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God's Communication with Man
God communicated with man. This is the key concept of revelation upon which all religious belief – if more than a mere philosophical attempt to explain man's relationship with the great 'unknown', the 'wholly other' – is founded. There is no religious belief, however remote it may be in time or concept from the clear teachings of Islam, which can do without or has attempted to do without God's communication with man.
Man denies God
God's communication with man has always accompanied him, from the earliest period of his appearance on this planet, and throughout the ages until today. Men have often denied the communication from God or attributed it to something other than its true source and origin. More recently some have begun to deny God altogether, or to explain away man's preoccupation with God and the communication from Him as a preoccupation with delusion and fantasy. Yet even such people do not doubt that the preoccupation of man with God's communication is as old as man himself. Their reasoning is, they claim, based on material evidence. Following this line of thought they feel that they should deny God's existence, – but are at the same time compelled to concede the point- for material evidence is abundant- that man has ever been pre- occupied with thinking about God and the concept of God's communication with man.
Empiricism and Realism
Their general approach – to emphasize material evidence – in the search for reality and truth, is surely commendable. Not only empiricist philosophy but also commonsense tell us that one should accept as real and existent what can be grasped empirically, that is, by direct experience, by seeing, hearing, touching and so on. While there may be in other systems of thought, other criteria for the evaluation of reality, at present it is a materialistic philosophy that rules the day, and though many people (especially the 'religious' type) are saddened by this and wish back the 'old days of idealism and rule of the creed', I personally think that we have to accept the present state of affairs – not as ideal and unchangeable, but as our point of departure – and moreover that doing so is of some advantage to us.
Creation is Material Evidence for God
Many now accept empiricism as their guiding principles and God gives ample evidence, material evidence, capable of verification by all empiricists, for His being and existence. The wide earth, the whole universe of creation, are evidence, material evidence, for God. No empiricist would deny that the earth and the universe do exist. It is only that he does not always perceive them as 'creation', for then he would have to argue from the material evidence that he has to a mighty and puissant cause, to reason and purpose behind it. Such an argument would by no means be in contradiction with his empiricist, rational and scientific line of thought, rather in perfect agreement with it.
Man's Pride
I do not wish to discuss here in any detail why then, despite this, man denies God and disregards His communication with man. Suffice to say that the cause must be seen in man's self-perception, his arrogance and false pride. Having discovered that he and his kind constitute the peak of 'creation', he thinks himself autonomous, self-dependent, absolutely free and fully equipped to be master of the universe. Somehow, this self-perception too has been with man from his early days. He has always thought himself better than anything else. (1)
Guidance for Man
Muslims, referring to the Holy Qur'an, also conclude that from the beginning of his life on earth, man has received communication from God, to guide him and protect him from such self-perception and deceit:
'We said: Get ye down all from here; and if, as is sure, there comes to you guidance from Me, whosoever follows My guidance on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve' (2:38) (2)
This message and promise has been communicated by God to all mankind, all children of Adam, as the Qur'an explains:
'O ye children of Adam! Whenever there come to you apostles from amongst you, rehearsing My signs unto you – those who are righteous and mend (their lives) – on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve' (7:35).
The guidance from God comes through the apostles or messengers, and they bring with them the scripture from God:
'We sent before time Our apostles with clear signs and sent down with them the book and the balance (of right and wrong) that men may stand forth in justice …' (57:25).
The basic message of all prophets from God, and hence of all scriptures they brought, is one and the same message from God to man:'
'And verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming): Serve Allah and shun false gods …' (16:36).
The Names of the Prophet (s)s and their Number
The Qur'an mentions the following prophets by name: Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Isma'il, Ishaq, Lut, Ya'qub, Yusuf, Musa, Harun, Dawud, Sulaiman, Ilyas, Al-Yasa', Yunus, Ayyub, Zakariya, Yahya, 'Isa, Idris, Hud, Dhul Kifl, Shu'aib, Salih, Luqman, Dhul Qarnain, 'Uzair, Muhammad.
This does not mean, however, that only these have been God's prophets. Indeed the Qur'an is very clear that the number of prophets is much larger and that to each community from among mankind God has sent His messenger:
'We did aforetime send apostles before thee: of them there are some whose story We have related to thee and some whose story We have not related to thee …' (40:78).
'To every people (was sent) an apostle …' (10: 47).
The Names of the Scriptures and their Number
Just as there have been numerous prophets so there were numerous written records of their messages. The Qur'an mentions the following revelations in particular, which are some- times called sheets or leaves (suhuf) and sometimes book or scripture (kitab):
* The 'sheets' (suhuf) of Ibrahim and Musa
* The Torah (Tauraat) of Musa
* The Psalms (Zaboor) of Dawud
* The Gospel (Injeel) of `Isa
* The Qur'an of Muhammad
The Contents of the Former Scriptures
All the teachings contained in the former Scriptures that were meant to be of lasting value and importance are included in the Qur'an. The Qur'an also gives some specific accounts, although selective, of what the pre-Qur'anic scriptures contained and it is worthwhile to look briefly at this material:
A reference to the 'sheets' (suhuf) of Ibrahim and Musa:
'But those will prosper who purify themselves, and glorify the name of their guardian Lord, and (lift their hearts) in prayer. Nay, behold, ye prefer the life of this world; but the Hereafter is better and more enduring' (87: 14-17). (3)
A reference to the Torah (Tauraat) of Musa:
'It was We who revealed the law (to Moses): therein was guidance and light …
We ordained therein for them: life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth and wounds equal for equal, but if anyone remits the retaliation by way of charity it is an act of atonement for himself and if any fail to judge by (the light of) what God has revealed they are (no better than) wrongdoers' (5: 47-8).
A reference to the Psalms (Zaboor) of Dawud:
'And verily We have written in the Psalms, after the Reminder: My righteous slaves will inherit the earth' (21: 105).
A reference to the Gospel (Injeel) of 'Isa:
'Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. Thou (O Muhammad) seest them bowing and falling prostrate (in worship) seeking bounty from Allah and (His) acceptance. The mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration. Such is their likeness in the Torah and their likeness in the Gospel – like as sown corn that sendeth forth its shoot and strengtheneth it and riseth firm upon its stalk, delighting the sowers – that He may enrage the disbelievers with (the sight of) them. Allah has promised, unto such of them as believe and do good works, forgiveness and immense reward' (48: 29).
The pre-Qur'anic scriptures, besides carrying the same basic message about Allah, the Master of the worlds, and man, His creation, also brought specific instructions addressed directly to particular communities of people at given points of time in history and in particular circumstances, such as the Jewish or Christian communities. Revelation before the Qur'an, and hence scriptures before it, were in many of their details situation-oriented in nature and therefore confined to their particular frameworks. This also explains the continuity of revelation. With changing circumstances and in different situations new guidance from Allah was required. As long as the revelation and scripture were not completely universal in nature, revelation would not reach its finality.
The Final Revelation
Muhammad was the last messenger from Allah to mankind, and he brought the final revelation from God to man. Therefore the scripture containing this revelation is the last of the Holy Scriptures.
The basic message of the Holy Qur'an is the same as the basic message of the previous revelations and books, and the directives and instructions, by which it provides guidance for man are of a universal nature. They apply for all times to come and in all situations. This revelation corresponds to man's position on earth and in history. Man has reached, in his development, the stage when universal principles need to be applied to safeguard his purposeful existence.
The Qur'an
The Qur'an can be defined as follows:
– The speech of Allah, sent down upon the last Prophet Muhammad, through the Angel Gabriel, in its precise meaning and precise wording, transmitted to us by numerous persons (tawatur), both verbally and in writing.
– Inimitable and unique, protected by God from corruption.
The word "Qur'an"
The Arabic word 'qur'an' is derived from the root qara'a, which has various meanings, such as to read, (4) to recite, (5) etc. Qur'an is a verbal noun and hence means the 'reading' or 'recitation'. As used in the Qur'an itself, the word refers to the revelation from Allah in the broad sense6 and is not always restricted to the written form in the shape of a book, as we have it before us today.
However, it means revelation to Muhammad only, while revelation to other prophets has been referred to by different names (e.g. taurat, injil, kitab, etc.).
Other Names of the Qur'an
The revelation from Allah to the Prophet Muhammad (s) is referred to – in the Qur'an itself – by the name qur'an (recitation) as well as by other names, such as e.g.
– furqan (criterion, see 25: 1). – tanzil (sent down, see 26: 192). – dhikr (reminder, see 15: 9). – kitab (scripture, see 21:10).
Other references to the Qur'an are by such words as nur (light), huda (guidance), rahma (mercy), majid (glorious), mubarak (blessed), bashir (announcer), nadhir (warner), etc. All these names reflect one of the various aspects of the revealed word of Allah.
The Meaning of hadith
The word hadith means news, report or narration. It is in this general sense that the word is used in the Qur'an. (8) Technically, the word hadith, (pl. ahadith) means in particular the reports (verbal and written) about the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (s). Hadith reports about the Prophet Muhammad (s) are of the following kinds:
– What he said (qawl). – What he did (fi`l). – What he (silently) approved (taqrir) in others' actions.
There are also reports about him, i.e. about what he was like (sifa).
The difference between the Qur'an and Hadith.
There is agreement among most Muslim scholars that the contents of the sunnah are also from Allah. Hence they have described it as also being the result of some form of inspiration. (9) The contents of the sunnah are however expressed through the Prophet's own words or actions, while in the case of the Qur'an the Angel Gabriel brought the exact wording and contents to the Prophet (s), who received this as revelation and then announced it, in the very same manner that he received it.
The difference between these two forms has been illustrated by Suyuti (following Juwaini) in the following manner:
'The revealed speech of Allah is of two kinds: As to the first kind, Allah says to Gabriel: Tell the Prophet (s) to whom I sent you that Allah tells him to do this and this, and He ordered him something. So Gabriel understood what His Lord had told him. Then he descended with this to the Prophet (s) and told him what His Lord had told him, but the expression is not this (same) expression, just as a king says to someone upon whom he relies: Tell so-and-so: The king says to you: strive in his service and gather your army for fighting … and when the messenger (goes and) says: The king tells you: do not fail in my service, and do not let the army break up, and call for fighting, etc., then he has not lied nor shortened (the message) …
'And as to the other kind, Allah says to Gabriel: Read to the Prophet this (piece of) writing, and Gabriel descended with it from Allah, without altering it the least, just as (if) the king writes a written (instruction) and hands it over to his trustworthy (servant) and says (to him): Read it to so-and-so. Suyuti said: The Qur'an belongs to the second kind, and the first kind is the sunnah, and from this derives the reporting of the sunnah according to the meaning unlike the Qur'an." (10)
It is generally accepted that the difference between Qur'an and sunnah is as follows:
The ahadith from or about the Prophet Muhammad (s) are:
– The words or actions of a human being, and not the speech of God as the Qur'an is. – Not necessarily reported in their precise wording, as the Qur'an is. – Not necessarily transmitted by tawatur, except in some instances.
Hadith Qudsi
Qudsi means holy, or pure. There are some reports from the Prophet Muhammad (s) where he relates to the people what God has said (says) or did (does), but this information is not part of the Qur'an. Such a report is called hadith qudsi, e.g.:
Abu Huraira reported that Allah's messenger said:
'Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, said: If My servant likes to meet me, I like to meet him, and if he dislikes to meet Me, I dislike to meet him.' (12)
While the common factor between hadith qudsi and the Qur'an is that both contain words from Allah which have been revealed to Muhammad, the main points of difference between Qur'an and hadith qudsi are as follows:
In the Qur'an the precise wording is from Allah, while in the hadith qudsi the wording is given by the Prophet Muhammad (s).
The Qur'an has been brought to Muhammad only by the Angel Gabriel, while hadith qudsi may also have been inspired otherwise, such as e.g. in a dream.
– The Qur'an is inimitable and unique, but not so the hadith qudsi.
– The Qur'an has been transmitted by numerous persons, (tawatur) but the hadith and hadith qudsi often only by a few or even one individual. There are hadith qudsi which are sahih, but also others hasan, or even da`if, while there is no doubt at all about any aya from the Qur'an.
Another point is that a hadith qudsi cannot be recited in prayer.
Distinctive Features of the Qur'an
The most important distinction between the Qur'an and all other words or writings therefore is that the Qur'an is the speech from Allah, revealed in its precise meaning and wording through the Angel Gabriel, transmitted by many, inimitable, unique and protected by Allah Himself against any corruption.
REVELATION AND HOW IT CAME TO the Prophet Muhammad (s)
God guides His Creation
Allah the Creator has not only brought about the creation, but continues to sustain and direct it, in the way that He has created us and all that is around us. He has provided many forms of guidance, indeed, a system of guiding principles, of which the laws of 'nature' are a part.
But Allah has also granted a special form of guidance for mankind from the outset of its occupancy of the earth. He promised to Adam and his descendants: 'Get ye down all from here; and if, as is sure, there comes to you guidance from Me, whosoever follows guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve' (2: 38).' (13) This guidance comes through the prophets, whom Allah continuously sent to mankind, until the last messenger, Muhammad received His final guidance.
Guidance through Revelation
We call a man to whom God in his own way communicates His guidance, a prophet or messenger (nabi, rasul). Prophets receive the word of God through revelation and then com- municate it to their fellow human beings:
'We have sent thee INSPIRATION, as We sent it to Noah and the messengers after him: We sent INSPIRATION to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and the tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Harun and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms. Of some apostles, We have already told the story, of others We have not – and to Moses God spoke direct – apostles who gave good news as well as warning, that mankind after (the coming) of the apostles should have no plea against God: for God is exalted in power and ways' (4: 163-5).
The two words italicised (capitalized) in the above translation are both derived from the Arabic root 'wahiy'.
The Meaning of 'Wahiy'
The word awha, from which 'wahiy' (revelation) is derived, occurs in a number of shades of meaning in the Qur'an, each of them indicating the main underlying idea of inspiration directing or guiding someone. In each example below, the italicised words in the translation are forms of the root word wahy in the original text of the Qur'an:
– Guidance in natural intuition: 'so we sent this inspiration to the mother of Moses . . .' (28: 7). – Guidance in natural instinct: 'and thy Lord taught the bee to build its cells in hills, on trees and in (man's) habitations' (16: 68). – Guidance by signs: 'So Zakaria came out to his people from his chamber: he told them by signs to celebrate God's praises in the morn- ing and in the evening' (19: 11). – Guidance from evil: 'Likewise did we make for every messenger an enemy- evil ones among men and jinns, inspiring each other with flowery discourses by way of deception …' (6: 112). – Guidance from God: 'Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message) ...' (8: 12).
Means of Revelation
Wahiy in the sense of 'revelation' is guidance from God for His creation, brought by the Prophets, who received the word from God through one of the means mentioned in the follow- ing Qur'anic verse:
'It is not fitting for a man that God should speak to him except by inspiration, or from behind a veil, or by sending of a messenger to reveal with God's permission what God wills: for He is Most High, Most Wise' (42: 51).
Means of revelation are:
– Inspiration, e.g. in a dream (see 37: 102, where it is related that Ibrahim receives guidance in a vision, while asleep, to sacrifice his son).
– Speech hidden away (see 27: 8, where it is related that God spoke to Musa from the fire).
– Words (speech) sent through a special messenger from God (see 2:97, where it is related that God sent the Angel Gabriel as the messenger to Muhammad to reveal His message).
THE QUR'AN REVEALED TO PROHET MUHAMMAD (s)
Prophet Muhammad, the last of God's messengers, received the revelation of the Qur'an through a special messenger sent by God for this purpose: the Angel Gabriel, who recited to him God's words exactly.
The Descent of the Qur'an
According to Suyuti' (14) on the basis of three reports from 'Abdullah Ibn 'Abbas, in Hakim, Baihaqi and Nasa'i, the Qur'an descended in two stages:
– From the Lawh al-Mahfuz, the 'well-preserved tablet', to the lowest of the heavens (bait al-'izza or bait al-ma`moor) of the world, all together, in the Lailat al-Qadr, Night of Power.
– From the heavens to earth in stages throughout the twenty-three years of Muhammad's prophethood, and first in the Lailat al-Qadr of Ramadan, through the Angel Gabriel.
This second descent from the heaven to the heart of the Prophet (s) is referred to in Sura al-Isra' (17) and Sura al-Furqan (25).
The Beginning of Revelation
The revelation of the Qur'an began in the lailat al-qadr of Ramadan (the 27th night or one of the odd nights after the 21st) after the Prophet Muhammad (s) had passed the fortieth year of his life (that is around the year 610), during his seclusion in the cave of Hira' on a mountain near Makka.
Bukhari's Account (15)
This is the account, as reported in the Sahih of Bukhari:
Narrated Aisha the mother of the faithful believers: The commencement of the divine inspiration to Allah's apostle was in the form of good dreams which came like bright daylight (i.e. true) and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him.
He used to go in seclusion in the Cave of Hira', where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food likewise again, till suddenly the truth descended upon him while he was in the Cave of Hira'.
The angel came to him and asked him to read. the Prophet (s) replied 'I do not know how to read'. the Prophet (s) added, 'The angel caught me (forcibly) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, "I do not know how to read". Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read, but again I replied, "I do not know how to read" (or what shall I read?). Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said: "Read, in the name of Your Lord, who created, created man from a clot. Read! And Your Lord is the most bountiful" … (16)
The narration goes on to tell us that the Prophet (s) went back to his wife Khadija and recounted to her his dreadful experi- ence. She comforted him and both of them consulted Waraqa, Khadlja's relative and a learned Christian, about it. Waraqa told Muhammad that he had encountered the one 'whom Allah had sent to Moses' and that he would be driven out by his people.
How Revelation came
Narrated Aisha, the mother of the faithful believers: Al-Harith bin Hisham asked Allah's apostle: 'O Allah's apostle. How is the divine inspiration revealed to you?' Allah's apostle replied, 'Sometimes it is "revealed" like the ringing of a bell, this form of inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says'. (17)
The First Revelation' (18)
The first revelation that the Prophet Muhammad (s) received is in the first verses from Sura al-`alaq (96:1-3, according to others 1-5):
'Read in the name of your Lord, who created, created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is most bountiful. (He who taught) the use of the pen taught man which he knew not.'
The remainder of Sura 96, which now has 19 ayat, was revealed on a later occasion.
The Pause (fatra)
After the first message thus received, revelation ceased for a certain period (calledfatra) and then resumed:
Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah Al-Ansari while talking about the period of pause in revelation reporting the speech of the Prophet (s), 'While I was walking, all of a sudden I heard a voice from the heaven. I looked up and saw the same angel who had visited me at the Cave of Hira' sitting on a chair between the sky and the earth. I got afraid of him and came back home and said "Wrap me (in blankets)" and then Allah revealed the following holy verses (of the Qur'an): O you covered in your cloak, arise and warn (the people against Allah's punishment) … up to "and all pollution shun".'
After this revelation came strongly and regularly. (19)
The Second Revelation
The second portion of the Qur'an revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (s) was the beginning of Sura al-muddaththir (74: 1- 5). It now consists of 56 verses, the rest revealed later, and begins as follows: 'O you, covered in your cloak, arise and warn, thy Lord magnify, thy raiment purify, pollution shun …'
Other Early Revelations
Many hold that Sura al-Muzzammil (73) was the next revelation.
According to others, Sura al-Fatiha (1) was the third sura to be revealed. (20)
Among other early revelations, which the Prophet (s) declared in Makka, are, according to some reports, Sura 111, Sura 81, Sura 87, Sura 92, Sura 89, etc. Then revelation continued, 'mentioning Paradise and Hell, and until mankind turned to Islam, then came revelation about halal and haram … ' (21)
Revelation came to the Prophet (s) throughout his lifetime, both in Mecca and Madina, i.e. over a period of approximately 23 years, until shortly before his death in the year 10 after Hijra (632).
The Last Revelation
Many Muslim scholars agree that the last revelation was Sura 2, verse 281:
'And fear the day when ye shall be brought back to God. Then shall every soul be paid what it earned and none shall be dealt with unjustly.'
Some also say that it was 2:282 or 2:278. (22)
It has also been suggested that all three verses were revealed on one occasion. the Prophet (s) died nine nights after the last revelation.
Others hold that Sura 5:4 was the last to be revealed:
'This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.'
The opinion that this verse was the last revelation is not sound according to many scholars, since it was revealed during the last pilgrimage of the Prophet (s). This information is based upon a hadith from `Umar. Suyuti explains concerning the verse in Sura 5 that after it nothing concerning ahkam and halal and haram was revealed, and in this sense it is the 'completion' of religion. However, revelation reminding man of the coming day of judgement continued and the last such revelation is the above verse. (23)
The Qur'an was revealed in stages over a period of 23 years, and not as a complete book in one single act of revelation. There are a number of reasons for this; most important are the following:
– To strengthen the heart of the Prophet (s) by addressing him continuously and whenever the need for guidance arose. – Out of consideration for the Prophet (s) since revelation was a very difficult experience for him. – To gradually implement the laws of God. – To make understanding, application and memorisation of the revelation easier for the believers.
1. The question of how evil came into the world has preoccupied many sincere seekers after the truth. The answer which the Qur'an gives is simple yet convincing if seen against all the evidence of historical and contemporary human civilisation. At the root of all evil in this world is disobedience to God, resulting from the belief that one is superior to another. From this belief stems oppression of man by man discrimination, crime and all other evils that rule the day. The test lies in obedience to God, for seen against God, the 'wholly other', all creation is indeed on the other side and equal. In Sura al-a'raf (7) it is related that God asked all angels to bow before Adam, the first man. The angels obeyed, and observed God's will, except Iblis. When asked why he opposed God's will, he replied: 'ana khairun minhu' – I (Iblis) am better than him (Adam), you created me from fire and created him from clay' (7:12) . This then is the beginning of all evil, for it is Iblis who after this makes it his mission to incite men also to act against God's will.
2. I shall use the following two English translations of the Holy Qur'an: A. Yusuf Ali, (Ali, Abdullah Yusuf: The Glorious Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary. Leicester, 1978) and M. Pickthall (Pickthall, Mohammad Marmaduke: The Meaning of the Clorious Koran, New York, 1963).
3. Some say that the whole of Sura 87 is a reference to this first book of revelation, but others hold that only the few verses quoted here are actually meant. See mukhtasar tafsir Ibn Kathir, Beirut, 1402/1981, Vol. 3, p. 631. Another reference to the suhuf of Musa and Ibrahim is in Sura 53:36 ff.
4. Sura 17: 93.
5. Sura 75:18:17: 46.
6. Sura 17: 82.
7. For details on hadith see: A'zami, Muhammad Mustafa: Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature, Indianapolis, 1977.
8. e.g. Sura 12:101.
9. For details see kitab al-risala, by Imam al-Shafi'i, Cairo, n.d., especially pp. 28-9. In English: Khadduri Majid, Islamic Jurisprudence. Shafi'i's Risala, Baltimore, 1961, chapter 5, especially pp. 121-2. 10. Sabuni, tibyan, p.52 .
11. For an introduction to the subject and select sample texts, see e.g. Ibrahim Izzuddin and Denis Johnson-Davies: Forty Hadith Qudsi, Beirut, Damascus, 1980.
12. ibid., No. 30.
13. The word here used for guidance is hudan.
14. al Itqan fi ulum al quran, Beirut, 1973, Vol. I pp. 39-40
15. English translations of ahadith are, unless otherwise indicated, from Khan, Muhammad Muhsin: The Translation of the Meanings of Sahih al-Bukhari, 9 vols., Istanbul, 1978 (abbr. as Bukhari) and Siddiqui, Abdul Hamid: Sahih Muslim, 4 vols., Lahore, 1978 (abbr. as Muslim).
16. Bukhari, I, No. 3; VI, No. 478; Muslim I, No. 301.
17. Bukhari, I, No. 2.
18. See Suyuti, Itqan, I, pp.23-4.
19. Bukhari, I, end of No. 3.
20. Suyuti, Itqan, I, p.24.
21. ibid.
22. Kamal, Ahmad 'Adil: 'ulum al-Qur'an, Cairo, 1974, p.18.
23. Sabuni, tibyan pp. 18-9.


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In scanning the headlines today, I noticed an untold story lying at the root of the news -- human pride. I'm not talking about pride in the sense of self-dignity or self-respect, but in the sense of arrogance, hubris, and haughtiness.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s classic speech, "I have a dream." In that speech, the Baptist preacher quoted Isaiah from the Bible, including the point that in due time, the humble ("every valley") shall be exalted and the proud ("every hill and mountain") laid low: "I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."
This is a common theme of the Bible: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Said Solomon famously, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, "Be not proud of race, face, place, or Grace." There's a classic story told about Spurgeon, the terrific Reformed Baptist preacher of 19th century London. One day after church, a proper Victorian woman was commending him for his sermon, when a drunk happened to stumble by.
The woman made a face, expressing her disgust at the drunk, and said, "Well, I never!" And Spurgeon, looking over at the same drunk, said, "But for the grace of God go you or I, Madam."
Pride often robs us of our ability to see things properly. We compare ourselves with our neighbors and come off better (in our minds) than we really are before an all-holy seeing God.
To the Christian, the sin of pride is among the greatest evils. C. S. Lewis likened it to spiritual cancer. In fact, listen to what the great British scholar (a professor at Oxford, then later Cambridge) had to say on the subject: "...the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison....it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began."
One of the greatest rulers from antiquity was King Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 B. C.). He has a lot to teach us about pride and its destructive nature. Thankfully, the important lessons surrounding him were recorded in the Bible and thus preserved for all time.
Nebuchadnezzar II was Babylon's greatest king. As a conqueror, he was feared by all. A great builder, he had enlarged the city of Babylon to an area of six square miles, beautified it with magnificent buildings, and surrounded it with impenetrable walls. He had hanging gardens around his palace, so spectacular that they were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Nebuchadnezzar had indeed accomplished many things, but he wouldn't have been able to do any of these things were it not that God had given him his life, his health, his talents, his genetic make-up, his family background, etc. This is true of anybody great or small that accomplishes anything. As Paul notes, What do you have that you did not receive? The answer is nothing.
But full of pride, Nebuchadnezzar bragged, "Is this not great Babylon, that I have built for my royal dwelling by my mighty power and for my majesty?"
God was not pleased with Nebuchadnezzar's overinflated opinion of himself. Listen to what happened next, as found in the book of Daniel: "While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven: 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.'"
Then what happened? Daniel continues, "That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws."
After seven years he acknowledged God, and his mental health and kingdom were restored. I remember in an "abnormal psychology" class at Tulane, this story was in our textbooks. Of course, as I recall, it discounted the divine element which is critical to the story.
In all the universe, the most devastating example of pride run amok is Lucifer. He was once a highly exalted angelic being. How did Lucifer fall? Through the sin of pride. As C. S. Lewis puts it, "it was through Pride that the devil became the devil."
To me, the key to overcoming pride is in reversing the phrase "alter ego" (and alter the spelling of alter to altar): We leave our ego on the altar.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
October 12, 2018
This week's episode covers VOSB, cyber, FOCI, and OTA news, and is hosted by partners Peter Eyre and David Robbins. Crowell & Moring's "Fastest 5 Minutes" is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.
Click below to listen or access from one of these links:
PodBean | SoundCloud | iTunes
For more information, please contact the professional(s) listed below, or your regular Crowell & Moring contact.


text:
Boeing (NYSE: BA) and WestJet announced today that they have completed an order for 65 737 MAX airplanes, fulfilling the carrier's letter of intent to purchase the airplanes announced on Aug 29. The order, valued at $6.3 billion at list prices, consists of 40 737 MAX 8s and 25 737 MAX 7s. The airplanes are a key component of the Calgary-based airline's fleet renewal initiative.
"We are pleased to announce the finalization of the MAX purchase agreement and look forward to being among the first North American airlines to fly the 737 MAX in 2017," said WestJet President and CEO Gregg Saretsky. "The increased fuel efficiency and enhanced in-cabin amenities provided by the Boeing 737 MAX will contribute to both lower operating costs and a remarkable in-flight guest experience which is supportive of our low-cost business model and combined with our lease renewal options, maintains our fleet plan flexibility going forward."
The 737 MAX brings the most advanced engine technologies to the world's best-selling airplane, building on the strengths of today's Next-Generation 737. The 737 MAX incorporates the latest-technology CFM International LEAP-1B engines to deliver the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the single-aisle market. Airlines operating the 737 MAX will see a 13 percent fuel-use improvement over today's most fuel-efficient single-aisle airplanes.
"The 737 MAX is an excellent complement to the WestJet fleet and its low-cost business model," said Brad McMullen, vice president of North America Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The airplane's efficiency, reliability and passenger amenities will enable WestJet to continue to provide its customers high-quality service at a low cost."
The WestJet order continues the momentum of the 737 MAX in the marketplace. The order brings the total number of 737 MAX orders to date to 1,567 airplanes.
Source / Author: Boeing


text:
18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. – Acts 11:18
Whosoever will rightly profit in the gospel, let him put off the old man, and think upon newness of life, (Ephesians 4:22;) that done, let him know for a certainty that he is not called in vain unto repentance, but that there is salvation prepared for him in Christ. So shall it come to pass, that the hope and assurance of salvation shall rest upon the free mercy of God alone, and that the forgiveness of sins shall, notwithstanding, be no cause of sluggish security.
~John Calvin~
Calvin's Commentaries – Acts (Spokane, WA; Olive Tree Bible Software; http://www.olivetree.com) Commentary on Acts 8:2


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Shaking gifts. It's never worked because unless someone gave you broken glass, there's no way to hear what's inside. Besides, it's almost 2012, the Future. Instead, these 19 photographers let us look through the gift wrap with x-ray vision.
TSA Santa
Well, two months ago, just 4 days after I praised my shiny new iPhone 4s, I went to the beach and forgot I had it in my pocket, the iPhone didn't died because of drowning, but of a heart attack out of fear, or so was I told, so when I saw this contest I found an actual use to it, now, raised among the dead as a photo subject.
I disassembled it in as many layers as photogenically possible, I took several pictures to get the most depth in the x-ray, in the background is the Christmas village under the Christmas tree, then with the lights out (as it must be inside a closed gift box) i took a picture of the contents of the box, as the wall charger(that's the white square to the right of the iPhone camera) the instructions manual (half yellow circle in the middle of the iPhone), then with lights on, the disassembled iPhone screen, the motherboard, the back of the iPhone with the Apple logo on top of the battery, the actual iPhone box, then the wrap, and the bow, basically this is the kind of superhuman vision TSA agents asked from Santa this year.
All the pictures taken with a Canon 20d, 18mm lens, f 4.5, ISO 100 and exposure of 2.5 seconds, using a tripod and remote shutter to avoid camera movement, I drew with a pencil the shadows the box was casting on the floor to make sure every time I added a layer it would be in the same position.
-Pancho Mejia
Mr Smiley
This was not an easy task. I did not want the gift to look as if it were stuck on the box or that the side of the box looked like a frame. So the colors and angles of the gift as well as the wrapping paper colors, patterns and shapes all added to the interesting result. If you look very, very closely and know what you are looking for, you will see a yellow bendable smiley guy and 2 small led flashlights. Did you miss it? I took 2 photos in the same location - one of the wrapped box and one of the guy with a flashlight on either side. I then went into Photoshop to create 2 layers. I used the mask tool to change the opacity of the box. Canon EOS T2i 1/50s Focal length 39.00m f/13
-Berta Finkelstein
Mug Vision
These enamel mugs have been on my wife's list for quite a while and have been out-of-stock for almost as long. Last Sunday evening, I even told her how disappointed I was for not being able to get them for her. This, of course, was followed by a Monday afternoon email alerting me that they were back in stock. Despite being otherwise finished shopping (and having already spent beyond my plans), I couldn't pass up the guaranteed pre-Christmas delivery for this high-on-her-list item.
So, as the wife was a work this evening, I took the opportunity to wrap them up and knew that this would be the perfect present from this challenge. My Nikon D5100 was set-up on an old cheap camcorder tripod over an old wooden chair in front of our tree. First shot taking the straw-like cushioning and mugs out of the box, then repackaged, wrapped, and shot as a finished present. I then layered the wrapped image over the open image, adjusted opacity, and used some Photoshop magic to give it an HDR-feel that gave it a lot more pop and a bit more of an x-ray vibe. Nikon D5100 on a crappy old tripod, f/4, 1/13.
-Ryan Yepsen
Giant Present
In my family we celebrate both Hanakkah and Christmas since my wife is Jewish and I'm Christian. So because of that we open gifts on several different days. When I saw this contest I immediately thought of how excited my step daughter was when she got her Innotab a few days ago. I decided to use her in taking the picture. We re-wrapped the Innotab for picture 1 and she got to re-open it for picture 2. She was just as excited about the picture as she was about the Innotab. She sat in my lap the whole time I was merging the pictures in Photoshop. Nikon D7000, Tamron 10 - 24mm f/3.5-4.5, Nikon SB-700, f/4, 1/60, ISO 800
-Michael Berman
The Nutcracker
Here is my submission for this weeks shooting challenge. It was a nutcracker christmas. I set a wrapped box in its place, took a few shots, and replaced it with an unwrapped nut cracker. Overlaid the images in photoshop, drew out a soft oval and decreased some opacity. Canon 60d, 1/80th, f4.0, ISO320, 26mm.
- Tyler Bedgood
Bird Coop
I was sitting in my office wrapping some Christmas gifts and I thought about this contest. It seemed like a fun idea. So, I picked the gift for my niece, which happened to be a box of plus Angry Birds. I hope she likes them. Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 100, f/18, 1/125, 16-35mm
- Michael Durr
Unavoidable Gaze
I got my boyfriend the Steve Jobs biography for Christmas. I thought it might look creepy to have Steve Jobs peering out at us from beneath the wrapping paper. I started out taking the photo of the wrapped gift. I set up my tripod and arranged the wrapped book on top of another wrapped gift. Then I unwrapped the book and placed in the same spot on and shot that. I overlayed them in Photoshop and played with the opacity settings. I took these with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel, EF-S 18-55mm lens, 1/8 and 1/6 exposure, both f5.
-Jamie Babbitt
Please Don't Wrap Pets
Easy enough, even though I had no tri-pod. Took a few pictures of each then overlaid with 47% opacity
-Paul Valerio
[Insert Festive Joke About the Force Here]
I took 6 shots (3 wrapped, 3 unwrapped) in the morning sun so I could get a feel of "Christmas Morning" just before opening the gifts. I used a Canon 7D with a Tokina 16-50 lens, ISO 100, f8, exposures from 1/6-1/25 and then used photoshop elements to combine the shots into two separate HDR images to recapture some of the details due to the uneven lighting. I used PSE to use cutouts to take a peak in the waiting gifts. I knew right away I wanted to try to reposition multiple gifts and keep the same alignment. That's a Philadelphia Flyer's jersey on the left, Go FLYERS! Thanks, this was a lot of fun. This is my first time submitting and hope to send to more contests in the future.
-Jason Mest
I can't say I was the least bit surprised to see all of you were receiving Apple products and Star Wars memorabilia for Christmas. But all of those doll houses were, admittedly, unexpected. I'm not judging. Full gallery below, and wallpapers on flickr.
Mark Wilson is the founder of Philanthroper, a way to give $1 to a good cause every day.


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Zoku signs Paris hotel
France: Zoku and Covivio have signed a hotel management contract within the mixed-use Stream Building in the 17th District of Paris.
France: Zoku and Covivio have signed a hotel management contract within the mixed-use Stream Building in the 17th District of Paris.
BHN speaks to Jennifer McCabe, general manager at art'otel London Battersea Power Station, to learn more about the brand's UK debut and Jennifer's short and long term focus for growing recognition of the hotel. Daniel Pedreschi, regional VP of operations UK at PPHE Hotel Group, joins the conversation to talk about a hotel's role in regenerating city neighbourhoods.
BHN sits down with Daniel Pedreschi, regional VP of operations UK at PPHE Hotel Group, to talk about the company's potential diversification into new asset classes and what the hotel pipeline looks like for 2023. Filmed at the art'otel London Battersea Power Station.
US: Northwood Hospitality had appointed Eumi Koh as general manager of the Conrad Nashville.
UK: London-based hospitality company Lore Group has appointed Matthew Thomas as chief operating officer and Fiona Morgan as global director of sales, marketing and PR.
UK: London-based owner-operator Clermont Hotel Group has opened The Academy, a learning and development centre to train new and existing employees.
UAE: Lifestyle hospitality company Ennismore has announced the opening of Mondrian Abu Dhabi next year, the brand's first location in the UAE.
US: The Huntington Hotel in San Francisco has been purchased by hotel management, investment and development company Highgate and hospitality and commercial real estate owner Flynn Properties.
Canada: Smart device automation and SaaS software, Operto Guest Technologies, has secured US$25 million in a Series B funding round.
US: Cloud-based hospitality business intelligence platform OTA Insight has announced the appointment of Vivek Bhogaraju as its new chief operating officer.
UK: Five-star country house Ellenborough Park Hotel has completed the refurbishment of all 61 bedrooms as well as the Horse Box brasserie.


text:
Lee Pitts: It's the Pitts 6-6-11
Morro Bay, Calif.
If my Grandpa was still alive I can just hear him saying something like, "I tell you, these darn cell phones will be the ruination of our country."
As a fellow curmudgeon I wouldn't go that far, but I will say that they have really altered our society. I saw a recent poll that said 79 percent of all teenagers have a mobile device and 50 percent of those teenagers said they would die if they didn't have them. Forty percent of all teenagers said they never envisioned owning a landline, or having any use for one. Which I suppose is why I can never find a phone booth any more.
If I ever do go temporarily insane and buy a cell phone I guarantee you I'd NEVER buy one of those kind that clip on your ear and make you look like something from outer space. Although I can see why people buy them. People are multi-taskers these days and because their phones are now mobile they try to perform all sorts of tasks while talking on their phones. It's a common sight to see people still driving down the road with their heads at a 45-degree angle. Although modern phones are sleek looking things they were not designed to be held on your shoulder by the side of your head, like the old-fashioned handsets that I still use on a daily basis. Consequently, I've seen a lot of people drop their phones. And they land in the darndest places.
The first fella I ever saw drop his cell phone did so in a plate of spaghetti. I told my dimwitted friend that he could get the dreaded malady "noodle ear" if he talked on his iPhone with marinara sauce after that, but he was willing to take that risk.
Even cowboys are using mobile phones these days, which I thought I'd never see. I was talking to a friend as he attempted to swap his horse's bridle for a halter at the same time he was receiving an incoming call. Sure enough, he dropped his phone in a water trough. I held his horse for him as he peeled off his shirt to go diving for his phone. He got his arm wet up to his shoulder as he went bobbing for AT&T. You have to say this for the cell phone makers, they make a good product. My buddy dried off his phone and it worked as good as new, although he kept whacking the side of his head for a day or two to get rid of the water in his ear because his phone leaked.
One interesting drop I witnessed happened at a cattle sale when I had to use the restroom facilities. Standing next to me was an order buyer who was busy talking on his phone as he tried to make his bladder gladder. Usually in that situation I try not to pry into another man's business, but when I heard the order buyer utter a most offensive swear word I looked over and there was his smart phone in the urinal. (I bet that never happened when he used the phone booth!) So he's standing there with an anguished look on his face trying to decide if it's worth it or not to lose all his personal data and his cell phone, or if he should just flush it all down the drain, so to speak.
Another time I was at a sale looking at the bulls with a new field man who was trying to get an order for a bull by talking with a breeder back east on his cell. It would've been a real feather in his cap if he got the order. So there he is with his head at a 45-degree angle holding his cell as he tried to look into his catalog to get some breeding information for the prospective buyer. That's when it happened. He dropped his phone into the biggest, the freshest, most recent model cow pie I've ever seen. And believe me, I've seen a lot of them. When that cell phone hit its target it sounded like a ripe watermelon hitting the bottom of a bathtub and it sent out tsunami waves that were felt as far as 5-feet away, if you get my drift. So the young field man is standing there looking like someone who'd just watched his pet dog get run over, and there's his phone with the prospective buyer's voice emanating from the cow pie. At this point the young man had to make one of the biggest decisions in his young life: Do I or don't I?
I couldn't resist … "Just how valuable is that cell phone of yours now," I asked the perplexed young man.


text:
Picking up the Sunday paper on November 15 could make a reader a little airsick – even while standing in the driveway. The Washington Post "news analysis" on the front page carried the headline "9/11 trial could become a parable of right and wrong: Before worldwide audience, both prosecution, defense seek control of narrative."
Does The Washington Post really think that the death and destruction of 9/11 "could" be right, or "could" be wrong?
Liberals cannot stand it when the national media won't simply declare contentious debates over and their viewpoint settled truth. Take, for example, the allegedly inevitable impending destruction of global warming. It is the left's position that the media should conclude one side is right and the other wrong. Conservatives should be ignored when they object. But that's a debate over the future. It's grotesque for an American newspaper to publish a "news analysis" that stares 9/11 in the face and said it "could" be a matter of right and wrong.
The Post's analyst was reporter Barton Gellman, the author of a hostile biography of Dick Cheney (so he does have some definite feelings about who's evil, after all.) He began by noting the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM for short) would make for "riveting drama." Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed on PBS it would not be a "show trial," but Gellman echoed the headline: "both sides hope to use the case to define Sept. 11 as a parable of right and wrong."
One might dismiss the willful moral ignorance as a simple journalistic endorsement of anything done by Holder and President Obama. But it sends a clear signal of the differences between the Bush era and the Obama era, and the media's obvious preference for the latter. Liberal journalists always admonished President Bush for his "arrogance" and "certitude," and this is what they meant: he remained certain that the Americans who died on 9/11 were victimized, and were denied their civil liberties in the most complete and horrific way.
Liberals, on the other hand, have such a talent for finding moral "complexities" that they wind up showing more outrage for the fact that KSM was waterboarded than for the fact that KSM successfully plotted the death of 3,000 Americans. While liberals beat their breasts at the outrageous prospect of KSM being tried by a military commission, most Americans would prefer hustling KSM to the top of the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty and throwing him off.
Putting KSM on trial in a courtroom just blocks from his "accomplishment" is a decision that Holder and Obama made not in the interests of justice, but in the interests of flashiness, showing "the eyes of the world" in the most attention-grabbing, and increasingly tiresome way possible, that they are in no way comparable to Bush.
Liberals find "world opinion" to be a much more desirable and cosmopolitan standard than the worldview of simple-minded Americans. In the Post, Gellman quoted Georgetown law professor David Cole, without even calling him a "liberal," let alone what he should really be called, a radical defender of the civil liberties of terrorists. Cole argued that this trial marks a "sea change," that the sentencing will be "seen around the world as legitimate and not fixed," since the "world" thinks military commissions would be fixed.
Journalists don't seem to consider whether "the world" is qualified to judge America as right or wrong, when "the world" is full of thuggish regimes that aren't a fraction as punctilious as Americans are about the rule of law. Should the butchers of Tiananmen Square get to judge us? Should the Russians get to complain after their consolidation of power in the wake of the 2004 Beslan school massacre by radical Islamists? How about most of Europe, Great Britain and a handful of others excepted, that has redefined moral cowardice in the face of radical Islam? They should judge us, too?
Why can't our media have enough respect for facts and for their fellow countrymen that we can all see a mass-murderer like KSM as a much greater villain than say, our naked-pyramid builders at Abu Ghraib? Will our media show 9/11 footage during this trial near Ground Zero with as much repetitive ardor as they bombarded us with Abu Ghraib clips in 2004?
It's much more likely that they'll wonder, in that wonderfully neutral way of theirs, whether Americans or terrorists will "control the narrative." And then we can get back to real problems, like the plight of the kangaroo rat.


text:
Recap of Part I: Life long Philadelphia resident and former Gamble and Huff songwriter Frankie Smith pens the funky novelty song Double Dutch Bus. Laid off from Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records, Smith pitches his song to WMOT Records with no inkling that WMOT is a money laundering front for The Yuppie Conspiracy that supplies most of the eastern coast of United States with cocaine. The Yuppie Conspiracy is headed by twenty-seven year old dentist Larry Lavin, his financial adviser Mark Stewart and a cabal of dentists and other University of Penn alum.
U.S. Route 30, also known as Lancaster Avenue, links the old money western suburbs of Philadelphia. The locals call it the "Main Line". The Main Line communities of Villinova, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Devon and Malvern are some of the most affluent in the United States. Retired Brigadier General John Eisenhower, son of President Dwight Eisenhower, and his wife Barbara lived on Timber Lane in Devon.
Most of the Timber Lane residents were the usual fare–doctors, lawyers and members of the corporate elite, middle aged, retired or soon to be retired. The Eisenhower's neighbor across the street was a retired admiral and a practicing dentist. Their tall, lanky, puppy-dog-like next door neighbor, Larry, was also a dentist, though you wouldn't think it. He and his wife, Marcia, were all of twenty-seven years old. The Lavin's.
Of course, when Larry and his wife, that's the way most of the neighbors described her, (she was very reserved and rarely spoke unless spoken to) first moved in they caused a bit of a stir. They were so young.
There were nods and waves. A few hellos. They seemed nice enough.
Weeks turned into months–plenty of time for them to have everything unpacked and put away–and, yet, there was Larry, always manicuring the yard are puttering around the garage. Soon they were making renovations to their home, putting in a pool and a solar light system. Neither he nor Marcia left for work in the mornings.
Inevitably, Larry wandered over to the Eisenhower's yard and they got acquainted. He was very friendly and helpful, always offering to assist with a yard chore or a small home maintenance job. He and Marcia were generous with the neighborhood children too. The Eisenhower's grandchildren excitedly showed off full sized Snicker bars the Lavin's handed out at Halloween.
Larry told his neighbors that he had gotten into managing rock bands in college as a fluke. He had unexpected success which led him into the recording business and a financial windfall.
Always gregarious, he invited neighbors into his home to see the renovations and decor. During the tours he proudly showed off the encased gold record that hung in his den: The Double Dutch Bus, Frankie Smith, WMOT Records.
Barbara Eisenhower was especially impressed with Larry. It showed good character for him to finish dental school even though he was making so much money in the music business. Larry explained that he was waiting for the right opportunity to practice dentistry. He wanted to buy an established practice that catered primarily to the underprivileged and undeserved. It was his way of giving back.
The year 1982 was shaping up to be a good one for Frankie Smith and his mother. They made some modest purchases for their home, things that would go with Frankie's gold record that hung in the small living room above the piano that his mother had bought for him by squirreling away ten to twenty dollars at a time. There was plenty of money to pay the bills now, and then some, since Frankie was the opening act for the Kool and the Gang and Rick James tours. He made appearances on Soul Train, American Bandstand and The Merv Griffith Show and, on a particularly memorable evening he preformed on The American Music Awards. His mother was very proud that night. She cried.
Frankie Smith had arrived thanks to a Double Dutch Bus that he rode all the way to #1 on Billboard's R&B chart and to #30 on the Billboard Top 40 chart. The single sold well over a million copies.
There was just one problem. He hadn't received a dime from royalties. Smith found that especially galling.
For years he had dreamed of writing a hit song. He had worked diligently, patiently and more than once was on the cusp of his dream. Now he had achieved it. Every time he heard Double Dutch Bus on the radio he felt like a proud papa, but in his songwriter's mind he had yet to see his baby. In his songwriter's mind, he was covering his own song.
After months of waiting for a check he called the WMOT booking keeping office. "I'm calling about my royalties," he told the bookkeeper. She put him on the the line with Mark Stewart.
Mark Stewart was an enigma to the artists at WMOT. Roaming the halls with his face frozen in a scowl, he had few words for anyone. And when he did speak it was obvious that he knew virtually nothing about the record business. He wasn't into Funk, he was in a funk–a perpetual one at that.
There was a good reason for Stewart's surliness. Bad investments and over reaching had driven him to the brink of financial ruin. It was desperation that pushed him over the line of shady real estate deals and boxing promotion and into a full fledged life of crime with coke dealer Larry Lavin.
Lavin's money was like a god send, propping up some of his ill advised investments. He poured over 500 thousand of Lavin's cash into money laundering ventures like WMOT Records, The Philadelphia Arena, which he renamed The Martin Luther King Arena and a minor league basketball team, The Lancaster Red Roses.
But the cash infusion couldn't save the arena or the Red Roses. Stewart eventually hired Pagan motorcycle gang member James "Horrible" Holt to burn down the arena in an insurance scam. Only WMOT Records proved profitable and that, in large part, was due to Frankie Smith's hit record, Double Dutch Bus.
Stewart didn't know much about Smith, he couldn't care less about the artists at WMOT, but he did acquaint himself with a few details he viewed as essential, namely zip code and education. Smith's address of 51st and Dearborn told him everything he needed to know.
So when he was informed that Smith was on the line inquiring about his overdue royalties, Stewart was nonplussed. There were much bigger things on his plate to be worried about. He picked up the phone.
"Mr. Smith, I've been meaning to call you," he said. "I've got a check here with your name on it for twenty thousand dollars."
To be continued…


text:
I always love reading what Kim Cofino has to say at her blog Always Learning or in her Twitter posts as mscofino…which are regular, and packed with questions and ideas. But what I really love is the concept behind her role at the International School Bangkok in Thailand.
Kim explains:
I am the 21st Century Literacy Specialist at the International School Bangkok in Thailand. This position combines my past experiences as a technology facilitator with the wealth of resources available in the library. ISB is actively seeking to build a Learning Hub that successfully blends the traditional role of a library with the requirements of the 21st century global student. My role is to bridge that gap. As the 21st Century Literacy Specialist, my work is focused on helping core subject teachers utilize web 2.0 technologies in the classroom, to create a global and collaborative approach to learning. I enjoy working with my colleagues to design authentic and engaging international projects incorporating social networking, blogs, wikis, and podcasts, and whatever comes next!
Kim's been telling us all day on Twitter how she has been finishing off the long haul of working on her conference presentation wiki Developing the Global Student: Practical Ways to Infuse 21st Century Literacy Skills in Your Classroom.
Naturally when she finally posted the link I had to take a look.
I think you should take a look too! 🙂
You should also take a look at Kim's post The Slideshow must go on where she tells you a little about the conferences that these materials have been prepared for.


text:
Here be dragons…
This second set of sea monsters released for Man O' War was a little different to the other box, in a few ways. Firstly, it contained only four monsters, but the same number of components (the Black Leviathan is a two part model), so it gave an impression of less value.
Ol' Jazz Claws looks like that star of "The Briny Bunch" (AKA Monsters of the Sea), while the Beasts of the Deep seems to be composed mostly of extras. That is of course, until you see Triton.
Look at that guy. Seriously. Sea monsters are great and all, but there are eight of them in the MoW range, and only one crown wearing, trident wielding, surface tension gliding, giant mer-man. A must-have.
The Triton sculpt doesn't have quite the gravitas that the Mark Gibbons illustration has, but seeing as the pose is supposed to evoke feelings of old map illustrations, that's ok too.
And how could anyone not like that model? Sure it's not conventionally cool, and I wouldn't want my sister to go out with that guy, but as far as the sorts of giggle inducing figures that I want to see on the table go, Triton has "it".
Plus the fig also reminds me a bit this PBF strip:
Too bleak for a game about aquatic genocide? I don't think so.
The Behemoth (which is always said in a Stephen Wright voice in this house) is probably the least inspiring model in the Beasts of the Deep set, although as MoW sea monsters go, it isn't really any better or worse than any other technically.
As fantasy monsters go, a giant narwhal with extra teeth is a perfectly fine thing to have attack a ship, but the Behemoth doesn't really go up to eleven. But everything cant go up to eleven I suppose.
I did find out that male narwhal do in fact have teeth, two of them. The horn is actually a tusk. So y'know, its not all childish whimsy around here, you can learn the occasional thing too.
I went for a fairly naturalistic colour scheme on the not-narwhal. I didn't want to cramp the Megaladons style by also painting the Behemoth a cartoon whale blue, so he ended up being brown.
The Sea Dragon is presumably closely related to the sea dragons in the Dark Elf fleet, but has not been broken in by whatever unpleasant shenanigans the Dark Elf Beastmasters get up to. It's design, the head in particular, suggests that its a different species of sea dragon anyway.
I decided to go for a sort of fishy colour scheme on the sea dragon, loosely based on a perch.
Irish wildlife, including fish, tends to be brown, neutral colours. The Great Barrier Reef the waterways of Ireland are not. So as a kid, the one time that I actually caught a fish when fishing, I was impressed at the vibrant orange and green of the perch. So I decided to go for something like that on the Sea Dragon. There was no way that I was going to go for the 90s red look.
I also like that the Sea Dragon looks a fair bit like the Leech Wyrm from Dreadfleet, which considering that the Wyrm is in fact the "rot-breathing corpse of a sea dragon, infested and controlled by wriggling chasm leeches", makes sense. The MoW references in Dreadfleet are quite fun.
Last, but not least, is the Black Leviathan:
The Black Leviathan miniature is another reason why the Monsters of the Deep box is a must have. The deep sea is full of genuinely creepy looking things, so its nice to have a nod to something like that on the table.
The studio scheme for this model is quite nice, I have been fond of it since I first saw it. The dark purple fits closely enough with the black in its name, but I decided to ignore that element. I decided to go with an albino, Marianas Trench vibe instead.
The Leviathan is probably my favourite of the MoW monsters, although there is some stiff competition. In addition to liking the model because I think that, in the context of tiny model ships, it looks pretty scary, almost cthulhuesque, I also like something about its big Muppet-like mouth, I can imagine it speaking in a cartoon or something.
Here endeth my giant fantasy sea monsters project. With the Dreadfleet terrain finished, the coastline unexpectedly acquired and painted and now twelve (count 'em!) monsters finished and ready to hit the table, I really am rather pleased with myself.
The next MoW thing to appear here will be a ship of some sort. It kinda has to be, I dont have anything else nautical left to paint now.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2018, Fantasy, Man O War, Pirate, Warhammer |


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|System: X360, PS3, PC
|Review Rating Legend
|Dev: Deadline Games
|1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
|4.0 - 4.4 = Great
|Pub: Warner Bros.
|2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
|4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
|Release: July 21, 2009
|2.5 - 2.9 = Average
|5.0 = The Best
|Players: 1-2
|3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
|ESRB Rating: Mature
|3.5 - 3.9 = Good
by Matthew Walker
It's no secret I like comic books. Several of my recent reviews have been for comic book franchises. With Watchmen, it was always something more than affection I had for those characters. I knew them, inside and out. I didn't need the movie to make the characters move for me, nor did I need the first part of the The End is Nigh back in March. But these things just sort of added to the mythos as far as I was concerned. Now that the second part has finally arrived on every intended platform, I have to ask the question: Is Alan Moore right about Hollywood and their treatment of his creations?
I used to think it was more a question of creative liberties being taken, but with this last installment, I have to admit, I understand exactly where Alan Moore is coming from Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2 does exactly what its predecessor fell into - repetitive combat, simplistic combos, random enemies that all are the same. In fact, nothing about the combat system has changed.
As such, if you've played the first part, you'll be able to hop right in and deliver effective combos. If not, you can just button mash your way around until you get the timing down. While simple button combos are decidedly mundane, they become great once it comes to the takedowns by either of the two lead characters, Rorschach and Nite Owl. They are the same as before but they do still give the brutal satisfaction of criminals bloody and bruised. However, there's a problem that I had with the takedowns, near the end of the game you'll be taking on a different set of foes - females. And the brutality towards them as opposed to some of the males seems to be a little bit much, especially from Rorschach. While I understand his back-story perfectly, it doesn't excuse the difference in combo style when facing the female villains and the male villains.
Maybe the story has something to do with the extra brutality. Set on July 30, 1977, the second day of the fabled police strike that set things in motion for the heroes to retire, Rorschach is looking for a missing girl. The girl's name is Violet Greene. She appears to be the victim of pornography, and as far as Rorschach and eventually Nite Owl know, she is underage. So the two set out to find the girl and bring down the criminal pornography ring. Arriving at The Money Pit, the two heroes square off against random thugs in the strip club. These enemies are the traditional stereotype of the swanky night club scene in the 70s, even down to the vernacular they use mixed with profanity.
Near the end of the siege on the pornography ring, the two heroes discover that an old acquaintance of Nite Owl's is behind everything. I'm not going to give away the ending of the game for those wanting to experience it for themselves, but I have to say that it was unexpected and a bit annoying. Fans of the graphic novel will know what I am talking about once they reach the end. All in all, the story is really the main draw of this entry. Without it there's not much else to the game. Thankfully, the return of Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earl Haley as Nite Owl and Rorschach, respectively, adds to the characters. Their performances don't feel stale and it really captures the dynamic these two had in the first entry and the film.
One of the major problems I had with The End is Nigh Part 1 was the repetitive nature of the environments. This is partially fixed. Instead of constant retread of the same corridors or alleyways, things have been streamlined. You don't find yourself asking if you have been through this area already quite as often, nor do you find yourself questioning why you are doing the same repetitive lever pulling as you did in the first. These things make the game a little more tolerable, but they also make the game feel incredibly short. Weighing in at a mere three chapters, you should trounce through this game in around two hours. The problem with that though is the first two chapters will most likely only take you about thirty minutes. Maybe a few more if you are looking for the few random cards to increase your Rage Meter. These are cleverly hidden up ladders, various nooks and crannies, or behind the occasional cage you have to lock pick to gain access to.


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Juniper Networks is accelerating its MX router portfolio with a series of new updates.
First announced in 2012, the MX 2020 router is enclosed in a 7-foot chassis with 20 slots for network cards. Juniper announced the 10-slot MX 2010 at the same time as the MX 2020.
Tom Jacobs, senior director of service provider marketing at Juniper Networks, explained to Enterprise Networking Planet that his company is now announcing new line cards that boost MX capacity in different ways.
"Applicable to the MX2010 and 2020 platforms, we've announced the MPC6 card that brings 520G capacity per slot, " Jacobs said.
There is also a new switch fabric module for other Juniper MX 3D routers, providing more performance across Juniper's edge routing product portfolio.
"The SCBE2, the new switch fabric for the MX960/480/240, provides up to 400G full duplex switching capacity per slot," Jacobs said. "For the MX960, that means a fully redundant system could support up to 8.8Tb in a half-rack MX960."
Juniper now also has 100 and 40 Gigabit high-density line cards for existing MX routers as well.
"The MPC4e and MPC5e provide up to 260Gbps line cards of varying features and QoS capabilities, with higher-density interfaces for 10G, 40G and 100G," Jacobs said.
Juniper describes its enhanced MX router lineup as "SDN-Ready." Jacobs explained that the MX router lineup has built-in SDN capabilities for programmability through the Junos Trio chipset to allow network operators to accommodate future protocols.
"The MX line supports OpenFlow and integrates with Contrail, which uses standards-based protocols like BGP," Jacobs said. "We leverage things like PCE and netconf-yang to place the MX family in a great position to take advantage of what's to come."
Juniper recently released its Contrail SDN controller as an open source effort.
Jacobs added that using the blades on the MX routers, administrators can virtualize various functions and services like content caching, DPI and firewalls.
"We're going to continue executing on our investment-protection and capacity-scaling strategy to meet the ever growing needs of our service providers/cable operator customers," Jacobs said. "These routers have additional headroom for added capacity down the road. The MX2020 can scale to an industry-leading 80TB; we're currently at 10.4TB."
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at Enterprise Networking Planet and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist


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Everybody talks about ethics but it seems nobody cares about it. The "ethics" talk is all about rules: bribery, conflict of interest, financial disclosure laws, nepotism, and the rest of the litany of rules of conduct that you can be fired or prosecuted for breaking.
If you subscribe to a Google alert for "ethics" you learned today that a key aide to the governor of Illinois was fined $500 and forced to resign for sending a campaign email on his state-issued cell phone. Or that the former Massachusetts State Auditor was fined $2,000 for by putting his unqualified 75-year-old cousin on the state payroll. Or that lobbyists are buying meals for Oklahoma lawmakers. That's not about ethics, that's about rules
Moreover, corporate ethics officers are so concerned with preventing criminal violations that they don't have much (…any?) time for such things as the Golden Rule, arguing with the boss, or keeping one's commitments. This became depressingly clear to me after I attended a meeting of ethics officers and academics. The meeting had focused on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for American companies to pay bribes overseas.
After the meeting I made an offer to the attendees that I thought they couldn't refuse: (more…)


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|* Click right mouse button and select "Save As." to download Download:PDF High Resolution PDF
|Supreme Master Ching Hai is a world-renowned
spiritual teacher, artist, and humanitarian, whose loving assistance
extends beyond all cultural boundaries. Born in central Âu Lạc
(Vietnam), Supreme Master Ching Hai studied in Europe and
worked there for the Red Cross. She soon realized that suffering
exists in all corners of the globe, and her yearning to find a remedy
became the foremost goal in her life. She was happily married at the
time to a German physician, and although it was a difficult decision
for both of them, her husband agreed to a separation. She then
embarked on a journey in search of spiritual enlightenment. Eventually,
in the Himalayas in India, she received from a true Master the
divine transmission of the inner Light and Sound, which she later
called the Quan Yin Method. After a period of diligent practice,
she attained the Great Enlightenment.
Soon after her return from the Himalayas, at the earnest request of those around her, Supreme Master Ching Hai shared the Quan Yin Method with others, encouraging them to look within to find their own divine greatness. Before long, invitations arrived from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa for Supreme Master Ching Hai to give lectures.
Supreme Master Ching Hai's compassionate heart has also been reflected in her meticulous care for the less fortunate in different circumstances. The funding generated from her artistic creations has enabled the support of her mission of comforting God's children in times of need.
More recently, Supreme Master Ching Hai has authored books that have become #1 international bestsellers, namely The Birds in My Life, The Dogs in My Life, and The Noble Wilds. These volumes reveal many insights into the deep emotions and thoughts of our treasured animal co-inhabitants, highlighting their gracious spirit and unconditional love.
Wishing to acknowledge others for their actions and influence toward developments of goodness in the world, Supreme Master Ching Hai founded the Shining World Leadership Award in March 2006. Since then, she has also established other prestigious awards, such as Shining World Compassion Award, Shining World Hero and Heroine Awards, Shining World Honesty Award, Shining World Protection Award, Shining World Intelligence Award, and Shining World Invention Award. This honor is bestowed on individuals, nations, and organizations – such as the 2nd President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Janez Drnovšek, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Save the Children – whose exemplary works have significantly contributed to the harmony, beauty, and sustainability of our Earth.
Supreme Master Ching Hai is among notable pioneers in our society today who wisely and courageously express concern about climate change. In fact, for more than 20 years, she has talked about preserving the environment. She catapulted the Alternative Living and SOS global warming campaigns to promote a benevolent lifestyle without animal products. "Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet" is now a well-known motto that originated from Supreme Master Ching Hai.
In our era, Supreme Master Ching Hai is truly a selflessly dedicated individual, tirelessly helping world citizens create a bright future for our beloved planet.
|Some of the Master's Worldwide Humanitarian Works
"The most important thing in this world,
regardless of our mission,
is to love one another."
~ Supreme Master Ching Hai
Thailand, 10 September 1995
|Awards & Honors
In the spirit of service, Supreme Master Ching Hai
epitomizes the virtue of collaboration based on genuine
love and friendship.
|Dignitaries & Artists
|Supreme Master Ching Hai in the Media
|For More Information
Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association
English, Spanish ,Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese, Indonesian version of Supreme Master Ching Hai Press Kit interactive iPad Apps are available on App Store Go


text:
June 16, 2010— -- The first time Lisa O'Brien knew something bizarre was happening was when she found her 4-year-old daughter Jacie having a conversation in an empty room.
"I'd say, 'Jacie, who are you talking to?' 'My dad! Talking to daddy,'" O'Brien recalled. "She would tell me she could see him."
Jacie's father had recently died in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. O'Brien said she tried to gently probe Jacie, who revealed that her daddy had been telling her "knock, knock" jokes. Jacie also could recite the names of her father's co-workers, who had all died in the attack -- many of whom her mother said she had never met.
"I showed her a picture and said, 'Do you know who these guys are?', and she said, 'Mommy, those are the boys,'" said O'Brien, who was in awe of her daughter's connection with her deceased dad. "I was jealous…because she got to see them and I didn't."
The O'Briens are just two of many people coming forward in what may be the strangest aftermath of 9/11. For most, the attack on the World Trade Center remains a national and emotional scar, but for some relatives left behind it has also been a step into a spiritual world they say they never could have imagined.
Bonnie McEneaney's strange journey began with premonitions. Her 46-year old husband, Eamon, a legendary athlete turned trader who worked at the World Trade Center, seemed to have a foreboding feeling in the weeks before September 11th. On September 2, 2001 she said they were at a barbecue where Eamon spoke to his brother about the possibility of the World Trade Center being hit again. He was debating whether he should take people to the roof this time or whether he should try to bring them down the stairs, McEneaney recalled. And in the days that followed, she said it was clear that Eamon suspected he didn't have long to live.
"One night, I was cooking, he walked in and he said, 'You had better become more of a disciplinarian with the children because when I'm gone it's going to be hard,'" McEneaney said.
The morning of 9/11, as Eamon got ready to go to work, his wife said there was another sign. In the shower, Eamon had a vertigo attack -- a problem he had developed years before but hadn't affected him in over nine months.
'Goose-Bump' Experiences Common
Speaking with others in the 9/11 community, McEneaney discovered that "goose-bump" experiences like hers were common.
"I think there's probably been close to 200 people that I've interviewed or had discussions with," said McEneaney, who turned their stories into a book called "Messages: Signs, Visits, and Premonitions from Loved Ones Lost on 9/11."
Click here to read an excerpt from the book.
Once a doubter, the former corporate vice president now says she is a firm believer in premonitions. She points to stories like Monica and Michael Iken's. The couple got married on September 11, 2000, and Monica said Michael felt that something was off that morning. During the outdoor service, a jet buzzed overhead, so loud and so close, that they had to stop the service precisely at "I do."
"He just was horrified. He turned to me and was like, 'We're jinxed,'" Monica Iken recalled.
Nearly a year later, on September 9, 2001, the Ikens checked into a hotel at Boston airport.
"He's like, 'Monica, I have to get out of here, right now, we have to check out right now,'" she said.
Monica couldn't figure out why her new husband was so distraught, but after he was lost in the Twin Towers, she learned that the hijackers had been casing out the airport at that same moment. Afterwards, when she looked at one of her wedding photos, she noticed another eerie discovery: a black streak covered Michael's whole body in one of the photos.
Some had even stronger premonitions. David McCourt's wife Ruth was supposed to head to the west coast for a brief trip, but he said Ruth seemed to know she wasn't coming back. "She was writing notes in her final week to people that she cared for, making amends with everybody," McCourt said. Their 4-year-old daughter Juliana was supposed to stay home with David that day, but at the last moment, his wife changed her mind.
"She turned to me and said, 'David, Juliana belongs with me. I'm taking Juliana with me,'" he said.
Both Juliana and Ruth were on one of the doomed flights that crashed into the towers.
Premonitions: Real or Imaginary?
Could these premonitions be real?
"I think people feel that they experience premonitions," said Dr. Katherine Shear, a psychiatrist and expert on grief at Columbia University. "What we don't know is how often people experience premonitions that actually come true, compared to ones that don't."
But many of the people coming forward say there is no rational explanation for what they went through the terrorist attacks. The morning of 9/11, McEneaney had her first strange experience in her front yard. Still hoping against hope that her husband had survived, McEneaney went outside and yelled, "Eamon where are you?" All of a sudden she said she heard leaves rustling and the branches swaying and "a river of wind" slowly swirled and twirled toward her. It whimsically lifted her skirt and then stopped. She knew at that moment, she said, that her question had been answered. Eamon was gone.
McEneaney said there are so many stories of people who thought they were alone in these eerie experiences until they opened up to each other. Lisa O'Brien and her friend Joanne Kelly bonded over their strange experiences.
O'Brien recalled a ritual she shared with her deceased husband: "He was whistling 'A Penny For Your Thoughts, A Nickel For A Kiss,' and I said, 'Wow, I wonder what a quarter would be.'"
Quarters became the couple's private joke. After he died, O'Brien said she started finding quarters everywhere, and in the strangest of places.
"I would get up out of bed in the middle of the night to check on the kids and I'd come back to bed and there'd be a quarter in my bed," said O'Brien, who is convinced that the coins were a message from beyond the grave.
Kelly was on the phone with her husband when the first plane hit the North Tower. Watching the television, she saw the second plane hit. At that moment, she said, "I couldn't feel him." Much later, she toured the morgue, where medical examiners had been thus far unable to locate her husband's remains. As she stood there, she said, she felt her heart racing. There were eight morgue trucks lined up and Joanne pointed to one and said, "He's in that one." As if on cue, she said, a staff member came into the room and said, "You're never going to believe this. This never, ever happens, never happens, one in a million. We found his remains."
Visits from Beyond?
Even more astonishing are reports of actual sightings. Monica Iken recalled waking up, to see her husband Michael standing at the foot of the bed.
"He was all glowing, and I just sat up, I said, 'Thank you for coming.' As quick as I said that, he left. But he was smiling. He was telling me he was there with me. It was not a dream. He was literally standing there," Monica Iken said.
"These kinds of things tend to happen with people when people lose someone very, very close to them," said Shear, who added that while there are rational explanations, she doesn't totally discount the possibility that the incidents might be something more. "Obviously, there's so many things that we just do not understand."
In the end, McEneaney and the others said they don't mind whether you believe them or not; the messages they have received brought them comfort they deeply needed.
"It's not about death," said McEneaney. "It's about love and hope and loving connections that continue, even after death."


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|Newel is a Scrabble word. Scrabble point value for newel: 8 points.
|Newel is a Words with Friends word. Words with Friends point value for newel: 8 points.
Above are the results of unscrambling newel. Using the word generator and word unscrambler for the letters N E W E L, we unscrambled the letters to create a list of all the words found in Scrabble, Words with Friends, and Text Twist. We found a total of 14 words by unscrambling the letters in newel. Click these words to find out how many points they are worth, their definitions, and all the other words that can be made by unscrambling the letters from these words. If one or more words can be unscrambled with all the letters entered plus one new letter, then they will also be displayed.
1. the central pillar of a circular staircase
|Words that start with newel
|Words that end with newel
|Words that contain newel


text:
Wednesday marks the end of a five-year, $1 billion-plus overhaul to correct problems at the park. The venue, which was supposed to turn the Disneyland Resort into a multiple-day destination like Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., had become a source of embarrassment for the company almost from the moment it opened in 2001. Visitors grumbled that it had little connection to Disney and complained that it seemed built on the cheap.
Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger recently admitted the park had been "a brand eyesore." He told investors the revamp will fix what was "clearly a problem" and lift business across the resort area, which includes Disneyland next door.
Theme parks are more than just fun and games for Disney. Five park locations, including Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong, along with cruise ships and vacation time-shares generated $11.8 billion in fiscal 2011, almost 30 percent of the company's $40.9 billion in annual revenue.
Disney had expected California Adventure would lead people stay in its hotels, extending their stays in Anaheim. Instead, it became a place for adults to get an alcoholic drink, or kids to spend a few hours on generic-themed rides, before going back to Disneyland.
The park's revamp has debuted in spurts since 2008. Most of its new features rely on characters that come from Disney's $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios, the San Francisco-area studio behind "Cars," "Toy Story," "Monsters Inc." and "A Bug's Life."
The park is now "a worthy companion to Disneyland at this point," said Al Lutz, a hard-nosed critic who is editor of the Disney blog called MiceAge. Lutz credits the overhaul with boosting attendance at Disney California Adventure, which is estimated by the Themed Entertainment Association at 6.3 million last year, up about 12 percent from 2007.
Disneyland attendance grew 9 percent over the same period to 16.1 million.
Having multiple parks in the same location gives Disney a way to charge visitors for "park hopper" privileges and to sell more single-day tickets that give access to one park only. The successful formula, started in the six-park goliath in Orlando, has been repeated in Tokyo and Paris as well.
The revamp replaced many California-themed rides with rides that have Disney storylines.
The Mulholland Madness roller coaster, named after an infamous California water baron, is now Goofy's Sky School.
Golden Dreams, an audio history of California, is now an animatronic ride called The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure.
A replica of the Golden Gate Bridge spanning two banks of stores that lined the entranceway has been made over to evoke the Los Angeles neighborhood where founder Walt Disney got his start.
And Cars Land, a 12-acre area based on the Pixar movie "Cars," opens Friday with three new rides and a re-creation of the fictional town of Radiator Springs on Route 66.
Tiny details such as radiator caps on stanchions or references to Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull (a neon sign says "Catmull Oil") give Pixar buffs endless fodder to revel in.
"If you're a little kid and you just want to have that visceral enjoyment ... you'll have that, but if you're a Disney-phile and you really want to get those deep, deep, deep stories, they're here too," said Lisa Girolami, senior show producer of Walt Disney Imagineering, on a recent tour.
Along with encouraging longer stays, the investment helps Disney's image, since the parks are a way millions of people are exposed to the Disney brand every year. Gate prices also rose last month, to $200 for a two-day "park hopper" pass for visitors aged 10 and up, compared to $173 previously.
"When you spend more time in a park, you spend more on drinks and food and souvenirs," said Gene Jeffers, executive director of the Themed Entertainment Association. "The perception of the value you got for that ticket goes up quite dramatically and it helps with repeat visits."
The new touches are part of a wave of investment by Disney in parks and resorts that is expected to top $3 billion in the fiscal year through September, the highest in company history.
Among the recent projects:
-- the Aulani resort in Hawaii opened in August 2011;
-- an expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland opened in November 2011;
-- the Disney Fantasy cruise ship launched in March;
-- the first phase of an expansion of Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla., opened in April.
Disney is also building a new theme park in Shanghai.
In an interview with The Associated Press in March, Iger said that even though the parks and resorts division doesn't make as much in profit as the company's TV properties like ESPN and Disney Channel, they are a link in the Disney ecosystem that connects people back to its characters, movies and shows.
"It's not just about being in the media business. It's about being in the Disney business," he said.
The investment in parks and resorts has hit $10.5 billion since Iger became CEO in October 2005, significantly more than the $8.2 billion predecessor Michael Eisner spent in the last seven years of his tenure.
Over the same time, Disney's stock has nearly doubled from $24.13 to $46.24.
"They've set themselves up for long-term growth in the parks business through these strategic investments," said Tony Wible, an analyst with Janney Capital Markets. "I would have thought it was a pretty mature asset but they're managing to squeeze some real growth out of it."
California Adventure visitors will now enter through a mini version of Buena Vista Street, where Disney set up an animation studio after arriving in 1923. It bears clues to the company founder's roots. A market named "Mortimer's," for instance, bears what might have been the name of Disney's mouse before his wife Lillian came up with "Mickey."
The new Carthay Circle Theatre restaurant pays tribute to the movie premiere of Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1937. It has an upscale decor and high-end dishes like "Cavatelli pasta with a Tuscan-styled braised lamb."
Slightly raised roofs on the street now hide jarring views of the Anaheim skyline.
In Cars Land, the Cadillac Mountain Range with its tail-fin peaks covers up what once were exposed power lines. Other attractions from the movie like Flo's V8 Cafe and the Cozy Cone Motel round out the fantasy.
"They're trying to impress upon you the environment and the immersion," said Lutz. "That's the key."
The land adds three new rides, although that still means California Adventure has around 35 attractions and rides compared to 60 at Disneyland.
Radiator Springs Racers pits riders in a side-by-side race through the mountain range. Luigi's Flying Tires lifts riders off the ground on an air-hockey-like arena, and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree swings riders side to side in a salvage yard "tow-si-do."
Jalynne Tapia, a 32-year-old baker from Modesto, Calif., is one of the many who weren't persuaded to spend a full day in the park before the final makeover. She said her family was a little turned off by the outdoor drinking and cigarette smoke, which is prevalent in a beer garden area by the Pacific Wharf at California Adventure.
By the second day of a three-day trip, her family had only spent a couple hours in the park, compared to more than a full day at Disneyland. She hoped the new Cars Land area would give her 5-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy more to do next time.
"We're willing to try it again next year to see what happens," she said. "They're both `Cars' freaks."
Disney is the parent company of KTRK-TV