moharram 1428- I woz there

[confused]

I do check in rather occasionally on this site to read the various posts and articles- most often they are informative.
I was in Colombo to witness first hand the actual scale of things. The jumaat of approx 5000 paid host to an official 12,000 odd "guests" though many would say it was higher. Locals were forced to take in these guests and the balance were given star class accomodation in hotels. The relatively small city of Colombo became a bohra hive for the last 10 days. Thopi's and ridas were seen "flying" everywhere!
I must declare that I just happened to be in Colombo by chance and just felt that it was such a colossal waste of money and effort.
However I did attend a few Waaz's and most notably the ashura waaz on the sunday afternoon. I was transfixed by Aqua Mola's waaz and especially his moving narration of Imam Husseins shahadat. It was indeed the most emotional I have felt for a long time. For a moment you seemed to forget the whole carnival that was taking place for the moharrum in Sri Lanka.
Just my thoughts- comments most welcome.....

[like_minded]

What I gather from Imam Hussain's supreme sacrifice is, that if you believe you are on the path of truth, then nothing in the world should shake you, no compromises, just strong resistance.

"SAR KATA SAKTE HAI LEKIN SAR JHUKA SAKTE NAHI"

The rest is all a drama.

[like_minded]

How many of us (bohras) follow the true spirit behind Imam Hussain's sacrifice?? Hardly anyone!!
On the contrary, we attend ashara bayans, get emotional when shahadat is narrated, do purjosh matam and at end,eat salvat nu jaman and get back to our lives.

Kothar on the other side, are very busy after bayans, attending ziyafats, giving chance for kadambosi, etc etc, leaving no stone unturned to accumalate money.

[tahir]

Originally posted by confused:

However I did attend a few Waaz's and most notably the ashura waaz on the sunday afternoon. I was transfixed by Aqua Mola's waaz and especially his moving narration of Imam Husseins shahadat. It was indeed the most emotional I have felt for a long time. For a moment you seemed to forget the whole carnival that was taking place for the moharrum in Sri Lanka.
Just my thoughts- comments most welcome.....

To run a multi billion dollar religious corporate, a conman should posses the skills of being perceived as 'captivating' and 'mesmerizing'. The basic idea is to arouse extreme emotions in the target audience. When the crowd is homogeneous, it becomes easy to understand their emotional make-up and then launch precision attacks on those areas of the brain, which results in the 'desired' emotional state in the target market.

For the present Dai, the job is made further easy since he comes from the pedigree of one of the greatest tricksters of 20th century. Besides, it was his (present Dai's) daddy who meticulously carved the emotional make up of the current bohra crowd. He has grown up among the hyenas and learned those tricks well.

[like_minded]

After Colombo, where next? Heard somewhere in south india, not sure though.

[pro_pig]

like minded, y u care u dont listen waaz stop doing drama.

[Humsafar]

Not sure what the Colombo carnival may have done to the memory of Imam Hussain and the martyrs, but it has certainly perked up Sri Lanka's tourism. Way to go, "islamic pilgrims".

.................................

Islamic pilgrims boost war-hit Sri Lanka 's tourism
AFP

January 24, 2007
COLOMBO -- A mass gathering of Islamic pilgrims, who are jamming Sri Lanka 's hotels and shopping malls, has unexpectedly boosted the island's war-hit tourism sector, officials said Wednesday.

The spiritual leader of the Bohra community, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, is visiting Colombo for a 10-day prayer session to mark the Islamic New Year and around 12,000 faithful are following him, officials said.

They have snapped up hotel rooms in the capital, while some are being put up by families taking part in the religious rituals.

"The religious gathering has brought good news for the tourism industry with city and resort hotels reporting full occupancy," tourism secretary Prathap Ramanujam said.

He said that Colombo did not have enough rooms to accommodate all of the pilgrims and that flights to Sri Lanka were full because of the visit.

Sri Lanka has lowered its forecast for tourism arrivals by 20 percent to 543,877 this year.

War fears have prompted foreign governments to issue travel advisories discouraging their citizens from holidaying in the Indian Ocean island.

Escalating fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels has led to a sharp decline in bookings during the winter season, which is the peak time for the leisure industry.

Since December 2005, at least 3,800 people have been killed in the upsurge in violence.

"It was the Bhora spiritual leader's decision" to come to Colombo to commemorate the start of the Islamic New Year, organizer A. H. M. Azwar said, adding that the reason for his choice was not known. "The faithful do not question his decisions," he said.

Organizers of the visit by the Shiite Bhora leader said that many foreign pilgrims are being accommodated in private homes because of the lack of hotels and hostels.

"Around 1,000 people are sleeping at a big convention center because there aren't enough hotel rooms in Colombo ," an organizing committee official said.

Colombo 's shopping centers and supermarkets reported brisk trade as pilgrims wandered around the city at the end of daily prayers held at a section of the sea-front Marine Drive that has been sealed off to outsiders.

Sri Lanka 's $24-billion economy earned $380.3 million from tourism between January and October last year, retaining its place as one of the main foreign currency earners behind tea and clothing.

[babu]

The Self declared Progressives GOT NEW YEAR'S GIFT on their head ( BATA , ACTION , WOODLAND AND MAY BE SOME LOCAL SANDLES TOO...) at Moiyadpura Udaipur .....

I MUST SAY I WOZ THERE HEHEHEHEHEH

[tahir]

I must say if some day the Imam dares to step out of the curtain behind the dai's back, you people will give him the same GIFT.

[profrog]

isnt tahir the same prog who keeps harping about syedna having a few followers only,but to his surprise he finds that bohras can actually uplift a country's tourism industry with their numbers,wonder how he will abuse now

[tahir]

First, I didn't make that post
Second, you assume that all those who visit waaz are followers of Syedna....[ ]

[like_minded]

Originally posted by profrog:
isnt tahir the same prog who keeps harping about syedna having a few followers only,but to his surprise he finds that bohras can actually uplift a country's tourism industry with their numbers,wonder how he will abuse now

Talking about tourism, I must say, Kotharis have established themselves very well in this industry as well, Examples being Burhanpur, Galiakot and many more, Now you find Bohras rushing to these places for a vacation instead of exploring other parts of the India or outside India, The end result being more money in Kothar's kitty.

[like_minded]

parts of India instead of parts of the India

[profrog]

tahir you a liar you have said in amny posts that syedna has very few followers out of a million or so bohras,and to say that the bohras who went colombo did not go for ashara is stupidity ,and if there are some like that then they are hypocrates like iblis

[like_minded]

frog,

Did you go to colombo?

[like_minded]

frog,

What is the significance of Ashara? Just listen to the rubbish uttered in waaz, purjosh matam, and unhygenic food???

Why dont you do some charity in Muharram? ie visit orphanages in and around your city, and help the poor and needy providing them atleast one meal.

[like_minded]

can you do that? frog

[profrog]

yes i went to colombo as for charity i do all i can but leave the big work to progs , so please tell me what do the progs do during ashara which charity you personally support with proof and how many orphans do you bring up or is it that you just like talking

[profrog]

hey shaitan-minded waiting for your reply that how many poor you support and as for ziyarat places first make sure you get your facts right you *** ,all those places you mentioned are highly subsidised by our moula so the money flows in our way and not the opposite as you put it,i dare you to prove me wrong

[like_minded]

Dear Frog,

First stop abusing, we can discuss/debate like gentlemen.

Second, yes, I give charity to poor in my best capacity.

Because I believe charity and social service is our duty and not something for which you expect returns.

[like_minded]

As for Burhanpur, I would say that its just business as usual for Kothar, You must be blind enough not to see the motive behind this investment.

The money collected in Galla, minnats is much higher than what they charge for boarding and lodging.

[like_minded]

So, even if boarding and lodging is provided free of cost, still they stand to gain.

[like_minded]

And frog, let me remind you, that money used for construction at these sites are OURS, so there is nothing great about it, its OUR money which they use to give us certain facilities, so, there is nothing great to yak about.

[like_minded]

frog,

If you are really inspired by your Syedna, then the least you should do is stop abusing.

[like_minded]

frog,

what did you learn from your colombo trip? reveal.

Perhaps, more laanats, more fidagiri, more blind worshipping, and what else?

[tahir]

Originally posted by like_minded:
frog,

If you are really inspired by your Syedna, then the least you should do is stop abusing.

Here I would defer from you. Frog is abusive precisely because he is inspired by syedna. The old man is like ' a laanat a minute'.

[like_minded]

Originally posted by like_minded:
frog,

what did you learn from your colombo trip? reveal.

Perhaps, more laanats, more fidagiri, more blind worshipping, and what else?

I have got it right here.