Boston, NYC, Conneticut Weekend

Hi

Man, last weekend (12.09. - 12.11) was an awesome time for me. I went on a "real" vacation after 8 years. Previous to that, I had gone to Orlando (Disney World) with the family in 1997.

In just three days, I [see self-gratifying pic below] went to Boston, NYC, and my cousin's place (Saud Bhai) in Conneticut.

Alhamdullilah, I had an amazing time. The last time I was in CT was 10 years ago for Saud Bhai's marriage. And I had never been to Boston or NYC before, believe it or not. This was all possible courtesy of some guy I know. I forget his name right now, but that's not really important. Haha...just playin! This was all possible courtesy of Farooq; AKA "Roq" or "Rocky." (WTF - stupidest names for you, dude, EVER! Up there with "Tying Laces")

Farooq flew me out to Boston where he's currently stuck at. Err, I mean, where he's currently working at, mashaAllah. Big time consultant. Living the baller's life, I tell ya. And he's single, ladies. SubhanAllah. Miracles are indeed possible...

So, anyway, Farooq flew me out on a Fri morning from snowy, cold Chicago to snowier and colder Boston. Right after lunch (off the hook cheese steak and mouth-watering buffalo hot wings at some small desi place next to Boston Univ), the snow came down like no end. The blizzard totally sucked. A normally 35 minute commute from Boston to Farooq's hotel took a good 3 hours. Talk about being forced to bond with someone! I mean, that's just borderline torture!! ;)

Here's me and Farooq (together, we're also known as Chicago's Two Remaining Bachelors; one representing the Pak community and the other representin Hydroville):
So cute, huh, mashaAllah? If only he was a girl. Sigh. That weekend would've been all the better...!

Okay, I'm going off on some crazy tangent here and probably to some place where the reader, if you're still with me, doesn't want to go. Continuing...

So after braving the Bostonian blizzard, we arrived at.......tbc......

Christmas Cheer

Hi

Nice!
http://members.cox.net/transam57/lights.wmv



Happy Holidays! ;)

Princeton Univ : Islamic Literature

AA

Here's an interesting link I thought I would share with you. Princeton University is going to make Islamic literature available on-line. Apparently, it's about 100 years worth of collected Islamic literature and North America's greatest collection:

Click me


FiAmanAllah

Diet Plan # 673

Hi

Alright, man. Let's do this, Imran. This time once and for all. Get psyched. Get ready. No exceptions. You're gonna be freakin hardcore about it. Feel it, man. Ready?! Are you ready for this, dude?! Bring it! This time for real...

I'm going on a diet. That's right, folks, I said it.

"Diet." The most fearsome and daunting word any self-respecting Punjabi munda can ever utter. The thought of it sends cold shivers down my spine. It penetrates my heart and soul with icy daggers. It makes my stomach flip and dance like a whirling diverish.

But this time, I'm gonna do it. Let's make it even more official: Bismillah. There now. It's officially official. I've taken Allah's name and asked for His assistance, tremendous favor, mad, mad hook-up, Mercy, and Guidance on this (yeah, A LOT of time was spent making dua) and have posted it on my blog so that I can be under the constant scrutiny and eye of all my friends and families.

Yep, I've put myself out there. I'm hanging by a fricken string now.

This diet, however, is not going to be a fad diet (i.e., low carb diets, no carb diets, blah blah blah diets) but a Sunnah Diet. Portions will be well-maintained. Yes, "well-maintained." I like the sound of that. Whatever the hell it means. Haha. Sorry, I havta laugh at myself because I just thought of what a "well-maintianed" dinner plate could look like for me right now: It would be proportionally balanced to include salan, samosas, biryani, half a nan, and a ladoo or two. Now that's a well-maintained diet. Hmm, I guess I should re-phrase myself here (wow, I'm so mentally ready for a diet, aren't I?).

My sunnah diet will consist of smaller, reduced portions. But I will not leave ice cream. Ever. InshaAllah. You can't pay me to leave it, so why should I try to kid myself about leaving ice cream or junk food for that matter? Why should I willingly subject myself to pain, misery, anger, and severe, traumatic depression? I say all this because I've experienced all those emotions when I've tried to stop taking ice cream before (you may have remembered reading something in The WSJ about Coldstone Creamery's stock plunging around that time).

The second part of the plan consists of a work out regimen. Well, not really a "regimen" per say as that sounds like I have to make some sort of committment (AJ, can you tell the readers how I am about making committments?! Haha). But a plan that includes some workouts up in the mix. But it has to be at least 4/week. InshaAllah.

Alright, enough talk. I'm gonna do this. Starting tomorrow morning, of course. Come on. It's 8pm on a Sunday night. You really want me to ruin the rest of my weekend with thoughts of a diet? They call tomorrow the Monday Blues for a reason, right?


Done and done.

Steve Jobs: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish...

Hi

I read what has apparently become the well-known talk Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple and Pixar for you ignant folks) gave at the commencement ceremony at Standford Univ this past summer. I have to say that I am really impressed with his speech. He made really good points that encourages the reader to make some serious introspection...

Jobs shares three insightful stories about his personal life that profoundly impacted (and continues to do so) his outlook on life. Allow me to break 'em down for you:

Story #1 - Connecting the Dots
Jobs talks about his college career and how he never finished school. Haha, I immediately thought that he was going to tell people that college was a waste and not to do it, but he didn't. Frick! Instead, Jobs focuses on how he dropped out of Reed College and sat-in on classes that he found appealing and not the classes he was required to enroll into. One such class that caught Job's attention was a caligraphy class which later proved to be instrumental in creating the first Mac. So, while he took that class back in college purely out of interest and not so much because he knew he was going to create a great computer operating system with nice typography, he had no idea that the class obviously had some purpose of which he realized later in life. In his own words: "...you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

Amen brother! Such hikmah! If you're living life aimlessly, then what the heck is the point, right? Alhamdullilah the "something" I blelieve in is Islam, the most beautiful way of life. Having a belief is at the core of the human intellect, no matter the level of understanding. Even if you are not inclined to believe in God. Such people nonetheless, I'm sure of it, have a purpose of some sort in life (i.e., trying to prove that there is no God). Unfortunately, that belief (in my opinion) is, well, whack and non-sensical. But now I'm digressing. Seriously, think about it: What is life without a purpose? If you're living day-to-day without a goal in sight, what are you accomplishing? For the mu'mins out there, if you're living a life day-to-day without asking, "What have I done in my life or even just today that makes me a Muslim?" then you're inherently missing the point...

And when you miss the point, I don't think you can ever find real happiness.

Story #2 - Love and Loss
Ahh, yes. The hopeless romantic in me really propped up when I began reading this part of his speech...

Jobs talks about the importance of pursuing love by any means you can. Alright, Steve, now you're getting into some straight up sufi talk! Allow me to break this down from three different perspectives:

The spiritual level:
In our tradition, our esteemed and beloved scholars talk about the need of increasing one's love for Allah. And that once you have a taste of that love (inshaAllah), then that love is the only thing you desire. It will be your only satisfaction in life, if you (and me) are so lucky and fortunate to receive it. And if we don't, to realize that we must pursue it and never settle. MashaAllah, we're lucky to have the Beloved of Allah (sw) as a guide and example on what to do to follow that path of love.

I do want to improve upon my state of iman constantly inshaAllah. To where I'm ever increasing myself in closeness to Allah and His Messenger (sw). This is the ultimate and most important goal. It's the goal that gives me life and blesses me with sakoon, tears, and joy. May Allah guide me and us all to love in this sense. Allah huma salay Allah Muhammad. Ameen.

The business level:
Jobs talk really hit me on this level, too. I recently put a blog posting called "Ode to ClinPhone," which shows my sense of loyalty and sense of pride I take in the work I do. In the business world, those are two important characterisitics of love. Anyway, while I do like what I do and am extremely thankful for it, I have to wonder if this is something that I love? Something that provides me satisfaction on a day-to-day basis. Something that makes me want to come in to work knowing that I have an ultimate goal. Sure, I do have my daily goals and career goals within my industry, but is it really my passion? So the more I asked this of myself, the more medical school keeps popping in my mind...

There is a part of me that regrets having a poor attitude (i.e., not being serious enough) on pursuing medicine in my early college days. There is also another part of me that is like, Imran, you totally should do what it takes to go to med school and manifest your lifelong dream of being a doctor; even if that means going to the Carribean or Pakistan. But then the practicle side also kicks in (no, I do NOT have multiple personality disorder, I assure you!) and is like, Imran, you have a good career track, mA, and many other good opportunities, so stop thinking ideally and focus on fricken reality (yeah, that side of me is such a pain, dude). We won't even go into the sides of me (okay, now I'm scaring myself) that have other fantasies (but kinda serious fantasies) of pursuing a PhD or becoming a teacher...

So I guess what Jobs has kinda prompted me to think about is what DO I want to do with my life? I obviously won't answer that tonight. Or perhaps not even soon, but at least I know that it's somewhere to start and reflect upon. InshaAllah, Allah guides me to what is best. I do know this: I would love to do something where I'm helping people out. Yeah, that's kinda broad and I'm not sure if that's a good/bad thing, but I do know that once I figure out how I can do this for other people, I will pursue that to no end, inshaAllah. And all success, satisfaction, and power is with Allah.

Jobs: "If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."

The oh-la-la level:
Haha, my favorite. The romantic level. What I liked is when Jobs said the following: "You've got to find what you love. And that's true for your work as it is for your lovers." "And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on." Man, Jobs, you're the fricken man! Well said. Of course, for the mu'min out there, I don't think that this should be taken as an invite into pursuing girls (in the dating, pre-martial sex, etc. sense) and convincing yourself that your girlfriend (azubillah) is the person you love. I prefer to look at this type of love on a deeper level. But I'll save this insight for my wife inshaAllah. :)

Seriously, I think that this bit of advice is important to keep in mind when you're married. I really hope and pray to avoid situations where the guy or girl is getting tired/bored of his/her significant other and they start to lose the flame. Instead, their love should continue to grow more and more as the days and seconds pass by. And that love will inevitably take on variant forms, but the flame should never extinguish. Jeez, I feel like a friggen metrosexual for typing that. And a girly one at that. Moving on...!

So, ideally, all three levels I identified above should be connected to one another. And the last two (business and romantic) levels should be used as gateways for pursuing that first level of love -- the Divine/spiritual level.

Story # 3 - Death
Wow. This one was the most poignant. It really blew me away. Jobs talked about how he was diagnosed with cancer and was told by his doctors to make the relevant preparations (i.e., tell people that he was going to die soon). Fortunately for him, the pancreatic cancer was a rare type that was curable. This example serves as an obvious reminder on the importance of living life everyday, if you know what I mean. We shouldn't be wasting a second of it and live each day as if it were our last.

Here are some quotes that I liked:
- "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important"
- "No one has ever escaped it [death]. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make new way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true."

You gotta admit, that's pretty profound. I mean, sure, we all can accept these as simple ideas, but to actually act upon it is entirely different. A lot of what Jobs talked about with his 3rd story is undoubtedly Islamic. We've been told in our deen that we're essentially replaceable in the sense that Allah doesn't need us, but we need Him. As such, wasting our time with frivolity will cause us to lose sight of what's important (the deen) and for such people, Allah obviously has no need of. Of course, Allah is Absolute and is not in need of any of us, but through His Mercy, those that remember Him are then Remembered by Him (inshaAllah).

Imam Ghazali best breaks this concept down for us by stating the following:
"You should not neglect your time or use it haphazardly; on the contrary you should bring yourself to account, structure your litanies and other practices during each day and night, and assign to each period a fixed and specific function. This is how to bring out the spiritual blessing (baraka) in each period.

But if you leave yourself adrift, aimlessly wandering as cattle do, not knowing how to occupy yourself at every moment, your time will be lost. It is nothing other than your life, and your life is the capital that you make use of to reach perpetual felicity in the proximity of God the Exalted.

Each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, since each of them is irreplaceable and, once gone, can never be retrieved. Do not be like that deceived fools who are joyous because each day their wealth increases while their life shortens.

What good is an increase in wealth when life grows ever shorter? Therefore be joyous only for an increase in knowledge or in good works, for they are your two companions who will accompany you in your grave when your family, wealth, children and friends stay behind.”

Imam Al Ghazali (May Allah have mercy on him) wrote this in his book: ‘The Beginning of Guidance’ "

SubhanAllah (thanks SunniPath.com).

Obviously, we can use the same concepts in the application of our daily lives. Spending time with your family, being respectful, working hard, studying hard, keeping fit, etc. are all things we (most definitely me) should try to excel and take advantage of daily.

Anyway, these are some thoughts that I wanted to share after reading the speech. Let me know if you want a copy and I can fwd it to you.

And keep me in your duas. It's always easy to talk a good game, but much harder to play...

much love

Not in my words (Part II)...

AA,

A description from my heterosexual, Muslim friend after I forwarded him a picture of myself semi-decked out.

Dislcaimer: Please note this blogger's assurance that the quoted text below comes from a strongly heterosexual Muslim male that is happily married to a Muslimah. Further, please note that this blogger is equally, if not more, of a heterosexual. We do not discriminate against metrosexuality. EOE.

Terms of Agreement: If you agree with the above disclaimer, please continue reading. If not, frick you.

"DUDE, YOUR HOTNESS IS UNDENIABLY AND EXCRUTIATINGLY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND, OVERCOME, AND COME TO TERMS WITH! HOLY FRICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Well, there you have it folks. Continuing support and undisputable evidence on my hotness. MashaAllah, Alhamdullilah, Allahu akbar.


And Allah Alone Gives Success.

New Darul Qasim Website

AA WR WB,

Darul Qasim's new website totally rocks, mashaAllah:

http://www.darulqasim.org/


InshaAllah, I plan to one day enroll into Darul Qasim's Arabic program. It's really well-structured, mashaAllah. I strongly urge all others to do the same.

Here's some insight as to why it's important:
http://www.darulqasim.org/curriculum_and_courses.htm


Later

Not in my words...

AA,

Two descriptions of me from the North Siders Email Group (taken from today):

1) "sorry imran. you are the closest to everyone. you are everyone's best friend but everyone is not your best friend. i forgot you are imran....the sufi...the fighter...the punjabi....the cleanphone man."

2) "the only thing tighter then fasih and mehboob's friendship is Imran's wifebeater at bhangra party"

(All was said in a good natured/humorous way.)

The important thing here is the recognition of my title. Soon, people will just start calling me, "The sufi" or "The Punjabi" or "The lover" etc. (thanks Mehb). Or at the very least think that I go to desi bhangra parties wearing nothing more than a wifebeater (thanks Harry). Now that's hot.


Word

If only I were in professional sports...

Frick!

This article that a friend of mine at work forwarded to me really brought tears to my eyes.

From ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2005/news/story?id=2233393

I wonder if these baseball players (and professional sports players in general) realize exactly how much money they get for being physically fit?! I mean, even losers get bonuses that would alleviate the financial burdens of entire impoverished communities! I guess the phrase, it's all relative, comes to mind as I'm sure that ppl who are accustomed to millions of dollars (money at their disposal) don't even think twice about receiving, for example, an extra $191, 985.45 for losing the World Series. I mean, they're probably like, Is that it?!

Of course, you know I have to mention Latrell Sprewell now and how $20M was not enough to feed his family. What? How big is your family, dude? Hmm, may be he was actually making a political statement and we were all just none the wiser? Think about it: He could've used the word "family" to describe the entire African family. Yes, I see the truth in his statement now! It all make sense. How could you have been wronged like this, Latrell?! This is pure racism! The intolerance! The ignornace! It's maddening! On behalf of the world, Sprewell, I'm sorry. So very sorry.

Okay, getting back to MLB: It's crazy! As you will read in the article, freakin non-wild card 2nd place teams were given at least $7800/player!! It's like, "Here's a free month of mortgage that you'll need for your beach home resort in Aruba. Hopefully you'll feel better about yourself and more confident about your game for next year. Now avoid stress and enjoy your 5-month vacation time now."

Alright, I'm gonna stop now. Otherwise I'm gonna get into how my mom should've allowed me to play football in high school like I wanted. Let's just say that I should be Rex Grossman/Kyle Orton right now...

Peace, G-Money!

Prince of Pop a Muslim...?

AA

Jeez! I hope not, man. We don't need a guy like Michael Jackson representing the most beautiful thing ever invented (Islam).

I raise this question based on the following link I came across on Shaykh Faraz's blog:

Jackson to Build a Mosque in Bahrain

Germain [MJ's brother who embraced Islam] had felt his brother Michael has great
interest and study of Islamic books, the tolerance of Islam and his dealing
with Arab and Muslim personalities since long years.

My questions:
1) WTF?
2) Well, I guess Allah guides whomsoever He pleases, right? I ask that seriously. I mean, hey, I'm sure back in the day when Cat Stevens reverted, people were like, "Huh?"
3) How halal is that money?
4) What does SunniPath have to say about this? ;)
5) What would Sh. Amin have to say about this? (Hmm, probably, Why do you care, Imran?)
6) Who is behind this? (Meaning, which organization is receiving MJ's money?)
7) Would this explain why MJ wrote Black or White?
8) What does Bubbles (MJ's pet monkey) think of all this? In fact, where the hell is Bubbles?
9) Will Michael wear a hijab now? I mean, it seems like him and his kids wear the burqa...

Good stuff, folks...

May Allah guide us all to His path. Allah huma salay Allah Muhammad. Ameen.

Ode to ClinPhone

Cheers, indeed

I'm mashaAllah happy to show the following recognition of the company I work for:

European Outsourcing Awards Best use of I.T.
This is ClinPhone's first industry award and recognises the unrivalled success in delivering Patient Diary (ePRO) solutions using Interactive Voice Response technology coupled with expert consultancy and first class operational delivery. This award represents a real coup for ClinPhone as it emphasises our market dominance over other technology rivals in the clinical research sector.

Europe's 500 listing
ClinPhone placed at number 71 in this year's top 500 European organisations. This result recognizes ClinPhone's strong commercial presence in Europe and sees us mentioned in the same breath as Ryanair, lastminute.com and Puma.

Deloitte's Technology Fast 50
ClinPhone has now placed eight years running in the Deloitte's Technology Fast 50, a result unrivalled by any other UK organisation. Even after combining the Midlands and Northern geographical sections we placed 4 spots higher at number 21 in this prestigious listing.


Word up!

Taha's Place: A Night of Glory...

Hi,

Long was it since a classic Taha-Imran night of adventures and suspense took place. Yes, a night of unadulterated ecstasy was long overdue. A night of pure Punjabiness. A night where men realized what being a man is all about. Indeed, a night of glory...

Oh, and a night where a mama's boy finally got permission to sleep over at his friend's house. But that's another story. So, onwards...!

Two Fridays ago I crashed at T-Man's place so that we could engage in such righteous acts as car dancing to Devon and a romantic, candle-lit dinner that featured microwavable pizza with a low-carb (*cough* taste *cough*) tomato paste. The night started off with me picking up Taha from his multi-million dollar apartment complex (haha, Taha) located in the heart of downtown. We had no agenda. No goals. All we knew was that Daler Mehndi was going to be a big part of the night thanks to Taha's newly burned bhangra CD. So we began our cruise down Mich Ave where we hollered at, well, anyone really. But our targets were most definitely desis and yelling random things at them in Punjabi/desi accents. Yes, we're easily entertained, folks.

We then proceeded to the next block. But the block was dead, yo, so we continued to A-1-A Beachfront Avenue. Girls were hot wearing...

What the...? How'd Vanilla Ice get in here? Sorry, let me turn off the music......Okay, getting back to the Night of Glory...

We then proceeded to Devon for nothing more but the comforts of mango kulfis and galabjomin (sp?). So bhangra music was blaring and one of two things happen to Taha and me when this phenomena occurs: 1) We lose all sense and sensibility by succumbing to the dhol and our shoulders are at the mercy of the music or 2) We're dead silent. In fact, almost a scary silence. Why? Not because we're in some sort of odd bhangra cult (Taha...light bulb just went on! PB'n'J Cult: Punjabis Bhangra-ing and Jamming Cult. How cool is that, puthr?), but because we're imagining that we're traversing the fields of Punjab with 50 Punjabans dancing behind us while we court the Bollywood heroine.

Okay, so when we get to Tahoora (where else?!) we were totally disappointed to see that it was closed. How could it NOT be open at midnight? Jeez!! Oh well. It was more than worth it.

We finally get back to Taha's place and the dude has the audacity to challenge me to do his workout regimen for shoulders and back. Stupid Taha! I mean, granted that Taha is built like a rock, has a chest that seems like it was chiseled by Michaelangelo, biceps that are as big as his Punjabi nose, elbows that have muscles, a back that looks like he's going to carry Chitown on it, etc., but where does he have gall to throw it down with ME? The man. The myth. The legend. The sufi. The lover. The Fighter. The Punjabi.

So that's what I told myself. I mean, I really, really convinced myself of it. Thinking to myself, I was like, I am the man, the myth, the...But that was before I found out that this Taha character does 5 (that's f-i-v-e) sets (at least 10 reps) of everything. WTF? That's insane! Well, I almost made it out there alive. We started around 1am and finished about 2:30am. (And my mom thinks that we go out to the clubs! Azubillah!).

We got back and Taha hooked up the microwavable pizza, which, at 3am tasted really good and watched a movie (Batman Begins). After watching the movie and having fantasies of being Bruce Wayne/Batman, Taha told me that I was NOT going to go to sleep. So he gave me one of his swimming trunks. When I put it on we were both in agreement that I looked really hot in them (no joke). I'd post pictures if I had any. Though some of you reading this may have frequented this blog too often then, so maybe it's good that I don't have any. :)

Anyway, from 5am - 630am we swam. It was really nice, actually, and something the two of us should probably do more often. Oh, and not that I want to make this a big deal or anything, but

I KILLED Taha in a swimming race.

That makes me 3-0 over our 8 or 9 years of friendship. Holla! TAHA SUCKS! (Sorry, this is the only sport I can beat him without question. Thanks Mom for making me swim since I was a kid.) It was so bad, that the poor kid couldn't even finish the lap. Bachara, ghareeb bacha. InshaAllah, one day Taha. Just like one day I'll beat you in hoops. Oh, but before I forget, the funniest part was when we tried to race at one point and midway through, I noticed that Taha stopped. I look up after completing the lap and see Taha holding his shorts. LOL. Apparently, this guy was trying to swim so fast that he flew out of his swimming trunks. And to think, me without my camera and contact lens. ;) Yeah, I'll always regret that one fo' sho'.

Well, that pretty much concluded the night/morning. I prayed Fajr and the moment I laid down on Taha's couch I passed out. Got up around 10:30am and headed back home knowing that I had just accomplished something in my life.

And preparing for the next Taha-Imran Night of Glory.

STL, here we come, baby!

Long for the Prophet (sw)

AA

This is really beautiful, mashaAllah:
http://www.sunniport.com/audio/owais/yaa%20sahib%20al%20jamal.mp3

The website [www.sunniport.com] is a nice website itself, too.

While there, you can also check this out which will be of benefit as it it about Shaykh al Hadith, Imam Suyuti (rh):
http://www.sunniport.com/books/imam_jalaluddin_suyuti_v1.0.pdf


Remember me in your duas

I am an idiot

Cheers

I mean, what else can I say about myself? After reading this forward sent to me (thanks, Farooq) I can't help but to question my business sense (or lack thereof), ambition, and realization in life that the stupid things are always the most important things.

Confused?

Here, read and see what I'm talking about:

Selling pixels to advertisers

Have you heard about the The Million Dollar Homepage, created by a college student in England who wants to sell off his homepage real estate to advertisers for a dollar a pixel in 100-pixel blocks until he made a million dollars? What a stupid idea . . .

Or is it? An article in the WSJ claims he has made $623,800 so far.

WTF?! I think of stupid things all the time! Why can't I think of the right stupid things, man!

< .. sigh .. >


Thanks

Tom Cruise vs Oprah

Hi

Yes, the epic battle between good and evil was captured on Oprah of all places. I mean, there's acting and then there's real life. In this video clip, I cannot honestly discern the difference...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8530918890580805143&pr=goog-sl



;)

Dil, Dil Pakistan

AA

Link below taken from Shaykh Faraz Rabbani's blog :: http://www.seekersdigest.org/

Cricket and Religion
So Pakistan beat England yesterday in a closely fought game. Whats very interesting is the change thats happening within the Pakistan team these days. From Inzamam's ( Pakistan Cricket team captain) Bismillahs before the post match interviews to all the beards popping up on the players' faces.Here is an article which gives more details about the cricket team and how the role of Islam is growing within the team....

"The growing influence of Islamic teachings on the Pakistani cricketers is becoming more apparent day by day.
And it’s a big shift in the habits of the team members from the last few decades..."

For full article see: http://hammadin.blogspot.com/2005/11/cricket-and-religion.html


Cheers

Du`a that brought an angel...

AA,

I've shared this one before, but read it again so I thought I'd post it here:

There was a man in the time of the Prophet (sw) who traded between Syria and Madinah, who used to go alone on his journeys without the caravans, trusting inAllah. One time on his way back to Madina, a thief came up to him and told him to stop and the merchant said, 'take my goods, and leave me alone,' and the thief replied, 'the goods are easily taken, I want you.' The merchant said, 'wait until I make ablution and pray to my Lord,' and the thief let him. So the merchant prayed four rak'as, then raised his hands and made this du'a:

O Loving One! O Loving One! (YaWadud) O Lord of the Glorious Throne, O One from Whom all begins and to Whom all returns, O One Who does what He wishes, I ask You by the Light of Your Countenance that fills the corners of Your Throne, I
ask You by Your Power by which You command Your creation, and by Your Mercy that encompasses all things, there is no God but You! O Helper, come to my aid

...and he said this three times. When he finished making his du'a, a rider on a gray horse wearing green garments came with a lance of light, and when the thief saw the rider, he left the merchant and started towards the rider, but when he came near, the rider charged him and dealt him a blow that knocked him off his horse. Then the rider told the merchant to kill the thief, but the merchant declined, so the rider killed him instead.? The hadith goes on to say that this rider was an angel from the third heaven, whom Allah sent to aid the merchant, and that the angel told the merchant: "Know, O servant ofAllah, that Allah will relieve and help one who makes this prayer of yours in any moment of distress, calamity, or desperation." The merchant went on safely into Madina and when he arrived, told the Prophet (sw) of all that had happened, and of the prayer he had made. The Prophet (sw) replied to him, "Allah has inspired you (laqqanaka) with His most beautiful Names into which, when invoked by them, He responds, and when asked for something by them, He bestows it.

A. Narrated from Anas with the difference that (1) the traveller prayed four rak`as before his du`a and (b) without mention of the Holy Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, or the words reported from him at the end, by al-Lalika in _Karamaat al-Awliyaa (ed. Ahmad Sa`d al-Hamman. Ryadh: Dar Tayba, 1992, p. 154-155 §111) cf. Ibn Hajar, Isaba, under the name of the Companion to whom this karama happened: Abu Mu`allaq al-Ansari.


FiAmanAllah

Ode to Nathan Vasher (Da Bears)

Da Bears, baby...

As the Bears have a comfortable 14-9 lead over the hopeless 49ers, I thought that I should comment and officially note Vasher's (aka "The Interceptor" -- at least back in college fball) amazing, heroic, beautiful poetry-in-motion 108 yard field goal TD return.

What's best is that Vasher aside, this NFL record belongs to the Chicago Bears. SubhanAllah. MashaAllah. Seriously, it was amazing...

2 seconds left in the first half. 49ers can't do anything against the best defense in the league and so they take what should be a risk-free 52 yard field goal. Fools! And so Vasher caught the missed field goal attempt in the middle of the end zone and ran it up to about the 15/20 and made a killer cut and just took off from there. Urlacher was side-by-side with him most of the way ensuring that no one would touch (hell, even look) in Vasher's way. And the rest is, as they say, history...

I mean, you can say that we played one of the worst teams out there, but pulling off that feat in against any NFL team regardless of record is so fricken impossible and amazing. Alas! Da Bears defy convention and expectations.

Here's to all the real Bears fans! (Sorry, Umar, I know you can't relate in our joy)

Cheers

Nadia's Engagement

Asma, Omar, Nadia

A couple weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to see our lifelong friend and cousin Nadia make a step towards one of the most important milestones in her life: her engagement.

Her engagement was to a very fine gentleman, Omar. Alhamdullilah, they make a beautiful couple and inshaAllah we wish them nothing but unparalleled love and happiness.

Here are some pics of the joyous event (held in the middle-of-nowhere-but-a-truly-magical-place-nonetheless Beaver Dam, WI):

Omar, Nadia, Rosina: Inside the tent, engagement ceremony underway...

The heart, soul and love of our family. Nani Ammi (Nadia's Dadi Ammi): Smiling with pure joy :)

Omar and his cousin: Waiting in eager anticipation to see Nadia.

Umar, Ali: Holla!!

Nani Ammi, Mom, Rayyan

Me

Classic sunset view from the Samadani home.

InshaAllah, we can't wait until the wedding!

Allah'hafiz

Meeri Jaan (Josh)

Fobs'R'Us

Ever since hearing this one song (actually, wathcing it on Geo) last weekend, I've been hardcore in love with it. The group/guy (Josh) sings really well in English with some Urdu and I just think that it's a really nice, relaxing, chill song...

Check it out:
http://www.muziq.net/songs/Josh/Kabhi/


Holla @ me

Da Bears, Baby

:)

After many, many tears of happiness, it brings me a tremendous amount of pleasure to say the following:

The Bears are Number 1 in the division with a commanding, imposing, daunting, beautiful, playoff-bound record of 5-3.

And in other news, the GB Packers have won just 1 (single, aik, uno, etc.) game the entire season.


And Allah Alone Gives Success.

Oh Sh**! Did I just do that?

Hi

Okay, so we have this process where we submit things (ie, prompts) to a vendor of ours here at work for translation. While doing this, we can include comments like "Please translate asap" etc. for each request, which is what I did.

But for each language we require translations of, we have to submit this request/order individually (kind of a pain) and so to save time, I naturally copied and pasted the "Please translate asap" comment over and over again.

While doing this, I took a quick break to reply to someone's personal email (personal meaning Gmail, not personal work email). In my response to that personal email, I copied and pasted a sentence of the friend's email so I could address it in the reply b/c it was funny. After sending the email, I continued back to work and continued submitting the request and corresponding comment ("Please translate asap") for translation.

This is a mechanical process and so I did this rather quickly. A couple minutes into it, I realized that the comment I was copying and pasting for our vendor was not the "Please translate asap" comment I originally assumed (for some reason) that I was copying & pasting. It was the comment from my personal email. I quickly cancelled and took a look at the two previous requests I sent to ensure that I did not include the personal comment in my request. Much to my dismay and utter carelessness, I found that I submitted those two requests with the personal comment from my email...

Now, may be you're thinking that, "Oh, that's not too bad. I mean, how bad or stupid could that comment be, Imran?" Well, let me finish...

And so the personal comment from my email that I accidentally copied and pasted into the work request reads as follows, "I'm going to bitch-slap you..."

I freaked out when I realized that I copied this into my professionally requested order. I was thinking, "Okay, ppl get fired for this type of thing." And then I thought, "Why do I suddenly feel like I'm in Office Space?"

I immediately sent an email to the vendor to 1) discuss my request and 2) apologize and clarify what happened. Then I ran around the office to see if anyone in mgmnt happened to be around, but no one was because it was 8pm. So I called my mgr and told him that I accidentally sent a comment that I shouldn't have. He was like as long as it's not sexually, religiously, or racially offensive, you're okay. And I thought to myself, okay...this could be sexually offensive. So I told him the comment and he was of course like, "Well, obviously you shouldn't have done that." (No kidding!) But he was totally cool and was like "Nothing will happen, it's a good thing this is a vendor and not the client otherwise we'd be doing months of clean-up work on this, I'll talk to the HR person about this who will probably laugh it off, and the vendor shouldn't mind so long as no one high-strung works there." Then I was like, "Yeah, I'm hoping that UK mentality (they're a lot more laid back about being PC) kicks in." Then we kinda laughed about it.

That was last night.

This morning...nothing major happened, mashaAllah! Vendor replied back to my email, but only the business portion.

Later today, I received an email from the Associate Director of Operations in the Chicago Office that stated, "PLEASE SEE ME ASAP." It was at that point that I realized that one's heart can beat approximately 1,000,000 times/second. So I stopped by her office and she's like, "I bet you know what this is about." And I was like "Yeah, the prompts, right?" And she's like, "Yes. This is to let you know that it has been escalated to mgmnt." OMG! I wanted to cry, but her talk continues..."But we totally understand b/c you wouldn't do something like that, it was from a personal email and nothing company-related, and you've been under a lot of pressure/stress lately." Heart beat drops to 100,000 beats/second. She then tried her best to be serious and was like, "Not to make fun of the situation, but it was a good laugh." Salvation! And then we basically just laughed about it the rest of time. Like hardcore LOL-ing, which was cool.

At the end she's like, "Yeah, no worries. I know you wouldn't put a request like that. Just use asterisks if you're using that type language of language" (she said that last part laughingly). And then I joked, "Yeah, i'm generally not really in the habit of telling clients/vendors to do something otherwise i'll bitch-slap them..."

So now the issue is done with (iA/mA). Whew! :)

Of course, a couple of the guys at work will make fun of me and make sure I never forget this......(sigh)......what craziness, dude...

Could you imagine receiving, "I'm going to bitch-slap you" from your client?! I'm still LOL-ing, actually...

Cheers

White Sox. Team of Destiny.

Unreal...

One of the best playoffs and World Series I've seen...

Da Bears (oh, and the Sox)

Hi

Alhamdullilah. Alhamdullilahi Rabil Alameen. Ar-Rahmanir Raheem....

The Chicago Bears are #1.

No, I could care less that they have a .500 record in the worst division of the NFL. All I know is that we're already playoff contenders and should take a commanding...yes, commanding...lead by defeating Detroit this weekend, inshaAllah'ta'ala. The Lions probably still have a sour taste in their mouth based on the last game earlier this year when we made them into zabiha meat. They'll want blood this Sunday; especially at their field. But the Bears will nonetheless triumph, iA.

Oh, and in other news the Chicago White Sox are World Champions. Don't know if anyone caught that...? "Second team of the city no more" indeed, Joe Buck...

[see: www.chisox.com]


:)

More Pics From Last Week's Iftar...

AA

Courtesy of Mike Rabi (www.mikerabi.com):

My new favorite picture. :)

This was right after Taha
slapped me when we were
playing that hands slap game.

Yep, the slap was that hard
to have totally moved my
face in the other direction.

Thanks, T-Man.

Mike (Mustafa) and me enjoying
a nice bowl of homemade ice cream/kulfi
And Harris giving me the bunny ears effect.

Good times, mashaAllah

Backstreet Boys: Chinese Version

Hi

Now this is passion...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6739710473912337648&q=chinese&pr=goog-sl



Hysterical!

The Iftar Party

AA

Alhamdullilah, the iftar party I had at my place was a great time, mashaAllah. I owe it all to my mother whom, mashaAllah, cooked for hours on end, despite not feeling well. SubhanAllah, I'm lucky to have such a caring mother who makes her son look good in front of her friends!! Please remember her in your duas.

Here's a recap:

1. Sami Haque pulled in a surprise by being the first one to show up. In true Hydro fashion, he guaranteed himself a spot to being the first guy at the buffet. Sami also took a lot of time to explain what he does for a living and how Hydros do not have a tribal system. Sami, halal food processing centers are very promising, bro...run with it. Sami is the guy looking up in the pic below obviously trying to pose for the camera, but in a nonchalant way. You're a smooth operator, man. :)

2. Fasih, aka Maulana Fasih (based on attire), and Mehboob Ali showed up. I'm not sure what else I can say other than wanting to relive the moments of them walking into my house. Imam Fasih out did it by bringing in apple cream pie from Bakers Square -- a big hit of the night. Fasih also did it big by dropping off his family and ditching them for me. Mehb ditched his expecting wife and then threatened to bust into my house at his discretion with his master key (note: Mehb is a part-time real estate agent and our house is up for sale). Please note that Mehb looks hotter when not wearing his standard button shirt, tie, dress pants combo. Thanks for taking our relationship to the next level, guys. In the pic below, Fasih and Mehboob are discussing the fiqh of eating with hands...haha


3. Mike Rabi. During the first 30 minutes or so, I was worried about this guy. I thought he wasn't enjoying the festivities. You see, I rarely see Mike without his digital camera and though that perhaps he didn't think the party was www.mikerabi.com worthy. But, Alhamdullilah, after I took out my camera, he busted out his like it ain't no thang. I was relieved. See http://www.mikerabi.com/ for more pics. Mike (aka Mustafa) poses like he's either a dignitary from Palestine, preparing for a high school senior year picture, or just getting read for a new career in modeling.


4. Taha Ghani. Ahmed Hassan. SubhanAllahi wa bi Hamdihi, they showed up. I was partially convinced that they would not as one can never tell with people from STL. They tend to be a shady group of people that cover their shadiness with hot looks (mashaAllah) and, in the case of Ahmed, hair that's simply 'on fire.' In the course of the night, Taha somehow managed a solid slap across my face, which then provoked me to launch an all-out assault on him. Ahmed, hope your 1st experience at my crib and the suburbs of Chicago was fun. Next time, please be sure to bring 1) Hershey's king size candy or 2) a huge Oreo ice cream cake. In the pic below, Prince AH (Ahmed) makes himself at home and Taha...well...all I see is his chisled chest and distinguished, Punjabi nose (mashaAllah). Did I mention that Taha works out?

5. AJ. AJ (Ahmed Abdul-Jaleel) had to feel pretty darn good coming to the Shakur household. In one-on-one basketball (semi-full court up to 7 in what was a king of the hill type of tourney) between me, him, and one of my brothers (Umar), he dominated us just a couple hours prior to the iftar. It's hard for me to say that, but I cannot deny him this truth. If he does that again, though, he's definitely not coming next year!! Then he has the audacity of winning the Madden 06 tourney. In the picture below, AJ looks like a white college guy who's enjoying his 15th beer in someone's dorm room on a Thurs night. It was actually roo afza. But it probably was his 15th serving!! :)

6. Harris Lakhani. You know, I just don't know about this guy anymore. I mean, it's amazing, really! The guy recently got engaged (mashaAllah) and suddenly thinks that he can drop the shareef, acha bacha image. Harris, she agreed to your hand in marriage because of those traits! Just keep that in mind and stop polluting our minds! Ha ha. Of course, I'm just joking. Harry Potter is my homie. Well, up until he started making fun of my xbox Madden '06 skills, that is. Oh, I finally got to see his facial expression for when I call him Harry! It's...well...intense. Here's Harry after eating too many samosas and thinking he's somehow teleported back to the 70's:

7. Fahad Siddiqui. He's the 'lover' part of my blog title. And at times the 'punjabi' part b/c the brotha is always down for a little bhangra, mashaAllah. Fahad, I'm sorry I disappointed you. I know that I don't live in the ghetto I rap about in my songs (please Google "2pac Shakur"), but I hope my love for your, let's say "family," overshadows it. In the pic below...well, who cares about describing this pic...do you see this guy's hair!! SubhanAllah...hot/flawless as always! Harris...seriously...what's up with the peace sign, vato loco?

8. Aladdin Nassar. The great thing about Aladdin, mashaAllah, is that he really makes himself feel at home. I mean, doesn't he get that people just say that? You see, just like everyone else in my family, Aladdin soon enough started giving me orders to prepare chai for him. Aladdin also re-enacted our first meeting years ago. Yes, the infamous, I'm-gonna-pull-Imran's-shorts-down-but-also-happen-to-grab-his-boxers-too. That one, much at my expense, never gets old. Just ask Taha. But I can't hate on Aladdin...he let me drive his car...60mph+...in my subdivision...in a Porsche Cayenne (mashaAllah)...it was my early Eid gift! Aladdin entertains everyone by looking all too gay in this picture. And yes, there's Harris with his peace signs again. The 2nd pic is a better one of Aladdin, who uses me as his personal pillow, again proving that he really felt like part of the family that night!

9. Zubair Khan. Yes, Mr. Hydro himself graced my home. Though he suggested where I could stick the Pakistani flag I held in my hand and then did his own version of Taha's slap by walking away from me when I told him my family's preference for marriage to Pakistani women, my brother had sweet revenge by destroying him (over and over and over and over again) in Halo 2. My brother commented, "I never knew ethnic cleansing felt so good." Even AJ and Tariq laughed at that. Don't worry, Zubair, I won't mention how I saw a smile on your face when my brother made that joke; it was too funy not to laugh. Oh shoot...too late. I did serve Zubair and others green tea in a really nice way, which prompted him to say, "If I had a daughter, I'd marry her to you." But then he followed that up by saying, "Thank God I don't have a daughter." Ha ha. In the pic below, Zubair looks like he's teaching AJ the art of meditation...

10. Tariq Syed. Yes, my Bolingbrook partner in crime and reunited work out buddy. Here, he's also looking like he's meditating, but via the xbox controller. I guess it didn't work as AJ emerged victorious in a thrilling game. When Tariq came into my home, I don't think he said salaam to anyone but headed straight to the kana table. Though he lives the closest to me, Tariq was the 2nd to last person to come. Tariq, we never did work out that night, did we?

11. Farooq Alikhan. I start off with praising Allah: AllahuAkbar! MashaAllah, it can only be an act of Divine Intervention that brought Farooq to my house. But, in what turned out to be a complete catch-22 or test of my patience, seeing Farooq was of little good as he spent his entire time 1) eating food, 2) going back-n-forth on txt msging for an hour and ignoring everything else around him, and 3) sleeping for a good hour until 2:15am. Yeah, needless to say, this quality time was one to take advantage of for me. Please see the pics of a passed out Farooq below. :) Ha ha. Seriously, it was really awesome for the guy to make it this far out and to come so late and stay late, mashaAllah. JZK, man.

Well, until next year, inshaAllah! Jazak Allah khair for reading all this and more importantly JZK to all my friends who came by and made it so fun, memorable, and baraka-filled. And we missed all you guys who couldn't make it. Please remember me in your much needed duas.

Salaam!

It's here! iPod video!

Hi

Awesome. Why didn't I buy Apple stock like ten years ago...??

http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html



Peace

Rumi (rh) Quote...

Hi

Taken from Salikah: A Student's Digest:
http://salikah.blogspot.com/2005/10/mawlana-rumi-do-not-lose-hope.html

"One must not despair of God, for hope is the first step on the
road to salvation. Even if you do not travel the road, at least
keep the road open. Do not say that you have gone astray.
Take the straight way, and there will be no crookedness.
Straightness is the quality of Moses' staff; the kinks are in the
staves of the sorcerers: when straightness comes it devours all
the others. If you have done evil you have done it to yourself.
How could the evil you have done ever reach Him? When a bird
perches on a mountaintop and then flies away, what has the
mountain gained or lost? When you straighten yourself out,
nothing else remains. Do not abandon hope."

-Jalal al-Din Rumi, "Signs of the Unseen", trans. Wheeler Thackston, pp. 9-10.

SubhanAllah. And people think that Rumi (rh) is just some esoterical poet talking in general terms of love/romance. May we all take inspiration from this. Ameen. He is mashaAllah a giant amongst the lovers of Allah and the Prophet (sw).


Duas Please!

The Desi Taraweeh (aka tarabee namaz)

AA

Justice demands that I, or someone, write on the bona fide desi taraweeh experience. The following is an attempt at doing so:

Uncle G. You gotta love him, right? He's the dark-skinned uncle who usually stands in the second, third, or even fourth row during namaz. You can recognize him with his Jinnah-style topee, old gray slacks that he wore when his now 18-yr old son was born. Somehow, these pants still fit him despite his rather large, protruding, and unsightly gut, which is thankfully covered by a white button-down shirt Aunty G bought him for his 53rd birthday. Coincidentally, Aunty G bought the shirt at Kohls. Anyway, you can spot Uncle G in a crowd easily because he generally has a big, warm smile on his face as he drinks chai and chats with other uncles. When drinking chai, he uses that large gut of his as an amazingly effective replacement for a tea saucer. Don't worry, though, the hot chai doesn't burn through his skin, because underneath that white button-down shirt, Allah has protected him with a jungle of hair that covers only his belly button.

But the easiest way to recognize Uncle G is during the blessed month of Ramadhan and specifically in taraweeh. He's the one, when the congregation 'sings' ameen in unison follows his 'ameen' with a loud, thick belch that almost convinces you to do ghusl. But this belch is truly amazing! Because, within seconds, you are miraculously taken back in time. To be specific, you are taken back about two hours in the past to when you ate your iftari. Suddenly, you are aware Uncle G also had, mashaAllah, a great iftar filled with salan, chowall, pakoras, and samosas filled with onions. Okay, may be not samosas filled with onions, but at this point in the prayer, that's what you feel!

Fortunately, you, the supplicant trying to please his Lord, are used to this test of patience and have come to accept this as part of a 'normal' taraweeh salat....oops, I mean taraweeh namaz when desis and especially Uncle G are present. But this spiritual moment doesn't stop there...

After a few other rude awakenings (i.e., more belching from Uncle G that has now taken you back to what you had for opening iftar to your main meal and, yes, even to your lassi and kheer), you find yourself coming out from sajood. Uncle G, instead of following your lead and everyone else's by standing up for second rakat, however, remains on the floor. Unfortunately, you cannot help to notice this and are first initially alarmed because perhaps, azubillah, Uncle G hurt himself when trying to lift his body and stomach back up. Before you break your namaz, you quickly realize while briefly looking at Uncle G's bold spot (his Jinnah-style topee fell down while in sajood), that he is actually finishing up his prayer by sitting down. Yes, the same uncle who has the energy to sprint to the buffet line at Shahi Nehari and knock down a few children on the way, has become exhausted and is now forced to pray the way most, if not all, Aunty G's pray.

To Uncle G's credit, however, this Aunty G-prayer style may not happen immediately. What I mean is that Uncle G may have actually tried to get up, but was unable to. Scientifically, it's impossible and your heart goes out to him for trying. I mean, for his skinny legs to push up against an object (his stomach) that carries a tremendous gravitational pull to the earth's surface is simply not possible! So, eventually, he is forced to give up and remains on the floor. I guess, then, it's not his fault, right?

At this time of the prayer, you just finished saying the final salaams. Your concentration was killed, but, hey, at least you went through the motions...!!



:) Ha ha

More from Pakistan / Kashmir

AA

Taken from Time.com (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1115600,00.html):

When they found open ground, families began offering special naful prayers,
while others knelt on the roadside and began reciting the Quran. Loudspeakers in
the mosques urged the faithful to seek forgiveness. "I thought doomsday had
fallen," said Abdur Rashid Hajjam, as he came out of prayers at a Sufi shrine.
"Pray for our brethren who died today and thank Allah for we are safe," said the
imam at Illahi Bagh mosque on the outskirts of Srinagar, which lies in
Indian-ruled Kashmir. "Whatever the scientists say, our Prophet said that when
this earth is replete with sin, this would happen." As evening fell, the
thanksgiving prayer, Nimaz-e-shukrana, echoed from every mosque in Kashmir.

SubhanAllah. May Allah have mercy and favor upon them. Ameen. This is the month of mercy...inshaAllah, this will be some sort of healing.

WS

Earthquake in Pakistan (and India, Afghanistan)

AA

SubhanAllah. Islamabad and surrounding areas was hit with a 7.6 earthquake. I'm watching video footage from MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9626146/) and it's just very shocking and sad.

InshaAllah, those who have passed away (inna illahi wa inna illahi rajioon) will be granted rank of a shaheed and a peaceful resting especially during this month of Ramadhan. Please keep them and my family over there in your duas.

So far, Alhamdullilah, I've heard from some family and they're fine, though experiencing aftershocks that are registering as 5 on the scale. Here's an excerpt from one of the reporters...

...entire villages disappearing...

It's amazing. We're all well aware that Allah is the Best of Planners. And we're also well aware that He is not in need of us. I wonder if this is the reasoning behind such a tremendous devastation? To remind us of His (swt) Ultimate Power? Or is there something more here? Some deeper hikmah that we are not aware of? Allahu Alim.

I saw one article (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1195594) that showed nearly 400 kids died. What can you possibly say to that? The death toll is in the thousands.

Looking at the 'bigger picture,' you gotta wonder what's going on? In the sense that have we forgotten ourselves (i.e., our purpose of worshipping Allah) and is this a result of that ignorance? First there was the tsunami. Then New Orleans. Then even Texas. And now this. What's interesting is that many that were impacted in these natural disasters were all poor.

Again, all this ignorant faqir can do is speculate. That and make dua to Allah, repent to Him, make dua for those that have suffered, and then listen to the advice of our shayukh, our scholars.

Living here in America and the West in general, we have it easy. We do what we can in terms of donations and duas (and I'm not downplaying that responsibility and obligation we have), but we cannot actually feel the pain our brothers and sisters are experiencing.

At least we should try to make a conscious effort to keep the following Islamic principle in mind: If one part of the ummah is hurt, then the rest should be hurt, too. (Sorry, I obviously don't know the exact hadith/wording/etc., but inshaAllah, you know what I'm getting at.)

Duas please.

Ya Allah, have mercy upon us, make all events in our lives a means of drawing closer to Thee, and forgive and overlook our sins. Allah huma salay Allah Muhammad. Ameen.

Yahoo 360

AA

Alright, so Google is fricken awesome, right? I mean, a company's stock that is valued at $300+ has to be doing something right, right?

Well, if you're a Google fan like yours truly, you're probably using the Personalized Google page by now (www.google.com/ig). I like how you can, for example, after adding whatever link you want, can just click and drag them around wherever you want. It's awesome. Seriously, these guys are good.

So now Yahoo! is trying to turn it up and be like Google. They're trying to create or buy cool companies just like Google has (i.e., Picasa, Blogger, etc.). I believe Yahoo bought Flickr, which seems like a nice site. And now they have Yahoo 360 --> 360.yahoo.com.

360 is actually not that bad (see my page at http://360.yahoo.com/ishakur2002) and the idea is actually really good. You combine a blog service, pictures (album sharing), rss/atom feeds, little one-liners, links, etc. So it's pretty comprehensive. So it's like all-in-one. The more I use it, the more I like it. Should be a good thing for Yahoo, since they're definitely still no Google.

Nonetheless, I think Google, and I can't believe I'm about to write this, has to step it up a little bit. Come on, our increasingly globalized world is becoming convergent like many of our technologies (i.e., iPod meets cell phone, treo 650, etc.).


Good times

Dala'il al-Khayrat

AA WRWB

I gotta remember this website:
http://dalail.co.uk/home.htm

The book looks absolutely stunning, mashaAllah*. And it's in praise of the Prophet (sw). Awesome!


Salaam!


*Yes, a hint for you (whoever you are) to buy this for me!

100 Best Products of 2005

Greetings

Courtesy of Sidi/Shaykh Faraz Rabbani's blog (www.seekersdigest.org):

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120763,pg,12,00.asp

Not surprisingly, Firefox, Gmail, and Tiger (Apple OS) are the top three, respectively. Sounds about right. Other notables include: Skype, Treo 650, iTunes, Flickr, Apple Mac Mini (rated lower than I would've thought), and the Razr V3.

Knowing me, I'll probably check out each product I am not familiar with!!


Rgds

GB Fudge Packers

Yes!

0-4, baby.

This is beyond a dream for all Bears fans.



Word

Ramadhan Mubarak (and an early Eid gift)

AA

So there's gotta be a handful of mumins out there who are White Sox fans after today's domination. I mean, you can't even call it a win, but a slaughter (note: BoSox = bakra)! Hey, I'm a Cubs fan, but I gotta give respect to the Sox. Last I checked, it's not haram or makruh to like two baseball teams in a given city.

Okay, so onto the obviously more important topic here:

Ramadhan Mubarak!!!

For all those reading, I request that you make dua for this lost faqir. I'm in dire need of reform, inshaAllah, and so what better month to ask for it?

Unfortunately, being sick and the symptoms getting worse, I will be unable to fast tomorrow. The antibiotics my cousin put me on would also make me very thirsty. I'm bummed, but very thankful that Allah is so Merciful that He (Swt) is lenient upon those who are physically unable to fast. You never know, though. Tomorrow morning, I could feel really good...

InshaAllah, pray that this sickness is beneficial for me as a cure to my diseased ruh. JazakAllahkhair.

Best.

Zaytuna's Ramadhan Site

AA

Man, check out these resources available with just a few clicks:
http://www.zaytuna.org/ramadansection.asp

Enjoy!

What I'm listening to...

Hi

These days it's:

1. Trey Songz. As a co-worker brilliantly pointed out, a lot of people are sleeping on this guy. He's got some vocal skills! Right now, you can hear him on the radio with a song he has with Twista (just gonna make it).

2. Naats. As always, man. Just the classics. Be sure to hit up one of my favorite websites: www.naatsharif.com. It rocks. As well as Qari Wahid Zafar Qasmi, mashaAllah! May Allah Protect him. Ameen. Actually, right now I'm listening to his "Koi Guftagoo Ho." Never heard before. I love it!! SubhanAllah. May our love of the Prophet (sw) increase always. Ameen.

3. Quran. Listening to the two qaris from the IIE/Islamic Foundation event back in August. One if from NY and the other from Egypt, who's ranked (with good reason!) as number one worldwide. May Allah protect them as well. Ameen.

Well, as Ramadhan is just a couple days away inshaAllah, I'll really only be listening to the Quran primarily and then may be naats, but my plan is to listen to as much Quran as possible.

DISCLAIMER: THE ABOVE IS NOT IN ORDER AND DOES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE WRITER'S PRIORITIES IN LIFE!!

:)

Cheers.

Ikea

Hi

I finally got around to checking the new Bolingbrook Ikea. Man, that place is CRAZY! Since this is opening weekend, the place was insanely packed. They had a parking security team set up, a number of Bolingbrook Police, an ambulance on stand-by right in front of the store, and a trolley system.

Sounds serious? Well, it definitely was, man! Check out these numbers:

1. 2 people camped out in front of the Ikea for about two weeks. Why? 1st customer received a $3000 gift card. 2nd a $2000 gift card and third a $1000 gift card. The first place person was a guy from Atlanta who just finished up school and will be starting grad school at Wheaton College. The second place person was a Bolingbrook local who is trying to get a fresh start on living on her own. $2000 gift card at Ikea would certainly help that! And the first place guy has nothing to worry about either!

2. Then, the first 100 customers received a free chair ($99 value). My mom wanted to be one of the first (especially considering that we live 5 minutes away from it), but it didn't happen because she didn't have her car that day. But, it did not matter anyway as I read that at 1am on opening day (28-Sep-2005), there were already 70 people waiting outside!! Jeez!!

3. The first 45 minutes of the store opening allowed for 2500 customers to come in and receive a 45 minute long applause and cheering by the 150 new Ikea employees. In-fricken-tense, huh?

4. An expected...get this...30000 customers were anticipated on opening day. And 100,000 for the first five days. Based on the traffic I experienced there, I am NOT surprised at all.

The store is huge. I felt like I accomplished something when I (along with my mother) walked throughout the store. The store is only 2 levels (I think the Schaumburg one has multiple levels), but do not assume that it's any smaller. It's HUGE!

Within the Ikea "subdivision," there is also a new Bed, Bath, & Beyond store opening soon. There is a small strip mall adjacent to it and may be one or two more stores opening there. But that's not it...

Less than a 1/2 block down Boughton, there is construction (right now in the initial landscaping phase) being done for more stores/a new mall. I believe it will be that location where the new Marshall Fields (I'm NOT calling it Macy's, just like I still refer to US Cellular as Comiskey) will go up along with many other stores. I think that Bass Pro Fishing store or whatever is also gonna open there.

All this stuff happening in Bolingbrook and you're probably wondering, as I do on occassion, why we're moving to Plainfield? Despite Plainfield going crazy in development (being called "The Next Naperville"), it's no Bolingbrook. But, inshaAllah, it'll be home. Oh, and we live right on the Plainfield-Bolingbrook border, so we're not far from all this! :)

Take care.

Darul Qasim Event...

FYI:

Shaykh Amin will be giving a lecture on preparing for Ramadan on Sunday, October 2, 2005 from 11AM-1:30PM. The lecture will take place at Darul Qasim located at 470 E. Roosevelt Rd., Lombard, Illinois 60148.

This program will help all of us get into the right mindset and derive the maximum benefit from the blessed month. InshaAllah.

See: http://darulqasim.blogspot.com/

Salaam

Exciting Job Opportunity for Women...

ATTN WOMEN:

Seeking a professional, qualified lover. The successful candidate will possess the following skills:

1. Customer service. Attending to the needs of the client (see client profile above) at all possible hours. Flexibility in schedule required.

2. Attention to detail. Meeting client expectations in an efficient manner, but with careful attention to details. Relevant responsibilities include, but are not limited to: a) ironing clothing, including undergarments, b) ensuring a Little Debbie's Nutty Bar is enclosed with each lunch, c) selectively choosing pockets to place extra cash for late afternoon Starbucks visit for client-related needs. Other responsibilities as required.

3. Strong work ethic and desire to succeed. Highly competitive field that requires 'ready-to-serve' mentality. If client is unsatisfied with biryani, the right candidate will re-evaluate the process and output a better product.

4. Administrative skills. Candidate should know how to produce potent coffee in order to ensure long-lasting relationship with the client.

5. Strategic financial management. Must be able to work within a specified budget.

6. Project management. Upon generating future clientelle (in this industry, "children"), the candidate will effortlessly maintain functions outlined above while tending to the needs of the children.

Benefits:
You will be provided a clean, nice home to work and live in.

Salary:
Commensurate upon experience.

Minimum Education:
If accepted by next summer, BA/BS required. If space(s) are available now, must be working towards a BA/BS.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of calls expected, we request that no phone calls are made. Send in your resume...

Best Regards :)

The Trials of Umar...

AA

Nowadays, it seems even my so-called "opponents" have, by their own realization, received at least some level of revelation:

http://ushakur.blogspot.com/2005/09/dont-cry-for-me_20.html

Umar, I'll make dua for you. Alas! This is all I can do...

Just remember that Allah tests those He loves, bro.

Holla

Baller, Shot Caller...

This is how a real baller looks like, people. Don't forget it. I know my brother Umar can't. Sure, he had a real good first game in our standard best-of-three series (he won 15-10 and pretty much gave me a few pts at the end because he had a sizable lead), but the brother couldn't hang with me, man...

I had sweet revenge in the second game by beating him 15-10. Then the tie-breaker was a close one with me winning it by two: 16-14. Yeah, I won that on one of my sick three's.

Please contact me if you would like lessons. I'll do my best to help you.

Best

Da Bears

Hi

SubhanAllah, man. Now that's the way football was meant to be played!!!

Bears 38. Lions 6.

Words won't describe my excitement in watching this game today. Everyone played the way they were supposed to.

Holla

My brother, it has been a while...

Oh yes...

A few things about Umar's recent post entitled "Caffeine Fiend" (see: http://ushakur.blogspot.com/2005/09/caffeine-fiend.html):

1) "...and retract a statement I made...": Notice how he starts off with this, right? Was I surprised that Umar, a "Sox fan," was retracting on something? Not at all, folks.

2) You will NOT get stares at Comiskey (US Cellular) for bringing in some Starbuck, but potential beat downs, muggings, and lashings. Welcome to the South Side, pretty boy.

3) Obviously, you're ruh (soul) was trying to reach out to you in Peoria (of all places!) and remind you that you're a Cubs fan at heart. Thus...Starbucks.

4) And finally, Caribou Coffee is waaaaay better than Starbucks. Starbucks settle for convenience whereas Caribou is concerned with quality and taste. But, oh yes, I understand now. You couldn't relate to quality or taste, could you, Mr. Green Bay?

Dang. This was tight.

The Kite Runner (3)

Wow.

Well, who would've guessed that I would finish reading a book before the end of the year? I've impressed myself, to be honest. :)

But I guess it does speak volumes on Khaled Hosseini's excellent writing.

Anyway, I dn't have the time/energy right now to right about it, especially since I've got a lot to sound-off on! Good and bad.

I hope this builds your anticipation...

Cheers.

Labor of Love?

AA

Here's a snipet of an email I sent to AJ in one of our daily email convos:

"Masha Allah, bro.  Well put.  Alhamdullilah, we're lucky to have these fortunate positions.  Hand work is so much more tiring, dude, and completely exhausts you out.  Though I love labor-oriented jobs, man, to be honest.

I'd be the happiest guy if I was a carpenter.  I mean, working with your hands...seeing the day-to-day improvement on something.  Visibly seeing the work you put into something.  Man, that stuff is awesome to me.  And you can make a good living off of it, too.  I've always wanted to, on the side, do a business like that and then start my own full-time.  I know, gay or weird, but awesome.  Having that physical tiredness, to me, means that I've worked.  Really worked, ya know?

Not to downplay what we do.  You absolutely put it perfectly about being mentally tired...and that can impact the physical, no doubt.  And you do also get to see (whether immediate or long-term) your efforts manifested in one way or another.  But, I guess the thing is what you mentioned...to be thankful for the many, many things that we have.  :)  MashaAllah, habibi, well done."

That was the email. Could you imagine me in a social desi situation at, for example, a dinner amongst fellow professionals (let's say a CAMP dinner -- though I've never been to one)? Yes? Okay, fine. But I'm still gonna paint the picture for you here:

"So, what does everyone at this table do for a living," asks the social butterfly, Imran.

"I'm a doctor," answers Umar in a slightly modest, but 'I'm-the-man' tone.
"I'm a consultant. At Accenture," says the next five desis. In unison, too.
"I'm an auditor. At Deloitte," says the vibrant and dashing AJ.
"I'm an IT technician, network guru, and support desk associate," beams Ali in a fobbish accent, despite his childhood and adulthood rearing being here in Amreeka. I mean, America.

"And I'm a human resource manager," says the drop dead gorgeous desi girl (yes, just one girl at the table). "What do you do, Imran?" she inquires in a way that makes me think she wants me. She ends the question with a perfect smile.

"Who me? Oh, I'm a carpenter. I screw in nails all day and then screw over people by charging them extra." Of course, I'm laughing while saying that last line and everyone else does, too. But then I'm asked by the doctor (who else?), "No, seriously, Imran. What DO you do?"

"Umm. Seriously, I'm a carpenter," I whisper back in a sheepish voice. Of course, the network guru follows up with a loud "Vat? Vat did you say?" I briefly looked at Ms. Dead Drop Gorgeous Desi Girl and our eyes met. For about a fraction of a second, that is. Then she quickly turned her eye to the doctor and started smiling at him the way she had just smiled at me. The end (of the carpenter's chances of suviving the desi dunya).

Okay, so the above was a really long, elaborate--I think--way of me saying that telling a 'potential' girl or her family that you, an American-raised Pakistani having grown up with and attend the same schools as all the other professionals, ended up as a mere carpenter. Yeah, it doesn't fly well with you either, huh?

Thus, being a carpenter will remain a dream and a deep, 'dark' secret of mine. Which is now posted on the Internet for the world to see.

:)

Jammin to Junoon

Hi

So, I'm listening to Junoon after a while. They're awesome. Or, I guess I should say they were awesome.

You can still listen to their latest/last CD on their website: www.junnon.com.

Sayoooonneee!!!

Blog Spammers?! I hate you!

Dude!

What's up with these fricken Blog Spammers, man? I'm getting so many random comments from really stupid websites.

It's driving me crazy.

Sure, I can select "No" under "Allow New Comments on This Post," but then I couldn't have the enjoyment of satisfying my ego when I see friends/family posting a comment in response to a blog entry. Seriously, the comments feature is nice, it just sucks that these blog spamming commentors have nothing else to do. Losers.

Done for now.

squarespace

Hi.

This one looks cool if you're interested in starting a blog. Let me know if it's as cool/nice as it looks:

http://www.squarespace.com/

Baby What?!

We live in desperate times, don't we? One innocent night at the masjid (Villa Park), a friend and I were casually browsing a list of postings people place on a bulletin board in the main lobby area. These postings range from someone selling a 1984 Toyota Corolla with 214,534 miles to things like Syed Muhammad 'Moe' Hashmi's Coldwell Banker business card.

These things we, of course, accept. But something like the picture above?! How dreadful. How dreadful, indeed. Some desi aunty trying to be all covert and cover up "BABYSISTER" by placing a "T" over the second 's.' How shrewd, Aunty! I have news for you: We're not that stupid to fall for these type of shenanigans. Sure, our American Muslim ummah may be screwed up, but give us some shread of hope here!

Uft, yaar! La hawla! I can't go on here...

:)

Google Video

Wow

Man, seriously, dude! What does a guy have to do to work for Google? A friend (thanks, Baseer) told me about this:

http://video.google.com/

Fricken tight, dude.

Holla