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Protected: Ego, The Root Of Embarrassment? [SisOy]

// May 22nd, 2007 // Enter your password to view comments. // Blog

AVAAZ.org – Make Some Noise!

// May 22nd, 2007 // 4 Comments » // Blog

I'm sure that most of you have heard about this great-yet-simple activist site by now. For once, i was not the last one to know. I have been following them for a while, but kept on forgetting to mention them here. So, for the few of you who don't know about Avaaz.org, please check out the site right this minute, and get involved. It's so easy, but it will hopefully be an effective stratagem to grab the attention of the world's movers and shakers, to actually encourage them to move and shake in an ethical manner!

The latest campaign is to help keep Iraq's oil in Iraqi hands. Extract from the e-letter:

Amidst rising bloodshed, President Bush has told the Iraqi Parliament they have till the 31st of May to pass a flawed oil law that could give multinational companies unprecedented control of Iraq's oil fields. But some Iraqi leaders are daring to resist – and they need our help.

Two weeks from now, members of the Iraqi Parliament — including Sunni, Kurdish and Shia leaders — are planning to read Avaaz's petition of solidarity from the floor of Parliament. They say this statement of global support for Iraqi sovereignty will strengthen the resolve of their colleagues to face down Bush and big oil companies by opposing this law. So sign the petition today–let's make 100,000 voices heard in Iraq's Parliament before they vote:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/iraq_oil_law

Our simple message: we support Iraq's sovereign right to its own oil. Revenue from oil should be distributed fairly to the Iraqi people. And the Iraqi national parliament should decide this without foreign influence.

Oil accounts for 70% of Iraq's national income. The proposed oil law would give multinational companies broad control of those revenues for three decades — a deal more generous than any in the Middle East. In most countries, oil corporations perform services under contracts with governments. In Iraq, foreign companies would sit on the national council that gives out the contracts.

Here's how the head of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Hassan Jum'a Awwad, put it:

“Iraq is passing through the most difficult of times, because all and sundry are hounding it and covet a share of its riches. Everyone knows that the oil law does not serve the Iraqi people, and that it serves Bush, his supporters and the foreign companies at their expense.”

It's a rare sign of hope to see Iraqis coming together on anything, but this law is bad enough to unite almost everyone. Iraqis are asking for our help. Let's tell them the world supports their right to set their own future. Sign on and help us reach 100,000 voices before they present the petition to the Parliament:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/iraq_oil_law

We are always signing petitions, and often nothing gets done in response. But these guys seem to be combining petition power with real activism, and i am praying that with enough support, things will change – one step at a time, inshā’Allāh. This will not bring about world peace in itself, but it's a start, and we have to start somewhere, right?

A Simple Doodle, Or Something More Sinister?

// May 22nd, 2007 // 13 Comments » // Blog

This is what happens when you spend too much time on my blog. Unique has fallen victim to an acute case of iMuslim-mania. She just can't get me out of her head, apparently. She has also taken liberties with my username, by adding 'ah' to the end. This is a sign that the disease is getting worse, as that is my lesser-known YouTube ID (some highly unoriginal brother stole “iMuslim”, cha).

In her defense, the patient claims that she was simply doodling while she was on the phone, and this all happened “subconsciously”. These kinds of delusions are to be expected from sufferers of iMuslim-mania. It is obvious to any healthy individual, that bloggers are quite incapable of using the phone; Skype is much preferred over a hard-line connection. Besides which, bloggers are notoriously geeky, and are thus unlikely to have any friends to talk to.

Poor child… we can only pray that her sanity is returned to her intact.

Breastfeeding Experts – A Sign Of The Times?

// May 21st, 2007 // 8 Comments » // Blog

Another question from the Guardian, this time on health. I was flicking through the website, this morning, trying to find some Ninjabi news… hence all the Guardian-based inspiration.

Anyway, the following response from the 'breastfeeding expert' reminded me of a short conversation i had at work, last year:

Many women need skilled, sensitive help to resolve physical problems and to cope with lack of confidence and with their expectations that their babies will eat and/or sleep predictably. When breastfeeding is distressing, you need face-to-face help from someone who knows about it, who won't judge you. That person may be a counsellor from volunteer organisations such as the NCT or La Leche League – they're highly trained and non-judgmental – or a healthcare professional with breastfeeding training.

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It’s All About HIM!

// May 21st, 2007 // 4 Comments » // Blog

I never usually read advice columns in the papers, but for some reason, this one caught my eye. I love the response to it. He really did deserve it, i think!

Dear Mariella:
'I was with my partner for 15 years before falling for another woman with an intensity I've never experienced. Foolishly, I confessed to her and now I am on my own …'

Mariella replies:
Did you expect your partner to thank you for confessing your feelings for another? If there is a word like 'lobotomy' that relates solely to the removal of our romantic instincts I'd like to hear it. Meanwhile, how did you expect your partner to live with you in this condition?

Read the full story here

The Blues Sisters

// May 20th, 2007 // 34 Comments » // Blog

# Woke up this morning #

De-da de-da

# Put on ma fancy clothes #

De-da de-da

# Was meant to be girls only #

De-da de-da

# But God only knows! #

# I've got the – yeah yeah – i've got the segregated wedding blues! #

Baba-ra-baba-ra-baba-ra-ba

# Don't know why I bother #

De-da de-da

# Can't ever trust ma brothers, no no… #

De-rum de-rum de-rum de-rum

(…They're always bad news…)

# Oh yeeeeah… #

A warning to whomever i marry, and any potential male guests*:

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Frustration

// May 20th, 2007 // 14 Comments » // Blog

It's 3.30 in the AM – what i like to call, “silly-o-clock” – and i am still awake. What am i doing up this late, other than typing a quick blog entry? Well, i am trying to find articles for I J T E M A. And it's so hard. So, so hard! Blog search engine results are filled to the brim with Islam-haters and their bile. It's so disheartening; it seems that there are more haters out there than, err, lovers? At least, the haters are more prolific in their writing. Even when i type in Islam-specific terms like “Ummah”, or “Salat”, i get a big pile of hostility in my face. GO! AWAY!

The whole point of I J T E M A is to help cut through the hysteria and highlight the beauty of Islam. There are good Muslim writers to be found, but i feel like they are rare blossoms that are being outpaced and strangled by faster-growing weeds. We need a growth spurt, a dose of Miracle Grow, before the weeds overwhelm us, and we wither in the darkness.

It's an uphill struggle, but struggle we must. May Allāh help us.

Definition of Hyprocrisy

// May 20th, 2007 // 15 Comments » // Blog

Another example of how life can be defined by stories involving chocolate; maybe i'll make it a running theme. It's just another excuse to eat chocolate, really. LIKE I NEED ONE.

When you tell your parents off for having double, extra-thick, artery-hardening, cream, with sugar, and toast, for their breakfast, but you have no qualms about eating toast topped with a one-inch thick layer of luxury chocolate spread, for your own breakfast. Hmm.

By the way… it does taste as good as it looks. No – better.

The Best Jumu’ah, EVER!

// May 18th, 2007 // 22 Comments » // Blog

My experiment worked, and i received chocolate* in the mail… could Allāh be anymore kind to me?

{massive grin}

I'm in danger of hugging random strangers, that is how happy i feel!

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Protected: Not Good Enough [SisOy]

// May 17th, 2007 // Enter your password to view comments. // Blog