Friends. Some months ago I had shared the idea that acclaimed writer & translator Musharraf Ali Farooqi & I had to excavate, annotate & print in high quality a classic of world literature – Tilism-e-Hoshruba. I had also shared why this magical piece of work has tremendous 1/

#Thread When Mahabali Bali, who drew half the power of the enemy, faced Hanumanji.

The Ramayana has an interesting episode of the war of Hanuman and Bali. This passage offers many lessons. No matter how strong a person becomes, no matter how rich he should be, he should not boast.

Bali had the boon that whoever comes before him for war, half of his strength will be absorbed in Bali. On the basis of this boon, Bali beat the big warriors to dust.

Bali used to challenge people here and there. One day, he was screaming in the forest that who can beat me.

Hanumanji was doing penance in the same forest and was reciting the name of his adorable Lord Rama. Bali's shouting disrupted his austerity. He said to Bali, Vanar Raj you are very strong, no one can beat you, but why are you screaming like this?

One key element of the Islamic intellectual tradition is the commentary. Commentaries on the Qurʼan (tafsīr) began early in Islamic history, but from about the 12th or 13th century, well into the 19th, commentaries on other scholarly texts became extremely common. -jm

Usually a commentary is called a sharḥ, and a supercommentary (i.e. a commentary on a commentary) is called a ḥāshiyah. Sometimes you get all the way up to a fourth- or fifth-level supercommentary. -jm

Sometimes it's hard to even tell what the "core text" is, because even a very famous text that's the core of many commentaries might present itself as an abridgement or comment on something even earlier. -jm

Commentaries might serve multiple purposes: to explain obscure grammar or vocabulary, to dig into particular legal cases, etc. Even to show why the core text is wrong. Eventually you get some Ottoman Turkish commentaries that translate Persian poems and then comment on them. -jm

Authors of commentaries often mark quotes from the core text by key words like "qawluhu" ("what he said") and manuscripts often emphasize this by writing these words in red or putting a line over the quoted text, so you can figure out who is talking. -jm

THE STORY OF BRAHMIN SHATANAND IN SATYANARAYAN KATHA.

We already know that this katha was narrated by Vishnu ji to Narad Muni. So once a Brahmin named Shatanand, who lived in Kashi, went out to gather Bhiksha for his son Kaltraadi. Shatanand was an ardent devotee of Vishnu ji.

In fact he and his wife both worshipped Vishnu ji. Shatanand met an old Brahmin on the way. The old man asked him as to where was he going. Shatanand replied that he was going to collect Bhiksha for his son. So the old man replied that for a long time Shatanand's family was

in a poor condition. To get rid of this poverty, he should take refuge at the lotus feet of Kamal nayan who is Known as Bhagwan Satyanarayan.
The old Brahmin then revealed his identity. Shatanand realized that the old man was no one else, but Vishnu ji himself.

Shatanand fell on his feet and started singing his praises. He was ecstatic to listen to the voice of Parmatma and get his darshan directly. He felt he was the luckiest being living on this planet.

Vishnu ji advised him to perform Satyanarayan puja with whatever

bhiksha he would receive today. Bhagwan Narayan also told him that this puja did not require an elaborate preparation. But its benefit were manifold. We just have to gather all the materials. Just a panjiri or coarse powder of wheat mixed with sugar and milk should be

In Islamic eschatology, the world will be flooded by a mighty invasion in the end of days.

The great army of the monstrous Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog) will rampage throughout the earth.

A thread-

Yajuj and Majuj are mentioned in the Qur’an (Kahf and Anbiya).

They are sealed away behind a mighty wall by a legendary king, Dhul al-Qarnayn who is frequently linked to Alexander the Great and occasionally Cyrus the Great, though neither are exact matches

It is commonly believed they scratch at the wall daily, tearing nearly through until God intervenes and restores the barrier.

Thus sealed away, the world is safe from Yajuj and Majuj, that is, until the end of days.

Once released they are so numerous it is said when they come upon Tiberias lake or the Tigris and Euphrates they will drink it dry.

When they stand in formation their army stretches from Syria to ends of Persia.

Islamic eschatology regularly features the idea of an invading army and a great battle and Yajuj and Majuj is central to the narrative.

Thread on HALAL and the threat it poses to Hindus:

📍The Indian constitution calls for equality for all, however Hindu temples have been taken over by the govt., while liberally funding Hajj & other pilgrimages. Hindu suffers silently and continues to dutifully pay his taxes.

📍Halal is a pre-Islamic Arabic word that means ‘that which is permissible. The opposite word is Haram ‘that which is forbidden.

📍In simple words, Halal means nothing but the complete supply chain for the product being Muslim. Right from from raw materials producer, procurer,

manufacturer, wholesale agents, the product exchanges hands only with Muslims.

📍The animals are slaughtered by Halal System under the strict vigilance of recognized & registered Islamic body as per the tenets of Islamic Shariyat.

📍The cost of the products which are halal certified increases as the certification process is not free of cost. Halal certification is a discriminatory process towards the non-muslims especially in the halal meat industry.

📍Halal economy is the world’s fasted growing. Currently, a fee of about Rs.20,000 is levied to certify a product as halal compliant (excl. GST). Every product has to be certified individually. The certificate is valid only for a year and the renewal costs another Rs.15,000.