Poree Cholay

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Ahh. The picture shows the preparation of a puree.

The wonderful sunday morning tradition of eating puree with cholay ( or halwa if you like halwa).Most bakeries have thier puree cholay crew out in the morning (7 AM) on Sundays to make the delicious oil filled breakfast.

Puree is deep fried rotee. Yes it is unhealthy. But its just once a week.

Chicken!

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If you want chicken you can get it at the Friday Bazaar. YOu can even choose the size of your chicken form the cage as seen in the photo. The chicken is killed in front of you ( and is rated PG 13).

Friday Bazaar

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At designated locations across the city we have the Itwar (sunday), Mangal(Tuesday) and Friday ( Jumah) bazaars.

This is a photo of the Friday bazaar from yesterday. It is like a farmers market with lots of poeple shouting out prices of their goods. YOu dont have grocery carts but you have tokree walas ( basket holders) who carry your goods for a nomincal ammount.

I enjoyed my visit to the Friday bazaar.

Blue Area

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A view of the greenary in front of the main commerial area ( called the blue area) in Islamabad.

Traffic control

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One Traffic policeman talks to two policewomen about ( I hope) the increasing traffic and the accompanying chalenges of traffic control in Islamabad.

Eid is in the air

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The spirit of EId is being felt on the streets.

Herds of goats are being escorted for sale in designated areas and on the streets. Also slowly but surely I can hear more and more sounds of cows and goats from differnt houses.

The picture shows one cow and one goat.

Chalo Mcdonald chalien

Img_1234, originally uploaded by hammadin.

Well. I avoid Mcdonalds in Canada due to halal issues.

The Mcdonalds in the picture opened just recently. It is of course a big hit. I have so far been successful in avoiding it in Islamabad. I am against commercial imperialism. Why should I make Mcdonald people rich abroad when I can make other poeple rich here.

I enjoy the other local franchises like Rahat Bakery or even better: the burger walas on the street.

RIckshaw

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Three wheeled taxi that is a major mode of transportation in most cities.

Donkey Cart

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Donkey cart! A good cheap way to transport goods locally.

Busy street in Gujrawala

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A busy street in Gujranwala. Notice the smog, lack of pavenment makings, pedestreians and a whole lot more. Believe you me its not fun driving these roads.

Horse Carriage

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A picture of a horse carriage in Gujrawala. The horse carriage is still common in many cities.

Grocery store on the road

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Fresh fruit carts on the sides of roads are quite common specially in Punjab ( I went to Gujrawala on a 1 day trip to visit my aunte). I have really enjoyed the Guavas on this trip.

Notice the garbage behind the cart (which is also quite common in Punjab).

Cute kids

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My nephew and neice. Both of them are too cute as is obvious in this picture and too adorable in person.

While the band was playing...

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Last 4 days I have been busy with weddings. Of course I cant post pictures because I dont ant to be beaten up by anyone who doesnt want their picture on cyberspace ( read: any auntees or bajees who might think they were not looking good in the picture will beat me up).

Regardless, basically there were two weddings. Both were quite interesting. ONe was of a family freind and another of a close freind. This band was playing to welcome the barat ( the bridge groom posy who come to take the bride away). IN south asian culture by and large the girl goes and lives with the boy's family. ( I am tempted to comment on the whole mother in lw-daughter in law issue --saas bahu--but thats better left for another post when I have a better internet coonnection and can research the topic more).

The normal marriage in SOuth Asia consists of upto 6 functions:

Mangani-engament

Nikah- NIkah( contract for marriage---i.e. the paperwork) if families need to have nikah beofe actual wedding date

Dholki-At bride and bride groom's house...women ( and somtimes men) sing songs to celebrate occasion for many nights some time

Mehandi- The night before e mariage night when the bride orbride groom's hands are decorated with this orange thning called mehandi. The bride and bridegroom can have seperate functions or the same ones for Mehandi

Shade- The actual night whhen the bride leaves the bride's house to go to bride groom's house. It can be sad occaion for girl's parents who may cry a lot. The bride crys a lot too and if the bride groom is emotioimnal like me he moight start crying just for the heck of it. This is the actual night of consumation of mrriage. Much more can be written nbut thats better left for another day.

Vailma- A reception hosted by bride groom to introduce bride to his freinds and relatives

The question I asked my family freind about his marriage was that: Is this the beginning of the end or the beginnning of a new beginning? He answered saying that it was a later. May Allah make it so and give him the best in this life and the next. ( and may his wife make lots of rotee if he likes it--or when I visit)

STreet snacks

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If you are on the street and want snacks. There is the option of buying corn ( or corn niblets) warmed up in sand. It has a delicious and fresh taste and costs about 20 cents. I have been having one every day. yummy!

Stay in your lane

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A orange cone to make sure people dont invent new lanes at intersections. Pavement markings dont always work at intersections.

Whenever I ride in a car, it is like an amusement park ride. You dont know what hazard you might face next. It is exciting and scarey. Well the driving topic deserves more details form me later.

Locked.

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A sanitary sewer cover near my house chained and locked so that scrap metal hunters cant steal it and re sell it.

Thats Garbage!

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Waste management in the capital city is handled by dumping garbage into designated bins which are cleaned out regularly by city authorities. As you can see in the picture that sometimes the area around the bin is more populated then the actual bin itself. One can regularly observe people on bikes who manually scan the grabage in the bins for recylable scrap. ( there is no recycling at the consumer level). And yes as you see in the picture, the crows like these bins a lot So do stray dogs, cats and random cows.

Reportedly, the garbage goes into a nearby landfill. I passed by that landfill a few times back in the day. I doubt that there is a barrier at the bottom of the landfill which checks the flow of hazerdous lechate into the subsurface groundater. yeah you guessed right. Thats not good for the people who might drink/pump that water.

A speed bump

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A speed bump on my street.

Speed bumps in Pakistan are an essential part of traffic control. In some ways they serve the purpose of a stop sign ( stop signs downt work in Pakistan) and/or to control speed limits. They sometimes even work better than traffic lights. A recent accident in my neighborhood led to a constuction of a speed bump right at the scene of the accident. The speed bump in this picture has reflectors so you actually can see it at night. However, a lot of speed bumps are either unmarked or their paint has faded. So they are also a test for your eye sight.

For some people this is a speed bump, but for others its just another bump in the road. [Bump!]

Watch your step

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This picture is of a catch basin located in the local market place near my home. This catch basin is of course supposed to catch stormwater ( and from the looks of it is capable of catching more than storm water ).

The depth of the hole is about 6 feet. And given that the parking lot which hosts this catch basin has no lights, it is a big safety concern.

Such dangers are common in the capital city and even more so outside of it. As a matter of fact trips and falls is one of the major causes of injury to the public in Pakistan ( according to a report in a reputed newspaper today).

Dont worry, I'll watch my step.

A view from my house

A view from my house, originally uploaded by hammadin.

This picture is taken from my house. It shows the mosque, beyond which are the Margalla Hills part of the Himalayas ( I think).

I never realized what a great blessing this view was thoughout my youth. Thats what travelling does to you, eh. It humbles you and makes you appreciate what you have or what you had.

And you know what, I am thankful for the fact that I am thankful now!

A view from the plane

A view from the plane, originally uploaded by hammadin.

This photo from a height of 10,000 m is taken from my plane. It shows the (famous) Pak Afgan border. Notice how the rugged sandy mountains change into higher snowy peeks. ( I dont think you can fence this border!!)

to complete this update, please restart yor machine.

as it is very obvious, my blog has been out of commission.

I was being updated and hence had to restart myself, causing the delay.

I am going to Pakistan for a few weeks. This time I intend to take my camera and try to keep up a photo blog during my trip ( No, I dont intend to get engaged or married during this trip, However, stay warned that what I intend and what actually happens are not always syncronized.

Imam Zaid Shakir's blog on Washington Post

Alhamdulillah, Imam Zaid has his own page on the WP website. He has made three posts in the last week or so. The first post got about 153 comments. Most of the comments, however, missed the mark. Despite that, he persisted and remained patient. He made a general comment in response to those copmments and continued. Read the posts yourself. The last one is in relation to Thanks Giving Day in the US and it is briliant. IZ is the man. Here goes the text:

For Lincoln, Also A Day Of Penitence

In 1789, declaring the first national day of thanksgiving, George Washington mentioned, “…the many and signal favors of Almighty God.”

He recommended a day dedicated “to the service of that great and glorious being.” In 1863, when Abraham Lincoln declared what would become an annual Thanksgiving celebration, he saw it “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

Their wording suggests that they envisioned a holiday of religious significance, although the day has gradually come to be better known for its cultural practices.

From an Islamic perspective, both believers and non-believers could celebrate a day of thanksgiving. Most scholars see thankfulness as both acknowledging a blessing from God and working to show appreciation for that blessing through one’s enhanced service to God and humanity. Others take a broader view and see thankfulness as any customary expression of appreciation for a boon received.

In this country, a full day of thanksgiving should involve expressing our collective appreciation for the many boons we have received, while acknowledging that to greater or lesser extents they have come at the price of deprivation and suffering for others. That acknowledgement should ideally translate into a renewed commitment on our part to work to improve the lives and alleviate the suffering of those others, wherever they may be.

For those who would view these latter thoughts as inconsistent with the spirit of Thanksgiving Day, we would remind them that Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation contained many sobering sentiments. For example, he felt the day should also be one of “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.” As we survey our sad lot, I do not think too many of us would feel we are above his advice.

The stolen dream of Iraqi freedom

A sad BBC report about Iraq after the war:

Mohammed's father - and many others I have met - say life was better under Saddam Hussein.

Brutal and terrible, but nowhere near as bad as it is now.

Iraq has become Hell.

The horrors are so searing, so frequent that fear is a rampant virus, destabilising normal life so that even a trip to the shops or the walk to school are tainted with deep anxiety.

Is there a suicide bomber on this minibus? Is that parked car a bomb? Is that bag in that bicycle basket somebody's vegetables or explosives?

Under Saddam, they say, you knew where the "red line" was. Now there is no red line.

Group Demands Probe of Imams' Removal

From The Guardian:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called Tuesday for an investigation into the behavior of airline staff and airport security in the removal of six Muslim scholars from a US Airways flight a day earlier.

A passenger raised concerns about the imams - three of whom said their normal evening prayers in the airport terminal before boarding the Phoenix-bound plane, according to one - through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways.

``We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping of Muslims and Islam,'' Nihad Awad, the council's executive director, said in a news release.

Beyond the veil

Fareena Alam gives her 2 cents about the veil debate in a well written article published in Newsweek. While she is critical of people who are throwing the veil up as an issue, she is also critical of Muslims and i think she gets it right when she says:

Muslims are not necessarily helping themselves, either. Instead of focusing on the powerful theological message of Islam and its relevance to modern Europe, some critics say, Muslims spend too much energy defending the outward symbols of their faith. "Crises like this expose a spiritual vacuum," says Navid Akhtar, a British documentary filmmaker. "We are becoming a religion that is obsessed by icons. We forget that we worship God, not our headscarves or our beards." Muslims indeed have a duty not to alarm their neighbors, he adds, much as Straw and Blair imply. "If your neighbor is frightened of you, it's not all his fault," Akhtar says. "You have a responsibility to meet him halfway, to try and calm him down."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

The hat

From SOME:Wisdom

If someone gave you a beautiful, expensive new hat, wouldn’t you be grateful for the generous gift? But shouldn’t you be even more grateful for the One Who gave you the head to put that hat on. [Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak]

Vince McMahon Lives In My Mosque

Javed Memon hits the nail on it's head in this peice about......

Suck it." Did he really just say that? "Suck it." This time he held his hands high, crossed them and smacked them against his thighs, gesturing to his crotch. That was, uhh, unexpected.

After shaking off the reality that is a 9 year old South Asian Muslim kid telling me to suck his private parts, I reflected [again] upon what it means that our kids (and adults) find it "fun" to watch women getting stripped and spanked. It isn't just "those other kids," either. It is our kids. Our kids who we let sit in front of the television without speaking to them about what they are watching, and then make them go to the mosque where we tell them to memorize verses that they don't understand. You may be wondering what I'm writing about...

Allow me introduce you to World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. It used to be known as WWF for those of you 80's kids out there. The first responses I receive when asking aunties and uncles about this usually consist of, "Oh, it's just fake wrestling." or "It's just fun, just entertainment." READ ON

Who speaks for her?

From "United Nation" blog ( posted by sister Aaminah):

The politicians of my nation? The well-meaning feminists and leftists who want to "save" me? My family and friends who are "concerned" about so-called Islamists? My husband, my son, my brother, my father; whatever male family member is available?

I cannot be asked to speak for anyone else's experience or needs. If you want to know how a migrant worker feels, please, ask a few migrant workers. If you want to know why black men feel systematically disenfranchised, please, go meet with some of the boys on the corner and ask them. If you want to know how a Saudi woman feels about not being able to drive, or how an Afghan woman feels about the burqa, go to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan and engage in dialogue with the women living it.

If you want to know what an American Muslim woman thinks, ask me. Don't ask my husband, my non-Muslim mother, my employer, or some Christian theologian. Ask me. I am only one, and my words do not represent every other American Muslim woman, but they do represent me. And I can speak for myself, thank you very much.

The cost of Canada's Black Gold

An article dicussing the environmental cost of Alberta's Oil Sands. The cost of black gold ( from Speigel Online):

But what is most worrying is that the Canadian government is no longer able to meet the targets for emissions reductions it set when it signed the Kyoto Protocol. Experts have calculated that emissions in areas with oil sands will continue to rise. By 2015, the area around Fort McMurray is expected to produce as much carbon dioxide as all of Denmark. But Charles Ruigrok -- the head of Syncrude, one of the veterans of the oil sands industry -- shrugs off the problem: "I believe technology will fix it."

Even if that prediction doesn't come true, it's unlikely Canada will curb petroleum extraction for ecological reasons. The economic boom in the north has spread to the entire province of Alberta. The province that used to be Canada's problem child is now experiencing a change in fortunes. White truffles and Mercedes cabriolets have become popular purchases in Edmonton, the provincial capital. Alberta is debt-free and doesn't even impose value-added (sales) tax on its residents.

Large Steeped Tea double double with milk,

A lot of us go on trips and wonder where the nearest Tim Hortons is on our route. Well I just found out you can find all the Tim Hortons on your route at this link ( just enter your origin and destination and it will give you all the TIm Hortons along your route.

Large Steeped Tea double double with milk, here I come.

Compatibility and marriage

Looking for someone compatible for marriage? ( or are you looking for someone who can make good roti:-)). Well either way Psychology Today has something to say about that:

"Compatibility is overrated. The similarities or personality traits that attract people to each other may not hold up over time. You might be attracted to someone because you both love to ski, but then one of you blows out a knee. When people are divorcing, they'll say, "We have nothing in common." But they have kids, a house and 30 years of shared experience. Values about money and children run very deep and are important. The surface ones—antiques, sports, travel and gourmet coffee—don't matter. —William J. Doherty, professor and marriage and family therapy program director, University of Minnesota""

Click here to read full article

Crazy Moon

While I celebrated Eid with my local masjid, I do agree with Zaytuna's take on the issue ( sighting the moon within the astronomically possible moon sighting window). Anyways an interesting comment from Irving on SAF space's blog about the whole moon issue, really hit my note:

When they met, the way they looked,
I knew that I was through.

Oh, you crazy moon,
What did you do?

- Crazy Moon, an old song of the 1930s

Shahada through Sh. Habib Ali

A young man converts to Islam

Beyond Skimpy Skirts, a Rare Debate on Identity

From the NY times:

South Asians call it “the best run Indian city,” Arabs celebrate it as a model of Arab accomplishment, and Westerners embrace it for its endless sunshine and luxury lifestyle.

With more than 150 nationalities and almost as many expressions of culture, Dubai is one of the most diverse cities in the Middle East.

But after decades of selling dreams to foreigners, this Persian Gulf emirate has begun debating the limits of multiculturalism. READ ON

Rhthyms of Ramadan

From the Toronto Star:

You could read the Qur'an from cover to cover without learning the spirit of Islam. But getting to know those living the faith daily opens windows to a world that can seem strange to an outsider.

It's not easy to find people of any faith willing to risk revealing their private lives to a stranger, let alone the million-plus people who read the Saturday Star.

In September, I got an email from a reader suggesting I spend time in a Muslim home to "see" what Ramadan is like. Sending out feelers from my Rolodex of Muslim contacts, I was delighted with a generous offer from the Khan family of Maple.

There's something about rising at 4 a.m. and trekking a trafficless Highway 407 to Vaughan that feels sacred, a tranquility rarely felt in the hectic daylight hours. You get to appreciate the starry sky and dawn that most of us miss — and the importance of making time for simple things.

Muslim generosity was felt the moment the Khans invited photographer Charla Jones and me into their home, not only because of the delicious breakfast we were offered, but because of the trust and faith they placed in us to deliver their story.

It struck me how time-conscious they were in sticking to the sahar and iftar timetable distributed by their mosque. "We've 15 minutes for breakfast," Tanya would remind us.

Asif was quick to issue a challenge: "Why don't you two try to fast?" And we gladly accepted.

We were amazed by the traffic headed to the mosque so early: "Where are all these people coming from?" Charla mused.

The white mosque glowed against a dark horizon, where we were received with welcoming smiles and warm greetings. How intrusive must it be to hear a camera click or see a stranger scribbling away amid a sermon?

Following the family through their day was fun, but as blood sugar dropped we started to feel cranky. There were moments of temptation as we drove alone from the mosque to Tanya's school, passing a Coffee Time.

We could have cheated, but like Asif, we figured it would defeat the purpose of the experience. For us, the fast wasn't so much about empathy for the poor as experiencing the challenge Muslims face, observing these rituals in a non-Muslim world.

I don't have a sweet tooth, but never had dates tasted so delicious as when we broke the fast. The sense of reward is that much sweeter for the effort it takes. That's something I learned from my day with the Khans — which resonates with the Confucian teachings I learned in my Chinese home.

I can't help but admire the determination of Muslims during Ramadan. What we lived for a day, they will have repeated 30 times by Monday, the joyous holiday of Eid ul Fitr.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL STORY FROM THE TORINTO STAR

Sh Abdul Hakim Murad and Jermey Smith: An Organic Iftar

Lectures delivered at An Organic Iftar - We Are What We Eat (the joint event by Q-News, IFEES and Islamic Circles), by Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad (Cambridge University) and Jeremy Smith (Managing Editor, The Ecologist). An evening of organic potluck iftar. In this world of instant gratification and over indulgence we lose sight of the fact that we are what we eat. Eat the wrong foods and our bodies will become polluted because food is our fuel and we must help the engine that drives our bodies. However, partaking of the wrong things is not limited to food. We often talk about following the Sunnah, understanding Tawhid and being spiritual, but how much of these have we really implemented this Ramadan?

Imam Zaid and Shiekh Hamza on Surah Rahman and Surah Asr

Sheikh Hamza on Surah Al Balad