Eid al Adha, Eid Mubarak!

The history behind Eid-ul-Adha follows the story of the faithful Abraham, who was instructed by Allah in a dream to raise the foundations of Kaaba, a black stone, the most sacred Muslim shrine in Mecca (Saudi Arabia), which the Muslims face during their prayers (salat). Immediately responding to the Lord’s call, Abraham set off for Mecca along with his wife and son, Ishmael. At that time, Mecca was a desolate and barren desert and Abraham had to face a lot of hardships. However, he supplicated Allah’s commands uncomplaining. In a divine dream, he also saw himself sacrificing his son Ishmael for Allah’s sake. When he told this to Ishmael, the latter immediately asked his father to carry out Lord’s commands without faltering and assured that he was completely ready to give up his life for God. But miraculously enough, when Abraham was about to sacrifice Ishmael, Allah spared the boy’s life and replaced him with a lamb. And this is what Abraham ultimately sacrificed.

To commemorate this outstanding act of sacrifice (qurbani) by Prophet Abraham, people sacrifice a lamb, goat, ram or other animal on Eid-ul-Adha and give the meat to friends, neighbors, relatives and the needy. Hence Eid-ul-Adha is also known as the Feast of Sacrifice or, in rare cases Kill the Sheep.

Eid ul-Adha is four days long starting the day after the pilgrims in hajj (annual pilgrimage to mecca by Muslims world wide) descend from mount Arafat.

Amr Diab goes the limit to protect his music

Egyptian pop star Amr Diab is using a new strategy to protect his music from internet piracy. The singer completed recording the songs for his new album "Khalik Ma'aya" (Stay with me) all at once, and made sure that the recording studio was well protected.

Amr aims to release the album on New Year’s Eve, December 31 in Dubai’s Media City, a tradition of Amr. “Khaleek Ma’aya” is also the title of the main song, along with expected hits “Kalatli Akool” (She told me to say) and “Dahikat” (She Smiled), composed by Amr. The album will be Amr’s last to be produced by ‘Rotana,’ according to his contract. Amr has signed with an Egyptian company ‘Good News for Music,’ owned by Imad Adeeb. The new contract states that the company will produce three albums for Amr in addition to films.
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Did you get your tickets yet?

Tickets are on sale now for the January concert in Dubai. Have you got yours yet??? Add a post to let us know and tell us where you're travelling from! It's supposed to be quite the international event!

Awards for Sale?

Back from the World Music Awards in London, Elissa isn't enjoying the spoils of her victory. She won the award for highest sales in the Middle East but she sure isn't feeling high. She was faced with a swarm of press accusing her of buying the award and not earning it. She was so upset with the accusations she couldn't hide her emotions and lashed out at the press.
The allegations arouse from Hussein Al Jasmi who said that the award was offered to him first for a large sum of money which he turned down. And as you can expect, the press naturally pointed the finger at poor little Elissa who had no comment. I wonder!

Now that they should mention it, I guess there are a number of other artists out there who might rightfully deserve the award more. Nancy Ajram is who first comes to my mind in addition to Fadil Shakir, Amr Diab and others. Do you think that Elissa actually does deserve it and won in all fairness or do you think someone else deserves it more?" Link