A LOVE WORTH WAITING FOR (Cover)

 

Loving Someone You've Never Met

 

We were raised in a society that frowned upon the immaturity of teenagers and views reckless behavior as a misunderstanding of life and a need for guidance.

So the obvious question that pops up - Is loving someone you never met or seen possible?

That's an interesting question; however, the answer to that question is not as apparent or straightforward. I can entirely see how you can fall in love with someone you've never met.  If you both are pen pals (before the internet came along) or are friends with someone on the internet and chat with them on messenger programs, for example, you would know what I am talking about.   Although, personally, I haven't fallen in love online with anyone, however, I have felt connected in some ways to one girl I knew in my mid-teens whom I have never met face-to-face because we lived in different countries.  Both of us were still in high school at the time.

I was 17 or 18 at the time, when I connected with a girl via exchange of letters (snail mail as we now call it).  We started off as mere pen pals in the 70’s and as several months went by, we both felt attracted toward each other even though we hadn’t met or seen one another and over a period of time, the tone of our exchanges changed from flirty to outright romantic.  I was drawn to her as through our exchange of letters as far as I remember was once a week, she came to be the perfect combination of charisma, kindness and maturity.  And then something happened and the letters stopped.

Since that day, I spent years of my life everyday with a hole in my heart.  I always wanted to meet that person even though I had this feeling that it's kinda hopeless endeavour.

Forty seven years later, I’ve still never met someone who has made me feel quite so much.  It’s hard to know whether it was love or if it is the instinct to crave what you can’t have.   What I do realize, though, is I haven’t been able to feel the same type of love as I did when I was 17 or 18.

Falling in love through letter writing has been going on for hundreds of years.  In what sense does it differ from falling in love the regular way? Is this a good way to fall in love?  How relevant is it to modern lovers?

People generally get attracted to each other based on common ideas, common outlook towards life, common value systems, and similar views on important issues.  If you happen to know someone be it via letters or over the Internet, you can sometimes feel connected if your views match theirs. Also, you might like their sense of humor - this does come through no matter what the medium, whether it's through letters, speech, chat, or text.  So, face-to-face contact isn't as essential in knowing the other person.  One can even argue that not having face-to-face contact can have certain advantages.  You may not judge the other person for their physical looks per se, but may get in touch with them on a deeper emotional level. Consequently, I would think you could theoretically fall in love with someone you've never met in person. I know I cared very deeply for this girl

But, could such a love stand the test of time?  Would such a love overcome the potentially high expectations generated through letters, by an online or virtual personality?  Certain personality traits may not be visible or apparent through letters or in the online domain. Would such a love, then, be able to come to terms with the reality of imperfections?

I’ve done a lot of soul searching and personal research on how can a person develop feelings for another just through letters and through my search for an answer I find there doesn’t seem to be much science or even discussion available on the process of becoming emotionally attached to someone you’ve never met.  Virtually all of what I’ve seen has arisen as a function of Internet dating.  A post by Mark D. White, PhD (“Maybe It’s Just Me, But ...”) on the internet discusses people who start to fall in love with someone they’ve never met, and whom they know only from online communication.  It concludes that, while crucial data on another person can only come from physically meeting them, it is still possible, and even desirable under certain circumstances, to begin the process knowing only what can be gleaned through chats, texts, emails and even regular emails; and that process includes affection - the beginnings, even, of love.

A novel from the 1970s, 84 Charing Cross Road, about a purely epistolary -  i.e.  letter based—friendship, shows that the same sort of thing happened before Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Certainly the human imagination is powerful enough to feel affection for people we build solely out of the various data in our head. Novels, after all, are based on this principle—who hasn’t read a book with a character so engaging we feel we know her, or him, and care for that person too? I still feel sad about losing Robert Jordan, in a sabotage attempt in the Spanish Civil War, at the end of Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.

Online relationships are an improved version of a writing-based relationship. In the new version, the time gap between writing, sending, receiving, and reading has become almost instantaneous - the sender can receive a reply while still in the same state of emotions she was in when she sent the original message.  This is of great emotional significance, as emotions are transitory and involve the urge to act immediately.

Communication through (offline or online) letters appears to be more suitable for romantic communication than phone conversations.  They are typically deeper, and in many cases more sincere.  Sincerity is a great asset to successful personal relationships and is correlated with a higher degree of intimacy.

Although people can more easily be dishonest about themselves in letters, the act of writing encourages people to present a more profound and sincere picture of their true self.  This is especially true if the relationship continues and develops further.

It is often easier to describe your heart in writing while you are alone than it is when you are talking about your feelings in front of another person.  Indeed, self-disclosure in the initial stages of a relationship is often greater in letters than in offline communication.  Moreover, unlike phone calls, letters can be reread again and again and thereby enhance romantic responses.

Romantic letters are usually written when the person is physically alone, but mentally with another person. Sometimes the writer even knows that the letter will not be sent since there is no physical way of doing so (as occurred, for example, during the Holocaust), or the writer is not mentally ready to send it (as its content may seem risky or too revealing).

When we write a letter, we have a sense of being in company, even if we are secluded. When we receive a letter, the feeling that we are not forgotten is prominent as well.

Letter writing as a romantic process was - and, to some extent, still is particularly prevalent during prolonged periods of war, when men are far away from home, and the only way for them to communicate with loved ones is through letters.

Think back to when you had your first taste of love.  Maybe you realize now it wasn’t love, or maybe you haven’t been able to find someone who compares since.  Whatever that memory means to you, I bet you look back on this time with some sense of nostalgia.  The nostalgia comes from a longing for openness and vulnerability we had when we were teenagers.

The younger we are, the greater capacity we have to throw ourselves into love.  This is because we don’t have years of baggage clouding our feelings, and we don’t dodge potential connections based on the fear of getting hurt.

We have all met someone who has come into our lives in the most perfect manner, someone who hit us in our core with a feeling that could not be ignored.  But, society has taught us to brush off these intense feelings because we are young.  We are told our emotions are invalid because we don’t have the wisdom of age to back them up.  I don’t believe this for a second. Teenage love has the ability to be the rawest, most simplified version of love we will ever experience.

The dating world is tough. It scars you, changes you; it makes you start planning the rest of your life with your best friend, a few dogs and a “don’t fuck with me attitude” in order to avoid being hurt again.

But, maybe naivety isn’t as bad as society makes it out to be.  Maybe, it just means that the big, scary world hasn’t hardened us yet.  We are more open to receiving love and showing ourselves honestly. We dig less and trust ourselves a little bit more, knowing who it feels right to be with.

I completely understand the fact our brains are not fully developed when we are teenagers. We are less mature, more emotionally driven and are much more likely to make impulsive decisions. Often, this results in silly relationships that make us cringe as adults.

Not everyone has a life-changing relationship as a teenager, but I do think the ability to feel emotions with less constraint comes with young age.  Aging leads to experience, and experience can lead to intelligence, giving us the ability to rationalize who is good for us and who may screw us over.

We don’t throw ourselves out there as often as we used to, so we may miss some incredible opportunities to interact with someone we wouldn’t have before.

The most heart-pounding relationships aren’t based on a foundation of logic, though. The best ones are formed by the ability to open up to someone who feels "right."

Love has a way of irrationally steering you toward someone you wouldn’t be able to think your way to. And when we’re teenagers, we give into these emotions so easily.  We follow them, trusting them with that 17 or 18 year-old arrogance our parents told us to drop unless we wanted to be grounded for the weekend. We may get hurt from this emotionally-driven confidence, but we are also given the opportunity to learn.

I believe when we are young, we are fully capable of understanding love. What we had wasn’t perfect, but it may never be that innocent again.

Maturity doesn’t mean shit if you don’t know how to tap into that inner 17 – 18 year-old who so desperately wants to find someone who cares about him or her.

That younger version of yourself was clear of the barriers we are now navigating as adults in the dating world. We're searching for someone who seems logically good, rather than someone who feels right.

So, maybe, being young and dumb and in love was actually the smartest, most honest thing we’ve ever done.

 

WHY YOU CAN NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST LOVE

 

Why is it so hard to forget your first love? Your first love is special because it is the most innocent and pure form of love. No matter how hard you try, you will never stop missing your first love.

Boyfriends and girlfriends in a loving relationship for the first time will forever remember the hugs, cuddles, sweet whispers, long drives, late night conversations, and romantic strolls they had together. Here’s why the beautiful memories of this once-in-a-lifetime experience will linger in your heart and mind for the rest of your life.

  

It is the most innocent love.

One of the core reasons why your first love is so hard to forget is because it is pure and innocent. People don't fall in love for the first time with expectations or malicious intentions. It is a pure attraction, led by the heart and not the mind.

The beginnings of your first love are free of malice and manipulative behavior. The whole world seems beautiful, and life becomes perfect. It is like wearing rose-tinted glasses 24/7, even in your dreams.

This blissful feeling of first love can never be replicated—once innocence is lost on a personal level, it can never be translated in its purest form into another relationship. This is what makes it so special.

 

 It exposes your insecurities.

Your first love and first relationship will expose many of the insecurities you never knew about. For example, your first relationship will be the first time you actually realize what it is like to be a jealous girlfriend or boyfriend.

From jealousy to possessiveness to extreme dependence, your first love is when guys and girls realize how matters of the heart can bring even the strongest down to their knees. The memory of being exposed to your own insecurities for the first time will never go away.

  

It's when you thought that love is forever, and you attached all your hopes and dreams to it.

Guys and girls fall into love for the first time without any assumptions because they have never experienced love before. The puppy love effect makes them believe that this love will last forever.

This sense of lasting love makes you attach all your hopes and dreams to your first relationship. It is like wearing a pair of blinders and focusing all your life's attention and goals to just one thing—your love.

This extreme sense of attachment is hard to break away from. Even after a bitter breakup, you will find it impossible to see yourself living your life without your former significant other.

  

It's the only time you believe in perfect love.

Your first relationship is when you believe that your love is perfect. Your love knows only one language, that which is spoken by your heart. There are no hang-ups, no complications, and no expectations.

This sense of perfectness creates memories that are hard to forget. No matter how old you get, no matter how mature you become, you will always crave this sort of perfection in your relationships.

Once you move on from your first love, it will be disheartening to realize that you will never be able to recreate this type of love again.

  

It is emotionally intense and euphoric.

The sheer excitement of feeling love for the first time will engrave all the sweet memories in your mind forever. On the flip side, your first love is also extremely emotionally intense. The downer after every little fight and argument is exhausting.

This extreme range of emotional highs and lows make your first love a once in a lifetime roller coaster ride that will never be repeated. This is what makes your first love so powerful and intense.

 

It is like any other "first."

Your first love is when you let go and take a dive into the unknown. It is like the memories of all other "firsts" in your life, except that this one is much stronger.

Think of how you will never forget the day when you drove a car for the first time and then multiply that euphoria by a thousand times. Even that may be nowhere near the kind of impact your first love will leave on your mind, making it extremely hard to forget.

  

Your first love is carefree—there are no other responsibilities.

Your first love usually occurs at a young age. You have no spiraling credit card debts, mortgage payments, job insecurities, career problems, family issues, social pressure, or anything else that can make you feel like your life is just waiting to burst apart.

This carefree time was probably when you were a budding teenager, fresh into a relationship with your crush. You had no other responsibilities except to do well in class, which gave you all the time in the world to immerse yourself in your love. Basically, your first love was your full-time job.

As you grow older, your life is burdened with many new responsibilities, year after year. You may never get to experience the absolute and carefree experience of falling in love and enjoying each and every moment of it without having other responsibilities lingering over your head.

This is why the memories of your first love will remain on your mind for the rest of your life—you'll never have such a carefree state of mind again.

 

Your first heartbreak feels earth-shattering.

Just like how the euphoria of falling in love is extreme, so is the subsequent heartbreak. This is the first time you will experience what it feels to have your heart broken. This heart-shattering first breakup is amplified into an emotionally terrorizing fireball, including:

1.  The agonizing feeling of having your trust broken for the first time
2.  The painful sense of regret
3. The haunting feeling of having bared your insecurities to someone for the first time in life
4. The false hope that everything will be okay

  

The memory of your first love is tinged with painful regret.

If love was a poker game, your first love could be described as going all in. Peaking your levels of happiness will weaken your sense of judgment and make it hard to draw boundaries. This makes you do stupid things, including committing too early, putting your hopes into one person, getting intimate even if you are not sure, and more.

All these things snowball into a burden of regret after your first love falls apart. Why did I trust her with all my heart? Why didn't I see that she was cheating on me? These are just some of the elements of the heart-wrenching regret that ensues after the breakup.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM (LOOKING IN FROM THE OUTSIDE)

What everyone should know

The purpose of this article is not to analyze Islam nor is it to lynch Islam because of it’s continuous acts of violence against innocent men, women, children and even new born babies or kidnapping and forced conversion of young girls, or muslim men marrying 6 year old girls or even younger than 6 year old girls or of muslim efforts to shove their ideology down everyone’s throats.  The intent is to scrutinize Islam, it’s history and makeup under the same light of the Torah and the Bible, in the same manner all other religions and faiths are scrutinized, and allow the readers to perceive for themselves the true nature of Islam.

In no way, shape or form will I encourage and allow any spiteful or resentful attitudes toward Muslims to be concluded from this article.  It would be unjust and untruthful to judge all Muslims because of heinous and unconscionable violence committed by those who have chosen to commit violence and murder under the guidance of Islamic teachings.

As I’ve said many times before, I am not a theologian or a religious scholar.  I am just an ordinary human being looking in from the outside and probing Islam with spiritual discernment and not with preconceived logical or emotional notions. 

I believe that no matter what your religion is, you should question everything about it. You should question your beliefs, the religion itself and the values associated with it. It is through those questions that you either decide to commit to the religion and make it a central part of your life or remove yourself from it.  Christianity and Judaism is continuously being questioned and criticized and there’s no problem in that because I believe religion is man-made.  God has not tied Himself to any particular religion or faith.  It is man who created religion – NOT GOD. I will give you one simple example:  Jesus Christ was born a Jew.  He lived a Jewish life and he religiously followed the Jewish faith.  When Jesus was crucified and died on the cross, he was still Jewish.  Christianity only began in the 1st century AD after Jesus died, as a small group of Jewish people in Judea, but quickly spread throughout the Roman empire.  Therefore, it is a fact that Jesus did not create Christianity.  The term Christian comes from the Greek word “Christianos” – meaning “Follower of Christ”. 

God created human beings in His own image and therefore, all are of equal value in His sight.  Jews and Christians are all agreed on this fundamental point.  God deals with human beings without regard to their religious affiliation. He does not look at people through the kaleidoscope of religions.  He does not label people according to their religion.  He approaches his creatures directly, using the knowledge they have of the truth and awakening their desire to Him.  Through His Spirit He is able to reach everyone everywhere and to communicate with them individually in the core of their being.  God is for the whole world, not just for any religion in particular.  What God is looking for is faith and obedience, love and peace.

Now when it comes to the question of Islam, historical reliability of the Quran concerns the question of the historicity of the described or claimed events in the Quran. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, in the Muslim world, scholarly criticism of the Quran can be considered an apostasy and can be punished by death.  Many renowned scholars have identified several pre-existing sources for the Quran. The Quran assumes its readers' familiarity with the Christian Bible and there are many parallels between the Bible and the Quran. Aside from the Bible, the Quran includes legendary narratives about Alexander the Great, apocryphal gospels, and Jewish legends. Thus, the question of the historical reliability of the Quran is tied to the question of the historical reliability of the Bible.

Muslims do not like anyone questioning or criticizing Islam. They immediately get angry and violent if anyone questions or criticizes Islam.  To me, scholarly criticism of the Quran, is thus, a beginning area of study in the Islamic world.

Now, to fully understand the spirit of Islam, one must compare the Quran with the Torah and Bible revealing satan’s tactics of spiritual deception and in order to do so, one must thoroughly read all 114 suras or chapters of the Quran and the Hadiths (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim) including the historical life of Muhammad before Islam and during his life and because the majority of non-Muslims have failed to understand islam, the Islamic people have not been stirred or touched by the scriptures of the Torah and Gospels of the Bible.  They have put up blinders and remain in the darkness of a fanatical religion which forces them to have faith in a god who is unreachable, untouchable and unknowable.

Islam is a very complex and complicated “religion” (if it can be called a religion) far from any Judeo-Christian understanding.  To a Muslim, Islam is a complete system that encompasses every aspect of society. Muslims unequivocally assert that the laws of Islam meet not only the religious and moral codes of society, but also the economical, ethical and political codes as well.  Many of the Islamic teachings are a reflection of 7th century Arabian culture and society.  Many rituals and practices enforced by Islam have been traced back to Pre-Islamic Arabia.  One researcher eloquently pointed out , “Archeological and linguistic works done since the latter part of the nineteenth century has unearthed overwhelming evidences that Muhammad constructed his religion and the Quran from pre-existing materials in pagan Arabian culture”.

The word “Islam” means “total submission to Allah” and to be a Muslim one must completely submit oneself to Allah making submission a strong characteristic of this “religion”.  Allah demands total subjection of a person in all aspects of life.  In seventh century Arabia a tribe acknowledged to Muhammad their faith in Allah by saying “We believe in Allah.”  Muhammad replied to them, “You have not believed until you say, ‘We have submitted ourselves!” (Surah Al-Hujurat [49:14] – al Quran – al Kareem).

To become a Muslim is to become the “Slave of Allah”.  Many Muslims take on the name Abd-Allah or Abdallah or Abdullah, meaning “slave of Allah.”  Therefore the goal of Islam is to produce a theocracy with Allah as the ruler of society with no separation between religion and state meaning, a society with no democracy, no free will and no freedom of expression. When Islam takes over a home, family, society or country, it takes control of every aspect of life.  This fact is observable in Islamic states... prime example, look at Iran.

Now let’s look at the very foundation of Islam.  Islam emanates from two fundamental sources, the Quran and the traditions and instructions of Muhammad known as the Hadiths. To religiously adherent or radical/fundamentalist Muslims, Islam is a comprehensive self evolving system.  It is seen as the ultimate solution and path of life, an ideology able to govern every political, economic, political, cultural and social aspects of their society, applicable to all times and places.  Therefore, Islam to Muslims is more than a religion or daily rituals.  It is a way of living, thinking and reasoning.

Knowing this helps us understand why Muslims think and reason in a manner that is alien to non-Muslims.  Islam compels it’s followers to adhere and follow Muhammad’s way of thinking.   The first statement of the Quran in Arabic is “lā ʾilāha ʾillallāh,” and “Muḥammad rasūlu-llāh” which when translated it means “There is no God except Allah” and “Muhammad is his prophet.”  However, in a more historical context, a more accurate interpretation would be, “There is no God who is allowed to be worshipped except Allah, and every man must follow Muhammad and his teachings.”  Hence, in Islamic countries, other religions do not have the right to exist.  The few people who practice other religions are under tremendous oppression. Many are routinely violated, forcibly converted to Islam, incarcerated and executed.

Next is to look at the nature and character of Islam and in order to do so, I have to very briefly describe myself.  I was born in a Judeo-Catholic family and raised in an Islamic country which exposed me to the Islamic “religion” and it’s practices which kind of became part of normal life for non-Muslims.  I also have a copy of the Quran authored by N.J. Dawood from the time I was in college in Chittagong, Bangladesh that I’ve read all 114 chapters (surahs), all 6,236 verses (ayats) of the Quran many times over for my own understanding and knowledge.  So, to clearly understand the nature and character of Islam, one must look at Islam from a scriptural point of view otherwise Islam remains an enigma.  We need to explore the similarities between the Baal cults of the Torah and Bible and Islam of today.

In the Torah and the Biblical Old Testament, the followers of Baal were major opposers and challengers of God (Jehovah) and His people.  Baal was worshiped as a male god of the Phoenicians and Canaanites, and the worship of Baal was often connected with the goddess Ashtoreth (mentioned in the Book of Judges 2:13), the female counterpart.  The characteristics of Baal worship can be seen in many of today’s cults and false religions because the worship produces a spirit of hatred toward God’s elect, a spirit of immorality, fear, bloodshed, division and war.

Throughout history Islam has proved time and time again to have similar nature and character. Many rituals practiced within Islam are similar to those of Baal worship and in my opinion, the spirit of Baal worship in Phoenicia and Canaan and later in Babylon, is the same spirit that raised Islam in pagan Arabia.  If you check in the Encyclopedia of Religion, “Allah” is a pre-Islamic name corresponding to the Babylonian Bel (or Baal).  According to the renowned Middle East scholar Elwood Morris Wherry, in pre-Islamic times both Allah-worship and Baal-worship involved the worship of the sun, moon and stars which defines them as astral religions.  The crescent moon which is the symbol of moon worship is also the symbol of Islam.  It is printed on the flags of many Islamic countries and is also seen on top of minarets and mosque domes.

Spiritually speaking, the false god Baal, the spirit of Baal and the religious practices of Baal was created by satan to give people a counterfeit religious and spiritual experience that is still alive and growing today.  This false religion was created well before Muhammad, Allah or Baal and can be traced to Genesis Chapter 10, to the time of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel and we all know the details from the Torah and the Bible of how God commanded the people to take the land and remove all false gods, altars, idols and worship.  The people did not listen to God and Baal was the primary deity to become a snare to their soul as God had said would happen and we know from scriptures what happened in the end.   This was not the end of this false god Baal, because in some regions Baal became known as “Hubal”, which in Hebrew means “the Baal”.  As “Hubal”, he became known as the “god of the moon,” and this was the deity that became well known during Muhammad’s time in Mecca. 

The Kaaba was originally dedicated to the moon god in Arabia, and him alone.  Eventually, it was used for the 360 pagan/tribal gods the Arabians worshipped, one for each day on the Arabic calendar year.  When the Kaaba was just a shrine to “Hubal” the pagan Arabs worshipped a black meteorite that they claimed was from the moon god.  At the beginning, travelers came to pray, worship, pay tribute and kiss the black meteorite in reverence to “Hubal”.  After the addition of the idols, the worship was dedicated to the idols as well.   The Quraysh tribe that Muhammad and his grandfather belonged to in Mecca worshipped an idol named “Allah”.   So, centuries before Muhammad  even uttered that god revealed his name as “Allah”, the Arabs already had a false idol deity called “Allah”, whom they said had three daughters: Al-Uzza, Allat and Manat.   Let’s not forget that from his childhood Muhammad was taught the religion of “Baal” or “Hubal”, as well as the ceremonies and traditions of this idol worship.  His grandfather and uncle shared with Muhammad many traditions passed down of “Baal” or “Hubal” and later the idol “Allah”, which the Quraysh tribe worshipped.

According to Islamic teachings after Muhammad got his revelation in a cave from, the angel Gabriel, he claimed that there is one true god and his name was...none other than “ALLAH” and that he has no son or daughters.  He mentioned son because he was around Christians and had heard about Jesus being the son of God and many of Jesus’s teachings and doctrines for salvation.

While "Allah" could refer to God literally (in Arabic), the Allah of Islam is the moon god of ancient pagan Arabia. The Arabic word for "god" is "ilah," while "al" is the Arabic for "the." Therefore, "Allah" combines "al" with "ilah" and removes the "i" to literally mean, "the god."  

But much like "Yahweh/Jehovah" is the personal name of the God of the Torah and the Bible, "Allah" is also the personal name of the moon god, the chief among the 360 pagan idols that were worshipped in Mecca.

So, what the ancient pagan Arabians do to worship their moon god Allah? They prayed while bowing toward Kaaba, the "house of Allah" in Mecca that houses a meteorite - a rock from space - several times a day, visited it once a year, and walked around it several times during their visit. To worship their Allah today:   

• Muslims pray bowing toward the Kaaba in Mecca five times a day.
• About two million Muslims visit Mecca every year and walk around the Kaaba (the black cube, which is 40 feet tall).
• The Muslim "holy" month of Ramadan starts at the sighting of a new crescent moon.
• Perched atop churches across the world is the cross, the symbol of the sacrifice made by the God of the Bible (see The Gospel). Perched atop mosques across the world is the crescent moon, the symbol of Muhammad's Allah, the god of Islam.

When confronted with the details above, Muslim typically re-assert that "Allah" still means "al" + "ilah" - i.e., "the" + "god" - and is same as the God of the Bible, not the moon god of pagan Mecca. They even point out that Arabic Christian Bibles use "Allah" to refer to God.

The "Allah" in the Arabic Christian Bibles is literally "the God" and does refer to the God of the Bible. Advise Muslims that if this is really the God they are worshipping, then they should stop bowing down to a meteorite five times a day and the crescent moon should neither start their "holy" month nor top their mosques. If the "Allah" they are worshipping is genuinely the God of the Bible, then they should worship Him as the Bible instructs.

So far we’ve learned about the false god named “Baal” who was worshipped around the Middle East (mainly Mecca) who later became known as “Hubal”, which in Hebrew means “the Baal”.  As “Hubal”, he became known as the “god of the moon,” and this was the deity that became well known during Muhammad’s time in Mecca.   Now I am going to illustrate the similarities between Islam and Baal/Hubal Worship.  Remember “Hubal” became known as the god of the moon which later morphed into “Allah” the ancient pagan Arab moon god.

  

Before I proceed any further I do want to express that this is not an attempt to bash Muslims or promote any type of hate toward them.  All I’m attempting to do is put the truth forward based on historical facts and not fallacies and to show the readers that from the very creation of Islam, Muslims have and still worship an ancient false god and that “Allah” is NOT the same God that Jews and Christians worship...

Now here are the similarities and you dear readers be the judge:

Baal worship

Prayed to Baal facing Mecca.

Islam

Pray to Allah always facing Mecca.

Baal worship

Worship included pilgrimage to Mecca to the Kaaba, to worship and honour Hubal (Baal) – not a new revelation as taught in Islam but practiced centuries before Muhammad created Islam.

Islam

Muslims are encouraged to make one pilgrimage in their lifetime to Mecca and the Kaaba

Baal worship

Worshippers marched around the Kaaba 5 to 7 times to worship Hubal.

Islam

Muslims march around the Kaaba in worship; the only thing Muhammad changed was that they don’t have to be naked as it was practiced by Baal worshippers.

  

Baal worship

While at the Kaaba, they kissed the black stone in worship.

Islam

Muhammad would kiss the black stone – a tradition he learned from Hubal / Allah worship in his tribe. He made it a tradition in Islam (Islamic tradition says the stone was white, but it turned black from man’s sin passed on to the stone).

Baal worship

While at the Kaaba, stones would be thrown at walls or pillars to be symbolic of stoning satan.

Islam

Today, during Hajj which is the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims throw stones at an oberlisk, which represents satan to Muslims.

Baal worship

The worshippers would cut themselves.  This is recorded in the Torah and Bible in “I Kings 18:28”  (And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.)  If you want to read the full account on Baal/Hubal worship you can go to  “I Kings 18: 21-28” in the Old Testament of the Bible/Torah.

Islam

Shia Muslims cut themselves and put a mark on their foreheads on the Muslim holy day of Muharram to mourn the death of Muhammad’s grandson.

Baal worship

Baal, who became known as “Hubal”, was called the, “god of the moon” or simply the “moon god”.  Hubal, in Hebrew means, “the Baal”

Islam

Allah is called, “the moon god”.  Most times Muslims will deny this and say it is based on a lunar calendar and that the moon has nothing to do with Allah.  Yet, almost every mosque has a crescent moon on it.  One mosque has a full moon on it, the dome of the rock in Jerusalem.  Muslims say this is because Jerusalem is the place where everything will come full circle.  They believe Jerusalem is theirs and will be fully theirs again soon.  The crescent moon, star and bulbous finials of the mosque markers are a throwback to the pagan origins of Islam before Muhammad introduced his Quran.  The finials have bulbous knots in them that represent the fallen stars Muhammed put underneath (destroyed) Islam with the crescent moon encircling the star that represents the black stone in the Kaaba.

If you ask Muslims about the bulbous finial which is a representation of a full moon above the Dome of the Rock, they will say it is symbolic of total control over everything that is Jewish. A circle is complete like the subjugation of the Jews in their own city.  This is totally false because they try to divert facts.

Central to Islam is the worship of the stone in Mecca but, they deny it who bow down and face it to pray 5 times daily with repetitive prayers from all over the world. They set their mats down towards Mecca with special attention to alignment.

So, WHO IS ALLAH?  WHERE DID ALLAH COME FROM?

Many Muslims will argue that Allah is the same God that the Jews and Christians worship.  However, by studying the Quran one will see a monumental gap of character, nature and personality exists between the God of the Torah and Bible and the Allah of the Quran.  You don’t have to be Jewish or a Christian to see the vast differences – Muslims who study both the Quran and Bible will see that difference.  To point this difference to a Muslim or to anyone who hasn’t studied Islam would be a waste of time and energy.  All that needs to be done is to honestly show what Islam teaches and practices and only then will one know what Islam really is as Jesus Christ said in Matthew 12:33 – “A tree is known by it’s fruit”.  Just as an apple tree produces apples and a thorn tree produces thorns, the fruit that Islam has produced throughout history thus far are the fruits of fear, terror and bloodshed.

We all know that Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca in 570 A.D. and we know his father Abdullah (meaning “slave of Allah”) died before Muhammad was born and mother Amina died when he was six years old.  Muhammad was raised by his grandfather Abdul Muttaleb who also didn’t live very long.  He was then taken by his uncle Abu Talib.  Let’s not forget that Muhammad’s family belonged to a very powerful Arabian tribe called the “Quraish”. 

Anyways, when Muhammad turned twenty-five, he met and married a forty year old wealthy widow named Khadija who lived in Mecca and through her he was introduced to some influential; people in the Meccan society.  He immediately took advantage and in no time associated himself with the religious and political situation of Arabia.

Now during Muhammad’s time the people of Arabia worshipped a number of deities.  Mecca was a shrine city where the Kaaba (that black “Cube”) a cubicle structure known as the “house of Allah” that stands today which  Muslims today believe that this house was built by Abraham and his son Ishmael.

However, that is not true because before and during Muhammad’s time, the Kaaba was full of images of other gods and goddesses.  It was a custom for pilgrims who came to Mecca  to walk around the Kaaba seven times, kissing and touching the Black Stone.

So, let’s examine the Black Stone.  The Black Stone is a meteorite to which the pagan Arabs attached great religious significance.  This pagan custom was later adopted by Muhammad in the Islamic pilgrimage of “hajj” which is practiced even today.

At the time of Muhammad, Jews and Christian lived in Arabia and they both lacked the power to convince the Arabs of the one, true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Instead, Muhammad started spending time in a cave on the side of Mt Hira and around 610 when he turned forty, he claimed to have had a visitation from angel Gabriel who told him to “Recite,  the name of the Lord who has created, man from the clots of blood.  Recite, seeing that the Lord is the most generous, who has taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know” (Surah Al-'Alaq [96:1-5] – al-Quran Al-Kareen). 

This experience instilled great doubt in Muhammad’s mind.  Could this be a message from Allah, the God who Arabs venerate to be the supreme God?  For months after that Muhammad did not receive any revelation and he got depressed and even considered suicide.  After about two year Muhammad claims to have received other revelations in various form.  He claims he saw an angel and even heard voices and received messages in dreams.  Apparently, when a message came to him, he would fall to the ground and foam at the mouth.  The messages apparently came to him in Arabic and he spoke the words he received which were then written down by those who heard him.  Since Muhammad was illiterate, the revelations were collected by his followers in a book called Quran (which means reciting or reading), were not Muhammad’s words but the very words of God.  Thus, Muslims believe that the Quran is a miracle from God because an illiterate man could not write such a book.

Soon after, Muhammad started to preach that there is no God but Allah and that he was the prophet of Allah.  He called upon people to repent from worshipping other gods and turn to Allah.  His wife Khadija, his adopted son Zaid and a young cousin Ali embraced Allah.  Later about a hundred more people joined the new movement and together they attacked the gods in the Kaaba.

So, Muslims began worshipping this new god named  Allah. They also give him ninety-nine other names. The question that naturally arises is who or what is this Allah? Where did the Muslims derive their ideas of Allah's nature and attributes?

According to the Historical Sources of Islam, historians, linguists, and archeologists have dug into this question for over a century. Various archeological digs in Arabia and throughout the Middle East have uncovered the answer: Islam is a modern version of the ancient fertility religion of the moon god. Once this is grasped, the rise and history of Islam becomes clear.

The Arab conquests were made possible because the central powers in the Middle East had exhausted themselves in wars against each other. They were not able to fight off wave after wave of Arab armies which subdued entire nations with merciless slaughter, rape and plunder.

The Arabs also destroyed some of the wonders of the ancient world such as the world famous library in Alexandria, Egypt, They destroyed many ancient churches and synagogues. Anthropologists have recorded how the Arabs destroyed the cultural heritage of any nation which fell under their sword.

So, who were these Arabs? They obviously were not Christians because they destroyed churches and murdered priests wherever they went. Obviously, they were not Jews because they persecuted Jews without pity. This is seen today in their hatred of Israel and the many wars and acts of terrorism waged against Jews throughout the world.

If the Arab hordes which swept over the ancient world were not Christians or Jews, then what were they? They were pagans who worshipped a pagan god called Allah and followed pagan rites which were practiced in Arabia long before the religion of Islam evolved (As I illustrated above the similarities between Islam and worship of the pagan god Baal / Hubal).

So, let’s look into the Pagan Origins of Islam - Allah, the moon god of the Kaaba

Islam's origins have been traced back by scholars to the ancient fertility religion of the worship of the moon god which was always the dominant religion of Arabia. The moon god was worshipped by praying toward Mecca several times a day, making an annual pilgrimage to the Kaaba which was a temple of the moon god, running around the Kaaba seven times, caressing an idol of a black stone set in the wall of the Kaaba, running between two hills, making animal sacrifices, gathering on Fridays for prayers, giving alms to the poor, etc.. These were pagan rites practiced by the Arabs long before Muhammad was born.

Denial is Not a Refuge and therefore, denying the truth doesn’t change facts

What religion today practices the pagan rites of the moon god? Islam! This explains why the crescent moon is the symbol of Islam. It is placed on top of mosques and minarets and displayed on hats, flags, rugs, amulets and even jewelry. Every time you see the Muslim symbol of a crescent moon, you are seeing the ancient symbol of the moon god.

Does the average Muslim know that he is worshipping a moon god? No.

Does he know why the crescent moon symbol sits on top of his mosque? No.

Is he shocked and perhaps angered at these facts of history? Yes.

But can mere denial or angry threats refute the fact that Islam is nothing more than a modern version of the ancient religion of the moon god Allah? No.

The average Muslim has been kept in the dark by the Mullahs and Imams who would lose their power if the truth ever got out.

There are a number of scholars who believe that Allah, was originally the name of the moon god of Northern Arabia. It is important to remember that the word "Allah" simply means "the god" and corresponds to "ho theos" in the Greek New Testament as "the God" which refers to the Father in John 1:1 and the Son in John 20:28 and Heb 1:8. What is interesting is that Hubal was the top pagan moon god of the Kabah. So Allah is the generic and Hubal, may have been the actual name, in the same way that "the God" is generic and "Jehovah" is the name. The Arabs may have referred to "Hubal" as "Allah", just like Jews would refer to "Jehovah" as "The God".

1.    "Allah, the Supreme Being of the Mussulmans: Before Islam. That the Arabs, before the time of Muhammed, accepted and worshipped, after a fashion, a supreme god called Allah,--"the Ilah, or the god, if the form is of genuine Arabic source; if of Aramaic, from Alaha, "the god"—seems absolutely certain. Whether he was an abstraction or a development from some individual god, such as Hubal, need not here be considered...But they also recognized and tended to worship more fervently and directly other strictly subordinate gods...It is certain that they regarded particular deities (mentioned in 1iii. 19-20 are al-'Uzza, Manat or Manah, al-Lat'; some have interpreted vii, 179 as a reference to a perversion of Allah to Allat as daughters of Allah (vi. 100; xvi, 59; xxxvii, 149; 1iii, 21); they also asserted that he had sons (vi. 100)..."There was no god save Allah". This meant, for Muhammed and the Meccans, that of all the gods whom they worshipped, Allah was the only real deity. It took no account of the nature of God in the abstract, only of the personal position of Allah. ...ilah, the common noun from which Allah is probably derived..." (First Encyclopedia of Islam, E.J. Brill, 1987, Islam, p. 302)

2.    Allah. Islamic name for God. Is derived from Semitic El, and [Allah] originally applied to the Moon; he [Allah] seems to have been preceded by Ilmaqah, the Moon-god. Allat is the female counterpart of Allah. (Everyman's Dictionary of Non-Classical Mythology, Egerton Sykes, Godspeed, Allah)

3.    The Bedouin's astral beliefs centred upon the moon, in whose light he grazed his flocks. Moon-worship implies a pastoral society, whereas sun-worship represents a later agricultural stage. In our own day the Moslem Ruwalah Bedouins imagine that their life is regulated by the moon, which condenses the water vapours, distils the beneficent dew on the pasture and makes possible the growth of plants. On the other hand the sun, as they believe, would like to destroy the Bedouins as well as all animal and plant life. (History Of The Arabs, Philip K. Hitti, 1937, p 96-101)

4.    There are stories in the Sira of pagan Meccan praying to Allah while standing beside the image of Hubal. (Muhammad's Mecca, W. Montgomery Watt, Chapter 3: Religion In Pre-Islamic Arabia, p26-45)

5.    "The relation of this name, which in Babylonia and Assyrian became a generic term simply meaning 'god', to the Arabian Ilah familiar to us in the form Allah, which is compounded of al, the definite article, and Ilah by eliding the vowel 'i', is not clear. Some scholars trace the name to the South Arabian Ilah, a title of the Moon god, but this is a matter of antiquarian interest" (Islam, Alfred Guillaume, 1956, p 6-7)

6.    "The first pre-Islamic inscription discovered in Dhofar Province, Oman, this bronze plaque, deciphered by Dr. Albert Jamme, dates from about the second century A.D. and gives the name of the Hadramaut moon good Sin and the name Sumhuram, a long-lost city....The moon was the chief deity of all the early South Arabian kingdoms—particularly fitting in that region where the soft light of the moon brought the rest and cool winds of night as a relief from the blinding sun and scorching heat of day. In contrast to most of the old religions with which we are familiar, the moon god is male, while the sun god is his consort, a female. The third god of importance is their child, the male morning star, which we know as the planet Venus...The spice route riches brought them a standard of luxurious living inconceivable to the poverty-stricken South Arabian Bedouins of today. Like nearly all Semitic peoples they worshipped the moon, the sun, and the morning star. The chief god, the moon, was a male deity symbolized by the bull, and we found many carved bulls' heads, with drains for the blood of sacrificed animals." (Qataban and Sheba, Wendell Phillips, 1955, p. 227)

7.    "...a people of Arabia, of the race of the Joktanites...the Alilai living near the Red Sea in a district where gold is found; their name, children of the moon, so called from the worship of the moon, or Alilat." (Gesenius Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures, translated by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, 1979, p. 367)

8.    Allat, according to recent study of the complicated inspirational evidence, is believed to have been introduced into Arabia from Syria, and to have been the moon goddess of North Arabia. If this is the correct interpretation of her character, she corresponded to the moon deity of South Arabia, Almaqah, `Vadd, `Amm or Sin as he was called, the difference being only the oppositeness of gender. Mount Sinai (the name being an Arabic feminine form of Sin) would then have been one of the centers of the worship of this northern moon goddess. Similarly, al-`Uzza is supposed to have come from Sinai, and to have been the goddess of the planet Venus. As the moon and the evening star are associated in the heavens, so too were Allat and al-`Uzza together in religious belief, and so too are the crescent and star conjoined on the flags of Arab countries today. (The Archeology Of World Religions, Jack Finegan, 1952, p482-485, 492)

Though this is only a snapshot of this particular subject, I hope that I have provided enough proof and reasoning as to why I believe modern day Islam is the same religion as ancient Baal worship and that Allah is the moon god and not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Allah is definitely NOT the same God of the Jews and Christians as Muslims claim.

THE TRUE NATURE OF HUMAN GREED AND SHELLFISHNESS SHOWS IN TIMES OF CRISIS

I’m sure all of us have either witnessed or saw few images encapsulate more succinctly or poignantly the situation facing us all at this very critical time

Pictures of supermarket shoppers filling their shopping carts to overflowing with large packets of toilet paper is labelled ‘panic buying’. Brought on by the apparently imminent spread of COVID-19, these rabid consumers seem to be concerned that the greatest risk from the demise of civilization as we know it, is not being able to wipe their bottoms with their luxury brand. But why is this called ‘panic’?

I’ve observed the elderly (seniors) stand in the middle of a supermarket aisle surrounded by empty shelves, their gaze focused on the scrap of paper — presumably their shopping list — in their hands.

This is not Venezuela, not Russia during the Cold War, not a corruption-ravaged Zimbabwe not any third world country.

This is Canada, arguably the most stable place on Earth.

And the bare shelves are not the result of food shortages or some sort of catastrophic failure in supply chains; they are the result of the cruel selfishness of those who, in times of crisis, have no regard for the needs of the vulnerable or elderly but care only about themselves.

Over the past few days, scenes like this — and worse — have been repeated up and down this country and many other so called “civilized” first world countries i.e. the UK, France, Australia, the U.S., Canada, Germany etc.

People queuing around the block at Costco and footage of crowds fighting and falling over each other to get into a supermarket or grocery store, while other scenes show people slapping and hitting each other over rolls of toilet paper.

All of them shocking, all deeply distasteful, all liable to make one question the very nature and sanity — of the human race.

But there was something about the quiet desolation of those elderly people gazing at their shopping list that brings into stark relief the way coronavirus is ripping through not just our immune systems, our National Health System and our economy, but also our social fabric.

It shows how, somewhere along the line, we ceased to be humans beings and a country that cares about the old, the sick and the vulnerable, and became a nation of sharp-elbowed, nasty and thoroughly inconsiderate “I’m Alright Jack”.

Of course, there are also many stories of individuals stepping up to help others, of communities coming together to weather this storm.

Indeed, I have every confidence that once the acute phase of this crisis has passed, once the reality of the situation has been processed, people will calm down and rally to each other’s sides.

But that does not change the fact that the viciousness of the panic buying, the sheer greed that people have displayed in taking far, far more than they need without giving a second thought to those less nimble, less speedy, less well-off, has been striking.

I’ve seen shops and stores full of elderly people looking for groceries even though the shelves were empty — ransacked by the so-called ‘shellfish and inconsiderate’.  Already far more vulnerable to the effects of the virus than younger people, the older generation are also much more likely to be living on their own and surviving on their pensions.

They don’t tend to have a freezer full of stuff, and they can’t always afford to buy in bulk. But even if they could, it’s not really in their nature to take what they don’t need.

And this, I think, is really the crux of the matter. What we are seeing here is a really deep generational divide.

Between those who grew up in the shadow of two World Wars and those like myself who are survivors of the 1971 genocide and of deadly diseases such as typhoid, malaria, cholera, measles, small pox, chicken pox and plague, and who know true hardship and personal sacrifice; and those who have never known anything else but relative prosperity, people for whom the prospect of having to do without simply does not compute, whose sense of entitlement blinds them to all but their own needs.

Between those who, like my parents and individuals from my immediate generation never waste a single morsel of food or buy more than we know we’re going to need; and those who are so spoilt for choice that they’ll chuck out stuff that’s half a day out-of-date, or reject a tin with a dent in it.

They want it all, and they want it now — because they’ve never known anything else.

They’re that child at a kid’s party who grabs all the sweets at once, even though they can’t possibly eat all of them, and if they did it would make them horribly sick.

Spoilt, selfish, ill-mannered and probably deserving of a good smack (were such things still allowed these days).

It is often wondered of today’s younger generation whether, if asked to make a similar sacrifice to the one made by their predecessors in defence of the country from Nazi Germany, they would be equal to the task.

I have always felt that the answer to that question would be yes; that when push came to shove, they would set aside their “me-first” mentality and step up to the plate.

But what has been so depressing about the recent stockpiling, for me at least, is how that does not seem to be the case.

Scenes of the healthy and able-bodied riding roughshod over the old and frail make me question whether we have what it takes to face this crisis.

The irony is that a lot of the surplus food bought by selfish panic buying will probably be dumped when this serious crisis is all over!

ISLAM AND WESTERN EDUCATION

Western education has done a great disservice–of leftist design–by indoctrinating our children with the falsehood all “religions” are equal…that we are to be “tolerant/inclusive” of ALL cultures…and that it’s OUR bigotry (and our country’s actions elsewhere in the world) that causes the trouble.

Western news media and entertainment–also under leftist control–perpetuate the fable for adults. They’ve been quite successful in triggering a default/reflex “You’re a racist!” or “You are spreading Islamophobia”  or “You are Islamophobic” response to anyone who “dares” to tell the truth about Islam.  The denials will continue until most people in the West understand the ESSENTIAL TEACHING of Islam (Al Walaa wal Baraa) which MANDATES that Muslims HATE the dirty kafirs ‘FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH’.  This hatred directed by Muslims against disbelieving KAFIRS is not optional, but a REQUIRED ACTION if a Muslim wishes to go to the Islamic playboy mansion in the sky

When I engage in a debate with anyone including muslims, I usually start the conversation asking what they know about Islam, which is very little to nothing.  You see, I’ve read the Quran, Hadith, and Sira so many times that sometimes I feel that I could be a better muslim (God forbid) than any muslim in the islamic world.

I tell them that Islam is not a “race”. It’s a set of beliefs/doctrines to which anyone can adhere. i.e. it’s not the people….it’s the software that’s running on their brains. If they agree to that premise, we can move on to the next step: Who began and developed this software? Muhammad, his words, his actions…as laid out in the Quran, Hadith, and Sira, which form the scriptural base for Shari’ah–Islam’s draconian civilizational control system.

With all the persecutions perpetrated on Christians and other faiths and religions (excluding islam/muslims because islam is not a faith or religion.  It’s a killing cult) and the Easter Sunday bombing of three churches in Sri Lanka, I’m waiting for our politicians to begin their usual defence of the Muslim community: “Not all Muslims are to blame. It’s only a minority of radicals who have perverted their religion.” And of course, everyone who understands Islam knows that’s simply bullshit! Instead our gutless politicians should be calling out Islam for its innate hatred of all non-Muslims and its commandments to “kill them wherever you find them.” (Surah At-Tawbah [9:5] - Al-Qur'an al-Kareem, etc).

For how long and how many times is the charade of denial going to play out?  Every leader of non-islamic countries are WHITEWASHING the hate-filled ESSENTIAL ISLAMIC TEACHINGS requiring hatred directed by Muslims against disbelieving kafirs to motivate the Muslims to make SUPREMACIST WARFARE against the disbelievers ‘IN THE CAUSE OF ALLAH’. They are NORMATIVE Islam, rather than an aberration.  The ’cause of Allah’ is to eradicate ‘WRONG WORSHIP’ from the earth by slaughtering and fining the kafirs. Muslims thus enrich themselves by seizing kafir property and exploiting the kafirs financially.

Hopefully, it’s enough to get them thinking and to move away from what they’re being sold by the MSM.  Once they figure out that Islam is a supremacist ideology that vilifies all non-believers, they’re on their way to waking up.  It is now more apparent that Muslim immigration should be stopped now, before any more jihadists infiltrate other countries.

And…. It’s not only stopping immigration but draconian steps also need to be taken to deal with islamic menace. History of the past do teach a lot – we can learn a lot from it.  Past history opens one’s eyes to how certain situations were dealt with.  Throughout history, we have seen times when governments have to impose some kind of martial law in order to deal with some menace. The communist emergency in Malaya comes to mind, the British forces were unable to deal with the communist insurgency using conventional means. The war was dragging on, taking a large toll on life, peace and order and the economy. Finally, with some brilliant tactics, they managed to defeat the communists. They had to suspend normal processes of the law, create Emergency rule with special powers for police, resettle the Chinese population into monitored villages called new villages to prevent the communists from getting supplies. When the press in London got wind of it, they created a fuss about human rights abuses etc, but the authorities stuck to their plan and finally the insurgency was contained and defeated. It took a lot of difficult measures like isolating the chinese population, creating units with special powers etc, moves which in today’s society would be frowned upon. But it was the only way in the end.

And that is what the West needs to do, if only it had the will and desire to do so. But if they are working to a certain agenda, then of course, we needn’t hold our breath for anything concrete to be done except for the arrests of people who speak out against islam.