Some thoughts

[wicked_danu]

I might be working at the EdUKEx [Education UK Exhibition] at the end of this month. It's organized by the British Council. Hoorah!

Mr Paul gave us a free period today. The last period was his, but since we begged so much, he didn't teach anything. We're such lazy schmucks.

During and after iftar, I was watching this documentary sort of thing on

Comments

[wicked_danu]

Eid's on Thursday here.. but my mom's celebrating a day earlier because the Bohris go by a set calendar and stick their tongues out to the moon.

Well, the religious arguments that I have are usually posted here. The most important one this month, I can say, is the one I had at the beginning of Ramadan - where my dad said that some Jewish guy is trying to mislead me and Jews want to control the entire world. Other than that, I got dragged to the Bohri mosque to "pray" on Laylat al-Qadr [23rd night] and I loathed every minute of it. They were flagellating themselves, albeit passively, screaming out 'Ya-Ali!' and 'Ya-Hussain!' It was hard to keep a straight face.

I wasn't alive in 1986, so I don't know about the Challenger explosion. But they did mention in the documentary that Columbia was the second disaster that NASA had experienced.

The reason that the NASA people thought that the cause of the fuck-up was a terrorist was that there was an Israeli astronaut was on board. How does that make sense? 'Yeah, the Israelis are killing our people so we should blow that space-craft up because ONE of them is in it.'
That must have been one patient Rabbi, in the midrash, who had the strength to say that, instead of screaming for help.

[layla1188]

They actually flagellate themselves on Laylat al-Qadr? *boggles* Then again, standing for 1 1/2 hours of Taraweeh prayers could be considered self-flagellation...

[wicked_danu]

Bohris flagellate themselves [do the rhythmic maatam] at any given occasion.. they're crazy about it. Sometimes they use weapons like swords and chains to hit themselves. It's a big bloody mess.

[layla1188]

Well, I've heard about the Ashura flagellations, but I guess they just like to do it all the time. Sounds a bit like (some) Catholics, don't you think?

[wicked_danu]

I dunno, I haven't seen any Catholics flagellate themselves. But yeah, they do it all the time.

[layla1188]

I've seen footage of some Catholics in the Philippines CRUCIFY THEMSELVES during Good Friday, right before Easter. Of course they take them down before they die, but jeez. Then there's a long tradition of self-flagellation and punishing yourself in medieval Catholicism, like wearing crowns of thorns, hair shirts, and so on. Plus some of those crucifixes are brightly colored and very gory, and tales of the martyrs are widely told, along with long descriptions of their tortures. All of this USED to be more common than it is now, but still. That's why Shi'a kinda remind me of Catholics, or vice versa!

[wicked_danu]

I do remember reading about some really devout Christians who crucified themselves or carried replicas of Jesus' cross for long distances, to go through what Jesus underwent. Some people even drank poison and survived.. trying to prove that there was truth in the miracles mentioned in the Christian Bible.