Word: mecca
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Jerusalem was central to the spiritual identity of Muslims from the very beginning of their faith. When the Prophet Muhammad first began to preach in Mecca in about 612, according to the earliest biographies, which are our primary source of information about him, he had his converts prostrate themselves in prayer in the direction of Jerusalem. They were symbolically reaching out toward the Jewish and Christian God, whom they were committed to worshipping, and turning their back on the paganism of Arabia. Muhammad never believed that he was founding a new religion that canceled out the previous faiths...
Afghanistan's Taliban has destroyed the two towering statues of Buddha in the Bamiyan Valley [WORLD, March 19]. The assertion of a Taliban leader that "all we are crushing are stones" is amazing. Isn't the holy city of Mecca made of stone too? How would millions of Muslim hajj pilgrims feel if a Buddhist fanatic took revenge by blowing up Mecca's "stone"? As an imperfect Buddhist bound by vows and aspirations, I can only sit calmly through my frustrations and exercise reluctant tolerance. But I do wonder if I haven't given in to a bully yet again...
...college students are your kind of thing, don't look now, but Boston is a college student mecca. Remember those statistics your guidance counselor ran off, about 30 percent of the area's population? About how many of them do you think you have met all holed up in Lamont Library? Whatever you think Harvard lacks--from huge athletic events to presidential debates to enough people to date--the plethora of Boston schools, small and large, provide an opportunity to remedy these shortcomings. The differences in career orientation and academic structure could help you look outside the College's boxes...
...Right now, though, dance is Salovaara's thing and the British club scene his Mecca. In 1999, he set up a label, 16 Inch Records, to produce and release both his own tracks and other artists' work. Present projects include two new singles by Darude for the U.K. market - "They want something special, a little different" - and a new spin for Swedish star Jessica Folker. With only a handful of artists in his portfolio, Salovaara is content to favor musical values over volume. "Darude went so well," he says, "I just want to keep that quality." - By Elinor Shields
Midday is prime time at Fetish Fashion, a masochist's mecca in central Hong Kong, where businessmen take a breather from busy schedules to be spanked, kicked, flogged, sodomized, spat on, stretched on the rack, locked in cages, manacled to crosses, hung upside down in body bags and generally treated like the pigs they are. And they pay big money...