Karam Ram on Beyond Religion

The famous atheist Richard Dawkins said that many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense, but September 11th changed all of that. The people who attacked the Twin Towers were men of religion. Religion is often a cause of suspicion, distrust and conflict because religious people don’t always ask critical questions about their faith and can confuse religion and politics and culture together. What may just be cultural becomes invested with religious significance. So is organized religion about God, or is it really about maintaining community and identity? Can being Christadelphian become more important than actually being children of God?

Jesus’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican illustrates the “us and them” attitude and how we can simplistically divide the world into the good guys and the bad guys.  Paul says,

“don’t be wise in your own conceits”

but that’s exactly what the Pharisee does in enumerating his good deeds. He’s saying

“I am deserving of God’s favor because I do all these things,”

and in contrast, all the publican can say is

“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Groupthink is a very deeply ingrained human tendency. Societies and communities maintain cohesion through groupthink. Religious communities are susceptible to it when they prioritize their own identity, their privilege at all costs:

“We are special. We have the truth, and because we have the truth, we are in God’s favor.”

The Pharisee in the parable is a very powerful example (as is the case of Al Qaeda and ISIS) of how groupthink enables certain views of the world and attitudes to become normalized, but to anyone outside that group those attitudes are just bizarre or immoral. Jesus’s parable is especially subversive because the Pharisees represented the popular ideas of piety within Judaism but in this case it isn’t the religious man who is right with God, it’s the sinner.

In Jesus’s time groupthink was probably much more powerful because of the Roman occupation. The foundational event for Israel was the Exodus from Egypt, so they could probably more justifiably mobilize religion in favor of their aspirations for liberation. They tried to draw in Jesus by asking whether it was appropriate to pay taxes to Caesar.  Jesus doesn’t criticize the Romans or Herod or Pilot, but Jesus was very critical of people who represented popular ideas of religious piety.  Jesus is trying to bring the Jews back into an authentic relationship with God rather than one that was just based on formalism or rituals.

If religion is just about how we appear to other people, then it’s only ever going to be superficial. Jesus makes the point that the Pharisees cleaned the outside of the platter but not the inside. There is obsession with respectability, with fitting in with the group, which results in hypocrisy. Jesus said in John’s gospel,

“I know you don’t have the love of God in you. You receive honor one from another, how can you receive the honor that comes from God?”

They were the children of those who murdered the prophets. They could celebrate the righteous and the prophets in death, but they couldn’t abide them in real life.

These are really penetrating and cutting criticisms of the way religion is co-opted and abused. We could apply it to our own community.  We may not be the worst offenders – I don’t know any Christadelphians who have flown airplanes into the sides of buildings! – but these words of Jesus have a lot to say about the state of religion today and the way that religion is mobilized as part of identity politics.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says

“I haven’t come to destroy the Law and the prophets, but I’ve come to fulfill”

because he was aware that the people who were listening to him wouldn’t actually recognize what he was saying. For them, religion was all that the Pharisees represented, temples, rituals, externals.  Jesus was aware that his message stressing a direct relationship with God without all of this other stuff would appear to be unrecognizable. It was beyond their concept of religion because it was about a personal relationship with the Father.

That idea of being the children of God should be important to us in a very personal and powerful way.  Christ made this very clear through his personal communion with the Father. There’s an incident in Matthew’s gospel where the Jews ask Peter

“does your master pay the tax”

and Jesus said to Peter

“what do you think? of whom do the Kings of the earth take tribute from strangers or from children?”

The implication of the question is,

“why are we having to pay this? Are we strangers from God or are we his children?”

The whole point of Jesus’s ministry is to bring us into a real, authentic relationship with God.

For the Jews of Jesus’s day, the one thing that represented God more than anything else was the temple. The temple was impersonal and vast, but that suited everyone because it kept God at a distance. Our challenge is to be up close and personal with God. That’s what Jesus came to do, to break down that wall of partition between us, to tear the veil of the temple. We need to cultivate hearts and minds that are less concerned with the appearance of respectability or groupthink, and more sensitive to the real presence of God in our lives.

To listen to the full interview with Karam and Steve please check out WCF A Little Faith podcasts

Early warnings of the coming attack

Because the Belgian government considered the background information of a coming attack at the airport a serious risk of danger, they stopped their evacuation program in time, before the explosion made so many casualties.

Thursday at the Abbey Gate of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, where hundreds of Afghans and foreign citizens had been queuing up to get on the last evacuation flights out of the country, there were two bomb explosions killing at least 90 people. The warning several secret services had received became a real drama. The explosions killed 13 U.S. service members, injured 18 Americans and killed at least 60 Afghans. In a video of the carnage shared with several television stations, bloodied bomb victims lay still among water bottles and backpacks crammed with the possessions grabbed for the exodus from Kabul. A man wearing an Afghan national soccer team shirt floated in the canal that runs along the road to the gate, next to the small body of a boy, both heads submerged.

The attacks marked the most gruesome and ignominious moment of a country which is on its turning point, looking forward to a Taliban regime. But for some those Taliban militants are not religious enough and not demanding enough of the Afghan people. Several Taliban members, therefore, have chosen to connect with the regional branch of Islamic State, a sworn enemy of the Taliban, giving this bombing just as a sign for those who would not turn over to the Sharia Law.

It looks like the world shall have to face a new enemy: Islamic State-Khorasan Province, abbreviated ISIS-K or ISKP).

In Afghanistan the dreams and goals of the women seem to have all gone,

“everything is gone.”

The Taliban instantiated itself from the bombings and consider ISIS-K as a rival, not an ally — and ISIS-K is neither as large, nor as wealthy as al Qaeda was. When they took over Afghanistan it was already a huge question mark if they would keep to their promises to be more lenient than 20 years ago. The Taliban are now also looking for legitimacy. This time they also promised not to exercise their power to limit women’s rights. Their leader promised children would be able again to go to school. Until what age he did not tell.

Kabir Taneja, a fellow at New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation said that ISIS-K is:

“definitely not comparable to al Qaeda in 2001.”

“For now, they are an Afghan-based insurgency with diminished power.”

While experts say it’s difficult to estimate how ISIS-K’s presence in Afghanistan will play out in the future, the attack at Kabul airport indicates that it is a growing threat.

“The fact that they could impact Western forces and the Taliban in one attack is a big win for them,”

says Saurav Sarkar, a security specialist and former visiting fellow at the Stimson Center, a Washington, D.C. think-tank.

 

A reminder to what could happen to Christians in Afghanistan

Some seven years ago just days after the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria said they killed hundreds of Syrians, dozens of Iraqi Christian families had to flee the ISIS-controlled city of Mosul, hoping to avoid a similar fate.

The 18th of July 2014, the al Qaeda splinter group issued an ultimatum to Iraqi Christians living in Mosul – by Saturday they had to be converted to Islam, pay a fine or face “death by the sword.” A total of 52 Christian families left the city of Mosul early Saturday morning, with an armed group prohibiting some of them from taking anything but the clothes on their backs.

“They told us, ‘You to leave all of your money, gold, jewelry and go out with only the clothes on you,'”

Wadie Salim told CNN at that time.

Images obtained exclusively by CNN show that the phrase “property of ISIS” scrawled in black paint on a number of the homes that were abandoned.

There and then those Christians could still find a place to go to. Some of the families headed for Irbil – which was then controlled by Kurdish forces – and others toward the Dohuk province. The majority went to Dohuk, which is 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Mosul.

Like at that time people now in Afghanistan do not know how to act. Many wonder

“Are we going to get killed?”

We saw in 2014 ISIS to be able to take over large swaths of land due to the lack of centralized authority in both Iraq and war-torn Syria. We also saw how the Sunni militants hoped to establish an Islamic state throughout the region and how much bloodshed came over the land.

Today the Taliban again repeated soothing words that people in Afhanistan should not have to worry. But the past reactions when they conquered land did not prove they were very friendly to people who thought differently than they.

Inquisition also bad for Jews

A Catholic bishop granting plenary indulgences for the public during times of calamity. Note the almsgiving in the background. Wall Fresco by Italian Artist Lorenzo Lotto, Suardi, Italy, circa 1524.

The Roman Catholic Pope in the 1200s was annoyed that there where people who called themselves Christians but did not want to worship Jesus as their god. Those true Christians said there was only One God, Who is one, and which was not the god of the Catholic Church but the God of Israel. This was a blow in the face of the Roman Catholic Church which also could see a lot of money not coming in their hands because those Christians who refused to worship the Trinity also said that people paid for their sins by their death and not by ecclesiastical indulgences.

The Pope not pleased with those lay preachers who could undermine his establishment got enough clergy interested to battle those who had other thoughts than they. He established the “Holy Inquisition Against Depraved Heresy” to deal with breakaway ‘Christian sects’. At first it was a judicial procedure set to be able to judge all sorts of people who did not want to go with the Roman Catholic Church. But later an institution was established by the papacy and, sometimes, by secular governments to combat heresy and to act like we now see Al Qaeda, ISIS/ISIL or Daesh, Boko Haram and other fundamentalist Islamic groups to press what they believe would be the only true faith everybody had to have.

First being relatively powerless, as secular rulers, suspicious of Papal meddling in their own internal affairs, did not allow it access to their countries, in a period of more than 200 years, very few heretics were burned at the stake. In 1481, at the peak of the Ottoman power, however, after extracting a promise from the Pope that the Inquisition would remain under the Crown’s control, thus ensuring that confiscated assets of heretics would revert to the throne, Ferdinand and Isabella established the Inquisition in Seville (Reconquista). While it is commonly assumed that the Inquisition was brought to Spain out of a concern that Jews were trying to influence conversos to leave the Christian fold, one prominent historian is of the opinion that by 1481 Jewish consciousness was virtually nonexistent among the conversos, and that Jews did not attempt any such outreach. Rather, he believes, the Inquisition was an outgrowth of the attitudes of Spain’s Old Christian population. In the words of one Spanish historian,

“The Inquisition was a genuine expression of the soul of the Spanish people.”

When we hear about the Inquisition we most often do not think of the Jews, with good reason, because most damage was done to sincere godly people who had taken Jesus as the son of God and their saviour and not as their god. Though the horrible action taken by the Roman Catholics, undertaken in the twelfth century and following centuries to find “Christian heretics” who would be punished or killed, had her eyes also set on the Jewish community. Eventually, Jews too were open to such charges of heresy, simply for being Jewish; and torture was routinely used to extract “confessions.”

These coming weeks we also remember how this coming up time to Pesach was a very dangerous time for Jews, because they could be caught cleaning their houses and linen and buying vegetables before Pesach, blessing children without making the sign of the cross, fasting on Yom Kippur, and refraining from work on the Sabbath.

Interestingly enough, Jews who never converted to Christianity were not under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, and could practice their religion freely and openly. It was only conversos who were considered heretics for forsaking the Christian creed and practising Judaism. Worse for the Catholic Church was that some of those converts did not become a Catholic but accepted rabbi Jeshua as the Messiah, the son of God but not a god son, like the Roman Catholics did. Those having gone in the water to become a Baptist, became with that group a target for prosecution, according to the Roman Catholics being a dangerous ‘cult’ and with other protestants to be removed from this earth.

Marranos: Secret Seder in Spain during the times of inquisition, an 1892 painting by Moshe Maimon

Mainly because of persecution, Muslims and Jews in Spain at that time found it socially, politically, and economically expedient to convert to Catholicism, but where not really practising that faith and at home kept their ow practice of faith. In 1481 the Inquisition began to function in Spain to expose the secret Jews, known as the Anusim (who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will) or Marranos, who converted to the Christian faith to escape persecution but who continued to practice Judaism secretly, but over the years spread to many countries. The Spanish Inquisition was anti-Jewish more than in any previous countries. The first public sentencing and burning alive of six marrano men and one woman by the Spanish Inquisition was held on this date in Sevilla in Southern Spain.

All sorts of torture where good for the unsparing cruel fanatics, of which many also set their eyes on the Jews and certain Christian groups or monasteries their assets.

Differently with the present day inquisition groups of Islam the Roman Catholic Church did not want to spill blood, but only “save souls”. For not having their clergy to become accused for having blood on their hands they made use of civilians and secular authorities for the many executions, whereby they found it was best to use bloodless deaths, such as strangling and burning alive.

For ISIS the colour today is orange, but at that time the condemned people wore yellow sanbenitos, cloaks, with red crosses and the letter X painted on them. Those given the death penalty wore tunics with paintings of flames and devils. The procession marched through the town to the burning area where the judges sat. The cases involving lesser penalties were judged first, then those receiving strangulation before burning, and finally those condemned to be burned alive.

The first auto-de-fe was held in 1481, and the last in 1731, an old woman who was accused of

“being influenced by the Devil, after which she laid eggs with prophecies written on them.”

Tomás de Torquemada (Thomas of Torquemada) Castilian Dominican friar, and the first Grand Inquisitor in Spain’s movement to homogenize religious practices with those of the Catholic Church in the late 15th century, otherwise known as “The Spanish Inquisition.” (Wikipedia)

In 1483, Queen Isabella’s personal confessor, the Dominican priest Tomas de Torquemada, was appointed head of the Inquisition. Of converso origin, Torquemada was a fanatic Jew-hater who was wholly incorruptible. He was convinced that only the total expulsion of the Jews from Spain could end Jewish influence in the national life.

Torquemada did not cut the grass from under the Jews’ feet and quickly began taking steps to weaken the unconverted Jewish community and eventually expel it from Spain. In 1485, he forced all rabbis, under pain of death, to report conversos who were practising Judaism, and to pronounce a rabbinic curse on any Jew who failed to notify the Inquisition of such behaviour. This cruel edict badly split the Jews of Spain. Alarmed by the greatly increasing power of the Inquisition, that year a group of conversos plotted to kill the inquisitor of Saragossa, Pedro de Arbues, hoping to begin a popular uprising against the Inquisition. However, the assassination had the opposite effect. The townspeople were enraged, rampaging through the streets, killing many conversos. All the conspirators were caught and executed, and the Inquisition grew even stronger.

Purity of faith became the national policy of the Catholic sovereigns, and thus came about the final tragedy, the edict of expulsion of all the Jews from Spain on March 31, 1492. Portugal promulgated an edict of expulsion in 1497 and Navarre in 1498. It was under de Torquemada his guidance that the Inquisition became such a terrifying institution, amassing enormous assets confiscated from its victims, much of it used to finance the war to conquer the last Muslim stronghold of Granada.

In 1680, the most spectacular of all autos-de-fe was held to celebrate the wedding of King Carlos and his bride. At that time, the Inquisition spread to Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the New and Old Worlds, with victims burned in Havana, Cuba; Mexico City, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Goa, India. After 350 years, the Inquisition was finally abolished in 1834, the year the Liberal Wars ended in Portugal and pro-republic uprising fails in Piedmont. In all, more than 400,000 people were accused of heresy, with 30,000 of those put to death.

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Please do read:

The Spanish Inquisition by Yosef Eisen

Books on Conversos a listing by Rabbi Juan Bejarano-Gutierrez the director of the B’nei Anusim Center for Education

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Additional reading

1. Priest, scribes and others with authority
2. A dialogue about the earth moving and spinning around the sun
3. Anti-church movements and Humanism
4. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #1 Christian Reform

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Further reading

1. Individuality in the Age of Heresy
2. Say it in Latin, Mortui Vivos Docent
3. A Jolly Old Pope
4. Moors in the Occitan
5. Inquisitively Questioning Inquisition
6. The Papacy: Inception to Inquisitions End
7. Does torture work
8. A Tribute to Galileo
9. The Memoirs of Luis Carvajal
10. Millions Executed During The Inquisition?
11. The Spanish Inquisition According to Mel Brooks
12. Silence (Scorsese; 2016)
13. And of These Chains
14. Anti Hindu Laws in the Christian State set up by the Portuguese in Goa
15. Anne Brenon: Les Cathares
16. Basque Country – Following The Converso Escape Route
17. Secret Jews: The Complex Identity of Crypto-Jews and Crypto-Judaism
18. Granada, Spain – The End of Sephardic Jewry
19. Returning to Egypt: Conversos who Returned to Spain and Portugal
20. Books on Conversos
21. A Conversation between the Spice Trader’s Daughter and her Lover, a Fortnight after She Burned at the Stake
22. When will the Catholic Church apologise for the Goa Inquisition? – Shefali Vaidya
23. Vatican has never apologised for its crimes, and will not apologise for the Goa Inquisition – Aravindan Neelakandan
24. Books on the Inquisition
25. Another book about the Inquisition in France…imagine!
26. Book Review: The Shadow of the Cross
27. The Ancien Régime was Less Bloody than the Enlightened World
28. Inquisition 2015
29. Going Back in Time
30. Inquisition: la torture
31. Spare a prayer
32. Inquisition 
33. Plausible Deniability, the Jesuits and Citizen Cain – Missionaries of The Anti-Christ
34. The 2nd Amendment and The Inquisition
35. The Elder
36. The world order inquisition
37. Jihad in the cause of Allah – Maria Wirth
38. Benjamin Netanyahu and his Sephardic Roots
39. Feelings in a nutshell
40. Who we are (Inq worldpeace)

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From Guestwriters 2016 in review

Each day million articles are published, looking to find a reading eye. Every day thousands of new articles appear on WordPress. In 2016 one hundred seventeen billion nine hundred thirteen million one hundred forty-eight thousand three hundred fifty seven words got published on WordPress. {Automattic WordPress year-in-review-2016}

2016 in view

The year that David Bowie and Prince passed away, like several very well known figures of the arts world, it looked like some people who made it in their life did not want to stay here any longer. It was also the year of lots of terrorism and political correctness, where those who are different than the mainstream (disabled, transgender, refugees, extreme religious and non religious groups, jihad fighters,) got lots of attention.
In the United States of America Obama Care which at last had become a reality came back under threat. North America saw in Boston in November, the Disability Policy Consortium accepted proposals and held a Disability Intersectionality Summit. Presentations included topics on the intersections of being undocumented, being LGBTQ+, being a person of colour, having mental health disabilities, on #DisabilityTooWhite – the hashtag and movement around the the disability community’s failure to represent racially diverse voices – and more. Lots of things came on the American roller-coaster, having Michigan banned non-emergency restraint and seclusion for disabled students and Georgia’s governor speaking in favour of Employment First policies for disabled people in Georgia.

Route of the attacker from west to east at the Promenade des Anglais, Nice

With the 15th anniversary of 9/11 the jihadi‘s made sure they would not be forgotten; ISIS/ISIL and BokoHaram being the new strongholders. In Europe the fear took so many people that politicians saw the opportunity to fuel the extreme right and come with absurd laws, like banning burkini‘s. All the fearmongering having fueled by the March 22 suicide bombings at Brussel’s Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station, leaving around 35 victims dead and 360 seriously injured, ISIS claiming responsibility.
America also got its portion of  ISIS-madness with a gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State opens fire at gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49, injuring 53 – one of the bigger mass shootings in the U.S.A.. September 17 a terror bomb in Chelsea, New York injured 29 people. Lots of Americans got so frightened of Muslim people, looking at them if they all would be terrorist, though they under their own white Christian population had more victims by weapon violence this year than by terrorism. Several times the world could see how racism is still a big problem in the States and how police can not keep themselves in control when arresting black people. (African American Alton Sterling shot by Louisiana police in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile shot by police in St Paul Black on July 6; American Keith Lamont Scott September 20)
The Islamic militants for sure where very active all over the world. Some events called for more attention worldwide, having foreigners also under the victims or by being considered the country’s worse terror attack for the year, like at a cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where a fighter killed 20 hostages and 2 police on July 1. The next day (July 2) a large lorry bomb in Baghdad killing at least 125 people and wounding 150, Islamic State claiming once more responsibility.  On December 11 a bombing at a chapel in Cairo, Egypt, killed 25 and wounded 45. December 19 again a truck was used to kill many people, like in Nice on the 14th of July now the target was a Christmas market in Berlin killing 12, injuring 48.

Aftermath of the 2016 Berlin attack

In the States of America on January 17 the Fourth Democratic presidential candidates debate showed how Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over healthcare and gun control in Charleston, South Carolina, and gave us an idea that though perhaps the best candidate of all Bernie Sanders would not going to make it to president elect. Two days later Sarah Palin officially endorsed Donald Trump‘s presidential bid at a Trump rally in Ames, Iowa. What nobody thought possible occurred when this man made it to the preselections, then to the selection to finally become what nobody would ever dreamed possible, him becoming president elect. November 8 Republican Donald Trump became elected President of The United States of America, defeating democrat Hillary Clinton despite Clinton winning 2.9 million more votes. Europe fell on its back for the second time, the first one having been the vote for the Brexit (June 23), who nobody had thought would come through. These two unexpected events show clearly how careful we must be when we think it not necessary to spend time on such personalities and situations.

Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

For that reason we should much more react on what is going on on ecological level. The Paris Agreement on climate change signed in New York (on April 22) binding 195 nations to an increase in the global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C is only the beginning of a long road to run. Global warming is not only blamed the cause of many people having to flee for the rising water-level. On August 1 there was an anthrax outbreak in the Russian district Yamalo-Nenets, Siberia killing one and infecting 8 others, also killing 2,300 reindeer. Indian government declared levels of air pollution in Delhi an emergency situation, closing schools and construction sites on November 6.

Though 2016 seemed to be the year that people where more concerned about the whereabouts and the look of their friends on Facebook and Twitter. Social media being the major interest gainer of the year. Most people more concerned about their outfit, fashion, style and strangely enough books and films again.

Astronaut Scott Kelly

Lots of people running with their heads in the skies did not notice that US astronauts Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to earth, on March the 2nd, after nearly a year (340 days), setting an ISS record. For the earthly matters it became time that the U.S.A. did something positive to restore the relations between them and Cuba. March 20 Barack Obama became the first US President to visit Cuba since 1928, arriving for a 2 day tour.

The ‘Big Joke of the year’ (in April) was to see how many politicians who said something had to be done against fraud and how people had to pay honestly their taxes, their names could be found on the 11.5 million confidential documents from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca , the Panama Papers exposing widespread illegal activities including fraud, kleptocracy, tax evasion and the violation of international sanctions by the world’s elite in the world’s largest ever data leak.

On April 11 UN-backed ceasefire came into effect in Yemen conflict between Iranian-backed Houthis rebels and government forces.

June 7 with a car bomb attack on a police bus in central Istanbul killing 11 was just a beginning of a whole series of bombings in Turkey of which there is no clarity if they are orchestrated by some political forces to have Erdogan in an even stronger dictatorial position. June 28 presented again a suicide bombings and gun attacks, at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport killing 42 and wounding more than 200. We have no idea if the coup d’etat was something set up by Erdogan himself. It gave him way to hold a big clean up and to get rid of all those who stood in his way.

In Colombia more than 50 years of conflict came in its last stadium, the governement and Farc rebels signing a ceasefire agreement on June the  23rd, followed by many talks to have the rebels not being sued.

2016 for this platform

WordPress Administration (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Of the 595,795,035 posts written on WordPress we only presented a mere 358 articles, hoping our humble little site could catch some interest by the many people who are scanning the worldwide internet for something interesting to read. From our tiny country not having any funds, not having serious backing and not able to afford much money on writers, designers or even having our own publishing space, just using the private limited funds of the editor and responsible publisher Mr. Marcus Ampe, we sincerely try to find some interesting literature on the net and present it to our readers and visitors. Because not having much GBites we are limited in re-blogging because pictorial content eats our internet data space, but when a must read is found with lots of photos we still do hope to be able to discuss it or to present it in one of our articles.

Stats on Cross-ideological Blogging (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We must confess that we did not catch many readers for the many work-hours we invest searching for additional and further reading material. Luckily this was the first year we did not very angry letters of people being onerous that we included their article in the listing. In 2016 for the first time we even got a letter thanking us for having brought 1000 readers to someone’s site. Though we put a lot of work in creating all the links in the articles and in the accompanying list of interesting articles, to our sense or liking not enough people make use of those links and referential titles. For that reason from now on we shall perhaps start putting less url-backgroundlinks to words or tags, but still shall continue to try to offer you a list of noteworthy article by other bloggers.

It is a pity we only could find 7 782 views of only 4 827 visitors coming along.
Officially opened to the public on 2014/03/2 we got 1 847 visitors the first year and 2 764 visitors in 2015, so we may be satisfied it is a line going upwards. Though published from Belgium in the European Union, our ‘home-country’ only delivered 269 views. The United States being at the top with giving us 3745 views, followed by the United Kingdom delivering 852 views and our northern neighbours the Netherlands offering us 532 views may encourage us to continue.

The home page caught 2 118 views, followed by 349 for the About page. Of the articles “Religious celebrations in May 2016” got the most views (only 103) and got only 4 likes.

People naturally have to find us. 1 437 do so by using search machines, whilst 783 use the WordPress facilities. 155 come along by Facebook. But we too are happy to find other WordPress users referring to us and bringing readers to our site. Naturally our own authors or own sites like our ecclesia site (9 views), the Belgian Biblestudents and the Bijbelvorsers (each 8) and Stepping Toes (7), but non connected writers like ridzerdvandijk.wordpress.com with 8 views and sneakytwistedlittlewildheart.wordpress.com (good for 6), entering the promissedland (5), discoveronething (5), eternalhunt (5) and some others bringing us each 4 or less viewers.

U.S. advertisement for the 11th edition from the May 1913 issue of National Geographic Magazine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The most used search terms were ‘hoopvolle slogans’ and ‘bezinningsteksten zelfkritiek’ with each 3 hits.
We ourselves brought 110 readers to our other site “Our World” and for for other sources Wikipedia got 56 readers from us, whilst the Collins dictionary got 21 and the very good Encyclopaedia Britannica only 18 views. Abortion and crime rates by wordlifeandlight managed to get 6 views from us and Lizaborstlap received also 6 visitors, as far as we can see from our statistics.

This last person who has always been a person with a to-do list is also one of the people who wanted to share some writing on this platform. But there were many days when she became a slave to her lists and she had to face that things don’t always happen as planned and that she would feel like a failure if she wasn’t able to cross out all the tasks that she allocated to a specific day.{a goal should scare you a little and excite you a Lot!}

She may perhaps had to become, like us, more specific and to be realistic in what she can (and can’t) achieve in one day; but we did want to reach so much and sometimes got frustrated not seeing our accomplishment for the day.

We are still looking for authors who would not mind to write about lifestyle, interior design, fashion, cooking, family life, gardening, nature and ecological matters and some persons who would not mind tackling the history and people who would love to write about education and health. There are so many subjects not covered yet by people who can tell more about it than we can.

From the end of 2016 onwards we added two viewpoints, namely two comparators, on one site the Muslim world and on the other site the Judaic world and traditions.

• The Lastige Vragensteller or Troublesome Inquirer – Vragensteller-Inquirer in the short time on this platform got 112 views,
• whilst the Jewish counterpart Immanuel Verbondskind with his two articles got 39 views.
• Success Insprirers’ world with N.Gobesingromanus offered some poems which gave him 3 views
• Also written contributed only one article which in 2016 only caught 4 views
• Liza Borstlap who presented some reblogs of her own site articles in Afrikaans got 40 views
• the Belgian Biblestudents could attract 99 views
• Relating to God drew to himself 120 views
• Bijbelvorser allured 177 views
• the Christadelphians getting 415 views
• Marcus Ampe writing under his personal name receiving 1325 views
• and reviews from us about writings and authors their work we wanted to share with you by the Guestpeaker got 3330 views
• Next, should your name not be here too? Are you not the one who can write about subjects which are not covered yet enough?

English: Monkeys Blogging Español: Simios bloggeando (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We do know that certain subjects are not tackled here. Marcus Ampe would love to find some one talking about family matters, family life being one of the cornerstones of our society. To his regret he must also establish that in 2016 not enough regard was given to ecological matters. Man having to live in surroundings which are too polluted and which are filled with buildings and cars, but not given the freedom to have enough green to bring enlightenment and fresh air to people. It is really getting time that more people warn others about us, man, to take care of mother earth, before it is too late.

Whilst on WordPress in general 112 million posts were liked, we did not have many likes. 8 billion e-mails were send on WordPress, but in those there are not counted the very many e-mails we got in our own e-mail box, instead of reacting on the blog articles themselves. This is a pity, because other readers can not read the reactions and oh so often we have to reply to very similar questions, which is more time consuming than having a reply which can be read by thousands on the internet.

For 2017 may we hope that if there are even more articles written on the internet than the 595,795,035 posted on WordPress in 2016 and the huge amount of comments, making it up to 457,596,906 comments on WordPress, you shall be able to  find some very interesting articles and comments here too.

Donald Trump enters the Oscar De LA Renta Fashion Show, New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In 2016 we saw that it is possible that those with the biggest mouth and do not mind trampling over many can get their cause. 2016 may have been a disastrous year on several issues and lots of important issues where not even mentioned or got not the right attention. For this new year we love to repeat our call to get more people daring to come out for the poor and the maltreated. We also once more want to ask people to wake up the majority of the population who still keeps their eyes closed for what is really going on in this world. There is a need of more people who are willing to stand up to preserve and encourage the progress of humanity while resisting the forces that threaten to turn it backwards.

We have to be very cautious for what certain people try to do with their nation but also with the world. As citizen we should be aware that politicians are nothing without their people and that folks if they really want can be much stronger than those politicians, who dare to look away from the citizen who needs help and encouragement. Those who call themselves Christian should be there to give a hand to all that need help, not forgetting nature, plants and animals who do not have a voice. therefore we do hope to find more blogs tackling their problem, and would love to have an author on ecology writing for us from this year onwards.

Without you reader we are nothing and can do nothing. We thank you for being here with us and for the followers we are grateful and do hope we can please you with a varied menu.

Wishing everyone a great 2017.

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Preceding article

2014 in review

In 2015 finishing our first year: From Guestwriters 2015 in review

Pokémon craziness

2016 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Children of Men

Max Lucado: I Had a Dream That Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Reached a Truce

Leaders in disguise

Looking at man’s closest friend

Looking at an American nightmare

The twist of politics and expression

Tribes Redux

Darkest just before dawn

Bruxelles Ma Belle

Mountains of information, disinformation and breaking away

Women in France running with naked bosom all right but with covered bosom penalised

An American Embassy to the Eternal Capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem

Humanity Quote for Pax Populi

When will it stop

Not limiting others but sharing peace with all

Not missing your appointment in 2017

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Additional reading

1. EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) asylum seekers and Eastern neighbours
2. At the closing hours of 2016 #1 Looking down at terror
3. At the closing hours of 2016 #2 Low but also highlights
4. Suffering brothers and sisters in Malawi, Mozambique and surrounding areas
5. Not much interest for English articles
6. From Bibles and other religious writings and those who witness for Jehovah
7. 2016 American Bible survey
8. On April 21 brother Nelson, in the world better known as Prince was lost
9. Social media, sympathy & shocks
10. Foreign workers and immigrants
11. A stain of shame for the European Union
12. Voted against their system
13. A sleeper cell of militants was said directing attackers sent back to France from Islamic State’s de-facto capital in Raqqa, Syria
14. Daesh hits heart of Europe
15. Islamism Rises from Europe’s Secularism
16. March 22 2016, attacks in Brussels at airport and metro
17. A Black day for Belgium – Brussels Airport ravage
18. Knife-trust in democratic sore back
19. For those who call the Brussels Airport attacks a fake or a conspiracy of the government
20. Terrorist attacks in brussels
21. Silence, devotion, Salafists, quietists, weaponry, bombings, books, writers and terrorists
22. US President, Barack Obama Condemns The Outrageous Brussels Attacks
23. What Associated Press released on Wednesday 23 March 2016
24. Mediterranean bloodshed
25. Nice attack, terror everywhere and coup attempt in Turkey
26. Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
27. French showing to the whole world their fear and weakness
28. On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
29. France and the Burkini
30. Secularism in France becoming dangerous for freedom of religion
31. Christians, secularism, morals and values
32. Listening to the lessons of the Bible and looking for ways to please God
33. Where’s the Outrage Over Nun Beachwear? – The Daily Beast
34. You are what you wear
35. Does Banning Face Veils Help Us Fight Terrorism?
36. Jews the next scapegoat for Donald Trump
37. The American clouds of Anti-Semitism
38. Blinded crying blue murder having being made afraid by a bugaboo
39. The clean sweeper of the whole caboodle
40. Trump has been buffetted by accusations of miscunduct
41. Fearmongering succeeded and got the bugaboo a victory
42. Are United States of America citizens going to show their senses
43. When so desperate to hold onto power
44. Some quotes Americans should remember when going to the ballot office
45. Brexit and British business
46. Brexit No. 2 Blow-up
47. Nigel Farage called Donald Trump’s victory ‘bigger than Brexit’
48. A strong and wise fighter who keeps believing in America
49. Bosphorus bloodshed
50. Belgian aftershock from the Turkish coup d’état

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1. 2016 Year In Review (by Hunter Bonner)
2. 16 things i learned in 2016
3. 2016 was lighting candles to mourn, but it was also carrying torches high
4. 2016: Year in Review (by Angela Classen)
5. Hasta La Vista 2016!
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7. 2016 in Review (by Pastor Zach)
8. A year in review
9. 2016 in Review: Your Favorites, My Favorites
10. 2016 Review (by Pliable)
11. Tater’s 2016 In Review
12. Best and worst reads of 2016
13. Reflections and Resolutions for 2017
14. 2016 Year in review book tag
15. V’s Reading Year in Review: 2016
16. 2016 Recap and 2017 Goals
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21. 2016 Year in Review (by Trip accomplice)
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23. 16 in 2016: Results
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25. Looking Back at 2016…
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27. My 2016 in Books and Graphic Novels, Part 1 of 2
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29. Best and Worst of 2016
30. Sara Reads No. 17
31. Two Thousand and Sixteen
32. So Long 2016!
33. 2016: The Book Fight! Year in Review
34. Year In Review: Variety Edition
35. 216 of 2016
36. 2016 Year in Review (by Becker)
37. 2016 Year in Review: A Year in Outfits
38. 2016 In Review (by Leigh)
39. 2016; What a Year
40. A Look Back at 2016 and a Peek Forward at 2017
41. 2016: Year in Pictures
42. 2016 Year in Review – The Five Most Thrilling Action Scenes
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72. 2016 in Books (by Stories)
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83. The End Of Year Survey For 2016
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123. Comics Update: My Current Lineup and 2016 Pros & Cons
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126. Top 16 of 2016
127. 2016 in Film
128. Reader’s Room Winter Challenge
129. My Tweets in 2016 #MTBoS
130. 16 great things from 2016
131. Jim Ryan: Looking Back At The Year in Music
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142. 2016 My Year in Review:  My Top Ten Personal Lessons/Observations
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168. My 2016 at the Movies, Part 1 of 2: The Year’s Least Best
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172. Year in Review/Shit for 2017
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Women in France running with naked bosom all right but with covered bosom penalised

Prudish people having put away their shame by causing shame to others

Years ago people had to fight hard against the prudish Catholic minds who opposed any naked flesh to be shown. Today the so called Catholic countries in West Europe seem to have chosen to have the women their tits out and finding it not okay to cover them up.

In the previous century there were many French and Belgians who did find it inappropriate to have some natural flesh of certain body parts to be shown in public. It was considered not done to have dresses which did not come under the knees. (We where brought up like that and got penalties when we had dared to show our bare/naked legs or upper arms.) Last century it was said we all had to listen to God and could not run naked in this world because God opposed such a thing.

Today their god must have changed idea and has come to prefer naked flesh, because in the present time the French seem not to look at those who want to cover their body as unworthy believers and even as people who are a danger for society.

Covering up for the Almighty

When we were young our Catholic mothers had to wear headscarf or hats when coming in public. In church they had to sit at the left hand site with their faces hidden behind a veil. In the previous century most people in Europe thought it was appropriate to dress decently and not having too much bare or naked. Mots parts of the body had to be covered with clothing or tissue.

Only around the turn of the century  less people came to make objections when some parts of the body were not covered. Today it looks like the world has got upside down. What for centuries was thought to be the moral way and according to Judeo Christian values, suddenly seems to be not acceptable any more.

People, like female Muslims, who now choose to cover up for God, are not allowed to do so by the French governement. Europeans should question such a decision taken by a governement in West Europe and see how human rights (freedoms established by custom or international agreement that impose standards of conduct on all nations) are  trespassed. Today we can see in France that many specific human rights are ignored. What happened to the the right to personal or individual liberty and Due Process of Law; to freedom of thought, clothing, expression, religion, organization, and movement; to freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, language, and sex?

Restrictions imposed

In West Europe we encounter more that certain social groups are confined to menial and despised jobs or even get no opportunity on the work-market. When somebody is called Mohammed he may be sure it will be much more difficult to get a job than when he would be called Jef. Arabic looking people shall find it more difficult to be able to rent a place or to buy property.

In Europe they say there does not exist a cast system (or caste) but if they are not careful it will come in existence or (better said) it will grow (because it is already here but denied). In our 21st century ‘Untouchability‘ and ‘Speciesism‘ have become a reality also in Western Europe. We can clearly see that more and more different values, rights, or special consideration is given to individuals solely on the basis of their species membership, origin and faith. There are many who are not minding positive discrimination and taking it up for one particular religious group (the Roman catholics). Today we may find the atheist caste wanting to direct the Christian-caste, Islamic-caste, and may we find different rejections of castes or groups of people.

It seems that France and Belgium are limiting the human rights laws for some groups in their population, which should give us the idea they are discriminating. By singling out a type of person or thing for special negative treatment or denial of equal treatment and to act in a prejudicial manner against someone or something, they have chosen the way of deprivation of individual liberty.

Oppression

Lots of Caucasians seem to think that all those women are oppressed, but is it not they who know bring oppression and take away those women’s freedom to cloth themselves like they want? Clearly we could see several women being downtrodden, maltreated, henpecked, browbeaten and subjugated or abused and tyrannized.

The country

which prides itself for liberté, égalité, fraternité, has unfortunately fallen short in recent times, with more social division and social prejudice arising within the country, due to the public suppression and rejection of religion; the consequent of which has led to violent eruptions.
It is also precisely through the social persecution of the wider Islamic community in such acts which aim to strip them of their beliefs, that it seems that the French government are validating individuals’ fears, rather than attempting to diffuse them. {France’s banning of the ‘Burqini’ is the rejection of its founding principles}

Swimwear

Forbidden: a burkini-clad woman on the beach

This iconic image of Peggy Moffitt modelling Gernreich’s monokini, which got a lot of controversy, was initially published in Women’s Wear Daily on June 3, 1964 and shows how one was still afraid to show a naked tummy.

What should people have against a full body swimsuit for any sort of woman, being Catholic or Muslim? (When we were child our parents had to wear full swimsuits or where fined.) Shall people, who went diving, have to take off their wetsuit before they come onto the beach? If they may walk on the beach with a wetsuit why not women in a full swimsuit?
Why are so many against wearing a swimming costume which covers the whole body with the exception of the face, hands, and feet, suitable for wear by Muslim women, which got the name bourkini/burkini/burqini, but has nothing to do with a bourka/burka/burqa or with the rider’s burka/burqa, which is long, thickpiled, nor with the traditional man’s coat made from felt or karakul, or with the Ukrainian traditional garment or Kobeniak, or with a two-piece bathing costume called bikini (or close-fitting bathing suit worn by men) and even less with a monokini, being just the opposite of it?

Women their freedom taken away

Are so many West Europeans so afraid women cannot stand up for themselves? And certain feminists do they not see there is much more at hand than just sexism?

We must be aware that there is so much more going on in our deranged world where Jihadi terrorist managed to get the fear burning hard over here in our regions that nobody seems to feel at ease when they see something that smells to Islamism. The politicians fell in the trap by creating laws in a hurry which limits the freedom of many women who have nothing to do at all with the faith of those terrorists, because they have chosen the path of God and a religion of peace or salam, hence the name Islam.

The Mayor of Cannes has prohibited access to the beach for those wearing clothing that disrespects secularism Reuters

By prohibiting the burkini the French state limits even more those they say would be oppressed. It is strange that lots of people do not understand those women wearing a burkini get just the freedom to go into the water or to lie on the beach like so many other women do.  By banning the burkini those women their freedom to enjoy a good day at the beach is taken away. By the ban also their children are targeted, because they also shall not be able to come to the beach and to go into the water to play with their mother.

The justification for the burkini ban is no longer about ‘liberating’ women, ….. but Arundhati Roy’s remarks about France’s earlier ban on the burka are still apt:

Suzanna Arundhati Roy , Indian author who is best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997

When, as happened recently in France, an attempt is made to coerce women out of the burka rather than creating a situation in which a woman can choose what she wishes to do, it’s not about liberating her but about unclothing her. It becomes an act of humiliation and cultural imperialism. Coercing a woman out of her burka is as bad as coercing her into one. It’s not about the burka. It’s about the coercion.

Arundhati Roy Capitalism: A Ghost Story, p. 37.

Armed police forcing women to remove their clothes on the beach is nothing other than an act of humiliation – humiliating women to punish a minority group for the actions of a few individuals. {France and the Burkini}

Huda Jawad, Community Coordinator at Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, wrote

Choosing to conflate a cultural and religiously inspired mode of attire – which women choose to wear to feel safe from the sexual gaze of society while partaking in a very ordinary pastime – with a terrorist group is a convenient ‘othering’ of fellow citizens in times of national crisis. {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

Secularism, good attitude and proper values

You may wonder why those women in burkini would not wear appropriate swimwear and would not “respect good customs and secularism” whilst others with their bare poo and bare bosom would be an example how women should be clothed and are respecting the western values.

There exist already a lot of discriminatory treatment towards physically unattractive people. Now to that ‘Lookism‘ we have the discriminatory view of men who can not see enough naked flesh are can not find enough to look at by a woman.

Today people not only make judgements of others based on their physical appearance that influence how they respond to those people, when their clothes are not liked by French men such men may now demand those clothes to be taken off.

The announcement by David Lisnard, UMP Mayor of Cannes, that he is prohibiting access to the beach to anyone not wearing what the French would consider suitable bathing suits, did not make many French question, what right he had, to decide a woman had to wear on the beach and why he choose the more naked version of the feminine, instead of a more clothed, and what believers in God would call a more decent one.

Victims of ISIS, the scapegoat of the French nation

Lots of people consider themselves victim of ISIS but forget that the worst victims are Islamists or ordinary Muslim people all over the world. Europeans and Americans may not be blind and should see that the greatest causalities of Isis have been Muslims, and the banning of the burkini illustrates the extent to which France’s fundamentalist secularism is singling out the most visible and vulnerable group in society for blame.

The governement is giving in and has found its scapegoat and used the local Muslims to blame for the terror the security forces of the country could not avoid or obstruct. Like the Fascist in the past liked Scapegoating many Europeans and Americans now blame the refugees and Muslims for the many problems they have in their country. In the past Jews and immigrants were prominent among the groups that were demonized. In France the Jews got a sibling now in the Muslim community. Today it is not a “Judeo-Masonic-bolshevik” conspiraciy or left-wing agitation, but the presence of immigrants and the amount of active Muslims.

As in the past the governement points the finger to those ‘outcasts’ and originators of all sin. They go with the people and hope to gain popularity by taking measures against the Ummah or Muslim community, making their life so difficult that they hope those other believers will soon leave. Implication was that depriving these demons of their power and influence would cause the nation’s major problems to go away.

Lots of people are afraid that those Muslims would be able to convert many French and that the nation by those converts would be more and more becoming an Islamic state.

Limiting the liberty of Muslims and other believers

Now by limiting the liberty of the Muslims in their own country the governement hopes to please the rest of the population and to take the attention away from their own weakness and the blame they have it not in control.

The governement, because of all the discussions going on about the burkini’s and religious clothing, decided that when the schools will open again, no religious dress or symbol shall be allowed, and as such no head covering for Jews and Muslims or necklaces with religious symbols.

Education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a former government spokesperson who is politically more to the left than former interior minister Valls and disagrees with the burqini ban could not stop the measures.

For the start of the debate, concerning the burqini Huda Jawad  also questioned in the Daily Independent

Since when did wearing a burkini, in most cases a loose fitting nylon version of a wetsuit, become an act of allegiance to terrorist movements? Do Marks & Spencer or House of Fraser know that their attempt to raise profits and exploit a gap in the over-saturated clothing market is selling and promoting allegiance to Isis? {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

She also remarks

What is it about French secularism’s blindspot to its own racism and misogyny? The obsession to the point of fetishism with Muslim women’s mode of dress and covering curtails the most basic of human rights – that of self-determination and freedom of expression. As Arundhati Roy so eloquently put it, coercing a woman out of the burka instead of enabling her to choose is an act of violence, humiliation and cultural imperialism. Instead of extending the hand of fraternité, Mr Lisnard and his supporters are excluding Muslims, if not pushing them into the arms of radicalisers. {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

Making the Muslims stigmatised as the bogeyman, that scarecrow seems already frightening lots of French people. They are pushing the golliwog in the corner or throwing in front of the swines that in the end they shall have to defend themselves so strongly and make their faith and stance even stronger, so that a new religious revolt can take place. Perhaps than the French shall get their eyes opened and shall be awakened from their cauchemard (their nightmare) they are afraid of.

Today, Friday 26 August 2016, France’s highest administrative court has suspended a ban on the burkini in a test case brought by human rights groups, pending a definitive ruling.

The ruling from the state council suspends a single ban in the southern town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, but is likely to set a precedent for other towns that have prohibited the full-body swimwear on their beaches.

According to a senior politician in Norway’s right-wing Progress Party (FrP) Norway also has to follow the lead of a number of French towns and ban the burkini. Third deputy, Aina Stenersen, claims the full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women are “a symbol of radical Islam” and is convinced that French cities did right to ban the burqini from their beaches. The Progress Party is in the process of formulating a new party manifesto, and the burkini ban is expected to be included.

The FrP does, however, believe the fine faced by those who wear burkinis in France is too lenient. Ms Stenersen intends to double the charge to around 500 kroner, which is equivalent to £57.

A story to be continued and démarche or kick-off to be followed up .

To welcome women wearing burqini’s and coming into public spaces

Marcel Michelson for Forbes writes

Yes, wearing a burkini on the beach, as wearing a burka in town, is an ostentatious sign of religious adherence, as is the wearing of full robes by priests and nuns in public or the traditional garments and hairstyles of orthodox Jews.

Yet a burkini is also a means of emancipation for Muslim women, allowing them to bathe despite the strict, male-dominated, rules under which they have to lead their lives.

In a way, we should welcome burkini’s and encourage Muslims to integrate more in French, or European, society. {Burkini Debate In France Shows Lack Of Tolerance And Understanding Out Of Fear For Strangers}

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Please come to read:

1. On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
2. Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
3. France and the Burkini
4. Islamophobia or nah?
5. Bitches, Puhleeeeze….
6. The Burkini
7. The Burkini Ban
8. France’s top court to rule on burkini ban
9. My Burkini and I
10. Universal concern: not naked enough
11. This gif sums up the whole ‘debate’ on #BurkiniBan
12. Burkini must be banned, France’s Sarkozy says as he launches election campaign
13. France’s War on the Burqini
14. Dear white people of France: being forced to undress wasn’t exactly the liberation I was longing for
15. Thoughts on Burqini
16. Modest Swimwear: The Burkini
17. Burkini and French Secularism
18. France’s banning of the ‘Burqini’ is the rejection of its founding principles.
19. 7 facts about France’s burkini ban that make outsiders very uncomfortable
20. Planned ‘Burqini Day’ irks French far-rights
21. The Swimsuit War of 2009: Year In Review 2009 (swimming)
22. France’s highest court suspends burkini ban in test case
23. Burkini ban: Norway’s right-wing Progress Party calls for full-body swimsuit to be outlawed

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Further related articles

1. French Web Round-Up: 5 Things That Made Me Smarter This Week
2. Sea Water, Sweat and Tears
3. Please exit calmly and quietly.
4. Is EU discriminating against Israel by labeling settlement goods?
5. Landlords Will Face Tougher Consequences For Discriminating Against (Most) Renters With Criminal Records: Gothamist
6. U.S. House of Representatives’ Chaplain Accused of Discriminating Against Atheism, Judaism and other Minority Religions
7. 3 Helpful Hints on Dismantling Racial Boundaries in the Classroom
8. On My Mind (Vol. 4)
9. I’m Gonna Dress Like a Charlie Brown Ghost Next Time I Go Swimming
10. What does it mean to cover?
11. Ban The Burka
12. What women need is security
13. Breaking News: France requesting to Saudi Arabia’s ‘Morality Police’ for training their police force!
14. Islam, France, Burkini: A chit chat on FB
15. Third French burqini ban after Corsica clashes
16. Beach Party Outside French Embassy Protests The Burkini Ban On French Beaches
17. East Essence: Shop Islamic Clothes For Your Whole Family!
18. True life story- Two plastic sacks
19. Waitress
20. Yttrandefriheten: Opinion live?
21. Di burkini e di diritti
22. Burqini dan Islamophobia Prancis
23. Τα Marks&Spencer, έβγαλαν και μπουργκίνι, μαγιό για μουσουλμάνες
24. Τη θέση του μπικίνι παίρνει το … μπουρκίνι

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Related articles

• Likely human rights talks with Europe to involve Iranian jurists, politicians: Official
• Human Rights Awareness Month
• The Latest: French far right leader: Burkini battle not over
• Burkini ban suspended by top French court
• France’s highest court overturns burkini ban
• Top French court suspends burkini ban
• Burkini Debate In France Shows Lack Of Tolerance And Understanding Out Of Fear For Strangers
• Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
• Letter from the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, to Mr Jorge Fernández Díaz, Minister of the Interior of Spain, concerning the human rights of immigrants and asylum-seekers in Spain
• The Latest: White House notes value of religious freedom

Leaders in disguise

Aiming for leadership

Many people love to have the power over others and would do everything to get the leadership.

This world has developed plenty of so called helpers who would bring the best to the nation. Many promised lots of things to the people who fell in their trap, but afterwards were silenced and disillusioned, only had to live with many sorrows and lots of pain.

The world has seen many who said they would deliver their people from all the misery. They wanted their followers to believe they were the saviour or messiah. In this way the world also got to see several imposter Jesuses that feed into the world’s selfish desires — Guru Jesus, Braveheart Jesus, Dr. Phil Jesus, Free-Range Jesus. The problem is, they don’t have the power to save us or transform us into new creations. But also the other imposters, the bullies or bugaboos, who tickle the ears of their listeners and get lots of misguided followers who all seem to believe the lies which seem to be true because it would be strange in case such crazy stories would not be true. How bigger the lies how more acceptable, it seems. As such the world could find a.o. Victor Lustig, who sold the Eiffel Tower, the false princess Mary Carleton, Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England and many others. America stayed not without them and saw a.o. James Reavis, who claimed he owned Arizona.

No knowledge of Basic Guide for life

Most people — most Christians, even — don’t have a basic working knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, be it the Torah, Tanakh, Hebrew or Christian/Messianic Bible Kethuvim Bet or the Quran. Because of that, so many can tell lies about what is written in those scriptures and many do believe those lies. In such way there are many who can use that unknown element to have others believe that they are right. As such there are people who try to terrorise others with lies about a religion which in its fundamentals should bring salam or peace.

In this world of deceit, the ones with the biggest mouth, are able to get enough followers to irritate the rest of the world. We see that with religious groups like Daesh and Boko Haram, but also with certain politicians, like Donald Trump.

The Boxing ring

For certain politicians it is a sport to blacken others and to spit on others. Many people area afraid if they do not walk with a bully they would be bullied as well and therefore go with him and do if they like him. They are afraid to show their dis-likeness in some case or do think they do have to show that they agree with everything he says, though they do not.

In this world we have lots of people who love to be a master in having the highest quality of being deceitful or having as much falseness as it can be without others noticing it.

Those who say they know the Scriptures should be careful who they want to support or who they want to follow. They should come to see the disguised misleader. They should warn others not to take in the wolf or the Trojan horse before it is to late.

Being Christian

Christians should demand from their leaders to have integrity and to show compassion with others. Christians (believing people in Christ) should take themselves the clothing of Christ and do everything to take on the right attitude, the attitude of Jesus Christ, who loved his enemies and all those who were not mainstream.

In this diversified world it might not be easy always to accept all people around you. There may be many who act in a way you not like. Many people may be around you of whom you disapprove.

As a Christian you should always keep an open mind and treat the others as if they are your brother and sister who you want to give all your love. Yes you should also love the ones who you do not like. What would be the difference between you, as a Christian, and the unbeliever who has an open mind and is generous to those around him or her?

As a Christian you should others to show the way to the Agapè love and to Christ his world, where peace shall reign for ever. When you know the stories of Scripture you should learn from them and they should not only help you know what you believe and why you believe it, but should also help others to come to believe.

You should help others to see who might be a justified leader in the time being and who may bring the nation some things good. But you also should show others the dangers of those who could bring badness to the nation by excluding some people or by wishing to expand their own power or being part of more serious and dangerous institutions who look for their own economical gain (like the weapon industry).

Always deliberate the good and the bad and try to go for the least bad one or the safest one for all, and therefore not always the most profitable for yourself.

Make an honest choice for the community, safeguarding all who have to find a good place to live in.

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Preceding articles

Children of Men

Hillary Clinton Says Religious Beliefs About Abortion Have to be Changed

Mountains of information, disinformation and breaking away

American Christians have to think twice before going to vote

Max Lucado: I Had a Dream That Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Reached a Truce

Not making yourselves abominable

Not following the tradition of man

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Additional reading

1. 150 Years after the 13th Amendment
2. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
3. Vatican against Opponents of immigration
4. Peppered Speeches at Republican National Convention
5. Bumpy road to success
6. Bridge builder Obama
7. Coming closer to the end of 2015 and the end for Donald Trump as presidential candidate
8. 2015 In the Picture
9. Summary for the year 2015 # 2 Strewn with corpses and refugees
10. Wrong choices made to get rid of Assad
11. Trump brand of migrant demonization #1
12. Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
13. Cowardly governors give ISIS a propaganda victory: Refusing refugees is a moral outrage & a strategic blunder
14. Blinded crying blue murder having being made afraid by a bugaboo

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Further reading

1. candid, candidate
2. Punch
3. The Worst Form of Government, Except for All the Rest: A Tender, Truncated Tirade
4. Mass Media’s Deception Causing Division
5. Quote [41] – The Dulling Social Expectation Of Poor Political Culture
6. Wolf-watching
7. The Perfect Veep
8. 50 years of denial: How the American news media enabled the racism of Donald Trump and the Republican Party
9. Rob Reiner: Trump “Believes He Is Above Everybody,” American Public Wants to Know What He’s Involved With
10. Imagine Waking Up November 9th to President Trump
11. Donald Trump vs. America: The GOP presidential nominee explicitly asks Russia to violate our national security
12. Donald Trump encourages Russia to hack Hillary Clinton 1
13. Donald Trump Encourages Russia to Hack Hillary Clinton 2
14. Donald Trump Stunningly Cheers Russian Hackers: ‘I Hope You Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails’
15. To Russia with love: Trump wants an unlikely ally to end Hillary’s campaign
16. For Trump and Brexit voters, echoes of the same frustrations
17. Tim Kaine Was Not The Governor of New Jersey
18. Trumpence
19. Trump & Gnats
20. Exclusive Account of Donald Trump’s Audition for The Voice
21. Why This Gay Republican Isn’t Fazed By GOP’s Anti-Queer Platform
22. Top 3: Why you should be glad Trump is to rally in Westfield, Ind.
23. I Literally Can’t Even Today
24. Trump meets with VP candidates as search for running mate nears end
25. Obama on Trump Winning: ‘Anything’s Possible’
26. July 13 – Candidate Clinton’s Visit
27. Eight years after hope and change, voters are angry, anxious
28. Democrat Enslavement
29. Trump plays favorites with RNC delegate seating arrangement
30. Dems’ division, emails roil party on Day 1 of convention
31. Clinton’s traditional convention plans disrupted by DNC email scandal
32. After day of discord, Dems open their convention
33. Sanders talks unity, but will his followers listen?
34. After turmoil, Sanders, Mrs. Obama, Warren thrill Democratic convention
35. Sarah Silverman: Bernie-or-bust Dems ‘being ridiculous’
36. Hillary Clinton Just Threw Donald Trump Into The Briar Patch
37. Clinton Campaign: Trump “Recklessly Inviting” Hackers To Attack U.S. “Is A Bridge Too Far”
38. Bill O’Reilly: Slaves that built White House were ‘well-fed’
39. The Many Faces of Ted Cruz
40. Think about the deceit and lies Satan uses to separate us from God’s love
41. July 22, 2016 Question of the Day
42. Deception
43. Watch Out That the Light in You Is Not Darkness
44. “A bit of detachment”
45. Isaac Davis: “15 Common Sense Reasons to Free Yourself from Politics”

“Muslims Are Terrorists!”

As-Salam-u-Alaikum,

In the world lovers of the Only One True God also could say As-Salam-u-Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh” (“Peace be unto you and so may the mercy of Allah and his blessings”).

Though we find angry people who say the are true lovers of Allah, and followers of the prophet Muhammad, they do not mind to go in against the ideas of that prophet and the prescriptions of the holy book he presented to mankind.

The world should recognise the difference of those terrorists who even do not mind to bomb sacred places, burn Qurans, rape and kill children and young women.

Though they often shout “La il laha il Allah, Muhammad a rasool Allah.” (There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger) they often take on an attitude that they are the (new) messengers of God to whom the whole world has to listen.

They themselves may say with conviction “Bismika Allahumma amutu wa ahyaa” (oh Allah in your name I live and die) and enjoy taking the lives of others, they clearly have forgotten that it only belongs to Allah ta ala (Allah The most high), the Most High God of gods, to give and take life. Human beings should leave it to God to judge others and to decide over their life.

Already too many faithful Muslims lost their lives by the aggressive terrorist acts of those criminals, of whom many spend more time in the battlefields, prison, or ungodly places than in the mosque or reading the Quran.

Best the Muslim community shows the world where those terrorist go wrong and why they are not real faithful Muslims. Only by coming out showing the world what a real Muslim has to believe and to do and what he or she may not do, other religious and non-religious can come to see this Daesh or ISIS matter has nothing to do with religion, but all with power and expansion drift.

*

Ramadan coming to an end the British Nazrin Miah, who is proud of her South Asian pillars, looks at all lives that matter. She has full faith in her God.

My faith has allowed me to believe that whatever is willed for me is already written, and there is very little I can do about it. If I didn’t get what I wanted from one experience then there is a better plan for me. I am convinced that I will be taken on a journey that is more rewarding than the experiences I missed out on. {Are Second Chances Worth It?}

Though “Change evokes fear” for her and makes her feel vulnerable, she will notice that she shall have to conquer change though they make her feel lost.

The sense of having no control over a situation due to its change puts me at great unease. I like knowing what is going to happen, I like predicting the end of a circumstance, and most of the time being right about it. But change isn’t just black and white, its grey. There never is a right or wrong time for change to happen, it doesn’t wait for my invitation as I’d like it to. It’s evitable, and the more I want to take the reins of my life into my hands, I’m faced with more change. {I hate change}

Our world needs  lots of changes and weary citizens shall have to help to bring those changes to a good end.

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Preceding articles

The Existence of Evil

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Additional reading

1. Religion, fundamentalism and murder
2. Stronger than anything that wants to destroy
3. Do Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, ISIS and ISIL belong to true Islam
4. ISIS cannot be presenters of the real Islam
5. Not true or True Catholicism and True Islam
6. Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
7. Egypt in the picture
8. Teaching permittion to kill infidels
9. Condemning QSIS or the self-claimed Islamic state ruler, al- Baghdadi their extremist ideologies and to clarify the true teachings of Islam 
   ISIL will find no safe haven
10. Government school classroom assignment on world religions in discussion and Islamophobia gone wild
11. Malaysia requires sole use of God’s title for Muslims
12. Summary for the year 2015 #1 Threat and fear
13. 2015 the year of ISIS
14. 2015 Human rights
15. French Muslims under attack
16. Being Charlie 8
17. Syrian but also Belgian connection to French attacks
18. Is ISIS a product of American in-action or a product of direct action
19. Islamic State forcing the West to provide means for Kurdistan
20. Paris attacks darkening the world
21. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks

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Further reading

1. Islamic Authorities Seize Bibles Because Christians Use the Word ‘Allah’
2. The Qur’an, The Bible, And The Islamic Dilemma
3. Arabic Bibles has been falsified to please Muslim converts
4. Dr. Reza Azlan’s Argument on the ‘Kalimah Allah’
5. Malaysia: Muslims confiscate Bibles, police threaten arrests if non-Muslims use word “allah”
6. Will you people stop irritating Muslims? Gaaaah!
7. Secularism and a more honest Islam
8. For Bumiputera Christians, ‘Allah’ ban akin to cultural ‘genocide’, says archbishop
9. Indonesia: ISIS considers country un-Islamic
10. Stop ISIS by Welcoming Refugees
11. Alarming Evidence Suggests ISIS is Now a US-Israel Proxy Army
12. ‘It’s a criminal gang pretending to be a state’: Discontent grows in ISIS ‘caliphate’ as oil funds dry up
13. The Long Fight Against ISIS
14. David Cameron criticises BBC for use of ‘Islamic State’
15. Reactions to the guardian’s misguided article
16. 50 Dead, 53 Injured IN U.S Worst Shooting Ever At A Gay Nightclub
17. A Vigil in San Jose for the Orlando Shootings
18. Muslim woman who famously wore American flag hijab on Fox News supports Trump
19. I Wish I Knew The Reality Before I Migrated!
20. Video: Research Paper Mentioned By His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad
21. The Faces of Somali Rape
22. My First AlMaghrib Course
23. Nobody has banned the use of hijab in Oyo State – Muslim Community
24. Who is Imtiaz’s Mother?
25. North Texas Authorities Arrest Accused Killer & Vandal, Again
26. Africa: Boko Haram Joins ISIS Jihad On Western Ways
27. An attack on one’s faith is an attack on all our faiths – Barack Hussein Obama
28. Homeless in Seattle
29. See it, Report it
30. My Way to Pluralism
31. Halifax mosque opens its doors for panel discussion on terrorism and national security
32. How to Win the Information War
33. Radicalisation: the tone of Muslim community discussion must change
34. ISIS against the World?
35. LAPD Counts On Local Muslim Community To Help Avert Terror Attacks
36. Double Standards
37. Liberalization of the Muslim Community
38. Community Voices: Nelson should apologize for actions
39. 73. Solution to Domestic Violence
40. Forbid what is wrong
41. #Tweetdeck- BBC3 Documentary- “Is Britain racist?”
42. #Tweetdeck- BBC3 Documentary- “We want our country back”
43. Modest fashion show raises funds for domestic violence victims
44. Women-only mosque in Los Angeles is the first of its kind in the U.S.
45. Beautiful News: Muslim Groups Raise Money To Rebuild Burned Black Churches

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Related articles

• ISIS Executes 15 Of Their Own, The Reason Why Is Beyond Disturbing
• Frightening: Syrian Muslims Chant “Allahu Akbar” On Refugee Train to Germany (Video)
• The West’s failed MidEast policy, and refugees
• The SHOCKING immigration video the mainstream media doesn’t want you to see…
• Looking into the future?
• US Foreign Policy Should Change
• “Everything I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9/11”
• “Refugees” Chanting “Allahu Akbar” and “F**k you”, Throws Excrement
• Muslim Refugees Chant “Allahu Akbar,” “F**k You,” Attack Citizens, Throw Feces
• ‘F**K YOU!’: Violent Muslim ‘Refugees’ Throw Feces at Westerners [Video]
• Editorial: Merkel a model Person of Year
• Attack on the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin: A Case of Mistaken Identity?
• Converging Fears – An Analysis by Lawrence Davidson
• Who Speaks for America’s Muslims?
• World › Trump backers baffled by criticism of his Muslim proposal
• Bigot Reverend Grilled: Banning Muslim Refugees is Not Very Christian of You – David Pakman Show
• Vernon Hills High School hijab video strikes a chord
• Gaffney’s ‘Summit’ A Procession Of Extemism – And Candidates
• Guy Threatens To Do THIS To Federal Agents Investigating ISIS…Worst
• Dutch support bombing ISIS in Syria despite Defense budget woes
• The Frantic Fear of Islam
• Shame on Charlie Hebdo for Mocking The Death of Syrian Child Aylan Kurdi
• Je Suis Charlie film-makers: ‘We have to put focus back on the dead’
• Has Charlie Hebdo gone too far with new cartoons? British lawyers think so
• Suicide attack in northeastern Syrian city kills 7
• Idol Listening: Armageddon Guitarist Christopher Amott’s 10 Favorite War Songs
• Your Word for This Day: “Words of Life and Healing”
• Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Luz quits
• Raids in Berlin over suspected ISIS recruitment
• Charlie Hebdo 3
• Insensitive Cartoons: Charlie Hebdo Mocks Death of Drowned Syrian

• URGENT: This State Took a Huge Stand Against Shariah… Here’s How Muslims Reacted
• The People We Left Europe To Get Away From Are Now Here
• ‘I am Muslim’ by University of Hull
• UK: Muslim inmate population soars, now 14.4% of all prisoners
• Pat Condell: A Word to Rioting Muslims
• Prince Charles Ignited an Islamic Firestorm With This Statement About Muslims
• A mostly Muslim world
• Culture of fear: Suspicion of Muslims growing, survey suggests
• We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with Muslim communities under attack
• Do You Have to be a Muslim to be a Terrorist?

From the Ramadan into the eid

This year once more Daesh (IS-ISIS-ISIL) proved how much they take the mickey of the holy writings and how they drag their feet at the Koran/Quran and Islam teaching.

The Ramadan did not seem to be a sacred period for them. They did not mind even to go stronger and to bomb even more places where many Muslims were together.

Normally the ninth lunar month of the Islamic year brings a period of reflection and a period of ṣawm (fasting). In that period abstinence from food, liquids, smoking, and sexual intercourse between the hours of sunrise and sunset should be on the minds of every faithful Muslim. According to the holy scriptures of Islam fasting must be undertaken with spiritual intent (niyyah ), and this intent must be renewed each day before dawn. Mean-spirited words, and thoughts and deeds such as slander, lying, and covetousness negate the value of fasting. So we can wonder what has gone on in the minds of those jihad fighters who did not mind killing many innocent people in this last month.

In May ISIS had announced plans for a series of deadly attacks in Europe and America during this year holy Islamic holiday of Ramadan.

“Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready… to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers…especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America,”

said the message in a  31-minute audio clip distributed on Twitter via accounts that usually post the terrorists’ updates, suggesting attacks on military and civilian targets.

“If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night,”

al Adnani said. He also acknowledged that the terrorist group had suffered a severe hit in recent attacks from the anti-IS coalition but assured viewers that in the end, the group would prevail.

“Defeat is the loss of will and the desire to fight,”

the video announced, explaining that the group would not be deterred even if they lose their strongholds Raqqa and Mosul.

Members loyal to the Islamic State wave flags as they drive around Raqqa (Reuters)

Four days before the football festival Euro 2016 Europe was warned and took the alert serious, after the attacks in Paris and Brussels. Though Jews and Christians were particularly singled out as targets for lone wolf attacks during the holiday, which took place from June 6 to July 5 we could imagine the fighters also looking for targets in Islamic countries and in those which sought to co-operate with Europe.

Only if there is a threat to health the fast may be broken. But he jihad fighters don’t give a rip to the prescriptions fo their so called prophet. They couldn’t care less if with their actions in this holy moth several religious Muslims were killed. Probably they are very much convinced that they do not need an observance of the fast because they do not need receiving pardon for past sins. For them there seems to be no reason to create empathy with the plight of the hungry, and it looks like they find they need no self-control and endurance of deprivation.

As usual that what they themselves do not keep, they do not others to do and as such they frightened all those who even would try not to keep the Ramadan. They crucified and flogged “a number of civilians” in Deir ez-Zor province for breaking the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Local media activist Yassir al-Farhan told ARA News:

The ISIS-led Hisba Police arrested 11 people in Mayadeen for breaking the Ramadan fast. They were flogged with 50 lashes each, and then crucified in the market square downtown. Hundreds of people witnessed the brutal punishment. ISIS is trying to terrorise the people through conducting such punishments in public.

The godless agents of chaos known as Daesh have killed hundreds this week across the world.

• Fifty dead in Istanbul;
• twenty in Dhaka, Bangladesh;
• a horrifying two hundred killed in Baghdad on Friday
• and now an unknown number in Saudi Arabia.

They just continued to spread their spurs of cruelty and destruction in the week leading up to the end of Ramadan, when the festival of Eid is celebrated around the world. Many of the victims in Baghdad’s marketplace bombings were women and children, buying gifts for their families to be given on Eid.

Al-Masjid an-Nabawī (Arabic: المسجد النبوي‎‎; Prophet’s Mosque)

Before the end of Ramadan whilst many were preparing the three-day festival of prayer and feasting known as ʿAl Id-Fitr or Eid-ul-Fitr. ISIS had a very weird idea about the sweets to be offered to the Muslim community. On July the 4th the terrorists of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL/IS) have proven once and for all that they are nothing but nihilistic sadists with triple bombings in Saudi Arabia. A suicide bomber exploded at the Al-Masjid an-Nabawī – or the Prophet’s Mosque, in the Saudi city of Medina, killing at least four and injuring many more. Bombings also hit mosques in the cities of Qatif and Jeddah. The bombing at the Prophet’s Mosque in the city of Medina was the third attack to hit the kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday, following blasts in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah and in the city Qatif. The mosque, which is also known as Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, is located in what was traditionally the centre of Medina, with many hotels and old markets nearby. It is a major pilgrimage site due to its connections to the life of Muhammad and is especially visited by pilgrims from around the world during the final days of the fasting month of Ramadan.

The mosque is considered to be Islam’s second holiest site after the Sacred Mosque, or Masjid-al-Haram, which surrounds the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, so you could wonder why those who claim to fight in name of Allah and his prophet brought ravage to this sacred site.

“There are no more red lines left for terrorists to cross. Sunnis, Shiites [Shias] will both remain victims unless we stand united as one.”

wrote Iran’s Foreign Minister Javed Zarif on Twitter.

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, tweeted:

“It’s time we work together to save our religion from these deadly criminal gangs.”

Many who went doing their shopping in the mainly Shia area of Bagdad, for the sugar feast, did find an end between the 165 dead and more than 200 injured, some being badly burned.

Bomb blasts in Baghdad, Iraq, having killed at least 165

The bombing in Karrada is the deadliest in Iraq this year and comes a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured the city of Falluja from Islamic State (IS) militants.

Police confirmed at least 15 children and six policemen are among the dead after the blast, which struck close to midnight, from a ‘refrigerator van’ packed with explosives.

The explosion caused sparked a huge fire on the main street in which several buildings, including the popular al-Hadi Centre, were badly damaged. It followed a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured the city of Fallujah from Daesh, leaving Mosul as the only Iraqi city under the control of the extremists.

Ramzan – the holy month for Muslims around the world has finally ended and we are just as excited to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr or Feast of Fast-Breaking or the Lesser Feast as everyone else. In Belgium for many Tuesday the 5th was the day of feast, whilst the Gulf Arab countries have announced that the Eid al-Fitr festival to be celebrated on July 6, after failing to sight the moon that marks the start of the three-day festival. (The starting day of Eid varies every year and from country to country depending on geographical location.)

In a fresh alert issued by PIB, Government has announced that all Central Government Administrative Offices will not remain closed July the 6th, on account of Eid-ul-Fitr. Instead, the holiday would be observed on July 7. The decision has been taken by the government after several Muslim clerics and geographical experts have predicted that the Eid moon will not be sighted today.

Since Indian Muslims follow the lunar calendar, the sighting of monsoon determines the end of Ramadan. If the monsoon is sighted today, then it would be a 29-day Ramadan, else the 30th fast would be kept tomorrow. The state of Kerala is expected to observe the most important festival for the Muslim community tomorrow.

In Belgium there is no problem for people getting free on this religious holiday. In the United States many Islamic businesses and organizations may alter their business hours during on Eid al-Fitr. Some Muslim groups in the United States campaign for schools in some parts of the country to allocate Eid al-Fitr as a day off without being penalized on Eid al-Fitr. For example, the Coalition for Muslim School Holidays, which is a group of more than 80 religious and ethnic organizations, have been lobbying to have the two Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha designated as days off in New York City schools.

 

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Please find to read:

1. ‘Get ready’ ISIS announce plans to launch Ramadan attacks on Europe and America
2. ISIS jihadis who killed 20 people in Bangladesh cafe known to police
3. Baghdad terror attack: Car bombs kill ‘at least’ 130 in Iraq
4. Isis encourages more attacks during Ramadan in latest audio message
5. Daesh-affiliated militants in Indonesia arrested for planning Ramadan attack
6. ISIS Crucifies Civilians for Breaking Ramadan Fast in Syria
7. Saudi Arabia: Bombings target Medina and Qatif mosques
8. Breaking: ISIS Bombs The Prophet’s Tomb In Medina, Second Holiest Site In Islam
9. Baghdad death toll rises to 165 after Islamic State carries out deadly attacks in Iraq
10. Baghdad suicide bombings claimed by Daesh kill at least 200, injure dozens
11. Daesh bombings in Syrian government strongholds kill 80
12. Eid al-Fitr: Saudi Arabia declares Wednesday first day
13. Eid 2016: Eid-ul-Fitr is likely not to be celebrated tomorrow, Government cancels public holiday
14. Eid al-Fitr in the United States

Syrian and ISIS forces have been fighting for control of the country

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Preceding

Too Young To Fight?

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Additional reading

1. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path
2. Not true or True Catholicism and True Islam
3. Religious Practices around the world

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Further reading

1. Ramadan
2. Ramadan Kareem!
3. Ramadan ’16
4. Ramadan diary: day 30
5. The Terror of Karrada
6. Bombing in Madinah
7. Eid Makeup Tutorial 2016
8. Break Your Fast Due To Moon-Sighting
9. Henna
10. Karachis Security measures for EID
11. ISIS child slave forced to fight for ‘Caliphate Cubs’ BLOWN UP after playing with grenade
12. Eid ul-Fitr: Returning to Our Original Nature
13. Eid al Fitr 2016 (1437H)
14. ‘Eid Al-Fitr Prayer for 1437 AH – Details
15. The first thing we will do on the day of Eid is to lower our gaze.
16. Making up the missed ‘Eid Prayer
17. Making Up The Missed ‘Eid Prayer – Shaykh ‘AbdulQaadir al-Junayd
18. Praying Two Rak`ahs Upon Returning From The `Eid Prayer – Hasan Hadith
19. The evening of Eid
20. It is a Sunnah action to go to the ‘Eid prayer area walking – Shaykh ‘AbdulQaadir al-Junayd
21. The Description of The Eid prayer, Number of Rakats and The Eid Takbirs : Shaykh ibn Uthaymeen
22. Eid Mubarak to all
23. The Wisdom Behind Praying the Eid Prayer In The Musallaa – Shaykh al-Albaani
24. Praying ‘Eid in the Musallaa is the Sunnah – Shaykh al Albaani
25. Celebrate Eid in Style
26. 8 Things you do only on Eid Day!
27. Miraath Publications ‘Eid Fawa’id cards
28. Happy Eid Mubarak 
29. Eid Mubarak 1
30. Eid Mubarak 2
31. Eid Mubarak! 3
32. Travels in the North: Day 13
33. “Muslims Are Terrorists!”
34. E festa sia…

Bringers of agony, Trained in Belgium and Syria

These days the west came to understand how seriously Islamic State group wants to launch “enormous and spectacular attacks,” as jihadis broaden their focus to target Western lifestyles.

The heart of Europe was severely hurt on the 22nd of March with up to 35 deaths and 396 wounded (as registered on the 31st of March).

The Paris and Brussels attacks have rightly caused outrage across the globe. However, while millions in the West took to social media to share their grief, there are numerous attacks across the world that go largely unreported in the mainstream media are which are forgotten or not remembered by lots of Westerners.

The “black flag of jihad” as used by jihadist militants since around the late 1990s

Ardennes (in ‘darker’ green)

Our regions do know that IS is no longer content to simply radicalise people through propaganda, but is “trying to build bigger attacks.” for several months now that rebel group is also trying to bring jihadis trained in Syria into northern Europe to launch strikes, helped by those who are trained in West Flanders and in the Belgian Ardennes.

On 21 March, the Kurds celebrated the biggest cultural event of their year, Newroz or New Year, but once again they too were under attack by Turkey but also by groups of their own, namely the PKK.

Pro-Assad media hails recapture of ancient city as ‘strategic victory’ but others allege collusion between Damascus and retreating militants

A Syrian soldier looks at graffiti in Palmyra reading: “The Islamic State is staying’ (AFP)

The ruins of Palmyra in 2010

The dramatic recapture of the ancient city of Palmyra by the Syrian army and its allies on Sunday prompted some commentators in the Arabic-language media to declare the beginning of the end for the Islamic State (IS) group, while others predicted a long and drawn out battle to come with regional and global consequences. {- See more at: Middle East eye}

Four days after the Brussels attacks the terrorists showed they were not at all only focussing on fakir Christians. At least 41 people were killed and 105 wounded when a teenage ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up at a small soccer stadium in the Iraqi city of Iskanderiyah, less than 30 miles south of Baghdad. The attack targeted the crowd watching an amateur soccer match on Friday evening in the mixed Sunni and Shiite town, and the city’s mayor, who was presenting awards to the soccer players at the time of the bombing, was among those killed. The BBC also reports that 17 of the dead were boys between the ages of 10 and 16. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack using its social media channels, according to the Site extremist monitoring group.

On Sunday the 27th of March Pakistan got its share also with a bombing that killed 72 people and injured more than 350 at a crowded park on Easter Sunday. Though the violent Pakistani Taliban offshoot known as Jamaat-ul-Ahrar — which boasted that it targeted Christians in a crowded park in Lahore — once publicly declared support for ISIS, but has hit more Muslims and Hindy people than Christians.

Now it’s the subject of an intensive crackdown in the world’s second-most populous and only nuclear-armed Muslim nation. On dealing with the threat of Islamic State, Obama said he had invited participating nations to work on improving intelligence-sharing to prevent terrorist attacks.

“At our session on ISIL this afternoon there was widespread agreement that defeating terrorist groups like ISIL requires more information sharing,”

Obama said on Friday April 1, using an acronym for the militant group.

Pakistan, a country long considered an al Qaeda stronghold, feels more and more also the negative pressure of that group and similar related groups which want to govern lots of people, telling them what they can or not can do.

Those “cowardly” suicide attacks shall continue. And with them we can see the Biblical prophesies of having the religions coming up against religions, after the period when the people living in the land of Euphrates and Tigris would have fought against each other (Iran & Iraq).

Whilst US President Barack Obama called for a world without nuclear weapons yesterday after arriving in France for a Nato summit, where he won French endorsement of his new Afghanistan strategy, we should be fully aware that the war on terror continues and shall bring forth some other serious attacks form underground people or different cells which sprout up like ulcers.

It are those rebels who misuse the name of God and try to get religious people against each other. Believers in God should be very careful not to fall in the trap and going to one or another religious group. In Belgium, Holland, France and some other Western countries we can see movements from right as wall as extreme left wing organisations defiling the Muslim community.

Flag of Taliban (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For sure the Western states do have to get a grip on rising violence by al Qaeda and Taliban militants driven from power in 2001 but never completely defeated. But Christians should be careful not to be carried away by hatred and should abstain from any violent action. They also should show their love for those who are different than them and who have an other faith than them, but who also sincerely believe in the Divine Creator.

We always should remember that those who rape and sell children, kill innocent people, burn Koran‘s, mosques and bring terror on so many places are all doing things which are against Koran teaching and as such against real Muslim faith.

They are not only misusing and defiling the Name of God, but they are bringing discredit to all those believers who belong to the Islam.

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Attacks targeting civilians linked to or inspired by ISIS Since January 2015, outside Iraq and Syria.
Circles represent number of deaths of confirmed ISIS-related attacks.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for several explosions causing many deaths and severely wounded, creating lots of horror and pain

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Preceding / Voorgaande

Tears for Belgium

A darker and stranger place

In tijden van gemeenschappelijk verdriet

Belangrijke onderbreking

Hoe te reageren op aanslagen in Brussel

 

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Find also to read:

1. Daesh hits heart of Europe
2. A Black day for Belgium – Brussels Airport ravage
3. Knife-trust in democratic sore back
4. ISIL will find no safe haven
5. ISIS a product of American in-action or a product of direct action
6. Condemning QSIS or the self-claimed Islamic state ruler, al- Baghdadi their extremist ideologies and to clarify the true teachings of Islam
7. Al Qaeda regaining foothold in Middle East bubonic plague for American elections
8. ISIS has released pictures of the destruction of St. Elian’s place in Homs and the Baalshamin Temple in Palmyra

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Further related articles:

1. Obama offers vision of world without nuclear arms
2. 
3. Dundar: Turkish journalists are ‘freedom-fighters’ whose ‘fight has just begun’
4. Suicide bomber kills dozens at football stadium in Iraq

5. ISIS claims suicide attack on Iraqi stadium that kills 25

6. IS Claims Suicide Bombing on Stadium in Iraq That Killed 29
7. Suicide bomber kills 29 at football match near Baghdad
8. Taliban splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar forms in northwestern Pakistan
9. Pakistan Militant Group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Threatens Fresh Wave of Violence

10. Lahore bombing: what is Jamaat-ul-Ahrar?

11. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar: Group behind Lahore blast part of ‘saturated’ jihadist market
12. Lahore Bombing Fuels Fears of ISIS Foothold in Pakistan
13. ISIS Suicide Bomber Kills 41 at Soccer Game in Iraq
14. Baghdad suicide attack: Death toll of Isis football stadium bombing rises to 41
15. Where ISIS Has Directed and Inspired Attacks Around the World

 

Related articles

• CNN: “White People” Don’t Understand Muslim Terror Problem
• CNN Guest, Rula Jebreal, to Former CIA Analyst: “White People Like Yourself” Don’t Understand the Muslim Culture
• American Muslims defy Sen. Ted Cruz’s call for surveillance
• We Kill Women and Children: Islamic State’s Justification for Brussels
• American Muslims defy Sen. Ted Cruz’s call for surveillance
• ISIS release Brussels attack video showing Donald Trump in flames saying ‘It’s an absolute horror …
• American Muslims decry Cruz comments
• A Look At The Islamic State’s AMAQ News Agency
• US air strike in Yemen kills dozens of al-Qaeda fighters
• Report: Islamic State top deputy killed in Syria

The Meaning of Paris

• Paris already reeling from January’s attack on Charlie Hebdo + a Jewish deli  > most recent attacks > breaks proverbial camel’s back.
• world’s fears come to fruition + Daesh (ISIS or Islamic State) claimed responsibility => French President François Hollande dubbed attacks an “act of war”
• act of terrorism > forced to reconsider, by political forces at home and abroad, military strategy.
• Will more airstrikes be a possibility? Will the President send more special forces? Will “boots on the ground” no longer be theoretical, but a reality?
• geopolitical implications>  current refugee crisis = most pressing since World War II.
• status of thousands of refugees = inexorably more complicated in wake of this attack.
• surge in support among anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic parties across Europe + National Front in France.
• broader societal implication of this terrible event in France = Islam
• social media show 2 specific trains of thought: 1.use this attack as referendum on Islam in its entirety + 2. claim “terrorism has no religion.”
• > both miss an important point.
• Assigning collective responsibility to a diverse group of over 1 billion people the actions of one specific militant group = tremendous error in logical and moral reasoning
• blaming this attack on Islam as a whole simply validates Daesh’s worldview of a battle between Islam and the West.
• Awoefully unwise to evade a pointed criticism of very particular strains of Islam > Wahhabism and Salifism
• call out these dangerous worldviews = brand of Islam Daesh dedicated to = outrageously antithetical to all the values of Western democracy.

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Preceding:

Paris Attack and Ranting

Spike In Anti-Muslim Attacks Casts Spotlight On Government Policies

Human tragedy need to be addressed at source

Before you blame All Muslims for the terrorist attack in Paris

Solidarité: The Paris Attack and the Refugee Crisis

A husband’s heartbreaking tribute to his wife killed in the Paris attacks

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Find also to read:

1. Paris attacks darkening the world
2. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
3. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
4. Massive police operation in northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis
5. French Muslims under attack
6. Do we have to be an anarchist to react
7. Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
8. Human tragedy need to be addressed at source
9. If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for

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Related articles

• Rights group says civilians harmed in Egypt’s Sinai campaign
• Obama Invites 10,000 Muslims Into US, But Look Who He Kicked Out to Make Room… No Wonder People Say He’s a Muslim
• Rights group says civilians harmed in Egypt’s Sinai campaign
• U.S. Marines Post BRUTAL Message That Sends Terrorists Running For Cover… MAKE THIS VIRAL!
• False Issues Cloud Real Threat of Radical Islam
• Editorial: U.S. refugee policy is not the least we can do, but it’s close
• Europe ‘must close its doors or risk far-right backlash’
• Non-PC Cartoon on Ben Carson and Radical Islam NAILS IT
• Will Europe fall apart?
• Croatia: 2,400 migrants arrive in 12 hours

Sportocracy

Barbarism has once again descended on the French capital. Yesterday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, which have left 129 dead and hundreds others wounded, have unleashed a profound sense of panic as well as a mass mobilization of solidarity around the world for the victims that will – hopefully – serve as the antidote to the unprecedented terror that has now gripped the iconic city.

In events like these it is easy for well-intentioned individuals to want to avoid thinking about any broader social and political implications. But as these discussions will invariably appear, they must be considered.

Paris was already reeling from January’s attack on Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish deli but these most recent attacks – again on locations that define “normalcy” for most Parisians: the national stadium, a concert hall and restaurant – may ultimately be what breaks the proverbial camel’s back.

Now that the world’s fears have come…

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