Bring your own Shisha

I haven’t blogged in a while. But that is entirely work related. Well almost. Saturday was weird as I slept with little Ruqaiiya all day as her mum went about doing the housework. And then in the evening, suitably refreshed, we all went to my cousin’s for Iftar. Which was fun.

Sunday, well that was a Sunday. Went to the office and almost got pressganged into playing Sleepy in the office pantomime. Hmmm, have they heard about my sleeping exploits I wonder. Then it was a trip to Tesco’s where I was almost embarrassed to not have any cash or plastic on me. Luckily I had my emergency Amex card.

Bought a kettle. Quite good. It boils fast. But it does say RapidBoil on the side, so I should hope so.

Monday I am back in Brighton. Its stormy as hell and well we can truly say that Winter is on its way.

We have several ‘quiet news days’ in the UK. 49 Iraqi soldiers getting killed in an ambush as they left their training camp, having successfully finished their basic training course. I find it interesting that as they are now fully qualified soldiers, they did not have any weapons with them. Clinton has joined Kerry’s side in support of his Election Campaign. 1 Week left before we will know. Or most likely we will not know because of all the legal wrangling which will happen. ‘Pollsters’ predict a dead heat. So Electoral college votes should win it for Bush. What I don’t understand is why not simply have a national popular vote as opposed to artificially representing the population and allowing larger states to decide the fate of the nation. Federal elections should be decided by the nation as a whole and not on a state by state level.

I am bored.

Males have traditionally been the head of the household. Whichever of the mainstream cultures in the world, this is the case. I believe the main cause of this is the rooting of all cutures in religion. Religion which has been spread largely by the male of the human species.

According to the Torah, Abraham sacrificed the dignity of his wife Sarah when in a hostile land to appease the king Nimrod. Today muslims around the world do the same. The woman is lowlier than the male. We hear of the inequality of females in muslim households. Yet this is not a particularly muslim trait. It is the same in all cultures.

But the prevalence of such practices is a source of great shame to me as a muslim. I have yet to hear of an Imam talking about this problem in a Khutba during Jumma. The denial of inheritance to a daughter is an accepted practice in many south asian countries. People wil state that the Qur’an does sanction violence against women.. But very few will acknowledge that the Qur’an does so as a last resort to subjugate the wife, in a culture when a beating was the first course of action.

The essence of the days of Jahilliyah are summarised in the following Qur’anic quote:

“When news is brought to one of them of a female child, his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief. With shame does he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he received. Shall he retain her in contempt or bury her in the dust? Ah what evil choice they decide on! “(Q. 16:58-59).

And how different are we now. Many of us will pay lipservice to the feminists, ‘Islam gives women rights which westerners only thought of a few decades ago’, but the practicalities of accepting women as equals is a different matter. I have always been told that Women must pray behind the male in congregational prayer. Women should ideally not work as it means that they will come into contact with males outside of their mahram. But if you talk to any hijab wearing sister, you will hear her talk about the liberation of the hijab and how it allows her to do what she will as she is following Allah’s instruction of covering herself. So why do these sisters aquiesce to the demands of the males in the Ummah wen it comes to what they should and shouldn’t do. Allah has not made any distinctions when it comes to the day of judgment. So why today on this lowly earth? Can someone explain to me?

People may say that in the Qur’an men have been classed as one degree higher (Q. 2:228) . Why? Because women were given the rights of economic support from a man. So a man has been given the duty of earning and spending for women. So the superiority of a man over a woman is on an economic level. Not, as we can see from the following verse, on a spiritual level or in the eyes of Allah. So why the discrepancy?

“Whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, while being believers, they shall enter paradise”(Q. 4:124)

“Whoever does an evil, he shall not be recompensed (with aught) but the like of it, and whoever does good, whether male or female, and he is a believer, these shall enter the garden, in which they shall be given sustenance without measure.” (Q. 40:40)

“Whoever does good whether male or female and he is a believer, We will most certainly make him live a happy life, and We will most certainly give them their reward for the best of what they did” (Q.16:97)

I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
But she’s just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change
And I’ve done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I’m starting to see
Maybe it’s got nothing to do with me

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

 - John Mayer, “Daughters”

Ramadan is so close, and I think about what it would be like to drop my addiction to caffeine. I try not to drink coffee in the evening as it is bound to keep me bouncing off the ceiling.

But surely Ramadan isn’t just about giving up the standard things…food drink and cussing.

I have made a promise to myself. Think of this month as a time to change for the better. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life both physical and spiritual. I have made promises to people and not kept them. I have lied. I have stolen. And all of these things have eaten away at my being. They have made me a different person.

I look at my wife and wonder at her strength of character and willpower. She is capable of so much. She can endure so much. I wish I had a millionth of what she has. For her presence in my life I am grateful. I grow more grateful everyday and hope that Ruq grows up to be just like her.

I have decided to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr properly this year. I have to order lights for the back garden. I have to look at decorations for the house as well. And I believe fireworks will be ordered (never realised how expensive those things are!).

Together with all of this fun and stuff…I want to recite the whole Qur’an this month. I don’t anticipate getting to every Tarawih given my work being all over the country. 

Ramadan Mubarak!

And murder is the only way to describe this act if it is true.

My disgust at my fellow ‘muslims’ disregarding the Qur’an and Sunnah. The murder of innocents has never and will never be advocated by Islam.

I look forward to the MCB stating clearly what us British Muslims feel.

UPDATE:

The MCB already have issued a press release. My thoughts are with the Bigley family.

Has anything changed? No WMDs in Iraq says the Iraq Survey Group. Did the Politicians lie?

We’ve always been cynical in the UK. It is in our national psyche. We know politicians will bend the truth for their aims. But with this information now, can we ever trust the word of Mr Blair? I admit I voted for him in the last two elections. Do I regret this? Not really. But I regret that he has been given the opportunity to lie and execute military action. He has put the lives of our soldiers on the line over an ego trip. As he said at his party’s conference, he ‘could apologise’. Probably won’t though.

Also, Mr O. Bin Laden is probably going to be wheeled out in the next few weeks. Visions of Hannibal Lecter, i.e. straitjacket, mask etc etc. Why do I get this feeling? Its what would guarantee a definite victory for President Bush, without resorting to the Supreme Court.

Beef and Pork have one thing in common. They both have names for cuts of meat which give no indication of where they are from. For example, what exactly is Sirloin? How about gammon? And how different is it to ham?

Poultry doesn’t suffer from this problem. For example, duck breast is duck breast. We know where a chicken thigh is from. In fact even lamb/sheep/goat don’t have this problem. We all know what a leg/shoulder/neck of lamb/mutton is.

So what’s so special about beef and pork?

Islam allows polygamy. But here we have an example of serial monogamy in the Islamic world. See…it does work.