BBC NEWS | Middle East | Olmert warns of ‘end of Israel’
Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said failure to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians would spell the end of the State of Israel.He warned of a “South African-style struggle” which Israel would lose if a Palestinian state was not established.
Islamic Center at NYU - Chaplain
The following short film by Sarah Nasr sheds insight into the rising role of Muslim Chaplains within American institutions.
Faraz Rabbani - The Most Beautiful Ninety-Nine: Appreciating Allah’s Attributes | Halal Tube
Faraz Rabbani - The Most Beautiful Ninety-Nine: Appreciating Allah’s Attributes from Mujahideen Ryder (recorded with only indirect, implicit permission and much cheek) on Vimeo.
Mere Islam: Yet Another Gem by Sherman Jackson
Professor Sherman A. Jackson (Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Visiting Professor of Law, The University of Michigan. Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; M.A. University of Pennsylvania; B.A., University of Pennsylvania) has produced yet another piece of intellectual fruit to be savored:
Literalism, Empiricism, And Induction:
Apprehending And Concretizing Islamic Law’s
Maqâsid Al-Sharî’ah In The Modern World
by Sherman A. Jackson
Just like the introduction to his translation of Imam al-Ghazali’s Faysal al Tafriqa, entitled On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam in English, and his rebuttal to Khaled Abou El Fadl in his essay entitled Islam(s) East and West: Pluralism between No-Frills and Designer Fundamentalism (published in September 11 in History: A Watershed Moment?), this short paper is also chock-full of wisdom. As usual, the synthesis is amazing, as is the light that he sheds, from an Islamic perspective, on oft-overlooked points.
For those who haven’t read On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam, well please know that the world would be a much better place if every Muslim read and reflected upon this small tome. Likewise, if you’re looking for a vision on where Islam in America should be going and how to fix some of the major problems that Muslims face in this country, look no further than Dr. Jackson’s Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection…but don’t forget to read the article. Although the latter book discusses the history and dynamics of “Blackamerican” religion, the advice Professor Jackson gives very much applies to Muslims of all backgrounds.
To Muslim Girls, Scouts Offer a Chance to Fit In - New York Times
Scattered Muslim communities across the United States are forming Girl Scout troops as a sort of assimilation tool to help girls who often feel alienated from the mainstream culture, and to give Muslims a neighborly aura. Boy Scout troops are organized with the same inspiration, but often the leap for girls is greater because many come from conservative cultures that frown upon their participating in public physical activity.
MotherJones Blog: Romney Digs Himself Deeper on “No Muslims” Statement
Mitt Romney recently said that he would not have any Muslims in his
cabinet because their population in the United States isn’t large
enough. His exact words were: “…based on the numbers of American
Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a
cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine
that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration.” The
various idiocies of that statement were previously discussed on
MoJoBlog here.
FT.com / Home UK / UK - Deloitte ‘first’ with Shariah scholar post
Deloitte has appointed Mufti Hassan Kaleem, a pupil of Sheikh Mohammed Taqi Usmani…. Mr Kaleem will work in a consultative capacity for Deloitte. He also works for Al Baraka Bank in Pakistan, a big Islamic bank. “I was looking for different work with different exposure,” said Mr Kaleem. “Here, I will be having experience of work from tax problems, there will be structured finance problems, maybe government and institutional issues too.”
Mufti Hassan Kaleem is a brilliant young scholar and a remarkable person. May Allah grant him every success.
Howstuffworks “How Google Earth Works”
Most of us have been using one online mapping program or another for years now. They’re a godsend for those of us who get lost within a 3-mile radius of our homes, and they’re just plain fun for people who enjoy figuring out where stuff is. With this in mind, imagine how amazing Google Earth must be for it to elicit awe from the online community and cause South Korea to demand changes to the program.
NPR : Author: ‘The Best Sex of My Life’
Dr. Lindsay Marsh says it’s worth waiting until marriage to engage in sexual activity. A virgin, Marsh urges abstinence for the sake of both health and spirit and advises men and women to avoid masturbation. She runs the program “Worth The Wait,” which promotes abstinence.Dr. Marsh discusses her book, The Best Sex of My Life: A guide to Purity.
Global warming will have ‘most severe’ effect on world’s poor: UN report
Wealthy countries must provide at least $86 billion US to the world’s poor by 2015 to help them cope with the floods, droughts, disease and other negative effects from global warming, a new UN report says.“Ultimately, climate change is a threat to humanity as a whole, but it is the poor … who face the immediate and most severe human costs,” Kemal Dervis of the UN Development Programme said in a press release.
Shaykh Abdalla Idris Ali’s mother passed away in Sudan - Please make du’a and share the sad news with others
From an email sent out by Sidi Altaf Husain:
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wabarakatuhPlease remember Shaikh Abdalla Idris ‘Ali and his family in your du’a as we have just learned that Shaikh Abdalla’s mother has passed away in Sudan. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raj’iun.
I would like to provide some context as to how profound this loss is for our beloved Shaikh.
Shaikh Abdalla has sacrificed his time, energy, wealth and talents to serve the Muslim community in North America and around the world. In part due to his public and sustained involvement in Muslim affairs, there was greater scrutiny into his application for residency when he moved from Canada to the United States. As the immigration paperwork was delayed unnecessarily for an unbearable length of time, Shaikh Abdalla was kept from traveling outside the United States. Subhanallah, in one of my interactions with him during a conference recently, he lamented at not being able to travel to see his mother. Indeed, his own daughter’s wedding was also delayed due to the delay in processing the paperwork. Alhamdulillah, earlier this year, the paperwork was processed and Shaikh Abdalla immediately made plans to travel to Sudan during the summer to see his mother. Despite being like a grandfather to so many of us and a father to many of us, he was unable to contain his boyish excitement at the chance to be in the company of his mother after such a long time. Little did he or anyone else know that indeed that long awaited reunion with his mother would indeed be his last meeting with her.
He has reminded all of us to love our parents, and for parents to love their children. He has given countless lectures on the importance of the family in Islam. Today, please take a minute to make du’a to Allah to grant solace and comfort to Shaikh Abdalla, his wife, and their children. Make du’a to Allah to enter his mother into paradise and to make any suffering she experienced prior to her death, an expiation for her sins. Ameen ya rabbil alameen.
Was-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wabarakatuh
Your brother in Islam,
Altaf Husain
BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | How to take a holiday in Pakistan
Suicide bombs, battles in tribal areas, and states of emergency tend to put off casual tourists. But the impression such events convey can often be misleading and unrepresentative of a country as a whole.
Muslims, Anti-Muslims and the theatre of the absurd at Yahya Birt
Sometimes the best way to deal with a loudmouth (Martin Amis), nothwithstanding Terry Eagleton’s or Ronan Bennett’s valiant efforts, is to send him up. Chris Morris provides a masterclass here, noting striking similarities between Martin Amis and Abu Hamza. It really cheered me up: it will cheer you up too.
It’s salutary to note that the University of Manchester seems
to cashing in on the whole thing by hosting Amis and Ed Husain on
“Literature and Terrorism”
next Monday. (Presumably the novel idea here is to get the protagonists
to mostly agree with each other, for Amis’s
“horrorism” to find confirmation in a Muslim echo chamber.
I hope I am proved wrong.) Holding this event seems to isolate Eagleton
(Amis’s departmental colleague) or anyone else at the University who has taken a stand against those who can’t control those little urges to voice thought experiments
in “collective punishment”. Even the “good”
Muslims, delusional children who contend that their primitive faith
might approximate to true, rational, liberal values, can
be condescended to as useful-enough idiots against the jihadis, even if
one must put up with their “gobbledegook”. If some want to argue that the only really good Muslim is an ex-Muslim (i.e. only Ayaan Hirsi Ali has really got it right), then is it really any surprise that polling keeps showing that large numbers of Muslims think that the “war on terror” is “a war on Islam”?A sure sign of a hostile and prejudicial climate is the repeated claim that it doesn’t exist or even that being prejudiced is a badge of honour (because it doesn’t really exist).
ChangeThis :: Making the Most of Your Time: Going Beyond To-Do Lists
Rajesh Setty returns with a new set of suggestions for optimizing your abilities. He asserts that even though everyone is given only 24 hours in a day, the most successful people are those who make every minute count. Here, he tells you how project management, understanding your abilities, investing in relationships and making a difference are just some of the ways you can make the most of your time.Download the PDF manifesto to your hard drive.
Also by the author:
25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself
Mother Tongue Center - The Official Website
The Mother Tongue Center was established in Abu Dhabi in 2005 as a specialized center for teaching Arabic. It aims at raising the standard of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers from the experimental level to that of academic specialization.The Center’s Administration works diligently to achieve the Center’s vision and objectives to teach Arabic as a second language and promote a developed educational system specialized in teaching students, training instructors and developing curricula that meet the needs of the non Arabic-speaking students. The Center focuses on teaching the Classic Arabic Language, because it is the appropriate language for everyday life and is considered the official language in all Arab countries and the understandable and common language in the Arab World in culture, thought, media and politics…etc.
It really is not a new phenomenon. Islamophobia has been present since the beginning of the ministry of our beloved Prophet Muhammad . The twisting of our image became, perhaps, an academic discipline of its own during the Crusades. It is the same today but has simply evolved. In fact, the very same arguments against Islam used centuries ago have been rehashed, albeit in a more sophisticated packaging, across airwaves and in nearly every headline. The time has come for a new grassroots media, one that represents Muslims in America. Such a media will seek to illuminate the consciousness of the masses and to dispel misperceptions among the common people, otherwise unknowing to our faith. Without your support and sponsorship, independent Islamic media cannot be established, let alone exist. This is your opportunity to either lift your voice or help to lift the voices within the new media network.SPEAKERS
Zaid Shakir -
Scholar, Zaytuna Institute
Suhaib Webb w/ a special message-
Scholar, MAS
Souheila Al-Jadda -
Journalist & Peabody Award-winning
TV-producer, LinkTV
Hatem Bazian -
Professor - Near Eastern Studies, UC
Berkeley
Shahed Amanullah -
Founder & Editor-In-Chief, AltMuslim
Qari Amar Bellaha -
Teacher, North Star SchoolENTERTAINMENT
Preacher Moss -
Comedian, Allah Made Me Funny
$25($26.35
w/service fee)
Individual
Ticket
$35($36.90
w/service fee)
Individual
Ticket + 1-Yr Subscription
To Illume Magazine & complimentary
Nasheed album courtesy of
Meem Music.
The Case for Real Food - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog
Is there more to a carrot than beta carotene? Is lycopene the best we get from tomatoes? And when we heap our plates with salmon, are we serving up something other than omega-3s?For years the scientific community has viewed individual vitamins and nutrients as the best that food has to offer. Nutrition studies have isolated beta carotene, calcium, vitamin E and lycopene, among other nutrients, in order to study their health benefits in the body.
But now, after several vitamin studies have produced disappointing results, there’s a growing belief that food is more than just a sum of its nutrient parts.
NPR : Harvard for the Home-Schooled, Christian Crowd
For home-schooled students, Patrick Henry College in Loudon County, Va., is like Harvard University.Many high-achieving, home-schooled students have passed through Patrick Henry’s campus, which is meant to provide a network of connections for the rest of their lives — like Harvard or Stanford does for others. The conservative Christian college is known for attracting top students and arming them with religious training and an Ivy League-quality education.
‘Everybody is happy now’ | By genre | Guardian Unlimited Books
A world of genetically modified babies, boundless consumption, casual sex and drugs … How does Aldous Huxley’s vision of a totalitarian future stand up 75 years after Brave New World was first published, asks Margaret Atwood
Comment is free: Muslims and the media
Our newspapers regard Muslims, not as citizens with equal rights, but as visitors in ‘our’ country
An Example of Truly Excellent Service
I’m a happy owner of a Kensington Expert Mouse 7.0 trackball. It is considered the best trackball mouse–and arguably the best pointing device overall–in the market.
Being clumsy, I recently got the ball itself dented, which has made cursor movement a little awkward on occasion.
I submitted an email request to Kensington’s Support. Within minutes, I got the following as part of their response:
Dear FARAZ:
Thank you for contacting Kensington Technical Support.I understand your concern.
In this regard, I will send you a new model#64325 control ball at free of cost.
Please reply with your complete shipping address and daytime telephone number, with your area code. Be sure to include the apartment number, mailstop, or suite number, as well as your ZIP or Postal Code.
So besides making some excellent computer accessories, Kensington appear to have some top-notch service.
YouTube - Slow Food Nation: An Evening With Carlo Petrini
An excerpt: From Fast Food Nation To Slow Food Nation, Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International, speaks to us about his revolutionary ideas.
