Bismillah!

Bismillah!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

No Justice? No remorse?

SubhanAllah--there is no explanation given why the mother of this baby, her father and uncle were murdered? How does one concentrate on one life, while disregarding three others?

U.S. troops care for Iraqi baby rescued from garbage

By Ross Colvin Tue Aug 14, 12:36 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - In the nine months since she was born, tiny Fatima Jubouri first lost her father, then gunmen killed her mother and uncle and she was left alone and uncared for in a pile of garbage in Baghdad.

Police found Fatima, malnourished and suffering from dehydration in Iraq's scorching summer heat, hidden under rubbish in one of southern Baghdad's most violent districts.

How she got there is not clear, although there is speculation her mother hid her before she was killed.

An innocent rescued from Iraq's killing fields, her survival against the odds has made Fatima a media star at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad's Green Zone.

"She is a baby -- she is happiness in a bad place," said Lieutenant Beth Brauchli, the hospital's acting public affairs officer.


U.S. military nurse Desmond Cacciotti kisses the forehead of nine-month-old baby Fatima in 28th Combat Support hospital in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad August 14, 2007. Iraqi police found her hidden in a garbage dumpster on July 25 after gunmen killed her mother and uncle. (Erik de Castro/Reuters)
Reuters Photo: U.S. military nurse Desmond Cacciotti kisses the forehead of nine-month-old baby Fatima in 28th

Thursday, August 16, 2007

A Sense of Loss

via Notes: New Islamic Directions by Imam Zaid on Jul 18, 2007

Surely, we will test you with something of fear, hunger, and loss of wealth, lives, and fruits. Give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Al-Qur'an 2:155

Two weeks ago, I was preparing to board a shuttle bus for a five minute ride from my hotel to the International Terminal at JFK Airport in New York. All of the preparations had been made to fly to Saudi Arabia to participate in the annual Rihla program. All of the books I needed for the various lessons I was to teach had been selected and placed in my large briefcase. Other books for personal readings had been added to the load. My computer was ready, programmed to record the various sessions. Most importantly, my passport and tickets, delivered a day earlier had been hastily crammed into one of the briefcase's many pockets and compartments.

As my wife and I began loading our bags unto the shuttle, I suddenly noticed that the briefcase was missing. But how could that be? I had been watching over the small mountain of luggage, except for a brief jaunt to the hotel's gift shop to purchase a few items for a makeshift breakfast. During that time my wife had been diligently standing guard. Still there was no sign of the bag. Bewildered, I sent my wife on to the terminal along with the remaining bags and began a futile search to find the missing article. After two hours of fervent searching, backtracking, and inquiries nothing had materialized.

As we sat despondently in the lobby of the hotel, we realized that the bag was gone, as was our opportunity to join the other teachers and students for the start of the Rihla program, as the flight we were to catch had already departed. Slowly a great sense of loss began to siege me. The computer contained many articles and other writings, some of which had not been saved elsewhere, along with almost two years of recorded lectures and sermons. A couple of the books were rare. One, an Arabic grammar text I had inherited from a recently deceased Afghani scholar, would probably be irreplaceable.

The gravity of the situation started to make me feel a little down. However, my little depression was short-lived. It dawned on me that my loss was very minor in reality. Other people, both here and abroad, were suffering far greater losses than mine. I thought about the many people in Iraq who have been forced to flee their homes, oftentimes in the dead of night, leaving behind not only personal possessions, of the type I had lost, but in many instances precious family mementos, clothing and other personal items. Due to the brutalities of the occupation and the ongoing sectarian violence, many of them will be unable to return home any time soon. I also though of the many Iraqis whose homes had been destroyed by one of the growing number of American air strikes (an unreported facet of the ongoing conflict)--in many instances their losses total, with no chance for any recovery or compensation.

I also thought of the people whose homes were recently flooded in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, the irrepressible waters not only sweeping away their precious possessions, but in many cases their long-held dreams. One day they were living normal lives enjoying the fruits of their hard work, the next day everything was gone.

I saw that what I had loss in reality had been quite small, and what remained with me priceless. I still had my health, I had a home to return to, and I also had the necessary financial resources to begin the process of replacing most of what I had lost. May God be praised!

I came to see that my little tribulation was also a cause for pause and reflection. The losses we experience in this world, be they great or small, are reminders to us that one day both ourselves and everyone we know will depart this world, and we will lose everything in it. Not only will we lose books and computers, but we will also lose houses, apartments, clothes, cars, families, relatives, friends, neighbors, everything.

Awareness of this inescapable reality is only meaningful if it is translated into active preparation for that loss. The following prophetic tradition is related by Anas b. Malik:

A man asked the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him: "When will Doomsday occur, O Messenger of God!?" He replied: "What have you done to prepare for it?" The man responded: "I have neither prayed, nor fasted, nor given charity excessively. However, I do love God and His Messenger." He said: "You will be with those you love." Related by Bukhari (6171) and Muslim (2679)

Hopefully, my little loss will help me to get on with the preparation for the meeting with God. If it does then it was something good. Most of what we lose in this world can eventually be replaced, in one way or another. However, if we lose Paradise, and our opportunity to be in the company of the Prophets, peace upon them, the great supporters of truth, the true martyrs, and the righteous, then that is a great, irreplaceable loss. By adequately preparing ourselves for death, the great loss will become the great gain.

Amongst people is one who worships God with hesitancy and skepticism. If good befalls him he is content. However, if he is afflicted with tribulation he turns away disappointed [in God]. He loses this world and the next. That is truly the great loss. Al-Qur'an 22:11

P.S. Today, Wednesday, July 18, 2007, having belated obtained a new passport, I will fly over to Saudi Arabia for the last week of the Rihla. On the flight from Oakland to New York, I penned the following poem, which is the first I have ever written in iambic pentameter.

Naturally

Her smile reflects the beauty of the sky.
Her benefits are there for passersby.
Her hair adorned sometimes with colors: gold,
and red, yellow, so splendid to behold.

Her life is spent measured as seasons pass.
The world adorned. Her gift? Her grace, her class.
The poet thought that he would never see,
a poem as lovely as a natural tree.

Cancer risk of 'fake' holy water

Zam Zam water
Zam Zam is sold as coming from a sacred well in Mecca
Bottled water that claims to come from Mecca has been found to contain high levels of cancer-causing chemicals.

People have been told not to buy Zam Zam water after tests showed three times the permitted level of arsenic.

The water is advertised as coming from the sacred well of Zam Zam in Mecca, which is the most holy city in Islam, and demand increases during Ramadan.

Westminster City Council said the water cannot legally be exported, so any on sale is unlikely to be authentic.

The tests, carried out by the London council last year during the Islamic festival of Ramadan, found Zam Zam also contained twice the legal level of nitrates, which can affect infants.

"If you do see Zam Zam water on sale anywhere please inform your local Environmental Health team," said a Westminster City Council spokesman.

He added: "This advice does not relate to the genuine Zam Zam water being brought into UK by returning pilgrims, as an accompanied or unaccompanied ¿personal import¿."

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Modern living to blame for cancer epidemic

09.08.07

Binge drinking, reckless sunbathing and overeating are fuelling a massive rise in cancer, experts warn.

In a shocking report, they have laid bare the deadly consequences of increasingly hedonistic modern lifestyles.