Live data from Hacker News

Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

news.ycombinator.com

181–190 of 371 posts

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#181
post #80

Another note, one of the main ideas of Ramadan is to experience the struggle of the poor, who can't find food to eat. > its purpose being to cleanse the soul by freeing it from harmful impurities. Muslims believe that Ramadan teaches them to practice self-discipline, self-control,[65] sacrifice, and empathy for those who are less fortunate, thus encouraging actions of generosity and compulsory charity (zakat).[66] ht…

Hate to be that guy, but that's not at all what Islam says about why fasting was prescribed, and it's actually super clear about the purpose. I mean this is pretty basic, so I don't know why I keep hearing that same old line. "O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may develop God-consciousness." https://quran.com/2/183

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#182

I was unaware until this year that it was based on when the moon was _sighted_, not just on a conventional lunar calendar. This leads to very short notice public holidays in a couple of countries AIUI.

This leads to issues in e.g. Norilsk where it is polar summer during important Islam dates and you can often not see the moon at all.

Isn't the decision coming from the "muslim authority" (sorry I don't know the terms) located in the mecca anyway?

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#183
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment proves what I'm saying. It's obviously name-calling to refer to people's beliefs as nutty-crazy-idiotic. In fact the latter word is the canonical example the HN guidelines give for this: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . Thanks for the interesting etymology!

Dang, respectfully, you should ask him what he means by it because I honestly read it differently. I think he is calling the well wishing weird/phony as most people here are irreligious / not muslims / haven't had a clue about Eid Mubarak until yesterday. Anyway, I can't be sure either but my point is it absolutely would not have occurred to me until you said it. Caveat: English is not my first language but obviously…

We have to moderate by effects, not intent (which often we can't know); moreover we have to moderate by effects based on past experience. In terms of effects based on past experience I promise you that referring to religion this way is the sort of thing that leads to flamewars. It is not a close call.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#184
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's going too far to interpret this as "tangent to proselytism". People can wish each other well without coming close to that. The occasional celebratory post is fine on HN. If it were to become repetitive, it would get tedious quickly and we would downweight such posts in keeping with standard practice (see [1] and [2] about that). [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... [2] https://hn.a…

Humbly suggest that HN converts these types of temporal event posts into megathreads a la reddit so there is one root to the discussion, and down-weights one line replies that are simply repeating the sentiment of the original poster ('happy X to you too', etc). Don't know if that is possible of course. I think the HN readership would welcome a way to use a post to explore cultural aspects, ask respectful questions,…

I agree that they can add up to a lot of noise but at the same time their spirit is nice enough that it feels churlish to try to negate them. In cases like this we usually go by what pg wrote 15 years ago:

Empty comments can be ok if they're positive. There's nothing wrong with submitting a comment saying just "Thanks." What we especially discourage are comments that are empty and negative—comments that are mere name-calling.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a shame that it didn't lead them to stop smoking

People underappreciate how addictive nicotine is. I've been an addict for 15 years and I quit so many times, sometimes for longer than a year. The new smoking inventions only make it worse because they allow for much much higher dosages. I've seen teens smoking what amounts to 10 packs a day worth of nicotine. And they didn't have to chain smoke for 12 hours to achieve that.

What new smoking inventions? Genuinely interested.

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#187
Every time Ramzan rolls out, we here in Pakistan have squabbles over eye-witness evidence of moon sightings and thus start (and stop) of the holy month. We will be celebrating Eid on Saturday but some celebrated today following Saudi Arabia. It's an annual tradition of confusion.

Also, this: https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/567790-intent-law

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#188
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This leads to issues in e.g. Norilsk where it is polar summer during important Islam dates and you can often not see the moon at all.

Isn't the decision coming from the "muslim authority" (sorry I don't know the terms) located in the mecca anyway?

That's the other Eid,[1] which is related to the islamic pilgrim which occurs in Mecca mainly

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#189
post #80

Another note, one of the main ideas of Ramadan is to experience the struggle of the poor, who can't find food to eat. > its purpose being to cleanse the soul by freeing it from harmful impurities. Muslims believe that Ramadan teaches them to practice self-discipline, self-control,[65] sacrifice, and empathy for those who are less fortunate, thus encouraging actions of generosity and compulsory charity (zakat).[66] ht…

Hate to be that guy, but that's not at all what Islam says about why fasting was prescribed, and it's actually super clear about the purpose. I mean this is pretty basic, so I don't know why I keep hearing that same old line. "O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may develop God-consciousness." https://quran.com/2/183

There are multiple interpretations for this, tqawa can include helping the poor.

(In Arabic) https://islamqa.info/ar/answers/232635/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8...

Re: Tell HN: Eid Mubarak

#190
post #175
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like you're coming at this from a similar standpoint to one of the other major religions which I would rather not mention as I don't want to start a religious war here. In Islam you're not hated or judged for what you call your true feelings. You are however instructed to gain mastery over those feelings and make them subordinate to you rather than the other way around. Fasting is one of the things that c…

> you aren't cursed for having those desires, but for acting upon them That sounds exactly as repressive and hateful that other major religion, as well as historical laws which punished homosexual acts in many western countries. You have highlighted the difference between our desires and our behavior, but you seem to deliberately avoid acknowledging that straight people are permitted an institution in which their des…

Islam pretty much is a framework for how you deal with God and for how your life here and hereafter will be according to that relationship. That's all it is.

You also acknowledge that even straight people have constraints in Islam, i.e. no sleeping around etc, why not also argue that it's somehow terrible that straight people have to repress their desire to fornicate?

"You're invited to participate in our faith so long as you turn your focus away from your base desires and towards God and the hereafter"

You're insinuating that you're being targeted or singled out whereas Islam "blanket-bans" entire categories of what are considered regressive behaviours such as overeating, you're not being targeted here, so can you stop with the victim complex please? Islam is as against environmental destruction, abuse of animals or overeating as much as it is against what it sees as wrongful sexual desire. What I feel like is being missed for the trees here is that the "holisticness" of Islam. It's against what it sees as destructive behavior, without prejudicing or singling out any specific group. Look at the higher purpose here.

Post reply on HN