How to learn from your mistakes - scottberkun.com

Learning from mistakes requires three things:

1. Putting yourself in situations where you can make interesting mistakes
2. Having the self-confidence to admit to them
3. Being courageous about making changes

Watch/Listen: Shaykh Hussary - Surat al-Hujurat - Qura’ Al-Quran :: qquran.com

Or: download.

Arberry’s Translation of Surat al-Hujurat 

XLIX    APARTMENTS

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

49:1 O believers, advance not before God and His Messenger; and fear God. God is All-hearing, All-knowing.

O believers, raise not your voices above the Prophet’s voice, and be not loud in your speech to him, as you are loud one to another, lest your works fail while you are not aware. Surely those who lower their voices in the presence of God’s Messenger, those are they whose hearts God has tested for godfearing; they shall have forgiveness and a mighty wage. Surely those who call unto thee from behind the apartments, the most of them do not understand.
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Riot control ray gun worries scientists | CNET News.com

About Shakespeare’s Love Sonnets

‘Don’t Get Angry’: A Little Fiqh of Anger & Acquiring Good Character

Giving Political Islam a Chance - Guardian - Qays Blog/Site (well worth visiting)

Of course, the question remains about how "Islamic" much of political Islam’s dicourse and methods are. Let’s say they establish their goal of an "Islamic state" in some country. Then what?…

The call of Prophets, the scholars, and the righteous was to Allah and the way of His Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace)–not to anything worldly, however ‘noble’–and they were clear that worldly matters are means to this end… As for these "movements"–which are only "movements" metaphorically speaking, because they really don’t seem to be doing anywhere significant–their worldly goals cloud or even blind the true goal…

Minor Wisdom: 5-second lesson, expanded to 2 minutes

Something I learned from Ed Good’s A Grammar Book for You and I … Oops, Me! is that avoiding wordiness is a science, not an art: the science is grammar. The key to reducing wordiness is to convert clauses into phrases, and to convert phrases into single words. You do this by analyzing the clause or phrase grammatically, determine how it functions in the sentence, and replacing it with a less wordy substitute.

Opinion: A Cold Wind from Rome - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

The argument between the Vatican and Israel is a nasty step back to the days of animosity between Judaism and Christianity. All the trust between the religions which John Paul II spent two decades building up, is now being shattered by his successor.

Project Syndicate

The word “terrorism” now appears in law books around the world and is gaining new legislative adoptions.  Various civil sanctions apply to “terrorist organizations.” It can be a crime to assist a terrorist organization. 

But it is sometimes hard to determine who “they” – the terrorists – are.  Whether organizations are terrorist or not is largely an administrative determination motivated by politics.  Politically divided, the UN repeatedly passes resolutions against terrorism but cannot agree on how to define the term.

Images of Egyptian Workers in Jordan - Chimping

… the construction site is opposite my house…

Download Squad

What’s the big deal? See:

The Next Big Thing in Online Type…

NPR : U.S. Muslim Scholars Issue Edict Against Terrorism

Book Reviews - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Reading this right now… and thoroughly enjoying it…

See also:

* Review of The Curious Incident of the Dog… at American Journal of Psychiatry

* Audio: NPR profiles author Mark Haddon, whose novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time features a 15-year-old math whiz with Asperger’s Syndrome who tries to discover who killed a dog with a garden fork.

IslamOnline - Views Section The British Media: Fair or Biased?

Think Progress » Tancredo’s Slap on the Wrist

QUESTION: Representative Tom Tancredo recently suggested that taking out Muslim holy sites might be a good way to fight terrorism. Now, his statement has been showing up in newspapers throughout the Muslim world. Will the White House ask Mr. Tancredo to apologize and retract his statement as it did with Senator Durbin?

MCCLELLAN: Yes, I think the State Department actually addressed this issue right at the time and they expressed the views of the administration. The president has made very clear that it Islam is a religion that teaches peace and that it is a proud and great religion. And he stated his views on it.

Science in Arab Media - Islam Online- Health & Science

Science issues rarely appear in Arab media. When they do, they are either too sensational to be scientific or too scientific to be attractive to general audiences….

Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media | The Religious Roots of American Democracy

Crooks and Liars

Tancredo was on H&C last night to try and defend his idiotic and very dangerous statements about bombing Muslim holy sites as a possible deterrent against Islamic extremists.

Includes video of Tancredo (Colorado Congressman) defending his comments…

Tancredo to Meet With “Moderate” Muslim Groups

.:. Audio: Allah Allah Allah Ya Mawlana - Sharibna `ala Dhikr al-Habibi Mudamatan - Sayyid Furqan Qadri with Sidi Owais Qadri, singing Ibn al-Farid…

Lines from Ibn al-Farid (Allah be pleased with him),

"We drank in the Remembrance of the Beloved an inebriating wine
Our intoxication was from before the creation of grapes."

This wine the Sufis talk about is a "pure, life-giving wine" of spiritual meanings, not the worldly wine. They use this term because of the state of resultant ecstasy and spiritual joy.

How Much Should I Love the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace)?

… and, no, I didn’t give myself that title. (hrmph) 

Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Howard Jacobson on the lack of irresponsibility in modern fiction

Islamic Banking—Riba

The password for all the files is Nyazee.

1. The Judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the Prohibition of Riba
The full text of the judgment in zip format containing a pdf file (Download file: 2.2MB)

2. Text written or translated by Imran A. Nyazee
a. The Concept of Riba and Islamic Banking by Imran A. Nyazee (Download file: 800KB)
b. The Theory of Prohibited Riba by Zaki al-Din Badawi, translated by Imran A. Nyazee (Download file: 1.4MB)
c. The Rules and Definition of Riba by Imran A. Nyazee (Download file: 274KB)
d. Al-Jassas on Riba (excerpts) translated by Imran A. Nyazee (Download file: 218KB)
e. Al-Sarkhsi on Riba (excerpts) translation Imran A. Nyazee (Download file: 238KB)

The Times Online guest contributor’s Opinion: Hijabs, beards and Taleban-style clothing…

Some Muslims also use al-Qaeda and Taleban-style clothing to advertise their Salafi sentiments. For men this consists of a long shirt and baggy trousers, known as the khaksari (down-to-earth) style and first popularised by Abu Ala al-Maudoodi, the ideological godfather of Islamist terrorism. Muslims who wear such clothes in the belief that it shows their piety, in most cases, are unwittingly giving succour to a brand of Islamist extremism.

 What a bunch of nonsense. All sorts of Muslims wear all sorts of clothing, all over the world. We should stand up and protest this kind of vilification.

Islamica Magazine

Islamic Magazine’s site has been re-launced. The magazine’s articles are available online, and there is a full online edition available too…

I’d highly recommend subscribing to this excellent publication…

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Counting on the Caterpillar

It’s said to have sold a copy for every minute it’s been in publication and now the film rights have been sold for a seven-figure sum. So what sets The Very Hungry Caterpillar apart from the thousands of other charming children’s books?