Give Thanks to Allah

Give thanks to Allah, a Michael Jackson* song! When I first was told about it I thought it is some kind of joke but when I searched online I found it listed with all the other songs by Michael Jackson on the lyrics sites. The song is actually nice, compared to other anasheeds anyways.

It is said that song was made for the Nation of Islam, and I tried to think of reasons as to why would Michael Jackson sing it:


• The rumors are true; Michael Jackson did join the Nation of Islam.


• He sang it for him because they supported him when he was sued.


• Michael Jackson played with a rich kid from Nation of Islam, the child of someone with influence and so as to keep things quiet he did the song.


• As a brother in color, and to support the Nation of Islam he did the song.


Anyone has more ideas and wants to share?

I went to check and read more about Nation of Islam and want to clarify someone to those who don't already know: Nation of Islam is not Islam because it is stated clearly in the Quran that in Islam all human beings are equal and those who are distinguished are so with their Taqwa (faith)

I didn't read the whole article here, but these are some points that I found interesting:

6. WE BELIEVE in the judgment; we believe this first judgment will take place as God revealed, in America.
12. WE BELIEVE that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930; the long-awaited "Messiah" of the Christians and the "Mahdi" of the Muslims.


* Anyone who comments and call him MJ will be shot on the spot; call him Michael, Jackson, Michael Jackson, Jackass, whatever you want but NOT MJ.

Finally Finals

Finals started and everything is going fine and I'm having the time of my life but I came to realize few things, such as why do people (or is it only me?) fine themselves doing things that they would never do in any other case only to waste time? Maybe it is because we want to make ourselves believe that we are actually doing something and not wasting our time. Here are some of the things I found myself doing:


1. Reading all the Arabic newspaper, not scanning them, but actually sitting down and reading them.
2. Catching up with people I didn't talk to for months! I mean, I have to talk to them at one point or another, so why not now?
3. Checking every website that was mention in my MIS book while I was studying; there are examples of every website that can be found online.
4. Reading books at 2 AM that I had for months and never cared to read more than three pages from.
5. Checked the yahoo chat room about Islam, for the first time and I couldn't stay for more than 15 minutes, if not less.
6. Finding in necessary to calculate my average one hundred and one times before each final exam and how much points can I miss and still get an A or such.
7. Finishes the exam fast and decide how many points I might miss and guess my grade.
8. Calculating how many credit hours do I have until I graduate and how many courses should I take every semester to finish in such time.
9. Thinking of were I'm going to do my internship, even though I still don't have to think of it.
10. Exercising is good for my health.
11. Playing computer games..
12. Finding it so important and vital that I discuss important issues in the world with friends.
13. Writing this.
    
    I'm going to stop at 13; I don't want to give a bad impression.
    
    Maybe I should write a post about the difference between being an IT student and a Business student, that would be fun.

Change

"Any change, any loss, does not make us victims. Others can shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can't prevent you from acting, from taking the situation you're presented with and moving on. No matter where you are in life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something. You always have a choice and the choice can be power." -Blaine Lee

The mall story

Last week I went to Mall of the Emirates with my family, they went to the food court while I went with A and F to Starbucks to get drinks. When we went to the food court we found M talking to a lady and the lady was raising her voice and pointing at M rudely, when we asked what's going on, we were told that the lady is wearing nasty clothes and was sitting in a way to reveal as much as possible (she was not wearing underwear this time!) and when M asked her to sit and try to cover herself the lady started yelling at M and telling her it's none of her business and that she is not Muslim, M told the lady that 'I don't care what your religion is, I just don't like to see such things in my country' and the lady said something which meant in short 'you cover yourself here, but when you leave your country you take everything off.' She also said something's about this country and how people here are just stupid or something. That just pissed M off and she just tried to ignore the lady so not to make a scene but the lady won't stop saying rude things. That was when we came; I asked where is the lady and her group from and was told from Colombia. A tried to calm everyone down and told the lady to just let go but she wouldn't and so she went to call the security guy. I was sitting there waiting for A to come back and the lady started shaking and laughing at us, I got so mad and felt like slapping her, honestly I did feel like slapping her, but since A is going to call the security, I thought we should give them a chance to do something about it. When A came back with two guys, they ladies started laughing and saying side comments to each other, M told the guys what happened and she told him that he better do something about it or she will take this whole thing to higher authority, because her wearing that is something and her insulting the country and its people is something else. I guess the mall's security saw in the cameras the chaos around us and so few other guys came who were not wearing the uniform. When they guy started talking to the lady she said something about how she respect this country and such, she also told him that what she is not wearing anything bad and stood to show him and the guy was like 'I don't want to see!!' just when the other guys came and pointed at A and said 'you see her! How she is covered and all? When she leaves this country she takes off all her clothes' and because her English is bad she tried to get the message over by motioning how she would take off her bra! That was what they other guys heard and they told her and the ladies with her to take their food and escorted them out of the mall. I forgot to mention that we found the ladies are originally Lebanese and that they understand Arabic.

That was the story; do I need to comment on it? I will leave that for the comments.

GCC

Yesterday, I read in the gulfnews that in the GCC summit they decided that 'Iran is not worrisome' and I was surprised and confused because few weeks ago the UAE minister of foreign affairs Rashid Abdullah had an interview on TV and he was so clear in stating that Iran IS worrisome. It turned out that Amr Moussa - The Secretary General of the League of Arab States is the one who said it is not worrisome and so this is what was written in gulfnews about it, I'm going to post it here because I want to highlight few parts.

Abdullah dismisses Mousa's concerns

Dubai: UAE Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah has brushed off a letter sent to the 26th GCC Summit by Amr Mousa, Secretary General of the Arab League. He said Mousa should worry more about the security of the Gulf region.

The letter, part of which was published by a Kuwaiti newspaper, criticised the GCC position on Iran's nuclear programme. Mousa reportedly urged the GCC to "support" the Iranian position and "focus more" on Israel's nuclear arsenal.

"We appreciate the worries expressed by Amr Mousa, as an Egyptian citizen, over the Israeli nuclear programme and we share them. But in the Gulf, we have fears and worries from the Iranian programme. Mousa should also talk about that," Abdullah said. "If Mousa doesn't agree with us, that is his business."

The letter also accused the GCC of exerting undue pressure on Syria and blaming it of killing former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. The Kuwaiti newspaper described the letter as "outrageous."

In that interview few weeks ago on TV, the reporter said that the minister was so direct and answer questioned directly not like people in politics in the Arab world, he stated that the minister said more than they usually do.

Books

Veronika decides to die – Paulo Coelho

Veronika seems to have everything she could wish for. She is young and pretty, has plenty of attractive boyfriends, goes dancing, has a steady job, a loving family. Yes Veronika is not happy; something is lacking in her life. On the morning of November 11th 1997, she decides to die. She takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake some time later in Villete, the local hospital. There she is told that although she is alive now her heart is damaged and she has only a few days to live…
This story follows Veronika through these intense days as, to her surprise, she finds herself drawn into the enclosed world of Villlete. She begins to notice more, to become interested in the other patients. She starts to see her past relationships much more clearly and understand why she had felt her life had no meaning. In this heightened state, Veronika discovers things she has never really allowed herself to feel before; hatred, fear, curiosity, love – even sexual awakening. Against all odds, she finds she is falling in love and wanting, if at all possible, to live again…

I want to read that book! I didn't like the only book I read by Paulo but I think I will like this book more!

I also finished reading Leo the African, it took me such a long time to finish which really annoyed me so I stayed up last night really late to finish it and I did. I liked the book more than I thought I would. I don't know how true is the history in the book, which didn't really matter much to me because I don't know much about the history of that time, it was interesting to read a book written about a different place and different people than Henry VII, and to think that the two books talk about the same time and lives so different.

My man, my leg and other theories:

My man theory:

When a wife talks about her husband, she says in Arab 'Rajlee' or 'Raylee' which means my man, and is also so close to the word 'my foot'. A woman says that because deep down in her subconscious mind she thinks of her husband as her foot and that she can takes him with her wherever she wants to go.

Love theory:

People can only love one person at a time. So if a husband loved his wife and she died, he will still love her but his love to her will 'dim' with time and he will be able to love another.

This theory was discussed after Biz told me that in Leo the African he will not go back to Heba.

It's Christmas... in Dubai.

Christmas tree in Mall of the Emirates!!


The lights in Mall of the Emirates, they are soo cool! I want some in my room!

Globalization

Competition is good because it brings out the best in each country, company or person.

I started reading 'The world is flat' by Thomas L. Friedman; it is about globalization and the history of it. I never really thought I would be reading such a book, but my father gave it to my sister and the maids put it in my room, so I read a chapter before I sleep.

The book is interesting as it describe few things; the author said how globalization went through three steps:
1. Globalization 1.0: is up to 1800; when the competition was between countries.
2. Globalization 2.0: is from 1800 to 2000, where it was about cooperation's going international and competition between them.
3. Globalization 3.0: since 2000 the competition started between individual.

Globalization is when companies and individual work internationally, when Taxes of people in the US are done in the US, when CEO's in America and Europe has personal assistants in India, when call centers in America and the help line for Dell, Microsoft and so many other organizations is in India, when a city in China is to Japan what India is to Japan.

I don't know much about the author of the book but I know he is Jewish plus I know everything that was written in the book about him. My sister said that she saw him once in TV and that he was talking about Muslims and Islam in a not very nice way.

In our business courses, we are studying about organizations going global; maybe they should start giving more courses about 'the individual' and how can represent our selves in this world. Where are we, as Muslims, in this world? Some people would say that Dubai is the New York of the 21st century, but where does that put us as people who are from UAE or live here?

I can't really talk about globalization or debate the book since I didn't finish reading it, I will probably not finish it either, and it is always nice to know about everything and anything. Also, I don't have the book while writing this, so I just wrote what I can remember, and I think I remembered more that I thought I would!

nothing

• Most annoying thing ever: to forget the book you are reading in the weekend place and so have to postpone reading it for five days. (the book is leo the african! and I just got to the really good parts yesterday, should have stayed all night and finished it.)

• I was ordering ice cream and the guy who was taking my order was smiling weirdly at me and I guess he was just high said: 'you want snickerdoodle?' I smiled back at him and said 'Yes! I want snickerdoodle!' and my sister who was standing next to me couldn't stop laughing; the word snickerdoodle is funny by itself, and when a guy say it while smiling like a 'cheese' smile, that is hilarious. To me at least, I'm easily entertained. :)

• Someone I know was driving and putting some raseed in his phone and the window was open. When he finished, instead of throwing the card from the window, he threw his phone! I think he deserved it because I keep telling him not to throw things like that! so people of the world, stop throwing stuff or you will end like that guy! hahaha.

Lost

When I started this blog, it was to be anon and it was to be about nothing personal. Now, I don't care about that, even if someone found it, I don't care if they learned things about me that they didn't know; this is me, live with it.

At one point in my life, I was so centered and knew what I was doing, school was everything to me, and making my parents proud was so important to me that it pushed me to do things many people wish they can do, I did them and never for a minute stopped to think about it all, I thought it was normal that people should be like that.

I lost it all; I don't know what I'm doing with my life anymore. One of the saddest moments in my life was when I realized that I can't remember when was the last time that I opened a book to study, maybe last year because I don't remember studying this year at all. I'm still getting A's but that's not the point, I want to learn and now I don't feel like I'm learning, I don't even give my full attention to the professor in class.

I'm feeling bad about myself now, and about some decisions I made in my life not because of the decisions I made, but because of the person I'm turning to. Not knowing what my situation is going to be next year or few months from now is not helping either; I'm so tired from it all. Maybe starting university young was not such a good idea, or maybe it was because it gave me more time to find myself, but I'm just losing myself.

Did I sound like a sick, depressed teenage there? I'm not. J

Thank Allah, for you are going to die.

'Too often, at funerals, I hear men and women believers cursing death. But death is a gift from the Most High, and one cannot curse that which comes from Him. Does the word "gift" seem incongruous to you? It is nevertheless the absolute truth. If death is not inevitable, man would have wasted his whole life attempting to avoid it. He would have risked nothing, attempted nothing, undertaken nothing, invented nothing, built nothing. Life would have been a perpetual convalescence. Yes my brothers, let us thank God for having made us the this gift of death, so that life is to have meaning; of night, that day is to have meaning; silence, that speech is to have meaning; illness, that health is to have meaning; war, that peace is to have meaning. Let us give thanks to Him for having given us weariness and pain, so that rest and joy are to have meaning. Let us give thanks to Him, Whose wisdom is infinite.'

- From leo the african By Amin Maalouf

Domestic help! my ...

Why would a woman leave her country and come to work in a country she barely knows anything about? Why would she leave her family and the town she never left in her life to travel for hours in a plane she has never been in before? Why would she go toward a life she knows nothing about? Why would she go work for someone she doesn't know or even speak the same language as him/her?

She would only do that because she needs to do so, because she has to go make money for her family, children and herself. I grew up being told that they are poor and that maids left their families so we should make them feel at home. First thing a maid is told when she comes to our house is that she is not allowed to 'touch' any of the kids because that's the mother's job. We knew we had maids to help in the house so my mother would have more time to spend with the children. How did affect the person I'm now?

I always thought that it has nothing with the person I'm now, because I know how to do everything myself I just don't help around the house because there are maids who are paid to do that, I just know everything and if the situation needed, I will help; I was always so sure of that. I grew up and met people and made friends and realized that not everyone lives the way I do, my friends started calling me spoiled and lazy, some family members started calling me that too, which made me stop and think, and I'm still thinking.

People who look from the outside at a certain class of people might think differently, but I feel I know why many people have maids the way they do. It is not about 'needing' the help; why would three people need a domestic staff of 20? It is not about 'the help' because the maids are not helping anyone, they are doing the job; they are raising the kids, and running the house in short.

These people have maids because of their prestige and to tell people they have a certain number of maids, because they are too lazy to get their own water or take their own clothes from the closet. These people are SPOILED (with a caps lock!) and sick, because someone who does something only to show people IS a sick person. The main idea of a maid is to help someone and to make life easier, not to run every single detail of the house. The idea of a maid is to help around the house NOT to raise children.

Parents who hand their kids to the maid from the first day should know that when their children grow they will understand that, that their parents didn't take care of them, that the maid is the one who raised them and spent time with them, and not because she love them but because she was paid to do so; these children grow up with no love surrounding them.

A maid will never love a child the way his mom or dad can love him or her, she will not have the same patience and care toward them. A mother gets tired from raising her child and might raise her voice in a moment of anger; what would someone expect from a maid who doesn't even love the child, let alone if she hates him!

I would think people would learn from the stories that we hear about maids, but each 'lady' comes and says 'oh my maid is different' how would she know? Few weeks ago, a video was showed on TV of two maids who were alone in the house with the kids and hit them, for god's sake, the video was shown on public TV, can't people just think! The mother of the kids who were hit only fired one of the maids and sent her to the police, she said she can't get rid of two because who will take care of the children! I think that is just sick, I can't believe she did that, didn't she stop herself for a minute and thought what her children will think of that, now and when they grow up, does she think they will forget? I can guarantee to her they won't.

There are a countless number of stories about maids who worked as nannies, some which I heard or saw myself. A maid will never raise a child, she only washes the child and feeds him and that's it, who will teach the child? what will a child learn from someone who doesn't speak his language and barely had any kind of education? I know many people who were raised by maids; one of them told me 'she hates her mom and wish she is dead', how cruel is that? And who is the cause of that? The mother, Father, Child, or the maid?

Identity and home

For the past few months I have been thinking about a person's identity, or more like 'what defines a person' or 'where is each person from?' and why is that important to people, why can't each person be their own selves, why can't that be enough?

I'm Emarati and I live in United Arab Emirates, some people would ask where the problem is then? Isn't it enough that I know that? I think it is enough but many people don't, they need to know which Emarate I'm from, if you don't give a direct answer to that then there got to be some missing pieces in the puzzle they are trying to put together.

My question is where I'm from? Is it the place where my parents grew up in and then left? Or where I was born? Or where my passport says I'm from? Or where I spent most of my childhood in but never really 'fit in' or where I spend my weekends?

I have never had a problem with that; I don't even think of it as a problem because to me it isn't important where I'm from. I'm just trying to understand and find answers to why is it so important to people here.

Growing up I was not aware of how important it is to people here to put themselves in groups of people, until I came to the point where I had to be around local people who are not family. I was shocked when they asked me 'what tribe I'm from?' and 'who is my tribe's Sheikh?' and such questions. The looks I get when I tell them that I don't know what they are talking about, my family is my family and my grandfather is my oldest figure, isn't that enough? People always ask for more. After sometime I got tired from explaining my history to every person who asks me where I'm from and started giving them the first answer that comes to my mind.

When I talk to my family about it, they tell me what I already know that it's not important. I was told that some people are just 'different' and that they care more about materialistic things. I was told to work hard and try to make something of myself because the work you do and the person you make of yourself is what's important; each person is their own free person, they can make whatever they want from what they have and were given.

Some might wonder and ask 'shouldn't I be proud of my family?' I'm so proud of them, I'm always remind of how great and special they are but I'm not proud of them because of the name they carry or the money they have; these are things that can be lost or taken. I'm proud of who they made themselves to and of all the work they did trying to make this world a better place; these are things that will be printed in history even if the history of simple things, it's a job done that can't be deleted even if some people chose to ignore it.

When I think of my situation, I think of other people who are lost between countries and remind myself that it's not important where the person is from, what's important is what each person think and make of himself.

Is that what they think?

It is always interesting to know what the other side thinks and why do they do such things that you don't agree with them, because maybe if you know why they are doing it then you would be able to explain to them why you think what they are doing is wrong. Maybe it will change both sides perspective.

I was walking in a mall in Dubai with family and friends last week and the people we saw, what they are wearing and the way they are acting was just so inappropriate. Just as we were leaving and my mother was fid up with all that she saw these group of women and one of them was wearing such a low waist jeans with a white boxer under it, that just pissed mother off and so she went to her and said 'excuse me, your underwear is showing' The lady lowered her underwear when mother told her that, but the other lady said to her 'it's ok, it's a free country' and they walked away. Mother followed them and said 'it's not a free country, it a Muslim country. You are free in your country but not here.' The ladies just walked away and went in a taxi. By the time I was told what happened and my friend wanted to go lecture them they were in a taxi.

Is that what people think? That this is a free country and they are free to wear whatever they want? If that is what they think then they need someone to tell them that that is not the case. This is a Muslim country; they should respect that and the culture.

After thinking about that for hours I thought is that what everyone wants or only me and a small group of people? Maybe most people don't care about it anyway, I don't think I would have cared as much as I do now, I mean I won't even think of it if not for my family and the way this drives them crazy.

I don't want to sound like I'm against foreigners living here; they are part of this country's foundation. I just wish they would respect the religion and culture more. I'm confused. :S

The other Boleyn girl – Phlippa Gregory

I didn't think I will ever finish reading this book, even after many people recommended it to me, I always thought history is not my thing. One day though, I opened it to check it out and know exactly what it is about but I couldn't put it down and stayed up all night reading it. I think the book is great! Even if you are not interested in the history itself, read the book because it's such a great novel.

What made the story even more interesting is that I have been to London tower and the tour guide showed us where Anne Boleyn and many other people were executed, where she was locked before she was killed, it was the same room that she stayed in on the night of her coronation; so I could picture the place and the people when I was reading the book.

The book starts with the execution of the Duke of Buckingham, Mary who is the narrator in the book was only 13 then, and she was sitting watching the execution with everyone in the court and she thought that the king will stop it at last minute, but he didn't, they did cut the duke's head and took it to the king.

Mary was sent to the French court with her Brother, George and her older sister, Anne when they were all children. She came to the English court at the age of 12 when she married one of the king courtiers. Two years after her marriage, the King 'noticed' her and made it clear he was interested in her. Her family, the Boleyn Howard's, forced her to leave her husband's bed so that she can be the king's mistress and try to give him a son to hold him, because Queen Katherine didn't give him a son and she is getting old. Mary did stay with him for few years and had a daughter and a son from him, but just after she had the son and while she was still in her bed, the King got interested in her sister Anne and was in love with her and wanted no one but her after that.

Mary was allowed to go back to her husband, and he took her. He started taking her out and they were lovers for the first time, they loved each other again but before Mary go to tell him that she does love him he died from a plague.

Anne Boleyn did her evil work on the king, he was enchanted by her and wanted her so badly that he divorced his wife Queen Katherine by saying that he shouldn't have married her in the first place because she was his brother's widow, Anne made him forget how much in love with Katherine he once was.

After marrying Anne, she did give him a daughter and then miscarried few times, every time she does her family try to hide it from the king and everyone else, but in the last time there was no way they could do that and the baby who was dead turn out to be a 'monster' as they called it. What you get from the story is that she had the baby from her brother, and by the end of the story her brother and four other friends of his were executed because they were accused of sleeping with her too.

Mary found a guy who loved her and who wanted to live with her in a farm with her two children, she wanted to live with him there. They got married in secret and then went back to court, but no one knew they are married until Mary was pregnant with his baby and everyone had to know about it. After her sister and brother were executed, they left and went to live in the farm house.

Even after knowing all that about the story, or if you already know more about the history of it, the book is still worth reading.

The society

When we see how the society here is changing so fast, people would say that it the society here is multi-cultural but I would say it is becoming a culture crasher. When you look at how the people here behave, they no longer are attached to their religion or culture and if you ever ask them why they are acting in a certain way they give answers like we are 'westernized' or 'trying to fit in', but fit in where? Can't you just try to learn good things from other societies but still never forget who you really are?

When you walk in a mall and an emiraty woman gets asked why she is wearing what she is wearing, while another lady who is barely wearing anything is never asked, and also is best served anywhere she goes!

When you see people smoking around children and no one comments on that because the people who are smoking are not locals and so no one should say anything to them, everyone is expected to welcome them with open arms no matter what they do or how they dress, and when you come to think of it, this would probably never happen in an American or most European cities, I'm not saying that those cities or the people living in them are any better than us, but why can't the people here take the good qualities in the so called western society?

What point did we reach when little boys comment about 'two men going to the same toilet cubicle' and when little girls are insulted in their face because they are emiraties. Smoking is accepted, the Hijab is mostly worn as a cultural dress not as a religious dress.

People are judged by what they are wearing, what car they are driving or what bag they are carrying.

These are only simple things, there is much more that my fellow bloggers already mentioned, my point of writing all that is, shouldn't we as Muslims protest and try to change this, if not as Muslims then maybe as people with morals and values who are expected to raise their children in this society that is becoming worse and worse everyday.

That was me ranting to myself at 3 in the morning, so excuse the mistakes. :P