Salaam - Eid Mubarak dhamaantiin. bro Miskiin - what amazing pix!! I have heard of this but I have net seen these pictures before!! I was actually googling few days ago searching for them!! I think I saw a sattelite picture of these dunes, taken by NASA I try and search for it!

Muslim convert Cat Stevens awarded peace prize in Rome 11/11/2004 9:03:00 AM GMT Source: AFP Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev presented Muslim convert and former singer-songwriter, Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, with a peace prize, two months after he was denied entry to the United States. Islam was awarded the "Man for Peace 2004" prize at a huge ceremony in Rome city hall marking at the opening of a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, an annual gathering of Nobel peace laureates led by Gorbachev, who won the prize in 1990. The award is given annually "to a distinguished personage of culture and entertainment for peace messages, fraternity and integration between nations". The 57-year-old Muslim convert, and former singer, said that rock and roll had contributed to the development of society "in the strangest ways, expressing the necessity to abolish taboos and to move forward, but also in giving young people the possibility to express their hopes and weaknesses". "For me it was a way of expressing my ideals for a better world," added the singer, best known for mellow 1970s hits as "Morning has Broken," "Wild World" and "Peace Train". He converted to the Islamic religion in 1977. "Perhaps it's part of the irony that sometimes you have to go through a test in order to achieve a prize," he told reporters. "So maybe that's a symbol. Today I'm receiving a prize for peace, which is actually, I would say, a bit more descriptive of my ideas and my aims in life." In September, Yusuf Islam was expelled from the United States after authorities diverted his flight from Washington to Maine, claiming he was suspected for having ties to terror networks. Islam denounced the incident and described it as an "unjust and arbitrary system," and that he has always condemned and refused terrorism. Few months earlier Islam met with officials of the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to talk about philanthropy. Gorbachev seized the opportunity to ask fellow Nobel peace laureates present in Rome – among which is Shimon Peres, Lech Walesa, Rigoberta Menchu, Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Jose Ramos Horta -- "to write a letter to all the other Nobel winners in order to propose initiatives which can facilitate the process of peace in the world". Islam is well known for his charity "Small Kindness", that helps ease the sufferings of children and their parents in countries that were hit by war. It also helped thousands of people in Kosovo, Bosnia, Albania, Montenegro and Iraq.

Inaa Lillah Wa Inaa Ileyhi Raajicuun Allah(swt) ha u naxariisto! Illaahayoow Palestiniyiinta U gargaar!

interesting!!

well done Sheh!! Bee: "<--- Very impressed with ur cool in handling the situation too. hmmm... *wonders how Bee would handle the situation?*

"Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, senior U.S. commander for the Fallujah operation, said he was pleased that U.S. casualties so far had been limited to about a dozen. He would not be more specific, saying any number he gave quickly would be out of date. " anyone who knows anything about urban and guerrilla warfare, knows that the real battle has not even began! the resistance can't stand to the military machine of the yankees, they will have to lure then deep inside the city first before they can attack. may Allah(swt) be merciful with the innocent and crush the oppressors! Amiin.

waw - I'm speachless! thanks for sharing it sis Ameenah! reading these kind of poems, and knowing there are men like brother NabadDoon out there - sometimes makes me want to just shut up and save my breath.

Originally posted by Jumatatu: Apology Masha'Allah! very beautiful voice!

Originally posted by Haniif: if they're on a cave they must be old .... i mean, only ancient people would want to write on caves; the rest of us have paper and pc's. lol actually it is very common that when the nomads get tired - they grab a rock and start drawing stuff, especially camels, on other large rocks and caves. I've even done some years back, when I spent some time amongst the Geel-Jire.

salaan Wacan. how old are these markings excatly?

lol interesting. I wonder how this effects their own teen population..?

Hundreds of Muslims Killed by Christian Militia in Nigerian Ethnic Clash Tue May 4, 2004 11:35 AM ET By Tume Ahemba YELWA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Hundreds of Muslims were killed by Christian militia in the latest outbreak of ethnic fighting in the central Nigerian town of Yelwa, a senior police officer said Tuesday. Mutilated and charred corpses still remained in the main street of the remote market town as thousands of Muslims lined the roadside chanting religious slogans and vowing revenge on the attackers, a Reuters eyewitness said. "The pagans have killed our people," said one man in the Hausa language. "There will be religious war in this country," said another. The police had previously reported 67 corpses recovered from the massacre, which occurred Sunday and Monday. Almost every house lining the main street of Yelwa was burned and some were still smoldering Tuesday. A mosque was also destroyed. Charred beds, mattresses and kitchen utensils were scattered on the ground. A heavily armed convoy carrying a local politician and workers to dig mass graves drove through the town Tuesday but could not stop because of the heightened tension. The conflict is rooted in competing claims between the Christian Taroks and Muslim Fulanis over the fertile farmland of southern Plateau state in the heart of Africa's most populous nation. Before this attack, at least 350 people had been killed in three months of tit-for-tat fighting.

JKK sis. very useful article.

Originally posted by Shaabella: 1. Somalis hate anyone whos not part of their clan 2. Somalis hate anyone whose not somali 3. Somalis hate anyones whose not muslim Since the girl is already muslim, theyre acting out stage 2 of the hate game commonly reffered to as "somali pride". lool - you should become a a Somali Sociologist!

96% Somalian hmm *wonders where that 4% went?

E. African Oil Potential Creates Much Hope, Many Fears Alisha Ryu Nairobi 01 May 2004, 12:40 UTC New evidence of possible oil reserves in East Africa, stretching from Madagascar to the tip of Somalia, has prompted several major oil exploration companies to begin drilling in the region. East African governments are eagerly cooperating with the companies, expecting to share in future oil revenues that could significantly boost their impoverished economies. But critics say there is also much potential for the oil money to add to corruption in the region, and make the countries even poorer. Reviewing data recently taken from rock samples off the coast of Pemba Island in Tanzania, British geologist Chris Matchette-Downes says East Africa has the potential to become what he termed the world's hottest oil exploration frontier in the next few years. "I took samples from the Pemba oil seep and extracted samples from a number of wells in Tanzania and one well in Kenya," he said. "There are indications that [there] is an active petroleum system somewhere that hasn't been found yet. That leads me to think there is a massive soft rock system that runs all the way along the coastal strip of East Africa, probably into Somalia and maybe all the way up to Yemen. We now need to find the traps and hope the oil hasn't leaked out or has been lost in another way. But I'm convinced we will find significant finds." That enormous optimism is shared among more than half a dozen oil companies currently surveying and drilling along East Africa's coast. At least three companies, including oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, are searching off the coast of Tanzania. Other companies from the United States, Britain, Australia, Malaysia, and Denmark are exploring offshore in Kenya, Madagascar and Mozambique. The interest is new to a region that was long thought to have little potential for an oil boom. Previous explorations in the 1970s and '80s showed some oil and natural gas deposits but they were not considered to have any commercial value. Further oil explorations were put on hold while international companies flocked to discoveries made in West African countries like Nigeria and Angola. While West African fields are helping to meet U.S. and European demand, energy companies say they are hoping oil from East Africa will meet the ever-increasing demand from across the Indian Ocean in China, India, Japan and other parts of Asia. In Kenya, the renewed search for oil has hopes soaring that the country could soon join the ranks of Africa's major oil producers and reap enormous financial rewards. Kenya relies mainly on tourism and commodities exports for revenue and has long been looking for new ways to emerge from decades of poverty. A senior geologist at Kenya's National Oil Corporation, Eunice Kilonzo, says the government believes that if oil is found here, it could single-handedly transform the economy. "For example, in Sudan, they are producing about 280,000 barrels of oil on a daily basis," said Eunice Kilonzo. "This translates to about $800,000 daily for Sudan. Imagine that being reflected in the Kenyan budget, imagine what impact it will have on our economy if we were to find oil." But critics of oil exploration in Africa say Sudan, along with Nigeria and Angola, are also examples of how promised billions of dollars in oil revenue have failed to alleviate poverty and have only deepened government corruption and internal conflicts. The Africa policy adviser for the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services, Ian Gary, has been monitoring what effect oil is having on Africa's newest petro-state, Chad. Late last year, a nearly $4 billion, 1,080-kilometer underground pipeline, built by a consortium of oil companies and backed by the World Bank, began carrying crude from Chad to the Atlantic coast. The huge Western investment in Chad came with strict rules. The flow of the estimated $2 to $6 billion in oil revenues that Chad could earn over the next 30 years must be open to public scrutiny. And the government must use the wealth to improve the lives of its people people, most of whom earn less than $200 per year. But Mr. Gary says the Chadian government, which has a history of being corrupt and repressive, has so far shown few signs it will change its ways. "I think one of the lessons of the Chad experience is that you can put safeguards in place," he said. "But if these safeguards are put in place in a country with severe governance problems, severe human rights problems, then there are going to be problems along the way. What happens is that oil revenues go directly to the government in many cases in countries where power and resources are already very centralized. Even in countries that have some democratic tradition, oil production tends to erode opportunities for accountability. So, it's really a mixed blessing to have oil revenue coming in." Experts say it is still too early to say just how much potential East Africa has for long-term oil production. But hopes and concerns are already rising about how petro dollars will affect a region with millions of people desperate for a better life. http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-5-2/21226.html

This is not a threat of a fundamentalist, or a joke, but this is a diagnosis to the Western civilization given by an American sociologist and philosopher, Japanese-born American political scientist, Francis Fukuyama. He is unlikely to be suspected in having sympathy with the enemies of the West. He became famous worldwide back in 1989 after publishing his scandalous article titled 'The End of History', which was written from liberal Hegelian standpoint. Back then Fukuyama wrote that the end of the Cold War means final and irrevocable victory of the Western liberalism over all known systems of values. Defeating the enemies means end of contradictions, which according to Hegelian dogmas are moving the history. But 10 years go by and Fukuyama writes a totally different book titled 'The Great Disruption'. Charts, diagrams and bibliographies take up about 100 pages of this book. The main subject of the book is that the West is sick with deadly social disease called 'The Great Disruption', whose first symptoms appeared in 1960s. The disease was not gone even in 40 years, it only got more aggravated. The symptoms are the following: - Growth of crime rate. «There was no depression in the period from the 1960s to the 1990s to explain the sudden rise in crime; in fact, the great American postwar crime wave began in a period of full employment and general prosperity». - Family crisis. «Marriages and births declined and divorce soared; and one out of every three children in the United States and more than half of all children in Scandinavia were born out of wedlock». - Depopulation. Fukuyama writes that only the Third World countries are facing a demographic explosion, while «fertility has dropped so dramatically» in developed countries. Longer lifespan will lead to only retirees prevailing in the society, and there will be no one to support them. Artificial simulation of birthrate in France turned out to be costly and inefficient. Immigration caused cultural tensions between 'natives' and 'aliens'. - «A society dedicated to the constant upending of norms and rules in the name of expanding individual freedom of choice will find itself increasingly disorganized, atomized, isolated, and incapable of carrying out common goals and tasks». So what is the reason for this disease, - the American sociologist is wondering? After analyzing many pages of the statistical data he comes to a conclusion that the social disease is caused by family crisis, for family is a key source of the social capital. I.e. it is the family that lays the moral foundation in the citizens, and absence of moral rules can never be compensated by any law. Mothers in offices, children in schools, grandpas and grandmas in the senior houses. But even though offices, schools or senior houses can simulate home, they can never replace it. Fukuyama gets into polemics with the sociologists who believe that family crisis is a conservative myth and who claim that a family has only entered a new phase of its evolution – towards mere cohabitation. The book quotes a sociological fact based on surveying a group of 4,300 Swedish women born between 1936 and 1960. So, the point is that the probability of dissolution of cohabiting relationships when there is a child involved is three times higher than a divorce of a married couple. The reason for this is that cohabiting couples tend not to trust one another from the very beginning. A child with only one parent is deprived of the full upbringing, when the mother has to spent time at work away from the family. Besides, inevitable separation of parents when the union is based on pleasure is always traumatic for the child. But family crisis is still an interim reason. Mr. Fukuyama says that the most convincing primary reason is in cultural shift, when Western values started destroying themselves. «At the highest level of thought, Western rationalism began to undermine itself by concluding that no rational grounds supported universal norms of behavior». The sexual revolution, the feminist movement, and the 1980s and 1990s movements in favor of gay and lesbian rights that exploded through the Western world, as well as biologically informed approaches to psychology and anthropology, had one goal: to legitimize «individual pursuit of rational self-interest». Individualism turned into autism, and freedom into uselessness. Neo’s dialog with agent Smith from Matrix Reloaded (2003) is showing this situation best: where freedom turns out to be the greatest disaster, for it makes the existence pointless. In other words, the West is being devoured by the Kufr (unbelief), and it is not a metaphysical claim, but a sociological assertion. In this context the Jihad (in all its spectra) is actually humanitarian aid, a rescue operation, for the main mission of Jihad is elimination of unbelief and spreading the firm foundation for moral norms. ::: By:Alexei Ivanenko, Russia.

By Jawad Jafry The genocide lasted decades. Historians said that the world had never seen murder and destruction on such a massive scale. Millions died and those left alive often longed for death. People openly wondered whether the light of Islam would be forever extinguished. But the course of history changed through some of God’s most unassuming servants. In the thirteenth century a tidal wave of devastation swept over the Muslim world. City after city, region after region disintegrated amidst a storm of iron and fire. The death toll was incredible. Nishapur 1,747,000 dead Baghdad 1,600,000 dead Herat 1,600,000 dead Samarkand 950,000 dead Merv 700,000 dead Aleppo 50,000 dead Balkh completely destroyed Khiva completely destroyed Harran completely destroyed Baghdad was often described as the jewel of the world. For six long weeks this jewel cracked and shattered under the ferocious might of the Tartar hordes. The rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates ran red with blood. Women who had observed modest and chaste lives were savagely assaulted and raped. Five centuries of knowledge accumulated from every literate civilization and contained in the world’s largest libraries was reduced to ashes. Many of humanity’s greatest centers of education, commerce and culture became nothing more than killing fields. The architect of this colossal avalanche of death was Genghis Khan. His barbaric legions were triggered into a forty year bloodlust through the folly of the Muslim ruler, Muhammad Khwarizm Shah. Once a powerful and mighty monarch, Khwarizm Shah ordered the execution of Mongol caravans that came to trade within his kingdom. When Genghis Khan sent a delegation of envoys to lodge a formal protest, Khwarizm Shah executed most of them. These two inhuman acts were avenged at the cost of millions of innocent lives. The Tartar Holocaust began in 1218 CE six centuries after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. It moved westward from Mongolia across Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, southward toward Delhi and northwest to Budapest and Moscow. People as far away as Sweden shuddered at the thought of a Mongol invasion. Muslims were so overawed by their power that one Mongol could kill over a hundred Muslims and none would dare defend himself. In Arabic a proverb sprang up which meant that if someone tells you the Mongols have suffered a defeat don’t believe him. On the eve of the Mongol invasion, the spiritual state of the Muslim world was pathetic. Corruption, disunity, and materialism were rampant. Khwarizm Shah was not the only example of insufferable leadership. The Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mustasim, was reportedly pleased to hear of the collapse of Khwarizm Shah’s empire because of his personal dislike for the monarch. Before the Mongols reached Baghdad, the Caliph's advisors had convinced him to seriously scale back the army. The city was in no way prepared to withstand what lay in store for it. And yet Islam did not die. Genghis Khan who proclaimed himself as the Scourge of God, who delighted in the rape of conquered women could not exterminate the Muslim ummah. Within a generation the tide had begun to turn in Islam’s favour. Baghdad was destroyed by Genghis’ grandson Halaku but his great grandson Berek became a Muslim. In fact, Berek withdrew his forces from Halaku’s army after the fall of Baghdad which contributed to the first defeat the Mongols suffered against the Muslims during the battle of Ayn Jalut in 1260. The aura of the Mongols’ terrifying invincibility was broken. Three years later Berek himself would defeat Halaku’s forces in the Caucus region. Those who tried to destroy Islam became its protectors. The role that ordinary Muslims played in this miraculous recovery cannot be ignored. The entire ummah owes a debt of gratitude to those men and women who never forgot the centrality of their faith or the importance of sharing it with others. Berek or Baraka Khan was introduced to Islam by two unknown merchants. Their efforts eventually led Islam to reach Russia and Eastern Europe. If the Tartars are regarded as part of Islam’s universal brotherhood today, one can thank the efforts of unsung heroes like Jamal Uddeen. The vast Mongol empire was divided amongst the various descendants of Genghis. In certain parts of the empire, the Mongols regarded Muslims as no better than animals while Christianity or Buddhism were expected to become the official state religion. But the sincerity of ordinary believers like Jamal was to outshine all else. Jamal was a Persian who was travelling through the Middle Kingdom or Chaghatay Khanate known for its animosity toward Muslims. With his small band of travellers he mistakenly travelled through the game preserves of the Mongol Prince Tuqluq. Jamal was arrested and brought before Tuqluq. In his anger the prince told Jamal that a dog was worth more than a Persian. Jamal replied, “Yes. If we did not have the true faith, we would indeed be worse than dogs.” Tuqluq was struck by the reply. He inquired what Jamal meant by the true faith. When Jamal explained the message of Islam Tuqluq was convinced. He asked Jamal for some time to unite the fractured Middle Kingdom and then he would proclaim his faith. Jamal returned home and later fell ill. As he was dying, he instructed his son Rasheed to remind the prince of his promise when he became king. When Tuqluq ascended the throne Rasheed set out to meet him. An ordinary person had little access to royalty and after many efforts Rasheed risked his life to enact a plan. He called out the adhan at fajr nearby the royal compound. He was brought before the king and there he invited him to fulfill his promise. On that very morning Tuqluq Timur Khan, king of the unified Middle Kingdom, became a Muslim. Death and destruction are ravaging Baghdad once more. The innocent victims of this injustice must not be forgotten. We owe it to them to follow in the footsteps of the Last Prophet, in the footsteps of ordinary believers like Jamal and Rasheed Uddeen and share Islam with each and every human being. The beauty of our character and our sincere conduct need to be the beacons that attract those around us to this Divinely prescribed system of life. True it is Allah alone who guides; it is also true that Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves. For us to do anything less would be to disgrace those who are dying before our very eyes. www.youngmuslims.ca Historical Sources: Saviours of the Islamic Spirit, Volume 1, by Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi History of Islam, Volume 2, by Masudul Hasan A Short History of the Saracens, by Amir Ali

» Asalamu Alaykum Maxaa ina sugaaya ma is weydiinay mase ka fakartaa? » taabo halkan www.somalisunah.com

::: Click Here - Flash Player Warning: gruesome pictures!

By Kareem M. Kamel Researcher - International Relations 07/04/2004 Since September 11, many authors, scholars, policymakers and researchers have contemplated the role of Islam in Muslim societies. At a time when the geostrategic, cultural, and sociological frontiers of the Muslim world are being redrawn in Washington and London , a strategy for the West to counter Muslim “fundamentalism” by supporting Muslim “moderates” has been drawn up in a report funded partially by a conservative American think-tank. The report, entitled Civil Democratic Islam: partners, resources, strategies, was drawn up by the US-based RAND corporation, with financial support from the conservative Smith Richardson Foundation, a trust fund that annually hands out in excess of $100 million to research organizations and universities.[1] The report is the latest in a long series of policy papers dedicated to further the military, economic, and cultural onslaught of the West on the Muslim World. In a briefing given in summer 2002 to a top Pentagon advisory board, former RAND analyst Laurent Murawiec described Saudi Arabia as the “kernel of evil, the prime mover, the most dangerous opponent” to US interests in the Middle East . He argued that Washington should demand that Saudi Arabia stop supporting “terrorism” or face seizures of its oil fields and its financial assets in the US . Murawiec urged a multi-stage imperial campaign in the Middle East, beginning with Iraq (“the tactical pivot”), continuing to Saudi Arabia (“the strategic pivot”) and finally to Egypt (“the prize”).[2] Civil Democratic Islam was written by Cheryl Benard, a sociologist who had previously published feminist-themed novels (including Moghul Buffet and Veiled Courage) that ridicule religious figures and portray Muslim women as oppressed individuals living under the rule of totalitarian megalomaniac male patriarchs. Click here to read the Article - It is a very amazing article. A Must Read!

Sanaagcity - is currenty making few changes. for now you can log on at: http://wakeup.to/sanaagcity Salaam

lol very interesting topic! I just find this some-what funny. I remembered some months ago I was watching 60 Minutes. now there was this man, he was like 50-60 years old, and he grew up believing he was a 'black' African American. he looked a lot like somali, I meen if you saw him on the street you will think he was somali. one day he sent his DNA to a lap to test his identity and in which part of africa he was from. anyway when he found his DNA test back, it turned out that he had no african gene, not even 1 percent. it turned out he was mixed -indian, chinese, native americans, caucasians and philipino. now this man though all his life he was something, and suddently finds out he is something else. that is very hard to cope with. Anyway this topic just reminded me of this, so i guess if you aren't sure what you are, check your DNA! lol And I only see myself as a Muslim from Somalia, East Africa, Planet Earth! peace!

I think this is a great business idea! it gives hope to all the entrepreneurs out there who wish to invest in the fatherland. the truth is there is a great potential in Somalia, when it insha'Allah wakes'up, it will succeed. I advice all the yough nomads in here to consider investing back home for the long-term! peace!

masha'allah great pictures!! may q__|__| | bless Somalia! lol can he play ball? I smell $$