TIRMIZI NEWS: 2014

Saturday 4 October 2014

Namaz Ka Sahi Tarika Tasaveer k saath

Namaz E Janaza

Wednesday 1 October 2014

The Story of Christmas and Santa

Who was Santa

School Children are told Santa "lives" at the North Pole in Greenland.
½ Million tourists travel to Finland believing he originates from Lapland in Finland. They come in search of the Finnish Santa who they believe set up home in the little town of Rovaniemi.
The city of Bari in southern Italy also claims to be the spiritual home of Santa Claus.

Nicholas is lived in southern Turkey, then Asia Minor, during the first half of the fourth century, but nothing was recorded about his life until more than two hundred and fifty years after his death. Less than a hundred years after his death, he was worshipped as a saint for his legendary deeds, such as :

A neighbour lost all his money becoming destitute with his three daughters and, to prevent them having to earn their living by prostitution, he threw them three bags of gold through the window.
Nicholas became a model of, generosity and protection to the oppressed People, children without any money, he was Particularly good at looking after children. St. Nicholas, legend has it, resurrected three boys cut up by an innkeeper and pickled in brine, to be sold off to unsuspecting customers.

Santa meets Christianity

The city of Bari in southern Italy claims to be the spiritual home of Santa Claus, the City boasts, the final resting place of St. Nicholas, the man the Church believes is both the essence and the inspiration for our modern-day Santa. While the cathedral boasts of having the holy relics of this miracle-worker, St. Nicholas never put a foot in Italy while alive. His remains were actually seized seven hundred years after he'd been buried. The city of Bari, and the Catholic Church, keen to increase their power and wealth, conspired to steal the bones to make the city a magnet for pilgrims. At the end of the eleventh century, forty seven armed men from Bari set sail for Asia Minor. They overpowered four monks and seized the valued relics of St. Nicholas. The Church agreed to pay the thieves, and then their heirs, a percentage of the offerings, but later the Church reneged on this deal, keeping all the money for itself. Ever since, the Catholic Church has helped to promote an annual festival to celebrate this profitable act of piracy.

In the northern European countries, modern Scandinavia, St. Nicholas was not at first given the same warm reception. The people here had their own pagan gods to protect them during the long, cold winter nights. One of these god's who was a sky god and at mid-winter, the sky god came down to earth, kissed the horizon and started off the process for the birth of Spring, the rebirth of the new year and the animals would be born, the fruit would start to grow, the little crops from beginning agriculture would start to come up several months later. So this was a really crucial moment, a pivotal moment in the turning of the year, when the sky god coming down to the earth.

Later came the northern god Odin, who had a character for every month of the year. His kindly December character, Yulekatid, left money for the poor. People used to say that when the winter clouds scudded across the sky, it was Odin flying across the sky on his white horse, and he used to come to earth dressed in a long, hooded cloak, with a bag of coins, bread, to give to people who were poor, in his winter guise.

Around the same time, we had the Saxons who gave everyone and everything, personifications. So the weather, the elements, they all has personifications: Father Ice, King Frost, King Winter. They were all welcomed into the halls of the Saxon thanes because they believed that by welcoming them, they would be less harsh. The Saxons' tradition of mid-winter gods and festivals to honour them became widely accepted in Britain, but a clash between this pagan religion and emerging Christianity produced new mid-winter figure: Father Christmas, character part pagan, part Christian.

Father Christmas came from the old northern traditions of Odin and the personification of winter, which in the Middle Ages had come into a melting-pot together with St. Nicholas, and the parishes in the Middle Ages used to send out a man, either an actor or someone from outside the parish who wasn't known in the parish, and he would be dressed in a long cloak and he would go around the houses to each family in the parish saying 'is all well?' and leaving something for the children.

The Church, believed it needed to replace he, the misguided ways of the indigenous peoples and they went about it in a very organised manner. Pope Julius set the official date of Jesus's birth at the height of the pagan mid-winter festivals, and that just shows us how important it was to the Christian missionaries, to try to replace the Odin figure. They also came up with Bishop Nicholas, who was put forward as the figure who would represent the Christian Christmas and would replace this figure of Odin. And in fact they asked people, to dress up as St. Nicholas.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, St. Nicholas was seen as a demi-god, a symbol of eternal goodness and righteousness, a figure almost as popular as Christ. Where some East European saints were seen as stern, even forbidding, St. Nicholas was recalled as a kind and generous saint, a protector of young people.

He was a benefactor of children and on his commemoration, on the sixth of December, parents and other friends liked to give presents to children and because it was rather close to December the twenty fifth, where they also, gave presents, and that's a pre-Christian custom at that time of the year, because it was near to Christmas, therefore the two things became fused and Nicholas became a kind of mix-up with the Christmas festival of present's for children.

Despite the cult of St. Nicholas, which led to over four hundred churches in Britain being dedicated to him, pagan customs still had their undeniable attractions. The vast majority of people still lived in the countryside and worked in farming, and so in country, houses in villages and, little hamlets around the country, then the festivities would have been very much as they'd been in the very old times, the sorts of things that we associate with Christmas feasting, drinking, parties, present-giving, holly, ivy, mistletoe, Christmas sorts of activities that, that have sustained through the centuries.

Santa is Banned in Britan

But in 1642, the Puritans seized power and outlawed many act's that had no Christian or divine basis. The Puritans realised that the the sort of things that we associate with our popular Christmas today, which were still current then had nothing to do with Christianity and they, tried to dissuade people from partying, from drinking, from dressing up and giving gifts, they introduced an Act of Parliament which officially abolished the popular Christmas customs and it was, decreed that stores should stay open on Christmas day and that anyone found partying would be arrested. From Canterbury to London, there were bloody riots when shops were forced to stay open on Christmas day.

In Holland, St. Nicholas was untouched by political uncertainties or by pagan mid-winter characters. Even today, they celebrate the arrival of their saint in Holland and the anniversary of his death during a month of religious festivities before Christmas. Yet it was the Dutch who unwittingly helped to turn St. Nicholas, who they called Sinterklaas, into an icon of commercialism, when they set out for the New World in 1626. After St. Nicholas was transformed from Sinterklaas to Santa Claus.

Americanisation of Santa

The "Santa" Character was further developed in 1809 when an amusing but inaccurate history of Dutch traditions was written. Washington Irving, influenced by north European Christmas customs, pictured St. Nicholas riding in a wagon merrily over rooftops, dropping presents down chimneys, the first time this had been sighted.

In 1821, Clement Moore, a theology professor and an expert in European folklore, developed this character in a poem he wrote for his children, which went like this.

"CLEMENT MOORE":

'Twas the night before Christmas
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came With a bound
He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack
. His eyes how they twinkled His dimples, how merry

His cheeks were like roses
His nose like a cherry!
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed like a bowl of jelly !

He was chubby and plump, oh a jolly old elf
And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself!

Moore saw St. Nick as an Elf dressed in fur riding across rooftops on a sleigh with eight tiny reindeer, rather than a wagon, a vision not witnessed in Britain by writers struggling to popularise Christmas. Charles Dickens was one of the writers trying to revive ancient Christmas traditions which had survived in the country but not in the growing cities. His creation of Scrooge in 1844 captivated the new middle class. Dickens used Scrooge to pillory misers who despised traditional Christmas festivities.

What Dickens did was make Christmas middle-class and personal and, it wasn't merely, a repetition Christmas for Dickens was an occasion for summing up. An occasion for remembering. An occasion for calling to mind everything, the good times, fee bad times. He made Christmas an occasion for memory. Scrooge goes wrong because he fails to remember.

Scrooge is encouraged to recall the benefits of middle-class family life by the Ghost of Christmas Present - that was Father Christmas for Dickens. The first illustrated version of A Christmas Carol shows a Father Christmas from the Middle Ages, partly pagan and partly Christian. About this time, the Americans were seeing an elf called St. Nick, partly descended from tiny Nordic house-gods. Thomas Nast, one of America's most talented cartoonists, turned the elf into a Santa. Nast had made his name as a political cartoonist with a gift for populist imagery. He used these characters to make political statements.

Strongly supporting President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, he looked for an image which embodied goodness and righteousness. His first Santa Claus, for instance, was in 1863 and it was a Santa Claus in cap, and it was a little gnome-like figure in a starred jacket and striped trousers handing out gifts to the soldiers.

He was created to give softer and "romantic" view of war and President Lincoln at the time was supposedly quoted as saying that Nast was his best recruiting agent, because Nast in a way glorified the Northern cause. Twenty years later, Nast's Santa was again Intervening politically. Now elderly, Santa had put on weight, his elf-life appearance had long gone.

Nast created the image of Santa Claus as we now know it and if you follow the Nast Santa Claus drawings from 1863 until the Christmas Drawings for the Human Race were published in 1889, you will see that Nast evolved his figure from the gnome-like figure that other artists had used before into a self-portrait of himself. He always portrayed himself as fat and jolly and his was his own self-portrait.

Nast's popular portraits of himself as the Santa in Twas The Night Before Christmas sold well in Europe and his image was taken up by other artists. By the 1870s, Christmas cards started to appear with versions of Nast's image.

At this time European Christmas traditions had barely changed. With gift-giving, which dates back to early times. With a Christmas tree, which first appeared in Britain about 1790. And with a slim Santa, more in keeping with the early Father Christmas, who was still in Europe the most popular visitor at Christmas.

Globalisation of the American Santa

The Globalisation of red and white American Santa was performed by Coca-Cola, a company struggling to sell cold drinks in the cold season, the company wanted to figure out a way to associate the product with the holiday season, and so they turned to, an illustrator named Haddon Sunblum. Sunblum concluded the spirit of the holiday was really Santa Claus, and Santa Claus had this enormous task facing him every Christmas Eve and that was to go around the world, in an evening, distributing, toys to children everywhere and obviously he would, you know, get tired and he would get thirsty and he would need some refreshment, so what better idea than to have Santa pausing in his rounds in various scenes enjoying a Coca Cola?

Sunblum's Santa Claus really became American Santa Claus and in real terms the global Santa Claus, because his characterisation of Santa Claus was the one that people saw over thirty years. He came into their homes, he became a part of their lives and so, in a very real sense, here is imagery created for a commercial product that has now become a part of popular culture. In Britain, the post-war years saw Santa's final assault on the throne occupied by Father Christmas. The department stores started getting visits from Santa Claus who was very much the American image of Santa Claus with the curly white whiskers, dressed in red and white and the fat jolly appearance, and was thought to be less frightening than Father Christmas.

Santa's story shows commercialisation has never been far from Santa's grotto. The relics of St. Nicholas have brought wealth to everyone who has possessed them. And St. Nicholas's papal protector is perfectly happy about the revered saint being reincarnated as Santa Claus.

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Daughters’ rights in Islam

In Islam bringing up girls is strongly appreciated. Prophet Muhammad promised the one who brings up their girls properly that he would accompany him in paradise. To understand why the noble Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, empathized the well bringing up of girls we have to know that in the Arabic society before Islam, fathers used to feel disgraced when a daughter is borne to him. They used to burry the girl alive to get rid of the shame. They considered the daughter as inferior to the son. In fact only few of them were a bit fair to girls.
Fighting such an unfair attitude was one of the main issues in Islam that came with the major concept of equality between all races, “An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab”
To fulfill this concept Islam had to fight sex discrimination. Islam fought this discrimination in various ways in which Islam ensured the rights of women whether as a mother, wife or daughter.
Among the sayings of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, regarding daughters are :

Malik reported Allah's Messenger, may peace be upon him, as saying: He, who brought up two girls properly till they grew up, he and I would come (together) (very closely) on the Day of Resurrection, and he interlaced his fingers (for explaining the point of nearness between him and that person).
Mother of the believers, A'isha, the wife of Allah's Apostle, may peace be upon him, said: A woman came to me along with her two daughters. She asked me for (charity) but she found nothing with me except one date, so I gave her that. She accepted it and then divided it between her two daughters and she ate nothing out of that. She then got up and went out, and so did her two daughters. (In the meanwhile) Allah's Apostle, may peace be upon him, visited me and I narrated to him her story. Thereupon Allah's Apostle, may peace be upon him, said: He who is involved (in the responsibility) of (bringing up) daughters, and he accords benevolent treatment towards them, there would be protection for him against Hell-Fire.
Mother of the believers, A'isha, may Allah be pleased with her, reported: A poor woman came to me along with her daughters. I gave her three dates. She gave a date to each of them and then she took up one date and brought that to her mouth in order to eat that, but her daughters expressed desire to eat it. She then divided the date that she intended to eat between them. This (kind) treatment of her impressed me and I mentioned that which she did to Allah's Messenger, may peace be upon him. Thereupon he said: Verily Allah has assured Paradise for her, because of (this act) of her, or He has rescued her from Hell-Fire.
Translation of Sahih Muslim, Book 32, The Book of Virtue, Good Manners and Joining of the Ties of Relationship (Kitab Al-Birr was-Salat-I-wa'l-Adab) - Chapter 44: THE MERIT OF ACCORDING BENEVOLENT TREATMENT TO DAUGHTERS
A daughter always belong to the paternal family. Marriage does not break this bond. The Islamic social order makes elaborate arrangements for fair treatment of the daughter.
The daughter have the right to be financially supported by her father till she gets married (where she is financially supported by her husband). If the father dies then her financial support becomes the responsibility of her brother
Daughters must receive love and best maintenance.
Daughters have as much rights as the son in educational, physical and mental uplifting.
Daughters have their share in the father's property, which is recognized and granted at every cost.
Daughters have the right to choose her husband. The father is not allowed to oblige her to marry a certain person.
If, by chance, a woman becomes a widow or is divorced, Islamic law reverts her back to the paternal home where she is supported financially (if widowed while if divorced she is financially supported by her ex-husband during her period of Iddat then by her father) and looked after with love and affection.The Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "should I not tell you what is the best charity..That you should show kindness to that daughter who(becoming a widow of having been divorced) has been returned to you, and who has no other maintainer or supporter." (Ibne-e-Majah, Abwahul Adab).

Friday 12 September 2014

Namaz Ki Sharait

Wednesday 6 August 2014

The Muslims and the Jews

In A.D. 70, the Roman general, Titus, captured Jerusalem and put an end to the Jewish rule of Palestine. Following the Roman conquest, many of the Jews left their homeland and wandered into other countries. Some Jewish tribes crossed the Syrian desert and entered the Arabian peninsula where they settled in Hijaz. In course of time they built up numerous colonies in Medina and between Medina and Syria. They are also said to have converted many Arabs to Judaism.

At the beginning of the seventh century A.D., there were three Jewish tribes living in Medina (Yathrib). They were Banu Qainuka'a, Banu Nadhir and Banu Qurayza. All three tribes were rich and powerful, and also, they were more civilized than the Arabs. Whereas the Arabs were all farmers, the Jews were the entrepreneurs of industry, business and commerce in Arabia, and they controlled the economic life of Medina (Yathrib). The two Arab tribes – Aus and Khazraj – were debt-ridden to the Jews perennially.

Besides Medina, the strong centers of the Jews in Hijaz were Khyber, Fadak and Wadi-ul-Qura. The lands in these valleys were the most fertile in all Arabia, and their Jewish cultivators were the best farmers in the country.

The migration of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, from Makkah to Medina (then Yathrib), brought him into contact with the Jews for the first time. At the beginning they were friendly to him. He granted them the famous Charter of Medina, and they acknowledged him the ruler of their city, and agreed to abide by his decisions in all disputes. They also agreed to defend the city in the event of an invasion by an enemy.

But, unfortunately, this friendship did not last long. It soon became obvious that the Jews had given their friendship to Muhammad with many reservations. In their own interest, they ought to have acted their part of the agreement faithfully but they did not. For this change in their attitude, there were many reasons, among them:

1. When Muhammad arrived in Medina, he reformed the life of the Arabs or whoever became a Muslim. He taught them to be temperate and moderate in everything, and taught them the value of discipline in life. They stopped drinking and gambling both of which were the causes of their ruin in the past; and they gave up taking loans at high rates of interest from the Jews.

When the Arabs stopped taking loans and paying interest on them, a rich source of revenue suddenly dried up for the Jews, and they bitterly resented this. They could now see that their grip on the economic life of Medina was beginning to loosen.

2. The Jews also realized that Islam was an enemy of the system of exploitation, and of the capitalist system. They began to see Islam as a threat to their economic interests.

3. The Jewish priests hated Muhammad as much as the Jewish money-lenders. He had shown to the Jews how their priest followed deviant interpretations of their scriptures, and how they distorted their text. The priests, on their part, tried to convince their flocks that Muhammad did not have knowledge of their scriptures, and they tried to point out to them the “errors” in the Qur’an.

The Jews also believed that they were safe only as long as the two Arab tribes of Medina, the Aus and the Khazraj, were fighting against each other. Peace between the Aus and the Khazraj, they thought, would pose a threat to their survival in Arabia. For this reason, they were always fomenting trouble between them.

Of the three Jewish tribes of Medina, the Banu Qainuka'a and the Banu Nadhir had already been expelled after the battles of Badr and Uhud respectively, and they had left with all their baggage, and herds of animals, and had resettled in Khyber.

The third and the last tribe of the Jews in Medina was the Banu Qurayza. According to the terms of the Charter of Medina, it was their duty to take an active part in defending the city during the siege of A.D. 627. But not only they did not contribute any men or materials during the siege but were actually caught conspiring with the enemy to compass the destruction of the Muslims. Some Jews even attacked a house in which many Muslim women and children had taken refuge as it was considered a safer place for them than their own houses.

If Amr ibn Abd Wudd had overcome the resistance of the Muslims, the Jews would have attacked them from the rear. Between the pagans of Makkah and the Jews of Medina, the Muslims would have been massacred. It was only the presence of mind of Muhammad and the daring of Ali that averted such a disaster.

R.V.C. Bodley

The Jews were not at first inclined to listen to Abu Sofian's proposal (to attack Muslims from the rear), but after a while they compromised and agreed to betray the Moslems when the time seemed opportune. (The Messenger – the Life of Mohammed)

The conduct of the Jews during the siege of Medina was high treason against the State. Therefore, when the confederate army broke up and the danger to Medina was averted, the Muslims turned their attention to them.

The Jews shut themselves up in their forts and the Muslims besieged them. But some days later, they requested the Prophet to raise the siege, and agreed to refer the dispute to arbitration.

The Prophet allowed the Jews to choose their own arbitrator. Here they made a very costly blunder. They should have chosen Muhammad himself – the embodiment of mercy – to be their judge. If they had, he would have allowed them to depart from Medina with their baggage and their animals, and the incident would have been closed.

But the Jews didn't choose Muhammad as their judge. Instead, they chose Sa'ad ibn Muadh, the leader of their former allies, the Aus. Sa'ad was a man who was utterly reckless with life – his own as well as that of others.

Sa'ad had received a mortal wound during the battle of the Trench, and in fact died soon after he had passed judgment on the fate of the Jews. He declared treason to be an unpardonable offense, and his verdict was inexorable. He invoked the Torah, the Scripture of the Jews, and sentenced all men to death, and women and children to slavery. His sentence was carried out on the spot.

The Jews of the tribe of Qurayza were massacred in the spring of A.D. 627. From this date, the Jews ceased to be an active force in the social, economic and political life of Medina.