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| Israel-Palestine | |||
| Israel says will free 400 Palestinian prisoners | |||
| 2005-06-02 | |||
| JERUSALEM - Israel will free 400 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has called an attempt to boost moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a Gaza withdrawal. Palestinians have dismissed the long-delayed release as a public relations stunt, complaining that Israel refused to give them a say in who would be freed, and prisoners they most wanted released would stay in jail.
The militant group Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction and the biggest rival to Abbas's ruling Fatah party, has said continuing the truce is partly contingent on prisoner releases. About 8,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails. | |||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #16 *Shudder* I apologize to everyone who has not posted to this thread for innocently turning it. And I am once again profoundly grateful to be a Westerner living in the West, where cleanliness is so taken for granted that we don't bother to think up any regulations beyond, "When you need to, use the available facilities." |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-06-02 22:16 |
| #15 a clean bong is the 15,765th holiest place in Islam |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-02 20:40 |
| #14 thern anything about changing yer bong water? i just refill as necessary, is there maybe a friday thing? |
| Posted by: abu half 2005-06-02 19:20 |
| #13 LH chewing tobacco is dealt with by analogy smoking tobacco should, IMO, logically be forbidden in both Islam and Judaism because both religions prohibit intentional harm to health (with specified exceptions)and there rulings to this effect notwithstanding this it is almost ubiquitous in much of the Islamic world and even in some Haredi neighborhoods |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-06-02 12:26 |
| #12 I always have thought that the early kosher and halal laws were put in place to improve the health and viability of the faithful. But after a while it just turned into a power trip, with increasing numbers of rituals and requirements that kept the peasants in thrall to the 'learned ones.' Also, Big Mo was just freaky afraid of everything "down there." He was totally Howard Hughes back in the 7th century. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-06-02 11:29 |
| #11 if you chew tobacco Now THATS obviously not from the Hadiths, which were all written well before 1000 AD, unless the muslims had discovered America and forgot to tell anyone. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-06-02 11:19 |
| #10 You must bathe at least once a week. Make it a point to bathe on Friday and join the congregation in clean and neat dress. In pre-modern, Christians apparently often did NOT bathe this often. Jews normally bathed every week, before Sabbath. Some say this explains lower Jewish death rates from various plagues. Even today, when like other modern people, we bathe every day, traditional Jews will go to a Mikveh, ceremonial bath, on Friday. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-06-02 11:17 |
| #9 On waking up, clean your hand this practice is followed by traditional jews as well. IIUC, you leave a little bowl of water by your bedside, and wash your hands with it on waking. Youre not really washing your hands, only ceremonially dipping your nails in it, so its call "nagelwasser" (nail water) in Yiddish. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-06-02 11:14 |
| #8 Wonder if the males would like the rough, loose, raw and rugged Yukon Women™? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-06-02 10:58 |
| #7 here's some more about the little niceties that .com observed, ----------- On waking up, clean your hand before putting it in a pot of water. You never can tell where your hands lay during sleep. Do not discharge urine on the floor of the toilet, especially when it is made of soil. When passing stools or urine, do not sit facing the direction of Qiblah, nor with your back to Qiblah. Having relieved yourself, use a clod or water to clean the private parts or purify yourself with water only. Do not use the dung, bone or charcoal for cleaning purposes. When the private parts have been cleaned, scrub your hands with soap or earth and wash them. Do not sit down to eat when your bowels are under pressure. Relieve yourself of urine or stool, before eating. Use your right hand in eating as well as in performing ablution. For cleaning the private parts of the body or for cleaning the nose, use your left hand only. Discharge urine on soft ground, so that its drops do not splash around. Always pass the urine in a sitting posture. However, if the ground or some real hardship prevents from sitting down, you may urinate in a standing posture. Otherwise, in normal circumstances, it is a very dirty habit and should be strictly avoided. Do not sit down to answer the call of nature on the riverside, the quay, on the thoroughfares or in shaded places. Such a practice causes inconvenience to others and is derogatory to rules of propriety and good manners. Put on shoes and cover your head with a cap etc. before going the lavatory and read the following prayer on your way: Allahumma inni a'udhu bika minal khubthi wal khaba'ith. "God ! I seek thy Protection against the devils of the masculine as well as the feminine species."(Bukhari-Muslim) On emerging from the lavatory, read this prayer : Alhamdu lillahi-l-ladhi adhaba 'annil adha wa'afani. " I thank the lord who relieved me of the burden and granted me ease. " (Nisai. ibn-e-Majah) [this has some similarity to the Jewish prayer after using the rest room except the Jewish prayer is longer] Discharge your nose or phlegm with care in a spitoon, or do so in a place out of the sight of people. Avoid putting your finger in the nostrils and clearing the wax of your nose too often. Clear the nose and clean it well out of the sight of people, whenever the need arises. Strictly avoid the practice of spitting phlegm into the folds of a handkerchief and rubbing them together. This is a despicable habit and must be avoided except when it cannot be helped. While chewing betel leaf. do not talk in such a manner as to splash saliva on the person you are talking to, thus causing discomfort to him. if you chew tobacco or betel leaf frequently, you should take great care in observing the rules of oral hygiene. Beware also, lest you should talk with your mouth too close to the person addressed. Perform ablution with great care and try to keep in a state of ablution most of the time, if not at all hours. Where water is not available, you may perform Tayammum. Recite : Bismillah hirrahma nirrahim. In the Name of Allah, the Most beneficent, the Most Merciful. at the beginning of ablution and say the following prayer in the course of its performance Ashhadu an la ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharika lahu wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu. Allahumm aj'alni minat-tawuabina awj'alni min-al-mutathhirin. " I bear witness that there is no god save Allah and He has no partner. And I testify that Muhammad is the servant of God and His Messenger. God ! join me with those people who repent most and take great care in keeping themselves pure and clean ". When the ablution is over, say the following prayer : Subhanak-allahumma wa bihamdika ashadi an la ilaha illa anta astaghfiruka wa atibo ilaika. "God ! Thou art Pure and Supreme in Thy Praiseworthiness. I Testify that there is no deity beside Thee. I seek Thy forgiveness and I appeal to Thee. (Nasai) You must bathe at least once a week. Make it a point to bathe on Friday and join the congregation in clean and neat dress. Do not go into or pass through the mosque in a state of impurity If no alternative the mosque or passing through it. Dress your hair with oil and comb. Trim the overgrown hair of your beard with scissors ; apply collyrium to your eye ; and clip your nails and finger-nails clean. Adorn yourself with propriety, simplicity and moderation. Cover your face with a handkerchief on sneezing, so that the excretion is not splashed on to anyone else. After sneezing say : Alhamdu lilah " Praise be to Allah" ! the listener should say: Yarhamukallah " May Allah show you Mercy " ! In response to this, you should recite: yahdikallah " May Allah guide you " ! The Holy Prophet ( Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) was very fond of perfume. After performing the toilet on arising from sleep. the Holy prophet ( Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) invariably used perfume. from: http://anwary-islam.com/life/purity.htm |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-06-02 10:54 |
| #6 Hang on there - something's a little out of whack here... in conversation with at least 2 "friends" I got a dose of "good natured" shit for 2 things: my untrimmed mustache (which they could see) and being circumcised (which they inquired about). Hmmm, perhaps some of the 27 tribes on the peninsula didn't subscribe to the odd minor tenet of Islam as dictated. They were definitely jealous of the Yosemite Sam 'stache I sported back in '92 and this was also something that made me "known" to the Saudi immigration and customs guys - every time I boogied across the causeway to Bahrain they would recognize me and (apparently) enjoyed talking to me as they would wave me out of line to come to their station. Hey, I read the qu'uran pedantry about how one should prepare for prayers / generally keep clean - and can attest to the extensive ablutions performed before prayers, some utterly disgusting shit like climbing up on the counter and washing their feet in the sink at Aramco - even though they had their own restrooms (labeled Eastern and Western "hammams") with foot-wash thingys. I prudently chose not to bring a coffee cup to work because there was no safe place to wash it out. I particularly found it fascinating to see them snorting snot out of their noses onto the restroom floor, and those cute little dish-sprayers that were attached to the toilets - on the left side, of course... shall I go on? The restrooms at Aramco smelled worse than any gym locker room I had ever encountered. The second time I went over they had bought a clue, sort of - they would "medicate" the air so heavily that it caused your eyes to sting for the first few weeks - till you became immune or your corneas dissolved. Hey, I dunno if there's lockstep on every single minor detail, prolly this sort of thing might have a fetish aspect with some imams or tribes. On the whole, however, I can say without hesitation that life in the Magic Fucking Kingdom is a trip. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-02 09:31 |
| #5 - shaving the hair near the genitals - cutting fingernails - plucking airpit hair - neatly trimming the mustache do they do this to one another, like chimps, who preen each other in the wild? |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2005-06-02 09:16 |
| #4 other things that make for fitrah are: - shaving the hair near the genitals - cutting fingernails - plucking airpit hair - neatly trimming the mustache what about for the men? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-02 09:03 |
| #3 yes according to Islam male circumcision makes for purity (fitrah) other things that make for fitrah are: - shaving the hair near the genitals - cutting fingernails - plucking airpit hair - neatly trimming the mustache As Dave Barry might say, I'm not making this up, it is from one of the innumerable reported sayings of Mohammat and reported in several of the most revered collections of hadiths. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-06-02 08:42 |
| #2 I thought Muslim boys were circumcised? Certainly whe trailing daughter #2 was born in Germany, we were told only Muslims and Jews committed the barbarism of clipping the foreskins of their male babies. (Yes, barbaric was the exact word the doctor used. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-06-02 02:35 |
| #1 Trackers installed? Check. Star of David tatoos? Check. Circumcised? Check. Well, if they were more than an inch long, yeah. Okay, bring up the buses. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-02 00:34 |