Most of us in the developed world now have relationships with computers – and access to information and entertainment –that we could not have dreamt about even a decade or so ago. We spend our days sifting emails and browsing the internet, then relax by tweeting or networking online and playing computer games, sometimes all at the same time.

All this, according to Dr Gary Small of UCLA, is changing us. Dr Small, one of America’s leading neurologists, has written a book, iBrain – Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind, that describes what he believes is the profound impact of new technology on our brains and behaviour. His research indicates that internet use and web-browsing has a marked effect on our brains, which, he argues, are much more changeable than most of us think, especially in the case of young people.

Repeated daily actions such as web research and browsing direct the growth of neurons and connections within the brain, affecting thinking and behaviour. While the internet enhances our brain function in some ways – his study found it boosted decision-making and complex reasoning in older people – it can also lead to memory loss. Some research suggests there may be links between excessive computer use and conditions such as attention deficit disorder, depression and anxiety in younger people.

But the news is not all bad. Research at UCLA has revealed that just one hour of internet use per day can measurably boost brain function.

“As our brain is plastic and remoulds itself in accordance to our daily activities, prolonged computer use can have a profound effect on the way we think, feel and behave,” says Professor Small. “We can learn to react more quickly to visual stimuli and improve many forms of attention. We develop a better ability to sift through large amounts of information rapidly and decide what’s important and what isn’t. In this way, we adapt to cope with the massive amounts of information appearing and disappearing on our mental screens from moment to moment.”

However, some researchers fear prolonged computer use could damage social skills. A Stanford University study found that for every hour we spend on our computers, traditional face-to-face interaction time with other people drops by almost 30 minutes. With less face-to-face contact and body language, we may begin to misinterpret others. Our human relationships may suffer, with areas in the prefrontal cortex which respond to facial expression becoming less developed. Decision-making may suffer, too.

“Qualitatively, high-speed decisions are not the same as the type of decision that you slowly contemplate and make over time,” says Professor Small. More pondered decision-making has “a depth that speedy thinking cannot grasp”.

Benefiting most from computers and technology is all about balance: “It’s common sense. You should aim to balance internet time with real social time as much as you can. If you work all day at a computer, make sure you mix with real people in the evening, rather than using social-networking sites on the internet or playing computer games.”

And “If you never use computers, then start,” Professor Small recommends. “As we found, even an hour a day can vastly improve your information processing skills, even in people aged 55 to 60.”

Internet research

What it does: Boosts the ability to integrate and process information as well as enhancing decision-making skills.

Using rapid spurts of directed concentration for internet research enhances our ability to focus our attention, analyse information and make instant decisions. Assessing these skills, Professor Pam Briggs at Northumbria University found web surfers spent two seconds or less on any particular website before moving on to the next. She found they sifted information accurately, despite operating at high speed, stopping only at sites that contained relevant information.

These “high-speed” research skills can be learnt at any age and actively enhance brain function. Professor Gary Small compared the brains of middle-aged people who rarely use the internet to those of experienced internet users, as they conducted web searches for an hour each day.

With the inexperienced users, “After five days, areas of the prefrontal cortex that control our ability to make decisions and integrate complex information had become markedly more active,” says Professor Small. “These areas were fairly inactive at the beginning of our experiment. But after five days they were as active as regular internet users. This indicates that brain function can change and improve with internet use quickly, even when you are older.”

General browsing

What it does: Encourages the use of continuous partial attention and multi-tasking, which can impair cognition and cause irritability

Hopping from one subject to the next on the web without a specific goal can both be both stimulating and engaging – but also stressful and may lead to “computer fatigue”.

“When people browse the web, they often enter a state of continuous partial attention,” says Professor Small.

“In this, a person might be simultaneously clicking on websites, replying to an email, or speaking on the phone. This enhances multi-tasking skills, but the problem is that the brain enters a heightened state of stress.

“As a result, many people who have been working on the internet for several hours report making mistakes and feeling fatigued, irritable and spaced-out. Over time, we know that continual exposure to stress hormones can impair cognition and alter neural circuitry in brain regions that control mood and thought,” he explains.

To counteract all this, Professor Small recommends taking regular breaks away from the screen. Looking at people who are suffering from such computer fatigue, researchers at Harvard University found that a quick 20-30 minute nap had the effect of improving computer performance significantly.

Playing computer games

What it does: May improve multi-tasking skills, memory and peripheral vision. Can lead to antisocial behaviour.

Previous research has convincingly shown that excessive use of computer games can cause stress, and even lead to violence, by causing adrenalin surges. It has also been shown that in young people it can impair the development of the frontal lobe, which is the part of the brain that usually inhibits anti-social behaviour.

But not all games are equal, and the news is not all bad. Looking at volunteers who played computer games for eight hours a week, neuroscientist Paul Kearney at Unitec, New Zealand, found that multi-tasking skills were enhanced two-and-a half times.

Meanwhile research at Rochester University in the US found that video-game playing, which requires an overall awareness of the video screen, can improve peripheral vision. “Computer games exercise a range of neurological functions, such as performing goal-oriented tasks, using spatial awareness and engaging reflex reactions,” explains Professor Small. “Played regularly, all these functions are likely to improve.”

Specialised computer games, such as Nintendo’s Brain Age and Brain Fitness Program, have been specifically designed to enhance memory and cognition. Doctors nowadays recommend memory-boosting exercises such as these as a way of staving off age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Building a blog or website

What it does: Building a blog or your own website improves frontal lobe function, reasoning and memory.

“As you learn to build a site or blog, brain areas that are needed for making logical connections as well as medium to longer-term functional memory are challenged and enhanced,” explains Professor Small.

“Your memory is improved by learning and remembering how to construct a site or blog ,and will be enhanced the more you actually use and update your site,” he adds. To keep these brain functions active, add to your skill levels by learning new web-building functions and updating your site.

Sorting email

What it does: Boosts information-processing functions in the brain’s frontal lobe. Can also cause stress.

“By sorting through email on a daily basis we develop a better ability to sift through large amounts of information rapidly and decide what’s important and what isn’t,” says Professor Small. “In this way, we are able to cope with massive amounts of information appearing and disappearing on our mental screens from moment to moment.” While this helps with information processing, we are also at risk of email burnout – a state of stress triggered by feeling overloaded. “This is similar to computer fatigue and can be prevented by taking regular breaks,” says Professor Small.

Using emoticons

What it does: Exercises brain centres linked to emotion and social connection; particularly beneficial to those who use computers for long periods.

Using abbreviations or smiley faces in email correspondence has been found to stimulate the gyrus – the same area of the brain that is activated by one-to-one emotional contact. “Neuroscientists at Tokyo Denki University, Japan, discovered that when volunteers viewed emoticons during an MRI scan, their right inferior frontal gyrus was activated,” says Professor Small.

“This area is linked to emotional contact rather than reasoned or rational thinking.” Sending and receiving emoticons, he says, is important as it can, perhaps rather ironically, help to offset feelings of isolation that can be caused by excessive computer use. Using emoticons may also help to keep areas of the brain that need emotional connection active and healthy.

Tweeting and chatrooms

What it does: Enhances peripheral attention, helps to boost self-esteem and protects the hippocampus.

Using virtual chatrooms, tweets or instant messaging to keep up with friends, virtual friends and virtual lovers keeps us feeling connected, which in turn bolsters self-esteem.

“Neuro-imaging studies suggest that this sense of self-worth may protect the size of the hippocampus, an area of the brain which allows us to learn and remember new information,” says Professor Small.”However at some point the sense of control and self-worth generated through virtual relationships breaks down.

“Firstly, internet relationships seem intimate but they are not, and people can suddenly cut you off. Also our brains are not built to maintain connections for extended periods via computers.”

The key to maintaining true connection and self-esteem, he says, is balance. “Be careful not to use virtual relationships as a substitute for real-life experiences. Aim to maintain a balance by ensuring you have enough ‘real-person time’ away from the computer.”

Unfeigned Regards

Mohammed Online Manager
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“[The Liberhan Report] is a document of falsehood,” B. Satyanarayana, UP governor in 1992.

“The report is politically motivated and illogical. I have no regrets over the demolition of the desputed structure in Ayodhya,” Kalyan Singh, UP chief minister in 1992.

“The Babri Masjid demolition on Dec. 6, 1992 was a day of national pride,” Kalyan Singh

“Reports like that of the Liberhan Commission come and go. But the Hindu culture that takes pride in its heritage and protects its places of worship has been in place for ages and will remain so forever. Any symbolic structure left by an invader in Bharat is a national shame,” Praveen Togadia, VHP leader.

“Get lost. Are you challenging my character? Get lost from here!” Justice M.S. Liberhan the author of The Liberhan Ayodhya Commission Report.

Yes, Your “Honour”, we are challenging your character AND your credibility. It took 17 long years for you to write a lugubrious, dubious, and politically motivated 1000-page report that has cost the Indian taxpayer 8 crores of rupees. For what? For nothing! And as Indian judges are now revealing their assets, will you reveal how much of those taxpayer’s 8 crores got into your pocket in 17 very prosperous years? – IS

Ram Madhav: Giving the facts.

The Ramjanmabhoomi Movement reached a historic stage after the demolition of the non-mosque in 1992. It was a non-mosque because it was never used by Muslims after 1934. It was never registered as a Waqf property by any of the Sunni or Shia boards anywhere in UP or the country. There was no  Muttawalli/Imam attached to it. In effect, it ceased to be a mosque at least since 1934. And what is more, it was – and still is – a functioning temple at least since 1949.

The real India is waking up to a new, historical reality. This awakening is a result of the unfolding of a mighty creative genius of millions of unknown Indians whose names are not known and whose lives are nothing special to remember otherwise. It is they who can metaphorically be descried as the “Real Bharat”. They are charting a new course for the future of our country. The historic Ramjanmabhoomi Movement is but a symbol of that new awakening – a symbol that reminds the world that India, at last, is becoming alive to its history.

It is not just a movement for a temple. It manifests the innate yearning of people for self-respect and honour, an urge to unshackle themselves from the humiliating history heaped on them. It happens to every country; in fact it has happened several times in the history of several countries.

Russian Eastern Orthodox Cathedral in Warsaw: Demolished by the Roman Catholic Poles in the 1920s.

“As I have been speaking, some vivid visual memories have been flashing up in the mind’s eye. One of these is the picture of the principal square in the Polish city of Warsaw sometime in the late nineteen twenties. In the course of the first Russian occupation of Warsaw (1914-1915), the Russians had built an Eastern Orthodox Christian cathedral on this central spot in the city that had been the capital of the once independent Roman Catholic Christian country Poland. The Russians had done this to give the Poles a continuous ocular demonstration that the Russians were their masters. After re-establishment of Poland’s independence in 1918, the Poles pulled this cathedral down. The demolition had been completed just before the date of my visit. I do not greatly blame the Polish government for having pulled down that Russian church. The purpose for which the Russians had built it had been not religious but political, and the purpose had also been intentionally offensive,” says universally acclaimed
historian Sir Arnold Toynbee.

In Turkey, they turned the Church of Santa Sophia into a mosque. In Nicosia churches were converted into mosques. The Spaniards spent many centuries re-conquering their land from Muslim invaders.

About India this was what Toynbee had to say: “Aurangzeb’s purpose in building those three mosques (Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura) was the same intentionally offensive political purpose that moved the Russians to build their Orthodox cathedral in the city centre at Warsaw. Those mosques were intended to signify that an Islamic government was reigning supreme, even over Hinduism’s holiest of holy places. I must say that Aurangzeb had a veritable genius for picking out provocative sites. Aurangzeb and Philip II of Spain are a pair. They are incarnations of the gloomily fanatical vein in the Christian-Muslim-Jewish family of religions. Aurangzeb – poor wretched misguided bad man – spent a lifetime of hard labour in raising massive monuments to his own discredit. Perhaps the Poles were really kinder in destroying the Russians’  self-discrediting monument in Warsaw than you have been in sparing Aurangzeb’s mosques.” (One World and India; 1960; pp 59-60).

Medieval Indian history is replete with instances of wanton aggression on its holy places by Muslim hordes. Innumerable instances of defaced Hindu idols and destroyed Hindu/Jain/Buddhist holy places stare at us everywhere. These destructions were not done just for the sake of fun as some eminent Indian (read Marxist) historians would want us to believe. These were deliberate acts of religious vandalism perpetrated by intolerant Islamic invaders.

However, one would be grossly and sadly mistaken if he confuses the present day awakening in the form of the Ramjanmabhoomi Movement to an effort to “avenge the historic wrongs”. Many so-called liberal (euphemism for Marxist) intellectuals spread this canard either deliberately (most probable) or at times out of ignorance (rare).

The movement for the Ramjanmabhoomi is basically a movement for the self-assertion of a civilisation. It is a wounded civilisation trying to re-invent its roots. It has to be understood properly, instead of dismissed with contempt. That is what Sir Vidia Naipaul also says: “If people just acknowledged history, certain deep emotions of shame and defeat would not be driven underground and would not find this rather nasty and violent expression. As people become more secure in India, as a middle and lower middle class begins to grow, they will feel this emotion more and more. And it is in these people that deep things are stirred by what was, clearly, a very bad defeat. The guides who take people around the temples of Belur and Halebid are talking about this all the time. I do not think they were talking about it like that when I was there last, which is about 20 something years ago. So new people come up and they begin to look at their world and from being great acceptors, they have become questioners. And I think we should simply try to understand this passion. It is not an ignoble passion at all. It is men trying to understand themselves. Do not dismiss them. Treat them seriously.” (“The Truth Governs Writing”, an interview by Sadanand Menon, The Hindu, July 5, 1998).

The movement has reached a historic stage after the demolition of the non-mosque in 1992. It was a non-mosque because it was never used by Muslims after 1934. It was never registered as a Waqf property by any of the Sunni or Shia boards anywhere in UP or the country. There was no Muttawalli/Imam attached to it. In effect, it ceased to be a mosque at least since 1934. And what is more, it was-and still is-a functioning temple at least since 1949.

Mir Baqi's victory monument in Ayodhya being demolished on Dec. 6, 1992. The "masjid" was built in 1528 after demolishing a Vishnu temple and is named for the Turkic-Uzbec invader Babur who became India's first Mogul emperor. Babur is buried in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Hence, what was destroyed on December 6, 1992, was a non-mosque and a functioning temple only. The destruction was a result of the pent-up frustration caused by the inordinate delays and insensitive approach of a section of leaders.

The dispute reached the Supreme Court in 1993 when the government of the day referred to it the core question of whether a Hindu temple existed at the disputed site before the construction of the mosque or not. Declining to answer the core question, the five-member Supreme Court bench in its judgment in October 1994 said keeping aside the disputed land of 2.77 acres on which the make-shift Ram Temple stands today, the remaining land of about 67 acres may be returned to its owners if the government thinks such a step would not hamper the legal proceedings on the disputed site.

It is pertinent to note here that there is no dispute about the ownership of this land or its title in any court anywhere. This undisputed land was acquired by the Union government in 1993 along with the disputed land. There was a move by the central government in 2002 to hand over this undisputed land to its original owners including the Ram Janambhoomi Nyas. The Nyas on its part was willing to give an undertaking to the effect that it would provide a corridor to the disputed site as access in case the judgment on that site went the other way. However, a public interest litigation was filed by a Muslim individual acting upon which a three-member Supreme Court bench asked the Government of India to maintain the status quo on the 67 acres.

All that the leaders of the movement are asking at this point in time is that their part of the undisputed site be returned to them. It does in no way affect the judicial proceedings on the disputed site. The Government of India has moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking vacation of the status quo order so that it can implement the 1994 judgment.

While the facts of the matter clearly indicate the demand of the leaders of the movement is fully legal and constitutional – at no point in time are they demanding that the disputed site be handed over to them – a campaign of calumny full of falsehood and insinuation has been unleashed by a section of intellectuals.

It is a tragedy that these intellectuals fail to understand the movement in its entirety. This is what Sir Vidia had to say about them: “Indian intellectuals, who want to be secure in their liberal beliefs, may not understand what is going on, especially if these intellectuals happen to be in the United States. But every other Indian knows precisely what is happening: deep down he knows that a larger response is emerging even if at times this response appears in his eyes to be threatening.”

And this is the advice he has for those intellectuals: “It is not enough to abuse them or to use that fashionable word from Europe: fascism. There is a big, historical development going on in India. Wise men should understand it and ensure that it does not remain in the hands of fanatics. Rather they should use it for the intellectual transformation of India.” (“An Area of Awakening”, interview by Dileep Padgaonkar, The Times of India, July 18, 1993).

So much transformation has taken place in the intellectual world after 1993 that a large section of our intelligentsia understands and appreciates the significance of this movement today.

Let me end by quoting Dr Rajendra Prasad during the renovation of the historic Somnath temple in 1950, which was vandalised by a 11th century Muslim invader, Mohammad Ghazni.

“By rising from its ashes again, this temple of Somnath will proclaim to the world that no man and no power in the world can destroy that for which people have boundless faith and love in their hearts….  Today, our attempt is not to rectify history. Our only aim is to proclaim anew our attachment to the faith, convictions and to the values on which our religion has rested since immemorial ages.”

Just replace Somnath with Ayodhya.

Jai Ram! Jai Hind!

…to see the DFS sale end!

They always say “The sale must end on Sunday” or “The sale must end soon”…

But which Sunday and/or when is soon?!

Does the DFS Sale EVER end?

Until next time, may peace be upon you all…

*Mohammed Ali

Mohammed Ali | Create your badge

The purity of the person represented by this name is reflected in everything connected to him. It is indeed reflected in the name itself. If you have a heart that’s so Pure and Heavenly, I am sure enough that by pushing everything out of your mind and just looking at the name in the image for a second, you will be cast by feelings of Purity, Peace and Connection to the Divine. Feel the Chastity, Feel the Purity, Feel your Heart!!

Mohammad ibn Abdullah (Ahmed ) – May Allah’s Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him was the last of all Prophet’s and a messenger of Allah who brought knowledge and peace to humanity in the form of his teachings and practice and the revelations in the form of the Quran.

Muhammad means “Praiseworthy” and occurs four times in the Qur’an.

by Zuellah Huma Ahmed

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Chabad-Labovitch rabbis in New York City. Their orthodox racist teachings have permeated every section of the Israeli government and has made Israel into a militaristic totalitarian state. Israel is a friend of India and the Chabad-Labovitch Movement has centers in India, but few Indians know anything about the modern Jewish state and the Zionist ideology that guides its policies. Jewish Halakha religious law is the source of Islamic Shariah law  – some historians believe Mohammad had a Jewish rabbi as a teacher – but Shariah law is almost humane compared to the rabid bigotry and racism of Jewish Halakha law. – IS

Chabad’s Lost Messiah: Did the Rebbe really believe he was the messiah? – Tomer Persico

Israel and Anti-Gentile Traditions – Ari Alexander

“Perhaps most disturbingly, Shahak cites a booklet published by the Central Regional Command of the Israeli Army which states that it is permissible, and even encouraged, to kill civilians encountered in war. “In war, when our forces storm the enemy, they are allowed and even enjoined by the Halakhah to kill even good civilians, that is, civilians who are ostensibly good.” In a footnote, Shahak mentions that this booklet was withdrawn from circulation on the command of the Chief of Staff, but he nonetheless, believes that even the brief appearance of such a text can only be explained by an accurate assessment of the inequality in Jewish tradition between the lives of Jews and non-Jews.”

Despite its title, Israel Shahak’s Jewish History, Jewish Religion (1994) is not your average intro-to-Judaism book. It is more likely to be found in a Muslim day school in Damascus than a Jewish day school in New York, more likely to be cited on a neo-Nazi website, than your local synagogue’s.

Shahak’s book is an overview of Judaism and Zionism, which focuses on Jewish anti-Gentile traditions. Though he recognizes that many of these teachings are no longer authoritative, Shahak believes that they have, nonetheless, had a profound influence on the development of Jewish identity over the centuries. Most importantly, he believes that they have seeped into Zionist ideology and have affected the way Israel interacts with its non-Jewish citizens and neighbors.

Shahak, a Holocaust survivor who died in 2001, was for many years a professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also led the Israeli Civil Rights League from the mid-1970s until 1990. In Israel, he was a controversial figure, but he was revered by the international left as a tireless advocate for human rights.

Are Jewish Lives Worth More?

In Jewish History, Jewish Religion Shahak brings numerous texts and legal rulings to demonstrate Jewish antipathy to non-Jews. He mentions a passage from the Talmud that says that Jesus will be punished in hell by being immersed in boiling excrement. He relates that Jewish tradition teaches pious Jews to burn copies of the New Testament and curse the mothers of the dead when passing non-Jewish cemeteries. Shahak highlights the famous passage from Leviticus commanding Jews to “love thy neighbor as thyself” and mentions that, according to rabbinic interpretation, “thy neighbor” refers only to Jews.

Shahak further suggests that the Jewish tradition values Jewish life more than Gentile life. He cites Maimonides’ assertion that whereas one who murders a Jew is subject to the death penalty, one who murders a non-Jew is not (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Murder 2:11). According to another leading commentator, indirectly causing the death of a non-Jew is no sin at all (Rabbi Yoel Sirkis, Bayit Hadash, commentary on Bet Yosef, Yoreh Deah 158).

Shahak reiterates the well-known Jewish teaching that the duty to save a life supersedes all other obligations and notes that the rabbis interpreted this to apply to Jews only. According to the Talmud, “Gentiles are neither to be lifted [out of a well] nor hauled down [into it]” (Tractate Avodah Zarah, 26b). Maimonides writes: “As for Gentiles with whom we are not at war…their death must not be caused, but it is forbidden to save them if they are at the point of death; if, for example, one of them is seen falling into the sea, he should not be rescued, for it is written: ‘neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy fellow’–but [a Gentile] is not thy fellow” (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Murder 4:11).

Indeed, Maimonides is the focus of much of Shahak’s analysis. Shahak believes that the 12th-century philosopher and talmudist was a Gentile-hater and racist. He quotes Maimonides’ statement that, “their [the Turks and the
blacks] nature is like the nature of mute animals, and according to my opinion they are not on the level of human beings” (Guide For the Perplexed, Book III, Chapter 51).

Practical Ramifications

Shahak recognizes that many of these traditions are not followed in practice, but he believes that, in general, they have been covered up, instead of confronted. In support of this claim, he refers to another a violent passage from Maimonides that is not translated in the bilingual addition of the Guide published in Jerusalem in 1962. He sees this as a deliberate deception on the part of the editors to soften classical Jewish militancy. His own English translation of the passage, which discusses the command to kill Jewish infidels reads: “It is a duty to exterminate them with one’s own hands. Such as Jesus of Nazareth and his pupils, and Tzadoq and Baitos [the founders of the
Sadducees] and their pupils, may the name of the wicked rot.”

According to Shahak, Jewish “traditions of contempt” infiltrated Zionism and have affected Israeli policy towards its Arab citizens and the Palestinians. He cites three main areas where he believes this has occurred: residency rights, employment rights, and equality before the law.

As an example, he mentions that 92% of Israel’s land is legally restricted to Jews. While in other countries it would be labeled anti-Semitic if a policy excluded Jews from living on or owning land, in the Israeli context Jews tolerate it. He adds that based on the distinction in classical Judaism between reverence for Jewish cemeteries and not for non-Jewish ones, the state of Israel has destroyed hundreds of Muslim cemeteries, including one in order to build the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv.

Perhaps most disturbingly, Shahak cites a booklet published by the Central Regional Command of the Israeli Army which states that it is permissible, and even encouraged, to kill civilians encountered in war. “In war, when our forces storm the enemy, they are allowed and even enjoined by the Halakhah to kill even good civilians, that is, civilians who are ostensibly good.” In a footnote, Shahak mentions that this booklet was withdrawn from circulation on the command of the Chief of Staff, but he nonetheless, believes that even the brief appearance of such a text can only be explained by an accurate assessment of the inequality in Jewish tradition between the lives of Jews and non-Jews.

Jews Have Ignored Shahak’s Work, Others Haven’t

Whatever your opinion of Shahak and his arguments, Jewish History, Jewish Religion should be taken seriously for a number of reasons.

For one, the texts that Shahak cites are real (though Shahak’s sporadic use of footnotes makes it difficult to check all of them). Oftentimes, the interpretation of these texts is debatable and their prominence in Judaism negligible, but nonetheless, they are part of Jewish tradition and, therefore, cannot be ignored. And, indeed, they are not ignored. As alluded to above, Shahak’s work is very popular in both Arab and Muslim circles (Radio Islam contains the full text of Shahak’s work) as well as groups that are often openly anti-Semitic (David Duke and Bradley Smith include Shahak’s book on their websites).

Others use Shahak’s work in their presentation of Judaism, and that fact alone should make it relevant to contemporary Jews.

Shahak was an ardent secularist and anti-Zionist, but he wrote his book as a challenge to Jews to engage the chauvinist, dehumanizing elements of Jewish tradition and to help create a self-critical and sensitive modern Judaism. It’s true that he combed the rabbinic tradition in search of hateful passages, often–though by no means always–misinterpreting them and taking them out of context, but this may be beside the point.

Jewish texts exist that can be–and are–understood to be vehemently xenophobic. These texts must be openly and honestly grappled with, explained, and if necessary, repudiated.

Ari Alexander studies the modern Middle East at Oxford University.

• Halakha: Jewish biblical, talmudic & rabbinic law.

A Palestinian boy has his arm severed for throwing stones allegedly by Jewish West Bank settlers. These hate crimes are permitted under Jewish Halakha religious law. The Israeli “Ma’ariv” newspaper of Nov. 9, 2009 reports that a new book by two rabbis called “Torat ha-Melekh” (“The King’s Teaching”) contains 30 pages on these Halakha laws permitting Jews to kill and maim non-Jews. The book has received glowing endorsements from leading Israeli rabbis. The authors do not fear prosecution because Maimonides (1135-1204) and Nahmanides (1194-1270), Judaism’s traditional lawgivers after Moses, would also have to be put on trial. – IS

The Complete Guide to Killing Non-Jews

Updated Version of The Complete Guide to Killing Non-Jews

Coteret: What you can’t read in Haaretz

Israel Shahak 1933-2001 – Christopher Hitchens

Only the other day, I read some sanguinary proclamation from the rabbinical commander of the Shas party, Ovadia Yosef, himself much sought after by both Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon. It was a vulgar demand for the holy extermination of non-Jews; the vilest effusions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad would have been hard-pressed to match it. The man wants a dictatorial theocracy for Jews and helotry or expulsion for the Palestinians, and he sees (as Shahak did in reverse) the connection. This is not a detail; Yosef’s government receives an enormous US subsidy, and his intended victims live (and die, every day) under a Pax Americana. Men like Shahak, who force us to face these responsibilities, are naturally rare. He was never interviewed by the New York Times, and its obituary pages have let pass the death of a great and serious man.

In early June I sat on a panel, in front of a large and mainly Arab audience, with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. Our hosts, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, had asked for a discussion of contrasting images of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The general tempo of the meeting was encouragingly nontribal; there were many criticisms of Arab regimes and societies, and one of our co-panelists, Raghida Dergham, had recently been indicted in her absence by a Lebanese military prosecutor for the offense of sharing a panel discussion with an Israeli. However, it’s safe to say that most of those attending were aching for a chance to question Friedman in person. He was accused directly at one point of writing in a lofty and condescending manner about the Palestinian people. To this he replied hotly and eloquently, saying that he had always believed that “the Jewish people will never be at home in Palestine until the Palestinian people are at home there.”

That was well said, and I hadn’t at the time read his then-most-recent column, so I didn’t think to reply. But in that article he wrote that Chairman Arafat, by his endless double-dealing, had emptied the well of international sympathy for his cause. This is a very Times-ish rhetoric, of course. You have to think about it for a second. It suggests that rights, for Palestinians, are not something innate or inalienable. They are, instead, a reward for good behavior, or for getting a good press. It’s hard to get more patronizing than that. During the first intifada, in the late 1980s, the Palestinians denied themselves the recourse to arms, mounted a civil resistance, produced voices like Hanan Ashrawi and greatly stirred world opinion. For this they were offered some noncontiguous enclaves within an Israeli-controlled and Israeli-settled condominium. Better than nothing, you might say. But it’s the very deal the Israeli settlers reject in their own case, and they do not even live in Israel “proper.” (They just have the support of the armed forces of Israel “proper.”) So now things are not so nice and many Palestinians have turned violent and even–whatever next?–religious and fanatical. Naughty, naughty. No self-determination for you. And this from those who achieved statehood not by making nice but as a consequence of some very ruthless behavior indeed.

I am writing these lines in memoriam for my dear friend and comrade Dr. Israel Shahak, who died on July 2. His home on Bartenura Street in Jerusalem was a library of information about the human rights of the oppressed. The families of prisoners, the staff of closed and censored publications, the victims of eviction and confiscation–none were ever turned away. I have met influential “civil society” Palestinians alive today who were protected as students when Israel was a professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University; from him they learned never to generalize about Jews. And they respected him not just for his consistent stand against discrimination but also because–he never condescended to them. He detested nationalism and religion and made no secret of his contempt for the grasping Arafat entourage. But, as he once put it to me, “I will now only meet with Palestinian spokesmen when we are out of the country. I have some severe criticisms to present to them. But I cannot do this while they are living under occupation and I can ‘visit’ them as a privileged citizen.” This apparently small point of ethical etiquette contains almost the whole dimension of what is missing from our present discourse: the element of elementary dignity and genuine mutual recognition.

Shahak’s childhood was spent in Nazified Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; at the end of the war he was the only male left in his family. He reached Palestine before statehood, in 1945. In 1956 he heard David Ben-Gurion make a demagogic speech about the Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt, referring to this dirty war as a campaign for “the kingdom of David and Solomon.” That instilled in him the germinal feelings of opposition. By the end of his life, he had produced a scholarly body of work that showed the indissoluble connection between messianic delusions and racial and political ones. He had also, during his chairmanship of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, set a personal example that would be very difficult to emulate.

He had no heroes and no dogmas and no party allegiances. If he admitted to any intellectual model, it would have been Spinoza. For Shahak, the liberation of the Jewish people was an aspect of the Enlightenment, and involved their own self-emancipation from ghetto life and from clerical control, no less than from ancient “Gentile” prejudice. It therefore naturally ensued that Jews should never traffic in superstitions or racial myths; they stood to lose the most from the toleration of such rubbish. And it went almost without saying that there could be no defensible Jewish excuse for denying the human rights of others. He was a brilliant and devoted student of the archeology of Jerusalem and Palestine: I would give anything for a videotape of the conducted tours of the city that he gave me, and of the confrontation in which he vanquished one of the propagandist guides on the heights of Masada. For him, the built and the written record made it plain that Palestine had never been the exclusive possession of any one people, let alone any one “faith.”

Only the other day, I read some sanguinary proclamation from the rabbinical commander of the Shas party, Ovadia Yosef, himself much sought after by both Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon. It was a vulgar demand for the holy extermination of non-Jews; the vilest effusions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad would have been hard-pressed to match it. The man wants a dictatorial theocracy for Jews and helotry or expulsion for the Palestinians, and he sees (as Shahak did in reverse) the connection. This is not a detail; Yosef’s government receives an enormous US subsidy, and his intended victims live (and die, every day) under a Pax Americana. Men like Shahak, who force us to face these responsibilities, are naturally rare. He was never interviewed by the New York Times, and its obituary pages have let pass the death of a great and serious man.

RUSH:  By the way, ladies and gentlemen, have you heard the news?  Have you heard the news, ladies and gentlemen?  A lawyer for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has announced that he will plead not guilty.  “The five men facing trial in the 9/11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of US foreign policy,” the lawyer for one of the defendants said yesterday.  “Scott Fenstermaker…” That’s a great name for a guy taking on these guys. “Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but ‘would explain what happened and why they did it.’”  It’s exactly as I told you: The United States will be on trial.  Eric Holder knows it.  Barack Obama knows it.  It’s being done on purpose.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed knows it and he’s happy about it.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was in the recording studio over the weekend. The lawyer’s got him in there.  We have it exclusively on the EIB Network.  KSM doing Sinatra.

AMERICA’S TIMELINE

(playing of KSM singing “New York, New York” parody)

RUSH:  And there you have it, exclusively on the EIB Network: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s New York, New York. That’s another brilliant piece by “white comedian” Paul Shanklin.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: George in Chicago, welcome to the EIB Network.  Hello.

CALLER:  Rush, thanks for taking my call.  I appreciate it.  While there have been a number of issues I’d love to come and talk to you about there’s one particular thought I wanted to get into today, most recently over a period of time you’ve discussed this a number of times, and that is: Why do some Americans hate America?  What could possibly be an explanation?  I’ve got a certain take on it.  While I don’t necessarily agree with the explanations, these might be considered possible explanations.  Now, there’s a good and a bad aspect to these explanations.  First of all –

RUSH: Wait a second.  You don’t agree with what you’re going to just now say?

CALLER:  I don’t agree with the explanations.  They is reasoning I’m going to give you for those that I think are America haters, but I believe this is some of their reasoning.  Basically there are some who are simply embarrassed and self-conscious about America’s success and influence.  America, as we are about to now celebrate, our recollection, has a foundation of being a very modest country in general, not being a particularly braggadocios one for the most part.  And I think the haters take this foundation to an absurd, misguided, and extreme extent in an effort to apologize for our success.  So here a good basic underlying reasoning is convoluted and taken to really stupid and irrational extensions just to help them justify the haters; justify their own, I guess, self-consciousness.  What do you think of that, as at least a possible explanation for some?  Because, other than that, I can’t think of any rational explanation.

RUSH:  So it’s psychological?

CALLER:  Yeah.  Yeah.  There are people who feel self-conscious. There’s a history in America of essentially being a modest country, and yet there are those who are self-conscious about it they feel they have to go to extremes — like a Michael Moore — to find negativism and to apologize for our successes.  And I think it’s just a good basic foundation taken to an excessive extent.

RUSH: What…? Who’s…?  Are you saying the haters have a good basic foundation, or you talking about the country?

CALLER:  The country does and I think the haters, they pick up on. There’s a basic, underlying foundation in America that everybody knows — even the haters know about — and they feel self-conscious; and it’s part of, essentially, liberals: There’s a great self-consciousness that feels they have to go to an opposite extreme, move the pendulum over to offset it.

RUSH:  Yeah, okay. Self-consciousness, guilt.

FIRST AMERICAN WAR WAS AGAINST ISLAM – OTTOMAN EMPIRE 1815

Barbary Pirates Were Islamic Fascists

CALLER:  Yeah.

RUSH:  Constantly thinking about themselves.

CALLER:  Yeah.

RUSH:  Personalizing everything. When they hear a politician say, “The world hates us,” they think they’re personally hated and they want to show, “No, no! Don’t hate me. I’m a good person. I agree with you: This country sucks.”

CALLER:  Right. Right. Agreed.  Because what else could be an explanation for those who, you know, exhibit this kind of activity?

RUSH:  Well –

CALLER:  I think that way underlying there’s something inherent.  I’ve never heard anybody explain this this way.

RUSH:  It depends on how you want to define “rational.”  I would contend to you that there are plenty of otherwise rational people who hate the country because of ideology.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.  Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: They’re just socialists, communists or whatever –

CALLER:  Oh, yeah!  Oh, yeah!

RUSH:  — and they do not like the concept of individual liberty and freedom.  And these are people who have given us modern-day academia. They have given us political correctness.  Political correctness is simply liberal censorship so that they don’t have to hear what they don’t want to hear, and so that you can’t say what you really want to say.  That’s all political correctness is, and it’s got us by the throat.  Today, people who do not conform to politically correct approaches in saying things — a person like myself — look at what is said about these people.  Extremist, racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe. So the greatest casualty with liberalism, the greatest casualty in political correctness is truth — and that, then, as we’re witnessing, leads to an erosion of freedom.

BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: There’s also trouble on the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial front.  Have you heard about this?  Germany does not believe in the death penalty.  Germany will probably not, therefore, cooperate.  They hold a lot of the evidence of these guys who masterminded 9/11. Remember Al-Qaeda had a safe house in Germany, and since Obama has gone out there and Holder has gone out there and said, “We’re going to seek the death penalty,” the Germans are saying, “That’s a big problem for us.  We may not feel comfortable here in sharing the evidence that we have with you.”  It’s also from Der Spiegel:  “The Death Penalty Problem — 9/11 Trial Puts German-US Relations Under Strain.”  I’ll tell you who’s not under any strain right now, ladies and gentlemen, that would be himself, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.  He went into the recording studio over the weekend. His lawyer says he’s gonna plead not guilty because he wants to put the US on trial, exactly as I said, and now the Germans may not cooperate over death penalty issues.   (playing of KSM “New York, New York” parody song) RUSH:  I know, I know. I know we’re going to hear about it.  Don’t worry about, folks.  There’s an answer, as there always is for everything done on this program.

Please note: The term “Enterpriser” is not officially recognized in the English language, but for the purposes of this article it is used to describe someone who begins a business/enterprise in a certain mindset. This is used to compare the mindset with that of an entrepreneur. All will become clearer as you read the article.)

Over the years, many people who are employed will have the “employee seizure”, decide enough is enough, sack the boss and decide to start their own business.

But…

What is their goal?

Their ambition?

Their mindset?

Do they want to create just another job for themselves? Do they want to change the world? Do they want to be financially free?

The outcome will depend on whether you are an enterpriser or an entrepreneur.

What’s the difference between an ENTERPRISER and an ENTREPRENEUR?

Well let’s start by looking at what both words have in common with each other.

They are both the most OVER- and MIS- used words in business.

And that’s where the similarities stop.

Allow me to use an anecdote to illustrate what I mean.

I have a friend who “fired the boss” a few years ago, and set up his own car repair garage.

“I’m going to be free now Mo.” He told me…

“Free from the boss, free to choose my own working time, free to make my own money, free to do it my way… I’m going to be rich and have people working for me…”

I went to visit him recently, to see how he was getting on…

I found him in his portacabin office, hidden deep inside his Garage in Lambeth, London. He looked stressed, behind mountains of paper work, he was working out his VAT returns.

Not much work was happening on the garage front either, I caught sight of the painter having a cigarette and a cup of tea, talking into his mobile phone.

“Mo, this is so bloody stressful!” He told me, his bleary eyes confirming the sincerity of his words.

“I bloody hate this… I hate it, I hate it, I HATE IT!!!”

“Why?” I was shocked, as I know he is a great mechanic and a positive guy!

“I spend all my time in here, doing bloody paper work!! I have no time to do what I love, fix cars! It’s like I’ve been castrated!”

“WHOA! Easy there!!” No man is comfortable when the subject of castration is brought up!

That is when I began to realise something… The very thing that was supposed to set him free… had in actual fact locked him up and thrown away the key. When he went to unlock the garage in the morning, it was like he was voluntarily locking himself into his own prison cell.

He could no longer do what he loved, because of his “employee” mentality… He had just made another job for himself…

He was an enterpriser.

An enterpriser is someone who sets up a business, but he is also THE business. The business is so over reliant on him, that he cannot run the business, he is too busy trying to keep the business afloat by trying to do EVERYTHING in the business.

In short, the business would fall apart if he was to even be away for a day…

The enterprisers business is solely (and fatally) DEPENDENT on them… It could not function without them…

But what about the entrepreneur?

What makes them so special? So successful?

Entrepeneurs BUILD businesses. Like vehicles. They bring it all together, all the parts, they hire people to do the finances, hire people to do the labour, hire people to run the business day-to-day, whilst they focus on the over arching business strategy and direction.

In short, the business can run INDEPENDENT of them. If they were to disappear tomorrow, the business will keep running…

How do they do this?

That’s a whole book in itself, but in short, there are 3 key attributes…

PLANNING

SYSTEMS

and RESOURCEFULNESS

> Planning

Before firing the boss, the entrepreneur will plan. Plan how the business will be put together, who and what is needed, and what can be afforded. If something is needed, that cannot be afforded, then a way to do that function will be found. Further planning needs to be done on your idea too. Are you just making another job for yourself, or is there a real market for your business? How are you going to get to that market?

> Systems

By implementing systems, or a way of doing things, the business can have a standardised way of doing things. A way that can be taught to somebody else. A way that is not over reliant on one particular person. Look at McDonalds… they make burgers ALL over the world… but there’s a set system on how they make it… It means a vast array of different people, from all over the world, can be hired and trained, and will produce the EXACT same burger regardless of what continent you are in. An added benefit with systems is that you can begin to quantify the cost and value of your business functions, and look to maximise their value by tweaking the systems.

> Resourcefulness

How good are you at obtaining the full value of a resource?

Resources are EVERYWHERE!

There is never a shortage of money, people and capital.  Ever. Full stop.

There is just a shortage of leaders who can be trusted to use them effectively.

If you cannot afford to hire an accountant, then can you outsource it? No? Can you sell the dream to a friend or acquaintance who is an accountant to forgo a short-term benefit, in view of a much higher long-term benefit? This will be absolutely key to the survival and blossoming of your business…

I must stress, this is an extremely SHORT and succinct article on a mammoth and diverse topic, which is only to stimulate and provoke your thought before you start jumping up and down and firing the boss.

I also must add a special mention for a fantastic not-for-profit organization here, called The Entrepreneurs Club (E-Club) who I have been working with for a while now, building my knowledge and pushing my mindset in the Pre Start Up Paradigm of Business. These guys have really helped me mature and liberate my thinking around Business and Entrepreneurship.

Here’s the street interview that first introduced me to E-Club, I hope you get some value from it…

I am in no way affiliated to them in a business sense, but I have been honoured to be invited on aboard their Entrepreneur Mastermind Program, and I have gained real value from it.

Check them out, and drop me a line if you want to discuss this article and it’s contents further…

Until next time, May peace be upon you all…

*Mohammed Ali

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Dhul-Hijjah

The month known as Dhul-Hijjah. Our hearts and prayers are with those undertaking the difficult pilgrimage during these days. For those of us who are not performing the Hajj, there are still many ways to make the most of this blessed time!

Virtues of the first 10 Days of Dhul-Hijjah

How many times have we heard Surat Al-Fajr recited, be it in our homes, while memorizing, or in the mosque? As a shorter surah, it may be a frequent part of our prayers, but taking the time to reflect on even a part of the first verse reveals a treasure of meaning. In the first two ayahs (verses) of Surat Al-Fajr Allah says:

وَالْفَجْرِ وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ

“By the dawn; And the ten nights…”

According to scholars of the Qur’an, the days mentioned as significant enough for Allah to swear by them are the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah.

Describing how these ten days are among the best, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

“There are no days on which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days.” They said: “Not even jihad for the sake of Allah?” He said: “Not even jihad for the sake of Allah, unless a man goes out himself for jihad taking his wealth with him and does not come back with anything.” [Bukhari, 2/457]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: “There is no deed that is better before Allah or more greatly rewarded than a good deed done in the (first) ten days of al-Adha.” He was asked: “Not even jihad for the sake of Allah?” He said: “Not even jihad for the sake of Allah, unless a man goes out himself for jihad taking his wealth with him and does not come back with anything.” [Al-Daarimi, 1/357]

Thus, the ten days are better than all other days of the year, with no exception, even the last ten days of Ramadan. (The last ten nights of Ramadan, however, are understood to be better than the nights of Dhul-Hijjah, because they include Laylat al-Qadr (the night of power), which is better than a thousand months [Qur'an, 97:3]).

Therefore, whoever is not able to go to Hajj should use this blessed time to complete even more righteous deeds than usual. These can include anything such as giving charity, honouring one’s parents, upholding the ties of kinship, and enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil. Fasting and remembrance are particularly recommended:

1. Fasting Nine days, especially on the Day of ‘Arafah:

It is Sunnah for the Muslim to fast on the first nine days of Dhul-Hijjah, because fasting is one of the best of deeds. In a hadith qudsi, Allah says: “All the deeds of the son of Adam are for him, except fasting, which is for Me and I shall reward for it.” [Bukhari, 1805.]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to fast on the first nine days of Dhul-Hijjah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The Prophet used to fast on the first nine days of Dhul-Hijjah and the day of Ashura, and three days each month, the first Monday of the month and two Thursdays.” [Abu Dawood 2/462]

The ten days of Dhul-Hijjah include Yawm al-`Arafah (the Day of `Arafah), on which Allah perfected His Religion. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

“Fasting the day of `Arafah expiates the sins of two years: the past one and the coming one. And fasting the day of Ashura expiates the sins of the past year.” [Muslim]

2. Remembrance

It is Sunnah to recite remembrances known as the takbeer, tahmeed, tahleel, and tasbeeh during the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah, saying these words out loud in the mosques, homes, streets and every place in which it is permissible to remember Allah:

* Takbeer: Allahu akbar (God is most great)
* Tahmeed: Al-hamdu Lillah (All praises be to God)
* Tahleel: Laa ilaha ill-Allah (There is no god but Allah)
* Tasbeeh: Subhaan-Allah (Glory be to God),

The Prophet (peace be upon him) explained how,

“There are no days that are greater before Allah or in which good deeds are more beloved to Him, than these ten days, so recite a great deal of tahleel, takbeer and tahmeed during them.” [Ahmad, 7/224]

While there are different versions, the takbeer can also be recited as follows:

Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, laa ilaaha ill-Allah, Allahu akbar, wa Lillaah il-hamd.

Allah is Most Great, Allah is Most Great, there is no god but Allah; Allah is Most Great and to Allah be praise.

The Best Days of this World

The Virtues of the first 10 days of Dhul Hijja:

1. Ahadith of the Prophet (s):

قال النبي –صلى الله عليه وسلم-( مامن أيام العمل الصالح فيها أحب إلى الله من هذه الأيام قالوا يا رسول الله : ولا الجهاد في سبيل الله قال ولا الجهاد في سبيل الله إلا رجل خرج بنفسه وماله فلم يرجع من ذلك بشئ) رواه البخاري

The Prophet (s) said: “There are no days in which good deeds are more beloved to Allah than during these days. The Sahaba said: Oh Rasul Allah, not even jihad in the path of Allah? He (s) said: Not even jihad in the path of Allah except for the man who goes out in the path of Allah with his life and his wealth and returns with neither of them.”

وقال ( أفضل أيام الدنيا أيام العشر) رواه البزار وصححه الالبانى.

And he (s) said: “The best days of this world are these ten.”

2. Allah swears by these 10 days in the Qur’an:

قول الله تعالى: ((وَالْفَجْرِ، وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ)) سورة الفجر (1-2)، قال ابن كثير رحمه الله: المراد بها عشر ذي الحجة

Allah says: “By the dawn, and by the 10 nights” [Qur'an, 89:1-2]. Ibn ‘Abbas, Ibn al-Zubayr, Mujahid and others of the earlier and later generations said that this refers to the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah. Ibn Katheer said: “This is the correct opinion.”

قال تعالى: ((وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَّعْلُومَاتٍ)) سورة الحج(28)، قال ابن عباس: أيام العشر

Allah says: “…and mention the name of Allah on appointed days…” [Qur'an, 22:28] Ibn ‘Abbas said these are the ten days.

3. These ten days are better than Ramadan:

قال المحققون من أهل العلم: أيام عشر ذي الحجة أفضل الأيام، وليالي العشر الأواخر من رمضان أفضل الليالي.

Most scholars adopt the opinion that these days are better than the last ten days of Ramadan. However, what holds the last ten days of Ramadan at a higher status is the Night of Power (Laylat ul-Qadr) which is equivalent to one thousand months (83.33 years).

تضاعف فيها الحسنات قال ابن عباس”: العمل فيهن بسبعمائة ضعف”

The rewards are multiplied in these days. Ibn ‘Abbas said: “(The reward for good) deeds are multiplied seven hundred times in these days.”

قال الاوزاعى: “بلغني أن العمل في أيام العشر كقدر غزوة في سبيل الله يصام نهارها ويحرس ليلها إلا أن يختص امرء بشهادة”

Al Awzaa’i said: I was informed that good deeds during the ten days are the equivalent (in reward) to a battle in the path of Allah, in which the day is spent in fasting and the night in safeguarding, except if one is bestowed with martyrdom.”

In Ramadan doing good deeds and struggling in worship, especially during the last ten nights, is easier than during these days for a few reasons. Firstly, the atmosphere of the month of Ramadan, whether culturally, spiritually, or traditionally, makes it easier to focus and strive. Secondly, the shayateen are chained. So, to get that drive and direction we had in Ramadan, is much harder when we have most likely fallen out of “Ramadan mode.” However, since the `ibada is more difficult, the reward is greater. So let’s keep this in mind and get ready to really work hard.

The Plan of Action for these 10 days:

1. Really feel this blessing and realize that it is an opportunity of a lifetime, because none of us know if we will witness these 10 days again.

كان خالد بن معدان يقول( إذا فتح لأحدكم باب للخير فليسرع فاءنه لا يدرى متى يغلق عنه

Khalid bin Mi’dan used to say: “If the door for good is opened for one of you, then rush (to take advantage) because you don’t know when it will close.”

2. Have high aspirations in your worship and use the examples of the ijtihad of the saliheen as motivation.

3. Take advantage of the opportunities to get the reward of hajj while being elsewhere.

قال-صلى الله عليه وسلم-( من صلى الفجر في جماعة ثم قعد يذكر الله حتى تطلع الشمس ثم صلى ركعتين كانت له كأجر حجة وعمرة تامة تامة تامة

The Prophet (s) said: “Whoever prays fajr in congregation and then sits in remembrance of Allah until the sun rises, then prays two rak’aat, he has the full reward of hajj and `umrah.”

4. Perfecting the fara`idh (obligatory actions):

Often times we become busy trying to do extra deeds, but neglect the fact that perhaps maybe what is obligatory upon us is not at the level it should be. There is no way for a person to become close to Allah other than through the obligatory actions, as is apparent in the famous hadith qudsi in which Allah says: “My servant does not become closer to me by anything more beloved to me than what I have obligated upon him.”

Reasonable Goals:

1. Khatm of Qur’an: equivalent to more than half a million hasanaat during these days. Let’s try to complete the recitation of the Qur’an during these days, ending by ‘Asr time on the day of ‘Arafah and spending from ‘Asr to Magrhib in du’aa.

2. Qiyam al-Layl:

Rasulallah (s) said: “Whoever stands in prayer, reciting 1,000 verses is written among the muqantareen.” A qintar is equal to 70,000 dinar. The recitation of the last two ajzaa` of the Qur’an is equivalent to 1,000 verses.

3. Extra Salah during the day: The Prophet (s) said: “There is not a Muslim who prays twelve raka’at per day, other than the obligatory prayers, except that a palace is built for him in paradise.”

4. Dhikr: The best form of worship to do in these ten days as apparent in the hadith:

Ibn `Umar said that the Messenger of Allah (s) said, “There is no day more honorable in Allah ’s sight and no acts more beloved therein to Allah than those in these ten days. So say tahlil (There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah: La ilaha illAllah), takbir (Allah is the greatest: Allahu akbar) and tahmid (All praise is due to Allah: alhumdulillah) a lot.” [Ahmad, 7/224]

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The best du`a’ is du`a’ on the day of `Arafah, and the best thing that I or the Prophets before me have said is ‘There is no god but Allah, alone, without any partner’ (La ilaha illa’llah, wahdahu la sharika lah)” [Muwatta, Malik].

7. Reviving the Sunnah of Takbir:

Ibn `Umar and Abu Hurairah (ra) used to go out in the marketplace during the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah, reciting takbeer, and the people would recite takbeer when they heard them.

8. Fasting:

The reward of fasting is great, so imagine how much that reward would be multiplied in these days. If one can’t fast all of the 9 days, then at least on the day of `Arafah as it is the greatest day.

Abu Qatadah reported that the Messenger of Allah (s) said, “Fasting on the day of ‘Arafah is an expiation for two years, the year preceding it and the year following it. Fasting the day of `Ashura is an expiation for the year preceding it.” [This is related by "the group," except for al-Bukhari and at-Tirmidhi]

The Prophet (s) said “There is no day that Allah will free people more than the day of `Arafah.”

`Ali (ra) used to advise people to say “Oh Allah free my neck from the fire” on the day of `Arafah.

9. Du`a’:

Especially on the day of `Arafah, but also at anytime. Keep in mind the times where du’aa is more likely to be accepted and ask during those times.

* The last third of the night
* Between the adhaan and iqaamah
* During the rain
* In sujood
* Friday
* While fasting

10. Sadaqa (charity):

Give sadaqa during these days, since the reward is multiplied tremendously.

11. Tawba (asking for forgiveness):

Continually renew repentance.

12. Establish ikhlas in `ibada.

13. Check and renew intentions at all times

The Day of `Eid

On the greatest day, remained focused as it is still part of the first 10 days which are the best days of the year! Try not to get too caught up in celebrating that you stop doing the worship that you were doing the first 9 days.

The day of ‘Eid: a day for visiting family and performing the sacrifice for one who is able.

By Zahra

We are all human, which essentially means we are all built of the same DNA and come equipped with the same battery of emotions, beliefs, ways of thinking about things etc. We are part of the soup that has created brilliant leaders and despairing souls. I cannot be anything that you cannot be; simply because I am human. I can’t react to something so different than anyone else because I am not alien. I am human. So, it is not that we lack the means to achieve certain things for ourselves– we all have it in us to change, to believe– it is that we lack the courage to think that we can be something more than what we are now. When you start to believe that you have the same DNA and the same potential as Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., and so on, then how can you not believe in YOU? These individuals were here on earth for reasons other than their greatness. They were here to evoke their humanness, their ordinariness, and remind us that we are no different. We are all made of the same stock, which means you have it in you to believe in yourself. You just need to find it within you, and use it!

Die Minaretten-Initiative – egal was das Ergebnis der Abstimmung sein wird – ist eine Provokation für die fundamentalistischen Islamisten dieser Welt.  Ich befürchte gewalttätige Reaktionen gegen die Schweiz, wie damals gegen die Dänen nach den Mohammed-Karikaturen. Besser wir hätten dem Anstoss der SEA für einen runden Tisch zwischen Christen und Muslimen gefolgt. Jetzt ist es zu spät. Schade.

“O Arjun! Yield not to unmanliness for such an attitude is not worthy of you. Casting aside your weakness of mind, therefore arise, O scorcher of enemies, and get ready for the battle.” – Sri Krishna in the Bhagavat Gita

Sri Ram threatens Ocean with a fire arrow. Painting by Harish Johari.

“To say that the 6th December episode was pre-planned is far from truth. Putting the name of Brahmalen Param Pujya Deoraha Baba in the list of indicted persons by the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission report is an insult to the whole Sant fraternity. His indictment has hurt the entire Sant fraternity and the crores of his followers. This game of naming by the Liberhan Commission is potentially provocative to the Sants and the society. Probably the Commission is provoking the Sants so that they get violent and radical. Mentioning of Atalji as a co-conspirator is also a sign of mental bankruptsy of the Commission.” – Ashok Singhal

VHP International President Ashok Singhal: Is he serious this time?

In order for the reconstruction of a magnificent temple at Sri Rama Janma Bhumi, the Sant fraternity of Bharat and the entire Hindu society and Vishva Hindu Parishad that follow its lead are resolute and geared up to offer any sacrifice. Sri Rama Janma Bhumi is a matter of our national pride and self-esteem and Dharmic certitude, faith and pan-Bharatiya cultural centripetality and integration of the national society. Somnath temple reconstruction was given a go ahead by a cabinet decision under Nehru. Taking a cue from this precedent, all the political parties should now pass a law in Parliament and handover the Sri Rama Janma Bhumi – birthplace of Lord Sri Ram – to Hindus. The Jihadi invaders destroyed thirty-thousand temples in Bharat. The Hindu society has been asking for return of three of them only, viz., Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi. The objects & entities that stand as riotous statements showcasing our national slavery and disgrace, those symbols of shame and dishonour must be purged and the places reclaimed by the national society as a matter of struggle for cultural freedom. Only the withdrawal of claims of Muslims on these sites and the handing over of these places to Hindus by a law of parliament can ensure strength for real Hindu-Muslim unity.

Maryada Purushottam Bhagwan Sri Ram is a national hero by virtue of the veneration and faith He commands from the national society of Bharat as He was a saviour of the world who liquidated in His age the formidable kingpin of global terrorism, wickedness and sensuousness. Gandhiji’s utopia was “Ram Rajya” where righteousness, nature & environment friendly rural charm combined with urban facilities would be the rule.

It has been substantiated and demonstrated on the bases of Ground Penetrating Radar Survey (GPRS) and archaeological excavations that a pre-existing grand Hindu temple was in evidence at the site before 1528 CE which the Jihadi megalomaniac invader Babur got demolished and then got superimposed with a structure symbolising slavery and humiliation of the indigenous culture. He did not choose to go in for a virgin land, but in accordance with the Jihadi policy, targeted the birthplace of our national hero and cultural icon. The Baburi structure was, therefore, nothing but a political statement by an invader. The Hindu society never ever accepted this symbol of our disgrace and in order to reclaim its religio-cultural freedom went into battle 76 times since to liberate Sri Rama Janma Bhumi and lakhs of our compatriots became martyrs.

That signature structure of national disgrace was deconstructed on 06th December, 1992. Bhagwan Sri Ram Lala (Baby Sri Ram) had been Viraajmaan (sitting) there for long ever since His miraculous appearance at the place which event had brought immense delight & joy to the Hindu society. The Court of Law passed an order allowing prayers and ritual worships to the Viraajmaan Bhagwan at the site. Since then there remained neither any trace of mosque at the site nor was there any Namaz offered there. The site of Sri Rama Janma Bhumi has ever been a Dharmasthan of Hindus and shall ever remain so. The events of 6th December removed a structure that was on its last legs and broadened the avenues for reconstruction of a grand temple befitting the glory of Sri Rama.

The Hindus lodged a case in 1950. The case of the Muslim Waqf Board was lodged in 1962. The case ran for 40 years in the district court. It has been going on for 20 years now in the High Court. But still nowhere appears to be the end of the tunnel. Lifetimes of delay in solving this single case is a classic case of justice delayed is justice denied. Even today the case is being unduly dragged for vested interests. The delay being made by the government under the pretext of the matter being subjudice is again creating annoyance, anger and frustration in the national society. The Hindu society is tolerant, but patience also has its limits.

The passing of a High Court judgment was scheduled prior to 6th December, 1992 in a case concerning the 2.77 acres of surrounding land, excluding Sri Rama Janma Bhumi, acquired by the Uttar Pradesh government in 1991. Justice Raza – one of the members of the three-member bench of Hon’ble High Court – kept his judgment reserved and in abeyance. This act provoked the lakhs of Karsevaks present at that time in Ayodhya and the spontaneous reaction of the pent-up feelings saw the 06th December events happening. It is a moot question as to whose conspiracy it was to have the judgment reserved? Was it possible to do so without a nod from the then central government? Even as the central government has been treating this issue as very sensitive, then how come was there such a lapse on its part? The hearing of the case concerning the 2.77 acres of land, excluding the Sri Rama Janma Bhumi, had concluded on November 04, 1992. If the central government and Justice Raza had willed, the said judgment could have been spelled prior to 06th December, 1992. A timely judgment would have been the right move for a different scenario.

Deoraha Baba

To say that the 6th December episode was pre-planned is far from truth. Putting the name of Brahmalen Param Pujya Deoraha Baba in the list of indicted persons by the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission report is an insult to the whole Sant fraternity. His indictment has hurt the entire Sant fraternity and the crores of his followers. This game of naming by the Liberhan Commission is potentially provocative to the Sants and the society. Probably the Commission is provoking the Sants so that they get violent and radical. Mentioning of Atalji as a co-conspirator is also a sign of mental bankruptsy of the Commission.

We appeal to the Venerable Sants to remain ready to offer leadership to the movement. We appeal to the youth to remain ready for struggles and sacrifices. We would counsel the political parties to declare to trash the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission report and pave the way for re-construction of a grand temple at Sri Rama Janma Bhumi by a law of Parliament, otherwise the Hindu society would be compelled to recommence a huge nationwide movement after a decision to this effect is taken at the forthcoming Haridwar Purna Kumbha.

Proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya. The stones are cut and ready but Hindu leaders still dither and delay and make excuses for doing nothing.

Ashok Singhal, International President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Sankat Mochan Ashram, Sector-VI, Ramakrishna Puram, New Delhi-110 022
TeleFax (00-91) (011) 2610 3495, 2617 8992; Fax: 00-91-11-2619 5527
Emails: vhpintlhqs@gmail; vishwahindu@gmail; hinduvishwa@gmail

This is a video clip only. For the hour-long film click on the LIVELEAK link below.

Dispatches: Terror in Mumbai – Dan Reed

This film is highly recommended.

The Sunnah in Performing “Ablution”

1.  Mentioning the name of Allah-In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful [saying: bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim]

2.  Washing the hands thrice.

3.  [Starting by] Rinsing the mouth and nose before washing the face.

4.  Rinsing the nose by one’s left hand. This is because it is mentioned in the hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “washed his hands thrice, then he rinsed his mouth and washed his nose with water by putting water in it and blowing it out, and he washed his face thrice…) [Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim].

5.  Exaggerating in rinsing one’s mouth and nose if not fasting by moving water around the mouth and snuffing water to the end of one’s nose. This is because of the hadith, “…and snuff with water well except when you are fasting”. [Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawoud, ibn Maja and An-Nasa'i].

6.  Rinsing one’s mouth and nose with the same handful of water. This is because of the hadith, “He [the Prophet] put his hand [into the vessel containing water] rinsed his mouth and his nose”. [Bukhari and Muslim].

7.  Using tooth stick [Ar. Siwak] before rinsing one’s mouth. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him says, “Had I not thought it difficult for my Ummah, I would have commanded them to use the Siwak (tooth-stick) before every Prayer.”[Narrated by Ahmed and An-Nasa'i].

8.  Running one’s wet finger through the beard upon washing the face. It is mentioned in the hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him used to run his wet finger through his beard while performing ablution. [Al-Thirmithi].

9.  Wiping over one’s head. This is performed as follows: passing one’s wet hands over the head from front to back and so forth. As for obligatory wiping over one’s head, it is to wipe over one’s head in any way. It is narrated that the Messenger of Allah used to pass his hands over his head [in ablution] from the front to the back. [Bukhari and Muslim].

10.     Running wet fingers between the fingers and toes. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Perform your ablution perfectly and let water to run between the fingers [and toes]“.

11.     Washing the right [limb] before the left. It is narrated in the hadith that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): “Used to start from the right side on wearing shoes, combing his hair, cleaning or washing himself and on doing anything else” [Bukhari and Muslim].

12.     Performing the actions thrice when washing the face, hands and foot.

13.     Saying the two testifications of faith [Ar.Shahadatan] after finishing ablution. Meaning, to says, “I testify that there is no god except Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger”. It is narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ” If anyone amongst you performs the ablution perfectly and then says: I testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger, the eight gates of Paradise would be opened for him and he may enter by whichever of them he wishes”. [Muslim]

14.     Performing ablution in one’s house. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever purifies in his house and walks to the mosque to perform obligatory prayer, his steps are counted as one expiates a sin and the other raises his rank” [Muslim]

15.       Passing one’s hand over the limb while or after washing.

16.     Using little amount of water. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to use little amount of water in ablution. [Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim]

17.     Washing above the limits of the four limbs [hands and foot]. It is narrated that Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) performed ablution, he washed his arm up to the elbows and his feet up to the ankles and said: this is how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ablution”. [Muslim]

18.     Performing two rak’ahs [Eng. Units of prayer] after ablution. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ” He who performs ablution like this of mine and then stood up (for prayer) and offered two rak’ahs of prayer without allowing his thoughts to be distracted, all his previous sins are expiated” [Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim]

In a report by Muslim through ‘Uqba ibn ‘Amir: “He will be rewarded by nothing except Paradise”.

19.     Perfecting one’s ablution: washing each part perfectly. Muslims vary in times of performing ablution during the day, and everyone has to observe these Sunan in every time he performs ablution.

   Virtue of observing the above Sunan:

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “He who performed ablution perfectly, his sins would come out from his body, even coming out from under his nails.” [Muslim].