Thursday, January 31, 2008

Gazans are HUMANS too!!

I am dumbfounded. I am speechless. I don't know what to say.

I can't believe the governments, especially democratic governments, still ALLOW a group of people to be "boxed" in because of their democratically elected government. This is a form of OPPRESSION against humanity.

For those who don't know exactly what I am talking about, I will give you the short version of the current conflict.

  • Hamas, a religious based party, was democratically elected(as stated by Jimmy Carter and other UN observers) to run the Palestinian territories. Fatah, who have been around for decades got piss*d. (Excuse my talk), protesting the elections. (Just to note, I don't publicly support Hamas or Fatah, I support the democratic process).
  • While Hamas and Fatah were fighting (and sometimes still are), Hamas told the Israeli government that they will not back down from their statements. Meantime, rockets hit parts of Israeli towns and area.
  • Israel and the Palestinian government broke off talks at least publicly off and on for now.
  • So to make a story short, Israeli government closed the borders of the Gaza territory in hopes the people will overthrow the Hamas government.
  • Gazans have stuck together for the most part. However, they have been low on supplies.
  • From so much pressure, some of the Palestinians blew open the border between Egypt and Gaza, and many Gazans walked over to Egypt to buy and purchase supplies and food.

So that is the current mess in short version. If you are interested in reading more about this, be sure to check out different sources of media (Arab and non Arab sources).

Gaza, stand strong, Inshallah (God-willing). You are a fighter, a role model in fighting oppression and occupation!

Friday, January 18, 2008

That Time of The Decade Again

I am not that well-versed in American politics but is it just me? Every time the year marks a time for change, i.e. elections, stories about Osama always pop up. This year though, it looks like it works negatively for the Republicans. They have always "revived" Osama when elections peeped from around the corner. I wonder what America's reaction is towards the interview with his son.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Salaam Ashura

Ashura is the 10th day of the New Year, where Muslims observe an optional fast. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) came to know that people of the Jewish faith observed Ashura by fasting on the day. Upon speaking to them, they related that Prophet Moses (blessings upon him) fasted upon Ashura. The Prophet (pbuh) then made a statement saying that Prophet Moses meant more to Muslims than Jews and instructed his followers to observe the Ashura fast.

Those who do observe the fast will help their smaller sins of the past year forgiven, insha'Allah, and will be able to start afresh for the new year.

Ashura also marks the martyrdom of Prophet's grandson, Husayn bin Ali (peace upon them all). In Husayn's valiant quests to promote and defend Islam throughout his life, it is even more befitting for Muslims to observe the fast. It reminds us of Husayn in all of his piety. Though some Muslims mourn his loss, many believe that Husayn and the other righteous relatives and friends of the Prophet (pbuh) would rather be remembered through forms of worship such as fasting and charitable events.

Ashura is not a celebration but a moment to reflect on the becoming of Islam and our own personal sacrifices we have made for the religion.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Sharlinie Nashar is Missing

If you have seen this five year old girl, please contact the numbers provided.

Police are suspecting that her abducter(s) is /are the same people who assualted and murdered Nurin Jazlin. You will see Sharlinie's (Nini) picture on Nurin's website. She is the little girl with short hair. The man you see next to her is the suspected perpetrator.

Please please please make du'a that Sharlinie's fate is not the same as Nurin's! Please make du'a for her family too - her elder sister has been traumatised by her abduction and her mother has not eaten in 3 days.

Friday, January 11, 2008

An Obvious Paradise

Masha'Allah, it was a beautiful video clip - A Land Called Paradise. I know many American Muslims wept when they watched it for the first time. I can imagine the strain of living under a magnifying glass being maligned just for choosing Islam as a way of life. Insha'Allah the video serves as a purpose for da'wa for both Muslims and nonMuslims.

One of my favourite messages was "I do not want to drink something that kills someone every 31 minutes." So far that is my favourite response to "so, why don't you drink and be merry? Why? Why? Why?" I'll keep that response in mind. Sometimes I know it is so obvious but sometimes, even being a Muslim in a Muslim majority country, it can be tough to answer. Maybe someone should come up with a video on what Majority Muslims wish to say. That would be interesting.
Speaking of the obvious, once upon a time, before I found out I could be potential carier of Mad Cow Disease, I was on the way to a Red Cross facility to donate blood. The bank was closed for the day, of all days, but they had not taken down the signange reading the terms and conditions for donations. It said:

"In order to donate blood,
(1) You must never have experimented in drug abuse,
(2) You must never have engaged in any adulterous relations,
(3) You must never have engaged in anal intercourse,
(4) You must never have engaged in homosexual relations."

Those were just a few conditions - I am pretty sure there were more - but the bottom line is: it is obvious why all of the above are clear prohibitions in the Qur'an.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

A Land Called Paradise

Here is a great video that explains the dreams and wishes of Muslims in the USA, and can be really be applied worldwide.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

USA Primary Elections

In the last elections, Muslim voters as a bloc, hoping that they had chosen the best candidate to run the U.S.

I have been doing an Internet search to find out who has the Muslims support--and so far I only saw one recent site: http://muslimsvoteronpaul.com/. If you know of other sites, please let me know. I will be glad to look at them.


Which candidates do you want to win? Why?

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Is Allah for Everyone?

Recently there has been an uproar about the use of the name "Allah" by Christian missionaries in Malaysia. Here is a basic lowdown on Malaysia's religious breakdown. Malays are known to be Muslims - they are born Muslims and do not convert out of Islam (this is what is stated in the mainstream media). A fraction of non-Malays, who are mostly Chinese and Indians, are Christians. The rest are Buddhists and Hindus respectively. I would say Christinaity has be spreading widely in Malaysia. We see the church doing alot of charity and social work that allow them to be the attractive choice of "way of life."
Recently they have requested to use the name "Allah" instead of "God" in their English publications.

The government (mainly Muslim) rejected their request in order to safeguard the sanctity of Allah's name, citing that it would not befit Allah Ta'ala to have association with the Church. I can't speak for the Muslim reaction but I would guess many would be bewildered as to why Christians would want to be associated with "Allah" in the first place. "They" worship God, we worship Allah.

When I first hear about this I thought, well the Arabic Bible is written in Arabic, and God is known as Allah. That was my first reaction, which stunned many. I guess not many people know that an Arabic bible exists let alone Christian Arabs exist. At the same time, I do feel worried that such gazetted Christian publications with the reference to God as Allah and Prophet Jesus (blessings upon him) as "son of Allah" would be misleading to Muslims who lack the opportunities to pursue a fulfilling education. By reading stories or publications with such references, children especially could easily interpret that what they were reading was a Muslim message.

I don't disagree with the missionaries using the name Allah. As for as I am concerned, Allah is the work for God in Arabic, and in actual fact, Muslims worship God and God alone. Sure, I do not believe that Allah has a son - and that is why I am not a Christian - and having said that, I also do not believe that God has a son - it is exactly the same thing. I understand that Muslims revere "Allah" in a way no other religion does, I do not deny that. At the same time however, the fact that these particular group of Christians are accepting the word "Allah" as God speaks for itself.

Muslims are often represented as worshippers of Allah the God of the Moon, Allah the Arabic God, Allah the God of Something or Another - and some other extremely hurtful and atrocious names and descriptions. Na'uzubillah. I feel somehow, this change acts as silent da'wa for Muslims. Could the Christian missionaries in the long run suddenly realise that the word Allah is a word for God that can never pluralised? Allah can never represent more than one deity, let alone 3. We will see, Allah knows best.

I think it is a good thing, that after some thought, the government reversed their decision, allowing the Church to substitute God for Allah. Allah knows best, Allah knows best. He Himself preserves his religion in ways we fail to imagine.

But for Muslims, especially those who are still learning to understand Islam as the complete way of life and have not studied other religions to understand their beliefs and practices, it is a call to wake up and learn to appreciate what Islam has to offer. I speak for myself too. I believe that if I had not known about the Arabic bible I would have strongly opposed such a request by the Church.
It is not fair to blame others when brothers and sisters leave the faith. Christianity and Judaism share more similarities to Islam than differences - and we should know of both of them. There are plenty of honourable references to Christians and Jews in the Qur'an as the People of the Book.
We will see how this unravels - I am sure this has happened in other countries - the word Allah being used in other religions. If there are, let us know, it would be interesting to see how Muslims around the world react to changes like this.