Creating Customer Value on the Digital Frontier
After several years of hunkering down in response to the global financial crisis, many companies are shifting their attention to creating customer value through innovation.
Businesses have always done so by reconfiguring the three fundamental dimensions of the universe — time, space, and matter — in different ways from their competition, and ideally in different ways for different customers. Think of how FedEx exploits time to get any package from point A to point B overnight, how Starbucks shifts the space where people experience both the production and the consumption of coffee drinks, and how LEGO modularizes matter with its simple brick that kids (and plenty of adults) still play with over 60 years after the company's innovation.
In today's world, however, executives cannot ignore how digital technology reshapes the landscape. You must, therefore, take your explorations out onto the digital frontier. Here you will discover how digital technology extends each of these dimensions of value creation and explore the opportunities they afford.
Most obviously, offerings need no longer be comprised merely of material substances but can also be formed from digital substances. In terms of the fundamental dimensions, this means shifting from matter to no-matter, creating offerings made up of immaterial bits rather than physical atoms. Consider how digitizing music upturned the entire industry, with only now a company — Spotify — coming up with a streaming music offering that seems to satisfy distributors, consumers, and artists alike. (Got your invitation yet?)
Digital technology is not just about the bits; it also enables you to shift from space to no-space, to construct offerings in virtual places rather than just in the real places of the physical world. Companies can interact with customers on websites, via social media, in virtual worlds, and even by fostering customers' own imaginations on whatever device best meets their individual needs. Consider what Shareables bills as "The World's Most Futuristic Online Sales Experience." You have to see it to fully appreciate it, but basically clicking the "3LIVE SHOP" link near the top of Swedish telecom provider 3's home page brings you face to face with a salesperson, live and in real time, who virtually demonstrates its offerings there on your own screen.
Finally, digital technology enables you to shift time to no-time. Such offerings leave the normal sequence of actual events in real time to enact autonomous events that engage people through nonlinear, asynchronous methods that today's digitally savvy customers so often prefer. People want to interact with companies when it fits their own schedule, rather than having to match a company's predetermined priorities, including TiVoing their TV viewing, banking at an ATM in off-hours, leaving voice mails at odd hours, sharing updates on Facebook, and so forth.
Of course, do not explore single dimensions or just the digital side of each. Focus on all the ways you can fuse the real and the virtual. Nokia, for example, bested Motorola in mobile phones when the underlying technology shifted from analog to digital, but was in turn beaten by Apple when the latter innovated the iPhone, designing for its look and feel as much for autonomously accessing virtual places.
FedEx lets customers instantaneously access the physical whereabouts of any package through its virtual web site. Starbucks enhances its real places through Wi-Fi access to virtual places, while becoming for so many an autonomous respite in an otherwise all-too-actual workday. And LEGO's Digital Designer lets consumers create models, brick by virtual brick, and then its Design by Me offering sends them the exact set of bricks it takes to build the physical model on their family room floor.
While digital technology has been around for quite a while now, those businesses that fully embrace this dual nature of time, space, and matter — the ability to create value through actual and/or autonomous events, in real and/or virtual places, with material and/or digital substances — open up new opportunities never before envisioned, engendered, or encountered. With the full power of digital technology at our disposal, the possibilities are now endless, for they are limited only by our imagination. And of that there is no end.
Source: HBR Blog Network,
9:58 AM Monday September 12, 2011
by B. Joseph Pine II and Kim C. Korn
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Significance of Ramadan
The historical significance of the Islamic Lunar month of Ramadan is that for the first time in history, Allah chose to send a prophet not to a particular tribe or ethnic group but to all mankind.
The Qur’an says what means, “It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was revealed from on high as a guidance for humanity and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false.” (Al-Baqarah 2:185). The entire month of Ramadan is in essence a celebration of the Quran’s revelation, which is described as a “Guide and Mercy for those who do good.” (Luqman 31:3). Ramadan celebrates God’s Mercy by which He sent a guiding light in the Qur’an that leads human life towards the path of good and virtue and protects the human soul from evil and vice.
Fasting is not starving, it is actually a feeding the spirit.
The Muslim believes that his sole purpose is to serve God via all that He requires -- charity, kindness, good deeds, praying, abstaining from harmful acts against self or others, etc.
Mankind's Purpose on Earth
Fasting in the month of Ramadan is a time for Muslims to refocus that goal and remember their missions – to be grateful to the One who, without which, mankind could not be sustained. Chapter 51 (Surat Az-Zariyaat), Verses, (Ayahs), 56-58 of the Qur’an reads: “I have only created of Jinns and men, that they may serve Me. No sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed me. For Allah [God] is He Who gives (all) Sustenance (forever)”.
Fasting as an Obligation
Fasting, or Sawm, in Ramadan is one of the five “pillars” of Islam, and is incumbent upon every able-bodied man and woman above puberty or the age of 12. There is, of course, leniency for certain situations such as traveling, pregnancy, childbirth, menses, and illness. It is not intended to be a hardship upon Muslims, rather a cleansing and period of spiritual enlightenment.
Why the lunar month of Ramadan, specifically? The Qur’an answers that question in Chapter 2 (Surat Al-Baqara), Verse (Ayah) 185: “Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down The Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (should be made up) by days later. Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put you to difficulties (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you and perchance ye shall be grateful”.
Fasting as a Spiritual Experience
This spiritual fasting is not just abstention from food. It is a time for increased time in prayer and good deeds, such as charity – a time of abstaining from anger and pettiness, haughtiness and attachment to worldly objects, impatience and frivolity. For some this might include staying off the Internet, putting away the Xbox, staying out of the malls, turning off the soap operas, being honest in their business dealings by not jacking up prices unfairly and staying away from people and situations that they know will rile them up.Read more: http://islamic-practices.suite101.com/article.cfm/significance_of_fasting_in_ramadan#ixzz0PdTcpbPM
Ramadan is festival kind of atmosphere ...it is become a culture thing to play eid songs during ramadan to remind about Eid while forgetting that fasting is for a month while Raya/Eid is only for a day!
The Muslim world goes topsy-turvy in Ramadan. Eating, sleeping and socialising routines are turned back to front – the first meal is eaten as the sun sets. The initial morsel of food into our mouths will usually be a sweet, succulent date, according to the Islamic tradition. But are the hours that follow really that religious?Contemporary changes to the Ramadan culture mean that the spiritual significance of Ramadan is slowly being lost. Abstaining from physical intake during daylight hours – which means food, drink, and sex – with the intention of getting closer to the Divine, has a myriad of philosophies and meanings.
It allows appreciation of the suffering of the poor and hungry, a chance to devote less time to the physical and more time to the spiritual, a recognition that we can live happily and successfully with less than we have.Come nightfall, these good intentions are put to one side, as though Ramadan is for daylight hours only, and the revelling begins.Mothers cook sumptuous meals for their families. The food is indulgently calorific to the point that many Muslims say they actually gain weight rather than lose it as one might expect. The philosophy of restraint and frugality adhered to during the day has its mirror image in the excessive culinary indulgence after dark.
One of the religious traditions of Ramadan is to feed others at the time of iftar in order to gain reward. Dinner invitations thus abound, and these iftar gatherings are warm social events. But in many places they turn into arenas for showmanship, gathering in partymode, outdoing friends and family with ever extravagant menus where as emphasise the one-upmanship that dominates what should be an occasion of sharing and community.
Once the iftar is over, there is a wide choice of entertainment. Those who are extrovert will find their way to newly erected Ramadan tents, to smoke shisha and chill out with friends for the whole night, going from party to party until dawn. Other families will stay at home to watch the multitude of soap operas which dominate Ramadan. In Saudi Arabia last year it was claimed that there were 64 such soap operas broadcast each night, staggered over time so audiences could watch as many as possible.
This is not a comment on the values or quality of the soaps, or the claims by some clerics that they are “debauched”. It is simply an observation that these soap operas prey on the communal feeling that is generated in Ramadan and profit from it. The audience is understandably drawn towards the high level of entertainment but inadvertently becomes distracted from the sweet pleasures of contemplation and social intercourse of Ramadan.
And let’s not forget the shopping. Shops are open later than ever, and it seems that Ramadan is not a time of midnight contemplation, but rather just a prelude to Eid, a day to show off your new clothes. Ramadan shopping festivals are becoming more common, as is the compulsion to purchase and give Eid presents to a wide circle of acquaintances.Instead of cutting back on the desire to consume, we end up with heightened consumption in these 30 days, whether that be in restaurants or in retail.
This is not to say that the Muslim world has become a month-long consumerist orgy – far from it. The social and spiritual temperature of Muslim communities is high and mosques teem with passionate worshippers.What may surprise many who live in majority Muslim countries is that this sense of community and faith is particularly acute in countries where Muslims are minorities.In these countries, if you are fasting you have to make an active choice to go against the grain of mainstream society. You still have to go to work where you can stare longingly at your colleagues drinking coffee, or attend meetings which run across the iftar time. You have to really know and understand why you are fasting, rather than just being swept up in the maelstrom. There is a sense of community purpose in these countries and an overwhelming push towards spiritual success.
These outcomes are all good things – part of the magic of Ramadan, no doubt. And of course there is no compulsion in how you spend Ramadan. You do not have to sit on a prayer mat all hours of the day. But I do see a worrying trend when you piece each of these actions together. Each one may be justifiable because everyone has choice, but if you step back, you start to see that the meaning and context of Ramadan is slowly being lost.
If we accept these justifications then we must be wary of opening ourselves to the charge of hypocrisy.Ramadan and Eid are not the only occasions to have suffered this slow and insidious dilution of meaning and impact. Practising Christians in the western world complain that Christmas has been sucked dry of its religious meaning.Other festivals, too, have lost their meaning. Easter was about rebirth and renewal, but now focuses on chocolate eggs and cute bunnies. And Lent, which was a 40-day period of frugality and restraint – almost akin to Ramadan itself in its ethos – has been distilled down to Mardi Gras, pancakes and gaudy carnivals.
Some people will bristle at the comparison of the way that Christmas has been usurped by consumerism with the contemporary experience of Ramadan. But the similarities are striking as the evidence above shows.You do not have to be religious to appreciate that the social and ethical meaning of festivals such as Christmas, Ramadan and Eid have a great deal to contribute to the morality of human society.
For this reason, Muslims add their voices to these complaints, as part of the faith communities who share a concern about the sapping of meaning and moral compass from these occasions. However, it often turns into pointing fingers at the West for becoming “godless” or “decadent” due to the excessive commercialisation, while turning a blind eye to the same challenges in the Muslim world.Is this a case of pot calling the kettle black?
Ramadan does not have to be, and should not be, sober pious asceticism. Of course not. Enjoyment, sharing and happiness in our togetherness are critical components of Ramadan. But Ramadan should be about more than gluttony, shopping and vacuous entertainment.We do in fact need to recognise and acknowledge the place of Ramadan’s material pleasures. By being honest about the importance of the physical, we can de-prioritise it in favour of the spiritual and moral at least for the 30 days of Ramadan.
This de-prioritisation is what makes Ramadan special in the first place. By withholding the importance of the physical self, Ramadan is about recognising the importance of our individual spirit, and about finding our place as souls, not bodies, in the society in which we live.
May people wonder why we fast the month of Ramadan and what is so significant about it. The reson we fast is to develop and strengthen our self-control. The purpose is to be thankful for what you have and try to give more to the people that are less fortunate than us. In this holy month you are suppose to pray all five prayers and tarweh. Ramadan is not only to fast and pray, but also to enjoy the essence of Islam. Ramadan is the 9th month of Islamic calendar in which the holy book Qur’an was reveled to Prophet Mohammed. Muslims wait for this month for worship keeping in mind that their every prayer, fast and good deeds are accepted and rewarded many times compare to the rest of the months. Charity is major role in Islam especially in Ramadan. In Ramadan it is must on Muslims who work, earn and can afford to give a Zakat. Prophet Mohammed said, "He who gives food for a fasting person to break his fast, he will receive the same reward as him, without nothing being reduced from the fasting persons reward." Ramadan is a significant month that all Muslims are grateful about.
“O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard against evil.” (The Holy Quran, 2:183)
Allah says: “And when My servants ask you (O Prophet) about Me, surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should hear My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way.” (ibid., 2:186)
“And swallow not up your property among yourselves by false means, nor seek to gain access thereby to the authorities so that you may swallow up other people’s property wrongfully while you know.” (ibid., 2:188)
“He who does not give up uttering falsehood and acting according to it, God has no need of his giving up his food and drink.” (The Holy Prophet Muhammad)
Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights, and explained it by saying: “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:2-4.) Moses also fasted forty days and forty nights (Exodus 34:28).
Purpose of fasting in Islam
To develop and strengthen our powers of self-control, so that we can resist wrongful desires and bad habits, and therefore “guard against evil” (extract no. 1). In fasting, by refraining from the natural human urges to satisfy one’s appetite, we are exercising our ability of self-restraint, so that we can then apply it to our everyday life to bring about self-improvement.
To attain nearness and closeness to God so that He becomes a reality in our lives. As we bear the rigours of fasting purely for the sake of following a Divine commandment, knowing and feeling that He can see all our actions however secret, it intensifies the consciousness of God in our hearts, resulting in a higher spiritual experience (see extract no. 2).
To learn to refrain from usurping other’s rights and belongings. In fasting we voluntarily give up even what is rightfully ours; how can then we think of taking what is not ours but belongs to someone else? (See extract no. 3)
Charity and generosity is especially urged during Ramadan. We learn to give, and not to take. The deprivation of fasting makes us sympathise with the suffering of others, and desirous of alleviating it; and it makes us remember the blessings of life which we normally take for granted.
Fasting in Islam does not just consist of refraining from eating and drinking, but from every kind of selfish desire and wrong-doing. The fast is not merely of the body, but essentially that of the spirit as well (see extract no. 4). The physical fast is a symbol and outward expression of the real, inner fast.
Fasting is a spiritual practice to be found in all religions (see extracts no. 1 and 5). The great Founders of various faiths (Buddha, Moses, Jesus, etc.) practised quite rigorous fasting as a preliminary to attaining their first experience of spiritual enlightenment and communion with God. This kind of communion is indicated in extract no. 2.
The word “ zakah ” in Arabic means purification. The giving of zakah (obligatory charity) is the third pillar of Islam. There are two types of zakah: zakat al-mal (charity paid on one’s wealth) and zakat al-fitr (charity paid before breaking the fast of Ramadan).
Every free Muslim who owns a saa` (2.176 kilograms or 4.797 pounds) of dates or barley that is not needed as a basic food for himself or his family is required to pay zakat al-fitr at the end of Ramadan and before the `Eid Prayer. Every free Muslim must pay zakat al-fitr for himself, his wife, children and servants.
The Prophet Muhammad enjoined zakah on those who fast to purify them from any indecent act or deeds. It is a sort of purification of the soul on the individual level, a cure against miserliness, and a social safety net. The rich are obliged to come in contact with the poor and the poor with the even less fortunate.
This contact between the various levels of society helps to create a real bond of brotherhood in the Muslim community. Zakah provides for the poor and spares them the humiliation of asking for charity. The Prophet Muhammad said, “Fulfill their need on this day” (that is, on the day of `Eid).
Zakat al-fitr is obligatory on every Muslim, rich or poor alike, young and old, because every Muslim needs this purification. The head of the household must pay for every member of the family, even for the newborn.
This concept of charity and generosity is central to the message of Islam. In the Qur’an, the believers are described as what means […those who spend (of that which Allah hath given them) in ease and in adversity] (Aal `Imran3: 134)
The Qur’an says what means, “It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was revealed from on high as a guidance for humanity and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false.” (Al-Baqarah 2:185). The entire month of Ramadan is in essence a celebration of the Quran’s revelation, which is described as a “Guide and Mercy for those who do good.” (Luqman 31:3). Ramadan celebrates God’s Mercy by which He sent a guiding light in the Qur’an that leads human life towards the path of good and virtue and protects the human soul from evil and vice.
Fasting is not starving, it is actually a feeding the spirit.
The Muslim believes that his sole purpose is to serve God via all that He requires -- charity, kindness, good deeds, praying, abstaining from harmful acts against self or others, etc.
Mankind's Purpose on Earth
Fasting in the month of Ramadan is a time for Muslims to refocus that goal and remember their missions – to be grateful to the One who, without which, mankind could not be sustained. Chapter 51 (Surat Az-Zariyaat), Verses, (Ayahs), 56-58 of the Qur’an reads: “I have only created of Jinns and men, that they may serve Me. No sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed me. For Allah [God] is He Who gives (all) Sustenance (forever)”.
Fasting as an Obligation
Fasting, or Sawm, in Ramadan is one of the five “pillars” of Islam, and is incumbent upon every able-bodied man and woman above puberty or the age of 12. There is, of course, leniency for certain situations such as traveling, pregnancy, childbirth, menses, and illness. It is not intended to be a hardship upon Muslims, rather a cleansing and period of spiritual enlightenment.
Why the lunar month of Ramadan, specifically? The Qur’an answers that question in Chapter 2 (Surat Al-Baqara), Verse (Ayah) 185: “Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down The Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (should be made up) by days later. Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put you to difficulties (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you and perchance ye shall be grateful”.
Fasting as a Spiritual Experience
This spiritual fasting is not just abstention from food. It is a time for increased time in prayer and good deeds, such as charity – a time of abstaining from anger and pettiness, haughtiness and attachment to worldly objects, impatience and frivolity. For some this might include staying off the Internet, putting away the Xbox, staying out of the malls, turning off the soap operas, being honest in their business dealings by not jacking up prices unfairly and staying away from people and situations that they know will rile them up.Read more: http://islamic-practices.suite101.com/article.cfm/significance_of_fasting_in_ramadan#ixzz0PdTcpbPM
Ramadan is festival kind of atmosphere ...it is become a culture thing to play eid songs during ramadan to remind about Eid while forgetting that fasting is for a month while Raya/Eid is only for a day!
The Muslim world goes topsy-turvy in Ramadan. Eating, sleeping and socialising routines are turned back to front – the first meal is eaten as the sun sets. The initial morsel of food into our mouths will usually be a sweet, succulent date, according to the Islamic tradition. But are the hours that follow really that religious?Contemporary changes to the Ramadan culture mean that the spiritual significance of Ramadan is slowly being lost. Abstaining from physical intake during daylight hours – which means food, drink, and sex – with the intention of getting closer to the Divine, has a myriad of philosophies and meanings.
It allows appreciation of the suffering of the poor and hungry, a chance to devote less time to the physical and more time to the spiritual, a recognition that we can live happily and successfully with less than we have.Come nightfall, these good intentions are put to one side, as though Ramadan is for daylight hours only, and the revelling begins.Mothers cook sumptuous meals for their families. The food is indulgently calorific to the point that many Muslims say they actually gain weight rather than lose it as one might expect. The philosophy of restraint and frugality adhered to during the day has its mirror image in the excessive culinary indulgence after dark.
One of the religious traditions of Ramadan is to feed others at the time of iftar in order to gain reward. Dinner invitations thus abound, and these iftar gatherings are warm social events. But in many places they turn into arenas for showmanship, gathering in partymode, outdoing friends and family with ever extravagant menus where as emphasise the one-upmanship that dominates what should be an occasion of sharing and community.
Once the iftar is over, there is a wide choice of entertainment. Those who are extrovert will find their way to newly erected Ramadan tents, to smoke shisha and chill out with friends for the whole night, going from party to party until dawn. Other families will stay at home to watch the multitude of soap operas which dominate Ramadan. In Saudi Arabia last year it was claimed that there were 64 such soap operas broadcast each night, staggered over time so audiences could watch as many as possible.
This is not a comment on the values or quality of the soaps, or the claims by some clerics that they are “debauched”. It is simply an observation that these soap operas prey on the communal feeling that is generated in Ramadan and profit from it. The audience is understandably drawn towards the high level of entertainment but inadvertently becomes distracted from the sweet pleasures of contemplation and social intercourse of Ramadan.
And let’s not forget the shopping. Shops are open later than ever, and it seems that Ramadan is not a time of midnight contemplation, but rather just a prelude to Eid, a day to show off your new clothes. Ramadan shopping festivals are becoming more common, as is the compulsion to purchase and give Eid presents to a wide circle of acquaintances.Instead of cutting back on the desire to consume, we end up with heightened consumption in these 30 days, whether that be in restaurants or in retail.
This is not to say that the Muslim world has become a month-long consumerist orgy – far from it. The social and spiritual temperature of Muslim communities is high and mosques teem with passionate worshippers.What may surprise many who live in majority Muslim countries is that this sense of community and faith is particularly acute in countries where Muslims are minorities.In these countries, if you are fasting you have to make an active choice to go against the grain of mainstream society. You still have to go to work where you can stare longingly at your colleagues drinking coffee, or attend meetings which run across the iftar time. You have to really know and understand why you are fasting, rather than just being swept up in the maelstrom. There is a sense of community purpose in these countries and an overwhelming push towards spiritual success.
These outcomes are all good things – part of the magic of Ramadan, no doubt. And of course there is no compulsion in how you spend Ramadan. You do not have to sit on a prayer mat all hours of the day. But I do see a worrying trend when you piece each of these actions together. Each one may be justifiable because everyone has choice, but if you step back, you start to see that the meaning and context of Ramadan is slowly being lost.
If we accept these justifications then we must be wary of opening ourselves to the charge of hypocrisy.Ramadan and Eid are not the only occasions to have suffered this slow and insidious dilution of meaning and impact. Practising Christians in the western world complain that Christmas has been sucked dry of its religious meaning.Other festivals, too, have lost their meaning. Easter was about rebirth and renewal, but now focuses on chocolate eggs and cute bunnies. And Lent, which was a 40-day period of frugality and restraint – almost akin to Ramadan itself in its ethos – has been distilled down to Mardi Gras, pancakes and gaudy carnivals.
Some people will bristle at the comparison of the way that Christmas has been usurped by consumerism with the contemporary experience of Ramadan. But the similarities are striking as the evidence above shows.You do not have to be religious to appreciate that the social and ethical meaning of festivals such as Christmas, Ramadan and Eid have a great deal to contribute to the morality of human society.
For this reason, Muslims add their voices to these complaints, as part of the faith communities who share a concern about the sapping of meaning and moral compass from these occasions. However, it often turns into pointing fingers at the West for becoming “godless” or “decadent” due to the excessive commercialisation, while turning a blind eye to the same challenges in the Muslim world.Is this a case of pot calling the kettle black?
Ramadan does not have to be, and should not be, sober pious asceticism. Of course not. Enjoyment, sharing and happiness in our togetherness are critical components of Ramadan. But Ramadan should be about more than gluttony, shopping and vacuous entertainment.We do in fact need to recognise and acknowledge the place of Ramadan’s material pleasures. By being honest about the importance of the physical, we can de-prioritise it in favour of the spiritual and moral at least for the 30 days of Ramadan.
This de-prioritisation is what makes Ramadan special in the first place. By withholding the importance of the physical self, Ramadan is about recognising the importance of our individual spirit, and about finding our place as souls, not bodies, in the society in which we live.
May people wonder why we fast the month of Ramadan and what is so significant about it. The reson we fast is to develop and strengthen our self-control. The purpose is to be thankful for what you have and try to give more to the people that are less fortunate than us. In this holy month you are suppose to pray all five prayers and tarweh. Ramadan is not only to fast and pray, but also to enjoy the essence of Islam. Ramadan is the 9th month of Islamic calendar in which the holy book Qur’an was reveled to Prophet Mohammed. Muslims wait for this month for worship keeping in mind that their every prayer, fast and good deeds are accepted and rewarded many times compare to the rest of the months. Charity is major role in Islam especially in Ramadan. In Ramadan it is must on Muslims who work, earn and can afford to give a Zakat. Prophet Mohammed said, "He who gives food for a fasting person to break his fast, he will receive the same reward as him, without nothing being reduced from the fasting persons reward." Ramadan is a significant month that all Muslims are grateful about.
“O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard against evil.” (The Holy Quran, 2:183)
Allah says: “And when My servants ask you (O Prophet) about Me, surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should hear My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way.” (ibid., 2:186)
“And swallow not up your property among yourselves by false means, nor seek to gain access thereby to the authorities so that you may swallow up other people’s property wrongfully while you know.” (ibid., 2:188)
“He who does not give up uttering falsehood and acting according to it, God has no need of his giving up his food and drink.” (The Holy Prophet Muhammad)
Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights, and explained it by saying: “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:2-4.) Moses also fasted forty days and forty nights (Exodus 34:28).
Purpose of fasting in Islam
To develop and strengthen our powers of self-control, so that we can resist wrongful desires and bad habits, and therefore “guard against evil” (extract no. 1). In fasting, by refraining from the natural human urges to satisfy one’s appetite, we are exercising our ability of self-restraint, so that we can then apply it to our everyday life to bring about self-improvement.
To attain nearness and closeness to God so that He becomes a reality in our lives. As we bear the rigours of fasting purely for the sake of following a Divine commandment, knowing and feeling that He can see all our actions however secret, it intensifies the consciousness of God in our hearts, resulting in a higher spiritual experience (see extract no. 2).
To learn to refrain from usurping other’s rights and belongings. In fasting we voluntarily give up even what is rightfully ours; how can then we think of taking what is not ours but belongs to someone else? (See extract no. 3)
Charity and generosity is especially urged during Ramadan. We learn to give, and not to take. The deprivation of fasting makes us sympathise with the suffering of others, and desirous of alleviating it; and it makes us remember the blessings of life which we normally take for granted.
Fasting in Islam does not just consist of refraining from eating and drinking, but from every kind of selfish desire and wrong-doing. The fast is not merely of the body, but essentially that of the spirit as well (see extract no. 4). The physical fast is a symbol and outward expression of the real, inner fast.
Fasting is a spiritual practice to be found in all religions (see extracts no. 1 and 5). The great Founders of various faiths (Buddha, Moses, Jesus, etc.) practised quite rigorous fasting as a preliminary to attaining their first experience of spiritual enlightenment and communion with God. This kind of communion is indicated in extract no. 2.
The word “ zakah ” in Arabic means purification. The giving of zakah (obligatory charity) is the third pillar of Islam. There are two types of zakah: zakat al-mal (charity paid on one’s wealth) and zakat al-fitr (charity paid before breaking the fast of Ramadan).
Every free Muslim who owns a saa` (2.176 kilograms or 4.797 pounds) of dates or barley that is not needed as a basic food for himself or his family is required to pay zakat al-fitr at the end of Ramadan and before the `Eid Prayer. Every free Muslim must pay zakat al-fitr for himself, his wife, children and servants.
The Prophet Muhammad enjoined zakah on those who fast to purify them from any indecent act or deeds. It is a sort of purification of the soul on the individual level, a cure against miserliness, and a social safety net. The rich are obliged to come in contact with the poor and the poor with the even less fortunate.
This contact between the various levels of society helps to create a real bond of brotherhood in the Muslim community. Zakah provides for the poor and spares them the humiliation of asking for charity. The Prophet Muhammad said, “Fulfill their need on this day” (that is, on the day of `Eid).
Zakat al-fitr is obligatory on every Muslim, rich or poor alike, young and old, because every Muslim needs this purification. The head of the household must pay for every member of the family, even for the newborn.
This concept of charity and generosity is central to the message of Islam. In the Qur’an, the believers are described as what means […those who spend (of that which Allah hath given them) in ease and in adversity] (Aal `Imran3: 134)
Friday, August 28, 2009
US Stock Market - the hibernation over, the speculators back again
http://247wallst.com/2009/08/28/the-return-of-speculation/
Tribute - Senator Edward Kennedy, the departure of a powerful voices
The only senator, the powerful leader and roaring lion from US who stood by the people of Bangladesh during its 1971 freedom war has left the legacy of humanity. so sad seen him gone... voice for the voiceless, voice for the humanity, voice for the equal rights has gone forever. We may not see anyone like him in our lifetime and the final farewell of the last of Kennedy brothers...It may draw some of your interests reading an excellent article by Taylor Marsh on Ted Kennedy's contribution during the birth of Bangladesh, 1971 liberation war (in the middle of the article). A true friend of ours, the kind of leaders, the powerful voices and a humanitarian roaring lion needed and inneed to keep the worlds peace.
We salute you friend Teddy, "may your soul be rest in peace."
A picture of a tree planted by him at Dhaka University in 1972 (at the top). Also, a precious picture footage during his trip to free Bangladesh (at the top).
Some highlights of the article "My vote against this misbegotten war is the best vote I have cast in the United States Senate since I was elected in 1962." - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
A picture of a tree planted by him at Dhaka University in 1972 (at the top). Also, a precious picture footage during his trip to free Bangladesh (at the top).
Some highlights of the article "My vote against this misbegotten war is the best vote I have cast in the United States Senate since I was elected in 1962." - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
"Even though the United States government does not recognize you," Kennedy said, "the people of the world do recognize you."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/ted-kennedys-foreign-poli_b_271866.htmlTHE death of Edward Kennedy of brain cancer at the age of seventy-seven is particular cause for sorrow on the part of the people of Bangladesh. The reason why such should be our feeling is not difficult to fathom. Back in the tortuous days of our struggle for liberation from Pakistan in 1971, when Bengalis were marked out for genocide and when as many as ten million of them fled to safety in neighbouring India, Senator Kennedy took up our cause in his country and in the international arena. His support gave that certain boost to our struggle that was so necessary for us at the time. The Nixon administration, in its misplaced obsession with opening a road to ties with China through making use of Pakistan, conveniently looked the other way as the then Pakistan establishment went on eliminating Bengalis. Mr. Kennedy chose to uphold reality as it then was.
It is thus that we recall the late senator. Our gratitude to him remains as real and as substantive as it did in our twilight struggle for freedom. That apart, Senator Kennedy will for long be remembered as a politician to whom the real issues which affected people mattered. In his forty-seven year career in the US senate, he sponsored or co-sponsored close to three thousand bills, all aimed at ensuring a better life for ordinary Americans. Unlike his brothers, all of whom died young and in tragic circumstances, Edward Kennedy lived to old age. In his long life, he was able to play a role in legislation that for years to come will draw the respect of Americans to him. His reputation as a politician rests on the strong foundations he developed in the senate. And just how enviable that reputation is can be gauged from the plethora of tributes pouring in for him from all across the world.
For all his legislative accomplishments, though, Senator Kennedy lived a life marked by tragedy and blunders that could have been avoided. He saw his clan suffering in various ways. He was the victim of a plane crash, the effect of which was a painful back. And then came the blunders. The death of Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969 is a tragedy that never let go of him. And then in 1980, as President Jimmy Carter's popularity plummeted, Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic Party presidential nomination but was ultimately unable to secure it.
Warts and all, Edward Kennedy was a remarkable politician. More importantly, he was one man who all his life symbolized the liberalism which once defined politics in America. We grieve for him and pray for the salvation of his soul.
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