February 15, 2011, The Birth of Prophet Muhammad 1432 H ( special edition )

February 15, 2011, The Birth of Prophet Muhammad. The prophet Muhammad was a man with a mission—to tell people about God. His teachings founded a new religion, Islam. The followers of Muhammad and Islam are called Muslims. Today, Islam is one of the world's largest religions, with almost 1 billion followers.

THE TRUSTED ONE

Muhammad was born about ad 570 in Mecca, a trading center in Arabia (now Saudi Arabia). He was thoughtful and serious by nature. Because Muhammad was so respected, he was sometimes called al-Amin. This means “the trusted one” in the Arabic language. Muhammad worked as a merchant, traveling long distances to trade.

THE PROPHET

On his travels, Muhammad met people from many faiths and discussed religious ideas with them. He also took time away from busy, noisy Mecca, to pray and meditate (think deeply) in a cave. While he was there, he experienced religious visions, or revelations. He came to believe he had been chosen as a prophet to preach God’s message to the world.

ONE GOD

Muhammad spoke to the people of Mecca. He told them to destroy their old idols and worship Allah, the one true God. He said God was all-powerful, but loving and merciful. He said that God had sent earlier prophets, such as Moses and Jesus, but that now there wouldn’t be any more.

Muhammad’s preaching won converts but also made enemies. In ad 622 he fled from Mecca to a distant city, Medina, and set up a Muslim community there. After years of fighting, the Muslims from Medina conquered Mecca. Its citizens became Muslims. Quickly, Islam spread through Arabia and beyond.

THE MUSLIM WAY OF LIFE

Muhammad taught Muslims to pray five times a day, give to charity, fast during the month of Ramadan, and go on pilgrimages to Mecca. He told them that all Muslims were equal, whatever their race, class, or color. He said Muslims should live at peace with Jews and Christians because they worshiped the same God.

Muhammad died in ad 632. To guide believers, his revelations were written down in the Qur’an. Muslims believe it is the word of God. Muhammad’s own words were treasured as Hadith (“sayings”), and his way of life was honored as Sunna (“good example”).
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Valentine's Day , A Romantic Day ( special edition )

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Sugar is sweet,

And so are you.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14. People exchange valentines—greeting cards or gifts of candy and flowers—with friends and people they love on this day. Valentines express love and affection.

The symbol of Valentine’s Day is a large red heart with an arrow through it. It’s a time for silly rhymes, like the one above, on heart-shaped cards.

SAINT VALENTINE?

Valentine’s Day probably started out as a religious festival, or feast day, in honor of a Christian saint. There were two saints named Valentine who lived in Rome in the 3rd century. Both seem to have died on February 14.

In the year 496, the pope—the head of the Roman Catholic Church—declared February 14 to be Saint Valentine’s Day.

A ROMANTIC HOLIDAY

The middle of February was once considered to be the start of spring. It was a time when birds began mating. It was also a time when young men chose young women to be their dates for the spring festivals. These associations helped give the holiday a sense of romance and new beginnings.

By the 1800s, Saint Valentine’s Day was popular throughout Britain and the United States. In 1902, a candy company came out with the first heart-shaped candies. They had “Be Mine” and other messages stamped on them. The company now sells about 8 billion of these hearts each year.
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Is New Year's day always January 1st ? ( special edition )

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 ! This special post from me. health blog that reviews the New Year ! hopefully in 2011, we all can become better people , amin .

People around the world celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1. But the new year begins at other times, too. The Chinese New Year begins between January 21 and February 19. The Jewish New Year begins in autumn. The Muslim New Year falls 11 days earlier each year than the last. Why? Because there are many ways to arrange a calendar.

WHY WE USE CALENDARS

A calendar is a way of measuring time to help people organize their activities. Calendars divide time into fixed periods, such as days, weeks, months, and years.

Long ago, when people learned to farm, they needed an accurate way to measure time and the changing seasons. They used calendars. Calendars helped them establish the best time to till the soil and plant crops. Calendars told them when the harvest should begin.

The time periods used in calendars are based on movements of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. But a year does not divide evenly into months or days. So people have adjusted their calendars so that certain events, such as a harvest or important holiday, always occur during the right season.

ANCIENT CALENDARS

The first calendars were lunar calendars. They were based on the Moon. One month meant the time from one full moon to the next. That’s about 29.5 days. Some early lunar calendars alternated between months with 29 days and months with 30 days.

Measuring a year was harder. People knew that it equaled about 12 months, but not exactly. For farmers, it was important to measure a year accurately. That required a solar calendar, based on the Sun.

A solar year is the time it takes for Earth to make one trip around the Sun. About 6,000 years ago, the Egyptians became the first people to measure a year as 365 days. But a solar year is just a little longer than that. In fact, it’s about six hours longer.

Over time, these extra hours add up. Solar calendars gradually lose their accuracy. After four years, for example, a solar calendar will be off by about 24 hours, or a full day.

THE JULIAN CALENDAR

In 45 bc, the Roman general Julius Caesar reformed the old Roman lunar calendar. The new calendar became known as the Julian calendar. It had 12 months and was based on the Sun. A year lasted 365 days. Every fourth year a day was added, making the year 366 days long.

These longer years are called leap years. This is because the extra day causes all the days following it to “leap” forward.

OUR MODERN CALENDAR

The Julian calendar was used for hundreds of years. But it still contained a small error. The Julian calendar’s year was 11 minutes and 14 seconds longer than the actual solar year. By the 1500s, the Julian calendar was off by ten days!

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a more accurate calendar. To avoid the old error, the new calendar changed the way leap years were added. Most of the world uses the Gregorian calendar today.

WHAT ABOUT WEEKS?

A week is not a natural division of time. It may come from the ancient Hebrew custom of resting every seventh day. The Romans named the days of the week after the Sun, Moon, and planets. The English names for days still show the Roman influence. Sunday and Monday, for example, come from the Roman words for Sun and Moon.
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