Muslims begin Ramadan rites

CAIRO, Egypt - Millions of Muslims denied themselves food, cigarettes and water before setting off on an all-night ritual of feasting, family gatherings and entertainment Friday, the first day of Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

The disparity between nighttime and daytime during Ramadan astounds foreigners, delights merchants and disgusts clerics who urge piety 24 hours a day.

The Ramadan rituals stem from the belief that the first verses of the Quran, Islam's holy book, were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during these four weeks in the 7th century.

To honor the revelation, observant Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex between dawn and dusk. Muslims have observed the holy month for centuries, and it has come to be interpreted in many ways.

"Ramadan is a month of generosity," said Imam Abdel Aal, who fumigates streets against mosquitoes for the Cairo city government.

He and his wife squatted in a city park just after sunset, finishing a meal of beef, rice and vegetables donated by a nearby mosque. During Ramadan, most mosques donate thousands of meals every night to low-income people at "tables of mercy."

Clerics urge their communities to use the month to cleanse their souls, denying themselves pleasures to encourage holy thoughts.

"When a person starves, he will have more power to restrain himself from sin, such as sex outside marriage," said Aid Abdel Hamid Youssef, a senior cleric at Al-Azhar in Cairo, the foremost theological institute in the Sunni Muslim world.

Fasting may not necessarily lead to spirituality, but life does wind down during Ramadan. Banks and government offices close early. Guards sit on curbs, their faces drawn with hunger pangs, thirst and fatigue. Workers rush home to prepare the evening feast that begins at dusk, and rise before dawn.

In Jordan, housewife Issra' al-Araj, a mother of five, said the meaning of Ramadan has been turned on its head.

Muslims or Idol worshippers?

Many of us to this day do not fall for Prophet Muhammad's lies. He claimed that he knew nothing about religion, yet the Qur'an has lots of copycat material. Many of the writings in it confirm the fact that he was a Jesus wanna be. The fact is that Jesus, not Muhammad, had already preached to us about submitting to God. All Muhammad did, was that, he took context from the bible and changed it around.

Muhammad's biography claims that he was illiterate, bull…how can a statesman and ruler be illiterate? He claims to have known nothing about religion, bull…how the hell would he know whom the angel Gabriel was. For instance, the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Muhammad is a story too much like the appearance of Gabriel to Mary and how Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth. There is of course one difference; Mary was pure when God chose her. Muhammad was not.

The truth is that Muhammad, like a snake, went into a cave named Hira' and for three years wrote out a religious business plan. This business plan would make him richer. He knew all the time what he was doing. His plan involved taking advantage of ignorant idol worshippers, to get his business up and running. He went to Hira' to pass long hours in retirement meditating and speculating over all aspects of his religious business plan.

The prophet of Islam, Muhammad, is a real documented and historical figure. He lived in the full light of history and most minute details of his life are known. What the blinded Muslims lacked to notice was that Muhammad was more that just a "prophet", he was also a greedy statesman and ruler.

Take note at how interested Muhammad was with the Pope, this is because the interest was not on the Pope but on the size of the Vatican and the size of Ka'bah. Muhammad being a successful merchant saw that the Vatican was growing in wealth and power, if only he too could find such real estate. A great big temple was all that was missing to complete his religious enterprising venture.

Muhammad saw that the temple of Ka'bah was huge like the Vatican and at the time full of no less than three hundred and sixty idols and a bunch of ignorant idol worshipers. Muhammad like many times throughout the Qur'an decided to act like a Jesus wanna be, Luke 20: verses 45 & 46. So, Muhammad swept clean the Holy Ka'bah from its heathen idols. It was he again who restored the original pilgrimage to its pristine purity, and so the ignorant idol worshipers followed him into a religion we now call Muslim. His business venture had become a reality.

How lucky could Muhammad get, he bought turnkey business. This turnkey business included a temple with idol worshippers who had no problem worshipping a Black Stone, nothing really changed for them and to this day they are still worshipping the idol (The Black Stone). The bottom line, Muhammad became rich like the Pope whom he was so jealous of.

To this day, the Muslims have a working procedure of the Tawaf, it consists of circling around the Ka'bah seven times. Each circle begins by kissing the Black Stone, or by caressing it, which is its normal procedure. Today the world wonders, who are these confused idol worshippers worshipping, God or the Black Stone?

The Muslim people need to open their eyes and realize that the last true prophet was Jesus. Jesus was the Son of God and totally submitted to God. Jesus never owned anything of this earth and Jesus was the only human being on earth that has performed any supernatural miracles.

Muhammad claims that his miracle is the Qur'an. I've got news for the Muslims, after the bible was written, "Any disturbed man can write a book of Prophecy. And that disturbed man will use the Bible as a reference point." The Bible is the greatest book on Earth. It is the word of God that is why the Christians kiss it.

Today I learned of a man named Brian David Mitchell who like Muhammad also wrote a book. Mitchell's book is called The Book of Emmanuel David Isaiah. It is a 27 page of densely packed text, filled with ramblings of a disturbed man. Ramblings that make no sense and like the Qur'an it is hard to interpret. The one thing that will make a difference in the public not falling for Mitchell's book is, that, today we are not as ignorant as the people were back in Muhammad's lifetime.

Note: Brian David Mitchell is the man who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.