Salam Alaykum The real man is back? Humm ,I wonder how real are you? Anyways welcome back.

Salam Alaykum Nobody knows the answer except you ,so go ahead listen to your heart and act upon on it.Take care

Salam Mashallah Khayr ,good news to hear walaal.May God grant you with beautiful children!!!

Salam Alaykum , I know there is no difference whether a man or woman tapes events.But let's say that you're organizing a party where only girls are invited and you ask a woman to tape it. Well you get the tape for yourself at the end which is great.My point is women should rely on themselves ,instead of requesting men to do it.

Salam Alaykum , Im pretty sure most of you girls went to weddings only to find out that most of them were tapped by professionals ,usually men.Whether weddings or other small gatherings organized by women , men have always been around to tape every event. So I was wondering with the wide availability of video cameras smaller and easy to use ,why wouldnt women step in and take charge of videotapping? Some people tape their own events and with the use of a computer make their tapes like professionals at home.This will be great because you get to be yourself and you're not watched by men.What do you girls think?

Salam Alaykum I havent posted a topic for almost a year and its good to be back.Well, my post is not to discredit my fellow Somalis , but I noticed a problem in our community. For the past 2 years ,I attended 2 Somali Youth conferences held in Ottawa ,which mostly targeted adolescents regarding topics such as Islam,youth crimes,situations in Somalia etc...Interesting speakers come and talk about relevant topics and there comes the issue. Sometimes, you dont get to hear what those wonderful guests have to say because parents , usually mothers come with their toddlers ,generally between 1 and 4 years-old.What would you expect from toddlers?They chase each other across the room and scream while guests try to speak and on top of that, adolescents 11 to 17 of age stand up talking instead of quietly listening to the speeches given. And guess what? The organizers of the event play the baby-sitters to toddlers and adolescents ,while mothers except few,dont even stop their kids. I find this really disappointing because it shows a lack of respect regarding the organizers of the event ,the guest-speakers and the public attenting the event.I have seen the same problem occuring in all the Somali events that I attended. Well, some people might refer Somalis as loud,which I see no problem with.But,I believe there's a right time to talk loud and a right time to keep it low.I mean , it should be obvious that silence is indeed required during conferences.Maybe organizers should hang a giant colorful sign with words such as: " Silence will be much appreciated , otherwise security will be called in " Love them or hate them ,I cant stop caring about my fellow Somalis .I cannot and probably never will comprehend why Somalis are noisy in public events .I still dont wanna give up on them though ,any solutions?

Salam Alaykum I didnt know if it was a good idea to post this here , but hopefully I'll get lucky.The place I live in , is going to close in summer , so Im looking for a place to live , preferably for long term , starting in May 1s1.I was wondering if some of you knew some Muslim sisters ( Somali or not) in Ottawa who can rent me a room. If you got some infos , just PM me. Thanks.

Salam Alaykum As one of the participant of the International Week , the Somali Student Association of the University of Ottawa will display Somali artefacts ,food and perform dancings and fashion shows.This will take place Frday 28th Jan .at the University of O.around 4pm-6pm at the Agora.

Salam Alaykum Dear brothers and sisters , as I was discussing with my girlfriend about how chastity was regarded in Islam and the Somali culture, I realized that we , as Muslims somewhat tend to get away from Allah's warnings. Last year,I was chatting online with some Somali guys , and of course , they usually asked me what qualities I looked for in a guy. I replied that my futur husband should be first a Muslim.The guys wanted more details , so I extended the description and told them that my husband should pray , be generous and a good listener, kind to his parents and to everyone else. And then I stopped before adding this other quality , but I didnt care , I just wanted to get their reactions. So , I said I wanted my husband to be chaste. Well , guess all the replies that I got back , " you live in a dreamworld " , " chastity doesnt matter anymore" , " trust me you wont find a chaste guy" and the list went on. I asked them why did they believe that a virgin Muslim specially a guy , was a rare specie? They told me that guys generally lose their virginity before marriage and I would be a fool to look for a pure one. I knew that they were going to say that and kept wondering if all Muslim men got laid before marriage. The answer is " NO" and I dont have to ask an expert for that matter. As a Muslim , my job is not to generalize everyone because it is wrong.That is why , I truly believe that there are guys who keep their chastity as Allah prescribed it and the same goes for girls. While I notice that guys would ask for a virgin wife , if a girl does the same , she is wasting her time. I dont believe that a guy who slept with a girl before marriage is evil ,because mistakes can happen , as we humans are not perfect. If the guy repents to God and sincerely regrets his actions , then having a husband who isnt chaste wont be the end of the world. But, what I despise the most is that some Muslims try to normalize sexual relationships before marriage as OK.If a guy sleeps around , no reactions , a girl does the same , everyone points fingers at her and is labelled a prostitute Worst ,I thought only guys viewed me as a fool , but some girls think the same too.Those girls would say that it is better to have an experienced man than a novice during their wedding's night so that they will get a maximum pleasure.Well , my jaws drop each time I hear such ********* . Im pretty sure everyone is picky when it comes to finding his or her mate.And if Allah wishes us to find partners who keep their chastity , would that be a crime if I look for that too? Normalizing sexual contact between men and women who are not mahram is forbidden , this includes holding hands, kissing to sexual intercourse.Some people even told me that nowadays , girls who dont kiss and touch their boyfriends are losers because guys will break up with them. Well , losers are only those who take the wrong path that Allah warned us against. My advices to you nomads is to fight such ignorance because this isnt our religion. Try to educate people both men and women about those misconceptions. If you have children one day inshallah , dont forget to educate them because talking about sex or other related topics in Islam is a must.My parents never talked to me about that. I educated myself with the help of books and various websites. Parents should take care of your islamic education and they shouldnt let you figure out things by yourselves because if you rely excusively on your friends they might not always give you the best advices when it comes to that matter. Last but not least , I wish our culture would have been fair to both sexes. Virgin men sometimes get laughed at while women's chastity is praised.We have a beautiful religion and we shouldnt behave like we lived in Jahiliya times.

Salam Alaykum It is very important that Somalis get educated about sex as soon as they hit the adolescence .The emphasis should be put on the difference between the islamic sex education and the common sex education (contraceptives and diseases). Teenagers should understand that the goal of an islamic education is to make you stop sinning by fearing Allah.Fearing Allah is crucial and this way you keep your faith intact.If on the contrary ,you put your faith in contraceptives , you will likely to commit zina. Parents shouldnt be ashamed to tackle this issue but if they are inconfortable , they might ask a muslim health/peer centre to do it.But I truly believe parents should be the ones to talk about it. And while you're at it , teenagers need to be educated about sins involving sex such as masturbation ,sodomy ,homosexuality or zina committed when not married and adultry. Parents/peer educators should state the rewards you get for obeying Allah and the punishments you deserve if you take the wrong path.

Salam Alaykum Good luck with your midterm sis.

Salam Alaykum , What is becoming of the SOL ? Honestly , Im tired of seeing every topic turned into a battle between genders specially the women and general sections of the SOL. Nobody can talk anymore about any sensitive issue without pointing the fingers to each other. Back to the topic ,chopping off boys or girls is a crime and I truly believe men and women should be educated first.Lack of knowledge can be deadly.

Salam ALaykum Only God knows if this story is false or true but to me it looks like it was fabricated , because I wonder how a faithful person would decide to become Christian if she truly believed in Islam.

Salaam Alaykum , Im pretty sure the lady was a bit too harsh and needed to be open-minded.I dont know , maybe she got something against people getting on stage.But ,since you are not stripping in front of an audience ,lol , you should keep on doing your workshops and talking about issues that matter.

Salam Alaykum Brother Nur for one minute , I almost imagined you partying like Busta Rhymes or other rap artists in videos , when reading your post about getting food ,drinks and ladies , lol, (dont get mad). But , I know the party you're talking about is quite different because its what you get when you do good deeds. To punish you ,Allah will invite you for the House of Hell party , and Im pretty sure you'll wonder why you got there at the first place. Thanks for your positive article.

Salam Alaykum I completely agree with you , Viking , having a guilty conscience will let you think twice before committing the sin or even after so you wouldnt repeat the same mistake again. Even,if guilt causes pain , it is still necessary because you will learn to deal with your wrongdoings and hopefully change.Nobody said it was easy,just give it a try and let your guilty conscience show you the light.

Salam Alaykum , Performing prayers is very important because it gets you closer to God , therefore , excuses shouldnt be made to not pray on time such as laziness or lack of time , except when you're at school or at your work , still you should seek permission from your employer , he/she might agree to let you pray , you never know. But today, I heard the worst of all excuses for not praying.I was with an acquaintance at the university and since it was getting closer to the afternoon prayer , I suggested my friend that we should pray. My friend performs all her salats but this time , she told me she couldnt pray because she was wearing tight pants. I told her that she could , since she had no other clothes and salat was not to be delayed. Well, she refused and I replied that I knew a prayer house where cabayas were available for the girls so they could cover themselves during prayers.She still refused and I asked her what was her excuse this time and she replied that she didnt like to use clothes that other people wore and preferred to pray at home ,where of course she would wear her clothes. Guess what? I was stunned , I was mad even though I didnt show it ,I found her comment very insulting. I told her that saying that wouldnt give her good bonuses specially when salat was far more important that the clothes she wore.Again , she refused and I stopped insisting because I knew I would've said something bad to her. Well, I have met some other people who thought like her , who almost fainted at the thought of someone else wearing their clothes. I still remember when my own cousin refused to let me borrow one of her shirts or even got tensed because I sat one her bed. I do understand that people dont want to lend you their belongings ,it is normal but they are scared not because you might lose the clothes but because you are going to wear them as if you had diseases.These same people might sometimes be disgusted or ashamed to buy from low-incomes clothing store just because it wasnt appropriate to wear something used. Well , one day you might not afford the clothes that you want and ending buying from the cloting stores you despised.Learn to stay humble even when its hard but when it comes to praying no excuses should be made. Thanks for your patience nomads.

Salam Alaykum , Why do I feel this topic is du deja-vu ? Curiously though all of you made some interesting points regarding feminism. Well ,first of all we must agree on the fact that feminism doesnt necessarily mean the same thing for all of us ,whether male and female,or even Muslims and non-Muslims. Let me sum up the men's points of view , to you a feminist is likely to be a lesbian or a heterosexual who sees the position of a stay-at-home mom as inferior, who believes that she is equal to men and tears apart families. A femininist demands the rights to do whatever she wants including to choose to abort when she wants, to wear a mimi-skirt when she feels like it or choose to be exploited not in the slavery market ,of course, but in TV commercials and glamour magazines.Am I right or wrong? To us girls ,feminism simply means a way of empowering women to achieve their goals such as eliminating the economic, social ,political gap between the sexes.And I would suggest that men should be supportive in these cases. But here comes the trick about feminism ,the definition itself might not mean the same thing for a Christian and a Muslim woman. While Muslim women demand their rights based on the Koran , Christian women might see religion as oppressive for their freedom. To us ,Muslim women , we believe the Koran empowers us ,while to Chistian women ,religion is viewed as degrading their status. When hearing the word " feminism " some Muslim men and women automatically assume that we just want act to like Western women. Wearing miniskirts or choosing a career over having a family might not be in our agendas but we still need to be recognised in the society because not everybody respects the Koran and let women have a voice in politics or anywhere in that matter. I guess all of you nomads were right about your personal definition of feminism ,but be careful when you generalize the feminists. Im saying this ,particularly to the guys because you might be accused of being chauvinistics.You have to be open-minded and believe that all Christian and Muslim women are not aggressive towards family values.Like the Sunni/Shia split in Islam ,feminism is also divided among women. And by the way ,since you guys are so keen to talk about women exploitation in the mainstream ,dont you think guys are exploited too when we see them baring their naked chests in TV commercials and magazines? And what if some men would protest on the streets to demand to be equally treated in the society ,should we women viewed them as gays since the word lesbianism comes to your mind when discussing feminism?Think about it.

Salam Alaykum , Like DA ,if Im talking from an Islamic perspective ,I believe suicide bombings are haraam ,partly because you harm your body and you kill civilians in the process. I do sympathize with the Palestinians and maybe there have no choice left other than to blow themselves.But again , there are always options ,remember what our prophet Muhamed(PBUH) went through to spread his message? Did Allah once command him and his followers to kill Makkah civilians in retaliation ? No ,instead,they were asked to forgive. Palestinians should defend themselves when attacked and expelled from their homes ,but there are certain rigorous conditions required such as not harming civilians.I truly think that blowing yourself wouldnt automatically grant you Heaven , Allah only is the judge. You might say its easy for me to say this since Im not in the middle of the Israeli-Paleatinian conflict ,but in fact its not.It would have been wonderful if the chosen people of the book got along ,but as you all know ,we dont live in an utopian world. My final word is that Muslims should openly debate the question of suicide bombings ,without the fear of being accused of collaborating with the States or the Jews because that would be Bush's ironically similar message that you are either with America or against it. Peace be upon the world :cool:

Salam to all nomads , Well I've had several encounters with death in my nightmares , but the most vivid nightmare was me drowning ,I couldnt breath , I was struggling to stay alive and I was calling God's name. When I woke up ,I thought it was a miracle ,I truly believed I was drowning because I was suffocating in my bed.It was scary ! But death is as natural as birth ,we have to prepare for it and while we're still alive ,we should do good deeds and pass on our knowledge to others because once you're dead ,there's no coming back!

Salam Alaykum , Dear nomads ,you are probably wondering why Im advising you to be careful when buying food from Halal stores ,well let me share with you what happened to one of my cousin. My cousin went once to a Muslim grocery store , bought some candies and as she was getting ready to pay for her purchase ,the cashier stopped her and told her not to buy those candies.She demanded some explanations and the guy told her that the candies contained lecithin which is an animal-derived ingredient(except when extracted from soy) . Of course , she asked why was such a product available in a Muslim store and the guy replied that their store sold those candies to attract non-Muslims clients.She was stunned by his answer and to be honest , I was shocked for a while after she told me that. I was furious and discuted by the way some Muslims handled their businesses ,I mean ,whats the point of adding the mention " Halal" to a store if selling haram goods?. Quite frankly ,I've seen so many candies , cakes, chocolates ,cookies containing lecithin sold in Muslim stores and Im wondering if the owners knew about it or were innocent.I was mad because I knew thousands of Muslims bought sweets not knowing that some of them were haram. Sometimes , I wonder, what if the cashier was a guy who didnt care? What if he didnt stop her? , my cousin would have probably bought those candies. My advice to you nomads is to be careful no matter where you buy your food. Trust is important when you step in a Muslim store , but if having some doubts , always check the ingredients first. If you find out haram ingredients , keep Muslims informed ,even the owners of the store because sometimes they might not know it.

Salam Alaykum , This incident happened to one my cousin too ,he had to send a copy of his passport otherwise ,they wouldnt get his money back. I do understand Americans being concerned about their safety but I wish the Canadian government would sometimes get involved in those incidents to protect its citizens ; and believe me their involvement doesnt happen quite often , which clearly shows who rules internationally the political arena ! :mad:

Salam Alaykum , Im really concerned about the Somali youth in my neighbourhood ,and to be honest Iam outraged about the fact that some Somalis will play basketball till 2.a.m shouting and laughing while you're desperatly trying to get some sleep. But besides my lack of sleep ,I was wondering why would some parents let their kids play basketball so late at night specially when these parents complain about the violence on the streets? Those kids are often between 13 to 20 of age and I believe their parents should taught them not to go outside after a certain time. In fact , you should be in your bed at those hours. Interesting though , I noticed that all the players were either Somalis or Afro-Canadians (except 1 or 2), most of the time no whities. So I was wondering if some whites are smart enough to sleep, instead of playing late at night , why didnt Somalis figure that out? I also noticed the absence of girls ,so should I believe that it is OK for guys to be out no matter how young they are? To me guys or girls should be kept at home after Magrib , unless they have something else to do , but thats not an excuse for parents to stop supervising their offsrings. I often see those kids play during the afternoon so why the need to play again at night? So Im asking you ,what should be done to stop this? I think its an important issue because the parents should be educated as well as their children.

Salam Alaykum Dear Khayr ,whether its in real life or the Internet , looks can be deceiving . I've had my share of bad experiences with lots of guys specially on the net (why would I converse with guys at the first place? ,lol) , even though it hurt , I learned to move on and do one thing : learn about my deen . Life on this earth is merely just a test and now that Im wiser I learned to appreciate all the pain because it made me realize that I wanted to become a better muslimah. Some of the so-called messed up muslims that I once critisized in the past became better muslims after , which shows you that you dont know what the future has in store for them .So always wish them good no matter what the circumstances. I know its better to forgive rather than stay bitter , but I dont even know how to forgive the relatives that hurt me.Maybe one day Inshallah!

Salam Alaykum , Loool DA ,I thought that once you start a movie you finish it till the end and yes Mohhobatein is a good movie. Even though Bollywood movies are musical comedies ,you have to see much more in them besides the dancing & singing. DA go rent " Kal Ho Na Ho" and let me know what you think about it.