^ Amiin 2 that! Tahliil, don't you think she reaped what she sow? I couldn't help but enjoy her catfight with the times on a hot cup of Shaah. that was far more humilating than if she had stayed in jail 'as a martyr of journalism'. how things change so quickly! I'm waiting for Friedman's turn! Insha'Allah!

it is all a matter of focus realy. do you spend your time expanding your area of influence or enlarging the area of concern. those who manage to break through the barriers are the ones who have mastered the art of focusing on what they can contribute instead of lamenting on their fate and that of the world. don't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, instead carry your own weight - carry your own response-ability. Originally posted by Northerner: The illussions of saving ones country and bringing it back from the brink is a false one in the first place. This is realised later on in life. Now who in the right mind would pack up and go home with his/her family with the aim of transforming Somalia into a 'better' country than it is now. However, one needs to realise that small objective rather than 'grand designs' are very much possible. Example being visiting ones home city/village on a fact finding mission of possible schemes that can be arranged for the local people. You can easily sponsor a school or hospital through a charity based in which ver country you reside in. Organisation skills will come into play. Therefore, i conclude that smaller measures are possible but i doubt the majority will even be able to establish such chairty let alone finance a school for a lick of paint, some chairs and tables or books. So you see if we all did this then the grand design can become a reality. Exactly!

maybe Toohe Jr can tell us more about the author and give us the source of this piece.

I was watching his video just few days ago! Insha'Allah he'll be in my prayers.

Great Idea!!, the possibilities are limitless! SOLer can practice on putfile.com - it is free site, you can upload video, flash, audio, and images up to 25mp

^ the interesting part of the whole story is it was done according to the norms of modern politics(advertisement), not as a conspiracy. just don't expect them to air something like philip morris's tv commercials. thanks for the link xiinfiniin.

^ if you folks didn't 'come in', we could've observed Alle-ubaahne's mind @ work! Originally posted by SoMa_InC: quote: without anyone interferring my indian ocean. Translate this in Somali!! " I opened my wife she cut off my leg and entered my ocean " __ nomad @ a divorce court

The Stages of the Self: An-Nafs al-'Amara or the self bent on evil : the insinuating self which is wholly evil and totally under the control of passions and bent only on self- gratification. It is totally blind to any higher reality. "The lower self of man commands to evil acts " ( 12:53) An-Nafs al-Lawwama or the self-reproaching self: the reproachful self which is indecisive in choosing between good and evil and is constantly embroiled in an inner struggle. It is unable to overcome the impulses of the lower self while it nonetheless recognises the higher one. "No, I swear by the self-reproaching self." (75:2) An-Nafs al-Mulhama or the inspired self: the self which recognises its faults and strives to correct them. "By the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with depravity or godliness!" (91:8) An-Nafs al-Mutma'inna: Finally there is the self at peace which is illuminated and acts according to the good and is therefore liberated "O self at peace, return to your Lord, well-pleased, well-pleasing. Enter among My servants. Enter My Garden." (89:27) ______________________ taken from; The Basic of Islam - by Aisha Bewley

interesting preview Nur, from hawd to hollywood, hope the show will be as exciting as the trailer.

lets not jump to generalization in order to marginalize the 'other'. prejudice is a weak thinking that will solve nothing, only perpetuate the problem. Originally posted by Ducaqabe: Read the whole thing before you make a judgemental comments.

Idil baan ku raacay, waa doqon foqal doqon. waxani dhaqankeena ma aha ee xagee nooga yimaadeen? ma bolly iyo holly baa? waxaan xasuustaa gabadh is gubtay iyana.

hodman, SeeKer, you are correct, there is a lack of unity and cooporation between the Masjids and organizations such as MAS and ISNA, and even amonst the local Masjids there is some disharmony. this is what I ment, these are institutions managed by people thus they'll reflect the current mood of the society. I support you on that the Masjids should expand their duties to the masses, this requires the efforts of proactive indivituals in the community to unite on purpose not neccesarily opinion. the Masjid STOIC describes is an example of how effective we can become when we come together on the main things. Thats why small Muslim communities have far greater unity and support because you don't focus on if your Somali, Arab, Pakistani.., instead you all share the same Muslim Umbrella.

Asalamu Alaykum we're in the last quarter of 2005, it is wise to reflect on the past year and plan for the next, Insha'Allah hope your gardens were fruitfull this year and may you become more prosperous in the next. good cultivations! _______________ Islamic Financial Planning - Dr Mohd. Ma'sum Billah

brother AbduL-Ladiif, Jazakallahu Khairal Jazaa' Sura 23 - Al-Mu'minun (The Believers) May Allah make us amongst those who listen to admonition and follow the best thereof. He is indeed our supreme patron and He is for sure the Best Disposer of Affairs.

Asalamu Alaykum It seems me and Hooyo have something in common. I don't think he has an official website, but you can find his Audio Lectures in here; http://www.dacwah.com/ (good site) http://www.aflax.net/Audio/muxadaro/ http://www.benadir-islam.com/Shrfnor.html http://www.duruus.com/muxaadaro.php http://www.altaqwaa.com/click/track.php?id=32 http://www.boqolsoon.com/ bookmark them I.A.

Ahaha Abraar watching that dude act manly was the lighter side of the show! I had many dislikes in the movie, including that character , and the poor editing, like when 'Saladin' was reciting Fatiha, but to see king Guy on a donkey made my day!

Loools, I wonder too, guess there is no stronger motivater. welcome back akhii, I'm sure e-nuri will keep us warm in the winter & keep the frostbites of the qalb at bay. .. wajaba al-shukru `alayna ma da`a lillahi da` ..

just few nights before the riots broke out, the BBC world service had a program titled 'Has Multiculturalism Failed?' they covered malaysia, nigeria, the u.s. and france. it was an intersting program. did anyone catch it?

waa sheekoyin cajaaib ah. reminds me of Michael Crichton's novel 'Congo'

Originally posted by xiinfaniin: ^^Dee waa cunnada. Sow maaha, yaa Muhammad? Inay dhaylo kuu noqon waan ogaa!

^ haye Sheikh, mid baa dadkii cunaha istaagtay ee maysku dayi?

Thanks for the post Paragon! `The Messenger of Allah(pbuh) said: "None of you can become a true believer until you bring your Hawaa(opinions, desires, emotions) into accordance with what I have brought." The enemy within is the Nafs amara.

Salaams Paragon, on the 'secular' point you are correct in your explanation, I took it by 'allegedly' he ment what others consider to be 'secular'. I agree with you on the point of ataturk. even though I disagree with Mahathir on many points, I always respected his straight forwardness, unlike the the rest of the puppets and the labo-wajiilayaal!

The Masjid depends upon the Muslims in the community, thus for it to expand it's duties, it requires the help and assistance of the people in the community. So each Masjid is a reflection of the people in the society, I'm sure there are some who already offer these programs, in the twin cities the Umat-ul Muhammad masjid has some college/university students that assist with the somali/muslim students in middle/high school, it also provides other youth programs, such as sports, this is mainly due to the fact that some young members of the community have taken the responsibility on their shoulders and decided to contribute and give back to the community. Compared to the so called community centers that just devour resources in the name of 'Somalinimo', I think if the people became proactive and helped the Masjids , Insha'Allah they would become a very fruitfull place for both the dunya and akhirah. I say the power is in the hands of the people, they should start cultivating their own gardens.

Friday, November 11, 2005 Islam’s forsaken renaissance —Mahathir bin Mohamad Many Muslims still condemn the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kamal, because he tried to modernise his country. But would Turkey be Muslim today without Ataturk? Mustafa Kamal’s clear-sightedness saved Islam in Turkey and saved Turkey for Islam Children often play a game where they sit in a circle. One whispers something to his neighbour, who then whispers that information to the next child, and so on, around the circle. By the time the last child whispers the information to the first, it is totally different from what was originally said. Something like that seems to have happened within Islam. The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, brought one — and only one — religion. Yet today we have perhaps a thousand religions that all claim to be Islam. Divided by their different interpretations, Muslims do not play the role they once did in the world; instead, they are weakened and victimised. The Shia-Sunni schism is so deep that each side condemns followers of the other as apostates — kafir. The belief that the other’s religion is not Islam, and its followers not Muslim, has underpinned internecine wars in which millions have died — and continue to die. Even among the Sunnis and Shias there are further divisions. The Sunnis have four imams and the Shias have 12; their teachings all differ. Then there are other factions, including the Druze, the Alawites, and the Wahhabis. We are also taught by our ulema (religious instructors) that their teachings must not be questioned. Islam is a faith. It must be believed. Logic and reason play no part in it. But what is it that we must believe when each branch of Islam thinks the other one is wrong? The Koran, after all, is one book, not two or three, or a thousand. According to the Koran, a Muslim is anyone who bears witness that “there is no God (Allah) but Allah, and that Muhammad is his Rasul (Messenger).†If no other qualification is added, then all those who subscribe to these precepts must be regarded as Muslims. But because we Muslims like to add qualifications that often derive from sources other than the Koran, our religion’s unity has been broken. But perhaps the greatest problem is the progressive isolation of Islamic scholarship — and much of Islamic life — from the rest of the modern world. We live in an age of science in which people can see around corners, hear and see things happening in outer space and clone animals. And all of these things seem to contradict our belief in the Koran. This is so because those who interpret the Koran are learned only in religion, in its laws and practices, and thus are usually unable to understand today’s scientific miracles. The fatwas (legal opinions concerning Islamic law) that they issue appear unreasonable and those with scientific knowledge cannot accept them. One learned religious teacher, for example, refused to believe that a man had landed on the moon. Others assert that the world was created 2,000 years ago. The age of the universe and its size — measured in light years –are things the ulema trained only in religion cannot comprehend. This failure is largely responsible for the sad plight of so many Muslims. Today’s oppression, the killings and the humiliations of Muslims, occur because we are weak, unlike the Muslims of the past. We can feel victimised and criticise the oppressors, but to stop them we need to look at ourselves. For our own good, we must change. We cannot ask our detractors to change, so that Muslims benefit. What do we need to do? In the past, Muslims were strong because they were learned. Muhammad’s injunction was to read, but the Koran does not say what to read. Indeed, there was no “Muslim scholarship†at the time, so to read meant to read whatever was available. The early Muslims read the works of the great Greek scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers. They also studied the works of the Persians, the Indians, and the Chinese. The result was a flowering of science and mathematics. Muslim scholars added to the body of knowledge and developed new disciplines, such as astronomy, geography, and new branches of mathematics. They introduced Arabic numerals, enabling simple and limitless calculations. But around the 15th century, the learned in Islam began to curb scientific study. They began to study religion alone, insisting that only those who study religion — particularly Islamic jurisprudence — gain merit in the afterlife. The result was intellectual regression at the very moment that Europe began embracing scientific and mathematical knowledge. And so, as Muslims were intellectually regressing, Europeans began their renaissance, developing improved ways of meeting their needs, including the manufacture of weapons that eventually allowed them to dominate the world. By contrast, Muslims fatally weakened their ability to defend themselves by neglecting, even rejecting, the study of allegedly secular science and mathematics. This myopia remains a fundamental source of the oppression suffered by Muslims today. Many Muslims still condemn the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kamal, because he tried to modernise his country. But would Turkey be Muslim today without Ataturk? Mustafa Kamal’s clear-sightedness saved Islam in Turkey and saved Turkey for Islam. Failure to understand and interpret the true and fundamental message of the Koran has brought only misfortune to Muslims. By limiting our reading to religious works and neglecting modern science, we destroyed Islamic civilisation and lost our way in the world. The Koran says, “Allah will not change our unfortunate situation unless we make the effort to change it.†Many Muslims continue to ignore this and, instead, merely pray to Allah to save us, to bring back our lost glory. But the Koran is not a talisman to be hung around the neck for protection against evil. Allah helps those who improve their minds. —DT-PS Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad was prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20051111story_11-11-2005_pg3_6