Islam is a Game Changer

Islam is a game changer. Every other system, every human-made "ism" –
feudalism, tribalism, nationalism, monarchism, capitalism, communism,
fascism – treats human beings like commodities orless. Every other
system simply plays around with variables like distribution of wealth
and labor, or elevates one group of human beings based on lineage or
geography, while devaluing others to less-than-human status.
All these systems are fundamentally uncivilized, even barbaric.
Islam changes everything. Islam says, we're going to uphold the
fundamental dignity of all human beings.
"And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them
on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and
preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite]
preference." – Quran, 17:70
Allah has honored all the children of Adam. Not onlyMuslims, not only
men, notone race or nation, not only the wealthy or beautiful, but all
humans. As for the nature of man, Allah says, "[So mention] when your
Lord said to the angels, 'Indeed, I am going to create a human being
from clay. So whenI have proportioned him and breathed into him ofMy
[created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.'" – Quran,
38:71-72
A being into whom Allah breathed cannot help but be noble by nature.
Yes, we humans are corruptibleand shortsighted, but we don't have to
be. Our nature is pure. We can, at times, rise above our own
foolishness and become great.
When it comes to morality,Islam takes the approach of trusting human
beings to live by values like compassion, justice, fairness, help for
the poor, brotherhood and sisterhood, devotion to God, and
non-attachment to material luxuries.
That's what Islam is supposed to be!
This is why certain oppressive cultural practices found in parts of
the Muslim world are so abominable. I'm talking about so-called honor
killings, female genital mutilation, denial of education to women,
violence against religious minorities, etc. These practices must be
abolished. They are anathema to everything Islam represents.
Islam came to promote an idea of human dignity based on:
1- Our relationship with Allah;
2- The love and mercy we show one another;
3- The utilization of our free will for a higher purpose.
All human beings are created in the best of molds ( You Are Perfectly
Created ). All human beingsare born on the fitrah , the pure and
natural way, with an inborn inclination to recognize the Creator and
do good. Racism and nationalism are abhorred and abolished. Women
arerecognized as intellectual and spiritual beings, not property,
objects, or vassals.
That's Islam as it should be. It's a revolutionary system. Rather than
a limited material or tribal system, it is for the first time in
history a human system. If we're practicing anything less then we're
not practicing Islam. If we look down on certain races, if we hate
people because of their nationality or religion, if we subjugate
women, then we're practicing a fraud, and shaming ourselves before the
world.
Islam rises above everything that came before. Islam came to change
the world, and to elevate the essential nobility all human beings, a
nobility not based on nation or tribe, but on our eternal souls.
That's the call of Islam. That's the path we must follow.

1a] Sad love stories

1a]
One fine day, they decided to run away from their homes and meet the
next day under a mulberry tree near tomb of Ninus. Thisbe was the
first one to reach on spot and was waiting for Pyramus.
That's when the tragedy struck and story took a devastating turn.There
was a fountain nearby where a lioness came to quench her thirst. The
sight of lioness made Thisbe panic and she hurried to safety in some
hollow rocks nearby. While she was running she left her veil behind.
The lioness came near, sniffed the veil and tore it in his bloody
jaws. At that very moment, Pyramus arrived near the mulberry tree and
found the tattered blood stained veil. He thought that his love was
dead and was completely devastated. He blamed himself to be the cause
of Tisbe's death and in a moment of agony, pierced his chest with his
own sword. Tisbe, who was still hiding in the rocks, came out of her
hiding place and seeing the dead body of her lover, she was totally
shattered and grief-stricken. She also took the sword and killed
herself and thus one of the purest love stories ended in pain and
death.
Pocahontas and John Smith
Though love stories from different places are told in contrasting
styles and languages yet the charm of romance remains the same. Love
is like a blissful flow of emotion. Love knows no barriers, caste,
creed, discrimination and status. It dictates terms on its own and has
a habit of standing against allodds. How many times, have we come
across tales of love managing to survive despite the insurmountable
odds? Many times perhaps and yet we are nottired of love tales that
has a heart-breaking end. These tales belong to different centuries
but still manage to enthral us. Painful romantic stories are timeless
and have carved themselves in immortality. There are plenty of love
stories to be shared like Helen of troy and Paris, Abelard and
Heliose, Pygmalion and Galatea and Pocahontas and JohnSmith.
The story of Pocahontas and JohnSmith is a celebrated legend in the
history of America. Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan. She was
an Indian princess. Powhatan was the commanding chief of the
Algonquian Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia. According to
legend, the first meeting between Pocahontas and John Smith took place
under unusual circumstances. John Smith was leading an expedition in
December 1607 and because of certain misunderstanding Indians
captivated him. Smith was taken to the residence of Powhatan where he
was tortured. But he was saved by Pocahontas who helped him
tremendously to get him out of his misery.
Pocahontas felt an instant liking for John Smith and found him
immensely attractive and appealing. Soon enough Powhatan adopted Smith
as his son and from there onwards, the friendship between Pocahontas
and Smith started taking deep roots. They started to come closerto
each other but destiny had some other plans. John Smith hadto return
back to England after getting badly injured due to gunpowder
explosion. Pocahontas was constantly worried about him and decided to
make a visit to the fort but unfortunately there she was informed that
Smith was dead.
Things started to change rapidly and soon after, Pocahontas was taken
prisoner by Sir Samuel Argall who had some devious plans of his own.
He demanded return of English prisoners from Powhatan in return of
Pocahontas. In the meantime, Pocahontas decided to become a Christian
during her captivity. Justa year later, she married John Rolfe. She
met John Smith after aneternal gap of eight years while visiting
London. This was also their last meeting.

1] Sad love stories

1]
True love, the moment you hear these magical words, some sweetest
imaginations start conjuring up in your mind. Love must have been the
first word that was felt, understood and expressed by humans. And why
only humans? Even animals give us some wonderful glimpses of love and
care. Though in this article, we will stick to some of the eternal
human love stories that have stayed through the course of human
civilization.
Every true lover must have read such wonderful love stories and would
have felt an invisible but strong connection. But not every love story
has a happy ending and if we look back at famous love stories, most of
them had a tragic end. So what is so fascinating about sad love
stories? Is it some sort of emotional and spiritual connection that
every true lover feels or goes through? Or a tragicend that makes the
story immortal? May be or may not be, but by the time you ponder over
this fact, let us go through some of the most famous love stories in
history and literature.
Sad Love story collection:
Tristan and Isolde
The heart-rending tale of Tristan and Isolde has gone through its iota
of story-telling sessions. The story takes place during medievaltimes
during the reign of King Arthur. The immortality of this tale is quite
evident from the wayit has been told and retold through numerous
stories and manuscripts. Isolde was name of the pretty daughter of the
King ofIreland. Her father had chosen King Mark of Cornwall for Isolde
and both got engaged. Tristan was nephew of King Mark who sent him to
Ireland to escort Isolde back to Cornwall and that'swhere the story
took a different turn. Love knows no boundaries and never cares for
any barriers.
Isolde and Tristan both sensed a strong sense of attachment and
fulfilment in each other. The seeds of love were sown but destiny had
something else in store. Isolde had to marry Mark ofCornwall but then
heart was longing for Tristan. As a result of that, the love affair
between the two continued even after her marriage.
They say, you cannot hide love and King Mark finally came to know
about their affair. Tristan was banned from Cornwall but King forgave
Isolde. Tristan was forced to move to Brittany where he encountered
Iseult and the similarity of her name with Isoldemade Tristan felt
attracted towards her. He kept looking for signs of Isolde in Iseult
and finallydecided to marry her. But Tristan's undying love for Isolde
did not let him consummate his marriage with Iseult. His hopes started
to fade away and soon grief-stricken Tristan fell severely ill.
In the deep recess of his heart, Tristan knew Isolde would be able to
cure him. He sent for Isolde and if Isolde agreed to come, the sails
of returning ship would be white. However, in casethe sails are black,
that would indicate Isolde has not decided tocome. The call of love
soon became evident as the sails were white but scorned love is
extremely dangerous. Iseult couldnot accept the return of Isolde and
subsequently lied to Tristan and told him that the sails were black.
Tristan could not take it and died of grief even before Isolde could
reach for her lover. The pain of Tristan's death did not spare and
Isolde either and she died soon after of a broken heart. Though, both
of them died yet gave the world something to remember for eternity.
Pyramus and Thisbe
Famous sad love stories- the title itself is self-explanatory. It's
really hard to pinpoint the exact number of historians, philosophers,
kings, psychologists and poets who have tried to explain love in a
different way and yet the underlying emotion always remains the same.
Love is a state of heart and no matter how many definitions you try;
you will always feel exhilarated and blessed once you are in love.
Evenwith closed eyes, you can feel its presence and your heart will
keep dancing on the melody of its beats. The intensity experienced
during love is truly unexplainable. Sharing love stories make us
remember and feel the eternal love and it completely redefines the way
oneexperiences love.
The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is touching but tragic. The story has
the power to move anyone who reads it. The fable has its origins in
the Roman Mythology. The tale of Pyramus and Thisbe has enthralled
many young loversover the centuries and it has lost none of its charm
even during the modern age. Pyramus was anextremely handsome man
whereas Thisbe was the most beautiful girl in the Babylonia. They both
were neighbours and had grown up together.
As they grew up, love blossomed but it was the forbidden fruit for the
lovers. Their parents were totally against them marrying each other
and that forced both of them to meet clandestinely if they could.
However, their parents could not suppress the lights of love burning
in the hearts of love birds. One fine day,:->

Story - The Foolish Brahmin

Birbal was always very famous for his generosity and his will tohelp
people as a service to them and the country. His fame reached out to a
simple but a foolish Brahmin, who wanted tobe called a Pandit. This
man reached Birbal and presented his query to him. Birbal was
completely surprised and couldn't understand why this foolish Brahmin
wants to be a pandit. The Brahmin was an uneducated man. Birbal
explained it to him that Pandits are educated and learned people, and
hence the title cannot be given to Brahmin, butthe foolish man kept
arguing about it that he wants Birbal to convince the rest of the
community to call him Pandit.
Birbal , being the witty man that he always was, came up with a unique
idea. He suggested Brahmin to pretend to be angry at anyone who
callshim Pandit. In fact he told him to throw stones at such people
and swear at them. Brahmin, who didn't even understand thebasis of it,
agreed to the solution. Birbal called upon his workers and guards, and
instructed them to call this foolish Brahmin, a Pandit. As Birbal's
workers had no option but to obey his instructions, they started
calling the man a Pandit. In a matter of moments,Brahmin reacted in a
very explosive manner. He not only started swearing at those people
but as directed by Birbal,threw stones at them and kept calling them
bad names.
Soon, the crowd started gathering as a result of this sudden burst of
angry shouts. It appeared to everyone that the Brahmin got irritated
by this very term, Pandit, and thus theystarted calling him the same
to tease him. Within few days the whole city had started to call him
Pandit, without even realizing the wit behind it. As a result, the
foolish Brahmin became extremely delighted and thanked Birbal again
and again for his generosity and intelligence.