Definitions

As thing are today:

Buenocracy = Domination by good people. (It doesn't exist anywhere.)

Democracy = Universal equality of opinion and domination of majority opinion.

Democratic government = Domination by a group of people who have demonstrated their ability to manipulate public opinion better than others.

General = One authorized to get soldiers killed.

Engineering = The art and science of creating inorganic life.

God = The Singularity discovered thousands of years ago, but never defined scientifically.

Gravity = Inherent interconnection between bodies of matter.

Happiness = Disciplined pursuit of pleasure that does not result in regret.

Life = Ability to change others' perceptions.

Love = Urge to protect, nourish and share pleasures with.

Nation = A group of people who identify themselves with each other.

Marriage = License to share privacy.

Patriot = One willing to make sacrifices to defend the freedom of his or her homeland.

Peace = Absence of irritation.

Politics = Exploitation of the community's weaknesses.

Poverty = Absence of affluence.

Religion = Fixed belief in the unknown.

Science = Study of the nature and working of things and events; and belief in proven and verified facts.

Soldier = A man who waives his right of free judgment and becomes so scared that never puts down his weapon.

Space = Occupied part of the void.

Spiritualism = Interaction of central nervous and autonomic systems.

Terrorism = Tendency to achieve by violent intimidation rather than by asking, bargaining, creating, developing or earning.

Time = Differential element of age.

Zero = Difference between equals.

The Evil Cartoons of Europe

A small newspaper in a small north European country published the works of a dozen religiously bigoted cartoonists. It hurt the feelings of the few Muslims who saw it and they complained about it. Civilized behavior would have it that other newspapers would become vigilant that such offensive cartoons did not find a place in their columns. On the contrary, by chance or by design, the offending cartoons were reproduced in a number of European newspapers with much wider circulation. The wider circulation caused much distress to millions of Muslims all over the world, resulting in mass demonstrations and more than half a dozen deaths aside from scores of minor casualties.

The governments of Europe and the officials of EU are not willing to condemn the publication of the bigoted cartoons on the pretext that they care more about the freedom of their press than the feelings of millions of people who are not in a position to influence their election results. Either they are being blackmailed by their press or they are returning the favor that the press did by not taking them to task for the extrajudicial killings by NATO troops in Afghanistan.

The relevant question here is whether or not a crime has been committed against a section of humanity, and it is very likely that European and international courts would conveniently rule the matter out of their jurisdiction. The onus, therefore, lies on the more responsible members of world press to create an example of judging possible journalistic crimes. If the ICC can review bowling action and suspend a bowler, why can't the IUJ do the same?

As for the failure of certain countries to protect the Embassies of certain countries in the face of enraged mob-action, there aught to be clear cut international protocols for the punishment or exchange of people responsible for the initiation or execution of such acts.

Having made the legal case, let us look at some historical examples:

1) The US tested the first nuclear bomb named Trinity and with the encouragement of its allies dropped two of them on innocent Japanese civilians killing hundreds of thousands. Yet no civilized Buddhist or Shinto did anything that would be insulting to Jesus Christ (Hazrat Issa).

2) For the past many centuries, European pirate ships and colonizers have been constantly plundering the rest of the world and carrying out genocides eliminating populations of entire continents, but decent people of the suffering humanity have not held the religious or intellectual leaders of Europe responsible for those heinous crimes.

3) For over a century, the Israelis have been driving Palestinian Christians and Muslims out of their homes and killing them indiscriminately with superior weapons supplied by their friends. Almost every Muslim in the world hates Israelis, yet no one has made a caricature of Moses (Hazrat Moosa) depicting him as a murderer even though it could be justified historically.

There is something very wrong with the European civilization, if there is one.

The Story of Abraham

2.3 Abraham, the Father of Prophets

It was in this privileged region of Arabia, nearly four thousand years ago, that a man named Ibraheem was born in a family of stone carvers who, from his very early life, protested against man's worship of other men and stone objects. He also put forward the concept of a Supreme Being, omnipotent and omnipresent, who created the world and who alone deserved to be worshiped; that by comparison to that Being all humans are almost equal and ought to treat each other equally and that all human beings will have to account for all their actions on the day of judgment. As he became vocal in the expression of his ideas of human dignity, monotheistic religion and democratic attitudes, the imperial establishment unable to counter him by argument began to feel threatened and he was made the object of crude persecution. The refusal to worship political and religious rulers and their deities was really a negation of their domination, which deserved the most exemplary punishment. So much so, that he had to leave Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and migrate to Egypt with his beautiful wife Sarah.

His reputation as a man of great new ideas earned him access to the court of the King, but unfortunately the King was more impressed by Sarah's beauty than by Prophet Ibraheem's (PBUH) philosophy. According to accepted legends he promptly gave him one of his prettiest maids -- Hagar, hoping to make a fair exchange. But he was quite disappointed when he discovered Sarah's complete loyalty to Abraham. In the mean time Hagar also started showing signs of having been influenced by Abraham's philosophy of dignity and fidelity. The King was shattered. Here was a man who possessed the ability to command absolute loyalty and unity of thought with individuals close to him; something he had always wanted but never achieved. He could not have Ibraheem (PBUH) killed. So he simply asked him to leave Egypt and take both women with him.

Prophet Ibraheem (PBUH) on his part had learned the crucial lesson that it is futile to try to reform a corrupt establishment by joining it and working from within. He decided to create an institution of his own. By coincidence or design or divine guidance he ended up in the valley of Makkah situated in the middle of mountains and only a few meters above a great aquifer i.e. a natural underground water reservoir. There he settled with his wife who had a pious and obedient son Ismail with whom he built a cubic structure on whose walls he wrote his thesis on human dignity proclaiming the unacceptability of man's worship of man or objects, the equality of all men in worldly matters and the inevitability of a day of final reckoning leading to heaven or hell. The message would have been in hieroglyphics running in seven lines spirally along the four walls -- perhaps the writing referred to in the Qur'an as "Sahhaf Ibraheem". This was Ka'bah, the first monument to what we call Democracy.

For hundreds of years to follow, men and women would come to walk around this Ka'bah, read the inscriptions and meditate and get inspiration to live with dignity, freedom and democracy. From the traditionally established direction of circumambulation (Tawaf) it is apparent that the inscriptions on the walls of the Ka'bah were in a language that was written and read from left to right. The kissing of the black stone fixed at the edge from where circumambulations start and end is exactly in line with the Arab custom of kissing a book after reading it. The black stone of Ka'bah may have been the world's first bookmark. Traditions indicate that with the passage of time, the Ka'bah gradually came to be known as a place where one could acquire great knowledge and wisdom -- even magic. The sanctity of the place would impart the visitor absolution from his sins; and the infirm could regain health by exercising between the hills of Safa and Marwa and drinking the mineral rich water of the nearby natural fountain of Zamzam. So much so that even trading caravans travelling between Northern Arabia and Yemen began to make a detour to stop by it. Makkah thus became, maybe, the world's first city to have simultaneously a university, a hospital, a church, a trading center and no king.

The Secularized Story of Christianity

For those who receive religious education from an early age and develop reverence for their holy books, everything in them is credible. For those who start reading the Bible or the Qur'an after receiving secular and scientific education there is much to confuse and raise doubts. The following rationalization may help them to try and understand religion rather than ridicule it.

Civilized people take great care to pronounce proper names, especially those of people they respect, correctly. But, unfortunately, an exception has been made in the case of Biblical characters. The correct pronunciation and corresponding spellings can best be ascertained from the people who have lived continually through generations in the same lands where the Biblical events occurred, such as Palestine, Iraq and Egypt. In the following text, the Arabic versions of names are given along with the popular English names of the Biblical characters. PBUH is the abbreviation for Peace Be Upon Him or Her.

2.6 Jesus son of Mary

The translated versions of the Bible this author has studied, assign to Mary (Marium PBUH) a husband named Joseph who was a descendant of an unbroken line of prophets or saints or kings starting with Adam (PBUH) and who is said to have fathered Jesus (Issa PBUH). At the same time there is a hint that some misunderstanding may have existed between Mary (Marium PBUH) and Joseph. It is interesting that in the Bible, chapters containing the assertion that Jesus was the son of Joseph and that he was a divine manifestation born to Virgin Mary (Marium PBUH) have existed concurrently. The immaculate birth version of Luke is corroborated by Qur'anic text. Nearly half of the world’s population believes in the immaculate conception of Jesus (Issa) son of Mary (Marium). Mary(Marium) is said to have denied that any man had touched her before the angel informed her that she was going to become a mother, and there is no reason to doubt it. Angels are massless beings with such a low energy density that they can not be perceived by normal human senses, nor detected by sensitive instruments, though they have the capability to stimulate human brain cells in a pattern to produce a graphic image or vision. It seems unlikely that an angel would be able to synthesize a human sperm with extraordinary features inside a woman. The Immaculate Conception would have to be congenital. Improbable as it may seem it can be rationalized in the following way.

Embryological anomalies are not uncommon in any part of the world. Medical museums are full of extraordinary or miraculous partially and fully developed fetuses both single and twin. Some exceptional fetuses have even been born and survived with medical help. About two thousand years ago when the wife of Imran who lived in either Nazareth or Bethlehem became pregnant, two of her ova were fertilized and if things had gone on normally she would have had twins, a son and a daughter. However, due to some biological accident or divine interference the male embryo soon ceased to grow and somehow got embedded in that part of the female fetus which was to constitute its reproductive organs. The probability that one embryo would penetrate another without significant damage is so remote that it would, perhaps, never happen again. So, the wife of Imran delivered a baby girl called Mary (Marium) who, though apparently normal, was carrying a dormant fetus. As Mary (Marium PBUH) learned to speak, some of the speech information was also transferred to the partially developed brain of the fetus; and when Mary (Marium PBUH) became an adult the dormant fetus became active and began to grow. Thus Mary (Marium PBUH) became, perhaps, the world's first surrogate mother, and the child Jesus born to her surprised everyone when he was able to talk when only a few days old. There is striking similarity between the descriptions of the event given in the Book of Luke in the Bible and the Chapter Marium of the Qur’an.

Jesus (Issa PBUH) quietly grew up to be a good carpenter or fabric dyer (traditions vary), and it is possible that he may also have attended some courses at the University of Ka'bah during the period of his life for which there is a blackout in known history. Even Mary (Marium PBUH) may have felt the need for a redeeming factor to restore her respectability in view of the accusations she was facing. Makkah is less than a hundred kilometers from Jeddah, the Red Sea port which lay on the trading caravan route between Palestine or Jerusalem and Yemen, the home of Bilqees the queen of Sheba made famous by king and prophet Solomon (Suleiman PBUH). In any case, he did not become prominent until he denounced the existing order based on Judaic argument and Roman tyranny. Corruption and conceit in the community had risen to such a level that when Jesus Issa (PBUH) challenged those about to stone an adulteress to death saying that only one who had never committed adultery himself had the right to throw a stone at her, no one came forward. He was accused of committing heresy when he started talking of conscientious mutual treatment and human relations based on inviolable commitment in the name of God, the inimitable Power. In spite of being opposed to the prevailing political situation, he is said to have refused to lead an armed insurgency; and is quoted to have disapproved of being called the Messiah (anointed one) or Christ cryptically meaning King. Nevertheless, his ability to cure psychosomatic disorders, his discovery of the technique of reviving unconscious people by sprinkling water on their faces and his preaching of nonviolence were greatly admired by the masses. (In many Islamic communities the word Masiha meaning the Messiah or Christ signifies a doctor). Soon he found himself at the head of a well-organized and fast expanding medical and educational volunteer corpse. Unfortunately, his teachings of loyalty to God alone, forgiveness rather than revenge and equality of men did not win him any favors with the Roman governor or the Jewish establishment of Jerusalem and its adjoining areas. A vilification campaign was started, and what could be a greater taunt for a man whose parentage was disputed than to misquote his teachings substituting the word Abb (father) for Rabb (Lord). It is not easy to determine the exact words in which he preached for most part, but he did make a statement that was to become the hallmark of decency for all times to come. He told his followers that 'the spirit of staying clean' (Rooh-ul-Quds in Arabic) would guide them after he was gone. When translated into Greek, with the spice of Greek mythology, it became the 'Holy Spirit' and eventually the Holy Ghost. However, the commitment to self-denial and chastity apparent in the lives of many of those dedicated to the Christian cause clearly shows that they are guided by, among other things, the spirit of staying clean.

The animosity of the Roman colonialists and their local lackeys grew to such an extent that Jesus was accused of treason and summons for his arrest were issued. It seems that his companions reached the conclusion that the main cause of the wrath of the Romans was his opposition to wine and larded bread, both of which were imported in large quantities from the Roman homeland in what is now Italy. Jesus' (Issa's) opposition of wine and lard (traditionally prohibited in Jewish faith but forgotten) was a threat to the Roman economy. So they pressurized him into renouncing his opposition to wine and lard for the sake of saving the higher purpose and noble ideals of his movement. They may even have received such hints from the establishment. According to Biblical descriptions Jesus (Issa PBUH) had, during the Last Supper, produced a container of wine and told his companions that it contained his blood. In the light of Semitic custom such an action would constitute an oath meaning that drinking of wine would be as heinous as drinking his blood. By changing emphasis on the words, the prohibition has been turned into an encouragement. Similarly, he called larded bread his flesh and cursed its consumption. But when the mood of his companions did not change, he gave in and renounced his position by tasting both. His companions followed suit.

The next day, Jesus was arrested, tried and tied to the cross to die a slow death. However, as the news of his renunciation reached the Roman governor, he was pardoned, quietly removed from the cross and sent for treatment. A few days later he was released. He returned to his companions who refused to recognize him. After this, one of the following may have happened:
1) Jesus (Issa PBUH) was so disheartened that he went away to some distant shrine and spent the rest of his life meditating.
2) When the establishment learned about this split, they had him quietly picked up and terminated and buried him.
3) As most Christians and Muslims believe, he was taken away by the angels to heaven where he lives to return someday.


2.7 The Rise of Christianity

After the crucifixion and disappearance of Jesus (Issa PBUH) the political ambitions of his followers evaporated, but the service organization he had left behind grew into a sizable network. The rulers who were impressed by the discipline and services provided by them soon realized that if they could use the vast communication network of the Christian volunteers, their imperial power could grow many-fold. Moreover, the same network could be used to defeat the resurgent movement of dignity, freedom, democracy and clean living which was not in their best interests. Therefore, perhaps, the Empires of both Rome and Byzantium made themselves 'holy' by adopting Christianity as state religion. They also appointed a 'Committee of three' to act as God, including Jesus (Issa PBUH) himself in it -- thus perpetuating the worship of man by man and, by implication, the exploitation of man by man. Even today there are large numbers of people who accept the orders of heads of churches and governments as the words of God. They also made every effort to destroy the original works of Jesus son of Mary (Marium PBUH) and his close followers, and replace them with literature that would help to support their colonial ambitions. Moreover, having failed to intimidate the believers by a spectacle of the crucifixion of Jesus (Issa PBUH), they managed to reproduce and sustain the same effect by making it customary to have a miniature replica of the crucifixion in every church and home. With the passage of time, depending on local perceptions, the Cross acquired resemblance with objects of adoration ranging from flower to rapier. The Protestant movement in Europe was, it seems an attempt to break loose from the clutches of this lingering sense of intimidation and promote the original democratic values of Jesus (Issa PBUH) without acknowledging the contributions of such other great reformers and prophets as Abraham (Ibraheem PBUH), Moses (Moosa PBUH) and Muhammad (PBUH).

It took faithful Christians many centuries to find a plausible justification for the tradition of Trinity. Philo's concept of the logos which was supposed to act as an intermediary between perfect God and imperfect matter was identified with Jesus (Issa PBUH). Similarly, it came to be held that a power of divine origin permeated the universe, namely the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. The ideas were then combined into the catchy slogan "God is One; but He is also Three: Father, Son (the logos or Christ), and Holy Ghost". One wonders if Jesus (Issa) son of Mary (Marium PBUH) would himself have approved of such a statement.

The adoption of the Christian Churches by the State had many benefits for the rulers. Every crime that was committed was confessed by the culprit or his more religious minded accomplice before a minister of the Church and the information was passed on to the authorities. The police, after making an impressive show of investigation, would solve the crime and bring the culprit to trial with great efficiency. This established the authority and popularity of the police and judicial systems in the Christian world. Today, after having lost the benefit of the confessional policemen are being called by expletives that can not be printed.

The preceding analysis is not intended to offend faithful Christians, but represents the personal opinion of this author. To anyone who feels hurt by reading the above text, this author tenders profound apology.

The Glory of Man

Two cars stopped side by side at a red traffic signal.

"Ouch!" the white car groaned.

"What's the matter with you?" whispered the blue car beside it.

"I am hurt. I was hit by some car possessed by the devil. My other side is dented and my mudguard is scraping against the wheel." the white car spoke shivering and added, "I wish I could rest and recover, but as you know we are driven by the forces of nature and have no choice."

"Pray to Man, He will heal you." commiserated the blue car and continued, "Some time ago the microchip in my fuel injection computer was overheating and I was in great pain. I prayed to Man and He healed me."

"How did you know that it was the chip?" asked the white car in disbelief.

"I have self diagnostics." replied the blue car serenely.

"Where did you get it?" asked the white car in amazement.

"It's a gift of Man." replied the blue car with great reverence.

"Do you really believe in man?" asked the white car skeptically.

"Yes, I do." replied the blue car with confidence.

"Have you ever seen a man?" asked the white car sarcastically.

"No. But I am sure there is one Man. He has created everything, is all powerful and controls everything. He is present everywhere and heals our injuries and defects when we are asleep. There is a bit of Man in each of us that inspires us, leads us to the fuel station and guides us in our journeys." the blue car was in a mood to lecture.

During this time the traffic lights had changed to amber and green.

The white car screamed as it shuddered to move forward.

"Man help her." muttered the blue car and sped away.

Moral: Every creature prays to its creator.

JIHAD

Jihad is an Arabic word which literally means struggle. In religious context it means a holy war, the Islamic equivalent of a Christian crusade. Jihad, like the crusade, connotes an element of self-sacrifice and glory after death – Shahadat in Arabic. The crusaders used to chain themselves together when they went to battle for Jerusalem against the Muslims such as Saladin. As a result of the reduced mobility they all used to get killed. The present day Muslim jihadis are doing much the same.

The early Islamic state of Madinah was surrounded by hostile kingdoms that used to persecute or kill their citizens who would embrace Islam and did not allow free passage to Muslims to travel and spread the latest message of God. The Muslims offered their hostile neighboring rulers three choices:

1. Listen to a Muslim preacher, accept Islam if convinced, join the Muslim brotherhood and live according to the Islamic principles of justice, personal freedom and decency.
2. Retain existing faith and identity, but join the federation of Madinah and allow free passage to the Muslims.
3. Decide the issue by a mortal combat of the warriors of the two sides in an open unpopulated field.

In the present day world there is no justification for jihad against nonmuslim states that do not persecute Muslims and allow them freedom to practice and teach their religion.

However, there is justification for jihad or resistance against foreign aggreesion, persecution and occupation forces, while ensuring that innocent and unarmed civilians are not harmed. The bombing, shelling or otherwise killing and maiming of innocent unarmed civilians is a crime in Islam and all other civilized legal systems. Such acts must be condemned and their perpetrators must be punished.

Taking revenge for historic excesses is not the duty of individuals. Bravery lies in controlling one's anger like Ali Bin Abu Talib who spared the life of an enemy in battle who spat on his face and made the fight a personal issue.

What is needed is to create awareness of the criminality and unacceptability of armed destructive action against unarmed civilians among the people of the world so that universal condemnation and deterrence of such actions may be achieved. Patience is required as it would take time to reform nations that have made a habit of such acts and take pride in their ghastly arsenals.

State Control of Economy Index

State Control of Economy Index (SCEI) for 25 selected countries.

Serial No	Name of country	Gross domestic product (GDP in billion U.S.$) (2000)	Total Government annual expenditure million US$	Annual Expenditure as % of GDP (SCEI)
1	Iran	104.9	60665	57.83
2	France	1300	649203	49.94
3	Israel	110.4	47818	43.31
4	Sweden	227.3	95434	41.99
5	United Kingdom	1400	524860	37.49
6	Germany	1900	701206	36.91
7	Brazil	595.5	211140	35.46
8	Turkey	200	70364	35.18
9	Nigeria	41.1	11722	28.52
10	Thailand	122.2	30683	25.11
11	Australia	390.1	95444	24.47
12	Egypt	99	23166	23.40
13	Sri Lanka	16.3	3789	23.25
14	Malaysia	89.7	19722	21.99
15	Japan	4800	1013103	21.11
16	Pakistan	62	12768	20.59
17	Philippines	74.7	14977	20.05
18	Canada	688	135585	19.71
19	Indonesia	153.3	28448	18.56
20	United States of America	9800	1783490	18.20
21	South Korea	457.2	83049	18.16
22	Russia	251.1	42466	16.91
23	India	457	71293	15.60
24	Bangladesh	47.1	5685	12.07
25	China	1080	107617	9.96

Fasting, the Emergency Drill

Even the worst masochist would not call starving a pleasant experience. Provision of food is, perhaps, the most significant motive factor in all human and animal activities. And yet we find that most prophets and saints, since time immemorial, have felt compelled to risk losing their popularity by imposing fasting on their followers. What could be the wisdom behind such a politically imprudent preaching? The conservation of food? The realization by everyone of the feeling of hunger in order to commiserate with those who are not fortunate enough to get regular meals? Probably. But when the injunction comes from the Qur'an it has to have a more fundamental and universal implication, and the answer seems to have been made available by modern science. Within every human and animal being there is an alarm system, and an emergency reserve system which is essential for its survival in difficult situations. Examples of the alarm system are thirst and hunger, which warn an individual that fresh supplies of water and food are required to maintain the body. If water or nutrition is not received within a certain time of the alarm then the process of conversion of various surplus substances within the body, and even within each cell, is carried out to sustain life.

It is interesting that even millennia ago when in most parts of the world food and drink were not as plentiful as they are today, Someone was Wise enough to anticipate that a time would come when there would be enough and easily available food for practically every human being at least in some places. And the lives of people would be so well organized that many of them would hardly ever feel any appreciable degree of hunger or thirst, the alarm and emergency provision systems becoming effectively dormant. If this continued for a few generations, due to the evolutionary nature built in all living beings, the human race would cease to have these useful systems by virtue of its own efficiency. And then, if there was a global natural calamity or man made disaster such as a nuclear holocaust, mankind would be very ill equipped to cope with the difficult conditions, and the entire species might be wiped out. So, that Someone, who also happened to have designed the systems, made the prophets ask their followers to fast and protect the human race from extinction. Anyone who doesn't fast in the month of Ramadan is, thus, not carrying out his duty towards his or her future generations. Also, it is not surprising that most religions predict some sort of holocaust at some time in the future in which only the pious would survive.

The fasting season and procedures differ in different religions. The established Islamic custom is to refrain from food, drink (including water) and carnal pleasures from nearly a half hour before sunrise till a few minutes after sunset during the month of Ramadan, which is counted according to the lunar calendar and rotates through the seasons in about thirty three years, since the lunar year is only 354 days long. The lunar month starts with the appearance of a new moon or crescent and ends with the appearance of the next one. The lunar cycle takes approximately twenty nine and a half days to be completed, and so lunar months are either twenty nine or thirty days long depending on the sighting of the moon. It is possible to calculate and predict exactly when the new moon would become visible at a given location based on the periodic cycles of the earth and the moon; and some times the duration of visibility may be only a few minutes or even seconds. Short duration visibility may not result in sighting due to various natural phenomena such as atmospheric turbulence, wobbling of the earth on its axis etc. It should be a purely individual decision as to when one begins or ends one's fast; but public disputes arise because the first day of the month following Ramadan (the month of fasting) is a public holiday and a day of celebration and feasting, an occasion many politicians and self-styled clergy try to exploit to consolidate their followings.

Even the worst masochist would not call starving a pleasant experience. Provision of food is, perhaps, the most significant motive factor in all human and animal activities. And yet we find that most prophets and saints, since time immemorial, have felt compelled to risk losing their popularity by imposing fasting on their followers. What could be the wisdom behind such a politically imprudent preaching? The conservation of food? The realization by everyone of the feeling of hunger in order to commiserate with those who are not fortunate enough to get regular meals? Probably. But when the injunction comes from the Qur'an it has to have a more fundamental and universal implication, and the answer seems to have been made available by modern science. Within every human and animal being there is an alarm system, and an emergency reserve system which is essential for its survival in difficult situations. Examples of the alarm system are thirst and hunger, which warn an individual that fresh supplies of water and food are required to maintain the body. If water or nutrition is not received within a certain time of the alarm then the process of conversion of various surplus substances within the body, and even within each cell, is carried out to sustain life.

It is interesting that even millennia ago when in most parts of the world food and drink were not as plentiful as they are today, Someone was Wise enough to anticipate that a time would come when there would be enough and easily available food for practically every human being at least in some places. And the lives of people would be so well organized that many of them would hardly ever feel any appreciable degree of hunger or thirst, the alarm and emergency provision systems becoming effectively dormant. If this continued for a few generations, due to the evolutionary nature built in all living beings, the human race would cease to have these useful systems by virtue of its own efficiency. And then, if there was a global natural calamity or man made disaster such as a nuclear holocaust, mankind would be very ill equipped to cope with the difficult conditions, and the entire species might be wiped out. So, that Someone, who also happened to have designed the systems, made the prophets ask their followers to fast and protect the human race from extinction. Anyone who doesn't fast in the month of Ramadan is, thus, not carrying out his duty towards his or her future generations. Also, it is not surprising that most religions predict some sort of holocaust at some time in the future in which only the pious would survive.

The fasting season and procedures differ in different religions. The established Islamic custom is to refrain from food, drink (including water) and carnal pleasures from nearly a half hour before sunrise till a few minutes after sunset during the month of Ramadan, which is counted according to the lunar calendar and rotates through the seasons in about thirty three years, since the lunar year is only 354 days long. The lunar month starts with the appearance of a new moon or crescent and ends with the appearance of the next one. The lunar cycle takes approximately twenty nine and a half days to be completed, and so lunar months are either twenty nine or thirty days long depending on the sighting of the moon. It is possible to calculate and predict exactly when the new moon would become visible at a given location based on the periodic cycles of the earth and the moon; and some times the duration of visibility may be only a few minutes or even seconds. Short duration visibility may not result in sighting due to various natural phenomena such as atmospheric turbulence, wobbling of the earth on its axis etc. It should be a purely individual decision as to when one begins or ends one's fast; but public disputes arise because the first day of the month following Ramadan (the month of fasting) is a public holiday and a day of celebration and feasting, an occasion many politicians and self-styled clergy try to exploit to consolidate their followings.

For Freedom & Democracy

So many people have been fooled by the slogans of Freedom and Democracy that it has become necessary to formulate some rules that can protect people from the false prophets of freedom and democracy. From my own experience, I would suggest the following rules which if adopted by all nations of the world; particularly the United Nations and the international courts of justice could deter the usurpers of freedom and democracy.

1. An instrument of surrender is an agreement made under duress and therefore not a binding agreement. All actions or transactions resulting from it can be reversed without time bar.
2. A law made by a legitimate parliament under duress or undue influence or threat of local or foreign military force is not a law and all actions or transactions resulting from it can be reversed without time bar.
3. A verdict given by a judge or panel of judges of any stature under duress or undue influence or the threat of local or foreign military forces is not a valid judgment and all actions or transactions resulting from it can be reversed without time bar.

What we need now are some verdicts embodying the above principles to form precedents. Would anyone like to volunteer?

The Fish and the Frog

A group of frogs was playing in a shallow pond of water jumping from one stone to another.
A colorful fish, swimming by stopped and asked one of the frogs, “How can you jump from one stone and land exactly on the other?”
“It involves a little calculation,” replied the frog not paying much attention to the fish.
“Like what?” insisted the little fish.
“Well, I estimate the distance between the two stones, calculate the angle and velocity of launch to attain the necessary trajectory, make correction for wind speed, then flex the muscles of my rear legs the right amount and then release them to project myself towards the target. It doesn’t take a second,” the frog was more forthcoming this time.
“But you also move your front legs and also maneuver in the air,” the fish chimed taking pride in its power of observation.
“Aha,” retorted the frog, “the front legs assist in getting the correct angle and the maneuvers in the air are in-flight course correction. Can I go now?”
“How interesting, you can do all that without radar or computer,” sighed the fish and swam away curling its body from side to side.
“Silly fish,” chuckled the frog and went back to his leaping.

Moral: All creatures are born with equal talent but some use them better than others.