The Eradication of Polio

As there is for smallpox, an immunization thechnology is also available to achieve global eradication of polio.
...
Only 784 cases were reported worldwide in 2003, compared with 350,000 in 1988. As estimated two billion children have been immunized since 1988, with the cooperation of twenty million volunteers and international funding on the order of $3 billion.

- The End of Poverty, Jeffrey D. Sachs

20 million volunteers. We're a 6 billion people.
We can change the face of the world if we cooperate.
We can end poverty if each one of us takes it as a personal cause.
We can turn dreams into reality if we put others first.

The ultimate honour

The Byzantines captured some of the Muslim women, and Al Mansur bin Ammar heard the news. They said to him: Why don't you go and sit near the caliph and urge the people to attack?"
So he went and sat near the Caliph Haroon Ar-Rashid in Ar-Raqqah, near Damascus.

Whilst Mansur was urging people to fight for the sake of Allah, a tied up bundle with a letter attached was thrown to him. Mansur opened the letter and in it he read:
"I am a woman from among the Arab clans. I heard what the Byzantines did to the Muslim women, and I heard that you're urging the people to attack. I looked for the most honorable thing on my body, and it was my two braids, so I cut them off and wrapped them in this bundle. I urge you by Almightly Allah to make them into a bridle for the horse of a warrior fighting for the sake of Allah. Perhaps Allah will look upon me and have mercy on me because of them."
Mansur could not control his feelings when he read these noble words. He wept and made the people weep with him. Then Haroon Ar-Rashid launched a general mobilisation, and he himself fought alongside the mujahidin, and Allah, the Exalted, granted them victory.

Baby

She decided to eat my shirt, the little red smiling flower with music wasn't quite to her taste. She simply tossed it away, and reached for the edge of my shirt. And now the corner is wet. All fed, with her new burst of energy she lift her legs to the sky in excitement, and put them down. Then again, now with her little tiny hands holding her little tiny feet, and again. Until she had her fill, and decided to roll over on her back, and make another attempt to crawl.
Not quite little one, you're only 5 months old. She looked at me, as if to tell me, "I can crawl before I learn to sit". And with graceful swimming strokes, she tried to crawl. She continued for quite some time, and once assured she had moved from her origin, (which she hadn't), she decided it was time to wail for milk again.
She refused to sleep, it had been all day. As if she'd miss something big happening around her, if she slept for even a moment. I whistled to her, soft and lightly. She laughed, very delighted, and satisfied.
I took her in my arms, and rocked her to sleep.

Skiing and Snowboarding in Dubai

A second Dubai indoor ski slope is the Dubai Sunny Mountain Ski Dome in Dubailand which is due to open in 2008. It will provide a great attraction, featuring a revolving ski slope, an artificial mountain range, an ice bridge, a cable lift, a snow maze, an ice slide, polar bears cold water-aquaria and special sound and light effects.

Ski Dubai in Dubai Emirates Mall started in December 2005 is the worlds third largest indoor ski slope, measuring 400 meters and using 6000 tons of snow. Ski Dubai resort is the first Dubai indoor ski slope to open.

Al Maghrib in Toronto gets big!

A few years ago, sh Muhammad Al Shareef started the Al Maghrib institute, across North America, with a great vision. The last I heard from him, he was aiming for a class size of 1000. He is working round the clock developing curriculae to bring Islamic education to your doorsteps.
I received an email that the next course, The Shepherd's Path, has 501 students enrolled, mashallah. That's super amazing.
Al Maghrib institute has some of the best instructors out there, and the double-weekend-degree-seminars are very intense and powerful. With some courses, you learn a lot right there, you go with loaded with all this Islamic information that you're so proud to gain, and with other courses, such as Rules of Engagement, you find yourself applying what you learnt over weeks, months, years, Alhamdulillah.

For those people who don't think the Al Maghrib institute timings/locations work for them, there's Sunnipath! Sunnipath courses are comprehensive, covering a wide range of topics. The courses are completely offered online, and it's so convenient- You can listen to and see the instructor and ask questions during the online sessions as the lesson progresses with the powerpoint slides, just like in a classroom. This is even better because you wont feel shy asking your questions. Every lesson is available to view and listen as many times as you want. The instructor has office hours. Isn't it amazing that you may be sitting in Sydney tutored by someone in Amman? The TAs are very responsive and friendly, and they deal with your issues quite well. There are quizzes and final exams within flexible time frames. And I'd say this- Their courses are a much better experience than I could describe.
So give it a shot, enrol in the Introduction to Islamic Finance, taught by Faraz Rabbani. It's a great course, delving into topics you've always wondered about and going to just about the right depth.

Stones

ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُم مِّن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الأَنْهَارُ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَاء وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللّهِ وَمَا اللّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
Then, even after that, your hearts were hardened and became as stones, or worse than stones, for hardness. For indeed there are stones, from out which rivers gush, and indeed there are stones which split asunder so that water flows from them. And indeed there are stones which fall down for the fear of Allah. Allah is not unaware of what you do. [Surah Baqarah, verse 74]

This verse talks about 4 different types of stones, or rocks. Our hearts that become as hard as stones, stones from which rivers gush forth, stones which split and water flows from them and stones that fall from the fear of Allah.

Why does Allah (swt) mention our hearts in this verse, along with the stones?

Al-Qurtubi and other Imams say that Allah creates this characteristic - humbleness - in stones. Another view is that solid inanimate objects possess a certain degree of awareness.

Sometimes, even a stone can put you to shame.

The Doha Debates

I'm not sure how popular the Doha Debates is in the West, but BBC does the entire coverage on it. Last night, I watched the debate on the motion: "This House believes only a new dictator can end the violence in Iraq".
I only watched it because George Galloway was one of the debaters. However, in his own words, his views ended up being misrepresented. He made a few very good points, about Hugo Chavez being the leader elected by the government of Venezuela time and again despite the US, the CIA, .. but the rest of his energy was wasted in defending his views.
At one point he even said: "you do not know me well enough if you're saying I support the US."

It made me reflect on how people like him, Noam Chompsky, Tariq Ramadan and others really have their feet in quicksand, for the views they hold publically. "
The motion was rejected, the audience vote against it was 67%.

The next debate topic is: "This House believes the veil is a barrier to integration ". I'd love to go. Admission is free!

Adnan Pachachi, former President of the Iraq Governing Council, blamed occupying forces for the sectarian violence in Iraq during the latest Doha Debate on January 31. "The vast majority of Iraqis are not involved in sectarian violence, they want to live in peace. Militias act in the name of a sect. I blame this on the occupying power, which established a system based on division," he said.
Mr. Pachachi was arguing against the motion: This House believes only a new dictator can end the violence in Iraq.
He won the Debate with co-speaker British parliamentarian George Galloway. The audience backed their call to support democracy and reject a dictator by a majority of two to one.
Arguing for the motion were Sabah Al-Mukhtar, President of the Arab Lawyers Association in the UK, and Robert Baer, a former CIA officer who served for 20 years in the Middle East.

Winnie the Pooh!

Oh my god, I got my hands on some really hilarious Winnie-the-Pooh "little" books. I could read them again and again and backwards for ages!

In order to understand the joke, you need to have a little idea of who the characters in Winnie the Pooh are. But I'll save that for a later post.

Here are two from Winnie-the-Pooh's Little Book of Friendship The secret of Pooh's social success
Be Prepared to Make New Friends
...and Pooh wondering what a Grandfather was like, and if perhaps this was Two Grandfathers they were after now, and, if so, whether he would be allowed to take one home and keep it...

Say it with Flowers
Nobody had ever picked Eeyore a bunch of violets, and the more he thought of this, the more Piglet thought how sad it was to be an Animal who had never had a bunch of violets picked for him.

And two from Eeyore's Little book of Gloom Read this book, then you'll be really sorry...
E=H₂O
You can lead a horse to water...
but you can't make him sink!

Invisible mending
You can give the donkey a happy ending...
but the miserable beginning remains forever.

UM Financial making headlines as usual

http://www.thestar.com/challenge

Omar Kalair has figured out how to provide financial support – what we call a
mortgage – with no interest charges attached.

"Few of Kalair's clients understand how difficult it was to devise such a seemingly simple approach. While working at Hewlett-Packard and Airmiles Loyalty Group, he put together a business plan and spent two years knocking on doors at 70 financial institutions before finding an interested potential partner at Credit Union Central of Ontario."

Putting faith in Islamic mortgages

Your name can mean many things...

And you may not even know!
Take for example, my brother's name- Rehan. At Carrefour, my sister spotted this and we took a picture:

FOBLANDISH - Yusuf Yusuf

So... this is what my brother's been upto after I left him back in Canada...

More on the Gulf Cup

... the victory gets bigger and bigger!

Dubai:
All traffic rules were broken yesterday on Shaikh Zayed Road as football fans
went wild celebrating the Gulf Cup win with their home team.

The Emirates Post has promised the UAE national football team a mammoth Dh2 million as bonus if they win the 18th Gulf Cup championship.


DUBAI — His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has granted a villa each to the members of the UAE soccer team that won the Gulf Cup for the first time since the championship kicked off over 30 years ago.

Memorizing the Qur'an

`Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: The Prophet (SAW) said, "The one who was devoted to the Qur'an will be told on the Day of Resurrection: `Recite and ascend (in ranks) as you used to recite when you were in the world. Your rank will be at the last Ayah you recite.'''
[Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi].

Largest pillow fight, largest wallet attempt today

DUBAI — The final day of DSF World Records Venture 2007 will witness the creation of two new very interesting world records — the largest pillow fight and the largest wallet.
The DSF World Records Venture aims at involving people of all nationalities in Dubai to create an annual event of record breaking. Adjudicators will be present from 3pm to 5pm to verify whether new records have been created.
The Largest Pillow Fight, which will involve a massive 4,500 participants, is an exciting record-breaking effort being held today at Al Safa Park. The event is organised by DSF along with Foresight, a non-profit organisation that helps people with eye disorder Retinitis Pigmentosa. Read more...

Chinese Whisper game record broken

DUBAI — Shrieks of excitement rang out in the Safa Park yesterday morning as students from Our Own Indian School (OOIS) broke the Guinness world record for the largest ‘Chinese Whispers’ game ever played.
A total of 850 students from the school took part in the game. The previous record stood at 814 participants.
The game of Chinese Whispers involves whispering of a particular sentence by one player to the next, and it goes on and on until the last player says the sentence aloud. For a new world record to be made, the sentences spoken by the first and last players should match accurately. Read more...