My house part 2

My house part 2, originally uploaded by hammadin.

Another view of the house....The long driveway beyond the gate served as a good [playing ground for fiercely fought cricket matches.....

My house

My house, originally uploaded by hammadin.

Lke your street you childhood house is also special. WHile the form (which you can see in this picture) of the house is great ---its your family ( i.e. the SPirit of the house) who make it very special. This two storey house is of red brick construction....

Goats

Goats, originally uploaded by hammadin.

The Festival of Abraham (EId) is on Friday and while there are sellers who have major bazaars there are also sellers who venture into residential areas to sell goats. Four such goats are seen here. We have bought shares in a cow and my brother is sacraficing a goat.

My street

My street, originally uploaded by hammadin.

A view of my street. NO matter where I live-the meories of the sreets I grew up in is priceless. Walking through these streets is always a special experience.

Manhole hazard

Manhole hazard, originally uploaded by hammadin.

Right around the corner from my house there is a mahole ( about 6 feet deep) which lies open presenting itself as a dangerous proposition for those who are not careful walking at night. Dont worry I will be posting pictures of better things in Pakistan-there are many....

Gas heating in Pakistan

Gas heating in Pakistan, originally uploaded by hammadin.

I am here in Pakistan now. It being winter here means that we use natural gas heaters for heating. The picture shows one such heater. It perhaps not the safest thing in the world but given the concrete houses it is not too bad--as long as you dont sleep with a heater "on" since it can go off if there is load variation. Having said that, I do miss Central heating!

My thoughts: Muslim girl Death in Toronto

Some of you might have heard of this death in Toronto already:

Peel police said this morning that she died overnight.

Friends at the victim’s school said she feared her father and had argued over her desire to shun the hijab, a traditional shoulder-length head scarf worn by females in devout Muslim families.

This is very sad and may Allah SWT bless the soul of the deceased. There are two issues here: wearing of hijab and the other is raising/disciplining kids. There is a fat chance that these issues will be intermingled by the media . While some efforts have to be made to deal with the media , that should not be the main priority. The question the Muslim community should ask is "Why?" and see what long term measures can be taken to solve these issues. Of course it is unrealistic to expect a unified voice from the very diverse Muslim community but even at the level of every mosque questions need to be asked and answers should be sought out. How can we stop this from happening?


I remember being in a masjid sermon 3 years ago where the imam talked about how parents only start worrying about their kids practices once they it their teens. The problem is that lots of Muslim immigrants are used to large extended families-social networks and Muslim societies which facilitate the upbringing of the kids. So perhaps there is less onus on them on a day to day basis. The society takes responsibility. however if you import the same less intensive child rearing skills to a country like Canada where the social networks (specially for new immigrants) are not as extensive as their home countries-then there is a problem. If a new immigrant wants their kids to be the same way they would if they were growing up in their "home" country they are just setting themselves for disaster. They need to adjust-and they need to do it quick.

If a situation like this does arise where a daughter does not want to wear hijab and is being threatened by her parents into wearing it then she should have people she can go to who understand the family's cultural and religious context. This is where the problem of not enough "Muslim volunteers" in community support groups comes up. We need to have a presence in these groups. I remember talking to people who work at youth shelters who said that they usually dont know how to deal with muslim youth's families ( when Muslim kids walk into the shelter) and dont have any muslim volunteers who would be able to help them deal with cultural/religious issues at hand. Perhaps mosques should have a role in this as well and at least educate the people who come to the mosque on child rearing, rights of children, rights of parents, etc. At a recent local muslim event a a masjid volunteer uncle stood up and talked about the HUGE domestic abuse problems the muslim community is silent on.

Anyways-there is a lot to say but also a lot needs to be done. In the end we should not despair-this by the will of Allah and is a wake up call for us. Will we the muslim community rise up to the challenge? Or will we forget about it once this doesnt remain a media story? Or will we wait till we see these problems first hand? perhaps with our own kids?

Saying the good

Sh Faraz says that saying the good not only means saying what is good in itself but also saying that whose consequences are good.

Reflecting on this, I can recall times in my life where I have said the right thing at the wrong place and/or to the wrong person. The consequence of saying the good at the wrong place can be negligible or negative.

So in essence we should say the right thing at the right place to the right person. Saying the right thing requires knowledge. Knowing the right place requires wisdom. Knowing if it is the right person requires novice and insight as to who you are talking to.

The right person could be the right person to talk to in one venue and the wrong person to talk to in another venue. For example, if you criticize someone in public it is more likely that they will be come negitive and defensive then when you talk to them in person. Further, what you to say to a 15 year old is different from what you ay to a fifty year old so watch who you are talking to and word yourself accordingly. Sometimes if someone else says the same thing as we do to our target listener, he/she may be more effective. So we should really weigh what we say.

As the hadith goes:

"Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say [something] good, or he should keep silent." [Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah]

Nawawi says, "This hadith is quite explicit that it is imperative to not talk unless the speech is good, which is that wherein there is some benefit. If a person is in doubt as to whether there will be any benefit, then he should remain silent."

Punjabi Wise Saying 4

aag nal ag naheen bujdhee
Fire is not put out by fire
(Anger is not put out by anger).

Recently, there was a fire down the street from me. Passing by the house while the firefighters were hard at work, , I wondered hat would have happened if the fire fighters had lit another fire to try to put out the original fire. Of course that would have been silly!

Similarly, in our daily lives we encounter many situations, where we might anger someone. It is easy to get angry in response but the better or the more sunnah way (i.e. "tmsw") is to remain calm and deal with the issue at hand (i.e. burn the fire out with proper chemicals).

Also having done a safety course where they asked us to put out simulated fires, I learnt that the proper ay to put out a fire is to aim the "fire extinguisher: at the root of the fire. So in real life you would aim your response to the root of the issue and if you cant do that at that point, then it is better to remain silent till you have the composure to analyze the issue at hand.

To get a better handle on the issue of anger, you can read my previous post on anger.

An Old classic: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.

Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Islamica: Is Marriage Sinful

Is Marriage Sinful? A great article by Sh Faraz which really is very thought provoking:

At a recent dinner invitation, I noticed that most of those present had business relationships with each other. I feared that if there wasn’t some radical intervention, the conversation would center on things like guerilla marketing and such—not my cup of tea. So I decided to say something radical, hoping to shift the flow of conversation to human relationships instead. I said, “You know, I think that it is haram for many people to marry.”

Heads turned very fast. Some asked me whether I’d lost my mind. Others simply asked me what I meant.

I wasn’t joking, I said. No, I was very serious.

READ ALL

Please Donate: Oshawa Masjid!!!

My local masjid needs your support because:

• The current masjid is in an extremely dire condition. The structure is deteriorating by the day and is beginning to fall apart both inside and out.

• The current masjid has been officially categorized as a "Heritage B" property by the City of Oshawa. This means that it is on the City's list of properties which could potentially be designated a full-fledged HISTORICAL SITE. If declared a HISTORICAL SITE, we would be prohibited from undertaking any new masjid projects.
• The current facility is not adequate enough to meet the needs of the masjid attendees. With limitations in both space and layout, the current masjid has no accommodations for sisters. Furthermore, many brothers are forced to offer their Jumma and Eidain prayers in the basement as space in the main prayer hall is limited. Finally, there are no dedicated classrooms for children's evening Qur'an and Fiqh classes.
• Their are no accommodations for persons with physical disabilities and impairments.
• A new, beautiful masjid is needed to reflect our beautiful Deen of Islam.

"We rely on your financial support to successfully complete this project and requesting you to donate generously toward this worthy cause. We are greatly thankful to you for your generous donation and continued support.

You can make a secure donation through CanadaHelps.org or Paypal . You may also download the pledge form and mail to the Islamic Centre of Oshawa.

For more information on this project (HD: and to donate), please click here."

Protests in Pakistan and more....

Read this news story about a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan which took place yesterday:

Samad continued: ìLater students were asked to go back and they complied. It was while they were returning that 600-700 policemen, female police officers, anti-terrorist squad commandoes and plain clothed officers came saying they would arrest them as protest rally was not allowed. The police then started charging the students with batons and manhandled them. They pushed and dragged, abused and shoved students into police vans. Most of those arrested were class 9-12 students, while one of them was only a 12-year- old.

That is very sad. I guess what is interesting is that all th calls for such protests are happening through the internet as Spiegel Online Reports:

Indeed, the LUMS protest sparked one in Boston at the same time, thanks to Facebook. News of a protest by opposition leader Benazir Bhutto sparked one in London, led by Jemima Khan, the former wife of another opposition leader, Imran Khan, who is under house arrest. Since the weekend, students have been holding "flash" protests in Karachi, the country's commercial capital. Through cell-phone text messages, students have been gathering, 10 at a time, across the city, shouting protest slogans, and disappearing quickly before the police arrive. If it sounds like a youth gimmick, consider the dangers involved. A student flash mob could find itself in hostile territory, liable to arrest.

The whole scenario is quite depressing for most Pakistanis I have talked to ( in canada). Some even the change the topic when you mention this. If we believe Mr. Musharaf who thinks the imposition of emergency will improve the security situation then my question is what happens after? This is a short term measure. What is he doing to ensure long term security of the country? The roots of terrorism and extremism ( believed in by a minority in Pakistan), is generally a result of dis empowerment and disenfranchisement of people on the fringes of society making them more susceptible to extremist propaganda. Remove the causes of this dis empowerment and disenfranchisement and you are removing extremism.

Market trends for Mergers ( i.e. marriages)

A merger (i.e. marriage) is being planned by my board ( i.e. mom and dad) in Pakistan. They will inshahallah look at several potential merger opportunities. The market experts ( i.e. Auntees, other auntees and more auntees) are saying that the market is bullish right now. I did alert the board on a couple of opportunities that I wanted explored but they were vetoed. They also like to look into related companies first but the related companies did not have any merging potentials ( thank god..)

While I wanted the board to be open to international opportunities, the board wants to look locally (i.e. Pakistan) to start with and then perhaps go international. Knowing the ups and downs of the markets internally does help the board to decide. However, given that after the merger the company will go international, adjustment factors for different international environments would need to be considered.

Merger rumors among my close friends and associates ( my personal investments) are usually high whenever I visit Pakistan because they know whenever the board gets together for a physical meeting there may be something brewing. Previous rumors were proven false to the disappointment of many and to the joy of a few.

The board might short list potential "companies" for talks about merging before my trip to Pakistan. The board will undertake intense due diligence during the talks. The due diligence can be financial, behavioral and so on. I have a strong veto on the board too. The other "companies" have their own boards too, however the power of the principal on these boards can be too limited which we as a board need to watch out for.

Once a candidate is selected, terms and conditions for the merger are ironed out. The contract isthen signed and the two parties merge..and there is a potential for spin offs as well,...

Web MD: Fasting May Cut Heart Risks

Fasting May Cut Heart Risks- Fasting on a regular basis may protect against heart disease, researchers report. In a study of more than 4,500 men and women, people who fasted were 39% less likely to be diagnosed with coronary artery disease than those who didn't fast. Coronary artery disease was defined as having at least 70% narrowing or blockage in at least one coronary artery.

Memory techniques...

A cool memory technique......

The mnemonic device, known as the loci method, involves placing mental pictures of items in specific locations inside a room, in a specific order. A person can then "walk" through the room and see all the objects that must be recalled. Each person must develop his or her own locational system. Teachers in antiquity recommended using public places such as temples or meeting houses as sites for spatial memory training; an individual would stand inside a temple and memorize the position of each column and statue, from the main entrance, along the right wall, across the front, back down the left wall, and so on. Each item from a list would then be assigned to a column, statue or other feature, in a given order. Later, the memorizer would READ MORE

Web MD: Get married-Gain weight

Web MD says get married and you will gain weight. I guess that explains the uncles who have a big tummy. Maybe I should look for Wife who doesnt cook well so I dont get fat?

After marriage, weight gain becomes more likely and exercise takes a nose dive, a new study shows......

Daily Telepgraph: Benazir Bhutto, a kleptocrat in a Hermes scarf

Imran KHan's x-wife gives her 2 cents on Miss Bhutto.

This is no Aung San Suu Kyi, despite her repeated insistence that she's "fighting for democracy", or even more incredibly, "fighting for Pakistan's poor".

This is the woman who was twice dismissed on corruption charges. She went into self-imposed exile while investigations continued into millions she had allegedly stashed away into Swiss bank accounts ($1.5 billion by the reckoning of Musharraf's own "National Accountability Bureau").

Third World Groundwater pollution

Groundwater pollution is the movement of contaminants through the subsurface soil and groundwater. Everywhere we go we have water flowing beneath our feet at a variety of depths and i a variety of strata.

Gdoundwater pollution is more dangerous because as wiki puts it well:

Groundwater pollution is much more difficult to abate than surface pollution because groundwater can move great distances through unseen aquifers. Non-porous aquifers such as clays partially purify water of bacteria by simple filtration (adsorption and absorption), dilution, and, in some cases, chemical reactions and biological activity: however, in some cases, the pollutants merely transform to soil contaminants. Groundwater that moves through cracks and caverns is not filtered and can be transported as easily as surface water. In fact, this can be aggravated by the human tendency to use natural sinkholes as dumps in areas of Karst topography.

Developed nations generally have good controls on controlling and investigating sources of groundwater pollution. However, for developing countries, these issues are not of top priority. For them, the top priority is typically economy. Some third world places with groundwater pollution do not realize they have groundwater pollution or if they do then they don't have the capicity or means to stop it at the source.

As a case study take a look at the sources of drinking water pollution in Pakistan ( all of them explained on the WWF website):

• Muncicpal wastewater
• Industrial
• Agricultural
• Landfill leechate

So as mentioned before the issues are the lack of will, means or sources for third world countries to provide clean drinking water to their population. One way to clean water is to provide clean water downstream by purifying contaminated water but depending on the level of contamination, that may not be possible specially given that the third world lacks techniques to purify water on a large scale and sometimes even on a small scale. However there is good work being done and some charities from the developed world provide downstream solutions. For example:

• Bottle filteration
• Biosand
• A handful of clay, yesterday’s coffee grounds and some cow manure
• and many more

However preventing the pollution at it;s source remains a challenge and sometimes multi national companies are responsible for huge catastrophic disasters in the third world. For example;

Oil companies in Nigeria
Chemical companies in India
and many more ...

Listed below are the 10 most polluted cities in the world in alphabetic order ( surprise surprise-most of these are in the third world):
Chernobyl (Ukraine) | Dzerzinsk (Russia) | Haina (Dominican Republic) | Kabwe (Zambia) | La Oroya (Peru) | Linfen (China) | Mailuu-Suu (Kyrgyzstan) | Norilsk (Russia) | Ranipet (India) | Rudnaya Pristan (Russia)

Lot of work and awareness needs to be spread in the third world about groundwater pollution. however as with other issues political will, resources, technical skills, etc are issues that need to be tackled as well.

You can help by spreading awareness, donating money and writing letters to your local leaders to help reduce pollution in the third world.

LIsted on this page are some useful charities.

BBC on American Election fundraising

Interesting thoughts on the Hilary fundraising from the BBC:

During a brief and rather strained meeting a few days ago, I asked Annie what she was hoping for by way of reward when President Hillary Clinton takes over in January 2009. Ambassador to Togo, I suggested?

The atmosphere froze. I think Annie has her eye on Rome.

And she may make it or, if not Rome, then a White House pass and a job as "head of outreach" to this, that or the other segment of the community.

A job that allows you to say, "I work at the White House, I am in the Administration."

A job that is the desire of almost all Washingtonians. A job that is both very short term - you burn out fast and you are anyway limited to eight years because your president is - and, at the same time, very long term because of course they cannot take it away from you, this fact, that you were in the White House. REaD MORE