World Water Day

Today is World Water Day.

While we enjoy the blessings of water every day many around the world suffer from a lack of clean water. They suffer through disease and death. Every year during Ramadan we deprive ourselves for a long period of time from food and water. That is a glimpse of how hard it is without water. We can live for a longer amount of time without food, water however is an essential need. And when the only water you can drink is dirty then there is a problem. I hope inshah allah that everyone on our planet can get access to clean water. The facts right now don't look that bright ( taken from the Christian Science Monitor):

1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, including 42 percent of all sub-Saharan Africans.

• As of 2005, 4,700 people died on average every day - mostly children under the age of 5 - due to lack of potable water.

• The cost of a household connection to water pipes can be five times greater than the per capita income in Benin, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mauritania, and Uganda.

• Households without plumbing spend on average 90 minutes every day hauling water for family needs. The average American tap delivers the same amount of water in two minutes.

• Women are usually responsible for fetching water when households in the undeveloped world lack plumbing. On average, they carry about 45 pounds of water at a time.

Water Use

• 30 to 50 liters of clean water is considered the basic daily need ofeveryhuman for drinking, cooking, and sanitation.

• Africans consume 37 liters of water a day on average; Americans consume 420 liters a day.Humans consume 950 trillion gallons of water annually - 70 percent of that is used for agriculture.

• Americans - who comprise less than 5 percent of the world population - consumed 15 percent of the total amount of water used in the world in 2000.

• Water use increased at more than twice the rate of world population growth in the 20th century.

Bottled water

• Global sales of bottled water last year reached $100 billion. By contrast, only $10 billion a year would be required to meet the UN goal of providing safe drinking water by 2015 to half of the 1.1 billion people who now lack it.

• 1.5 million barrels of crude oil are required to produce the 2.7 million tons of plastic used to bottle water annually.

Also view this Poster and article on the same topic.

Along the same lines here is an article on the Bottled Water Industry.

Hamza Yusuf ( 1992 Interview )

An interview from back in the day.

Mashah allah Shiekh Hamza was wise, even at a younger age ( 32 at the time of the interview! )

Environmentalism's Shadow History

Its interesting to read about the history of different movements that exist around us. One of them is the Environmental movement. I have rarely read up on it's history though a friend once pointed out some double standards that exist within the movement. Here is an article that gives an overview of it's darker past and how the movement is mutating as times change. This article is just one view however it does give some food for thought.

Many scholars have tried to draw attention to the narrowness of traditional environmentalism, with mixed results. Environmental history is a fast-growing field, and most college classes on the subject are popular. Yet when historians such as William Cronon question the slavish devotion to an unattainable wilderness ideal, as he did in his 1995 essay "The Trouble with Wilderness," most environmentalists still reflexively dismiss them as naive or dangerous. Such misguided retorts squander opportunities for honest and perhaps transformative debates at the very time we need them most.

The Jurisprudence of the Prophetic Biography [Said Ramadan Buti]

I just purchased this biography. I have read the first few chapters and I can already tell that it is as my teachers stated one of the best biographies of the Prophet written in Present times. You can buy it here.

This book is a good seerah (biography) book about the life of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the Four Caliphs that ruled Muslim lands in the next 4 centuries after the death of the prophet. This book is good for the study of the life of Prophet Mohammad in a modern academic style. The book describes a historical incident, and then lists in an organized fashion all the lessons, skills, and wisdoms that now-a-day Muslims can relate and benefit from. The author is a great scholar in Syria and has numerous publications in Arabic, some of which are translated into English. This is in English with a good translation by one of his students.

We recommend this book for a classroom or study group environment. It is published by Dar Al-Fikr in Syria.

There's no hurrying honey!

From the Christian Science Monitor ( By Sharon Smith Abbott )

Its slender stream
from the end of the spoon
spreads across the toast,
languid as an old river
interminably crisscrossing
the thin crust: Life's sweetness
requires such patience.

Yummy!!

A collection of awesome recipes ( click here) . I will definately try some of these once I graduate. Hopefully the smell isn't to bad and I pray that I dont cause any smoke alarms to go off.

Heritage: The Hejaz Railway

A interesting and informative BBC Audio documentary on the Hejaz railway. It explores the history, culture,purpose and the people behind the railway. Click the links below to download in mp3 format.

Part 1: History

Part 2: Pilgrimage

Part 3: Impact

Part 4: Future

How Islamic inventors changed the world

This is a good summary of some important Muslim inventions.

Another new website to keep track of ( on the same topic) is 1001 inventions.

Very Useful

Came across this spongecell calendar while browsing.

Its like an online application of the " Outlook " calendar. You can set up meetings, send reminders to yourself, etc. Very useful if you have an " all over the place" schedule like mine!

Hard Water in the Loo

The problem in Waterloo is that of hardwater. The white stuff is not harmful. It is white because of carbonates we have in our groundwater in waterloo which forms hard water. Waterloo region has one of the higher concentrations of Hardwater in Canada (http://www.cwqa.com/html/Hard_water.html ) The carbonates increase dryness in the hair and also messes up the soap:

To find out more about Hard Water and its impacts check:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water

As for bottled water, dont be so sure about what your drinking, it might look cleaner but that does not mean it is safer than tap water:

http://www.canoe.ca/HealthNews/981013_water.html

Lastly it is good to know that:

According to the National Water Quality Association, 56% of all people are worried about the quality of municipally treated tap water. This, along with the desire for better tasting drinking water, has fueled tremendous growth in the bottled water industry. We can all remember, not too long ago, when the bottled water section at the grocery store consisted of a very small allotment of counter space, primarily devoted to a few gallon jugs of distilled water. Today, bottled water enjoys a major section of the beverage isle and the prestige of being the fastest growing segment of the entire beverage industry, not to mention the most profitable.


The bottled water industry has become the target of some of the largest corporations in the world. Chlorox Bleach Co., Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola are just a few of the recent entrees capitalizing on this highly lucrative market, with Chlorox being the biggest participant in the bottled water business. Pepsi Cola's "Aquafina" and Coca Cola's "Dasana" almost instantly became each company's most profitable product!

( from http://www.healthynewage.com/bottled-water.htm)

4 kinds of people

Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad said:

Men are of four categories [i] A man who knows and knows that he knows: this man is a learned man, so follow him [ii] A man who knows but is not aware that he knows: this is a man asleep so awaken him; [iii] A man who does not know and knows that he does not know; this is a seeker of guidance, so guide him; [iv] A man who does not know and is unaware that he does not know: this is a ignorant man so reject him

Sheikh Hamza speech on Cartoons

Taken from Muslimer i Dialog:

Click here for the 45 min speech

Click here for Q & A

A Waterloo Conversion Story

A very active convert in our community - Suhaila- has just started a blog. She has posted her conversion story. Please click here to read it.

"This is actually the first time I’m writing the whole thing out, so if I digress a bit, forgive me. My family originates from Sri Lanka (I was the first of my entire lineage to be born outside of our home country), but I’ve never actually been there, and I don’t speak any Tamil beyond what’s necessary for basic survival in a Tamil house. I was raised Hindu, but my parents never forced any aspect of the religion on me, and taught me to question every little thing (a large part of the Hindu thought process, although it’s called the Socratic method these days). My parents taught me everything I know in terms of morals, and they taught me to make every action for God and not worry about the consequences. They taught me to love Hindu literature, which I still do, although I don’t believe the characters are real like they do and none of us believe the stories are infallible like many Hindus do. I was never punished - they taught me the feeling of shame and I essentially punished myself by driving myself crazy when I did things that were wrong.............read more "