Al-Aqsa Mosque | History and definisition of Al-Aqsa Mosque | architect Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. The site which includes the mosque (along with the Dome of the Rock), also referred to as al-Haram ash-Sharif or "Noble Sanctuary," is the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, the place where the Temple is generally accepted to have stood. Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after the emigration, when God directed him to turn towards the Ka'aba.

The al-Aqsa Mosque was originally a small prayer house built by the Rashidun caliph Umar, but was rebuilt and expanded by the Ummayad caliph Abd al-Malik and finished by his son al-Walid in 705 CE. After an earthquake in 746, the mosque was completely destroyed and rebuilt by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in 754, and again rebuilt by his successor al-Mahdi in 780. Another earthquake destroyed most of al-Aqsa in 1033, but two years later the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir built another mosque which has stood to the present-day. During the periodic renovations undertaken, the various ruling dynasties of the Islamic Caliphate constructed additions to the mosque and its precincts, such as its dome, facade, its minbar, minarets and the interior structure. When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they used the mosque as a palace and church, but its function as a mosque was restored after its recapture by Saladin. More renovations, repairs and additions were undertaken in the later centuries by the Ayyubids, Mamluks, Ottomans, the Supreme Muslim Council, and Jordan. Today, the Old City is under Israeli control, but the mosque remains under the administration of the Palestinian-led Islamic waqf.

Masjid al-Aqsa translates from Arabic into English as "the farthest mosque." Its name refers to a chapter of the Qur'an called "The Night Journey" in which it is said that Muhammad traveled from Mecca to "the farthest mosque," and then up to Heaven on a heavenly creature called al-Buraq al-Sharif. For centuries, al-Masjid al-Aqsa referred not only to the mosque, but to the entire sacred sanctuary. This changed during the period of Ottoman rule (c. early 16th-century to 1918) when the sanctuary complex came to be known as al-Haram ash-Sharif, and the mosque founded by Umar came to be known as al-Jami' al-Aqsa or al-Aqsa Mosque.

The al-Aqsa Mosque is located in the Temple Mount, referred to by Muslims as the "Haram al-Sharif" ("The Noble Sanctuary"), an enclosure expanded by King Herod the Great beginning in 20 BCE. Residing on an artificial platform, the mosque is supported by arches constructed by Herod's engineers to overcome the difficult topographic conditions resulting from the southward expansion of the enclosure into the Tyropoeon and Kidron valleys. At the time of the Second Temple, the present site of the mosque was occupied by the Royal Stoa, a basilica running the southern wall of the enclosure. The Royal Stoa was destroyed along with the Temple during the sacking of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. Emperor Justinian built a Christian church on the site in the 530s which was consecrated to the Virgin Mary and named "Church of Our Lady." The church was later destroyed by Khosrau II, the Sassanid emperor, in the early 7th-century and left in ruins.

Analysis of the wooden beams and panels removed from the building during renovations in the 1930s shows they are made from Cedar of Lebanon and cypress. Radiocarbon dating indicates a large range of ages, some as old as 9th-century BCE, showing that some of the wood had previously been used in older buildings.

It is unknown exactly when the al-Aqsa Mosque was first constructed and who ordered its construction, but it is certain that it was built in the early Ummayad period of rule in Palestine. Architectural historian K. A. C. Creswell, referring to a testimony by Arculf, a Gallic monk, during his pilgrimage to Palestine in 679–82, notes the possibility that the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, Umar ibn al-Khattab, erected a primitive quadrangular building for a capacity of 3,000 worshipers somewhere on the Haram ash-Sharif. However, Arculf visited Palestine during the reign of Mu'awiyah I, and it is possible that Mu'awiyah ordered the construction, not Umar. This latter claim is explicitly supported by the early Muslim scholar al-Muthahhar bin Tahir.

According to several Muslim scholars, including Mujir ad-Din, al-Suyuti, and al-Muqaddasi, the mosque was reconstructed and expanded by the caliph Abd al-Malik in 690 along with the Dome of the Rock. Guy le Strange claims that Abd al-Malik used materials from the destroyed Church of Our Lady to build the mosque and points to possible evidence that substructures on the southeast corners of the mosque are remains of the church. In planning his magnificent project on the Temple Mount, which in effect would turn the entire complex into the Haram al-Sharif ("the Noble Sanctuary"), Abd al-Malik wanted to replace the slipshod structure described by Arculf with a more sheltered structure enclosing the qibla, a necessary element in his grand scheme. However, the entire Haram al-Sharif was meant to represent a mosque. How much he modified the aspect of the earlier building is unknown, but the length of the new building is indicated by the existence of traces of a bridge leading from the Umayyad palace just south of the western part of the complex. The bridge would have spanned the street running just outside the southern wall of the Haram al-Sharif to give direct access to the mosque. Direct access from palace to mosque was a well-known feature in the Umayyad period, as evidenced at various early sites. Abd al-Malik shifted the central axis of the mosque some 40 metres (130 ft) westward, in accord with his overall plan for the Haram al-Sharif. The earlier axis is represented in the structure by the niche still known as the "mihrab of 'Umar." In placing emphasis on the Dome of the Rock, Abd al-Malik had his architects align his new al-Aqsa Mosque according to the position of the Rock, thus shifting the main north–south axis of the Noble Sanctuary, a line running through the Dome of the Chain and the Mihrab of Umar.

In contrast, Creswell, while referring to the Aphrodito Papyri, claims that Abd al-Malik's son, al-Walid I, reconstructed the Aqsa Mosque over a period of six months to a year, using workers from Damascus. Most scholars agree that the mosque's reconstruction was started by Abd al-Malik, but that al-Walid oversaw its completion. In 713–14, a series of earthquakes ravaged Jerusalem, destroying the eastern section of the mosque, which was subsequently rebuilt during al-Walid's rule. In order to finance its reconstruction, al-Walid had gold from the dome of the Rock minted to use as money to purchase the material. The Umayyad-built al-Aqsa Mosque most likely measured 112 x 39 meters.

In 746, the al-Aqsa Mosque was damaged in an earthquake, four years before as-Saffah overthrew the Ummayads and established the Abbasid Caliphate. The second Abbasid caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur declared his intent to repair the mosque in 753, and he had the gold and silver plaques that covered the gates of the mosque removed and turned into dinars and dirhams to finance the reconstruction which ended in 771. A second earthquake damaged most of al-Mansur's repairs, excluding those made in the southern portion in 774. In 780, the successor caliph Muhammad al-Mahdi had it rebuilt, but curtailed its length and increased its breadth. Al-Mahdi's renovation is the first known to have written records describing it. In 985, Jerusalem-born Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi recorded that the renovated mosque had "fifteen naves and fifteen gates".

In 1033, there was another earthquake, severely damaging the mosque. The Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir rebuilt and completely renovated the mosque between 1034 and 1036. The number of naves was drastically reduced from fifteen to seven. Az-Zahir built the four arcades of the central hall and aisle, which presently serve as the foundation of the mosque. The central aisle was double the width of the other aisles and had a large gable roof upon which the dome—made of wood—was constructed. Persian geographer, Nasir Khusraw describes the Aqsa Mosque during a visit in 1047:

The Haram Area (Noble Sanctuary) lies in the eastern part of the city; and through the bazaar of this (quarter) you enter the Area by a great and beautiful gateway (Dargah)... After passing this gateway, you have on the right two great colonnades (Riwaq), each of which has nine-and-twenty marble pillars, whose capitals and bases are of colored marbles, and the joints are set in lead. Above the pillars rise arches, that are constructed, of masonry, without mortar or cement, and each arch is constructed of no more than five or six blocks of stone. These colonnades lead down to near the Maqsurah.

Jerusalem was captured by the Crusaders in 1099, during the First Crusade. Instead of destroying the mosque—which they called "Solomon's Temple"—the Crusaders used it as a royal palace and as a stable for horses. In 1119, it was transformed into the headquarters for the Templar Knights. During this period, the mosque underwent some structural changes, including the expansion of its northern porch, and the addition of an apse and a dividing wall. A new cloister and church were also built at the site, along with various other structures. The Templars constructed vaulted western and eastern annexes to the building; the western currently serves as the women's mosque and the eastern as the Islamic Museum.

After the Ayyubids under the leadership of Saladin reconquered Jerusalem following the siege of 1187, several repairs were undertaken at al-Aqsa Mosque. Saladin's predecessor—the Zengid sultan Nur al-Din—had commissioned the construction of a new minbar or "pulpit" made of ivory and wood in 1168–69, but it was completed after his death; Nur ad-Din's minbar was added to the mosque in November 1187 by Saladin. The Ayyubid sultan of Damascus, al-Mu'azzam, built the northern porch of the mosque with three gates in 1218. In 1345, the Mamluks under al-Kamil Shaban added two naves and two gates to the mosque's eastern side.

After the Ottomans assumed power in 1517, they did not undertake any major renovations or repairs to the mosque itself, but they did to the Noble Sanctuary as a whole. This included the building of the Fountain of Qasim Pasha (1527), the restoration of the Pool of Raranj, and the building of three free-standing domes—the most notable being the Dome of the Prophet built in 1538. All construction was ordered by the Ottoman governors of Jerusalem and not the sultans themselves. The sultans did make additions to existing minarets, however.

The first renovation in the 20th-century occurred in 1922, when the Supreme Muslim Council under Amin al-Husayni (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) commissioned Turkish architect Ahmet Kemalettin Bey to restore al-Aqsa Mosque and the monuments in its precincts. The council also commissioned British architects, Egyptian engineering experts and local officials to contribute to and oversee the repairs and additions which were carried out in 1924–25 by Kemalettin. The renovations included reinforcing the mosque's ancient Ummayad foundations, rectifying the interior columns, replacing the beams, erecting a scaffolding, conserving the arches and drum of the main dome's interior, rebuilding the southern wall, and replacing timber in the central nave with a slab of concrete. The renovations also revealed Fatimid-era mosaics and inscriptions on the interior arches that had been covered with plasterwork. The arches were decorated with gold and green-tinted gypsum and their timber tie beams were replaced with brass. A quarter of the stained glass windows also were carefully renewed so as to preserve their original Abbasid and Fatimid designs. Severe damage was caused by the 1927 and 1937 earthquakes, but the mosque was repaired in 1938 and 1942.

On August 21, 1969, a fire occurred inside al-Aqsa Mosque that gutted the southeastern wing of the mosque. Among other things, the fire destroyed Saladin's minbar. Initially, Palestinians blamed the Israeli authorities for the fire, and some Israelis blamed Fatah, alleging they had started the fire so as to blame the Israelis and provoke hostility. However, the fire was started by neither Fatah nor Israel, but a tourist from Australia named Denis Michael Rohan. Rohan was a member of an evangelical Christian sect known as the Worldwide Church of God. He hoped that by burning down al-Aqsa Mosque he would hasten the Second Coming of Jesus, making way for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. Rohan was subsequently hospitalized in a mental institution. In response to the incident, a summit of Islamic countries was held in Rabat that same year, hosted by Faisal I, the late king of Saudi Arabia. The al-Aqsa fire is regarded as one of the catalysts for the formation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1972.

In the 1980s, Ben Shoshan and Yehuda Etzion, both members of the Gush Emunim Underground, plotted to blow up the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Etzion believed that blowing up the two mosques would cause a spiritual awakening in Israel, and would solve all the problems of the Jewish people. They also hoped the Third Temple of Jerusalem would be built on the location of the mosque. On January 15, 1988, during the First Intifada, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters outside the mosque, wounding 40 worshipers. On October 8, 1990, 22 Palestinians were killed and over 100 others injured by Israeli Border Police during protests that were triggered by the announcement of the Temple Mount Faithful, a fringe group of religious Jews, that they were going to lay the cornerstone of the Third Temple.

On September 28, 2000, then-Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon and members of the Likud Party, along with 1,000 armed guards, visited the al-Aqsa compound; a large group of Palestinians went to protest the visit. After Sharon and the Likud Party members left, a demonstration erupted and Palestinians on the grounds of the Haram al-Sharif began throwing stones and other projectiles at Israeli riot police. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd, injuring 24 people. The visit sparked a five-year uprising by the Palestinians, commonly referred to as the al-Aqsa Intifada. On September 29, the Israeli government deployed 2,000 riot police to the mosque. When a group of Palestinians left the mosque after Friday prayers (Jumu'ah,) they hurled stones at the police. The police then stormed the mosque compound, firing both live ammunition and rubber bullets at the group of Palestinians, killing four and wounding about 200.

The rectangular al-Aqsa Mosque and its precincts are 144,000 square metres (1,550,000 sq ft), although the mosque itself is about 35,000 square metres (380,000 sq ft) and could hold up to 5,000 worshipers. It is 272 feet (83 m) long, 184 feet (56 m) wide.

Unlike the Dome of the Rock, which reflects classical Byzantine architecture, the dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is characteristic of early Islamic architecture. Nothing remains of the original dome built by Abd al-Malik. The present-day dome was built by az-Zahir and consists of wood plated with lead enamelwork. In 1969, the dome was reconstructed in concrete and covered with anodized aluminum instead of the original ribbed lead enamel work sheeting. In 1983, the aluminum outer covering was replaced with lead to match the original design by az-Zahir.

Al-Aqsa's dome is one of the few domes to be built in front of the mihrab during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, the others being the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus (715) and the Great Mosque at Sousse (850). The interior of the dome is painted with 14th-century-era decorations. During the 1969 burning, the paintings were assumed to be irreparably lost, but were completely reconstructed using the trateggio technique, a method that uses fine vertical lines to distinguish reconstructed areas from original ones.

The mosque has four minarets on the southern, northern and western sides. The first minaret, known as al-Fakhariyya Minaret, was built in 1278 on the southwestern corner of the mosque, on the orders of the Mamluk sultan Lajin. The minaret was built in the traditional Syrian style, with the base and shaft square and divided by moldings into three floors above which two lines of muqarnas decorate the muezzin's balcony. The niche is surrounded by a square chamber that ends in a lead-covered stone dome.

The second, known as the Ghawanima minaret, was built at the northwestern corner of the Noble Sanctuary in 1297–98 by architect Qadi Sharaf al-Din al-Khalili, also on the orders of the Sultan Lajin. Thirty-seven meters in height, it is almost entirely made of stone, apart from a timber canopy over the muezzin's balcony. Because of its firm structure, the Ghawanima minaret has been nearly untouched by earthquakes. The minaret is divided into several stories by stone molding and stalactite galleries. The first two stories are wider and form the base of the tower. The additional four stories are surmounted by a cylindrical drum and a bulbous dome. The stairway is externally located on the first two floors, but becomes an internal spiral structure from the third floor until it reaches the muezzin's balcony.

In 1329, Tankiz—the Mamluk governor of Syria—ordered the construction of a third minaret called the Bab al-Silsila Minaret located on the western border of the al-Aqsa Mosque. This minaret, possibly replacing an earlier Umayyad minaret, is built in the traditional Syrian square tower type and is made entirely out of stone. It is an old Muslim tradition that the best muezzin ("reciter") of the adhan (the call to prayer), is assigned to this minaret because the first call to each of the five daily prayers is raised from it.

The last and most notable minaret was built in 1367, and is known as Minarat al-Asbat. It is composed of a cylindrical stone shaft (built later by the Ottomans), which springs up from a rectangular Mamluk-built base on top of a triangular transition zone. The shaft narrows above the muezzin's balcony, and is dotted with circular windows, ending with a bulbous dome. The dome was reconstructed after the Jordan Valley earthquake of 1927.

There are no minarets in the eastern portion of the mosque because historically there were very few inhabitants on that side and so there was little reason to have an additional minaret to call Muslims to prayer. However, in 2006, King Abdullah II of Jordan announced his intention to build a fifth minaret overlooking the Mount of Olives. The King Hussein Minaret is planned to be the tallest structure in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The facade of the mosque was built in 1065 CE on the instructions of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir. It was crowned with a balustrade consisting of arcades and small columns. The Crusaders damaged the facade during their era of rule in Palestine, but it was restored and renovated by the Ayyubids. One addition was the facade's covering with tiles. The second-hand material of the facade's arches includes sculpted ornamental material from taken from Crusader structures in Jerusalem. There are fourteen stone arches along the facade, most of which are of a Romanesque style. The outer arches added by the Mamluks follow the same general design. The entrance to the mosque is through the facade's central arch.

The porch is located at the top of the facade. The central bays of the porch were built by the Knights Templar during the First Crusade, but Saladin's nephew al-Mu'azzam ordered the construction of the porch itself in 1217.

The al-Aqsa Mosque has seven aisles of hypostyle naves with several additional small halls to the west and east of the southern section of the building. There are 121 stained glass windows in the mosque from the Abbasid and Fatimid eras. About a fourth of them were restored in 1924.

The mosque's interior is supported by 45 columns, 33 of which are white marble and 12 of stone. The column rows of the central aisles are heavy and stunted, having a circumference of 9 inches (23 cm) by 3 inches (7.6 cm) and a height of 16 inches (41 cm) by 5 inches (13 cm). The remaining four rows are better proportioned. The capitals of the columns are of four different kinds: those in the central aisle are heavy and primitively designed, while those under the dome are of the Corinthian order, and made from Italian white marble. The capitals in the eastern aisle are of a heavy basket-shaped design and those east and west of the dome are also basket-shaped, but smaller and better proportioned. The columns and piers are connected by an architectural rave, which consists of beams of roughly squared timber enclosed in a wooden casing.

A great portion of the mosque is covered with whitewash, but the drum of the dome and the walls immediately beneath it are decorated with mosaics and marble. Some wretched paintings by an Italian artist were introduced when repairs were undertaken at the mosque after an earthquake ravaged the mosque in 1927. The ceiling of the mosque was painted with funding by King Farouk of Egypt.

The minbar ("pulpit") of the mosque was built by a craftsman named Akhtarini from Aleppo on the orders of the Zengid sultan Nur ad-Din. It was intended to be a gift for the mosque when Nur ad-Din would liberate Jerusalem and took six years to build (1168–74). Nur ad-Din died and the Crusaders held control of Jerusalem, but in 1187, Saladin captured the city and the minbar was installed. The structure was made of ivory and carefully crafted wood. Arabic calligraphy, geometrical and floral designs were inscribed in the woodwork. After its destruction by Rohan in 1969, it was replaced by a much simpler minbar. In January 2007, Adnan al-Husayni—head of the Islamic waqf in charge of al-Aqsa—stated that a new minbar would be installed; it was installed in February 2007. The design of the new minbar was drawn by Jamil Badran based on an exact replica of the Saladin Minbar and was finished by Badran within a period of five years. The minbar itself was built in Jordan over a period of four years and the craftsmen used "ancient woodworking methods, joining the pieces with pegs instead of nails, but employed computer images to design the pulpit [minbar]."

Culture | Understanding and definition of Culture | The changes of culture

Culture or cultures derived from the Sanskrit namely buddhayah, which is the plural form of buddhi (mind or intellect), defined as matters relating to the mind and human reason. In English, the culture is called culture, which comes from the Latin word Colere, namely processing or working. Can be interpreted also as cultivate the land or farming. The word culture is also sometimes translated as "culture" in Indonesian.

Culture is a way of life that developed and owned jointly by a group of people and passed down from generation to generation. Culture is made up of many complex elements, including religion and political systems, customs, languages, tools, clothing, buildings, and artwork. Language, as well as culture, an integral part of the human self so that many people tend to see them passed on genetically. When someone tries to communicate with people who berbada culture and adjust their differences, proving that culture is learned.

Culture is a holistic lifestyle. culture is complex, abstract, and broad. Many cultural aspects contribute to determine the communicative behaviors. The elements of this socio-cultural spread and cover a lot of human social activities.

Some reasons why people experience difficulties when communicating with people from other cultures is seen in the definition of culture: Culture is a complex device dipolarisasikan values ​​by an image that contains the views of its merits alone. "The image that forces" that takes different forms in various cultures such as "crude individualism" in America, "individual harmony with nature" d Japan and "collective compliance" in China. Brsifat cultural image force is equipping its members with guidelines on proper behavior and set a world of meaning and logical values ​​that can be borrowed by its members the most humble to gain a sense of dignity and affinity with their lives.

Thus, budayalah which provides a coherent framework for organizing one's activities and enable it predict the behavior of others.

Culture is closely connected to the community. Melville J. Herskovits and Bronislaw Malinowski argued that everything contained in this society is determined by culture which is owned by the community itself. The term for it is the opinion of the Cultural-Determinism.

Herskovits view culture as something handed down from one generation to another, who then referred to as superorganic. According to Andreas Eppink, cultures containing whole notion of social values, social norms, knowledge and overall social structures, religious, etc., again all the extra intellectual and artistic statement that characterizes a society.

According to Edward Burnett Tylor, culture is a complex whole, which it contains knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, customs, and other skills gained a person as a member of the community.

According Selo Soemardjan and Soelaiman Soemardi, culture is the means of work, taste, and the copyright community.

From the various definitions, we can obtain an understanding of culture is something that will affect the level of knowledge and cover the system of ideas or the ideas contained in the human mind, so that in everyday life, the culture is abstract. While the embodiment of culture are the objects created by humans as being a civilized form of behavior and things that are tangible, such as behavioral patterns, language, equipment life, social organization, religion, art, etc., which all intended to help sustain the lives of human beings in society.

There are some experts who express opinions about the components or elements of culture, among others, as follows:

Melville J. Herskovits mentions culture has 4 main elements, namely:

• Technology tools
• Economic systems
• Family
• Political power

Bronislaw Malinowski says there are 4 main elements include:

1. System of social norms that enable collaboration between members of society to adjust to the natural surroundings
2. Economic organization
3. Tools and agencies or officers for education (the family is the primary educational institution)
4. Organizational power of (political)

Technology related to the ways or techniques to produce, use, and maintain all equipment and supplies. Technology emerged in the ways humans organize society, in ways that express beauty, or in producing artistic results.

Small communities to move or rural communities that live from farming at least know the eight kinds of traditional technology (also called equipment systems and elements of physical culture), namely:

1. Productive tools
2. Weapons
3. Container
4. The means of fire
5. Food
6. Clothing
7. Shelter and housing
8. The means of transportation

Livelihood systems

Attention of scientists in this livelihood system focused on the problems of traditional livelihoods alone, among them:

1. Hunting and gathering
2. Farming
3. Grow crops in fields
4. Fishing

Kinship system is a very important part in the social structure. Meyer Fortes argued that the kinship system of a society can be used to describe the social structure of the society concerned. Kinship is a social unit consisting of several families who have blood ties or marriage relationship. Members of kinship consists of father, mother, son, daughter, grandson, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, grandfather, grandmother and so on. In the study of sociology, anthropology, there is some kind of kinship groups whose numbers are relatively small to large as ambilineal family, clan, fatri, and half of the community. In the general population we also know the other kinship groups such as the nuclear family, extended family, family bilateral, and unilateral family.

Meanwhile, social organization is a social club formed by society, whether incorporated or not incorporated, which serves as a means of community participation in nation building and state. As beings who have always lived together, the human form of social organization to achieve certain goals that they can not accomplish alone.

Language is a tool or a human embodiment of a culture that is used to communicate or relate to each other, either through written, oral, or motion (sign language), with the aim of delivering heart intent or willingness to his interlocutors or others. Through language, humans can adapt to the customs, behavior, etiquette of society, and also easy to confuse him with all forms of society.

Language has several functions that can be divided into common functions and special functions. The function of language in general is as a tool for expression, communication, and tools to make integration and social adaptation. While the function of language in particular is to hold a relationship in daily life, realizing the arts (literature), studying ancient texts, and to exploit science and technology.

Art refers to the value of beauty (aesthetics) derived from the human desire for beauty of expression enjoyed by the eyes or ears. As a creature that has a high taste, humans produce various shades of art ranging from the simple to the complex art embodiment.

There are times when knowledge, understanding, and human physical endurance to master and uncover the secrets of nature is very limited. Taken together, emerging belief in the supreme ruler of the universe, which also controls the humans as one part of the universe. Accordingly, both individual and communal life, human beings can not be separated from religion or belief system to the ruler of the universe.

Religions usually have a principle, such as "10 Word" in Christianity or the "5 pillars of Islam" in Islam. Sometimes religion involved in the government system, such as the theocratic system. Religion also influences arts.

Simply put, knowledge is everything known to man about the objects, the nature, circumstances, and expectations. Knowledge is owned by all ethnic groups in the world. They acquire knowledge through experience, intuition, revelation, and think according to the logic, or experiments that are empirical (trial and error).

Knowledge systems are grouped into:

1. Knowledge about nature
2. Knowledge of plants and animals in the surrounding
3. Knowledge of the human body, knowledge of nature and fellow human behavior
4. Knowledge of space and time

Socio-cultural changes are a symptom of the changing social structure and cultural patterns within a society. Socio-cultural changes is a general phenomenon that happens all the time in every society. Changes that occur in accordance with nature and human nature that always wants to make a change. Hirschman says that boredom is the cause of the real man of change.

There are three factors that can affect social change:

1. Pressure of work in society
2. The effectiveness of communication
3. Changes in the natural environment.

Cultural change can also arise due to the emergence of environmental change society, new discoveries, and contacts with other cultures. For example, the end of the ice age led to the discovery of farming systems, and then provoke other new innovations in culture.

Today, most people understand the idea of ​​"culture" developed in Europe in the 18th century and early 19th century. The idea of ​​"culture" reflects an imbalance between European powers and the strength dijajahnya areas. They consider 'culture' as a "civilization" as the opposite of "nature." According to this mindset, one culture with another culture can be compared; one culture definitely higher than other cultures.

In practice, the word culture refers to the objects and activities of the "elite" such as wearing clothes that are classy, ​​fine art, or listen to classical music, while berkebudayaan word used to describe people who know, and take part, from activities in above. For example, if someone berpendendapat that classical music is music that "classy", the elite, and artistic flavor, while traditional music is considered as the cheesy music and outdated, then the presumption arises that he is a person who has "berkebudayaan".

People who use the word "culture" in this way do not believe there are other cultures that exist, they believe that there is only one culture and a barometer of the norms and values ​​around the world. According to this perspective, someone who has habits that are different from those who "berkebudayaan" referred to as people who "do not berkebudayaan"; not as a person "of another culture." People who "do not berkebudayaan" arguably more "natural," and observers often maintain a high level elements of culture (high culture) to suppress the thought "natural man" (human nature)

Since the 18th century, some social critics have accepted the existence of differences between berkebudayaan and not berkebudayaan, but the comparison is not berkebudayaan-berkebudayaan and interpretation-can suppress the repair and interpretation of experience as the development of destructive and "unnatural" that obscure and distort the nature of human. In this case, traditional music (which was created by working-class communities) are deemed to express the "natural way of life" (natural way of life), and classical music as a setback and decline.

Currently most of the social scientists refuse to compare between nature and culture with monadic concept ever applies. They assume that the cultures that were previously considered "elite" and "cultural elite" are the same - each community has a culture that can not be compared. Social observer to distinguish between culture as popular culture (popular culture) or pop culture, meaning goods or activities that are produced and consumed by many people.

During the Romantic era, scholars in Germany, particularly those concerned with nationalist movements - such as the nationalist struggle to unify Germany, and the nationalist struggle of ethnic minorities against the Austro-Hungarian Empire - developed a cultural idea of "common perspective". This reasoning is considered a culture with other cultures have differences and peculiarities of each. Therefore, culture can not be compared. However, this idea still acknowledges the separation between "berkebudayaan" with "no berkebudayaan" or culture "primitive."

At the end of the 19th century, anthropologists have used the word culture with a broader definition. Based on the theory of evolution, they assume that every human being to grow and evolve together, and of evolution that created the culture.

In the 50's, subkebudayaan - groups with a slightly different behavior from its parent culture - began to be subject of study by sociologists. In this century too, there was the popularization of the idea of ​​corporate culture - differences and talents within the context of workers' organization or place of work.

Cowboy | History and definition of Cowboy | Culture of Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world have established the ability to work at virtually identical tasks and obtained considerable respect for their achievements. There are also cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, who perform work similar to the cowboy in their respective nations.

The cowboy has deep historic roots tracing back to Spain and the earliest European settlers of the Americas. Over the centuries, differences in terrain, climate and the influence of cattle-handling traditions from multiple cultures created several distinct styles of equipment, clothing and animal handling. As the ever-practical cowboy adapted to the modern world, the cowboy's equipment and techniques also adapted to some degree, though many classic traditions are still preserved today.

The origins of the cowboy tradition come from Spain, beginning with the hacienda system of medieval Spain. This style of cattle ranching spread throughout much of the Iberian peninsula and later, was imported to the Americas. Both regions possessed a dry climate with sparse grass, and thus large herds of cattle required vast amounts of land in order to obtain sufficient forage. The need to cover distances greater than a person on foot could manage gave rise to the development of the horseback-mounted vaquero.

As English-speaking traders and settlers expanded westward, English and Spanish traditions, language and culture merged to some degree. Before the Mexican-American War in 1848, New England merchants who traveled by ship to California encountered both hacendados and vaqueros, trading manufactured goods for the hides and tallow produced from vast cattle ranches. American traders along what later became known as the Santa Fe Trail had similar contacts with vaquero life. Starting with these early encounters, the lifestyle and language of the vaquero began a transformation which merged with English cultural traditions and produced what became known in American culture as the "cowboy".

The arrival of English-speaking settlers in Texas began in 1821, while California did not see a large influx of settlers from the United States until after the Mexican-American War. However, in slightly different ways, both areas contributed to the evolution of the iconic American cowboy. Particularly with the arrival of railroads, and an increased demand for beef in the wake of the American Civil War, older traditions combined with the need to drive cattle from the ranches where they were raised to the nearest railheads, often hundreds of miles away.

By the 1880s, the expansion of the cattle industry resulted in a need for additional open range. Thus many ranchers expanded into the northwest, where there were still large tracts of unsettled grassland. Texas cattle were herded north, into the Rocky Mountain west and the Dakotas. The cowboy adapted much of his gear to the colder conditions, and westward movement of the industry also led to intermingling of regional traditions from California to Texas, often with the cowboy taking the most useful elements of each.

Informal competition arose between cowboys seeking to test their cattle and horse-handling skills against one another, and thus, from the necessary tasks of the working cowboy, the sport of rodeo developed.

American cowboys were drawn from multiple sources. By the late 1860s, following the American Civil War and the expansion of the cattle industry, former soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy came west, seeking work, as did large numbers of restless white men in general. A significant number of African-American freedmen also were drawn to cowboy life, in part because there was not quite as much discrimination in the west as in other areas of American society at the time. A significant number of Mexicans and American Indians already living in the region also worked as cowboys. Later, particularly after 1890, when American policy promoted "assimilation" of Indian people, some Indian boarding schools also taught ranching skills. Today, some Native Americans in the western United States own cattle and small ranches, and many are still employed as cowboys, especially on ranches located near Indian Reservations. The "Indian Cowboy" also became a commonplace sight on the rodeo circuit.

Because cowboys ranked low in the social structure of the period, there are no firm figures on the actual proportion of various races. One writer states that cowboys were "… of two classes—those recruited from Texas and other States on the eastern slope; and Mexicans, from the south-western region. …" Census records suggest that about 15% of all cowboys were of African-American ancestry—ranging from about 25% on the trail drives out of Texas, to very few in the northwest. Similarly, cowboys of Mexican descent also averaged about 15% of the total, but were more common in Texas and the southwest. Other estimates suggest that in the late 19th century, one out of every three cowboys was a Mexican vaquero, and 20% may have been African-American.

Regardless of ethnicity, most cowboys came from lower social classes and the pay was poor. The average cowboy earned approximately a dollar a day, plus food, and, when near the home ranch, a bed in the bunkhouse, usually a barracks-like building with a single open room.

Over time, the cowboys of the American West developed a personal culture of their own, a blend of frontier and Victorian values that even retained vestiges of chivalry. Such hazardous work in isolated conditions also bred a tradition of self-dependence and individualism, with great value put on personal honesty, exemplified in songs and poetry. The cowboy often worked in an all-male environment, particularly on cattle drives, and in the frontier west, men often significantly outnumbered women.

However, some men were also drawn to the frontier because they were attracted to men. Other times, in a region where men outnumbered women, even social events normally attended by both sexes were at times all male, and men could be found partnering up with one another for dances. Homosexual acts between young, unmarried men occurred, but cowboys culture itself was and remains deeply homophobic. Though anti-sodomy laws were common in the Old West, they often were only selectively enforced.

The traditions of the working cowboy were further etched into the minds of the general public with the development of Wild West Shows in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which showcased and romanticized the life of both cowboys and Native Americans. Beginning in the 1920s and continuing to the present day, Western movies popularized the cowboy lifestyle but also formed persistent stereotypes, both positive and negative. In some cases, the cowboy and the violent gunslinger are often associated with one another. On the other hand, some actors who portrayed cowboys promoted positive values, such as the "cowboy code" of Gene Autry, that encouraged honorable behavior, respect and patriotism.

Likewise, cowboys in movies were often shown fighting with American Indians. However, the reality was that, while cowboys were armed against both predators and human thieves, and often used their guns to run off people of any race who attempted to steal, or rustle cattle, nearly all actual armed conflicts occurred between Indian people and cavalry units of the U.S. Army.

Spirituality | Understanding and the definition Spirituality

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop an individual's inner life; such practices are alleged to lead to an experience of connectedness with a larger reality, yielding a more comprehensive self; with other individuals or the human community; with nature or the cosmos; or with the divine realm. For some, spirituality is experienced as a source of inspiration or orientation in life. It can encompass belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of the world.

Traditionally, many religions have regarded spirituality as an integral aspect of religious experience. Many do still equate spirituality with religion, but declining membership of organized religions and the growth of secularism in the western world has given rise to a broader view of spirituality. There has also been a growth in the scope of use of the term "spiritual". William James' definitive lectures given in 1902 on the "Varieties of Religious Experience" would almost certainly be called today, "the varieties of spiritual experience."

The psychology of religion would, as a scientific field of study, rely on operational definitions. There are numerous definitions for "spirituality" and a variety of metrics used to measure someone's spirituality. There is debate as to whether or not spirituality should be considered separate from religion, or if spirituality is an aspect of religion. However, it is the study of religion and related fields that is primarily concerned with defining and studying spirituality.

Secular spirituality denotes various attempts to recognize aspects of life and human experience which are not captured by a purely materialist or mechanistic view of the world, but without accepting belief in the supernatural. It is for example possible to regard many kinds of spiritual practice such as mindfulness and meditation as beneficial or even necessary for human fulfillment without accepting any supernatural interpretation or explanation. Indeed, there is no necessary connection between spirituality and belief at all. For some, the term simply carries connotations of an individual having a religious outlook which is more personalized, less structured, more open to new ideas/influences, and more pluralistic than that of the doctrinal faiths of organized religions, although whether it is helpful to call this view secular may be doubtful. While atheism tends to lean towards scepticism regarding supernatural claims and the existence of any actual "spirit", some atheists define "spiritual" as nurturing thoughts, emotions, words and actions that are in harmony with a belief that the entire universe is, in some way, connected; even if only by some mysterious flow of cause and effect at every scale. Some versions of Buddhist spirituality would also be examples of this style of thought since Buddhism, although conventionally involving the supernatural, is not theistic.

In contrast, those of a more 'New-Age' disposition see spirituality as the active connection to some force/power/energy/spirit, facilitating a sense of a deep self.

For some, spirituality includes introspection, and the development of an individual's inner life through practices such as meditation, prayer and contemplation. Some modern religions also see spirituality in everything: see pantheism and neo-Pantheism. In a similar vein, religious naturalism has a spiritual attitude towards the awe, majesty and mystery it sees in the natural world.

Spirituality, in a wide variety of cultural and religious concepts, is itself often seen as incorporating a spiritual path, along which one advances to achieve a given objective, such as a higher state of awareness, to become a perfect human being, outreach wisdom or communion with God or with creation. Plato's Allegory of the Cave, which appears in book VII of The Republic, is a description of such a journey, as are the writings of Teresa of Avila. The spiritual journey is a path that has a dimension primarily subjective and individual. For a spiritual path may be considered a path of short duration, directed at a specific target, or a lifetime. Every event of life is part of this journey, but in particular one can introduce some significant moments or milestones, such as the practice of various spiritual disciplines (including meditation, prayer, fasting), the comparison with a person believed with deep spiritual experience (called a teacher, assistant or spiritual preceptor, guru or otherwise, depending on the cultural context), the personal approach to sacred texts, etc. If the spiritual path is the same in whole or in part, with an initiatory path, there may be tests to overcome. Such tests usually before a social significance, are a "test" for the individual of his reaching a certain level. Spirituality is also described as a process in two phases: the first on inner growth, and the second on the manifestation of this result daily in the world.

A number of authors have suggested that there are spiritual consequences of quantum physics. Examples are physicist-philosopher Fritjof Capra; Ken Wilber, who proposes an "Integral Theory of Consciousness"; theoretical nuclear physicist Amit Goswami, who views a universal consciousness, not matter, as the ground of all existence (monistic idealism); Ervin László, who posits the "quantum vacuum" as the fundamental energy- and information-carrying field ("Akashic field") that informs not just the current universe, but all universes past and present (collectively, the "Metaverse").

In keeping with a general increase in interest in spirituality and complementary and alternative treatments, prayer has garnered attention among some behavioral scientists. Masters and Spielmans have conducted a meta-analysis of the effects of distant intercessory prayer, but detected no discernible effects.

Spirituality has played a central role in self-help movements such as Alcoholics Anonymous: "...if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead...."

If spirituality is understood as the search for or the development of inner peace or the foundations of happiness, then spiritual practice of some kind is essential for personal well being. This activity may or may not include belief in supernatural beings. If one has such a belief and feels that relationship to such beings is the foundation of happiness then spiritual practice will be pursued on that basis: if one has no such belief spiritual practice is still essential for the management and understanding of thoughts and emotions which otherwise prevent happiness. Many techniques and practices developed and explored in religious contexts, such as meditation, are immensely valuable in themselves as skills for managing aspects of the inner life.

Unique home and powerful design

Pagaruyung was the seat of Minangkabau kings, though little is known about it. Modern Pagaruyung is a village in Tanjung Emas subdistrict, Tanah Datar regency, located near the town of Batusangkar, Indonesia.

History

Adityawarman is believed to have founded the kingdom and presided over the central Sumatra region between 1347 and 1375, most likely to control the local gold trade. The few artifacts recovered from Adityawarman’s reign include a number of stones containing inscriptions, and statues. Some of these items were found at Bukit Gombak, a hill near modern Pagarruyung, and it is believed a royal palace was located here.

There is a major gap in the historical picture in the Minangkabau highlands between the last date of Adityawarman’s inscription in 1375 and Tomé Pires Suma Oriental, written sometime between 1513 and 1515.

By the 16th century, the time of the next report after the reign of Adityawarman, royal power had been split into three recognized reigning kings. They were the King of the World (Raja Alam), the King of Adat (Raja Adat), and the King of Religion (Raja Ibadat). Collectively they were called the Kings of the Three Seats (Rajo Tigo Selo).

An inscribed stone from Adityawarman's kingdom

The first European to enter the region was Thomas Dias, a Portuguese employed by the Dutch governor of Malacca. He traveled from the east coast to reach the region in 1684 and reported, probably from hearsay, that there was a palace at Pagaruyung and that visitors had to go through three gates to enter it. The primary local occupations at the time were gold panning and agriculture, he reported.

A civil war started in 1803 with the Padri fundamentalist Islamic group in conflict with the traditional syncretic groups, elite families and Pagarruyung royals. During the conflict most of the Minangkabau royal family were killed in 1815, on the orders of Tuanku Lintau.

The British controlled the west coast of Sumatra between 1795 and 1819. Stamford Raffles visited Pagarruyung in 1818, reaching it from the west coast, and by then it had been burned to the ground three times. It was rebuilt after the first two fires, but abandoned after the third and Raffles found little more than waringin trees.

The Dutch returned to Padang in May 1819. As a result of a treaty with a number of penghulu and representatives of the murdered Minangkabau royal family, Dutch forces made their first attack on a Padri village in April 1821.

The prestige of Pagaruyung remained high among the Minangkabau communities in the rantau, and when the members of the court were scattered following a failed rebellion against the Dutch in 1833, one of the princes was invited to become ruler in Kuantan.

A building was built in 1976 to represent the original Pagaruyung palace, and open to the public as a museum and tourist attraction. It was built in the traditional Minangkabau Rumah Gadang architectural style, but had a number of atypical elements including three stories. The palace was destroyed by fire on the evening of February 27, 2007 after the roof was struck by lightning.

Magic | Understanding and definition of Magic

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical analysis, whereas practitioners of magic claim it is an inexplicable force beyond logic. Magic has been practised in all cultures, and utilizes ways of understanding, experiencing and influencing the world somewhat akin to those offered by religion, though it is sometimes regarded as more focused on achieving results than religious worship. Magic is often viewed with suspicion by the wider community, and is commonly practised in isolation and secrecy.

Modern Western magicians generally state magic's primary purpose to be personal spiritual growth. Modern perspectives on the theory of magic broadly follow two views, which also correspond closely to ancient views. The first sees magic as a result of a universal sympathy within the universe, where if something is done here a result happens somewhere else. The other view sees magic as a collaboration with spirits who cause the effect.

Magical rituals are the precisely defined actions (including speech) used to work magic. Bronisław Malinowski describes ritual language as possessing a high “coefficient of weirdness,” by which he means that the language used in ritual is archaic and out of the ordinary, which helps foster the proper mindset to believe in the ritual. S. J. Tambiah notes, however, that even if the power of the ritual is said to reside in the words, “the words only become effective if uttered in a very special context of other action.” These other actions typically consist of gestures, possibly performed with special objects at a particular place or time. Object, location, and performer may require purification beforehand. This caveat draws a parallel to the felicity conditions J. L. Austin requires of performative utterances. By “performativity” Austin means that the ritual act itself achieves the stated goal. For example, a wedding ceremony can be understood as a ritual, and only by properly performing the ritual does the marriage occur. Émile Durkheim stresses the importance of rituals as a tool to achieve “collective effervescence,” which serves to help unify society. Psychologists, on the other hand, describe rituals in comparison to obsessive-compulsive rituals, noting that attentional focus falls on the lower level representation of simple gestures. This results in goal demotion, as the ritual places more emphasis on performing the ritual just right than on the connection between the ritual and the goal. However, the purpose of ritual is to act as a focus and the effect will vary depending on the individual.

Magic often utilizes symbols that are thought to be intrinsically efficacious. Anthropologists, such as Sir James Frazer (1854–1938), have characterized the implementation of symbols into two primary categories: the “principle of similarity,” and the “principle of contagion.” Frazer further categorized these principles as falling under “sympathetic magic,” and “contagious magic.” Frazer asserted that these concepts were “general or generic laws of thought, which were misapplied in magic.”

The principle of similarity, also known as the “association of ideas,” which falls under the category of “sympathetic magic,” is the thought that if a certain result follows a certain action, then that action must be responsible for the result. Therefore, if one is to perform this action again, the same result can again be expected. One classic example of this mode of thought is that of the rooster and the sunrise. When a rooster crows, it is a response to the rising of the sun. Based on sympathetic magic, one might interpret these series of events differently. The law of similarity would suggest that since the sunrise follows the crowing of the rooster, the rooster must have caused the sun to rise. Causality is inferred where it should not have been. Therefore, a practitioner might believe that if he is able to cause the rooster to crow, he will be able to control the timing of the sunrise.

Another primary type of magical thinking includes the principle of contagion. This principle suggests that once two objects come into contact with each other, they will continue to affect each other even after the contact between them has been broken. One example that Tambiah gives is related to adoption. Among some American Indians, for example, when a child is adopted his or her adoptive mother will pull the child through some of her clothes, symbolically representing the birth process and thereby associating the child with herself. Therefore, the child emotionally becomes hers even though their relationship is not biological. As Claude Lévi-Strauss would put it: the birth “would consist, therefore, in making explicit a situation originally existing on the emotional level and in rendering acceptable to the mind pains which the body refuses to tolerate…the woman believes in the myth and belongs to a society which believes in it.”

Symbols, for many cultures that use magic, are seen as a type of technology. Natives might use symbols and symbolic actions to bring about change and improvements, much like Western cultures might use advanced irrigation techniques to promote soil fertility and crop growth. Michael Brown discusses the use of nantag stones among the Aguaruna as being similar to this type of “technology.” These stones are brought into contact with stem cuttings of plants like manioc before they are planted in an effort to promote growth. Nantag are powerful tangible symbols of fertility, so they are brought into contact with crops to transmit their fertility to the plants.

The performance of magic almost always involves the use of language (in Western civilization, mainly Latin). Whether spoken out loud or unspoken, words are frequently used to access or guide magical power. In "The Magical Power of Words" (1968) S. J. Tambiah argues that the connection between language and magic is due to a belief in the inherent ability of words to influence the universe. Bronsilaw Malinowski, in Coral Gardens and their Magic (1935), suggests that this belief is an extension of man’s basic use of language to describe his surroundings, in which “the knowledge of the right words, appropriate phrases and the more highly developed forms of speech, gives man a power over and above his own limited field of personal action.” Magical speech is therefore a ritual act and is of equal or even greater importance to the performance of magic than non-verbal acts. Yet not all speech is considered magical. Only certain words and phrases or words spoken in a specific context are considered to have magical power. Magical language, according to C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards's (1923) categories of speech, is distinct from scientific language because it is emotive and it converts words into symbols for emotions; whereas in scientific language words are tied to specific meanings and refer to an objective external reality. Magical language is therefore particularly adept at constructing metaphors that establish symbols and link magical rituals to the world.

Malinowski argues that “the language of magic is sacred, set and used for an entirely different purpose to that of ordinary life.” The two forms of language are differentiated through word choice, grammar, style, or by the use of specific phrases or forms: prayers, spells, songs, blessings, or chants, for example. Sacred modes of language often employ archaic words and forms in an attempt to invoke the purity or “truth” of a religious or a cultural ‘golden age.’ The use of Hebrew in Judaism is an example. Another potential source of the power of words is their secrecy and exclusivity. Much sacred language is differentiated enough from common language that it is incomprehensible to the majority of the population and it can only be used and interpreted by specialized practitioners, (magicians, priests, shamans, even mullahs.). In this respect, Tambiah argues that magical languages violate the primary function of language: communication. Yet adherents of magic are still able to use and to value the magical function of words by believing in the inherent power of the words themselves and in the meaning that they must provide for those who do understand them. This leads Tambiah to conclude that “the remarkable disjunction between sacred and profane language which exists as a general fact is not necessarily linked to the need to embody sacred words in an exclusive language, magice is cunducted in every languag all around the world with various (Spacial words for each language is used ) for example those words in Arabic language (carairo ) and this is in Jiwich language ( bahratit ).”

A magician is any practitioner of magic; therefore a magician may be a specialist or a common practitioner, even if he or she does not consider himself a magician. All that is required is the possession of esoteric knowledge, traits, or expertise that are culturally acknowledged to harbor magical powers.

Magical knowledge is usually passed down from one magician to another through family or apprenticeships, though in some cultures it may also be purchased. The information transferred usually consists of instructions on how to perform a variety of rituals, manipulate magical objects, or how to appeal to gods or to other supernatural forces. Magical knowledge is often well guarded, as it is a valuable commodity to which each magician believes that he has a proprietary right.

Yet the possession of magical knowledge alone may be insufficient to grant magical power; often a person must also possess certain magical objects, traits or life experiences in order to be a magician. Among the Azande, for example, in order to question an oracle a man must have both the physical oracle (poison, or a washboard, for example) and knowledge of the words and the rites needed to make the object function.

A variety of personal traits may be credited to magical power, though frequently they are associated with an unusual birth into the world. For example, in 16th century Friuli, babies born with the caul were believed to be good witches, benandanti, who would engage evil witches in nighttime battles over the bounty of the next year’s crops.

Certain post-birth experiences may also be believed to convey magical power. For example a person’s survival of a near-death illness may be taken as evidence of their power as a healer: in Bali a medium’s survival is proof of her association with a patron deity and therefore her ability to communicate with other gods and spirits. Initiations are perhaps the most commonly used ceremonies to establish and to differentiate magicians from common people. In these rites the magician’s relationship to the supernatural and his entry into a closed professional class is established, often through rituals that simulate death and rebirth into a new life.

Given the exclusivity of the criteria needed to become a magician, much magic is performed by specialists. Laypeople will likely have some simple magical rituals for everyday living, but in situations of particular importance, especially when health or major life events are concerned, a specialist magician will often be consulted. The powers of both specialist and common magicians are determined by culturally accepted standards of the sources and the breadth of magic. A magician may not simply invent or claim new magic; the magician is only as powerful as his peers believe him to be.

History

In ancient Greece magic was viewed negatively because it was foreign, but over time the view of magic involved negative connotations (malign magic) and positive ones in the practice of religion, medicine, and divination.

The Greek mystery religions had strongly magical components, and in Egypt, a large number of magical papyri, in Greek, Coptic, and Demotic, have been recovered. They contain early instances of:

* the use of "magic words" said to have the power to command spirits;

* the use of wands and other ritual tools;

* the use of a magic circle to defend the magician against the spirits that he is invoking or evoking; and

* the use of mysterious symbols or sigils which are thought to be useful when invoking or evoking spirits.

From 1776 to 1781 AD, Jacob Philadelphia performed feats of magic, sometimes under the guise of scientific exhibitions, throughout Europe and Russia. Baron Carl Reichenbach's experiments with his Odic force appeared to be an attempt to bridge the gap between magic and science. More recent periods of renewed interest in magic occurred around the end of the 19th century, where Symbolism and other offshoots of Romanticism cultivated a renewed interest in exotic spiritualities. European colonialism put Westerners in contact with India and Egypt and re-introduced exotic beliefs. Hindu and Egyptian mythology frequently feature in 19th century magical texts. The late 19th century spawned a large number of magical organizations, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Theosophical Society, and specifically magical variants on Freemasonry. The Golden Dawn represented perhaps the peak of this wave of magic, attracting cultural celebrities like William Butler Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, and Arthur Machen.

Any discussion of Muslim magic poses a double set of problems. On the one hand, like its counterpart in predominantly Christian cultures, magic is forbidden by orthodox leaders and legal opinions. On the other hand, translating various Arabic terms as ‘magic’ causes another set of problems with no clear answers.

As with any question regarding the behavior of Muslims in relation to authorized practices, theological decisions begin by consulting the Qur’an. The second chapter introduces an explanation for the introduction of magic into the world:

"They followed what the evil ones gave out (falsely) against the power of Solomon: the blasphemers were, not Solomon, but the evil ones, teaching men magic, and such things as came down at Babylon to the angels Harut and Marut. But neither of these taught anyone (such things) without saying: “We are only for trial; so do not blaspheme.” They learned from them the means to sow discord between man and wife. But they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah’s permission. And they learned what harmed them, not what profited them. And they knew that the buyers of (magic) would have no share in the happiness of the Hereafter. And vile was the price for which they did sell their souls, if they but knew! (Q 2:102)."

Though it presents a generally contemptuous attitude towards magic (Muhammad was accused by his detractors of being a magician), the Qur’an distinguishes between apparent magic (miracles sanctioned by Allah) and real magic. The first is that used by Solomon, who being a prophet of Allah, is assumed to have used miraculous powers with Allah’s blessing. Muslims also believe that Allah made an army of Djinn obedient to him. The second form is the magic that was taught by the “evil ones,” or al-shayatin. Al-shayatin has two meanings; the first is similar to the Christian Satan. The second meaning, which is the one used here, refers to a djinn of superior power. The al-shayatin taught knowledge of evil and “pretended to force the laws of nature and the will of Allah . . .” According to this belief, those who follow this path turn themselves from Allah and cannot reach heaven. The Arabic word translated in this passage as “magic” is sihr. The etymological meaning of sihr suggests that “it is the turning . . . of a thing from its true nature . . . or form . . . to something else which is unreal or a mere appearance . . .”

By the first millennium CE, sihr became a fully developed system in Islamic society. Within this system, all magicians “assert[ed] that magic is worked by the obedience of spirits to the magician.” The efficacy of this system comes from the belief that every Arabic letter, every word, verse, and chapter in the Qur’an, every month, day, time and name were created by Allah a priori, and that each has an angel and a djinn servant. It is through the knowledge of the names of these servants that an actor is able to control the angel and djinn for his or her purposes.

The Sunni and Shia sects of Islam typically forbid all use of magic. The Sufis within these two sects are much more ambiguous about its use as seen in the concept of "Barakah". If magic is understood in terms of Frazer’s principle of contagion, then barakah is another term that can refer to magic. Barakah, variously defined as “blessing,” or “divine power,” is a quality one possesses rather than a category of activity. According to Muslim conception, the source of barakah is solely from Allah; it is Allah’s direct blessing and intervention conferred upon special, pious Muslims. Barakah has a heavily contagious quality in that one can transfer it by either inheritance or contact. Of all the humans who have ever lived, it is said that the Prophet Muhammad possessed the greatest amount of barakah and that he passed this to his male heirs through his daughter Fatima. Barakah is not just limited to Muhammad’s family line; any person who is considered holy may also possess it and transfer it to virtually anyone else. In Morocco, barakah transfer can be accomplished by sharing a piece of bread from which the possessor has eaten because saliva is the vessel of barakah in the human body. However, the transference of barakah may also occur against the will of its possessor through other forms of physical contact such as hand shaking and kissing. The contagious element of barakah is not limited to humans as it can be found in rocks, trees, water, and even in some animals, such as horses.

Just how the actor maintained obedience depended upon the benevolence or malevolence of his practice. Malevolent magicians operated by enslaving the spirits through offerings and deeds displeasing to Allah. Benevolent magicians, in contrast, obeyed and appeased Allah so that Allah exercised His will upon the spirits. Al-Buni provides the process by which this practice occurs:

"First: the practitioner must be of utterly clean soul and garb. Second, when the proper angel is contacted, this angel will first get permission from God to go to the aid of the person who summoned him. Third: the practitioner “must not apply . . .[his power] except to that purpose [i.e. to achieve goals] which would please God."

However, not all Islamic groups accept this explanation of benevolent magic. The Salafis particularly view this as shirk, denying the unity of Allah. Consequently, the Salafis renounce appellations to intermediaries such as saints, angels, and djinn, and renounce magic, fortune-telling, and divination. This particular brand of magic has also been condemned as forbidden by a fatwa issued by Al-Azhar University. Further, Egyptian folklorist Hasan El-Shamy, warns that scholars have often been uncritical in their application of the term sihr to both malevolent and benevolent forms of magic. He argues that in Egypt, sihr only applies to sorcery. A person who practices benevolent magic “is not called saahir or sahhaar (sorcerer, witch), but is normally referred to as shaikh (or shaikha for a female), a title which is normally used to refer to a clergyman or a community notable or elder, and is equal to the English title: ‘Reverend.’”

Baldness | Understanding and definition of Baldness | Types and characteristics of Baldness

Baldness implies thinning or lack of hair, especially on the head. In humans, baldness generally means androgenic alopecia or "male pattern baldness" or its variant "female pattern baldness". This syndrome occurs in adult male and some female humans and other species. The degree and pattern of baldness can vary greatly; it includes male and female pattern alopecia (androgenic alopecia). This syndrome is also called androgenetic alopecia or alopecia androgenetica. An older term is alopecia seborrheica, used primarily in Europe.

Pattern balding should not be confused with alopecia areata, which commonly involves patchy hair loss. Extreme forms of alopecia areata are Alopecia totalis, which involves the loss of all head hair, and the most extreme form, alopecia universalis, which involves the loss of all hair from the head and the body.

The incidence of pattern baldness varies from population to population based on genetic background. Environmental factors do not seem to affect this type of baldness greatly. One large scale study in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia showed the prevalence of mid-frontal hair loss increases with age and affects 73.5% of men and 57% of woman aged 80 and over. According to Medem Medical Library's website, male pattern baldness (MPB) affects roughly 40 million men in the United States. Approximately 25 percent of men begin balding by age 20; two-thirds begin balding by age 60. There is a 4 in 7 chance of getting the baldness gene.

Male pattern is characterized by hair receding from the lateral sides of the forehead, known as a "receding hairline". Receding hairlines are usually seen in males above the ages of 20 but can be seen as early as late teens as well.

An additional bald patch may develop on top (vertex). The trigger for this type of baldness (called androgenetic alopecia) is DHT, a powerful sex hormone, body, and facial hair growth promoter that can adversely affect the prostate as well as the hair located on the head.

The mechanism by which DHT accomplishes this is not yet fully understood. In genetically-prone scalps, DHT initiates a process of follicular miniaturization. Through the process of follicular miniaturization, hair shaft width is progressively decreased until scalp hair resembles fragile vellus hair or "peach fuzz" or else becomes non-existent. Onset of hair loss sometimes begins as early as end of puberty, and is mostly genetically determined. Male pattern baldness is classified on the Hamilton-Norwood scale I-VII.

It was previously believed that baldness was inherited from the maternal grandfather. While there is some basis for this belief, both parents contribute to their offspring's likelihood of hair loss. Most likely, inheritance is technically "autosomal dominant with mixed penetrance".

There are several other kinds of baldness:

• Traction alopecia is most commonly found in people with ponytails or cornrows who pull on their hair with excessive force.
• Trichotillomania is the loss of hair caused by compulsive pulling and bending of the hairs. It tends to occur more in children than in adults. In this condition the hairs are not absent from the scalp but are broken. Where they break near the scalp they cause typical, short, "exclamation mark" hairs.
• Traumas such as chemotherapy, childbirth, major surgery, poisoning, and severe stress may cause a hair loss condition known as telogen effluvium.[2] Hair follicles in the growing phase are affected by chemotherapy while this treatment targets dividing cancer cells. Therefore, almost 90% of hairs fall out soon after chemotherapy starts.
• Worrisome hair loss often follows childbirth without causing actual baldness. In this situation, the hair is actually thicker during pregnancy due to increased circulating oestrogens. After the baby is born, the oestrogen levels fall back to normal pre-pregnancy levels and the additional hair foliage drops out. A similar situation occurs in women taking the fertility-stimulating drug clomiphene.
• Iron deficiency is a common cause of thinning of the hair, though frank baldness is not usually seen.
• Radiation to the scalp, as happens when radiotherapy is applied to the head for the treatment of certain cancers there, can cause baldness of the irradiated areas.
• Some treatments used to cure mycotic infections can cause massive hair loss.
• Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder also known as "spot baldness" that can result in hair loss ranging from just one location (Alopecia areata monolocularis) to every hair on the entire body (Alopecia areata universalis).
• Localized or diffuse hair loss may also occur in cicatricial alopecia (lupus erythematosus, lichen plano pilaris, folliculitis decalvans, central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, postmenopausal frontal fibrosing alopecia, etc.). Tumours and skin outgrowths also induce localized baldness (sebaceous nevus, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma).
• Hypothyroidism can cause hair loss, typically frontal, and is particularly associated with thinning of the outer third of the eyebrows (syphilis also can cause loss of the outer third of the eyebrows)
• Hyperthyroidism can also cause hair loss, which is parietal rather than frontal.
• Temporary loss of hair can occur in areas where sebaceous cysts are present for considerable duration; normally one to several weeks in length.
• Congenital triangular alopecia – It is a triangular, or oval in some cases, shaped patch of hair loss in the temple area of the scalp that occurs mostly in young children. The affected area mainly contains vellus hair follicles or no hair follicles at all, but it does not expand. Its causes are unknown and although it is a permanent condition, it does not have any other effect on the affected individuals.

There is no consensus regarding the details of the evolution of male pattern baldness. The assertion that MPB is intended to convey a social message is supported by the fact that the distribution of androgen receptors in the scalp differs between men and women, and older men or women with high androgen levels often exhibit diffuse thinning of hair as opposed to male pattern baldness.

Male pattern baldness is mostly the result of a genetic event that causes dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a male hormone, to cause the hair follicles to atrophy. The hair produced is progressively smaller, until it is practically invisible (or may disappear completely). It has been speculated that this is an evolutionary event that signifies maturity and conveys greater authority on affected men.

In a study by Muscarella and Cunningham, males and females viewed 6 male models with different levels of facial hair (beard and mustache or none) and cranial hair (full head of hair, receding and bald). Participants rated each combination on 32 adjectives related to social perceptions. Males with facial hair and those with bald or receding hair were rated as being older than those who were clean-shaven or had a full head of hair. Beards and a full head of hair were seen as being more aggressive and less socially mature, and baldness was associated with more social maturity.

Much research went into the genetic component of male pattern baldness, or androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Research indicates that susceptibility to premature male pattern baldness is largely X-linked. Other genes that are not sex linked are also involved.

German researchers name the androgen receptor gene as the cardinal prerequisite for balding. They conclude that a certain variant of the androgen receptor is needed for AGA to develop. In the same year the results of this study were confirmed by other researchers. This gene is recessive and a female would need two X chromosomes with the defect to show typical male pattern alopecia. Seeing that androgens and their interaction with the androgen receptor are the cause of AGA it seems logical that the androgen receptor gene plays an important part in its development.

Other research in 2007 suggests another gene on the X chromosome, that lies close to the androgen receptor gene, is an important gene in male pattern baldness. They found the region Xq11-q12 on the X-chromosome to be strongly associated with AGA in males. They point at the EDA2R gene as the gene that is mostly associated with AGA. This finding has been replicated in at least three following independent studies.

Although baldness is not as common in women as in men, the psychological effects of hair loss tend to be much greater. Typically the frontal hairline is preserved but the density of hair is decreased on all areas of the scalp. Previously it was believed to be caused by testosterone just as in male baldness, but most women who lose hair have normal testosterone levels.

However, female hair loss has become a growing problem which according to the American Academy of Dermatology affects around 30 million women in the United States. Although hair loss in females normally occurs after the age of 50 or even later when it does not follow events like pregnancy, chronic illness, crash diets, and stress among others, it is now occurring at earlier ages with reported cases in women as young as 15 or 16.

Causes of female hair loss may vary from those that affect men. In the case of androgenic alopecia female hair loss occurs as a result of the action of androgens hormones (testosterone, androsteinedione, and dihydrotestosterone (DHT)). These male hormones normally occur in small amounts in women.

However, according to Ted Daly, MD, a dermatologist from Nassau University Medical Center on Long Island, androgenic alopecia is not the main cause of hair loss in women and dermatologists now prefer to call this condition female pattern hair loss instead of using the term androgenic alopecia. He adds that the female pattern is diffuse and goes around the whole top of the head and can affect women at any time.

There are other instances in which the actions of hormones may also cause female hair loss. Some examples are: pregnancy, menopause, presence of ovarian cysts, birth control pills with a high androgen index, polycystic ovary syndrome. Also thyroid disorders, anemia, chronic illness and some medications can also cause female hair loss.

Research is looking into connections between hair loss and other health issues. While there has been speculation about a connection between early-onset androgenetic alopecia and heart disease, a review of articles from 1954 to 1999 found no conclusive connection between baldness and coronary artery disease. The dermatologists who conducted the review suggested further study was needed.

Environmental factors are under review. A 2007 study indicated that smoking may be a factor associated with age-related hair loss among Asian men. The study controlled for age and family history, and found statistically significant positive associations between moderate or severe androgenetic alopecia and smoking status.

In May 2007, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania unveiled a new scientific breakthrough that may cure baldness with stem cells. A product could be on the market within three years. The researchers discovered that the growth of new hair producing follicles could be stimulated in mice by damaging their skin.

In February 2008 researchers at the University of Bonn announced they have found the genetic basis of two distinct forms of inherited hair loss, opening a broad path to treatments for baldness. The fact that any receptor plays a specific role in hair growth was previously unknown to scientists and with this new knowledge a focus on finding more of these genes may be able to lead to therapies for very different types of hair loss.

An eight month study performed at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Science Malaysia showed daily supplements of a patented tocotrienol (vitamin E) complex may increase hair growth in people with male pattern baldness by 42 percent.

In May 2009, researchers in Japan identified a gene, SOX21, that appears to be responsible for hair loss in people.

In December 2010, scientists at the Berlin Technical University in Germany revealed they have grown the world's first artificial hair follicles from stem cells. Research leader Dr Roland Lauster said within five years millions of hair-loss sufferers could grow new hair from their own stem cells and have it implanted into their bald spots. He also announced that preparations for clinical trials were "already in motion".

In 2011, research showed that treatment with astressin-B caused the sudden growth of hair in mice bred for a propensity for baldness. Astressin-B ia a nonselective corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor antagonist. This may possibly be used in the future to aid in the regrowth of human hair.