Alhamdulillah the judge granted the defense lawyer the request to move Dr. Al Timimi from the federal prison to the Alexandria detention center for further hearings.
Please continue to pray for him. [Link]
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Netenyahu, OBM and Bergkamp
Yesterday evening i saw an interview with ex-Israeli PM Benjamin Netenyahu. I was slightly surprised that the Sky News interviewer put him on the spot and asked him why he was going to be attending the 60th anniversary of the Israeli terrorist attack on the King David Hotel. How could he accuse one group of people of being terrorists who attack civilians (i.e. Hizbullah) while glorifying & commemmorating another terrorist attack?
Netenyahu was slightly thrown by the question and his eventual reply was that the hotel was a military base and that the Jewish terrorists who attacked it had called ahead and told the British to vacate the building. And that was his "justification".
Well, lets go back and establish one or two facts so that we can weigh up the strength of Netenyahu's justification.
The King David Hotel in 1946 housed the military and civilian headquarters of British power in Palestine. Its defences included soldiers patrolling around it; some manning machine-gun nests on the roof. Its front was covered by wire netting to prevent throwing of explosives at it and you approached it through a barbed-wire alley flanked by armed guards. It had steel shutters which could only be opened from the inside and which could only be accessed by first going through another set of steel doors.
Now ask yourself, do you think that the British were just going to up and leave from such a fortress because a gang of Jewish terrorists threatened to blow them up if they didn't (and that is if we assume that Netenyahu is telling the truth about a warning being given)? I don't think they would leave the King David Hotel anymore than they'll leave Sandhurst if some nutter calls up telling them to abandon it.
So now Netenyahu commented that he'd like to see Hizbullah give a warning so that Israeli civilians could be evacuated before Hizbullah lunched an attack, as if the Jewish warning to the British gave them some sort of moral high ground. But the fact is that it doesn't give them any more moral high ground than the IRA who used to do exactly the same a few decades ago - they used to call up the police beforehand to tell them of an impending explosion.
This atrocity at the hands of Jewish terrorists ended with the death of 88 British & Arabs.
Not so brave now
Since the time when i was in college my general feeling is that whichever group has been led by Omar Bakri Mohamed (whether HT, al-Muhajiroon, or al-Ghurabaa) has been characterised by bad adab, and stupid statements & behaviour in the media which give a very bad impression of the Muslim community.
Now OBM and his followers have always been at the forefront of calls for Jihad and fighting the Zionist enemy etc, etc. but it now emerges that OBM who is in Lebanon was trying to get on the first boat back to Britain after the escalation of the crisis there. So where is all the zeal and enthusiasm to "fight the oppressors" gone?
Farewell to the old Master
Tomorrow will see the curtain come down for the last time on one of football's most talented players: Dennis Bergkamp. The BBC Sport's site has a 15 page collation of photos and facts which is worth looking at. Bergkamp is so beloved to Arsenal fans that in later years when chiefly starting as a sub you'd hear the crowd burst int cheers when they'd see him get off the bench to warm up. I'm hoping that Arsenal will release a DVD of all his goals, because that would be a real collector's item. Do you remember the hat-trick against Leicester? Do you remember that absolutely stunning goal against Argentina in 1998 - probably the best goal i've ever seen!
Netenyahu was slightly thrown by the question and his eventual reply was that the hotel was a military base and that the Jewish terrorists who attacked it had called ahead and told the British to vacate the building. And that was his "justification".
Well, lets go back and establish one or two facts so that we can weigh up the strength of Netenyahu's justification.
The King David Hotel in 1946 housed the military and civilian headquarters of British power in Palestine. Its defences included soldiers patrolling around it; some manning machine-gun nests on the roof. Its front was covered by wire netting to prevent throwing of explosives at it and you approached it through a barbed-wire alley flanked by armed guards. It had steel shutters which could only be opened from the inside and which could only be accessed by first going through another set of steel doors.
Now ask yourself, do you think that the British were just going to up and leave from such a fortress because a gang of Jewish terrorists threatened to blow them up if they didn't (and that is if we assume that Netenyahu is telling the truth about a warning being given)? I don't think they would leave the King David Hotel anymore than they'll leave Sandhurst if some nutter calls up telling them to abandon it.
So now Netenyahu commented that he'd like to see Hizbullah give a warning so that Israeli civilians could be evacuated before Hizbullah lunched an attack, as if the Jewish warning to the British gave them some sort of moral high ground. But the fact is that it doesn't give them any more moral high ground than the IRA who used to do exactly the same a few decades ago - they used to call up the police beforehand to tell them of an impending explosion.
This atrocity at the hands of Jewish terrorists ended with the death of 88 British & Arabs.
Not so brave now
Since the time when i was in college my general feeling is that whichever group has been led by Omar Bakri Mohamed (whether HT, al-Muhajiroon, or al-Ghurabaa) has been characterised by bad adab, and stupid statements & behaviour in the media which give a very bad impression of the Muslim community.
Now OBM and his followers have always been at the forefront of calls for Jihad and fighting the Zionist enemy etc, etc. but it now emerges that OBM who is in Lebanon was trying to get on the first boat back to Britain after the escalation of the crisis there. So where is all the zeal and enthusiasm to "fight the oppressors" gone?
Farewell to the old Master
Tomorrow will see the curtain come down for the last time on one of football's most talented players: Dennis Bergkamp. The BBC Sport's site has a 15 page collation of photos and facts which is worth looking at. Bergkamp is so beloved to Arsenal fans that in later years when chiefly starting as a sub you'd hear the crowd burst int cheers when they'd see him get off the bench to warm up. I'm hoping that Arsenal will release a DVD of all his goals, because that would be a real collector's item. Do you remember the hat-trick against Leicester? Do you remember that absolutely stunning goal against Argentina in 1998 - probably the best goal i've ever seen!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Du'a request
There will be a hearing on behalf of Dr. Ali Al-Timimi on Friday July 21 at 9:00 am at Alexandria Courthouse. Please pray for your brother.
Monday, July 17, 2006
How much lower can they go?
As i mentioned in an earlier posting, a bunch of paedophiles in Holland were trying to get a political party started which had a paedophile & perverts agenda. Well, that party has been given permission to come into being and campaign and gather support. Not only do they want to bring down the age of consent to 12 they want to allow sex with animals!
If these are the sorts of values that the West wants us to be accepting of, they can stick their values where the sun don't shine. Give me shari'ah anyday, where good is good, bad is bad, and clear-cut punishments deter would be offenders!
Israeli conflict
What can you say when facts are presented upside down and everyone is repeating them & believing them all the time? I'm talking about the Israelis new line that Hizbullah have come into possession of super-duper advanced weaponry (just because they sank a small gunship off the coast) and suddenly this new weaponry takes the conflict to some new stage which it has never reached before? Who actually has the advanced weaponry? Do Hizbullah have a single fighter-jet? Or a single helicopter? Or even a single tank that Israel is so worried about Hizbullah.
Its a great shame that Tony Blair is increasingly showing his pro-Israeli bias in face of such facts as Israel targetting the Lebanese & Palestinian civilian population. That Israel is harmfully affecting the lives of tens of thousands of people by targetting power stations (that supply hospitals & schools with electricity) , bridges and other key areas of civilian infrastructure. But then who expects any good from him nowadays anyway?
Islam's Green
I found a link to the blog of well-known Muslim activist Abdur-Raheem Green. People in the UK will be familiar with the blond-haired speaker whose talks pack a punch. I remember him saying in a talk that people sometimes mistake him for Jesus (because at that time he used to keep shoulder-length hair) and if you've seen him you can understand why people say that. But that reminds me of when i was at Hajj a couple of years ago and i was walking round the outskirts of Masjid al-Haram almost onto Ajyad street when i saw a person who reminded me of Jesus, the Messenger of Allah so much. This one was fair skinned, didn't have blond hair - but brown, but the sight of him and how much he made me think of Jesus left me captivated. I was almost about to go up to him and tell him that he reminded me of Jesus but i bottled it.
If these are the sorts of values that the West wants us to be accepting of, they can stick their values where the sun don't shine. Give me shari'ah anyday, where good is good, bad is bad, and clear-cut punishments deter would be offenders!
Israeli conflict
What can you say when facts are presented upside down and everyone is repeating them & believing them all the time? I'm talking about the Israelis new line that Hizbullah have come into possession of super-duper advanced weaponry (just because they sank a small gunship off the coast) and suddenly this new weaponry takes the conflict to some new stage which it has never reached before? Who actually has the advanced weaponry? Do Hizbullah have a single fighter-jet? Or a single helicopter? Or even a single tank that Israel is so worried about Hizbullah.
Its a great shame that Tony Blair is increasingly showing his pro-Israeli bias in face of such facts as Israel targetting the Lebanese & Palestinian civilian population. That Israel is harmfully affecting the lives of tens of thousands of people by targetting power stations (that supply hospitals & schools with electricity) , bridges and other key areas of civilian infrastructure. But then who expects any good from him nowadays anyway?
Islam's Green
I found a link to the blog of well-known Muslim activist Abdur-Raheem Green. People in the UK will be familiar with the blond-haired speaker whose talks pack a punch. I remember him saying in a talk that people sometimes mistake him for Jesus (because at that time he used to keep shoulder-length hair) and if you've seen him you can understand why people say that. But that reminds me of when i was at Hajj a couple of years ago and i was walking round the outskirts of Masjid al-Haram almost onto Ajyad street when i saw a person who reminded me of Jesus, the Messenger of Allah so much. This one was fair skinned, didn't have blond hair - but brown, but the sight of him and how much he made me think of Jesus left me captivated. I was almost about to go up to him and tell him that he reminded me of Jesus but i bottled it.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Yet another 'honour' killing
First things first, may Allah give the perpetrators of this horrific crime what they deserve. Where did the innate love for one's own family go in the heart of Sumaira's brother, father and even her mother who stood by whilst the brutal crime was committed?
They thought by killing her they would protect their honour amongst their friends and family, yet their own hands dishonoured them and their families in a way such that the entire UK now sees them as they are: heartless murderers.
On Zidane
I'm right with Zidane when he says that he didn't regret headbutting Materazzi. The guy deserved it after what he said. People are saying that its normal for insults (including insults to one's mother) to be traded on the football pitch. As if that makes it acceptable!!
Al-Noor funday
If you happen to be in and around London this Sunday why not pop over to Valentines Park for the Al-Noor school funday. Its a really great day out for all the family, and i've enjoyed it thoroughly every year that i've gone.
They thought by killing her they would protect their honour amongst their friends and family, yet their own hands dishonoured them and their families in a way such that the entire UK now sees them as they are: heartless murderers.
On Zidane
I'm right with Zidane when he says that he didn't regret headbutting Materazzi. The guy deserved it after what he said. People are saying that its normal for insults (including insults to one's mother) to be traded on the football pitch. As if that makes it acceptable!!
Al-Noor funday
If you happen to be in and around London this Sunday why not pop over to Valentines Park for the Al-Noor school funday. Its a really great day out for all the family, and i've enjoyed it thoroughly every year that i've gone.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
What did i tell you?
Mr Diver wants to leave Man U. I seriously don't know how that guy can live with himself diving all over the pitch like he does, and tonight's third place match was no different.
If i could catch his ear i'd tell him that he should stop trying to fly about like Superman or he'll injure himself! (I'd also tell him that my brother calls him 'Riverdance', haha).
Anyhow, here are two quick plugs: I found a nifty calendar tool which fits nicely in the corner of my screen. Check it out.
There is a new lecture by Imam Anwar on the net entitled "Allah's victory is near". You can download part 1 here and part 2 here.
And finally, i've been reading the PhD thesis of a friend of mine and often he refers to the history of Baghdad by way of mentioning events that happened there, famous people who lived there (e.g. Imam Abu Hanifa), and it makes me very sad now to see it in its current state. I don't have a copy of "Tareekh Baghdad" but if anyone reading this does and has a bit of spare time on their hands it would be great if you could put together an article which illustrates the great history of this city because i think Muslims ought to know how important this city is in our history.
If i could catch his ear i'd tell him that he should stop trying to fly about like Superman or he'll injure himself! (I'd also tell him that my brother calls him 'Riverdance', haha).
Anyhow, here are two quick plugs: I found a nifty calendar tool which fits nicely in the corner of my screen. Check it out.
There is a new lecture by Imam Anwar on the net entitled "Allah's victory is near". You can download part 1 here and part 2 here.
And finally, i've been reading the PhD thesis of a friend of mine and often he refers to the history of Baghdad by way of mentioning events that happened there, famous people who lived there (e.g. Imam Abu Hanifa), and it makes me very sad now to see it in its current state. I don't have a copy of "Tareekh Baghdad" but if anyone reading this does and has a bit of spare time on their hands it would be great if you could put together an article which illustrates the great history of this city because i think Muslims ought to know how important this city is in our history.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
A year later...
It was the first anniversary of the July bombings yesterday and yes, i observed the silence. Everyone in our department observed the two minutes of silence (except one Jewish guy) but it wasn't a silence of reflection, but moreso two minutes in which people quietly got on with their work.
I only found out a couple of days ago that one of my English colleagues - and a good friend of mine - was on one of the bombed trains. Alhumdulillah, he wasn't physically harmed by the bombs, but i could sense from the moment that he got in to work yesterday that there was a lot going on inside of him and when i saw him give a TV interview later that day he admitted that it had been an emotionally draining day.
One of the reasons that i don't agree with the bombings is that just as i don't wish for myself or my family to come to harm, i don't wish for my non-Muslim colleagues, friends and neighbours to come to harm either. These are people i grew up with and went to school with, played football with, have gone out to dinner with... and the thought that they might be blown to bits just doesn't sit nice with me.
One of the issues i've wanted to blog about for a long time is the issue of how UK Muslims relate to this country? How strongly do Muslims here feel a sense of belonging to the UKand by Muslims i mean practising Muslims and not the coconut-variety because it is practising Muslims who will ultimately project an image of Islam to the wider public.
What i sense is that there is a very strong sense of detachment to the UK and the UK way of life amongst brothers and sisters, and i think some of the factors that lead to this are:
I received two new items in the post yesterday: Purification of the Soul by Jamal ad-Deen Zarabozo, and a 28-CD explanation of surah al-Fatihah by the same author. I bought them from islamic bookstore because it was much, much cheaper to get them at US prices (though customs added nearly another £14 to the overall price). I'm looking forward to listening to them and i'm hoping that in presentation they will be just as good as the various sets that Imam Anwar al-Awlaki has produced.
I only found out a couple of days ago that one of my English colleagues - and a good friend of mine - was on one of the bombed trains. Alhumdulillah, he wasn't physically harmed by the bombs, but i could sense from the moment that he got in to work yesterday that there was a lot going on inside of him and when i saw him give a TV interview later that day he admitted that it had been an emotionally draining day.
One of the reasons that i don't agree with the bombings is that just as i don't wish for myself or my family to come to harm, i don't wish for my non-Muslim colleagues, friends and neighbours to come to harm either. These are people i grew up with and went to school with, played football with, have gone out to dinner with... and the thought that they might be blown to bits just doesn't sit nice with me.
One of the issues i've wanted to blog about for a long time is the issue of how UK Muslims relate to this country? How strongly do Muslims here feel a sense of belonging to the UKand by Muslims i mean practising Muslims and not the coconut-variety because it is practising Muslims who will ultimately project an image of Islam to the wider public.
What i sense is that there is a very strong sense of detachment to the UK and the UK way of life amongst brothers and sisters, and i think some of the factors that lead to this are:
- the foreign policy of the British government. This is so unjust & cruel that even white people sometimes admit that they're embarrassed to be British.
- ungratefulness. Believe it or not, British law generally accommodates Muslims quite well!
- racism
- lack of social interaction with non-Muslims, which leads to ...
- an attitude of us versus them "dirty kuffaar"
- the dream of making hijrah. This psychologically starts the detachment anyway. Afterall, if you're planning to move away from the UK you're not likely to care too much about it are you? (Though the strange thing is that those who want to make hijrah don't really do much beyond talking about it).
I received two new items in the post yesterday: Purification of the Soul by Jamal ad-Deen Zarabozo, and a 28-CD explanation of surah al-Fatihah by the same author. I bought them from islamic bookstore because it was much, much cheaper to get them at US prices (though customs added nearly another £14 to the overall price). I'm looking forward to listening to them and i'm hoping that in presentation they will be just as good as the various sets that Imam Anwar al-Awlaki has produced.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
England out
I have to agree with Abu Eesa, to see England go through after putting in yet another rubbish performance would have been a shame for the world cup.
On the bright side, no more Sven. But with McClaren taking over i'm not going to be too optimistic over what England can do over the next couple of years. They've got some half-decent players and what they needed was someone like Big Sam Allardyce to be taking charge. I've got a lot of time for him.
I can't believe how effectively Sven neutralised the skill of a side with the likes of Rooney, Lampard, Terry, Gerrard and the two Coles. Actually, i look at Sven and wonder how could someone like him ever inspire his players at all? I hope he gets a good grilling in the Sun tomorrow.
I'm not a betting man, but if i were i'd put money on ole Cristiano Ronaldo not being at Man U next season. There have been whispers of him wanting to sign elsewhere this summer, and he was just too cocky and aggressive with his Man U team mates that i wonder whether he already has an agreement with another club.
Anyhow, i'm rooting for an Italy v France final now. I just hope that Domenech decides to start Trezeguet alongside Henry. Watching a team playing with a lone striker is just darn boring.
The refereeing has improved alot since that shambolic Holland v Argentina match in which 16 yellow cards were branded! But the play-acting by the worlds "greatest" players has been sad to see. Even Henry dived disgracefully in France's second round match.
Now that England are out I leave you with a quote from my brother.
"Who should i support now? Yeah, i'll support France... (thinks for a moment) ... Damn, i'm supporting the French Frogs!"
:)
On the bright side, no more Sven. But with McClaren taking over i'm not going to be too optimistic over what England can do over the next couple of years. They've got some half-decent players and what they needed was someone like Big Sam Allardyce to be taking charge. I've got a lot of time for him.
I can't believe how effectively Sven neutralised the skill of a side with the likes of Rooney, Lampard, Terry, Gerrard and the two Coles. Actually, i look at Sven and wonder how could someone like him ever inspire his players at all? I hope he gets a good grilling in the Sun tomorrow.
I'm not a betting man, but if i were i'd put money on ole Cristiano Ronaldo not being at Man U next season. There have been whispers of him wanting to sign elsewhere this summer, and he was just too cocky and aggressive with his Man U team mates that i wonder whether he already has an agreement with another club.
Anyhow, i'm rooting for an Italy v France final now. I just hope that Domenech decides to start Trezeguet alongside Henry. Watching a team playing with a lone striker is just darn boring.
The refereeing has improved alot since that shambolic Holland v Argentina match in which 16 yellow cards were branded! But the play-acting by the worlds "greatest" players has been sad to see. Even Henry dived disgracefully in France's second round match.
Now that England are out I leave you with a quote from my brother.
"Who should i support now? Yeah, i'll support France... (thinks for a moment) ... Damn, i'm supporting the French Frogs!"
:)
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