, or is a much-needed satisfaction. Love is a kind of tendency toward both secret transformation and public transition. No matter what, if you fall in love with an actual person, you can feel your body making various unexpected changes. You might also realize that changes are taking place in your thoughts as never before.
“If this kind of phenomenon appears in your life, you may presume you are in love, for these phenomena are a form of love in themselves. Regardless of whether these phenomena last a long time or a short time, whether they are painful or enjoyable, they constitute riches, which will inscribe themselves in your heart forever.
“In brief, as a living human being with a soul, it is impossible not to fall in love in the course of a lifetime. Love is like the sunshine; no matter how tightly you shut down your heart, the sunlight will find a way to shine into it. Love’s process is unstoppable. Therefore, my advice would be: Don’t waste your precious time trying to define the meaning of love. The best definition is already in your own heart and mind.”
Maralbeshi County
Midnight. July 24, 2004Original Uyghur essay by Nurmuhemmet Yasin. Translated by RFA Uyghur service director Dolkun Kamberi. Produced for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
LifeInside posted a hillarious yet Hazardous Materials Data Sheet. It reminded me of a video I saw about “The Beauty“.. and a friend of mine after seeing that video researched & sent me following .. I thought why not share this with everybody here .. Along with “Hazardous Materials”, we should also open our eyes to this ..
My friend wrote:
“Here are some interesting statistics, you will especially like the ones at the end, regarding spending priorities. I will admit this is hardly a topic, I was interested in researching however, I guess interests can change once one becomes a parent.
Make dua for me also.
Eating disorders are now the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls.
[Ref: Adolescent Medicine Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society. Eating Disorders in adolescents: principles of diagnosis and treatment. Paediatrics and Child Health 1998; 3(3) 189-92. Reaffirmed January 2001.]
The death rate for eating disorders is high: it ranges between 18% (in 20-year studies) and 20% (in 30-year follow-up studies). In fact, the annual death rate associated with anorexia is more than 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all other causes combined for females between 15 and 24 years old.
[Ref: Cavanaugh, Carolyn. What we know about eating disorders: facts and statistics. In Lemberg, Raymond and Cohn, Leigh (Eds) (1999). Eating Disorders: A reference sourcebook. Oryx Press. Phoenix, AZ]
47% of Canadian females age 11, 58% of Canadian females age 13, and 55% of Canadian females age 15 say they would change how they look if they could.
[Ref: Health and Welfare Canada. The health of Canada’s youth, views and behaviours of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from 11 countries. (1992). Anonymous. Ottawa ON: Minister of Supply and Services. H39-239/1993.]
71% of adolescent girls want to be thinner despite only a small proportion being over a healthy weight.
[Ref: Paxton et al (1991). Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 361-379.]
80%-90% of women dislike the size and shape of their bodies.
[Ref: Hutchison, Marcia. (1985). Transforming Body Image. The Crossing Press, New York.]
Of women between the ages of 24 and 54 who diet, 76% diet for cosmetic rather than health reasons.
[Ref: Thompson, D.M., et al. (1985). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia: The Socio-cultural Context. International Journal of Eating Disorders , 1 (3), 20-36.]
Spending Priorities
Amount of money needed each year (in addition to current expenditures) to provide reproductive health care for all women in developing countries - $12 billion
Amount of money spent annually on perfumes in Europe and the United States - $12 billion
Amount of money needed each year (in addition to current expenditures) to provide water and sanitation for all people in developing nations - $9 billion
Amount of money spent annually on cosmetics in the United States - $8 billion
Amount of money needed each year (in addition to current expenditures) to provide basic health and nutrition needs universally in the developing world - $13 billion
[Sources: U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 1998 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), pages 30 through 37.] “
It is amazing to see how much we are willing to spend on artificiality.
Ever realized how immense the universe is.. especially when we are living in it!
I have always been interested in astronomy. And fortunately, few days back a friend of mine sent me a link to the most important picture ever taken by humanity and I have ever seen. As Tony Darnell, the director of the following said: “it’s absolutely mind-blowing if you stop to think about it, that by looking at a patch of sky that appears to have nothing in it, and you stare at it long enough, you see an image full of galaxies.“
.. following will elaborate what I am talking about.
After seeing this,
One person wrote refering to the documentary above: “we live in an infinite universe … infinitely large and expanding … and infinitlely small … no beginning no end …. infinite …. no limits or bounderies imposed by human minds …” No doubt, he/she took the words orbiting my mind.
When our Universe is so so so so .. tremendously huge .. as of now, 47 billion light years across! what about the Greatness and Magnificence of its Creator!!
Edited 21 Feb’2007: There was one full video on google videos but they removed it and put it on youtube. So youtube links are as under..
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites–oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others–work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how–through the use of language, framing and context–the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel’s PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.
Click HERE to read the entire article written by Yvonne Ridley (Convert to Islam)
by: Yvonne Ridley
Sunday, October 22, 2006; Page B01
LONDON
I used to look at veiled women as quiet, oppressed creatures — until I was captured by the Taliban.
In September 2001, just 15 days after the terrorist attacks on the United States, I snuck into Afghanistan, clad in a head-to-toe blue burqa, intending to write a newspaper account of life under the repressive regime. Instead, I was discovered, arrested and detained for 10 days. I spat and swore at my captors; they called me a “bad” woman but let me go after I promised to read the Quran and study Islam. (Frankly, I’m not sure who was happier when I was freed — they or I.)
Back home in London, I kept my word about studying Islam — and was amazed by what I discovered. I’d been expecting Quran chapters on how to beat your wife and oppress your daughters; instead, I found passages promoting the liberation of women. Two-and-a-half years after my capture, I converted to Islam, provoking a mixture of astonishment, disappointment and encouragement among friends and relatives.
Now, it is with disgust and dismay that I watch here in Britain as former foreign secretary Jack Straw describes the Muslim nikab — a face veil that reveals only the eyes — as an unwelcome barrier to integration, with Prime Minister Tony Blair, writer Salman Rushdie and even Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi leaping to his defense.
Having been on both sides of the veil, I can tell you that most Western male politicians and journalists who lament the oppression of women in the Islamic world have no idea what they are talking about. They go on about veils, child brides, female circumcision, honor killings and forced marriages, and they wrongly blame Islam for all this — their arrogance surpassed only by their ignorance.
These cultural issues and customs have nothing to do with Islam. A careful reading of the Quran shows that just about everything that Western feminists fought for in the 1970s was available to Muslim women 1,400 years ago. Women in Islam are considered equal to men in spirituality, education and worth, and a woman’s gift for childbirth and child-rearing is regarded as a positive attribute.
When Islam offers women so much, why are Western men so obsessed with Muslim women’s attire? Even British government ministers Gordon Brown and John Reid have made disparaging remarks about the nikab — and they hail from across the Scottish border, where men wear skirts.
When I converted to Islam and began wearing a headscarf, the repercussions were enormous. All I did was cover my head and hair — but I instantly became a second-class citizen. I knew I’d hear from the odd Islamophobe, but I didn’t expect so much open hostility from strangers. Cabs passed me by at night, their “for hire” lights glowing. One cabbie, after dropping off a white passenger right in front of me, glared at me when I rapped on his window, then drove off. Another said, “Don’t leave a bomb in the back seat” and asked, “Where’s bin Laden hiding?”
Yes, it is a religious obligation for Muslim women to dress modestly, but the majority of Muslim women I know like wearing the hijab, which leaves the face uncovered, though a few prefer the nikab. It is a personal statement: My dress tells you that I am a Muslim and that I expect to be treated respectfully, much as a Wall Street banker would say that a business suit defines him as an executive to be taken seriously. And, especially among converts to the faith like me, the attention of men who confront women with inappropriate, leering behavior is not tolerable.
I was a Western feminist for many years, but I’ve discovered that Muslim feminists are more radical than their secular counterparts. We hate those ghastly beauty pageants, and tried to stop laughing in 2003 when judges of the Miss Earth competition hailed the emergence of a bikini-clad Miss Afghanistan, Vida Samadzai, as a giant leap for women’s liberation. They even gave Samadzai a special award for “representing the victory of women’s rights.”
Some young Muslim feminists consider the hijab and the nikab political symbols, too, a way of rejecting Western excesses such as binge drinking, casual sex and drug use. What is more liberating: being judged on the length of your skirt and the size of your surgically enhanced breasts, or being judged on your character and intelligence? In Islam, superiority is achieved through piety — not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.
I didn’t know whether to scream or laugh when Italy’s Prodi joined the debate last week by declaring that it is “common sense” not to wear the nikab because it makes social relations “more difficult.” Nonsense. If this is the case, then why are cellphones, landlines, e-mail, text messaging and fax machines in daily use? And no one switches off the radio because they can’t see the presenter’s face.
Under Islam, I am respected. It tells me that I have a right to an education and that it is my duty to seek out knowledge, regardless of whether I am single or married. Nowhere in the framework of Islam are we told that women must wash, clean or cook for men. As for how Muslim men are allowed to beat their wives — it’s simply not true. Critics of Islam will quote random Quranic verses or Hadith, but usually out of context. If a man does raise a finger against his wife, he is not allowed to leave a mark on her body, which is the Quran’s way of saying, “Don’t beat your wife, stupid.”
It is not just Muslim men who must reevaluate the place and treatment of women. According to a recent National Domestic Violence Hotline survey, 4 million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during an average 12-month period. More than three women are killed by their husbands and boyfriends every day — that is nearly 5,500 since 9/11.
Violent men don’t come from any particular religious or cultural category; one in three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to the hotline survey. This is a global problem that transcends religion, wealth, class, race and culture.
But it is also true that in the West, men still believe that they are superior to women, despite protests to the contrary. They still receive better pay for equal work — whether in the mailroom or the boardroom — and women are still treated as sexualized commodities whose power and influence flow directly from their appearance.
And for those who are still trying to claim that Islam oppresses women, recall this 1992 statement from the Rev. Pat Robertson, offering his views on empowered women: Feminism is a “socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
Now you tell me who is civilized and who is not.
Yvonne Ridley is political editor of Islam Channel TV in London, UK &
coauthor of “In the Hands of the Taliban: Her Extraordinary Story” (Robson Books).
Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25th. It is a statutory holiday throughout Canada. If it falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the next working day is considered a legal holiday.
Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrating the ‘birth of Jesus Christ’. In the third century, efforts were made to find out the date of the Nativity (birth of Jesus - Eisa (peace be upon Him)], but only in the year 336 was the date of the December 25 festival set in commemoration of Jesus’ birth. Pope Julius formally selected December 25 as the day of Christmas in 349 C.E..
Origin of Christmas
The early pagans & mushrikeen (those who associate partners with The Almighty God) of the Northern countries have always observed the period of time when the cold season reached its peak and the days began to shorten. Hence, December 21st is regarded as the shortest day of the calendar year. These early pagans would worship their gods and goddesses during this transformation of the season. For example in ancient Rome, from Dec 17th to Dec. 24th the mushrikeen would celebrate a festival in honor of Saturn, the god of time. Similarly during this period, the Druids would celebrate a festival in honor of the Sun god. The ancient Germanic tribes celebrated the pagan feast of twelve nights from Dec. 25th to Jan. 6th. The conflicts of the forces of nature were represented as battles between the gods. The birthday of the Sun god (Mithra) was celebrated on Dec. 25th and was known as the Lord’s Day long before the Christian Era. (Source: Mithras, the Fellow in the Cap, Holiday Myths)
Actual date of the birth of Jesus (Eisa, peace be upon Him)
Christmas (Dec. 25th) is not the actual date of the birth of Jesus but rather a compromise with paganism. The Gospel does not clarify regarding the seasons of the year when Jesus was born. On the other hand, they do tell us that shepherds were guarding their flocks in the open air (see: Luke 2:1-20 - King James Version). This is why, many of the early leaders of the Church considered it most likely that the birth of Jesus occurred in the late summer or early Fall/Autumn. It is due to this and other innumerable facts which indicate that Christmas (Dec. 25th) actually has nothing to do with Jesus. In the TIME magazine (Canadian version dated Dec 13th 2004) the cover story (Behind the First Noel) by David Van Biema, writes “Indeed, the Christmas story that Christians know by heart is actually a collection of mysteries. Where was Jesus actually born? Who showed up to celebrate his arrival? How do the details of the stories reflect the specific outreach agendas of the men who wrote them?”
The Christmas of Today – Merriment & Materialism
Nowadays, when Christmas is mentioned, most people immediately think of Santa Claus instead of Jesus. The image of Jesus son of Mariam (Mary, mercy be upon Her) is secondary and many a times lost in the enjoyment and materialism. People spend thousands of dollars purchasing gifts & presents for each other during Christmas. In fact most people sink into debt that can last for a year or two, if not more.
Jesus was a very humble and simple man. He distant himself from the material world possessing almost nothing of this world. He was full of good character and worshiped the One true God, the Almighty. Only those who follow his lifestyle can be regarded as nearest to him.
Symbols of Christmas
SANTA CLAUS & GIFTS: Santa Claus is not of Christian origin. Santa Claus is a mythical old man who brings gifts to children at Christmas time (ofcourse nowadays, gifts are purchased by parents & friends and the children are told that the gifts have been brought by Santa Claus). Today’s version of Santa originally developed from a real person, Saint Nicholas, who lived 1700 years ago. He was bishop of Myra, an ancient town of Lycia, now in Turkey. He was extremely kind and often went out at night, taking presents to the needy. His generosity was not bound by any particular time of the year. He was much loved by his community for his kindness. After his death which occurred on the 6th day of December, school boys all over Europe celebrated a feast day every year on the anniversary of his death. Children were so fond of Saint Nicholas and his habit of bringing gifts that the custom of celebrating his feast day on the 6th day of December was maintained for hundreds of years. In England, Saint Nicholas Day festivities were banned when Henry VIII founded the church of England. They were later resumed when Queen Victoria married German Prince Albert, but Saint Nicholas in his return was transformed to Father Christmas and appeared on Christmas Eve, the 24th day of December, not the originally celebrated date of December 6th. The N. American tradition of Santa Claus was taken from the altered English version. Santa Claus (a German translation of St. Nicholas) was modeled after a man of kindness, generosity and compassion. It was only in the last few hundred years that Santa Claus was associated with the Christian holiday of Christmas.
Lights: The mushrikeen Druids would celebrate a festival in honor of the Sun god during this period because of the change in season. During their celebrations torches were lit and strange ceremonies were enacted in honor of the Sun god. (Source: Holiday Myths)
The Christmas tree: Mushrikeen during their festivals would decorate trees in honor of the god of time. At the very tip, the representation of a radiant sun would be placed there in honor of Apollo, the sun-god to whom the final days of December were dedicated. (Source: 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies)
Kindness is a noble sentiment. There is an ancient story which shows that even the fierce animals are affected by kindness.
It is said that in a certain country there lives a slave who was a kind man. His master was cruel, and tortured him without any excuse. The slave did everything to please his master but to no avail. So he decided to run away.
One night he did escape out of the house and took the road that led to another city. On the way he reached a big forest and sat down under a tree for rest.
Suddenly, he heard a roar and the next moment a big lion was standing near him. He could not run away. Then he saw that the lion did not jump at him. It was striking its paw on the ground. The slave saw that there was blood on it. He slowly and carefully reached the lion’s paw and found a big thorn like stem in it. He took out that thorn. The lion licked his feet and went away.
After a short time he heard voices of people. Before he could run away, a group of soldiers had surrounded and arrested him. He was taken back to the city and put into the prison. His master had lodged a complaint with the government, for the slave had no right to run away. The authorities decided that the slave should be thrown before a hungry lion so that the other slaves would not dare follow his example.
On the day of execution, the soldiers brought him to the arena built for such purposes, and they pushed him into the cage of a big hungry lion. As soon as the lion saw him, it began to roar. But suddenly it stopped roaring and began to lick the feet of that condemned man. It was the same lion whom the slave had helped in the forest. It had recognized him.
A Question: How much we know about the world we are living in and especially about the world or part of the world, which we are so worried about? That we overlook our own place such as Orlando; which is a total disaster; and degrade/criticize others’ places. Check out this video and you will know!!
Pitty isnt it! While reading novels and fanfictions, we should also take out some time to read or research about the world, other countries, their religion, history, culture, etc. And try to be more educated in this modern world, especially if we want to talk about the ‘world’ or parts of the world.
.. Its just about everything !!!
