India 5: An Uncanny Tale - The Epilogue

Well, not quite. Just sharing a few things.

The response to my Gupta Cha posts (Part 1 and Part 2) was overwhelming and completely bowled me over. And having them featured on ATP was fantastic, given the number of visitors who visit that remarkable site.

Then, just as Indian and Pakistani comments and emails about it began to understandably dwindle with time, the dreadful Mumbai Massacre struck. I blogged on the morning of December 2nd about it. The post got a few visits and drew one comment by the end of the day. After all, it wasn't a unique post. Millions were - once they got their eyeballs off their TV screens - reading the news, live accounts, conflicting reports, seasoned analysts, and far better blogs than mine. The sole comment had come from a Sarah Islam, who, I think was a first-time visitor to my blog. This led to an exchange in the comments section that ended on a warm note. The next morning, I received an email from her ... and the few exchanges that followed are being reproduced here - with her permission (she probably succumbed to my 'threat') - as I think her story is worth sharing and contains much food for thought.

 

==================== Dear Mr. Kidvai I have just read your blog entry entitled 'An Uncanny Tale...' about Gupta cha. This is absolutely beautiful! Are you seriously working on your novel "Ships and Shoes and SealingWax"? Are you then looking for a publisher or have you already spoken to someone? I could help you look for one here in India. You keep saying that you are a non writer, but I assure you that your writing has really touched me. I am dying to read the rest of your story and I am sure that a couple of thousand other people would be too :) I was born in Libya in 1971 to a Punjabi mother from Lahore and a Bangladeshi father whose family had fled to Dhaka (Dacca as it was called then) from Calcutta (now Kolkata :) ). My family and I lived in Lahore in the 90's and moved back to Dacca in 1998 after the death of my father. I met my husband there and now I am happily married and live in Calcutta! So you can say that life has now come full circle for me! My husband Sukhendu and I struggled with all the prejudices that people in all the three countries live with and also certain opinions that we had been brought up with. Now I am proud to say that we have reached a peaceful stage where the blinkers have literally been taken off of our eyes :) Sukhendu and I read your story about Gupta Cha together and cried when we reached the end. Please let us know if we can help in any way for you to finish your book and publish it so other people can also read your story. Peace! Sarah ==================== Dear Sarah (and Sukhendu) I am very touched by your comments and also thank you for sharing your own past, briefly, with me. Ships and Shoes and SealingWax is not intended to be a novel - I would not even dare undertake such a venture. It is being written, mainly, in response to pressure from my daughter and my almost-adopted daughter, Sabeen (both of whom you will encounter if you go through my blog archives). The book will, in all probability, be almost blog-like: anecdotal and all over the place! Though I hope to bring some continuity into it. Do write back and tell me more about yourselves and your family. Where do you live? What do you do? Why not share stories on a blog about your own unique experiences and difficulties that you defeated to reach today's peaceful life? Peace! Zaheer ==================== Dear Mr. Kidvai I am so happy to hear back from you! We live in Lake Gardens which is beind Jodhpur Park in South Kolkata. I wonder if you know the place? My husband and I both worked in advertising, he is now creative director (art) at Ogilvy & Mather and I used to be a copywriter but am only writing freelance pieces for magazines now. We met in 1998 in Dhaka where we both worked for McCann Erickson. I had a huge chip on my shoulder as I had just returned from Pakistan and him being Indian was enough reason for me to contradict everything he said ... hahaha :-) My family had returned from Libya in 1989 and decided to settle down in Dhaka. But after a few years, my mother packed off my brother Amber to Aitchison College in Lahore and my sister Reema and I to Lahore. So that is how we landed up in Pakistan. My parents joined us for a while but for most of the time, my sister and I lived with my nani amma on Nisbet Road. After we got married in 2004, my mother was very unhappy with my decision as she had seen the carnage in Amritsar and, later on, on the train to Lahore. She was only 6 at the time but she can recall certain events very clearly. I can understand that, as the events must have been pretty horrible and must have been burnt on her brain. She met my father Dr. Nurul Islam in Benghazi (Libya) and their marriage in 1970, too, was quite controversial as there was talk of East Pakistan asking for independence from West Pakistan. Anyway, I was brought up in a house where both cultures, Punjabi and Bengali, were very much in evidence and I was very happy as a child and most of my time was spent chasing after butterflies, making mud pies and reading from the ancient books that my grandfather had left us and the newer books that we bought every now and then. My mother was adamant that we should learn Urdu as she is of the opinion that having Urdu as our first language would help us speak beautifully and articulately. She was and still is a stickler for the right pronunciation:-) So we went to the Pak Libya School that was run by the Pakistani Embassy in Benghazi. For nurturing our Bengali heritage we were dutifully packed off for singing, dancing and Bangla lessons at Hafiz uncle's house. So at school we spoke in Pidgin Italian, a bit of Arabic and Punjabi/Urdu, at home we spoke in Urdu and English and Bengali for some of our guests and in front of my father (especially when he was cross) :-) I was brought up in a liberal household but after my father's death in 1998, my mother suddenly discovered her Pakhtun roots (my grandfather had settled in Lahore but was originally from Swat) and started attending Quran classes and sympathizing with the radical Islamization of Bangladesh. This was a shock for me and I rebelled. Over the years my distance from my mother and her views became considerable. Now we are talking again and things are getting better :-) In the beginning, I would get very defensive with Sukhendu whenever something like the BJP used to come up in conversations but then I was reminded of a story that I think has largely shaped my thinking. At school I learnt from textbooks that one Rashid Minhas was the recipient of the Nishaan-e-Haider and a brave and valiant soldier who had grappled with the Bengali flight Instructor, Flight Lietenant Matiur Rahman who was a traitor. I grew up hero worshipping Minhas. When I came back to Bangladesh, I was shocked to learn that for the Bengalis it was Matiur Rahman who was the hero and not Rashid Minhas, who they considered the enemy. I realized then that the history of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is so intertwined and so full of passion and extraordinary circumstances that it is impossible to take sides. Both men as I see it today were heroes and valiant soldiers who just happened to be on opposite sides of the cause. It was an accident of birth. This realization has, on one side, liberated me and, on the other side, saddened me beyond imagination. This means that we will always be at each other's throats and no one will see the person but only the flag that he is wrapped in. Of course I am exagerating, but I am telling my story fully for the first time. I think you will understand the confusing identities that I live with and also that there will always be people who will rise above pettiness :-) Thanks for listening to me. God bless! Sarah ==================== Dear Sarah Wow! And you want me to write [down] my stories? Blog this just the way you've written it to me. At the moment it's a request but can be used as threat by saying I'll publish it on my blog ;-) It's real tales such as yours that will ensure that the only things we all really need to burn is not each other's flags but our own if peace is what we want. All the best. Zaheer PS: I hope you won't be offended at my saying this, but as an anti-nationalist, I would not accept that both RM & MR were heroes. They were just simpletons, brain-washed into committing such acts. But that, of course, pre-supposes that the story, itself, is true. There are some in the Air Force[s] who have, since, cast doubts on the veracity of the entire tale and think it was a crash that the PR-minded in Pakistan decided to use to advantage and the BD people, naturally, made the best of it. Who knows. So it goes ... ====================

I just LOVE the technology that has made all this possible, so here's to Doug Englebart, Alan Kay, the two Steves, Bill (huh? who he?), Tim-Berners-Lee, and hosts of others. May the FSM bless you all. Oh, and Sarah now has a blog :-)

Do You Like Religious Fiction?

 It can be very close to the truth!

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Next to SciFi (a subject I was strongly interested in - until the genre seems to have died down), Religious Fiction is another great favorite of mine.

For many, this interest may have started (and could have ended) via Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The Edition most people bought was probably this (or similar).

But my love for Religious Fiction is also associated with my love for Art (as well as the interest in the stranger things being represented in it).

So I had this edition. And I'd strongly suggest that those of you who have read the first one should really go out and buy this edition, anyway.

It has the Art mentioned in the book and gives you the same pieces as you read the text. As an example here are two artworks that you read about in the book and you don't have to 'Google' them to find out what they are.

The Isaac Newton Monument

The Last Supper (Detail)

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Isn't that brilliant?

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The next 2 books that I wanted you to read were by Scott Adams. Yes. He's the Hilarious Man that does lovely Dilbert stuff :) Have you seen his work? Here is one of his Dilbert books. But I digress …

Well these are the two Religious Fiction books that he wrote. They are a Series of Two Books and you need to get both to really enjoy them.

&

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And, finally, another book.

This one should be delightful for many of my readers.

Specially the Muslim ones,

though all others will love them, too,

as it was for them that the book was written.

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Would love to see your comments.

Hinduism fascinates me …

Gandhi Ji's Favourite Piece

For years in my writing blogs - often at times on religion and other beliefs - I have always found the Hindu belief system - now being 'demolished' by the idiotic Hindutva ideology (they think!) - has been a very strong favorite of mine. 

To say that Hinduism is thousands of years old as a religion is falsifying the fact. Imagine a thousand or more years ago: No eMail, no TV, no Internet; no means of sending your religious beliefs from say Bombay to Calcutta and back were difficult.

The way they all learnt about each other's beliefs (which had demi-gods and goddesses) was best done when travelers and business people visited these different sides. Several Hindus accepted that and added him along their belief system.

When the Calcutta people had Kali and the Bombay people had Ganesh, both sides added this into their beliefs: Hindus were very accommodating. Only a few years ago I found out about a group that accepted Hazrat Ali as a godsent person and even had 2 bhajans with his name.

The French and Persians call India as Hindu in their languages. The Arabs also once called them Hindus (some say that it meant those outside Arabia) and their beliefs - many as they were - were those outside Abrahamic Religions.

Unlike Abrahamic Religions where one believes that their God is the only true God, Hindus never had a God,  or a Prophet or a book.* You could believe in some but not all; you could be an Atheist; you could believe in Abrahamic faiths. You would still be a Hindu. You could even add others as demi-gods and leave some. You could still be a Hindu. 

(*Religious books, like Vedas etc., have came about later and Statues meant as GodSymbols came even much later.)

Going through their books (I did read many translations) might be fairly difficult. But if you are interested in Hinduism and it's current (mis)role I would suggest you buy Shashi Tharoor's Book …

It gives you a fairly interesting look at Hinduism and it's range of ideas, the differences among various groups (though they all accept that others are just as good) and include many quotes that are interesting in themselves to many people of Abrahamic religions.

Let me add a small piece from his book

The first challenge, of course, was definitional. The name 'Hindu' itself denotes something less, and more, than a set of theological beliefs. In many languages, French and Persian amongst them, the word for 'Indian' is 'Hindu'.

Originally, Hindu simply meant the people beyond the River Sindhu, or Indus. But the Indus is now in Islamic Pakistan; and to make matters worse, the word 'Hindu' did not exist in any Indian language till its use by foreigners gave Indians a term for self-definition.

Hindus, in other words, call themselves by a label that they didn't invent themselves in any of their own languages, but adopted cheerfully when others began to refer to them by that word. (Of course, many prefer a different term altogether- Sanatana Dharma, or eternal faith, which we will discuss later.)

'Hinduism' is thus the name that foreigners first applied to what they saw as the indigenous religion of India. It embraces an eclectic range of doctrines and practices, from pantheism to agnosticism and from faith in reincarnation to belief in the caste system. But none of these constitutes an obligatory credo for a Hindu: there are none.

We have no compulsory dogmas. This is, of course, rather unusual. A Catholic is a Catholic because he believes Jesus was the Son of God who sacrificed himself for Man; a Catholic believes in the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth, offers confession, genuflects in church and is guided by the Pope and a celibate priesthood. A Muslim must believe that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is His Prophet. A Jew cherishes his Torah or Pentateuch and his Talmud; a Parsi worships at a Fire Temple; a Sikh honours the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib above all else. There is no Hindu equivalent to any of these beliefs. There are simply no binding requirements to being a Hindu. Not even a belief in God.

I grew up in a Hindu household. Our home always had a prayer-room, where paintings and portraits of assorted divinities jostled for shelf- and wall- space with fading photographs of departed ancestors, all stained by ash scattered from the incense burned daily by my devout parents. I have written before of how my earliest experiences of piety came from watching my father at prayer. Every morning, after his bath, my father would stand in front of the prayer-room wrapped in his towel, his wet hair still uncombed, and chant his Sanskrit mantras. But he never obliged me to join him; he exemplified the Hindu idea that religion is an intensely personal matter, that prayer is between you and whatever image of your Maker you choose to worship. In the Hindu way, I was to find my own truth.

Shashi has a personal deity (as do many Hindus). His favourite is Ganesh, his Ista-Devta (his personal god). He talks about a few different stories he heard as a child and I find them most amusing. (If I were a Hindu and had to have a personal god, it would be Saraswati)

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My own experience was that when I was in Calcutta (in my Merchant Navy days) I passed  a shop that had a huge glass front from which you could see inside. From the window I could see several deities. I saw Ganesh had fallen down and was lying with his head on the carpet. So I went right in and told the shop owner to put that right.

He laughed and said to me that he had put him in that pose. Although this is not verbatim, but his message (partly in Urdu/English) was roughly this:

"I have bought this shop 3 years ago and put Ganesh as the giver of money and grace the right side up. In 3 years I just manage to make enough to keep the shop but no fortune comes my way. So I put him upside down. If he realizes that he owes me success and sends me shoppers, I will put him upright again. Until then he stays with his head down on the carpet."

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Many of you will remember the song that talks of all the gods/Gods, sung by Lata and many others (Mohammad Rafi, for example). 

Lata Mangeshkar

Lata sang with many Muslims - Talat Mahmood and Mohammad Rafi to name just two, Now, sadly, she finally turned into a BJP supporter a bit before her death! A friend who knew her said that to me in a message after she visited her from Pakistan. Another person in India, a strong Hindu, said that she and her sister (Asha Bhosle) had become strong BJP supporters.

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There may be many here who are not necessarily interested in the belief systems of the Hindus, but very upset about Modi's Hindutva taking over India's masses. Muslims, mainly, but Christians also face the threats. Others will follow soon, it seems.

Shashi sahab is a strong opponent of Hindutva and I suggest that you buy this book and read more about about how Hindutva became what it is now. Most important: Read about V D Savarkar and M S Gowalkar … and how they brought this idea into the fold. Worth reading, too, is Deeendayal Upadhyaya who disagreed on some points withe previous two, but eventually believed in Hindutva.

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In Why I Am A Hindu the 2nd Chapter (Pages 131 to 245) is Political Hinduism - and offers, apart from details of the above people, the trouble that Muslims face as Hindutva moves forward. Babri Mosque and many other pieces, including lynchings, murders, and humiliation are described here … and they will increase for other minorities, too. 

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Here is a wonderful young girl singing the same song today.

Sniti Mishra

What now?

Bol, keh lab āzād haéñ tayray?

Now UFOs are REAL

Click here

A few people think it could be China. Others think it could be another country. They believe that testing these amazing UFOs is being done until the Crafts are perfect … and then they will declare a world war and conquer the world.

Others, like most people I have asked or have seen in the Press, agree that these are Alien crafts. They have been happening well before China or USSR or any country could have existed.

One of the reasons that many people stated was that it could lead to a general panic. In fact they think the Governments were aware of that and chose to refuse the facts just to stay safe.

I doubt that!

When have we ever been so wonderfully close?

Many people thought news like this would lead to a religious panic. Who would God be? Allah, Jesus, Bhagvān, Zeus or many other gods people have believed in?

I doubt that, of course!

After all a larger number of scientists are atheists?

Would they care?

Imagine the number of people from all walks of life who saw this. From Police people to Army Officers to well-known citizens who were accepted in high positions. Also a couple of US Presidents. They were called Liars,  Schizophrenics, Hoaxers (Yes. There were many fakes, of course!) and even more by the Press. This was because the Governments had said so about them. Now they are all sane! We need to reinterview those that are available.

What's your view?

I don't believe in coincidences, but …

My father

- Abi is what I called him -

was born on 11th April 1900

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Abi loved books (English and Urdu) and poetry (which he also wrote in Urdu) and music (he had a lovely voice and could read Music in the way it was written in the West) and adored humour of all sorts. He wrote well - a bit strange for a Doctor - and his English and Urdu were really well-written. 

All my loves come from him.

More than anything else, he admired good movies: mainly English (finding the Urdu movies too similar and 'old fashioned', unless they had some good classical songs in them).

In the last days of his life - although he had been an Atheist in his college days and when he was in the UK (and I don't remember him saying his prayers until much later in life) - he became a strong Muslim, for reasons that I understand and have written about earlier, much to the annoyance of some erstwhile friends.

This meant that he stopped going to movies,

for they interfered with his prayer times.

In 1957 on his birthday I asked him to accompany me to a film, for it had his favourite actors: Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, Elsa Lanchester. It was Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution. I pleaded and pleaded and pleaded … and he finally agreed to go, saying that he would say his Maghrib Prayers as Qazā.

What an amazing film that was!

I have seen it a number of times since then.

After the movie he and I went to my Mamooñ Jan's place, where he said his Qazā Namāz. Shah Sahab was also staying at Mamooñ Jan's house. An amazingly interesting man, Shah Sahab seemed to read minds and then talk to someone in the crowd about something … but it actually was meant for someone else sitting in the crowd that came to see him. I don't believe such things any way.

When Abi came out and after a few minutes another friend dropped in, Shah Sahab addressed him and said Qazā can't be decided from before and is only permitted if you have missed a prayer. And it is certainly not allowed after a movie. I was there and no one had said Abi had gone to a movie and was now saying his Qazā prayers. Hmmm. 

It is now 11th April 2020

Nuzhat and I are in our Lockdown Mode and looking through YouTube … and I find Witness for the Prosecution. No. Not the version I had mentioned earlier, but a BBC TV version. Ralph Richardson (later a Sir), Deborah Kerr, Diana Riggs. All wonderful stars. I had never heard of this … and we decided to see it.

Good film,

if you haven't seen the 1957 version.

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Strange to find it on Abi's 120th birthday, though.

From Abi's birthday in 1957 to today is 63 years.

Abi died on 19th September 1963 at 63 years.

The 'Injeelic' Problem

Three problems exist in the

beliefs of Abrahamic religions.

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Jews do not accept Injeel

since they do not accept Jesus

as a Prophet or God Incarnated as Man.

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The Christians, under Trinity, think of Jesus as God.

They do not think of Injeel as a book sent

by a God to Himself.

The believe in the New Testament (NT)

which were written many years

after the Crucifixion (Crucifiction?) of Christ.

The names of the Gospels are people who were known

but they are not the Authors.

They were written by their believers or followers.

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About the case of St. Paul

(the current Christianity is Pauline Christianity)

we have the following quote in Wikipedia.

According to the New Testament book, Acts of the Apostles, Paul persecuted some of the early disciples of Jesus, possibly Hellenised diaspora Jews converted to Christianity, in the area of Jerusalem prior to his conversion. 

In the narrative of Acts, Paul was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to "arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem" when the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in a great light. He was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God. Almost half the book is Paul's acts and  and works.. 

[Acts 9:20-9:21] 

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Muslims believe that Injeel was a book sent to

Jesus, as a Prophet, by Allah.

The Muslim view is based on the Qur'an,

which is considered by them to be the word of Allah.

O People of the Scripture. do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His word which He directed to Mary and a soul [created at a command] from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers. And do not say, "Three"; desist - it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God. Exalted is He above having a son. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And sufficient is Allah as Disposer of affairs.

(Qur'an - Surah 4 Ayat 171)

They state that the actual Injeel was removed by a Pope

to make their new belief as the ones Christians must follow.

(Some Muslims think that a copy

of the original Injeel is in the Vatican Library)

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I read the Bible frequently in my interest in religious studies

and have found several problems in the Old Testament.

But that's not important since the book was written

in over a 1000 years, according to most studies,

and much of it is even written by people

who did not believe in one God

(and some who believed in several gods).

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There are two major versions of the Bible

(I and not counting the Mormon Bible which deals

with Jesus's life in the USA!).

I refer to the Protestant and the Roman Catholic Version.

I have used King James Version here.

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For those not in the know, some Protestants use Bibles which also include 14 additional books in a section known as the Apocrypha (though these are not considered canonical) bringing the total to 80 books. This is often contrasted with the 73 books of the Catholic Bible, which includes seven deuterocanonical books as a part of the Old Testament.

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However, with Easter approaching soon

(Sunday, 12th April 2020)

I decided I'd turn to the NT and read it again.

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Oh, no …

Having found several problems there,

I would want some Christians to help me with them.

(I hope some do read this post).

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1. St. Paul and the Gospels disagree with whether there was a tomb where Jesus was laid.

2. St. Paul and the Gospels disagree with whether the tomb literally became empty.

3. All of the Gospels accept that women went to the tomb on the first day of the week. But they disagree on who were the women and what they saw there.

4. The Gospels disagree on whether the women really saw the risen Christ. Mark and Luke say NO; Matthew and John say YES.

5. The Gospels disagree on where the 12 Disciples were when Christ appeared to them the first time: Mark implies that it was Galilee; Matthew states that it was in Galilee; Luke says that it was never in Galilee but in Jerusalem; John says that it was in Jerusalem first and in Galilee much later.

6. There is a disagreement on whether it was 'on the third day' or 'after three days'.

7. Who saw the Christ among the people first? Paul says it was Peter; Mathew says it was the women at the tomb; Luke says it was Cleopas (an early Christian) on the road to Emmaus; John says it was Mary Magdalene alone.

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History now lives at someone else's house …

The Templar Knights were part of the First Crusade that, with the blessings of the Pope Urban II, attacked Jerusalem, killing millions of Muslims and Jews. (Recently some Christians say that the Pope did not order the killing of Jews … but they were killed, anyway.)

The Knights used to stop at Malta before heading towards Jerusalem. A replica of their armour in lighter metal is still available at Malta. We bought this in 1983 at US$450 and shipped it to Karachi for US$150.

Displayed on my staircase since then, as you can see in the photos. But I am moving into a small house and can't have it there. This is despite the fact that Cyra Anklesaria suggested that I move it into my new home's WC. That would mean we'd have to crap in our kitchen (yes, it is a small house).

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The parts of the Knight are in three pieces that can be removed and carried separately … which is how they came from Malta from where I shipped it.

Top Half

Staff

Bottom Half

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Here is the whole Knight, for those who haven't see it.

Anyway, it's now been sold

to a couple who are very close friends

and they will look after it well.

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I'll let them announce it.

A look at Abrahamic Religions — 4

Part One is here.

Part Two is here.

Part Three is here

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A friend of mine from Lahore was here and staying at our place. She asked me about Gog and Magog (Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj, in Arabic) … and what the Abrahamic Religions had to say of them. So that's where I will be heading this time, but here's a small preamble that is important.

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If we are to consider the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions Abrahamic, there must be something that is similar among them. Abraham, of course, stands as the Father of all three religions and so do many of the texts in the books that are often similar and, at other times, differing in their details but common.

Jews don't accept the Catholic or the Protestant versions of the Old Testament Bible (yes they are different, too), except for the first 5 books which the Jews consider the Jewish Bible: the Torah. They obviously do not accept the New Testament at all.

The Christians accept the Old Testament (OT) - except for the number of books that the Catholic Version has, as opposed to the Protestant Version. But both sectors accept the New Testament (NT) - a collection of the Jesus's Ahaadiths and a few Epistles and other stuff that were put together 70 years onwards after Christ's Death (and Resurrection). But they do not accept the Muslim book, the Qur'an, as a religious work at all.

Most Muslims accept all the books given above. The Qur'an is their book and the others are mentioned in the Qur'an. Although there is a difference in how one interprets the aayaahs: There is a Saheefaé Ibrahim mentioned in Qur'an and becomes another book (apart from the one mentioned below) that is no longer available.

Almost all Muslims believe that there are 4 Books mentioned: Torah, Züboor, Injeel, and the Qur'an. Some members of a Muslim sect, however, also believe that Qur'an was not mentioned at all, because ''we are reading it and accept it as the word of Allah. The fourth book is really Saheefaé Ibrahim''. The Khalafiyya Shias (now extinct)- who believe in the importance of Fives - correctly believe there are 5 books mentioned in the Qur'an.

In addition to the total absence of Zuboor, a book sent to Hazrat Dawood (the OT's Psalms of David allegedly contain some of it), there is the Qur'anic saying that Jews and Christians have altered their works in many places. Often the Qur'an corrects it. Here is a basic example:

Exodus [20.11]
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Qur'an [50:39]

And verily, We created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six periods, and no weariness touched Us.

A major difference lies in the Muslim and Christian understanding of Injeel (the word in English is Evangelism, which means Good Tidings). The Christians believe that Jesus gave them the Good Tidings of the world coming to an end when we would all be with God. Muslims believe that this was a book sent down to Jesus and the Good Tidings were about the coming of the final prophet.

The Christians do not accept that a book came down to Jesus, at all. In fact my teacher, a priest at my school, said Jesus IS God so there was no reason for a book to be sent by Himself to Himself. The Qur'an says there was such a book. A major dispute, here!

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Let us now get back to Gog/Ya'jooj and Magog/Ma'jooj

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Let's start with the Qur'anic beliefs, since they apply to the majority of my readers and to, specially, my friend.

Chapter 18 Surah Kahf:

94 They said: "O Dhül-qarnain! the Gog and Magog (people) do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them?"
95 He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute): help me therefore with strength (and labor): I will erect a strong barrier between you and them:
96 "Bring me blocks of iron." At length when he had filled up the space between the two steep mountain sides he said "Blow (with your bellows)." Then when he had made it (red) as fire he said: "Bring me that I may pour over it molten lead."
97 Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.

Chapter 21 Surah Anbiyaa:

96 Until the Gog and Magog (people) are let through (their barrier) and they swiftly swarm from every hill.
97 Then will the True Promise draw nigh (of fulfillment): then behold! The eyes of the unbelievers will fixedly stare in horror: "Ah! woe to us! we were indeed heedless of this; nay we truly did wrong!"

Who is Dhül-qarnain? The translation of the term is 'the one with two horns' and is accepted by many Muslims as Alexander the Great because he wore a Skull Cap that had 2 horns on it. However, there is another school that believes that it is Cyrus the Great and you can see a Video about it here.

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The Jewish and Christian stories differ strongly from the Cyrus story and have Alexander as the King.  According to Muslims these books have been changed over time. The stories in both (Jewish and Christian) books are heavily contradictory within themselves.

1. Gog and Magog appear in the Hebrew Bible as individuals, peoples, or lands. Yes. All three are mentioned and they change after a few chapters.

2. In Ezekiel 38, Gog is an individual and Magog is his land.

3. In Genesis 10 Magog is a man, but no Gog is mentioned.

4. Centuries later Jewish tradition changed Ezekiel's Gog from Magog into Gog and Magog. This is the form in which they appear in the Book of Revelation, although there they are peoples rather than individuals.

5. A legend was attached to Gog and Magog by the time of the Roman period, that the Gates of Alexander were erected by Alexander the Great to repel the tribe. Romanized Jewish historian Josephus knew them as the nation descended from Magog the Japhetite, as in Genesis, and explained them to be the Scythians.

6. In the hands of Early Christian writers they became apocalyptic hordes, and throughout the Medieval period variously identified as the Huns, Khazars, Mongols, Turanians or other nomads, or even the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

7. The legend of Gog and Magog and the gates was also interpolated into the Alexander romances. In one version, "Goth and Magoth" are kings of the Unclean Nations, driven beyond a mountain pass by Alexander, and blocked from returning by his new wall.

8. Gog and Magog are said to engage in human cannibalism in the romances and derived literature.

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I presume these tales and legends, as well as the beliefs from which they come, should answer my friend … and any others who are interested in religious geography, history, and legends that spring around them later.

A look at Abrahamic Religions — 3

Part One is here.

Part Two is here.

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There are several blasphemous, ridiculous, and violent stories in the Old Testament, something that no god could have Written, while several people think it was Sent Down, Dictated, or He Inspired people to write. Here are a few for those who do not have/read the Bible. It is also aimed at many Christians who read it and gloss over these stories, try to forget about them, or say they now follow what's in the New Testament only.

In case of Roman Catholics, they believe that the Pope has a link with his God (Jesus) and has conversations* with Him. Some of these conversations make the Popes change their beliefs accordingly: Galileo is one case in point.

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I'll just stick to a few them

but if you really want to know more

you can read Robert Ingersoll and others.

Oh, but was an Atheist?
Hmmm.
Ok!

Listen to Bishop John Spong, then.

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At the beginning in Genesis we have several examples.

The most important ones after the Creation Stories, where YHWY does not know that the Sun is also a Star — (OT Genesis 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.) — are the Creation of Adam and Eve, who ate a fruit (now translated as Apple) at the Snake saying so, and were banished from Heaven. The most true part in this is the Man blamed the Woman, never agreeing to take the blame on himself :)

Those tales about Satan coming as a Snake is a bit odd since I can't believe if Eve spoke Cobranese (or whatever) or the Snake spoke Aramaic or some other language. How did they communicate?

What is most peculiar is that God said they can eat any fruit from every tree, except this particular one. (OT Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.)

Satan said He is lying.
They won't die.

They took the risk. And ate it. And lived.

Does that prove that Satan was right? I wouldn't argue.

Another peculiarity has me completely befuddled. God did say there was ONE tree. Not TWO. Just one tree. But look at this part that follows the above in Genesis:

3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Errrr … "one of us"? Haéñ. I thought there was just One God.

Even in the First Commandment to Moses he said "Thou Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me" (Does that mean we can have others in line after Him.)

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Of course Adam and Eve had children. Abel and Cain were their sons. (There are stories that they had a sister called Aqleema. Fahmida Riaz has written a wonderful poem about her. Google it.)

At some point Cain got upset and killed Abel. (Does that mean we are all children of the murderer? I hope not.) 

Anyway, let's see what Genesis 4 says.

4:16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod.

4:17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch …

So there were other women in Nod? Hmmm. Who were her parents? If they were not Adam and Eve's children, that doesn't make those two the only first human couple at all. Unless God (although He hasn't said this in the Old Testament) made more people and put them in different parts.

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Leaving other stories aside,

let us turn to Genesis 6.

6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Sons of Gods?
Looking at Daughters of Men?

Isn't that a part of what we (now) call 'mythologies'?

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See what this is followed by:

6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. (Well, not really, but anyway - we can skip that.)

6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Even more like those mythologies!

6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

…

Amen!

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*

(We mustn't forget that

President Idi Amin also spoke to Allah

and

President Bush the Younger also spoke to Jesus)

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The Spiritual Music of South India

Kuldeep M Pai

"Kuldeep M Pai is an accomplished Indian classical musician and composer with an intrinsic sense of melody and creativity. He has mastered the playing of instruments including several percussion mediums. This versatile artist who is also a keen learner, has learnt and imbibed  the nuances of western classical music as well. In his ever expanding horizon of music, he delves deeper and deeper into the art form, exploring its core essence with dedication, conviction and undeterred devotion. 

Music, to Kuldeep, is a metaphysical medium which arrays the world in perfect alignment with the Ultimate energy. An in- depth understanding of the quintessence of this divine art form combined with a staunch adherence to our Santhana Dharma has persuaded Kuldeep to transcend the stylistic aspects of the art and arrive at its very core, where Music becomes a mere path to Silence."

KMP has learnt from Sri Antony Master, Sri Arun Kumar, and Sri Shamsuddeen in Carnatic Vocal. He also learnt Violin from Sri Hariharan, as well as Western Classical Piano from Sri Ramamurthy.

Although he himself plays and sings beautifully … his compositions and training of of bhajans and other religious songs which he teaches to young children are on another level.

One of KMP's remarkable series

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Listen to these remarkable youngsters

&

specially, to Sooryagayathri.

Sooryagayathri

She is going to be a really great performer,

the signs of which are already seen in her renditions.

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Govind leeno mol - Meera Bhajan - Kuldeep M Pai

Ram Govind Hari - Rahul Vellal

Krishna Krishna - by little Gopikas

Brahmam Okate - Sooryagayathri & Rahul Vellal

Maveli Nadu Vaneedum Kalam | Onam Song | Sooryagayathri

Mahalakshmi Ashtakam - Rahul Vellal

Namō Namō Bhāratāmbē - Sooryagayathri | Kuldeep M Pai

Sivashtakam - Rahul Vellal

* Sri Ramachandra Kripalu - Sooryagayathri *

Vande Mataram - Sooryagayathri & Kuldeep M Pai

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Aren't they just amazing!