Hipster

Poetic Blues

2009-07-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the soothing, poetic, mellow to my perfect point of soulfulness, Dwele!

A lamentation
A broken reflection
Of rhythms lost before creation
Semantics’ rebellion
Against the throes of a linguistic extermination
In the doldrums,
Discombobulated melodies
Throb in a dysfunctional, dull reverberation.

Ancient as the Mayas & Incas
Magical as the Naguals & Dalai Lama(s)
Deep as the ocean bed & the Earth’s molten core
A beautiful queen is slowly losing her soul
Losing her soul
Mama Poetry is slowly losing her soul

Dejected notes
Eve-tease myopic images
Illuminated thoughts
Doused by distorted syntheses
Literary works
Besiege plots and characters
In a run-of-the-mill realm,
Imagination implodes
Leaving a mental hollowness

Mama Poetry, calluses on her body
Mama Poetry, an epitome of melancholy
Mama Poetry, once bright eyelids now heavy
Mama Poetry, a fading symphony

Lifeless eyes
Deprived by the gluttony of mankind
Bleeding lips
Biting in the pain of children’s silenced cries
Withered hands
Mangled by the soiled handshakes of criminality
Charred flesh
Raped by the blackened beauty of humanity

I couldn’t help her
So I just wept and wept at her deathbed
As the weight of our world caved in on her chest
Kissed her heart
And willed it to palpitate
But ...
My poetic blues
Was the last melody she played!

Esoteric Ravings

2009-03-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

I blame Noosy’s "Untitled" poem for triggering this organized mess and so, dear reader, an oxymoron is how the welcoming begins.
Word after word, of her deliciously descriptive verses, has seeped through, plucking strings, which were in abeyance; sometimes, infuriated, other times lackadaisical: Aaah, the conflicts raging in my embittered yet relieved psyche – here I go again with the oxymoronic figure of speech.

Moving on, a few weeks ago, I saw it. I saw the knot!
Black as chimney soot, coiling itself around the crux of my heart like an Anaconda’s deathly grip on its prey, asphyxiating me into limitless obsession and consequently, near madness.
Relentlessly, perturbingly, persistently entwined; a pestering parasite.

Cardiac colonialism is what I call it with clenched fists and gritted teeth!

And there, dear reader, is when and where my self-destruction and salvation began, leaving me Sisyphean-like one day and triumphant the next - grr, an oxymoron but then again, life, stripped to its rudiments, is an espousal of opposing ends wherein balance and moderation are a true jihadist’s elusive, high-maintenance goals.

Deviation aside, the battle continued until, mercifully, last week, deliverance had been attained: The abominable, charcoal knot got unraveled and I, lachrymose, witnessed the defeat and fall of the threads (threats!), piece by piece (peace after peace!).
The rapture in my inner kingdom (or is it queendom?) was gargantuan and life breathed normally again. Or so I thought?

In no time, the mental gremlins started creeping again; however, not as overwhelmingly as when “Freaky Knot” had me ensnared! And, when one day, while driving back home from work, I couldn’t withstand it anymore, I, in despair, addressed the universe with the question of the validity of my current modus operandi, only to find the instantaneous response in the form of a crane! I assure you I am not insane! After I had made my imploration, I looked out of the window of my car and spotted a solitary, mighty crane, beautifully projecting my answer within its iron physique and silence. The crane’s tip was pointing to the direction of my route and was urging me to:

Move Forward,
Move On,
The Denizen of the Past will find no Answer or Peace,
The Future is where the Treasures Await
Waste no Time or Energy on Resurrecting Illusory Memories
Look for the Surprises & Opportunities that Lie Ahead

I smiled and blew a kiss of farewell to the dormant crane, whose conspicuous stillness symbolizes the impact of the financial crisis on the construction industry, where million dirhams worth of projects have been momentarily or God forbid, permanently ceased!

I am well now but a particular set of related questions haunt me from time to time: Why does the subconscious cling to a certain past illusion when its master, the conscious, is fully aware that it is nothing but its literal meaning, an illusion? How can emotions, which are known to be fickle, flaccid and powerless in the face of the powers of intelligence, manage to entrench themselves in the sinews of logic in such a smothering manner? Maybe it’s just me – Pre-dominantly right-brained and lacking the spunk to keep my feelings in check! Oh well!

Speaking of feelings, I now recollect the furor which ensued reading "Che's" letters (Ha-ha not to me! Though I would have been honored).
I couldn’t embrace slumber for days because my soul longed to pop out of my carnal attire, and embody a new persona devoid of my vanity, hesitance, inhibitions, circumstances, bonds and time that ruled my life. I yearned to follow in Guevara’s footsteps, go off the beaten track, and roam the earth, like a revolutionary Dervish, sowing seeds of rebellion and implementing justice wherever I passed. "Omar Al Mukhtar's" biography had the same influential and insomniac effect!
Eventually, I had to compel my infatuation to recede and the vestige of my quixotism, if I may call it so, can be preserved and heard through my hair-spray –turned- microphone:

Let the fire burn until it burns itself out and the beautiful Phoenix may rise again, again and again.

I am jaded
Yet I still see the White Tiger’s gaze on me
Majestically,
It circles around me
Rekindling the flames that are now devouring me…..

My fire of mutiny has, sadly, died now and I have succumbed to my daily, secure routine; back to being bound to the mesh of trivialities & obligations therein. But my White Tiger will always return to remind me of the higher purpose of life and the righteous course that I may have to embark on someday. Sigh!
And so poetry remains my strongest weapon until otherwise is facilitated. Thus, I stand on our living room table-turned-stage and I recite with passion:

Random thoughts provoke these words behind the rhythm
Unwritten emotions flow to capture life’s cynicism
Between human schisms, scheming divisions,
Strong intuition is where poets run to escapism
These worldly prisons made us embrace lyricism……..

To be free from imperialism, ha-ha, cheesy I know! But I don’t have the heart to continue and so the verse will stay a broken chord.

Last but not least, I end my ravings with some incomplete, disintegrated sentiments and observations of my beloved Motherland when I had last visited it in Dec of 2008:

Beautiful blue sky,
Almost entirely devoured by a “brownness” of foreboding
Dulling one’s vibrant heart
Threateningly encroaching upon houses, cars, streets, the Nile..…
Even people’s appearances
I can’t help but smile in awe
Sudan’s sand is inexorable…...

Bridal fashion show,
The first of its kind that I witness
Beauty at its finest
Creativity, talent and colors galore
I imbibe the
Alluringly made-up amateur models
DJ’s dexterity on the turntable
Red carpet
Amazed faces
Chichi chicks in skinny jeans and the sadly clichéd kuffiyahs
I am impressed
But then I go out in the streets…….
The gap between the rich and the poor has grown considerably and conspicuously than that of the last time I have been here

His face,
Forever impressed upon my memory
Mutilated eye, tongue sticking out,
Frozen in mocked irony
Ostensibly inane yet rebellious
His abode is but a cardboard mat and the shade of an unaffordable building,
I approach
I speak
He neither flinches nor looks towards me
Expressionless eyes focused on, what? I wonder,
The magnificence of escapism in to his spun Utopia,
Or is it the fruits of true lunacy?
Anything to make him obliterate the ruthlessness of his reality….

I reflect upon,
My brother’s words, “Home is where the hatred is”
I have sensed it in
The frustration, passiveness & helplessness of the youth
Perpetual reminiscences & bitterness of the elderly
Defeated auras of the fathers
Resigned states of the mothers
Only the elite are reveling in Khartoum’s white washed façade…..

I seal my thoughts with a prayer for what Sudan is going through right now and only hope for the best!

My Chosen One - Part II

2009-02-19T11:23:00.000-08:00

“Whenever you smile, it’s sweeter than mama’s homemade. I thought that every man was made the same way, but in a world of smoke & ashes, boy, you are milk and honey….” Purify Me, India Arie

Blessed he
Who saunters tauntingly
In the folds of my dreams

Violet petals
Swirl lazily
On the trail that he leaves

With ardent curiosity,
I try to capture his essence
With my gaze

Heart palpitating feverishly,
As I edge closer,
His elusiveness prevails

DE RAIL ING me
To lows of forlornness
To highs of anxiety
IRONICALLY

EN TIC ING me

To surpass his momentum
To aspire to his altitude

Wait, don’t go

“If heaven had a height, you would be that tall” *

His shadow blinks
Our cores interlink
The moment the manifestation of what he is
Is unmasked

Hands clasped, not an angel or a fairytale prince
But a sweet embodiment of what humanity brings
Flowers & kinks
Betwixt snows & springs, he remains stoic

My home, my fire, my hearth, my king

Apprehensive to disrupt us,
Mother Earth ceases rotation
Makes peace with time,
Explores space
While appeasing disgruntled gravitation
Serene,
It draws its energy from love’s star-studded axis
The world is an ebony stage
HE IS THE SPOTLIGHT

And I, oh I, melt at the sight of his dimpled smile
His candid lips,
Which breathe mornings and nights of acute insights
His lucid eyes,
Which penetrate abrasive times to unlock a sanguine light

And I, oh I, thrive in the paradise enshrined in his mind
Sing lullabies to his wisdom’s child
In an emotional alcove of intellectual delight
Nourish from his embracing kindness
His gentleness magnetizes me towards his spiritual tide

My joy, my rock, my strength, my pride

I relish
How my wounds heal in his presence
How often I take pleasure in tracing the maps of his noble beginnings
& intrepid endings
How Sudan's magnificence is relfected on his brown skin
Candle-lit background with music strumming from his cardiac strings

He is the beautiful soul I yearn to eternally soar with
He is the beautiful heart I crave to cradle under purity’s wings
He is the beautiful mind I desire to grow with

My reason, my haven, my spark, my Chosen One

A Rant About Che Guevara!

2009-02-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

En route to work today and moments after my eyes were struggling to watch the cars ahead while simultaneously reveling in the scenic beauty of Flamingoes bathing in a special reserve on the other side of the road, a Land Cruiser, driven by a national, sped and stopped at a stop light ahead of me.
Aggravated at the abrupt interruption, I glared at the monstrous vehicle, only to be completely amazed and amused at the sight of the colors and words adorning the spare tire case. Che Guevara’s renowned & symbolic raggedy face picture was sandwiched between words in bold letters namely “T.N.T” and “ Al Maafia”. I couldn’t help but look down at my paperback copy of “The Young Che: Memories of Che Guevara”, lying on the passenger’s seat, triggering me to ponder and wonder upon the mockery this revolutionary has become.
With my humble knowledge, I ask: What do “T.N.T” and “Mafia” have anything to do with the Soldier of the Americas?
I often see those adolescents or young adults, preponderantly men (or is it boys?) who don Che shirts or have his icon stuck on the rear end of their cars, with absolutely no conception or cognizance of what this man stands for, and merely because that coheres with the “fad” and being “cool” – In retrospect, this reminds me of the market exploitation of the Tupac symbolism and teens obsessing about him without understanding the messages in his music- some of it of course!
Back to Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and my thought: the blind leading the blind. Ironically, the followers would have benefited tremendously if they had exerted a bit of effort to research his background especially since we have a major lacking in living idols and exemplars these days.
And I ask again and with reference to the young generations I see and interact with here: What would he have thought, let’s take the National who started the rant for instance, if he had known that Guevara deemed money as a luxury, and knowledge and intellect as a necessity? Do they know that he hailed from a well-off family yet he chose, despite his young age, to renounce the comfort he was in, in order to bike and hitch hike, with barely any means, around South America, for the mere sake of experience?
What would those spoiled, superficial boys have thought if they had known he had a medical degree yet used to cure the ill pro bono and took an interest and worked in almost every field he could master? Would they have gasped at the image of him spending time with the beggars in the street to learn and grasp their affliction?
“……. No, one does not know a people from this – a way and interpretation of life that is simply a glossy cover; the soul of a people is reflected in the sick in the hospitals, the men in custody at the police stations or the anxious pedestrian with whom one enters into conversation…”*
Would they have appreciated the poetry, metaphors and depth of his thoughts, musings and writings? Would they have revolted if they had known that he starved, strove and fought to free America(specifically the Cuban revolution) and its oppressed from the depraved governments and insidious colonialism of the other America, the same America they worship now & can't make a stand against?
Would they have comprehended the value and meaning of his ideals and how for it he had turned a blind eye to his severe asthmatic attacks and wealthy upbringing?
“Death was not important; what was important is the struggle for one’s ideals”*
Would they have considered “making a difference in people’s lives” and ceased being condescending to less-fortunate ones?

Oh, how I pity many of today’s men (or is it boys?!)

I am aware he is one among innumerable heroes and great men but his biography has moved me vehemently especially his occasional letters to his family.
I admire his mentality, humility, resilience and his fiery ambition to tackle any challenges. Life, to him, had no boundaries and he engaged in every aspect of it without any arrogant compunctions. He craved learning and implementing his knowledge to help make a positive and constructive change. He was ready & willing to sacrifice his soul for the greater good.
I kid you not that if I were given the opportunity to turn into a man, I would have followed in his footsteps( including other amazing historical & Islamic figures). I thank him for doing certain things that I wish I could do or have done, but being a female, I am and have been, unfortunately, shackled!
So next time, Mr. National in the Land Cruiser and your like, don’t adopt something blindly and stigmatize it. The fashion can be beautiful and will help you fit in but at least filter, screen, think and question before you choose to follow a trend.

* Che Guevara

This is what I call "Reformation"

2008-07-02T04:22:00.000-07:00

What pleasure it was to have read this today:

Women terrorists 'abandon extremism after counselling'

"Riyadh: An official source at the Ministry of Interior announced that Saudi Arabia was not holding any women terrorists in its prisons.
"All those women who were detained for their extremist links have been released. All of them abandoned their deviant ideologies, thanks to the counselling programmes, organised by the authorities," the ministry source was quoted by Saudi Arabic dailies as saying....."

Mad Musings

2007-12-13T23:54:00.000-08:00

Who are you?
No, I’m not referring to the genetical make up that defines you or the roots of a land that intertwine you.

What am I?
Not interested in the skin that has caused divisions or religions claimed to create a clash of civilizations.

What constitutes us?
Spare me your name, his ancestral claim, our history, their ethnicity and the cultural diversity, which may shackle or bless our global communities.

Set me free
From these physical boundaries
These intangible weights
Encumbering human societies

Stop the spinning…………….

Can I, for a moment, invert my eyes inwards to behold the magnificence of the human soul? Can I retrace my steps to that place before my face was engraved in the depths of my mother’s womb? Before my name graced protected pages and life wrapped me in its cocoon?

Could I have been veiled by the drapes of heaven, sunbathing in honeyed lagoons? Or serenading palm trees, sheathed with golden lanterns, to a Ramadan moon?

I wonder…………..

I was in my pure form; a spirit, unblemished; before flesh and sin were born; before selfishness gave way to Satan to adorn my veins and steal my virgin core; before war kissed my cheek and laid me on poverty’s shore;
And he chose to bring me down - claylike- for a purpose and said he was closer than our naval cord.

I am a piece of the earth and a piece of him.
Adam and Eve birthed me, mortal genes formed me
BUT a part of Almighty has been imparted in me.
My soul is my immortal bridge to where I once lived in eternal bliss.
I can’t wait for my carnal dress to shrivel and liberate my true, real self.

Note to mankind:

Rejoice, the divine is in each one of us. Shed your complexions, possessions, nations…look inside then look at each other…we are all the same, only drawn, colored and named differently to be differentiated-to give substance and uniqueness to our identical souls.

A little prayer

Allahuma, I thank you for ‘life’ and for allowing me to feel/see the treasure that you are. However, I am filthy; shoulders burdened with the transgressions of my past and days to come.
At the time of farewell, I beg you to send Angel Izrael (AS) in his best-dressed clothes, with a wide smile, delighted to see me.
I beg you to allow Angel Gibreel (AS) to tightly embrace me with his wings before the Angels of the grave visit me.
I beg you to allow the Angels of Mercy to shelter me from the Angels of Torture, bathe me in musk and dress me in silky attire.
I beg you to alleviate Munkar and Nukair’s wrath and endow me with the confidence to answer the questions that I have memorized by heart.
I beg you to allow me to feast my eyes on you; hug, kiss and bow to you.
Ameen

Basil's Toy

2007-06-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

I'm glad that I have finally written something:)

Sparkling eyes, beaming smile
Ebony curls, peppered with sand
3aragi* torn, yet he stood with pride
A child of 10, sailing on a lonely road

At the orphanage’s door, next to my friend’s house is where I first set eyes upon him. Hmm, yes, it was the playful expression dancing on his face, his piercing gaze and the twinkle gleaming therein, that had stopped me in my tracks.
“What’s your name,” I ventured. “Basil meaning brave, what’s yours?” he asked. “Hiba meaning gift,” I teased. “If you’re a gift, why do you look sad & tired? Gifts are supposed to be happy to make those who receive them happy.”
Caught off guard and impressed by his keen insight, I pressed on: “So, what do you know about sad & tired grown-ups?” “I know that they have forgotten how to smile and play. They see the night and forget there is day,” he replied. “Don’t you think the sun is too hot during the day for anyone to smile or play?” I laughed. “You let the sun burn you like you let the night scare you.” Dumbfounded to come up with something witty, I mouthed a “you’re truly brave, Basil. Allah yihfazak*,” and hurried off to my friend’s house.

Father shot in the south
Malnourished mother died giving birth
At the age of 5, his uncle gave him up
Hollow-eyed, devoid of remorse

The orphanage was in a pitiful state and the orphans lived in shabby conditions. The caretakers had to make do with the scraps and donations they were given since their relentless efforts to persuade the government to increase their financing met with no fruition. Anyway, everyone noticed that Basil was special & different. He spent most of his time reading stories, sitting dazedly in Alhosh* or accosting & conversing with adult strangers who passed by the orphanage every now & then.

White is for soul
Green is for mind
Red is for heart
These are the parts that make up Basil’s toy

“What is that thing in your hand that has the colors of our flag?” I asked one day with mock-innocence and failing miserably to suppress a chuckle. By now, Basil had gotten used to my inane sense of humor. How ironic that our roles were reversed!! The doll look-alike was actually broken twigs glued, somehow, together. He used chalks to color his disfigured version of a human toy.
“Ya Hadiya* (this is what he liked to call me). This is my best friend. White is clean like Baba Ahmed’s Jalabiya* when he is praying. Green is the grass in our hosh. Red is the roses I saw in the park that Mama Safiya took us to.”

7 days later, his stomach began to ache
Doctor diagnosed it as an infection
Medication was taken yet nothing stopped the pain
Until his appendix burst open

What can I possibly write after this! Yes, Basil passed away as a result of a misdiagnosis; another beautiful young soul, who could have done so much for this world, lost as a consequence of negligence and error!!! How can I describe the brutality, agony, horror & unfairness of it all? I stand speechless!
After his burial, which was attended by masses of people, old and young, whose lives he must have touched in one way or the other, I asked Mama Safiya for his precious toy. Back then, when he had expounded on the colors, I hadn’t thought much about it. However, now, I have come to fathom their deep meanings:

White (Soul): Keeping the soul clean & pure; being good; having faith & hope.
Green (Mind): The mind is fertile. It is our duty to nurture & cultivate it. We choose to allow the weeds to grow in it or not. We develop it.
Red (Heart): He likened it to a rose. A rose is exquisite yet fragile and so is the heart. Cherish & protect it for it can be easily broken.

A 10 year old taught me so much about life, humans and purity. His toy stands as a symbol of what we should be. Life is, indeed, temperamental, rocking us back and forth with its unpredictable mood swings. To cope with it, one must always find & search for goodness and strength within and to seek that inner power which, to me, is Allah. No matter how circumstances pull you down, try not to bow to it.

This piece is dedicated to those children in Sudan who are wise beyond their age due to what they have/had experienced & who are striving to uphold their values in the face of misery and tribulations

3aragi: A type of Sudanese traditional knee-length white robe, which is usually worn with a sirwal(loose slacks).It is for men.

Allah yihfazak: May Allah protect you.

Alhosh: The court yard/yard surrounding the house.

Hadiya: Gift in Arabic.

Jalabiya: White loose flowing robe worn by men.

I am Back!!!

2007-05-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

Thank you for your comments and I apologize for not replying sooner.

I was in Sudan and I had an amazing time.I didn't want to come back:(

Anyway, I will get back to your replies & update my blog asap.

Daang, I have a lot of catching up to do.

To Roman Kalik:)

2007-03-27T02:38:00.000-07:00

While catching up on what I missed on Drima's blog, I came across your comment on his post UN on Darfur: bla bla bla.

The Elders of Zion shall endeavor to arrange matters to meet your requirements. Unfortunately, we’re not quite sure which secret society controls the UN. We used to think it was the Freemasons, but they told us they thought it was us. And we completely lost contact with the Illuminati, though we suspect they simply call themselves Microsoft these days.
It could very well be that the UN is not controlled by an Invisible Hand. This would explain much.

Very original & hilarious.Moreover, it also revived a question that has been lingering in the depth of my mind for a very long time but was too lazy to research it." Why is the Arab world worked up about the Jews when it is claimed-according to a documentary that I've watched & a few random readings- that the Freemasons are responsible for all the calamities in the world?"*shrugs*

A Tribute to a Soldier

2007-03-26T01:46:00.000-07:00

An invisible bullet shot through the core of her heart and shattered it to billions of pieces. She doubled up with anguish as the grimace on her face forced her tears to flee; her tears frightened of the traumatic calamity which has seized the soul of their carrier. Her life was thrown in a frenzy as chaos and pandemonium erupted everywhere.
The deafening silence ensued as her loved one was lowered into his grave.

Standing tall with fire burning in her eyes;
A fortress illuminating with beauty and strength;
A dewy rose in a thorn-filled existence;
A gentle power fused with courage and grace.

On this rocky road, she holds her ground;
A tenacious spirit in the eye of the storm;
With Allah’s name carved in her heart,
She draws her sword;
Battling the hurdles which block her way.

A surge of light for those who know her;
An ocean of mercy, immortal and infinite;
A soft breeze that tingles one’s soul;
A healing balm; a haven of luxuries.

In her warm embrace, the morning dawns;
Through her persistence, miracles are achieved;
Life smiles as one drowns in her abyss of wisdom;
A true blessing; One of God’s exceptional artistries.

To:
A woman who has sacrificed her life for her children.
A woman who has fought life’s attacks for the happiness of her children.
A woman who has doggedly persevered to provide a stable environment
wherein her children wouldn’t feel the loss of their father.

The strongest woman I have ever seen yet the purest, gentlest, noblest and kindest.

A soldier: My mother.

The intro is in the loving memory of my father “Allah yirhamu”.

Note: Since today is my mama's bday, I decided to post this poem:)

Welcome Aboard, Dousanna

2007-03-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

I would like to welcome a great friend of mine, Dousanna , to the blogosphere.It's high time the world gets the opportunity to peek into your beautiful mind*mashallah*.Your intellect & mentality have been my inspiration for a long time & I hope to follow in your footsteps someday.

Stay up, homeskilet:)

My Apologies for Light Blogging

2007-03-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

I have been bed-ridden for 4 days following a fainting spell.Doc said I was stressed & haven't been eating properly.

These 4 days have changed me considerably for I thought I was going to die.Life is too short & fragile to be wasted on gibberish.Sadly, I learned this the hard way. Now, I'm looking at life with new eyes & with appreciation yet I'm still rattled.Alhamdullilah.

I have read your comments & I will reply to them soon.

I will leave you with this stanza by Lowell:

Careless seems the great Avenger;

History's lessons but record

One death-grapple in the darkness

'Twixt old systems and the World;

Truth forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne;

Yet that scaffold sways the future,

And behind the dim unknown

Standeth God within the shadow

Keeping watch above his own

Americans Trying to Sue Sudan

2007-03-13T02:27:00.000-07:00

Hat tip: CommonSense from Shamarat

The government of Sudan is being sued in the United States, after being accused of aiding terrorism. The case has been brought by families of US sailors killed in an attack on a US warship seven years ago. The families claim Sudan is to blame for helping al-Qaeda, and are seeking damages of more than $100m.

The suicide bomb attack on the USS Cole, a destroyer moored off Yemen in October 2000, killed 17 American sailors and injured 39. The families claim the Sudanese government gave al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama Bin Laden, financial and technical support, allowing the group to establish training bases, run businesses and even use Sudanese diplomatic passports to carry explosives.
The Sudanese government insists there is no link with al-Qaeda - a view backed by one recent US government report.
But the families disagree. They hope to claim the damages from millions of dollars in Sudanese assets frozen in the US.
Their hope is also, their lawyers say, to make it prohibitively expensive for nations to become involved in terrorism.

Now, I'm 100% sure that the US is targeting my country. Since the Darfur tactic has proven ineffectual, they are using other means to pressurize the govt.As CS contended, why don't the US compensate for the bombing of Al Shifa Factory in Khartoum in 1998.I saw the missile flying in the air with my own two eyes!!!

My Chosen One

2007-03-07T02:13:00.000-08:00

Off the archive.....this is a feeble attempt at portraying my personal outlook on love & marriage.

Bashfully, I twirl the curls of my hair
As my heart smiles; swelling with an intense sensation
My mind in a stupor; intoxicated by notions of you
My whole being engulfed in felicity and elation
My chosen one.......The air that I breathe
Eclectically selected, screened and refined;
God’s best creation; his special gift to me
When your heart beats beneath my rib cage
I will know then that you are my destiny
My soul standing defenseless; surrendering
Allowing you to embrace and complement
I will know then that you are the one for me

In your eyes, I will see my whole life written
Our future shielded and beautified by Allah’s blessings
Our love so divine transcending all life’s miseries
United together building our palace in the heavens
As Omar, Leen and Mohammed dance playfully around you
You tenderly look at me and your smile wipes away my tears
In salaati, I will bow down and fervently thank my lord
For bestowing me with an angel; my protector against all fears
My soul mate……………. My other half
Physically, mentally and spiritually intertwined is what will make us strong
Surrounded by you and in your arms is where I will belong
For you, the dance of death▪ I will willingly and blindly perform
My paradise on earth; my husband to be; forever, my own (inshallah)

“Allahuma, please bless me with the bestest of the best; khair al nas.
A man whose name is known up among the angels more than it is known down here among the mortals; A man who is loved by you and who holds a special place in your heart; A man whose only wish is to meet you and fears not life because he knows its temporary. Ya Rab, a man who will love & treat me just like how the Prophet (SAW) loved & treated his wives; A man specifically chosen by you for me”
Jam3an, inshallah…….

The Japanese Samurai Warriors performed a ritual death dance before committing suicide.To them ,the concept of death was not an issue & they usually killed themselves when they displeased their lords or committed a grave sin.

In Darfur, a Journalist Branches Out

2007-03-06T00:49:00.000-08:00

Hat tip:Path2Hope

EL FASHER, Sudan, March 3 -- In this dusty market town in northern Darfur, a lucky few with satellite dishes can get news of the war surrounding them from CNN or the BBC. Others rely on a tree.
For the past 10 years, Awatif Ahmed Isshag has handwritten monthly dispatches and commentary about life in El Fasher and hung them on a short, wiry tree that scatters shade along the yellow-sand lane by her house.

For the past four years, the dispatches have included items about the conflict in Darfur that appear to represent the only independent local reporting about the fighting in a region where most media hew to the official government line.

Along with advice on how to be a lady, Isshag, a slight 24-year-old with an undergraduate degree in economics, has satirized the local governor and described the suffering of displaced families and gun battles in the markets of El Fasher. She recently wished the town a happy New Year, and compared the security conditions here to the situation in Lebanon.

Working in her new office -- a cement-floored, cracked-walled space in a building with faulty wiring -- Isshag dismissed the notion that she was doing anything unusual.
"Journalism is a profession of risk," she said matter-of-factly, her voice echoing slightly in the nearly empty room. She also said, "I will fast to get the story."
She estimated that 100 people a day stop to read the newspaper on the tree as they make their way through the neighborhood of dried-mud walls and painted steel doors. She refers to it casually as "the world paper."

Officially, it is called "Al Raheel," which means something close to "moving," a phrase that gently describes the 2.5 million people displaced in Darfur since 2003, when rebels took up arms against a central government they accused of hoarding power and wealth.
In response, the government armed nomadic tribesmen and launched a campaign of systematic violence. Experts estimate that as many as 450,000 people have died as a result of the fighting, though the government disputes the figure.

Isshag has aunts, uncles and cousins in several refugee camps around Darfur, and her grandfather died in one called Kalma after fleeing his village.
Around El Fasher, a bustling town of one-story brick buildings and tiny, blue Korean taxis that skid alongside donkey carts in the sand, things are relatively calm, if difficult. The war has driven up rents and the price of nearly everything else. Basic resources such as water are under strain as the town continues to absorb a flow of people who have abandoned their villages or nearby camps.

Isshag, who is pursuing a master's degree in economics, said she would like to start her own company to help develop El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.(Source)

I admire her improvisation & determination.

I turned 25 yesterday

2007-03-04T01:09:00.000-08:00

Wow, a quarter of a century.Time sure flies!!!

I had an incredible time yesterday with family & friends.

I thank Allah for everything that he has blessed me with & for surrounding me with amazing loved ones.

In a Mood For Some Verses

2007-02-26T22:03:00.000-08:00

Mayhem

The most complex verse I've written.I was in a scientific mood:)

Target noticed, sniper's lens focused
Metal kisses flesh then rashly exposes it
Tender tissues explode while cells decompose
De-juxtaposed molecules divested off atomic force
Specks of nuclei succumb to inner metamorphosis
Parallel planes fuse disclosing subconscious orbits
CACOPHONY
In the crux of my existence
A critical affliction phasing in with resistance
Homicide-psyche assassination
Parasite-Diabolical inclination
CLAMOR
Cerebral children turn disruptive and feral
Fired up to eradicate the cardiac teacher
Jehovah's pieces gettin' with anarchy pleasers
Seizure of coccyx by chaotic creatures
PANDEMONIUM
Rambunctious riots rule the victims
Formulate a system aimed at mental oblivion
Suddenly,
ALLAHU AKBAR, ALLAHU AKBAR (God is great, Call for prayer)………..
Silence

Perverse particles reverse
Diverged elements converge
United entities emerge

Lens of the sniper bursts as the metal reverts………….

Unattached Attachment(Work In Progress)

Mental stagnation in this nation I call home
Intuition frozen cuz I feel I don't belong
Ennui high, see I'm not on top of the dome
Life in chrome
Destiny dictates that I'm born to fight this misery on my own
Like Jazz, I wish to plot my home on Africa's tanned skin
Drink the Nile's blessings, breathe Nubain essence
Presence of my lost roots on these brown lands
Can I manifest this plan?
The melanin in me lusting for the touch of Sudan's hands.......

Life Through My Eyes...

2007-02-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine, Sudani4eva , has finally decided to join the blogging world:)

Welcome aboard, bruh & looking forward to see life through your eyes;)

Muslim women enjoying special swimsuits

2007-02-20T00:34:00.000-08:00

Now that is what I call Ijtihad and thinking out of the box!

Hat tip: Noosa from ElNadi II

By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Amana Siddiqi loved swimming as a child but gave it up as a teenager because her Muslim faith required she fully cover her body in public.

"At age 15, I started to cover, so I stopped going to public pools," said Siddiqi, now 27, whose parents come from India and Pakistan. "Most of my friends stopped, too. They felt self-conscious."

Then last summer Siddiqi bought a specially made swimsuit that covers her body while allowing full motion — and went snorkeling and rode watercraft and slides while on vacation in Hawaii.

Muslim girls and women are increasingly participating in athletic activities, especially as second- and third-generation children of immigrants grow up surrounded by American influences. But doing so requires them to overcome a seemingly large obstacle: Islam's traditional emphasis on modest dress.

When it comes to water sports, the challenge can be even more difficult than in Muslim countries, where the sexes are often separated in pools and on beaches. America is predominantly coed, and increasingly the norm is skimpy swimsuits.

Enter the new-and-improved all-body suit.

While full-body swimwear has been around for decades, in the last couple years it has undergone a renaissance as the niche market has grown. Today about a dozen stores, based in the United States and abroad, sell swimwear to Muslim-American women, mostly through online catalogues.

A full suit can cost more than $100, with pants around $60, shirts at $25 and water scarves and hoods about $15.

The material is high-tech. Synthetic combinations that include polyester, nylon and Lycra allow flexible movement in the water while not sticking to a woman's body when she exits the pool — which could produce the opposite effect of modesty.

The suits are also increasingly stylish, with aqua to purple to hot pink colors, intricate sequin designs and miniskirts that go over long pants.

"We want to be modest, but we also want to be fashionable," said Shereen Sabet, who last year founded Splashgear, an online swimwear store for Muslim women based in Huntington Beach.

Sabet, 36, a microbiologist at California State University, Long Beach, said she decided to get into the business while trying to reconcile the conflict between her Muslim faith and a love of scuba diving. She realized that many female Muslim friends completely avoided the water because of modesty concerns.

"Nothing in the Quran says women and men can't swim or scuba dive together," said Sabet, whose parents are from Egypt. "It's just a question of finding a solution." For Hayat Diab, 65, finding a solution has helped her deal with severe arthritis. Diab, originally from Syria, lives in an Irvine apartment complex that has several pools. She had never swam in her life until two years ago, when she got a special suit that includes long pants, long-sleeved top and a cap to cover her hair.

"When I go to the Jacuzzi, I feel all my joints relax," Diab said.

Her husband, Ibrahim Al-Tawil, 75, is a longtime swimmer who is now teaching his wife.

"We are happy to be together in the swimming pool," he said.

Finding ways to navigate American culture and Islamic norms is a constant theme in Muslim focus groups, said David Morse, president of New American Dimensions, a multicultural marketing research company.

"There is a desire to assimilate and be seen as everyday Americans," Morse said. "But because of Muslim customs like clothing, it can be hard to fit in."

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Muslim women often hold swimming parties in private pools but added that the special suits and public swimming are becoming more popular.

"The suits basically protect women from the unwanted looks of men," he said.

For Sama Wareh, 23, a stylish suit helps her fit in while surfing. Before buying a Splashgear suit last year, she would go into the ocean wearing jogging pants, skirt and long-sleeved shirt.

A lifeguard once asked her what others on the beach might have been wondering: "'Dude, are you like a Muslim surfer girl or something?'" she recalled.

Now people are asking her where to buy one of the suits. "A big reason why Muslim women don't do things in the water is it's embarrassing," said Wareh, whose parents are from Syria. "Once Muslim women see others doing it, they will too." (Source)

Lack of Understanding

2007-02-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

I have written this piece a long time ago.I'm posting it today for Daana Lost in Translation in relation to her latest post Identity Crisis. Gurl, I feel you:)

Hey, they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Then why you skin-deep ppl act like you know everything.
Superiority is wat you claim (hmmm) let me explain:

Ever since I was young I was being singled out
Situation dramatized black is wats its all about
Hated my race cuz they had me locked out
Assumptions had me blinded to the natural facts
But I'm all grown now I can finally see
You and me are one we share the same reality
My scars inferno heated with hostility
Like Immortal Technique's revolution (ary) CD
"La Farq biyna Arabi wala Ajami illa bil taqwa"*
Put it in your pipe n smoke it feed on that dawah
Claiming Islam, hold up! But wat is the jadwa?*
If color-cism schism is ur latest fatwa
Neo KKK Muslims is wat you represent
Get this right, Haam n Sam* were brothers in the end
Whiteness in ur hearts, it ain't in your skin
My old man used to say when I used to question him

What's your axe to grind when you're putting us down?
Devil's advocates or like Zeus ruling Al Younaan*
Instead of pointing fingers attempt to understand
He di-ver-sified to beautify our land
Why y'all letting grass grow under your feet?
Help the Muslim cause (pause) by following its creed
Supercilious superficial that's how you proceed ?
Is that how you live? (Pause) by seeing us bleed !!
Yea I'm irate hate I try to mitigate
Unlike you I aim to strive to elevate
I was taught to respect n appreciate
My brothers n sisters for the love they generate
Like the Roman Empire nothing great lasts
You reap wat you sow karma wat you sow will blast
Your lack of understanding is how you'll collapse
Help yourselves grow before your perilous crash

* It's a hadith by the Prophet wherein he states(roughly translated) that there is no difference b/w an Arab or a foreigner save in their degree of faith.

* Jadwa is Arabic for use ie what is the use?

* Haam & Sam are claimed to be Noah's sons.Haam is said to have been dark-skinned while Sam was light-skinned.

* Al Younaan is Arabic for Greece.

Tagged

2007-02-19T05:34:00.000-08:00

I got tagged by Raccoon.Nothing really interesting but here goes:

1- I still sleep beside my mom & I still leave the lights on.Don't mind me, I had a scary childhood experience with the dark & I haven't recovered since. As for sleeping beside my mom, I think it stems from a gnawing guilt that I didn't spend enough time with my dad before he passed away & thus I'm seizing every moment to be close to my mom.Childish but I can't help it!

2- I used to do ballet & I had a cute pink tutu *sigh* I dropped the class the day before the exam because I chickened out. I was also a scout in school until on my camping trip, one boy scout dropped a rock on my foot and damaged my fourth toe nail.Now, it resembles a vertical rectangle whilst the others look like a horizontal one.

3- The first word my youngest brother uttered was my name:)

4- I'm a sucker for jewellery, accessories,fruity body sprays and shoes.I'm willing to spend a fortune on them.To me, footwear is the crown of any outfit.So,the first thing I would probably notice about you is your shoes and judge you accordingly;)

5- I, sometimes, tend to black out in mid-sentence especially if all eyes are on me.Something in my brain just goes off.It usually lasts for a few seconds and by the time I regain consciousness, I don't remember where I stopped.Pretty embarrassing.

6- I almost got trampled on by an elephant in a zoo in Germany once.A man was riding on it and was moving freely in the zoo.I was so fascinated that I stood transfixed, without realizing that I was standing on its path.The man was frantically screaming in German for me to move but I didn't,hahaha.One of my black-out moments. Jah bless my angry brother-in-law who pulled me out of the way.

7- I have always wanted to be a black-clad Ninja and I still do.

8- My pet peeves: people who don't know how to smile, arrogance, bad breath, math, sweat(only when I'm exercising), racism, heels,currying favour, the uncouth act of spitting in the streets, guys chewing gum and some Sudanese guys' predictable and similar weak wooing game!

9- I still watch cartoons.I know the lyrics to each and every song(no exaggeration) of Disney's The Little Mermaid, Alladin, Beauty & the Beast, The Lion King,Pocahontas, Oliver's Company, Hercules and Mulan.Add to that the theme songs of Captain Planet and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

10- A while back, I was reading a non-fiction book about supernatural occurrences.I came across some kind of conjuring spell & I read it out of curiousity.That night I heard laughter and voices and I was freaked out!
I mean having Satan visit me once in a while at night is normal.He wakes me up, frightens me,suffocates me, insults me sometimes(heck, in English) but eventually, Allah makes me remember some verses & he disappears.However, that particular night was awful because I was the one who called them. They just wouldn't leave me alone.
Never ever read any book with Black Magic content in them even for education!!!!

Precious, Roman Kalik, Andrew & Mimz, consider yourselves tagged:)
RK, you can write your list on my comments page.

To My Beloved Son of Warfare in Darfur By Huwaida Medani

2007-02-12T03:01:00.000-08:00

Via Imagining Ourselves

Would you like to know how you came into my life to share this everlasting love?

You are a child of war my dear, whom until now I did not know if I loved or hated. At this moment I love you, and I know that this love will last forever.

I am a daughter of Darfur, Sudan, a country ravaged by the devastating weapons of war.

As soon as the war broke out, two of my brothers joined the armed militias and the others headed east leaving only my parents and me. That day we ran out of the firewood we used for cooking. Nobody could bring it but me. We all knew how dangerous it was to collect wood in such days. That day I told Mother that I would bring the wood at noon time while the punishing heat of the sun would drive the Janjaweed militia men in to their shelters drinking coffee and playing sija. I remember sneaking out under the blazing sun. My body was melting and the sweat was flowing down my hair, my temples, under my breasts and along my back. I raced between the scattered trees in the valley to hide from the Janjaweed men and from the burning heat of the sun.

I collected a big bundle of wood logs, wrestled it onto my head and hastened towards the shack we called home. Shortly I heard the scary noise that I spent the last two years of my life trying to avoid. Soon I was thrown down, the wood bundle was pushed under my hips and my legs forced open. Behind my tears I could see one of them troding towards me, armed with the gun between his thighs. He forced his p**** into me invading my dignity and virginity. My heart sank as his gun was sinking inside me. I felt him pushing fiercely and then shooting his bullets. I was not sure how many raped me that day. I didn’t feel a thing after the first one. As soon as I heard them galloping away, I pulled my body together, covered myself and strolled back home.

Mother didn’t have to ask. She immediately knew what happened. She pulled me into the room and washed my vagina with acacia infusion and rubbed my burning body with sesame oil. Mother instructed me not to tell anybody, not even Father. I threw my body on my bed facing the wall and remained there sick, more like dead, for ... I didn’t know how much time.

One day Mother uncovered me, pressed her hand on my belly and asked when was the last time I had menstruation. I couldn’t remember! Mother panicked and started giving me a lot of bad tasted stuff to drink and forcing me to do all the hard work at home and in the yard. Mother’s effort to abort you sickened me, yet you continued to grow. I hated you then. You were the bullet meant to kill me!

The last day with your grandparents was terrible. Father spoke with me for the first time since that fateful day I was shot. His words pierced my heart like a second bullet. “Daughter, you know if you live you will bring shame not only to yourself and your siblings, but to the whole tribe. We won’t be able to stand tall in front of other tribes. You have to go daughter! You have to do it yourself. I can’t do it for you”.

He handed me the dye, which is used for coloring hair but which was meant to be the weapon to end their shame. Mother was standing by crying her heart out then quietly took the dye from my trembling hands and disappeared. She returned with a large glass filled with coffee and lots of sugar in a desperate attempt to mask the lethal liquid, which would end our lives and their humiliation. As if we would taste it?

I raised the glass to my parched lips and immediately felt piercing pain in my throat and my stomach. The pain no longer seemed to matter as it spelled the end of the agony of carrying the enemy of my tribe inside me.

I know I did my best not to fall prey to the Janjaweed genital warfare, but my best seemed not good enough! Regardless of the intended purpose of that fateful bullet, now as we are truly together, I realize how much I love you, my darling boy!

One killed during NCP-SPLM clashes in Sudanese university

2007-02-11T01:19:00.000-08:00

Feb 10, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — One Islamist student was killed and ten injured during clashes between students from the ruling party and the SPLM; the two groups traded accusations over the responsibility of the unrest.
A student was knifed to death yesterday and 10 other colleagues were wounded in bloody acts of violence which occurred between student members of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and others belonging to Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) at Al-Nilayn University in Khartoum. Leaders of both parties exchanged accusations over responsibility for the incident.

Oh, man, I thought these intermittant political clashes in universities ceased a long time ago.I guess I was wrong:(

Sudani4eva,thank you for bringing the article to my attention.

The Pursuit of Happyness-My Review

2007-02-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

The Synopsis:"Chris Gardner is a bright and talented, but marginally employed salesman. Struggling to make ends meet, Gardner finds himself and his five-year-old son evicted from their San Francisco apartment with nowhere to go. When Gardner lands an internship at a prestigious stock brokerage firm, he and his son endure many hardships, including living in shelters, in pursuit of his dream of a better life for the two of them." (Source)

I just came back from the movies right now. It's review time *rubs hands together* Let me tear this one apart j/k

Let me begin by saying that "The Pursuit of Happyness" is the quintessence of "When there is a will, there is a way",my friend's motto that saw me through hard times "Resistance is the evidence of existence", " Persistence pays off" and the ilk.

4 letters describe Will Smith: FINE. The older he grows, the finer he becomes *mashallah*.On a serious note, he has outdone himself this time.I love the maturity and suavity that he exudes. What is also admirable is the character's goodness, tenacity to preserve his integrity & dignity and his adamance to not resort to sleazy ways albeit his tribulations.

His cute & adorable son shows wisdom beyond his years and signs of good breeding. An example of an obedient child who stayed strong for his father throughout their ordeal.

The dialogue is witty and there are many tear-jerking scenes. The impressive part, which I have rarely seen in American movies, is the absence of kissing scenes(You can't imagine how humiliatingly embarrassing it is to be sitting in a public place with sloppy sounds blasting from the speakers.At least, we can flip the channel at home)

Finally, I would give the movie a score of 9/10.It is worthwhile,may make your problems seem marginal and fill you with hope and inspiration.(That was the effect it had on me)

ps: Will Smith runs a lot in the movie which also gives the word "pursuit" a literal sense:)

Some Random Thoughts

2007-02-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

I had deleted this post earlier because it has been discussed ad nauseum(save for the Raccoon part:) but since I didn't want Leauki's interesting comments to go to waste, I decided to re-post it.

A note to Raccoon (The readers may ask why; of all the bloggers I have interacted with, he is the one with whom I’ve had the most arguments & I still do :)Thank you for being honest in particular to your viewpoints regarding “How is the Quran Contradictory?” post. You must be raising your eyebrows now, lol.Initially, when we had our first heated debate in the “Why Science Fails to Explain God?” post, I thought, like many others & like I mentioned to you in an email, that you were hating on Islam for the sake of purely insulting it, albeit your persuasive arguments & counter-arguments, in addition to not being interested in our defenses & reasoning. To put it bluntly, I thought you were some kind of smug, arrogant Mr. Know-It-All (Ouch!) who lived on causing nuisance & was set out on tarnishing my religion, loool (Of course, time & several discussions have proved otherwise, though I still disagree with your POV on Islam). Anyway, your positive reply to my comment relevant to the claimed contradictory Pharaoh verses caught me off guard. It was very fair & honest because you gave credit where credit was due, and it also confirmed that you were genuinely interested for the sake of exchanging information & views, rather than having me cornered or humiliated. Thank you.

However & to deviate a bit, I’m still mad at the IDF’s oppression of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

So, to my fellow Israelis & Jews, I find the Arabs’ &/or Muslims’ anger at Israel, due to the Palestinian conflict, justifiable. But what makes me cringe is firstly, their silence towards the atrocities being carried out amongst each other & amongst non-Muslims. Secondly, the spread of anti-Semitism as well as the concept of demeaning & disrespecting individuals by virtue of their ethnicity & religion.I admire & respect your people’s perseverance, progressive outlook and resistance to succumbing to the “Victim Mentality”, unlike many African, Arab & Muslim nations & societies (It’s noteworthy to mention that our dictator govts, poor education system & colonialism have drained us but, nevertheless, it should not be our pretext for not picking up the pieces & for our passivity). I also marvel at how valuable a Jewish/ Israeli life is to the state in stark comparison to that of a Muslim/Arab life to our governments. Did I tell you that I don’t believe the conspiracy theories either.

So,until I dig deeper into the matter, Israel is guilty until proven innocent:)
The Palestinians are suffering much more than the Israelis (You have sophisticated & advanced military technology (consequently, I sincerely don’t buy the equipment-abruptly-went-berserk excuse) & you are backed by a superpower). Furthermore, I haven’t overlooked the Palestinian suicide bombers. I vehemently condemn the preposterous act but, how do you expect them to change if they have grown up watching their loved ones being shot, their movements being watched & their freedom constrained? How do you expect them to relent & collaborate if they are living in meager conditions, with the smell of death permeating the air? How do you expect them to become aware & more receptive if they don’t have access to proper schooling & balanced media? Doesn’t all of this breed hatred & violence?As I stated in one of my poems: " Young generations mutate to master the war mentality."
I know their factions & leaders are putting more fuel to the fire*sigh* It’s a vicious cycle.

To my dear Muslims & Arabs, has it never occurred to you why Allah has given so much to the non-Muslims (particularly concentrated in the West)? Simply, because he is fair.You reap what you sow; you work hard & it gets paid off. They have utilized that miracle called “Brain”, mobilized their will(s) and worked collectively to better themselves. This, by no means, insinuates that we haven’t contributed to science or history or that we are all lazy:) It’s just that we are, currently, moving backwards and are living off the West’s sweat and at a price.Additionally and as my mom always says when the topic of our animosity towards the Jews is brought up, is it difficult for Allah to expunge the Jewish race? No, he wants them to live(So,live with that:) Thus, let’s all take that chillax pill, work towards self-sustenance & strive to settle things peacefully & with an open mind. As Drima once contended, self-reliability will be the ultimate weapon against those who wish to conquer us, not violence(unless necessary)!!!

To all those who incessantly speculate and wonder if China, Israel or the US has a hidden agenda. I say h*** yea.There are no freebies. There isn’t a single country in the world that doesn’t aspire for global power. There isn’t a single country in the world that does something for the other without a cost. It’s all about serving interests, be it an Arab, European or South American country. In this time & world, politics, baby, is not human(e)!!!

These are just my 2 cents & hey, I maybe wrong.

Waallahu Aalam(Allah knows best)

Leauki's comments are as follows:

"I find the Arabs’ &/or Muslims’ anger at Israel, due to the Palestinian conflict, justifiable." I don't. Arabs and "Muslims" were angry at Jews and Israel BEFORE Israel did anything to anybody. There were atrocities committed against Jewish immigrants and local Jews. When Israel was founded, with Jewish and Arab citizens, Arab countries attacked and Israel's Arab citizens joined them to destroy the Jews. Then and only then, when the Jews won that war, did the Jews do something against the Arabs. They expelled them. They expelled a hostile population, traitors who would rather kill Jews than live in peace. I know why Arabs are angry, but I don't find the anger justifiable at all. Israel didn't do anything to anybody except what any survivor of attempted genocide would do to the perpetrator, if the survivor was suprememy decent.

Have you ever read what Arab leaders announced they would do to the Jews if the attacks had been successfull? Well, the Jews believed it. The Palestinian Arabs wouldn't have to suffer. The Arab world could have done for Arab refugees what Israel did for Jewish refugees. That they didn't is hardly Israel's fault. And if the Palestinian Arabs had not supported further wars against Israel, nothing further would have happened either.

"The Palestinians are suffering much more than the Israelis (You have sophisticated & advanced military technology (consequently, I sincerely don’t buy the equipment-abruptly-went-berserk excuse) & you are backed by a superpower)." Israel didn't have sophisticated and advanced military technology at the beginning, only after being productive enough to afford it (and build it!). Israel didn't ask for being attacked, so please don't blame Israel for having an advantage in a competition that Israel didn't want to be in. The support of the superpower Israel has now, not back then when the wars to destroy it were fought. The Arabs had the support of the Soviet Union. Israel had no such support. The US support Israel now in order to avoid further wars of the pre-1970 type. And that trick worked. Israel needs sophisticated miltary technology because if the other side would win just one war, the Jews would be dead. And, ironically, Israel has a population of six million, most of them Jews. History would repeat itself, and that's what Israelis are afraid of. For you this looks like a war between two sides who should compromise. For Israel a compromise would be 3 million dead Jews. There is no compromise. It's either Israel survives and the others stop attacking it or war. There is no compromise.

"has it never occurred to you why Allah has given so much to the non-Muslims (particularly concentrated in the West)? Simply, because he is fair.You reap what you sow;"
When Islam was still very much alive, before it was replaced by today's fanaticism, the Muslim world was the centre of civilisation. Europe's perverted version of Christianity paralleled Europe's uncivilised culture. The Roman Empire gone, Europe had become a selection of small countries ruled by barbarians. Not so the Muslim world. In the early 20th century the old Islam was still alive, more so in the Arab world than anywhere else. Remember the Hashemites' plans with the Zionists? They wanted an Arab Muslim empire situated behind a Jewish state which was to act as a connection to the western (Christian) world.

The plan was sound and very traditional. But several events destroyed that Islam: 1. The Saudi family took the two holy cities of Islam away from its rightful owners and has used that power to reform Islam ever since. 2. Arab nationalism replaced Islam as the leading ideology and nationalist dictators replaced the traditional monarchs in many countries. 3. A perverted form of Shia Islam took over in Iran. 4. A new "Islam", same name, different thing, competed with Arab nationalism, mainly by offering an even more violent and intolerant ideology. The remaining nationalists are now trying to stop it, even if it means working with former enemies. 5. None of these "achievements" have done anything for the Arab world.

In fact, the situation is getting worse and worse and people are looking for ever stupider ideologies to give them some pride. We have now reached the point where getting half of Lebanon destroyed by Jews is considered a major strategic achievement for a "Muslim" leader. What should be done, in my opinion: 1. Remove the Saudis from power. Divide "Saudi" Arabia into states based on Shia-Sunni cultural borders. Give control of the holy cities back to the Hashemites in Jordan. 2. Restore the monarchies. This is important. Arab countries need a stable base for democracy. 3. Restore the Shah. The Persian Empire must reconnect to its glorious past and revive it's millenia-old pact with the Jews (who owe loyalty to the Shah). 4. Restore Islam. Replace all "fundamentalist" preachers and teach children what the Quran really says about non-Muslims. 5. Accept Israel, use Israel as a connection to the western world. Offer Hebrew as a language for children to learn at school, celebrate the common culture and heritage. Accept that Jerusalem is what Muhammed saw in it: the holy city which housed the temple of Allah.

I Gotsa Have Him:)

2007-02-08T03:13:00.000-08:00

Naj, my good friend and one of the most talented Sudanese writers that I have had the privilege of knowing, has written this unfinished beautiful short story by the name of the above title. She hasn't posted the rest of it yet.

Similar to how some Westerners go to bars/nightclubs to meet(hook up with) potential girl/boyfriends or potential spouses, many young Sudanese people & some parents(whose children are in the "marriage" age), deem parties, specifically wedding parties, as perfect opportunities to meet Mr/Mrs Right.

" I Gotsa Have Him" is simple, funny & true. It gives you an insight about what goes in some of the minds of the Sudanese guests-of varying ages- at the wedding parties:)

A note to the author: Very perceptive. Thankx for making me look at those commonplace/typical actions and behaviour with new eyes.

"Avoiding the stark beauty of you I lower my gaze. Walking into this Technicolor commotion of firehot candy, toub wearing transitionally young ladies, these porcelain beauties: painted eyes, angled brows, listless skin, spun silk, cherry lips, and a gaze outlined with kohl, finely entwined with a longing.

I smirk at the constant dancing of toubs slipping, readjusting, bending like the elegant reeds that once grew in abundance at the outskirts of the Nile valley, a vain river that has lost its immensity as those young ladies eyes, having realized that the magic of wooing, pleasing, that imminent high with its down lows has gone missing. I sit back to observe, appreciate the unfolding… four steps to my right stand the triplets in clutters lining the walls, stroking their beardless chins as they widen their grins at blushing naïve teens, much older than they need to be: grownup talk, grownup walk, grownup dress, days are gone of running with torn jeans, climbing trees, but now instead, lose their heads on nonsense, giggle and give sneaky, stealing glances at the much older boys, lounging at tables, whole body structure speaking boredom, face outlined with the worry, ‘son find a suitable bride, settle, give me those grandchildren’, as they blatantly ignore the yearning invitations of born and raised, here for the holiday, too good (or they just don’t know) to only speak to you in English broads dressed in the latest fashion, ever plunging necklines, watch it, your scarf just slipped I can see your bra line, silly me, you meant to entice, go on with the routine of catching your husband to be…

and over there they sit and snicker, hijab wearing yet immodest in the presenting of their bodies, revealing much more than skin, backbiting with grace, venom they speak with a smile on their face, and they tear that pretty girl apart, the one that was approached by the apprehensive young man who finally worked up the courage to introduce himself, accepting his handshake awarding him with a genuine smile that just pleased his heart, and in silence the older generation sit as I do, remembering, gauging what sort are we, young men and women, what good will we bring to our country, restore it to it’s old glory?

Babies cry as they rub their reddened eyes on their mothers shoulders, as she tries to dance and enjoy this one song, husbands massage their toughened beards as they gather and listen to what the ‘man with the connections’ has to say of the upcoming days: higher prices, tougher living, continued failure of this so called ‘government’, troubled for the future look he gives to his napping baby girl, 7abooba(grandma) is holding her tight, her sleeping face resting on her lap as she gives gentle ministrations, weathered hands smooth her poofy pink crinkled dress, loosen her granddaughters glittering bows in her braided hair, and what a smile…

Looking up I catch the gaze, not a second too late and it would’ve been too late because it would’ve been missed…the fleeting gaze. ‘The’ Gaze. I latch onto it, not wavering one bit, take my time as he does with mine. Not a smooth face, but it has laughing lines etched into it. Not a full smile, but with time it could ease into a stunning one. Standing up I weave among the crowd, get lost in the sound, echoing, bouncing; Salams, small talks, hearty laughs, whispered scandal. Merry-go-round, our locked gazes circle as I sway to the music. And you’re sturdy body moves next to mine, politely leveling your head nearer, you say...."

Sorry but I don't think the "Toab" is for me, even after marriage!!!

2007-02-07T23:27:00.000-08:00

The above statement is, by no means, intended to debase or degrade our beautiful traditional attire.Now, before I delve into the topic at hand, I would like to briefly highlight the origin of the Toab or as some like to call it Sari-analogous to the Indian Sari (below)

(Speaking of which, Sudanese women, nowadays, consider it fashionable to wear Indian Saris as Toabs)

The predecessor of the Toab is believed to have first appeared during the Meroetic period at the time of the Nubian civilization(Wikepedia doesn't specify an accurate date but from what I have read, the Meroetic period began after 590 B.C.).
Meroetic royal women "often wore transparent loose robes of linen that reached down to their ankles and folds of the dress were draped over the right shoulder and folded down the back", which resembles the contemporary Toab(below).This style of dressing distinguished them from the queens, who often donned "long skirts; over which a fringed shawl was worn and a long robe was left dangling with multiple tassels at its end."(Source)

( This is my friend & cousin-in-law(Can I say that?).A special thankx to her for permitting me to use her beautiful picture.I tried googling for more images but to no avail.To the Sudanese ladies, we need more Toab Fashion shows)

Kindly note that some Southern Sudanese women wear it in an entirely different way.Again, I tried googling for nice images but it was fruitless.

Back to the topic, I have nothing personal against it and I don't have a solid reason .I just don't feel I will be able to master the technique of wrapping it around me,lool.In addition, I don't like the notion of juxtaposing the hijab with the Toab, although many women look ravishing with both.

To find out if other Sudanese girls shared my sentiments, I had conducted an off-hand survey amongst 15 respondents, most of which reside in Sudan & included my fellow Sudanese bloggerettes:) I asked them if they were planning to wear the apparel after getting married & to state their reasons. The findings asserted that the sum of majority either gave a negative answer or were willing to wear it on special occasions, mainly attributing their decisions to :

1- Keeping up with fashion.We blame it on globalization:)

2- Its impracticality.In other words, it may, sometimes, be a nuisance when the part draped over the shoulder keeps falling off or it maybe a hurdle while working.

Typically, the small no of respondents don't represent the whole of Sudan.Nevertheless & from what I have seen around me here in the UAE & from my Sudanese friends, the Toab has become confined to certain events and outings & its only the older women who wear it regularly.

So, my dear Sudanese readers, share your thoughts with me. What do you think of the hijab with the Toab? Do Sudanese men like the Toab? Is it just me or is the Toab losing its popularity among the youth?

Excuse me?Come again?Whaaaaaaaat???!!!!

2007-02-07T22:18:00.000-08:00

Okkaaayy, I am really mad & hurt!!!

My Sudanese friend got hitched recently.Yesterday, I was showing an Arab "White" friend of mine( or so I thought!) the wedding pictures so as to educate her about the marriage customes of our country.I was so excited but,alas, my excitement didn't last when the first words she uttered, when seeing the beautiful pics, cut through me like a knife. " Why did she take someone who is black?( btw the groom has the same complexion as mine.My friend(the bride) is very light-skinned since her grandmother is Egyptian).Why couldn't she choose someone who is her color?Look at him, even his features are too Sudanese(excuse me???). He is so fortunate to marry someone as beautiful as her.He is the winner,not her!!!"

Oh,man, I'm really sick of this.How many times do I have to repeat myself?Dang, it's a broken record.Woman, a human's worth is not measured by his/her complexion, nationality or looks!!!!!
OK, fine, you think this way, then keep the thought to yourself.You didn't have to voice it .At least, respect me.By insulting him, you have insulted me & my entire race.The bride saw right through his exterior.She loves him & she is not skin-deep.Why is it bothering you?
So, this means you will probably say the same thing behind my back if I marry a light-skinned guy.Huh!!!

When I started saying some of these things to her, she said that I should stop lecturing her & she walked away.Maaaaaan, I thought she was different, smarter & better than these trivialities.I'm so disappointed!!!!

Allahuma ihdee!!!!

Andrew, I removed the Post.

2007-02-07T02:19:00.000-08:00

Sry,Leauki, had I seen your reply earlier, I wouldn't have deleted it. I will go through your comments & put another post.

My bad.

Eureka!!! I hope

2007-02-01T05:30:00.000-08:00

I think I have finally recuperated,loool. I think the whole issue, apart from succumbing to routine(I think I need to get married to spice up my life a bit,lol), is that I have lost sight of my goals.
Hence & thankx to Kage Shinobi from Elnadi, I have reorganized My-To-Do-list & I will put it on the side-bar so I can always remind myself whenever I go astray.

Furthermore, I came across 2 thought-provoking quotes, which I couldn't pass by without mentioning them.

1- An artist by the name of Dr. Kimberly stated that " The seed of ignorance can only root in the arid terrain of a dogmatic ideology". Her words remain engraved in my memory.
Obstinance and the arrogance & inflexibility to keep an open mind vis-a vis other people's viewpoints & ideologies, even if you don't agree, becomes a breeding ground for distorted perceptions. Duh!!!

2-In an old song entitled "Respiration", Talib Kweli, one of my favorite rappers, stated: " It's a paradox we call reality.So keepin it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality."
Twisted yet true!

Not myself these days!!!

2007-01-21T00:30:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

I'm currently suffering from a severe case of the blues & I can't detect the cause.I have suddenly lost interest in reading, researching, blogging, the blogosphere, world news and the internet althogether.Add to that a mental numbness & a spiritual setback.

I don't understand-I had a blast in Egypt but maybe routine & work are starting to take their toll.
So, till I figure out what the h*** is wrong with me, I shall suspend blogging,not for too long,hopefully.

I have done nothing but complain non-stop lately.So, maybe I need some time to do some soul-searching.
Raccoon, I deeply, deeply apologize for not answering your questions sooner.Nonetheless,they will be on my top priority blogging list, when I resume writing.

Sanity & Insanity

2007-01-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

From Lost Under Control's blog.

M&A, I desperately needed such words in my life. Thank you:)

{Central Apnoea}, a disastrous consequence where the respiratory system of the human body does not mature properly, the end result – Central Apnoea – the patient cannot breathe when they go to sleep. There are only 300 cases in the world and even though the handicap is catastrophic where the affected will remain on life support machine their entire life, I come to find myself thanking the Almighty nevertheless for its rarity and praying to him only more to help people with problems in health such as this one, or any others that are life debilitating.

{Sanity and Insanity}, that condition where the mind is lost between a bridge of two worlds, the sane and the insane. I find myself acutely affected by its collective symptoms.

The difference between dreams and reality hauls on me like that game of tug the rope, which teams wins by pulling stronger. I dream so much about love, peace, beauty, I wish so badly for them to come true, when I look around the real world and find nothing’s changed, I only deviate and wander and dream some more. But just as dreaming is good and important it can be severely lethal. I find myself lost from truth, lost from hope that things are not coming true. It puts me in a state that is maniacal, leaves me shaking because I’m in a road not knowing the way to use, to reach home – the sane side.

This world and life in it, is the enhancer and promoter of my {Sanity and Insanity}, facing all of this, all different planets in global, global earth, this world, where I am sitting down in a tiny room and trying to conquer it all in a page. Look at destruction, corruption, abuse, hate, crime, deprivation, starvation, all planets that turn on their axis to produce their toxic gas that elicits my {Sanity and Insanity}. I go insane burning with thought of why, just why alone is sufficient. So much energy consumed thinking what if things were different, no war between Palestine and Israel, no American policies, no HIV, no famine. Then its phase two of my deep inhaled thoughts and I find it upon myself to think of solutions. This huge food mountain in the west piling up because of over production of food and laws so strict about expiry dates, health is thrown out like shreds of paper. Why the food mountain couldn’t become level ground, balance? No-one would be hungry, of course what an insane, foolishly irrational idea.Religion is the letters that put my {Sanity and Insanity} in fatal shock. That beautiful word meaning faith, happiness, gain, worship, freedom and more importantly a link to save you from loss, and then I read criticism, ignorance, extremism, illiteracy about its beauty, imprisonment for its emancipation, hate for its love. I try and stay sane, far from dementia, by consoling myself that God is powerful enough to take care of his sweet embrace. He will take care of it and whatever catastrophe that is a hurricane, will be remedied by God, but extremism pushing our face of what we trust to drowning oceans, misleading, bombing, terrorising, fighting, tormenting, scaring, misleading, misleading and misleading, a word to drive me lunatic insane. I try and use all parts of my mind to think of ways to change half a mind of a person who doesn’t understand about Islam and I don’t care if I do go insane doing it.

It breaks my heart to see love breaking down, relationships finishing and lovers changing. It makes me weep to see road traffic accidents that could have been avoided, young children sad or lonely and women being abused in their homes. It sends me to misery, people being addicted to heroine and cocaine and not on God, a soul wanting to commit suicide, if only it tried to pray.It rocks my boat of {Sanity and Insanity} overboard and like Central Apnoea, I wonder should my illness be listed as a catastrophic occurrence in medicine.

My trip to Egypt-The Pictures

2007-01-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

As my friends & I have compunctions about posting our personal pictures on the internet, I have posted a few selective significant photos, most of which focus on the remains of the Pharaonic civilization.
The first one is a treat:)

Viv & I at Najib Mahfouz’s restaurant cum café in Cairo

The Karnak Temple in Luxor. Swarming with tourists! (Halalhippie, do these bring back memories? :)

Valley of the Kings in Luxor. This is where some of the great Pharaoh kings have been buried.The tombs that I have visited belong to Ramses IV, Ramses II (alleged to be the Pharoah who drowned), Merenptah (son of Ramses II) & Tutenkhamon. Their mummies have been moved to the museum save for Tutenkhamon’s mummy.

Since taking pics inside the tomb is forbidden, we had to take them in secrecy.Hence, the blurry photos.

Merenptah’s tomb was the deepest & descending it was exhausting. By the time we made it to the surface, we were all out of breath. The reason the kings’ corpses/mummies & belongings were concealed in these caves & underground tombs, rather than the pyramid (which was the norm at that time), was their fear of looters. Those kings reigned in the modern era & witnessed the plundering in the Pyramids, which were the brainchild of their predecessors in the old era.

The colors, which, miraculously, have not faded, still pose as an enigma to the archaeologists.

Queen Hatchepsut’s Temple. This queen, if my memory serves me correct, was the first female to reign (Her tomb is situated in the Valley of the Kings rather than the Valley of the Queens). Her arch enemy was Tuhutmus III.Incidentally, Tuhutmus III, who became a king later, was her step-son, son-in-law & nephew (twisted!).She was married to her brother (hence, nephew & step-son) & her daughter married him (hence, son-in-law).After Tuhutmus III came into power, he did his level best to deface, defame & remove all her paintings, statues & belongings. I believe his animosity stemmed from her neglect of him when he was young.

The inhabited area near the temples.

The Workers’ Village is where the laborers’ lived.

The Luxor Temple at night.

Amazed!

The traditional Tanoori dance in Luxor.

Last but not least, the Movenpick Hotel in Cairo. The service is below par. Don’t ever stay there!

An Ad about Darfur-Done by the Arab American Institute

2007-01-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

Ummmm, might I say FINALLY!!!!!
So, it has finally dawned on the Arabs that the Darfurian victims are Muslims too!!!

Check it out here.

Hat tip:Black Kush.

A Question about Pan-Arabism

2007-01-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

Why is everyone opposed to Pan-Arabism when the Europeans have an European Union?
I know it is non-existent but what is wrong with the concept?!!

Enlighten me.

I predict that Andrew will be the first to comment since this is his speciality;)

The Saudis use the Brits' help to spy on the Iranians

2007-01-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Please note that this is old news.The article discusses a different topic but it mentions the afore-mentioned relevant piece of info.

Read it all here.

Hat tip: Nubainq from Shamarat.

This whole Sunni-Shiite rift is really, really getting on my nerves!!!

Now I'm Certain I'm a Certified Redbullaholic!

2007-01-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, there are other serious matters to attend to but I HAD TO blog about this.Yesterday, when a RedBull van passed by, my stomach instantly made a flip, my heart began beating faster & my salivary glands began itching.What is this??!!! Its logo, per se, gave me an adrenaline rush.The only time I react in such a frenzied manner is when I have a huge crush on someone, excluding the tongue-itching. I'm sure I'm not a junkie because I don't drink it everyday although I strongly crave & miss it every now and then.Whenever I go to the supermarket, my resistance is instantenously undermined the moment I catch a glimpse of that enticing & taunting light blue-grayish tint & I end up buying it!

I swear, just writing about it makes my mouth water & evokes the relish & thrill I experience when I drink it(No exaggeration).Is there a reason for me to worry?Is my sugar intake so low to an extent that Red Bull or its logo,for that matter, represent some kind of sugar paradise?Do I need to consult a doctor?Do Red Bull drinkers feel the same way?

Another queer eating habit, which I have acquired/developed four years ago, is my hatred of bony meats.In other words, if you offer me chicken legs or a full fish, I can't eat it.I'm not a vegetarian & I'm not a great meat-eater either! I can't even pick the meaty pieces from the bones without losing my appetite. All has to be served boneless.What the h*** is wrong with me?

So, What Have I Missed in One Week?

2007-01-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmm,

- Sudan's Independence Day on the first of January.Long live my beautiful country & may you one day taste the fruits of peace, love & unity within!

- Saddam-the sheep that was sacrificed in Eid

My initial response was: I don't feel sorry for him but why Eid? & why the Americans? I'm still reading up on the matter &, so far ,I like the somewhat contrasting views of Aperadosoni & Daana Lost in Translation.

-The UN hires pedophiles

Umm, haven't the soi d'isant peace keepers undergone training in libido control?Or better yet, why doesn't the UN hire some groupies to entertain the fine gentlemen while they are on their humane mission?!!! If raping women is seen as abominable, how do I define raping children??!!!
In light of the above, how can we ever trust the UN to handle things in Darfur, if some of its "gallant" troops are committing some of the crimes the Janjaweed are carrying out?!!!!
& this is not the first time!
The UN, seriously & I mean seriously, needs to sort out its own issues before it endeavours to fix the other countries' problems!!!

Please excuse my sarcasm & bitterness.

I'm BAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK Crack Snap

2007-01-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

Hey, I've missed y'all & I missed the blogosphere!! Don't come near me, I reek of mummies & underground tombs:P

My trip was a blast-5 nights in Cairo(Pyramids & Egyptian Museum) & 2 nights in Luxor(Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, Valley of the Kings, Hatchepsut's Temple & Worker's Village)-save for the Pyramids' tour.Our not-so-caring guide led our horses on an uncorrugated, rocky slide which spurred me to curse, scream & eventually break down in tears!!! Who can blame me?The guy wanted to have us killed & make it seem like an accident,lol.

I came back with an intense fascination & admiration for the Pharoanic civilization.I have one reservation though: As much as they were intelligent, creative, innovative & imaginative, I fail to understand the public's naivete vis-a-vis the outrageous & prepostorous stories their rulers fabricated.For instance, one of the rulers claimed that her mother had intercourse with one of the Gods & thus this made her half divine.Or God Meen, God of Fertility, lost his arm in a war.How can Gods lose an arm or have human babies??!!! *shrugs* The public fell for these myths-hook,line & sinker!
Neverthless, experiencing the remains of such a remarkable civilization firsthand is indescribable.

A truly historically nourishing experience:)

I have yet to read your comments on my previous posts & I might upload some pics at a later stage.

Egypt all the Waaaaaaaaaaay-Inshallah

2006-12-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

I will be leaving to Egypt on Friday for my Eid holidays(Inshallah).I will be going with my Egyptian friend.Hehehehe, no family supervision, which means one thing: PARTY!!!!

On a serious note, I haven't traveled in three years & I'm craving a change of scenery & new faces.I'll be back next Friday. So, till then,beloved bloggers, readers & commenters, behave yourselves & stay safe:)

Me will miss y'all!

ps: Sry,Drims,babybro, Malaysia will be my next treat:)

How is the Quran Contradictory? Part II

2006-12-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

Since the original post has been moved to the second page, I have started a new thread.

"Hunams did not yet become divine simply because hunamkind is very young. As species, hunams are but babies - but damn, these are some creative and quick-minded infants!
The very nature of hunams is changing nature. It has been thus since your first ancestor picked up a sharp stone and killed his first sabre-toothed tiger - an action which eventually led to space flight, genetic engeneering, the 'net, nuclear energy... all in a period of time so brief that most species barely noticed it, evolutionary speaking."

Are you insinuating that we or some of us will ultimately evolve into divine beings? Then, why haven't we? or at least showed signs of it yet,given that we have presided over this earth for milleniums? I agree that we have become more sophisticated & advanced.However, our inventions & discoveries are that of /derived from pre-existing elements.Like I stated before, God has created the foundation & we are developing it by his will. The day a human being produces something completely out of nothing is the day I might question my faith.

I don't mean to marginalize the extraordinary efforts of scientists & inventors who have considerably helped humankind & who have paved the way for us to grow.However, arrogance doesn't fit in the equation here because no human being has been capable of making things materialize from vacuum.Can someone build me a roof without pillars or suspenders just like the sky or since we are unsurpassably intelligent, why haven't we figured out the date of our deaths yet?

"Why do you think Jains are the most succesfull ethnic/religious group in India? They have a religion (of a cosmological, philosophical kind) which is focused on understanding - and thus mastering - the universe. In every society in the history of hunamkind, progress happened only when people had religious freedom... or rather, freedom from religion. "

I'm going to read more about Jainism:)

"Now as to the framework: I'm happy I'm not the one to define the limits of , well, anything. I'll take the Bible as an example: I might find inspiration for living and praying, but I won't find a manual to my iPod. "

HH, this is where the concept of " Ijtihad" fits in:)

Raccoon & HH,

People usually ask why the Quran is not clear-cut.Simply because:
1- It would be boring.
2- People will cease using their brains.

Do you know that the Quran is fraught with hidden meanings apart from the apparent ones?
Allah wants us to put an effort to think, ask, reflect & search & in doing so, we embark on a journey of spirituality, self-discovery, understanding of the dynamics of life & exploration of that divine being. Do you know that when you go looking for God, he will come to you?He will facilitate your quest to find him & the truth because he is the truth. Experiencing his majesty on earth is a journey, not a destination! Oh, when you find him, you feel wholesome & consummate. You cling onto him & you don't want to let go.You feel him fading away when you sin .You feel embarrassed & torn, and you cry for him to come back. You feel elevated & alive.You want to do what he pleases because you yearn to feel his smile within. He shows you signs & thereby, Raccoon, you can comprehend & master the universe through him;)
It is then that the other key player in the game turns green with envy & braces himself for the interesting challenge.Satan assembles his troops & unleashes them on you.Your bad side forms an alliance with them & the battle (jihad) begins.Anything to break that confounded bond,lol!!!

Why are some verses in the Quran ambiguous?So that we can debate & learn from each other(but Muslims nowadays are taking it to murderous extremes).With difference of opinion, he has given us the opportunity to choose what befits us because he knows that we are all not the same. Needless to say, he has warned us about those who are going to twist the verses to suit their own needs. The basic pillars in Islam are universal & consistent, however, the other aspects are either derived from the secondary source namely the " Ahadeeth" as well as from " Ijtihad" & "Ijmaa".Why has he asked us to do the 2 latter things?So we can utilize our brain cells.
Hence & in a nutshell, monotheism & " that book with the insignificant rules" do not stunt mental growth & intelligence:)

I pray not because I'm dying to go to heaven(though it's a privilege & no pun intended) but to get the opportunity to meet & embrace that sweet,beautiful, indescribable force/light that is the surging heart-beat & designer of this universe! Our relationship with him doesn't have to be based solely on fear.Love is crucial.When you love someone, you automatically respect him/her & endeavour not to anger or hurt him/her.If only Muslims preach about loving God as much as they preach about fearing him.*sigh*

On a related note, that book that had been desecrated in Guantanamo Bay; that book that collects dust on our shelves everyday is an abyss of untapped treasure, wherein the keys of humanity's past,present & future are to be found,where the secrets of the universe lay hidden,where true enlightment & wisdom lie;light in the darkness,medicine for the sick,refuge for the homeless,clarity for the confused,food to the soul,healing balm for the heart,knowledge for the mind,power for the believer.Blessed words that make a mortal converge physically,mentally,psychologically & spiritually-A true miracle. I kid you not!

I apologize for rambling.

Discussion of the contradictory Quranic verses will follow asap:)

Allah knows best & may he forgive my sins.

When the Oppressed become the Oppressors......

2006-12-27T22:29:00.000-08:00

A random thought that chills my bones whenever it comes knocking at my mental door.An unwanted & unwelcomed visitor , real notwithstanding.

When the oppressed become the oppressors..........

The Holocaust yet you have Zionists bulldozing houses & killing in the West Bank & Gaza.

Palestinians strapped in suicide bombs & factions in battle.

Iraqi Shiites & Sunnis having a swell time.

So, what is the point of fighting for a cause & against injustice if the oppressed might wear their oppressors' shoes some day? *sigh*

The Party- A Sudanese Torture Story

2006-12-26T23:49:00.000-08:00

Hat Tip: Shamarat

When I was young, my relatives used to tell me about the horrors that took place in the ghost houses(in other words, a Sudanese Gitmo or Abu Gharaib). I never took them seriously because I couldn't believe that Sudanese people were capable of executing such things.How naive!!!
I'm glad the survivors have finally mustered the courage to break the silence & speak out.

However,I concur with what one commentor stated:

"I don't mean to be insensitive... that is not my intention but I feel like the video missed a great opportunity to educate the public. Torture happens everywhere, even the US army is guilty of it. I am not saying this makes it right .. what I am trying to say is that the video did not give us an insight into the circumstances that lead these people to be arrested, how these houses are in residencial areas or how the goverment played a role. Maybe the full length of the video was not posted and that is why so much information was lost . I feel that if we are going to "educate" then lets "educate" ... I feel all I got from the video was a list of torture methods. And that does not to do justice to these victims... "

Nevertheless, it's one step forward & my heart goes out to all the unfortunate innocent captives & survivors.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

2006-12-24T05:10:00.003-08:00

2006 is virtually over.May 2007 be a war-free, peaceful & prosperous year.

The highlights of 2006 in my life:

1- Blogging
2- Three of my friends got married & two got affianced.
3- The Media & Marketing show that I was a part of.
4-Falling in love with someone who eventually broke my heart:)

New Year's Resolutions:

1- Do my Master Degree.
2- Exercise more & lead a healthy lifestyle.No more junk food.
3- Be a better Muslim.
4- Be an active blogger.
5- Travel to Sudan.
6- Enrich my knowledge specifically in politics.

I wanted to write a longer post emphasizing the year's events worldwide & their repercussions but since my flu is distorting my thinking process, I decided to keep it personal & simple.

So, what are your new year's resolutions?

Diamonds are Forever

2006-12-24T04:45:00.000-08:00

An interesting & cool article by Aperadosini :)

Sound Clip

2006-12-24T00:33:00.000-08:00

Check out Drima, Andrew & me on Drima's blog :)

Soul

2006-12-21T00:12:00.001-08:00

HalalHippie, this is for you(apropos to our discussion about Rumi & Sufism in the 2 thoughts & 3 quotes post).This poem was written by my brother.

I close my eyes and take a breath
I feel this unimaginable, intangible gravity forcing me to ease
Allowing pain to still increase..
Structured into crystals, steady floating into galaxies beyond our means
Amongst our dreams it lays
Like this bass it finds its way to a place thats a while a way from all this craze..
I'm on a balanced trip
As my conscience eclipse and fits to this perfectly but perfect remains to not exist
Eternal life with no time and space limitaions
No signs of human nature, not one sign of gods creation..
Now the horn is blown and im awaken
With an unknown sensation that takes me back to the ancients..
Im afraid,
This lightness has been made amazingly ageless
My earthly thoughts of angels were sort of under rated
This is crazy,
A vision hazy, all i see is the sky getting darker while im elevating
In waves like penetrating, thru days and nights navigating..
Is this the truth we're waiting for?
Praying, the azaan calls..i think we made it!
Brightness, lights reflecting my life and its time's spent
Doing nuthing at all
Now this soul speaks what my eyes felt

Nivea Commercial

2006-12-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

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The Casket

2006-12-18T04:17:00.000-08:00

One of my oldies:)

In this context, the casket is a metaphor for the grave.

This the scenario, replaying in my mind.
Im sound asleep; oblivious to the one standing behind;
Bohemian, uninvited; he comes straight at his target;
I try to crucify the situation; neutralize it.
As spirit n body separate; my pain elevates;
My veins incinerate; the drama culminates;
My past being played; on tape; a production on stage;
Scenes unedited uncensored; I feel shameful rage,
at myself for being late; I shoulda seen it coming;
should’ve been prepared for my fated ending.
Now I see my corpse being laid like astral projection;
Family at my grave; praying I'm not in "Jahanam".
Angels of mercy................... Angels of torture
At whose mercy I am, I get no exposure.
Im down in my hole; horrified n feeling cold;
Im missing the sunlight, earth-like freedom of my world;
Hear my bones cracking; my grave is attacking;
It's small space contracting; choking grip expanding;
"Munkar", "Nukair", about my faith, they be asking;
Afraid my sins might cloud, shield my deep understanding;
Yo! Im dead now! My book has been closed;
I can't extend; repent; I'm an eternal comatose;
Hope lies in my good deeds; my ppl's prayers juxtaposed
“AL Barzakh" where i'll be till Judgment day is imposed

2 thoughts & 3 Quotes

2006-12-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

My thought for the day: " Religion requires us to detach our souls from our flesh yet be in it at the same time. That is difficult. But then faith is the wings that create the fine line between both elements.Prayers help maintain that border while disciplining the "id".We are surrounded by three foes: Satan, worldly temptations & our bad side. Tough but faith is tougher, isn't it?"

"Hmmm, the issue of morality.Many have asserted that morality & religion are not correlated.I beg to differ.Our hearts can easily turn cold & our sight & perception can easily be clouded & distorted.Religion, the proper adherence to it & it's duly practice are the bedrock of morality.That is what I blindly believe in. I can feel the difference in my actions & attitude when I don't pray & when I do."

Sweetlady 84 from Shamarat mentioned these 2 quotes:
"Truly in the heart there is a void that can not be removed except with the company of Allah. And in it there is a sadness that can not be removed except with the happiness of knowing Allah and being true to Him. And in it thereis an emptiness that can not be filled except with love for Him and by turning to Him and always remembering Him And if a person were given all of the world and what is in it, it would not fill this emptiness."

"All humans are dead except those who have knowledge ... and all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere ... and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry."

"God created suffering and heartache, so that joy might be known as their opposite. Hidden things become manifest through their opposites. But God has no opposite; so he remains hidden. Light is known as the opposite of darkness. But God's light has no opposite. Thus we cannot know him through our eyes. -Rumi, "Masnawi"

Sudan Fairytale's pain over the Danish Cartoons

2006-12-13T00:51:00.000-08:00

Sudan Fairytale has written a heartfelt & touching poem entitled " The Prophet's Pictures".I couldn't resist not mentioning it on my blog.

They’ve abused you treacherously,
Degraded you maliciously,
Plotted for your destruction surreptitiously,
And now they’re trying to excuse themselves badly,
For me they’ll always be un-forgiven,Definitely-

I looked on the news filled with curiosity,
But how I filled my eyes with terrible asperity,
Something small, I thought to myself-
Oh there is more to worry about than these pictures,
But then I couldn’t sleep that night –
Images of horrific tablatures-
Who has you clenched mercilessly this second between their fingers?
Who’s saying ha ha ha, putrefyingly this minute?
Who’s deciding they’re just amazing –
‘This is the perfect disease to use,
not to waste or sequester’

Then I started to imagine how it all began,
They’re sitting in an office – sipping hot coffee,
It’s late and every one has gone home,
Except them and the whispering devil-
Drawing and painting with malevolence,
Pencilling and rubbing, angling and curving,
Until they got it just right – lifted it up to admire,
sat back and viciously smiled -
Proud of themselves the next morning in the meeting table,
Their work is being published –
the majority of hands made it acceptable-

What terrifies and shakes me is slowly, actually quite rapidly now -
These heart-breaking pictures are circling -
First on 1 page of a rotten Danish newspaper –
It’s now virally infecting all types of technology-Transported destructively from country to country-Inoculated happily by those who show a respect/kindness deficiency-
Please be warmed by what your followers have done Prophet Mohamed
I hope it will make you the tiniest bit happy -
The effort to clean up this shemozzle,
The shouts and cries, the protests and all other tries-But it’s a sad and soul splitting world-

How is the Quran Contradictory?

2006-12-13T00:04:00.000-08:00

To all those who claim that some verses in the Holy Book are conflicting, could you please state these verses?

I'll do my best to research your claims but I don't promise that I will be able to answer you immediatly.

Revive the Violins

2006-12-12T22:36:00.000-08:00

Tiptoe into the realm of deafening silence
Passionate emptiness eroding a musty existence
A distance between who she is and what I have become
A hollow nucleus, estranged from the rosy fillings of the universe
She imploringly searches the histroy pages of my past
Dwelling on jagged fragments that have made my present bleed
Frantic to sew the holes in my miserable apparel
Only to have them unraveled by the listlessness in me

Suddenly, I hear a faint melody
A fairytale
A box of chocolates
I giggle
A fusion of rainbow colors
My heart's strings tingle

" Revive the violins.Revive the music," she says.

I bask in the rays of her tune
An orchestra of chidren's balloons
Hovering Sandcastles gleaming
to the light of a smiling moon
A sea's kiss
A couple's honeymoon

I sway as the violins' mermaid-like sonata embraces me
Peeling off the crust of rust swathing my rigid core
I thank her
Reviving the violins is how she treasures me
I am her and she is me
My anchor, my sweet soul

Whenever you feel like the world is closing in on you, always remember to tap into your positive self & revive your own violins-be it a prayer, counting your blessings,beautiful memories,visiting a loved one or listening to your favourite song.Only you can play the instruments to your own liking.

Vote for Drima

2006-12-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

Drima has been nominated for the 2006 Weblog Awards.
Let's show a brother some love & support.He deserves it.

Vote for him here.

Drims, are you the first Sudanese blogger to be nominated?If yes, it's a world record;)

The Transformation

2006-12-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

My colleague complained that some of my posts are depressing.In view of her comment, I have decided to post something out of the ordinary this time. " The Transformation" is a fictitious short story which I wrote for my friend's biology assignment.

Warning: Do not eat while you are reading this,lol.

NB: The digestion process is far more complex than depicted in the story.
NBB: It might be stupid but I enjoyed writing it.

“The following is an excerpt from the diary of an ex-titbit.A titbit is defined as “a tasty morsel of food; a small bit of food.” In it, he describes how he was transformed, through the digestive system, into a disgusting piece of excrement.”

Mon, 3rd of March, 2005, 6:00 am

Dear Diary,
Alas, I am doomed!!! Fate has conspired against me. The death that I have been doggedly persevering to escape has finally captured me. Do you want to know where I am right now?!!! I am in H*** factory!!! In that one place where no one in “Food Land” wanted to be. I am on human soil; on death’s territory. I have been incarcerated with the others. After a short while, we will all be transported to the machines & will become stuck to each other to create an edible type of food for the enemy.
Dear diary, I have heard stories about imprisoned valiant titbits who miraculously survived the human body yet ended as abominable creatures[1] in the “underground”[2]. It is mind baffling how we, the titbit civilization, could be beneficial for the humans. Why don’t they just leave us alone in peace??!!

Tue, 4th of March, 2005, 4:00 pm

Dear Diary,
My friends and I have been made into some kind of circular thing known as “frozen pizza”. It is frigid &excruciatingly cold in the “freezer”.Well, anywhere but the human stomach is heaven for me. I can no longer keep up the bravado. We are all terrorized; all praying that no one purchases this god d***** “pizza”. I miss my family. I miss home. I know I will never see them again.Oh! How I wish I had listened to grandma Bitty.I wish I hadn’t crossed the borders. It is too late now.

Thu, 6th of March, 2005, 6:00 pm

Dear Diary,

The worst has happened.Oh God!!! We are going to be eaten; to be digested. I swear if I didn’t have you as a confidant, I would have become a lunatic a long time ago. As a matter of fact, the preponderance of titbits has already gone ballistic.HaHaHa.I have no tears or any emotions left; just a stone-cold heart. It doesn’t matter anymore.

Thu, 6th of March, 2005, 8:00 pm

Dear Diary,

Soon, we will all be on the threshold of death’s kingdom. Let’s think of it as a painful adventure; a one-in-a –lifetime escapade. Brace yourself, dear diary, here we go……………….

Fri, 7th of March, 2005, 5:00 pm

Dear Diary,

Woah! Yeah! I am alive. I have actually made it. It seems that, due to my genes, the body was unable to digest me. Wow! What a twist of fate.However, I am transformed now. I am, literally, a piece of S***.At least, I have a home & friends now. We all live in “Sewage Land”. Its people are called”feaces”.Indeed, we are all considered outcasts but we all love each other.We are immortal.I have been reincarnated. Anyway, dear diary, I would like to document what I had seen & felt whilst I was inside the most feared place on earth, “THE HUMAN BODY.”

THE MOUTH “PART I”

The first thing that greeted us was pitch-black darkness.Then, the eerie silence was replaced with as humans call it “blood-curdling” screams & anguished cries for help. The whole place seemed to be rocking & trembling. Chaos prevailed.It was a nightmare.Gigantic white structures[3] were ripping the pizza apart & the titbits were being crushed. Some titbits, who were not lucky, fell into cavities & were stuck there. I was tempted to throw myself in but at that very moment I felt myself being lifted upwards against the roof of the dungeon.Suddenly, some kind of revolting gooey liquid[4] was emitted everywhere & I was stuck again to other titbits, where we formed a ball. I was grateful to see my friends again; to feel their propinquity. Images of my family flashed by & I saw grandma Bitty’s wizened yet serene face smiling at me; telling me “ Titty,oh,Titty hold on, you’ll make it.”
I smiled to myself despite the pain shooting through my body. I started crying………………………

THE ESOPHAGUS[5] “PART II”

After what seemed like an eternity of rolling, tossing & turning, I felt the ball & myself being pushed downwards in to an abyss. We were just falling & falling & falling. I noticed that the same disgusting liquid was lining the walls of the bottomless pit & was facilitating the ball’s movement. By this time, I was stunned into silence; non-chalantly awaiting my end. We were all drained & exhausted. That first brush with death divested us of all feelings. There was neither pain nor terror; simply the acceptance of one fact: THERE WAS NO WAY OUT………………………

THE STOMACH “PART III”

Abruptly, everything stopped moving. The ball landed gently on a slippery surface. Of course we were not the only ball. There were zillions of other titbits & balls. It didn’t feel lonely. By that time, we had all adjusted to the darkness. We were clearly able to discern our surroundings. So, this was “THE BELLY OF THE BEAST”. This was the climax of the tale. This was death personified!!!!!

In retrospect, I remember my parents & grandma Bitty discussing the notorious human stomach. I recall them muttering, according to rumors, that in the stomach your insides were either sucked out[6] or if you were fortunate to have specific indigestible contents, you would be kicked out of the body in another despicable form. Either way, you lost.

I was awakened from my reverie by a deafening rumbling noise. I knew this was the call of death. The murderer was sharpening his axe.Suddenly, the whole place began churning even more violently & brutally than that of the first dungeon we had been into.

The “boluses”[7] disintegrated & millions of titbits were mercilessly & inexorably hurled here & there. The massive walls of the stomach were twisting & bending forcefully in such a hideous manner. I was horrified beyond description. It was then that I saw it. The rushing of liquid[8] towards us. The sea in its most turbulent state. We were all engulfed. Never in my entire life had I experienced such unbearable pain. It was an inferno; searing me inside-out.
Then, it was black-out………………..

THE LARGE INTESTINE “PART IV”

“Titty, Titty……wake up, wake up”. The familiar voice was distant yet real. I thought I was in heaven but the urgency in my friend’s voice & his ceaseless shaking of my body brought me back to reality. At first, everything seemed fuzzy & I could not distinguish the shapeless forms.However, as minutes passed by, the horrible truth dawned. I realized that these indistinct contorted forms were real & that I resembled them too. All of a sudden, two realities hit me: One was the fact that I was alive & well. The other was that I had been rejected by the evil incarnation & transformed into that form my parents were talking about. I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad but when I saw the others, I was thankful. We were locked in some kind of prison but we were all content.

FREEDOM “PART V”

I don’t know whether we stayed for a few hours or days.Ultimately, we were all released. The rectal walls, as humans call it, distended & we were all pushed out. We were then flushed through a labyrinth of passageways & canals until we landed in “Sewage Land”. The inhabitants were very hospitable & friendly. They made us feel at home. If you come to think of it, all of these people were originally titbits or from various parts of “Food Land”. Although the human body destroyed countless no of titbits, it had inadvertently created a new & unique species. I know I will never see my beloved family or my favorite grandma again but at least I am alive, happy & loved. At least, I am free…….

“MAY ALL TITBIT MARTYRES REST IN PEACE”

[1] Faeces
[2] Sewage Land
[3] Teeth
[4] Saliva
[5] The tube from the mouth to the stomach
[6] Glucose & useful substances are taken from the food & circulated around the body
[7] Balls of miniscule bits of food
[8] Gastric acid which breaks down the food

Ummah Board-Discussing Darfur

2006-12-06T01:56:00.000-08:00

The Muslim African American members of the Ummah Board are fired up about Darfur. One snag though: the Site Admin & a Sudanese member fall out at the end of the discussion.
On a related note, check out this photo essay.

Hat tip: Yousef from Muslim Hiphop.

A note to Yousef: Thank you for your efforts & for speaking out.

The Best Israeli Discussion I've read so far

2006-12-05T23:16:00.000-08:00

I came across this post on Drima's blog. It wasn't the content of the topic that intrigued me but the subsequent discussion between the Israeli commentors.To many of us, the Israelis, each & every single one of them, have been portrayed as cold-blooded monsters, who are not human & who solely live on destroying the others & conquering the world(No offense to the Israeli readers).
I never saw them as more than that & never imagined that they lead normal lives like the rest of us, let alone fall in love & get married.However, this insightful post & the fact that they have cultural differences & internal racism just like the rest of us is fascinating.
We don't recieve much news about their social lives or the difficulties some of them face within the country. Hence,I'm grateful that Drima started such a post & yes, the Zionist govt is insane but just like there are good Muslims & bad ones, the same applies to the Israelis.

I truly & genuinely enjoyed reading their comments & personal stories.I'm astounded by how blinding my misconceptions were & feel ashamed at the unnecessary hate I harboured for all of them.

Some of the IDF's actions make it no less of a criminal than that of the NCP & whoever murders, be it a Muslim, Afghani, Israeli, Chinese, Christian, is immoral.From now on, I won't blame one party & ignore the other.My anger shall be distributed equally:)

Update: You know what the best part is: Something my 15 year old sis said to me.Mind you, she is the queen of our family * mashallah* but being a teen, her priorities revolve around malls & cute guys,lool.Anyway, when I told her about this post, I was surprised at her reaction.She asked me to print it out because she wants to know more about the Jews & feels really bad when she hears prayers targeted against them.I was ecstatic since my sis rarely showed an explicit interest in such issues & given how our schools & the media distort news,I'd happily say that this is one step forward:)

Sami Yusuf in Sudan

2006-12-04T00:16:00.000-08:00

Azeri born Sami Yusuf is one of my favourite Islamic singers.He is going to be holding a concert in Sudan in the near future.I don't have the details but I saw the announcement on BNTV before yesterday.

Sami's songs are inspirational and moving, and his voice can soften the coldest of hearts. * sigh* I don't want to go all poetic about him but if he were to propose to me, I would accept without thinking twice,lol.Bless his soul & his music.

btw, he has a song, in his latest album, wherein he mentions Darfurian women.

Update: The concert will be held in Al Dubat Club(Soldiers Club, if that is the correct translation) on the 14th of this month.The ticket costs SP 40,000.

Please check out http://www.samiyusuf-sudan.com/ for more details.

Darfur War Breeds “Dirty Babies”

2006-12-03T23:00:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't read this harrowing & heart-wrenching article on Drima's blog without linking to it here. While I was digesting it, I felt this tightening in my heart & imagined if the victim was me.What would I have done if I were in her shoes?OMG-excuse me but I feel like puking.Even more disgusting , as one commenter pinpointed, is her family's & ppl's scornful, aloof ,it's-your-fault attitude!!! I'm speechless!!!

I'm Scared

2006-12-03T22:19:00.000-08:00

I’m scared-not from the Americans or the Israelis but from my fellow Arabs. I’m no politics savvy & till this day, I find it difficult, painful, exasperating & baffling to fully understand it. The situation in the Middle East looks bleak & leaves no room for hope. I hate being cynical but there is not much to be proud of. Initially, I was one of those who deemed the Iranian president as a hero for standing up for the US but now, I realize how wrong I was. Truly but sadly, we, the Arabs & Muslims (no generalizing intended) have no love for each other. Who knows what might happen if Iran becomes the superpower of the Middle East? I have an inkling that we, specifically the Sunnis (though we are all Muslims) will be doomed. Why do we harbour so much animosity towards each other? We have proven to be an irresponsible lot & the only thing we seem to agree about is our hatred towards the West. It’s fine to shed each other’s blood & to rape our women. It’s wonderful to blow up each other in the name of Islam.

Let’s take Iraq for instance; the disgusting & ongoing insurgencies & sectarian violence. How shameful!!! I wish Saddam were back, at least he kept things in check. Or Palestine & Israel, as Drima has labeled it, “the deadly deadlock.” Or my country, where mayhem dominates. I wonder if El Bashir were ousted, would we turn into another Iraq?

It’s like we are children. We have to be disciplined. If left alone, we cause chaos. We are not eligible to take responsibility & accept accountability. We don’t seek solutions & the term “initiative” doesn’t exist in our dictionaries. We are waiting for the others to resolve our conflicts. God, we are such babies!!!
If it weren’t for the US, there would have been no peace between the North & South in Sudan. Even Human Rights associations were introduced in the UAE due to US pressure.
I’m not defending the US. I’m merely acknowledging. Sometimes I feel the West’s interference in our affairs is vital because we can’t be trusted even if they might have hidden agendas. Why have we stooped to such a low level? Why have we sunk in this abyss? Where do our religious teachings fit in the equation?

I’m really worried. Things are becoming intricate by the day & that light at the end of the tunnel is gradually fading. I wish I can help but where do I start? Which pieces do I pick & which problems can I solve? Do people still listen? How can I erase the blindness & encourage objectivity? I don’t know. Maybe the first thing we should do is to love ourselves, love each other & restore our confidence.Or am I naive?

The Unending Torture of Omar Khadr

2006-12-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

I know this is old news but I had to quote & blog about it.

Captured on the battlefield when he was only 15 years old, he has been held at Guantanamo Bay for the past four years-and subjected to unspeakable abuse sanctioned by the President( Nox magazine, Oct 2006)

“In July 2002, a US Special Forces unit in Afghanistan raided what they believed to be an Al-Qaeda stronghold in the village of Ab Khail near the Pakistani border. They laid siege to a small compound where five men armed with assault rifles refused the US’ troops call to surrender, bombing and strafing it until it was silent. Walking into the ruins, a wounded fighter threw a grenade, killing Special Forces Sgt. Christopher Speer. The soldiers immediately shot the fighter three times in the chest, and he collapsed. They discovered that he was 15 years old, slightly built and-unbelievably-still alive. “Kill me,” he murmured, in fluent English. “Please, just kill me.”
His name was Omar Khadr.Born in Toronto, Canada to Egyptian and Palestinian parents, who American Intelligence claims, used charities as front groups to raise and launder money for Al-Qaeda and, from a young age, provided their sons training in bomb making, assault-rifle marksmanship and combat tactics. For nearly a year before the Ab Khail siege, according to the US government, Omar and his father and brothers had fought with the Taliban against American and Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan […]”

I was extremely perturbed by the above article. This teen was almost the age of my younger sister when he was captured. He was subjected to the following:

* Medication was withheld, apparently to induce cooperation. He was ordered to clean floors on his hands and knees while his wounds were still wet. When he could walk again, he was forced to stand for hours at a time with his hands tied above a doorframe. Interrogators put a bag over his head & held him still while attack dogs leapt at his chest. Sometimes he was kept chained in an interrogation room for so long he urinated on himself.
* Hog-chained: Shackled hand and foot, a waist chain cinching his hands to his stomach, another chain connecting the shackles on his hands to those on his feet. At both wrist & ankle, the shackles bit. The cuffs permanently scarred many prisoners on the flight, causing them to lose feeling in their limbs for several days or weeks afterward.
* Forced into sensory deprivation gear the military uses to disorient prisoners prior to interrogation. The guards pulled black thermal mittens onto Omar’s hands & taped them hard at the wrists. They pulled opaque goggles over his eyes and placed soundproof earphones over his ears. They put a deodorizing mask over his mouth and nose. They bolted him, fully trussed, to a backless bench. Whichever limbs hadn’t already lost sensation from the cuffs lost sensation from the high-altitude cold during the flight, which took 15 hours.
* He was locked in a steel cage whose floor space was comparable to that of a small walk-in closet. Giant banana rats ran freely through the cells and across the roofs and excrement everywhere: on beds, on sinks, on Korans. Prisoners were allowed only one five-minute shower each week; the cellblocks stood in a perpetual stench.
* Stress positions that can quickly lead to delirium & ultimately unconsciousness.
* Used as a human mop & dragged over his urine.
*Threatened to be raped & sent to Israel, Egypt, Jordan or Syria, where prisoners were tortured without constraints: very slowly, analytically removing body parts.
* Kept in isolation & he spent a month without human contact in a windowless box kept at the approximate temperature of a refrigerator.
* Had drugs, which produced dizziness, sleepiness or hyper alertness, mixed in his food.

And still many other horrific things that I haven’t stated. He is only 15 years old, for crying out loud. Is it
his fault that his parents molded him into a so-called terrorist? If this is how adolescents are treated in Guantanamo, I don’t want to know how the adults are tortured. According to the article, he now suffers from paranoid delusions, suicidal tendencies & hallucinatory psychoses. He has lost his appetite, had fainting spells & cried frequently. He has, eventually, been appointed 2 lawyers who are still working on his case till this date.

It’s also noteworthy to mention that “During the course of their (the attorneys) research, they were confronted by the overwhelming evidence that most of the detainees at Guantanamo are innocent. One man was given up by his own son for $ 5,000.Another detainee was nothing more than a drug user. One military intelligence officer, speaking anonymously, told a reporter that more than 75 per cent of the detainees in Cuba are innocent. After the invasion of Afghanistan, the Bush administration effectively kidnapped hundreds of innocent people because they looked like Arabs and shipped them to a detention facility designed to torture them nonstop & in perpetuity.” Moreover, “the FBI agents found that the coercive tactics used by the military intelligence both disgusting & stupid: the abusive treatment instantly destabilized the detainees, making the information they provided unreliable as intelligence and, as a result, useless in court.”

Why resort to such filthy tactics with a teenager? Or better yet, why resort to such tactics at all? Aren’t there less humiliating & less painful methods of pressure? The damage this kid is suffering from now is irreversible. Isn’t this an infringement of the Geneva Convention? I don’t care if Osama Bin Laden sheltered him or his family but IMO, soi d’isant young terrorists should be handled & treated differently. This is uncalled for *sigh*

Happy Belated National Day

2006-12-03T21:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the 36th national day celebrations.On this day in 1971 the 7 emirates, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quain & Fujairah, under the leadership of His Highness the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, united to form the UAE.

Happy belated National Day:)

State of Mind

2006-12-02T01:01:00.000-08:00

In introspection,I ponder and analyze;
Disconcerted by the truth in my findings.
Tears of discontent well up inside;
as I assimilate the gravity of the situation.

I preach about faith;I advocate morality;
Virtue is success;transgression paralyzes spirituality;
Cognizant of the devious games being played around me;
Nemesis ensues everyone's sinful idiosyncrasies.

Then why,with such conviction,don't my actions speak louder than my words?
Why,with such faith,is my heart blackened by pernicious thoughts?Why,with such awareness,am I always a victim of my repeated fallacies?Why,with such resolution,am I afraid to confront the demons in me?

Am I weak? but humans were created to fight!
Am I confused?but our minds were made to distinguish wrong from right!
Am I cruel? but our hearts beat to suffuse us with compassion and mercy!
Am I cynical? but life moves on albeit the tribulation and adversary!

"sigh"
I hold the answers yet I fail to rectify;
Conscious of the remedy yet I feel numb to purify;
A paradoxical life;a state of "cognitive dissonance"*
Why am I at crossroads when the facts are apparent and evident?

7beebi Allahuma,
I am exhausted;weighed down by my sins.
Everytime I stand up to defy,my wrongdoings conquer and win.
I yearn to be good and ache to reside by your throne;I desperately beg you to strengthen me and
Please don't let me fight this battle on my own.

* It is the state wherein you can't make up your mind or decide.Synonym: vacillation

We are all African

2006-11-30T00:12:00.000-08:00

I came across these in Skin magazine. I apologize for the botchy scan.

I like the idea of the poster-one hand with different skin shades.

& Drima, speaking of the MSM's neglect or rather marginalizing of the Darfur crisis, Reuters had a captivating photo gallery in the exhibition. Moving photos of Iraq, Iran, Palestine,Lebanon, among others were displayed. I fully expected to see a few photos of Sudan but I was immensely disappointed. Not a single shot depicting the misery in Darfur!!!

We Blog for Darfur

2006-11-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

Dang!!!! I presume I'm the last of the Sudanese bloggers to blog about this great initiativeWe Blog for Darfur. Finally, a voice for Darfur & a campaign focusing on eliminating the misconceptions circulating about the war & portraying the truth about this neglected region.

Hats off toMid East Youth, Good Neighbours & our one & only Drima.

My Job:)

2006-11-25T21:53:00.000-08:00

This is the first time I talk about my job.

I work as a Media Researcher in a company that publishes the Middle East & North Africa Media Guide(above).
The book-in printed & electronic versions- is a directory of all the media-related companies(TV stations, magazines, news agencies, e-zines, to name but a few) in the Middle East & North Africa except Sudan:(.I tried persuading my boss to include Sudan especially now since the media industry is virtually booming.But he said that our clients are not interested in Sudan.Sad!!!

Anyway, starting from tommorow, we will be attending a 3-day exhibition to launch the 4th edition of the book & I'm so excited.We have been working almost all year on it & although the job becomes montonous at times, seeing the book at the end of the year makes it worthwhile.The best part is having my name on it too,looooool.

Just felt like mentioning this because I'm soooo excited:)

For my Unborn Children

2006-11-25T21:49:00.000-08:00

& no, I'm not married.It's just that my maternal instincts kick in once in a while:)

Vivified as thoughts of you penetrate my realm,
Sweet little angels; sublime in your presence,
In my fantasy, I cradle each one of you tenderly;
My soul ensconced in ecstasy;
Your beating hearts breathing life into me.

Like fragile rose-buds, anxious to bloom,
The moment your petals open, you shall be my own.
In the still of the night, you are my twinkling stars;
Your ethereal light presides;
Eradicating my every scar.

My darling Omar, I see you as the leader;
The wisest; the eldest of your siblings;
Like Omar Bin Al Khatab in his demeanor,
Fearless, compassionate & forgiving.
My beautiful Leen, the flower in between;
Of boundless mercy, you are the magnanimous queen.
My youngest, in Mohammed’s (SAW) footsteps you shall follow;
I see u as the kindest; the hero of tomorrow.

My beloved children; a solemn pledge I make;
You will be my priority; the blood flowing in my veins;
I will embrace with filial affection;
I will do what it takes;
Be sincere in my devotion;
Gently admonish when you make a mistake;
I will be there for you; I will never let you down;
You are a piece of me; my essence; my jewelled crown

"If you are white, everything is all right"

2006-11-23T01:38:00.000-08:00

“If you’re white, everything is all right,” followed by a wry laugh. My heart cringed every time he uttered that confounded, racist sentence. But it was more than the words that made my stomach do a somersault; it was the bitter, pain-filled undertone lurking conspicuously behind his feigned cheery laugh.

He was sitting 3 seats behind me on the bus. A Southern Sudanese gentleman who caught my attention at the station partly because Southern Sudanese people are rare in this part of the world, and partly because seeing a piece of my home chased away the loneliness I felt amidst the different nationalities that frequented the bus-stop.

“ If you’re white, everything is all right.” That line again!!!! It’s incessant repetition & the dark sarcasm it was imbued with aroused my curiosity that I couldn’t help but wonder what tragedy had befallen this man & instigated him to reach such a conclusion. I wasn’t seeking an answer and in fact, I didn’t need one because I think, deep down, I was perfectly able to understand his concealed pain. Racism has always been my childhood companion. “My monster in the closet” save that it was real and tended to pop its hideous head anytime during the day. I can still vividly recall the taunting faces, jeering comments & disgusted facial expressions of the Arab kids at school. “ Black”, “ Sudaniya”, “ Why does your hair look like that?” “ Why do you have this dark skin color?” “ Thank God that he has painted me white” & so on & so forth. Palestinians, Iraqis, Lebanese & Emiratis; all who thought that they were superior to me due to their white complexions.

It was a devastating experience & those ignorant children/youth had no idea how excruciating & mortifying their mockery was & the hampering impact it had on my self-esteem & confidence. They drove me to hate myself & wish to be like them. They pushed me to the edge of inferiority & drilled in me the pseudo-fact that I’m worthless because I’m black. It was only recently that my skepticism towards dealing with my fellow Arab nationals has abated. Thanks to hip-hop in the 90’s & the likes of 2pac(back then), G-Unit & Beyounce (now) that the Arabic world began to see us in a different light especially those of us who live up to these Black American icons.

One memorable incident was when I was about 6 years old. I was playing with my neighbors when they suddenly began a parade of derogatory remarks. I was sad. I went back home & told my father (RIP). He was enraged, went downstairs, assembled the children & gave them a tear-jerking lecture about discrimination. From that lecture, what stands in my mind till this day is my father’s “ Whiteness is not that which defines your skin but what is in your hearts.”

The voices in the bus jarred me back to reality. The guy was still talking on the cell phone & mouthing those words. The fact that he was a Southerner amplified my sympathies simply because he must have endured the same kind of abuse in our homeland too. How ironical. Truly, shamefully & revoltingly ironic!!!! Imagine my shock when I went to Sudan for my university studies in 1998, having escaped the clutches of racism in the UAE, only to come face-to-face with it one more time in my country!!! Maybe not strongly inclined towards me but, nevertheless, staggering & humiliating; an epidemic disease rotting in our culture.

Why do we, whether the Arabs or Sudanese, trample on each other by virtue of a mere skin shade, which is a gift from the heavens? Has anyone ever envisaged how dull, ugly & colorless this world would have been if everything including humans looked like each other & had the same color? Why does beauty have a specific criterion when God has intentionally diversified & created beauty in all shapes & sizes? Why does COLOR matter so much? Why have millions been harassed & victimized for something they had no hand in? Why can’t we invest our precious time in building our societies & spawning love & collaboration between each other? Why?

I suppressed the urge to turn around & hold his hand. I wanted to look him into the eye & tell him that he should love himself & should never think less of himself whatsoever. I wanted to tell him to hold his head up high & be proud of who he is & of his beautiful ebony skin tone. I wanted to tell him to never permit anyone to insult him because he has as much right as they have to a better, peaceful & prejudice-free life. We have all been created by the same hand & have been moulded from the same clay.On Judgment Day, God is not going to make his judgment based on your complexion, race or beauty but on what good you have sowed & what values you have been able to maintain.

NB: For fairness’s sake, racism in the UAE has dwindled vis-a-vis my childhood days.My siblings, who study in the same school I studied in, thankfully, are not going through the same ordeal that I have gone through.

Awe-Inspiring

2006-11-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

Subhan allah, a rock that resembles a human prostrating in a prayer.
Truly indescribable.

Misery Churns in Eastern Sudan, Away from the Spotlight

2006-11-13T05:31:00.000-08:00

Hat tip: Nubainq from Shamarat

Togley is impoverished, yet the region’s port and oil riches are there.
But a little-known war between the government and a spreading rebel force drove his people from their homes to a camp at the far eastern edge of Sudan, where the horizon is paper-flat and the land is about as fertile as a sandbox.
The people here are battered by the sun, the wind and the sand; the tribal scars cut into Mr. Ahmed’s face when he was a little boy are constantly creased with dust. Mr. Ahmed’s people still call him “the chairman,” but out here, Mr. Ahmed says, he is the chairman of nothing.
“We have no animals,” he said. “All we have is dirt.”
It is a scene of desolation and despair in a country with much of both. But what is different about the crisis in eastern Sudan is that few outside organizations are paying attention. While there are an estimated 25,000 aid workers in Darfur, the war-ravaged region on the other side of the country that has become the focus of a ceaseless flurry of diplomatic activity, here in Togley there are not even plastic tarps for the huts.

Eastern Sudan is forgotten Sudan, an intriguing, isolated, sun-blasted corner of the country where a conservative culture and a slow-burning war have conspired to keep the people mired in neglect despite the area’s port and oil riches.

The war may finally be over — eastern rebels who had been fighting for a greater share of the country’s resources reached an agreement with the government on Oct. 14 to lay down their weapons in exchange for political representation and a share of the nation’s oil money.
But the neglect will take years to reverse. Eastern Sudan, which encompasses roughly 180,000 square miles and nearly four million people, is the poorest part of the country, with the highest infant mortality rate and a per capita income in some areas of 25 cents a day, a small fraction of the national average.

In remote villages, most women cannot even write their own names, partly because of a strict Muslim culture that forbids education for girls and confines them to their homes.
“These women have nothing to do but sit around and drink coffee and scar themselves,” said Niyal Mohammed al-Haj, a teacher in Kasala, one of the biggest towns in the east. “Girls don’t go to school; boys drop out, and nobody cares.”
One of the reasons that the east has largely gone unnoticed is that the scale of fighting could never compete with the conflicts in Darfur or southern Sudan. The fighting here is thought to have claimed between 2,000 and 5,000 lives in the last 10 years, compared with hundreds of thousands in Darfur and the south.
Yet, the east is increasingly vital to the nation, home to gold mines and the country’s major oil pipeline and port. As the troubles intensified in Darfur, Sudan’s leaders in Khartoum, the capital, could hardly afford to fight another escalating rebellion.

“Khartoum was facing so much pressure on other fronts, it had to put out this fire,” said Ahmed el-Amin Terik, an adviser to the state governor here in Togley. “It wasn’t like the eastern rebels were so much of a threat. But even a mosquito doesn’t let you sleep.”
The eastern rebels do not appreciate being likened to mosquitoes. Most are Beja herdsmen, a proud and traditional group, who strut around in white robes and dusty waistcoats with three-foot-long sabers tucked into their belts. They waged hit-and-run attacks against government soldiers from the backs of their camels. Some are already grumbling about getting a raw deal in the peace effort.

The Beja leadership wanted regional autonomy but instead was given nominal positions in the central government.
The Beja also pushed for a bigger cut of Sudan’s growing wealth, which is driven by oil exports, and asked for one dollar for every barrel shipped from Port Sudan, which would amount to around $150 million each year. Instead, the Sudanese government set up a $600 million eastern development fund, a substantial commitment, but one that is guaranteed only for a few years.
These issues are similar to what set off the bloodshed in Darfur and the south, where long-marginalized regional ethnic groups have taken up arms against the ruling group of Arab Sudanese in Khartoum. Critics of the central government say the three separate peace deals that have been reached — for the south in 2005, for Darfur this spring and now for the east — are not only shaky, but may encourage wider unrest.
“The message seems to be, if you want more development, you need to pick up arms,” said Abda Yahia el-Mahdi, a former finance minister now in private consulting.
When it came time to sign the eastern peace deal at a ceremony in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, just east of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, showed up in Beja dress.
“It was ridiculous,” said Hashim Hangag, a spokesman for the Beja Congress political party. “Here was a guy who has never stood with the Beja, pretending to be one of us.”
Beja political frustrations have been percolating since the 1950s. The central government dammed their rivers and took their grazing land, while delivering few schools, hospitals or roads. The Beja have always been among the poorest and least educated people in Sudan, marooned in an arid, thinly populated area rife with tuberculosis and malaria, and they hardly had the means to fight back.

In the 1990s, that changed. Sudan’s government tried to undermine the Eritrean government by arming Islamic fighters who were waging a holy war against it. Eritrea, in return, began arming the Beja.
Rebels from other tribes and other parts of Sudan flooded into Beja territory and opened a new front against the government, an eastern front — and the alliance eventually took that name. One misimpression of Sudan’s rebel movements is that they are isolated to one area and fighting to secede. Many, however, including Darfur’s rebel groups, have national ambitions and dream not of carving out their own piece of territory but of overthrowing the Arab-led government.
The fighting displaced thousands of people, including 3,000 now in Togley, who drifted from village to village until all their animals died, and then settled on a chunk of land so dry and fruitless that nobody else wanted it.

A turning point came on Jan. 29, 2005, when government troops in Port Sudan killed 25 unarmed Beja men who were protesting what they called a legacy of exclusion. That drove hundreds more into the ranks of the Eastern Front, and the central government began to fear another Darfur.
Serious peace negotiations started this year, culminating in the October agreement.
Several Beja rebels said they had been pressed to accept a less than satisfying deal because the Eritrean government, which had allowed them to operate out of camps along its border, was eager to normalize relations with Sudan and gave them little choice.
The government and some Beja leaders say that peace will bring desperately needed investment, and with the area safe, more foreign aid will flow in. Right now, just a handful of aid organizations operate here, mostly distributing food.
Mr. Ahmed, the chairman of Togley, hopes to lead his people back to their village, but there are literally minefields between here and there. “I know Darfur has problems,” Mr. Ahmed said. “But what about us?”

My Israeli Question by Antony Loewenstein

2006-11-12T03:01:00.000-08:00

Hat tip: Mocha from Shamarat

Jamie Glassman is a British Jewish writer on The Ali G show, a comedy program known for intentionally offending deserving establishment figures. Glassman recently attended the Edinburgh Arts Festival and was disturbed. He wrote in the London Times:
“There have always been anti-Semitic jokes. But you know times are changing when you go along to a stand-up show at the Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh Fringe and you hear audience members shouting ‘Throw them in the oven’ when the comic suggests kids should stop playing Cowboys and Indians and replace it with Nazis and Jews.”
His conclusion was perhaps understandable but thoroughly inaccurate.

There was, he noted:
“…a growing trend among left-thinking people in this country and around the world to accept as dogma that those on the Left should hate Bush, Blair, American imperialism, Israel and, while we’re at it, the Jews. It is a cultural trend that I’ve found increasingly evident but never before has the Jew-hating element been so overt. This week has confirmed that my Jewish paranoia is not entirely unfounded. As the old saying goes: ‘Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me.’”

How often do we hear that the Left is infected with a vicious Jew-hatred? And how often do Jews tell each other that every criticism of Israel is driven by a pathological rejection of Israel’s right to exist? I’m here to tell those Jews that it’s time to stop living like it’s 1948. Israeli actions in Palestine and Lebanon are directly contributing to worldwide legitimate criticism of the Zionist state. For a growing number of global citizens, Israel is a pariah. It’s about time we discovered why.

Real anti-Semitism does exist, of course. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported recently that a number of Jewish students at Sydney University had recently suffered verbal and physical abuse and “Kill Jews” had been spray-painted around Sydney. All these acts are unacceptable and patently racist. But none of this means that Jews fear leaving their houses or should remain in ghettos. Many do a pretty good job on their own without needing encouragement.

I wanted my book, My Israel Question, to offer divergent views. I asked the majority of so-called Jewish leaders in Australia for comment, but they either ignored the request or offered verbal abuse. Federal Labor MP Michael Danby announced last August, before the book was finished and without having read any of it, that my publisher, Melbourne University Publishing, should “drop this whole disgusting project” and instructed the Jewish community to not buy the book. The message was clear. The Jewish leadership was petrified of open and honest debate on the Middle East conflict; they simply had too much to lose.

Over two years of writing, researching and spending time in the Middle East and the US – as well as being slammed by simply defending the rights of Palestinian human rights campaigner Hanan Ashrawi after she won the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize – I soon realised that I wasn’t being silenced but the issues of Israeli occupation and the Zionist lobby were routinely avoided by the mainstream media. I wanted my book to readdress that imbalance.

Honest debate about Israel and Palestine is sadly lacking in Australia and much of the Western world. It’s invariably overly emotive, factually challenged, partisan and counter-productive. Arabs, Palestinians, Israelis, Jews, Muslims, atheists and concerned citizens rarely find middle-ground on the most contentious areas, such as Palestinian refugees, the dividing of Jerusalem and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

Discussing Israel and Palestine is therefore vital in an age of rising fundamentalisms. Labelling critics of Israel as anti-Semitic or anti-Israel merely attempts to silence individuals who passionately believe the current political path of the Jewish state is destined to lead to its disappearance. I share this fear. The simple truth is that Israel’s long-term security lies with the Arab world, not a superpower thousands of miles away. A superpower, it should be noted, that has suffered an inglorious and welcome defeat in Iraq and whose reputation in the Arab and Muslim world has never been worse.

Martin Jacques, a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre, writes in the Guardian:
“Israel was created as a result of one of the worst racial atrocities in modern history. It was in part a sense of guilt and sympathy that persuaded the West that it must help the Jews create their own state. From the outset, two factors were always likely to haunt the project; first, it involved the annexation of land that was Arab; and second, it implied the foundation of an ethnic state, with all the exclusivist and racist attitudes that this potentially involved.”
For too long, Jews have refused to take responsibility for Israeli actions in Palestine. No longer is it acceptable to argue that ethnic strife is worse in Sudan, Congo or Bosnia. Let’s stop changing the subject and face up to some uncomfortable realities. The nearly 40-year occupation has corrupted Israel’s soul. On the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Israeli writer Tom Segev explained the sickness:
“The hatred of Arabs has become legitimate. A state in which so many of its citizens survived the Holocaust is supposed to be strict in its observance of democracy and human rights…Ironically, the oppression in the territories is encouraging anti-Semitism, and in various places in the world it is even endangering the safety of Jews.”
A true supporter of Israel can both love and loathe the homeland. Automatic support only serves to prove that Israel and Jewish Diasporas everywhere are not sufficiently mature to debate this long-standing conflict.

In the few months, we have seen another war initiated by Israel. After destroying much of Lebanon – and Amnesty International said that attacks on civilian targets by Israeli military forces appeared to be deliberate war crimes – the world community has gained an even greater insight into the Israeli establishment’s mindset. What has been achieved? The country’s first military defeat, over one hundred Israeli soldiers killed, a resurgent Hizbollah and Iran and increased hatred around the world. Some victory. And yet the Australian Jewish community meekly mouths every press release coming from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
In the occupied territories of West Bank and Gaza, Israeli forces kidnap democratically elected Palestinian leaders. Around 10,000 Palestinians reside in Israeli jails, many never facing trial. Israel does not even respect the international right of these individuals to receive regular family visits. The great Israeli journalist Amira Hass wrote recently in Haaretz newspaper how the Jewish state corrupts the legal process when dealing with the Palestinians:
“The Palestinian detainees are led to a military court: The same military establishment that occupies and destroys and suppresses the civilian population is the one that determines that to resist occupation - even by popular demonstrations and waving flags, not only by killing and bearing arms - is a crime. It is the one to prosecute, and it is the one to judge. Its judges are loyal to the interest of defending the occupier and the settler.”

The release of My Israel Question has provided great insight into the inability of the Jewish community to handle robust debate on the Middle East dispute. Simply put, the Zionist leadership isn’t ready and neither is the community newspaper, the Jewish News. They have preferred to highlight personal gripes, character assassinations and gossip. They’ve too much at stake to honesty assess their own responsibility in perpetuating the myth that loyal obedience to the Israeli state is the only noble and acceptable face of Diaspora Jewry. They will start to pay dearly for this misnomer in years to come, as the ghetto-mentality worsens proportionate to Israel’s falling international standing.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the vast mainstream media coverage offered to the book across print, TV and radio. After five weeks on the shelves, it’s already in a 2nd re-printing and a best-seller. A book of this nature is bound to generate varying opinions, and I certainly havn’t been disappointed. I’ve been compared to accused anti-Semite Helen Demidenko by Zionist lobbyist Jeremy Jones in the Jewish News. Sydney Morning Herald David Marr was kinder and launched the book in Sydney because he believed in “argument - the need for honest, tough, passionate and fair argument about issues that for 50 years have threatened to bring the world to war.”

I’ve received hundreds of supportive messages from Jews and non-Jews in Australia and overseas, desperate to find an alternative to bellicose and bullying Zionism, but I’ve also copped emails such as the following:
“You might be getting the love and attention from the media now, Antony, but in 5 years time when the world declares war on Jews, and not just Israel as it is now...you’ll see where everyone’s loyalties (or shall I say prejudices) lie...you’ll be going to the concentration camps just like the rest of us...except when you’re gassed to death, you won’t be going to heaven, you’ll be going straight to hell. So enjoy the limelight now. From a fellow Jew.”
But the media has deliberately avoided one of the key findings of My Israel Question, namely the ways in which the Zionist lobby intimidates editors, journalists and board members to silence viewpoints that don’t fit their militaristic and pro-Israeli worldview. I spoke a few weeks ago to an editor at one of the country’s leading newspapers who told me that elements of the Jewish community, through their persistent aggressive tactics, are in fact contributing to senior journalists growing more sceptical towards the Israeli perspective. Are Zionists listening?
In a recent edition of the Jewish News, so-called Jewish leader Sam Lipski praised Rupert Murdoch’s Australian newspaper for editorially supporting Israel during the recent war in Lebanon. Lipski virtually acknowledged that Israel had lost the war of ideas, and the Jewish state needed all the friends it could get, so “let the record show that in its war of self-defence in 2006, a series of editorials in an Australian newspaper contributed on both counts.” It was a startling display of intellectual laziness, though revealed the sickness that pervades the Jewish community.

Lipski argued for uncritical reporting. He encouraged a newspaper that shamelessly ignored the rights of Palestinians, Lebanese and Arabs. And he celebrated perspectives that blindly supported the Jewish state, with no questions asked. Lipski must be a very insecure man if he can’t handle criticism of his beloved homeland. Besides, such debate is currently occurring within Israel itself, where a majority of Israelis now realise they lost the recent war against Hizbollah. Lipski’s anti-intellectualism was unsurprising for a Jewish leadership that refuses to recognise that we no longer live in 1943 Poland.

Of course, Lipski probably just received his talking points from Australian editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell, who told this week’s Jewish News that many critics of Israel, including the Fairfax press, “take the view that Israel is sort of an occupying power and that the Palestinians are freedom fighters who should deserve editorial sympathy.” Mitchell said he had spent time in Israel and argued it was difficult to see “how you can pull back without threatening security.” He claimed the lands taken by Israel in 1967 were “essentially defensive in nature,” despite the fact that the Israeli establishment clearly believed in the original Zionist, expansionist dream; namely, greater dispossession for the Palestinian people. Here’s a memo to Mitchell and his cheer-leaders in the Jewish community: Israel is an undisputed occupying power of Palestinian land. “Pulling back”, as he puts, is not simply necessary, it’s both immoral and illegal to do otherwise.

It’s important to acknowledge some realities. There is a Zionist lobby in Australia. It has every right to lobby its position, like every other ethnic group. It certainly does not have the right to bully journalists, editors and politicians. In a recent article in the Australian newspaper, a Jewish rug-seller said that even mentioning the existence of the Zionist lobby is anti-Semitic. The Israelis openly discuss the role of the Zionist lobby in the US.
The mainstream media is largely sympathetic to the Israeli worldview, classing Hizbollah, Hamas and indeed much of the Arab world as “terrorists”, and unjustly resisting imperial occupation. Dissenting opinions occasionally permeate the stuffy, largely Anglo offices of Fairfax, News Limited and the ABC, but we need to encourage more Arab, Palestinian and less militant Jewish voices to be heard. Why, for example, isn’t there one weekly Arab columnist in any Australian newspaper? It’s time to retire the drooling old males that populate opinion pages across the country.

The Jewish community’s apparent universal support for Israel right or wrong is far more fragmented than we are led to believe. Many do love the Zionist state, but many also express profound distaste for Israeli actions in the occupied territories. It is now time for those individuals to stand up in public and challenge the dominant narrative. The sight of the Jewish establishment discovering that their Zionist thinking is as tired and irrelevant as their insistence on Jews giving money to planting trees in Israel will be a day to savour.
I believe in a safe and secure Israel and Palestine and I say this as a proud Jew. Let’s not wait for the day when support for the Jewish state is largely centred in Washington, London and Canberra. The current militaristic path ensures that Israel is destined to disappear if it doesn’t make more friends in the Arab and wider world.
So enough talking about the Holocaust, Jewish suffering, victimhood, hateful Arabs, terrorists and peace-loving Israel.
Jew don’t have a monopoly on suffering. We’re all human beings who deserve far better than our leaders are currently providing.
It’s time for a revolution.

Antony Loewenstein is a Sydney-based journalist, author and blogger. His websites are: http://myisraelquestion.com/ and http://antonyloewenstein.com/. His email is antony [at] antonyloewenstein [dot] com

His last paragraph(in the blue color) turns the tables around here.So, I guess we are not the only ones with the soi d'isant " Victim Mentality" & it's great to know that there are Jews out there who condemn the horrific actions of the Zionist state.

Massacred Nature

2006-11-12T00:49:00.000-08:00

Dead stars, fallen dreams
Draconian hearts that push extremes
Ashen facades, fiendish souls
Scarlet rivers of filth & gore
Sapphire sky cringes in pain
Stoops so low to extinguish the flame
Magenta doves flee to breathe
But consumed by smoke, their pulsations cease

Mendacious winds titillate yet sting
Song of the Nightingale becomes forlorn & distant
Ravaged waters plunge into their depth
Asphyxiating wrath swathing its residents
Scattered carcasses blemish the soil
Decaying matter becomes life’s core
Lava kings enjoy the charcoal scenery
As the spirit of earth succumbs to its destiny

And as beauty & life begin to wane,
And as landscapes become barren,
And as the heavens become desolate,
And amidst the echo of death,
A tiny yet healthy shoot finds its way through the deceased land.

This piece can be construed in many different ways but what I am, simply, endeavouring to say is that no matter how bleak, hopeless & evil the world may seem, there will always be hope & goodness(as portrayed in the last verse).

Home Sick

2006-11-07T04:34:00.000-08:00

Homesick is what I'm feeling at the moment. *sigh*

This beautiful poem, written by a dear friend of mine, says it all.

In these mountains
Down this Nile
Scattered throughout this land
Are the missing pieces of my life
Hundreds of memories float through the skies
Promises of brighter tomorrows
For the child that has yet to be bled into life
Who am I?

Look around you
From this tender soil I was born
The ancient roots of that tree hold the beating of my heart
A gentle song in the breeze carries the tune to my soul
Hidden in these mountains are stories untold
Legends and myths that captivate and inspire
All that have tread this road
Who am I?

A descendent of ancestors who knew no fear
Warriors and Thinkers whose blood feeds
My insatiable appetite for knowledge
Of what transpired and what remains to be seen
Who am I?

I’m the twinkle in your eye
The fire in your heart
The passion in your voice
That feeling of recognition when you sense me near
Who am I?

I’m the bittersweet pain in your soul- lonely yet never alone
As I lovingly reach out to you
My dreamy eyed wanderer
How you long to see me in all my glory
Soon you will arrive and behold my beauty
Till then
Here I remain waiting
Aching to welcome you home

Erratic Drifter

2006-11-06T02:25:00.000-08:00

Twisted but will make sense in the end:)

Dear Erratic Drifter,

You and I have never been intimate although we complete each other.
Molded by the same hand, we were born and meant to be together.
Isn’t it supposed to be “till death do us apart” that we should not separate?
Segregate our destined path to instigate strangers to operate?

But look at you now and the heights you have reached;
You breached your blessed system and caused us to bleed;
A faceless reflection in the mirror;
My other half too weak to retreat;
Why don’t you ever listen to my cries?
Why are you blinded by the beauty of a hidden beast?

Have you never contemplated why your heart feels encumbered?
Never wondered why the peace in your life is perpetually plundered?
An influx of consequential tragedies that you blame on everyone else;
Don’t you realize that your blackened existence is the making of your own self?

Depression; repression of freedom cuz of your frantic obsession to find happiness;
Digression from your genesis and you expect your nemesis to act with reason?!!!!
Questioned my motives while sanctioning the diffusion of maladies in our region;
I am the convict now; your new friends are the judges in the place I was breathed in!!!

So before I’m executed; eternally exiled;
Before I’m chained in reclusion, please hear me out:

We are one; we cannot live without the presence of one another;
Complementary units forming the essence of an extraordinary power;
I was created to remind; you were made to discover a treasure;
If you look into my eyes, you will uncover a force beyond any measure.

Remember those times you felt a sweet connection with your inner self;
You told me you felt lighter; that you were gliding in a supernatural realm.
In harmony with your surroundings; in love with the simplicity of things;
Overwhelmed by euphoric excitement; intoxicated by the tranquility within.

For the first time in your life, you were able to make sense of everything;
Appreciate the value of humanity; believe in the strength of your instincts.
You saw the dynamics of our world and understood where you came from;
Recognized the language of birds and trees and felt empowered with wisdom.

You had hit the jackpot, Drifter, you had found God!!!!

You and him had finally connected. Why?
Cuz when he made your body out of clay, he made you-your soul- out of him.
You are a piece of God and that is why your body dies and you are immortal.
That is why you feel happy, complete and peaceful when you do something good.
That is why when you shut out God, you feel lost and confused cuz you are shutting out a part of you.
You are allowed to make mistakes but you have also been given the mind to realize and correct.
God is always there if you just look inside yourself.

Back then, you and I were close but you drifted.
I love you and I always want what’s best for you.
That is why God introduced me to you in the first place.

Sincerely,
Your Conscience

NB: The treasure in verse 6 is Allah(SWT).We were created to discover and worship him.

Talking Point-Yemen

2006-11-05T00:13:00.000-08:00

I came across the following excerpt in Trends magazine( pg 10, issue no 101, October 2006)

" Yemen, a nation of deep poverty and porous borders, is infamous as a hideout of tribal kidnappers and a fertile recruiting ground for Islamic militants.Events of recents have hammered this home: four French tourists were kidnapped(though they have subsequently been released), two attempted suicide bombings were made on oil facilities, several election officials were shot during the run-up to September's presidential election, and four Al Qaeda suspects were taken into custody[......]

Since the 2000 attack on the USS Cole and 9/11, hundreds of Yemenis have been jailed for suspected affiliation with Al Qaeda.Instead of leaving these young men to molder in jail " which would only inflame their cause," the government chose to try to " talk them out of it," says Al Hitar.The president asked him to set up what is called the Intellectual Dialogue Committee, which made a pact with the prisoners to hold a dialogue based on the Koran and the Sunna, the second source of established law after the Koran.
Working first with the "most educated and fanatical among them", the Committee discussed parts of the religion texts dealing with the real meaning of jihad and the treatment of non-Muslims.They were eventually dissuaded from their violent idealogy, the Committee claims, and agreed to accept the Yemeni Constitution, and thereby the legitimacy of the government of Yemen.
The Committee has overseen the release of more than 400 prisoners since 2002, but critics of the initiative question the value of " dialog" in these circumstances.Where one side is imprisoned and powerless, they argue, doesn't the process amount to little more than a " get-out-of-jail-free" card for potentially dangerous terrorists?Al Hitar brushes this aside:" You don't know what these are men like.They are strong, they have a deep, deep source of faith.Jail means nothing to them [.....]"

Intellectual Dialogue Committee, this sounds like an interesting rehabilitation approach.It's important to note that many of the so-called Islamic militants have been brainwashed & blindly follow , if I may euphemistically put it, ignorant leaders. Making an effort to de-brainwash & enlighten those prisoners, especially those who are genuine to the cause, is a great & progressive step.

Gibberish

2006-10-26T01:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a minute since I wrote anything.These days, I'm suffering from the mental block syndrome.Uninspiration at its zenith. There are zillions of things to blog about yet my dormant mind fails to wake up. Sadly, it's one of them days despite my having a fun-filled eid.
Don't mind me, just felt like writing something even if it's gibberish.

Oh yea, remembered something.Yo, Racoon, I read the articles(http://imshin.net/?p=448)
pertaining to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict & I must say that the blogger does raise some important & interesting points.I, for one, have had my perception altered when I started blogging.Israel is indisputably at fault but so are the other murderous Muslim govts/sects.
Thankx for the link.

Online Nikkah(Marriage)

2006-10-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

This fictitious online convo by Hamzah Moin cracked me up.Visit his website(www.maniacmuslim.com) for Muslim humour & satire:)

A bit long though

I'm getting married *screams* : aa
Abdul: wa

I'm getting married *screams* : what's going on?
Abdul: nothing much.

I'm getting married *screams* : did u get any word on the banquet hall?
Abdul: ugh
Abdul: i tried everywhere ayesha and every place was so expensive.

I'm getting married *screams* : OMG!!!
I'm getting married *screams* : abdul!!
I'm getting married *screams* : do you know much it sucks to wait! we've been waiting to get this nikkah done for months!
Abdul: sorry

I'm getting married *screams* : omg this is retarted
Abdul: retarded

I'm getting married *screams* : shut upp
Abdul: are you mad at me?

I'm getting married *screams* : maybe
Abdul: Well I have an idea

I'm getting married *screams* : oh this will be good
Abdul: we can have an online nikkah

I'm getting married *screams* : a what?!
Abdul: yeah! it should be easy to do. i think everyone we need is online right now. let's get it done!

I'm getting married *screams* : oh wow
Abdul: come on, i'm sinning right now just typing to you. let's nikkah this thing asap!

I'm getting married *screams* : arright arright lemme call my abbu and tell him the story... that u r being stingy and don't want to book a banquet hall and just want to do it online lolzz
Abdul: lol

I'm getting married *screams* : brb
Abdul: k

I'm getting married *screams* : omg my dad agrees haha
Abdul: hahah i knew it. we're sooo stereotypical memons eh

I'm getting married *screams* : yeah lolz
I'm getting married *screams* : ok now what
Abdul: well i jsut explained to imam saab our ordeal. he has agreed to perform the nikkah
I'm getting married *screams* : phew

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" has been added to the conversation.

Abdul: Salam Imam.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : wut da
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : hu added me?!1
Abdul: Imam it was me. i talked to you about it in the other window remember?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : oh yeah
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : do u no da hole ish?
Abdul: sorry?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : fiqh man

I'm getting married *screams* : imam i dont think u should substtute that as a curse word

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : wha?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : LOL

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : no no i meant the fiqh of a nikkah.
Abdul: oh
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : hah yeah my bad.
Abdul: hmmm i know the basics.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : no worries ill talk u threw it k?
Abdul: k
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : first thing iz we need yo hunny bunny 2 leave da chat window
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : then we be needin her pops yknow wha im sayin?
Abdul: so she has to leave and bring her dad in?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : str8 up

Abdul: ok you got that ayesha? stay online but leave the window. and tell your dad to get online. i think he's on my list for some reason.
I'm getting married *screams* : lolz my dad? he doesnt use msn 2 much. arright ill let him know.

I'm getting married *screams* has left the conversation.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : so where'd u 2 meet?
Abdul: oh u know. she liked to view my naseeb journal and i liked her profile. a few salams and some private messages later it turned into a full blown fest on MSN
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : aww man astagfirullah
Abdul: I know. thats why we're doing this nikkah.
Abdul: nice her dad is on

dr. khan (phd) has been added to the conversation.

Abdul: salams uncle
dr. khan (phd): haalo?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : duz da pops no da dillio?
dr. khan (phd): ajeeb
Abdul: hahah uncle i invited you in... you have to be part of the nikah.
Abdul: basically you are speaking on behalf of Ayesha
Abdul: you there uncle?

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : damn dis nigga types slow. itz been saying "dr. khan (phd) is typing a message" for ages.
dr. khan (phd): Yes I Am Here.
dr. khan (phd): Please Hurry.
dr. khan (phd): Chai(tea) Is Almost Ready.
Abdul: lol

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : LOL wut a playa
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : anyhoo letz git dis sho on da road
Abdul: okay.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : arright first ting ... u 2 mofos agreed to get hitch'd yeh? none of dis wuz forced?
Abdul: yeah... it was all us.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : aight ... u have seen her b4 yeh? its good to no what she lookz like
Abdul: yeah she sent me a pic of her
dr. khan (phd): Ahh??
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : UH OH ... busted! lol
Abdul: no no she had hijab on its all good.
Abdul: heh.
Abdul: yeah.

Abdul: hey imam you there?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : a/s/l?
Abdul: WHAT?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : oh sorry man rong window lol
Abdul: imam! hahah. i thought you were married!
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : I am. slots #2, #3, #4 still open

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : heh just remember u 2 dawgs arent like hitched yet aight. dont get hanky panky yet till we r done aight?
Abdul: k
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : aight aight. we need 2 witnesses. 1 dawg & 2 dawgettes or 2 dawgs. either way man.
Abdul: I got two guys that aren't doing anything. They've already changed their screen name so they're all set.

Witness #1 has been added to the conversation.

witness #2 has been added to the conversation.

Abdul: sup gentlemen
witness #2: awwww man i didn't know his name would be capitalized.
Witness #1: Waita go idiot.
witness #2: stfu

Abdul: Guys! we have an imam present! and an uncle!
Witness #1: oh sorry.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : no worries dawg. inshallah that wont happen again ya hear?
Witness #1: * embarrassed*
dr. khan (phd): Be Right Back. I'm getting my chai.

witness #2: WTF? the uncle is getting tea now!?
Abdul: well we can't really do anything until he gets back.
witness #2: dude omg omg. i got an exam tomorrow. WHO THE HELL DOES A NIKKAH ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT?
Abdul: listen man you two were the only people on my list that were online so i asked you two to be the witnesses okay?
Witness #1: pipe down witness #2.
witness #2: i swear if i fail orgo tomorrow then your marriage will officially suck.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : yo dawg chill

dr. khan (phd): I am back. Let's begin.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : aight aight. we gotz da wallee in the hizouse.
witness #2: what is that
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : a walee is like the wife's dawg y'know? a guardian. witness #2: oh

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : next up is two witnesses.
Witness #1: yeah i'm here.
witness #2: same

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : i take it u both are dawgs
Witness #1: as opposed to?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : dawgettes.
Witness #1: ummm yeah i'm male.
witness #2: ^ you sure fooled me.
Abdul: lol
witness #2: lol
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : LOL OWNED
Witness #1: * rolls eyes*

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : aight aight. yo dr.k u dere?
dr. khan (phd): Yes I Am Here.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : dawg u type funnie man.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : Abdullizo u gave yo hunny bunny the dowry right
Abdul: ummm i gave her some
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : good enuf. wut was da amount
Abdul: i basically just pasted 786 times in her window.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : lol dude that 786 ting is wacked

Witness #1: yeah but it's easy to hack into any paki's e-mail account. there's always a 786 in there somewhere.
witness #2: hey! it was you!
Abdul: shut up guys i'm trying to get married

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : ok dr.k.
dr. khan (phd): Yes?

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : i need u to repeat this: "I, the brider's father and guardian, grant permission for ______ to marry my daughter ______ for the sake of Allah (SWT) for 786 in front of these two dawgs."
dr. khan (phd): I Have To Write This Whole Thing Out?

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : naw dawg. just copy paste it.
dr. khan (phd): "I, the brider's father and guardian, grant permission for ______ to marry my daughter ______ for the sake of Allah (SWT) for 786 in front of these two dawgs."

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : naw dawg naw
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : u gotta fill in da blanks with bride and grooms name k
dr. khan (phd): OK
dr. khan (phd): "I, the brider's father and guardian, grant permission for Ayesha Khan to marry my daughter Abdul for the sake of Allah (SWT) for 786 in front of these two dawgs."

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : close. u just got it backwards lol.
dr. khan (phd): lol
dr. khan (phd): "I, the brider's father and guardian, grant permission for Abdul to marry my daughter Ayesha Khan for the sake of Allah (SWT) for 786 in front of these two kutai."

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : bam. str8 up gold
Abdul: now what?
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : well itz da sunnah to da a khutbah but i cant do 1 right now
witness #2: good I gotta study
Witness #1: Shut up witness #2.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : so we just cut to me askin yo suga muffin if she accepts aight
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : k abdul. get outta here so we can invite her.
Abdul: arright.

Abdul has left the conversation.

I'm getting married *screams* has been added to the conversation.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : yo sup ayesha
I'm getting married *screams* : sup
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : k we need yo permission to be da wife of the Abdullizo.
I'm getting married *screams* : lol
witness #2: what does that mean????
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : good enuf
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : now ged outta here so we can finis dis shiz

I'm getting married *screams* has left the conversation.
Abdul has been added to the conversation.

Abdul: what happened?
witness #2: she said no.
Abdul: * mouth agape in shock* !!
witness #2: jokes
Witness #1: lol
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : LOL
dr. khan (phd): hahaha
Abdul: ugh

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : k now 4 da grand finale

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" has left the conversation.

Abdul: what the hell!?
witness #2: AHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Witness #1: best wedding ever.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" has been added to the conversation.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : sorry dawgs. got d/c
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : abdullizo, do u accept Ayesha Khan as u r wife for 786 blings?
Abdul: I accept.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : more.
Abdul: errr... I accept Ayesha as my wife.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : bam. str8 up gold.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : did da uncle n witnesses c it?
dr. khan (phd): Yes I did.
Witness #1: * thumb up*
witness #2: * thumb up*
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : k u n ayesha r officially married.
Abdul: yes!

I'm getting married *screams* has been added to the conversation.

Abdul: hey Ayesha. change your screen-name! we did it!
I GOT married *screams* : lol
witness #2: finally. congrats. i'm out. ws

witness #2 has left the conversation.

Witness #1: congrats.
Witness #1: may Allah (SWT) bless your marriage.

Witness #1 has left the conversation.

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : waita go playa.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : now to show da otha window sum love ws
Abdul: Jazakallah Imam.
The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" : np

The Imam - "Baby Cause I'ma Thug" has left the conversation.

Abdul: alone! finally!
I GOT married *screams* : not quite.
dr. khan (phd): Ayesha:
I GOT married *screams* : yes abbu?
dr. khan (phd): Congratulations. I love you. Once you are done with this chat please come downstairs to clean the kitchen. Khudahafiz.

dr. khan (phd) has left the conversation.

I GOT married *screams* : lol he could have just shouted. i'm only a floor above him.
Abdul: so now what?
I GOT married *screams* : oh ... you know;)

A Letter to my Deceased Father

2006-09-30T01:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Daddy,

I am writing you this letter,
With your smile envisioned on my mind.
9 long agonizing years have passed;
Since I last heard your gentle voice;
Since I last felt you by my side.

I vividly recollect every moment; every memory.
Flashbacks of sacrifices made to keep us happy.
Endearing visions of you,
Holding us close to your heart.
One intertwined family;
Thought nothing could break us apart.

Huh, daddy, do you remember your funny dance
Moves at our birthday parties?
Or when you used to impersonate “THE HULK”
To scare us off when we behaved badly?
How can I forget your so-called “5-star hotel”
Delectable cuisine?
Or the time when u stood up for me
When the neighborhood kids got mean?

AND SUDDENLY

Without any warning,
Without kissing us goodbye,
You heard the inevitable call of death,
So you had to comply.
Although you seemed to be serenely asleep,
We had to bury you beneath the sand.
My beloved father, never returning,
Far away in a solitary, dark, unknown land.

Losing you, sweet papa, has caused
a colossal emptiness inside.
A recurring nightmare; haunting us
No matter where we hide.
An open wound, tenaciously refusing to heal.
A crushing tragedy; an excruciating ordeal.

But don’t worry daddy, the lord has not forgotten.
He has filled us with faith and hope;
Enveloped us with his mercy and compassion.
And have you forgotten the diamond you’d left behind?
Our family’s backbone; our shining star;
Our beloved mother, without whom,
We wouldn’t have become who we are.

Life, in essence, is but make-believe.
One day life’s illusory barriers, which are keeping us apart,
Will crumple and concede.
It will be then, daddy that our paths will cross
And we shall meet.
Hopefully, with God’s consent, cuddled in your arms
Where I will once again breathe.

I LUV U N I MISS U N I NEED U

Forever and truly yours,

Your Daughter

Reflections of a Torn Soul

2006-09-23T00:52:00.000-07:00

As I gazed at the serene night sky where the twinkle of its gaseous emeralds was overshadowed by the harsh, artificial street lamps, I felt the dark “nothingness” enveloping my soul; gently strumming the train of thoughts which I deliberately kept concealed in the recesses of my mind. Slowly & painfully, the haunting voices of the past weeks came creeping back. “Crazy Arabs”, “Islam is a violent religion”, “Mohammed (PBUH) was inhumane”, “Sudanese children dying”,” Bombings in God knows where”, “Jihad this, Murder that…..”STOP, PLEASE, STOP.
With tears stinging my eyes, an encumbered heart and the weight of the world resting inexorably on my sagging shoulders, I retreated to my abstract haven: Praying. My utterance of the blessed words “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest), which signals the beginning of our prayer, caused a tremor that shook me to my core. As I proceeded, the asphyxiating load on my being gradually began to slip away, leaving me wracking with uncontrollable sobs- the result of accumulated hurt from what I had to endure those past months.
I finished my supplication, feeling grateful for unloading my burden onto my creator. Then, lost in rumination, I wondered: On the day I stand before his Graciousness, is he going to ask me:
Where were you when the multitude of Palestinians died at the hands of the IDF? What did you do on 9/11? Did you celebrate or pray for the victims? What have you done for your country? Where were you when the Darfur war broke out? How did you react when the Danish people mocked your Prophet (PBUH)? Did you preposterously burn the Danish embassy? Where were you when the Pope insulted the Prophet (PBUH)? Did you kill your Christian neighbour? Have you advised those Muslims who misinterpreted the Quranic verses for selfish gains? Did you contribute in promoting the message of Islam? Did you stand up for the truth? (To name but a few)
I am agonizing now and if these tears & hurt are the keys to my redemption, then let me suffer. Let me suffer for that child who was mercilessly killed and whom I could have saved. Let me cry for my sister who was raped and whom I could have helped. Let me suffer for my brother who was tortured and imprisoned and whom I could have helped. Let me cry for all those who have lost their homes or their lives or their loved ones or their lands and whom I could have helped, somehow, by either speaking up for the injustice or by donating or by fighting for their rights.
I snap back & laugh at my shallowness and at the trivialities which I unnecessarily cram my head with on a daily basis.Huh and I thought not having gone shopping for a long time or being stressed at work were a calamity. How ironic!!!! There are millions out there, encountering Mr. Death everyday; millions who are living in poverty & who don’t know what Baskin Robbins is; millions who are suffering at the hands of oppressors & I can’t wait to go to the movies next week!!!! I’m busy reading Stephen King while Islam is being exploited by radicals and simultaneously being assaulted by many non-Muslims.Huh!!!!!!
So, allow me to remind myself and my Muslim families: We are in dire need of a mental & educational revolution (a reformation of epic proportions), anger management classes, in depth courses in all religions (especially ours), history and the art of diplomacy. As Andrew Young stated: “The Mind is a powerful weapon. Our emotions tend to turn off the thought processes, don’t get mad. Get smart”. Violence, unless necessary, breeds violence & doesn’t achieve anything. I am livid at the US’s foreign policy and Israel’s atrocities but you know what, our greatest threat is our dictator govts, ignorance & passivity. Wow, we have a lot of enemies: Our corrupt systems (many of which are in the name of Sharia law & who are, to an extent, ruining our lives), the fundamentalists (again in the name of Islam) and the many Western countries (who hate us & regard us as lunatic, uncouth, suicide bombers & many of whom wish to have a bite of our riches).
May Allah empower us & wake us up from this disillusionment. May Allah help us overcome our weaknesses & fears. May Allah bless us with the wisdom to see through our vanity and master the courage to defend our religion the appropriate way even if it has to be against maleficent Muslims.
I’m exhausted and drained. All I wish for & seek is a peaceful world & happiness for humanity. I know being idealistic is fruitless but I can’t help it!!!!

Through Her Eyes

2006-09-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

Rose-tinted lenses are her gateway to this life
Dark shades on
protect her against that unseen light
In puris naturalibus how she feels
when night doesn't kiss her eyes
she has been a nocturnal denizen
etched its intricate
routes in order to survive............

She sashayes gracefully
with not a quiver in her delicate movement
Her visage emanating incontestable pride
Her heart-choking smile is not an illusion
Fusion of her four senses is her leverage
Her grasping hand of the incomprehensible
Sounds of her environment becoming
her daily addictive beverage...........

Indoctrinated by the thrill she feels
on the tips of her fingers
To her thristy mind,knowledge is her television
She takes her promenade everyday in the labyrinth
existing in her brain
persevering to explore its seductive multi-dimension

She is as sweet as the honey-syrup
oozing from the flower petals
A free-spirited virgin spewing sunshine wherever she goes
Her heart never beat to an evil or gruesome rhythm
Dancing to her own music
Spell-binding others with her magical flow

But I wonder: If she were blessed like the rest of us,
Would she be strong enough to defy the tides of inhumanity?
Would she be able to cope with the heavy weight of atrocities
committed in our world?
Would she still sing to her own tune and weave her own yarns?
Would she feel deceived?Will her utopia cease to exist?

I wonder.........

This heavenly creature is cursed yet blessed
God has shielded her from the visions of the devil
But I know she will not rest
Until she has attained the highest level........
Why?
Because she desires colors
Because she desires faces
Because she desires shapes
Because she desires to see herself
instead of darkness everywhere

Dedicated to all those who have not been blessed by the sense of sight.May Allah be their eyes and may he guide them all to the right path.

Shall I wear the Blue Hat?

2006-09-11T04:32:00.000-07:00

I came across this in Drima's website.

"On September 17 people around the world will take part in the Global Day for Darfur to show world-wide support for the Darfuri people and to put pressure on our Governments to protect the civilians[...]"

Will the UN be the Darfurians' salvation?Yet, what other option do we have? And don't we, the Sudanese people, are partly if not completely at fault for allowing the govt to sink its fangs deeply that it has become so powerful & destructive?Aren't we the ones who have empowered it by our silence & submissive resolution over the years?Isn't it true that the West is more concerned about us than we are?I don't know.

So, shall I wear the blue hat too?

If I do, it might be considered treason and I will be supporting an imminent war.Morever, if the conspiracy theories are accurate;), then I will have supported neo-colonialism.

If I don't, then this implies my approval of the atrocities & dictatorship of my govt & will have turned my back on the victims but will have probably avoided a war & helped the govt to further hold on to its rein.

Anyway, I know my speculations won't change anything.It is just a matter of concept.

Allah yi3een my country & i3eena to do something for our country.

How I want to Die

2006-09-11T03:04:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

It is the norm for each and everyone of us to have our own dreams of how we want our futures to be like(our dream house,our careers,Mr/Mrs Right....etc) .However,there are some crucial aspects/facets that are sometimes overlooked and not included in our planning list.
Please feel me on this one and may Allah inspire and bless us all.

Allahuma,Can I ask you for a favour?

Could you please take my soul on a Monday because that was the day the prophet(pbuh) passed away?Could you please let it be a Monday in the month of Ramadan on laylat alqadr?

Could you please take me while i am praying Salaat Alishaaa on that day?

Could you please take me during sujjud in the last rakaa and let my last words be:"Allahuma, i Love you;La illah ilaa ant wa ana Muhammadan rasoolk wa nabiuk"? Could you please let the Angel of Death greet me with light on his face and a welcoming smile?

Could you please let my spirit leave my body with no pain?

Could you let Angel Gibreel be the first angel to meet me?

Can I please embrace him and let him engulf me with his wings?

Could you please surround me with the angels of mercy and let them rejoice my homecoming?

Could you please let them call me by my favourite name?

Can my kafn be made of silk and my smell of Musk?

Could you please be happy on that day because I will be finally returning to you?

Could you please let my home-grave be spacious and cool?

Could you please fill it with your divine light because I am frightened of the dark?

Could you please bless me with strength and confidence when I am interrogated by Munkar and Nukair and let my answers be correct?

Could you please bless me with the company of my good deeds,prayers and quran verses(esp Yaseen,Al rahman,Al Muumineen,Al qiyama and Al Insaan) beacause I am afraid of being alone ?

Could you please let me be min alarwah almutmaina and bless me with gifts from above while i am waiting for Judgement day to take place?

Could you please don't let those who love me fee aldunya to suffer or experience any kind of pain because of my death? Could you please let them be stronger and let them incessantly pray for me?

On Judgement day,

Could you please clothe me so I wouldn't be naked infront of everyone?

Could you please vanquish my thrist and hunger ?

Could you please shield me with the shadow of your throne aginst the sun's scorching heat?

Can I please be from ummat Mohammad and drink from Alkawthar? Could you please let the Prophet(PBUH) yishfah liya?

Could you please expunge any fear or anxiety that I would be experiencing?

When I am called to the stand, could you please be smiling and be proud of me?

Can you make all the human race envy me because I have been treated differently by you?

Can I please take my book with my right hand and when I open it,I see emptiness on the sayiaat page?

When I am asked to walk on the siraat, could you please let my speed be that of lightning?

Paradise?????

Allahuma,I do want to enter aljanna but I aspire for something greater......

Can I live by your throne just like the martyres?

Can I hug and kiss all the prophets and good people esp Mohammad rasuul allah,Omar bin Al Khatab,Yousef allihyi alsallam,Mousa allihiyi alsallam&Angel Gibreel?

When the time comes for us to see you,

Can I please please please be the first one standing in line?

Can I run to you and bow down to you ,kiss you and embrace you?

Can you show me all the secrets of the universe and all the unanswered questions about our former world?

Can I please meet my family and all my loved ones?

Allahuma,I do want a palace , jewels and everything in Al janna but what would make me happier is being beside you!!!!

I love you,Ya Haneen......

Please seize the opportunity now to sketch your own true future and may all your prayers be answered.

Look Who's Been Kidnapped

2006-08-22T02:46:00.000-07:00

A while back, in one of Drima's posts " See, you did lose", Raccoon mocked my source & statement pertaining to innocent Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. The following article was provided by a friend.

Look who's been kidnapped!

Hundreds of Palestinian 'suspects' have been kidnapped from their homes and will never stand trial.

Arik Diamant

It's the wee hours of the morning, still dark outside. A guerilla force comes out of nowhere to kidnap a soldier. After hours of careful movement, the force reaches its target, and the ambush is on! In seconds, the soldier finds himself looking down the barrel of a rifle.
A smash in the face with the butt of the gun and the soldier falls to the ground, bleeding. The kidnappers pick him up, quickly tie his hands and blindfold him, and disappear into the night.
This might be the end of the kidnapping, but the nightmare has just begun. The soldier's mother collapses, his father prays. His commanding officers promise to do everything they can to get him back, his comrades swear revenge. An entire nation is up-in-arms, writing in pain and worry.
Nobody knows how the soldier is: Is he hurt? Do his captors give him even a minimum of human decency, or are they torturing him to death by trampling his honor? The worst sort of suffering is not knowing. Will he come home? And if so, when? And in what condition? Can anyone remain apathetic in the light of such drama?

Israeli terror

This description, you'll be surprised to know, has nothing to do with the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit. It is the story of an arrest I carried out as an IDF soldier, in the Nablus casbah, about 10 years ago. The "soldier" was a 17-year-old boy, and we kidnapped him because he knew "someone" who had done "something."
We brought him tied up, with a burlap sac over his head, to a Shin Bet interrogation center known as "Scream Hill" (at the time we thought it was funny). There, the prisoner was beaten, violently shaken and sleep deprived for weeks or months. Who knows.
No one wrote about it in the paper. European diplomats were not called to help him. After all, there was nothing out of the ordinary about the kidnapping of this Palestinian kid. Over the 40 years of occupation we have kidnapped thousands of people, exactly like Gilad Shalit was captured: Threatened by a gun, beaten mercilessly, with no judge or jury, or witnesses, and without providing the family with any information about the captive.
When the Palestinians do this, we call it "terror." When we do it, we work overtime to whitewash the atrocity.

Suspects?

Some people will say: The IDF doesn't "just" kidnap. These people are "suspects." There is no more perverse lie than this. In all the years I served, I reached one simple conclusion: What makes a "suspect"? Who, exactly suspects him, and of what?
Who has the right to sentence a 17-year-old to kidnapping, torture and possible death? A 26-year-old Shin Bet interrogator? A 46-year-old one? Do these people have any higher education, apart from the ability to interrogate? What are his considerations? I all these "suspects" are so guilty, why not bring them to trial?
Anyone who believes that despite the lack of transparency, the IDF and Shin Bet to their best to minimize violations of human rights is naïve, if not brainwashed. One need only read the testimonies of soldiers who have carried out administrative detentions to be convinced of the depth of the immorality of our actions in the territories.
To this very day, there are hundreds of prisoners rotting in Shin Bet prisons and dungeons, people who have never been –and never will be – tried. And Israelis are silently resolved to this phenomenon.

Israeli responsibility

The day Gilad Shalit was kidnapped I rode in a taxi. The driver told me we must go into Gaza, start shooting people one-by-one, until someone breaks and returns the hostage. It isn't clear that such an operation would bring Gilad back alive.
Instead of getting dragged into terrorist responses, as Palestinian society has done, we should release some of the soldiers and civilians we have kidnapped. This is appropriate, right, and could bring about an air of reconciliation in the territories.
Hell, if this is what will bring Gilad home safe-and-sound, we have a responsibility to him to do it.

Arik Diamant is an IDF reservist and the head of the Courage to Refuse organization

I truly admire those who step up & honestly relay the perpetrations of their governments, which are, otherwise, downplayed, sugercoated or omitted by the media.

NB: Plz excuse the snag in my blog.Will have it fixed shortly.

To Allah, My Heartfelt Apology

2006-08-20T01:51:00.000-07:00

Without Allah,what am I?Who am I?
A body with no soul.
A bleeding heart.......stone-cold.
A tempestuous life.
In the darkness,I reside.
Like a zombie,with no fate.
lost,confused;dead yet awake.
Amidst the bustle of human life,
nothing makes sense;
nothing seems right.

In the trivialities of life,
I am ensnared.
Blinded by the dancing mirages,
I see everywhere.
Holding on to mundane dreams.
Driven by vanity.
Tempted to experience depravity.
Basking in ignorance;
And shunning spirituality.

Sweet Allah,
U tirelessly watch,
While I glance not ur way.
U endlessly give,
While I fool around & play.
U genuinely listen,
When I call ur name.
U always rush to my aid,
Pull me out,Wake me up,
When I go astray.

Inspite of my wayward ways,
My ingratitude,my indifference.
Ostensibly,a hopeless case.
U r still willing to give me a chance.
To be benevolently patient,
To forgive;to understand,
Persistent to light my path,
To right my wrong,
To ceaselessly remind me,
of the riches & treasures beyond.

Tell me,fellow human beings
Where do we stand amidst such purity,
Such insurmountable greatness,
Such embracing kindness?

Please,Allah,accept my humble apology..........

Why Science Fails to Explain God

2006-08-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

This was written by my friend

At an educational institution

‘Let me explain the problem science has with God’
The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. ‘You are a Muslim, aren’t you son?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘So you believe in God?’
‘Absolutely’
‘Is God good?’
‘Sure! God’s good’
‘Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?’
‘Yes’
The professor grins knowingly and considers for a moment.
‘Here’s one for you, lets say there is a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it, would you help them? Would you try?’
‘Yes sir, I would’
‘So you’re good…!’
‘I wouldn’t say that.’
‘Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could…. in fact most of us would if we could..God doesn’t.’
[No answer]
‘He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Muslim who died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. How is God good? Hmmmm? Can you answer that one?’
[No answer]
The elderly man is sympathetic.
‘No you can’t, can you?’ He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones.
‘Lets start again fella, is God good?’
‘Err…Yes’
‘is Satan good?’
‘No’
‘Where does Satan come from?’
The student falters. ‘From…God’
‘That’s right, God made Satan didn’t he?’ The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking student audience.
‘I think we’re going to have fun this semester ladies and gentlemen’ He turns back to the Muslim.
‘Tell me son, is there evil in this world?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? Did God make everything?’
‘Yes’
‘Who created evil’
[No answer]
‘Is there sickness in this world? Immortality? Hatred? Ugliness? All the terrible things, do they exist in this world?’
The student squirms on his feet. ‘Yes’
‘Who created them?’
‘No answer’
The professor suddenly shouts at his student.
‘WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!’
The professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the Muslims face. In a still small voice he says ‘God created all evil, didn’t he son?’
[No answer]
The student tries to hold the steady experienced gaze and fails. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerised.
‘Tell me’ he continues, ‘How is it that this God is good if he created all evil throughout all time?’
The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world.
‘All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering. Created by this good God is all over the world isn’t it young man?’
[No answer]
‘Don’t you see it everywhere? Huh?' Pause. ‘Don’t you?’ The professor leans into the student’s face again and whispers ‘Is God good?’
[No answer]
‘Do you believe in God son?’
The students voice betrays him and cracks.
‘Yes professor, I do’
The old man shakes his head sadly. ‘Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen God?’
‘No sir’
‘Then tell us if you have ever heard your God’
‘No sir, I have not’
‘Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God or smelt your God? In fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?
[No answer]
‘Answer me please’
‘No sir, I’m afraid I haven’t’
‘You’re AFRAID you haven’t?’
‘No sir’
‘Yet you still believe in him?’
‘…Yes…’
‘That takes faith!’ the professor smiles sagely at the underling. ‘According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that son?’
[No answer]
‘Sit down please.'
The Muslims sits defeated.......

Another Muslim raises his hand' Professor, may I address the class?'

The professor turns and smiles
‘Ah, another Muslim in the vanguard! Come, come young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering’
The Muslim looks around the room
‘Some interesting points you are making sir. Now I’ve got a question for you. Is there such a thing as heat?’
‘Yes’ The professor replies. ‘There is heat’
‘Is there such a thing as cold?’
‘Yes son there’s cold too’
‘No sir, there is not’
The professors grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold. The second Muslim continues.
‘You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super heat, mega heat, white heat or no heat but we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we cant go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458 - - You see sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat sir, just the absence of it’
Silence, a pin drops somewhere in the classroom.
‘Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?
‘That’s a dumb question son, what is night if it isint darkness? What are you getting at?’
‘So you are saying there is such a thing as darkness?’
‘Yes’
‘You’re wrong again sir, darkness is not something, it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and its called darkness, isint it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality darkness isint. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you give me a jar of darker darkness professor?’
Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him. This will indeed be a good semester.
‘Would you mind telling me what your point is young man?’
‘Yes professor. My point is that your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error…..’
The professor goes toxic. ‘Flawed ? ? how dare you…!’
‘Sir may I explain what I mean?’
The class is all ears.
‘Explain, oh explain!’ The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself, he continues to wave his hand to silence the class for the student to continue.
‘You are working on the premise of duality’ The Muslim explains ‘that for example there is life and there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God a something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen or much less fully understood them. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it.’
The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbour who has been reading it.
‘Here is one of our most disgusting tabloids this country hosts professor. Is there such a thing as immortality?’
‘Ofcourse there is, now look…’
‘Wrong again sir. You see immortality is merely the absence of mortality. Is there such a thing as injustice? No, injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil? The Muslim pauses. ‘isint evil merely the absence of good?’
The professors face has turned an alarming colour. He is so angry he is temporarily speechless.
The Muslim continues. ‘If there is evil in the world professor, and we all agree there is, then God if he exists must be accomplishing work through the agency of evil. What is that work God accomplishing? Islam tells us to see if each one of us will choose good or evil’The professor bridles. ‘As a philosophical scientist, I don’t view this matter as having anything to do with any choice, as a realist I absolutely do not recognise the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world because God is not observable’
'I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going' The Muslim replies. 'Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week! Tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from monkey?'
'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes of course I do.'
'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'
The professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.
'Professor. Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is as an ongoing endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?'
'I will overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?’ The professor hisses.
'So you don’t accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?'
'I believe in what is -that’s science!'
'Ahh! SCIENCE!' the students face splits into a grin.
'Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed...'
'SCIENCE IS FLAWED..?' the professor splutters. The class is in uproar. The Muslim remains standing until the commotion has subsided.
'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?'
The professor wisely keeps silent. The Muslim looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen air, oxygen, molecules, atoms, the professor brain?'
The class breaks out in laughter. The Muslim points towards his elderly, crumbling tutor.
'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain...felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professors brain?'
No one appears to have done so. The Muslim shakes his head sadly.
'It appears that no one here has had any sensory perception of the professors brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol science, I DECLARE that the professor has no brain'
The professors face turned an alarming white and his legs seemed to give way as he slumped back in his seat...for he was beaten at his own game...the class is in awe at what just unfolded before their very eyes.

Partial Eclipse

2006-08-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

To the two courageous and determined physically handicapped women who have crossed my path and whose incredible will and positivity have touched my life.

Spread your wings and embrace the stars
Graceful doves gliding in a sun-lit horizon
On a journey to explore the vast heavens
To taste the freedom of the open air
Below, the delicate lotuses elegantly dance
Softly whispering to temper the river’s rage
And somewhere, amid the barren concrete,
Pearly roses find their way through its solid core

Mirages of oases tantalize as they fade in the distance
Gigantic boulders settle to quell the song of the soil
Semi rainbow arcs become impossible to reach and climb
Diamonds eclipsed by the darkness in their homes
Like angels haunted by the differences in their halos
And rays of light which refract and fall behind
Like beautiful butterflies enmeshed in a spider’s web
And the tiny specks of pollen, dead without the wind

Despite the avalanche, you have kept the flames ablaze
The march of the soldiers devoid of any weapons
Volcanic spirits surging to transcend its physical boundaries
Your sparkling smiles; a symbol of hope and strength

May Allah bless you and the others and may he armor you with the faith and strength to cope with your disabilities.

“Meeting these extraordinary young women had been a rewarding experience.
Seeing them strive to attain their dreams and fight for survival made me appreciate my blessings, not take them for granted and reinforced my belief in the widely-known maxim: “Where there is a will, there is a way.”
Life is about choices. Obstacles come in different colors and it is through sheer will and faith that we can rise above all.”

Army Details Rape-Slaying of Iraqi Girl

2006-08-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- American soldiers took turns raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, and one of them put a bullet through her head after killing her parents and 5-year-old sister, an Army investigator testified Monday.
The attack followed a session of whiskey drinking and card-playing during which five soldiers plotted the March 12 assault, criminal investigator Benjamin Bierce said.............. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080700346.html

Why?Wasn't the Abu Ghraib prison scandal enough?
Yea, I know there are far worse problems going on namely the Lebanese/Israel war but I couldn't pass by this article and ignore it!!!!
How revolting!!!

Religiously-Connected

2006-08-02T00:26:00.000-07:00

A vicious cycle growing bigger day by day
A world sinking deeper in Satan’s hole
Generations blindly going astray
No questions, no introspection, life’s a game to play
Hedonistic “id” the master, righteous “ego” the clay*
Muslim youth intent on evading the truth
Infesting in a delusion; pseudo psychedelic truth
Media setting standards recommended by demonic troops
Religion a name a terrorist’s claim to fame
Hey, Im frazzled by all the fake razzle-dazzle
If materialism is your God, then why the hassle
Vanity will corrupt you; sucking your soul like cancer
Stone-cold heart; no wonder you don’t know the answer
Brother, you are at a tripping point; your vision is blurry
You stop to worry cuz reality aint a part of your story
Stranded in your own filth with virgin blood in your hands
Murdering, raping and lying; your fault!!! You chose the trance

Brothers and sisters, we need to wash our sins
Spiritualism is faith and faith is power within
Mind, heart and spirit united how it begins
Till you reach a point where u feel the sweet lord within
Purifying ecstasy; feel the freshness settling in
All the dirt erased replaced by the beautiful things
Hurt, confusion from your past din gone with the wind
Cuz Allah’s got an answer for your every question
Your life is back into focus; so you’re ahead of the game
Dwelling in remedial progress; you’re no longer ashamed
The fiend rattled tackled by your strength manacled shackled
Gaping at you, ha ha, you outsmarted the coward
Slip, a glitch, subliminal messages gon make you twitch
No stress, its human nature to err and redress
People, if we fail to connect on a religious level
Rotting in a vile disease becoming worse than the devil

Mind-Boggled

2006-08-01T01:37:00.000-07:00

After surfing the blogsphere,reading various comments,watching the news and listening to multiple opinions about the lunacy happening in our beloved Earth, I feel like I have been hit by a tornado.I can no longer make sense of anything going around me.I don't know who to believe anymore;whose side I should be on?Does everything involve a conspiracy theory?Shall I always read between the lines?I hated the Americans & the Israelites but now realize that I am being unjust to generalize.I thought the Arabs & Muslims were victims but now I realize that many of us are screwed up.I always felt detached from my own country because of the government but now I realize that I should separate the two.I try to shut out the world & its atrocities and try living in my own cocoon but I can't when I know blood is being shed and lives are being lost. Islam is peace.Islam has taught us to embrace other religions.Islam has taught us not to provoke.Allah(SWT) has diversified us so we can get to know each other.What is happening???
I am confused but willing to keep an open mind;emotional but willing to let logic dominate;lost but still thirsty for knowledge & the truth.

May Allah enlighten me.

Matthew & Fatima

2006-07-30T04:51:00.000-07:00

Some parts of this story are based on true events.

This piece is not intended to offend anyone. I am merely shedding light on a grave situation rampant in our country.

NB: The names have been changed to protect the identities of the characters.

A party.
Eyes locked.
Link forged.
Fatima felt her heart skip a beat;
Matthew was startled by the sudden rush of heat.

“She is a Muslim with a veil on her head!!!!”
“Oh God!! He has a Cross in the chain around his neck!!”
“But she is different. I don’t know how but she stands out.”
“Wow!!! Distinctive style; you rarely find such a guy around!!!”
That night, they chatted endlessly and were smitten by each other.
She admired his vivacity and he loved her openness.
Digits exchanged.
Minds preoccupied.
An inexplicable attraction
Unexpectedly materialized.

Incessant calls.
Mutual visitations.
Beautiful friendship.
Intellectual discussions and religious debates.
Written thoughts and reading books is how they would relate.
She saw wisdom and reason through his eyes.
He touched kindness when he was by her side.

Bond strengthened.
Love blossomed.
They both knew they were on dangerous territory.
But Matthew understood and converted to her religion.
Went to her parents and declared his blissful decision.

“Fatima, are you insane? Do you want to tarnish our lineage?”
“Child, he is from Southern Sudan!!! What does he know about our heritage?”
“He is a slave; Southerners are way below our level.”
“We accepted him as your friend but marriage is unthinkable.”

Torn souls.
Cursed lives.
A brutal ending.
Rejection of a Muslim Sudanese due to the wrong ancestry.
Eventually, they both had to go their separate ways.

“A society enslaved by partial conceptions
Superficial perceptions generate mental deception
The masses define it as pride but prejudice is the correct interpretation
Though we rep the same country, we suffer from tribal segregation
Racists of our own race, Cultural feuds with no base
We call ourselves one nation when internally we’re two-faced
Our worth n value “scaled” on a “location gauge”
Hallelujah, the elites celebrate if you are the right skin shade
So, tell me, when will our ethnic diversity be a blessing?
When will our society reform its morbid attitude towards our differences?
When will the majority learn to look at each other as Sudanese brothers and sisters not as Southerner, Northerner, Rubatabi or Akhdar (when used for ridicule or in a demeaning sense)?
How many more people have to suffer from society’s disapproval because of something not in their hands?”

To Matthew and Fatima, two remarkable persons,
Victims of a deeply-rooted poignant phenomenon

The Stump

2006-07-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

I was 16 years old when I first went to Sudan for my university studies. Sudan, at that time, represented a whole new world for me since I had visited it only twice when I was young. The air breathed was different and so was the soil I treaded on. Even the atmosphere had its own unique aroma.
Playing in the mud (yes at 16! -of course as a kid, I used to play in the sand but c’mon the Sudanese mud is special, lol), standing in the rain and watching the various exotic insects and birds filled me with exhilaration and invigoration. Even the sight of the stray dogs was amusing. Mind you, the mud, insects and dogs lost their glamour later on. Anyway, I felt rejuvenated because in the UAE, interaction with nature was rare since we have always lived in apartments. Moreover, rain was and still is a luxury we seldom enjoy.
I recall I used to sit in my Aunt’s front yard in the evenings. One of my favorite pastimes, second to poetry of course, is contemplation and introspection. During one of my meditative sessions, my eyes rested on a lone stump, which I had not paid, heed to before. To the others, it may have seemed like any other ordinary piece of wood but to me, it was simply beautiful. I felt an unfathomable connection instantaneously. The next day or so, I am not sure, I asked my aunt about this mystifying plant. She informed me that it used to belong to an enormous tree whose branches had to be cut off for some reason that I can’t recall at this moment (Attracting snakes, perhaps). I felt sad for my new friend. Don’t get me wrong, I did have human friends,lool, and I was getting accustomed to the environment in Sudan but I thoroughly enjoyed my solitary moments and honestly speaking, that stump just stumped me(No pun intended).
After learning about its history, I would take every chance to visit it and talk to it (of course, when my relatives weren’t around and by the way, I still pat and talk to the plants in my house. I don’t know but I feel plants are blessed).Everytime,I felt homesick, down or depressed about something, I would take one look at it and hope, determination and strength would fill me.
A stump, which had once been a gigantic and proud tree, lost its identity and became crippled for life.Yet; its roots intertwined and firmly held to the ground beneath it. It maintained its stance through rain and wind. Despite the absence of its essential upper part, it still exuded pride, strength and beauty.
What I learned was to strongly hold on to my beliefs and values no matter how many blows life was willing to shower me with; to maintain my stance in the face of obstacles and afflictions; to stand tall and proud and to bow to no one but Almighty, and to always be good, keep my heart clean and never change irrespective of how people or circumstances around me are changing.
I still miss my favorite stump.

Hezbollah acted for Palestine

2006-07-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

I came across this article which was written by an Israeli journalist.

Just thought of sharing.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/07/22/10054090.html

A woman, an immigrant from Russia, throws herself on the ground in total despair in front of her home that has been hit by a missile, crying in broken Hebrew: "My son! My son!" believing him dead.
In fact he was only wounded and had been taken to hospital.Lebanese children, covered with wounds, in Beirut hospitals. The funeral of the victims of a missile in Haifa. The ruins of a whole devastated quarter in Beirut. Inhabitants of the north of Israel fleeing south from the Katyushas. Inhabitants of the south of Lebanon fleeing north from the Israeli Air Force. Death, destruction. Unimaginable human suffering.
And the most disgusting sight: George W. Bush in a playful mood sitting on his chair in St Petersburg, with his loyal servant Tony Blair leaning over him, and solving the problem: "See? What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing that s***, and it's over."
Syria? But only a few months ago it was Bush - yes, the same Bush - who induced the Lebanese to drive the Syrians out of their country. Now he wants them to intervene in Lebanon and impose order?
Thirty one years ago, when the Lebanese civil war was at its height, the Syrians sent their army into Lebanon (invited, of all people, by the Christians).
At the time, the then Minister of Defence Shimon Peres and his associates created hysteria in Israel.
They demanded that Israel deliver an ultimatum to the Syrians, to prevent them from reaching the Israeli border.
Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister, told me then that that was sheer nonsense, because the best that could happen to Israel was for the Syrian army to spread out along the border.
Only thus could calm be assured, the same calm that reigned along our border with Syria.
But, Rabin gave in to the hysteria of the media and stopped the Syrians far from the border. The vacuum thus created was filled by the PLO. In 1982, Ariel Sharon pushed the PLO out, and the vacuum was filled by Hezbollah.
All that has happened there since then would not have happened if we had allowed the Syrians to occupy the border from the beginning. The Syrians are cautious, they do not act recklessly.
What was Hassan Nasrallah thinking of, when he decided to cross the border and carry out the guerrilla action that started the current crisis? Why did he do it? And why at this time?
Everybody agrees that Nasrallah is a clever person. He is also prudent. For years he has been assembling a huge stockpile of missiles of all kinds to establish a balance of terror. He knew that the Israeli army was only waiting for an opportunity to destroy them. In spite of that, he carried out a provocation that provided the Israeli government with a perfect pretext to attack Lebanon with the full approval of the world. Why?
There is the possibility he was asked by Iran and Syria, who had supplied him with the missiles, to do something to divert American pressure from them. And indeed, the sudden crisis has shifted attention away the Iranian nuclear effort, and it seems that Bush's attitude towards Syria has also changed.
But Nasrallah is far from being a marionette of Iran or Syria. He heads an authentic Lebanese movement, and calculates his own balance sheet of pros and cons. If he had been asked by Iran and/or Syria to do something and he saw that it was contrary to the aims of his movement, he would not have done it.
Real reason
Perhaps he acted because of domestic Lebanese concerns. The Lebanese political system was becoming more stable and it was becoming more difficult to justify the military wing of Hezbollah.
A new armed incident could have helped. But all this does not explain the timing.
After all, Nasrallah could have acted a month before or a month later, a year before or a year later. There must have been a much stronger reason to convince him to enter upon such an adventure at precisely this time. And indeed there was: Palestine.
Two weeks before, the Israeli army had started a war against the population of the Gaza Strip. There, too, the pretext was provided by a guerrilla action, in which an Israeli soldier was captured. The Israeli government used the opportunity to carry out a plan prepared long before: to break the Palestinians' will to resist and to destroy the newly elected Palestinian government, dominated by Hamas. And, of course, to stop the Qassams.
The operation in Gaza is an especially brutal one, and that is how it looks on the world's TV screens. Terrible pictures from Gaza appear daily and hourly in the Arab media.
The Arab regimes, which are all dependent on America, did nothing to help. Since they are also threatened by Islamic opposition movements, they looked at what was happening to Hamas with some Schadenfreude.
But tens of millions of Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf, saw, got excited and angry with their government, crying out for a leader who would bring succour to their besieged, heroic brothers.
Fifty years ago, Jamal Abdul Nasser, the new Egyptian leader, wrote that there was a role waiting for a hero.
He decided to be that hero himself. For several years, he was the idol of the Arab world, symbol of Arab unity. But Israel used an opportunity that presented itself and broke him in the Six Day War. After that, the star of Saddam Hussain rose in the firmament.
He dared to stand up to mighty America and to launch missiles at Israel, and became the hero of the Arab masses. But he was routed in a humiliating way by the Americans, spurred on by Israel.
A week ago, Nasrallah faced the same temptation. The Arab world was crying out for a hero, and he said: Here am I! He challenged Israel, and indirectly the United States and the entire West.
He started the attack without allies, knowing that neither Iran nor Syria could risk helping him. Perhaps he got carried away, like Abdul Nasser and Saddam before him. Perhaps he misjudged the force of the counter-attack he could expect. Perhaps he really believed that under the weight of his rockets the Israeli rear would collapse.
One thing is clear: Nasrallah would not have started this vicious circle of violence, if the Palestinians had not called for help. Either from cool calculation, or from true moral outrage, or from both - Nasrallah rushed to the rescue of beleaguered Palestine.The Israeli reaction could have been expected.
For years, the army commanders had yearned for an opportunity to eliminate the missile arsenal of Hezbollah and destroy that organisation, or at least disarm it and push it far, far from the border.
They are trying to do this the only way they know: by causing so much devastation, that the Lebanese population will stand up and compel its government to fulfil Israel's demands.
Will these aims be achieved? Hezbollah is the authentic representative of the Shiite community, which makes up 40 per cent of the Lebanese population.
Together with the other Muslims, they are the majority in the country. The idea that the weakling Lebanese government would be able to liquidate the organisation is ludicrous.
The Israeli government demands that the Lebanese army be deployed along the border. This has by now become a mantra. It reveals total ignorance. The Shiites occupy important positions in the Lebanese army, and there is no chance at all that it would start a fratricidal war against them.
No real solution will be achieved, as there is no treatment of the root of the matter: the Palestinian problem.
Uri Avnery is a veteran Israeli journalist and peace activist.

Political Labyrinth

2006-07-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

In the light of recent events (with Lebanon being the last straw) and amidst the bloodshed & craziness happening in the Arab/Muslim world, may I please address:

Political intricacies infest in the recesses of my mind, seeping through, seething rage at what I fail to define. Confined by theories that clash and intertwine, truth disintegrates as pseudo-reality settles with time. Politicking individuals use rhetoric to blind, mastermind the media to brainwash & lie. Wait, huh, let me try to get this straight:

Uncle Sam thinks he is God on earth; dominates fate, sets rules we can’t debate; democracy reversed, perverse intentions resonate; playing double standard while Zionists invade; fake United Nations buy time cuz they are weak; reek of failure to promote peace; Israel proceeds; ignoring the pain the Nazis inflicted on their cursed breed; while the West composes, the Arabs flee; we either corrupted or scared to disagree; and when rebels are born, they are branded as terrorists; repercussion of US oppression & Arab alliances…………..

*Sigh*

Iran is to be sanctioned while they (West) possess weapons,
Hamas is to be weakened while they (West) scream fair elections,
Hezbollah is being disciplined while they (US & Israel) have Arabs/Muslims imprisoned.

*Sigh*

Some GCC countries harbor marines,
Darfur mourns,
Al Quds bleeds,
Beirut is under siege,
Babylon painfully screams:
“Wainkum ya 3rab Wa Muslimeen?"

Disclaimer: This piece does not ,by any means, insinuate that I completely agree with some of the actions of so-called radical groups.

Broken Cries

2006-07-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

Dedicated to those children whose lives have been lost or forever massacred because of wars that have been waged for selfish reasons or on preposterous pretexts(specifically war crimes)

Peaceful memories; pieces of integrated families.
A life defined by love through eyes of children in safe-like sanctuaries;
Echoes of sweet laughter; symbolic of symphonic melodies;
Kids’ demonic enemies are the witches in animated comedies.
Attending schools, bending rules;
Innocuous mischief of innocent souls;
Carefree hearts, utopian parts that make our lives undividedly whole.
Then the script is flipped; fractured, twisted n ripped;
Ugliness growing each minute like Dorian Gray’s pic.

It’s the stench of blood; incineration of flesh;
Extermination of humans cuz war is the Angel of Death;
Hannibal on the loose cuz carnage is a cannibal’s quest;
Screams of pain are joyful songs of glory n success.

Enter the twilit (not twilight) zone; zoom into “twice-laid” lives;
Feel broken cries, demise of tender dreams of diluted minds;
Fertile psyche of minors defiled with war-born parasites.
Dementia arises as parental ashes internalize.
Destruction of purity, infliction of fear and insecurity;
Distorted ideologies of 10 year olds with suicidal tendencies.
Sentenced casualties cause unsafe n harmful reality,
Young generations mutate to master the war mentality.

Little girls get raped and little boys are enslaved;
Tanks and bombs become their constant play-mates.
Cemeteries are homes, loved ones are in graves.
Beauty is in death cuz wars scar and mutilate.

“The lives of the children who survive will never be the same again.”

The Loose Tile

2006-07-18T05:27:00.000-07:00

I maybe labeled as mad but this is sincerely how I felt:D

My story with this infamous loose tile is recent. Last month, I joined a new company. At the threshold of our office, several stony-like tiles, which resemble the walls of a cave, are laid out. One of these tiles is slightly loose although it pretends to look otherwise. If you are its victim (i.e. you step on it), brace yourself for a musical piece with an unusually high crescendo. Not only is it aggravating but also makes everyone in the office turn to look at the culprit. The first few days were torture. I used to forget where it was and would incessantly step on it and then drown in embarrassment as everyone stared at me. I know what you are thinking. Why didn’t anyone fix it? But I was still new to criticize anything in addition to the fact that it probably was the least of everyone’s worries.
I was so irritated and was determined to stop making a spectacle of myself. Soon, I started playing the dodging game and felt triumphant. However, one day, it dawned on me that maybe that was what the tile was aiming for all along-to not be stepped upon. At that instant, it hit me that it was the tile that gained victory and not me. Maybe that piece of slab didn’t want to be like the rest of its kind. Maybe it didn’t want to conform to the rules set by its society. It didn’t want humans to walk over it because it has self-respect. Maybe that was why it dislodged itself in order to force people to avoid it. It, simply, rebelled and literally as well as figuratively, made its voice heard.Believe it or not and as crazy as it may seem, I began respecting that tile. You don’t have to emulate others to fit in. You don’t have to do what is wrong or to do something you are not convinced with just because everyone is doing it. Let your individuality shine. Having the confidence and faith to voice your opinion and to fight for what is unjust is truly liberating. Being different is not shameful and standing up for what you believe in (especially when it comes to morals) is the key to revolution and betterment..

Why Us?

2006-07-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

I wrote this piece during the French government's hoopla about banning Muslim girls from wearing head scarves in schools. Why Us? A poem to all condemned Hijabees

Why do people think twice before hiring me?
Why am I being gazed at pitifully?
Why the political drama in the French community?
Why the rejection, discrimination n mockery?

My crime: convicted of concealing my hair
A felony: refusing to expose, disclose & be bare
Labeled cloaked terrorists; Blacklisted fundamentalists
An impediment to society’s modern development

Rhetorically, the world speaks of democracy
In reality, extreme deception n hypocrisy
Why don’t u stay away; let us live; let us be?
We ain’t imposing; encroaching on your territory
We only striving; implementing the Lord’s decree
Trying to be the best Muslims we can possibly be

Why you denying us our God-given rights?
A safe place; free from prejudice and dislike
Why you blaming; judging us by what we wear?
They are only pieces of cloth; won’t bite; won’t flare

Why are we being persecuted, treated as inferiors?
Did you take the time to get to know our interior?
Ruminate; cogitate; let your logic dominate
We equal, historically, created by the same superior

Put yourselves in our shoes; let oppression be infused
I’m telling ya, you won’t survive; Islamic faith uncompromised
Stop tripping on what you don’t know; harassing innocent souls
It’s time you see past our veils; it’s time you let who we are prevail