The Nomad and the Olive Branch

I can't believe they beat another dead horse in order to allude some false sense of security or, in Bush's own words, "a milestone for Iraq" (which it isn't). And from the looks of it, Saddam's execution is more or less a ticking time bomb, which, when triggerred, could spark more conflict and chaos in war-torn Iraq. I have no sympathy for the ex-dictator of Iraq who killed at least a hundred thousand Kurdish innocents and tens of thousands of Sunnites and Shiites... Wait. I shouldn't be distinguishing between the Iraqis that he united under his tyrannical rule, as all were in equal danger of being executed by his death squads. Then again, I'm not happy or jumpy either. It sickened me to many degrees to see people actually celebrate the death of Saddam Hussein. I mean, I can understand that a now defunct dictator is no longer alive, but to celebrate on the death of someone makes those Iraqis and Americans who celebrated over his stinking rotting corps

Islam is a religion that is built on five pillars: the Shahadah (to bear witness that there is no God but The God, and that Muhammad (pbuh) is the Apostle of God), the Salat (to pray five times a day, in the early morning before sunrise, at noon time, in the afternoon, after sunset and after nightfall), the Zakat (charity, alms-giving, calculated at 2.5% of one's annual income), the Sawm (fasting in the month of Ramadan and other days it has been ordained to fast on the Muslim calendar)... and the Hajj . Of all five pillars, the Hajj completes the Muslim. Any Muslim can say the Shahadah , acquire the knowledge to perform Salat , acquire the wealth to perform Zakat , and forgo food and drink and all other worldly desires in order to perform Sawm . But the Hajj is one thing that many Muslims die without being able to carry out. The Hajj , while obligatory, is required mainly of able-bodied Muslims. Yet, no pillar of Islam had as such a profound effect on Muslim's lives as t

Great... Now, tell me something I don't know for a change. I mean, who would expect this coming? Ever since the beginning of the war on Iraq , we thought that the Iraqi people would greet the Coalition troops with flowers and candy, though I hate to say that the Iraqis saved those flowers for other purposes . This is due to the worsening conditions in the nation, with increasing violence and a deployment of "divide and conquer" tactics on part of the Coalition. Then, of course, the elections came around, but those didn't curb the increasing violence that ensued afterwards. One could only hope that this civil strife doesn't conflagrate to nearby MidEastern nations... God, I hope not. Anyways, two organizations, Zogby International (owned by Arab-American James Zogby) and United Press International (owned by some other guy I don't know), published two separate polls which show that Arab distrust of the U.S. government has increased. This is nothing new,

...or not: Just listen to what the lady says in the end: "God, I hope this isn't recorded, or we'll go in 60 directions (Arab expression for "we'll be in serious trouble") ..." Then, you have this from Al Jazeera: Very professional of you, man... Really... You don't laugh at a joke on the air. And then this: Just wait for the caller: it turns out that Dr. Hassan Husni's secretary answers for him when he's scheduled for the interview. And then there's the rant offered by the guy in the white robe near the end... "C'mon... let us go homes and relax with our families..." Of course, you have people like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to give you all the news-related laughs you need, but this is just too much. Comedy gold... Wow... just... wow...

Here we are, in the splendid month of December, looking forward to a New Year in 2007. But before this year ends, many an occasion will be observed. On the Jewish calendar, we have Hanukkah , an important Jewish festivity. This year, Eid ul-Adha is coming up near the end of this month as well. And of course, not so far behind, we have Christmas, which falls on the 25th of this month. How close these festivities are... ...and yet, we choose to bicker and segregate instead of unite and celebrate together, not that we should compromise our faiths, but I believe in a modicum of respect for others and their beliefs. Well, let's get back to Christmas. On this day (according to Christians, though we do not know the exact date), a man who would instill a big change unto this world was born a birth. And not just any birth, but a miraculous virgin birth. His mother was Mary, and his name was Jesus. You might have read this before, but as a Muslim, I believe that Jesus ( p eace b e u pon h i

I thought the situation in Lebanon would simmer down a bit after the Israeli invasion of the once upright Mediterranean nation during the hot summer that was hot for many reasons . Instead, I wake up to see, right on the morning news, turmoil. The ( assassination of the Maronite cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel could not have come at a worse time. And now, instead of Lebanon uniting, we get fingers all over the place, pointing in all sorts of directions... with your friendly neighborhood Sa'ad Al-Hariri - who wouldn't amount even to my younger brother in his "maturity" - prattling on the same Bush-style B.S. about a lover of freedom who was killed in Beirut. Granted, I deplore the death of Gemayyel, but exploiting the death of one politician for the gains of another is just... typically political. Well, you get the idea, not that I'd like to see Sa'ad Al-Hariri fall off from a two-meter stage and break his leg. But the thing is, why the heck do we have someone

"O' ye who believe! Fear the Lord God, Who created you from a single entity, and from that created its companion, and from them sprung forth many men and women... -The Koran, 4:1 At first, things might look normal. Men and women go about their daily lives, seemingly not complaining or fussing about what they hate about what they do every single day. Women are of special concern because of the wide variety of roles that they play across different cultures and societies. They could be working all day, or taking care of the house, or maybe even both, but even those "both" are just part of the wider range of possibilities of roles of females in contemporary societies. In the face of today's growing globalization, our roles and our behaviors are being shaped by this wave of pseudo-intellectual values and norms that seek to unipolarize the world into one single, predictable and thus unexciting place. Social life as we know it would vanish in front of our eyes. But one