BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Middle Eastern Culture Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca

In Saudi Arabia, the Hajj is underway and the Islamic holiday of Eid ul-Adha starts on Saturday (30 December.)

Closing the Islamic Year: The Hajj, Pilgrimage to Mecca, and Eid ul-Adha

I wish a peaceful pilgrimage to all the pilgrims and holiday blessing to all my Muslim friends!

Julie

Iranian are really annoyed of Hajj this year. Our journals are full of stories from there. Many Sunni Arabs curses Iranian in Persian language and shopkeepers didn�t accept Iranian monetary this year; shopkeepers told that Iranian money boycotted. Maybe Saddam hanging effect on it!

Not being funny but why would the hanging of Saddam affect the Saudis feelings towards the Iranians?
Furthermore Saddam was hanged on the day of Eid. if you think about it, this is 30 days after hajj had started! In fact Hajj had ended <img src="/images/graemlins/rolling.gif" alt="" /> you must be high!

Why are you accusing Saudis of rubbish that probably isn't true? Get a life! Why should they accept Iranian monetary in Saudi Arabia. I cant walk into any shop in the UK and assume they would accept EUROs.

PS. I have nothing agains Iranians. I have Iranian friends and I have many friends that are Shia. The problem is that you want to come online and find someway to criticize Sunni's. You are not a builder of bridges you are a foolish hater of peace!

Probably you didn�t hear slogans of Saddam in some part of his trail and especial during his execution and what his hangers yell against him.


Yes this situation started already.
I guess you haven�t heard what regimens of Saudi and Jordan mentioned about Iraqi situation and for what reason they have warned American government about Persian influence in Iraq governing.

I just tell some news, I�m not sure our monetary unit was accepted already in Saudi although I personally heard some things in favor of what I mentioned in above.
So far I have seen three Arabic countries. In UAE just Dirham, Dollar and Euro, in Syria (Damascus) most of shops accept Iranian money even better than theirs and in Lebanon some few shops.
I heard in Iraq, especially Shiite pilgrimage cities our money accepted either.



Somewhat agree with you. For more information, must mention that I didn�t choose my nationality, parents and religion when born.
I think Sunni is more close to real Islam than Shiite; actually Sunni try to show Original Islam I think.
Bridges!!! I don�t like any bridge, brotherhood and relation established in religion base.

About Hajj, I�m afraid of to tell that, can�t assumed some where as God house. Long time ago I had this ability to justify myself but nowadays totally lost this ability.

Well generally, what money shopkeepers accept has to do with business, not politics. A shopkeeper will accept any currency where the increased sales are offset by the difficulty in making the exchange. If a foreign currency is more stable than the local currency, then that increase the ease of exchange (or makes it something people would want to keep as savings.) If you can't exchange it in your country, or can't exchange it easily, then no one is going to want it...



Do Muslims' not believe that God chooses that for you for a reason? Also, while we don't get to choose the circumstances into which we are born, we do have choices about how we handle them. How do you want to handle the circumstances of your birth?

Julie

I ask Babak to pardon me if I was rude. Saddam's hanging had nothing to do with Iranians. you will find many Sunnis did not object to his hanging either.
Do not forget he killed many Sunnis too. Why? because they were Kurdish.

So his hanging could not have affected shia on hajj since he was hanged after the month of hajj. Just look at it logically.
People in Saudi may not like the Shia my friend but they do not hate the Shia because of Saddam being Hanged which is what you originally implied.



in reply to this I must say, Julie we do believe that god chooses our birth and it is all for a reason. It is a test in life to see how we will handle things.
The poor must show gratittude to god as the Rich must also or the healthy to the unhealthy.

And Babak you mentioned that you did not choose your birth, religion nationality etc.
Nor did I.
No one on this earth can choose their race, colour, family, wealth or nationality at time of birth. but we are free to choose our religion!!! many people do as did I! If you think Sunni Islam is the real deal than dont hold back.

In the Quran Allah mentions that the problem with most people is that they will not abandon the religion of their fathers. The choice is yours. Do not let anyone else pressure you.

no problem


kibrisi , so nice, is your religion different from your parents?!


You right but it was for pagan and non-Muslim, not for Muslim I think. If any Muslim refuse his/her religion and denied it, will encounter with dead sentence. Recent one was for an Afghan guy that converted to Christian last year. Beside if you like I can search in Quran for that too?


I guess kibrisi�s reply was proper for this question. I think Muslim have thought every thing is in control of God and managed with purpose by it.


Julie, I�m not sure get your question quite well but guess it isn�t so easy to answer, beside it�s so wide, I suggest you to start a new thread to discuss about it in common.
If I want to answer it in a line can tell � I accept every thing that able to understand and reasonable and consider about others�

I will be glad to know your point of view?

hi again all,

I would say that my religion is different from my parents. I was born with a Muslim name but I refused to follow their customs and ways of culture. My parents do not know how to pray, how to perform ablution, how to fast, when they should give their charity, they do not understand the difference between tawheed and shirk. Most of my family have never smelt the essence of the purity of Islam yet they have Muslim names. Sometimes this is as far as it goes for some people. Just a name. Islam is practised differently in every country and in every country usually there is only a small fraction of people that follow the religion of Islam properly.
it is not for me to say whether ignorant people are Muslim or not, but I can definitely tell you my religion is different from theirs.
I am strict on my deeds and I try to make sure all of my actions are ethical. Islam means peace and submission so I try to be a peaceful person. I dont lie, I dont cheat people, in my business I only charge whatever work i do honestly, I treat every human being the same whether they are Muslim or non Muslim, whether they are black or white, whether they are young or old or whether they are healthy or suffer from some disability.

There are people who claim to be Muslim and think its ok to steal/cheat from non muslims, sell alcohol or pork, gamble etc. What im getting at is that Islam has to be in the heart of people not in their throats.



My friend i will show you a verse from the holy Quran and you can tell me whether you think that that verse was only for non-muslims



Here God is not talking to the pagans but talking about the Muslims who say we are Muslims but the faith travels as far as their throats. It does not reach their hearts.
Not everyone that says they are Muslim will go to paradise.

Have a good think about it.
I do not know which type of Shia you are my friend but to me it does not make much difference because their are sunnis that are only sunni because of where they live. As i say they only follow the religion of their fathers. Most people do not read for themselves but allow the preachers to tell them what is right and wrong. How do we know those preachers are not corrupt in their belief?

I think ive talked too much LOL
but ill leave you with a last thing I want to say. I reccomend this to anyone who claims to be either Christian, Jew or Muslim. REVIEW YOUR FAITH! not all religions can be right. Dont stick to it because you were born on it!
You can not choose your colour, race etc but you can choose what you want to believe in life.
The ultimate test to review your faith if you are Muslim, Jew or Christian is the test of Tawheed (or in otherwords the test of monotheism)
Ask you self am I practising monotheism? Do I only believe in one God? Do I associate partners with the all-mighty? (this can come in the form of lucky charms, certain preachers or saints, sons of God, prophets of God. If you worship any of these or use any of the above as an intermediary to God or as God than you are not monotheistic.

The first commandment in the case of Christians and Jews and the chapter 114 in the Quran should be the standard to review faith for Muslims.

I wish the peace of God upon you all.

you are nice person but be care of your relationship!

Pay respect to Quran Chapter 5: AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE) &#64831;51&#64830;
SHAKIR: o you who believe! do not take the jews and the christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely allah does not guide the unjust people
PICKTHAL: o ye who believe! take not the jews and the christians for friends. they are friends one to another. he among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them. lo! allah guideth not wrongdoing folk.
YUSUFALI: o ye who believe! take not the jews and the christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. and he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. verily allah guideth not a people unjust.

Thank you for your nasihah but do you think Allah is talking about every Jew or Christian in the street?

If you take into perspective the many versus in the Quran that Allah asks us to be kind and dutiful to people, to show love to mankind, than you can easily understand that Allah is not talking about every Tom, Dick and Harry.

He is referring to the George Bush's of this world. not every Christian or Jew is aspiring to trick and destroy us. Allah is clearly not talking about out neighbours or work colleagues.
However we must take care not to get drawn into customs that are un-Islamic. Allah may be saying get to know them but dont participate in customs that are haram or things that will lead to haram.
We are advised to give dawah and call people to a pure monotheistic religion so they can free themselves from the oppressive cultures they are part of and free themselves from the prospect of the hellfire. We can only do this by demonstrating the true peaceful nature of Islam.