Ten minutes meditation

This is a great talk about meditation and its benefits by Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk. He co-founded Headspace, a project to make meditation more accessible to more people in their everyday lives. Puddicombe also writes prolifically for the Huffington Post and the Guardian, on the benefits of mindful thinking for healthy living.
In this video Andy Puddicombe wants to make the point that meditation can be accessible to everybody and that a ten minutes meditation a day can have a great impact on one's life in terms of  happiness and health.

Who is a jew?

One of the special things about Judaism is the label of being a Jew. Can anyone be a jew? Or is it enough for me to convert to Judaism to be a jew?
Jews believe that a Jew is someone who is the child of a Jewish mother. Some groups also accept children of Jewish fathers as Jewish. A Jew traditionally can't lose the status of being a Jew by adopting another faith, but they do lose the religious element of their Jewish identity. It is also possible for someone who isn't born a Jew can convert to Judaism, but it is very difficult to do so.

Evolution of Morality & Survival of the Fittest

Discovering Religion: Ep 24 - Evolution of Morality & Survival of the Fittest

Islamophobia

What is Islamophobia?

Simply put, Islamophobia is prejudice against, hatred towards, or irrational fear of Muslims. This definition involves many things:

• Dread or hatred of Islam undoubtedly leads to fear and dislike of all Muslims 
• Fear results in discriminating against Muslims by excluding them from the economic, social, and public life.
• The defintion leads to the adoption of opinions that Islam has no values in common with other cultures.
• The definition also underestimates the value of Islam and considers it inferior to the West.
• The definition suggests that all that Islam is about is what Muslims show in their behavior and that those Muslims represent the true nature of Islam. 
• Islam is considered by some non-Muslims as problematic to a multicultural society. 
• The term "phobia" implies that the fear of Muslims, Islam, or Islamism, is entirely irrational.

 Causes of Islamophobia
 the underlying concept of the term islamophobia have been criticized. Islam has long been stereotyped unjustly negatively and the emergence of the concept has many causes.

• Islam is considered by many Westerners as a violent political ideology rather than a religion.
• The shameful deeds of some fanatics have had a detrimental consequence on the image of Islam worldwide.
•  Luck of understanding of the true values of Islam.
• The term may have appeared because of racist reasons away from any objective knowledge of Islam.

Biblical figures in Islam

Islam, Christianity and Judaism

It may be surprising for some Christians and jews to know that there are many Biblical figures which the Qur'an names. Those biblical figures that go unnamed in the Qur'an are referenced or referred to in the hadiths, tafsirs, literature or sira.

Biblical figures in Islam

Bible	Qur'an pronunciation
Aaron	Hārūn
Abel	Hābīl
Abraham	Ibrāhīm
Adam	Ādam
Amram	‘Imrān
Cain	Qābīl
David	Dāwūd
The Apostles	al-Ḥawariyyūn
Eber	Hūd
Elijah (Elias)	Ilyās
Elisha	al-Yasa‘
Enoch	Idrīs
Ezekiel	Dhū l-Kifl
Ezra	‘Uzayr
Gabriel	Jibrīl
Goliath	Jālūt
Haman	Hāmān
Isaac	Isḥāq
Ishmael	Ismā‘īl
Jacob	Ya‘qūb
Jethro also called Reuel	Shu‘ayb
Jesus	‘Īsā
Joachim	‘Imrān
Job	Ayyūb
John the Baptist	Yaḥyā
Jonah	Yūnus
Joseph	Yūsuf
Joseph's brothers	Yūsuf's brothers
Korah	Qārūn
Lot	Lūṭ
Lot's wife	Lūṭ's wife
Mary	Maryam
Miriam	Mūsā's sister
Michael	Mīkāl (in the Qur’an); Mikā’īl (elsewhere)
Moses	Mūsā
Noah	Nūḥ
Pharaoh	Fir‘awn
Potiphar	al-‘Azīz
Potiphar's wife	al-‘Azīz's wife; Zulaykhā
Queen of Sheba	Queen of Saba’; Bilqīs
Samuel	Ṣamū‘īl
Saul the King	Ţālūt
Satan or Devil	Iblīs or Shayṭān
Shem, Ham, and Japheth	Nūḥ's sons
Solomon	Sulaymān
Terah	Āzar
Zechariah	Zakariyyā

Prayer in Islam

Prayer is one of the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars being the following:

1. the shahada (Islamic creed) 
2. daily prayers (salah) 
3. almsgiving (zakāt) 
4. fasting during the month of Ramadan (sawm) 
5. the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) at least once in a lifetime.

Muslims observe their Prayers to show devotion and obedience to Allah. The purpose of Salah in Islam is to act as a person's communication with and remembrance of God. This  prayer is a ritualistic prayer called salah or salat in Arabic, facing the Kaaba in Mecca, five times a day. The command to pray is in the Quran in several chapters. The prophet Muhammed showed each Muslim the true method of offering prayers thus the same method is observed till date.

The five prayers

The times of the five prayers are as follows:

1. near dawn (fajr), 
2. after midday has passed and the sun starts to tilt downwards / Noon (dhuhr or ẓuhr), 
3. in the afternoon (asr), 
4. just after sunset (maghrib) 
5. and around nightfall ('isha').

How to pray

There is the "call for prayer" (adhan or azaan), where the muezzin calls for all the followers to stand together for the prayer. Then the prayer proceeds as fommows:

• The prayer consists of standing, by mentioning -àllàh o -àkbàr (God is great) 
• This is followed by recitation of the first chapter of the Quran Fatihah after which another ayah may be recited.
•  Afterwards the person bends and praises God, then prostrates and again praises God. 
• The prayer ends with the following words: "Peace and blessings be upon you".

During the prayer a Muslim cannot talk or do anything else besides praying. Once the prayer is complete, one can offer voluntary prayers or supplicate -àllàh for his needs. 

Historical account of the rise of christianity

This is a presentation by Dan Ewert. The objectives of the presentaion are listed below:

• Know the basic path of Jesus’s life. 
• For what reasons he was executed.
• Know the importance of Paul to the spread of Christianity (and what he did that was so important to the spread). 
• Know what factors helped the faith spread (both logistical, like the Pax Romana, and why the faith was appealing to people). 
• Know why Christians were persecuted for their faith. 
• Know the importance of Constantine to the rise of Christianity and the effects of what he did. 
• What were the downsides of Constantine? 

6.3 - The Rise Of Christianity from Dan Ewert

Abrahamic Religions

Abrahamic Religions

In this presentaion, you will find a description of Abrahamic religions, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Abrahamic Religions from montathomas