You have point there. But you can't have economic order without political stability and security. So political order comes first and it is this order that guarantees security. Now economic order in return has profound influence on the social dynamics and ultimately it serves as the agent that creates social stratification. This is the textbook stuff. Back to the realities on the ground in Somalia, what you have is not special interest based on economic order. What you have is clan groups vying for power. So the interest groups in this context are not labor unions, agricultural industry, etc. They are clans and the only leadership that can emerge is one that is based on the clan interest. I'm in the view that one exception is the religious movement which is a viable force within Somali politics. Let's take two steps back and ask what is it that this clan thing is based on? Blood, lineage partiarchial order! This is hard thing to eliminate methinks. Why would anyone want to eliminate it? What is the purpose here anyway? I'm taking of in minutes...will continue later sxb.

Qabyaalad or Qabiil is all the same in the Somali sense of the word and the two go hand in hand. Renouncing one will lead to the elimination of the other. Eliminate qabiil and qabyaalad will disappear! I got it and I’m all for it. I have my doubts though. Your intentions are noble and your efforts are admirable but impractical. You see Somalis are organized into clan communities. This is how our society is structured. You just cannot do away the building blocks of the society. I can’t emphasize this point enough. One has to understand the fact that Somalis are not organized into classes (economic), ethnic groups, ideological parties (political), etc. The closest superficial divisions that I can think of are the two main groups the pastoralists and the agriculturalists and to lesser extent the nomads and urbanites. The problem is even within agrarian communities in the river belt are organized into clans. Do you know that in the Shabeeleda Hoose, the land is owned collectively by the clan. For instance, in Arbow Heeroow township and its surroundings, the land is collectively owned by one clan. In the drought months, when pastoralists come for water (at the far west bank of Shabeele river), the communities that reside the land sometimes refuse to let them through. These disputes are not between individuals but between sub-clans. With this background, the question becomes how can one go about denouncing this deep-rooted social structure. Mere declaration of how primitive and backward this system is won’t do any good. The dramatic and symbolic funeral former regime staged comes to mind. In that historic state funeral, the leadership at the time buried the qabiil six feet under. They were motivated and inspired by the communism and its egalitarian ideals. They ignored the social dynamics of the society they were ruling. In the end, they employed the negative tribalism to stay in power! How ironic! the system invites manipulation and since politics is full of intrigue and calcalution the ruling regime, opposition, and foriegners exploited the system and used as a tool. So there we are in agreement of the destructive nature of the tribalism. Our difference is that this is too complicated than you seem to think. Ours is tribal society after all. Now I think, in my humble opinion, that it is impractical to denounce the qabiil structure. What one can do is to make qabiil irrelevant. Let it be the identity it has always been but make it totally irrelevant: irrelevant in the security, employment, and justice system domain. Make it useless in these areas and it becomes harmless! How you do that? That’s the challenge you need to take up. One place you need to start is the government. It has to be legitimate government. To be legitimate it must drive its authority from the clans’ consent. To have their consent, the system must be fair to all interests. Once you have a government conceived in justice and bound by unity then and only then would you be able to do away this qabyaalad thing and you don’t have to denounce the qabiil. Note: I'm not defending the qabiil and honestly would love to see it disappear from the political map but I just don't think that's feasible.

Ciiloow way! Maxaan idin taraynaa tabtiinoo kalaa nahay!

Way to go!

The art of persuasion, once you mastered, enables you to make an unjust cause appear just or make a bad case look good. Reading Mutakalim’s delineation, I sense the importance he accords to this art and pride he takes in knowing how arguments are constructed, defended, or advanced. The pitfall of all of this is that the substance gets lost somewhere in the argument and the rules of logic and deductive reasoning take over! When you go down in this road, one risk to question everything and there is this danger that logic untimely becomes the only measure to weigh arguments. The other two fidhra (the natural innate human disposition) and revealed word (divine guidance: Quran) are relegated to the backburner. I’m not implying here that faith and reason are incompatible. No! What I’m trying to say is simply that the dogmatic bickering in religious issues is a prescription for fitnah. The philosophical Sufism in Islamic thought is arguably one of the subjects that invites this fitnah. The little I know about the subject is that there are variations among the Sufis too. To see how fitnah creeps in the subject just consider these questions: Can mere mortal become one with Allah? How? Can we the mere mortals reach knowledge independent of the revealed word? You see for the faithful or laymen as some would call them, the substantive unity is unthinkable! This rejection is simple but profound for it is in line with the fundamental Islamic divide between the divine nature and everything else. This simple understanding gets lost in the argument once you get engaged in the circular argument of the Kalam.

Many thanks Viking for posting this article. It is very interesting article. Let me say right off the bat that I don’t have the credentials and the caliber the author of this article seem to have. I don’t know that much about Sufism too. I’m basing my thoughts or opinion on the little I know about science and Islamic creed. That being said, I don’t agree with his premise. The premise that physicists (atheists being the majority) and Sufis (Muslim) share similar worldview is arguably a misleading statement. I mean c’mon physicists and Sufis are as dissimilar as any two practitioners can get. The author amplified the similarities between the two beyond proper limits. It is one thing to compare and contrast, it is something quite different al together to stretch it like he did! Sufis goal, as I understand it, is realizing (in experience) the one-and-onliness of Allah. In doing so all thoughts of or concern for anything else is banished so that there is nothing in the Sufis’ heart and consciousness but Allah. They do what they do because of the love and devotion for the Almighty. Now how does that square off the fact that physicists’ goal, in contrast, is finding a solid foundation in understanding the meaning of the fundamental physical laws and how these laws can be applied to solve the worldly problems. The way I understand it (you can correct me here) is that Sufis are not undertaking an investigative expedition to understand the world or find unitary explanation of life for that matter Noh? Haven’t they already accepted the Islamic worldview as far as the universe and its origin is concerned? What they doing is just perfecting their “cibaadah†in order to attain the acceptance of Allah right? If that is the case, they get little in common with the physicists. If you really think about it you would notice the difference between the two are even greater than their similarities. Consider the fact that physicists rely on the external experiences alone and limit their conclusions to their sphere whereas Sufis simply meditate for the purpose of reaching heightened level of spiritual awareness. For physicists, human imagination (through intuition and curiosity) is subject to the checks and balances of experiment, thought, and further testing. For Sufis, human imagination (or Tasawwuf experience) is not subject to the objective experience. Godlike experience and other transformations and attainments such as the passing of the early states of self a.k.a. annihilation (fanà ) has no corresponding analogy in science. It is true that atomic and subatomic realms are beyond our sensory perception. We do have technological tools, however, that aid us and enable us to identify them, control them, and harness their energy. As far as the descriptive language in regards of the subatomic realm is concerned, again the terminology might not be simple and straightforward but they are there - unequivocally defined and understood. Sophist, Imitating how particles move around in a Turkish dance is neither “cibaado†nor science. My understanding is that the mere recitation of the Islamic creed (I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and Mohamed is his messenger) with conviction and without compulsion leads, by means of an inner, mostly intuitive, experience, to the acceptance of a unitary explanation of life. Allah aclum.

Mar Alla markii aan hawsha qeybsanay ee aan iclaaminay in la qeybinayo qadada yaa waxaa hal mar nagu soo dhex dhacay haweeneey dhiileysan oo aad moodo inay leedahay yaan la qeybin qadada. Mudo yar ka dib dhowr dumar ah yaa ku soo biiray haweeneydii. Madaxay oo aad moodo in si wax ka yihiin oo marna dumarkii la hadlaya marna hadba rag aan is iri malaha waa qaraabo ay u yeerayaan oo dhegta wax ugu sheegayaan oo hor iyo gadaal u socda yaan u yeeray. Waxaan kula taliyey in uu oday Gallad inta u tago la soo tasahado sidii arrinta qadada laga yeeli lahaa. Sidii buu yeelay. Oday dhalinyarada xaafadu ay u yaqaanaan Sheeko-xariir baa dusha iiga muuqday. Waxa igu soo dhacday in aan iraahdo adeer martida madadaali misana waxaan is iro maamuulka reerkaa lehe addigu waxii caawimaad ah ee lagaa codsado yeel hadaad karto. Madaxay baa igu soo laabtey oo waxuu yiri saaxiib odaygii Gallad ahaa waxba iguma soo kordhin. Waxaan ku iri war odaygii Sheeko-xariir ahaa bal u yeer oo waxaad tiraahdaa adeer martida madadaali. Sheeko-xariir waa ka aqbalay codsiga Madaxay. Inta hor istaagay oo codka sare u qaaday buu salaan ka dib martidii waxuu u sheegay in arrintan aysan ahayn arrin ugub ah oo marar hore ay dhacday. Sideedana buu yiri marka ay dhacdo wax badan oo qorshihii iyo habsami u socodkii xaflada ah baa khaldama. Waxuu ka codsaday in la dul qaato oo buuqa iyo sawaxanka faraha badana la yareeyo. Sheekooyin iyo waano ku jeeda dhallinta meesha fadhiday ka dib ayuu waxauu bilaabey Gabay uu ka soo xigtay abwaan aanan markii maqal magaciisa. Waxa uu yiri gabayga magaciisa waxaa la yiraahdaa "Duco". Waxaa la tiriyey buu yiri horaantii sideetanaadkii. Waxa uu ka hadlay sida uu ugu haboon yahay munaasabadan oo uu yiri waxaanu joognaa meel qurbo ah, wax badan oo innga qaldana waa jiraan. Sida munaasibka ah buu yiri waa in la xeeriyaa wax badan oo sida maanta dhacday aysan dhicin. Sheeko-xariir waxuu ka taariikheeyey sababta ku kaliftay abwaankan inuu gabaygaan tiriyo iyo waxa uu qoonsaday oo buu yiri ahayd sida Soomaalidu ay u sii lumeyso oo diin, dhaqan, iyo xilkasnimadiiba ay uga sii wiiqmeyso. Markaasuu bilaabey gabeygii "Duco"; waxuu yiri: Cabdillahiyoow gabayga waa la cilmi baadhaaye, Kolkuu sidii cadceed soo baxdiyo calanka kuu muuqdo, Markaasaa qiyaas la cabiraa, lagu cadeeyaaye, Tixdaan calool doonayee, caawa tirinaayo, Ee aan Rabigay ugu cawday, ee ann ku cawil weydiistey, Addigaa abwaan caan baxay ahe oo ciroole ahe, Codsigaa inuu iga aqbalo calala aamiin dheh; Ubadkii calaameey noqdeen, col iyo laayaane, Ma cisaan cirooliyo nin weyn, caalim iyo shiikhe, Waxay caayayaan waalidkii caano siin jiraye, Caasi aan wax baraneynin bey caadadood tahaye, Caruurteena edebtii Allahayow noogu soo celi; Haweenkii casrigu wawga daray, lagan caal waaye, Carmal habliyo xaas, in yar oo camal san mooyaane, Codkoodiyo cagtooda midnaba lama cabsoodaane, Cawranna asturane, waa horaa cawda loo jaraye, Wax kastoo ka wada caaganaa loo cambaaburiye, Xishood dumarka caabiya Allahayoow noogu soo celi; Raggu badankii caqiibo ma leh, oo reer ma ciil tiro e, Ma gutaan xilkoodii cuslaa oo ceyn wareeg noqoye, Gar ciriiri, cuudkana badh qari, ceynta kula leexo! Marwo cadarsatay oo kuu fadhida, labo-canleyn raadi! Ciladahaana yaan legu garan care wir juuq ii dheh! Waa reerka cudur kala diliyo, caabuq aan harine, Ragga daacadnimadii Allahyoow noogu soo celi; Shanta qaaradoode camiran, ee uunku ku caweeyo, Cadaan iyo madow, beelaha ceynba yahay ceynka, Cilmiyo farsamadow dhex ah oo lesyku caawimo e, Qolo waliba dhaqan la cuskadoo caaney leedahaye, Curdankeeniyo barbaartii kacdey, keenii caasiye e, Ka caraabe sidii cusbiyo geel ceel dhanaan raba e, Dhalinyaradii caadadii Allahayow noogu soo celi; Halkaa markuu marinayo baa oday Gallad oo aanan ogeyn goortuu soo laabtey dhegta Sheeko-xariir wax ugu sheegay. Sheeko-xariir waxuu madashii u baneeyey oday Gallad. Oday Galladna waxuu iclaamiyey in qadadii la cunni doono meherkiina dib loo dhigay...

Originally posted by BOB: Born in Jannaa Cabdalla just the opposite of Xaliimo Caddeey few blocks from Beer Xaane the North West of Buulo Xaaji just in front of Kulbiyoow which is situated behind Cag Libaax but grew up in Af Madoow and went to Af Madoow Primary school then went to Khookhaani where I attended Khookhaani High School and later on to Khookhaani University where I graduated with a distinction. Peace, Love & Unity. [/QB]

Originally posted by xiinfaniin: As Ibn Taymiyya observed, Sufi who subscribes to this concept is simply someone who is overcome by an outburst of emotions. A sufferer of excessive and extreme emotions, he diagnosed. Bull's eye! I liked how he put it.

In a letter of condolence dictated for Mu'aadz Ibn Jabal on the death of his son, the Prophet sal-Allaahu alaihi wa sallam said, "May Allaah increase your reward and bestow you patience, and enable us and you to be thankful to Him. Our lives, our wealth and our families are blissful gifts that are trusts temporarily entrusted. Allaah gave you the opportunity to enjoy (your son gifted to you in trust) with happiness and pleasure, and then he took it from you in return for a big reward. May He bestow upon you blessings, mercy and guidance, if you restrain yourself in expectation for His reward. So, be patient and do not let wailing destroy your reward, to be sorry afterwards. Remember wailing neither brings back the dead, nor removes the grief. What had to happen has happened." (At-Tabaraani) What had to happen has happened - how true! Many thanks Shankroon for sharing this timely article with us.

Right on! yaa Mutakalim right on buddy. We are on the same page now. String theory ceases to be within scientific bounds if and when it steps into other realms. That's all I've been trying to say. What do you guys think about Evolution theory (by Darwin)? We all had our schooling and we've been taught that "Nature" is the creating force of all beings and we've been shown the wonders of the "natural selection". This theory implies that there is no purpose in life other than "survival of the fittest" and "strugle for existence". Yet there is no shred of evidence to "falsify" the contention that there is "intelligence design" (Allah) behind the creation (which the theory denies) and there is higher purpose in life than the ones it advances. Vikings, If what Suffis are doing is "cibaado" then I don't see how this "dance" can be construed as "cibaado". If this dance is a way of advancing our knowledge in this physical world then I don't see the fruits of their labor. Either way I'm at loss how this Turkish dance is relevant to the String theory. Muad, No I haven't seen that Nova program.

Hehee and that's how you go about this! Nimanyahow qummaati iyo qallooc kala qiyaas roone Waxba lama qarshee hadal rag waa la isu qeexaaye Qardoofiyo nimaan qaadan bay qaci ka joogtaaye Qawaaniinku waa inuu nin ragi kula quwoobaaye

^Here is a language I can understand! Way to go Sophist . You are confusing the topic with something we all agree. The design and creation of the universe is indeed the handwork of Allah. The universe is elegant and it follows the Divine dictates. No one questioned that. To acknowledge this truth is a must for all of us. This is an article of faith. To appreciate the beauty, the harmony, and the elegance of the universe one does not need the string theory methinks. This topic is about the string theory (controversial) and its far-fetched claims. To say there is one natural law that espouses all known physical laws is not impressive! Every one accepts that truth. What is impressive is when one claims that one knows such physical law and how it works. It is even more impressive when one claims that one can proof the existence of another universe, a parallel one (other than this life and hereafter). I don’t know about you but I don’t take such contentions at face value. Someone plz explain to me! By the way, what Rumi and their cosmic dance got to do with this! and how relevant that is to this topic. Dance! that's it!

This poem is obviously a response to Bacadle’s charge leveled at the Beesha Vice-president hails from. This is a poem despite Gediid’s belittling comment. Bacadle’s point: Beel yahay gadoodayoo go’daydoo gabar ku ciil beeshay Oo inan yaroo guri gashay ay kaga gariirsiisay Oo garan waayay wuxu waa gabaraan wax idin gaarsiinin Ma weydnaan gabdhaha sharaf u hayn garasho yeelkeede Addressing the point head on: Magaadliyo godkaad taabataan; Gocanayaa mooyi Tolka aad go’aan wada sudhaan; Gocanayaa mooyi! . . Garyaqaanno loo soo xuloo; Geydhka wada taagan Guddiyada xuquuqdoon marqudha; Goynin hadalhaynta Gadhcas iyo aqoonyahan shiriyo; Ururro guuxaaya Miyaanaan gob lama caasiyee; Gabadha taageerin? Technically Bacadle is in a box unless he goes back and clarifies his point being as one that is aimed at the administration but not the beel. Note how Abdillahi is not denying the injustice done to the lil kid but he's taking issue with the contention that this was a tribally motivated case rather than an isolated criminal case and all the folks who stood by the Samsam's side are from the very same beel Bacadle accused of being indifferent to the blight of Samsam. That's my reading of these 2 poems.

There is nothing wrong with being part of a family, clan, tribe, race, nation, etc. That’s how we humans identify ourselves. Qabiil (in the Somali context) serves as an identity. Qabyaalad, by contrast, is destructive, divisive, and backward practice. Qabiil, when used other than personal identity, leads to Qabyaalad. Same argument is true with the region and regionalism or race and racism, etc. Although I sympathize with those who disdain Qabyaalad and its destructive practices, I don’t understand the ones that make public announcements against Qabiil. That being said, one has to understand the fact that Somalis are decentralized people, held together by language and clan ties, rather than by state structures of coercion and control. Now, with this background, let’s explore how we could “renounce and divorce ourselves from this primitive Qabiil structureâ€. Since it is irrational (and impractical as well) to abolish the Qabiil structure, I call us to concentrate on how we could get rid of the Qabyaalad. This is a political question and as such we need to concentrate the overall system and government institutions. To do that we need to explore and understand the elements of politics: freedom, authority, law, and justice. One of the problems in the Nairobi conference outcome, in my opinion, is that they implicitly institutionalized the Qabiil. They ignored the need of creating of a government system based on meritocracy rather than entitlements for the clans. Taking into the account the difficulty power-sharing scheme poses, the prevailing negative tribalism, the lingering grievances that loom large over the political discourse, etc all of that, I see one solution and that is: to broaden our conception of justice. Can we conceive a government system that is fair to each and every constituent (clan or otherwise)? Given the record of the past government, can we eliminate the mistrust among clans? Is Islam acceptable to today’s active political players?

Unlike philosophy which has an answer for everything, science deals only with physical reality - physical reality being the measurable empirical experience. Without going too much into the philosophy of science and the problem of induction (here is where Karl Popper’s falsifiable assertion comes in), it suffices to point out the importance of the centrality of the experimentation in any scientific investigation. The string theory (the little I know so far) is a hypothesis that has a working mathematical model. It is just a contention that has not (yet) been well supported or ruled out by experiment. When one projects this “scientific†hypothesis onto other realms (contentions such as the existence of parallel universe) it ceases to be scientific for the scientific methods offer no assistance for those kinds of speculation. Moreover, unlike philosophers scientists don’t try to answer everything. That’s why you don’t see “refutations†and counter refutations and circular arguments in textbooks the reason being that everything pretty much is settled by the empirical data. Scientists accept the constraints imposed by the physical world. As for the theoretical vs. applied science, yes there is a distinction. The applied science is the application of the scientific knowledge to practical problems (i.e. Engineering) whereas the “theoretical†science is an attempt to understand the world by making a model of reality, used for rationalizing, explaining, predicting physical phenomena. String theory is in the inquiry stage of the scientific investigation. The wild claims made by many on its name are at par with science fiction.

This is the second time in as many threads that you’ve asked the same question, Baashi! I wouldn’t stoop so low as to patronise you, saaxib. But, for the sake of clarity alone, I’ll have to remind you that this is a Somali site, the poster that initiated this thread is a Somali, ergo the reply was in relation to those facts. Yes posters are Somalis; yes the venue too is Somali, and yes Somalia happens to be in a mess. But these posters are not responsible the events that are happening in Somalia, they don’t speak on behalf of the Somali nation, and all they are doing is merely putting their two cents on the topic at hand. Why can’t you disagree with the “person†posting without dragging the whole nation through the mud? If your line of reasoning is something to go by, Somali posters should just cease to share their opinions on world events with each other until they take care of their “own houseâ€! That’s unreasonable proposition to me. Oh! Samsam that poor lil kid! She has been violated, wronged, and abused not by mobs in the street but by government agents! She was from the wrong area, the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reason. I wasn’t there and don’t know the facts of that case but since you brought it up I say this much the injustice lil Samsam had to endure could make grown up weep. Expressing outrage is sincere form of sympathizing with the victim particularly if you don’t have the power to relief the victim from her predicament. For some reason you are bothered by the wailing but not the kid’s predicament for you got time to protest against the wailing and the outrage expressed by some but I have yet to see any sympathy for the kid coming from you. Tone it down sxb! You are an exceptionally gifted man. You are very persuasive and I tend to agree your take on many topics. But sometimes you cross the line Btw, your posts are getting haughtier by the count...with this Q.E.D I say impressive

Ngonge wrote Need I remind you of where we’ve been for the past fifteen years? (I’m talking about Somalis as a whole and not the broken down versions and divisions). What are the causes of such a situation? Why does the tribal problem persist? Is it a mistrust of only big tribes? Are the clans within each tribe in harmony? Are the sub-clans within each clan on friendly terms? Are the sub-clans of each sub-clan doing better? Shall I go on to the smallest branches and the mistrust there too? When you look at such a mess and think about the millions of people that makeup all these divisions, don’t you wonder what is wrong with your people? Does it not tell you something about the current Somali character? Understood. You have a point there Ngonge. You've touched a soft spot... For that I have to concede!

Ngonge, I think I understand where you are coming from and you are right some Somalis say bad thing about Arabs and more often than not their judgment is based on unsubstantiated facts. I give you that much. However, that doesn’t mean all Somalis or for that matter most Somalis hold the same view. I beg to differ. I can’t help but notice that you are making the same mistake - that is generalizing a whole people (Somalis in this case). At least that’s how you come across in your posts. I too read the said threads and I deal Somalis all the time but I don’t view them the way you do. Yes, some of them are opinionated, yes some of them don’t meet my high expectation, yes some of them are misinformed on many things but that doesn’t give me a license to make premature judgment of the character of the generic “Somaliâ€. Do that and you are as bad as the ones you are criticizing. On the Arab issue that got you started in making these remarks about Somalis, it could be that some Somalis have bad experience in dealing with Arabs. Still they shouldn’t badmouth. If you could make the comments you’ve made about Somalis and justify yours on what you have read in the internet and or your experience in your daily encounters what prevents them doing the same thing to Arabs and justify theirs on their personal experience. BTW, since when having opinions on particular issue became the yardstick of the character of whole people. This is forum after all and all kind of opinion are bound to appear here. You could refute them or presents facts and educate them along the way you know. All I’m trying to say here is: let’s not generalize whether the issue is about the Arabs or Somalis.

Where did Smith go wrong other than share his experience in Dubai? Is his observation of the place substantiated? Did he lied? Is he entitled his own opinion? How we extrapolate his take on the place to that of Somalis' diverse and divergent opinions? How many of the respondents agreed with him? Why are some of us compelled to generalize Somalis? Is there such thing as Somali public opinion? How does one know which way Somalis in general lean on a particular issue? Do we rely on the internet, daily encounters with them, BBC, or all of these? Are the accusers do this premature judgments out of self hate, frustration, or just the fun of it? Where does this repetitive dissing stem from? Could this be whiteman's burden the Somali version?

Folks, Americans got defensive ever since the UN representive uttered the "stingy" word pointing the finger at the rich nations (West). These comparison (who paid how much) charts is all over the news and I'm not sure why some of us would want to single out Somalis. This is just an observation and there is no need to generalize Somalis. Is it me or somehow it's becaming fashionable nowadays to diss Somalis? Btw, Ngonge why bring Samsam into this discussion sxb?

Let’s keep it real folks the truth of the matter is the number that got you all screaming is just a continuation of the same old music. They said they are going to have 91 cabinet positions to satisfy the warlords and the clan they represent then that’s how is going to be. This is not your typical government - with its awesome and wonderful institutions. Good governance, efficiency, effectiveness, etc is not something of great concern for the time being! This is about post-conflict realism where getting back to Mogadishu is considered a success. Whatever it takes fellaz! we gotta oblige to their whims if doing so get us closer to a functioning state. The first milestone is to keep all the significant warlords with enough firepower to disrupt the peace in the fold. The second milestone is to have them do the task of getting their militia surrender the guns and so on. The business of getting the law and order back up running is a 10 years project and it is not your cup of tea.

Being poor or being born to poverty-stricken family is not a disease. It is a misfortune. And when the going gets tough and you got loved ones sipping milkshake on the other side of the divide, well “Ii soo dhiib lacag is in order. Ever heard the saying Gaaji gurri og iyo gardarro garab og midna lagama nasto. Look the bright side: the generosity of Somalis. BTW, is this the white man’s burden the Somali style? It’s no wonder!

Jazak Allah fi kheyr King. Don't be ashamed bro. The sunnah is to give alms in secret nevertheless I understand where your frustration is stemming from. I would like to urge friends who congregate in this site to contribute (if they can) to this effort. I would like to thank the SOL admininstration the service rendered for the Muslims in Haafuun and other affected areas in Somalia - masaakiin Somalis who are in a great need. Our prayers go out for the men, women and children who face the perils of the massive tidal waves that has devastated the lives of thousands of people all over the affected area. All the victim's in general and Haafuun residents in particular are in a state of great distress and misery. Surely, any contribution however small would mean a lot to them and in turn Insaha'Allah you will get great reward ten fold perhaps from Allah in the day of judgment. Let's put our hands together and donate few bucks to these masakiin. If you don't have credit card use your debit instead (I'm not sure the debit). It would be nice if there is the option of sending checks for those who don't have credit cards (if the debit is not an option).

Folks, This sort of theory is the stuff the science fiction is made of. You see folks the theory is merely a theory nothing more. This one is more philosophy than it is science except one exception - the math. The math seems to hold up but that’s about it. You see theorists say that it will close the gap between the general relativity and quantum physics. That is to say, it will unify all natural laws into one theory if it is successful. In science, success is quantified by set of rules that this theory doesn’t meet. It’s not testable nor observable nor verifiable! Is this science or philosophy? To believe it is to have faith in some theorists' assertions that seem to see the very fabric of our whole existence without any tangible evidence. When the sci-fi movies equipped with special effects project this to public domain, it takes a life of its own. Predestination, free will, mixed with the parallel existence derived from the super symmetry theory can be interesting and exciting but watch out you might get confused, I mean very confused. I for one couldn’t make sense out of this except it is elaborate and very mathematical. Check this site...slide shows and interactive column is very informative also the 2 1/2 minute video...the best explanation of the string theory I've seen so far. Very interesting stuff.