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kr156
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Name: kr156
Country: India
Metro: Bangalore
Birthday: 10/15/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: Hujjat al-Islam (the Proof of Islam) Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali and Sher-e-Mysore (the Tiger of Mysore) Tipu Sultan (rahmatullahi `alayhima), ESPN Sportscenter, World Domination, any computer game made by Blizzard, The Chappelle Show, the Bears, the Bulls, finding a way to get enough money to buy myself a Nissan 350Z, trying to figure out why everyone else isn't as wise as I am, and of course, brainstorming my next xanga post to keep my readers entertained and enlightened.
Expertise: ranting and raving like a mad lunatic; wasting time; as founder and head of the KR (Keepin' it Real) Foundation, I keep it real; knowing how to enrage people; making subtle points that no one seems to understand.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Medical
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  kr156
Member Since:
3/5/2004
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| Yes folks, it's finally official.
After many months of life support, I regret to inform you all that the xanga days have come to their end.
The blog has moved to wordpress.com
New address: www.kr156.wordpress.com
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| kr's note: Gotta love the media. I was referred to this article by several people, and some of them were quite happy at the positive media coverage we Moslems were getting. They were pleased that the Hajj was being covered and written with a glowing angle.
Please. This article is one of the most biased, slanted, agenda-filled piece I've ever read it makes me wonder if this was just copied from FoxNews.com instead. I love how much of it is very subtle and shapes people's perceptions without them necessarily even being aware of it. Then again, the devil is a genius at subtlety.
What follows is the article, and my commentary in italics. Oh yeah, I think I said something about not posting till January 2008... but then I did. Go figure.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/16/saudi.hajj.ap/index.html
Muslims gather for Hajj pilgrimage- Saudis announce tougher security precautions as Muslims gather in Mecca
- An estimated 2.5 million pilgrims will move out of Mecca to Mount Arafat
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among guests invited by Saudi king
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Millions of Muslims
from around the world gathered in Mecca Sunday for the start of the
annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage, as the Saudi Interior Ministry
announced tough security precautions (Amazing how the first qualifier they use for Hajj is to talk about security, as if security is the biggest issue each year when Hajj rolls around. Anyone who's been to Hajj can agree that even though you're surrounded by millions of people, security is the LAST concern on you're mind. You can walk around without a fear in the world. This isn't like some rock concert or sporting event wherein they have to get like 10,000 security people for 90,000 attendees. But then of course, we Moslems are rowdy, barbaric -- probably haven't even discovered electricity yet--so of course, we're going to need tough security precautions. Is there a color coding system for Hajj like they have at US airports? Is the threat advisory saffron or elachi colored this time of year?)
Men and women draped (I like how we're 'draped', instead of just 'clothed'... draping conjuring up images of cults like the KKK also draped in their white robes, and also full of hatred towards anyone part of their society) in
white robes circled the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, seven times in a
ceremony anticipating the official start of the pilgrimage on Monday. King Abdullah has invited 1,000 guests to this year's Hajj, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (of course, mentioning the latest 'most dangerous man in the world' will always get a rise out of your audience)
During
the next two days, an estimated 2.5 million pilgrims will move out of
Mecca to Mount Arafat for Tuesday's climax of symbolically stoning the
devil (first off, that's quite inaccurate since the climax of Hajj is Arafat itself, and the stoning of the devil occurs on the following day. On top of it, apparently that's the climax of Hajj, as if to say that even our most religious rite involves some act of violence, and specifically in this case, stone throwing, conjuring up subconscious images in the minds of readers of Palestinians throwing stones against their invaders.) . By Friday, more than 1.6 million pilgrims had arrived in
Mecca, according to the Central Hajj Committee. The Health Ministry
said about 254 pilgrims, many who were elderly, have died (I'm sure the health ministry mentioned many other things, but notice how its only the numbers of people who died, even though, statistically speaking in that large of a population, especially with so many elderly people, people will die... that's how the world works. Go look at the stats of any major metropolitan city, and the number of deaths for that many people will be quite similar) of natural
causes since arriving.  Watch what's entailed in the large security effort (yippee, we get to watch a video of the barbarians too?!)
The
pilgrims are massed in tent cities on the outskirts of Mecca. For many
believers, the Hajj is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to cleanse their
sins in what is one of the most important rites for Muslims. This
year's Hajj takes place amid increasing worries across the Islamic
world over the bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan and recent terror
attacks by al Qaeda-linked groups, including last week's twin suicide
bombings in Algeria that killed at least 37 people. (more references implying that all we Moslems are good for and known for is violence and killing... how about how many lives were saved by Moslem doctors in the last week, maybe we can mention something like that instead? But that doesn't sell newspapers.)
Tensions also
have increased between the two main sects of Islam, Sunnis and Shiites,
who come together in the five days of Hajj rituals centered around
Mecca, the traditional birthplace of Islam's Prophet Muhammad (again implying violence, as if whenever Sunnis and Shi'ites get together, violence always ensues, since Moslems are violent people, and that's the only thing they know how to do even when they're around their own kind. Never mind that for generations these political differences have never been a real issue during the pilgrimage)
Saudi
Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries -- who are all U.S. allies -- have
been worried over Iran's increasing regional influence (again implying that Moslems are so unstable that we fight and quarrel with each other, and therefore we need enlightened countries like the United States to steal the oil--I mean, keep the peace). But the king's
invitation to Ahmadinejad appeared to reflect a readiness from Saudi
Arabia, a majority Sunni country, to reach out to its Shiite-dominated
neighbor. It comes about a week after a U.S. intelligence report said
Iran had ended a nuclear weapons program four years ago. Saudi
Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said the kingdom is
capable of maintaining security and preventing any attempt to threaten
the safety of the pilgrims. "We will not allow for the problems
in other countries to be reflected here during this Hajj season," he
said in a news conference late Saturday. Maj. Gen. Saleh Mohammed
al-Shihri, commander of the Central Control of the Hajj Security, said
1,150 cameras have been placed in several areas to monitor the area.
Several helicopters, fitted with these cameras, will also hover over
the pilgrims. Nayef said no extra security precautions will be
put in place for Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader was scheduled to
arrive in Mecca on Monday, Iranian state media has reported. (blah blah blah, more statistics to explain how such measures have to be taken to accommodate these barbarians... give me a freakin' break)
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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| kr's note: More than a month and half since the last post... Been traveling around the country for the past two months. January 2008 will hopefully mark the third coming of this blog.
New Islamic Directions Islam and Honor Killings (Revised)
by Imam Zaid Shakir
13 December 2007
For
that reason, we ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever kills
a soul for other than murder or spreading corruption in the land, it is
as if he has killed the whole of humanity… Qur’an 5:35
One of
the gravest charges levied against Islam, in terms of its alleged
antipathy towards women, is the claim that it encourages a phenomenon
known as honor killings. This un-Islamic practice consists of the
murder of female family members who are seen as dishonoring their
families through real or perceived acts of indiscretion, such as
premarital sexual relations or unapproved dating. This charge has been
intensified recently due to the tragic murder of a Pakistani Canadian
teenage girl, Aqsa Parvez.
The practice of honor killings has
absolutely no sanction in the Qur’an, the Prophetic practice, or in the
evolved systems of Islamic law. In the case of fornication or adultery,
the only way a charge can be levied against an individual, male or
female, is through confession, which is discouraged, or by four people
actually witnessing the male organ penetrating the female. Even if four
people witnessed a naked man engaged with a naked woman, but could not
actually testify that they witnessed penetration, their testimony would
be rejected.
In
a somewhat related issue, it should be noted that in three of the four
Sunni schools of law, as is the case with all of the major Shiite
schools, pregnancy is not a proof of fornication, as the possibility of
rape exists in such a case. Therefore, if a single woman were to become
pregnant, according to the overwhelming majority of Islamic jurists,
there is no basis for punishing her. In the few well-publicized
instances where a pregnant woman has been threatened with death, the
minority opinion of the Maliki School of law was unjustly evoked, as
occurred in Nigeria, or criminal malfeasance occurred as is the case in Pakistan.
In
the case of dating, there is no Islamically-mandated punishment for a
male or a female seeing a member of the opposite sex against the wishes
of their families. Such situations should be handled with counseling,
compassion and a healthy dose of common sense. Muslim immigrants who
have migrated to the West should realize that they have placed their
children in an environment where there is a tremendous amount of
anti-Islamic peer pressure. This is especially true if they have placed
their children, as was the case of the young lady who was recently
murdered in Canada,
in public schools. Children who succumb to that pressure should not be
seen as “bad” kids, for by the standards of the society that has shaped
them, no matter how strong their home environment is, they are normal.
To kill a female guilty of an offense such as dating or dressing like
her peers under such circumstances is nothing short of cold-blooded
murder, and no Islamic authority can argue otherwise.
The
overwhelming majority of Muslim societies are free from the practice of
honor killing, although it does endure in some parts of the Middle East and South Asia. According to statistics released by the United Nations
in 2000 there are approximately 5,000 deaths annually from “honor”
killings. Even if one killing occurred due to such barbarity, it would
be one too many, as the Qur’an emphasizes.
However,
to use the existence of such killings to smear Islam shows the
desperation and misplaced priorities of many of those levying such
attacks. Most of those deaths are the pathetic acts of sick
individuals, who are far removed from the letter, as we have shown
above, and the spirit of Islam. An example of such an individual is
Muhammad Riaz, a British Muslim of South Asian descent who died as a
result of a fire he set to burn to death his wife and four daughters,
allegedly because his wife resisted his attempt to arrange marriages
for his daughters. His wife and daughters did perish in that fire. To
present Riaz, whose daughters had neither fornicated nor dated, as
anything other than a sick individual is a sad attempt to defame Islam.
To attack Islam from this angle is a case of misplaced priorities
because it can distract attention from far graver abuses of women that
demand immediate redress. For example, the State Department estimates
that approximately 800,000 women and girls are trafficked as sexual
slaves annually. The overwhelming majority of these females are taken
from and sent to nominally Christian countries.
Over the last five years well over one thousand women have been kidnapped and then gruesomely murdered in Guatemala.
Their bodies usually turn up after a few days, mutilated and in some
instances with messages such as “death to bitches” written on them. To
date only three men have been incarcerated in connection with those
attacks. Would it proper for us to infer from that situation the
conclusion that the “Christians” of Guatemala, an overwhelmingly Christian nation, have no regard for the suffering of their women? Of course it would not.
At
the end of the day, attacks such as the one that resulted in the death
of Aqsa Parvez are acts of domestic violence resulting from rage that
emanates from a total neglect of Islamic teachings. Ms. Parvez lost her
life due to such violence and perhaps there are a few other instances
where Muslims women in Canada
or here in the United States, have been similarly victimized. However,
these instances should be kept in perspective. In the United States
there are approximately 1,200 women killed every year by their husbands
or intimate partners. There are other “Christian” nations where murders
of this type are even higher.
The United States, Guatemala,
and other countries we could mention where similar abuses occur are
Christian nations. However, it would be disingenuous to use such
statistics as an indictment against Christianity. These issues are an
affront to humanity and require our collective attention. Until we all
view the problem this way, we are in jeopardizing the health and
integrity of our society.
Saying this is not to minimize the
gravity of so-called honor killings to the extent that they do occur in
Muslim societies. As Muslims, we are commanded to be committed to
justice. That commitment entails that as a community we oppose in the
strongest terms “honor” killings and take immediate action to end such
a practice in our communities.
Practical steps include the following:
1. Emphasize that such killings have no sanction in the Qur’an, the Prophetic practice, or in Islamic law.
2. Declare anyone guilty of involvement
in honor killings to be a cold-blooded murderer.
3. Encourage judicial authorities to enact the harshest penalties possible for anyone accused of involvement in such killings.
4.
Educate our Muslim communities, especially in the West, about the
un-Islamic nature of honor killings, and the pressures, nuances,
challenges and complications facing young Muslims, male and female in
the West.
5. Work to eliminate the double standards, and to expose
the hypocrisy that exist in our communities, generally, concerning
attitudes and standards relating to the indiscretions of males as
opposed to females.
In conclusion, Islam honors the female, and
values femininity. It is up to every Muslim to translate teachings in
that regard into a beautiful reality that helps to elevate the status
of women in all societies. Honor killings, domestic violence in
general, murders of the type terrorizing women in Guatemala,
female sexual slavery and trafficking, pornography, especially its more
violent manifestations, are all crimes against humanity that we should
oppose in the strongest terms and work strenuously to eliminate. If our
women are not safe, psychically, emotionally, spiritually, or
psychologically we are all at risk, for without women men are
incomplete, and without men women are incomplete. Our Prophet, peace
and blessings of God upon him alluded to this complementariness when he
said, peace upon him, “Women are the complimenting halves of men.” Let
us all work harder to make our societies whole.
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| kr's note: wow, two posts in two days... as opposed to every two weeks. Go figure.
One of the funniest and intelligent ads on TV (ironically enough) has to be the "most interesting man in the world" series run for the dos equis beer company. Now, beer aside, the commercials are hilarious. You can also read them at: http://symbii.com/stories.php?sid=618
With that in mind... here's a sketch for a more Moslem-friendly commercial campaign. Feel free to add your own in the comments.
When he eats biryani, he never gets any ilachi (cardamom) or lawng (cloves).
The tableeghi jamaat asks him if they can go with him for forty days.
He has four wives... and 400 applicants waiting in line.
He once slapped a hijabi who wouldn't shut up. That's right. You heard me.
When he moonsights, he always sees the moon... and he doesn't need any witnesses.
He once prayed Asr and Maghrib at the same time.
His sweat is pure enough to make wudu with.
He is... the most interesting Muslim in the world.
"I don't always drink water, but when I do, I prefer zam zam."
"Stay thirsty my friends... stay thirsty."
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| kr's note: I love this story because it's an example of how people think they know something, are set in their ways, and even take it levels of imposition on others... and then realize they know nothing when they meet people with real knowledge.
Once Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) was visiting a small town on the invitation of its people. As he was giving his lessons in the town's mosque, the town was attacked by the Kharijites (an extremist group that historically created many problems and possibly is the inspiration for such groups today). After besieging the city, they ransacked it and approached the mosque where Abu Hanifah had continued to teach.
The Kharijites were well known for their intolerance of any groups who did not agree with their ideology. For example, they believed that major sins would take one out of the faith, with no hopes of redemption in this world or the hereafter. Even worse, they viewed as enemies those who held the majority view of allowing for such redemption.
As the army approached the mosque, the students inside were afraid, for they knew their fate if the Kharijites learned who they were. When the leader of the Kharijites approached the Imam, he asked him, "What do you say of someone who has committed a major sin? Is he still in the faith and is he worthy of salvation?"
To this, the Imam calmly replied: "Why are you asking us this? We are polytheists (mushrikeen), so such discussions don't even concern us."
The leader of the army replied back: "Then if you are polytheists, surely we will kill all of you."
Abu Hanifah said: "That is fine, but we are seeking asylum from you with you."
The leader said: "What! How can you seek refuge from us through us? What foolishness is this?"
And to this, the Imam replied: "Have you not read your own Qur'an? Have you not read the verse, If one amongst the Pagans ask thee for asylum, grant it to
him, so that he may hear the word of Allah; and then escort him to where he
can be secure. That is because they are men without knowledge (9:6). So we are seeking asylum with you, please read to us some of your Qur'an on the way, and convey us back to Baghdad."
The leader, realizing he had been duped by none other than the great Imam Abu Hanifah, told his lieutenants with a disgusted tone to convey the Imam and his students to their town and to read Qur'an to them along the way. A few days later, the Caliph sent an army to liberate the town and drive off the invaders.
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