text:
Islam and Christianity
By : Ali Quli Qara'i
Islam and Christianity: A Review Article by Ali Quli Qara'i
The reviewer `Ali Quli Qara'i is the editor of Al-Tawhid (English). Soon after the Islamic Revolution of Iran he brought out a monthly journal in English, The Message of Peace, from Qum. Montgomery Watt is one of the leading living Orientalists, who has written and compiled a large number of books on various aspects of Islam, Muslim history and Islamic thought.
Islam and Christianity Today-A Contribution To Dialogue, W. Montgomery Watt London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983; pp. 157; $ 8.95
Islam and Christianity Today is the rather vague title of a book which consists of the "inner dialogue" of an Orientalist who has been engaged in the study of Islam (mainly Sunnite) for almost forty years. His study and appreciation of Islam caused him to ask searching questions about his own beliefs as a Christian.
W. Montgomery Watt has a sympathetic regard and respect for Islam and presumably for all religions. "All religions are true," he seems to declare with Gandhian generosity, though he finds Christianity more congenial and, implicitly, "truer," though he may not say it explicitly in the interest of the "outer dialogue" with Muslims. In any case, he is not, apparently, a secular student of religion. Consequently his inner dialogue originates from an effort to defend his religious consciousness in the midst of the West's predominantly secular (the modern epithet for "pagan") scientific culture.
This somewhat inconclusive defence is undertaken in the second chapter of the book entitled, "The Affirmation of Religious Truth Against Scientism." Watt is conscious that by undertaking this exercise he is also doing some service to his Muslim friends, the study of whose religion has been the ground for his expertise. He says, "The meeting of Islam and Christianity at the present time takes place in a situation in which both… are subject to attack from many quarters; and the Christian who defends his own beliefs against such attacks find that he is at the same time defending some of the beliefs of his Muslim friend". (p. 6).
In this chapter Watt, basing his argument on the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, John Macmurray, Michael Polanyi and Peter Berger-as he himself acknowledges-undertakes the defence of religion. If not his conceptual structure, the conclusions he reaches are basically close to those of the pragmatists.
After a somewhat sociological, philosophical dialogue, which winds through such notions as the sociological theory of the social construction of reality advanced by Berger and Luckmann, a discussion of the common-sense view of the world, the correspondence and coherence theories of truth, and the centrality of action, it finally lands in the precincts of pragmatismthough without making any undue fuss of it-with the conclusion: "The satisfactory quality of life claimed for the members of religious community normally includes an adequate level of material well-being and harmonious social relationships, but the ultimate criterion of satisfactoriness is that life should be meaningful" (p. 21).
Though the sufferings and sacrifices of some for the cause of faith are a difficult problem from the viewpoint of a pragmatic justification of religion, "it does not disprove the contention that true religious belief is accompanied by a more satisfactory quality of life" (p. 21). Watt defends religion and religious pluralism in one breath by asserting that, "all the great religions over a period of centuries have enabled vast number of people to lead a satisfactory life" (p. 22).
Either Watt is a pragmatist and does not need deeper spiritual reasons for confirmation of the truth of religion, or since his audience is the modern Western educated man, he is forced to base his `defence' on pragmatic grounds. The satisfaction and meaning obtained from various religions by their followers do not mean "that each statement of each religion is to be regarded as true in isolation, but that the symbolic system of each religion, taken as a whole, presents a view of reality which is sound in many or most relevant aspects". (p. 22)
The Issue of Religious Pluralism Explored
This belief provides the grounds for religious pluralism taken for granted by Watt, but it swiftly runs into obvious difficulties. What is a satisfactory life? What is the criterion of a meaningful life? How should one know for certain what the "relevant aspects" are? Is the aim of religion deliverance or satisfaction?
Is it sufficient to lead a satisfactory life to have the surety of salvation? Does it not amount to making complaisance the test of truth? Moreover, even if one were able to identify most of the "relevant aspects," is it sufficient for one's salvation? A similar criterion would not be applicable in case of physical well-being. Of course, a physician may not ignore the serious condition of heart disease for the reason that many or most bodily organs are functioning normally. A primary condition of perfect health is that not most but all organs must function normally and perfectly.
The advocates of religious pluralism, on the basis of the contention that most religions contain elements of truth and no religion the entire truth, preach religious complaisance. Such complaisance may serve the worthy purpose of religious tolerance but does no service to religious truth. If religiosity in the highest sense is the passion for unadulterated truth in its totality and entirety, its purpose is by no means served by subjective and egocentric criteria, and the terms like "satisfaction" and "meaning" fall short of desired objective.
In this light one may say that for Watt the truth of religion is established statistically. With reference to Islam and Christianity he says: "In the particular cases of Islam and Christianity to say that they are verified in general implies accepting their central doctrines as true" (p. 22).
These words, surprisingly similar to the definition of the `verification theory of meaning' of the modern logical positivists, reveal Watt's inclination towards positivistic empirical approach to religion. However, Watt is conscious of the difficulties of reconciliation between the two sets of doctrines, when he says: "Also included among the doctrines to be accepted because of this verification must be the Islamic doctrine of the prophethood of Muhammad and the Christian doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus. Superficially neither of these is acceptable to the other religion but, when the doctrines are looked at more closely, the reader will probably find that the divergences are lesser than they appeared at first sight".(p. 23)
Watt proposes to bridge this doctrinal gap (a bridging which apparently amounts to making Muslims believe in the divinity of Jesus (A) and inducing the Christians to agree to recognize Muhammad (S) as a true prophet, which in turn amounts to negation of Christ's divinity) by undertaking an aerial journey over the chasm on the magic carpet of his abstract analysis of symbolic uses of language. Accordingly the next subheading in this chapter is "Symbolic Language as an Expression of Reality.
" He goes about proving that symbolic usage of words is common in the language of daily use also, in science, as well as in poetry. It leads him to conclude that "the fact that in non-religious matters symbolic language does not imply unreality suggests that, the same should be true in religious assertions" (p. 28). In the same chapter, while discussing symbolic uses in the Bible and the Quran, he refers to the issue of the use of anthropomorphic terms in the Quran with relation to God.
After mentioning the stand of Sunni theologians that "the anthropomorphic terms applied to God were to be understood bi-la kayf, `without (specifying) how' or `amodally', that is, without asking whether they were literal or metaphorical," concludes that " this is an entirely rational approach to the problem, and one of great subtlety… this attitude might be called one of `sophisticated naivety' " (p. 30). Watt is aware that a similar kind of `sophisticated naivety' is required for belief in many Christian doctrines.
An educates Westerner must perhaps have the satisfaction of being sophisticated a all costs. Watt does not notice that what he calls `sophisticated naivety is just an intellectual way of saying "shut up." Some knowledge of Shiite kalam might have saved him from much credulity in this regard Nevertheless, it is a pity that a learned defendant of religion like Wati should be so ever ready to bargain healthy rationality for any kind of `naivety', no matter how much its `sophistication'.
Furthermore, it does not suit the purpose of a world-view, in the words of Watt, as a "total view of reality" into which must "fit all the truth in the various sciences. Watt does not seem to have understood well the spiritual meaning or function of prayer when he carelessly remarks that "Many Christians, I believe, show this sophisticated naivety when they engage in prayer (p. 31). Muslims also pray, and perhaps as naively according to Watt. Though he needs not mention them and is careful to avoid any possible misunderstandings in the interest of the dialogue; the praying Christian, he seems to guess, will not take offence at `naivety' as long as it is accompanied with `sophistication'.
A Discussion on the Assumptions of Scientism
The rest of the chapter is devoted to refutation of some assumptions of scientism: " (1) that the objects studied by the sciences are the sole reality; (2) that the account of the original form of a thing shows what it really is; (3) that analysis of a thing into parts shows what it really is" (p. 31). Watt, wisely without going into philosophical abstrusities, points out that there is more to reality than atoms and molecules.
He points out the extreme complexity-if not the utter absurdity-of any attempt to reduce such statements as `Alan kicked the goal which won the cup for the Blues' into its physio-chemical constituents. His healthy common-sense, which is unaffected by any philosophical or scientific myopia, allows him to conclude without wasting time or ink that "meanings are just as real as molecules, since they are part of the reality in response to which we act.
" With a lesser dexterity he disposes of the reductionist fallacy of trying to assess things by their origins: "The philosophy of a great thinker is not just the intellectual outpourings of a neurotic child, but has to be judged by the philosophical quality of his mature publications and not by his infantile tendencies" (p. 37). Of course, Mr. Watt is not implying that the thought of lesser thinkers may be judged that way. At the end of the chapter he deals with the "serious and difficult question of the relationship of living things and human beings in particular to the physio-chemical basis of their life." However, "in this somewhat technical matter it seems best" for him "not to attempt any independent discussion.
" Accordingly, he resorts to quotations from Polanyi to prove his belief in "the rule that in normal functioning the higher controls the lower." With reference to the Gestalt theory which suggests an alternative opposed to that of reductionism, he points out that "different patterns may be found in the same complex object." Unexpectedly, this matter is related by him to the issue of religious pluralism (and later in the book to historiography) to speculate that,
At some primitive period people in a certain region of the earth discovered certain patterns in the world around them, and made use of these patterns in working out a general world-view. In other regions other people used slightly different patterns. In the course of time the great world religions worked out their world-views in terms of different categories of fundamental patterns; and this makes communication and `dialogue' between them a matter of great difficulty". (p. 42)
One wonders about the role of God in the midst of this religious chaos. The textual criticism of the Bible may have forced many Christians to adopt a humbler opinion of their scriptures; but it is less than humility to expect others, the Muslims in this case, to participate in the chorus of the advocates of pluralism. For the Muslim the diversity of religions is not derived from discovery or evolution of patterns by peoples in various regions of the world but from men's insolence against one another. The path of God is not a network of zigzags but a straight path:
Mankind were one nation, and God sent unto them prophets as bearers of good tidings and as warners, and He sent down with them the Scripture with the truth, that it might judge between mankind concerning that wherein they differed concerning it. And only those unto whom (the Scripture) was given differed concerning it, after clear proofs had come unto them, being insolent one to another. Then God guided those who believed to the Truth, touching which they were at variance, by His leave; and God guides whomsoever He will to a straight path. (2:213)
Common Points: Islam and Christianity
The author devotes the six remaining chapters of the book to a study of some common points between Islam and Christianity. They are : "The Names and Attributes of God;" "Scripture as the Word of God;" "God the Creator;" "God as the Lord of History;" and "Humanity in Relation to God." In "The Names and Attributes of God", Watt remarks that "to say that Muslims worship Allah and Christians worship God is ….like saying that the Germans worship Gott and the French Dieu." He points out that "there are several million Arabic speaking Christians in Egypt, the Lebanon and elsewhere who have no other word for God than Allah.
" Though the theological conceptions of God differ between Jews, Muslims and Christians, "worship and service is a relation to a Being, not to a conception; and Jews, Christians and Muslims, though their conceptions differ, worship the same Being".(p. 46) We may admit what Watt says only with certain qualifications. Firstly, there are two concepts involved in the idea `worship of God.' The Muslims differ with the Christians not only in the conception of `God' (which includes the ideas of Trinity, incarnation and divinity of Christ), but also in the conception of what constitutes `worship'.
The Arabic verbs `abada, ya'budu, and the noun `ibadah for worship, are used in the Quran in the sense of service. Though God is the Lord, the Master and Sustainer (al-Rabb) of all creatures and they are His `ibad (slaves, servants, creatures), the good servants of God, the `ibad Allah proper, are referred to with additional epithets such as mu'minun (believing), mukhlisun (sincere), salihun (righteous), shakur (grateful), munib (penitent), or simply as 'ibadi (My servants) in the Quran. Therefore, `ibadah or `worship' is man's service of God as his Master and Lord, and includes the idea of obedience.
The English term `worship' conveys only a devotional sense, and does not imply obedience to God's legal and ethical commands. It is, moreover, in the sense of service not merely of devotion that the Quran prohibits the `ibadah of the Satan (36:60) or the non-God or taghut (39:17), where it is entirely independent of the ritualistic sense of devotion. The Christian `service' is also loaded with ritualistic and devotional connotation. Therefore, to say that all who believe in God-in the common religious sense-or worship Him-in the sense of prayer and devotional rituals-do not necessarily do the `ibadah of God, in the Islamic sense.
`Ibadah refers to the realization of the `abd-Rabb, (slave-Master, servantLord) relationship in one's life. Therefore, in the Islamic sense a `worshipper' of God is one who serves Him and obeys Him and carries out His Will as given through the revelation. Accordingly, it is highly inaccurate to say that Jews, Christians and Muslims "worship the same God." The expression can be accepted only as a very crude approximation on the level of daily usage. The best way out seems to be that we may continue to use the terms `God' and `worship' for `Allah' and "ibadah' and leave it to God to judge who worships Him in actuality and how well.
In the same chapter while discussing the "Oneness or Unicity" of God, Watt remarks:
Christians also believe in the unicity of God [not the unity], one of their main statements of belief, the Nicene Creed, opening with the words, `I believe in one God.' At the same time, however, they also believe that God is in some way threefold. The doctrine of the Trinity, as it is called, is subtle and abstruse, and most ordinary Christians simply accept it without being able to explain it fully". (p. 49)
The doctrine of the Trinity is a necessary corollary of the belief in divinity of Christ and the Holy Ghost. Of the two only divinity of Christ is of greater emotional and doctrinal significance for the Christians. Islam rejects incarnation, whether in the case of Jesus or someone else. The Creator cannot be incarnated in a creature, though all creatures manifest His Creativity, Mastery and Sovereignty. According to Islam, the Essence of God is free of distinctions and divisions.
It is, from the Islamic viewpoint, no more than play of words to say that most Christians believe in three hypostases in the Divine Essence not three separate divine entities. It does not matter whether three different things are packed separately on the level of conception as `gods,' or whether all three are put inside one package labelled `God'. As long as we have a Son distinct from the Father as two different essences with a peculiar relationship, the unity of or the unicity of Godhead is like an external and conventional unity of a triumvirate, not an internal and essential unity.
Moreover, the New Testaments, while they clearly support the idea of Christ's incarnation, also strongly imply that the `Father' is somewhat more divine than the `Son', who says to the former `yet not what I want, but what you want' (Matthew 27). The Father has greater authority and in fact he is more often referred to as being the `God' who sent `his only Son' into the world to forgive sins of men. The doctrine of Trinity was framed after the belief in Christ's incarnation had become fixed among a large group of Christians.
The Church had to shield itself from the blames of polytheism while preserving the divinity of Christ intact; hence the `sophisticated incoherence' of the Nicene Creed. But the belief in Christ being the Son of God had become so prevalent in Christendom, and Christianity had become so irrevocably saddled with the idea of his divinity that the doctrine of three hypostases (lit. substances) was the best that theological expertise could achieve. There is some `sophisticated naivety' in this statement of Watt when he says:
It is commonly thought that the Quran criticizes the doctrine of the Trinity, but this is not necessarily so. Any statement about the matter requires to be carefully qualified. One of the verses dealing with the points is 5:73: `disbelieved have those who say God is the third of three; there is no deity except one deity'.
Taken literally this verse is criticizing belief in three gods, not in three hypostases; and from a Christian point of view belief in three gods is a heresy, tritheism. Throughout the centuries there have probably been simple-minded and badly instructed Christians whose effective belief may in fact have been tritheism, and there may well have been some such people in Arabia in Muhammad's times. In so far as this is so and the Quran is attacking tritheism, it is attacking a Christian heresy and orthodox Christians would agree with its criticisms (p. 50).
Watt here has tried to cast doubt on the Quranic disapproval of the doctrine of Trinity. However, even if it were possible to cast (though unjustifiably) any doubt on the Quran's rejection of Trinity, it is impossible to question the Quran's repeated rejection of the divinity of Christ and his incarnation (see the Quran, 4:172, 5:17, 5:72, 5:75, 9:30, 3:59, 4:171, 5:116). Moreover, if we view the Old Testaments, the New Testaments and the Quran as scriptures related to one religious tradition (which Watt is inclined to admit), it is somewhat difficult to accept that God should have maintained complete silence about a Son for two thousand years ago in the first instance,
and again forgets that He had sent His son into the world six hundred years after sending him. It is somewhat difficult to accept that God should have stressed upon His Unity in His teachings conveyed to all prophets from Noah to Abraham and up to Moses, and then from Moses to John the Baptist, and then should become a Trinity for sometime, and then should disavow His Trinity in the Book revealed to Prophet Muhammad (S).
The Muslims may not but consider the Christian doctrine of Trinity but as a relapse into polytheism on the part of the Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Christ. The Jews, as the Old Testament bears testimony, were prone to relapse into polytheism and idolatry throughout their national history. However the relatively firm establishment of monotheism by the time of Jesus precluded any overt regression into idolatrous and polytheistic beliefs. Perhaps the limited polytheism disguised in the doctrine of Trinity was all that was possible for the polytheistic temperament to achieve within the monotheistic climate of the Hebrew culture, which was already subject to the stresses imposed by the pagan Romans' cultural, political, and religious influences.
Watt is aware of the responsibility inherent in belief (p. 135), which is parallel or even prior to the responsibility for one's actions, and is upheld in the Islamic and Christian teachings. This is because our world-views, irrespective of whether we are theists or atheists, play a fundamental role in the organization of our entire scheme of life. Beliefs are inherited by children from parents or "from the view of reality current in the social milieu," together with other behavioural patterns, and one is, therefore, responsible at least partially for how the future generations shall believe, live and act.
In order to judge any belief or act we must also take into consideration the consequences for the entire humanity if such a belief were held and practised world-wide by all human beings. If one were to apply Watt's pragmatic criterion to the Christian belief in Trinity and speculate what would be the consequences for the entire mankind if the belief in the incarnation of Christ had not become prevalent among Christians-a belief which resulted, not to speak of the Jew's alienation from Christ, in the denial of the prophethood of Muhammad (S) by millions of human beings since the period following Christ to the present day, and deprived them of the spiritual,
intellectual and moral benefits of Islam, not to speak about the centuries of distrust if not hostility it has caused between two major sections of mankind-one may wonder about the contribution it might have made to the satisfactoriness of human life" on this planet. Perhaps it could have saved mankind from the crucial loss of meaning which has assumed cosmic dimensions in the modern world for some decades.
Attributes and Names of God
In the same chapter, while discussing the Attributes and Names of God, Watt remarks:
So far as names and words go there would seem to be little difference between Islam and Christianity. Nevertheless, many Christians would claim that God as conceived by Christians is more loving than God as conceived by Muslims. For Christians, He is not merely benevolent towards those who obey and love Him, but He is like a shepherd who goes out to look for and rescue sheep that have gone astray ….Many items of news in recent years have given Westerners the impression that Muslims are sterner and more rigorous in their punishment of offenders. Undoubtedly, however, there are many other Muslims whose attitudes are much more liberal.(p. 53)
Watt's attitude is fairer than that of some Orientalists and scholars of Semitic religions who regard the Old Testament and the Quranic conceptions of God as being sterner or less loving than the Christian conception'. Watt is willing to admit that there is "little difference" between the Islamic and Christian conceptions "so far as names and words go'." However, there is something true in the statement that the Christian conception projects God as being more loving and lenient in comparison with the Jewish and Islamic notions. There are two reasons for this: firstly, the emphasis on love,
more than in the Gospels, is found in Paul's letters; secondly, the absence of any system of legislation in Christianity comparable to the Mosaic Law or the Islamic Shari'ah3. God in the popular Christian conception is no more the authoritative lawgiver that He is in the Quran and the Torah. In the Christian conception, `one is put right with God' solely through faith in God and Jesus Christ. Voluntary morality substitutes the compulsory Divine Law. God, to Paul and his followers, no longer seems to make any of the following demands:
Whoever hits his father or his mother is to be put to death. Whoever kidnaps a man, either to sell him or to keep him as a slave, is to be put to death. Whoever curses his father or his mother, is to be put to death. Whenever a man gets angry and deliberately kills another man, he is to be put to death, even if he has run to My altar of safety (Exodus 21:14-17). If a thief is caught breaking into a house at night and is killed, the one who killed him is not guilty of murder (Exodus 22:4). Put to death any woman who practises magic.
Put to death any man who has sexual relations with an animal. Condemn to death anyone who offers sacrifices to any god except Me, the Lord (Exodus 22:18-20). If a man is caught having intercourse with another man's wife, both of them are to be put to death (Deut. 22:22). Whoever does not keep it (the Sabbath), but works on that day, is to be put to death (Exodus 31:14).
Similarly, Christianity is not `encumbered' with the laws regarding qisas, and hudud as in Islam. This banishment of Law from the predominant Christian religion which has survived until today, reduces God, na'udhu billdh, to an easygoing, indulgent and negligent sovereign who is no longer bothered about how men may regulate their lives and social affairs, as long as they have faith in Him and His Son, whose death on the cross exempts the believers from the jurisdiction of the earlier Law given to Moses. To the Muslim it appears that the Christian or rather the Pauline emphasis on love is a plea to compensate the guilt caused by the rejection of Mosaic Law in the interest of Paul's ambition for proselyting among the Gentiles. The Mosaic Law, with its all embracing nature covering all the individual and social affairs, would have reduced the acceptability of the Christian doctrine for the Gentiles used to liberal life styles.
Watt is referring to the much publicized cases of-implementation of the Islamic penal laws in the latter part of his above-quoted statement. When he refers to the "many other Muslims whose attitudes are much more liberal", he is indeed referring to the "moderate" Muslims who, like Paul, consider religion as voluntary ethics and a matter of individual's inner faith that would not tolerate the Law of the Shari'ah to invade all spheres of individual and social life. While they are delighted with the abstract idea of loving Gad and all mankind and the rest of creation, they are put off by any suggestion that God should be obeyed (at least as much as their office's regulations or the traffic rules) and not merely loved.
They are liberal indeed in the sense that they liberally appropriate all control over their individual lives or the affairs of the society to themselves. Faith and love, they are convinced, are sufficient to satisfy and placate God, and compensate for their rejection of the Law, without which, they are certain, it is possible to regulate individual life and socio-political affairs of their society `satisfactorily.'
Actually in a sense Watt's present work is aimed to reassure and perhaps guide these Muslim liberals in the light of the Christian experience, as the note on the book's flap candidly suggests:
In the Islamic world today there are many liberal-minded Muslims who feel threatened by their own fundamentalists, and who are likely to see in the positions adopted and defended in this book a possible way forward for themselves.
Scriptures as the Word of God
In the fourth chapter of the book "Scriptures as the Word of God", writing on the revealed law, Watt admits that "Jesus accepted the Mosaic Law" (p. 72). In the same paragraph earlier, he somewhat misleadingly states that "Christians accepted the commands given by God to Moses, of which the main ones are those in the Ten Commandments." The Ten Commandments constitute a prelude to the detailed text of Mosaic Law as stated in several books of the Pentateuch. This statement may mislead many Muslim readers who are not wellacquainted with the Christian attitude towards Mosaic Law. Watt, without making any reference to the obvious role of Paul and his followers in dissociating Christianity from the Mosaic Law, states:
Unlike the early Muslims the early Christians did not constitute a political entity or state, and so they had no responsibility for framing or administering laws. What they found, however, especially those of them who lived outside Palestine, was that in the Roman empire there was a system of law owing nothing to revelation, and yet roughly in accordance with the ethico-legal parts of the Mosaic law. When the Roman empire became officially Christian in the early fourth century, it already had a system of law which was in general acceptable to Christians, and there was no need to create a new system of law based solely on the Mosaic law as modified by the teaching of Jesus.
Living in the Roman empire made it clear to Christians that sound human reason, apart from revelation, could reach a satisfactory system of law. Thus in medieval Christendom and in modern Western Christendom until the present century, although the laws of the various states were expected to be in accordance with biblical teaching, it was not considered necessary to show how a particular law was derived from scriptural texts (p. 73).
The 'deliberate neglect of Mosaic Law by early Christianity, or rather the majority sects of Christians, contrasts sharply with the attitude of Jesus Christ himself who, in the words of Watt, "criticized certain aspects of its contemporary application, notably the attaching of great importance to ritual matters and the like and the comparative neglect of some of the main ethico-legal conceptions." The Gospel of Matthew reports about Jesus' attack on the Hebrew teachers of the Law for their hypocrisy. In the course of his discourse, Jesus says:
You hypocrites! You give to God a tenth even of the seasoning herbs, such as mint, dill, and cumin, but you neglect to obey the really important teachings of the Law, such as justice and mercy and honesty. These you should practise, without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23) Jesus attacks the partial and selective practice of the Law by the Jewish priests, who ignored the teachings of paramount social significance such as justice, honesty and mercy. His words are comparable to a similar condemnation of the ahl al-hitdb, the Jews in particular, by the Quran:
… What, do you believe in part of the Book, and disbelieve in part? What shall be the recompense of those of you who do that, but degradation in the present life, and on the Day of Resurrection to be returned unto the most terrible chastisement? …. (2:85)
If, according to Watt, the Christians "did not constitute a political entity or state" in the beginning, neither did the non-Christian Jews, who were politically and culturally under the Roman domination. It is much of naivety on the part of Watt to expect the reader to be gullible enough to believe that "within the Roman empire there was a system of law… roughly in accordance with the ethico-legal parts of the Mosaic Law.
" The fact is that Christianity was so much liberalized and secularized by the- third century by its predominant sect-as is the case today with the `Islam' of the Westernized Muslim intelligentsia and statesmen-and so much cut off from the practice of the Mosaic Law that it did not matter how roughly the Roman law agreed with the law given by God to Moses. The Christians readily adopted the ways of Roman society and "when the Roman empire became officially Christian in the early fourth century, it already had a system of law which was in general acceptable to Ghistians; end there was no need to create a new system of law based on the Mosaic Law."
The Sunni and Shah-jurists accept, with some difference, the role of reason in derivation 'of the `rules `of the Shari'ah; but to consider reason as a substitute for revelation (or as Watt cleverly states, "as a source parallel to revelation") would be a flagrant infringement of the explicit text of the Quran:
And whoever does not give a ruling according to what God has revealed they are the unbelievers. (5:44) It is not for any believer, man or woman, 'When God and His Messenger have decreed a matter, to have the choice in their affair. Whosoever disobeys God and His Messenger has gone astray in manifest error. (33:36)
Reason in Islamic jurisprudence is usually applied as a tool only in no case considered to be parallel to the Quran and the Sunnah. Only when there is no guide-line offered by the Quran and the Sunnah the reason can assume an independent parallel role. Such instances are neutral to the Shari'ah. It would be naivety to expect the Islamic jurist worth his name to take the Shari'ah as lightly and nonchalantly as Pauline Christianity treated the Mosaic law. In Islam, legislation of any laws conflicting with the Shari'ah is a kind of apostasy and shirk (polytheism). It is this kind of departure from the revealed law on behalf of the Jewish doctors and Christian priesthood that the Quran disapproves in the following verse, likening their behaviour to polytheism:
They (the Jews and the Christians) have taken their rabbis and their monks-as lords apart from God …. (9:31)
Watt knows well this difference between- Muslim and -Christian attitudes, as he remarks:
The contrast between the Islamic belief: that all laws should be based, on God's commands and the Christian readiness to accept sound human reason as a source of law parallel to revelation is one-of the greatest differences between the two religions, and raises the _question whether in' the future it will be possible for Muslims to cooperate in the field of law with Christians; or at least to have some degree of mutual understanding (p74′)
However, no man of sound reason, who has also read the Pentateuch, will accept Watt's . remark which indirectly casts doubts upon the death penalties legislated in the Mosaic Law-
Even if it is accepted that the commands are God's commands, it is proper to ask whether human beings have correctly understood the fundamental principles implicit in them. One of the Ten Commandments is `you shall not kill', and this may be said to inculcate the fundamental principle of `respect for life'. What may be asked, however, is whether this command forbids the judicial execution of criminals. For nearly twenty centuries most Christians have agreed that it does not; but that appears to be a human interpretation of the command.(p. 76)
Watt's attitude exemplifies the nonchalant attitude of most Christians towards the revelation and the Law of the Old Testaments, an attitude which may not be emulated by any Muslim jurisprudent.
In general, the Christian scholars of Islam have striven to diminish the Muslim's respect for his law and scriptures. Under the heading "The human element in revelation," Watt takes some pains to prove that there is `some human element' also in the Quran. While as a Christian he apparently believes that God may become incarnate in a man born of a woman, eat, drink, speak, move about and die, it is interesting to see him making the following remark about the Muslim belief that the Quran constitutes the speech of God. He says:
There is something paradoxical in the idea that written or spoken words may be the word or speech of God. Because God is eternal and transcendent He can be known to man only in so far as He reveals Himself to man. (p. 61)
The textual criticism of the Bible has deflated the traditional Christian views about the `Divine' origin of the books of the Old and New Testaments. Some Western scholars of Islam have also taken great pains to prove that discrepancies, as are replete in the Bible, exist also in the Holy Quran. Others have tried to call its literary excellence in question. Arther J. Arberry refers to the Quran's literary critics as men "ambitious to measure the ocean of prophetic eloquence with the thimble of pedestrian analysis.
" One of the allegations made by such critics has been in relation to the Quranic story of Mary, Jesus' mother, in which she is addressed reproachfully as `sister of Aaron' (19:28) by the people who accuse her of adultery. The critics allege that the Quran confuses between Mary, Jesus' mother, and the sister of Aaron, Moses' brother, of the same name. The Quran is perfectly clear about its historical perspective from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses to the time of Christ.
This fact is obvious to any reader of the Quran. It is nothing less than deliberate malice on the Orientalists' part to make such absurd allegations against the Quran. Also, it is naivety on Watt's behalf to use it to inculcate doubt about the irrefutably firm Islamic belief born out by the Quran and reliable hadith that Jesus did not die upon the cross'. This is what Watt says:
… There is a slight mathematical mistake in the Bible, where it speaks of a large circular basin, called a `sea' which is ten cubits across and thirty cubits round (2 Chronicles 4.2); actually a circle which is ten units in diameter has a circumference of over thirty-one units. Presumably the people for whom this was written were accustomed to work with this low degree of accuracy, and it was not part of the purpose of scripture to change their outlook in such matters.
In similar fashion, some of the verses in which Western scholars have alleged that the Quran has made mistakes, should be regarded as being expressed in terms of mistaken views current among the people of Mecca and Medina. Examples are the address to Mary, mother of Jesus, as `sister of Aaron', and the apparent denial of the crucifixion of Jesus (4:157). It is probable that there were people in Arabia who had such ideas, and it was not part of the purpose of revelation to correct them.
With regard to the crucifixion it is known that there were certain Christian heretics, called Gnostics, who denied that Jesus died on the cross. The primary purpose of S. 4:157 appears to be not to deny the death as such, but to deny that the bringing about of his death by the Jews was triumph for them (a point with which Christians could agree). (p. 63) .
God The Creator
In the fifth chapter entitled "God the Creator", Watt deals with the belief that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and handles the `not easy task' of understanding it `in the light of what we know about the universe.' Since there is no established or even emergent cosmology capable of reconciling religious beliefs about the relation of God to the universe with the results of science, he takes upon himself the task of providing "the rudiments of a philosophical cosmology by drawing on ideas from such thinkers as Polanyi and Teilhard de Chardin" (p. 79).
He implicitly accepts the Marxian views on the relation of the individual to society and holds that "persons cannot be persons except through and in a society, they cannot act except in accordance with the meanings implicit in the world-view of the society." Accordingly, Watt's generous attempt to provide Christians and Muslims with a philosophical cosmology is also based firmly upon the secular Western world view which he shares with other Westerners.
For him the unity of the human race is a potential unity, `and that this unity is in the process of being realized' presumably through world-wide acceptance of the secular Western world-view, which according to him "is bound to be universally accepted before long by all educated persons." (p. 83) Watt despite his earlier feeble protest against scientism is, visibly, perfectly at home with the secular Western world-view and his suggested cosmology which deals with religious conceptions is aimed at proposing only minor modifications to it so as to incorporate religious beliefs in the secular world-outlook.
In this cosmological scheme, God is an `orientation' in matter which, if we may say, develops in an evolutionary fashion from the simplicity of the `geosphere' and ` biosphere' to the complexities of the nousphere' and `theiosphere'. God is reduced in it, though implicitly, to a mode of matter. Watt only vaguely understands the mathematical notion of boundary conditions or constraints, and follows Polanyi in the claim that "higher-level entities somehow impose boundary conditions on lower-level entities." In his suggested cosmology,
the cosmic process is controlled by (a) setting of boundary conditions, and (b) the presence in matter of an orientation, also spoken of as `radial energy' [a concept taken from Teilhard]. The suggestion that first springs to mind is that it is God who sets the boundary conditions, and He is somewhat identified with the orientation in matter, or at least works through it. (p. 93) …. To say that it is God who sets the boundary conditions for the universe [presumably its laws] and who is present in the constituents of the universe as an orientation covers the main assertions of the scriptures. (p. 94)
God's immanence and His transcendence are reduced to two different modes of matter:
The boundary conditions might be described as the more explicit and external form of the implicit and internal orientation. As applied to God, this latter symbol expresses His immanence, the other His transcendence. Watt's metaphysics makes theology an appendage of physics and biology, and incorporates God into the universe with results not much different from Spinozistic pantheism.
But how is a believer in the God of the scriptures to react to this inane and abstract conception of the Deity rehabilitated in the secular Western world-view? Watt anticipates the question and readily prescribes `sophisticated naivety' once again:
The devout believer may well ask: How can I worship an orientation or a setter of boundary conditions? The question is a perfectly proper one, and the answer is simple. The believer must keep in mind what has already been said about `sophisticated naivety'. By all means he may -indeed he must go on using the familiar scriptural terms with naive simplicity [i.e. God and Creator for Orientation and Setter of boundary conditions]. (p. 95) He accepts evolution, namely, that "Homo sapiens is descended from `lower' forms of life," as a scientific fact, man being the best result so far obtained by the `orientation':
Certainly God created man, but has brought him into existence by controlling the direction of the evolutionary process. God is not to be thought of as having had some kind of blueprint of human nature; rather humanity is the highest example so far of that towards which the immanent orientation is tending.(p. 95)
Since there is no room in the Western secular world-view for miracles and God's `interference with the laws of nature,' Watt tries to explain away biblical miracles related to Noah, Moses, Joshua, and Jesus as allegories, imitations of earlier `models' or imaginative distortions of perfectly natural events.
The story of Adam and Eve, since it does not fit with the theory of evolution, is for him a "folk-myth". The Virgin Birth of Jesus and his resurrection, though posing difficulty to the modern Christian believer, are "to be accepted with sophisticated naivety as containing symbolic truth." For Watt `symbolic interpretation' is a cure-all, a magic lamp by which all scriptural afflictions are healed, theological knots are untied, and doctrinal pitfalls are safely left behind one's back. This can be noticed throughout the book.
Though God does not permit miracles, He may, arrange things in a way that the believers are naturally helped and disbelievers destroyed. Here is a wise explanation which also does not tax secular imagination:
Although God cannot be said to interfere with the laws governing natural events, yet the total situation (including the characters of the human beings involved) may be such that certain events prove disastrous for unbelievers or, in other cases, advantageous for believers. Since God is ultimately behind everything, one is justified in saying that He has helped the unbelievers and helped the believers. (p. 116)
God as the Lord of History
In the sixth chapter called "God as the Lord of History", Watt opens a very interesting discussion on the issue of sacral and secular views of history. Historical events, he explains,
may be written about in several different ways, according to the interests of the writer and of his potential readers. The essential work of the historian may be said to be to discover significant patterns in that great and complex chaos which is the course of events …. Sacral history presents the course of events in the historical process as controlled by God. (p. 105) The secular historian is chiefly concerned with those patterns which we describe as political, economic, social and intellectual factors, and the like, whereas sacral history deals with the patterns which are relevant to the Godward aspect of events. (p. 110)
But how does God control the course of history in the light of Watt's statement that `there is no overt interference with natural law' on His part? In addition to the `boundary conditions' and `inner orientation,' there are two other ways in which God may control events:
(1) He may initiate a series of events by `calling' individuals to undertake some task or project, as He called Abraham, Moses and Muhammad; (2) He may strengthen men to fight in battle and gain victory and to carry on in adverse circumstances, and conversely He may weaken the opponents of those He favours by causing them to lose confidence, to entertain false beliefs and the like. (p. 107)
A prophet's consciousness of his prophetic mission is made to appear like a deep-seated psychological compulsion, called by Watt `inner prompting', which "on the one hand constitutes an initiative by God; but on the other hand does not destroy or override a man's freedom since it is for him to decide whether to respond to the call or not, whether to follow the prompting or not." Watt forgets to mention the case of Jonah who had tried to escape the dictates of, what he would call, Jonah's `inner prompting.'
Watt has a characteristically Christian view of history which is divisible into secular and sacral compartments. This split view of reality is unacceptable to the Muslim, particularly the Shi'ahs, for whom not only two different views of history characterized as sacral and secular are unacceptable, but also there cannot be more than one sacral historical perspective for all mankind. Man, according to Islam, is a sacral creature. The purpose of his creation and life are intrinsically sacral:
I have not created the jinn and mankind except to serve Me. (51:56)
The creation of Adam was realization of a sacral Divine plan, the wisdom of which even the angels could not readily see. They thought that man was unfit for the fulfilment of the sacral objective for which God wished to create him, and he would degrade himself to the level of the beast and cause corruption and bloodshed upon the earth.'
The Quran views the entire history of humanity, the past and the future, in a single sacral perspective, as can be seen from the verse 2:213, quoted earlier and the following verses:
It is He Who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may uplift it above every religion, though the polytheists be averse. (61:9)
… and there is not a nation but a warner has passed among them. (35:24) He has laid down for you as religion that He charged Noah with, and that We have revealed to thee [MuhammadJ , and that We charged Abraham with, Moses and Jesus, [saying]: "Establish the religion, and scatter not regarding it …. They scattered not, save after knowledge had come to them, being insolent one to another …. (42:13-14)
The religion near God is Islam. Those who were given the Book were not at variance except after knowledge came to them, being insolent one to another …. (3:19)
The Quran condemns the `chosen-people syndrome' of the Jews and the Christians, which led to an unreal partitioning of sacral histories as an incurable disease lasting until the Judgement Day, and warns the Muslims against doing the same thing.
The Jews say, `The Christians stand not on anything'; the Christians say, `The Jews stand not on anything'; yet they [both] recite the [same Divine] scriptures. So, too, the ignorant say the like of them. God shall decide between them on the Day of Resurrection touching their differences. (2:113) And they say, `none shall enter Paradise except that they be Jews or Christians.' Such are their fancies. Say: Produce your proof, if you speak truly.' (2:111)
Source: alhassanain.com


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Adaptive BIKETOWN FAQ
We're back for a full riding season!
Adaptive BIKETOWN will be open May 1 - October 31, 2018.
Learn more at www.AdaptiveBIKETOWN.com.
Adaptive BIKETOWN FAQ
What is Adaptive BIKETOWN?
Adaptive BIKETOWN is Portland's adaptive bike rental project. The goal is to increase biking access for people with disabilities.
The project is a partnership with existing bike rental businesses to offer the rental of adaptive bicycles, like handcycles, trikes, and tandems. The focus is on short to medium-length bicycle rentals, of one to three hours.
How did Adaptive BIKETOWN come about?
In 2016, PBOT received two requests for physical accommodation with the launch of its BIKETOWN bike share system. Out of those requests PBOT started to conduct outreach, beginning with Wheel Connect (an event sponsored by Oregon Spinal Cord Injury Connection), the annual Adaptive Bicycle Clinic, and INCIGHT's Summer HandCycling Series. PBOT staff interviewed a number of people with disabilities about their interest in an adaptive bicycle rental service.
The people interviewed almost universally expressed a desire and/or need for a staffed service; storage for personal mobility devices; and a desire to ride on multi-use paths or trails. Therefore, the pilot concept was developed to partner with existing bike rental businesses located on or in close proximity to multi-use trails.
At this time, the intent is to focus on adaptive cycle rentals through existing bike rental businesses located on or in close proximity to non-motorized trails. PBOT is considering providing both hand bicycles and three wheeled bicycles. Longer term adaptive bicycle rental is currently available through Adaptive Sports Northwest.
When did the Pilot Project take place?
The 2017 pilot project ran from July 21, 2017 through October 31, 2017. The 2018 pilot project will run May 1 through October 31, 2018.
Who helped form the concept?
The pilot project was developed by the community. The initial concept was developed out of one-on-one interviews at events like Wheel Connect and the Summer Handcycle Series. However, the broader concept has been developed by input from the online Community Survey and the Adaptive Bicycle Work Group, which is composed of community members with disabilities and nonprofit and agency staff working on disability issues.
What is the budget for Adaptive BIKETOWN?
The total budget for the entire pilot project phase, including purchasing the bicycles is $40,000.
Who is paying for Adaptive BIKETOWN?
The pilot project is paid for by $30,000 of PBOT's General Transportation Revenue funds. Nike donated $10,000 to help raise awareness of the program.
General Concept
How does the program work?
PBOT has partnered with Kerr Bikes to rent adaptive bikes to the public. Users first make a reservation for a fitting at www.AdaptiveBIKETOWN.com and then ride.
What are adaptive bicycles?
Bicycles that are made to accommodate people with various abilities and disabilities. Adaptive BIKETOWN has 10 bicycles, including handcycles, foot powered trikes, and tandem bicycles.
Rental Process Details
How do you rent a bicycle?
Below is the general rental process for Adaptive BIKETOWN:
Step 1: Make a Reservation online at www.adaptivebiketown.com
Step 2: 1st time assessment at the bike shop to build a Rider Profile
Step 3: 1st Ride
Step 4: Online Reservation (for bike) OR Drop-in
Step 5: Ride
*Note – After the 1st ride (with assessment) user can either reserve a bike online or drop-in to rent a bicycle.
10. What services are part of the pilot?
The following are services that are part of Adaptive BIKETOWN:
- Short term (about 1 to 3 hours) adaptive bike rental.
- Fitting for the available adaptive bikes.
- Bike helmet rental (included with bike rental).
- Mobility device storage during rental time.
- Crate storage of service animal during rental time.
11. What services are not part of the pilot?
The following are services that are not part of Adaptive BIKETOWN:
- Transfer from mobility device to adaptive bike (i.e., users will need to do so on their own or with the assistance of friend, family and/or caregiver).
- Emergency pick up (e.g., if user cannot return to the bike shop on their own).
12. Can I rent an adaptive bike for a week or longer?
Longer term adaptive bicycle rental is currently available through Adaptive Sports Northwest.
Additional Program Elements
13. Is there an age restriction for use of the adaptive bicycles?
Users must be 18 years old or accompanied by an adult.
14. What is the cost to rent an adaptive bicycle in the pilot project?
For those that qualify for a TriMet Honored Citizens pass (people with disabilities, seniors and Medicaid recipients) the discounted rate is $5 per hour, or $12 for three hours. There are a limited number of fee waivers for those that can't afford that rate. The rental rate for able bodied people is higher and varies depending on the bicycle.
15. What is the connection to BIKETOWN?
Adaptive BIKETOWN grew out of accommodation requests at the launch of the BIKETOWN bike share program in 2016. The pilot project is a unique program nationally, and is intended to operate as a stand-alone project for the time being. However, there will be co-promotion through the BIKETOWN website and other material.
16. Will BIKETOWN staff operate this program?
No. Kerr Bikes is the operator. PBOT is managing the overall project.
17. I'm a member of BIKETOWN, can I use adaptive bikes as part of my membership?
No, at this time, during the pilot project you cannot use your BIKETOWN membership to rent the adaptive bicycles. During the evaluation of the pilot project, staff will look at future opportunities for integration.
18. What bike shops are involved in the pilot?
Kerr Bikes, located at 1945 SE Water Avenue, Building B (Eastbank Esplanade) is our rental shop partner. Different Spokes is a sponsor and made a generous in-kind donation by sharing their expertise and participating in the project's development.
More Information
19. How can I stay up-to-date?
You can learn more about PBOT's adaptive bike rental project at www.adaptivepdx.org, where you can also sign-up for email updates about the project. For rentals, visit www.adaptiveBIKETOWN.com.
If you have specific questions, please contact Liz Hormann, email@example.com, (503) 823-5086


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Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
While it may not be as visually appealing as a glass aquarium, a plastic container can be a safe and durable home for your fish and aquatic pets. The inexpensive and easy-to-set-up container works well as a recovery habitat for injured fish, a breeding area to raise fry and as a backup home for fish if your main aquarium is unavailable. Plastic containers can also be made into outdoor ponds and tanks that can be partially sunk in the ground and house large fish such as koi.
Select a plastic container that will be big enough for your fish. Check with the seller or manufacturer to ensure the container is made from chemically inert polythene. This material won't leach or add pollutants to the water once it's made into a tank. Also, when choosing a plastic container that's rectangular, make sure it's strong enough so it won't bow on the sides when filled. A circular plastic container won't have this problem.
Buy your plastic container. Some pet stores sell plastic containers for fish. Gardening stores also carry plastic containers in a variety of shapes and sizes that you can turn into your own aquarium.
Place the plastic container wherever you want it displayed. This could be on an aquarium stand. Just make sure it's out of direct sunlight. Also, leave about 5 inches of space between the container and the wall for the filter to fit. You can also create an outdoor fish pond by partially burying the plastic container in the ground. The soil will add support to the container's sides once the plastic has the durability to stand up to the elements.
Add gravel and water to the container. This aquarium gravel should be washed before placement in the container. Make sure the water is safe for fish. For example, if it has chlorine, neutralise it with a dechlorinator once it's in the container. This chemical can be purchased from most pet stores.
Install the plastic container's filter and heater. An ideal filter would be an internal or canister filter. Unlike a hanging filter designed to fit on the fish tank's rim, these filters go inside or completely outside of the container and will work with any size plastic rim. Most heaters are attached by suction on the sides of an aquarium.
Add decorations to your plastic container, such as plants, driftwood or plastic ornaments. This will give your fish a place to hide and feel safe.
Wait 24 hours for the aquarium to settle. This will allow the water temperature to stabilise. After that, acclimate your fish to the water and release them in the plastic container.
Most recent
- Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images


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At the heart of every new Nikon D-SLR, Nikon 1 and COOLPIX compact camera is EXPEED, Nikon's fast and powerful image-processing engine. Using exclusive technologies, EXPEED is your answer to fast, comprehensive and energy-efficient in-camera image creation. Performance like this transforms large volumes of high-megapixel data into spellbinding images, full of faithful color, tonality and detail. But with power also comes speed: even data-heavy images process smoothly and comfortably, even during continuous shooting.
Employed in many powerful camera models, Nikon's Picture Control System helps fine-tune images according to subject matter and the user's personal taste. Experimenting with the many Picture Control options can create video and still images that are a unique reflection of the user's creative spirit.
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text: I find myself using this little guy more and more often as the basis for a lav/bodypack system when I'm recording interviews or conversations with industry folks. It's a faster setup (I just leave it on me all the time and don't worry about battery life) and I don't have to worry about interference the way I do with wireless systems. It's a great value, because the audio is great, too.


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Franco-German director Ingrid von Wantoch Rekowski was born in Bad Godesberg, Germany, in 1967. After first studying piano, dance and painting in the United States, she embarked on her directing career at INSAS (Institut National Supérieur des Arts et Spectacles) in Brussels. She has trained under, among others, Eugenio Barba, Bob Wilson, Georges Aperghis, Trisha Brown, Alexei Levinski, Dario Fo and Anatoli Vassiliev.
From her very first show, In The Woods One Evening, in 1994, featuring music by Aperghis, Buckinx, Berberian, Deak, Dzuibak and Lachert, she has established a singular language suffused with the logics of the stage, music, visual arts and literature. This is an approach she has taken further with her company, Lucilia Caesar, which she founded in Brussels in the same year. She also works elsewhere in Europe as a guest director at festivals, theatres and opera houses.
A-Ronne II by Berio in 1996 brought her national and international recognition, followed by, among others, Cena Furiosa (1999), madrigals by Monteverdi at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Lohengrin (2001) by Sciarrino at the Berlin Biennale, In H-Moll (2001) based on Bach's B minor mass performed notably at the Festival Musica Strasbourg and Wiener Festwochen, La Vergine Dei Dolor (2003), an oratorio by Scarlatti at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Le Tango des Centaures (2005) based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, written by Pascal Quignard and composed by Kris Defoort, Mondschatten (2006) a chamber opera by Younghi Pagh-Paan at the Oper Stuttgart, Lapsit exillis (2009) based on the Arthurian legends and Raphaël, les sirènes et le poulet (2011) based on famous duets at the Théâtre National in Brussels, as well as numerous performances and videos. Le Stéréoscope des Solitaires, a sound journey with Ana Maria Rodriguez based on Juan Rodolfo Wilcock's work The Stereoscope of Solitary Beings, was created with Césaré and KNM Berlin in Reims (Reims Scènes d'Europe) and will be revived in 2016 in Marseille (Festival les Musiques/Théâtre la Criée).
Her last creation, Bug, coproduced with the IRCAM (Paris), was presented in June 2017 together with Ars Musica in Brussels and in the Centre National Césaré de Reims.
Ingrid von Wantoch Rekowski regularly collaborates with leading artists such as the composers Qu Xiao-Song, Salvatore Sciarrino, Kris Defoort and Younghi Pagh-Paan, the conductors Marc Minkowski, Beat Furrer, Konrad Junghänel and Rinaldo Alessandrini, and writers such as Pascal Quignard.
She was associate artist at the Théâtre National in Brussels from 2005 to 2011. She has regularly been giving classes at INSAS in Brussels since 2007 and has also worked at various schools for the arts in Europe, including in Aberystwyth, Lausanne, Mons and Zürich.


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Old Georgians' Rugby Club (OGRFC) was re-established in 2011 with the purpose to provide opportunities to play rugby after leaving St George's College, Weybridge.
After five promotions since 2011, OGRFC have reached the lofty heights of London & South West 3 (Level 8 of the RFU circuit).
We have been lucky enough to receive tremendous backing from the College, Old Georgians' Association and our supporters who follow come rain or sunshine and for that we are hugely grateful. Our sponsor Trailfinders have been a bedrock of support for the rugby club for which we are forever indebted to Mike & Fiona Gooley.
The club are extremely lucky to play their home fixtures at the College, allowing them to boast arguably the best home pitch on the league circuit. It really is a thrill for all of us to play again at SGC having left the College at various points in time and it is an experience we would like to provide for as many OG's as possible.
As well as playing matches on Saturday throughout the year, OGRFC train once a week at the College under the guidance of Head Coach Ben Johnston (Director of Rugby at SGC). Ben's enthusiasm and unquestionable rugby and coaching knowledge will no doubt drive the club onto new heights in the coming years as we continue to grow and prosper.
If you are interested in joining the club as a player or just want to be kept updated as to our progress please email Alex Willis on email@example.com Club website: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/oldgeorgiansrfc
Twitter: @OGsRugby
Facebook: Old Georgians RFC (OGRFC)


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William Ranney (1813-1857), considered one of the foremost American painters of the early nineteenth century, depicts an incident in the Battle of Cowpens, which took place on January 17, 1781 in western South Carolina, near the location of present day Spartanburg. In the painting, "an unnamed black soldier" on the left fires his pistol, "saving the life of Colonel William Washington" (a second cousin once removed of George Washington) on the white horse in the center.
I'm not sure of the title of this painting, or where it now resides. It was completed in 1845, no doubt based on accounts of the battle available to Ranney.
Cowpens was an important victory for the Continental Army, as it set back the British attempt to consolidate their earlier successes in the South--they had earlier captured Savannah in Georgia and Charleston and Camden in South Carolina--and helped to clear the way for the victory at Yorktown later that year.
Saturday, July 04, 2015
William Ranney, "The Battle of Cowpens."
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So with that said, I used a beautiful scripture from ODBD Scripture Collection 6. Word Art Wednesday's Challenge this week is to use this scripture in your project. I am also using some new Cheery Lynn goodies! The tiny flowers are done with a Cuttlebug die. While I was adding the pearls, it dawned on me that I was supposed to use brads or eyelets! Oops! Well, I wasn't gonna take the card apart at that point, so I used my whatchamacallit, (shank remover?) to cut the tails off of some rhinestone brads and glued them down on the butterflies with Beacon glue. So technically I used brads, just not in the way they are supposed to be used!
Thank you for taking a look at my card!


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Choose Your Thoughts: You've Got Options
Choosing our thoughts starts with awareness that we have the ability to do so.
I've decided to share a series of posts that demonstrates this, with the intention that practice makes perfect.
CIRCUMSTANCE: Snow. (It snowed last night in New Jersey.)
I hate snow.
What a freaking hassle.
It looks beautiful.
I love snow.
I hate the cold.
I'm glad it's Sunday.
My husband and dog love the snow.
Snow brings all the neighbors out.
Our snow blower is amazing.
Great day for a fire (in the fireplace)!
It's so messy.
I hate being cold.
I can stay inside and get a lot of things done.
If I choose a negative thought, you can guess how I'll feel and move through the world.
I can't necessarily get behind, "I love snow," because it isn't true for me.
But, I can choose, "My husband and dog love the snow," and this thought makes me feel happy.
Find a circumstance and try it out. List all your thoughts and then consciously choose one that ultimately makes you feel good.
If you want to practice this on a regular basis and get personalized support, set-up a mini-session.
Choose well, my friends! :)


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Liz invited us over one Saturday for breakfast and this is actually my favorite meal of the day and so I bragged I would be able to eat a lot and that she will be surprised.
Liz said her husband would make his famous pancakes!!… the hours got real long until Saturday morning. When we arrived the stack of pancakes was … huge! just amazing, all equal in size all perfect and evenly browned it was unreal! The last time I saw such perfection was on the cover of Linda Lomellino's baking book! And she is a foodstilist! Then Liz made us eggs with asparagus shavings and then she made this cake: Do I have to confess I didn't get hungry until very late that Saturday?
In order to get such a pretty tray full of elderflowers I roamed the whole neighborhood, dog in the car trunk and stopped whenever I saw the pretty white flowers hanging over a fence low enough to reach them. The dog got nervous in the back, when was it her turn - or never? Then I walked through he woods and vineyards to find a spot for a perfect background - together with Gina who was much less interested in the flower arrangement than I and kept stepping on it!
Please insert the skewer all the way so the yummy lemon juice and elderflower syrup can make it all the way down to infuse the cake. I made two cakes because I wanted to try a gluten-free version. This one is made with almond meal but turned out too moist, which is rare for gluten-free cakes, I need to experiment more and I will share the recipe once it's perfect
Preparation time 20 min
Baking time 45 min
Oven temperature 180°C | 375°F
You Need
225g | 8oz butter, softened
225g | 8oz caster sugar
4 large eggs
225g |8oz flour, sifted
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
zest and juice 1 lemon
100ml | 4floz elderflower syrup
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
Use fresh lemon for a zingy taste
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Grease a (20cm) round, deep loose-based tin and base line with baking parchment.
Place the butter sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar together. Gradually add the eggs, mixing well between additions and adding 2 tbsp. of the flour with the last egg - this will prevent curdling.
Sift over the remaining flour, and then gently fold in with a spatula along with 2 tbsp. hot water. Fill the prepared tin, level the surface and bake for 50-55 minutes or until it is shrinking away from the sides of the tin. A fine skewer inserted in the center should come out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 min.
Squeeze the lemon juice, then sieve to remove the bits and add the elderflower syrup. Use the fine skewer to prick the cake all over until all the way to the bottom, pour over the syrup then sprinkle over the 2 tablespoons of sugar - it should sink in but leave a crunchy crust. Leave to cool completely, before removing the cake from the tin.


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The Columbine Cup 2018
It's that time of year again, when the Ladies play the Senior Gents for the above trophy. This match is on Tuesday 10th April, with the Tee time being 1.00pm
The signing up sheet is now displayed in the locker room and we are looking for 16 ladies to play this year. The draw for the Ladies team will be done following the Ladies Captain v. Vice Captain match on the 30th March.
I hope everyone has a good season and good luck to all. Please ensure to get your names down for all the displayed events.
Fiona Johnston
Handicap Secretary.


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Born :
Date of Death:
Additional information:
Marital status :
Occupation :
Cemetery :
Smith Amos Charles
2nd Bn.King's Own Yorkshire
Light Infantry
4 december 1892 , Sutton-upon-Hull ,
7 april 1915
Eldest son of Shipley Vickers Smith and Clara Harris of 2 , The Grove , Shaw , Heath , Stockport
His brother was also killed:
- Smith Shepley Vickers
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Lance Corporal
4 april 1918
Pozieres memorial , Somme
Educated at Middleton Street School , Hull and Army School
Bedford House Cemetery
Enclosure N°2
Plot IV , Row A , Stone 10
Military footsteps
15 october 1907
7 april 1915
Enlisted as a Bugler in the 1st King's Own Yorkshire Ligh Infantry
Served in South Africa and was afterwards stationed at Hong Kong and Singapore when war broke out.
His Battalion was ordered home.
While at home he was taken ill with malaria fever , but hearing that his Battalion had been ordered to the Front, despite the advice of the doctor, he immediately set off to join it at Winchester.
He arrived too late however and was sent to the 3rd Battalion at Hull but left for France a fortnight later with a draft for the 2nd Battalion.
Died of wounds received on the 5th near Hill 60
A comrade wrote :
' I am sorry to state that he got shot on easter monday losing a leg.
He bore his pain well, not a word of complaint and still merry and bright.
Shells were dropping around us all the time and, to make the matters worse, it rained all day."


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Residential Service - Service Contracts
Need a year round service contractor? You can count on the knowledgeable technicians at Reliable Electric.
We are proud to offer year round service contracts to residential customers.
There are areas in the Carolinas that experience sweltering heat in the summer, particularly inland. Allow the experts at Reliable Electric to ensure your home's air conditioning system is working at peak efficiency.
Many opt to sign up for our Electric Residential Protection Plan because….
- Peace of Mind: Automatic inspecting, adjusting, and cleaning of your electrical service and fixtures keep them operating at trouble-free efficiency and allows potential problems to be spotted before they are expensive repairs.
- Competent Experts at Your Service: Knowledgeable, trained, dependable staff of experts analyzes your electrical needs. We work with you to schedule your service call, making it convenient for you.
- Preferred Treatment: Our valued Customer Plan increases the reliability of your electrical service. Should you need emergency service, you will receive preferential treatment.
- Price Protection: Your agreement price will not be raised during the effective dates, without advance notification. To save you money, we charge by the job and not by the hour. DISCOUNT OF 10% OFF THE STANDARD RATE at covered location.
- Service You Can Trust: Our skilled experts are licensed and insured for your protection. Rely on us and our reputation to provide you with fast, dependable, and fair service.
- Periodic Inspections: We reduce the number of emergency calls by finding potential problems that can be corrected inexpensively before causing major electrical repair bills.
- Records: For your convenience, our company maintains a detail record of your home's repairs and provides a written report upon completing all jobs.
- Transferable Agreement: This agreement is transferable to the new owner should the property exchange hands. Homeowners are also allowed to take the service with you, providing peace of mind at your new home. Subject to availability of authorized service company in your new area.
For prompt, experienced, and affordable service contractors, call us today. We will help you choose the perfect service plan your home and budget.
Our wide range of services in this area includes:
• Service Contracts
• Breaker Panels
• Wiring Tests
• Outlet and Switch Fitting and Retrofitting
• Interior Wiring, Rewiring and Consulting
• Amp Service Upgrades
• Recessed Lighting
• Exterior Lighting
• Whole House Lighting Controls
• Home Theater Installation
• Cat 5 (Category 5 Cable) Data/Voice Wiring
• Emergency Service with a 24/7 Hotline
• Air Conditioning
Knowing industry trends and your home is our job. So much so, we've kept current with the latest technology allowing us to provide customers with energy efficient home appliances, products, and services. This includes installation of home computer networks, energy-saving devices, and state-of-the-art security systems.
If you need a Coastal Carolina electrician offering affordable service and convenient payment options, call us. Reliable Electric will give you upfront pricing and the help you require. Remember, we are a fully licensed and insured company that employs clean-cut, uniformed technicians who always arrive as scheduled, because We'll "BEE" There!
How can I save money on my next electric bill?
We suggest first determining where possible issues/hazards are in your home or office. Thermal imaging is a great start! The imaging technology allows our licensed electricians to see through the walls and identify hot spots or potential hazards. Early detection and repair of potential issues will save you time and money.


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By Mark
Last week we started discussing the family of mobile device apps developed by Adobe. For me, the one I use the most must be LR mobile. It is not intended to be replacement for the desktop version. That being said, you can do more and more editing on the app, and with the latest release, Adobe has even introduced their own interface to the device's camera which shoots and processes native RAW format images. The app works on iPads, iPhones and Android devices.
LR Mobile allows you to edit, rate, present images while on the go. The software doesn't directly edit your images, aside from the ones taken on your device, instead it works on the "Smart Preview" thumbnail. These are much smaller files, but they are linked back to your main catalog on your computer. Changes you make in LR mobile, will change those images, once your device is synchronized. Like all adjustments in LR, any or all of them can be changed back.
To begin taking advantage of LR mobile, you have to start back on your desktop installation. Access to your images is based upon setting up and enabling Collections. Collections, I hope you recall are one of the most powerful features of LR. No one really wants to see all 5000 photographs of your vacation. With collections, you can select only the best images of that trip, or set up collections for only your 5 Star portraits, or…, whatever you want to showcase. Currently, you can't synchronize Smart Collections, but they are working on that.
It is a simple three step process to begin displaying photos on your devices. Once LR mobile is installed, just log in to your Adobe account. Back at your desktop, at the top menu, you will see a "Synchronize with LR Mobile".
It will ask you to login again to your Adobe account. Now, assuming you already have collections set up, you will see an additional check box to the far left of the menu. Click on them and it will display a bi-directional arrow indicating that LR will synch the images in that collection. If you want to see how many total images you are sharing, they have added this information to the Topmost Catalog panel.
I mentioned that you can set up your devices to auto upload from the phone/IPad into your LR collection. Rather than recreating an already created tutorial, here is a link to one from Lightroom Killer Tips. http://lightroomkillertips.com/how-to-automatically-add-your-camera-phone-photos-to-lightroom/
I have not even started on all the editing tools, but that will have to wait for next week's blog.


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Apartment Ownership
You need reliable market intelligence to make profitable student housing and apartment ownership decisions.
Axiometrics supplies comprehensive research and reporting to maximize opportunities and return on investment.
Here's what you can count on:
- Identify new business opportunities by locating underperforming properties using our granular property reports and customized search criteria.
- Measure performance among subject or competitive portfolios through our exclusive comparison tool.
- Monitor your property or portfolio performance – every floor plan, every tracked property, every month.
- Identify markets in which to invest through historical data and forecasts about market trends and pipeline supply.
- Depend on accurate views of current and future market supply and demand from Axiometrics' leading pipeline product.
- Plan for the future with five-year forecasts for the nation, markets and submarkets to assist your long-term planning.


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Users that select college majors based on Kuder assessment results have higher GPAs.
Users say Kuder is highly helpful in making educational and career plans.
Users say Kuder gives them hope for the future.
posted by Beth Wingert on Thursday, July 28, 2016
Last week, I had the opportunity to tour the regional public utility Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) with a group of young students who are a part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, a flagship program of President Obama's Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).
DMWW not only supplies water to Des Moines and city suburbs, but also to rural water suppliers in several surrounding counties. If you're drinking water in central Iowa, you're more than likely drinking water that was purified by DMWW.
The tour consisted of several stops at various buildings around the facility grounds with focus on activities taking place at each particular station in the water purification process including microbiology, chemistry, filtration, nitrate removal (chlorination)/fluoride injection, water storage, and distribution.
I was so grateful that we were able to join the YALI students because of their many insightful questions and observations. It was interesting to hear their perspectives and learn more about water issues in Africa. Some of the students reported that they have to carry chlorine tablets with them at all times because it is essential to chlorinate their drinking water before consumption.
One young man told me that he was surprised by how people in our country use water, especially for such non-essentials as lawns. He was shocked to learn that the same water that is purified for drinking was also used to irrigate a lawn for no other purpose than appearance.
When another member of the tour group asked if we implement gray water sources in this area, I was rather ashamed when they were informed it is quite uncommon. Since we do not have a water shortage in Iowa, most people in our area are unconcerned about water conservation and decreasing water usage.
This tour was such an excellent opportunity to learn more about the sources of our drinking water and how influential our water resources are on the amount and cost of water purification.
It was an eye-opener to be able to join this group of intelligent students and to hear about their different life experiences with something as essential as water.
It made me see how much I take for granted that whenever I turn on the faucet it will release clean, safe water for me and my family to drink.
There are many social and economic effects caused by a lack of clean water, not only in Africa but throughout the world.
According to the United Nations World Water Development Report 2016, "three out of four of the jobs worldwide are water-dependent. In fact, water shortages and lack of access may limit economic growth in the years to come … good access to drinking water and sanitation promotes an educated and healthy workforce, which constitutes an essential factor for sustained economic growth."
Indeed, there are many economic benefits of improved water management and services, as this World Health Organization brief, "Making Water a Part of Economic Development," illustrates: "Good management of water resources brings more certainty and efficiency in productivity across economic sectors and contributes to the health of the ecosystem. Taken together, these interventions lead to immediate and long-term economic, social and environmental benefits that make a difference to lives of billions of people."
Have you thought about how important water is to your life, work, and community? Does your job involve working with water? Let us know! Comment below or connect with Kuder on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.


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Versatile Blogger AwardFriday, July 17, 2015
Hello! :)A short while ago, Sara from adabofeverything.blogspot.co.uk nominated me to do the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you so much! You should go and check out her blog :)
So, here are the rules:
Thank the person who nominated you
Include a link to their blog
Tell the person who nominated you 7 facts about you
Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you have recently discovered or follow regulary
1. Even though I write and do makeup with my right hand, whilst doing anything else my left hand dominates.
2. Few days ago I watched Mean Girls for the first time.
3. Nothing annoys me more than people who make loud noises when they eat.
4. I suck at describing scents.
5. Friday the 13th is my lucky day.
6. When I was about seven years old, I used to think Austria and Australia is the same country, just two different versions of spelling. In case you are wondering, little me knew that Australia exists but nothing about Austria.
7. I have weird habit that if I forgot or thinking about something and want this process to go quicker, I start staring at somebody. I had no idea I am doing this until my friends and family told me. You know it is like you are staring into space without realizing you are looking at a living person.
My gorgeous nominees
Have a lovely weekend! x
P.S. I also did a guest post on Ellie's blog! If you fancy reading it, click here. The name of it is Summer In Two Perfume Bottles :)
4 коментарі
I do number 7 too. :)ReplyDelete
I love these little posts. :3
Phew, I glad this not only my creepy habit!Delete
Thanks, Ellen, your comments always make me smile :) x
Thank you so much for the nomination. I have already completed this award, but I loved reading yours!!ReplyDelete
Definitely honored to receive a nomination from you!
US Lifestyle Blog // www.rebekahkoontzsite.comReplies
Aw, thank you. Heading over at your blog to read it :) xDelete


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By: Sarah (yes, you read that correctly)
This post is scatterbrained and it's not everything I wanted to say and not necessarily how I wanted to say it, but here goes:
One of my goals for the year was to say yes to more things. Cliché, I know, but it was important to me. The year started off great. I was spending my nights and weekends going on adventures and putting myself into situations I normally would have stayed in bed for.
The biggest problem with this goal? I started saying yes to everything. I felt like if I wasn't doing something after work, if I wasn't spending time with a friend or family member, I was wasting that time. And while this yielded some remarkable opportunities and crazy escapades, at some point, I was too busy saying yes that I forgot to take care of myself.
The result: I am worn out. I am changed, but I am worn out.
I consider myself now to be quite the extrovert. I would rather spend time with people, doing fun things, than alone. But something I forgot about myself throughout the year is that I need that time alone.
I need time to read. And to write. And to think. And to breathe. And be.
By myself.
However, I'm so thankful for everything I've been able to do this year because I said yes. Here are some things that happened this year:
-Wrote lots of letters, co-hosted a letter writing event
-Saw so much live music/shows: San Fermin, Lizzo, Jose Gonzalez, Nick Offerman, Caroline Smith, Trevor Noah, The Staves (x2), Brandi Carlile, Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, Motion City Soundtrack, The Beach Boys, Daughter
-Traveled around the Midwest: Chicago, Sturgeon Bay, Bayfield, Elkhart Lake, Stone Lake (x2), Door County, Madison, Holy Hill
-Went to a murder mystery party
-Ran a half marathon
-Saw Hillary Clinton speak twice
-Designed a t-shirt
-Met Nick Offerman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Took a beekeeping class
-Went to my first Brewers game
-Participated in a latte art throwdown
-Went to a few weddings (and stood up in one!)
-Went four-wheeling
-Participated in an underwear bike ride
-Discovered my love of stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking
-Explored an abandoned building full of graffiti
-Went to an adult summer camp
-Rode a motorcycle
-Went tubing down a river for the first time
-Explored a gigantic sunflower field and lavender field
-Read a new Harry Potter book (play) and saw a new Harry Potter movie and made Butterbeer
-Tried a lot of new recipes and found my love for cooking
-Went to Luke's Diner (sort of) J
-Got new glasses for the first time in years
-Celebrated Galoween and Galentine's Day
-Conquered my fear of and fed chickens
-Saw The Book of Mormon live and fell in love with it (new favorite musical)
-Broke my arm playing roller derby
And there's still a little more than a month left of 2016. So while I will be spending time alone, I'll still be saying yes to things when I want to. It's all about balance.
1. Take a deep breath.
2. Drink water.
3. Read or watch something you love.
4. Remember there is magic in you.


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Legacy PBX systems vs. Hosted PBX systems
April 24, 2015 by Omar Sohail,
We have heard the differences between legacy PBX systems and hosted ones one too many times but guess what, it is all acceptable in helping a business owner and an entrepreneur make the right decision. What exactly is the right decision? Depends on what you, the business owner, wants it to be.
Before making the decision in haste, there is one very important decision that you should make: Determining if a premises-based solution (which involves hardware kept on-site in your office premise), or a cloud phone system (where your phones connect via Internet connection to a provider that maintains the equipment at an off-site cloud data center) is not an easy decision to make by any means.
This is why educating yourself through this comprehensive guide will allow you to overcome the decision making challenges that you were not able to complete in the past. Here are the differences between legacy and hosted PBX systems.
Features of both systems
Many hosted PBX providers are not able to offer the same features in their hosted product as they do for their premises-based solution. If cost reduction and flexibility are your main concerns, then hosted PBX systems is the solution that you are going to have go for or, if you have sufficient funds lying around, then you can continue to run your traditional PBX system.
Upfront Cost
As majority of you are well aware of, hosted VoIP solutions have a low upfront cost and service providers charge customers through a monthly fee structure. Using VoIP with an on-site server has a higher cost upfront, but then you will not be required to pay a monthly fee.
Remember this though; only after a certain threshold it becomes more cost effective to purchase your own equipment than to pay a monthly fee. Hosted VoIP tends to be the most attractive for businesses that are small to medium sized ones. Additionally, a cloud phone system can often have a very low total cost of ownership due to the savings in IT personnel and because the service provider takes care of all the maintenance procedures.
Do you believe that your business will proliferate in the next year? If you feel that there is potential for rapid growth you will need to consider how this will impact your purchase. If going with a premises-based solution, you will most likely want to purchase more hardware in order to accommodate for the operations of the business. With hosted VoIP however, new users can be added to the cloud phone system as needed. Furthermore, the software running on cloud versions is extremely easy to use and allows for seamless integration.
Purchasing the right phone system is important for the success of your business. There are many factors that come into the equation when you want to decide between a premises-based or cloud VoIP phone system. While each type has their pros and cons, hosted solutions possess the upper hand.
Wavetel has a team of experienced representatives that can help you decide what is better for you and how your business can benefit from a hosted solution However, it all comes down to what you want to run right?
- Wavetel Atteding ITW 2015 - 6 May 2015
- Legacy PBX systems vs. Hosted PBX systems. A Comprehensive guide - 24 April 2015
- Scalability? Why is this term important for modern day businesses - 2 April 2015
- Wavetel's guide of knowing everything about SIP Termination - 25 March 2015
- Capacity Middle East 2015 – How it went - 18 March 2015
- 2015
- May
- April
- March
- Wavetel's guide of knowing everything about SIP Termination - 25th March 2015
- Capacity Middle East 2015 – How it went - 18th March 2015
- 3 features of Virtual Numbers - 13th March 2015
- Wavetel to attend Capacity Middle East 2015 - 6th March 2015
- 3 Reasons to upgrade your business communication - 3rd March 2015
- February
- The Difference between Legacy phone Systems and Hosted PBX systems - 26th February 2015
- How legacy phone systems end up chewing up your organization's bills - 20th February 2015
- GCCM 2015. How it Went - 18th February 2015
- Why businesses shouldn't future proof their communication setup - 12th February 2015
- 4 reasons why legacy phone systems will cease to exist in the future - 10th February 2015
- Three reasons why Businesses need to switch to SIP Trunks - 4th February 2015
- January
- How to get the best phone system with a limited budget? - 29th January 2015
- The real advantages of a reliable phone system in an office premise - 27th January 2015
- Is cloud hosted PBX the future of telephony systems? 3 facts that strongly agree - 22nd January 2015
- Wavetel attending GCCM London 2015 - 20th January 2015
- How can a better call management system increase your business' overall revenue - 19th January 2015
- Switching your business from ISDN to SIP made easy - 13th January 2015
- Benefits of PBX Systems in Harsh Weather - 8th January 2015
- Why switch your Business Phone system in the New Year? - 6th January 2015
- 3 massive SAVINGS that your business will make after switching to cloud hosted PBX in the New Year - 1st January 2015
- 2014
- December
- Four ways how Wavetel's cloud hosted PBX systems upgrades security - 30th December 2014
- Importance of Cloud Based Telecoms during the Holiday Season - 23rd December 2014
- Smartwatches: the next worthy gadget in your hosted PBX environment - 18th December 2014
- Hosted PBX: Your one stop business communication setup for all businesses - 16th December 2014
- 5 reasons why you are better off upgrading to an IP PBX telephony system - 12th December 2014
- IP Phones VS. Regular PBX Phones: What business owners should know? - 9th December 2014
- What will 2015 hold for business owners and their communication setups? - 2nd December 2014
- November
- How the 'internet of things' will transform business communication setups like cloud hosted PBX? - 27th November 2014
- How Cat 10 LTE smartphone modems will improve productivity in a cloud hosted PBX environment - 25th November 2014
- How a new wireless standard will bring improvements to an IP Phone setup? - 20th November 2014
- How Wave-tel's cloud hosted PBX is beneficial for Estate Agencies? - 18th November 2014
- How a cloud hosted PBX can aid students and staff of an educational institute? - 13th November 2014
- Four ways how a hosted PBX setup in hospitals will spark productivity - 11th November 2014
- Three upcoming technologies that will improve hosted PBX performance of your business - 7th November 2014
- Virtual numbers: Benefits that you should know about - 6th November 2014
- October
- Wavetel at Capacity Europe 2014 - 30th October 2014
- Large capacity hard drives' advantages for cloud solutions - 28th October 2014
- 4 myths of Cloud Hosted PBX systems, debunked - 24th October 2014
- 5 myths of SIP Trunking, debunked - 23rd October 2014
- Wavetel SIP Trunking vs. Legacy ISDN: Which one should you keep? - 2nd October 2014
- September
- Why cloud hosted PBX? Wavetel answers your question - 30th September 2014
- SIP Trunking and Unified communications: What does it mean for your business? - 26th September 2014
- New data transfer record show the future of Cloud Hosted Systems - 23rd September 2014
- Is your current communication setup compatible with your business requirements? - 18th September 2014
- How can a cloud hosted PBX system improve employee efficiency in an organization? - 16th September 2014
- How SIP Trunking balances work and leisure for your employees? - 11th September 2014
- 3 benefits of IP phones you never knew existed - 4th September 2014
- 3 ways cloud hosted PBX makes your office relocation process simpler - 2nd September 2014
- August
- How Windows 9 is going to change how hosted PBX systems work? - 28th August 2014
- Combat enterprise cloud storage requirements: Seagate's 8 & 10 TB hard drive - 26th August 2014
- How Wavetel plans to awe everyone at GITEX 2014 - 20th August 2014
- Want to become a Cloud Hosted PBX Reseller? Follow these steps - 12th August 2014
- 3 ways how an IP PBX setup will improve customer relationships - 7th August 2014
- How to reduce costs with SIP Trunking while your business is growing? - 5th August 2014
- July
- 3 things you're doing wrong in a PBX business communication setup - 24th July 2014
- Cloud hosted PBX: 4 ways how not using it can ruin your business - 22nd July 2014
- Is IP PBX good value for money? - 17th July 2014
- 5 ways you're making a mistake by not switching from ISDN to SIP Trunking - 15th July 2014
- Cloud hosted PBX systems' biggest advantage: DISASTER RECOVERY - 10th July 2014
- 4 Ways How SIP Trunking aids Small and Medium Sized Businesses - 8th July 2014
- Some Cloud Hosted PBX Features to Upgrade Your Equipment - 3rd July 2014
- Features of PBX and why businesses should move to ISDN - 1st July 2014
- June
- IP PBX telephony systems: why should you choose it? - 27th June 2014
- SIP Trunking: Why should your business switch over? - 25th June 2014
- PBX reseller: a comprehensive guide to your business communication setup - 20th June 2014
- How cloud hosted PBX support hotel business communication systems - 13th June 2014
- How can SMBs benefit from IP Telephony (IPPBX) in business communications? - 6th June 2014
- May
- April
- March
- December