Owwww!!! And Some Balle Balle!

Hi

I know you sit there at night often thinking to yourself, what would happen if the King of Pop (MJ) and King of Bhangra (Daler Mehndi) were to ever collaborate?

Well, this video clip will probably be the closest thing to that:

DISCLAIMER: THIS VIDEO IS HOT!!




:)

Archived Internet Pages

Hi

This is pretty cool and seems like something Google would've come up with. Regardless, credit goes to Baseer for pointing this out. Here's the email he sent to us earlier today about it:

"this site is awesome: http://www.archive.org/ ...only goes back to 1996 cuz thats when they started the waybackmachine...brings back memories...

type in any site and click "Take Me Back" then click on the date

check out google 1998:

http://web.archive.org/web/19981202230410/http://www.google.com/

depaul 1997:

http://web.archive.org/web/19970205082525/http://www.depaul.edu/

uic 1997 (yukk):

http://web.archive.org/web/19970606093823/http://www.uic.edu/

have fun."

I'm havin fun with this one. I typed in my brother's website and one of his first web pages/design came up (www.umarshakur.com). That's friggen awesome (and scary??). I also checked out:

www.hotmail.com (first one is friggen hysterical!!)
www.yahoo.com (same comment as from hotmail)
www.sunnipath.com
www.darulqasim.org
www.madrasaprogram.com

Enjoy! Let me know if you think of any cool ones.

Word

Islamic Video Clips

AA

Just thought I'd spread the love...

Very beautiful (though there's a delay in the video or something): Quran recitation

Also, you might be interested to know that those Islam: Empire of Faith shows are available on Google Video, too.

Further, from DeenPort, a blind hafiz, mashaAllah. There's a madrasa in S. Africa specifically for the blind. SubhanAllah. His recitation is so beautiful, mashaAllah.

Okay, this is tight.

And there used to be a better one of this online, but can't find it anymore, but still pretty good: Junaid Jamshed

Via Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, I found out that Syed Faseehuddin Soharwardi has some of the beautiful naats he sings on Google Video: 1) Ishq e Nabi Mere Dil Mein Bhi Sama. 2) Stand up for this one, people...Mustafa Jaan e Rahmat Pay Lakhon Salaam.

Okay, I'm done!

Allah hafiz

Slam Dunks Mayhem...

Holla

Click away...

1. Sick
2. And 1 Sickness Vol 6
3. And 1 Sickness Vol 7

Now be good and hope that I don't do any of that to you on the streets...

Peace!

Umar: A Man Disenfranchised

AA

Alhamdullilah and MashaAllah, my brother Umar recently matched into a residency internal medicine program in Milwaukee. It was his top IM choice and forces him to become a "real" doctor now. :) Which is great for me because I had to admit that if he went into radiology, I would've been upset that he couldn't as easily prescribe me free drugs and all the other fringe benefits a "real" doc would get. Haha. Plus, his excellent (mashaAllah) bed side manners would've been gone to waste and an trait like that is very important to have in a patient's well-being.

Anyway, what should've been a celebratory email from Umar turned into something ugly, enlightening, and ultimately disappointing and alarming. So now I ask you to read the following recent email correspondences and make the same call I did: Umar is in fact disenfranchised:

16-Mar-2006: Umar sends email to close family/friends announcing the following (pay specifc attention to the bold/italics):
"Assalaamu alaikum,

Alhamdulillah, I've matched to internal medicine at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. I'll start in July, insha'Allah. Long term I may pursue something in cardiology or pulmonology, but it's a little early to say right now. It will be sad to leave Chicago, but Milwaukee is really just a northern suburb, after all...

I can finally be a Green Bay Packers fan in the open..."

17-Mar-2006: Tareq Mahmud - a fellow UofC alum like Umar and one of his close friends who hails from Philly - responded:
"salam, Congratulations dude! Although Milwaukee isn't nearly as exciting asfun-filled central PA I'm glad you matched somewhere. But sad to leaveChicago? Man, you haven't lived in Chicago since '99. Be real....I'm glad you can be somewhere where people will be more accepting of yourkind and where you can find a community of individuals like yourself. Iadmit when you came out as a Green Bay Packers fan last year I had a lot oftrouble coping with it and trying to understand. You see, my belief systemjust doesn't accept people who have made that choice or who were born thatway or whatever. But I want you to know that, although I secretly hope fora scientific cure to Packers-fannism, I'm trying really hard to accept it,and if that's what you think is best for you in your life, then I'll supportyou in your insanity...."

18-Mar-2006: Umar Shakur's really gay reply:
"Walaikum assalaam dude,

Thanks, thanks a lot. I'll have you know, Packers fan are people too. Sure we may be "different," sure we wear hats that look like cheese, sure most of the fans smell like cheese, but as a until-now expatriate Packers fan, these are things I put up with in the name of one thing: victory.

Sure we had an anomalous year - a terrible year - last year, but I can't wait til this year starts and the Bad News Bears reveal their true colors. And I really can't wait until Orton gets traded to another team (hopefully Green Bay) and becomes a stand-out quarterback while the Bears foolishly struggle on with Grossman.

We shall see who laughs last, muahahahahaha"

20-Mar-2006: My insightful response that pretty much summarizes Umar Shakur:
"AA guys,

Ignoring Umar's very gay reply, allow me to build upon Tareq's email. You will note that this will inevitably be posted on my blog:

See, Tareq, I guess I have a long way to go. I cannot in anyway bring myself in supporting my brother just because he thinks something is good for him. Let's come to reality here. We're talking about Umar. Umar Shakur, to be specifc. A man, as we all know, that will support any sports team based on his affinity towards that team's logo and/or color scheme. A man who will ask, "When is the Super Bowl?" two weeks after the fact. And finally, a man who professes to be a devout Chicago White Sox fan (coincidentally during their championship season) but cannot name a single player without looking at http://www.chisox.com/.

So you see, I just can't bring myself to look past these troubling issues. It's hard. In fact, I often wake up in the middle of the night waking up my mother yelling, "Mommy, you can't be a Bears fan and GB Fudge Packers fan and still be considered human, right? It's not possible, right, mama?" My mom laughs saying, " Azubillah, Imran. You're just having a bad dream. Nothing like that can exist unless the person has no back bone. No go back to sleep."

Alas! Little does dear old mother know about her middle son's dangerous obsession and flirtation with the inherently stupid and prolifically gay GB Packers.

Actually I hear stories -- troubling stories -- of Umar disrespecting the Eagles, your team, Tareq. Again, another tragic example of how Umar spits in the face of Chicago -- the friggen land that raised, cultivated, and nourished him -- by dissin Chicago's own Donovan McNabb. I mean, at least show some due consideration here! A few yrs back when Philly beat Da Bears in the playoffs, I was sad, but at least I knew that it was one of our own that beat us. Sure, the Eagles didn't have a great season this past yr, but they were by no means the laughable GB Packers [abrupt and roaring laughter from everyone reading this for even considering the thought!].

Finally, Tareq, I have some hesitation is continuing to dilude my brother in his simply whacked football beliefs. In his response, he acquainted the words "victory" and "Packers." WTF? Is he serious? I think this only means one thing: the multiple sacks the Bears has on Favre somehow also caused Umar a concussion. And in true Umar-esque fashion, he still disrespected his team by saying, "Sure we had an anomalous year - a terrible year - last year."

Umar, it's not about living in a fool's paradise and thinking that your team is untouchable or infallible, but it's the principle here. One second Umar will be like, "Bears won?! NO WAY, man! I told you these guys are the Monsters of the Midway!!" The next second, "Bears lost?! I figured they would. Anyway, did you see the Houston Texans?! They won! Man, these guys are gonna take it all the way...! I've loved them since Day 1. Woo hoo! And their colors look, like, totally cute, too. Heehee..."

Cheers."

Rgds

Friends & Family: Group Naming

Salaamz

I think it's important to have a group name for each of your respective groups that you hang out with. Aside from feeling cool, you also feel like you belong to something great, something noble, something with meaning.

In honor of this, I'd like to post the following note-worthy, distinguished group names (note: some of these group names were created just now, but definitely fit the bill):

Disclaimer: Before my brothers try to make fun of me on how valley girl-ish or high schoolish this post is, please keep in mind that these are my brothers talking. They don't have any friends. They don't know what it means to belong. And yes, while this blog entry sounds like the beginning of a MTV teen movie, it's still like totally a rad idea, dude. Totally rad, man...

Me & My Bros: 3 Stooges (title name courtesy of our mother). Really, that pretty much sums us up. 3 Musketeers would do well, too. So would Single-Hot-And-Looking. We're like the original 'homies' when that word was invented. Soul brothers up in this. Also, Italians. Think about it: One second we're, let's say, passionately arguing with one another and the next we're straight up chillaxin like we belong on The Cosby Show.

Me & AJ: Rajpoothis, Husband and Wife (the roles vary day-to-day as to who is who), My Buddy & Me (remember that toy/commerical?), The White Man and The Nigga, Sufis up in this, Made-for-Each-Other, UMMAH's Jummah Coordinators, The Executives ("AJ, tee time is at 3pm sharp. We can discuss our company's business objectives at that time, too." "Sounds good, Imran. I'll give you the 10,000 ft view of it.")

Me, Taha, Ahmed: Da Niggaz, Professional Pakistani Pimp Playaz, 3-way, 2pac-T Man-Prince AH (okay, I just totally made those up). Note on pic: Yep, that's Taha's chest hair showing. Yes, AH is in fact either farting underneath Taha's blanket and laughing about it or probably doing something he really shouldn't be. And yes, I do have a beautiful smile (confirmed that night by AH himself).

Me (not pictured; I know, it's unheard of!) & Erik: The Original Thugs, The Original Gangstaz, Girls Suck, I Hang Out in Erik's Back Pocket, 24 was she, Kinda like an armoir if you will, and perhaps most accurately, Dorks. Haha, those have to fit, right, Eswft? But I gotta ask, man, why the hell you lookin so pensive at a restaurant? What could you possibly be philosophizing about? Anyway, I'm sure me and Erik would've had a pic together by now (after 8 or 9 yrs) had he actually been my friend the past year. But now that he can be, I guess we will, right? :P

Me & Taha: Punjabis. Yep, that's it. That word encompasses everything between us. Da Niggaz would apply here, too. Okay, I'm still not sure why he looks so uncomfortably gay in this pic and why I'm blatantly showcasing my foot as if it was insured by the Lloyds of London. Let me also throw in: Roomies, Balle Balle!. Taha's made up some good ones in the past that I just can't remember right now.

Alright, I'll have my other peoples up on this soon, too...

Cheers

Travel in class...

Salaam

Okay, Arabs do have too much money. This is incredible:

UAE First Class


One day...!

Quote Board

Hi

I've been meaning to do this for a while. A blog entry dedicated to random and often funny or at least stupid phrases said via Gmail Chat -- the best thing for people who have firewalls blocking all other IM services -- or email. It's things like this that keeps me sane throughout the business day:

14-Mar-06:
Chat between me & Taha on Taha convincing me to come to STL this weekend:
Taha: "ur f-ing coming to stl....i dont care if that means we have to kidnap u...we will....we already have the knock out gas...aka...ahmeds ass! We will bust into ur house...and hold u and ur fam at "ass-point" w ahmeds BazoooKA"

08-Mar-06:
North Siders Email Group. The guys were trying to figure out what my Gmail Chat Status (="Rajpoothi") means:
Asghar: "Imran what the heck does Rajpoothi mean?"
Mehboob: "i believe imran said thats the brandname of his favorite lungi or something like that."

15-Mar-06:
Chat between me & AJ. The following is AJ's response to an analysis a friend of ours did on some 'stuff.' This is an AJ classic. If you don't get it, you had to 'be there':
Me: "your thoughts on Farooq's analysis?"
Ahmed: "10,000 ft view: he hit the nail on the mother head. not only that, he drove that shit all the way thorugh the board and it came out the other side that's how hard that mother hit that nail."

13-Mar-06:
Chat between me and Taha. This is me giving Taha an update on coming out to STL this weekend, which unfortunately couldn't happen, and his - most likely accurate - reaction:
Me: "Oh, possibility of STL is looking good, mashaAllah. Holla!"
Taha: "haha. With u there is always a possibility. If u were held at gun point and i texted u hey wanna go eat it?, it would still be a possibility"


More, later...

New Links

Hi

Okay, it's been a while since I've last told everyone about some interesting/cool/random links to visit.

Microsoft:

1. www.live.com
2. http://local.live.com/

[Courtesy of Baseer, Farooq. Proof that MSFT can only copy other technologies and try to improve on them. Whether or not you consider them improvements is up to you.]

Google:

1. G-Drive? Awesome!

[Courtesty of Baseer, Umar. Proof that Google friggen rocks.]

Fox Network:

1. Black. White.

[Courtesy of Baseer. Proof that MJ's song Black or White is wrong? Did you get your race card? Ice Cube didn't. Neither did I, yo!]

Dada:

1. MP3 shoe.

[Courtesy of Farooq. Proof that technological advancements can sometimes lead to stupid things. As Farooq would say, WTF? Or as he did say, "scariest thing i've ever seen."]

Bhangra:

1. Dance practice by some fellow Paki who can throw it down! He starts off slow, but towards the 2nd minute, he throws it down and then at the end. Regardless, I want to be his yaar.
2. Punjabi Handshake. A sure to be classic.

[Courtesy of myself and Taha. Proof of my Punjabiness. Haha...sorry, had to throw in something Punjabi. Balle Balle!]

Later

Other Funny Sufis Do Exist...

AA,

Here's proof:
http://beatniksufis.wordpress.com

I like their recent one on hand shaking and this one on finding a sufi woman. Ahh, how I feel their pain:
http://beatniksufis.wordpress.com/tag/marriage-advice/


Enjoy (enjoy fisabillilah, that is)!