to me what the pagan bla bla bla history say. Its a special day to
spend with the loved ones, to tell them that I love them, to let them
know that I care about them. Its a day to express and celebrate love!
And love is a beautiful thing! :P
Besides, religion doesn't have to be pushed into everything that we
have and celebrate in life. Lets just be positive and enjoy every
moment in life.
--- In Shadeshi_Bondhu@yahoogroups.com, ShumaN's Salam To You
<free_happysoul@...> wrote:
>
>
> Dear brothers/Sisters
>
> Assalam
>
> On February 14, Valentine's Day or " The Festival of Love" Is
Being observed all over the World. In Bangladesh, Valentine's Day is
being Celebrated as "BishShaw Bhalobasha Dibosh" for the last few
years. Celebrating Valentine's Day has become increasingly popular
among the Members Of Young generation.This day is currently
celebrated almost Openly in Bangladesh despite some restrictions made
by government. Some Newspapers/Weeklies are encouraging its
observance. A group of Businessmen and Hotel-owners are encouraging
it for business gain and profit. Florists & Card Sellers consider
February 14 as one of their best business days. Special St.
Valentine's Day cards (Which are painted with pictures of a Pagan
God "Cupid" - meaning "DESIRE" and hearts,and decorated wirh silk,
lace And Flowers) are very Popular among Teen-agers. Many hotels in
Dhaka Put On Valentine's dinners and St. Valentine's balls....
>
> Maybe Some of You are Expecting Valentine Messages/Gifts from
your Dear ones.....or U have a plan to send Val Messages To your
friends/Husband/Wife/ Gf/Bf.....
>
> But Shuouldn't we respect Our Religions' opinion on the "Love
Festival"? That is why We must know the history and basis of this
Valentine's Day.
>
> Many of us think that It's a Christian Custom. But it is not
true.It is never mentioned in the Bible as a practice of the New
Testament Church. For this reason, The (so callled) Conservative
Christians React Against The celebrations of This Day.(visit-
http://www.biblestudy.org / http://www.thercg.org/)
>
> As innocent and harmless as St. Valentine's Day may appear,its
traditions and customs originate from the most Sexually Perverted
pagan festival of ancient history: Lupercalia. Celebrated on February
15, Lupercalia (known as the "festival of sexual license") was held
by the ancient Romans in honor of Lupercus, god of fertility and
husbandry, protector of herds and crops, and a mighty hunter—
especially of wolves.The Romans called the festival the "Lupercalia."
The custom of exchanging valentines and all the other traditions in
honor of Lupercus - the deified hero-hunter of Rome- was also linked
anciently with the pagan practice of teen-agers "going steady." It
usually led to fornication. Today, the custom of "going steady" is
thought very modern. It isn't. It is merely a rebirth of an old
custom "handed down from the Roman festival of the Lupercalia,
celebrated in the month of February, when names of young women were
put into a box and drawn out by men as chance directed."
> When Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion
of the Roman Empire there was some talk in church circles of
discarding this pagan free-for-all. But the Roman citizens wouldn't
hear of it! So it was agreed that the holiday would continue as it
was, except for the more grossly sensual observances.It was not until
the reign of Pope Gelasius that the holiday became a "Christian"
custom. " As far back as 496, Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia on
February 15 to St. Valentine's Day on February 14." (p.172
of 'Customs and Holidays Around the World' by Lavinia Dobler).
>
> Every year Religious activists in India and Pakistan begin
separate protests against Valentine's Day celebrations. They Believe
that the " Festival of Love" has a corrupting influence on the morals
of young men and women....Their belif is not Baseless indeed. No
doubt that there are many IMMORAL PRACTICES that occur on that day,
and those practices are capable of dissuading people from the true
meanings of love and altruism to the extent that the celebration is
reduced to a moral decline. In Banhgladesh, it has become a medium
for free mixing of some young people and for
adultery/fornication,date rape, pre-marital sex.. Now let us look at
the state of affairs in western societies Mainly where Valentine's
Day is celebrated. what is the state of marriage relationships in
those societies, and do these celebrations have any positive effect
on interactions between husbands and wives/ Brother and sisters/
Girlfriends and Boyfriends?
>
> Dear Readers, I want to share An article Written By A Major
Muslim scholar Named Dr. khalid Beig ( An engineer by profession,
Khalid Baig has been writing on Islam and current affairs since 1986.)
>
> Plz Read & try to Realize. You will know the REAL TRUTH behind
St. Valentine's Day. Moreover,you will know what Allah expects you to
do about it!
>
> Then It will be Easier To take steps to stop Its observation in
Your Family.......
>
> May Allah Almighty gather us together under the umbrella of His
All-encompassing Mercy.
>
> Allah hafiz
> Shuman
>
>
>
> Valentine Day, Birthdays, and Other Daze
>
> What commercial and cultural propaganda presents as beautiful is
rooted in ugly paganism but most blind followers do not know.
>
>
By Dr.Khalid Baig
>
> There is a group of practices that we can consider as the twin
sister of bid'ah (i.e.Innovations). Like bid'ah they flourish on the
twin foundations of ignorance and outside influence. Like bid'ah they
entail rituals. But unlike bid'ah the rituals have not been given an
Islamic face. They are followed because they are considered an
acceptable cultural practice or the hottest imported "in" thing.
>
> Most of those who indulge in them do not know what they are
doing. They are just blind followers of their equally blind cultural
leaders. Little do they realize that what they consider as innocent
fun may in fact be rooted in paganism. That the symbols they embrace
may be symbols of unbelief. That the ideas they borrow may be
products of superstition. That all of these may be a negation of what
Islam stands for.
>
> Consider Valentine's Day, a day that after dying out a well
deserved death in most of Europe (but surviving in Britain and United
States) has suddenly started to emerge across a good swath of Muslim
countries. Who was Valentine? Why is this day observed? Legends
abound, as they do in all such cases, but this much is clear:
Valentine's Day began as a pagan ritual started by Romans in the 4th
century BCE to honor the god Lupercus. The main attraction of this
ritual was a lottery held to distribute young women to young men
for "entertainment and pleasure"--until the next year's lottery.
Among other equally despicable practices associated with this day was
the lashing of young women by two young men, clad only in a bit of
goatskin and wielding goatskin thongs, who had been smeared with
blood of sacrificial goats and dogs. A lash of the "sacred" thongs by
these "holy men" was believed to make them better able to bear
children.
>
> As usual, Christianity tried, without success, to stop the evil
celebration of Lupercalia. It first replaced the lottery of the names
of women with a lottery of the names of the saints. The idea was that
during the following year the young men would emulate the life of the
saint whose name they had drawn. (The idea that you can preserve the
appearance of a popular evil and yet somehow turn it to serve the
purpose of virtue, has survived. Look at all those people who are
still trying, helplessly, to use the formats of popular television
entertainments to promote good. They might learn something from this
bit of history. It failed miserably) Christianity ended up doing in
Rome, and elsewhere, as the Romans did.
>
> The only success it had was in changing the name from Lupercalia
to St. Valentine's Day. It was done in CE 496 by Pope Gelasius, in
honor of some Saint Valentine. There are as many as 50 different
Valentines in Christian legends. Two of them are more famous,
although their lives and characters are also shrouded in mystery.
According to one legend, and the one more in line with the true
nature of this celebration, St. Valentine was a "lovers'" saint, who
had himself fallen in love with his jailer's daughter.
>
> Due to serious troubles that accompanied such lottery, French
government banned the practice in 1776. In Italy, Austria, Hungry,
and Germany also the ritual vanished over the years. Earlier, it had
been banned in England during the 17th century when the Puritans were
strong. However in 1660 Charles II revived it. From there it also
reached the New World, where enterprising Yankees spotted a good
means of making money. Esther A. Howland, who produced one of the
first commercial American Valentine's Day cards called--- what else---
valentines, in the 1840s, sold $5,000 worth--when $5,000 was a lot
of money--the first year. The valentine industry has been booming
ever since.
>
> It is the same story with Halloween, which has otherwise normal
human beings dressing like ghosts and goblins in a reenactment of an
ancient pagan ritual of demon worship. Five star hotels in Muslim
countries arrange Halloween parties so the rich can celebrate the
superstitions of a distant period of ignorance that at one time even
included the shameful practice of human sacrifice. The pagan name for
that event was Samhain (pronounced sow-en). Just as in case of
Valentine's Day, Christianity changed its name, but not the pagan
moorings.
>
> Christmas is another story. Today Muslim shopkeepers sell and
shoppers buy Christmas symbols in Islamabad or Dubai or Cairo. To
engage in a known religious celebration of another religion is bad
enough. What is worse is the fact that here is another pagan
celebration (Saturnalia) that has been changed in name ---and in
little else--- by Christianity.
>
> Even the celebration considered most innocent might have pagan
foundations. According to one account, in pagan cultures, people
feared evil spirits - especially on their birthdays. It was a common
belief that evil spirits were more dangerous to a person when he or
she experienced a change in their daily life, such as turning a year
older. So family and friends surrounded the person with laughter and
joy on their birthdays in order to protect them from evil.
>
> How can anyone in his right mind think that Islam would be
indifferent to practices seeped in anti-Islamic ideas and beliefs?
Islam came to destroy paganism in all its forms and it cannot
tolerate any trace of it in the lives of its followers.
>
> Further, Islam is very sensitive about maintaining its purity and
the unique identity of its followers. Islamic laws and teachings go
to extra lengths to ensure it. Salat is forbidden at the precise
times of sunrise, transition, and sunset to eliminate the possibility
of confusion with the practice of sun worship. To the voluntary
recommended fast on the tenth of Muharram, Muslims are required to
add another day (9th or 11th) to differentiate it from the then
prevalent Jewish practice. Muslims are forbidden to emulate the
appearance of non-Muslims.
>
> A Muslim is a Muslim for life. During joys and sorrows, during
celebrations and sufferings, we must follow the one straight path ---
not many divergent paths. It is a great tragedy that under the
constant barrage of commercial and cultural propaganda from the
forces of globalization and the relentless media machine, Muslims
have begun to embrace the Valentines, the Halloween ghost, and even
the Santa Claus.
>
> Given our terrible and increasing surrender to paganism the only
day we should be observing is a day of mourning. Better yet it should
be a day of repentance that could liberate us from all these days.
And all this daze.
>
> Source : www.albalagh.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> " Man is eyes, the rest is only flesh: But the true eyes are those
that see the Friend (i.e Allah) ; .......Merge the whole of yourself
in your eyes, Go towards the vision, go towards the vision, go
towards the vision."
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.
Try it now.
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SB: Home of the Bangladeshi Teens & Youths
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-> Official Website: http://www.ShadeshiBondhu.com
-> Group's short url: http://Group.ShadeshiBondhu.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SB: Friends' Family
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shadeshi_Bondhu/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shadeshi_Bondhu/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:Shadeshi_Bondhu-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:Shadeshi_Bondhu-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Shadeshi_Bondhu-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
