The story of hajj

The Story of Hajj starts with an 
introduction about Prophet Ibrahim or Abraham

ABRAHAM: Abraham is a figure revered by Muslims,
Jews, and Christians alike as a righteous person who lived over four thousan years ago. His story can be found in the Bible as well as the Qur'an (the Muslim holy book). Abraham is considered to be the patriach of monotheism, or "belief in the One God," who sought a personal relationship with his Creator. He left his native city of Ur in Mesopotamia after voicing opposition to his people's polytheistic practices,and eventually settled in Egypt with his family. Later, he escorted one of his wives, Hajar, and their infant son Ishmail, to a desolate valley in Arabia and left them there, trusting in God's promise to care for them. Hajar,concerned about feeding her young baby, began searching the surroundings for food and water. According the the Qur'an, in response to Hajar's prayers, a spring miraculously gushed forth at Ishma'il's feet to quench their thirst. Hajar climbed nearby hills searching for food and looking for caravans on the horizon. Eventually, some passing traders stopped in the valley, and asked Hajar's permission to water their camels. In time, the traders decided to settle in the little valley, and eventually the settlement grew into the city
of Makkah. Abraham returned from time to time to visit, and when Ishma'il was
about thirteen years old, he and Ishma'il constructed the Katbah, an empty
cube-shaped building, as a place dedicated for the worship of the One God.
Eventually, Makkah became an important trading post by the time of Prophet
Muhammad, twenty- five hundred years later. 

 

THE HAJJ    


In commemoration of the trials of
Abraham and his family in Makkah, which included Abraham's willingness to
sacrifice his son in response to God's command, Muslims make a pilgrimage to the sacred city at least once in their lifetime. The Hajj is one of the "five pillars" of Islam, and thus an essential part of Muslims' faith and practice.

 Muslims from all over the world, including the United States, travel to Makkah (in modern- day Saudi Arabia).
Before arriving in the holy city, Muslims enter a state of consecration
(dedication) known as ihram, by removing their worldly dothes and donning the
humble attire of pilgrimsÑtwo seamless white sheets for men, and simple white dresses and scarves for women. The white garments are symbolic of human equality and unity before God, since all the pilgrims are dressed similarly.
Money and status no longer are a factor for the pilgrims - the equality of each person in the eyes of God becomes paramount.

Upon arriving in Makkah, pilgrims perform the initial tawaf, which is a circular, counter-clockwise procession

around the Ka'bah. All the while, they state "Labbayka Allahumma

Labbayk," which means "Here I am at your service, O God, Here I am!" The tawaf is meant to awaken each Muslim's consciousness that God is the center of their reality and the source of all meaning in life, and that

each person's higher self-identity derives from being part of the community of Muslim believers, known as the ummah. Pilgrims also perform the sa'i, which is
hurrying seven times between the small hills named Safa and Marwah, reenacting the Biblical and Qurtanic story of Hajar's desperate search for life giving water and food.


Next, on the first official day of Hajj(8th of Dhul-Hijjah), the two million pilgrims travel a few miles to the plain

of Mina and camp there. From Mina, pilgrims travel the following morning to the plain of Arafat where they spend the entire day in earnest supplication and

devotion. That evening, the pilgrims move and camp at Muzdalifa, which is a site between Mina and Arafat. Muslims stay overnight and offer various prayersThen the pilgrims return to Mina on the there.

10th, and throw seven pebbles at a stone pillar that represents the devil. This symbolizes Abraham's throwing stones at Satan when he tried to dissuade Abraham

from sacrificing his son. Then the pilgrims sacrifice a sheep, reenacting the
story of Abraham,who, in place of his son, sacrificed a sheep that God had provided

as a substitute. The meat from the slaughtered sheep is distributed for consumption to family, friends, and poor and needy people in the community.

After the sacrifice, the pilgrims return to Makkah to end the formal rites of Hajj by performing a final tawaf and sa'i.

Muslims believe the rites of the Haj were designed by God and taught through prophet Muhammad. Muslims believe that

since the time of Adam, there have been thousands of prophets, including such well-known figures as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and David, and that Muhammad was the final prophet of God. The Hajj is designed to develop God consciousness and a sense of spiritual up liftment. It is also believed to be an opportunity to seek forgiveness of sins accumulated thoughout life. Prophet

Muhammad had said that a person who performs Hajj properly "will return a newly born baby [free of all sins]." The pilgrimage also enables Muslims

from all around the world, of different colors, languages, races, and ethnicity, to come together in a spirit of universal brotherhood and  sisterhood to worship the One God together.

BEAT THE EXAMS STRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stress is a huge part of the university experience, and it's something we all have to deal with in life. We don't,  however, have to let it get the best of us. Just for the cord, these tips actually work, like "deep breathing exercises"
1. Avoid stressful people. Stress actually is contagious. During exam week, resist the urge to have a study session with your super tense friend.
2. Eat healthy and exercise. If you are studying for a long period of time, make and effort to eat healthy, including plenty of fruits and vegetables. Also,a 10 minute walk will leave you calmer and more focused.
3. force yourself to take break . For every hour or so that you work, take a 10 or 15 minute break. Let yourself do whatever you want. This gives your brain a little rest and will help keep you focused when you are actually doing work.
4 Visualize it all going right. Picture getting all of the answers right, and focus on how relaxed you feel. Then picture the A on your test paper. when you imagine  a happy ending, that's often what happens.
5. If you've studied all you can, get up your confidence!!!!!

Guinean students celebrating EID fitr in Malaysia

Eid ul-Fitr is a celebration held by Muslims to mark the end of Ramadan and thank Allah for the strength he gives them to get through this period of fasting. it is also a time for fellowship, socialization, and good wishes, and it is celebrated with a variety of local traditions all over the world. Every Muslim wants to wear new clothes on Ed and crowds of customers throng, the shopping centers making their last minute purchases on the days prior to eid.

 Guinean students celebrating EID fitr in Malaysia In Malaysia,
 Eid is more commonly known as Hari Raya or Hari Raya Puasa. Hari Raya, which literally means 'Celebration Day'. Eid-ul-Fitrs is important for Muslims because it gives the happiness on the faces of all type of people, rich, poor, old people, youngsters, children, males and females. All people dress up in their best on this occasion or at least neat and clean clothes and attend prayers at the local Mosque or Eidgah (an open-air mosque usually outside the city) just after dawn.

After saying prayer, the Imam (the leader) gives an address to people and after that people hug each other and say "Eid Mubarak", and then they return to their homes During Ramadan all Guinean students in Malaysia like to take breakfast together as well as trawih prayer. Usually the women cook some traditional food such as lafidi sadi , kabise and moni. In the Eid celebration Guineans wear their traditional dress such as basen and other traditional and the Bureau of Association oraganize even and festival for students to enjoy their Eid as in Hometown they come out with traditional food and dance

 During Iftar gathering which was organized after conference

My stance on politics!!!!!!!!!!!!

After long and hard thinking about politics, I have come up with a political philosophy. It's a short philosophy: Ideology is bad. I dislike ideologies in all forms: liberal, conservative, libertarian, whatever. Right at the moment, I think that the liberal/conservative divide is the single most harmful thing about American politics. Politicians don't seem to care about solving problems, they only want to know whether a particular idea is liberal or conservative, and then, presto, they are for/against it. Ideologies are an excuse for people to avoid thinking. Once people adopt a political philosophy that has all of the answers, they stop thinking and start rationalizing. I find it difficult to take anybody's opinions seriously when it is clear that they started with the answers, and then worked backward to select facts that would support their views, and ignore facts that don't. Most people declaiming their opinions succeed primarily in convincing me that they are too stupid to understand any viewpoint other than their own. In short, if you want me to take your opinions seriously, you will have to convince me that you in fact understand both sides of an issue. Overall, I don't like people assuming that one opinion locates me at some point on a liberal/conservative scale-- I've never seen a logical reason why my opinion about, say, gun control ought to have some ideological correlation with my opinion about birth control. I'm not a liberal. I'm not a conservative. Mark me down as "other." That's the major part of my political philosophy: thinking good; ideology bad. For more of my opinions, the following points summarize my politics: Ditch the ideology, and tell me the facts. Freedom of speech is important. If there's one single point which is key to my political beliefs, it is an emphatic belief in free speech. Freedom of speech (and writing, and art) is critical to the free exchange of ideas, and any society that does not allow the free exchange of ideas will slide into totalitarianism. Yes, I do know the arguments against hate speech, against child pornography, against allowing terrorist to recruit on the internet, against several other good reasons that free speech shouldn't be unconditional. I understand and sympathize with them. But if anybody is given the power to decide that some particular form of speech is forbidden, this power is simply too easy to abuse. Or, to phrase it differently: Pay attention to the words you say when you try to curtail speech of people you don't like: they are the same words you will hear when others take away your right to speak. Freedom of speech is so important to me, that for a while I was considering listing this as the only political view I have. However, as somewhat less important subjects, here are the rest of my (hard thought-out) political opinions: Technology is a tool for solving problems. (I'm in favor of appropriate technology: that means the technology that is appropriate to the problem.) Prosperity is better than poverty. Or, to quote the campaign of a former president, it really is "the economy, stupid." We have a nice planet here, let's not destroy it. Democracy is good. (Winston Churchill said that democracy is absolutely the worst form of government, except for all the other forms of government which have been tried. I agree.) From these main points, you can pretty much triangulate my views on other subjects. One more thing: Wanting something to be true doesn't make it true Current events In the United States, the "war against terror" has me badly scared. Free speech and fair, open trials are two of the things that I think makes America great, and I'm horrified at the way that these ideals have been abandoned in the urgency of the moment. Ben Franklin said that people who give up essential liberty for temporary security won't get either one, and I think that fair, open trials are an essential part of American liberty. Secret trials are the signature of a dictatorship, and freedom of the press is what keeps us free. When the administration told us that it was going to take these freedoms away to stop terrorism, how come nobody objected? It's almost enough to get me to hold my nose and join the American Civil Liberties Union. I'm really thinking about it. This is important: Pay attention to the words that you hear yourself saying when you justify why you should take away the rights and free speech of people you think are your enemies. You're going to hear these words again, when they take away your rights.

Happy new year

On behalf of our entire team at M.T.M, we want to thank all of you for sharing with us a great year and send you our best wishes for 2010

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