I learned one of the most valuable life lessons several years ago when I joined a Muslim American delegation heading for the holy land to fulfill the fifth pillar of Islam, a ritual completed by millions this week. As I walked in the footsteps of Abraham and his family, completing the rites of Hajj, I came to understand a truth that those working to improve personal or global relations must remember: Failure is the building material of success, not its opposite.
Many describe Hajj, a four-day ritual requiring great endurance and discipline, as life changing and for me it was just that. The faithful leave behind the comforts of home and take a vow of peace, committing to avoid conflict and harm to any living thing, from argument to hurting a fly.
Pilgrims shed remnants of their old life, dressing in simple cloth stripped of symbols of status. In this humbled state, rich and poor, men and women, black and white and every other color, shuffle in crowds of millions from one rite to the next commemorating great acts of commitment to God.
Eid al Adha, the biggest holiday of the Muslim year celebrating Abraham's strength of faith and willingness to sacrifice, marks the completion of this memorial to monotheism. Seekers of God come carrying a lifetime of sins and leave hajj reborn--a second chance at a righteous life.
This profound concept of second chances was what I came to understand as I ran from Safa to Marwa, the two hills in the Meccan desert. This essential requirement of Hajj retraces the footsteps of Hajjar as she sprinted seven times between the mounds, a distance about the length of a football field. Each time she would stand on one hill and believe she saw water at the opposite side, and then would run to it only to find a mirage.
I realized as I performed the "Sa'ay" or 'striving with determination' as this portion of the Hajj is called, that her experience was far more difficult than enduring six failed attempts.
These were six false hopes. These are the times we believe we've solved the problem, when we breathe sighs of relief, and tell ourselves it's finally time for some well-deserved rest--only to be let down. After discovering each false hope, she could have given up, cried, panicked, or at least slowed down in her next attempt. Yet, she did not. The seventh lap was as determined and as hopeful as the first.
It was only after this seventh attempt that water erupted from the dessert sand, the spring of Zam zam, the lifeblood of Mecca. God had chosen this mother to establish the holiest place on earth. Her perseverance was a demonstration of her merit. Her false starts were the necessary ingredients of, not the obstacles to, her eventual triumph.
This year at Eid Al Adha, a celebration of second chances and forgiveness, we must remember this lesson as we continue to witness new beginnings that seem promising but fade with time. Whether we are working on building better relations between struggling couples or global communities, our seventh attempt at finding the solution must be as earnest as our first.
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Islamic Holidays (Ramadan, Muharram, Mawlid al-Nabi, and more ...
arab muslims 0.3B = 20%
saudi arabia 28M 0.03B =
We as Muslims belief it to be Ishmael and if it was Isaac, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would have corrected it, as he did for lot of misconception such as Jesus being son of God or the Trinity.
All we need to do is, learn to sacrifice in the path of Allah as much as we can, as in Quran surah Muzzamil, Allah says who wants to give HIM goodly loan by performing non-obligatory acts such as Hajj, sacrifice etc so that we may find it with Allah the double reward for it in the eternal life.
May Allah bless us and accepts our good deeds and give us Halal food.
http://ekhichdi.com/b/Pork-served-at-Pizza-Hut-68.html
Let me extend a blessing to you, instead: God is praised by your beauty and kindness to every living thing that He created and I thank Him for your good heart and all of its extensions to others.
God is All Good. And good to All. May we each praise Him!
And the slaughter of animals in Islam has very strict rules, ensuring the animals are killed humanely.
Given a choice of being killed immediately or having my throat slit in the Islamic fashion and left to bleed to death, I am clear which way I would want to go.
What would you choose?
of course but, is it really less painful to be stun first then killed rather than the Islamic rites slaughter (slitting the large arteries in the neck, the esophagus, vertebrate trachea)? watching the procedures of course we would think the latter is cruel to the animal and painful, however:
the "obligation to protect animals should not so much be the result of human sensitivities and emotional, but to be increasingly replaced by exact and representative scientific knowledge of standards and requirements specific to animal species and correspondent to their behaviour (Ertl. 1972)"
on this premise a study called "Stunning v Slaughter Research Project - Hannover University 1978" by W. Schulze, H. Schultze-Petzold, A.S. Hazem, and R. Gross, was conducted "on the topic of Objectification of pain and consciousness in the context of conventional and ritual slaughter of ruminants (initially sheep and calves)"
here http://www.halalfocus.com/artman2/uploads/1/Hanover_report_1978.pdf
(I will elaborate on their method in this comment but i shall do so on it's second part)
the conclusion "The slaughter in the form of ritual cut is, if carried out properly, painless in sheep
and calves according to the EEG recordings and the missing defensive actions.
peace to all.
I am not judging vegetarianism versus non vegetarianism.
What I have simply pointed out is the basic dichotomy between what the writer states ie. during the ritual of Eid, a muslim is not allowed to even hurt a fly to the fact that the slaughter of animals is a compulsory requirement of Eid ul Adha!
This year's Eid greetings say, in part:
On Eid, Muslims around the world will commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, and distribute food to those less fortunate -- a reminder of the shared values and the common roots of three of the world's major religions.
Less informed Americans will read that and recall the account of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham's son by Sarah and a Biblical patriarch of the Jewish people. On the other hand, in one of its efforts to demote Jews in its Islamic supremacist ordering of life, the universe, and everything, the Qur'an holds that the son in this account was not Isaac, but Ishmael. That's a rather significant jab at "the common roots of three of the world's major religions."
Does this mean Obama is a practicing Muslim behind the White House walls and the mask is slipping? No.
But it is noteworthy in that it is sloppy. If it is intentional, it is disingenuous. If it is unintentional, it is alarmingly bumbling. In either case, it is symptomatic of a policy based on a glossing over of differences, and on lofty but false assumptions of common values, and compatible ideals of human rights and dignity. And the rest of that paragraph only continues to demonstrate all of those issues.
If the story of Abraham is historical, which is, of course, a subject of much speculation and no possible verification - no one knows which son, if any, was (almost) sacrificed.
It's likely that President Obama was just using this time of Muslim celebration to offer sincere wishes for a nice Holiday/religious celebration -- exactly as he has been doing for the holidays of every major religion, since he took office.
I, for one, admire this, and both respect and appreciate the message it sends to the people of the world, of all religions and no religion --- simple, equal respect for all.
And, finally, I don't think the Islamic view concerning Ishmael is supremacist, in any way. By the 7th century, Arabs were well known as the Tribe of Ishmael, just as Jews were known as the Tribe of Israel.
The story of Abraham's near-sacrifice probably spoke of Ishmael in Arab-majority lands, just as it spoke of Isaac in Jewish-majority lands.
There wasn't a printed Torah/Old Testament or Quran (or even a written one, of any kind) for a long time after those documents first came into being as documents -- prior to that, the verses of each were recited, word for word, via oral tradition ... and it only makes sense that there was slight variance in the stories, I'd say.
Peace to all.
Then how do you explain slaughtering an animal such as camel/cow/goat as part of Eid ul Adha? Does this not go against the very spirit of the entire ritual!
Given a choice of being killed immediately or having my throat slit in the Islamic fashion, I am clear which way I would want to go.
What would you choose?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeqmKTd0b6M
Peace to all.