Valentine’s Day

Unfortunately many muslims suffer from a perpetual guilt complex. The whole community has been brainwashed into believing that any form of celebration is sinful and that having fun is un-islamic. Most islamic festivals are solemn affairs and there is a lot of focus on mourning and self deprivation.

Even educated persons who have lived in western societies have similar attitudes. I would like to quote one educated person here, `` I am happy things are going well for me, so there must be something wrong. I am afraid that God will take something away from me, therefore I must do something to make me unhappy or I will suffer a greater loss.`` The result of this is that that person ends having fights with friends and family and is perpetually uncomfortable and cannot enjoy anything.

The example given above reflects a lot of Pakistani muslims and is reflective of our society.

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``Give it to this Secularism nut-case just so much that he squeals in rapture`` - #62 by echoboom on February 20, 2004 2:48pm PT


This reminds me of that scene from Deliverance. It is something watching people spew hatred and finding no room for anything good in their heart. Such cruelty that they laugh at love and ridicule the idea of being sensitive and kind and generous as something un islamic or vegeterian or un-Muslim-masculine. You will find this disregard for everything good (solely because its not in their holy book) only in a Muslim male. Is it any wonder that women in Islamic countries have to wear veils and stay indoors. The animals that roam the streets of Islamic lands and invade the homes of these women as their uncles, brothers, fathers, grandfathers are anything but worthy of them.

And to their infantile, juvenile humor - I guess when you are getting your arse kicked on every place on earth from Algeria to Palestine to Chechny , Iraq and Afghanistan you probably have no other option but to descend to 3rd grade humor and laugh with your fellow hyenas with tears in your eyes. I apologize to all my Muslim brethren if I have hurt your feelings and continue to do so. I hope one day you will of your own choosing have the courage to join the rest of civilization and be happy and be in love :) we will be waiting.

Zahraj,

Oh I didnt know that I was excluded from the list, it seems you are still unable to understand my point. And fyi, me and my wonderful wife did enjoy and a had a great time on Valentines day this year.

As I mentioned earlier that we never know how long we`re going to be here and I learnt it from my experience that when I lost my mother last year, I did regret the couple of years which I missed out because of some unfortunate things but the point is that life is short so we should realise the importance of letting other people know about their importance more often, since then to me and my wife these days happen to come once every month not an year :)

Anyway I really enjoyed the replies from Vertex ……

Happy Valentines day to you too

Regards,

Asim

#63,

I love the green and the parades at St. Patrick`s Day. Believing in a festivity is one thing but enjoying the celebration is another. At times we may do both. On other occasions, we do not have to. But in my case, most of my close american friends have mixed irish background. It may have something to do with that. I do not know and I do not intend to ponder on that. Please come out of your shock. This article is ready to leave the board and I would feel real bad to leave a fellow reader in a state of shock. Hope you recover soon. Amen.

Note:
I wanted to write this earlier but somehow I refrained from jotting this down. Now, since the article will be leaving the main page, I hope the readers focus more on the spirit behind the said article. From that list we can certainly exclude both vertex and asim. They have already expressed their leanings - which is fine. The rest can put a pretty leaf in their planner against the said date and mark the day for the next year with a cutoo bookmark.

Happy Belated Valentine`s Day to all the readers...

Best Wishes.

``In contrast: Valentine`s Day.
Why are you so threatened by a little red heart ? or furry little teddy bears? or people in love? or stores selling chocolate ? ``

Amen

There is more LOVE in Valentine`s day, people are more positive, peaceful- Agreed!
The animal sacrifice thing is indeed overplayed by the masochists in our societies.

Ref ZahraJ #19

[As far as borrowing celebrations are concerned, I would say we should thank our stars that none of the events like, mother`s day, father`s day, st. patrick`s day, st. valentine`s day and many others have anything to do with killing anyone or shedding blood - something that was very well pointed out by Shiraz.]

Legend has it that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. So, as long as you subscribe to species-ism, you may consider St.Patrick to be a gentle Christian soul. But from the viewpoint of the snakes, they had to leave their ancient abodes to satisfy some God-crazed mullah of the Christian faith. On top of that, have you considered how the snakes could possibly get out of Ireland which is an island? Most of them probably drowned. A holocaust! And you want to celebrate a feast day for him? I am shocked, to say the least.

#60 by vertex

Haa Haaa Haa.! You are simply Grrreaaat!

Oh how humorous and hardhitting can you be at the same time! Loved it man. You are the best thing that has happened to CHOWK after a long time. Give it to this Secularism nut-case just so much that he squeals in rapture and returns for more..this way we`ll get to read more of your acerbic wit.

56, solitude:

``Dear Vertex, please allow me to understand. Are you asking me about meat and killing animals and sauces because you want to know if I am a hindu?``

I`m not asking you squat. Couldn`t care less what you think you are...

``Or perhaps you think I am a vegetarian ? Maybe you think you have the area of ``killing animals`` covered because you have debated with Hindus before and you feel that you got the best of them by making them look like pansies? ``

No, I don`t debate this issue with Hindus. In fact, their diet is of no business of mine...I certainly won`t criticize them for it. What`s this sudden fixation with Hindus? You know who has my goat (you can still have a slice if you want), but what`s got your goat dude? Take mine and forget about yours...mine is yummy...stinky but yum.

``I already gave you permission to celebrate your Bakra-Eid.``

Oh, how nice of you. Not that I care...

`` What else do you want ? Do you want your mommy and daddy to tell you once again that Bakra Eid is better than Valentine`s Day? ``

...teehee, is that what umma and aboo told you? Never mind...I promised not to pry. No, truth be known my hatred for Valentine`s Day actually comes out of a deep seated sympathy for Charlie Brown. It`s not right for a boy to suffer so much in one day...


``Beware of what you hold in contempt. Satan held Adam in contempt for being human and for being unable to pray as much as Satan prayed and for being flawed.``

No, actually Satan thought he was better (more sophisticated) than eat-with-hands Adam.

``When you hold something like love and Valentine`s Day (or maybe just Valentine`s Day) in contempt and behave like your Bakra Eid is superior you are basically saying ``I am so insecure about Islam and Bakra Eid`` Maybe.``

No, I`m saying Eid is relevant, and V-Day is not - to me and my `ilk`. You`re the one doing the comparing and contrasting and lambasting and bashing and the like. Go on, celebrate V-Day as much as you want...happy? No doubt, you vestern and sophisticated, not villager pandoo like me! Each to his own.

``Or Maybe Not. Or maybe it truly is your own hatred of the bathroom ``lotta`` and your own inner guilt about people with orifices and silver spoons coming out of them. It is possible, think about it. ``

...okay...thought about it....annnnddd....well, now - I`m rather fond of my lota. And as for you and your orifices....sorry dude...never knew you actually had silver spoons in them. I should be more sensitive next time...meant no disrespect.


``Come Bakra -Eid the entire neighborhood turns into a zoo with animals and their refuse littering the streets.``

Dude, in the places where that`s done the neighborhood is always is a zoo, with animals and their refuse littering the streets...

#59 jang
What`s bakras?
Cows are sacred to most hindus probably for historically practical reasons (pastoral society, etc.) Monkey are venerated because they represent hanuman - the monkey who was with rama during his trying times. Incidentally, it`s a sin to kill squirrels because they did their bit in building the bridge to Lanka for rama`s army. They got their stripes when rama fondly caressed one of them, the story goes..
I wouldn`t call eating meat as ``dissing gods.`` To some people killing the animals is the ultimate disrespect you can show them.
The american indians apologize to the spirit of the animal they have killed. It`s an interesting idea where you can keep your ``god`` and eat it too...

solitude..thanks, i am aware of the adventists veg`sm ... eg they run several hospitals and offer only vegetarian food in their cafeterias (however, the patients food is not vegetarian as per medical practice).

I was surprised by the concept that not eating animals may be dissing the gods. I have also heard hindus claiming that cows (and monkeys) are to venerated because they drink water by sucking as opposed to lapping (as a dog does), thus displaying higher form intelligence. But then why not worship bakras? Bottomline is that religions give nonsense explanations to even mundane and good things like food.

I think we all lust for meat in a primitive way, and over years of civilisation and (agri)culture, learned to be vegetarian. Kind of similar transformation is happening in our treating women with respect etc.. a purely civilized learned behavior hiding the more primitive basic instincts.

jang,
Seventh-day adventists are vegetarians. They also shun alcohol because Jesus supposedly never drank.

#52 by vertex on February 19, 2004 9:41pm PT


Dear Vertex, please allow me to understand. Are you asking me about meat and killing animals and sauces because you want to know if I am a hindu? Or perhaps you think I am a vegetarian ? Maybe you think you have the area of ``killing animals`` covered because you have debated with Hindus before and you feel that you got the best of them by making them look like pansies?

Maybe you had a good laugh at the Hindus and used similar logic like ``Animals are not human you know``. Or maybe you feel terribly guilty about sacrificing animals to prove your love for Allah and the poor. Do you? If you do (and maybe you are in denial) then I already gave you permission to celebrate your Bakra-Eid. What else do you want ? Do you want your mommy and daddy to tell you once again that Bakra Eid is better than Valentine`s Day?

Beware of what you hold in contempt. Satan held Adam in contempt for being human and for being unable to pray as much as Satan prayed and for being flawed. When you hold something like love and Valentine`s Day (or maybe just Valentine`s Day) in contempt and behave like your Bakra Eid is superior you are basically saying ``I am so insecure about Islam and Bakra Eid`` Maybe. Or Maybe Not. Or maybe it truly is your own hatred of the bathroom ``lotta`` and your own inner guilt about people with orifices and silver spoons coming out of them. It is possible, think about it.

No one is forcing you to celebrate Valentine`s Day but when people celebrate Bakra-Eid the fallout from the celebration affects the entire community. Come Bakra -Eid the entire neighborhood turns into a zoo with animals and their refuse littering the streets. The smells and the hay all over the place. Then the urinate defecating animals affecting the ambiance. Then the booing and baaing and the mooing keeps people up at night. Then comes sacrifice time and the smells and the entrails affect entire societies.

In contrast: Valentine`s Day.
Why are you so threatened by a little red heart ? or furry little teddy bears? or people in love? or stores selling chocolate ?

``There was a mcdonald`s opposite the karaoke place? how long ago were u at uiuc btw? Because the only mcdonald`s there now is IN the Union...in the basement...and yes, i realize ur being sarcastic by giving me details about where the McDs was :) `` - #54 by Sobia on February 20, 2004 1:00am PT

I graduated in 99 (May) and I wasn`t being sarcastic but sort of ``pretend-huffed``. You are pretend-huffed when you really enjoy what you are talking about but you pretend like you are not. Its a neurotic condition that people adopt to lend levity to the event. For e.g. if someone is teasing you, you pretend like its bothering you by saying ``Dekhyay Naa! Mazaaq Nahin Kijyay!`` (Please don`t tease me). It is akin to the neurosis that some women affect upon themselves. It is not a good neurosis to adopt because yes can mean no and no can be misunderstood as yes. It lends to confusion unless you are very intimate or have a desire to be intimate with other people and their culture.

I ate at the McDs in the basement of the Union around the time I left for NY.

UIUC is a school for kings and queens (no sarcasm). Even UTA was very kind to me but I discovered myself in UIUC.

Solitude seems like a goner. Wonder what traumatized him.

//It is quite amusing it see people pick at bus routes when the topic is something more sublime and monumental ... //

As i wrote in a post before, i didn`t comment on your article because i never did read it again (I`m a little slow, usually digest such pieces after i`ve read them a couple of times) but i did pick up on the fact that you went to UIUC because you spoke of the engineering campus, which, incidentally, was very dear to me b/c i used the lab to download songs...fast connection you see :D

//Now before everyone starts asking me which McDs it was. It was the one opposite that Karaoke place which would mean that the bus made a whole circuit before it dropped me off by the Union and I walked to the McDs and then ate my first Big Mac trembling right in front of Everitt Hall and the bus stop leading to the drive was of the student Union. //

There was a mcdonald`s opposite the karaoke place? how long ago were u at uiuc btw? Because the only mcdonald`s there now is IN the Union...in the basement...and yes, i realize ur being sarcastic by giving me details about where the McDs was :)