What makes a super man?

The term Manhood is a pretty loaded word. Mainly because of it's long existence I suppose. For as long as there was man, there was the word man.

On a most basic level it is a noun for our species. But I intended in this post to talk about the term as opposed to woman.

So do I mean Man as in Male?.. again on a most basic level, yes, but surely there's much more to it than that right? the term is "loaded". It means much more than just the anatomical aspect of it.

If I attempt to delve a little deeper and spell out some of the those "unspoken" meanings of Manhood, we can start with:

- Honor

- Providence

- Responsibility

- Strength

- Security

- Vigilance

Ok, these are only the positive sides of Manhood. Or we can say "being a Man" is supposed to be a positive thing. Sure there's a negative side to each of these qualities, like:

- Strength misused for Brutality

- Providence into Selfish stinginess

- Vigilance into Oppression

and so on..

So let's cut to the chase.. being "Male", on a most basic level gives strength and power. It can be financial power, muscular power, political power, you name it. It is mainly "out-doorsy" power. Feminists can kiss my ass but when it comes down to it, women in this world only have power which men have provided to them. Women are only safe because men are protecting them. AS THEY SHOULD! don't get me wrong.

Hmmm.. I don't like the way this post is heading.. I intended it to talk about what's a proper measure of a man. And I veered off into defining what a man's role compared to a woman's is. I suppose it's inevitable. How about I just summarize where I come from and let it be:

خطبة الوداع للرسول صلى الله عليه و سلم يوم عرفة السنة 10 هجرية:

أما بعد أيها الناس إن لنسائكم عليكم حقاً ولكم عليهن حق. لكم أن لا يواطئن فرشهم غيركم، ولا يدخلن أحداً تكرهونه بيوتكم إلا بإذنكم ولا يأتين بفاحشة، فإن فعلن فإن الله قد أذن لكم أن تعضلوهن وتهجروهن في المضاجع وتضربوهن ضرباً غير مبرح، فإن انتهين وأطعنكم فعليكم رزقهن وكسوتهن بالمعروف، واستوصوا بالنساء خيراً، فإنهن عندكم عوان لا يملكن لأنفسهن شيئاً، وإنكم إنما أخذتموهن بأمانة الله واستحللتم فروجهن بكلمة الله فاتقوا الله في النساء واستوصوا بهن خيراً

So this shows what a muslim man's attitude to women should be. "Fear Allah with regard to women, and take good care of them." And he started with women's rights before men's rights. Which I think is so appropriate and elegant because it is men who are more likely to abuse these rights, not women. Why? simply because they are able to.

So what makes a good man, and a better man? and what makes a superman?

I'll put it in as few words as I can:"The best man is a man who takes care of the most number of people, well."

A son taking care of his parents, is better then one who doesn't.

A husband taking care of his wife (well) is better than a bachelor.

A good father with lots of kids and a wife (all well taken care of) is better than a good husband who chooses not to have kids.

A good manager in a company taking care of a dept. is better than a good employee who only worries about his own work. The bigger the company, the more employees, the better.

A president of a whole country (well taken care of) is better than a good company manager/CEO..

you surely get the picture. The more "dependents", the better.

Assuming the quality of the "care" is constant and uniform. Then the more people the better you are. and the more of a Man you are.

المؤمن القوى خير وأحب الى الله من المؤمن الضعيف، وفى كل خير

Having said that, it seems in this day and age, the roles are shifting. Dependency is not so obvious and glaring like it was 50 years ago. Some women single-handedly take care of many people, so this argument I'm making isn't exclusive to men only. Equally, the more people a woman takes care of, the better "woman" she is.

I wonder if there's a list somewhere of the top 100 People in terms of "how many people being taken care of by this person".

Thoughts anyone?

Most/Least Valuable Thing?

I think the most valuable thing in the WORLD.... is humility.

and the most worthless thing in the world is...? you guessed it. arrogance and self-worth.

I see or hear in the news about a country president who is attempting to change his country's constitution in order to be eligible for re-election for an indefinite number of terms. And I cringe at that person's arrogance and self-worth. I hear someone screaming down at a worker or a maid just because they gave them a task which they didn't do to perfection (a perfection that only exists vaguely in that person's mind, and is not consistent, and can change after a day or two).

I literally cringe with disgust when I see such belittlement of others. and the scary part is, if I had done it, I probably wouldn't have noticed anything wrong. I would probably feel I am worthy of being superior than those around me, and I'm showing them what's right for their own good. Even though my real motive would be to show them how superior I am to them, and that they should know it in their cores never to challenge me.

Self-worth is purely a lie. that is the main source of it's evil. It is simply misleading and drives you to do some things that are out of your capabilities, yet you'll think they are within them. We think we know all the ins and outs of a problem, it's limits, it's variables, we think we have total control over something. Therefor we know what's best.

But we don't know everything, and the more we believe that we do, the more we think that what seems risky behavior in the eyes of others, is totally safe. So we do risky behavior and lead others towards destructive outcomes.

On the other hand...

I haven't seen anything in this world more beautiful than humility.

And what sort of humility do we mean really? how many kinds of it are there? A person can never show real and genuine humility to another except when they feel that they are truly and unquestionably inferior to them.

If I walk to my office and pass by the teaboy, and he accidentally stumbles and spills coffee over my clean white dishdasha first thing in the morning. What would stop me from cursing him for his clumsiness and low education. Clearly thinking that it was his fault and his parents' fault for not educating him enough to get a better job than this one. For not knowing exactly how many cups of coffee he can carry safely without spilling them. For not judging properly how many cups his tray can carry.

In my arrogance I could go on for hours listing all the flaws in this poor man's life that led him to this simple unfortunate event of spilt coffee.

And also in my arrogance I would forget to list all the necessities and forces that made it impossible for his life to have taken any other course. Choosing to skip college in india and work as a tea boy right in his early teen years wasn't much of a real choice for him. Choosing not to start a small farm with modern high-yield farming practices, in order to increase his family's prosperity and freedom wasn't much of a real choice since he didn't know how to do all that, and without someone teaching him how to do it, it would have been very unwise for him to risk what little assets his family had with such a project that could fail.

In reality... if I had infinite knowledge about all the factors that controlled this teaboy's life up to this point... if I had known how he had no REAL control over his life in order to land this lowly job, and no control over the genes he was born with to have such muscles which would falter at this particular moment and cause him to spill coffee all over me..

If I had all that knowledge, I would understand FULLY that it wasn't really his fault. so I would do my utmost to calm his fears about my wrath or backlash.

But do we really have to be SOooo full of knowledge and foresight in order to be compassionate? for one thing we're NOT full of knowledge. Our information about things around us chronically limited and incomplete. But what we CAN be sure of is that we don't know everything. And that IF we knew then we might have lots of reasons to forgive and to understand.

That's why humility is the most valuable thing in the world. It's because it's the most truthful. it puts us in exactly our rightful place. and from there we can act accordingly, and properly.

Nag Hammadi Library, Apocalypse of Peter and Surat al-Nisa'

I've been doing alot of reading trying to understand the New Testament..

I mean, ok, we as muslims we say teh Qur'an is completely the word of Allah. given to Gabriel, given to irrasool Mohammad (pbuh).

Old Testament is mainly the Torah, given to Moses, which til today the Jews hold dear.

New Testament however, turns out its more like narrations by the disciples of Jesus (pbuh), rather than an actual inherited book. One according to each of the disciples. Book of Mathew, Book of Marc, and so on.. so it's just the narration of things that happened to/around Jesus (pbuh) told from the point of view of that disciple.

I came across this piece in the Nag Hammadi Library from Apocalypse of Peter:

When he had said those things, I saw him seemingly being seized by them. And I said "What do I see, O Lord? That it is you yourself whom they take, and that you are grasping me? Or who is this one, glad and laughing on the tree? And is it another one whose feet and hands they are striking?"

The Savior said to me, "He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. But this one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into being in his likeness. But look at him and me."

But I, when I had looked, said "Lord, no one is looking at you. Let us flee this place."

But he said to me, "I have told you, 'Leave the blind alone!'. And you, see how they do not know what they are saying. For the son of their glory instead of my servant, they have put to shame."

So this is basically Peter, the closest companion of Jesus (pbuh) being confused as to why he's seeing two Jesuses, one being nailed on the cross, and the other standing on a tree watching. And Jesus telling him that the one on the tree is truly himself, while the one being crucified is a substitute!

And then you look at the Qur'anic verse in surat al-Nisa' 157

و قولهم انا قتلنا المسيح ابن مريم رسول الله وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مَا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلاَّ اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا {157}بَل,رَّفَعَهُ اللّهُ إِلَيْهِ وَكَانَ اللّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا {158}النساء

And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah ." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain. {157}

Rather, Allah raised him to Himself. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise. {158}

------------------------

Now, the Nag Hammadi scrolls are all authentic and dated to the 1st-2nd century A.D. yet they're all called "non-canonical", meaning they're not recognized as "official" parts to the New Testament. It is even theorized that the scrolls themselves were buried in fear of heretical persecution.

I feel thankful that such a document exists to show some of my christian friends.

Mokaani Mokaani, Ya Zamaani

My eldest daughter Taiba when she was 3 years old, had this conversation with her maid:

Taiba: "laish ma 3indech xxxx?" (forgot what the xxxx was)
maid: "ma 3indi foloos" *chuckle*
Taiba pauses thinking.. then: "eshtere foloos!" *expression clearly stating problem is solved*

So now that's her iconic line which we remember of her childhood.

Then my boy Abdalla also when he was 3 years old, after being fed his last lunch lugma, and seeing me walk past the table carrying a plate with a big slice of chocolate fudge cake on it. He puts the back of his hand on his forehead and says:

"ana ta3baan, abe cake..." *and he lets out a fake tired sigh*

and that's his iconic line.

So I'm thinking of making Tshirts with these lines.. and thought since Zaina is almost 3 years now.. she's due for her own iconic line.. and a couple weeks ago she didn't disappoint :P

My wife: "Zaina goleeli qessa"
Zaina: "inzain.."
My wife: "yalla"
Zaina: "Mokaani Mokaani, ya zamaani.."
me and my wife looking at each other puzzled..
Zaina: "kaan fee elephant"
me and my wife break out laughing

Who do You Subscribe to on Youtube?

Here are a few of my favorite Youtube channels:

By far the coolest guy on Youtube these days for me is Joe Penna (AKA Mystery Guitar Man, MGM for short) famous for this one:



The 6ag erguba he does at 1:26 is smile-enducing. going strong approaching 6 million views.

And last one he did here is also creative and amazing:



The amount of patience this dude has in his editing makes me just scratch my head.

He also directed this movie for RhettandLink:



just.. so.. good.. I'm thinking of buying one of those t-shirts to be part of the whole experience.

And other channels I follow are the witty and funny Natalie (AKA communitychannel)

Also Brandon Hardesty (AKA ArtieTSMITW) some pretty funny and good movie re-enactments:



This guy Tobuscus is also funny, spoofing Farmville!

The Bitter Sweet Humility of It

Three days ago our whole house got hit by a quick virus. It started with my little one Zaina, then her 10yo sister Taiba, then my wife, then me, my son Abood, the maid, you name it. In the period of 24 hours the household turned into a sort of refugee camp.

It took me personally completely by surprise, as I'm rarely sick, I stay in the company of sick people with an almost smug expression like I have some sort of silly immunity or something. Astaahil.

Wed. afternoon I was fine and teasing my grumpy sick Zaina, and by the same evening I was in Zaina's bed clutching my stomach while she was infront of me singing and waving her hands as if conducting the opera playing in her head. Ahh the irony eh? thankfully it was lost on little Zaina or I wouldn't hear the end of it.

But here's what made me make this post..

At one point in that evening as I started getting stronger and stronger gagging urges, I went to the bathroom sink, waiting and anticipating each heaving sensation.. then my stomach got squeezed so painfully and in a sustained upward surge of agony, it felt like a large hand has gotten a firm hold on my intestines and was trying to wrench them out of me. it wasn't like the usual stomach aches you get, it was much more severe and different, on a scale I couldn't have imagined only seconds before. My knees buckled and I had to suddenly rely on my hands on the sink to keep from falling to the floor. That near fall was another nastily sobering surprise, after you have taken standing tall for granted your whole life.

During those 10-15 seconds of being barely in control of my own body and mind, I felt one singular thought crystalize shining and clear in my head. I felt like those people in the Aya

حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَآءَ أَحَدَهُمُ ٱلۡمَوۡتُ قَالَ رَبِّ ٱرۡجِعُونِ ( المؤمنون٩٩)

and

{ولو ترى إذ المجرمون ناكسوا رؤوسهم عند ربهم ربنا أبصرنا وسمعنا فارجعنا نعمل صالحا إنا موقنون}السجدة 12

I felt suddenly very sorry and repentant for every and any bad thing I did in my life, whatever it was, remembered or not. I felt utterly weak and powerless over anything. not even the train of thought in my own head. And when you lose the illusion of the power you think you have, you quickly know who to turn to, the One WITH all the power. The decision and choice becomes utterly simple, as if it was even ridiculous to even call it a choice. There is really no choice, there's just Him sib7anah.

I spent the night in fever and weak sweating but it was so blissful and much better situation than the pain I was in earlier, and I felt immense gratitude for this respite. Sej sej we take soooo many blessings we have for granted, unthanked.

And now only 2 days after I am much better and walking around confidently, eating whatever I like (no more mash5ool o low-fat robah)..... and that feeling of humility starting to slip away again. as if nothing bad has ever happened. How quickly we forget.

Imogen Heap - Wait it Out

Finally, finally, finally Imogen Heap made a new album after her amazing 2005 Speak for Yourself.

She does all the instrument tracks herself then compiles them on her own computer. is she cool or what?

The new album Ellipse is wonderful, and at times even cleverly funny. But this track by far steals the whole show.

Please enjoy,

Where do we go from here?
How do we carry on?
I can't get beyond the questions.
Clambering for the scraps
In the shatter of us collapsed.
That cuts me with every could-have-been.

Pain on pain on play, repeating
With the backup makeshift life in waiting.

Everybody says: "Time heals everything."
But what of the wretched hollow?
The endless in-between?
Are we just going to wait it out?

There's nothing to see here now,
Turning the sign around;
We're closed to the Earth 'til further notice.
Stumbling cliché case -
Crumpled and puffy-faced -
Dead in the stare of a thousand miles.

All I want: only one street-level miracle.
I'll be a an out-and-out, born again from none more cynical.

Everybody says that time heals everything all in the end.
But what of the wretched hollow?
The endless in-between?
Are we just going to wait it out?

And sit here cold?
We'll be long gone by then.
And lackluster in dust we lay
'round old magazines.
Fluorescent lighting sets the scene
For all we could and should be being
In the one life that we've got.

(Musical interlude)
In the one life that we've got.

Everybody says that time heals everything.
But what of the wretched hollow?
The endless in-between?

Are we just going to wait it out?
Sit here. Just going to wait it out?
Sit here cold. Just going to sweat it out?

Wait it out.

Keep Right

As I stood on the escalator going down to the Bond St. subway station, I got a tap on my shoulder and heard a voice behind me "move please?". I instinctively moved from the side I was on to the other side, which was the right side of the escalator steps. And the man who tapped me swiftly descended down the steps, passing a few people until he stopped behind an asian lady who stood in the same way I was standing, which is on the left side of the steps, while her friend was on her right. He repeated the same mumble to her and she also walked down one step to stand infront of her friend as the man continued his hurried descent.

As he went down I looked back and saw that the man had cut a clear path on the left side of the escalator from the top all the way down to the bottom. And a few people were using this path to walk down the escalator swiftly and efficiently, saving a few moments of time on the hopes of catching the train right before its doors shut, or maybe feeling that atleast this way they get SOME exercise. After all by looking at the other escalator going up, it was much clearer how the number of people walking up was much less than the people walking down. People going up preferred to stand still instead.

And then I noticed the sign in the middle between the two escalators repeating every few feet.


Stand on the Right
No Smoking

And that made sense how it was mostly new tourists like me and that asian lady who were ignorant about this directive to stand always on the right hand side of the escalator steps.

This was interesting to me for two main reasons:
1- it was an individual instruction. aimed at one person. the reader.
2- it achieved a system where people in a hurry could walk up/down the stairs unimpeded, while lazier folk like me could stand comfortably without acting like a road block.

It didn't say "Clear the way for walkers" for example. If you say something like that to a 100 people riding an escalator they would all appreciate what you're trying to achieve, but would be confused on how to do it.

So the solution was to give each individual a simple thing to do.. and also, the key was to have the SAME instruction given to ALL the people involved.

This is pure Conformity.

The sign "Keep Right" is basically the LAW from above. And if "most" people follow it then a "good" thing happens.

If however most people prefer to be individualistic and choose to disobey and stand however the HELL they like, on the right, on the left, spread their legs wide and raise their arms in a big human X shape (to show rebellion against the corrupt bankers no doubt), then for sure the 1 minute which they spend on the escalator trip will be a more satisfying and free experience for them.

But the healthy person wanting to walk up or down the escalator and not just stand there will have to tap alot more shoulders than just mine and the asian lady's.

Conformity is generally viewed in a negative way in the post WW2 era of revolutions and libertarian movements.

Yet, sometimes it has its value to make our lives easier. If we all wear the same clothes then clothes will become alot cheaper, and we could maybe make more of them. If we drive the same cars we'll have cheaper cars. And so on.

On the flip side Conformity kills Diversity. And we need to have diverse options when we don't yet know which specific Amino acid secreted by which deep sea bacteria is going to be the next super anti-biotic as the life-span of Penicillin draws to an end. Or which will kill Cancer cells.

So we need both at different times. Which LAWs to conform to however?

Keeping Right can be evidently beneficial in a very short time. But other Laws take longer for their effects to be felt for good or bad.

It was generally accepted that taking interest on loans is not only ok.. but an economic necessity. If you don't allow it then stagnation of the economy is assured.

Yet now they are so scared of the economic meltdown of mountains upon mountains of global debt, BBC economists predict the worst is yet to come. And that no real change of the LAWs has been effected. They say that all that has been done was similar to giving a heroin addict who was having a cardiac arrest, a dose of more heroin to let the emergency pass.

The US can't keep buying Chinese stuff on loan anymore. And all that happened was that the addiction was allowed to continue a little longer using federal money. It is nothing more than borrowed time.

The only good sign of recovery is ordinary people getting profoundly scared and starting to be thrifty and saving more.

But the practices which get us in this mess every 20 years haven't changed. And the lesson learned will be only temporary in our recent memory. Until the next generation takes over and repeats the mistakes.

In this case, we think the current LAW is ok, and good, and it works. but we can't see its consequences coming 20 years later.

Where did we get this LAW from? from people who are able to predict no more than 5 years into their own futures. at best.

What if I say that Allah, our almighty God and creator gave us a different LAW. saying that we should NOT take interest on loans.

It's an individual instruction like "Keeping Right". And we are not far-sighted enough to see what good it will do to us.

I for one take it on faith that its a good practice.

We'll see inshalla

Look up and fear Allah

I couldn't help but quiver in fear when I looked up at the moon 30 mins. ago as I walked out of my grandmother's house heading home.

I drove around looking for a mosque that was praying the eclipse prayer and could find none. I went through Faiha, Roudha and finally Bayan, all the mosque's had their lights off.

My cousin headed prayers during tarawee7 sometimes, and he said they didn't get any notice from the ministry to prepare for Eclipse prayers tonight.

I wonder why?

Not to rain on New Year's partying? I hope I'm wrong.

Please, look up and fear your God. and do as his messenger asked us to do and pray until it is lifted.

Please Watch Food Inc.

3eedkom Mbarak everyone.

Please watch this movie. It will open your eyes wide to some pretty horrific facts that affect you directly 3 times a day. (here's the u torrent client if you don't have one, install it first before you click on the movie link).

Sure at some times it is a bit too heavy on american sentimentality towards animal treatment, but most of the time it is very straight forward, logical and smart in its pacing and simplicity of presentation so we can understand the enormity of its implications.

Wonderful Insight Into How Our Brains Work

My brother sent me this the other day, please please please watch it:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

What do you think this means? aside from being astonishing.

Litany Against Fear + Death by Stoning

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

This is the Litany of Fear, any reader of Frank Herbert's DUNE books will recognize. They're probably the most memorable lines in the book. It described desert dwelling arab-looking bedwins wearing "still-suits" which recycle and distill the body's own liquids, of perspiration and urine. Men who's sign of respecting one another is to spit infront of them, because the liquid is their most sacred possession. Men who are awed when someone sheds "tears" for a dead loved one. "Giving water to the dead". The dead who have no use for the water which you give in tears. To them the act is so wasteful and irrational, it can only be explained as a mystical religious act.

---------------------------------------

Another story caught my eye yesterday on BBC & the Indepedent:

Saudi princess 'given UK asylum'

Princess facing Saudi death penalty given secret UK asylum

It's curious that the 2nd story in the Independent wrongly states that the child also would face death. As I understand it, Shari3a law ac states that the pregnant woman awaiting stoning or flogging is made to wait until birth, and in some cases even allowed to nurse the child for sometime if needed, until the baby can survive without her, and THEN she would be flogged if she wasn't married, or stoned to death if she was.

This is a classic case of the conflict in moral values between us muslims and those of the west.

What do you people think?

Intolerance? No, it's more like Love

Sorry for the long absence. Was too busy with many different things, not least of all my MBA thesis is due in October and I still haven't chosen a topic... I don't know what I want to write about, I'm not particularly passionate about business in itself I guess. Sure I find the whole crashing of the financial markets interesting, mainly because I'm all "Allah told you so!". but that's preaching, it's not an academic question.

But anyhow I came across this Aya in surat al-Ma'eda:

لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَقَالَ الْمَسِيحُ يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ مَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَاهُ النَّارُ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ أَنصَارٍ
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلاثَةٍ وَمَا مِنْ إِلَهٍ إِلَّا إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ وَإِنْ لَمْ يَنتَهُوا عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ لَيَمَسَّنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

"They do blaspheme who say: "Allah is Christ the son of Mary." But said Christ: "O Children of Israel! worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord." Whoever joins other gods with Allah,- Allah will forbid him the garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help." (72) "They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One Allah. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them." (73)

Now, the above clearly and unequivocally declares those who say Jesus is God, or say Jesus is the Son of God, both to be kufaar. It doesn't matter if they were kindhearted people. Because Allah declares Shirk (Idolatry) to be the greatest of all sins

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَى إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا

Which translates that God does not forgive Idolatry, and all other sins are lesser and are forgivable.

Why am I writing this?

Well, some find the above pretty obvious, and in no need of explanation, but I found people who question even these basics. Some of my relatives were even angry with me when I said that Christians go to hell no matter how nice they are.

But also, the real reason is that I have Christian friends who are close to me. I like them and think they are swell guys. I also do not lie to them that they are perfectly alright with their beliefs. What kind of a friend I'd be if I did that? to know from the Qur'an that my friend is going to hell and stay silent and not attempt to talk to him about it would be one of two things:

1- I don't believe in the Qur'an's every word. or..
2- I betray my friend for the sake of staying in his good graces so I can enjoy jokes and laughs with him during Dinya.

I don't personally like either of these two. So I find it compulsory to warn those nice Christians I meet all over.

Ofcourse here I don't exclude Jews either :P so I suppose I should at some stage talk to my buddy Israel about it, but that would be a trickier discussion. Because as far as I know, modern day Jews ARE monotheist. But they reject Mohammad's prophethood pbuh, and hence reject the word of Allah the Qur'an.

Anyhow, in the end, I'm saying that this isn't a message of Intolerance, it's a message of Love. because it's very "inconvenient" to tell it in the first place, and there can't be multiple rights. there's only one right. As Allah says just after the above ayat in il-Ma'eda:

أَفَلَا يَتُوبُونَ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَهُ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

Will they not then turn to Allah and ask His forgiveness? And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Life of Pi

I just finished this wonderful book. Read it over almost one whole year, mainly because I don't read unless I can't get on my computer. Which ends up being when I'm traveling, hence my bookmarks are always boarding pass stubs!

It's about a young Indian boy named Piscine, or Pi as his self chosen nickname. His dad is the proud zookeeper of Pondicherry Zoo, a humble community attraction in none other than Pondicherry, South East India.

If you can get past the introductory 1/3 of the book (which is in itself both entertaining and funny), you reach the point where Pi's family have to migrate to Canada, so they sell the animals to various Zoos around the world, and board a cargo ship heading to Vancouver across the Pacific.

The ship Tsimsum is carrying many of the animals which have been sold to Vancouver Zoo as well, and then it sinks... and Pi's stranded "cast-away" journey begins.

Pi finds himself sharing a lifeboat with a Zebra, a Hyena, an Orangutan a few flies and last but definitely not least, a 400 pound Bengal Tiger.

From this last tidbit you probably think, "ok.. so it's a fantasy about a mini Noah's Ark.. I see where this is going." But hang on..

The Animals do not have philosophical conversations with each other about the meaning of life. Instead, they behave like real animals and Pi tells you what happens in frame by frame Clarity that bests the National Geographic, and with him trapped in there, with Reality that makes you regret putting the book down each night as you realise how late the hour became.

The boy Pi tells us that he is a Muslim, a Christian and a Hindu all at the same time. He also manages to have his Muslim Mulla and his Christian Priest as well as his Hindu Guru to accidentally meet all at once and have one of the most amusing exchanges I read in years.

But amusing anecdotal quirks aside, the book simply wants to show us how deeply aware of God Pi is. And ultimately and eventually, how this relationship ends up between the two towards the end of his ordeal at sea.

At the beginning of the book one Indian old man tells the western author:
"I shall tell you a story so wonderous that I promise you, by the time I am finished, you will believe in God!"

One point during his lonely time in the middle of the ocean Pi says one of my favorite lines that stuck with me:
"The stars shone with such fierce brilliance, it seemed ridiculous to call the night dark!"

and this one about Atheism:
"To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."

Enjoy :)

‏ ‏لن يفلح قوم ولوا أمرهم امرأة

هذا الحديث في صحيح البخاري كتاب الفتن رقم 6570

حدثنا ‏ ‏عثمان بن الهيثم ‏ ‏حدثنا ‏ ‏عوف ‏ ‏عن ‏ ‏الحسن ‏ ‏عن ‏ ‏أبي بكرة ‏ ‏قال ‏
لقد نفعني الله بكلمة أيام الجمل لما بلغ النبي ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏أن ‏ ‏فارسا ‏ ‏ملكوا ابنة ‏ ‏كسرى ‏ ‏قال:
لن يفلح قوم ولوا أمرهم امرأة

و المقصود "نفعني الله بكلمة أيام الجمل" أن أبي بكرة رضي الله عنه كان مناصرا لأم المؤمنين عائشة رضي الله عنها بعد مقتل عثمان رضي الله عنه و لكن لما وصل أمر الفتنة الى القتال رجع أبي بكرة و كف بسبب هذا الحديث

So.

The question here is being a parliament member considered "welaya 3amma" or not.

Since Majles il-Umma's main function is to be the "Legislative arm of Government", it is actually in a higher position than the "Executive arm of Government". Because simply put, it lays down the laws which Government should follow.

I also think the position of "Judge" is also "welaya 3amma". And again I don't think a woman should be appointed Judge either.

So based on the above 7adeeth I think it's a prophetic statemtent that speaks about any people who appoint a lady to public office.

I did not vote for women yesterday, and I had no doubt in my mind that Ma3sooma (my vote is in her constituency) was a great person. If she had been a man, I would probably vote for her. But again I didn't vote for her because of this 7adeeth.

So best of luck to Kuwait in their misguided choice to place 4 women into Parliament. Inshalla we don't get more in the future.

The Bridge in the Title

For the longest time I thought Monet's Water-lilies was my favorite painting of all time. It sits in Japan's Museum of Western Art, and I don't plan on visiting Japan anytime soon.

But later I saw his Japanese bridge series and my eyes were lost in the green shades in it, and I changed my mind about my favorite of all time. You guys remember Robin Williams' movie "What Dreams May Come"? Heaven was presented as if it were a Monet impressionist canvas.

I know that any stretch of the imagination of what Heaven would be like is going to do it great injustice. But we can't help trying to imagine it, because we hope for it so much. Hope for the final lasting joy we'll meet there.

Here's a collection of the paintings which Monet painted in Giverny with the bridge at it's center. Thank God for Monet's failing vision by the end of his years.

note: if you find the paintings a bit fuzzy, try clicking on them to get clearer resolution.

Is Being an Extremist a Good Thing?

*Judith's face in "Judith Beheading Holofernes" by Caravaggio

Before you can answer, you need to know what the word "Extremist" means 1st correct?

The meaning according to today's media is usually referring to any "religious fundamentalist". Which is why recently news broadcasters are more careful to add "Islamic", so the title becomes "Islamic Extremist".

Sometimes non-religious groups such as the secular Turks go SO overboard that even they get to be called "Extremists". In their case, their secularism becomes a religion in itself (take one look at Attaturk's shrine and how Turks feel about him to confirm this).

Some Christians get called Extremists, some Orthodx Jews get called Extremists. So the term is definitely not specific to Muslims. But is really more related to Ideology.

But how about we go to the root of the word itself? EXTREME.

Extremity:

1. the farthest point

2. an unacceptable or extreme nature or degree: the extremity of his views alienated other nationalists

3. an extreme condition, such as misfortune

4. extremities hands and feet

So hands and feet are extreme too! because they are far from the center.

Also there's a negative connotation to it, "unacceptable", "misfortune".

Being Extreme basically means "far from the center". And we mostly feel that that is a bad thing, but why is it a bad thing? I'm not disputing, I'm only trying to understand why.

The center is good. Why though?

Most people in any given situation will be congregated around a fuzzy middle. And the farther away from that "average center point" the fewer people you'll find. So the Extreme sides of any argument usually finds the least amount of supporters for it, correct? (usually atleast)

If you stay in the middle, you'll find yourself closer to "most" people. And hence have the least amount of arguments. It's the point of equilibrium. The point of least resistance.

In contrast, if you stand on the edge of a spectrum, you'll have the biggest amount of argument with everyone else. It's the toughest place to sit peacefully.

A calculation of any airline's trip distances would show this clearly:

If you wanted to serve the same destinations from the far east of Egypt, (for example Sharm elShaikh), then the total of all these distances would become alot higher.

So if we correlate distance between places to differences in ideological views, then we can say that being in the middle makes you the most popular, and least hated among the people around you, right?

Which is exactly why Extremists are the most disliked people anywhere.

So the answer is clear here, Extremism is bad right?

Well, the answer will depend here on whether or not the views of the majority of society (which by definition is the middle) are good views, or bad views.

But if the definition of "good" is to "get along" and "be good to one another", then being in the "center" is the best thing for that as we just discovered right? I mean, in order to have the least amount of argument or "trouble" with other people, the best thing is to follow what the majority wants right?

After all that is what Democracy is all about.

Ok.. but it gets more problematic when the "center" of one society differs from the "center" of another.. so which is the "correct" center? In Muslim societies it's very inappropriate to drink alcohol, while in others around the world it's alright if taken "in moderation".

One might say it's ok to drink if you're in the West, but you should stop when you're in a muslim country. That is what my English friend visiting Kuwait would do. He'll try to "blend" in. He's again trying to "please everybody as best he can". Changing his position according to the surroundings.

But again, drinking a glass of wine is either "good", or "bad". Regardless of whatever everyone around you feels. It is either:
1- Poison. so it will harm you and is bad for you EVEN IF YOU'RE IN THE WEST.
or..
2- Healthy in small doses and good for your heart as long as you don't get yourself drunk. So according to this view it is good for you EVEN IF YOU'RE IN SAUDI ARABIA.

So basically what I'm trying to say is, if we always assume the center to be good, we still don't have a clear picture of what rules we should apply in order to become good people. The Aztecs used to think they should sacrifice a person every day:

If you teleport an Aztec high priest to today's world he'd feel ashamed and depressed that he's forbidden to sacrifice people for his gods. Talk about severe culture shock.

Well to cut a long story short, because this post is already too long, I don't believe the center is always "good". I believe that whatever God tells us to do is always "good". Even when it becomes out of style. In the minority. At the extreme.

Alot of what is now considered to be the "norm", such as:
1- Athiesm or Idolatry (Worship of men or denial of God's existence)
2- Reba. (Usury, or Loans with Interest)
3- Zina. (Unmarried sex)
4- Gay and Lesbian sex.

These are only examples of things which God clearly forbids, and which today's western societies do not forbid.

People don't do these things because they think they're the "right" things to do, they do them because they don't like to be told to stop doing something they like. People did not make long and careful scientific studies to determine the long lasting effects (good or bad) of the above behaviors, and then base their judgement based on the results. People simply reject God's authority over them, and do whatever they like to do.

No one in his right mind would have speculated only 1 year ago, that the World's Economy would collapse because of debt. And now they can't stop talking about it. And the crisis is real and hereto stay.

1 year ago I argued with another MBA student that the current form of loans is 7aram and is bad for the economy. And his answer was "If we stop doing interest loans, no one will loan, projects will stop and the economy will stop!". Why don't we consider that without interest loans the economy will continue to go ahead using Joint Ventures? partnerships. The people with money and the people with Ideas will become partners in success or failure, which makes the financier WAY more careful with their money and where they invest it.

1 year ago I was the Extremist on this particular topic. and now my view is inching it's way towards the center vveeeerry slowly. But in order to learn the lesson we needed a world-wide crisis? (and even now most westerners don't agree that the Islamic model is the best still, even though they lowered their interest rates from Gov. to Banks to almost Zero ANYway!).

The main outcome of being a muslim, is to believe that Allah's way is the best way. Without needing proof.

So I for one don't need a world-crisis to learn that Riba is bad. Even when the rest of the world is doing it.

Israel = 3abdAlla ... ?

Spirit of Nature by Betty Rubinstein

I was astounded too when I learned what Israel translated into. The sources (and here as well) I checked explain it by separating its two parts:

1- Isra (or the hebrew verb sara).
2- El, which is a short form for "the God" il-Elah.

So the 2nd is obvious, but what about the 1st part? They seem to point to the meaning of "Dominion" and "Rule". But then they go into really ugly blasphemous meanings where Jacob (who's name is Israel) supposedly fights and overcomes the Angel of God. And by extension, "He who dominated God". Which I think is ridiculous.

But from a Muslim's point of view, I think the meaning makes perfect sense if it simply means "Dominated".

So Isra -El would become "Dominated by God". Which in arabic is simply: Abd Allah.

So the prophet Jacob pbuh was simply named 3abdalla :)

Another translation for "ysera" mentioned was: "striven or saved".

Again I reject the meaning of "striven against God" which they suggest, but the latter is ok with me: "Saved by God"

I'm not sure which of the two is correct, "Dominated by God" or "Saved by God". But I like both.

Now, what started this whole question in my head was that I recently added a guy to my MSN contacts whose very NAME is Israel. I chat with Israel from time to time these days!

feels weird doesn't it?

So what's the background? who and why? the plot shall thicken I promise you.

About 1 year ago our ISP was facing a problem with people who consume lots and lots of bandwidth using bittorrent. They're usually 2-4% of the total number of users, yet they consume as much as 20-25% of the total pipes.

No devices existed at the time that cached the files which you get through bittorrent. Caching is so simple and useful, it basically means when more than 1 user tried to download the same file, then the system would save the huge file locally on its disks so the 2nd time it would not have to pull it through the expensive international links. Saving lots of bandwidth in the process.

However, we found 3 companies that did it for Bittorrent, and only 1 of them worked well enough to be used in a live network serving half a country.

The product worked so well and I loved it so much that I took it as my personal crusade to resell it to other ISP's in the region!

The catch was that the company that makes it originated in Israel. And dealing with Israeli companies is illegal according to Kuwaiti law. And also morally I would feel very uncomfortable handing cash to people who support bombing ghazans so brutally and so on and so forth.

The company did everything it can to "mask" it's true identity, by basing its main office in Boston US, changed the numbers of all it's support employees to US numbers. Yet, strangely the support engineers would "wake up and sleep" in sync with the middle-east's timezones?

Ya3ne i7na mo aghbiya or naive lhaddaraja.

Now, when it comes to my own moral dillema here, if there was a "Mexican" company for example that made a similarly effective product, I'd switch to it in a heartbeat. but there isn't.

So I decided to not only buy it with a strong conviction, but also to resell it and believe in it and add my own sales/marketing markup on top >:-P

I'm even giving a presentation this coming Thursday in Bahrain to other ISPs in the middle east showing them how this system benefited our network.

Either go all the way, or not at all. There is no middle ground.

What do you guys think? am I doing something wrong here?

Cable Cut 2 Days Ago

"The Waiting" by Morteza Katouzian

And yet another cable cut in the FOG cable (sea fiber cable linking Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Dubai) happened 2 days ago, on 31st. March 8:30 PM.

This is the 4th cable cut that affects Kuwait internet in the last THREE MONTHS only *mumble grumble*

And to top it off, our Ministry of Communications officially tells us it has NO MORE capacity for ISP's to purchase to cross over the Khafji border into Saudi (The Saudi side has bandwidth to offer, but our side doesn't, because there's no minister to take the decision of buying the new equipment. We're talking no more than 20k-40k KD here).

So now we are about 20% down from our normal bandwidth capacity, which explains the congestion and latency last night. The latest update is that the ship reached the cable off the shore of Dubai last night, and estimated time to finish is 4 more days. Will update you inshalla.

=====================================================
Update 6th. April, 2009

The cable is now fixed since last night, and they began testing it and bringing the downed circuits back up this morning around 9:30 AM.

il7emdella 3alassalama

Yesterday I Was Happy :)

Yesterday was the milcha (official marriage) of one of my close work friends (Bojacob) to my cousin.

Seeing them happy made me happy, and I hope to God they make each other happy for the rest of their lives =)

What's up with the "mini 3ers" that happens at the milcha?? I thought that was too much honestly. There was a mini-koosha too.

My mom, my aunts and sisters were.. almost un-recognizable. Even Um-Jacque came to visit from the U.S.!! she's almost 90 I think. She played with me when I was about 1 year old in Florida. She can't get enough of Kuwaiti culture. All her daughters and granddaughters call her "Yuma" :)

My daughter Taiba (8 yo) surprised everyone with her dancing!! she danced so much she ended up sitting in the middle of the floor from tiredness lol

Mabrook Bojacob and mabrook cuz. I'm truly happy for you two.