@Blessed lil asaf mushkiladda aniga igama imaanin, all I did was voice my suggestion to the poster, then I got flogged for it because apaprently I am an infidel not believing in God, etc etc etc... Anyway, I see and understand your point of not being a fan of the revisionist movement because of the possibility of bidcah being introduced and that's a reasonable position. About Al Azhar, I last visited there at the time when the digital camera was just breaking into the market so I had my usual film camera which I cannot post (too lazy to scan them all ). However, I highly recommend you to visit. @Curly, walaal wa aad iyo aad baad u mahadsantahay for those kind words, I try my best to be constructive and even and most of my opinions are such but sometimes that's difficult to accomplish with the passionate religious opinions that people have in this forum, it seems to me they have bitterness towards other views that do not align with theirs particularly in the matter of religion. The Somali community is diverse; some, such as myself, celebrate holidays with my close friends whatever their religion... It is my opinion that Islam exists to guide people and not in a world-dominating agenda, I also don't think that Muslims occupy a higher moral ground than people of other beliefs who are as pious and as dedicated to the betterment of humanity but have a different belief system. PS. I think SOL should add gremlins of torches, nooses and pitchforks so the self-righteous could use them as needed in their witch-hunts

Islamophobia is definitely an issue post-911, the scare tactics have sunk to a new low and include the 'othering' of the Muslim community. However, do you think simply reporting on negative incidents which involving Muslims constitutes Islamophobia? Also, does this initiative address the addressing problems that the Muslim community faces from within through education and outreach?

B&H if Obama can quit then so can you... Yes We Can! LOL

^ LOL@Sherb

^ it seems so I kinda thought it was something like that but wasn't sure... I hope his Somalism can rub off on me ... hehehe

To Ashkiro and the like... OK, I know I said you don't deserve a keystroke, but this is basically a cut-and-paste job. Here are some religious texts for you to be enlightened... The Holy Bible - Matthew 7:1-6 Do Not Judge Others 1 "Do not judge others. Then you will not be judged. 2 You will be judged in the same way you judge others. You will be measured in the same way you measure others. 3 "You look at the bit of sawdust in your friend's eye. But you pay no attention to the piece of wood in your own eye. 4 How can you say to your friend, 'Let me take the bit of sawdust out of your eye'? How can you say this while there is a piece of wood in your own eye? 5 "You pretender! First take the piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly to take the bit of sawdust out of your friend's eye. Buddhism - Sutra of Hui Neng 2 He who treads the Path in earnest Sees not the mistakes of the world; If we find fault with others We ourselves are also in the wrong. When other people are in the wrong, we should ignore it, For it is wrong for us to find fault. By getting rid of this habit of fault-finding We cut off a source of defilement. When neither hatred nor love disturb our mind Serenely we sleep. I can see that you've dismissed the above two as being: 1. Corrupt or 2. Of the Kafirs... but do you have the balls to dismiss the following one? The Holy Quran - Suratul Nisa': 94 O you who have believed, when you went forth in the cause of Allah, investigate; and do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace, “you are not a believer,” aspiring for the goods of worldly life; for with Allah are many acquisitions. You [yourselves] were like that before, then Allah conferred His favor upon you, so investigate. Indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted. Of course you don't ... so why don't you heed the words of the last text, which transmits the same general message of the above two. Ibtiii walaal you've got lot's of patience! I commend you... moogi ciida ee dadkaas kasameysanyihiin?!? LOL@"we have a dhaqan and madhab in how Muslims speak to each other"... very funny indeed, yet sadly so ignorant, perhaps she would jump and call me infidel if I stated "khuda" or "lord" or "dios" instead of deity... I wonder if she knows the Arabic translation of deity is "Ilah"?

Originally posted by Sayid*Somal: i can say with certainty that ailamos is backward somali(a) hehehe... Or perhaps ailamos is a step forward, looking back somali(a)... haha...

Originally posted by Sherban Shabeel: I see that even the religious sisters aren't immune to the clan-induced name-calling that has gripped SOL. :confused: :confused:

lots of cabbies returning stuff!! nice story about the store owner...

Originally posted by *Ibtisam: I remember having a discussion with an Egyptian guy who said in the Quran it says don’t touch or stay away from alcohol, so I get my maid to set it up and drink it through a long tube/straw. Now that's taking an interpretation and going crazy with it...

Originally posted by chocolate & honey: Ailamos, horta dad badan aad wareerisay, lol! Everytime, you open your mouth groups of people are up in arms! I have yet to see a post where Ailamos claimed to be anything other than Muslim. As for the topic, I have always like and favored Azhar. LOL yaa C&H maxan orankara, people have problems with me apparently, but I'm happy that the rationally minded ones have no beef with my opinions, or are at least willing to discuss them. By the way Ibti ignore the self-righteous, they're really not worth a keystroke... wareer badana dadkaas!!!!!

Originally posted by *Ibtisam: Aliamos: Interesting you say that, and yes it makes sense, but you are forgetting ISlam was sent down to get rid of all these practices, and rather than being an Arab culture, it went against everything they believed and worshiped (they had something close 90 idols when Islam arrived). It is true that Islam was sent down to get rid of certain customs, however, I don't think the aim of Islam is to eradicate other customs that have no connection with the divinely worship. The revering of the saints and paying visiting their tombs is more of a sign of respect than worship, it is not through them that a believer worships. Having said that, other customs such as the honor killings and the strong patriarchal leanings of Arab societies have survived the reformation that Prophet Muhammad was striving to bring to the society. If some sects engage in things that Islam came to outlaw, is it me labeling them, or has Islam labeled them? I'm not sure if what these sects are doing has been specifically outlawed.

Just wanted to share with you some statistics I found interesting while randomly going from one wikipedia page to another I looked at three countries with comparable land areas and populations, one which is European, one which has large oil reserves and one which is and has neither. It was interesting to see that the both the GDP and per capita GDP of Austria surpasses that of the UAE. AUSTRIA Statistics GDP: $329.5 billion (2008 est.) GDP growth: 1.8% (2008 est.) GDP per capita: $40,200 (2008 est.) GDP by sector: agriculture: 1.9%; industry: 30.7%; services: 67.4% (2008 est.) Inflation (CPI): 3.2% (2008 est.) Labour force: 3.633 million (2008 est.) Labour force by occupation: agriculture: 5.5%; industry: 27.5%; services: 67% (2005 est.) Unemployment: 5.4% (December 2009 est.) Main industries: construction, machinery, vehicles and parts, food, metals, chemicals, lumber and wood processing, paper and paperboard, communications equipment, tourism External Exports: $163.6 billion (2008 est.) Export goods: machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, paper and paperboard, metal goods, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs Main export partners Germany 29.4%, Italy 8.6%, US 4.3%, Switzerland 4.2% (2008) Imports: $168.9 billion (2008 est.) Import goods: machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal goods, oil and oil products; foodstuffs Main import partners: Germany 44.4%, Italy 7.1%, Switzerland 5.2%, Netherlands 4.1% (2008) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Statistics GDP: $270 billion (2008 est.) GDP growth: 8.5% (2008 est.) GDP per capita: $55,028 (2008 est.) (7th) GDP by sector: Agriculture (1.6%), Industry (61.8%), Services (36.6%) (2008 est.) Inflation (CPI) 14.4% (2008 est.) Labour force: 3.266 million (2008 est.) Labour force by occupation: Agriculture (7%), Industry (15%), Services (78%) (2000 est.) Unemployment: 2.1% (2006) Main industries: Petroleum and Petrochemicals, Fishing, Aluminum, Cement, Fertilizers, Commercial Ship Repair, Construction Materials, Boat Building, Handicrafts, Textiles External Exports: $207.7 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.) Export goods: Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Re-exports, Dried Fish, Dates Main export partners: Japan 23.6%, South Korea 9.2%, Thailand 5%, India 4.8% (2007) Imports: $141.1 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.) Import goods: Machinery and Transport Equipment, Chemicals, Food Main import partners: China 12.8%, India 10%, United States 8.7%, Japan 6.1%, Germany 5.9%, United Kingdom 5.3%, Italy 4.6% (2007) Gross external debt: $73.71 billion (2008 est.) JORDAN Statistics GDP: $31.01 billion (2008 est.) GDP growth: 8.31% (2008 est.) GDP per capita: $5,000 (2008 est.) GDP by sector: agriculture (3.6%), industry (10.1%), services (86.3%) (2008 est.) Inflation (CPI): 15.5% (2008 est.) Population below poverty line: 12.5% (2001 est.) Labour force 1.615 million (2008 est.) Labour force by occupation: Agriculture (3.6%), Industry (10.1%), Services (77.4%) (2008 est.) Unemployment: 13.5% (2007 est.) Main industries: Clothing, Phosphate Mining, Fertilizers, Pharmaceuticals, Petroleum Refining, Cement, Potash, Inorganic Chemicals, Light Manufacturing, Tourism External Exports: $6.521 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.) Export goods: Clothing, Pharmaceuticals, Potash, Phosphates, Fertilizers, Vegetables Main export partners: United States 22.4%, Iraq 12.9%, India 8.3%, United Arab Emirates 7.8%, Saudi Arabia 7.5%, Syria 4.9% (2007) Imports: $15.65 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.) Import goods: Crude Oil, Textile Fabrics, Machinery, Transport Equipment, Manufactured Goods Main import partners: Saudi Arabia 21%, China 9.7%, Germany 7.5%, United States 4.7%, Egypt 4.4% (2007)

According to the junk-mail which the poster received, there seems to be a disagreement amongst different Muslim subgroups as to what defines the "correct" Muslim, and some groups are quick to label other groups as being on the fringe of faith, etc. etc. But most don't realize that there isn't one, unpolluted, form of Islam; this religion has covered lots of ground since its proclamation and swooped through many lands, each with their own customs and traditions which were there many thousands of years before Islam and which also continued to evolve. So, some of these regions, from Senegal to the Philippines have accepted Islam's core message yet retained their culture and customs, while others became completely assimilated into the Arab culture in which the religion first began., some have even lost their traditional languages which eventually became replaced by Arabic. So, in my opinion, all these subgroups, or sects, are as Muslim and as devout as any other subgroup. And it would be beneficial to the Muslim community to stop 'satanizing' them as being un-Islamic.

Originally posted by Naden: ^ That's what winter does to people. Four months of darkness and here we are, ripping each other's cyber throats and in the summer it's too hot and people sense of rationality evaporates...

America is HUGE, it's an entire continent all by itself. Everyone has their share of *morons.

This thread quickly evolved and changed topics so fast... now it's about Hamas and the Palestinian problem. Originally posted by *ANWAR*: According to Mohammed M. Hafez, in Iraq jihadi salafi are pursuing a "system-collapse stategy" whose goal is to intall an "Islamic emirate based on Sunni dominance, similar to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan." The Taliban way is the sadistic way to go. In addition to occupation/coalition personnel they target mainly Iraqi security forces and Shia civilians, but also "foreign journalists, translators and transport drivers and the economic and physical infrastructure of Iraq. They target Shia civilians, fellow Muslims, and other noncombatants... it's just sad. lslamic emirate based on Sunni dominance: GOOD IDEA A good idea is a state (or emirate if you like that terminology) based on religious pluralism, not the dominance of one group over another. This myth that one Muslim group is somehow dominant over the other is what's eating up this religion from the inside. I'd honestly rather die than be ruled by the likes of the Taliban or their Saudi mentors.

not bad, it's ok

^ good point, especially after the last tsunami that struck Puntland... in any case I understand if one's knowledge of geology and geography is limited then it causes concern.

Originally posted by *Ibtisam: 1. Aliamos I have a bone to pick with you, maybe another time in another thread; your view that everything bad is salafism. (Second time I am seeing you blame something on Salafism) For one thing I am outrage that you would think this ridiculous behaviour HERE on this thread is anything close to salafism in its essence!! Ibtiiiiiiiiiii!!! Welcome back! What's with the appearing/disappearing tricks you've been doing lately?!? Anyway, this Salafism issue would require an entirely new thread. The behavior on this thread is nothing close to Salafism and indeed has nothing to do with it, the first statement was that I am not a fan of Salafism, pure and simple... in particular their refusal of discussion and debate for the development of the religion, that's all... I might also be biased because of my dislike for Saudis but then again who isn't biased and as for the later statement then I retract it completely for it was made out of ignorance on my part.

stuff and nonsense...

^ LOL... Peacenow, do you know how many land masses are between the Puntland coast and Chile?

^ yeah, they selected certain comments that concur with the article or are neutral, if it were a free for all you would definitely get the "bashers" on board...

Anyway, I rest my case... this has become a pointless, yet quite a funny, thread... ciao ciao!

Originally posted by Benson and Hedges: ailamos you should respect peoples convictions, even if you don't agree. Hey you're right, I totally agree... tell that to the others on this thread...