Happy fasting!

In case I don't catch you again for a while due to my own schedule or whatever, please accept my well wishes for spiritual growth in this most holy time of yours=^.^=

Nah, I'll be on FA during the evening when I have the time usually after Iftar(breaking the fast) and the night prayers at the mosque so that's all done between 9 and 10pm,so you might catch me around, since I won't be going out often I'll probably be drawing more and upload some more art, of course all my art is 'halal'(clean), but I'll limit my FA activities to the evenings only for this month, but thank you so much for your encouragement and your good wishes I really appreciate it :3, and to you I see may God's peace and blessings be upon you my friend

Happy holidays my friend ^^ *hugs*

Thank you man *hugs back*

this holiday means one of two things will happen where i am right now.

1. the insurgents stop fighting during the fasting
2. the insurgents fight more often during the fasting

in iraq they actually waited until evening prayer to launch mortars. the call to prayer was still being chanted when i heard the launch. if only more believers of islam had your point of view.

Thank so much Blitz for your nice words,I hope the Muslim world gets better, I really do, well you know I bet you'll find a number of Muslims with a similar point of view to mine :3, I appreciated the debates we had and the respectful way it was done, so yeah thanks for being kind to my Blitz, I'll be around in the evenings so that's best time to catch me :3

you should see how crazy the afghans get over this holiday. we share a patrol base with ANA and ANP (army, police). one of the police ate a biscuit (or drank some water) after morning prayer. a ANA saw him do this and they started fighting over it. the ANP tried to shoot his AK47 at the ANA (yes, they were fighting that bad) and then the soldier went into his barracks and came back out and pointed a RPG at the ANP. there were US soldiers and equipment behind the ANP. it took a while to make them calm down.

they got so upset that they were willing to kill each other over a biscuit......

well one thing that people need to understand is that everyone has individual freedom, I usually have a 'live and let live' policy, I don't know why they make a big deal out of little things, the Muslim world you see now is a mere shadow of its former glory were they were not like this, history says otherwise, for me whatever people do is between them and God, its not my job to tell people how to live their lives and neither is theirs unless its something major such as a person hurting someone else than it becomes a public issue, but a biscuit? *facepaw* well in Afghanistan there's a lack of education, I think education is key to eliminating extremism, like you see Bosnia for example, the Bosnians are often have a reputation of being Liberal Muslims but its simply because they adapted Islam to European culture and norms since their European, what makes the great religions 'great' is that they in theory are flexible and adaptable, capable of integrating into the culture it finds itself in, like for me as an American Muslim, I do all the basic things such as prayer,fasting etc, and I like to hang out with friends, play video games and do all the normal things that Americans do,I integrate into the society, its just that they are certain things I won't do such as avoiding drinking alcohol, or not gambling or eating pork, and avoiding premarital sex and all, but other than that I'm flexible with everything else, the way Islam in America for the most part is practiced is much more individualistic since American Muslims are quite successful, for one they are educated, they have good incomes on average more than the average non-Muslim American and much more assimilated than Muslims in Britain and France for example are in which they tend to ghetto themselves, but they are intellectuals that are trying to turn the tide. But for me I go on my own spiritual path, and whatever I do is between me and God and no one else, but I'll stay optimistic and maybe 30 or 50 years from now the Muslim world will be a lot different, the Muslim world is at a crossroads one, it can go back and rely on 12th century interpretations and opinions or two, move forward into the 21st century, providing a path for Muslims to live their life in the modern world to live in harmony with everyone. I hope the second option wins in the end.

i read a chapter in the Christopher Hitchens book "god is not great: how religion poisons everything" about pork. it was very interesting considering how the muslims adopted a jewish tradition (not eating pork), then it went into why such a rule would have been made in the first place. back in the day of animal sacrifices people would eat what was left of the offering to their god. there are passages in the bible that hints (and some that outright admits) to human sacrifices. we have a lot in common with pigs, which is why they are used for research and other things. he then talks about how cannibal tribes in the pacific have a word for a cooked human that literally translates into "long pig." the assumption can be made that pork might taste like human flesh which is why the ancient jews avoided it.

interesting stuff :Þ

Sorry I haven't answer you in a awhile but anyway yeah when the Prophet Muhammad was invited to immigrate to Medina there was a large Jewish community there, he seeked to be friends with them so at first the Muslims adopted many Jewish customs for example they fasted on Yom Kippur before Revelation came that they fast on the month of Ramadan, and the many of the dietary restrictions were cut down to a few prohibitions which are alcohol, gambling, pork, blood,carrion and carnivorous animals. The Muslims also used to pray towards Jerusalem before Revelation came that they pray towards Mecca the reason for this is that since Jews believe in the same God as they do they adopted some of their religious customs before revelations came to replace them, so when enough revelations came Islam eventually matured enough to become its own independent religion, the Koran was revealed over 23 years for a reason, so that the people slowly adopt to the practices that it mandates, the Koran was constantly evolving with the community and today many moderate and liberal Muslim intellectual see the Koran as a living text and interpretation of the text should evolve with the community from generation to generation and like I said before religion should be flexible and adaptable. The reason why I don't eat pork is mainly for both religious and health reasons, for one pork is an unhealthy meat, it is more liable to parasites than any other meat, it needs to be cooked very well or it can harbor worms and the like, so you know besides pork, other meats I don't eat is besides not eating meat of carnivourous animals, I don't eat horse or donkey meat cause I like them, and I never saw them as food :p

if forced into a survival situation where i didn't have the luxury of deciding weather or not i would eat something, i am pretty sure i would eat anything. ;) be that said, i have not eaten a wide range of meats because i choose not to for many reasons. like when i was in korea and someone tried to convince me that i should eat kugogi (phonetic spelling).

oh just to let you know prohibitions in the Koran are not absolute, actually in the Koran alcohol and pork are only prohibited unless of necessity so yes if your in a survival situation were there's nothing else, than yes pork and alcohol is okay, most of the few rules in the Koran are actually quite flexible, its not black and white as some are led to believe there's always a gray area.

well, besides being used on cuts i don't think alcohol would help in a survival situation :Þ

lol well maybe you might want one last drink before you die? :p

hum, my leg is off...... i am stuck in a chasm......... no hope of getting out......................................... lets get drunk!! xÐ

XD your funny

what about my funny? :Ð

*tilts head to the side in confusion*

get on YIM you clown

ah okay

I remember that ad ^^ I actually linked that on my Ramadan journal last year! Well, yeah, I dunno whether to look foward to or not. Something tells me this month of spiritual-ness is gonna be either a major make or break for me..if you know what I mean

Well I'll be here to help ya, if you have any troubles or questions about anything don't hesitate to ask me *hugs*

It's a very, very long rant. We're gonna need a skype chat for it. Doesn't help that the metabolic upset I experience during this month makes me extra tired and prone to mood swings and anger

the adventure beings! This month, our hero dares venture across long, sun-scorching, tummy rumbling days of fast in search of inner discipline and meditation on the Scriptures! ;)

More power to ya, laddie. I admire your dedication :D

aw thank you my friend *hugs*, thank you for encouraging me, and you pretty much was spot on that, I will fast in search of spiritual growth and reading the scriptures and all, thanks so much for your kind words.

you might want to take precautions though, if you happen to come across Vulpes or BBF at sunset!! You just might be hungry enough to nom dem!!

No I don't think I'll be THAT hungry to nom them I don't eat micros, its just not my taste, so micros are safe around me :3

ooh, a taste can always be 'acquired'.... lol :P

LOL whatever, I like Vulpes why would I eat him?

... "the call of the wild"... *grumble grumble, tummy groan* :-P

lol