We used to be ashamed of a brawl in our National Assembly during Benazir's time (if I remember well), but it seems to happen everywhere from East to West to South...
South Korean: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7695329.stm
Czech*: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7695064.stm
Bolivian: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7695263.stm
Even in Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7718596.stm
* Must see
Today we got a new nephew. In my brother's family, my sister-in-law has given birth to a baby boy. Both the mother and child are in good health with the Grace of God.
50:33 "Who feared (Allah) Most Gracious Unseen, and brought a heart turned in devotion (to Him):
But the acceleration of the spores still puts them in a class of their own. "One minute they're standing still on a cow pie, and a millionth of a second later they are travelling at 25 metres per second," said Money.
His colleagues measured accelerations up to 180,000 g – the fastest airborne acceleration seen in the living world. In comparison, a jumping antelope accelerates at 1.6 g, astronauts experience maximum acceleration of less than 4 g during a Space Shuttle launch, and fleas accelerate at 200 g. Jellyfish stingers are fired at 40,000 g in water.
"The fastest spores travelled more than 1 million times their own 'body' length in one second," says Money. "A 1.8-metre human travelling at 1 million times his or her body length in one second would be travelling at a velocity of 1.8 million meters per second, which is more than 5000 times the speed of sound.
If you want your dreams come true, you have to wake up.
On Sunday August 31st 2008, I went to my local masjid (CIC-Anselm Lavigne) for Maghrib prayer (sunset). I went a bit early since I wanted to see the crescent. I was moving to different spots outside the masjid to catch a glimpse, and finally I was able to see... It was a thin shiny object on the western horizon, not too high, but enough to be seen over some far away trees. It should easily be seen around Montreal as the sky exceptionally clear without a speck of cloud in any direction. Or so I thought...
As I was doing the du'aa of seeing the new moon, some people came to the masjid. I tried to show it to them but by that time the moon disappeared. So is the life of a new moon.
By the time I finished the Maghrib prayer, it was known to brother M. Khan and other people that I saw the moon. They confirmed with me, and I told them exactly what happened. The moon was so clear that I did not have any doubt over it and was able to be a witness. There was another man in the masjid who saw the moon too: including him, we were the only two in the masjid. Br. Khan called Sheikh ElManyawi and told him about it. Ramadan had officially begun for me and our masjid, MCM (Muslim Council of Montreal) took our witness and announce the beginning to Ramadan.
Things became more interesting when I got a call from br. Khan around midnight after I was back from Tarawih prayers. He told me that no one else reported seeing the moon throughout Montreal. He told me that there were some rumours that I backed down from the witness (!!) Don't know how people come up with such things.
Later on a friend asked me if I 'was the one who saw the moon'? He was not present in the masjid, but still the news had spread like wildfire. He told me that people in Toronto were also told about my witness... There were speculating and perhaps waiting for some other witnesses from Toronto itself.
When I talked to br. Khan, he told me that I was the only one, besides that one man, who saw the moon in the whole city of Montreal and my witness was the one the city started the Ramadan this year!
Alhamdolillah... for He gave me this honour. I wish everyone in Montreal have a great Ramadan and I hope that I get a share of everyone's good deeds during this month, inshaAllah. :)
Ramadan Mubarak!
Earlier this year, I was visiting Germany. On one weekend, my friends and I planned to go to Vienna in Austria. After 6 hours of drive from a town near Heidelberg, we reached Vienna late in the evening. There I met other friends whom my friends from Germany knew since before. It took no time for us to become friends. We toured the city throughout the next day, seeing buildings from Medieval times and Renaissance.
In the evening, when hunger was on its peak, I was looking for some place where we could have dinner. But my friends had a different plan: We were going to see the "dormitory" and would have dinner there.
At first I did not understand where exactly they wanted to go. Why dormitory? Which dormitory? And how come we would have food there?
After a not-so-long drive from Zentrum, we arrived at the 'dormitory'. It was a 4-storey building of contemporary style similar to the buildings around it. As we entered the building, we went to upper floor. The stairs opened in a big hall with more than a hundred young people in it. That obviously looked like a college cafeteria.
I was told that the food was halal, so I took all that was offered. It was a simple meal with goat-stomach soup (a Turkish delicacy), pasta, gravy and generous amount of salad. I was still not sure exactly what place was that. There we met many friends and friend's friends, all very welcoming. They were students of science, arts, history and political science. Most of them were studying in University of Vienna. There was another thing in common in those students; they all graduated from Imam Hatip schools (a school system in Turkey where they learn Islamic Sciences besides other subjects).
After the sumptuous dinner, they took us to a tour of the 'dormitory' . It turned out to me only then that it was not just a dormitory, but a community center for international students from Turkey. The institute was impressive to say the least... The name of this center was WONDER. A befitting name indeed!
We started the tour of Wonder from the basement floor where they had a nice prayer space (masjid). With ornate carpets and walled tiles of beautiful Islamic art, the masjid was a necessary component of this organization for Muslim students. It was spacious enough to accommodate around 200 people.
Wonder not only provides necessary facilities to students like halal food and accommodation, it also gives them the environment to continuously learn. There are many research groups in the premises of the institute, which cover a wide array of subjects from language to political science and from history to health. We went to the floor where they have offices for these research groups. The offices were all well organized. There were many conference rooms that give decent setting for research groups to hold discussions and even conferences. The language institute also had designated class rooms where they offer courses to learn English, German and Arabic.
The institute is also home to a youth radio station named Radio Tuna. They broadcast online and live from this premises. Their programs are in Turkish and German languages.
In one section of the building there was a library. It has a big collection of books with quiet ambience and comfortable furniture for students to study. The library also gives internet access to students with WiFi and PC terminals. Over there I got hold of a magazine published by Wonder's community. The name of the magazine is Magrib, or The West. Although in Turkish language, I could see that the quality of the magazine was impressive and it covers a range of subjects relevant to Turkish Muslim community living in West. The institute has also its own bulletin simultaneously in Turkish and German.
It was already late in the evening and the tour of the institute was not over. So we deferred the rest of the tour to the next morning. My curiosity and interest were only amplified after visiting this place and I wanted to continue seeing the rest of the facilities in the institute.
The next morning we continued our tour, this time checking out the outer portion of the building. To my amazement, the institute had a huge gymnasium. That morning it was being turned into a convention hall for school's award distribution ceremony. A new coffee and snack bar was under construction just outside the gymnasium. The main building has access to the dormitory and most students use it to conveniently access the facilities the main building houses. In the end of the tour, a friend played a beautiful tune on Turkish flute, Nayy. That was a real treat at the end of our tour.
My visit to Vienna was short, but in that I made many new friendships, saw a beautiful city, and experienced Turkish culture. Organizations like Wonder give a great positive growing environment for the Muslim youth, especially those living in the West. Vienna might be famous for its past, but to me, it will always remind me of the hope of a wonderful future.
Canadian Parliament made a historic (and heroic) gesture, by apologizing to the Native Americans (First Nations) for centuries of atrocities made to them.
http://news.aol.ca/article/Residential-School-Victims-Await-Apology/255153/
I think this is a graceful act. People of First Nations suffered heavily when the newly arrived European settlers (English and French), drunk in arrogance, persecuted people of First Nations.
One example of this persecution is taking the children away from these people and putting them to missionary schools and forcing then to learn English or French and become Christian. This is nothing short of a cultural genocide.
Congratulations to people of First Nations on achieving this apology from Prime Minister himself.
Today, June 11, 2008 has proved to be a landmark day for me.
First, I have completed my 1095 days living in Canada. For those who know why is this number important, will understand why this is an important day. I, and many people related to me, have been patiently waiting for these 1095 days to complete. Today is the day!
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, today I realized what came first as a dream to me: starting a Toastmasters club in my company. I remember when this idea came to my mind, I told about it to a Toastmaster-turned-colleague of mine (has long left the company for greener pastures to far West). He said what most of us fear: public-speaking in front of people you know and work with??!! Not a good idea! Although I was not completely taken by this fear, it remained in me to this day. After so much effort convincing our HR and coordinating with TM expert, I was still questioning myself: what have I done?! Can I really do it? Should I do it?! I am going to change my image forever in front of those people. They might hate me, might ridicule me, might envy me, might blame me... and if nothing, will bombard me with questions. But it was too late. The moment had arrived when we were ready to kick-off a club.
The demonstration meeting started smoothly, thanks to experienced Toastmasters. One colleague who is a member (inactive) of my home-club at university volunteered to participate... it was like having someone to share my burden. I cant be thankful enough to him. Anyway, the meeting started and soon my name came up and I had to stand from my seat... a moment of rising from obscurity! Throughout the meeting I was asked to speak up in front of the group of about 40 people.
Despite what was going on inside me, the meeting went very well. One single testimonial of this is that, almost 70% of people who attended decided to join. Not only that, when they were asked to volunteer for officer roles, they showed great enthusiasm and put themselves up for difficult roles like VP PR and VP Membership. One of them dared to be VP Education (fortunately, he is already a friend and someone I can trust). That was extremely encouraging and beyond my expectations. At the end of the meeting, we were successfully able to charter the club having recruited 20+ members and candidates for essential officer roles. Triumph!
I am thrown far from my comfort zone in my company. Although uncomfortable, I know one thing for sure: I am being prepared for something bigger. I dont know exactly what it is or will be, but am confident that it will be for my good. This was one dream coming true. But I have many. So I am just waiting for right time and opportunities to knock at my door. I hope I will be awake to answer them. Insha'Allah.
1. What are you really thinking about today?
"As you think, so shall you become."
2. Simplify.
"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."
"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."
3. Learn about yourself in interactions.
"To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person."
4. Do not divide.
"Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against."
5. Avoid a dependency on validation from others.
"I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine."
"Showing off is the fool's idea of glory."
6. Be proactive.
"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities."
7. Be you.
"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it."
Courtesy: http://www.43folders.com/
God spare me from the desire of wanting love, appreciation or approval.Byron Katie - http://www.thework.com/
Amen.
This weekend was a big one in many world religions.
For Muslims it was Eid Miladun Nabi (birthday of the Prophet p.b.u.h.), for Christians it was Easter, for Jews it was Purim, for Hindus it was Holi, for Persians it was Naoroze, for Sikhs it was Hola Mohalla, for Nature Worshippers (e.g. Japanese) it was Vernal Equinox.
So I wish you a Happyyyy.... whatever!! :)
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