Merit-bound Alley

Hope to see some of you there, I’ll be the guy with a CAA jacket and a beautiful young blonde on my arm (my 3 year old daughter)

We have no no good candidate running for State Senator. That’s a fact. Carper voted to let the President kidnap and torture his way to security, and Jan Ting wants to wall us in. Jan also wants to… hmmm… well, I’m sure there’s something, but we haven’t heard it yet. I don’t think it’s even worth mentioning Christine O’Donnell except to say that, if she took her candidacy seriously, she wouldn’t have waited until the last minute to run in the primaries, and again as a write-in after having given up the ghost.

With our sorrowful lack of trustworthy and capable candidates for the Senate race, I’m joining in with Dana Garrett, Nancy Willing, Jason, and others to write in Karen E. Peterson for Senate. Senator Peterson represents my district, the 9th, with a strct focus on what her constituents want in their government. Open government, re-regulation, rights for prisoners to be healthy, equal rights for the GLBT community, cleaning up the environment; the list just goes on and on. Senator Peterson is also not afraid to use strong words in making her points; she calls the Legislatures performance in deregulating the power company “pathetic”, and the Legislature exempting itself fro the Freedom of Information Act “hypocritical.” (link)

I’m fairly certain that we won’t be able to get Senator Peterson into the US Senate with a write-in. However, we can send her the message that we Delewareans want her to represent us on a national basis. What better way to do that than to tell her she already has our votes?

One more point to make. Although I want Senator Peterson to go into the US Senate, it will suck to lose her from the local Legislature. So, here’s a deal, 1st Senate District; elect Tyler Patrick Nixon, so Karen has the most worthy replacement in our State Senate. That way, we lose nothing and Delaware gains one more courageous and dedicated Civil Servant.

Do you dislike being able to access any page on the web?

Do you feel that your connection speed is just too fast?

Are you wishing that there could be some way to give more money to your service provider?

If you answered “Yes” to any of the above questions, then you’d best not click the new graphic at the top right. However, if ‘Net Neutrality means something to you, or even if you are unfamiliar with the term, hop on over to itsournet.com and use their service to inform Congress that we won’t stand the FCC and big phone/cable limiting our rights to information.

UPDATE: Thanks to hube of The Colossus of Rhodey for letting us on to this link. Sorry I didn’t give the props earlier!

As you know, this is the new home of Merit-Bound Alley. Yes, the sun has set on my brief love affair with Blogger, and she is tossed to the street to wither in the autumnal chill. No longer will we bear the lack of features, the mundane templates, or two-inch wide posting area. Adieu to you, my homely old friend. You won’t be missed.

A note to my readers: thank you both for bearing through this change. I hope  the new format will make this a better home for us!

You have to respect Christina School District Superintendent Lillian Lowery. She gets here in January, finds a huge financial mess left by Joseph Wise and his Wiseguys, and here’s the great part: she sticks around to fix it! Well, looks like the hits keep on coming for the beleaguered district as state auditor Thomas Wagner Jr. found $2.8 million misappropriated from programs for special needs students.

It also turns out that Wagner is working with Attorney General Carl Danberg to see is criminal charges are a good way to go.

The largest violation was $1.2 million spent without a referendum to renovate the Pyle School Building for Sarah Pyle Academy, an alternative school for students not succeeding in traditional classrooms. Delaware law requires that capital improvement projects greater than $500,000 be approved by taxpayers.

Carl, the answer is “Yes.”

Meanwhile, Joey “Pockets” Wise is living it up in good ol’ Duval County renovating his offices. One wonders if he took that money from the special education programs or simply stole it from wheelchair-bound children in the park.

So, Carl, please drag Mr. Wise by his lovely comb-over back to DE to face charges.

In other news, Beau Biden is pre-emptively planning a Special Force to Retrieve Joseph Wise headed by Dog, the Bounty Hunter.

I will try to use few conventions in this work. One that you will notice almost immediately is the addition of (pbuh) or (pbut) after the names of the Muslim Prophets. This is short for “peace be upon him/them” and is a common show of respect for the Prophets. As it is my hope to educate myself and to do this with the same respect I would show any religion, this honorific will be used throughout this work.

Also, there are a number of alternate spellings for many of the Arabic words. I will try to keep with one throughout this work.

What follows is a very very basic introduction to the religion of Islam. It contains a brief description, history of the life of Muhammed (pbuh), beliefs and practises, and a list of holidays. My sources for this are at the bottom of this article.

Islam is one of the big 3 Abrahamic religions, which contitutes about 20% of the worlds religious and growing faster than any other. Founded in 622CE by Muhammed the Prophet (pbuh), Islam is also the youngest of the big 3 and is arguably the most misunderstood religion of our time. Islam translates roughly to “peaceful submission to the will of God”, and Muslims are “those that submit to the will of God”.

Being a religion descended from that of Abraham (the other two being Judaism and Christianity), Islam is strictly monotheistic. Although many of the traditions of Christianity and Judaism are honored, such as the Talmud or the Virgin Birth of Jesus, Muslims believe others have been corrected with the Qur’an. Muhammed (pbuh) is considered the last and most important in a long line of prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus (pbut), and his Revelation of the word of God listed in the Qur’an is considered by Muslims to be the final authoritative law of God.

Muhammed

Muhammed (pbuh) was born in Mecca ~570CE, and was shortly given to a desert nomad and wetnurse to teach him the ways of the desert. At age 6, he was orphaned and sent to live with his uncle, who raised him and trained him as a shepherd and camel driver. In young adulthood, Muhammed (pbuh) drove cattle on the trade routes between Syria and Arabia. His contact with many people of different cultures allowed him to learn about different religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and many Pagan traditions.

When he was 40, Muhammed (pbuh) was visited in Hira, a cave outside of Mecca where he went to meditate, by the Angel Jibril (Gabriel). It was then that Jibril gave Muhammed the First Revelation, the word of Allah to be collected in the Qur’an. According to the Religious Tolerance site, Muhammed (pbuh) had “developed the conviction that he had been oradined a prophet and given the task of converting his countrymen from their Pagan, polytheistic beliefs and what he regarded as moral decadence, idolatry, hedonism, and materialism.” (link)

Muhammed (pbuh) tried to spread his word to the people of Mecca, but it was met with intense opposition eventually forcing him to leave Mecca for Medina in 622CE. This journey from Mecca to Medina is called the Hegira. The people of Medina were more receptive to Muhammeds (pbuh) ideas, and there he was able to gain a following large enough to return to Mecca where he regained entry through a mix of diplomacy and military action. Once that was attained, he began to spread his word throughout the Arabian Peninsula.

The Five Pillars

The Five Pillars are the basic acts of the religion. They are as follows:

Shahadah
This is the recitation of the Muslim creed, “There is no God but God, and Muhammed is his Prophet.” The sincere recitation of this phrase must be done once in the life of a Muslim, but is often done on a daily basis. The Shahadah is the acknowledgement of “Allah as the sole Creator of all, and the Supreme Authority over everything and everyone in the universe. Consequently the Muslim closes his/her heart and mind to loyalty, devotion and obedience to, trust in, reliance on, and worship of anything or anyone other than Allah.” (link)

Salat
Salat is the act of prayer five times per day. The Mulsim faces in the direction of Qibia (towards the Ka’ba in Mecca) to pray. The obligatory times of paryer are: Fajr (between the break of dawn and sunrise), Zuhr (between midday and afternoon), ‘Asr (between late afternoon and sunset), Maghrib (between sunset and darkness), and Isha (just before sleep). The calling of the failthful to prayer is called the Adhan, and the one who calls the faithful is the Muadhin. Prayer is led by an Imam, or teacher, and is not an official position; the Imam is selected by the faithful based on his knowledge of the Qur’an.

Siyam
Also called Sawm, Siyam is the act of religious fasting. Muslims are required to fast in between sunrise and sunset during the month of Ramadan, and several other days during the year. The fast includes food and drink, sexual relations, lying, gossip, and quarreling. The old and infirm are excepted from the fast of food and drink.

Zakat
Also called the Zakah, Zakat is a 2.5% charity tax on income and property that is distributed according to the Shariyah, or Islamic law. This is used to even wealthe among the rich and poor, and can be used for community welfare projects.

Hajj
Hajj is a journey to the Ka’ba at Mecca that all financially and physically able Muslims must make once in their lives.

Muslim Holidays
Muslims follow a lunar calendar which satarted with the Hegira. Their holy days are:
Rais Al-Sannah - Also called Al-Hijral Muharram, is the Muslim New Year
‘Ashura - honors the martyrdom of Imam Husain, grandson of Muhammed (pbuh) and 70 others for refusing to submit to the Umayyad Kaliphah
Mawlid Al-Nabi - the birthday of Muhammed, this holiday was first celebrated in the 13th century. Mawlid Al-Nabi is considered idolatrous by some of the more conservative Muslim sects
Ramadan - this most sacred of Muslim holidays runs through the 9th lunar month and honors the time of the First Revelation
‘Id Al-Fitr - the first day after Ramadan is celebrated as a time of joy with decorating and gift-giving
‘Id Al-Adha - Day of Sacrifice recalls when Abraham was instructed by God to sacrifice his son. This is the traditional time for the Hajj.

Schools of Islam
Sunni - represent 90% of Muslim society, and considered the mainstream traditionals. The Sunni tend to be more comfortable with different, including secular, cultures.
Shia - The Shi-ites represent a small minority of the Muslim population and follow a strict interpretation of the Qur’an and Shariyah. The Shi’ites split from the Sunni due to a conflict of succession of the Kaliphah.
Sufi - The Sufi concentrate on a personal relationship with God, and use a combination of ritual, dane, and mediatation to commune with Him. To me, this seems to be an interesting parallel to Christian Gnostics. There are Sufi Muslims in the Shia and Sunni schools.
Although there are different schools of Islam, mosques are non-denominational and any Muslim may worship in any Mosque.

References:
Religious Tolerance Website - Introduction to Islam - by B. A. Robinson
The Wisdom Fund - The Truth About Islam - by Enver Masud
Islamic Affairs Department - Introduction to Islam - by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
Mideast Institute - Introduction to Islam - by M. Cherif Bassiouini

Well, there’s the basics that I have learned so far about Islam. All intelligent discussion, including critique and error reports is welcome in the Comments section.

Ablutions - cleansing of the face, arms, and feet before prayer
Adhan - the calling of the faithful to prayer
Al-Fitra - the state of pure submission to Islam in which a child is born
Allah - the one true God
‘Ashura - Muslim holiday honoring the martyrdom of Imam Husain and 70 other Muslims by the kaliphah
‘Asr - Afternoon Prayer, held between late afternoon and sunset
Ayat - verse within a Suwar (chapter) of the Qur’an
Fajr - Morning prayer, held between the break of dawn and before sunrise
First Revelation - the first time Jibril came to Muhammed (pbuh) to give him the word of God
Five Pillars of Islam - the five basic religious practises of Islam
Hadith - the collected sayings of the the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)
Hajj (Haj) - Journey to Mecca. All able Muslims are expected to make this journey at least once.
Hegira (Hejira) - Journey of Muhammed (pbuh) from Mecca to Medina in 622CE
Hira - the cave outside of Mecca where Muhammed (pbuh) heard the First Revelation from Jibril
Ibada - service to God through service to Mankind
‘Id Al-Fitr - Muslim holiday, first day after Ramadan
‘Id Al-Adha - Muslim Holiday held during the 12th month, is the Day of Sacrifice and traditional time for Hajj
Imam - teacher, and the leader of the prayer
Isha - Night Prayer, held just before sleep
Islam - the religion of the Muslims, means “peaceful submission to God”
Jibril - Arabic name of the Angel Gabriel
Ka’ba - 48′ high roughly cubical structure built by Abraham and Ishmael as a place to worship God, and the endpoint of the Hajj
Khalifa - and elected successor to the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)
Maghrib - Sunset Prayer, held between sunset and darkness
Mawlid Al-Nabi - Muslim Holiday, the birthday of Muhammed (pbuh)
Mecca - the birth town of Muhammed
Muadhin - chants or intones the Adhan
Muhammad (pbuh) - (570CE - 632CE) according to Islam, the last and most important of a long line of Prophets
Muslim - one who submits themselves to the will of God
pbuh - “peace be unto him”, phrased used to show repsect for the prophets
Qibia - the shorter of the two great circular routes to the Ka’ba in Mecca, Muslims face in this direction when they pray
Qu’ran - the word of God as revealed to Muhammed (pbuh) by the angel Jibril, means “recitation”
Rais Al-Sannah - also Al-Hijral Muharram, the Muslim new year
Ramadan - the 9th lunar month and holiest of Muslim holidays, honoring when Muhammed (pbuh) received the First Revelation from Jibril
Salat - prayer
Shahadah - the Muslim creed, “There is no God but God and Muhammed is his Prophet”
Shariah - Islamic Law
Shia - one of the schools od Islam, split from the Sunni over a matter of succession
Siyam - the fast of Ramadan
Sufi - a school of Islam developed in the late 10th century, focuses on personal union with the divine
Sunnah - the book of accounts of Muhammed’s (pbuh) deeds
Sunni - the largest of the schools of Islam, composing 90% of all Muslims
Suwar - a chapter of the Qur’an
Zakat - a 2.5% charity tax on the income and property of middle and upper class Muslims
Zuhr - Noon Prayer, held between midday and the afternoon

I’ve been thinking a lot about Islam for quite a while now. My main thought on it sticks tight to, “I don’t know anything about it.” It occurred to me that a lot of people don’t know much about it, and that fact shines brightly in Internet debate.

So, I decided to take on a project to learn everything I possibly could about it and post it here on a semi-regular basis. The reasons are twofold:

1) I want to learn as much as I can about the religion that is so affecting the world. I want to be able to separate fact from lies, and be able to compose intelligent thoughts on how it is affecting the lives of so many people.
2) I’ve long suspected that most people know little to nothing about the religion. It shows in the vitriolic opposition and vague defenses that you see on the net. It’s my hope that in teaching myself, I can also help others understand this quickly-growing faith.

I want to stress again that this is also a learning exercise for me, so I won’t claim to be an ultimate source about what I post. If people see obvious error, please let me know, and if possible, supply a reliable source. I’m entering into this with complete ambivalence about the faith itself, and I seriously doubt it’s any better or worse than any other, so I will also try my best to be unbiased when stating facts, and completely opinionated when in debate.

Look here either tonight or sometime tomorrow for a glossary of terms and a basic primer on the religion itself.

Rick and Gerry certainly are feeling their Wheaties this afternoon. From mocking the DPs new ad smearing Ferris to discussing the affects of pretty politicians over ugly ones, they’ve had my ass laughing all afternoon.

Quote of the Day:

In response to a call-in that suggested physically appealing politicians are more successful than ugly ones, Rick quipped:

“How do you explain Ruth-ann Minner?”