Hence, war is inevitable. An 'Act of God' whereby Mankind is against their own kind. The Crusaders against the Jihadist and this war is termed as 'Holy War' all in the name of a God!!!
And this was when religion came in to undertake that task. Basically they had to adopt the concept of the Creator and that this Creator is also the maker and bringer of laws. Hence God’s laws would bind humankind to a certain code of conduct and a set of moral laws. And you breach this code of conduct and moral laws at your own peril. The punishment could be penance or banishment, or worse, death.
In the old days you just killed and ate whatever you killed (and sometimes you killed each other and ate them as well). Now there needs to be certain respect shown to each other. For example you can no longer just kill someone and cook him for dinner and take his woman as your mate.
Morality, something that never used to exist, now needed to be clearly defined. What is moral and what is immoral? And to define morality you needed to first define conscience. Your moral compass would need to be defined by what we call conscience. You have to begin drawing the boundary between right and wrong.
But who is going to be the power that determines these new standards? There was no elected government to undertake this task. The community was self-governing. But someone within that community needed to spell out what is right and what is wrong and hence what are the boundaries of morality-immorality.
The early religions of the hunter-gatherers were mainly animated and the belief in spirits. They believed that everything had a spirit — trees, hills, rivers, the sun, the moon, animals, etc. Hence, as a sort of ‘insurance’, they prayed to these spirits.
Before they cut the corn they prayed to the corn spirit for permission to cut the corn lest the spirit in that corn got angry and punished them. Before they climbed a tree they prayed to the spirit of the tree lest they anger the spirit in the tree and they fall down and hurt themselves or die. Before they fished they prayed to the spirit of the lake or river lest they anger the spirit and fall into the water and drown. And so on.
Hence the early concept of religion was that of a bad, mischievous, angry, jealous, vengeful, uncompassionate, possessive, etc., spirit that lived in everything that the eye could see. And you had to please, bribe, pacify, etc., this spirit lest it punishes you for being inconsiderate in not seeking permission before doing something. And you did this with prayer and sacrifice (both animal and human — as well as, for example, burning some corn as sacrifice before eating it).
If you got sick it is because you angered a spirit. If your catch is bad it is because you angered a spirit. Anything bad at all that happens is the revenge of an angry spirit. So you need to appease this spirit.
That was basically what religion was all about in the early days of the hunter-gatherers. There was no concept of morality or of the existence of a Creator. No one worried about morality or contemplated issues such as who created us and why are we here and whatnot. All that came much, much later.
It is said that death is not the end for it is just a beginning of life; "The After Life"!!! So put forth Heaven on Earth so as to be knowledgeable in the After Life...
And this was when religion came in to undertake that task. Basically they had to adopt the concept of the Creator and that this Creator is also the maker and bringer of laws. Hence God’s laws would bind humankind to a certain code of conduct and a set of moral laws. And you breach this code of conduct and moral laws at your own peril. The punishment could be penance or banishment, or worse, death.
So early religions had to be strict. Religion maintained law and order within the community. They maintained the peace and security. They severely punished offenders and transgressors. And that is why religion is all about rules and regulations. It was what kept you safe and alive.
However, to bind people to the dictates of religion you must first bind people to the doctrine of that religion. And that is why religion is steeped in dogma. You must accept and believe that there is a power that created you and that this power can punish and reward you depending on whether you are a good person or bad person. Once you accept that doctrine you can then accept and follow the dictates of that religion. You become good because it is beneficial to be good and you avoid being bad because it is unrewarding to be bad.
Eventually, humankind became more sophisticated as it progressed and primitive religions were no longer acceptable. So the prophets of the new religions had to impress a sceptical population that he was truly the prophet of God.
For example, back in the days of the Pharaoh, magic was what awed the people. The Pharaoh declared that he was god and he had a team of magicians who could turn a stick into a snake to prove it. Moses too was forced to use magic to turn his stick into a snake and which swallowed the snakes of the Pharaoh’s magicians. Even the Pharaoh’s magicians were awed.
Moses also parted the Red Sea to allow his people to escape from Egypt. No one would deny that Moses was legitimate with the powerful magic that he performed.
During the time of Jesus, people were awed by miracles. In fact, magic was by then seen as the devil’s work (you would get put to death for performing magic). So Jesus had to perform all sorts of miracles to prove his legitimacy. (And that is why the miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus is so crucial to Christianity).
During the time of Muhammad, the people were awed by poetry plus of people who had a superb memory and could recite poetry from memory. Poets who could memorise and recite poetry were the superstars of that time and much respected (plus women would swoon and fall in love with them).
So Muhammad had to recite ‘poetry’, so to speak, as his ‘miracle’. And that is why the verses from the Qur’an are all oral (Qur’an derives from the word recite) and not written (until later) and poetic as well. And the most respected people of that time were those who could memorise and recite the Qur’an. And the Qur’an is read with melody and the end of each verse rhymes with the one before it.
It is said that all Muhammad had to do was to recite verses from the Qur’an and even those who had come to kill him fell down in prostration when they heard the verses. Maybe the Arabs were just suckers for a good poetic verse but whatever it was they were awed when they heard the recitals.
And that, Muslims believe, is the miracle of Muhammad.
Now, another very important point about Arabia of that time, other than being awed by poetry and verses, was that the Arabs were warring desert tribes. They attacked one another, killed one another, robbed one another, kidnapped the other tribes’ women and children, and whatnot. It was basically a test of your manhood to raid and fight the other tribes. It was the same culture as the Vikings and many people of that time. It was, in fact, a noble pastime or occupation back in the pre-Crusade era.
One task ahead of Muhammad was to unite these people, an impossible people to unite even up to this present day (as you may all be aware). So how to unite the hundreds of Arab tribes who for centuries had been fighting and killing each other?
The only way would be religion. The Arabs had no respect for anything or anyone except when it comes to religion. They will fight each other and kill each other until they entered the ‘holy land’ of Mekah. Then they will lay down their arms and not harm even a fly. Hence if you can control Mekah you can control the Arabs. He would never be able to unite and control the Arabs until he first controlled Mekah. And I believe that was why he needed to invade Mekah with an army of 10,000 a year before he died.
Hence it was a political strategy. First sabotage Mekah’s economy. Then conquer Mekah militarily. Then introduce Islam to Mekah. And then unite the Arabs under the new religion of Mekah.
I would say it was a brilliant strategy — until after Muhammad died and Islam broke up into many sects and which, again, disunited the Arabs until today.
Muhammad must be weeping seeing this Arab-Muslim disunity from wherever he is currently resting.
Holy War - Battle of BADR (1st battle of Islam)
Allah had helped you at Badr, when ye were a contemptible little force; then fear Allah; thus may ye show your gratitude. Remember thou saidst to the Faithful: Is it not enough for you that Allah should help you with three thousand angels (specially) sent down? “Yea”? if ye remain firm, and act aright, even if the enemy should rush here on you in hot haste, your Lord would help you with five thousand angels making a terrific onslaught. - Quran verses 123-125 in chapter 3
At the wells of Badr, the Muslims and the Meccans met for battle. The Muslims were outnumbered by the Meccans 3 to 1. The battle began with an Arab tradition where each side sends out warriors to fight each other. Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law and cousin, Hamza, the Prophet’s uncle, and Ubayda, a companion of the Prophet from his clan, represented the Muslims and defeated the Meccan warriors. The battle then began and ended with a decisive victory for the Muslims.
This victory was important in Islamic history because it gave the Muslims a boost in morale. They saw this victory as a sign from God.
“Permission to fight has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah has full power to help them to victory.” (22:39)
Caravan Raids?
Caravan raids in the 500s-600s were part of Arabian culture for many generations and that is how the desert tribes or Bedouins earned a living.
It was just like the Europeans such as the English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and so on, of 500-600 years ago. They raided and plundered each other’s ships and brought the bounty back to their own country to enrich their economy. They were not pirates. They were patriots.
Hence the Arabs, too, raided and plundered each other and confiscated the property of their rivals and captured the women and children and sold them into slavery or kept them as slaves for themselves.
We must remember that some of the emigrants from Mekah to Medina were once wealthy people. They owned property, which they had to abandon when they left Mekah to migrate to Medina. Hence they were now very poor.
To survive they needed to participate in caravan raids and this was a decent and honourable way to make a living. It was what the Arabs did and any Arab worth his salt would not shy away from this or else he would be a cowardly and worthless Arab.
Hence for years the Medina Arabs raided the caravans of the Mekah Arabs. And for the Mekah people this was an occupational hazard. So you lost about 3% of your goods in transit but that is the price you pay to transport goods from the north to the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
Another reason why these raids were important, other than for purposes of money, is to weaken the Mekah economy. Mekah was the centre of everything, business as well as religion. For Medina to equal or surpass Mekah, they had to make it unprofitable for people to do business with Mekah.
Not all these raids were successful, though. Sometimes the Medina raiders came home with nothing. And sometimes they came home with nothing after losing some lives. Not always did Prophet Muhammad lead these raids, though.
The Holy War...
One day the Medina people heard that one of the largest caravans ever would be making the trip from north to south. So Prophet Muhammad decided to lead a force of about 300 people to lie in ambush in Badar.
The Jewish spies aligned to Mekah sent a message to Mekah informing them about the ambush so Mekah sent a force of 1,000 to meet the Medina force of 300.
Prophet Muhammad was devastated. He knew that he was outnumbered and for three days nothing happened as the Mekah and Medina forces faced each other while Prophet Muhammad prayed to God for guidance.
On the third day, as Prophet Muhammad continued praying, the fighting started and Abu Bakar told Prophet Muhammad that the time for praying has ended and that it was now time to fight.
Somehow the Medina forces won and the Mekah forces surrendered. And the rumour that went around is that Allah had sent angels down to help the 300 Medina people to defeat the 1,000 Mekah people.
And that was how the Badar battle transformed from a caravan raid into a holy war, as many Muslims believe.
So this is what jihad is all about, as Prophet Muhammad said after the battle of Badar. He said thus ends the small jihad and now we need to embark on the greater jihad.
And the grater jihad meant by Prophet Muhammad is not war but the battle we wage against ourselves. And this would mean the fight against lust, pride, egotism, greed, arrogance, anger, and so on. And lust is not just sexual lust but lust for wealth, power, etc.
The Crusades...
Do you know that there were probably twenty or more Crusades for almost 400 years from 1096 to the mid-1400s? And not all Crusades were Christians versus Muslims or fought in Jerusalem, as we are being led to believe. There were also many Crusades where Christians exterminated Christians in the power struggle being fought to determine which version of Christianity is the correct version.
And to ensure that they met their objective of exterminating ‘the teachings of the devil’, they had to embark upon ‘ethnic cleansing’ so that there were no remnants of deviants and heretics who would threaten ‘the religion of God’.
Ironically, Jews and Muslims were not regarded as followers or practitioners of the teachings of the devil. Only those Christians who did not follow Rome or the Pope were. Hence Jews and Muslims were spared (except in Jerusalem) while fellow Christians suffered the brunt of the Crusades.
And these Crusades were fought in Europe, not in the Middle East or Jerusalem. And history now refers to this Crusade as the Inquisition although in the beginning it was called a Crusade. And the Inquisition was basically an attempt to eradicate heresy (a.k.a. devil worshipping).
Heresy was a concept introduced by the Church of Rome, which was set up by Emperor Constantine. Constantine wanted Christians to follow the model of Christianity established by Paul as in the New Testament rather than that of the Gospels because they considered the teachings of Jesus as being too Jewish.
Although Paul was as Jewish as Jesus, Paul lived his life outside Judaea around the Mediterranean region and hence was more influenced by the Greek and Roman religions while Jesus was more inclined towards the Essene philosophy, to which the Nazarenes were attached.
Historians even go so far as to say that Paul created a new religion with Jesus as the earthly godhead, which in the year 44 in Antioch, Syria, became known as Christianity.
Thereafter, the doctrine of Paul got assimilated into Christianity and became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Subsequently, the Church Fathers decreed that Christians who still followed the Nazarene model would be considered heretics who should be put to death.
It was not until a thousand years later, however, that the crime of heresy was ‘formalised’ after the 1229 Synod of Toulouse.
The Church was worried about the emergence of influential groups that were undermining Rome. One of these groups was the Waldensians. One of the teachings of this group was that people should give away their wealth and live a life of poverty. They also translated the Gospel into French, which was forbidden.
The problem with Latin was that only a handful of church leaders could read the Gospel while the masses would remain in ignorance.
Eventually, the Church ruled that the Waldensians were followers of the devil and at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 they were declared heretics who practiced devil worshipping.
The Cathars, too, who had translated the Bible into their own language, suffered the same fate. The Cathars, who came from the Italian-German region of Lombardy, Tuscany and the Rhineland, were non-conformists. They believed that one can preach religion without a licence and that there was no need for priests and churches like what the Catholics have (just like what Jesus, too, believed).
Hence they regarded themselves as the true followers of Jesus and not followers of the ‘contaminated’ Roman religion.
The declaration of heresy and devil worshiping against the Cathars was upheld by King Phillipe II of France and Pope Innocent III. In 1209, 30,000 soldiers under Simon de Monfort, wearing the red cross of the Holy Land, invaded Languedoc and exterminated the Cathars.
This became known as the Albigensian Crusade.
The slaughtering went on for 35 years at the cost of 30,000 lives, Catholics included (because they could not differentiate between Cathars and Catholics so better that all of them perish). Many were burned alive at the stake. And the same thing happened in other parts of Europe such as in the Netherlands and as late as the 1500s in England.
Hence, what we see today is the dominant Church of Rome mainly because over 400 years they exterminated all those who were not aligned to the Church of Rome. But what if Constantine had chosen another model of Christianity instead of Paul’s version? Well, then I suppose, today, the Church in Rome would not be a Catholic Church.
The Holy War Between The Crusaders & The Jihadist
The Wars against Crusaders and the Capture of Jerusalem
Salahuddin Ayyubi, the great warrior of Islam
Salahudin Ayyubi was a fighter who freed Jerusalem of the Crusaders, he was a living example of the tolerant, progressive, and inclusive faith which was so dear to his heart. By showing restraint and peaceful treatment, Salahuddin was upholding the central tenets of Islam such as freedom of religion and protection of non-Muslims.
"The answer to an ill-deed is an ill-deed or the like thereof. But whosoever pardoneth and amendeth his reward is with Allah. Surely, He does not love wrong doers." (Al Quran 42:40)
Matthew 5:38 You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.' Exodus 21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. Leviticus 24:20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. Deuteronomy 19:21 "Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
The 'an eye for an eye' doctrine comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, believed to have been written under the specific direction of King Josiah, who was notorious for his worse-than-Taliban-ish attitude, and his amazing 'creativity' in accidentally and coincidentally discovering an unknown set of Mosaic laws in the Temple, just at the time when he was about to reform (meaning tightened) and standardise (meaning no flexibility permitted in interpretation) the religious laws of Judean kingdom. "And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:" (Deuteronomy 20:13)
History tells us that when Sultan Salahuddin regained Jerusalem from the invading and ruthless Crusaders, who had ninety years earlier massacred and savagely treated its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, he met a group of Latin Christian women who addressed him, "O Sultan! You see that we are leaving. Among us are mothers, wives, daughters or sisters to the soldiers in captivity with you. These men are our support in life, and if we lose them we will lose everything. But if you leave them for our sake, you will be giving us back our lives." At this our hero Salahuddin smiled and he gave orders that the sons and husbands of those women were to be set free. He went even further and gave money to the women whose supporters were killed in the battle. An irate French girl came up to the Sultan and said, "You murderer, you have killed my father, and captured both of my brothers, so there remains no one to support me!" Our hero calmly ordered that her brother be set free and then addressed her: "As for your father, he was killed in a war which he started himself and in which many innocent people were killed." The French girl looked down full of shame and regret for her insolence with such an honourable man and with tears in her eyes, she said "Forgive me, sir! It was the bitterness of grief and the description given to us of your people and their cruelty in our country(that caused my insolence). But now I see that you are honourable enemies and I have not despaired of your forgiveness. May God curse the liars in our homeland who decieved us and depicted you as savage assassins who had desecrated our holy places. They exploited emotions (and sent us here i.e.) But when we came to know you, we could not see the truth in any of their claims."
Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi, the hero of hundreds of battles, was the person who for twenty years braved the storm of the Crusaders and ultimately pushed back the combined forces of Europe which had come to swarm the Holy Land. The world has hardly witnessed a more chivalrous and humane conqueror. The Crusades represent the maddest and the longest war in the history of mankind, in which the storm of savage fanaticism of the Christian West burst in all its fury over western Asia. Christianity hurled itself against Muslims in expedition after expedition for nearly three centuries, until failure brought lassitude, and superstition itself was undermined by its own labour. Europe was drained off men and money, and threatened with social bankruptcy, if not with annihilation. Millions perished in battle, hunger or disease and every atrocity imagination can conceive disgraced the warrior of the Cross'. The Christian West was excited to a mad religious frenzy by Peter the Hermit, and his followers to liberate the Holy Land from the hands of the Muslims. `Every means', says Hallam, `was used to excite an epidemical frenzy'. During the time that a Crusader bore the Cross, he was under the protection of the Church and exempted from all taxes as well as frees to commit all sins.
Could There Be ONE???
In the beginning it was only emptiness... In a place before time Was a place of Nothingness... When space & time collapse That's the Beginning of the End For the beginning Is indeed the End.
Defenders of the Faith!!! (Between Christianity & Islam)
The issue of when the mosque in Jerusalem was built is crucial to Muslim belief, just like the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. The Muslims dispute the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. The Muslims say it never happened and that someone else who looked like Jesus was crucified instead. Hence, since there was no Crucifixion, then there was no Resurrection as well.
The story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of Christianity. If it did not happen then there is no Christianity. If the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus is a lie then Christianity itself is a lie. Hence to dispute the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus is to dispute the existence of Christianity.
And Islam disputes the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.
In that same spirit, Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey is crucial to Islam. That story, too, is crucial to the existence of Islam. If that story is disputed then it opens Islam itself to question. It is very important, therefore, that the Muslims defend the story of Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey.
But then, if the Jerusalem mosque did not exist yet at the time of the Prophet, and if it was built by Umar after the death of the Prophet, then how credible would the story of the Night Journey be when Muhammad was supposed to have travelled to Jerusalem, up to heaven to meet God, and home again, all in the same night? And it was at this time that Muhammad received the command for Muslims to pray five times a day.
Hence, for the Christians, they have the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. And, for the Muslims, they have the story of the Prophet’s Night Journey from the Jerusalem mosque up to heaven. Without these two stories Christianity and Islam would not exist.
Hence, also, it is understandable that the Christians will get angry when you dispute the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus just as the Muslims will get angry if you suggest that the mosque in Jerusalem did not exist yet at the time of the Prophet. And if you dispute any or both these stories they will say it is a Jewish conspiracy because if the Bible and/or the Qur’an says that something had happened then it did happen, even if the archaeologists and historians say otherwise.
Basically, religion is all about faith and you need faith to believe that Jesus died and came back to life three days later and that Muhammad flew 1,200 kilometres to Jerusalem and then up to heaven to meet God in just one night. And people who have faith and believe in this do not like those who do not to dispute what they believe and to suggest that what they believe may not be right.
ONE!!! In a place of made believes...
You say one love, one life When it's one need in the night One love, we get to share it Leaves you, baby, if you don't care for it
An inscriptions of Jesus or Muhammad?
If these scholars are correct in their assumptions, this throws a whole new light on the more than 1,000-year-old conflict as to who owns this holy site. Was this structure built as a memorial to Prophet Muhammad or to Jesus Christ? And if it is a memorial to Jesus Christ, was it built to counter the Christian dogma of the Holy Trinity and present Jesus as a mere mortal and messenger/prophet of God rather than the Lord and Son of God?
The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew (and in Judaism) as Har haBáyith and in Arabic (and in Islam) as the Haram Ash-Sharif (al-haram al-qudsī ash-sharīf means Noble Sanctuary), is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years. At least four religions are known to have used the Temple Mount as their holy site: Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and Roman paganism.
The inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock can be seen below. The two ‘key words’ in those inscriptions would be “Islam” and “Muhammad”. Hence, going by these two key words, the Dome of the Rock is believed to have been built by a Muslim — the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik — and it is further believed to have been built as a shrine or memorial to the Prophet Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.
In Arabic, the word “Islam” means “submission” or “surrender”, which is derived from the root word “salam”. From this root word, you can also derive the words “peace” and “safety”. Many people feel that Islam implies some sort of “enslavement to Allah”, but others find it more viable to define the word “Islam” as “surrender”.
The word “Muhammad” is derived from the Arabic root word “hamd” or “praise”. It is the emphatic passive participle of that root and can be translated as “the Oft-Praised One”. As for “Ahmad”, it is the superlative form of the same root word “hamd”, which means “the Highly Praised One”.
If you were to interpret the word “Islam” as “submission” or “surrender” and the word “Muhammad” as “the praised one”, then the inscriptions will take on an entirely different meaning.
Western scholars are beginning to question whether the Dome of the Rock is a memorial to the Prophet Muhammad or a memorial to Jesus Christ. For example, “Muhammad is the Messenger of God, the blessing of God be on him” can also be interpreted to mean: “The praised one is the Messenger of God, the blessing of God be on him”. “Muhammad is the servant of God and His Messenger” can also be interpreted to mean: “The praised one is the servant of God and His Messenger”.
Now, assuming that the “Muhammad” in the inscription does not refer to Muhammad the person (the proper noun) but refers to “the praised one” (an adjective), whom, therefore, are they referring to? If you were to look at the other parts of the inscription, it talks about “The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God”. Then it goes on to say: “It befitteth not God that He should take unto Himself a son” and “There is no god but God”.
Scholars believe that this is evidence that the inscription is not talking about Prophet Muhammad but about Jesus Christ and that this ‘doctrine of faith’ is meant to counter or dispute the Christian dogma that Jesus is the Son of God and the Lord (Jesus) — and that Jesus was merely a messenger or prophet of God.
If these scholars are correct in their assumptions, this throws a whole new light on the more than 1,000-year-old conflict as to who owns this holy site. Was this structure built as a memorial to Prophet Muhammad or to Jesus Christ? And if it is a memorial to Jesus Christ, was it built to counter the Christian dogma of the Holy Trinity and present Jesus as a mere mortal and messenger/prophet of God rather than the Lord and Son of God?
This is certainly a very interesting hypothesis and quite difficult to dismiss without further examination. The fact that the inscription talks about Jesus and the “Muhammad” in the inscription, if translated to “the praised one”, can also be referring to Jesus gives credence to this hypothesis.
Nevertheless, it will be very difficult for most people to accept this hypothesis as a possibility considering that for more than 1,000 years people have held on to a certain belief and now you are asking them to rethink this whole thing. You are also telling them that for more than 1,000 years what they believed may not have been correct after all.
One more ‘troubling’ thing about this hypothesis is that Caliph Abd al-Malik was supposed to be a Muslim. Therefore, if he had built this as a shrine for Jesus Christ rather than Prophet Muhammad, does this mean the Caliph was not a Muslim but a Christian? This would be the most difficult question facing Muslims who may choose to consider this hypothesis as a possibility.
A Thousand Years Of Love & Hate???
A Tale That Ain't Right
Pet of the God Seth
Once upon a time, long long long ago, indeed very very long ago, more than 6 thousand years ago, way way before 4000 BCE, in the ancient land of Pharaonic Egypt, someone was found guilty on a mistaken identity or by association. That someone was a pig! And he was found guilty of being an animal that was sacred to Seth, the Lord God of Chaos, Confusion, Storms, Wind and Desert, among other things.
Not exactly a nice bloke, so no one dared to mess around with him or his sacred animals, among which was the hippopotamus, which was at times mistaken for poor piggy and which was why piggy got itself elevated to being Seth's sacred animal. Thus the ancient Egyptians won't eat piggy, and so the Hebrews, who adopted many of ancient Egyptian customs like circumcision, matriarchal lineage, written script* and of course monotheism, also adopted the no-pork eating observation.
In a delightful book titled In the Devil’s Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food Stewart Lee Allen the author informed us that:
Historians fancy the notion that Jewish pig phobia stems from their stint as slaves in Egypt during the time when the cult of the god Seth held pigs to be exalted beasts. This may also explain the curious reports that certain Jewish cults used to have secret pork feasts once a year. According to scholar Frederick Simoons, when Seth was overthrown, his beloved spareribs became taboo for Egyptians, save for a yearly feast held at the full moon, a habit some Jews might have picked up. Why the full moon? Because the original sacred animal was not the pig, but the similar-looking hippo, which according to ancient Egyptian belief, lived on the Moon. Hippos live on the Moon? Well, yes; the idea is that while some Pharaoh was meditating on the full moon reflected on the Nile, a hippo emerged from the reflection ...
Wish I Knew, If I Knew!!!
The PIG was created on Noah's Ark from SHIT to rid of all waste & droppings.
By GOD's command, its meat shall NOT be eaten but The Deviant People choose to disobey at their peril despite not being hungry no more.
I must admit I missed the part in the Holy Book about the pig being created on Noah's Ark - I defer to his superior knowledge, though I did wonder whether two pigs or only one were-was created. One would have been good because it would have avoided all our current worries. But why a pig, and not just a few bags of processed organic fertiliser?
I suppose this is why the Muslim ulama’ say you must not think too much because too much thinking may confuse you and lead you astray. Hmm…maybe I should stop thinking about this then.
Creation As An Act Of GOD...
Of all the planets that God created, He loved Planet Earth most. That dark ocean blue orb was veiled sparsely by wisps of white clouds and plastered over one quarter of its surface with good brown earth. Planet Earth is His jewel in the Solar System, one masterpiece within another. He loved it so to put living things, vegetation and animals, on it. All species of animals that He created, He loved, from the lowly earthworm to the deer, the tiger, the ape and the man. He, in His wisdom, infused them with the basic instinct of survival that they, His precious creations, might propagate and prevail for as long as He wished. But alas that ‘basic instinct’ would act like a double-edged sword in the man. While he, armed with that instinct could look out for himself, his fellow-man-enemy would not hesitate to do away with him, when he is perceived to be a threat to his enemy’s survival.
In the early days after the creation there was just one Race, despite God painting his men in various colours of brown, black, yellow and white. There was love and compassion. No man knew what hate was. That the one Race prayed to the one God was most natural. And God wanted it that way. He wanted just one monotheistic religion. So it came to pass that He got what He wanted. He was happy. But not for long because men began to lose their innocence.
As time went by, men went forth and multiplied and occupied more and more of the ‘good brown earth’. Then they began to divide. Their ‘survival instinct ‘ started to work on them and they formed exclusive tribes based on colours of their skins to better protect themselves. They carved up the ‘good brown earth’ into separate nations and within each nation there was further subdivision based on different races and religions.
God became apprehensive when he saw His monotheistic religion being slowly and surely torn asunder. One religionist group would claim exclusively that only their followers could go to Heaven. But the rival religionist group would counter, “Nay, not so. Our followers would surely go to our Heaven!” So it came to pass that not being satisfied at dividing our good earth into separate nations, men now wanted to divide the Heavens into different sections also. At this God was horrified.
We Belong Together!!!
When it finally came to ‘us against the others’ men began to be paranoid with guarding their religions against perceived external threats. But they were blind to any internal threats. They swore to defend their religions with their lives. Now, at this, God was even more horrified. So He said unto them, “Thy religion serves to protect thee from evil ways. It should defend ye and surely not for ye to defend it.” And He further said unto them, “Go forth and practice my teachings sincerely, for surely that is the best way to defend thy religion.”
But God saw that recalcitrance had set in among men.
In a moment of utter despair He reached out for His artist’s palettes, dipped His paint brush with black paint and summarily blackened out Planet Earth from His masterpiece. All at once the precarious equilibrium of the Solar System began to disintegrate, just like that human pyramid of the circus act. The rest of the planets and their mother Sun shot off on their own trajectories to the far beyond of the unknown, millions of light years away.
In the end, the space occupied by our Solar System was just a black immense void. A silent, ghostly void. A sheer emptiness that was devoid of the simplest form of particles or gravitational forces.
Only in Darkness does One sees the Light
For before light it was only darkness
In Darkness there lays a Shadow of Beast
In such Darkness there is only Silence
A sound of Silence.... Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains Within the sound of silence...
Holy War is an act towards Heaven
Beliefs in religious teachings offers great comfort to most of humankind because they offer after-life 'assurances' and promises where some of these even amount to immense sexual pleasures.
Wiki tells us that Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (1445-1505 AD) was an Egyptian writer, religious scholar, juristic expert and teacher whose works deal with a wide variety of subjects in Islamic theology. But this was how he saw Paradise (Jannah):
Each time we sleep with a Houri we find her virgin. Besides, the penis of the Elected never softens. The erection is eternal; the sensation that you feel each time you make love is utterly delicious and out of this world and were you to experience it in this world you would faint. Each chosen one will marry seventy [sic] houris, besides the women he married on earth, and all will have appetizing vaginas.
However, Chinese religions don't offer sexual pleasure after death but rather protection from starvation or dangers because throughout Chinese history, the Chinese suffered from many wars and natural disasters leading to famine.
Obviously each religion knew its respective clientele, where sex must have been f**king important to the Arabs, while food was to the Chinese, to ensure its business would flourish. A case of different appetizing taste buds.
Thus, very rare few would want their religion's assurances and promises discredited, especially by the other religions. Nay, they instead want their religious beliefs reconfirmed and fortified.
Feels Like Heaven...
A nun teaching Sunday school was speaking to her class one morning when she asked the question, 'When you die and go to Heaven, which part of yourbody goes first?' Suzy raised her hand and said, 'I think it's the hands.' 'Why do you think it's your hands, Suzy?' the nun asked. Suzy replied, 'Because when you pray, you hold your hands together in front of you and God just takes your hands first.' 'What a wonderful answer!' the nun said. Little Johnny raised his hand and said, 'Sister, I think it's your legs.' The nun looked at him with the strangest look on her face. 'Now, little Johnny, why do you think it would be your legs?' Little Johnny said, 'Well, I walked into Mummy and Daddy's bedroom the other night. Mummy had her legs straight up in the air and she was saying, 'Oh God, I'm coming!' If Dad hadn't pinned her down, we'd have lost her.' The nun fainted.
PARADISE CITY...
Who's In Heaven?
On their way to get married, a young Catholic couple is involved in a fatal car accident. Next, the poor couple find themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting for St Peter to process them into Heaven. While waiting, they begin to wonder: Could they possibly get married in Heaven? When St. Peter showed up, they asked him. St. Peter says, "I don't know. This is the first time anyone has asked. Let me go find out," and he leaves. The couple sit and wait, and wait, and wait ..... Two months pass and the couple is still waiting. As they wait, they discuss that if they are allowed to marry in Heaven, then what will be the eternal aspect of it all? "What if it doesn't work?" they wonder, "Will we be stuck together forever?" Soon, another month passes but St Peter finally returns, looking somewhat bedraggled. "Yes," he informs the couple, "you can get married in Heaven.” "Great!" say the couple, "But we were just wondering, what if things don't work out? Can we also get a divorce in Heaven?" St. Peter, red-faced with anger, slams his clipboard onto the ground. "What's wrong?" ask the frightened couple. "OH, COME ON!" St. Peter shouts, "It took me three months to find a priest up here! Do you have ANY idea how long it'll take me to find a LAWYER!
Only In Heaven, Everyone Is Forever Young!!! And there'll be Forever Virgins too...
Only In Heaven there'll be no rules... Everything and Everywhere is a joy for its a perfect place to be as there'll be no rules and no one is chained to Laws for everyone shall be a King!!! A Kingdom Of Heavens...
An Unchained Melody. (Everything seems Unchained not binded by rules & regulations)
I have been asked (on behalf of my Uncle) on whether Buddhists can pray for Muslims, Hindus and Christians to reach heaven, and my answer (again on behalf of my Uncle) has been in the affirmative as there's plenty 'upstairs' for everyone, including virgins.
On that same occasion Muthu was asked on whether Hindus can pray for Muslims, Buddhists and Christians to reach heaven, and his answer was exactly like mine.
But when Betty was asked on whether Christians can pray for Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus to reach heaven, she prevaricated for a while, mumbling it would be better if all embrace the Lord, though finally agreeing with Muthu and me.
End of story.
Will there be R.O.C.K. In Heaven???