~I Write Here For You ~

The Egyptian revolution isn't a pro-democracy Facebook uprising!

2012-02-06T00:24:00.000+03:00

Egyptians are hungry for dignity

January 30, 2012

Interview by Jeremy Tully

http://socialistworker.org/2012/01/30/egyptians-are-hungry-for-dignity

Shimaa Helmy--known to many people from her Internet reports under the name "Shimaa from Tahrir Square"--is an Egyptian activist from Cairo who participated in the January 25 Revolution, from day one, through the downfall of dictator Hosni Mubarak in February, until she left for the U.S. late last year to speak on the uprising. She is one of four subjects of a forthcoming documentary film about the revolt, produced by Four Corners Media.

Since she came to the U.S. in October, Shimaa has given several speeches and participated in conferences and teach-ins at Yale University, Harvard University, New School, Simmons College, Tufts University, the University of California-Berkeley and others. In Egypt, she was a teacher of Arabic for non-native speakers, an English-Arabic translator and interpreter and a freelancer writer.

Since coming to the U.S. she became very active with the Occupy movement, especially at Occupy Wall Street.
Jeremy Tully spoke with her about developments in Egypt since the revolution.

WHAT WAS your experience of the January 25th Revolution? Were you an activist before?

BEFORE JANUARY 25, I was an anonymous blogger. Most of my activism was only online until January 25th was announced. I came down with my siblings to Tahrir Square. Since then, I have been very involved in the new movement.
I was in Tahrir Square every day and camped there from early February almost until March 9, when the army came and evacuated us by force. While I was there, I was concerned with how non-Arabic-speaking media were portraying our story. I made contact with as many foreign journalists as I could--speaking to them and helping them out.
I would take as much footage as I could from the square, then go back home and upload it online. I did this non-stop for most of the 18 days. I didn't really sleep much, maybe only an hour a day.

During the 18 days, I was detained by the military. It happened on February 4, two days after the Battle of the Camel. Being detained shaped my understanding of the Egyptian Revolution. It was the military detaining activists from Tahrir Square. The common sentiment of Egyptians was that the army and the people were one hand, but being detained taught me otherwise.
They detained me along with other journalists, and when they investigated us, they were very harsh, telling us what we were doing was illegal, that we're not supposed to take pictures, and that I shouldn't be walking around with foreigners.
They ended up releasing us because we managed to get rid of the footage' so that when the army searched the video equipment, they didn't find any evidence against us. For them, "evidence" would have been pictures from Tahrir Square.

After Mubarak stepped down, I was at the square every day until March 9, when they kicked us out. I was involved in the No to Military Trials campaign in Egypt because lots of people I know were detained and abused by the military, and I had to do something about it. I was trying hard to connect with the victims of the uprising--the second generation of activists who had never been politically active before.

I also supported April 8 military members who defected from the army. We organized campaigns, marches and protests in front of the ministry of defense against their detention.

WHAT HAPPENED to the officers who joined the revolution?

THEY STARTED their activity on Facebook just like us. They declared they no longer approved of what SCAF [Supreme Council of the Armed Forces] was doing--especially the military trials for civilians and virginity tests for female protesters--and they were not honored to be part of this institution. They said they would join us on April 8. When they came down, between 40 and 50 officers showed up, and they joined a sit-in of 3,000 people in Tahrir Square.

The army and police showed up later that night at 2 a.m. and evacuated Tahrir Square by force. They killed three army officers and detained the rest of them. An unknown number of civilians were also killed. Some civilians were detained and accused of starting violence. The army officers were sentenced to 10 years in military prison and later on, it became three years--just for joining a civilian protest. They are still in prison.

On May 27, we had what we called the Second Revolution. I helped in organizing this day. Some army officers were helping us online and trying to promote the day. They were detained from their houses just for participating online in politics. Even if you're an army officer, and you're trying to criticize SCAF and speak against it, you risk ending up in jail.

WHAT IS the relationship between organizing on the streets and talking to people online?

THE PEOPLE you need to talk to on the ground are completely different from people you connect with online. We organize online because it's not safe for us to organize in public. You have to keep a low profile because anyone can be subjected to military detention and trial at any time.
Only 6 million people in Egypt have Facebook accounts. And the rest of the people are living below the poverty line--they don't have access to the Internet or even electricity.
And these are the people we need to talk to.

That was one of the biggest challenges we were facing and are still facing. We don't have independent television stations, and the state TV is under the army's control. If you speak out against the army in newspapers, you might be detained, or your newspaper might be shut down.

You have to connect with people at their basic needs in order to get them on your side. That's one of the biggest challenges we've been trying to overcome. And it's still a challenge.

After the army evacuated Tahrir, I got stuck inside and online. I was able to connect with like-minded people. But May 27 made me realize we had to do more to connect with people face to face.
I began trying to reach out to families of the detainees, families of the martyrs, all the people who were victims of the uprising. I tried to bring them together on the ground, because they don't have access to the Internet. They come from poor neighborhoods and different parts of the country.
But people are also still using the Internet to organize.

Recently, there was a statement from over 50 revolutionary pages that have over 1 million followers calling for demonstrations against SCAF on January 25, the one-year anniversary of the revolution.

THERE HAVE been many strikes during the course of the revolution. Do you feel the Egyptian people are aware of these strikes? Do they side with the workers or SCAF?

UNFORTUNATELY EVEN some of the activists don't support workers' strikes, because they think it's completely unrelated to the revolution. I personally think that workers' strikes are an essential part of the whole revolutionary process Egypt has been going through.

The propaganda of the military council is that the strikes are stopping the cycle of production, and the economy is going down because the workers are complaining and not working. I remember a lot of workers were subjected to military trials just for striking. They have been under several occasions since Mubarak resigned.

My feeling is the youth should cooperate with the workers. This is what happened back in 2008, when the biggest strikes happened in the Mahalla textile compound, and the youth supported it. We were not there--it was the workers who started the whole thing. And it happened again right before Mubarak resigned. They switched the whole direction of the revolution.
Unfortunately, you don't read good coverage or any news on workers' strike. They're widespread all over the country, but the entire focus is on Cairo and Alexandria, and that's it.

YOU LEFT Egypt to come to the U.S. in late October. Why?

I WAS invited to speak in a conference about my participation in the revolution and a documentary film on the revolution that follows me and several other Egyptian women. Then I got involved with Occupy Wall Street, and I got to speak at different universities. I ended up organizing protests here in the U.S. with American and Egyptian activists. I feel I'm helping the revolution even if I'm not in Egypt anymore.
At the same time, I really wish I were back in Egypt right now, doing something on the ground. But I'm trying to make the best of my visit here in the U.S., in raising awareness and connecting American and Egyptian activists. It's been fun, rewarding and working well.

SINCE YOU'VE been here, the Occupy movement has really taken off. Do you have any lessons for the Occupy movement?

MY ADVICE would be that Occupy activists should talk to the 99 percent, not just on behalf of them. We should take the occupation to our blocks. Activists should be really strategic about what they really want to do.
Our mistake back in February was when people imagined they could have a successful revolution in 18 days. That wasn't true. People should plan for three years from now--what do we want to do with our movement, why are we doing all of this, and where are we going with it?
Before I came here, the only information about Occupy Wall Street I had was from the news and American activists involved on the ground. Seeing it on the ground in reality is completely different.
I think it's too early to judge a few months old movement. It will take us some time to make a good judgment about it. I really like the slogan of we are the 99 percent and the central idea of Occupy that a small proportion of people--the elites everywhere, not just in the U.S.--are controlling politics and business, and the majority of people have no say over anything. But this should change with the uprising in the Middle East and across the world including Occupy.

WHAT DO you say to activists in the U.S. who want to stand in solidarity with the Egyptian people and support the revolution?

FIRST, WE need a strong Occupy movement here and a strong infrastructure. A strong movement in the U.S. would influence and reflect on all movements elsewhere.
The most important thing is to do something about the U.S.'s foreign policies. The U.S needs to reconsider the military aid that goes to Egypt. This is something U.S. activists and Occupy Wall Street activists can do to support the Egyptian Revolution. Occupy should also spread awareness of the struggle of the Egyptian Revolution, because the revolution is not in the mainstream media anymore.
The U.S. supplies $1.3 billion to the Egyptian military every year: tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition, tanks and all kinds of weapons. Most of the Egyptian military's weapons are made in the U.S.

December 1st 2011 Egyptian and occupy wall street protesters marching towards point lookout capital, NY

In New York, we did a protest against Combined Systems, one of the manufacturers of the tear gas the U.S. supplies to the Egyptian military. A group of Egyptians in the U.S. and American activists on Occupy Wall Street worked to make this happen. We protested their main investor, Point Lookout Capital, which had an office in Manhattan. The tear gas itself is made in Pennsylvania.

IN NOVEMBER, there were large demonstrations in Egypt, after months in which street demonstrations were much smaller. What do you make of this development?

THE PREVIOUS few months were the incubator of what is happening now. The frustration was there. The anger was there. The military council was creating enemies everywhere, starting with journalists, bloggers, human rights activists and even political parties like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists.

For example, there were clashes in October, in Maspero, during the Coptic marches. They were targeting well-known activists like Mina Daniel and Alaa Abd El Fatah. They wouldn't have done this before, but now they're doing it very openly. We can no longer pretend that everything is fine.

WHAT WOULD a victorious revolution mean to you?

THE RELEASE of all the political prisoners and the civilians who were tried in front of military courts, the lifting of the state of emergency, getting our factories and institutions back, and handing power over to a civilian government.
The media really like to portray it as a pro-democracy movement. I think it's not just about democracy, voting in elections, reforming the system or reforming the way the system is functioning. We failed to reform it for the past decades. The basic slogan that the January Revolution people came out with was "Bread, freedom, social justice." Egyptians were hungry for being heard and feeling dignity in their country.
Until now, people are being tortured in police stations and military jails, and we lack basic human rights. It's too early to start fighting over ideologies or talking about elections candidates when the system we came out against is in power still.

My thoughts on #Jan28 2011: The Egyptian Friday of Anger

2012-01-28T03:51:00.002+03:00

I can't imagine it's been a year already with too much things happening around me on the political, educational, and personal levels.
From the Revolution in Egypt to traveling to the U.S and then occupy movement.

I keep saying I will never forget these days and that I will sit down one day and write down. Well, I do forget and I know I won't be writing anything at all if I kept slacking off like this that's why I started writing today.

Looking at the news and hearing from my family and friends it kills me that I'm not in Egypt while all of this is happening. I keep telling myself I've had a hectic year already.
I needed a break but that never happened actually.

Jan the 28th is a day I don't wanna forget any piece of detail I've seen, done or felt in and it's been a year since it happened.

On Jan 28th night 2011 I was talking on skype with my friends and relatives overseas telling them about what's going in Egypt right now and that we are planning a massive day of action called the friday of anger when the internet went down around 1 am in the morning. I remember that I went crazy by then.

Friday's morning I prepared my bag for the day with water, scarfs, medical masks and my camera. Then I had such a big fight with my dad when I was trying to go out. He locked the door on us and asked my mom to leave so that he could deal with it but we were so stubborn.

I didn't wait for my sister and left on my own, prayed in the biggest mosque in Abbaseya and then came out after prayer. There were hundreds of cops and security forces blocking the way to the square and we had to take another one. The numbers of ordinary people who marched with us to Tahrir were unbelievable. We marched across my neighborhood for over than 3 hours and from a neighborhood to another people kept joining us.

The security forces kept tear gasing us and chasing us everywhere we go but we kept marching. We arrived to Ramses square and then the scene became really ugly. Tear gas, fires, burnt vheicles, injured people and the sounds of shooting were all over the place.

I was sneezing and coughing none stop, I became blinded by the gas and for an hour I was walking with my brother and sister and they were holding my hands because I couldn't open my eyes. People kept flooding from everywhere, we couldn't believe how big it was getting.

Then the police backed off and the crowds started marching again towards our destination: Tahrir around 5- 6 pm after sunset prayer.

That was the most beautiful moment in the entire day. Everything around was burning and the smoke clouds covered everything and you could see the fire on the horizon.

We were exhausted and wasted but the streets were ours.

Nobody there except for us, the protesters shouting slogans and the echoes were all over the place. No media presence, and the security forces were absent completely as well.

All the means of transportation were absent as well, they shut down the underground, the buses, the taxis were rarely seen and Cairo was becoming a burnt ghost city.

We kept walking to Tahrir then heard that the army is down in the streets and that's why we had to find a way to get back home before they arrive to where we are.

I was scared of the army coming down for some reason, I had a negative feeling about the army unlike everyone else but I wasn't sure about anything.

But I became sure they are not on our side a week later when I was detained and investigated by them.

We didn't talk to our parents for the entire day because they cut all the communications and I started to feel guilty we just left. I wanted to continue to the square but then we just walked back home, the three of us, exhausted ,dusty and full of gas. What happened afterwards was a different story.
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Now I'm going to share some of the pictures I took on the 28th of Jan 2011:

People marching in my district Abbaseyah after Jumaah prayer towards Tahrir in the alternative rout we took

On the bridge looking at all the marches that kept flooding to Ramses square headed to Tahrir


Seeing people like this man and woman who have never been part of any political activity before gave me so much hope that day

Ramses Massacre was one of the biggest battles we had in the entire country.
This is were I got stuck for hours with my siblings.

Check out the rest of my album here:
https://www.facebook.com/Shimaa.Tahrir
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We will never forget, we will never forgive..

Cosa dice l'Islam sul terrorismo?

2011-12-11T11:56:00.000+03:00

L'Islam è una religione di misericordia e non consente il terrorismo.

Dio disse nel Corano:
((Dio non vi proibisce di essere buoni e giusti nei confronti di coloro che non vi hanno combattuto per la vostra religione e che non vi hanno scacciato dalle vostre case. Dio ama coloro che si comportano con equità.)) (Corano, 60:8)

Il profeta Mohammed proibiva ai soldati di uccidere donne e bambini e li avvisava:

{Non tradire, non essere eccessivo, non uccidere un neonato.}

Disse anche: {Chiunque abbia ucciso una persona che ha un contratto con i musulmani non profumerà come il Paradiso, sebbene la sua fraganza si sentirà per un periodo di quarant'anni.}

Il profeta Mohammed aveva anche proibito la punizione con il fuoco.

Egli elencograve; l'omicidio come il secondo di tutti i peccati e avvisava anche che nel giorno del giudizio, {I primi casi a essere giudicati tra persone nel giorno del giudizio saranno quelli di spargimento di sangue}.

I musulmani sono anche incoraggiati a essere gentili con gli animali ed è proibito maltrattarli. Una volta il profeta Mohammed disse:

{Una donna fu punita perchè imprigionò un gatto finché morì. Per questo motivo, fu condannata all'Inferno. Quando il gatto era imprigionato, essa non gli diede né cibo né acqua e non lo lasciò libero di nutrirsi degli insetti della terra.}

Disse anche che un uomo diede da bere a un cane, così Dio dimenticò i suoi peccati a causa di questa buona azione. Fu chiesto al profeta:

“Messaggero di Dio, saremo ricompensati per la gentilezza verso gli animali?” Egli disse: {Esiste una ricompensa per la gentilezza verso ogni forma di vita, animale o umana.}

In aggiunta, quando i musulmani macellano gli animali è loro imposto di farli spaventare e soffrire il meno possibile. Il profeta Mohammed disse: {Quando macellate un animale, fatelo nel modo migliore. Uno affili il suo coltello per ridurre la sofferenza dell'animale.}

Alla luce di questi e altri testi islamici, l'atto di incitare al terrore nei cuori dei civili senza difese, la distruzione completa di edifici e proprietà, il bombardamento e lo storpiare uomini innocenti, donne e bambini sono atti proibiti e detestabili secondo l'Islam e i musulamni.

I musulmani seguono una religione di pace, misericordia e perdono e la maggior parte non ha nulla a che vedere con i violenti eventi che sono associati ai musulmani.

Se un musulmano commette un atto di terrorismo, questa persona sarà colpevole di violare le leggi dell'Islam.

http://www.islam-guide.com/it

From Tahrir Square to The U.S: The revolution will continue

2011-11-03T08:58:00.004+03:00

On October the 16th I landed in the U.S with Micah, the co-founder of Four corners media, the film company working on the documentary film I'm featured in: If.

Since then I started an educational speaking tour about my Experience in Egypt, how far did the Egyptian uprising go, the film and other related topics. The main goal of these events was raising awareness about the untold stories of the Egyptian revolution especially in post Mubarak era and how the struggle of the American people can be connected with ours.

I noticed that the majority of people here are so impressed by the Egyptian revolution due to the way media portrayed it in the very early beginning. They keep telling me how amazing this 18 -day- long revolution was and how inspired they are only because their experience with us didn't go further than the 11th of February, the day Mubarak resigned.

They thought that we won and that the fight was over forgetting the fact Egypt is a military dictatorship supported by the U.S since so long ago. They don't know much about the Egyptian military- industrial complex and how it is connected to the U.S.

The media didn't tell them that the Egyptian uprising and the real struggle actually started right after Mubarak resigned and appointed a council of army generals known as the Supreme Council of Armed Forces. (SCAF).

I thought that it would be easier for people to follow the sequence of events in Egypt throughout following a story of someone. So, here are some of the articles and videos in English quoting and/or featuring yours sincerely.

**********************

*This interview followed my talk at Poptech conference in Maine

1-

http://poptech.org/blog/interview_shimaa_helmy_and_the_future_of_revolution

If the iconic image of protest in the 60's is a hippie slipping a flower into a gun barrel, the image for this generation's protest may be a Muslim woman wearing a Hijab and holding up a cell phone. Shima'a Helmy is one of the young Egyptians who led that country's uprising in January of 2011. Using social media, street canvassing and her own steely determination to change her country for the better, 21-year old Helmy forewent her studies to help galvanize a revolution. The rest is quite literally history.

***********************
2-

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/Everyones-a-Filmmaker-132333563.html

'Everyone's a Filmmaker in Egypt'*

What role did the Internet and social media play in the Arab Spring? It depends who you ask, and where they live.

"Shima'a Helmy. "The role of the Internet and social media was over-emphasized in the media coverage, especially in the West," she says. "They were trying to say it was a Facebook revolution, or a Twitter revolution, and that social media had a big role in it, when the fact is it didn't actually work out until we came down into the street. We didn't have our first million person march until the Internet was cut."

***********************
3-

http://turnstylenews.com/2011/10/12/the-frustrated-egyptian-revolution/

*Days after dozens of Coptic Christians died in protests in Cairo, Egypt’s military rulers have responded to the incident publicly.

Less publicized is the plight of the protesters who’ve been detained after continuing their demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Nearly 12,000 civilians have been tried in military tribunals since the beginning of the year, and there’s fear among many young protesters about what’s happened to their comrades. One protester moved her campaign to Facebook after street crackdowns became too severe. This is her story.

****************************

Norman Finkelstein: Arab dignity will bring peace to the Middle East

2011-09-17T10:02:00.000+03:00

This important and highly recommended statement by Dr. Norman Finkelstein was supposed to be published earlier but I totally forgot about it due to the unusual circumstances we are going through right now in Egypt.
Last May I attended his lecture in the American university of Cairo and that was one of the most informative and important lectures about Israeli/Arab conflict I've ever attended.

If you are a westerner and interested in getting to know about this conflict from a perspective of a Jewish American who's parents died in the Holocaust you have to know more about this man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Finkelstein

The article as found in his official site.
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/stop-the-presses-an-article-thats-actually-accurate/
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In a lecture that linked Egypt’s revolution to the balance of power in the region, the renowned American academic Norman Finkelstein painted the clear fear change will induce in Israel

Osman El Sharnoubi, Wednesday 18 May 2011

The American political scientist and author Professor Norman Finkelstein, an outspoken critic of Israel, gave a lecture Monday night to a packed auditorium at the American University in Cairo, a day after he demonstrated with Egyptians in front of the Israeli embassy in Giza on the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba.
Finkelstein, the author of The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, started the lecture by speaking about Israeli aggression towards its neighbours in the last five years, starting from Hezbollah’s victory against Israel.

Finkelstein moved from this defeat to tell a narrative of Israel’s belligerency in reaction to this defeat, using the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008, the ensuing blockade and finally the attack on the freedom flotilla, the Mavi Marmara as illustration.
Through such accounts, Finkelstein presented to the audience why he views Israel as a rogue state.
Presenting facts and testimonies, Finkelstein refused to label what happened to Gaza in 2008 as a “war,” insisting that what took place there was a “massacre.” Presenting Israel’s excuse for this massacre as false, for Hamas did not provoke this response from Israel, he moved on to the real reason for the operation against Gaza. Israel, smarting from its humiliating defeat in Lebanon in 2006, wanted to display its military might.

In the same way, the professor undermined the reasons for the Israeli blockade on Gaza, saying that preventing weapons from entering Gaza did not necessitate banning chocolates, potato chips and baby chicks from entering.
He sees the blockade as a form of collective punishment on the Gazans for choosing the wrong leaders in the 2007 elections – Hamas.

pictures from Gaza after IDF attacks in Dec 2008

The final, and most important, part of the lecture covered the Egyptian revolution and its impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Posing as a starting point the question of whether or not the revolution would threaten Israeli security, Finkelstein delved into Egypt’s history with Israel since 1952, shortly after the occupation of Palestine, following the free officers’ coup and the revolution that immediately followed.

Finkelstein, again, tried to show that Nasser and other leaders were in fact hoping to avoid a confrontation with Israel, preferring to focus instead on modernising. It was Israel that wanted a war.

Through citing events from 1954 to 1967, the lecture presented the view that an unthreatened Israel carried out the 1967 attack on Egypt in its effort (with the grace of the United States) to destroy “radical Arab nationalism” and eliminate the chances of Egypt becoming a force to reckon with in the future. Instead, with Mubarak in power, it became a country that could “be pushed around.”

From here, the lecture became more inward looking, touching upon issues hotly debated in Egypt since the ousting of Mubarak. Among these is the Camp David peace treaty with Israel.

The treaty, he explained, came about as a consequence of Israel’s desire to remove Egypt from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The concern stemmed from Egypt’s military performance in the 1973 war that temporarily saw Israel pushed back in Sinai.

Sadat unilaterally agreed to peace in return for the Sinai Peninsula, which, according to Finkelstein, “freed Israeli’s military hand” to attack on other fronts. The 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank followed.

Finkelstein asserted that under Mubarak, Israel was guaranteed a calm southern front, and it pursued its attempts at cornering Iran with sanctions and mobilising for war against it.

This, the professor stated, is no longer the case. The first thing Israel said after Mubarak was ousted from power is that the attack on Iran is off.

Another consequence of Mubarak’s toppling, believes Finkelstein, is that the popularly rejected Camp David treaty may be renegotiated, although he doubts it will be renounced due to the reciprocal obligations a treaty entails, i.e. Israel left Sinai in exchange for Egypt making peace with it. Israel, Finkelstein said, trembles at the possibility of having to renegotiate with Egypt.

The revolution has brought Israel to face a fear it hasn’t had to contemplate since signing the treaty with Egypt. Israel is “afraid that the dignity of the Arab World, in particular Egypt, will be restored, that’s their problem,” declared Finkelstein. War, on the contrary, fills it with no fear since it has the upper hand militarily.

It was then the turn of Arab leaders to come under Finkelstein’s caustic analysis. Despite knowledge being a crucial asset for leading a country, Arabs – citing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah – don’t generally read, especially their leaders. “The complete guide to chewing grass” he cited as the only book Mubarak had ever read.

For this reason, Finkelstein explained, the Israelis weren’t afraid of Mubarak, but, in contrast, “they know ElBaradei reads,” to which the audience applauded.

His reference to the Nobel Prize winner and presidential hopeful Mohammad ElBaradei lead to him admitting his preference to see him become president because he “wants to restore the dignity and the pride of Egypt.”

It is precisely the prospect of Arab countries rising as powers and modernising, which destroys Israel’s war option, preventing it from having a free military hand in the region to use under the pretext that Arabs only understand the language of force. This, Finkelstein said, is the greatest threat to Israel.

The nullifying of the military option would create a climate in which the prospects for peace between Israel and Palestine have never been better.

You can help Egypt, Egyptian women and myself sharing this!

2011-07-04T09:55:00.001+03:00

Hello there my over seas friends!

You might have heard about the situation and the crisis in Egypt.

I was injured in recent Cairo's clashes with police, my friends got shot and some got arrested by the army.

The supreme council of Armed forces brought new carcinogenic weapons and is using them on us.

We are planning a huge protest July 8. I might be killed, injured or even detained before this.

But I still want you to help Egypt out if you really care about human rights and justice.

Keep sharing my page so that the world could wake up. There are awfully interesting news in here, it's really that bad!!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shimaa-from-Tahrir-Square/153772218027570

And also check out this link about the unfinished documentary about myself. Yes, you might help me become famous!

Micah and MH were always there for me. If you helped them in finishing this movie even by passing this e-mail you are not just helping me or them, you are helping a new country that might be there for us, the Egyptian people.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

"If" is the coming-of-age story of four young women during the Egyptian revolution. Shimaa, the lead character we followed during the revolution, is in many ways a typical young woman, but with an exceptionally informed and unique voice. Shimaa is an avid reader of literature. She identifies with Holden Caulfield and discusses the contemporary political implications of Orwell's 1984. She blogs about politics, philosophy and biotechnology, her major at university. Her world is forever changed on January 25, 2011. Defying her parents, she is one of the first to head to Tahrir Square. Her alienation gives way to activism--Holden Caulfield in 1968.

Our second character is Mona, an active blogger, whose mother is a prominent human rights activist. Mona becomes a tweeter extraordinaire. She is involved in the early planning of the revolution; as the movement progresses, her Twitter following grows to 10,000; through her Blackberry, her voice reaches the world.

The third character is Sarah, a curator of contemporary art at the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo. Used to viewing the world throughthe meta-lens of post-modern art, she too is quickly caught up in the revolution. When her friends are trapped in Tahrir Square without Internet access she starts to disseminate information to journalists through Twitter. Sarah moves from a world of ideas to a world of concrete action.

The fourth character is Nora, a young Egyptian woman who was getting her Masters degree in Brussels when the revolution started. She immediately heads back to Egypt with a job at the Committee to Protect Journalists. As she describes it, her role there "is to make sure that you don't go missing."

These four characters are representative of both the discontent that led to the revolution and the incredible optimism and activism that propelled it. The film is a nuanced story of four personal journeys interwoven, and also a portrait of the revolution. The Arab Spring continues to unfold with these four characters playing an ongoing role. They represent a dynamic, young, cross-section of the people who changed Egyptian society, and the future of the Arab world. Through them we will explore how they changed their world, and how the revolution changed them.

We need funding to return to Egypt and continue filming our characters as their stories unfold. We would also like to begin editing existing footage.

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Check out our recent projects on the Egyptian revolution:

Documentary short related to "If" published on Granta Magazine's website

Four Women, One Revolution

http://www.granta.com/Online-Only/Four-Women-One-Revolution

Faces of the Facebook Revolution

Published in Vanity Fair

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/04/egypt-protesters-slide-show-201104#intro

BBC World News America: First Person Stories

Curator Sees Power of Egypt Activist Art

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/9452074.stm

Arabs and Muslims: The bad guys in Hollywood

2011-05-07T18:21:00.000+03:00

"Reel Bad Arabs": How Hollywood vilifies a people.

I found this outstanding documentary on July 2010 and was impressed by the effort done and the huge amount of information documented in it. It was originally a book by the same author: Dr. Jack Shaheen that I so much admire and respect.

I thought of sharing this movie earlier but it never happened but now is definitely the best time to share such a masterpiece of work for many reasons.

First of all to remind Arabs of the way we have always been considered and portrayed in the western media and consequently on the western mentality _and may be still are_ in order to work on changing this by clearing these misconceptions up.

I'm afraid the subconsciousness of us is being fed all the time by nonsense that become facts later on in a gradual process.

(Advice number 1: Watch out for messages sent to you throughout media. All the time)

Secondly, when the map of the Middle East is being redrawn literally, policies towards the Middle East should be reconsidered again as well. This is the role of the educated open-minded westerners who are willing to co-operate.

Although seeing Americans jumping like crazy and chanting CIA in front of the red house oh, sorry I mean the white house made me think twice before talking about rationality and the definition of triumph I still have faith in the smart minority out there.

(Advice number 2: Power comes from people for people who are the makers of their fate, if they neglected this fact they should blame no-one but themselves.)

I'm not going to write much and will just quote from the official site of the movie that you might find here:

http://www.reelbadarabs.com/

**********************

"This groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged from the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs--from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding "terrorists"--along the way offering devastating insights into the origin of these stereotypic images, their development at key points in US history, and why they matter so much today. "

"Shaheen shows how the persistence of these images over time has served to naturalize prejudicial attitudes toward Arabs and Arab culture, in the process reinforcing a narrow view of individual Arabs and the effects of specific US domestic and international policies on their lives.

By inspiring critical thinking about the social, political, and basic human consequences of leaving these Hollywood caricatures unexamined, the film challenges viewers to recognize the urgent need for counter-narratives that do justice to the diversity and humanity of Arab people and the reality and richness of Arab history and culture."

About Dr.Jack Shaheen:

Dr. Jack Shaheen (born 1935) is Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University. He was also a consultant on Middle East affairs for CBS News.

He studies portrayals of Arabs and Islam in American media. Being a committed internationalist and humanist, Dr. Shaheen addresses stereotypical images of racial and ethnic groups. His presentations illustrate that stereotypes do not exist in a vacuum, that hurtful caricatures of Asians, blacks, Latinos and others, impact innocents. He explains why such portraits persist, and provides viable solutions to help shatter misperceptions.

Among Dr. Shaheen's awards recognizing his "outstanding contribution towards a better understanding of our global community" are the University of Pennsylvania's Janet Lee Stevens Award, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for "his lifelong commitment to bring a better understanding towards peace for all mankind."

Shaheen, a recipient of two Fulbright teaching awards, holds degrees from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Missouri.

He regularly appears on national programs such as Nightline, Good Morning America, 48 Hours, and The Today Show. Also, he has worked with several television series: The Lucy Show, Twelve O'Clock High and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.

To watch the full movie on Top Documentary Films:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/reel-bad-arabs/

From Tahrir: Stories about me & the Egyptian Uprising

2011-04-30T22:57:00.002+03:00

Although I might have many issues to talk about right now, I still don't feel like publishing anything "big" like an article or something about what's going on in Egypt for the same set of reasons I mentioned in my last note here. I just keep updating my facebook statues and tweeting on my brand new twitter account that I called: Agenda_kid but nothing more really.

Another new reason is the fact we are back to the era of arresting bloggers again. Surprise, ha?!

You know this feeling when you naively think you set your country free and you should do some sacrifices and stuff? Right, I will assume that you know the feeling, some of these sacrifices we did was giving up protesting (Yes, a law criminalizing protesting and calling for protesting was secretly passed recently) and also giving up freedom of speech even if it was online.

( FYI: Recently, a guy was sentenced for 3 years in a military trial for: Attacking the Supreme Council of Armed Forces and misleading the people on a blog post).

The reason behind this trial might be really funny but you need to be in Egypt to get a sense of what's going on right now then you won't be any surprised, and trust me, 90% of Egyptians have no idea about what's going on in Egypt now.

There are records on CNN, The guardian, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and others both in Arabic and English about issues related to violating very basic human rights, torturing, virginity tests for female protesters, military trials for young civilian protesters while Mubarak and his allies are facing fake civilian trials (If any was true!).

But since I'm a good citizen and always will be one, I should be grateful to their majesty, the generals of SCAF who saved the revolution (Revolution?ha?) and saved Egypt. I should be grateful and obedience. May God Bless the Supreme council of Armed Forces, Amen.

Let's get back to our topic, for historical record I will start again publishing stories about myself and some of my friends from Tahrir square during the early days of the Egyptian uprising right after Mubarak resigned.

I don't recall talking to any journalists in a while because our movement is no longer interesting to the global community just like what happened to Tunisia although their movement is not successful either.
I'm also praying and crying over the Syrian, Libyan, Yemeni, Bahraini, Palestinian free youth who are calling and fighting to get their countries back and cursing the shocking Royal wedding out loud in the meantime.

As for Egypt, I know transitional periods are not hot enough for media and we have nothing that we can do about this. I know there isn't much blood in Egypt or Tunisia right now and the global community needs to see bloodshed to get interested but that's not our problem either.

(Ok, I'm sorry. I was about to post some stories, right. Let's not forget that.)

So, these stories I'm publishing today will be in Spanish.

I read them translated into English but still I would like my Spanish speaking Amigos to share this with their amigos about our uprising. My knowledge of the Spanish language is very limited though I've been thinking a lot about learning it but still I didn't take the initiative.

All the stories I'm going to mention here by Temoris Grecko are interesting not only because they are talking about my personal experience and the great touch I added to the Egyptian uprising (As If) but also because of the context it happened in.

Temoris Grecko and I 6th of February 2011 in Tahrir square sending a message to biased interest focused western media.

Being in the heart of the event, in addition to his background, Temoris Grecko had covered the Egyptian uprising with an admirable professional manner.
I was part of this and had the honor to befriend with him during the early days of protest and be part of his stories in several Mexican magazines.

On the 5th of February 2011 I met Temoris Grecko in Tahrir Square alongside with many other tourists who got stuck in Egypt and journalists who dared to be around in this critical time when any foreigner was accused of being a spy who came to turn Egypt upside down. He was there with me, my family and the rest of my friends in Tahrir during the protests, until Mubarak resigned, in our false celebrations and during the false referendum on the constitution. In the meantime Temoris spent some weeks in Libya and also has a great account on the Libyan uprising from the inside.

He happened to be one of the very few genuine eyewitnesses who wanted see what was going on in Egypt closely with sincere interest and thus his testimonies are very credible and honest.

Before I share the stories with you in detail I would like you to check out some examples of his works in his blog and facebook.

1- Kindly find Temoris Diaries on the Egyptian revolution are all under Egypt tag both in English and Spanish:

http://temorisblog.wordpress.com/tag/egypt/

2- The Libyan revolution:

http://temorisblog.wordpress.com/tag/libya/

Pictures:

My favourite album ever:

Women in the Egyptian revolution

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150099153988017.271049.518893016

Libyan Revolution: The power of the Sisterhood

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150117991543017.279356.518893016

Stay tuned, We will be back very soon!

Shimaa

A quick list of inspiration and why did I take part in the revolt

2011-03-07T05:45:00.000+03:00

Ever since I was a young kid and having lived in Egypt trapped inside a corrupted system surrounded by all the hot issues of the middle east I was curious, then became aware and then frustrated and desperate. My only goal was to leave Egypt and leave the whole Arab world to somewhere else where I could find a chance to live as a normal human being with very basic human rights.

The question that kept showing up in each possible occasion, on which all the writers wrote and people in the streets were asking about was:

Why and how come we never revolt?!

Now, after the the question turned to be "Why do Arabs revolt?" I feel surprised myself this question is being asked.

The reason why I feel so is that many people around the world are impressed and inspired but why it is really hard to understand we are doing it? And when we emphasize that it was a leaderless uprising why everyone tries so hard to find a leader to it? When we say that we do care not only for Egypt but also for Libya, Tunisia, Sudan, Palestine and Afghanistan why do they ask about our motivations?

It gets on my nerves when the world around is becoming a tiny small village when travel is easy and internet is full of information but still people have no clue about the political, economical, and social pressure we are living up to. We have always been suffering here whether during the foreign colonization of the majority of countries in the middle east or afterwards. The uprising was actually decades late, we should have done this years earlier and this should be the question. So, asking why do you actually revolt was a little bit off base.

And to sum it up:

Those who revolt amongst others are the ones who happened to know more about "Their rights", have faith in "Themselves" and have "Courageousness" to encounter "corruption and injustice". It is that simple, really.

So, If you are interested to know how I and like-minded people learned about our rights, had faith in ourselves, and had the guts to say no, you have to meet and know about some of the names that were of an inspiration to me throughout my very short life. They all contributed somehow at some point in waking me up, opening my eyes and heart to see that there's something wrong out here.

I'm a female, Muslim, Arab, Egyptian and a human being after all. A complex combination in a complex world who was a little bit more curious than many others around her and that's why I took the chance with a tiny small part in the huge Egyptian uprising and wish I could take part in other countries around as well.

Here is a short list of some people who inspired me right before and after the uprising. I mentioned those that you can easily find online. I might not completely agree with their personalities, we might be from different backgrounds and ideologies, we might not share anything at all but that's my point: If you put bias, intolerance and stereotypes aside you can learn basically from everyone and then teach them back.

****************************

Prophet Muhammad

محمد صلى الله عليه و سلم

Prophet Jesus

عيسى عليه السلام

Prophet Moses

موسى عليه السلام

Tamim Al Barghoothi

الشاعر تميم البرغوثي

Ahmed Matar

الشاعر أحمد مطر

Dawud/David Wharnsby Ali

المطرب الكندي داوود وارنسبي علي

Omar Al Mukhtar

الشهيد عمر المختار أسد الصحراء

Benjamin Franklin

بنيامين فرانلكين

Rachel Corrie

رايتشل كوري الناشطة الأمريكي التي قتلها العدوان الإسرائيلي

Dr. Abdul wahab El messeiri

الدكتور عبد الوهاب المسيري

Mahmoud Darwish

الشاعر محمود درويش

Abdulrahman Al Ashmawy

الشاعر عبد الرحمن العشماوي

Ahmed Khaled Tawoufik

الكاتب أحمد خالد توفيق

Edward said

إدوارد سعيد

Anton Checov

أنطون تشيكوف

H.G Wells

هربرت جورج ويلز

Oscar Wilde

أوسكار وايلد

Salman Al Ouda

الشيخ سلمان بن فهد العودة

Sultan Muhammad Fatih

السلطان محمد الفاتح

الناصر صلاح الدين الأيوبي

Salahuddin Al Ayoubi

Dr. Yusuf Qaradawi

الدكتور يوسف القرضاوي

Rudyard Kipling

الشاعر الإنجليزي روديارد كيبلين

Asmaa Mahfouz

أسماء محفوظ

Khaled Said

خالد سعيد

Mother Leila (Khaled Said's mom)

ماما ليلي والدة خالد

To be in Tahrir or not to be in Tahrir, that's the question

2011-02-09T02:42:00.002+03:00

If you are not in Egypt and in Tahrir specifically now you are missing a lot.

I don't know where to start from or what day is it or how long it's been going. All I can say is I'm not the person I used to know before the 25th of January. For now I will just share what was written about me and would appreciate if you shared it.

Yes, it's true and I'm still trying to get that I'm being talked about and being part of this. I'm not doing much compared to those who are sleeping in Tahrir since the whole thing started. I just have such a big mouth and can speak some English.

---------------------

There you go:

1) This story is important as it pretty much tells how it all started and how it looked like right after the first day of the Revolution that we didn't expect to be one.

I found Alex on a website the 26th of January while he was searching for stories about what happened in the 25th that we called "Day of Anger" and started from a series of facebook pages. These were the very first thoughts I had.

"Fire in Cairo"

Alex Hoban

I spoke to my friend Shima who was at yesterday’s riots with her sister. While they were lying on the ground getting trampled over and choking on tear gas, this US-made gas canister ricocheted off her and she started bleeding:

“I’ve never seen so many Egyptians gathering together since I was born,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. They said that these numbers are the biggest for more than three decades."

“There were about 70,000 in Tahrir Square where I went for the main protest. I could say we were even more than this, you could see on the horizon people of all classes and backgrounds and everything was happening very spontaneously. There were no opposing political parties and I can say it was a people’s revolution as a whole, lead by teenagers.

“The government media is announcing false information all the time, and the newspapers still insist on calling us a minority, which is frustrating."

“I’ve always felt bad about being an Egyptian – I felt always weak, oppressed, pessimistic and shameful but this day changed all my feelings and perspectives 180 degrees. For the very first time, I feel truly proud of myself and my people and I’m very optimistic about the days ahead.

“It’s only after experiencing all this that the fear, hopelessness, shame and anger I used to have towards my country and people have disappeared. I will keep going out onto the streets.”

I didn't bring my camera first day and used my cell phone as I thought it would be "yet another fake protest".

I'm glad I was mistaken.

Check the albums here:

25th

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=608617943&aid=260951

28th

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=608617943&aid=263004

30th

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=608617943&aid=263334

_________________________________

2- This one could be my first face to face interview with a journalist, in my entire life.

I met Wieland Schneider in Tahrir along with one of his colleagues. He is working for Die press, Austria and has interviewed me about my views on the current situation of Egypt from the 25th of January and until the 5th of February:

"Sheimaa will keine Angst mehr haben"

"Shimaa will never be afraid again"

http://diepresse.com/home/politik/aussenpolitik/631586/Sheimaa-will-keine-Angst-mehr-haben?_vl_backlink=%2Fhome%2Fpolitik%2Faussenpolitik%2F630718%2Findex.do&direct=630718

The story is in German.

___________________________________

Of course I'm not going to write anything myself now for a bunch of reasons such as:

1- The way the scene keeps changing is incredibly overwhelming.

2- I'm in the process of collecting and analyzing as much information as I can, it's no time for documentation.

3- Everyday I meet at least 5 tremendously inspiring people. Unfortunately we have just 24 hours a day in Egypt.

4- I want to write both in English and Arabic, for Egyptians, for Arabs, and for Westerners.

5- I'm asking and is being asked so many questions as long as I'm awake. My mouth is opened all the time and it's pretty much tiring. I spend very little time at home trying to get ready for the next days.

6- This event is constantly changing the face of humanity _literally_ and thus it should be written when it becomes HISTORY with no emotional bias.

I will probably be writing a book so I'm saving the ideas till the full picture is formulated.

You have definitely seen tons of pictures and videos and read hundreds of articles but I think there are people out there who do care and might like to check my own perspective, I'm sick of media and I know how sick most of you are too :-)

In case you are a friend of mine and happened to know me personally or you are a stranger who is going to be a friend of mine after this experience I'm going through.

I'm happy now that I can finally and clearly tell who's my friend and who's not when a great deal of my country's citizens are turning against me.

________________

Thoughts:

*I'm grateful for the fact I'm a human being and a part of this beautiful world I'm rediscovering.

*"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act".

George Orwell

If I said it in front of an anti-revolution Egyptian now it means I'm an "Agenda" kid.

* "Agenda kids, facebook losers, kids of the internet".

That's what they call us now on State TV and press. It's funny some people are convinced.

*مش هنمشي!

هو يمشي!

‎We will not leave!

He must leave!

Wir gehen nicht!

Mubarak soll gehen!

The main slogan of the revolution

___________________

To my virtual friends who are genuinely concerned about Egypt, Egyptians and my own safety..

My heroes who are behind the screens..

Your kind words and marches means the world to me.

I truly love you all.

From Cairo

Shimaa

Where is Tunisia located?

2011-01-15T03:34:00.003+03:00

Question 1:

a. How does western stream media expose international issues?

b. What are the factors that determine how hot a topic could be?

I've always been trying to figure out some answer to this question especially when the reactions of westerners themselves are pretty surprising most of the time.

So far it seems true that the majority of people are badly misinformed about Middle eastern issues.

I'm saying so because each time I read an article on a "Foreign policy" like source I read nothing but complete nonsense.

Whenever I try to discuss with someone I see nothing but brainwash and ignorance at their best.

No offense intended really but the few logical opinions of the very few unbiased westerners I happened to meet so far are not enough yet to make me change this negative impression.

But I'm telling you educated people of the west, I honestly want to change it so Please help me do it and expose yourself! If I'm wrong correct me, I want to have new perspectives.

I remember the way news about Haiti earthquake, Darfur and Iranian internal issues such as elections were exposed in western mainstream media. When it is only what they feel like exposing is what becomes exposed and focused on you definitely should begin to doubt.

Of course I'd never go to a western source to get information about anything related to Egyptian or middle eastern internal affairs. However, I still have to complain about extremely dumb stuff being written about them on popular newspapers or shown on main stream TV channels. And then complain about how the comments, opinions and reactions in real world.

That was a kind of long introduction, right? I'm sorry but I had to take this out of my chest. It's been there since a long long while and I was already fed up.

Ok then let's see what we have today from my interesting part of the world.

It's Tunisia!

Yes, this little less heard of seemingly peaceful and troubles less North African country for the majority of us although the truth was far beyond this. Even in Egypt we don't hear much about how this country is until only a few weeks.

The whole thing started approximately around the 14th of December 2010. In Tunis city people started to protest and then it spread all over the country only after a university graduate Tunisian guy tried to burn himself alive in public because he failed to get a job with his higher degree (That sounds pretty familiar, like my future for example!). Anyway, he ended up selling fruits in the street and the government started to chase him because it is illegal so he decided to commit suicide.

So, it turned to be a people revolution on unemployment, prices, oppression and all and both the Tunisian police and army clashed with the protesters. It was a big mess some people were killed, some were injured and all schools and universities got closed.

Check out these photos:

That's pretty scary, isn't it?!

Up to this point, the western coverage along with Middle Eastern allies were terribly dumb. You would see nothing but just a few lines with many "riots" and "riotous" words being inserted within the articles "reporting" what happened to the majority of misinformed people over here and there who may be still need to know where is Tunisia located.

To tell the truth though, some smart people have noticed the intended weak coverage of the Tunisian revolution like this one here:

http://blogs.alternet.org/russwellen/2011/01/04/inspiring-story-of-tunisian-protests-ignored-by-washington/

And this one here:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/20111981222719974.html

Activist crackdown: Tunisia vs Iran

By: Jillian York who is a writer, blogger, and activist based in Boston. She works at Harvard Law School's Berkman Centre for Internet & Society and is involved with Global Voices Online.

"The mainstream media denounces crackdowns on Iranian bloggers, yet ignores attacks on activists in Tunisia. Now, as Tunisians take to the streets (and to the Internet) to protest unemployment and the oppressive and longstanding Ben Ali regime, the world's attention seems to be elsewhere. More specifically (and perhaps more importantly), the US government--which intervened heavily in Iran, approving circumvention technology for export and famously asking Twitter to halt updates during a critical time period—has not made any public overtures toward Tunisia at this time."

But things changed a little for the western media by the time it turned to be a real revolution as you can't just ignore exposing this and pretend nothing is happening.

Of course you can't simply ignore it when the dictator president flee away and escaped with his family! Till the present moment I'm writing this, he is flying from an airport to another trying to get a place to hide.

For me, the most funny part about all this is how westerners themselves comment and react online.
There's nothing funnier than ignorant people who don't want to get educated about what they don't know and don't admit it becoming political and social experts especially on Middle eastern related issues.

Like one funny thing I keep reading which is how many people think that it was the invention of Wikileaks and the Internet that taught the Tunisians these things they are not familir with in 3rd world countries especially those in Africa where they live either on trees or inside tents.

But forgetting about this, for a little while I couldn't believe what I was hearing, seeing and reading online or on TV about Tunisia!

A Revolution_for real_ on an Autocratic regime for the very first time in a really long while in the region.

They are Arab people who are doing this.

You hear me, people? Arabs!

They live not too far from here almost up to same pressure, same corruption and same everything bad and they did it.

Thanks to the Tunisian people I feel so proud today, I feel it's my own personal victory and I do wish to live till the time my own people learn that it pays a lot to see a change and it pays a lot to ask for your rights and get them.

*******************

- Ah! by the way, could anyone please tell me where exactly this country they keep talking about is located?

Is it in Africa or somewhere Asia?

- Seriously man, why should I give a damn about it? I only know they did pretty well in Star Wars, anyways.

Die ersten 10 von Dhul-Hidsch

2010-11-04T23:01:00.000+03:00

As Salamu ´aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
liebe Geschwister im Islam.

Nur noch wenige Stunden, und die zehn besten Tage im Diesseits (Die ersten 10 von Dhul-Hidschah) treffen ein.

Diesbezüglich sagte der Gesandte ALLAHs (sallaALLAHu ´aleihi wa sallam): "Es gibt keine Tage, an denen die gute Tat ALLAH lieber ist, als an diesen zehn Tagen (...)" [Bukhary] Und: "Die besten Tage im Diesseits sind die (ersten) zehn Tage (von Dhul-Hidschah).“ Und: "Es gibt keine Tat, die bei ALLAH reiner (besser) ist, noch für die man größeren Lohn bekommt, als Gutes, das man in den zehn Opfertagen verrichtet (…).“

Damit haben gute Taten, die an diesen Tagen verrichtet werden, einen besonderen Stellenwert und werden mehr belohnt, als dass sie zu einer anderen Zeit verrichtet werden.

Aus diesem Grunde sollten wir in diesen Tage unsere Pflichten sorgfältiger ausführen, vermehrt von den Sünden Abstand nehmen (da die Sünden in den heiligen Monaten mehr bestraft werden) und vermehrt freiwillige Taten verrichten, um unser Hassanat-Konto reichlich zu füllen.

Diese 10 Tage sind eine hervorragende Gelegenheit, viel Belohnung zu erreichen und großen Nachteil erfährt gewiss jener, der diese Tage einfach an sich vorbei ziehen lässt und bzgl. ihrer Wichtigkeit unachtsam ist.

Unter diesen Tagen ist der Tag ´Arafah. Wer an diesem Tag fastet, dem werden die Sünden von 2 Jahren vergeben.

Und am 10. Tag ist unser Festtag.

Eine ausführliche Lektüre (Beweise zur Besonderheit und welche Gottesdienste sollte man verrichten) zu diesem äußerst wichtigen Thema findet Ihr auf:

www.islamlernen.com

Und vergesst nicht: Die Tage beginnen bereits diese Woche (womöglich am 18. oder 19.11, je nach Mondsichtung.)

Und wenn ihr eure Geschwister über diese Tage in Kenntnis setzt und sie zum Guten anregt, dann werdet ihr jedes Mal mitbelohnt, wenn diese Person eine gute Tat verrichtet, ohne dass ihr Lohn verringert wird.

Die Gnade ALLAHs ist wirklich unermesslich, Alhamdulillah.

---------------------------
The sources are :
*A facebook group named:Was ist der Islam wirklich?What's Islam really about?Qu'est-ce que l'islam?

*The site:
http://www.islamlernen.com/

Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict

2010-09-24T15:30:00.002+03:00

السلام و الدعاية و أرض الميعاد:

الإعلام الأمريكي و الصراع الفلسطيني الإسرائيلي

Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land:

Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict

A film introduced by: Media education Foundation

Written and directed by:

Sut Jhally & Bathsheba Ratzkoff

*********

I've seen a part of this documentary dubbed into Arabic on Aljazeera documentary channel and I liked what I've heard and seen in it.

Not to mention that I didn't really need to watch the whole film to judge it, I'm quite impatient so watching an 80 minute long documentary is more than I can take especially when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict for many reasons.

In addition, I'm not yet to decide about this issue since I've already had my point of view regarding it that I'll never change. Now I'm just enhancing it's validity even more.

Speaking from a standpoint of an average person living in any country allover the Middle East who has some interest in politics, the film doesn't offer something brand new.

However, it could be used as a very good argument in several occasions due to the nature and background of the interviewees and the speakers in it who are respectful scholars and journalists, former Israeli soldiers and also bright individuals such as the linguist Noam Chomsky, a worldwide reputed Jewish thinker that I appreciate myself.

*******************

Taken directly from the official website:

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.

Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one.

The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.

****************

Interviewees include Seth Ackerman, Mjr. Stav Adivi, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Hanan Ashrawi, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Neve Gordon, Toufic Haddad, Sam Husseini, Hussein Ibish, Robert Jensen, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Karen Pfeifer, Alisa Solomon, and Gila Svirsky.

Sections:

Terms of camp david proposal and how it was covered in American media are one of the most interesting
parts of the documentary

You could watch the full version in English on google videos via this link:

Click here

Enjoy!

Muslims offered to pray in churches of the US and Italy

2010-09-04T00:06:00.001+03:00

So, I'm actually writing this post just for record. Nothing more really.

Since things like that give me some hope it might turn to be better in the future and also make me feel a little optimistic about our world no matter how bad it looks like in my eyes now.

*********

I was not going to comment about "Burn Koran Day 11th of September" that's held by a church in Florida this month but I changed my mind now in order to compare opposite reactions and interactions with Islam and Muslims by different types of Christians.

Since 9/11, when the majority of people in non Islamic mainly western cultures first heard about something called "Islam" everyone speaks about "Radical Muslims", "Extremist Muslims" and the like due to the active brainwash process carried out by the media promoting this ideas.

I have no idea how they used to perceive Islam and Muslims before this incident but I think it might be just ignorance rather than hatred.

And the question is:
Why doesn't anyone point out to Radical Christians and Radical Hindus and Radical anything else although they do exist in history? No answer.

N.B
Pastor Terry Jones, the Radical Christian, is the leader of the event, for more details google his name or the name of the event.

**************

*First of all, when someone from an English background writes "Koran" instead of "Qur'an" it tells me clearly what type of person they are, only someone who has never read about the Qur'an at first place rather than reading the book itself would write it this way.

*Second, as a Muslim I believe that a true Christian who knows well the real essence of Christianity and all other religions would never support hatred spreading events amongst different groups of people.

I believe Christianity is far more than a group of haters who probably know absolutely nothing about Islam, prophet Muhammad and may be Christianity as well.

So the acts of some Christians don't necessarily represent Christianity and wouldn't change our perspectives regarding it.

Humans make mistakes and misrepresent their beliefs most of the time.
(I know I've said this statement like 100 times before)

So, why isn't it the case when it comes to dealing with Muslims?!
No answer.

****************

Ok, let's check out the good news..

Christians are offering Muslims in emergency cases to pray in their churches all around the world, how tolerant and peaceful :)!

Reminds me of a verse in Qur'an:

((And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.)) 22:40 Al Hajj

I'm sure there are many other cases but I only got a couple:

1- Memphis Area Muslims who are coming from 30 different nationalities are worshiping at a Christian Church this Ramadan because their mosque is under construction..

For more details see the link below:

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/Memphis-Area-Muslims-Worshiping-At-Christian/F5CZgzul4EegYgk_L9evNg.cspx

2- In the town of Gallarate, north of Milan, Muslims have no mosque in which to celebrate Ramadan.

Instead, for the past three years, they have prayed in a plot of land belonging to the local church.

For the rest of photos and more details check the link below:

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20100830-italy-gallarate-muslims-no-mosque-pray-church-northern-league

I'm inspired by Muhammad

2010-08-08T19:58:00.001+03:00

This article is about "Inspired by Muhammad", a project leaded by:

Exploring Islam Foundation.

I came across the site of the campaign while trying to promote a group I'm an admin of, it's really such a helpful site for a non-Muslim reading about Islam for any purpose and also for a Muslim wanting to know more about how to make the best of your life and other lives around you being a Muslim

So, this site gives a glance about basic modern concepts of life from an Islamic point of view, in other words, If the teachings of Muhammad, the last prophet of Islam were to be applied and followed properly, what would they be like? and how are they related to universal ethical concepts of nowadays?

The main goal of the campaign I guess is to simply introduce Islam, reveal some of the unpopular facts and correct misconceptions about it to non-Muslims specifically in the western world where they are mostly not living with Muslims or worse, meeting bad examples.

There are live examples of Muslims who are inspired by Muhammad and videos can be found on the web site.

So, basically you will find a man or a woman talking about some of their personal experiences in their lives, professions and relations with people around and the environment as Muslims abiding by the real teachings of Islam and taking Muhammad as an ideal and a role model.

Topics covered are as follows:

Human Rights

Animal Welfare

Women Rights

Education

Coexistence

Social Justice

Environment

Charity

Health Care

In addition, there are also sections for basic definitions and facts about Islam, Muslims, worship in Islam, terrorism and violence...etc

Take a look here :-)!

***********************

Selected topic from the site:

Surveying public perceptions of Islam, Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad in the UK.

The Exploring Islam Foundation recently commissioned YouGov to survey public perceptions of Islam, Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad.

some insights of the results:

The details and results of the survey

You wear Hijab ie:You are an Alien

2010-05-21T00:57:00.007+03:00

I found this picture on a facebook group which reminded me of similar situations I experienced when I was in England.

It's funny because within the same day I was going back to Egypt I was sitting beside a couple of old women looking like this lady in the picture.

The first time was in the train from London to Newcastle and the other was on the flight from Newcastle to Amsterdam.

These terrified scared looks on the girl wearing Hijab remind me of the type of looks at me by people there.

I was being stared at just like this way and worse by all kind of people of all ages. Muslim females living in western countries definitely know what I'm talking about.

So, this cartoon is not overexposing it, seriously you would feel like an alien when everyone around looks at you "SCARED" while you are not holding a shotgun or throwing a bomb. I think the presence of an alien would not even give such an impression.

Of course I've always been aware of Hijab issues in the west but I didn't excpect it to be the way I found it in reality and I was really surprised people are really that intolerant.

I mean It's not just about me or other Muslim women wearing Hijab, it's more about the fact "Acceptance" to those who are not of your "type" is absent in there.

They somehow expect everyone to dress, believe, speak and act the same exact way.

So, you are either with us or you are with "them", "them" are mostly bad ones, hate them and feel scared when your eyes fall on them even if these stares would hurt a lot.

My story with Arabic Language

2010-04-14T01:20:00.001+03:00

Well, I've never thought about writing anything related to the whole "Me, Arabic and Languages" thing before. However, I made a trial recently thanks to Multilingual Mania page I found randomly on Facebook and of course to Melanie, the admin of the page and the site who encouraged me to do it.
http://multilingualmania.com/

This article can be helpful for Arabic teachers to non-natives and for non- native Arabic speakers who are learning or thinking of learning it. The multilingual mania blog has a lot of useful articles related to learning and teaching languages in general. Waiting for your comments on it :-)!
-------------

To be a teacher, you need to first become a good student”

I was taught to read and write way too young compared to fellow kids, having an aunt who is an Arabic language major student who used to teach me the classical basics of it since I was 5 to 6 years old. I have a special kind of relationship with Arabic language.

“Discover the beauty and richness of the language you teach”

I become passionate about Arabic language, its history, literature, grammar and all arts. It has a very rich content and a precious heritage being spoken and understood the same way it has always been spoken since more than 1,000 years ago. This means that what was written in the old ages is still the same, with the same grammar and vocabulary, unlike most languages where you find great variations between classical and modern versions of the same language.

Since the time I started using the internet (2003), I have been doing language exchange with non-Arabic native speakers interested in learning Arabic-that was how I improved my English as well as Italian ( I focused on them as I studied both academically) and learned the basics of other languages such as Spanish.

Later on, I decided to teach Modern Standard Arabic as Egyptian dialect to non-natives, especially English speakers.

“Learn about other languages and never stop”

I still do language exchange with people of different nationalities, as I think learning more about different languages is the best way to know about common mistakes non-natives tend to make due to interference with their mother tongue.

I believe that the more teachers learn about other languages, the more efficient and better they become while teaching their mother languages to foreigners. You can always find something similar in other languages to the language you teach that would make it easier for both you and your student while teaching.

“Hey, did someone here say Arabic is hard?”

Moreover, Arabic language tends to have some specifications and characteristics that may be absent in other languagse, which is why it’s commonly known to be harder to learn when compared to other languages. Well, this is not very accurate. Based on what I’ve read and experienced with non-natives, I can say that Arabic is not really that hard, it just requires more patience, commitment and determination.

You may sometimes feel disappointed and feel that you have not learned anything at all, and it may sometimes seem as if there is just too much to learn. This doesn’t necessarily mean Arabic is hard-it’s a rich old language, so think about it that way! When facing some challenging matter in life, we should never give up on it-we only need to believe that we will always lack knowledge and need to learn more about it. No one will ever know everything about something… but still, there are those few bright hard-workers who believed in their abilities and therefore managed to learn a lot about something. Try to be one of those people then!

About the Author: Alshimaa M. Helmy is a university student majoring in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering while teaching Arabic part-time as a foreign language in Cairo, Egypt. She has deep interests about foreign languages and cultures around the world. You can frequently find her writing on her blog, In All Languages.

Check it out here

Thanks a lot Melanie, the author of Multilingual mania blog for giving me the opportunity to share my experience with learning languages and teaching Arabic.

We will never forget

2010-04-07T01:52:00.009+03:00

A massacre!

Yeah, this is actually something worthwhile writing about after a quite long break.

Yet another massacre, it wasn't the first and surely won't be the last as long as the international community remains silent like always used to be.

Next Tuesday, 8th of April 2010 will be the 40th anniversary of the Israeli attack on a small village primary school in Egypt.

I've tried searching for more details about the massacre online in English but seems like there is nothing more than what was mentioned in Wikipedia as follows:

Bahr el-Baqar incident

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bahr el-Baqar incident happened during the War of Attrition, where the Israeli air force carried out a raid on the Egyptian village of Bahr el-Baqar, south of Port Said, in the eastern province of Sharqiyya, the raid resulted in the destruction of a primary school full of school children.

The Attack

The attack was carried out by Israeli air force F4 Phantom II fighter bombers, at 9:20 am on Wednesday 8 April, 1970. Five bombs and 2 air-to-ground missiles struck the single-floor school, which consisted of 3 classrooms.

The Israelis claimed that they believed the target was a military installation. Casualties Of the 130 school children who attended the school, 46 were killed, and over 50 wounded, many of them maimed for life. The school itself was completely demolished.

Well, I'm amazed by the huge amount of useful information I've found on Wiki!Thank you so much, Wiki.

Apart form the fact they insist on calling it an "incident", the funny thing is that the page is only available in Arabic and in a weak English version without details. Anyhow, I shouldn't have been any surprised.

I mean, why should anyone even care for a bunch of murdered kids in an Egyptian primary school in a tiny small village?

--------------------

Ok, let's see what was written about the massacre on other sites:

From "Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem" by a Palestinian author named Issa Nakhla.
Someone won't be easily accused of being biased according to what you might kindly read here in his biography:

http://www.palestine-encyclopedia.com/EPP/TheAuthor.htm

"How superior the Israeli pilots were was amply shown on April 8, 1970 when they hit an elementary school at Bahr al Baqr, fifteen miles west of the Suez Canal, killing forty-six Egyptian school children."

In the Citations: (8) "April 8, 1970: Israeli jets struck Bahr El-Baqr, Egypt, killing 46 children in their school."

http://www.palestine-encyclopedia.com/EPP/Chapter31.htm

2- From Holocaust Facts:

http://therealholocaust.org/en/holocaust-facts

Egypt - Bahr el-Baqar School “April 1970”:

Bahr el-Baqar is an Egyptian village located in south of Port Said. The attack was carried out by Israeli air force F4 Phantom II fighter bombers, at 9.20 am on Wednesday 8th April, 1970.

Five bombs and 2 air-to-ground missiles struck the single-floor school, which consisted of 3 classrooms.

46 students were killed and over 50 were wounded, many of them maimed for life.

--------------

Like I always say, neither being a Muslim nor an Egyptian is the reason why I feel really bad about things like that.

I'm merely a human being and any normal human being with a minimum set of human emotions and values would feel the very same way about it.

Regardless of what those kids belonged to, any sane human being would never find a reasonable reason behind attacking a school full of kids assuming that it was a fake military installation.

Especially when the same reason is mentioned every time, last one was about some school in Gaza in 2008.

( One of the very few clear photos I managed to find for the kids)

Those kids in their first school years had dreams, just like how yours do but apparently they were not supposed to dream since they were "others".

Now, honestly just forget about the whole "Palestinians gotta stop fling rocks" thing and tell me: what do you personally think of this?

Forgotten Muslim Scientists and Scholars

2010-02-05T16:38:00.004+03:00

‎"The medieval Islamic world, from Central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished.

But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society and system of belief, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history."

Prince Charles, Islam and the West.

********************

I'm passionate about science more than anything else and will be a researcher some time soon hopefully. That means that I appreciate science not considering whoever came with it as long as it will be of a benefit to humanity.

On the other hand, those great Muslim scholars and their efforts were intentionally ignored in the west.

So, I have a reason for writing about Muslim scholars and scientists specifically.

Unfortunately, the current scientific position of most Muslim countries is shameful or doesn't even exist at all.

I thought it would be good to remind people of those scientists especially now in order to:

1-Let the people of the world who keep attacking religion in general and Islam specifically know how much the early Muslims have contributed in putting the foundation of modern sciences.

2- Encourage Muslims of these days to wake up and go on with what their ancestors have started.

(1)

During the Muslims Era(6th-16th century) or called as Golden Era of the World, the most remarkable developments of the history took place that shaped up the world immensely. These developments became the basis of many inventions that were made centuries later. You can find about these discoveries by reading the biographies of some prominent Scientists who made them.

Apart from the scientists from the golden age of Islam era there are also Biographies of other scientists that belonged to other era's..

Below is the list of available Biographies ,with your support and contributions we will continue to increase database and improve the biographies standard on regular basis..

List of Muslim Scientists' Biographies

(2)
Muslim scientists and scholars have contributed immensely to human knowledge especially in the period between 8th and 14th century CE.

However, their contributions have been largely ignored, forgotten or have gone un-acknowledged.
On this site you can read fascinating accounts of some of the most talented Muslim scholars in history whose contributions have left lasting marks in the annals of science, astronomy, medicine, surgery, engineering and philosophy.

http://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/index.html

3)
Another good site that has many articles about Muslim scientists and thinkers
http://wzzz.tripod.com/

4)
An Arabic site called mawhopon موهوبون (Talented) that has articles in Arabic about some famous old Muslim scientists...

Here you find it

********************
(5
An example of a great Muslim Scientist and Thinker–Muhammad Ibn al-Idrisi

The link

One example for a talented Muslim scientist of Andalusia (Spain and Portugal of nowadays) is Mohammad al-Idrisi was a great geographer, cartographer, botanist, traveler and poet.

He has given the names of the herbs in many languages like Greek, Persian, Hindi, Latin, Berber and Arabic.

In the West he is best known as a geographer, who made a globe using a silver sphere for King Roger of Sicily.

(The map drawn by him for the old world as we know before the discovery of Americas and Australia)
Al-Idrisi, no doubt, was a great geographer and traveler who produced original work in the field of geography and botany.

Some historians regard him as the greatest geographer and cartographer of the Middle Ages. His books were translated into Latin and became the standard books on geography for centuries, both in the east and west.
-----------------
A helpful 10 minute video you may like to watch too :

Does Islam allow Wife Beating?(3) final

2010-01-27T04:36:00.001+03:00

Even here, that maximum measure is limited by the following:

a. It must be seen as a rare exception to the repeated exhortation of mutual respect, kindness and good treatment.

Based on the Qur'an and Hadith, this measure may be used in the cases of lewdness on the part of the wife or extreme refraction and rejection of the husband's reasonable requests on a consistent basis (nushuz ). Even then, other measures, such as exhortation, should be tried first.

b. As defined by Hadith, it is not permissible to strike anyone's face, cause any bodily harm or even be harsh. What the Hadith qualifies as "dharban ghayra mubarrih ", or light striking, was interpreted by early jurists as a (symbolic) use of siwak !

They further qualified permissible "striking" as that which leaves no mark on the body.

It is interesting that this latter fourteen-centuries-old qualifier is the criterion used in contemporary American law to separate a light and harmless tap or strike from "abuse" in the legal sense.

This makes it clear that even this extreme, last resort, and "lesser of the two evils" measure that may save a marriage does not meet the definitions of "physical abuse," "family violence, " or "wife battering" in the 20th century law in liberal democracies, where such extremes are so commonplace that they are seen as national concerns.

c. The permissibility of such symbolic expression of the seriousness of continued refraction does not imply its desirability. In several hadiths, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) discouraged this measure. Here are some of his sayings in this regard:

*"Do not beat the female servants of Allah" ;

*"Some (women) visited my family complaining about their husbands (beating them). These (husbands) are not the best of you."

*In another hadith the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: “How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then he may embrace (sleep with) her?”

d. True following of the Sunnah is to follow the example of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who never resorted to that measure, regardless of the circumstances.

e. Islamic teachings are universal in nature. They respond to the needs and circumstances of diverse times, cultures and circumstances. Some measures may work in some cases and cultures or with certain persons but may not be effective in others.

By definition, a "permissible" act is neither required, encouraged or forbidden. In fact it may be to spell out the extent of permissibility, such as in the issue at hand, rather than leaving it unrestricted or unqualified, or ignoring it all together.

In the absence of strict qualifiers, persons may interpret the matter in their own way, which can lead to excesses and real abuse.

f. Any excess, cruelty, family violence, or abuse committed by any "Muslim" can never be traced, honestly, to any revelatory text (Qur'an or Hadith).

Such excesses and violations are to be blamed on the person(s) himself, as it shows that they are paying lip service to Islamic teachings and injunctions and failing to follow the true Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)."

The source:

http://www.islam-network.net/Vb/t24099.html

Does Islam allow Wife beating?(2)

2010-01-21T16:37:00.000+03:00

The Qur'an is very clear on this issue. Almighty Allah says:

"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more strength than the other, and because they support them from their means.

Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard in the husband's absence what Allah would have them to guard. As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance); for Allah is most High and Great (above you all).

If you fear a breach between them twain, appoint (two) arbiters, one from his family and the other from hers. If they wish for peace, Allah will cause their reconciliation; for Allah has full knowledge and is acquainted with all things." (An-Nisa': 34-35)"

It is important to read the section fully. One should not take part of the verse and use it to justify one's own misconduct. This verse neither permits violence nor condones it but guides us to ways to handle delicate family situation with care and wisdom.

The word "beating" is used in the verse, but it does not mean "physical abuse". The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained it "dharban ghayra mubarrih " which means "a light tap that leaves no mark". He further said that face must be avoided. Some other scholars are of the view that it is no more than a light touch by siwak , or toothbrush.

Generally, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to discourage his followers from taking even this measure. He never hit any female, and he used to say that the best of men are those who do not hit their wives.

In one hadith he expressed his extreme repulsion from this behavior and said, "How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then embrace (sleep with) her?” (Al-Bukhari, English Translation, vol. 8, Hadith 68, pp. 42-43)

It is also important to note that even this "light strike" mentioned in the verse is not to be used to correct some minor problem, but it is permissible to resort to only in a situation of some serious moral misconduct when admonishing the wife fails, and avoiding from sleeping with her would not help. If this disciplinary action can correct a situation and save the marriage, then one should use it."

*********************************

Dr. Jamal Badawi , professor at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and a cross-appointed faculty member in the Departments of Religious Studies and Management, adds:

"If the problem relates to the wife's behavior, the husband may exhort her and appeal for reason. In most cases, this measure is likely to be sufficient.

In cases where the problem persists, the husband may express his displeasure in another peaceful manner, by sleeping in a separate bed from hers.

There are cases, however, in which a wife persists in bad habits and showing contempt of her husband and disregard for her marital obligations.

Instead of divorce, the husband may resort to another measure that may save the marriage, at least in some cases. Such a measure is more accurately described as a gentle tap on the body, but never on the face, making it more of a symbolic measure than a punitive one.

To be continued in last part by Allah will........

Does Islam allow Wife Beating?(1)

2010-01-19T18:43:00.000+03:00

"Woman was made from the rib of man, She wasn't created from his head to top him, Nor from his feet to be stepped upon, She was made from his side to be closer to him, From beneath his arm to be protected by him, Near his heart to be loved by him"

There is a common misconception about Islam allowing the men to have more control on their wives and beat them although this is not really the truth about it...

I found a great article explaining the reality about that issue from both Quran (The holly book of Islam) and Sunnah (Sayings and teachings of Muhammad PBUH the prophet of Islam)...
And I divided it into 3 parts to make it easy for you to read...

So, these are the real original teachings of Islam no matter some Muslims don't act according to it and are treating their women in such a bad way.

This doesn't change the fact Islam gave Women all her rights...

---------------
Commenting on this issue, Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi , former President of the Islamic Society of North America, states:
1-(How a Muslim husband must treat his wife)

According to the Qur'an the relationship between the husband and wife should be based on mutual love and kindness.

Allah says: "And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect." (Ar-Rum: 21)
The Qur'an urges husbands to treat their wives with kindness.[In the event of a family dispute, the Qur'an exhorts the husband to treat his wife kindly and not to overlook her positive aspects].

Allah Almighty says: “Live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.” (An-Nisa’: 19)

It is important that a wife recognizes the authority of her husband in the house. He is the head of the household, and she is supposed to listen to him.

But the husband should also use his authority with respect and kindness towards his wife. If there arises any disagreement or dispute among them, then it should be resolved in a peaceful manner.
Spouses should seek the counsel of their elders and other respectable family members and friends to batch up the rift and solve the differences.

2-(Men and responsibility of family leading by wisdom in case of conflicts)

However, in some cases a husband may use some light disciplinary action in order to correct the moral infraction of his wife, but this is only applicable in extreme cases and it should be resorted to if one is sure it would improve the situation.

However, if there is a fear that it might worsen the relationship or may wreak havoc on him or the family, then he should avoid it completely.

To be continued........

Do you investigate what is being said to you before accepting it?

2009-12-29T23:19:00.001+03:00

Or you find accepting it is just more easier?
:-S
Well, I'm writing this post today after being shocked by opinions of people about Iraq, Palestine and all Middle East related topics that I saw on a lot of discussion boards, forums, facebook groups and blogs...

I just can't see how some people never try to investigate what is being said to them before accepting it as a word of God....

That reminds my of a quote I like so much:
"The only chance for victory over the brainwash is the right of every man to have his ideas judged one at a time.You never get clarity as long as you have these packaged words, as long as a word is used by twenty-five people in twenty-five different ways.That seems to me to be the first fight, if there is going to be any intellect left.”

So, I have a bunch of well trusted resources concerning these issues today that you may want to check out:

The first site:

If Americans Knew

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the world’s major sources of instability. Americans are directly connected to this conflict, and increasingly imperiled by its devastation.

It is the goal of If Americans Knew to provide full and accurate information on this critical issue, and on our power – and duty – to bring a resolution."

Some interesting statistical facts from the site:

Israeli and Palestinian Children Killed September 29, 2000 - Present

Israelis and Palestinians Killed September 29, 2000 - Present

Israelis and Palestinians Injured September 29, 2000 - Present

Did you know about gaza?

2009-12-24T20:30:00.002+03:00

ِAnd if you do know about it, do you still remember it?

These photos are just few example for what was going on in Gaza, Palestine occupied lands by Israeli armies during their attacks of December 2008 and January...

Despite the military attacks are finished, the whole place is still under a complete siege.

Whether you know what Gaza is, where it is located,and what is happening there or not ,

just try to have a look on this and figure out (logically) without any sort of bias..

And see how you feel as a human.

All I want you to do is to look at these photographs carefully because they have the ability to explain the situation more than any words any news reporter might say.

They come from a reality, somewhere on this pathetic planet where no logic, fairness, or humanity rules are applied.

Where fully prepared army forces kill children, women and elderly people in cold blood while the world is watching.

That place under siege where food, security, home and all simple requirements of live are not available for a normal human being wanting a simple life.

Where sadness, pain and grief are the normal feelings of every day..
ُ

My brother and sister in Islam, my people of the world caring for preserving humanity and bringing peace in this world,
silence is not a solution, rather than that is a mark of approval...

Just because you are not a victim doesn't mean you shouldn't care!

Allah Knows, only He SWT knows

2009-12-21T19:44:00.004+03:00

When you feel all alone in this world
And there's nobody to count your tears
Just remember, no matter where you are

Allah knows
Allah knows

When you carrying a monster load
And you wonder how far you can go
With every step on that road that you take
Allah knows
‎Allah knows

No matter what, inside or out
There's one thing of which there's no doubt
Allah knows
Allah knows

And whatever lies in the heavens and the earth
Every star in this whole universe
Allah knows‎
Allah knows

‎When you find that special someone
Feel your whole life has barely begun
You can walk on the moon, shout it to everyone
Allah knows
Allah knows

When you gaze with love in your eyes
Catch a glimpse of paradise
And you see your child take the first breath of life
Allah knows
Allah knows

When you lose someone close to your heart
See your whole world fall apart
And you try to go on but it seems so hard
Allah knows‎
Allah knows

You see we all have a path to choose
Through the valleys and hills we go
With the ups and the downs, never fret never frown
Allah knows
Allah knows

Every grain of sand,
In every desert land, He knows.

Every shade of palm,
Every closed hand, He knows.

Every sparkling tear,
On every eyelash, He knows.

Every thought I have,
And every word I share, He knows.
Allah knows ‎

This is our prophet Muahammad ,part 2

2009-12-11T23:18:00.007+03:00

This is our prophet Muahammad (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) ,part 1

He chases Backbiting and Gossip:

Once, the prophet Muhammad (salla Allah alyh wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him) said to his Companions:” do you know who the Bankrupt is? “.They said:” The Bankrupt is the one who has no money or belongings “. He said (PBUH):” The bankrupt is the one who comes the day of resurrection with prayers, fasting and Zakat but he had abused that one, defamed that one, stole form that one, shed the blood of that one, and hit that one , then each of those is given from his good deeds, if his good deeds are gone before he repays for what he have done, it’s been taken form their evil deeds and thrown over him then he is thrown into hell.”

The prophet Muhammad ( salla Allah alyh wa sallam ) (Peace Be Upon Him) said : “ Do you know what is the Backbiting ? “ , they said :” Allah and his Messenger know best” , he said:” Backbiting is To mention your brother with what he hates to be said about him” they asked : “ but what if my brother is as I said about him?“ he said:” If he is as you said about him, you had Backbitten him. If he isn't, you had misjudged him.”

He chases Anger:

One of the great quotes of prophet Muhammad's (salla Allah alyh wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him) is : “ The strongest is not the one who beats in fighting, but the one who can contain his anger. "

Another quote says: “He who points an iron rod at his brother, is being cursed by the angels until he gets it down, even if the other man is his indeed brother (of the same parents)."
Narrated by Abu Hurayra that once a man asked the prophet (salla Allah alyh wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him): “ recommend (advise) me “ the prophet (PBUH) said : “ Do not rage with anger.” The man repeated many times: "Recommend me” and the prophet (PBUH) replied each time: "Do not rage with anger."

He forbids Militancy:

He says: “Never get militant in religion; people before you went astray because of nothing but their militancy in religion."

Addition: look at his merciful heart (PBUH), he wanted to keep his Ummah connected to religion forever so he guided them to be easy on themselves, never to be tough or very strict ... He knew that we are all humans, we can't stand excessive worship.
The most merciful God has sent us the most merciful messenger (salla Allahu alyhi wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him).
We all have the honor of belonging to his Ummah.

He calls for patience:

Lady A’isha – prophet Muhammad's wife – narrated that it was as long as two months without a fire being kindled in Muhammad's place; they used to live on water and dates.

Once a man came to Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alyhi wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him) wishing to get a license for fornication reasoned that he is a young man and incapable of controlling his lust. the prophet (PBUH) dabbed at his shoulder nicely and asked: “ do you like your mother to be involved in fornication?" the man replied: " no, I don't." he said : “ do you like your sister to be involved in it? “ the man said : "no, I don't." he said : “ do you like your daughter to be so? " the man said : " no, I don’t." he said : “ do you like your wife to be involved in it?" the man replied: "no, I don't."
The prophet (PBUH) said: “O Arabian brother, and neither do people! They don’t accept it for their mothers, sisters, daughters and wives." That convinced the Arabian, he said: "O messenger of Allah, pray for me to be chaste.” The prophet (PBUH) prayed for him.
"By the time I had left Muhammad (PBUH), I hated nothing more than fornication." Said the Arabian man.

One day, Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alyhi wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him) passed by a grave, where he saw a woman sitting by its side crying on her son who had passed away, he told her (PBUH):”Fear Allah and be dutiful to him. You should be patient." she said : “ go away from me, you didn’t experience my misery." The prophet (PBUH) walked away. The woman didn’t know him, then she was told that he is the messenger of Allah, she hurried to the prophet’s place (PBUH) apologizing and saying to him:” I didn’t recognize you." He – salla Allahu alyhi wa sallam – smiled and said: "Patience is at the first shock."
Which means: to be patient in the beginning of the crisis.

He commands us as regards neighborhood rights:

It was narrated about the prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alyhi wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him) that he said about neighborhood rights : “ If your neighbor asks you for help, you should answer him. If he needs money, you should lend him. If he becomes poor, you should aid him. If he is ill, you should visit him. If he gets fortune, you should congratulate him. If he gets hit by a calamity, you should condole with him. If he dies, you should attend his funeral. Do not elongate your building over his, without his permission; to avoid obstructing the wind. You should not let the smell of your food reaches his home unless you give him some of it. When you buy fruits, offer him some. If you don't intend to do, so let it enter your house in secret, and prevent your child from getting out with it; in order not to hurt your neighbor's child's feelings."

A Muslim should always meets his neighbor’s unrighteousness with goodness. Once a man came to Ibn Mas’oud (one of the prophet's companions) and complained : “ I have a neighbor who keeps hurting, insulting and annoying me." Ibn Mas’oud told him: "go, and if he disobeys Allah by hurting you, you shall obey Allah by being good to him."

He forbids Fraud:

The prophet (salla Allahu alyhi wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him) once passed by a man selling food. He put his hand inside it and found it wet. He asked the man: "what is this, food seller ? " The man answered: " The sky (rain) corrupted it." The prophet said (PBUH): "Shall you show it on the upper of the food so people can see it? He who deceives doesn't belong to me."
One quote of the Prophet's says: "Allah still hates he who sells a defect that hasn't been shown."

He forbids extravagance:

One quote of the Prophet's says:
" If a man had two valleys of money, he would wish for a third one. Nothing fills his mouth but dust. Allah accepts whoever repents”.
One day the prophet (salla Allahu alyhi wa sallam) (Peace Be Upon Him) passed by Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas, when he was performing Wudu' (ablution), he told him: "waste not by extravagance."
"Is there any extravagance in water?!" asked Sa'd.
The prophet (PBUH) answered: "yes, there is. Even if you were on a running river, don't waste by extravagance."

He calls for Honesty:

"If a man tells you something, then turned his head (to check if anyone else could hear him) then it is a trust."
Said our Prophet Muhammad (salla allahu alayhi wa sallam)

Addition: That means you should keep your brother's secrets, even if he didn't tell you directly that it was a secret, but only if you felt that he didn't like anyone else to know about it, whether by speaking in low voice, turning his head all the time..etc.

When the harm of the disbelievers became so intense on Muhammad – Peace and Blessings Of Allah Be Upon Him – he got the permission from Allah to migrate to Al-Madinah. There were many deposits for those disbelievers and others in the hold of Muhammad (PBUH), but the honest messenger didn’t migrate until he had assigned his cousin Ali Bin Abi Taleb to stay in Mecca to return the deposits to their owners, meanwhile those owners were conspiring to kill him (salla Allahu alyhi wa sallam).

Un aperçu de l'Islam (1)

2009-12-07T13:30:00.000+03:00

L'Islam et les musulmans

En langue arabe, le mot Islam signifie Paix, Soumission et Obéissance. La religion Islamique consiste à accepter sans réserve les enseignements et la règle de Dieu, tels qu'ils furent révélés à Mohammad, son Prophète (que la Paix et la Bénédiction soient avec lui).

Un Musulman est celui qui croit en Dieu et s'efforce de mettre sa vie entière en accord avec la révélation Divine et les paroles du prophète. Il doit également s'employer à édifier la société sur les mêmes fondements.

Le mot " Allah " est le nom réservé à Dieu dans la langue arabe. C'est un terme unique qui ne peut se mettre ni au pluriel ni au féminin.

La continuité du Message

L'Islam n'est pas une nouvelle religion. C'est essentiellement le même message et la même règle qu'Allah a révélés à chacun des prophètes : "Dis : Nous croyons en Allah, à ce qu'on a fait descendre (de révélation) sur nous, à ce qu'on a fait descendre sur Abraham, Ismaël, Isaac, Jacob et les Tribus, et à ce qui a été apporté à Moïse, à Jésus et aux Prophètes, de la part de leur Seigneur : nous ne faisons aucune différence entre eux; et c'est à Lui que nous sommes soumis." (Coran, sourate 3, verset 84)

Le message qui fut révélé au prophète Mohammad(que la Paix et la Bénédiction soient avec lui) contient l'Islam dans toute son étendue, sous sa forme complète et définitive.

Les cinq piliers de l'Islam

1. La profession de Foi :
Témoigner que nul autre qu'Allah n'est digne d'être vénéré et que Mohammad (P.S.L) est son envoyé auprès de tous les hommes et ce, jusqu'au jour du jugement.
Parce que Mohammad (P.S.L) est le dernier prophète, chaque Musulman doit prendre modèle sur sa vie exemplaire.

2. Les Prières :
Il est du devoir de chaque Musulman de faire cinq prières par jour. Elles animent et renforcent la croyance en Allah. Elles élèvent la Moralité de l'Homme. Elles purifient le cur. Elles écartent la tentation de la faute et du mal.

3. Le Jeûne du mois de Ramadan :
Ce que les prières essaient de produire cinq fois par jour, le jeûne le fait une fois par an pendant le mois de Ramadan (le neuvième mois de l'année lunaire).
Pendant cette période, de l'aube au coucher du soleil, un Musulman ne doit pas manger une miette de nourriture, ni boire une goutte de liquide, quel que soit l'attrait qu'exerce sur lui la nourriture, et quelles que soient sa faim et sa soif. À chaque instant pendant le jeûne, il réprime ses passions, ses désirs et il proclame pour sa conduite, la suprématie de la loi Divine.

4. La Zakat :
C'est un devoir religieux pour chacun de consacrer, chaque année une aumône purificatrice, 2.5% de ses biens et économies. Cette somme est redistribuée aux plus pauvres de la communauté.

5. Le Pèlerinage à la Mecque :
Chacun doit l'effectuer une fois dans sa vie si cela est économiquement et physiquement possible.

Toute action consciente qui se conforme à la volonté d'Allah est également considérée comme un hommage à Dieu.

L'Islam prescrit la croyance en un Dieu Unique et Souverain qui rend l'homme conscient de la signification de l'univers et de la place qu'il y occupe। Cette croyance le libère de ses peurs et des superstitions en lui faisant sentir la présence d'Allah Tout-Puissant, et en lui rappelant les obligations qu'il a envers Lui। La Foi doit s'exprimer et se prouver en actes. La Foi ne suffit pas. La croyance en un seul Dieu unique exige que l'on considère l'Humanité toute entière comme une seule et même famille sous la tutelle universelle de Dieu Tout-Puissant, le Créateur et le Nourricier des hommes. L'Islam rejette l'idée d'un peuple élu et fait de la Foi en Dieu et des bonnes actions la seule voie du salut, ainsi un relation s'établit-elle avec Dieu sans aucun intermédiaire.

Muslims and non-Muslims, hold on for a while

2009-11-12T22:13:00.013+03:00

I have something to tell you

A German guy who is the murderer of a Muslim Egyptian woman Marwa, Murdered in Germany last July was judged on few days ago and will be in jail for the rest of his life for killing a woman and stabbing her husband defending her...

This was the information on a group for that accident if you didn't come across it before:
Marwa El Sherbiny, Victim of Terrorism

Marwa El Sherbiny, who was 3 months pregnant when was killed by a German in a Court of Law, the well educated Egyptian mother of a 3 year old son.
Marwa went with her husband who is a graduate student to Germany.

What did Marwa do? Nothing,
What did Marwa say? Nothing,
But Marwa used her right to wear what she wants, What she believes is good for her according to the teachings of her religion, Hijab.

Marwa was brutally stabbed to death by a terrorist,
A German Terrorist this time..

Marwa was killed in a Court of Law so,
Where was the Judge?
Where were the security guards?
Where was the police?

For 8 minutes the killer continued stabbing her inside the court room in front of the Judge..
What did the Judge do? Nothing.

Her husband tried to save her but he was stabbed too, The Police arrived but what did the Police do? They shot her Egyptian Husband, Ironically! as for the German police any Arab is a Terrorist!

What kind of law is this?!
The prey gets hunted while everybody watches: Isn't this the law of the Jungle?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Important Note:
Violence should not lead to violence, The main goal of this group is to condemn the tragic killing of Marwa El Sherbiny and to make sure that the killer gets the punishment he deserves.

We also hope to stop the escalating racism against Muslims.

This goal ought to be achieved peacefully without hostility against the Germans or Europeans in general. Our main concern with the German administration is the lack of security in the court room, the delay in police interference and in condemning the crime.
Racial profiling should also be condemned. Marwa should not have died in vain.

The link to the group for more info
---------------

Well, I believe that Marwa, the killed Muslim woman in Germany is a victim of racial discrimination and ignorance, and the German guy who murdered her is a victim at the same time but of his culture that teaches hatred and difference intolerance to people..

We Muslims are also mistaken somehow by not letting people from other cultural background know more about us and about our belief system that teaches peace, love and mercy to mankind and orders us to spread them...

If you Muslims are too closed on yourselves, and you don't speak about your reality or promote it you shouldn't complain then when others misunderstand you!!

Me, You, My brother in Islam and you My sister in Islam could be a part of this type of issues if we are not trying to do our best in terms of:

*Dawah..

*Learning about our religion properly so that we could teach it to others.

I would like to remind myself and you with this beautiful verse, simplifying everything:

{يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَأُنْثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ
خَبِيرٌ (13) } الحجرات

[O, people, we have created you from a male and a female and made you into peoples and tribes that you may know each other. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the greatest in righteous practice.] Qur'an 49/13

This is the essence of Islam!
Peace, love and mercy to all mankind..

Human beings, chill out please and let everybody believe in, think, wear and do like whatever they want..

Let all this difference intolerance, Racial discrimination and hatred based on race and religion come to an end for the good of all of us...

Peace be upon you...

This is our prophet Muahammad (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) ,part 1

2009-11-06T01:23:00.001+03:00

110- Say to them O Muhammad: I am only a mortal like you, but I am prompted by Allah to impart to you the knowledge inspired to me.

Quran /18- The CAVE: AL KAHF

24- O you, who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.

Quran /8- The Spoils of War: AL ANFAL

31- Say to them all, O Muhammad: If you people truly entertain a great love for Allah and you look upon Him as the heart of your purpose, then follow me. Then Allah shall confer on you His grace and blessings, and find forgiveness for your iniquities. Allah is Ghafurun (Forgiving) and Rahimun (merciful)

Quran /3- The Family of ‘Imran‘ : AL–‘IMRAN ‘

Have we really forgotten who the Messenger of Allah is??

The man, who milks his sheep, sews his garment and repairs his insole.

The man who trembles when he sees an animal carrying on its back more than it can bear.

The just man who doesn't prefer his family above others, and says definitely: "If Fatema, Muhammad's daughter robs, I will cut her hand."

The modest man who said tenderly to a woman that feared him: "take it easy. I am just a son of a woman from Quraish who used to eat hard bread"

The worshipper man who stands in his prayer, reciting a long Surah of the Qura'n in beatitude. He doesn't barter it for gold filling the earth. Then he heard an infant crying whom mother is praying behind Muhammad – salla allahu alayhi wa sallam – peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, that's why he finished his prayer in a hurry, being so merciful to the infant and his mother.

The man who used to pray at night, until his heels were swallowed. And when A'isha, his wife told him: "take it easy, as Allah has forgiven for you what preceded of your sins, and what will follow." He answered – peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: " So, will I not be a thankful worshipper??"

The man whom people were at enmity with him, hurt him, and distorted his uncle's (the martyr Hamza) corpse brutally. However, when Muahammad – salla allahu alayhi wa sallam – was in position of control (when he was able to revenge) he asked them: " O people of Quraish, what do you think I will do to you?" They answered: " Good you will do. You are a generous brother. And you are a son of a generous brother too." He then said: " Go people, you are free! "

The man who says when he holds Khutbah (religious speech, sermon): " Whoever I had whipped his back; this is my back, so come and retaliate. And whoever I had abused him or his family, this is me and my family, so come and retaliate."

Addition: actually prophet Muhammad – salla allahu alayhi wa sallam – didn't whip or abuse anyone. However, he cared to be sure that he owed no one any kind of apology. He also knew that he was a high example for other Muslims to follow. He aimed to teach them how to be good to people, apologize if you do wrong, and accept Al Qisas (retaliation, the law of equality in punishment) from those whom were hurt by you.

The messenger, who came to raise the flag of worship, declared that having mercy on mankind is much more pure than excessive worship. The messenger of Allah (PBUH) left his home in the year of Fath (victory) in Ramadan (the month of observing Saum (fasts)) whereas people were fasting. And when he noticed that some people had found hardship in fasting because of the aftermath of the travel, he asked for a cup of water, raised it to be visible to others, and drank – in order to break his fast. – Yet, when he was told that some people kept their fast, he said: "well, those are the disobedient!"

The messenger (PBUH) has always been defending the human rights against the aggression of excessive worship. Once, one of his companions said: " I will pray all the night, and I will sleep not." Another one said: " I will fast forever and I will never stop fasting." A third one said: " I will quit women and will never marry." The messenger asked them: "you are the people who said so and so? By Allah I swear, I am the most fearing and pious man of you, however I observe fasts, and stop fasting. I pray and sleep. And I marry women. He who doesn't want to follow my Sunnah (sayings and acts) doesn't belong to me (not truly Muslim)."

The messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) considers mercy upon others as a mean of nearness to Allah. Accordingly, if you visit an ill person, you are visiting Allah.

Although Muhammad (PBUH) is a messenger responsible for his message, yet he treats the disobedient with all mercy and kindness.
He says: “your likeness and mine is the likeness of a man who has kindled a fire, where butterflies and caterpillars are falling into. While he is protecting and sheltering them from it. I keep you away from hell and you keep slipping from my hands."

Once, a man who drank wine was brought to the messenger (PBUH). His companions drew him away from the messenger, and said: “may Allah curse him! How many times he was brought drinking!" but the messenger – salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam – told them: “don’t curse him, because he loves Allah and his messenger!"

He keeps himself away from those who only care of people sins, and despair of their goodness. He says – peace and blessings of Allah be upon him - : " if you hear a man saying people had lost their ways, then know that he is the very one who has lost his."

This part of article was translated by: Shaimaa Ali, may Allah bless her ...

A Dream That Came True

2009-06-16T01:11:00.001+03:00

I got a dream that has come true, and it's a real big one...

That is : I'm going to the UK very soon(this July) for an international summer school.

I can't believe it till now!

Yes I'm, at the same time I can't express my feelings towards that properly, I just want to tell everybody around..

It feels like a mix of joy, happiness, surprise, and let me say a little pride too :-D

I'll be visiting -In sha Allah- one of my dream countries , one of the places I never expected to see before I'm like 40 years old or so, or even would never see in my lifetime..

Travel has always been my major dream since I was very young, I don't know particularly when did that all start but I've known Shimaa who is determined to travel the whole world a long time ago...

I remember few years ago when I had a cultural exchange program between my first high school and an Italian school, they told us we might be traveling to Italy through it (and it's one of my dream places too), I had been thinking of that dream of going to Italy for a long while then they cancelled the whole thing..

I also remember my prayers and supplications I've always did for a long time to get an opportunity like this one I just got..

And now I'm traveling for the first time in my life, for a wonderful scholarship, to one of my favorite countries ever. How great is that!
-----------
Allah SWT doesn't lie and his promises are sure.
He is true to His word.

Oh Allah! I am conscious of the fact that if we just obey You and walk on Your way that You have shown us, You will pour Your more blessings on us.

I thank you always for your blessings.

I thank you now for the recent blessings I have received and for the blessings yet to come because I know you are not done with me yet.

I thank you till you are satisfied, and when you are satisfied and after that too...

I should thank Allah SWT every single moment for granting me all that...
-----------------
I might write more about it later, I know there will be much to tell about it...

You know, something like this doesn't happen everyday, and I don't fulfill my dreams so often.

But by now, I'm done :-)

The first site:

The prophet Muhammad presents his brother Jesus to the mankind.

(A religious, historical, humanitarian, and ethical reality that shouldn't be denied is is that prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) presented his brother, the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, to the world community in a most superb image).

to get the book in English and read an introduction to it:
http://www.muhammed-jesus.com/indexe.php

Francias:
La grande Famille prophetique
le prophète Muhammad frère du messie
http://www.muhammed-jesus.com/indexf.php

Danish:
http://www.muhammed-jesus.com/indexd.php

---------------------------
The second site:

http://www.islambasics.com/

Which is an online Islamic library.

((This site allows you to do a search throughout all the books listed at the same time.

To the best of our knowledge, none of the books and images throughout our website are copyrighted.

If you find any copyrighted material, please email us so that we can remove it, or secure permission to make it available here)).

Some of their exclusives you will find on this page:
http://www.islambasics.com/index.php?act=list&cat=exc&page=1

1-Islam, The Misunderstood Religion
By: Muhammed Kutub

2-The Islamic concept and its characteristics
By: Sayed Qutb

3-The Day of Resurrection
By: Muhammad Mitwaly Ash-Sha'rawy

Every soul shall have a taste of death

2009-04-05T18:49:00.005+03:00

((كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَمَنْ زُحْزِحَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ)).

"Every soul shall have a taste of death: and only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object (of Life): for the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception."

((أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُوا يُدْرِكْكُمُ الْمَوْتُ وَلَوْ كُنْتُمْ فِي بُرُوجٍ مُشَيَّدَة))
"Wherever ye are, death will find you out, even if you are in towers built up strong and high!"

****************

Few days ago, a 21-year-old friend of mine called Mostafa(known amongst us by Adam) died of Hodgkin lymphoma cancer (type of malignant tumors) that they discovered during the year of 2007 …

The story of what happened is quite long but I'm just shocked and I'm not able to talk much about it..

because it's the first time for me to experience such a situation...

This is a reminder for all of us, death is very near more than anyone can expect, no matter how old or healthy you are...

***************

Prepare for Departure

Habib al-‘Abid reports: Once, when I arrived in al-Basrah, I was surprised to see that the markets were closed, and the streets empty.

I called out: “O people of Basrah, is this some kind of holiday of yours that I am unaware of?”

Someone answered: “No, but al-Hasan al-Basri is in the main gathering place [of Basrah], giving a speech to the people.”

I hurried to his gathering, and when I arrived there, I saw him sitting down on some high ground.

He was saying:

“O people, prepare for departure, for very little time remains from this world.
Prepare to move [to the hereafter], for there is no way to stay here.

Do you not know that you will soon be surrendered to the place of trial [i.e. the grave, Hereafter, etc.]?

Do you not know that each one of you will soon be alone with his deeds and that you will be presented [with your deeds] to Allah on the Day of Judgment?

He [subhaanahu wa ta’aala] forbade you from sinning, but you have not stopped sinning.

He [subhaanahu wa ta’aala] has encouraged you to seek out Jannah, but you do not [seem to] desire it or long for it.

He [subhaanahu wa ta’aala] [threatened] you with the Hellfire, but you are neither afraid nor terrified of it.

Your white hairs are warning you of approaching death, so what are you waiting for?
O white-haired one, you are able to perform good deeds, so what is your excuse?

O one who obeys his mouth and his desires, who wastes his share of the akhirah by taking his entire share in this world, who persists in committing sins and evil deeds, if only I knew: what your excuse will be before Him [subhaanahu wa ta’aala]?

What argument will you put forth when you go to Him [subhaanahu wa ta’aala]? You are lost and misguided, so ask Allaah, the All-Mighty, to forgive both me and you.”

((Taken from: Al-Mawa’idh wal-Majalis’, P. 181))

---------------------

Brothers and sisters, remember him in your prayers, please..

and ask Allah Almighty the forgiveness for all of us..

Respuestas sobre el Islam (3)

2008-10-10T00:01:00.000+03:00

¿Cuáles son las enseñanzas del Islam?

La base de la fe islámica es la creencia absoluta en el monoteísmo (la Unicidad de Dios). Esto significa creer que hay un solo Creador y Sustentador de todo el universo, y que nada es divino ni digno de ser adorado excepto Él.

Ciertamente, creer en la Unicidad de Dios significa mucho más que creer simplemente que hay “un solo Dios”, en lugar de dos, tres o cuatro. Hay muchas religiones que dicen creer en “un solo Dios” y la existencia de un solo Creador y Sustentador de todo el universo, pero el verdadero monoteísmo es creer solo Una Verdadera Deidad debe ser adorada según la revelación que Él le envió a Su Mensajero.

El Islam también rechaza el uso de todos los intermediarios entre Dios y el hombre, e insiste en que la gente se acerque directamente a Dios y reserve para Él toda manifestación de adoración y devoción. Los musulmanes creen además que Dios Todopoderoso es Compasivo, Misericordioso y Piadoso.

Un error muy común es sostener que Dios no puede perdonar directamente a Sus criaturas. Al exagerar la carga y castigo del pecado y sostener que Dios no puede perdonar directamente a los humanos, la gente está menospreciando la Misericordia de Dios. Cuando se convencen de que no pueden acercarse directamente a Dios, se vuelcan a falsos dioses o ayudas, como héroes, líderes políticos, salvadores, santos y ángeles.

A menudo vemos gente que adora, le reza o busca intercesión ante falsas deidades, a las cuales no consideran un ‘dios’. Dicen creer en un Solo Dios Supremo, pero a la vez oran y adoran ante otros solo para acercarse más a Dios.

En el Islam, hay una clara distinción entre el Creador y el ser creado. No hay ambigüedades ni misterios en lo que respecta a la divinidad: Nada que sea creado merece ser adorado, solo Allah, el Creador, es digno de ser adorado. Algunas religiones creen falsamente que Dios es parte de Su creación, y eso ha llevado a que la gente crea que pueden adorar cualquier cosa creada para poder llegar al Creador.

Los musulmanes creen que Dios es Único y Exaltado más allá de cualquier comprensión especulativa, definitivamente no tiene socios, compañeros, pares, antagonistas ni vástagos. Según la creencia musulmana, Allah “no engendra ni fue engendrado” – ni literal, alegórica, metafórica, física o metafísicamente.

Él es Absolutamente Único y Eterno. Tiene control de todo y es perfectamente capaz de otorgar Su infinita Piedad y Su infinito Perdón a quien Él quiera. Es por eso que Allah también es llamado Todopoderoso, Misericordioso, Compasivo. Allah ha creado el Universo para el hombre, y como tal quiere lo mejor para todos los seres humanos. Los musulmanes ven todo en el Universo como una señal de la Creación y Benevolencia de Dios Todopoderoso.

Además, la creencia en la Unicidad de Allah no es meramente un concepto metafísico. Es una creencia dinámica que afecta la visión que tenemos de la humanidad, la sociedad y todos los aspectos de la vida práctica. Un corolario lógico a la creencia islámica en la Unicidad de Allah, es su creencia en la igualdad de los hombres.

The Importance of the Arabic Language in Islam

2008-09-15T00:01:00.004+03:00

Sheikh ul-Islâm ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullaah

Iqtidaa‘us-Siraatil-Mustaqeem (2/207)

Arabic is the symbol of Islâm and the language of the Qur‘ân.

When the early Muslims went to live in Syria and Egypt, where the people spoke Byzantine Greek, and in ’Iraq and Khurasaan, where the people spoke Persian, and North Africa (al-Maghrib) were the people spoke Berber, they taught the people of those countries to speak Arabic, so that Arabic became the prevalent language in those lands, and all the people, Muslim and non alike, spoke Arabic.

Know that being used to using a language has a clear and strong effect on one’s thinking, behaviour and religious commitment. It also has an effect on making one resemble the early generations of this Ummah, the Companions and the Taabi’een. Being like them improves one’s thinking, religious commitment and behaviour.

Moreover, the Arabic language itself is part of Islâm, and knowing Arabic is an obligatory duty.

If it is a duty to understand the Qur‘ân and Sunnah, and they cannot be understood without knowing Arabic, then the means that is needed to fulfill the duty is also obligatory.

There are things which are obligatory on all individuals (fard ’ayn), and others which are obligatory on the community or Ummah (fard kifaayah, i.e., if some people fulfill them the rest are relieved of the obligation.)

This is the meaning of the report narrated by Abu Bakr Ibn Abee Shaybah who said: Isa Ibn Yonus told us from Thawr from ’Umar Ibn Yazeed that ’Umar wrote to Abu Moosa al-Ash’aree radiallaahu ’anhu and said: {{Learn the Sunnah and learn Arabic; learn the Qur‘ân in Arabic for it is Arabic.}}

According to another hadith narrated from ’Umar radiyallaahu ’anhu, he said: {{Learn Arabic for it is part of your Religion, and learn how the estate of the deceased should be divided (faraa‘id) for these are part of your Religion.}}

This command of ’Umar, to learn Arabic and the Sharee’ah combines the things that are needed, for Religion involves understanding words and actions.

Understanding Arabic is the way to understand the words of Islâm, and understanding the Sunnah is the way to understand the actions of Islâm…”

The source

No Tarawih for China Muslims

2008-09-08T18:58:00.000+03:00

BEIJING — Muslims in China's far northwest region of Xinjiang are banned from performing Tarawih prayers, special nightly prayers performed during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, with men prevented from growing beards and women from covering their faces, in the latest restrictions on China's Muslim minority.

"We must timely warn and stop religious believers from organizing and planning large scale prayer groups and prevent any large crowd incidents that could harm social stability," said a notice on the Xinhe county website cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday, September 5.

Orders were issued by local governments this week to stop Uighur Muslims from performing their rituals during the fasting month on claims of preventing violence.

The orders prohibit government officials, Communist Party members, teachers and students from observing the dawn-to-dusk fasting month.

"Any person caught forcing another to observe Ramadan would be punished," said a notice posted on Xinjiang's Zhaosu county website.

In some areas, Muslim men are banned from growing beards and women prevented from covering their faces with veils.

"For those that maintain beards and for the women who wear veils, we should take all effective measures to have them shave their beards and take off their veils," the Shaya government said, without elaborating on how this would be done.

The county government also stepped up patrols around mosques in the region.

"The handing out of religious propaganda in public places by any work unit or individual is banned," the Shaya government said.

"We must strictly prohibit the playing of any audio-visual tapes, loud speaker announcements and religious drum rituals that could disrupt the Ramadan festival."

Muslims worldwide began this week observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

During Ramadan, adult Muslims, save the sick and those traveling, abstain during daylight hours from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.

Muslims dedicate their time during the holy month to become closer to Allah through prayer, self-restraint and good deeds.

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