Muçulmanos rezam ao redor de Kaaba, a Grade Mesquita em Meca, durante as orações de Manhã.

စိတ္ဝင္စားစရာေကာင္းတဲ့Post တခုကိုမိတ္ေဆြ Navedz ရဲ့blog မွာဖတ္မိတယ္။ ဒါနဲ႕့
ဒီလင့္ က post ေလးကိုပုံေတြအျဖစ္ေျပာင္းၾကည့္မိတယ္။
ဟာ့ဂ် ခရီးစဥ္မွာကာ့အဘာလို႕သိၾကတဲ့လူသားတို႕ရဲ့ကမၻာဦးဝတ္ေၾကာင္းေတာ္ကို
ဟာဂ်ီေလာင္းမ်ားဟာနာရီလက္တံရဲ့ဆန္႕က်င္ဘက္လားရာအတိုင္းလွည့္ပတ္ရပါတယ္။
ဒါကိုသာဝါ့ဖလုပ္တယ္လို႕ အာရပ္ဘာသာစကားနဲ႕ေခၚပါတယ္။

Allah Almighty says: “It is He Who created the Night and the Day,
and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along,
each in its rounded course.” (Surah Al Anbiya 21:33)
က်မ္းျမတ္ကုရအန္မွာ ေနလနဲ႕ၾကယ္အပါအဝင္ စၾကာဝဠာတြင္ရွိရွိသမွ် တို႕သည္မိမိတို႕

ရဲ့ပတ္လမ္းမွာလွဲ႕ပတ္ေနတယ္လို႕ဆိုပါတယ္။ေအာက္ကပုံကိုၾကည့္ပါ

ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႕ေနတဲ့ ကမၻာျဂိဳယ္ဟာေနမိသားစုထဲမွာပါ ဝင္ပါတယ္။ ေနမိသားစုဝင္ျဂိဳယ္ေတြ
အားလုံးဟာ မိမိရဲ့ပတ္လမ္းအသီးသီးနဲ႕ ေနကိုဗဟိုျပဳျပီးလွည့္ပတ္ေနပါတယ္။  ကမၻာမွာအရံျဂိဳယ္ျဖစ္တဲ့ လ ကကမၻာကိုတလကိုတပတ္ လွည့္ပတ္ပါတယ္။ ေနမိသားစုဝင္ ျဂိဳယ္မ်ားအားလုံးမွာ လလိုအရန္ျဂိဳယ္ အားလုံး ၆၀ ေက်ာ္ရွိတယ္လို႕
သိရပါတယ္။
ေနမိသားစုရွိတဲ့ဂယ္လက္ဆီ ကို Milky Way Galaxy လို႕ေခၚပါတယ္။ ဒီ ဂယ္လက္ဆီ မွာၾကယ္ေပါင္း သန္းေပါင္း၁၃၀ ဘီလွ်ံ ရွိျပီးဒီၾကယ္ေတြအားလုံးဟာဂယ္လက္ဆီ ရဲ့
ဗဟိုကိုမိမိတို႕ရဲ့ပတ္လမ္းအသီးသီးနဲ႕ပတ္ေနပါတယ္။တကယ္ေတာ့ေနဟာ Milky Way Galaxy မွာရွိတဲ့ၾကယ္ေတြထဲကအလတ္စားၾကယ္တခုသာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။

အားလုံးသိၾကတဲ့အတိုင္းကမၻာကို လ က တလတခါတပတ္ျပည့္ေအာင္ပတ္ပါတယ္။ ေနစၾကာဝဠာမွာရွိတဲ့ ျဂိဳယ္ေတြအားလုံးကေနကိုသူ႕ပတ္လမ္းအသီးသီးနဲ႕ပတ္ေနပါတယ္။
ေနစၾကာဝဠာနဲ႕တကြ milky way ဂယ္လက္ဆီမွာရွိတဲ့ၾကယ္မ်ားအားလုံးဟာ
ဂယ္လက္ဆီ ရဲ့ဗဟိုကိုပတ္ျပီး ပတ္လမ္းအသီးသီးနဲ႕လွည့္ေနၾကပါတယ္။

ဒီလိုလွည့္ပတ္ေနတာဟာဖန္ဆင္းရွင္Allah ရဲ့ဝဟီအမိန္႕ကိုနာခံတဲ့သဘာဝတခုပါ။ ဒီဥပေဒသကို လူေတြရဲ့မ်က္ေစ့နဲ႕မျမင္ႏိုင္တဲ့ အက္တမ္လို႕သိၾကတဲ့အႏုျမဴမံႈေလးေတြမွာလဲလိုက္နာေနတာေအာက္ကပုံအတိုင္း
ျမင္ႏိုင္ပါတယ္။

အက္တမ္သည္ရွိရွိသမွ်ေသာေနလနကၡတ္တာရာတို႕ရဲ့အေျခခံယူနစ္ပါ။

ေအာက္ကပုံကလူ႕ရဲ့အေျခခံယူနစ္ျဖစ္တဲ့ဆဲကလပ္စည္းရဲ့ပံုပါ။

လူ႕ရဲ့ဆဲ ကလပ္စီး တခုမွာအလယ္ဗဟိုမွာ ရွိတဲ့ႏူကလိယကို ပတ္လည္ ဝိုင္းထားတဲ့ Cytoplasm ကိုေအာက္ပါအတိုင္းျမင္ႏိုင္ပါတယ္။

အထက္ကေဖာ္ျပ ထားတဲ့ မဟာစၾကာဝဠာ မွ အစအက္တမ္ အႏုျမဴမႈံ ေလးမ်ာ
အဆုံး
(၁) သတ္မွတ္ေသာဗဟိုခ်က္ကို လွည့္ပတ္ျခင္း
(၂) လွည့္ပတ္မႉမ်ားအားလုံးသည္နာရီလက္တံ၏ဆန္႕က်င္ဖက္လားရာ
အတိုင္းျဖစ္ျခင္းကို
အံ့ဘြယ္တူညီမႉအျဖစ္ေတြ႕ရမွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။

အတက္ကဥပမာေတြကိုေသခ်ာစြာဆင္ျခင္ရင္Allah ရဲ့ဖန္ဆင္းခံမ်ား
ျဖစ္တဲ့ အရြယ္အစားအလြန္ၾကီးမားတဲ့စၾကာဝဠာမ်ားမွ အလြန္ေသးငယ္
တဲ့ အက္တမ္ အႏုျမဴမႈံ ေလးမ်ားအထိ ဖန္ဆင္းရွင္ရဲ့ဝဟီအမိန္႕ေတာ္ျဖစ္
တဲ့
“သတ္မွတ္ေသာပတ္လမ္းမ်ားတြင္သတ္မွတ္တဲ့အခ်ိန္အထိ သတ္မွတ္ထား
ေသာအရာကိုဗဟိုျပဴျပီးလွည့္ပတ္ရသည္ ” ဆိုတဲ့ ဆိုတဲ့ သစၥာတရားကို သိျမင္ရပါတယ္။

“Behold! We gave the site, to Ibrahim, of the (Sacred) House, (saying): “Associate not anything (in worship) with Me; and sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or stand up, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer).” And proclaim the Pilgrimage among men: they will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every kind of camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways;” (Surah Al Hajj 22:26-27)

ဟာဂ်ီေလာင္းမ်ားသည္ Allah ရဲ့ဝဟီအမိန္႕ေတာ္ကိုနာခံျပီး
ကမၻာဦးဝတ္ေၾကာင္းေတာ္ကို ဟာ့ဂ်ျပဳရန္လာတဲ့အခါ သာဝတ္ဖ
ျပဳရပါတယ္။ ကာ့အဘာေက်ာင္းေတာ္ကိုသန္းနဲ႕ခ်ီတဲ့ Islam ဘာသာဝင္မ်ား
နာရီလက္တံရဲ့ဆန္႕က်င္လားရာအတိုင္း ပတ္ျပီးသဝတ္ဖျပဳျခင္းဟာ
ဖန္ဆင္းရွင္ရဲ့အမိန္႕ေတာ္ကို ဖန္ဆင္းရွင္ရဲ့အျခား
ဖန္ဆင္းခံမ်ားရဲ့သဘာဝအတိုင္း မဟာစၾကာဝဠာရဲ့ဥပေဒသကိုလိုက္
နာျခင္း ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
စဥ္းစားဆင္ျခင္တတ္သူမ်ားအတြက္တဆူတည္းေသာဖန္ဆင္း
ရွင္ မွလြဲ၍အျခားကိုကြယ္ရာမရွိေၾကာင္းရွင္းလင္းစြာသိႏိုင္ေၾကာင္းတင္
ျပလိုက္ရပါတယ္။
ခ်စ္ခင္စြာ
ေက်ာ္ေက်ာ္ဦး

Adapted/ Original post

Tawaaf Is a Cosmic Law

There are holes in the line where my friends stood in Jumma and now they are gone……………..

Right as we speak they are entering the Masjid el Haraam and as they lay eyes on the House of My Lord, they are stunned and speechless…………………….I close my eyes and I am with them, right beside them gazing at the House of our Lord, and I too am speechless………..

The doors of the Masjid el Haraam:courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53967601@N00/2335040068/

The dua for entering the Masjid

‘I take refuge with Allaah, The Supreme and with His Noble Face, and His eternal authority from the accursed devil. In the name of Allaah, and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allaah.

O Allaah, open the gates of Your mercy for me.’

I close my eyes and I am there, I open my eyes and I pray that I will soon be there, Inshallah!

Speaking in an interview about the movie 2012, director Roland Emmerich said that he originally wanted to show the destruction of the Kaaba (the sacred black cube that is the center of the Muslim haj in Mecca) in addition to “the destruction of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica, as well as the fall of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio De Janeiro, the White House….”

But we are not shown the destruction of any Islamic sites  in his new movie. “In fact, the only reference to Muslims is a scene showing them praying at the Kaaba for the earth to be saved (as well as a keffiyeh-encrusted and presumably Muslim Arab king who buys his family tickets to their “salvation”).”

“Well, I wanted to do that [show the destruction of the Kaaba], I have to admit,” Emmerich says. “But my co-writer Harald said I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie. And he was right. … We have to all … in the Western world … think about this. You can actually … let … Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have … a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is. So it’s just something which I kind of didn’t [think] was [an] important element, anyway, in the film, so I kind of left it out.” Debbie Schlussel.com

It does “sound a little bit like what the state of this world is.” It’s okay for Hollywood to attack and marginalize Christians – they order no beheadings or fatwas against anyone but instead turn the other cheek. You know, it’s the Christian thing to do.

Roland Emmerich, in case you don’t know, is the director of 2012, the latest disaster movie in which the world ends.  Since he also directed Stargate, Independence Day, and The Day After Tomorrow, we can naturally assume that this latest endeavor will be wildly successful.

One of the things that Mr. Emmerich does in this movie is to destroy the White House.   No surprise:  He did that in Independence Day, too.  But he also engages in a little personal vendetta:  “[I]n order to highlight his opposition to organised religion, the director decided to use CGI to destroy the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro… For good measure, he also blew up the Sistine chapel and St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican”.

Brave Mr. Emmerich, venting his spleen on “organized religion”.  Bohemian.  Avant garde.  Progressively chic.

Muslism circle the Kaaba during the Hajj

But Mr. Emmerich is not, as it turns out, a freethinking hero.  You see, he originally intended his movie to include the destruction of the spot on earth most sacred to Muslims, the Kaaba.   But he decided not to.

Why did Mr. Emmerich elect not to attack “organized religion” in the case of Islam?  Because he was afraid:

But after some consideration, he decided it might not be such a smart idea, after all.

“I wanted to do that, I have to admit,” Emmerich told scifiwire.com. “But my co-writer Harald [Kloser] said I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie. And he was right.

(A fatwa, in this context, means a death sentence.)

So, Mr. Emmerich’s opposition to organized religion only extends to the point at which he might encounter some actual risk.

On the one hand, Mr. Emmerich’s craven-hearted retreat offers us an excellent opportunity to consider our own convictions:   How confident are we in our commitments?  One man said, “If it’s not worth dying for, it’s not worth living for.”  Obviously, Roland Emmerich is not so attached to his own views.  Perhaps, at the point of a sword, he might find it convenient to embrace Islam!

On the other hand, notice the truth that Mr. Emmerich subtly proclaims:  He knows that Islam is a dangerous, violent religion, and he knows that if he even appears to be insulting it (all in good clean fun, of course!), he risks his life.  On the other other hand he has no scruple against attacking Christianity, destroying not only the building most significant to the world’s 1 billion Roman Catholics, but also toppling an image of Jesus Christ himself.

So Mr. Emmerich (not one to risk anything, you understand,) also knows that Christians are not violent, dangerous people.  Otherwise, he never would have taken the chance.

Hollywood likes to mouth “tolerance” platitudes, claiming that all religions are basically equal and that all religions deserve equal respect and tolerance.  President Obama just said something along those lines, as well.  Behind their hands, though, the irreligious also like to claim that all religions are equally likely to erupt in violence.  Mr. Emmerich’s cowardice proves that neither of these propaganda pieces are true.

So, here it is in black and white:  Muslims are radically intolerant against even the appearance of insult to their faith.  Christians, however, tolerate direct attacks and… turn the other cheek.  Mr. Emmerich, it seems, believes that Christians don’t do fatwas; they do forgiveness.

Oh, and by the way:  Any time an artist claims that they are opposed to “organized religion”, they are just being evasive.  Hollywood knows that directors and actors coming out and saying, “I hate Christianity,” is bad business.  So instead they say that “I’m not against Christianity, just organized religion.”  This is a way of hiding their actual hatred for Christianity while continuing to sell their product to millions of Christians.  (John Lennon invented that particular dodge, I think.)

So, here is how Roland Emmerich sees it:  Islam is dangerous and violent.  Christianity is peaceable and tolerant.

What do you believe?

KAAABA 1953: Courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/essam/2251613869/

( وَإِذ قَالَ إِبرَهِيمُ رَبِّ ٱجعَل هَـذَا ٱلبَلَدَ ءَامِنًا وَٱجنُبنِى وَبَنِىَّ أَن نَّعبُدَ ٱلأَصنَامَ (٣٥

رَبِّ إِنَّہُنَّ أَضلَلنَ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ ٱلنَّاسِ‌ فَمَن تَبِعَنِى فَإِنَّهُ  مِنِّى‌ وَمَن عَصَانِى فَإِنَّكَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ (٣٦

رَّبَّنَآ إِنِّىٓ أَسكَنتُ مِن ذُرِّيَّتِى بِوَادٍ غَيرِ ذِى زَرعٍ عِندَ بَتِكَ ٱلمُحَرَّمِ رَبَّنَا لِيُقِيمُواْ ٱلصَّلَوةَ فَٱجعَل أَفـِٔدَةًمِّنَ ٱلنَّاسِ تَہوِىٓ إِلَيہِم وَٱرزُقهُم مِّنَ ٱلثَّمَرَتِ لَعَلَّهُم يَشكُرُونَ (٣٧)

رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ تَعلَمُ مَا نُخفِى وَمَا نُعلِنُ‌ وَمَا يَخفَى عَلَى ٱللَّهِ مِن شَىءٍ فِى ٱلأَرضِ وَلَا فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ (٣٨

ٱلحَمدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى وَهَبَ لِى عَلَى ٱلكِبَرِ إِسمَـعِيلَ وَإِسحَـقَ‌ إِنَّ رَبِّى لَسَمِيعُ ٱلدُّعَآءِ (٣٩

رَبِّ ٱجعَلنِى مُقِيمَ ٱلصَّلَوةِ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِى‌ رَبَّنَا وَتَقَبَّل دُعَآءِ (٤٠

رَبَّنَا ٱغفِر لِى وَلِوَلِدَىَّ وَلِلمُؤمِنِينَ يَومَ يَقُومُ ٱلحِسَابُ (٤١

And when Abraham said: My Lord! Make safe this territory, and preserve me and my sons from serving idols. (35)

My Lord! Lo! they have led many of mankind astray. But who so followeth me, he verily is of me. And whoso disobeyeth me – Still Thou art Forgiving, Merciful. (36)

Our Lord! Lo! I have settled some of my posterity in an uncultivable valley near unto Thy holy House, our Lord! that they may establish proper worship; so incline some hearts of men that they may yearn toward them, and provide Thou them with fruits in order that they may be thankful. (37)

Our Lord! Lo! Thou knowest that which we hide and that which we proclaim. Nothing in the earth or in the heaven is hidden from Allah. (38)

Praise be to Allah Who hath given me, in my old age, Ishmael and Isaac! Lo! my Lord is indeed the Hearer of Prayer. (39)

My Lord! Make me to establish proper worship, and some of my posterity (also); our Lord! and accept my prayer. (40)

Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents and believers on the day when the account is cast. (41)

SUMMARY OF THE TAFSEER, AND BACKGROUND OF THESE SUPPLICATIONS BY DR. FARHAT HASHMI

He leaves her and his infant son Ismail……………a son that had been born after long years of prayer and yearning. He leaves them in the arid desert with nothing but rocks and sand. He looks at the bag of dates and the water, and what he feels in his heart he does not bring to his lips.
She asks him, “why are you leaving me here?” she looks around the arid desert and the hard rocks spread all around her without any indication of human life.
His heart is full, he remains silent, and nothing must leave his lips that would seem like a complaint to the decree and command of Allah Subhanawataala.

“Is this a command from Allah?” She asks. He remains silent in assent. “Then He will take care of us,” she says in submission to her Lord.

After he leaves with a heavy heart he climbs to a nearby hill and duas flow out of his heart, admitting to his lord but not verbalizing the sadness, which he is hiding in his heart at the separation from his wife and his precious child.

He then sets an example for all generations to come by supplicating from his heart in all earnestness and humility, for the protection and benefit of his child, and family, for the place where he is leaving them to become a place of worship, and for it to flourish and always have the protection of Allah, and to give protection to him and his progeny from worshiping idols.

As the supplications leave his lips they disperse into the winds, and are forever available to the believer if he or she so wants to make his connection with their Lord. His prayer for his children, which he had in his old age, is prefaced with gratefulness to His Lord………….

This month the pilgrims will remember this remarkable sacrifice and struggle by walking and sometimes running in her footsteps as she had, looking for water for her infant son…….and will remember her struggle, her saee.

In this month of Hajj, five million Muslims will walk in the footsteps of one woman, a mother, a wife and a momin who even in the desolation of the desert did not give up hope and faith in Allah.She struggled to find water for her child.

She was resourceful, independent and brave and in complete obedience to Allah. A beacon of light for all women.

These were the beginnings of Mecca stemming from the obedience of Ibrahim AS and our mother Hajar (RA). It is his duas and her duas and struggle that today Mecca is what it is, a Center of worship for the Believers, and bustling with trade and commerce.

Superb Islamic Mix Wallpapers

Few Wallpapers are created by KING-slave of Allah!

Let me know You like it or not !

]]> http://clumsyg.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/christians-get-crapped-on-because-were-nice/ Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:42:44 +0000 G http://clumsyg.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/christians-get-crapped-on-because-were-nice/ http://gulamemustafa.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/the-truth-of-kaabamecca-bar-of-new-york-apple-store-of-fifth-avenue-bar-or-apple-mecca-or-apple-store/ Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:16:26 +0000 gulamemustafa http://gulamemustafa.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/the-truth-of-kaabamecca-bar-of-new-york-apple-store-of-fifth-avenue-bar-or-apple-mecca-or-apple-store/

Again i got the same mail asking people to take action against a bar with name Mecca Bar or Kaaba bar. I dont know from where these rumors are generated and who are the people behind these kind of rumors.
Here are the pics sent by mail(you can find thousands of article, blogs on net stating the same, giving wings to the rumor, with similar pics):

via Sheikyermami

In reality the pics shown above are picture taken during the construction of the  building. Actually this building belongs to Apple and is in fact Apple Store at Fifth Ave. New York City.
Following are the present pics of the building:

via Apple gallery

via Apple gallery

via Apple gallery

You can see more picture of this building at Apple site.

Present address of the same Apple Store:
767 Fifth Ave. New York City, NY 10153 (212) 336-1440

You can read another similar post here.

—————————-

Modification History:

1. Nov 2, 2009 10:05 AM: Added Line “You can read another similar post here.”.

En pleno centro de la Meca se alza El Cubo (Kaaba/Ka’bah), un prisma oscuro que constituye el centro de peregrinación más importante del Islám. En su interior y en buena custodia se asienta la piedra negra, una roca que según la tradición -o la wikipedia, que viene a ser lo mismo- fue entregada por el Ángel Gabriel a Abraham. Se dice que esta piedra llegó a la tierra totalmente blanca, y que por los pecados del hombre se puso negra como el betún.

Pese a que en aquellos tiempos -siglo VIII- no existiera la ciencia-ficción, me encanta que sin embargo sí hubiera atrevimiento y originalidad para construir un sobrio y awesome cubo negro en mitad de una mezquita. Este prisma, mezcla del monolito de 2001 y la película Cube, tuvo y tiene como función -entre otras, pues también se considera el punto de unión del cielo como el mundo terrenal- el proteger un asteroide que, como dice arriba, llegó a la Tierra “blanco” -el polvo de la desintegración al caer dejaría un rastro parecido a una nube- y se volvió “negro” cuando lo encontraron -chamuscado por la fricción del aire-. El soporte de plata del asteroide parece además diseñado por H. R. Giger.

Por si fuera poco, el primer tio que besó la piedra negra, ese al que conocen como Mahoma, dijo antes de acercarle sus morros: “No me olvido que eres una piedra y no puedes hacerme ni bien ni mal”. ¿Se puede ser más preciso y lógico en un contexto religioso? En el lugar más visitado por una de las sectas más intransigentes y radicales se venera un asteroide no por que se piense que posee cualidades sobrenaturales o forme parte de un ente divino: se adora simplemente porque la astronomía -entendida como el conjunto de regalos del cielo- mola.

The flag of Afghanistan underwent more changes during the 20th century than any other flag in the world. By my count, the design of the flag was change some twenty times in that time period. Since 2000 it has been modified three more times. The first of these flags, flown under the rule Abdur Rahman Khan, was completely black. Today’s Afghanistan flag, on the other hand, consists of three stripes and the emblem of Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan flag’s colors – black, red and green – are meant to represent different chapters in the nation’s history. Black represents the 19th century, when a series of wars led to British occupation. Red represents the Afghans fight for independence, and green is meant to show that independence has been achieved. These colors were also part of the Afghanistan flag from 1928 to 1978, running either vertically or horizontally. Back then, black represented the previous monochrome version of Afghan flags, which in turn represented the sovereign. It’s believed that the red was taken from the Soviet flag and meant to represent modernity and progress. Green stood for Islam.

The emblem of Afghanistan, which is found at the center of the current design, consists of several things. At the very top of the emblem, one finds the Shahadah. The Shahadah is the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as his prophet. Depending on whom you ask, in English it more or less reads, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” Below the Shahadah, there’s an image of a mosque with its mihrab facing Mecca. A mihrab is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of the Kaaba, a cube-shaped building in the city of Mecca, and hence the direction all Muslims should pray. Two flags are also attached to the mosque, which are taken to be Afghanistan flags. Below the mosque is an Arabic inscription stating the name of the nation.

The Persian Poet whose name was Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (Persian: جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), but who came to be known simply as Rumi, was respected for his approach to religion as expression of spirituality, unattached to any particular faith or crede. He is considered an example of  “The Perfect Man, the perfected or completed human being” (wiki).

For Rumi, religion was mostly a personal experience and not limited to logical arguments or perceptions of the senses.

Rumi was a Muslim. But he embraced humanity, the human spirit, and accepted other people’s beliefs. “His importance transcended national and ethnic borders” (wiki)

His work, though hundreds and hundreds of years old, still applies today, even more so right now than ever before. He lived from 1207 until 1273, and was buried in Konya (today’s Turkey), where his son founded the order of the Sufi, famous for their “Whirling Dervishes” ceremonial dance.

Rumi composed many poems about love and romance, spiritual evolution and interaction with God. This particular poem reflects his ecumenical open-mindedness, that many people would be well advised to adapt for themselves today. Politics would cause a lot less damage if politicians would learn to look over the edge of their plates – or inside their hearts.

I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross

and therein I found Him not.

I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there.

I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went as far as Qandhar

but God I found not.

With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found

there only ‘anqa’s habitation.

Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young;

God was not there even.

Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina

but found Him not within his range.

I fared then to the scene of the Prophet’s experience

of a great divine manifestation

only a “two bow-lengths’ distance from him”

but God was not there even in that exalted court.

Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him;

He was nowhere else.

Tawaaf Is a Cosmic Law
By Prof. Dr. Ahmad Fouad Pasha (Professor at Cairo University)

Allah Almighty says: “It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.” (Surah Al Anbiya 21:33)

This glorious verse refers to a scientific fact concerning the system of the universe. Scientific discoveries have proved that we live in a huge universe that depends on revolution. The earth revolves round the sun once a year, the moon revolves around the earth once per lunar month, and the other planets of the solar system also revolve round the sun, each in its own orbit. Besides, most of these planets have moons that revolve around them, each, also, in its own orbit. Astronomers have discovered more than 60 of these moons so far.

The solar system, likewise, orbits a center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. This galaxy consists of more than 130 billion stars. Galaxies, in turn, revolve round a center that only Almighty Allah knows.

The law of revolution applies also to atoms, the smallest units of elements that cannot be seen even by microscopes. An atom is composed of a nucleus whose diameter is less than a millionth of a millimeter. An atom is surrounded by electrons that move round the atom in an orbit. Since all matter in the universe-whether solid, liquid, or gaseous-consists of atoms, this means that the law of revolution applies to everything: stars, planets, moons, animals, plants, sand, seas, air, and so on.

This includes cells as well. The cytoplasm in the cell moves around the nucleus.

There is a common factor between the orbital movements of all the objects referred to above, this is, their revolution is counterclockwise.

Contemplating the above lines, we come to realize that revolution is a cosmic law.

With a believer’s meditation upon such a scientific fact, another image of revolution is brought to one’s mind: the pilgrims’ circumambulation of the Kaaba, which is a basic ritual of Hajj in Islam.

Circumambulating the Kaaba is a symbolic act of worship, whose wisdom may be hidden form some. It indicates the believers’ utter submission to Almighty Allah alone. The pilgrims go to Hajj in response to the divine order that Prophet Ibrahim (peace and blessings be upon him) conveyed to people. Allah Almighty says:

“Behold! We gave the site, to Ibrahim, of the (Sacred) House, (saying): “Associate not anything (in worship) with Me; and sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or stand up, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer).” And proclaim the Pilgrimage among men: they will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every kind of camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways;” (Surah Al Hajj 22:26-27)

This signifies that the Kaaba is the spiritual center of the believers. It refers to the close bond that should be between a believer and his Lord. A believer turns toward the Kaaba five times a day during the prescribed ritual Prayers.

A pilgrim circumambulates the Kaaba as if he or she is a celestial body orbiting another greater body. Circumambulation of the Kaaba is to be performed counterclockwise. This indicates that there is a joint factor between a pilgrim’s expressing his ultimate faith in Almighty Allah by circumambulating the Kaaba in that way and between the cosmic law of revolution discussed above. This indicates that there is consistency between the obligations of worship in Islam and the natural laws that govern the universe, which indicates that they all belong to only one source, that is, Almighty Allah.

This proves the truthfulness of the call of Islam that there is no god but Almighty Allah. Thus, Islam is the true religion that provides humankind with a comprehensive view in conformity with the divine truth that is apparent in the natural laws of the universe.

Almighty Allah says to us in the Glorious Quran:

“And proclaim the Pilgrimage among men: they will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every kind of camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways; That they may witness the benefits (provided) for them, and celebrate the name of Allah, through the Days appointed, over the cattle which He has provided for them (for sacrifice): then eat ye thereof and feed the distressed ones in want.” (Surah Al Hajj 22:27-28)

This is the call from our lord Allah. He made it holy by His majesty, and did this for His faithful servants. It is a call from the one, Allah, to the nation of Islam to fulfill these sacred rites. Indeed, these rites are so very much a part of the foundations of Islam.

Almighty Allah tells us in the Quran:

“Behold! We gave the site, to Ibrahim, of the (Sacred) House, (saying): “Associate not anything (in worship) with Me; and sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or stand up, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer).” (Surah Al Hajj 22:26)

From the first moment, the Kaaba was established for the sake of tawheed and the Lord of the Kaaba commanded Prophet Ibrahim who built it that when he finished building it he should call people to pilgrimage and invite them to the sanctified house of Almighty Allah. He promised Ibrahim that the people would obey this call and come in great numbers to the Kaaba which is a blessed place. He promised that the people would come from all directions and all regions, and that they would come running and riding every vehicle that Almighty Allah has subjugated for human beings.

As we see this promise is still being fulfilled today as it was back then. The hearts of the believers still desire to go to the sacred Kaaba. They move and wish to visit it, see it and go round it and be in this blessed place.

Prophet Ibrahim called the people from the Mount of Abi Qubais as his Lord had commanded him to do, and indeed, Almighty Allah made generation after generation heed this call and He made all those who were able to respond to do so, and He made those who believe in one God, the faithfully obedient to respond. For this reason, they say “I am in your service O Lord! I am in your service. There is no god by You. I am in Your service and indeed all praise and favor is Yours and all sovereignty. There is no god but You.”

Hajj is a great responsibility and replenishment for the soul and indeed, Almighty Allah made this service and these sacred rites as a distinguished reinforcement for the soul as compassion and mercy from Him for the Muslims.

The Muslim performs Hajj in a state of ihram and this means that upon Hajj and the intention for Hajj to the house of Almighty Allah, the pilgrim frees himself from everyday clothes, and worldly comforts and enters a state which represents the veils of the dead. Then along with the great gathering crowd the pilgrim remembers the Day of the Gathering; the Day of Standing before Almighty Allah.

The journey of Hajj awakens the self with many reminders of the suffering of Porphet Ibrahim and Ismail and it takes him back to the time of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him); a reminder and insight to his life. All these places, sites and images the pilgrim sees awaken him to wonder that maybe at this place stood the best of mankind, our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings upon him); maybe he prayed at this place; maybe our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) fell prostrate at this place; and maybe it was at this place that he shed his tears, pure and true. When the pilgrim imagines these sites, the importance of work or action becomes important to him; it brings strength to his faith to continue striving and it widens his capacity to change that which is in the self that he may become rectified and pure. The pilgrim hopes that he may join our righteous predecessors; those who were of this blessed place.

On the day the people stand at Arafat, the heavens meet with the earth and the angels of the merciful descend upon the people of that place. Almighty Allah pours forth His mercy on all those present at that place, and gathering all the angels He says in hadith Qudsi:

“Oh My angels, look at My servants, they come to me disheveled and covered in dust, all of you bear witness that I have forgiven them all.”

Therefore, blessed is the one who answers the call of Ibrahim and blessed be the one who performs Hajj to the sacred house of Almighty Allah.

These meanings are meant to penetrate the Muslim to the core of his very own being and let him return in a new reborn state. This is the state he was in when he was born, with a pure heart. It gives him new resolve to be obedient to Almighty Allah.

Therefore, Hajj is turning to Almighty Allah in repentance, wanting to rid oneself of wrong doings and to become firm on the religion. Those who are blessed with this gift should choose for themselves a good companion to go with so that they can remind each other of the many things they encounter during Hajj. If one forgets then the other will remind him, and if one becomes distressed, the other will be a comfort and support.

Actions in Islam are accepted when they are in accordance with Shariah, the sacred law of Islam, along with a pure intention. Let us be sure that we do all things for the sake of Almighty Allah.

When the pilgrim sees the Kaaba, the magnificence of the place should enter his heart and he should be thankful to Almighty Allah that he reached it. The pilgrim should remember Allah much when he circumambulates the Kaaba and when he touches the Black Stone. The pilgrim should know that this signifies his pledge of allegiance with Almighty Allah to obey His commands. When he comes near to the place of the Kaaba called Al-Multazim and he takes the cloth of the Kaaba in his hand, he should remember that Allah is his refuge from this world and he seek as much forgiveness as he can for his sins and mistakes in this world.

The pilgrim should remember when running between As-Safa and Al-Marwah that this symbolizes his plight running between hope and fear; fear of rejection from Almighty Allah and hope in Allah’s favor, whose mercy encompasses all things.

He should constantly remember that it is upon us to act and exert ourselves in this life seeking nearness to Almighty Allah and seeking His good pleasure. Indeed, this is the greatest of all hopes.

When the pilgrim throws and casts the stones, he should remember his war and conflict to save his own soul from evil desire and harm; his war with the devil. This is a war from which there is no cessation and no break from the responsibilities of it until he meets Almighty Allah .

If the pilgrim goes to Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, the holy city of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he should know that this is the land that Almighty Allah chose for His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and that he emigrated to this land and there he built his house and lived and there live the remnants of his people even until today. In this land, our Prophet’s soul was received and his body was prepared to go to the grave. Therefore, when the pilgrim stands before his grave, he should make sure to pause and send his peace and salutations properly and say:

“Here I am Messenger of Allah. I am from those who follow you and I am from those who believe in you and follow your way and I am upon this covenant and I promise to carry this trust and I will call to Islam as much as I possibly can. So return to me my greeting, Messenger of Allah so that the Lord’s mercy might come to me and bear witness for me in front of your Lord and intercede for me on the Day of Terror.”

When the pilgrim finishes all the rituals, he should make his intention to go back to the Kaaba before leaving this holy land and go around the Kaaba to bid farewell and ask that he may be of those who return to it and ask his Lord to accept his deeds.

Oh Allaah I am here….here to serve You, here to obey You, here to submit my life, my wants, my desires only to You. I am ready for change. Oh Allaah, I love you and I worship no one but you. So forgive me and guide me.

“…There is no reward for Hajj mabroor except Paradise.” (Al-Bukhaari)

They said: “What makes Hajj mabroor, Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Providing food to people and spreading (the greeting of) salaam.” (Fath al-Bari, 4/446)

El hajg o hayy  es el quinto pilar del islam. El musulmán debe peregrinar al menos una vez en la vida a la ciudad de La Meca, siempre y cuando tenga los medios económicos y las condiciones de salud necesarias.

Mecca

Se realiza durante el mes de du-l-higga (ذو الحِجّة ḏū al-ḥiǧǧa: ‘el de la peregrinación’, duodécimo del calendario musulmán. Existen peregrinaciones menores que pueden hacerse en otros momentos.

Calendario Musulman

El ritual de la peregrinación varía ligeramente según se viva en la región de La Meca o se venga de fuera, particularmente el de la sacralización o ihrām, que se hacen a la entrada del territorio sagrado. También las escuelas jurídicas del islam marcan sus propios matices. En términos generales, dura cinco días. Tras una primera visita a la Mezquita Al-Haram, donde se circunvala la Kaaba y se bebe agua del Pozo de Zamzam, los peregrinos se dirigen a la localidad de Mina, a las afueras de la ciudad. El día siguiente parten hacia el monte Arafat, a 20 km de La Meca, y el tercer día vuelven a Mina. De Mina se regresa a La Meca, pasando antes por un lugar donde se realiza el conocido ritual de apedrear tres pilares de mampostería que representan al Diablo. El resto de rituales se realizan de nuevo en la ciudad santa.

Kaaba

A menudo los peregrinos aprovechan la peregrinación para hacer a continuación una visita a la ciudad de Medina, donde están enterrados Mahoma y otros fundadores del islam.

Medina

Quienes han realizado la peregrinación pueden usar en adelante el tratamiento honorífico de حَاجّ [ḥāǧǧ] o حَاجِّي [ḥāǧǧī] (‘peregrino’) antepuesto al nombre.

A couple years ago, I attended a MAS Tarbiyah and Ilm camp. Throughout the week-long camp, the leaders would periodically share their reflections and solicit ours. During one of the final rounds of reflections, one of my friends mentioned that she’d been almost invisible for the better part of the weak, because she’d lost her voice. Her silence taught her to pay attention to the marginalized, the silenced, the forgotten. Among the advantages of being silent, she said, was having a chance to listen and think about what others have to say.

I’ve been thinking a lot of that since, a couple days ago, the flighty weather snatched my voice and ran away. (I, in turn, snatched a ghost’s — a poor exchange.)

Ironically, yesterday I taught my first English conversation class at UJ with this shadow of a voice and, this morning, I was back in Nuzha with my rowdy eigth graders.

But, with the eighth graders, the raspy voice was the least of my worries.

For starters, the copy machine ran out of toner. As a result, the vocabulary test retake didn’t happen (a retake because they all cheated on the first one), the lyrics of “The Everything Song” weren’t memorized and the cursive practice had to wait.

Then, there was the locked classroom. The key was misplaced, the assistant principal told me, so no class there. I found my students monkeying around in the school auditorium, among a hundred-some (formerly) white dining room chairs. This wasn’t going to work. I had to ask for another room.

Oh, but I hated to ask. You know how it is. When you’re someone who comes out of nowhere to give a hand, everyone puts you ‘al ras ‘u ‘al ‘ain (i.e. they like you), but when you’re someone who comes out of nowhere to burden them, well, then you’re a good-for-nothing. So, at the risk of being the volunteer who’s more trouble than she’s worth, I went back to the assistant principal.

“Is there an alternative classroom? Just a place with desks or tables?” The assistant principal shook her head regretfully. “No worries iA. We’ll — we’ll try and make it work.”

And aA we did. Making it work involved lifting a portable dry erase board off the stage and moving four wooden tables to the front of the auditorium. But what are thirteen year-old boys for, if not for lifting tables and dry erase boards?

Still, the kids were all over the place, literally. They were like gas molecules, actively diffusing to fill the bigger volume. (I’m embracing my inner-nerd.)

At least I learned a few things today. Like the fact that, a kid sitting in the back of the class studying for his upcoming science exam is an entirely different matter when the back of the class is thirty feet away. And, when you don’t have a backstage, students tend not to disappear into it. Better yet, when you don’t have a stage at all, it’s really hard for students to jump on and off — unless they have a wonderful imagination.

During break, after I returned with khuffay hunain (nothing) from the copy machine, I found one of the boys on stage, delivering patriotic poems by Nizar Qabbani and Mahmoud Darwish. The stage can stay, kirmal (because of) Zaid’s performance.

What I also learned today is that, though the kids’ English reading is intermediate, their reading of human faces is advanced. “Sh. Come on, guys, the Miss is upset with us,” Amer whispered to his peers, when their thoughts strayed from spelling.

Then, there was Ahmad, who parroted my whispered instructions goodnaturedly (and a little sarcastically, I suspect).

Finally, as class drew to a close, my students packed their bags and made for the door. They came back with an announcement: we were locked in.

Oh, the hullabaloo.

“We have a computer exam today!” The girls wailed. “Our science test!” The boys whined. A moment later, a dozen hand were on the blue UNRWA door, slapping it and calling out for help — a scene reminiscent of pilgrims begging salvation along the Kaa’ba walls. Another bunch manned the windows. And I — I stood in the eye of the storm, trapped in my own mute stillness.

Eventually, one of the handymen at the school heard the S.O.S. calls from the window and came to our rescue. But until then, I had no choice but to listen.

What I heard was a cacophony of noises: shuffling feet against tile, the swishing of jackets against backpacks and the anxious breathing of students all aflutter with worry and excitement. I even thought I heard, in the background, the sound of a caged bird singing. Whatever I heard, I sure hope they pass their exams with flying — yes, flying — colors.

Longest post ever. I assure you, it’s good.

Ever since writing about the Antwerp headscarf ban (mentioned in The Economist some time ago by the wise Charlemagne), I’ve been turning over the ethics of freedom of choice and couple of the more controversial topics concerning Islam. It’s high time that I wrote about them.

Here begins a mini-series of posts. I have no doubt in my mind that what I’m going to say here will very likely make some people angry, but I want you to rest assured: I’m quite open on these subjects, and I’m simply trying to understand how they can be resolved as a function of both principles — both democracy and Islam. I want to be clear: they are not opposing forces. Ideally (and both in their ideal forms), they merge rather nicely. However, to reiterate my dear friend Fadhila’s observation, “Islam is perfect, not Muslims.” The same applies to the American brand of democratic idealism, to Christianity, and any ideology that might be worth naming: those self-same imperfections in the gap are really what make things difficult for all parties.

And so, rather than these being my observations of Islam, these are really my personal observations of Muslims, and a few of the meditations that those interactions.

“You have your religion, and I have mine”

I’m not a Muslim; I’m a Roman Catholic.

I like incense, I like hymns, I like kneeling to take communion. Which, I believe — beyond reason — is the actual whole Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Who is God. I believe in One God, the Father, the Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ His Only Son, I believe in a Trinitarian God and I believe that God, though God (and not needing to do things) has done a number of vastly un-Godly things: like Himself His only Begotten Son so as to provide an appropriate sacrifice for the sins of Mankind and for Himself. Like resting on the Seventh Day (NB: I think that it’s easier to say that God did all of that (because He could if He wanted!) then say that God can’t have rested or incarnated Himself or become Three-in-One and One-in-Three, because, let’s call a spade a spade here: He can. We might not understand it, but He can. He can dig a bottomless well and stand at the bottom. He can even find the end of infinity. He’s God; stop asking questions).

That’s my act of faith, and I think that the act of having faith is actually that: it’s quite unreasonable. It’s laying aside logic and putting your money on something you have absolutely no proof over. I try to stay away from theological arguments because, truth be told, I’m not going to convince anyone, no matter how logically I put it to them.

Muslim offenders

With that in mind, I recently tweeted about the up-and-coming biopic on Muhammad, pointing out that I was rather doubtful that it would draw anything but criticism from any and all Islamic parties. Read about Barry Osborne’s potential flick it here on BikyaMasr.

To understand exactly how serious the upcoming controversy, I refer you to the Wikipedia article on a similar (much beloved, very respectful) movie, Al-Risala (“The Message”), produced to critical and public acclaim in 1976:

On March 9, 1977, a group led by Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, seized several buildings and took 134 hostages in Washington, D.C.^[2] The takeover led to the fatal shootings of a journalist and a police officer, and the non-fatal shooting of Marion Barry, who would become mayor of Washington, D.C. two years later. One of their demands was to prevent the release of the film. One of the hostage-takers specifically said, according to an on-site reporter, that “he wanted a guarantee from the whole world it will never be shown or they would execute some of the hostages…”

Dude: seriously?

The Message sported a score by Maurice Jarre (think: Doctor Zhivago) and avoided all depictions of Muhammad, his wives and his sons-in-law. The closest it ever comes to even remotely portraying him (or any of them) are a few shadows — maybe a staff or a sword (Ali’s double-pronged Zulfiqar). It’s much-beloved even today by Egyptians especially, and is seen by many as walking a nice middle path between “Western” art and halal portrayal. Probably because the director (Moustapha Akkad) was a practicing Muslim. Cool.

Let’s get back to that.

Apparently, German director Roland Emmerich was debating a Ka’aba explosion scene in his rather mediocre-sounding 2012, the much criticized film about the “potential” Mayan end of the world. Here’s what really got me:

Emmerich, who fathered such films as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and Stargate, told scifiwire.com that he wanted to create a scene where he would blow up Islam’s holiest site in Mecca, but decided against it for fear of having a fatwa issued against him.

His decision to preserve the sanctity of Mecca was a wise decision. It would not have added to the film in terms of plot or content and probably would have been received as the West flexing its empirical muscles over the Arab world, whether justifiably so or not. However, one has to question Emmerich’s understanding of culture and religion as he reluctantly withdrew the proposed Mecca-exploding scene, adding that, “we have to all, in the western world, think about this. You can actually let Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have … a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is.”

I don’t understand this. At all. Why not the Ka’aba?

I can understand Akkad producing a film that was very careful about his representation of Islam’s greatest (and Seal) of the Prophets; he is, after all, a Muslim. But for a non-Muslim director to wince because he is afraid of a fatwa…?!

Books offend people. Movies offend people. The whole idea behind freedom of speech is that you have that license to do so. What I object to is not necessarily that Emmerich didn’t blow up the Ka’aba in his most recent film (which, if he did, I would have considered in bad taste anyway), but rather his reasons for backing down: he was afraid.

It’s not even like 2012 was even a movie about blowing up the Ka’aba. It was about the end of the world, and to Emmerich as a filmmaker, the end of the world involves blowing things up. It’s not the Ka’aba itself, and if you want to talk holy sites, the Vatican gets blown up in 2012. It’s a plot device. It’s a screen shot for shock effect! It’s almost incidental! For crying out loud, it’s not like it’s a whole movie about blowing up a holy site (anyone hear of Angels and Demons?).

To quote the Gateway Pundit’s interview of Catholic League president Bill Donohue, ”When we got word recently that the movie ‘2012′ depicts the Vatican being blown up, along with the famous statue from Rio, Christ the Redeemer, we were unmoved. Why? Because this occurs during the end of the world in a massive destruction. This kind of sensationalism, we reasoned, is standard fare for director Roland Emmerich: he is the guru of the ‘blow ‘em up’ genre of movies.”

But it’s fear that keeps us from this. Fear that we might have to go in hiding because some nutty Irani ayatollah has issued a fatwa on us, calling on every good Muslim to execute us, and everyone who has translated our works to meet the same fate. I’m actually kind of disgusted at the potential of any religion to do that (and my own has no clean hands, I’m aware).

Peace and blessings be upon him! (But he’s not my prophet)

Offense is good, it forces us to question, to defend what we believe in. In an ideal world, it wouldn’t be necessary, but what the 2012 and Salman Rushdie controversies point out to me is a discomfort with the idea of free speech. Muslims around the world are crying out against the arrest of Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, who used his personal website to encourage Muslims around the world (around the world!) to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, as a violation of democratic freedom of speech.

I’m not saying that Awlaki speaks for Islam. No one speaks for Islam. But listen up, pal: Muslim, Christian, black, white, or purple, you can’t go around encouraging people to take up the sword; you can be against the war all you want, but you can’t tell people to kill other people in a public forum. That’s called assault. That’s called aggravation. Rights have limits, and even in the Land of the Free itself, you can’t say (even kidding) that you plan to murder the President, or that there’s a bomb on a plane – even if you’re just kidding. It’s illegal — and for good reason. Your right to speak freely ends where the other peoples’ begins.

This whole rant was really set off by someone telling me to call Muhammad the Prophet Muhammad. Her reasons for telling me so were simple enough: we should have respect for him. But to that, I answer: He is not my prophet. I never thought he was a prophet, my own religion expressly forbids regarding him as a prophet. I’m not a Muslim; I’m a Roman Catholic. I like incense, I like hymns, I like kneeling to take communion. Which, I believe — beyond reason — is the actual whole Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Who is God. I believe in One God, the Father, the Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ His Only Son, the Holy Spirit that unites them all in one giant Trinitarian mystery that I don’t even attempt to pick apart, but still have faith is somehow (quite incomprehensibly) true. I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinion here, that’s just what I believe.

What I don’t like is the should. We should refer to Muhammad as “The Prophet.”

No. I don’t believe he was. Asking me to do so amounts to stepping over my side of the line.

I’ve been stopped from calling Jesus Christ the Son of God by Muslims, I’ve been told that referring to Mary as the Blessed Mother of God is offensive to some people; I’ve gotten into arguments over how stupid I am for believing in the Trinity. Priests in Egypt are not allowed to proselytize, Muslims are forbidden to convert to Christianity, churches forbidden to ring out the Angelus three times a day. The government drags its feet about allowing Copts and Catholics to construct churches, and everywhere in Middle Egypt, there is outcry about an “in your face attitude” that uppity Christians have about when they do get to build or repair a church. And then riots ensue, and people freak about having Christians in the community. ”There goes the neighborhood.”

I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying I’m offended. I don’t go around asking people to refer to Jesus as the Son of God, or Mary as the Blessed Mother. I just want the same courtesy of neutral titles extended to me. I’m not saying that that’s the “official Islamic stance.” In fact, the entire time, I’ve grown more apologetic; I’ve been the one to avoid talking about it. I explain it away because I’ve spent the better part of four years studying it, reading about it, going to mosques, and learning Arabic. You know what, though? It doesn’t work that way. Someone telling me to shush every time I say “when the Son of God was born” to explain the significance of Christmas or mention that Jesus was crucified, DIED, and resurrected on Easter Sunday…their blasphemy is my belief. My being told to shut up is really starting to offend me. I’m not going to shut up about it.

Let’s make this personal for a moment. Let’s say I should refer to him as The Prophet. Out of respect. I should perhaps say after his name “Peace and blessings be upon him!” (respect, right?). I should perhaps avoid reading Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, and avoid being seen with it, because it offends people. I should read the Qur’an, I should maybe avoid being in rooms alone with women. I also shouldn’t drink, eat pork, or pray without ritual ablutions.

Oh, and by the way, I probably should convert to Islam, just while I’m at it.

No: I don’t think so.

I’m not asking you to eat pork; I’m asking not to be judged for eating it myself. You don’t like wine? Don’t drink it. Islam is predicated on the fact that no one (no one) can know the true deen a person possesses. Perhaps what I do is enough; perhaps you are not held to the same standard, being who you are. Perhaps I am wrong and you are right. Either way, I don’t think that popular practice or even sharia (which sharia?) should prescribe how I live my own religious life, though.

I really, really, really dig most Muslims I know. I love quite a few of them quite dearly (here’s to you, Fadhila, Halima, and all the Penacobas!), but I’m not going to call him the Prophet Muhammad on principle. I’ve read the Qur’an — even attempted the Arabic — I love listening to it. I think the Burda is gorgeous, and I find great value in learning from Islam: it enriches my own perception of Christianity as a historical religion. I respect the historical man, and I would like to point out Holy Mother Church’s praises:

Catechism of the Catholic Church, S. 841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”

Can’t we get a little for giving a little?

Peace and blessings be upon him, the Prophet of Islam!

But he’s not my prophet.

*                         *                             *

لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ (Q 109:6)

“To you, your religion; to me, my own.”

Roland Emmerich hat in seinem Leben schon einiges in die Luft fliegen lassen: das Empire State Building und das Weiße Haus (”Independence Day”), die Hälfte von Manhattan (”Godzilla”), das berühmte Hollywood-Zeichen in den Hügeln über Los Angeles (”The Day after Tomorrow”). In seinem Dekonstruktionsfilm “2012, der jetzt in die Kinos kommt, geht nun, Höhepunkt seiner katastrophischen Weltsicht, die ganze Welt zu Bruch und mit ihr einige der größten Schätze des Christentums, darunter die Sixtinische Kapelle und der Petersdom in Rom – Emmerich ist, wie er bekennt, sehr gegen “organisierte Religionen” eingestellt.

Die ganze Welt? Nein, die muslimische Welt bleibt verschont, jedenfalls vor der kinematographischen Zerstörung. Eigentlich wollte Emmerich auch die Kaaba in Mekka in die Luft blasen, eine der heiligsten Stätten des Islam und Ziel jedes muslimischen Pilgers, wie er dem Onlinemagazin scifiwire.com gestand: “Das wollte ich tun, muss sich zugeben. Aber mein Koautor Harald (Kloser) meinte, er wolle sich keine Fatwa wegen des Filmes zuziehen. Er hatte natürlich recht, das müssen wir hier in der westlichen Welt bedenken. Man kann christliche Symbole zusammenfallen lassen, bei einem arabischen Symbol handelt man sich eine Fatwa ein, so ist halt im Augenblick der Stand der Dinge. Es war eh kein besonders wichtiges Element des Films, also habe ich es raus gelassen.”

Wie war das noch mal mit dem Widerwillen gegen “organisierte Religionen”?

QUELLE