Thursday, February 9, 2012

Day 39 Celebration of the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad

Tu Bishvat
from Wikipedia
Tu Bishvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט‎) is a minor Jewish holiday, occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat (in 2012 this occurred from sunset on February 7 through the time when you can see three stars in the sky on February 8). It is also called "Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot" (Hebrew: ראש השנה לאילנות‎), which means the "New Year of the Trees". Tu Bishvat is one of four "New Years" mentioned in the Mishnah.

In the Middle Ages, Tu Bishvat was celebrated with a feast of fruits in keeping with the Mishnaic description of the holiday as a "New Year." In the 16th century, the kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples instituted a Tu Bishvat seder in which the fruits and trees of the Land of Israel were given symbolic meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting the appropriate blessings would bring human beings, and the world, closer to spiritual perfection.
In Israel, the kabbalistic Tu Bishvat seder has been revived, and is now celebrated by many Jews, religious and secular. Special haggadot have been written for this purpose.

MAWLID
from Wikipedia
 (Qur'anic Arabic: مَوْلِدُ النَبِيِّ‎ mawlidu n-nabiyyi, “Birth of the Prophet” Standard Arabic: مولد النبي mawlid an-nabī, sometimes simply called in colloquial Arabic مولد , mawlid, mevlid, mevlit, mulud among other vernacular pronunciations) or sometimes ميلاد , mīlād is a term used to refer to the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which occurs in Rabi' al-awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar.
The term Mawlid is also used in some parts of the world, such as Egypt, as a generic term for the birthday celebrations of other historical religious figures such as Sufi saints.



SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY

Qur'an 33:35
Lo! men who surrender unto Allah, and women who surrender,
And men who believe and women who believe,
And men who obey and women who obey,
And men who speak the truth and women who speak the truth,
And men who persevere (in righteousness) and women who persevere,
And men who are humble and women who are humble,
And men who give alms and women who give alms,
And men who fast and women who fast,
And men who guard their modesty and women who guard (their modesty),
And men who remember Allah much and women who remember--
Allah hath prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward.



INTERFAITH PRAYER OF THE DAY
With visible breath I am walking.
A voice I am sending as I walk.
In a sacred manner I am walking.
With visible tracks I am walking.
In a sacred manner I walk.
bringing the sacred pipe - white buffalo maiden


A COURSE IN MIRACLES
Lesson 39
My Holiness is my Salvation.
My unloving thoughts about _____ are keeping me in hell. 
My holiness is my salvation.
If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?
My holiness is my salvation from this.


EDGAR CAYCE DAILY READING
Think on This...
Each one who has a soul has a psychic power--but remember, brother, there are no shortcuts to God! Ye are there--but self must be eliminated?
Reading 5392-1


SAINT OF THE DAY

Muhammad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Muhammad (c. 26 April 570 – 8 June 632; also spelled Mohammad or Mohammed; Arabic: محمد‎) (full name: Muhammad Ibn `Abd Allāh Ibn `Abd al-Muttalib Arabic: عبد المطلب محمدإبن عبدالله إبن ‎) was the founder of the religion of Islam. He is considered by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God, and by Muslims the last law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets. Most Muslims consider him to be the last prophet of God as taught by the Quran.Muslims thus consider him the restorer of an uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets.

Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at an early age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn) acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.
Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was met with hostility from some Meccan tribes; he and his followers were treated harshly. To escape persecution, Muhammad sent some of his followers to Abyssinia before he and his remaining followers in Mecca migrated to Medina (then known as Yathrib) in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, which is also known as the Hijri Calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to 10,000, conquered Mecca. In 632, a few months after returning to Medina from his Farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam, and he had united the tribes of Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity.
The revelations (or Ayah, lit. "Signs of God")—which Muhammad reported receiving until his death—form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the “Word of God” and around which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammad’s life (sira) and traditions (sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims. They discuss Muhammad and other prophets of Islam with reverence, adding the phrase peace be upon him whenever their names are mentioned.While conceptions of Muhammad in medieval Christendom and premodern times were largely negative, appraisals in modern history have been far less so. His life and deeds have been debated and criticized by followers and opponents over the centuries.



RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS
Tell a joke or two to someone today and remember to laugh.

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