MUD Manifesto Part 0.5

Moving by increments, this manifesto. Many single steps, one before another.

This very day marks the secularistic Lovers Day ritual. It is interesting to note that, according to my favourite communal reference Wikipedia, St. Valentine has a rather fuzzy past, mentioned only as one of three martyred saints of ancient Rome. It was originally celebrated as a saints day in the church calendar until 1969, when Papal housekeeping pushed St. Valentines Day out, citing that his status was due to legend and less to history (whose story?) as the prime reason.

More importantly to MUDs, the recent 31st January marked the Islamic New Year, signalled by the beginning of the Awal Muharram month. This calendar was introduced by the second Caliph Umar Al-Khattab r.a. in 638CE, with the year of Hijrah starting at 622CE when the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) migrated (hijra) from Mecca to Madinah, escaping prosecution from the former and establishing a city-state in the latter. It may be interesting to note that the Islamic calendar does not mark the birth of its most notable character, nore does it coincide with victories of war. Rather, the event was one of "sacrifice for the cause of Truth and for the preservation of the Revelation" (http://fisher.osu.edu/~muhanna_1/hijri-intro.html)

This MUD is trying out his own Hijrah - from complacence to regularity for this blog, Insha'Allah. Also, to share his journey in rediscovering and comprehending Solat, Du'a as well as social occurences in Islam. And true to his urbane roots, to use management theory, contemporary music, thought-provoking & cotton candy movies and any and every source of knowledge in the quest to assimilate Islam into himself, and him to Islam.

Stay tuned.