A Time for Renewal

Anaryan/Friend: This deals with both your refutations...

``Shortest day concides with December 21st according to Gregorian calendar, WHICH came into existence long after Jesus was crucified. They even shifted it by few days(during 17th century?).``

The Short answer is that Jesus was not born on the 25 of December, that they (constantine) decided Jesus` birth day would be the 25th during the 4th century. This date was chosen because Constantine was a follower of Sol Invictus (Sol=Sun). He wanted to blur the differences between Mithraism, Baal worship and sol invictus (all of whom were Sun God religions who worshipped their God on the 25th of December). The 25th was the birth of the Sun (when the days became longer, till the sun died (crucified on the 21st of december). Constantine changed all the Jewish holy days to align them with sun worshippers (The Sabbath of saturday was changed to SUNday, Epiphany, ST. Patricks day...)

For the rest of this u gotta think outside of the BOX. Forget about how advanced the west is... The Gregorian calendar was a remix of the earlier Julian Calander. Lets take it to the source, the Julian calender came about when Caesar travelled to Egypt and became infatuated with their 12 month calender. He then had Alexandrian Sosigenes introduce the calendar to Rome.

Marshall Adams in his ``The Book of the Master of Hidden Places`` explains how Sosigenes was utterly ignorant of the astronomical inticacies involved in the Egyptian calender. This is why we have Jan being 31 days long and feb being 28 days long, plus this leap year nonsense. Logical inconsistencies alone should tell us something is up.. Recall that the Mayans and Egyptians were probably the best astronomers ever. The Mayans could tell u where a star would be 70 million years into the past and the future.

The ancient egyptians knew the earth took 365 1/4 days to revolve around the sun. There is a temple dedicated to Ramses II which contains numerous artifacts on small pillars. The Sun COMPLETELY illuminates his artifact on feb 22 EVERY YEAR for more than 3,200 years. The number 6 represented the principles of time and space in egypt, this is why anything to do with time was divisible by 6 (seconds, minutes, months etc)...

Like they copied the calendar, they also copied much of jesus` life. Horus the Egyptian SUN GOD was born on December 25 from the VIRGIN ISIS. Three wise men came to see him at his Birth-day. At age twleve, he taught at a temple. At thirty, he was baptized, having disappeared for 18 years. He had 12 disciples. He raised El-Azarus (``El-Osiris``), from the dead, he walked on water, he was crucified between two thieves, buried for three days in a tomb, and resurrected...

#586 nasah

Hasan, here`s something on your new-found hero, from the RAWA site:

``According to Los Angeles Times (4-26-99): ``In one terrible incident in 1993, documented by the State Department, Masoud`s troops rampaged through a rival neighborhood, raping, looting and killing as many as a thousand people.``

Every one of the ``heros`` of afghanistan, from Hekmatyar to Rabbani, Dostum, Masoud and the taleban, have plundered, looted and reduced to rubble the country of a proud people, at the behest of US, iran, pakistan and wahabis. The northern alliance is just as criminal as the taleban. The only decent option would be to have a popular election under a government headed by Zahir Shah.

Sherdil: So the Afghan refugees developed a fondness for cricket in Pakistan. Surely this is a step forward for civil society in Afghanistan. And the bearded taliban remind one of WG Grace, as you say. I once read an essay on WG Grace by an Englishman, who talked nostalgically about sunny days prior to WWI, with the bearded Mr. Grace at the stumps and all well with the world. Maybe our bearded neighbors will bring the sunny days back to Afghanistan once the taliban are out.

Look forward to more news from Peshawar that you may care to post.

veeresh #577 I see. Sorry, I did not read the ending of your earlier post. I agree with you 100%. This point is often made - In his book ``The WOrld`s Religions`` Huston Smith focuses on the core message of some major religions (as reflected in the holy books, and explicitly leaves out things like tradition and historical accidents) and comes to the conclusion that they are all (a) serene and peaceful, in sharp contrast to many of their ardent followers; and (b) remarkably consistent on the core concepts, with differences being one of emphasis.

Ah, Ahmed Shah Masood -- what a charismatic brilliant strategist – stayed as thorn on the side Talibans for all these years -- there was an hour long, great piece on him by National Geographic Explorer -- last night.

That was one leader -- the Talibans dreaded most -- he is so much missed today in Afghanistan.

The only credible opposition Northern Alliance is practically leaderless today and it shows in its inability to mount a credible offensive despite the bombings.

His assassination 2 days before Sept 11 was directly linked to the New York attack.

Osama and Taliban leaders knew that US will retaliate and possibly invade Afghanistan after the New York massacre -- and seek the help of the Lion of Punjsheer to get at the Talibans -- hence his elimination.

Dear tahmed:

For ``trying to understand``:

hai samujhne ki na baat er hai na sumjhaane ki baat

hum pooraney rind peeree meiN musalmaaN youN hooway

baith ke masjid meIN ub kartey haiN maikhaane ki baat

....... the economist says it all

``The West has no quarrel with Islam. The West is secular, but that does not mean that it frowns upon religion in general, or any religion in particular. Quite the opposite: the West values and protects all manner of religious belief. Millions of Muslims live in the West, and their right to worship as thay see fit is a freedom which the allies ranged against al-Qaeda recognize as second to none. In other words, the West can live in peace with Islam. What is unclear is whether Islam can live with the West``

........... and the answer is ? ........ a big resounding NO ! ....... contrary to what tahmed and zahra bibi and other mealy-mouthed apologists and reinterpreters would have us belive, ``traditional`` and ``real`` islam could not live with mecca and cannot live with new york ..... verily, it is clearly stated :

``Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully; and Allah makes you cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and to Allah is the eventual coming.``

........of course i, like tahmed and others, can find another passage where gabriel might have contradicted allah, but it really doesn`t matter ..... this is what mullah omar and urstruly want to believe and unfortunately god didn`t help matters by not issuing an authentic study guide ...... so we are stuck - do we believe tahmed or the desert sheiks who ride camels, issue fatwas and look like latter-day prophets?

....... and really, the do it yourself kit does not help ....... for years i pored through a dog-eared copy of dawood`s koran, got help from learned friends at tafseer classe, and in the end stuck dawood wher he belongs - on the third shelf between kinglsely amis and pg woodehouse ....... now i am waiting the time series edition of `` home plumbing and islam`` to fix leaky taps and leakier iman ...........

Re: saminashah

Your repeated insults threatening to put me in B-grade designers (sacrificed exclusivity for mass market appeal) are unwarranted.

Pullu: Good post about the contradictions within the BJP. I`d be the first to admit that my viewpoint is restricted to what happens on a nation wide scale, and in terms of foreign policy. In that sense, the BJP appears to be attractive. If a rejuvenated Congress was an option, I would gladly embrace it. But the Nehru-Gandhi family is a curse and a cancer upon India. The one good leader in Congress was Rajesh Pilot. The only one with a political base that I had respect for, and he passed on.

TAhmed:

``PS Members of the Hate Paki and/or Muslims Club on chowk to please not feel the need to react to this post with insults or snide remarks about the Quran or Islam, because I am not trying to sell Islam to you or anyone or trying to save anyone`s soul: As a muslim, I believe that Islam is no better than Hinduism or any other religion, and being a muslim does not put me any closer to God than it does any other individual. ``

Sir, I don`t know if you consider me to be part of Hate Paki Club or not. I don`t believe I am, though, yes, I have given it back to some individuals when provoked. All I want to say is you don`t have to be defensive or apologetic about your religion. Also, nothing wrong in having a personal belief that your religion is better than that of others. It`s only when someone tries to institutionalize that concept, problems occur. As far as you the individual are concerned, Chaati chaudi kar key kaho hum Mussulman hain. Koi kissi ka kya jaata hai.

To tahmed321:

Fair and intelligent comments.

RE: Faiza

``WHO THE HELL IS SHABANA AZMI AS FAR AS ISLAM is concerned.She has broken each every tenet of Islam known.Its another thing the SECULAR press has chosen her as mouth piece of muslims arbitrarily.``

And who the hell are you to decide who is and is not a Muslim? Got a problem with a secular press? Or a secular country? I hope you aren`t Indian...if you are, your contempt of secularism suggests you`d be happier in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.

Shabana Devi...hmmmm I like that; now if only she was a tad younger and didn`t have a Lucknowi bro called Javed Akhtar already hanging around :)

re bjp and indian decline into fundamentalism

I doubt that, bjp or no bjp, india is going to turn non-secular anytime soon. This is not because of BJP`s sudden love for secularism but rather the metamorphsing strength of long parliamentary traditions. Long-surviving multi-party legislatures have their own way of `civilizing` the most firebrand extremists, be they socialist, communist, or fundamentalist. It is in the nature of the institution. Happened in France and in Britain at the turn of the century(socialists), is slowly happening in Turkey and (Islamists). Herein lies the one of the fundamental differences between Pakistan`s Jamaat and India`s Sangh Parivar. Had parliamentary democracy flourished throughout in Pakistan`s history, the Jamaat may have become a more moderate and respectable party.

India`s bulwark against rabid institutional religious bias is not Congress of CPI but the Lok Sabha.

For ``hilarious`` ladies in search of ``Character``:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/550682/posts

nasah #554 Thanks for the appreciation. I do not believe that by not following the rituals you are an adha muslim - from your posts it seems to me may hereafter consider yourself a fine and complete muslim :-) (although of course this is just the opinion of an individual and counts for nothing). No need to feel guilty. While rituals are fine, they are not central to the Quran: what really counts, it is clear from the Quran, is how one lives ones life.

If you havent done so already, go through the Quran in English or Urdu or whatever language you are comfortable in, and read it not as a religious icon but as you would any other book i.e. trying to understand what is emphasized and what is not. You will find it fascinating reading at a minimum, and a pleasant way to end the day.

PS Members of the Hate Paki and/or Muslims Club on chowk to please not feel the need to react to this post with insults or snide remarks about the Quran or Islam, because I am not trying to sell Islam to you or anyone or trying to save anyone`s soul: As a muslim, I believe that Islam is no better than Hinduism or any other religion, and being a muslim does not put me any closer to God than it does any other individual.

Just as if I prefer to speak with real life desi friends in Urdu or Panjabi, that does not mean I think these languages are ``superior`` in any way to Tamil or Bangla or Pashto.

Zahra

“Your post on Sexy Ossama was quite hilarious :) I was at a family wedding where one of my first cousins, who have grown up in the US, very sadly told me, that she was quite disturbed to hear the killing of the Northern Alliance Leader. I cannot seem to recall his name. Amazingly, my cousin has read his biography and agaa-peecha so damn well that I felt like an idiot, not even knowing his name. She, a very charming gal, very sadly put, that she cannot think of marriage anymore. I was taking her lightly till I heard her speak about the deceased in a very warm and affectionate tone :) I think he was very much liked amongst the Talibaan Haters. I was told about the depth of his eyes, the cut of his face and etc etc. She talked about his bravery and chivalry. For a minute, I thought that my pophi-zaad has lost her mind, but then I could understand what she liked about him :) I guess, character. Our women, wherever, they grow up have a tendency to fall for that, specially if they have had fathers as strong figures in their lives. Just thought of giving you another perspective :D

Take Care!”

….ahmad shah masood….and yes, pretty good looking in a craggy sort of way….