On the Six Degrees of Separation
A new contact of mine related to me that her mother is, like me, married to a Lebanese person. Her mother is also a commentator on NPR, the Canadian Broadcasting System and Der Spiegel, the most liberal of all European news outlets. So it is another "LeBron" kickboxing moment in life....all the way over here in a dusty ghost town of no-renown (a little our'ville which is always known as our'ville)...I run into the famous. I am famous too, we are all famous in some way or another if we only take the time to look.
Judith Palmer Harik holds her PhD in political science, is the president of Metn University in Beirut and wrote a nice little book about "the party" as I always refer to it in missives and such:
http://www.judithpalmerharik.com/
Interesting lady and I hear she came to our'ville a year or two back to help folks comprehend between the lines.
Here is a review of her tome which can be purchased online at Amazon:
http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol12/0509_betts.asp
Ode to the Fight
(For Nelson Lebron)
We invented kickboxing, the ethical kind
where if you came home bloodier than the other guy
you weren't treated as well as the Athenians.
You took off your glasses and handed them over
to a brother or a best friend (if they weren't
your opponent), then the lions leapt
out of their cage and hair scattered
in the air while the crowd
was already thumb-upping
but not in your direction.
I am reminded that if I were born a boy
they would have named me Daniel.
Sometimes I wish it had been the case
but usually, I won anyway.
Ephesus a far away shore, the Bosphorus Blue.
Nelson Lebron's MySpace
"The right of freedom of speech consists in speaking the truth."
29.2.08
28.2.08
The Wondrous Magico
Most things never really happen
to us and those that do
are truly nostalgic.
The tired old promise evaporates
once the war is fought
and supposedly won, as planned.
The corpse wrecks the best-laid plans:
like clockwork and clairvoyance.
The dreadful poses staged
on the triage of life
and death innuendo
are a pleasant compromise
for the real thing
as it fiddles and burns,
cuts everything in half
and disappears the rabbit
from the land of the living.
Those that shake the snakes
from bags and wave their
crooked old sticks
past all our pleased
and dumbstruck faces
say like this:
and and and and and
Voila! Lo! Behold!
...on the occasion of preparedness training for FEMA. Man, what a weird world it has become.
Most things never really happen
to us and those that do
are truly nostalgic.
The tired old promise evaporates
once the war is fought
and supposedly won, as planned.
The corpse wrecks the best-laid plans:
like clockwork and clairvoyance.
The dreadful poses staged
on the triage of life
and death innuendo
are a pleasant compromise
for the real thing
as it fiddles and burns,
cuts everything in half
and disappears the rabbit
from the land of the living.
Those that shake the snakes
from bags and wave their
crooked old sticks
past all our pleased
and dumbstruck faces
say like this:
and and and and and
Voila! Lo! Behold!
...on the occasion of preparedness training for FEMA. Man, what a weird world it has become.
27.2.08
Armageddon in a Nutshell
On condition of anonymity, I will relate
the news of this earth from early to late.
As such, without the presence of semen or sperm
and much more complex than a germ
was created man. His name was Adam
which in some respects can be spoke
means bone and Eve means something
which sounds like the wind.
He begat and begat, praising the Almighty
until his death at a hundred and ninety.
Then came the ark and Josh and Lot,
near the Dead Sea still filled with the salt
of all the brazen and broken citizens
of Sodom, all the ashes and memories
near backdoors and ruins,
still charred and still movin
amongst the shadows and stewin'.
Up near China lived an old man named Buddha
who'd roll in his grave if he thought he knew ya.
But wait a minute, I forgot to mention Gunga Din
his bad breath could cut down one hundred men.
Then there's all the Supermen and Women
who graced newspapers during plagues and famines
not one of them was capable of damnin'.
I must mention before I forget, to caution
the humble and prevent all that regret:
the sea is quite deep and the rivers quite long,
but this unfortunately, is the end of my song.
On condition of anonymity, I will relate
the news of this earth from early to late.
As such, without the presence of semen or sperm
and much more complex than a germ
was created man. His name was Adam
which in some respects can be spoke
means bone and Eve means something
which sounds like the wind.
He begat and begat, praising the Almighty
until his death at a hundred and ninety.
Then came the ark and Josh and Lot,
near the Dead Sea still filled with the salt
of all the brazen and broken citizens
of Sodom, all the ashes and memories
near backdoors and ruins,
still charred and still movin
amongst the shadows and stewin'.
Up near China lived an old man named Buddha
who'd roll in his grave if he thought he knew ya.
But wait a minute, I forgot to mention Gunga Din
his bad breath could cut down one hundred men.
Then there's all the Supermen and Women
who graced newspapers during plagues and famines
not one of them was capable of damnin'.
I must mention before I forget, to caution
the humble and prevent all that regret:
the sea is quite deep and the rivers quite long,
but this unfortunately, is the end of my song.
25.2.08
La Comadre
"I first met the comadre through a colleague of mine at the University of Puebla, Mexico. I was in the habit of bringing meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and other "gringo food" that the professor's elderly American father missed, to his house in Cholula, the small town where we both lived, and where the comadre worked as his housekeeper. She would peer suspiciously at the brown gravy being ladled over his mashed potatoes, probably wondering how on earth el señor could prefer this insipid-looking sauce to one of her rich moles. Now, many years later, I wonder myself."
"I first met the comadre through a colleague of mine at the University of Puebla, Mexico. I was in the habit of bringing meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and other "gringo food" that the professor's elderly American father missed, to his house in Cholula, the small town where we both lived, and where the comadre worked as his housekeeper. She would peer suspiciously at the brown gravy being ladled over his mashed potatoes, probably wondering how on earth el señor could prefer this insipid-looking sauce to one of her rich moles. Now, many years later, I wonder myself."
Mexican Cuisine @ here
21.2.08
Yes Rachel Corrie, there is a Palestine:
Palestinians are Nobody's Negroes
http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/news/2008/01/palestinians-ar.html
"Until the time comes when Israel assumes moral responsibility for what it has done to the Palestinian people, there can be no end to the conflict". The late Edward Said
One of the main problems with a "Jewish" state was pointed out to me by my as usual moderate and wise old husband Mel. He said that when such a thing exists, it will create a precedent for other ethnically homogenous groups to declare their own right to an exclusive state. For example, a state for the Serbs, a state for the Kurds and what the heck, a state for the majority Mexican population of Southern Arizona. It is not only dangerous but it is wrong, especially when population densities have grown to such large numbers that extracting certain members from the company of other members is possible only through oppression, violence and theft:
025.014 Call not that day for one destruction, but call for many destructions!
Call for the destruction of tyranny and greed because that is the SCARECROW mentality of a the 51st State known to most as "Israel".
The truth of the matter is this however, Zionism is dying a natural death because its supporters have grown old, died or are in comas (Sharon...dead or alive?). The natural hope of those members who are still living is that the next generation will have an actual claim to the land that they "were born in" and will be willing to keep up this outrageous fight.
I however think that they won't keep up this outrageous fight because people get very tired of Armageddon you know. People just want to live.
When I say "Death to Israel", I mean, Death to Israeli Policy. It is a stain on the history of man, an idea that should never have materialized save for the fact that it gave the world a reason to ponder over themselves, Islam and their relationship to Allah. For that reason alone I guess it has been a worthwhile experiment but accent is on the word experiement. It didn't work. And it will find its own natural end be it through another foolhearty war with Hezbollah or via the good acts of alot of Jewish people who are tired of being associated with the vile conduct of the Israeli government and military.
"Anyone who leaves out that second half of the description is being as deceptive as the early Zionists who pretended Palestine was a land without a people, and the current Zionists who pretend the underlying cause of a century of conflict is "terrorism", or some genetic defect in Palestinian people, or something inherent to Islam, rather than the century-long project to create a sectarian state in Palestine."
"The PLO rejects the notion that Israel is a virtual "Jewish state" in which certain people who've never set foot there have more rights than others who were born there to families that have always lived there. It offers instead a comprehensive peace and regional normalization to the state of Israel as it actually exists in the real world. If this is not enough, if Zionism cannot settle for an Israel on 78 per cent of historic Palestine and with a population that is 80 per cent Jewish, then Israel will never be at peace, and it will be Zionism's own greed and self-absorption that makes it so. "
A couple of "old" poems that I wrote when nobody cared about the word Niggeritis and Reader's Digest was still a man's best friend:
Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
The Nightclubs and Restaurant Reviews,
The Vacation Destinations,
Without the Word:
MECCA
The road to Mecca is dry
the mountains near Taif
angular, unforgiving.
Baboons scurry in front
of the car, begging for handouts -
most of them maimed in some way
hit by cars. In Oz, they could fly.
A dozen kilometers or so
from our destination we pass
under a giant concrete book
in awe of human ingenuity.
Hardened pages spread
over two gray lanes.
I wonder: Can I go here?
The signs warn of dangers
outside the Emerald City.
The wizard has concocted
and created a disturbing motto:
Infidels, those of us who don't believe
a highway sign might
sentence one to Hell for all eternity,
turn back at once
Dorothy, go home.
I've the green document
that says I can do this,
I won't be arrested.
I'm wearing these white sheets,
yet somehow I don't believe.
I doubt that Mecca knows my name.
Inside the rocky town
most people never see,
a Pizza Hut stands catercorner
to the prize. Over there,
a Five Star Hotel under construction.
The castle doors are all the same,
angels guarding every single direction.
We leave our plastic shoes
near the most conspicuous looking one and go in,
barefoot and murmuring in a thousand voices.
Seven times around the Kaaba,
we circle drenched in the sweat
of others, the crimes we all bear.
The malodorous throng contracts on one corner
hands reaching for a meteorite.
I the imposter
have entered the holy precinct
with Arid Extra Dry,
I've Hanes Her Way
under these plain clothes.
We run for common water
we run like Hajar,
the Generous Stone.
looking for that substance
from which we are all made
decanted into plastic containers,
from one of the twelve
original tribal wells.
This one is ours.
Zam Zam! Our shoes disappear,
picked up by a stranger,
here the shoes all look the same.
Mecca is for the believers-
this is where you go
to find yourself,
stone the devil himself
and why not?
Signs are only signs.
An Explanation of the word: Niggeritis
Some words cannot be spoken,
written, referred to, carried out,
plagiarized or otherwise utilized.
Simply put, we must discriminate.
I've got niggeritis.
Realizing this,
I appointed myself to the Nigger Watch.
A declaration was made,
I am the muslim Nigger,
I am watching you like you watch me,
watching you at the fountainheads
of language.
Please explain this niggeritis.
No problem I say, Constance wouldn't mind.
Constance with her big white teeth
and her big white name.
She and I had an understanding
about that sort of thing.
Niggeritis is a feeling.
"You've got what?"
I said that just as we stepped
gingerly over the concrete barriers
in a parking lot, the kind that slam
into car bumpers when you least expect it.
Niggeritis.
It was two o'clock, lunchtime.
It was hot. We'd been working hard,
together in the ICU,
in our pure and white uniforms.
Some days are like that in a hospital.
Constance, I asked, what is this Niggeritis?
I felt so very white, so white
next to this African Canadian
with niggeritis,
so very ignorant from a colorless
redneck town. Where's the red?
Niggeritis comes from Africa.
She opened her big wide mouth,
the one that got her into trouble
most of the time, that one
with big white teeth and explained:
Niggeritis is nigger laziness.
Can I have it?
I'd like some of that.
In the end though,
I found out I can't have niggeritis
unless I am a nigger.
So I decided, in light
of being an Islamofascist
in some people's eyes,
in their carelessly chosen rhetoric,
to be a new kind of nigger.
So now I can say nigger,
as much as I want.
People generally don't like it,
but you know,
we niggers don't care.
20.2.08
18.2.08
Kosher Time: Largest (non halal) Beef Recall in US History underway
"Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing "downer" animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino County prosecutor Michael Ramos said."
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/usda-makes-nations-largest-beef-recall/n20080217172309990030
In Arizona, halal/kosher products are few and far between. Trader Joe's stocks a limited amount of Kosher meats. Their steaks are particularly delicious and particularly expensive. Caravan, a ME food store on Country Club and Grant Rd. butchers their own and also carries imported halal/kosher items from Australia.
Map to Caravan Foods:
http://btucson.com/Tucson/Business%20Directory/S/Seafood/Grocery%20Stores%20&%20Supermarkets//121157
Note, all fish with scales are considered "halal" and make a fine protein substitute when nothing else is available. Canned tuna is always on hand at my house as are other protein items like lentils, fava beans, pintos, limas, garbanzoes, etc.
"Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing "downer" animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino County prosecutor Michael Ramos said."
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/usda-makes-nations-largest-beef-recall/n20080217172309990030
In Arizona, halal/kosher products are few and far between. Trader Joe's stocks a limited amount of Kosher meats. Their steaks are particularly delicious and particularly expensive. Caravan, a ME food store on Country Club and Grant Rd. butchers their own and also carries imported halal/kosher items from Australia.
Map to Caravan Foods:
http://btucson.com/Tucson/Business%20Directory/S/Seafood/Grocery%20Stores%20&%20Supermarkets//121157
Note, all fish with scales are considered "halal" and make a fine protein substitute when nothing else is available. Canned tuna is always on hand at my house as are other protein items like lentils, fava beans, pintos, limas, garbanzoes, etc.
17.2.08
Euphemism
Some things cannot go twice
and others just cannot go
as I tip toe through the shadows
past your closed circuits
and into the backyard that is lit
like an ember to the sky
where these eyes are gemstones,
to write captions.
It's not about making waves
yet the birds are taut,
treacherous and on the line -
no one put them there.
The satellites cannot preach
to the stars as they drift
into the sea,
in silico, as they say.
Al-Moqawama
(The Resistance)
We have to embrace the idea that we are the leaders we are looking for. - Grace Lee Boggs
By Allah, if I see that on one side is the truth and on the other side all the rest of the people I, without caring and paying heed to those reproaching me, will fight all alone with my sword, on the way and path of the right, against them. - Emir Ali ibn Abi Taleb, pbuh.
War is not the time
for poetry -
that is for the evenings
of old men in other lands
who ring the bells
to commute their sentence,
those who barter time
with the ancients in senate.
Dare I say that?
But I am a fighter
at heart and know
a warning has to find
the warned, has to abandon
the bles-sed for a while.
A warner has to call
the laggers to the front
one by one in order
to cut them down
or lift them up.
We prayed on those nights
for ourselves. We prayed
for the ones who crawled
through the fields
on their bellies.
We watched the skies
and hoped the bombs
might be jubilations.
They weren't.
The tarmac and the dairy,
every single bridge gone.
The long drive through
abandoned streets
and the stockpile
of rice in the big
drama of flight.
The bitterness of translation
is the joy of understanding,
and vice versa.
There will be more of this.
Some things cannot go twice
and others just cannot go
as I tip toe through the shadows
past your closed circuits
and into the backyard that is lit
like an ember to the sky
where these eyes are gemstones,
to write captions.
It's not about making waves
yet the birds are taut,
treacherous and on the line -
no one put them there.
The satellites cannot preach
to the stars as they drift
into the sea,
in silico, as they say.
Al-Moqawama
(The Resistance)
We have to embrace the idea that we are the leaders we are looking for. - Grace Lee Boggs
By Allah, if I see that on one side is the truth and on the other side all the rest of the people I, without caring and paying heed to those reproaching me, will fight all alone with my sword, on the way and path of the right, against them. - Emir Ali ibn Abi Taleb, pbuh.
War is not the time
for poetry -
that is for the evenings
of old men in other lands
who ring the bells
to commute their sentence,
those who barter time
with the ancients in senate.
Dare I say that?
But I am a fighter
at heart and know
a warning has to find
the warned, has to abandon
the bles-sed for a while.
A warner has to call
the laggers to the front
one by one in order
to cut them down
or lift them up.
We prayed on those nights
for ourselves. We prayed
for the ones who crawled
through the fields
on their bellies.
We watched the skies
and hoped the bombs
might be jubilations.
They weren't.
The tarmac and the dairy,
every single bridge gone.
The long drive through
abandoned streets
and the stockpile
of rice in the big
drama of flight.
The bitterness of translation
is the joy of understanding,
and vice versa.
There will be more of this.
15.2.08
More Notes From Extremists to Other Extremists
regarding the nature of "stone" and "idol" worship
Generally speaking, having read the various apologistic explanations it is clear that many muslims do not understand the origin of their practices. This leads them into vulnerable straits where certain rituals are discussed, especially those of idolatry. Therefore I think redacted's point is an extraordinary one and most likely cannot be answered by many of the posters here.
The idea that mysteries are needed to explain all things is convenient but it is also the case that not "knowing" something does not constitute a "mystery" of Islam or the declaration of same. There are mysteries and there are mysteries. Going to Mecca on Haj is not of either type i.e. mysteries based on the actual "unseen" and not a mystery of religion of the type claimed by Christian theologians like the virgin birth (which to muslims is not a mystery at all).
If Allah states cirumambulate THIS stone and not THAT stone, it is not indicative that muslims are stone worshipers. That is in the eye of the beholder when it is clearly stated in the Quran that the notion of a Qibla is a clear one. Clear as mud to non muslims and when faced with those, attempting to explain it is about as good as conversing with a brick wall (also made of stone) because Allah made some people unable to hear, see and/or understand.
I am no expert particularly in the area of Haj ritual behavior but it is my understanding that the stones that are tossed at three objects in the same manner that Ibrahim (SA) smashed the stone idols which can represent a vast number of things including the rocks themselves. In one instance they are said to represent a dream that was experienced by three people (the prophet, Hajar and Ismael) on three consecutive nights. The whole ritual of Haj requires a person to have a guide. Few people actually go to Haj without one you know and those that do usually have already made at least one Haj or an Umra and "know the ropes".
It is one of the most critical points in all of Islam that only through "emulation of a practice" is that practice preserved. Formally it is referred to as the Sunna. Underestimating it, particularly by non muslims is common. Haj itself, in the Quran is the major distinguishment Islamic Monotheists have that defines them as a special class of Monotheism. It is the whole reason non muslims are not permitted into Mecca itself. Only a muslim NEEDS to go to Mecca...others need not go there if that is not what floats their boat.
It can be compared to the fact that in the initial days of the Last Messengers mission, muslims were told to dye their beards red with henna in order to distinguish which people had accepted Islam. After a certain period however the Messenger abrogated that ruling because after a certain critical number of the umma (muslim population density) had been reached, it was no longer possible to know that anyone in particular was especially "loyal" to the last prophet or to Islam. Some of the last submitters, Abu Sufyan in particular (the father or "thought to be" father of Mu'aw'iya), only submitted when it was clear that he was one of the only ones left in the area that hadn't. At that point, most people had already joined ranks with Mohamed and his Ahl Bayt (immediate family), Sahaba (Companions, disciples, friends), the Ansar(the hosts at Medina who protected and fed the Muhajirs) and Muhajirs (the migrationists who migrated with the prophet to Mecca). Having a red beard would make no difference and in fact, a large number of muslims at that time were not really believers but were incredibly good fakers. Which ones? Not my business of course. I will say however that the Shia ruling against persons such as the notorious Mu'aw'iya being included in the group known as "sahaba" is discounted by Jaffar Al Siddiq using a ruling in which the last prophet declared his Sahaba were a given few and that is all. That occurred at a specific place and time and there were no Sahaba to be included in that group after that and that would include the notorious anti Islamist Mu'aw'iya.
The whole point of "stoning" the devil is an attempt to do something that EMULATES what the great prophet Ibrahim did that extraordinary day when he basically outlawed human sacrifice from the law books of all humanity:
"This is where pilgrims perform the ritual of throwing stones at pillars that mark the spot where the devil is believed to have attempted to prevent the prophet Ibrahim - the biblical patriarch Abraham also revered by Muslims - from obeying divine orders. "
Why, the Kaaba itself "our Qibla" is that which is gone to, migrated to and migrated away from and even, sadly, not taken seriously by some muslims as that thing which was ordered by Allah to travel to. It was erected by Ibrahim and Ismail (May Allah be pleased with all of his apostles) and not by the other brother Ishaq (pbuh). It was erected in the exact spot where the sacrifice was to be made and then, it was abrogated by Allah and a sheep was substituted for a human being. Literally "a son" and it can be compared and contrasted with the mistaken Christian notion of a "son" being sacrificed to atone for the sins of others. It is the same story over and over and it is best defined from the beginning (Adam) who was told to follow the advice of Allah and not the Shaitan to the end of the story which is the whole basis for the last Messengers final order when he completed Islam for everyone, not just the Arabs. The whole point of it is contained allegorically in that safety of the boat upon which Nuh traveled during a storm and is one of the fundamental axis around which Shia teaching revolves. I cannot speak for Sunni Islam and wouldn't try.
Anything that one follows instead of following the advice of Allah can be considered to be idol worship and it is not limited to mere objects but to the things those objects represent. Afterall, we use money and not gold and we cannot even eat gold. If it was the case that what we "eat" could also be a subject for idolatry (it is) then our ideology would be gluttony. Eating is oft mentioned in the Quran because it is the one single thing that human beings consume and it becomes a "part" of their very own bodies. It is necessary (as is money) but when overdone, it becomes the source of our own suffering.
Like the spider who eats its own web and then takes it to "the next abode" i.e. and respins a new web. We carry those things within us much like the spider carries this immensely frail yet deceptively strong material called web fluid which is literally his next home AND his nourishment The Spider is basically a tafsir of the highest order in the Quran, one that allows the Quran itself to provide evidence for the premises contained within it. And really, what is a parable anyway except Allah's own tafsir?
The parable of those who take guardians besides Allah is as the parable of the spider that makes for itself a house; and most surely the frailest of the houses is the spider's house did they but know. -The Spider
Allah makes abundant the means of subsistence for whom He pleases of His servants, and straitens them for whom (He pleases) surely Allah is Cognizant of all things. -The Spider
And how many a living creature that does not carry its sustenance: Allah sustains it and yourselves; and He is the Hearing, the Knowing. -The Spider
And this life of the world is nothing but a sport and a play; and as for the next abode, that most surely is the life-- did they but know! -The Spider
As an interesting aside, it is very common in Arabic literature and media to liken the excesses of government and leaders to that of "eating" wealth, very common. Arabs often say, "He ate the money."
I'd like to add that the last part of redacted's question is perhaps the most intriguing to me because it is that act of leveling a charge as opposed to the real issue in Islam which is to gather adherents who share faith in Allah and perhaps even, a given approach to the demonstration and verbalization of that faith.
The Quran itself systematically defines various practices and you cannot find any single human practice not defined in there. They are categorized in various ways all the way down to categorizing the color of people versus their culture and way of life. Including the categorization of the animal kingdom.
The point being necessarily is that an individual "qualifies" themself for membership via whatever it is they practice and also, they can qualify themself to various nations based on ethnicity (the Jews being the prime example of that in the Quran).
A muslim does not pray ten times a day or once a week. A muslim prays five salaat per day and that is UNIVERSAL and not an act shared by any other religion. A muslim makes Haj and that is also not an act engaged in by any other type of believer.
Charity, good will, etc...those are things engaged in by many athiests worldwide and cannot be the basis for our assumptions. I don't think that it is the intent of most muslims i.e. to label anyone.
Fasting is engaged in by Catholics but it in no way makes them muslim.
Non Islamic Monotheism is Monotheism that does not accept the last prophet and everything that goes along with that aspect of the Shehada. It can be likened to "Deism" of the type Thomas Jefferson, et.al. advocated.
"Paganism" itself, like all other things can be of any variety and some even suggest that certain branches of Orthodox Catholicism engage in excessive amounts of it. Therefore, you can describe a Catholic believer as being polytheist if they hold that Allah is in three parts or pagan if it is they worship icons as some (not all) of the Orthodox Catholic traditions teach. It isn't about blame but rather, it is about description of the various groups to which all human beings belong, one way or another.
Muslims too can suffer the effects of Paganism and/or Polytheism. When they drink/take drugs or gamble, they in effect disqualify themself from the path i.e. no one does it to them but they do it to themself. They do this when they use "black magic" and it is alot more common that you think. No offense to anyone here but in Saudi Arabia it has become the norm, not the exception. Paganism can be a type of "superstition-ism" which can affect any believer of any type. It isn't necessarily just a person who bows to a crystal or a false deity. Native Americans still practice ritual paganism but many of them would argue with you if you thought that they didn't hold that there is a Creator and Sustainer of the entire system. Hinduism in all actuality was originally a monotheistic tradition and "polytheism" is noted in the Upanishads themselves as the eventual result of ignorance and in essence, the demise of original Monotheistic Hinduism:
"The central theme of the Upanishads is not Monism but Monotheism, the concept of an all pervasive, immanent supreme being. "
-from http://www.dvaita.org/shaastra/upanishad.html#section_2
..therefore some of what some have said here has an element of truth but one ought to provide direct evidence of that rather than mere opinion you know.
It's their problem and not ours especially if they themselves are perceiving their own problem right about now (and they most definitely are). Allah stated clearly that Islam was not in competition with any other thing. He stated clearly that it would be made superior to all other systems. I think it is important to take Allah at his word on that one and avoid playing the comparison games in which non muslims usually end up confusing muslims who aren't very clear about their Islam.
regarding the nature of "stone" and "idol" worship
Generally speaking, having read the various apologistic explanations it is clear that many muslims do not understand the origin of their practices. This leads them into vulnerable straits where certain rituals are discussed, especially those of idolatry. Therefore I think redacted's point is an extraordinary one and most likely cannot be answered by many of the posters here.
The idea that mysteries are needed to explain all things is convenient but it is also the case that not "knowing" something does not constitute a "mystery" of Islam or the declaration of same. There are mysteries and there are mysteries. Going to Mecca on Haj is not of either type i.e. mysteries based on the actual "unseen" and not a mystery of religion of the type claimed by Christian theologians like the virgin birth (which to muslims is not a mystery at all).
If Allah states cirumambulate THIS stone and not THAT stone, it is not indicative that muslims are stone worshipers. That is in the eye of the beholder when it is clearly stated in the Quran that the notion of a Qibla is a clear one. Clear as mud to non muslims and when faced with those, attempting to explain it is about as good as conversing with a brick wall (also made of stone) because Allah made some people unable to hear, see and/or understand.
I am no expert particularly in the area of Haj ritual behavior but it is my understanding that the stones that are tossed at three objects in the same manner that Ibrahim (SA) smashed the stone idols which can represent a vast number of things including the rocks themselves. In one instance they are said to represent a dream that was experienced by three people (the prophet, Hajar and Ismael) on three consecutive nights. The whole ritual of Haj requires a person to have a guide. Few people actually go to Haj without one you know and those that do usually have already made at least one Haj or an Umra and "know the ropes".
It is one of the most critical points in all of Islam that only through "emulation of a practice" is that practice preserved. Formally it is referred to as the Sunna. Underestimating it, particularly by non muslims is common. Haj itself, in the Quran is the major distinguishment Islamic Monotheists have that defines them as a special class of Monotheism. It is the whole reason non muslims are not permitted into Mecca itself. Only a muslim NEEDS to go to Mecca...others need not go there if that is not what floats their boat.
It can be compared to the fact that in the initial days of the Last Messengers mission, muslims were told to dye their beards red with henna in order to distinguish which people had accepted Islam. After a certain period however the Messenger abrogated that ruling because after a certain critical number of the umma (muslim population density) had been reached, it was no longer possible to know that anyone in particular was especially "loyal" to the last prophet or to Islam. Some of the last submitters, Abu Sufyan in particular (the father or "thought to be" father of Mu'aw'iya), only submitted when it was clear that he was one of the only ones left in the area that hadn't. At that point, most people had already joined ranks with Mohamed and his Ahl Bayt (immediate family), Sahaba (Companions, disciples, friends), the Ansar(the hosts at Medina who protected and fed the Muhajirs) and Muhajirs (the migrationists who migrated with the prophet to Mecca). Having a red beard would make no difference and in fact, a large number of muslims at that time were not really believers but were incredibly good fakers. Which ones? Not my business of course. I will say however that the Shia ruling against persons such as the notorious Mu'aw'iya being included in the group known as "sahaba" is discounted by Jaffar Al Siddiq using a ruling in which the last prophet declared his Sahaba were a given few and that is all. That occurred at a specific place and time and there were no Sahaba to be included in that group after that and that would include the notorious anti Islamist Mu'aw'iya.
The whole point of "stoning" the devil is an attempt to do something that EMULATES what the great prophet Ibrahim did that extraordinary day when he basically outlawed human sacrifice from the law books of all humanity:
"This is where pilgrims perform the ritual of throwing stones at pillars that mark the spot where the devil is believed to have attempted to prevent the prophet Ibrahim - the biblical patriarch Abraham also revered by Muslims - from obeying divine orders. "
Why, the Kaaba itself "our Qibla" is that which is gone to, migrated to and migrated away from and even, sadly, not taken seriously by some muslims as that thing which was ordered by Allah to travel to. It was erected by Ibrahim and Ismail (May Allah be pleased with all of his apostles) and not by the other brother Ishaq (pbuh). It was erected in the exact spot where the sacrifice was to be made and then, it was abrogated by Allah and a sheep was substituted for a human being. Literally "a son" and it can be compared and contrasted with the mistaken Christian notion of a "son" being sacrificed to atone for the sins of others. It is the same story over and over and it is best defined from the beginning (Adam) who was told to follow the advice of Allah and not the Shaitan to the end of the story which is the whole basis for the last Messengers final order when he completed Islam for everyone, not just the Arabs. The whole point of it is contained allegorically in that safety of the boat upon which Nuh traveled during a storm and is one of the fundamental axis around which Shia teaching revolves. I cannot speak for Sunni Islam and wouldn't try.
Anything that one follows instead of following the advice of Allah can be considered to be idol worship and it is not limited to mere objects but to the things those objects represent. Afterall, we use money and not gold and we cannot even eat gold. If it was the case that what we "eat" could also be a subject for idolatry (it is) then our ideology would be gluttony. Eating is oft mentioned in the Quran because it is the one single thing that human beings consume and it becomes a "part" of their very own bodies. It is necessary (as is money) but when overdone, it becomes the source of our own suffering.
Like the spider who eats its own web and then takes it to "the next abode" i.e. and respins a new web. We carry those things within us much like the spider carries this immensely frail yet deceptively strong material called web fluid which is literally his next home AND his nourishment The Spider is basically a tafsir of the highest order in the Quran, one that allows the Quran itself to provide evidence for the premises contained within it. And really, what is a parable anyway except Allah's own tafsir?
The parable of those who take guardians besides Allah is as the parable of the spider that makes for itself a house; and most surely the frailest of the houses is the spider's house did they but know. -The Spider
Allah makes abundant the means of subsistence for whom He pleases of His servants, and straitens them for whom (He pleases) surely Allah is Cognizant of all things. -The Spider
And how many a living creature that does not carry its sustenance: Allah sustains it and yourselves; and He is the Hearing, the Knowing. -The Spider
And this life of the world is nothing but a sport and a play; and as for the next abode, that most surely is the life-- did they but know! -The Spider
As an interesting aside, it is very common in Arabic literature and media to liken the excesses of government and leaders to that of "eating" wealth, very common. Arabs often say, "He ate the money."
I'd like to add that the last part of redacted's question is perhaps the most intriguing to me because it is that act of leveling a charge as opposed to the real issue in Islam which is to gather adherents who share faith in Allah and perhaps even, a given approach to the demonstration and verbalization of that faith.
The Quran itself systematically defines various practices and you cannot find any single human practice not defined in there. They are categorized in various ways all the way down to categorizing the color of people versus their culture and way of life. Including the categorization of the animal kingdom.
The point being necessarily is that an individual "qualifies" themself for membership via whatever it is they practice and also, they can qualify themself to various nations based on ethnicity (the Jews being the prime example of that in the Quran).
A muslim does not pray ten times a day or once a week. A muslim prays five salaat per day and that is UNIVERSAL and not an act shared by any other religion. A muslim makes Haj and that is also not an act engaged in by any other type of believer.
Charity, good will, etc...those are things engaged in by many athiests worldwide and cannot be the basis for our assumptions. I don't think that it is the intent of most muslims i.e. to label anyone.
Fasting is engaged in by Catholics but it in no way makes them muslim.
Non Islamic Monotheism is Monotheism that does not accept the last prophet and everything that goes along with that aspect of the Shehada. It can be likened to "Deism" of the type Thomas Jefferson, et.al. advocated.
"Paganism" itself, like all other things can be of any variety and some even suggest that certain branches of Orthodox Catholicism engage in excessive amounts of it. Therefore, you can describe a Catholic believer as being polytheist if they hold that Allah is in three parts or pagan if it is they worship icons as some (not all) of the Orthodox Catholic traditions teach. It isn't about blame but rather, it is about description of the various groups to which all human beings belong, one way or another.
Muslims too can suffer the effects of Paganism and/or Polytheism. When they drink/take drugs or gamble, they in effect disqualify themself from the path i.e. no one does it to them but they do it to themself. They do this when they use "black magic" and it is alot more common that you think. No offense to anyone here but in Saudi Arabia it has become the norm, not the exception. Paganism can be a type of "superstition-ism" which can affect any believer of any type. It isn't necessarily just a person who bows to a crystal or a false deity. Native Americans still practice ritual paganism but many of them would argue with you if you thought that they didn't hold that there is a Creator and Sustainer of the entire system. Hinduism in all actuality was originally a monotheistic tradition and "polytheism" is noted in the Upanishads themselves as the eventual result of ignorance and in essence, the demise of original Monotheistic Hinduism:
"The central theme of the Upanishads is not Monism but Monotheism, the concept of an all pervasive, immanent supreme being. "
-from http://www.dvaita.org/shaastra/upanishad.html#section_2
..therefore some of what some have said here has an element of truth but one ought to provide direct evidence of that rather than mere opinion you know.
It's their problem and not ours especially if they themselves are perceiving their own problem right about now (and they most definitely are). Allah stated clearly that Islam was not in competition with any other thing. He stated clearly that it would be made superior to all other systems. I think it is important to take Allah at his word on that one and avoid playing the comparison games in which non muslims usually end up confusing muslims who aren't very clear about their Islam.
Norman Finkelstein in Defense
of Resistance Against Occupation
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1676.htm
Norm declares the French Revolution a myth and I have to agree with his assessment of who is remembered with honor and who is remembered, with regret.
of Resistance Against Occupation
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1676.htm
Norm declares the French Revolution a myth and I have to agree with his assessment of who is remembered with honor and who is remembered, with regret.
14.2.08
Happy Valentine's Day
Israeli Style
Israel manufacturing fake relics to prove existence of Temple. Wha? Didn't they ever read the Bible or as we call it at my house "Thabible"? In Thabible you see, a prophet arrives who is specially created without the use of male sperm and he destroys the Temple. It truly made the Hebrews angry to have been ousted from the status of "Chosen Ones" in such a manner, literally having the genetic information which was handed down for eons in the male Y chromosome sequence of the prophets, deleted. Yes, deleted. So now...all they have left is this nonsense called "Israel" which they hope to keep lying about.
Hint: Your secret is out now. You can all go home and let the indigenous peoples of the Middle East have their property back. Nice try but no cigar.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/solomon_prog_summary.shtml
"But who was producing these fakes and how? Dr Goren decided to piece together how the stone tablet had been made. He tracked the origin of the stone itself - apparently a building block taken from a Crusader castle. It was even possible to work out how the fake patina had been manufactured and the ingredients used. What was clear was the team of forgers included experts in a range of disciplines. "
And in this sweet little piece, a Canadian citizen was murdered by Israel because he was reporting on last year's Israeli Crime Spree on Lebanese soil which is still going on, day in and day out. Just last week Israel decided it could take the law into its own hands and murder a Lebanese man who was on his side of the border. Now, if Mexico did that to US citizens we'd all be going nuts....in that typical fanatical Patriotic way Americans do (like when they say, "no American deserves to die like that" when a bridge collapsed in Minnesota recently). "No American deserves to die that way? Hmm. And today...is the day Israel assassinated the former PM of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri on "Valentine's Day" in a special Valentine message to everyone's favorite Hero Sayyed Nasrallah.....how unusual! Another hit just a day before scheduled protests and mourning festivities in Beirut. How very very absurd to believe that any entity other than Israel is responsible. Absurd.
Just smacks of magic realism except for the part that it is real.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/02/06/ot-von-kruedener-080206.html?ref=rss
Israeli Style
Israel manufacturing fake relics to prove existence of Temple. Wha? Didn't they ever read the Bible or as we call it at my house "Thabible"? In Thabible you see, a prophet arrives who is specially created without the use of male sperm and he destroys the Temple. It truly made the Hebrews angry to have been ousted from the status of "Chosen Ones" in such a manner, literally having the genetic information which was handed down for eons in the male Y chromosome sequence of the prophets, deleted. Yes, deleted. So now...all they have left is this nonsense called "Israel" which they hope to keep lying about.
Hint: Your secret is out now. You can all go home and let the indigenous peoples of the Middle East have their property back. Nice try but no cigar.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/solomon_prog_summary.shtml
"But who was producing these fakes and how? Dr Goren decided to piece together how the stone tablet had been made. He tracked the origin of the stone itself - apparently a building block taken from a Crusader castle. It was even possible to work out how the fake patina had been manufactured and the ingredients used. What was clear was the team of forgers included experts in a range of disciplines. "
And in this sweet little piece, a Canadian citizen was murdered by Israel because he was reporting on last year's Israeli Crime Spree on Lebanese soil which is still going on, day in and day out. Just last week Israel decided it could take the law into its own hands and murder a Lebanese man who was on his side of the border. Now, if Mexico did that to US citizens we'd all be going nuts....in that typical fanatical Patriotic way Americans do (like when they say, "no American deserves to die like that" when a bridge collapsed in Minnesota recently). "No American deserves to die that way? Hmm. And today...is the day Israel assassinated the former PM of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri on "Valentine's Day" in a special Valentine message to everyone's favorite Hero Sayyed Nasrallah.....how unusual! Another hit just a day before scheduled protests and mourning festivities in Beirut. How very very absurd to believe that any entity other than Israel is responsible. Absurd.
Just smacks of magic realism except for the part that it is real.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/02/06/ot-von-kruedener-080206.html?ref=rss
12.2.08
Dear Readers,
Today I am breaking one of my usually hard and fast rules and I'm going to discuss, This Blog. The reason I don't believe in that sort of thing is mainly because of a piece I wrote several years ago (Pre Blog, PB) about the nonsense involved in blogging. That was one fantastic piece if only I knew where it was I'd share it with you. I blogged about my day, a normal day in the life of an American expatriate living in Beirut Lebanon. I recorded everything over the course of a few hours (a day in Beirut is like a year somewhere else you know). I recorded what I was eating and drinking, the sounds outside and within the text I began a story about an event during one of Israel's campaigns against the Shia muslims of South Lebanon. It happened in the summer of 1993 and I was there on vacation. The bombing started while we were at the beach and as we returned to our village up in the hills there, we saw an amazing number of things including the flight of families from horror, persecution and the error of Israeli Zionist policies against muslims. We stayed on for about four days. Katushyas were launched from inside of our own home which was unfinished at the time. Missiles sailed over our heads and bombs splayed open the ground from east to west. During that foolish Israeli mission it was the case that I was suffering from Expatriatitis (diarrhea/food poisoning). I was sick as a dog. Everytime a Katushya was launched, it would shake the entire building and I'd have to go to the bathroom. The girl children that were with me in what we used to call "the bunker" were wimpering and tossing on mats on the floor. All I could think of was the fact that if an Israeli missile (Made in the USA) hit our home, I'd be sitting on the crapper with my pants around my ankles in the rubble.
To get to the punch line of that Anti Blog rant however, one had to sift through my day as I wrote about it. I made cookies and listened to sirens, bicycle bells and prayer calls. It was worth it to just imagine this poor sod (me) sitting at the end of the horror on a crapper in an acute stage of intestinal distress. Life goes on you know regardless of where the bombs fall. We are all human you know and there was poetic justice in the notion that my last interaction with the state of Israel was so profound and the moral of the story was found in a plastic bag in our washing machine in Haris Lebanon. They literally shit in it while they hid in our home in a state of terror against an enemy that was never seen on any television screen or photograph, nor seen in a massive buildup of technological power as the IDF was seen amassing at the Israeli/Lebanese border. Yes, the IDF was terrorized when it was the case that they were supposed to have been all powerful and victorious. They holed themselves up in my humble abode and probably filled the toilet so full that it could hold no more and had to start crapping in places people don't usually crap like beds and Maytags. They barricaded themselves in and feared for their lives.
An Israeli soldier SHAT in a bag and left it for us to find. It was objective and real. It betrayed the humanity of the Jews as much as it betrayed my own. I got over it though. I moved on. Sort of. I still pray for the end of that Zionist experiment in ethnic purity, cleansing and arrogance.
Anyway, I'd like to know a little more about my readers because it is interesting to me. Not because I need to know that I have them...I already know that much. This blog receives anywhere from 10 to 50 visitors a day depending on how hard I've marketed it elsewhere.
The poll at the right top hand of the page is for the readers. Feel free to opine in the comments section and know that I publish almost everything I receive. The only censorship I utilize is censorship of the redundant. Some posters never give up, never give their name and bore me. Those don't get published. If it is the case you have something awful to say then say it. Doesn't bother me but don't be surprised if I slap you around a little in my response. Eye for an eye you know and the best remedy for ignorance is knowledge and I always try to give a little of that away for the asking.
I would like to point out a few features on this blog which are found in the Links to Uncommon Things on the right. I use those things all the time but two of them I use more often than anything else. One of them is a fantastic Quranic Boolean search engine. No other book lends itself so wisely to a Boolean search. Like all Boolean search engines however, it requires a person knows a little bit about what it is they are looking for. The second most oft used feature is the link to the Peak of Eloquence which is basically the presidential (Khalifate) papers of a person known to the Shia as "The Commander of the Faithful" whose kunya (name) was Mutallib or rather, Ali ibn Abi Taleb, May Allah be pleased with his Ahl Bayt.
I also invite poets and artists (who don't mind being associated with such a renegade) to submit their work and if it is deemed appropriate, I will publish it for them here. No charge and no payment hahaha. Guest writers as well are invited to editorialize and are welcome to submit their opinion on any topic they choose so long as it isn't anything that goes against my policy of no indecency i.e. nothing a person wouldn't want to be remembered by. And that is what truly counts in the end....what a person wants to be remembered by. If only poets understood that simple premise I imagine the poetry industry would do what it was meant to do and that is to introduce people to ideas they ought to reconsider, consider and even adopt for their very own.
It is a noble cause and suits my ongoing love of the Pindaric Odes in which poems were written for the Gods enjoyment only in my case, there is only one Allah and his last messenger was Mohamed.
Peace in any case, on those that deserve it, want it or believe in it.
Today I am breaking one of my usually hard and fast rules and I'm going to discuss, This Blog. The reason I don't believe in that sort of thing is mainly because of a piece I wrote several years ago (Pre Blog, PB) about the nonsense involved in blogging. That was one fantastic piece if only I knew where it was I'd share it with you. I blogged about my day, a normal day in the life of an American expatriate living in Beirut Lebanon. I recorded everything over the course of a few hours (a day in Beirut is like a year somewhere else you know). I recorded what I was eating and drinking, the sounds outside and within the text I began a story about an event during one of Israel's campaigns against the Shia muslims of South Lebanon. It happened in the summer of 1993 and I was there on vacation. The bombing started while we were at the beach and as we returned to our village up in the hills there, we saw an amazing number of things including the flight of families from horror, persecution and the error of Israeli Zionist policies against muslims. We stayed on for about four days. Katushyas were launched from inside of our own home which was unfinished at the time. Missiles sailed over our heads and bombs splayed open the ground from east to west. During that foolish Israeli mission it was the case that I was suffering from Expatriatitis (diarrhea/food poisoning). I was sick as a dog. Everytime a Katushya was launched, it would shake the entire building and I'd have to go to the bathroom. The girl children that were with me in what we used to call "the bunker" were wimpering and tossing on mats on the floor. All I could think of was the fact that if an Israeli missile (Made in the USA) hit our home, I'd be sitting on the crapper with my pants around my ankles in the rubble.
To get to the punch line of that Anti Blog rant however, one had to sift through my day as I wrote about it. I made cookies and listened to sirens, bicycle bells and prayer calls. It was worth it to just imagine this poor sod (me) sitting at the end of the horror on a crapper in an acute stage of intestinal distress. Life goes on you know regardless of where the bombs fall. We are all human you know and there was poetic justice in the notion that my last interaction with the state of Israel was so profound and the moral of the story was found in a plastic bag in our washing machine in Haris Lebanon. They literally shit in it while they hid in our home in a state of terror against an enemy that was never seen on any television screen or photograph, nor seen in a massive buildup of technological power as the IDF was seen amassing at the Israeli/Lebanese border. Yes, the IDF was terrorized when it was the case that they were supposed to have been all powerful and victorious. They holed themselves up in my humble abode and probably filled the toilet so full that it could hold no more and had to start crapping in places people don't usually crap like beds and Maytags. They barricaded themselves in and feared for their lives.
An Israeli soldier SHAT in a bag and left it for us to find. It was objective and real. It betrayed the humanity of the Jews as much as it betrayed my own. I got over it though. I moved on. Sort of. I still pray for the end of that Zionist experiment in ethnic purity, cleansing and arrogance.
Anyway, I'd like to know a little more about my readers because it is interesting to me. Not because I need to know that I have them...I already know that much. This blog receives anywhere from 10 to 50 visitors a day depending on how hard I've marketed it elsewhere.
The poll at the right top hand of the page is for the readers. Feel free to opine in the comments section and know that I publish almost everything I receive. The only censorship I utilize is censorship of the redundant. Some posters never give up, never give their name and bore me. Those don't get published. If it is the case you have something awful to say then say it. Doesn't bother me but don't be surprised if I slap you around a little in my response. Eye for an eye you know and the best remedy for ignorance is knowledge and I always try to give a little of that away for the asking.
I would like to point out a few features on this blog which are found in the Links to Uncommon Things on the right. I use those things all the time but two of them I use more often than anything else. One of them is a fantastic Quranic Boolean search engine. No other book lends itself so wisely to a Boolean search. Like all Boolean search engines however, it requires a person knows a little bit about what it is they are looking for. The second most oft used feature is the link to the Peak of Eloquence which is basically the presidential (Khalifate) papers of a person known to the Shia as "The Commander of the Faithful" whose kunya (name) was Mutallib or rather, Ali ibn Abi Taleb, May Allah be pleased with his Ahl Bayt.
I also invite poets and artists (who don't mind being associated with such a renegade) to submit their work and if it is deemed appropriate, I will publish it for them here. No charge and no payment hahaha. Guest writers as well are invited to editorialize and are welcome to submit their opinion on any topic they choose so long as it isn't anything that goes against my policy of no indecency i.e. nothing a person wouldn't want to be remembered by. And that is what truly counts in the end....what a person wants to be remembered by. If only poets understood that simple premise I imagine the poetry industry would do what it was meant to do and that is to introduce people to ideas they ought to reconsider, consider and even adopt for their very own.
It is a noble cause and suits my ongoing love of the Pindaric Odes in which poems were written for the Gods enjoyment only in my case, there is only one Allah and his last messenger was Mohamed.
Peace in any case, on those that deserve it, want it or believe in it.
11.2.08
A few signs indicating one is living in an Age of Ignorance:
They (people) did not take light from the lights of his wisdom nor did they produce flame from the flint of sparkling knowledge . So in this matter they are like grazing cattle and hard stones. Nevertheless, hidden things have appeared for those who perceive, the face of right has become clear for the wanderer, the approaching moment has raised the veil from its face and signs have appeared for those who search for them.
What is the matter with me! I see you just bodies without spirits and spirits without bodies, devotees without good, traders without profits, wakeful but sleeping, present but unseen, seeing but blind, hearing but deaf and speaking but dumb.
I notice that misguidance has stood on its centre and spread (all round) through its off-shoots. It weighs you with its weights and confuses you with its measures. Its leader is an out-cast from the community. He persists on misguidance. So on that day none from among you would remain except as the sediment in a cooking pot or the dust left after dusting a bundle. It would scrape you as leather is scraped, and trample you as harvest is trampled, and pick out the believer as a bird picks out a big grain from the thin grain.
Where are these ways taking you, gloom misleading you, and falsehoods deceiving you? Whence are you brought and where are you driven? For every period there is a written document and everyone who is absent has to return. So listen to your godly leader and keep your hearts present. If he speaks to you be wakeful. The forerunner must speak truth to his people, should keep his wits together and maintain presence of mind. He has clarified to you the matter as the stitch-hole is cleared, and scraped it as the gum is scraped (from the twigs).
Nevertheless, now the wrong has set itself on its places and ignorance has ridden on its riding beasts. Unruliness has increased while the call for virtue is suppressed. Time has pounced upon like a devouring carnivore, and wrong is shouting like a camel after remaining silent. People have become brothers over ill-doings. have forsaken religion, are united in speaking lie but bear mutual hatred in the matter of truth.
When such is the case, the son would be a source of anger (instead of coolness of the eye to parents) and rain the cause of heat, the wicked would abound and the virtuous would diminish. The people of this time would be wolves, its rulers beasts, the middle class men gluttons and the poor (almost) dead. Truth would go down, falsehood would overflow, affection would be claimed with tongues but people would be quarrelsome at heart. Adultery would be the key to lineage while chastity would be rare and Islam would be worn overturned like the skin.
-Commander and Chief of Believers, Ali ibn Abi Taleb, peace be upon him
They (people) did not take light from the lights of his wisdom nor did they produce flame from the flint of sparkling knowledge . So in this matter they are like grazing cattle and hard stones. Nevertheless, hidden things have appeared for those who perceive, the face of right has become clear for the wanderer, the approaching moment has raised the veil from its face and signs have appeared for those who search for them.
What is the matter with me! I see you just bodies without spirits and spirits without bodies, devotees without good, traders without profits, wakeful but sleeping, present but unseen, seeing but blind, hearing but deaf and speaking but dumb.
I notice that misguidance has stood on its centre and spread (all round) through its off-shoots. It weighs you with its weights and confuses you with its measures. Its leader is an out-cast from the community. He persists on misguidance. So on that day none from among you would remain except as the sediment in a cooking pot or the dust left after dusting a bundle. It would scrape you as leather is scraped, and trample you as harvest is trampled, and pick out the believer as a bird picks out a big grain from the thin grain.
Where are these ways taking you, gloom misleading you, and falsehoods deceiving you? Whence are you brought and where are you driven? For every period there is a written document and everyone who is absent has to return. So listen to your godly leader and keep your hearts present. If he speaks to you be wakeful. The forerunner must speak truth to his people, should keep his wits together and maintain presence of mind. He has clarified to you the matter as the stitch-hole is cleared, and scraped it as the gum is scraped (from the twigs).
Nevertheless, now the wrong has set itself on its places and ignorance has ridden on its riding beasts. Unruliness has increased while the call for virtue is suppressed. Time has pounced upon like a devouring carnivore, and wrong is shouting like a camel after remaining silent. People have become brothers over ill-doings. have forsaken religion, are united in speaking lie but bear mutual hatred in the matter of truth.
When such is the case, the son would be a source of anger (instead of coolness of the eye to parents) and rain the cause of heat, the wicked would abound and the virtuous would diminish. The people of this time would be wolves, its rulers beasts, the middle class men gluttons and the poor (almost) dead. Truth would go down, falsehood would overflow, affection would be claimed with tongues but people would be quarrelsome at heart. Adultery would be the key to lineage while chastity would be rare and Islam would be worn overturned like the skin.
-Commander and Chief of Believers, Ali ibn Abi Taleb, peace be upon him
10.2.08
The Honey Moon
Beirut:
Tell me this
is the last adventure
and I'll go home, stop
bothering God for information
about you. I'll stop spying
through your candles and dirty
mists. I married not a man
but the whole country, wedded
rivers while marching
across stones, my innocence
lost on a flight from which
I stepped into a sea
of armies and posters.
My teeth got ground into paste,
a dowry wasted on one hiding
place after another looking
for the auction of the future
where the last bidder is death.
I gave birth to mementos and distress
near bodies of chalk
sucked naked by gravity.
Our children tugged
baggage and dread
through the streets
as the news catered
our bitterest meals.
We never leave and never arrive,
airport to airport with a cold bravado
saying the strangest things.
Beirut:
Tell me this
is the last adventure
and I'll go home, stop
bothering God for information
about you. I'll stop spying
through your candles and dirty
mists. I married not a man
but the whole country, wedded
rivers while marching
across stones, my innocence
lost on a flight from which
I stepped into a sea
of armies and posters.
My teeth got ground into paste,
a dowry wasted on one hiding
place after another looking
for the auction of the future
where the last bidder is death.
I gave birth to mementos and distress
near bodies of chalk
sucked naked by gravity.
Our children tugged
baggage and dread
through the streets
as the news catered
our bitterest meals.
We never leave and never arrive,
airport to airport with a cold bravado
saying the strangest things.
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