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Thursday, September 9, 2010

[ALOCHONA] Taking a Stand: Muhammad in the Age of Jihad - by Deepak Chopra



 
"I wanted to take a stand against pure ignorance. Who really knows Muhammad? Muslims do, but the latest poll shows that over 60% of Americans know little or nothing."
 
 
aoldb://mail/deepak-chopra

Deepak Chopra

Posted: September 3, 2010 01:38 PM
 
 
 
 
Muhammad: A Story of the Last ProphetIn this riveting novel, beloved international bestselling author Deepak Chopra captures the spellbinding life story of the great and often misunderstood Prophet.

Islam was born in a cradle of tribal turmoil, and the arrival of one God who vanquished hundreds of ancient Arabian gods changed the world forever. God reached down into the life of Muhammad, a settled husband and father, and spoke through him. Muhammad's divine and dangerous task was to convince his people to renounce their ancestral idols and superstitious veneration of multiple gods. From the first encounter, God did not leave Muhammad alone, his life was no longer his own, and with each revelation the creation of a new way of life formed and a religion was born.

Muhammad didn't see himself as the son of God or as one who achieved cosmic enlightenment. His relatives and neighbors didn't part the way when he walked down the parched dirt streets of Mecca. There was no mark of divinity. Orphaned by age six, Muhammad grew up surrounded by dozens of cousins and extended family to become a trusted merchant. Muhammad saw himself as an ordinary man and that is why what happened to him is so extraordinary.

Rooted in historical detail, Muhammad brings the Prophet to life through the eyes of those around him. A Christian hermit mystic foretells a special destiny, a pugnacious Bedouin wet nurse raises him in the desert, and a religious rebel in Mecca secretly takes the young orphan under his spiritual wing. Each voice, each chapter brings Muhammad and the creation of Islam into a new light. The angel Gabriel demands Muhammad to recite, the first convert risks his life to protect his newfound faith, and Muhammad's life is not a myth but an incredible true and surprisingly unknown story of a man and a moment that sparked a worldwide transformation.

Author Interviews:
 
In this interview, Deepak Chopra discusses his reasons for writing "Muhammad: A Story Of The Last Prophet," which captures the life story of the Prophet of Islam.
 
 
Watch the Interview  with Deborah Solomon of the New York Times Magazine
 

Taking a Stand: Muhammad in the Age of Jihad

Posted: 01:27 PM ET

LISTEN: DEEPAK CHOPRA

http://cnnlarrykinglive.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/deepak.jpg
by Deepak Chopra

When I set out to write a fictional biography of Muhammad, I knew I wasn't covering an ordinary life, even by the standards of great prophets and founders of world religions.  In the age of jihad, Muslim extremists have surrounded the Prophet with toxicity.

Yet in the midst of our anxiety and anger - leading up to the outrageous extremist act, this time from a Christian, of Burn-a-Quran Day - someone must take a stand. On all sides we hear that moderate Muslims should stand up for their faith's values of peace and toleration. From the liberal wing of American politics we hear the same call to Americans, with reminders to our conscience that we are a nation founded on religious freedom.

Yet the real stand, as far as writing this book was concerned, is different. I wanted to take a stand against pure ignorance. Who really knows Muhammad?

Muslims do, but the latest poll shows that over 60% of Americans know little or nothing. So I set out to give everyone a page turner about Muhammad that captures every facet of a life that has endless facets.  In the book there are over twenty narrators, both men and women, old and young, devout and secular, devotees and enemies. I didn't want to smooth over any of the parts that bother modern Westerners, such as polygamy and the fact that one of the Prophet's wives was a child of six. Nor did I want to satisfy religious Muslims that only their most cherished portrait of Muhammad would be presented.

The gulf between religions will always be there. But with Islam simmering suspicion or a feeling of superiority - the perennial attitudes that the West has taken to the Arab world - has boiled over into violence. Before you can speak well or ill of anyone, you need to know something about them. Hopefully, you will be willing to see life from their viewpoint.

Yes, I gulped a few times, and still do, when I hear the word fatwa.  But I wrote out of respect and an open mind. I think denial and a closed mind are worse than any imagined threat. I hope every reader of Muhammad will agree. We can all take a stand simply by learning the truth.

 

=======================================================

A Hindu by faith,originally from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Deepak Chopra's is a A Fictional Biography, written as "stand against pure ignorance"  

 

For a Scholarly Biography, read:

 

Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time

Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time

Karen Armstrong by Karen Armstrong, once a Catholic Nun

Book Review: http://adp.yolasite.com/articles/muhammad-a-prophet-for-our-time-by-karen-armstrong-a-book-review

 

For a Spiritual Biography, read:

In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad

In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad

 Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim scholar

Book Review: http://journals.ucfv.ca/jhb/Volume_2/Volume_2_Gleave.pdf

 

Or, if you want to doggedly pursue the path of ignorance, you can continue with the ...

"Many shamefully ignorant critics like Robertson, Graham, Hagee, Falwell who do not have the least basis for their declarations. Their ignorance is itself a measure of disrespect and narrowness that spreads widely among their followers. Equally it could begin to educate those who should know better and who make decisions based on fear and hate - including those who seem superficially have some knowledge when talking about "abrogation" of versus in the Qu'ran etc. Bashing Islam is a profitable cottage industry and so much easier than a small measure of understanding or empathy." 

L. F Sherman "dikw" - Reviewer

 

 



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[ALOCHONA] India-Bangladesh finalize railway links



India-Bangladesh finalize railway links
 
Agartala, Sep. 9 (ANI): Railway officials of India and Bangladesh have finalized railway link alignment to improve connectivity between the two countries in Agartala.It will reduce the distance to Kolkata by nearly three times.

The distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Guwahati is 1,200 kilometres (km) at present which would be reduced to 519 km if the linkage was completed.

Officials of Tripura government, the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) and Bangladesh Railways met here on Wednesday to complete technical formalities for laying the Akhaurah-Agartala railway link.

"Indian party also visited and now we will finalize the alignment. Both the government will decide if they can accept it, or they can modify it, whatever they will decide. We will propose today," said Y. Ali Mirdha, Bangladesh Railway's Chief Engineer.

The proposed railway link is 13 kilometres long, 5.4 kilometers of which would be in the Indian territory.

The construction of the Akhaurah-Agartala railway link, to be financed by India, was agreed upon during the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in January 2010. By Pinaki Das (ANI)
 


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[ALOCHONA] Within hours of PM’s inauguration, 150 MW Shikalbaha power plant shutdown



Within hours of PM's inauguration, 150 MW Shikalbaha power plant shutdown for gas crisis

Chittagong, Sept 8 (UNB) - Within hours of inauguration of newly built 150MW Shikalbaha power plant was forced to shutdown due to gas crisis.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the peaking power plant at Shikalbaha in Patiya at 11:45am.

An official of the state-owned power Development Board (PDB) told UNB tonight that special arrangement was made to supply gas to the plant for the sake of PM's inauguration. "After the inauguration, gas pressure dropped and the plant was shutdown at 4pm." PDB has implemented the gas-based power plant at a cost of Tk 633 crore.

The agreement of setting up the simple cycle gas turbine power plant was signed on February 20, 2008. Sino Hydro Construction Limited built the power plant.The power plant on six acres of land started test operation on August 16.

http://www.unbconnect.com/component/news/task-show/id-29673


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[ALOCHONA] Re: [KHABOR] President pardons 21 AL activists in death row



to me, this is a cruel law in any civilized nation. how much a 'head of state' can feel the loss of the depatred? our 'head of the state' is not even elected by the people! such an act of 'pardon' is dishonor to law and human right violation towards the sufferer(s) (family members of the victim) as they have right to justice through court order.
 
can we have a change in the constitution?

--- On Tue, 9/7/10, Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Subject: [KHABOR] President pardons 21 AL activists in death row
To:
Date: Tuesday, September 7, 2010, 8:32 AM

 
President pardons 21 AL activists in death row

President Zillur Rahman granted clemency to 20 Awami League activists sentenced to death for murder are being set free from Dhaka and Rajshahi Central jails anytime now.Sadar Upazila Parishad vice-chairman Asadur Rahman Asad told UNB yesterday night that documents of the President's granting their mercy petitions reached the Dhaka and Rajshahi jails on Thursday. They likely to be released today.

Dhaka Central Jail sources confirmed the receipt of clemency order. "We are examining the documents. They will be set free tonight or tomorrow," a senior jail official told UNB.

Judge Firoze Alam of the Speedy Trial Tribunal of Dhaka had sentenced 21 people, including Naldanga thana Awami League general secretary SM Feroze on August 24, 2006 for murder of Jubo Dal leader Sabbir Hossain Gama, also the nephew of former BNP central leader Ruhul Kuddus Talukdar Dulu.

One of the convicts, Akbar Ali, remained fugitive since the incident while ten each are now in Dhaka and Rajshahi Central Jails.The convicts, all Awami League activists of Naldanga, had made mercy petitions to the President, which were granted, said Asadur Rahman.
 
They had been accused of hacking and shooting down Sabbir Hossain at Kazipur Kamarpara bazaar on February 7, 2004 by terrorists. The killers had left the spot raising slogans of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party.His father Rafiqul Islam Talukdar had filed the murder case against 16 identified AL activists and about 16 others unknown. Police investigator charge-sheeted them. Natore District and Sessions judge's court transferred the case to the Speedy Trial Tribunal Court in Dhaka that convicted and sentenced 21 persons to death.

Those in Dhaka Central Jail are: SM Firoze and his brothers Fazlul Haq Master and Farooq Hossain, Anisur Rahman and his sons Sentu and Farooq, Shahjahan Ali, Badal, Zahedul Islam and Faruq Hossain.Zahurul Shah, Sajjad, Sohag, Bablu, Abul, Ataur, Ashraf, Formazul, Fakhruddin and Ohidur Rahman are in Rajshahi Jail.

http://www.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/09/07/news0749.htm



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