Brown Boowe Care to post the link for that claim? If it is true, I can only imagine that the fault lies with white men Since the majority of employers and bank managers fit into this catagory. Been really thinking of doing gardening course lately.

Ngonge Do think things thru my friend before you jump in with both feet and hands. I presume that you havent been to Somalia for a while whereas Xanthus and I have been. JacB is still there (I assume). This isnt anecdotal. And by saying Islam is strong in the west, I didnt mean that we are more vocal or loud. I meant muslims, I saw in the west, practice the tenants of Islam more than those back home. Those rioting against Rushdie/Cartoons doesnt necesarily indicate the strength of Islam but the limited freedom muslims have (in the west) in expressing their views.

I cant make out how the Pakistani society operate. In the west, they have amazing scholars, but what on earth is happening with the mullahs in Pakistan who blame the rape victim? Why is this in their sharia? Xan The bombing was done by the govt I presume? I guess they are no better. But even in their countries, Islam isnt practiced there as much as they do in the West. People say there is revival of Islam but this appears to occur in the west and not in the muslim countries.

Must we go through this again peacenow? I realise that you've got issues and one that needs solving prompt..however why are you subjecting your prejudices to us? How can you say this about a whole race? I can understand if you have beef with their govts but not the race. Can I ask ...Do you love your people -Somalis? Do you get this warm fuzzy feeling when you see a Somali?

JacB Do you think countries like Lebonen, Egypt is stable? Is there a connection with scholars preaching freely and the state of society? I guess every nation get the leader they deserve.

Maybe we can set up 'Ururka Haweenka -soon to be unemployed- of SOL' Mr Brown Do you think women cant make these 'immense Mental,physical & financial sacrifices'?

Do you guys think ..maybe one of the main reasons meesha ay u degi la'dahay cos lack of deen?

Salamm J I was one of those. When I refused to shake couple fo guys, they acted so shocked and insulted. I loved hearing the athaan closer to my home and we could even hear the jumuah khutbah right in our home. Yet people werent attending. Of course ladies cover up, but mainly it is for cultural reasons. Knowledge was everywhere are you mentioned but it wasnt fashionable to be religious.

Salaam Aleykum I was wondering wether you found the people back home practiced Islam less than those in the daispora (be in the west or east). There is saying 'Islam is in the west'. Any truth in this?

Somalia in the eye of the storm Writing for the Focus on Africa magazine, Gill Lusk of Africa Confidential explores what common thread links the crises across the Horn of Africa The bloodshed in Somalia, where about 1,500 people were reportedly killed in Mogadishu alone in March and April, has attracted more international attention than for years, and is said to be as dangerous as at any time during its 16 years of turmoil. The United Nations' top humanitarian official, John Holmes, declared the flight of hundreds of thousands of people from the capital the world's worst displacement emergency. An estimated 2.5 million people are displaced in Sudan's Darfur region, but this has been over four years: in Somalia, most fled suddenly. Warlord terror President Abdullahi Yusuf's transitional government is the outcome of endless meetings among Somalia's leaders: many spent two years talking in Kenyan hotels until donors pulled the plug. One weakness of the administration is that not all members have the interests of their people at heart. The other side of this coin is that many warlords are now in government. This is one reason why some Somalis, traditionally of a politically secularist bent, seem nostalgic for the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) which took power in Mogadishu in June 2006. And this is where the US comes in: the people the UIC captured power from were a collection of warlords gathered in the short-lived US-backed Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism. The warlords involved had often brought terror - though not Islamist terror - to Somalia and it was hardly surprising that many people welcomed the UIC takeover, which brought a semblance of peace. However, it also brought Islamist politics - which set alarm bells ringing within Somalia itself and in neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya, not to mention nearby Arab countries. It was also a setback for the US, which has its regional spearhead in the "war on terror" - the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa - in Djibouti. Washington has long maintained that some of the militants responsible for the August 1998 bombings of its Kenya and Tanzania embassies had taken refuge in Somalia, and in January, US forces bombed southern Somalia. The US later admitted it had failed to "take out" any of its intended victims - although it had, of course, killed others. Enemy's enemy The bombing was not in isolation: Ethiopia had just invaded Somalia to overthrow the UIC, which it did. While Washington gave the green light for the invasion, Ethiopia is far from being a US puppet. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government felt it had much to fear from the Islamists in Mogadishu. It has long experience with its own Islamist rebels, including the Sudan-backed Oromo Liberation Front, and with the Islamist government in Khartoum, which was implicated in the attempt to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa in 1995. At the same time, both Ethiopia and Eritrea are pursuing a proxy war in Somalia on the principle of "my enemy's enemy is my friend". Ethiopia has kept its armed forces in Somalia beyond the time promised, justifying this by a growing insurgency, which it has itself fed - this time from a mixture of Islamists, clan militias and nationalists. But Eritrea is a main backer of this insurgency, having supplied armaments, money and training, especially to jihadis. The tension in the region has allowed Sudan to pursue its own complex and Islamist agendas. This includes Darfur, where it has been accused of "ethnically cleansing" at least 200,000 of its own people. The AU's peacekeeping efforts in Darfur have largely failed, while Khartoum has been resisting pressure for the deployment of UN troops. Led by Egypt, Arab states have kept quiet, accepting the Khartoum line that the Darfur crisis is exaggerated and an age-old tribal and resource conflict - and, simultaneously, a Western/US/Jewish/Christian plot. 'Politics of fear' And it may be a sign of the "war on terror" times that, while tens of thousands of displaced Darfuris have signed petitions calling for UN peacekeepers, many other northern Sudanese - who detest their own brutal Islamist government - believe its line that UN peacekeepers would be akin to the foreign invasion of Iraq. Washington's approach to Islamism seems to involve containing, or attempting to contain, Islamist organisations while targeting individual terrorist suspects. Western and Arab officials believe they have contained the NC in Khartoum and appear prepared to put up with the killing in Darfur. The officials say they have no evidence of Khartoum's continued involvement in terrorism - it once harboured al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden - and claim security supremo Salah Abdallah Gosh is handing them invaluable secrets. US forces in particular focus on "eliminating" specific individuals, though not necessarily successfully, across the Horn and Sahel belt while seeming to ignore the governments and organisations that spawned them - hence the attempt to kill the alleged planners of the Kenya-Tanzania embassy bombings through air strikes in Somalia. In May, Amnesty International criticised the "politics of fear" which it said was "fuelling a downward spiral of human rights abuses". It is clear that "war on terror" policies fuel a range of reactions, from simple anti-Americanism to jihad. But governments that do not have to worry about democracy and human rights are manipulating the "war on terror" for their own ends. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6724543.stm Published: 2007/06/18 16:27:03 GMT © BBC MMVII

My my..a lot of people are at crossroads. Sheh What a great approach that you have. I am a nervous wreck whenever i go for interviews. Since I graduated, I have had 4 interviews, I got 2 of those jobs of which I had to choose one. Anywho..If you had told me 7 years ago that I would be rotting here, I wouldnt have beleived it. I think it is better to go alone rather than working for someone. Which is where I am heading now. ALl i know is..my plan of becoming a millionare by the time I am 40 wont be acheived if i continue to work for someone.

Another way to find comfort is by getting closer to Allah. When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calls on Me: let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me: that they may walk in the right way. (Al-Baqarah 2:186) 1. Way of Devotion and Worship "My servant does not come closer to Me with anything more dear to Me than that which I made obligatory upon him. My servant keeps coming closer to Me with more volunteer deeds, until I love him. When I love him, I become His ear by which he hears, his eyes by which he sees, his hand by which he holds and his foot by which he walks. If he asks Me any thing I shall give him. If he seeks My protection I shall grant him My protection…"(Al-Bukhari 6021) 2. Way of Piety and Righteousness: Taqwa (piety) and righteous deeds also bring us close to Allah. "Call on your Lord with humility and in private: for Allah loves not those who trespass beyond bounds. Do no mischief on the earth, after it hath been set in order, but call on Him with fear and longing (in your hearts): for the Mercy of Allah is (always) near to those who do good." (Al-A’raf 7:55-56) 3. Way of Charity and Kindness "Allah will say on the Day of Judgment, O son of Adam, I was ill and you visited Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant so and so was ill and you visited him not? Did you not know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant so and so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you not know that had you fed him you would surely have found that with Me? O son of Adam, I asked you to give Me to drink and you gave Me not to drink. He will say: O Lord, how should I give You to drink when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: My servant so and so asked you to give him to drink and you gave him not to drink. Had you given him to drink you would have surely found that with Me. (Muslim 4661)

Salaam Aleykum Iman ( faith) is in 2 halves - 1 half is Sabr ( paitence) and the other is Shurk ( gratitude.) The commandments from Allah swt in our purpose to worship him is that those who are both paitent and grateful will be successful in this life and the next, insha'allah. All the Prophets peace be upon them all, of Islam, displayed levels of paitence and gratitude that far exceed anything we have today. Paitence is required for endurance - and for conviction. Paitence to stay away from the things which are haraam for us and gratitude for the test in that we might appreciate it as an opportunity to come closer to Allah swt. Gratitude that all that happens is from His Will. Gratitude for the tests, the fortunes and the misfortunes. Gratitude is praise of Allah swt, rememberance of Allah swt, paitence in Him. Belief and worship in Allah swt requires recognition to him and submission to him. He cannot be recognised with gratitude and he cannot be submitted to without paitence. Sabr and Shukr will see you through all that you do insha'allah and strengthen your character, your knowledge and your iman. Sabr and Shurk are mentioned together in the Qur'an many many times. For instance: Seest thou not that the ships sail through the ocean by the Grace of Allah?- that He may show you of His Signs? Verily in this are Signs for all who constantly persevere and give thanks.31:31 and within the Sunnah of our Prophet peace be upon him, much wisdom about this too: "Any Muslim that says when a calamity befalls him that which Allah commanded him: To Allah we belong and to him we return. O Allah reward me in this calamity and give me better then it - (any Muslim that says this) Allah will grant him better than (that which he lost)." - Muslim So even if you aspire to be nothing else, aspire to be paitent and grateful and you will enjoy success insha'allah. Salaams

http://earth.google.com/gallery/kml_entry.html#tSomalia%20Refugee%20Migration

Salaam aleykum girls I also dont like my job....and it took me 7yrs to realise it. I can do so much better but One thing i know for sure is the fact that I wont get glowing reference. My bosses fired about 15 people in the time I was with them. The reason I lovEd this job was: Having my own office to pray, being allowed to wear my abaaya and hijab, flexibility in working some weekends whilst taking time off on weekdays etc. Now they are getting on my nerves so I am forcing their hand to fire me instead of working off the 2months notice. I so much wanted to stuff and this job has stopped me doing that. Now I wanna go to Umra for 3 weeks but I am only allowed 2weeks holiday! Off to lunch now

Late risers unite in Denmark By Chris Morris BBC News, Denmark If you find it hard to get up in the morning, don't despair - you're not lazy, you're just genetically programmed that way, says the B-Society in Denmark. The sound of the alarm is dreaded by B-people everywhere I have still got a rather nasty bruise on my shin at the moment after the flawed execution of my latest elaborate plan - to make sure I did not miss the dreaded early morning flight. I was sleeping rather fitfully in the spare room downstairs, trying to avoid waking up the rest of the house, when the time ticked around to 4.30. First the phone alarm on the bedside table chirruped. I soon dealt with that. But then one minute later the alarm clock cunningly hidden on the other side of the room burst into life. The trick is to place an obstacle - in this case my son's rickety wooden rocking horse - in your path, making immediate access difficult. Now I know it is not my fault. I am a B-person The idea, obviously, is that by the time you find the blasted clock you are awake. The trouble was, in this case, in my bleary-eyed trance, I forgot about the horse altogether and crashed into it at some speed. Searing pain, followed by muffled obscenities, left me lying in a heap on the floor, the alarm clock still beeping impatiently. I made the flight, the sunrise looked lovely, but boy do I hate mornings. But it is OK. Now I know it is not my fault. I am a B-person. A B-person - as opposed to an A-person - genetically pre-disposed to operate better and to be more alert later in the day. B-uprising Denmark it seems is full of B-people. So where better to form the B-society? Six months after it was set up, it already boasts several thousand members. Now it is campaigning hard for businesses to sign up to its B-certification list. The glazed looks on the faces of grumpy commuters are disturbingly familiar "We're calling," the society proclaims in its manifesto, "for an uprising against the tyranny of early rising." Mmm, sounds good. But how does it work in practice? Rush-hour in Copenhagen seems relatively sedate to me - it is certainly not central London on a wet Monday morning. But the glazed looks on the faces of grumpy commuters are disturbingly familiar. So, time to find some B-pioneers. Flexible working One strong cup of coffee later and I was on my way to meet Stephen Alstrup who runs his own B-certified company. Empty tube trains are one of the joys for Denmark's B-people By the time he gets to his train station the platform is empty and so are most of the seats on his commuter train. "I'm useless early in the morning," he says cheerfully. "All I can do is drink coffee, and stare into space." "People used to get up early because they had to feed the animals. But I haven't got any cows or chickens, so I can sleep late." And when we get to Stephen's office, that is empty too - apart from one member of staff who has been there most of the night and is just leaving, and the company's only A-person who actually enjoys the early start. The rest of them arrive when they choose - any time up to 3.30pm or so - each to their own rhythm. Business benefits It is a small hi-tech company and Stephen needs brains which are working at full speed. It used to be called disorganised but not any more "Everybody gains," he says, "they're here when they're fully awake, and the business benefits." More confusing for me is the guy who works to a 25 hour clock. If he is in at 10 today, it will be 11 tomorrow, then 12 - you can get the general idea. I do not know where his cycle had got to when we called at the office but there was certainly no sign of him by midday. It used to be called disorganised, but not any more, not in Denmark. His body clock is just different. And it is not just businesses which are getting in on the act. Are you a teenager who cannot get out of bed in the morning? Or a parent who never quite gets the kids to school on time? Fear not - the Danes may have the solution: B-classes. Work-life balance From next year a school in Copenhagen will offer classes which start later in the day - at 10 instead of eight. It is likely to prove popular. Some people might think you're lazy - but there's more to it than that Danish Minister Carina Christensen Even the government seems to like the idea. Work-life balance is a big political issue in Denmark, Families Minister Carina Christensen tells me. And B-philosophy fits right in with the need for a flexible labour force. When I confess that I think I am a B-person, she gives me a comforting smile. "Don't worry," she says, "some people might think you're lazy - but there's more to it than that." Well, I hope so. The B-society and its founder Camilla Kring are certainly convinced that they are on to a winner. "It's a 24/7 society," she says, as we sit in a park and watch some swans... swanning around. "Our institutions have got to move with the times." Quite so. Which means the choice should be yours. As one famous Dane once said: "To B or not to B?" In modern life, that really is the question. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6749791.stm

Ideas for game: Legdin or wrestling or shoe modelling.

There is some good in you NGone. Let no one else convince you otherwise. Mrs DD is already spoken for and long may she stay that way

Xan You sound a character right out of eastenders. Very 'ard.

Are you sure that your smugness isnt getting her goat?

Salaam North Interesting..but not suprising. I met few grown men (over 30) still having fun with no intention of settling down. These type of men arent religious. The desire to have a companion exists in every man but some are unscrupulous who arent bothered in where they find it so long as they dont invest money and time. The idea of tying the knot is quite scary for many men ( I personally cant fathom the reasons). A colleague of mine is petrified of marrying the mother of his 4 children. Quite irrational.

Freudian slip there Munira lol

lool @straight to fun part. I know about the stress, even though we didnt have a big do. Beware of the family squables as it is a guaranteed showdown that occurs in every union. So which internet site did u use? lol

^^ Dont I know it. Honestly This job is making me brain-dead. Which is why I am about to give my notice..first though..I need to top up my hagbad So when is the big day?

SB For once I do agree with you. It is ridiculously obscene. That is capitalism for you. Although I cant see the benefits of hantiwadaag.