Random thought

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to criticise someone when they're not around? How easy it is to fault someone and talk about them badly on the internet? You would say things about them that you would never say to them face to face. I think its hypocritical behaviour to be like that.

One thing that i heard about the Arabs of old was that they wore their hearts on their sleeves. That if they liked you, they showed you that they liked you, and if they hated your guts, they made it clear to you, that they hated your guts.

Nowadays it seems the opposite sometimes. People will criticise others behind their backs, but when that person is around, its all smiles and "masha'Allahs" and "alhumdulillahs."

And another strange type of behaviour that some people exhibit is that when they have a problem with someone, they mention this to everyone under the sun except bring it up with the person they have a problem with?!

Why not go direct to the source and try to resolve the problem there?

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There is a great tool for widgets here

Conspiracy theory

Did anyone watch Panorama last night? I thought the first half was rubbish, and i thought that the second half was bad for the MCB because of a failure to call a spade a spade, and some inconsistency in their positions.

When the journalist went on and on about the issue of non-Muslims being called "kafirs" - i don't understand why Sacranie didn't just say "yeah, thats what we believe." I mean, from the Muslim point of view, the Pope is a kafir, and from the Xtian point of view, i'm a kafir. Simple as that really.

Anyhow, i'm a bit worried by the level of Saudi/Wahabi/Salafi bashing going on from both within our community and from outside (e.g. the media and middle east "experts"). Have you noticed that right-wing thinktanks and various experts are promoting strands of Islam (notably Sufism) as the moderate voice of Islam - think RAND corporation's recent report, and also, that the media keep calling Sufism, traditional Islam.

So hang on. Why are RAND promoting sufi speakers?

How come that those who are regularly being prosecuted by governments such as Britain and the US are followers of "Wahabi/Salafi" Islam?

Now, its not exactly a principled approach to say that there is something dodgy about Sufism just because it is being by those who championed the Iraq war. But it does make for an interesting conspiracy theory.

Any thoughts?

The awqaf

You know what would be great? It would be great if we could start up endowments (awqaaf) for Islamic projects. A waqf could be something like a house or a flat which is gifted to a mosque or an institution and which provides a steady stream of income from the rent thats generated. It doesn't need to be a house - it could be a service - just something to generate income.

The reason why i mention this is the slight annoyance that whenever an Islamic project needs to be run raising finances is a huge issue, and we have to go around, cap in hand, begging people to chip in. It would just be great.

I wonder if it would be allowed to have a sum of money which is invested in stocks as an endowment? The only thing is that if it weren't invested wisely, the money might all be lost.

Before you go, have a look at this important article written by a brother named Amir Butler here. Its relevant mainly to people in the UK where the legislation against incitement to religious hatred is current news because it discusses the negative effect it had for Muslims when it was made law down under.

Finally did it

I asked my broadband provider to cut me off.

The last straw was last night. I got home and spent three hours mindlessly surfing. What a waste!? How can anything be achieved with time wastage like that?

Even though it might be a bit of an inconvenience not being able to just log on and look for info, i'm looking forward to "free" evenings.

On another note, i took a big rucksack with me into work today, and i was quite surprised to note that i hardly attracted any attention. I took both the bus and the train, and didn't experience any of what others have reported like stares from passengers, or people changing seats to get further away from me. Perhaps things are back to normal for most Londoners.

Muslim Social Services

Arshad i took a snap off this Dilbert strip because it reminded me of how they treated you at your old work place :D

The other night i went to an event where Sh. Abdullah Hakim Quick was talking, but there was also a showcase of a number of Muslim social services groups: Sakinah, Muslim women's helpline, As-Sulh was-Salaam, Muslim Youth Helpline & the Muslim Mediation Service.

I was really impressed by some of the presentations, and its good to see that the community has dedicated and professional people there to help try and solve some of the wack situations that are occurring within our community. Some of the stuff they mentioned was shocking: rape, homosexuality, depressions, all sorts.

But they are in desperate need of funding. I'll post up the links to their sites shortly, insha'Allah, so if you have any cash to spare, please send it the way of one of these worthy organisations.

Ahmed deedat passes away

The sad news is that just a few days after as-Sayyida Zainab al-Ghazali passed away, today there is news of another very influential da'ee having left us:

http://www.ahmed-deedat.co.za/frameset.asp

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BUILDING THE SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF OUR COMMUNITY

with Shaykh Abdullah Hakim Quick, Ustadh Shabir Ally & Dr Jamal Badawi

Date: Wednesday 10th August 2005
Time: 5.30 pm - 9.00 pm
Venue: Froud Centre, 1 Toronto Avenue, off Romford Road, Manor Park,
London, E12 5JF

Abdullah Hakim Quick

I went to a talk by Sh. Abdullah Hakim Quick earlier tonight. He's one of my favourite speakers since the first time i saw him almost 10 years ago. He always relates Islam to modern life and the challenges we face - especially those faced by Muslims in the West.

Anyhow, i don't have much time, but the main event with him and other speakers will be at Regents Park Mosque this coming Saturday and the event will start at 2pm, insha'Allah.

Be there!

Double standards? Never!

About a month or so ago a sotry hit the headlines in Denmark when one Muslim man killed another. That wasn't the source of the controversy though: (in a nutshell) the controversy came from the fact that the the murderer's family approached an Imam who after discussing the situation with them said that they should pay the blood money to the murdered man's family.

There was a major outcry against this. Why were these Muslims side-stepping the Danish judicial system? Blood money?! What a medieval law!

hmmm...