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Tag: Muhammad

  • Jerusalem Riot Disbanded by Israeli Police

    Israeli police mobilized at a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem Wednesday, employing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a riotous protest formed by Palestinian Muslims, who were attempting to block Jews from entering the compound.

    Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the unruly mob threw stones and firecrackers from atop the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. To Muslims, The Temple Mount is known as the “Noble Sanctuary” and is regarded as Islam’s third-holiest site. Israel captured the compound along with the rest of east Jerusalem from Jordan during a 1967 war, and skirmishes still occur at the site.

    Jews typically worship at the Western Wall, and while Israel allows them to climb the Temple Mount for visits, they aren’t permitted to pray at the site. The riot started when some Islamic worshippers barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque to “defend” the site from Jewish groups, according to Sheikh Azzam Tamimi, head of the Waqf, the Islamic authority that manages the Temple Mount. Jewish pilgrimages at times foster rumors that Israel is planning to take over the site.

    Here is some raw footage of the situation in Jerusalem as it escalated:

    Tamimi commented that roughly 30 people suffered from tear gas inhalation or had been hit by rubber-coated bullets, though none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

    Jews historically gather at the Western Wall during the Passover holiday, and police restricted access to the adjacent Temple Mount after Wednesday’s clash. Jews see the compound as the site where the two biblical Jewish Temples stood, and believe that one day a third Temple will be constructed. Muslims on the other hand believe that the golden dome of the shrine, called Dome of the Rock, holds the rock where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. The site has been the center of religious and territorial conflict between Israel and its surrounding Arab neighbors.

    Tensions in the area had already been rising due to the recent shooting of an Israeli police officer who was en route to celebrate the Passover holiday with his family in the West Bank.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Nelson Mandela, A Former Boxer And Fan of the Science

    With the passing of the great Nelson Mandela, the world is grieving and searching for any small tidbit about him that might give some significant insight into his life.

    Nelson Mandela, who died December 5th in his home in Johannesburg, will be remembered as a great leader of peace, his presidency and so much more.

    But Mandela had many other interests that you won’t find in his obituary.

    His ties to Rugby were well noted in the imaginative way he helped to unite his country via the South African team, the Springboks. The event was stunningly portrayed in the Clint Eastwood directed film Invictus, where Mandela was portrayed by the actor, Morgan Freeman.

    But, many may not know that Mandela was a boxer during his long stint in that apartheid prison in which he spent 27 years of his life. He used boxing, and other sports to keep himself fit, and as he put it – in his autobiography – The Long Walk to Freedom, “Boxing is egalitarian. In the ring, rank, age, color, and wealth are irrelevant… I found the rigorous exercise to be an excellent outlet for tension and stress… It was a way of losing myself in something that was not the struggle. After an evening’s workout I would wake up the next morning feeling strong and refreshed, ready to take up the fight again.”

    He also commented on boxing, saying “I did not enjoy the violence of boxing so much as the science of it. I was intrigued by how one moved one’s body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat, how one paced oneself over a match.“

    He had a special affect on one of the greatest boxers of all time, Muhammad Ali – who said about Mandela, “What I will remember most about Mr. Mandela is that he was a man whose heart, soul and spirit could not be contained or restrained by racial and economic injustices, metal bars or the burden of hate and revenge. He taught us forgiveness on a grand scale.

    “He inspired others to reach for what appeared to be impossible and moved them to break through the barriers that held them hostage mentally, physically, socially and economically. He made us realize, we are our brother’s keeper and that our brothers come in all colors.”

    HBO – during Saturday night’s Boxing After Dark tripleheader telecast from Atlantic City will replay clips of a 2001 interview with former South African President Nelson Mandela. The interviewer was Larry Merchant from Mandela’s home in Mozambique, the two discussed the icon’s involvement with and appreciation of boxing.

    Image via YouTube