Archive for March, 2008

Bismillah, and Salamu ‘Alaykum

Let me first state that the flight to London sucked! Delta cancelled my flight from Indianapolis to Charlotte so we had to wait longer to get a flight, which in turn made us LITERALLY run in the charlotte airport just to catch our London flight. So after all of the running etc, we get seated on Delta’s international flight to London. The seats were so close I was choking. Upon arriving at Gatwick airport we entered the UK with absolutely no troubles. It was smooth, almost tooooo smooth! It then took us a few minutes to figure out how to use the rail. Once that issue was solved I boarded the train. I sat next to an elderly gentleman. Being the curious American Muslim that I am, and a bit politically savy, I begun by asking this man all sorts of questions. “Sir”, I said in a question-like voice, “Don’t you feel that ‘big brother’ is watching every move you make?” Cameras are everywhere, I stated. The gentleman responds with, “I have nothing to worry about! I didn’t do anything, so I don’t mind my government recording my moves. Besides - he states - they just recently caught some drug traffickers by using these cameras. Its making my country safe, he exclaims!

 Then I asked, “Do you trust your government?” To which he replied without hesitation, “Absolutely!” I was shocked! I had heard that other “western” nations trusted their governments, but never actually met someone who did. I questioned him further regarding the the tories and the labor parties. It shocked me that the tories, a party considered “conservative”, were actually so much like the democrats of America. So after harassing him some more concerning the costs of england, my questions ended, for the train arrived! I thanked him politely and off we went, directly into London.

Again, the first thing I noticed were police and security cameras everywhere. A ubiquitous symbol of a police state. We decided to take a cab to the Hotel room, Best Western downtown. The hotel was planted perfectly in London. Right next to the “arab-Muslim” street, Edgeware road, and close to all of the sights to see.

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Tired of Pseudo-Salafis, Taking a Break, Going To London

 What will I see in London? What awaits me? I shall tell you guys when I get back, or maybe while I’m there.

 Salam upon you all until next time (insha’Allah )

On March the 24th (08), I will be in London insha’Allah . I will be staying for only two days, so I probably won’t get to see much. I’m hoping to meet some of the mureeds there, and some other “blokes” that I know from online insha’Allah .

 If not, then Alhamdulilah, at the least I was able to travel to the UK for the first time in my young life. I’m not sure what I am going to do. Probably take advantage of the many Halaal restaurants, maybe visit some masaajid. I’ll take some non-sense pictures insha’Allah and upload them once I am back. If you have any suggestions, fill me in!

So at the orlando Suhba I saw this bro sitting on this sofa in the hallway reading a book I believe was on Sidi ‘Alawi. I sat next to him, because I felt like it, and started talking. Believe it or not I can be social people! I started talking to him and he told me that he had studied chinese medicine. Coincidentally my wife, at the time, had been throwing all of this eastern medicine stuff at me, so my curiosity was sparked. On a side note, this always seems to happen to me. My wife will bring something up to me and BOOM, someone comes in my life that pertains to the topic. Another example of this is meeting Shaykh Nuh. My wife became sufi leaning, and I just went to go meet Shaykh Nuh in virginia.

I noticed about the brother that he was a bit anti-social, so I would need to force him to bloom a bit. Not hard when I have a million topics running through my head. We discussed the “Loins” post at Seekingilm.com . One thing the bro told me about was “beech nut” and how the Chinese folk eat it right after they drink the stank water in china, yet no harm done! Its a natural antiobiotic apparently. I also realized that eastern medicine actually has formulae to follow to cure something. Mixtures of all sorts of stuff you can’t find in America. Anyhow, why am I writing about this poor bro? Because I miss him. I know I only got to meet him once, enjoy his company etc, but I really had a spiritual attraction to the fella, may Allah bless him and his family and keep them upright amin!

 So make du’aa for him.

Bismillah,

 Salamu ‘Alaykum Everyone:

 Umm Layth, my wife, has gone organic, masha’Allah . At first, I really didn’t think anything of it, then I realized that there is a significant synchronization with the body and food. I remember when I was attending the madrasah, for an entire week I only ate salad. I remember that I had so much energy that I didn’t know what to do with myself. It was brilliant!

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We’ll start with my favorite:

Dracorex hogwartsia  - named after Rowlings “Hogwarts”. This dinosaur is the only one in the world. It is a mean looking beast. The REAL and only skull found is here:

hpim1417.JPG

drac1

^click links to see pics.

 This is what the fella is supposed to look like as well as the rest of the exhibit:

hpim1385.JPG

He looks intimidating, but this guy was actually an herbivore. If you turn over the skull you will see flat teeth, similar to ours but no incisors. That Allah created something so incredibly durable, is amazing. One wonders if they could speak, think, etc.

Yesterday I went to visit the baby Grey. It was a bit scared at first. He bit my wife (she acted like it was hard *rolls eyes*) due to being a bit scared. However, after about an hour of loving and caring time spent with it, he warmed up and even begun walking! Such a beautiful creature he is, masha’Allah . His feet are huge for his body mass, so he trips over them and has difficulty walking, but he did well. We sat him out on the table and he had a blast. Now comes the good news! We have learned the gender. Its a boy! So now, I have to come up with a name. If you have any suggestions, go ahead and post them. My wife suggested “Jundi”. So here are some of the latest pics with our little fella:

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Ya thats right, the largest one in the world. I’ll take some pics insha’Allah ..

 It should be fun insha’Allah . They have the coolest dinosaur exhibit in the world!

I consider myself a big whale fan. I believe, as our Nabi ‘alayhis salaam did, that animals should be treated with respect and mercy. Based upon analogy and necessity to save the species, I strongly believe that the Japanese boats should be attacked, and sunk, that are hunting down these endangered whales. For God’s sake hasn’t mankind done enough to harm these poor whales! The dirty japanese elite (they are the only ones that can afford the whale meat anyhow) hind behind the mask of “research” to kill these poor creatures, destroy entire whale populations and terrorize these harmless animals. If there were millions populating the earth, and no threat to habitat or population I could understand the argument of the Japanese. But we all know that such is not the case.

 Some good news articles: Whaling Ship Attacked With A Type of Acid

Such drastic measures must be employed to stop the rich elite japanese pigs from harming the struggling whale population. Keep those “terrorists” in your ad’iya!

(click pic) 

This is hilarious!

 It reminds me of where I grew up! You step in a person’s yard uninvited, you may get shot by some hillbilly! I am a strong gun-rights supporter. Every sane individual should have a gun for a multitude of reasons; but that for another day.

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) — A Danish journalist came this close to getting shot Saturday by an elderly woman packing a pistol near President Bush’s ranch here in what was easily the strangest incident I’ve ever witnessed covering the White House.

It all started so innocently as I sat with a group of Danish journalists just down the street from Bush’s ranch during a visit by Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The two leaders were having lunch on the ranch, so I was waiting at a nearby historic one-room schoolhouse with White House staff to interview Rasmussen after the meal. Then the prime minister was going to do a brief press conference with the Danish press corps.

Terkel Svensson, a writer for the Danish News Agency, could not get wireless Internet access at the schoolhouse to file a story. But Svensson could get his cell phone working so he called his editor in
Copenhagen and started wandering across a quiet country road as he chatted away.

“I was just so occupied dictating my story that I didn’t really see where I went,” Svensson told me later. “I was just walking and talking.”

What Svensson didn’t realize was that he had stopped walking a couple hundred feet away, on the front lawn of an elderly woman. An elderly woman who looked through her window and didn’t like that a strange man was standing outside her house. An elderly woman who had, um, a gun.

Next thing you know the woman is outside, no more than a few dozen feet from the journalist, demanding that he leave. “Suddenly she comes out and she says, ‘Get off my property. You’re trespassing,’” recalled Svensson.

Svensson was too preoccupied to notice the pistol, and was not aware that Texas law gives homeowners leeway on using a weapon when someone is trespassing on your property. All of us journalists across the street were too far away to see the pistol at first, until a Danish photographer with a telephoto lens announced to a bunch of us that there was indeed a weapon in the elderly woman’s right hand.

As word spread that the lady had a gun - which she did not use - I can tell you it’s a severe understatement to say White House and Secret Service officials were a bit concerned about the fact that they had just dodged an international incident. Ditto for Svensson, who was alarmed when he safely crossed the street and was shown dramatic still photos of the lady holding the gun.

“I will show the photos to my wife and children,” Svensson told me. “They thought I was on a safe trip.”

CNN was not able to reach the woman for comment.

–CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry