Who is Muhammad?

The Prophet Muhammad?

Where was he born?
How was he raised?
What was he like?

Who Is Muhammad (Pbuh)

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Islam in a few words!

What is Islam?

Is it a religion of blood?
Do you associate it with terror?
Do you think it's a weird religion?
Do you think Muslims revere a different kind of God?
Do you think that Muslims don't believe in Jesus or Moses?
See the presentation!!!

What Is Islam?

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Artemis

Virgin goddess

Virgin goddess of the hearth, home and cooking. She is a daughter of Rhea and Cronus and sister of Zeus. She was depicted as a modestly veiled woman, whose symbols are the hearth and kettle. In some accounts, she gave up her seat as one of the Twelve Olympians to tend to the sacred flame on Mount Olympus for Dionysus.

In mythology

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women. She was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows. The deer and the cypress were sacred to her. In later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of Eileithyia (the Cretan goddess adopted into ancient Greek religion and myth as the goddess of childbirth and midwifery) in aiding childbirth.
Artemis later became identified with Selene, a Titaness who was a Greek moon goddess, sometimes depicted with a crescent moon above her head. She was also identified with the Roman goddess Diana, with the Etruscan goddess Artume, and with the Greek or Carian goddess Hecate

Poseidon

Earth Shaker and Storm Bringer

God of the sea, rivers, floods, droughts, storms, earthquakes, and horses; known as the "Earth Shaker" or "Storm Bringer". He is a son of Cronus and Rhea and brother to Zeus and Hades. In classical artwork, he was depicted as a mature man of sturdy build with a dark beard, and holding a trident. The horse and the dolphin are sacred to him.

Worship

In his benign aspect, Poseidon was seen as creating new islands and offering calm seas. When offended or ignored, he supposedly struck the ground with his trident and caused chaotic springs, earthquakes, drownings and shipwrecks. Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice; in this way, according to a fragmentary papyrus, Alexander the Great paused at the Syrian seashore before the climacteric battle of Issus, and resorted to prayers, "invoking Poseidon the sea-god, for whom he ordered a four-horse chariot to be cast into the waves."

Zeus the king of gods

The king of gods

Zeus is the son of Cronus and Rhea. He is considered the king of the gods and the ruler of Mount Olympus. He overthrew Cronus, his father. The latter swallowed all his children as soon as they were born. But Rhea fled to an island, Crete, where she gave birth to Zeus. In Greek mythology Zeus was raised by a gaot named amalthea. With the help of the Olympians Zeus Overthrew his father and became the god of the sky, weather, thunder, law, order, and fate.

Erotic Escapades

In most traditions he was married to Hera. According to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.

Depiction

His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists either as:

• standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, 
• or seated in majesty.

(see the picure)

The Need for Faith

The atheist view

Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of God or gods. Atheists argue that there is no need for religion. For example, Marxists stand on the basis of philosophical materialism, which rules out the existence of any supernatural entity, or anything outside or "above" nature. There is, in fact, no need for any such explanation for life and the universe. Nature furnishes its own explanations and it furnishes them in great abundance.

Likewise Freud tried to attack the roots of organized religions. Freud contends:

"Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires." --Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis,1933.

"Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis." --Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, 1927

Need for faith

It is, however, worth noting that even these ideologies developed into new  belief systems themselves. For instance when communism was exported to other countries, it was preached with the same commitment and fervor that characterizes preaching and propagation of religion.

This need for a belief system is a deep rooted one in human nature. We are born with an innate need for faith. For what is the opposite of faith but despair and hopelessness. Faith can stem from different things including ideologies and religion.
Believers think that even an atheist has faith, no matter how much he or she might deny it. Human beings need to have faith. Mankind is not as self-sufficient as many would like to believe..We are extremely dependent on many things despite our denials.

State of Faith in the World of Today

Faith

Faith is a potent power in the world of today in spite of all the modernization that has occured world wide. The need of faith in the lives of human beings is still strong and religious vitality across the globe shows no signs of diminishing in the near future.

Globalization and faiths

This video examines the demographically extensive reach of faiths and the publicly intensive expression of these faiths around the world in a time of gloablization.

Good Friday and Jesus Crucifixion

Good Friday

Good Friday  also called Holy Friday or Great Friday, is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary or Golgotha, the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem’s early 1st century walls. The celebration is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum , the period of three days from Holy Thursday  to Easter Day. The holiday is celebrated on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover.
The Crucifixion of Jesus is believed to have occured on a Friday. The estimated year of Good Friday is AD 33 or  AD 34

The Christian account of Jesus crucifixion

The Jewish high priests accused Jesus of blasphemy and sentenced him to death. Because the Jews did not have the right to have a man killed without the approval of the Roman governor, they had to take Jesus to Pontius Pilate. Even though Pilate found him innocent, he feared the crowds and let them decide Jesus' fate. The Jewish chief priests decided to crucify him.
Jesusu was publicly whipped and punished before crucifixion. Then he was taken to Golgotha where he would be crucified. A mixture of vinegar, gall, and myrrh was offered to him. This drink was said to alleviate some of the suffering, but Jesus refused to drink it. Stake-like nails were driven through his wrists and ankles, fastening him to the cross where he was crucified between two convicted criminals. On the cross Jesus hung for his final agonizing breaths, a period that lasted about six hours bearing the crowds insults and scoffing. Jesus spoke to his mother Mary and the disciple John from the cross. He also cried out to his father,

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Various supernatural events accompany the crucifixion , including darkness, an earthquake, and (in Matthew) the resurrection of saints. Following Jesus' death, his body was removed from the cross and buried in a rock-hewn tomb. According to Christian tradition, Jesus then rose from the dead three days later.

The meaning of Jesus Christ's Day for Christians

Christians believe that Jesus' death on the cross was a knowing and willing sacrifice because he did not mount a defense in his trials. This was undertaken as an "agent of God" to atone for humanity's sin and make salvation possible. That's why Christians have made the crucifix, or cross, one of the defining symbols of Christianity.

Islamic account of Jesus Christ's Day.

Muslims believe Jesus was raised to heaven alive by God. The Qur'an states that he was not crucified or killed but was raised. Muslims also believe that Jesus will return before the end of time. This is the verse which expalins all this in the Qur'an:

That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;-
—Qur'an, sura 4 (An-Nisa) ayat 157-158

Arabian pre-Islamic beliefs and gods

Jahiliyyah

Arabian pre-islamic beliefs refer to the the beliefs of the Arabs in the era prior to Islam. This era is also called Jahiliyyah (Arabic: جاهلية‎). It is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God" or "Days of Ignorance". It refers to the condition Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad. During that period the Kaaba of Mecca was covered in symbols representing the myriad demons, djinn, demigods, or simply tribal gods and other assorted deities which represented the polytheistic Culture of Pre-Islamic Arabia. The following are the worshiped and idolized gods and the goddesses.

The Ancient Arabian gods and goddesses

Arabs in the pre-islamic era were polytheists. They worshiped and venerated many gods and godesses that they kept in the kaaba. The most important of them was. The Father, Hubal (Arabic: هبل‎). He was regarded as the chief god of gods and the most notable one, the idol of Hubal was near the Kaaba in mecca and was made of red agate, and shaped like a human, but with the right hand broken off and replaced with a golden hand.
In addition to Hubal, there were three godesses.

• Allāt (Arabic: اللات‎) or Al-Lāt was a Pre-Islamic Arabian goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. She is mentioned in the Qur'an (Sura 53:19)
• Al-‘Uzzá (Arabic: العزى‎) "The Mightiest One" or "The strong" was an Arabian fertility goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca, Arabs only call upon her or Hubal for protection and victory before any war.
• Manāt (Arabic: مناة‎) who Arabs believed Manāt to be the goddess of fate, The Book of Idols describes her as the most ancient of all these idols. The Arabs used to name their children 'Abd-Manāt and Zayd-Manāt. Manāt was erected on the seashore in the vicinity of al-Mushallal in Qudayd, between Medina and Mecca. All the Arabs used to venerate her and sacrifice before her. The Aws and the Khazraj, as well as those Arabs among the people of Yathrib and other places who took to their way of life, were wont to go on pilgrimage and observe the vigil at all the appointed places, but not shave their heads. At the end of the pilgrimage, however, when they were about to return home, they would set out to the place where Manāt stood, shave their heads, and stay there a while. They did not consider their pilgrimage completed until they visited Manāt.

Other notable gods included:

• Manaf (Arabic: مناف‎) whose statue was caressed by women, but when they had their periods they were not allowed near it.
• Wadd (Arabic: واد‎) who was the god of love and friendship. Snakes were believed to be sacred to Wadd.
• Amm (Arabic: أم‎) Was a moon god worshipped in ancient Qataban. He was revered as a weather god, as his attributes included lightning bolts.
• Ta'lab (Arabic: طالب‎) who was a god worshipped in southern Arabia, particularly in Sheba. Ta'lab was the moon god. His oracle was consulted for advice.
• Dhu'l-Halasa (Arabic: ذو الحلاس‎) was an oracular god of south Arabia. He was venerated in the form of a white stone.
• Al-Qaum (Arabic: القوم‎) was the Nabataean god of war and the night, and also guardian of caravans.
• Dushara (Arabic: ذو شرى‎) was a Nabataean god. His name means "Lord of the Mountain"

More on Arabian pre-islamic gods on wikipedia

Ancient Semitic Religions

Ancient Semitic people were polytheist. Some scholars believe that the similarities between the ancient Semitc religions indicate that the religions are related, a belief known as patternism, a term that refers to a method of comparing the teachings of the religions of the Ancient Near East whereby the similarities between these religions are assumed to constitute an overarching pattern.

Ancient Semitic peoples

Ancient Semitic peoples refer to the peoples who used to speak or still speak:

• Arabic
• Hebrew
• Aramaic
• Phoenician 
• Akkadian

The Semitic peoples originate mainly from the Middle East. The word "Semitic" is an adjective derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah (the others being Ham and Japheth) in the Bible and the Qur'an

Ancient Semitic religions

The term Ancient Semitic religion encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic speaking peoples of the Ancient Near East and Northeast Africa. Its origins are intertwined with Mesopotamian mythology, the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Sumerian and Akkadian (Assyrian/Babylonian) peoples living in Mesopotamia (around the area of modern Iraq). As Semitic itself is a rough, categorical term, the definitive bounds of the term "Ancient Semitic religion" are likewise only approximate. These traditions, and their pantheons, fall into regional categories:

1. Canaanite religions of the Levant, 
2. Assyro-Babylonian religion strongly influenced by Sumerian tradition,
3. and Pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism.

Canaanite religions of the Levant

Canaanite religion is the name for the group of Ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries of the Common Era. Canaanite religion was polytheistic, and in some cases monolatristic.

Assyro-Babylonian religion strongly influenced by Sumerian tradition

The religions of Babylon and Assyria are early attestations of Ancient Semitic religion in the region of Mesopotamia. The Assyrians and Babylonians practiced polytheism, a belief in many gods, before largely converting to Christianity from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. Borrowing from earlier religions of the Ancient Near East, predominantly those of the Sumerians and their Akkadian ancestors, religious practice was centered on cults of regional patron deities. Examples of this relationship include Marduk in Babylon, Ishtar in Akkad, or Sin in Ur and Harran.

Pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism.

Arabian mythology comprises the ancient, pre-Islamic beliefs of the Arabs. Prior to Islam the Kaaba of Mecca was covered in symbols representing the myriad demons, djinn, demigods and other assorted creatures which represented the profoundly polytheistic environment of Pre-Islamic Arabia.