FrontPage magazine.com :: Ms. Jihad U by Joe Kaufman

MSA, ISNA, CAIR, and even SunniPath are “filled with hate and violence,” and a committed, intelligent Muslim sister is accused of basically being Bin Laden-ish in her outlook.

This is upsetting because there are dangerous, terrorist-types out there. If we fail to think clearly, and to know friend from foe, innocent from criminal, then we are doomed to fail in our quest for peace and security. And we’re going to make things much worse.

May sanity prevail.

TheStar.com - U of T Muslim association turns 40

As the sun passed its high point over the University of Toronto, Muslim student Mobashsher Khan had to find somewhere to pray.

It was 1969, back when Toronto had no downtown mosque and only a few thousand Muslims, and this new PhD student from India had to figure out where he could perform the Friday midday prayer required of faithful Muslims.

To his surprise, he didn’t have to go far….

Sunni Sister: Blahg Blahg Blahg » Blog Archive » Obedience is Not a Dirty Word for Muslims

… and submission of the will to His is not a group of meaningless words to describe this diyn to others. Engaged, meaningful surrender to Him, the Lord of the Worlds… Allah! Is there any among us who doesn’t want this?

Wired 14.04: Geekonomics

What if everything in life were free? You’d think we’d be happier. But game designers know better: We’d be bored….

Wired News: Global Warming: Be Very Afraid

According to Oklahoma Sen. James M. Inhofe, the threat of global climate change is the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” Yet when Elizabeth Kolbert, a staff writer for The New Yorker, surveyed the world’s leading climate scientists, she discovered an alarming unanimity to their message: The world needs to wake up, and fast… [read more, please]

A messy desk messes with your career - Lifehacker

…. a messy desk at the office can give off a bad impression and negatively affect your career. Her[e are] suggested techniques for keeping things clean and clear…

kucing kembar di kampung orang - Kissing the walls of Layla

I pass by these walls, the walls of Layla

And I kiss this wall and that wall

It’s not Love of the houses that has taken my heart

But of the One who dwells in those houses

(from Loss of Meaning, Faraz Rabbani, Islamica Magazine No. 15/2006)

The Marketplace of Perceptions

Behavioral economics explains why we procrastinate, buy, borrow, and grab chocolate on the spur of the moment.

The
signs of hypocrites are seven

As
transmitted from the Best of Creation

If
they speak, they aren’t true; and fail their promises

If
trusted, they cheat and harm

They
pray [Asr] when the sun is setting

And
they hate those to assist and support the Prophet

They
leave going to Friday prayer three
times,

And if you argue with them they are rude.

[Quoted by Ajluni in Kashf al-Khafa’, 1.21-22]

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Imperial overreach is accelerating the global decline of America

The disastrous foreign policies of the US have left it more isolated than ever, and China is standing by to take over

Dubai’s dark side - 360east | design, media, technology

I’ve been discussing this very subject with my friend the Desert Pundit
during my trip to Dubai last week. Dubai’s super capitalism and
unbelievable growth has a human cost. It’s an underreported
story. But now it’s starting to bubble up to the surface, as in
The Independent story…

Islam Online- Netherlands Defends Muslim Student Handshake Refusal

The Dutch Commission for Equal Treatment censured on Monday, March 27, an education center for discriminating against a Muslim student for refusing to shake hands with male colleagues.

“Every school has the duty to be free of discrimination and treat men and women equally. This duty extends to individual students who refuse physical contact on religious grounds,” the government-funded commission said…

Splitting Islam - A Shi’ite-Sunni strategy for surviving the War on Terror

…. The time has come to think about this threat in a new way—or perhaps in a way that is actually rather old—similar to the way that the United States dealt with the last global ideological threat, the international communist movement of half a century ago.

By analogy with strategies used by the United States against the global communist threat during the Cold War, we may be able to discern some possible strategies to divide and diminish the global Islamist threat of today. These splitting strategies are based upon different divisions that are found within the Muslim world, particularly (1) moderate Muslims versus extremist Islamists a

Things you don’t see every day …: The Top 18 Skylines in the World

All urban “life” begins and ends, each day and night under the watch of the city’s tallest skyscrapers and most grand architectural structures. So kick back and appreciate the view that they have to offer…

IKEA billionaire founder proud to be frugal at 80| Reuters.co.uk

IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, ranked 4th richest man in the world, drives a 15-year-old car and always flies economy class, in part to inspire his 90,000 employees worldwide to see the virtue of frugality.

Windows Is So Slow, but Why? - New York Times

This NYT article asks some scathing questions, and suggests some strong reasons…

BBC NEWS | Europe | Italian women shun ‘mamma’ role

EU states are trying to understand why the birth rate is falling - and if anything can be done to stem the decline. All this week, the BBC News website is asking women in various countries about how they feel about being asked to have more babies, and how easy or difficult they find combining motherhood and work.

Here, the BBC’s Rome correspondent Christian Fraser asks why Italy - a predominantly Roman Catholic country that has always loved children - has stopped having them.

Amman: Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba I-X

Great pictures and interesting narrative… [read/see more]

• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba II
• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba III
• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba IV
• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba V
• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba VI
• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba VII
• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba VIII
• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba IX
• Trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba X

Translation: Is the Whole World Watching? - New York Times

HOW you see something,” said Nigel Parsons, the managing
director of Al Jazeera International, “depends very much on where
you’re sitting.”

Those words could well serve as the manifesto for the channel, the
English-language offspring of the polarizing pan-Arab network, which
will make its debut in more than 40 million households in late May.

Musharraf’s own goals Irfan Husain - openDemocracy

One would have thought that being a soldier as well as president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf would avoid opening multiple fronts, and create alliances rather than making new enemies.

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | If distributed processing can search for aliens, why not web pages?

Inspired by projects that harness spare time on PCs, one programmer wants to hand back control of internet searching to users

MoorishGirl: Sexy Sheikhs

Over at the Guardian, Brian Whitaker wonders about the bizarre and continuing appeal of “desert sheikh” romance novels:

Islamic Activism Sweeps Saudi Arabia

More than a dozen women in black cloaks, some with colorful head scarves, others with only their eyes visible through slits in black veils, filed into the dining room after sunset prayers. They sat around a long table set up with paper, pencils and thermoses of Arabic coffee, across from a small group of men, including that evening’s guest, Sadeg al-Malki.

Nature mag cooked Wikipedia study | The Register

Nature magazine has some tough questions to answer after it let its Wikipedia fetish get the better of its responsibilities to reporting science. The Encyclopedia Britannica has published a devastating response to Nature’s December comparison of Wikipedia and Britannica, and accuses the journal of misrepresenting its own evidence.

Pornography in Marriage
Answered by Ustadha Zaynab Ansari

Comment is free: Style and substance

Shabina Begum should be allowed to wear what she wants, but is wrong to suggest Muslim women must wear the jilbab.

Forbes’ 20 most important tools of all time - Lifehacker

Forbes chooses the 20 most important tools of all time, the gadgets
and utensils “that have most impacted human civilization and
helped move the course of history.”

The knife is number one on the list, which also includes the abacus,
eyeglasses, the pencil and the telescope. Surprisingly, duct tape did not make the list, but Forbes did honor the versatile sticky stuff that cures warts and makes wallets in its very own article.

A false smile can be hazardous to your health - Lifehacker

A german study suggests that “enforced jolliness on the job” isn’t good for you.

Islam Online- News Section

“What do you know about the Holocaust? Define Israel’s right to exist? Are you offended when you see two homos kissing one another?”…etc. These are some of the questions in a racy test would-be immigrants in Germany may have to sit in for, also including watching sex scenes.

Time magazine: multitasking is bad for you

The cover story in Time magazine this week, entitled “Too Wired For Their Own Good?”, condemns the youth of the nation as gadget-obsessed, perennially multitasking, social failures who can’t really get into anything important or even relax. The article brings up example upon example of dysfunctional teenagers and their equally disjointed families.

The fuqaha’ say: Means take the ruling of ends.
Traditionally, reformist fuqaha would keep in mind that: When means become ends, they become blameworthy.

Law and disorder in France Patrice de Beer - openDemocracy

The mass protests in France against reform of the labour market reflect a political system choked by regulation, says Patrice de Beer.

Fools are Wiser: What the Fiqh?

Fiqh is not merely a question of picking up rulings recorded in old texts and throwing them down on new realities. Rather, the application of fiqh, especially on more sophisticated matters, requires a sophisticated understanding of the texts of the fuqaha, as well as the primary sources, the general foundational principles and goals of the Shariah, and, very importantly, the time, place, and people the fiqh will affect. This is why fuqaha such as Imam al-Haskafi stated that, “Whoever does not understand the people of his times is ignorant.” (Durr al-Mukhtar, 1: 47)

[Apparently, I said that. I think I did.]

Akram’s Razor - Svend White’s blog on Islam, Muslims & America: The open secret of Israel’s influence in Washington

Two researchers at elite American universities have caused a controversy by saying what everybody in Washington who follows Mideast policy already knows: The influence of the hardline pro-Israel lobby [sic–I don’t accept that these entities often cynical efforts really serve Israel’s true, long-term interests.] distorts US policy and manipulates Americans into mistaking Israel’s interests to always be synonymous with those of their own nation.

Habib Ali al-Jifri in Denmark — Guidance Media [video - download]

An excellent documentary from our dear brothers at Guidance Media.
Features Sidi Abdul-Rehman Malik (contributing editor of Q-News and a dear, old friend) who gives some excellent, insightful commentary on Habib Ali al-Jifri’s dialogue tour.

Some brothers and I met with Habib Ali last Friday in Abu Dhabi, and he was very happy with this trip. His words and actions are a living example of how our scholars and saints call to the truth. May Allah make us of its people.

Details of Habib Ali’ al-Jifri’s Denmark trip (in Arabic, with pictures)

Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms? - New York Times

Although the nation’s law schools for years have been graduating classes that are almost evenly split between men and women, and although firms are absorbing new associates in numbers that largely reflect that balance, something unusual happens to most women after they begin to climb into the upper tiers of law firms. They disappear.

Al-Tarf: Burial site of Nabi Harun

[more images]

Africa’s New Ocean: A Continent Splits Apart - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Normally new rivers, seas and mountains are born in slow motion. The Afar Triangle near the Horn of Africa is another story. A new ocean is forming there with staggering speed — at least by geological standards. Africa will eventually lose its horn.

News-Leader.com | Amish neighbors take just one day to rebuild home

Family members survive devastation unscathed, but house came crashing down around them.

A challenge to European Christians

The rise of Islam in traditionally Christian Europe coincides with a rise in Germans searching for their cultural roots.

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Latin America and Asia are at last breaking free of Washington’s grip

The US-dominated world order is being challenged by a new spirit of independence in the global south

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Invisible city

Chongqing is the fastest-growing urban centre on the planet. Its population is already bigger than that of Peru or Iraq, with half a million more arriving every year in search of a better life. And yet so frequently is this story repeated in China, that outside the country its name barely registers. Jonathan Watts spends 24 hours in the megalopolis you’ve never heard of

SunniPath Answers (http://qa.sunnipath.com):

Beard & Parents & following another madhhab

I'’m an Indian Muslim. While studying in
America, I started keeping a beard, and grew it to a sunna fist-length,
and have kept it since (Alhamdulillahi) However, since I'’ve returned to Hyderabad, my father is firmly
insistent that I shorten (trim, not shave) my beard in order to be more
socially and work-wise acceptable. My father considers my obeying him
from a son’’s duty towards his parents, and is insistent. Now: I understand that in the Hanafi school it is wajib. Thus, would
it be sinful to trim my beard–following the Shafi`i school that says
doing so is not sinful (and the other schools, too, from what I
understand)? I'’m very stressed by this, as this is in every conversation with my
father, and he is very grieved by all of this. He even ascribes his
past and current illness to my full beard. I try to be a dutiful son, so all this is saddening me. To what
extent is a full beard more important than a loving parent’’s hurt
feelings?

Local scholars (and other Hanafis from the Pakistan as well) have
simply stated that the beard is wajib and can'’t be trimmed–but I
should remain polite with my father.What do I do? Do I keep my beard full, or trim (intending to follow the Shafi`i position)?

Read answer

YouTube - 20/20 Stupid in America

20-20 investigation by John Stossel entitled “Stupid in America” highlighting some of the flaws with the education system in the United States.

Pat Robertson: Muslims are Satanic - vSocial The Video Clip Sharing Community

Pat Robertson doing no good for the world again, this time calling muslims demonic, satanic and other critisims of Islam.

Hate attacks rock campus - News

The conflict between Muslim and anti-Islamic factions on campus escalated to physical violence last week, when what appears to be a series of anti-Islamic attacks took place on campus, including the assault on Tuesday of a female Muslim student at Hart House.

BBC NEWS | Business | Ports saga ‘could hurt US firms’

A senior US government official has warned of serious economic consequences if the US sends the wrong signals about foreign investment in the country.

Big Picture | Prabhu Guptara

Professor Prabhu Guptara is Executive Director, Organisation Development, of Wolfsberg - the Platform for Executive and Business Development (a wholly-owned subsidiary of UBS), in Switzerland.

Prabhu Guptara talks about how the charging of interest exacerbates the difference between the rich and poor. The technical term for this is usury – usually understood to mean the charging of excessive rates of interest by loan sharks. Traditionally, however, the term meant the lending of money at any rate of interest, high or low. The practice was forbidden by most major religions and by many societies and cultures throughout history and with good reason, Guptara says. It widens the wealth gap, encourages growth without regard for environmental consequences and creates a culture of short term investor commitment.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | New ‘cold war’ looms with Iran

The United States is developing the concept of a “cold war” with Iran.

Postcard from Beijing: “Our Social System Is Inadequate” - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Economist and reformist Chi Fulin of China discusses the political mistakes of the Beijing government and the reforms that will be needed to close the growing gap between rich and poor in the world’s most-populous country.