MEDIA ONLINE EXTRA

Eid al-Adha

2009-11-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى‎ ‘Īdu l-’Aḍḥā) "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is a Muslim Holiday celebrated by Muslims (including the Druze) worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of obedience to God.

Eid al-Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from the Quran. Like Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon (khuṭba).

Eid al-Adha annually falls on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja (ذو الحجة) of the lunar Islamic calendar. The festivities last for three days or more depending on the country. Eid al-Adha occurs the day after the pilgrims conducting Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.

Four thousand years ago, the valley of Mecca was a dry and uninhabited place. According to Islamic history, the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was instructed to bring his wife Hajar (Hajira) and their child Ismael to Arabia from the land of Palestine - Canaan - by God's command, as his childless first wife Sarah had become jealous that Hajar bore a child and she had not.

As Ibrahim made ready to return to the land of palestine, his wife Hajar asked him: "Who ordered you to leave us here"? When Ibrahim replied: "God", Hajar said: "then God will not forget us; you can go". Although Ibrahim had left a large quantity of food and water with Hajar and Ismael, the supplies quickly ran out and within a few days the two were suffering from hunger and dehydration.

According to the story, a desperate Hajar ran up and down two hills called Safa and Marwa seven times, trying to see if she could spot any help in the distance. Finally she collapsed beside her baby Ismael and prayed to God for deliverance. Ismael struck his foot on the ground, and this caused a spring of water to gush forth from the earth. With this secure water supply, they were not only able to provide for their own needs, but were also able to trade water with passing nomads for food and supplies. When the Prophet Ibrahim returned from Canaan to check on his family, he was amazed to see them running a profitable well.

The Prophet Ibrahim was told by God to build a shrine dedicated to him adjacent to Hajar's well (the Zamzam Well). Ibrahim and Ismael constructed a small stone structure–-the Kaaba--which was to be the gathering place for all who wished to strengthen their faith in God. As the years passed, Ismael was blessed with Prophethood and he gave the nomads of the desert his message of surrender to God--the Islamic faith. After many centuries, Mecca became a thriving city thanks to its reliable water source, the well of Zamzam.

In the year 628 the Prophet Muhammad set out on a journey with 1400 of his followers. This was the first pilgrimage in Islam, and would re-establish the religious traditions of the Prophet Ibrahim.

The Takbir and other Rituals

The Takbir is recited from the dawn of the tenth of Dhu al-Hijjah to the thirteenth of it. The Takbir consists of:

Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar

الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر

laa ilaaha illAllaah

لا إله إلا الله

Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar

الله أكبر الله أكبر

wa li-illaahil-hamd

ولله الحمد

God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest,

There is no deity but God

God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest

and to God goes all praise

Variation

Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar

الله أكبر الله أكبر

laa ilaaha illAllaah

لا إله إلا الله

wAllaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar

والله أكبر الله أكبر

wa li-illaahil-hamd

ولله الحمد

alhamdulillaah `alaa maa hadaanaa, wa lahul-shukru `ala maa awlaanaa

الحمدلله على ما هدانا و له الشكر على ما اولانا

God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest,

There is no deity but God

and God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest

and to God goes all praise, (We) sing the praises of God because He has shown us the Right Path. (We) gratefully thank Him because He takes care of us and looks after our interests.

Variation:

Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar

الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر

laa ilaaha illAllaah

لا إله إلا الله

Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar

الله أكبر الله أكبر

wa li-illaahil-hamd

ولله الحمد

Allaahu akbar kabeera wal hamdu lillahi katheera wa sobhana allahi bokratan wa aseela

الله أكبر كبيرا والحمد لله كثيرا وسبحان الله بكرة وأصيلا

laa ilaaha illAllaah

لا إله إلا الله

Wahdah sadaqa wa'dah wa nasara abdah wa a'aza jondahu wa hazama al-ahzaba wahdah

وحده صدق وعده ونصر عبده وأعز جنده وهزم الأحزاب وحده

laa ilaaha illAllaah

لا إله إلا الله

wala na'bodu illa iyah mokhliseen lahu aldeena wa law kariha al kafiroon

ولا نعبد إلا إياه مخلصين له الدين ولو كره الكافرون

allahomma salli ala sayyidina mohammad wa ala sayyidina mohammad wa ala aal sayyidina mohammad wa ala ashabi sayyidina mohammad wa ala ansari sayyidina mohammad wa ala azwaji sayyidina mohammad wa ala zoriyyati sayyidina mohammadin wa sallim taslimann katheera

اللهم صل على سيدنا محمد وعلى آل سيدنا محمد وعلى أصحاب سيدنا محمد وعلى أنصار سيدنا محمد وعلى أزواج سيدنا محمد وعلى ذرية سيدنا محمد وسلم تسليما كثيرا

God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest,

There is no deity but God

God is the Greatest, God is the Greatest

and to God goes all praise

God is the Greatest, all Praise is due to Him, And Glory to God, eventide and in the morning

There is no god, but God the Unique, He has fulfilled His Promise, and made Victorious His servant, and made Mighty His soldiers and defeated the confederates

There is no deity but God

He alone we worship, with sincere and exclusive devotion, even though the infidels hate it

O God, have Mercy on our Prophet Muhammad, and on the family of our Prophet Muhammad, and on the companions of our Prophet Muhammad, and on the helpers of our Prophet Muhammad, and on the wives of our Prophet Muhammad, and on the offspring of our Prophet Muhammad, and Bestow upon them much peace

Done by Nasir Muhammad

Traditions and practices

Men, women, and children are expected to dress in their finest clothing to perform Eid prayer (ṣalātu l-`Īdi) in a large congregation in open area or mosque. Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice their best domestic animals (usually sheep, but also camels, cows and goats) as a symbol of Ibrahim's sacrifice. The sacrificed animals, called uḍiyyah (Arabic: أضحية‎, also known as "al-qurbāni"), have to meet certain age and quality standards or else the animal is considered an unacceptable sacrifice. Generally, these must be at least a year old.

The regular charitable practices of the Muslim community are demonstrated during Eid al-Adha by the concerted effort to see that no impoverished person is left without sacrificial food during these days.

Distributing meat among people is considered an essential part of the festival during this period, as well as chanting Takbir out loud before the Eid prayer on the first day and after prayers through out the four days of Eid. (See Takbir in "Traditions and practices" of Eid el-Fitr.) In some countries families that do not own livestock can make a contribution to a charity that will provide meat to those who are in need.

UMBULAN 2010 (PUBLIC BIDDING PROJECT)

2009-11-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

The East Java administration will open a tender for the huge Umbulan water spring exploration project in Winongan district, Pasuruan regency, at the end of this year or the beginning of 2010.

The East Java administration's assistant for the economy and development, Chaerul Djaelani, said the tender documents were currently undergoing a verification process by the Public Works Ministry and the National Development Planning Agency (Bapenas).

"Meanwhile, location mapping and water distribution readiness are being verified by a team from Australia. With that verification, we will know the amount of investment needed for the project, the cost of construction of the water plant and the resulting price of the water," he said recently.

He said based on preliminary calculations, the cost of the installation construction to distribute the water from Umbulan to Pasuruan regency, Pasuruan city, Sidoarjo, Surabaya and Gresik reached about Rp 2.4 trillion.

That price tag, he added, was more than the previous estimate of Rp 1.5 trillion.

Chaerul said the project could not yet go ahead smoothly as the five regions were still at odds over the proposed percentage of profit sharing.

As the spring is located in Pasuruan regency, and has a capacity to produce 4,000 liters of water per second, the regency has asked for a share of 70 percent of total water sale profits.

However, the government handed management of the spring over to the East Java administration because based on the Public Works Ministry's survey, the water in Umbulan spring comes from several regions in the province.

East Java Governor Soekarwo said that it was urgent to finish the project as the spring was currently only working at 10 percent capacity.

The government's intervention into the project was also needed to prevent investors from setting a high price on water sold to the public, he said.

The governor said the project's realization was needed to provide clean water for people in the five regions.

Currently, the Surabaya PDAM tap water company's water sources are the Surabaya River (8,500 liters per second) and the Umbulan and Pandaan water springs (330 liters per second).

Water from the Umbulan and Pandaan springs is only used by residents of Bangil, Pasuruan and Sidoarjo provinces. Residents in Surabaya only get water from the Surabaya River.

"Water quality in the Surabaya River decreases every year. Each year we have to provide extra treatment to the water so that it is usable," said the Surabaya tap water company's spokesman, Sunarno.

Based on the Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton) survey which ran from April 2008 until March 2009, the quantities of dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand in the Surabaya River were higher than government standards, stipulated in the water quality and water pollution management regulation.

First Arabic Domain Name

2009-11-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

Egypt will apply for the first Internet domain written in Arabic, its information technology minister said Sunday at a conference grouping Yahoo's co-founder and others to discuss boosting online access in emerging nations.

Tarek Kamel said Egypt on Monday would apply for the new domain — pronounced ".masr" but written in the Arabic alphabet — making it the first Arab nation to apply for a non-Latin character domain. The effort is part of a broader push to expand both access and content in developing nations, where the Internet remains out of reach for wide swaths of the population.

The registering of the domain "will offer new avenues for innovation, investment and growth, and hence we can truly and gladly say ... the Internet now speaks Arabic," Kamel said at the start of the Internet Governance Forum — a U.N.-sponsored gathering that drew Net legends like Yahoo Inc.'s Jerry Yang and Tim Berners-Lee, known as one of the Internet's founding fathers.

"It is a great moment for us," Kamel said of the domain name, which translates as ".Egypt".

The new domains stem from a decision taken at the end of October by the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a key Internet oversight agency, to develop a "fast-track" mechanism for domain names in languages such as Chinese, Korean, Arabic and others that do not use the Latin alphabet.

The decision marks a key step in the Arab world, where a mixture of censorship, limited content and access have stymied efforts to boost Arabic-language content on the Web.

The dearth of content has opened new market opportunities for Internet companies, with Yahoo, for example, recently acquiring Arab online community Web site Maktoob.com.

Yang said that while there are over 300 million Arabic speakers in the world, less than 1 percent of the content online is in Arabic.

As part of the company's push to boost access in Arabic, Yang said Yahoo would offer its mail and messenger service in Arabic next year. He did not provide an exact date.

Yang said there are approximately 325 million Internet users in emerging markets — a figure expected to grow 19 percent yearly through 2012. In all, about 75 percent of the world's population is still not online.

The prospective new users in developing nations face a number of challenges, ranging from monetary constraints to restrictions on their liberty — as evidenced by an announcement in Iranian media Saturday that officials were deploying a special police unit to sweep Web sites for political material and prosecute those deemed to be spreading lies.

The move reflected the influence the Web had in mobilizing Iranians — and informing the outside world — during the country's disputed presidential election in June — a vote that brought tens of thousands of Iranians into the streets in protests of what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's opponents claimed was massive fraud.

It also underscores the challenges Internet companies face in some countries and in hosting content deemed by some governments as subversive.

Many of the new users from emerging markets "will need Web content, and want more content, in their native language and still others won't just be bound by language and barriers, but have other challenges such as reading, liberty," Yang said.

The challenge "isn't just about getting as many people online as possible, but making sure that once they get online, they have something productive to do, something to gain, something meaningful to experience."

2012 (film)

2009-11-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

In 2009, American scientist Adrian Helmsley travels to India to meet his friend Satnam, who has discovered that neutrinos from a massive solar flare have penetrated the Earth and are causing the temperature of its core to increase rapidly. Adrian returns to Washington D.C. to inform White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser and US President Thomas Wilson that this will instigate a chain of events that will bring about the end of the world. At the 36th G8 summit in 2010, other heads of state and heads of government are made aware of the situation. They collaborate to begin a secret project intended to ensure the continuity of human life, strategically choosing 400,000 people for admission on a series of gigantic arks to be constructed in the Himalayas. To help fund the venture, additional individuals are allowed to purchase tickets for one billion euros apiece.

In 2012, Jackson Curtis is a divorced father who works as a limousine driver and writer in Los Angeles. His ex-wife Kate and their children Noah and Lily live with her new boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon. Jackson takes Noah and Lily on a camping trip to Yellowstone National Park, where they meet Charlie Frost, a radio show host and conspiracy theorist. Charlie supports a theory that suggests the Mayans predicted the world would come to an end in 2012. The family return home as cracks begin to develop along the San Andreas Fault in California and earthquakes occur in the San Francisco Bay area. Jackson grows suspicious and rents a private plane to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon as the Earth's crust displacement begins, and they escape Los Angeles as it collapses into the Pacific Ocean.

As millions begin dying in apocalyptic earthquakes worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve from Charlie a map detailing the location of the arks. The group narrowly escapes as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Charlie, who had elected to stay behind to witness the eruption, is killed by the blast. Realizing the arks are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas, where they meet Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov, one of Jackson's limousine clients. Yuri, his twin sons, girlfriend Tamara, and pilot Sasha join the group as they secure a larger plane and head across the Pacific. Also bound for the arks aboard Air Force One are Anheuser, Adrian, and First Daughter Laura Wilson. President Wilson decided to remain in Washington D.C., and he is soon killed by a tsunami that sends the USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House. With the Vice President dead and the Speaker of the House missing, Anheuser appoints himself acting Commander-in-Chief.

Yuri, who has purchased ark tickets for himself and his sons, deserts the Curtis family, Gordon, and Tamara upon arriving in China in a crash-landing that kills Sasha. However, the abandoned group is picked up by Nima, a Buddhist monk. Together, they begin sneaking onto an ark with the help of Nima's brother Tenzin, an ark project worker. Learning that a tsunami is approaching, Anheuser orders the arks be sealed before the boarding process is complete, trapping thousands outside. Adrian manages to convince the other G8 leaders to let the remaining people on board. As the ark's drawbridges are lowered, Gordon is crushed between the gears, which soon become entangled with a thick cable. Yuri sacrifices his life to get his two sons on in time, but the cable prevents the gate from closing, rendering the ship unable to start its engines. The tsunami arrives and begins to flood the ark, drowning Tamara and setting the ark helplessly adrift. Jackson and Noah work together to fix the closing mechanism. The gate closes and the crew regains control of the ark, preventing a fatal collision with Mount Everest.

When the floodwater from the worldwide tsunamis eventually recedes, satellite data shows that Africa rose in relation to sea level and may not have flooded at all. As three arks set sail for the Cape of Good Hope, Jackson reconciles with his family, and Adrian starts a relationship with Laura. The movie ends with a view of the Earth showing the dramatically-changed African continent.