Paris Update

AA

Alright, so it's about 1 am here in Paris and I can't sleep. Probably because after my meeting today I accidentally crashed for three hours! I was tired, but didn't realize that I was that far gone! So now I'm totally wired. Not good...

Well, when I first got to Paris, I thought it was ghetto as heck. On the drive in to the city, everything seemed so old and run down. But that was before I got into the central part of Paris. It's very beautiful. Parts of it definitely remind me of Madrid with its architectural design and old, historic feel to it.

The first thing I did when I went out on Sunday was hit up the Eifel Tower as it was right down the street. For some reason, I always imagined the Eifel Tower to be smaller than it actually is, but it's quite grand. I never thought I would be in front of it -- at least not now. It's very nice. When you get there, you can either take an elevator to the top or simply walk up to about the middle of the Tower. For some reason, despite the numerous complaints my legs tried to communicate to me, I ended up taking the stairs. But I must say that the hike up there was well worth it. The view of Paris you have is picture perfect and very serene. At certain points, they have displays pointing out famous historic buildings like Notre Dame, the Pantheon, UNESCO, and many palaces built by kings of France's once mighty and glorious past. And I'm not being sarcastic when I say "might and glorious past." With its rich history, you're immediately drawn back to old world history classes (or at least movies) that described France as a super power back then. It's quite awesome to behold it in person. So much history here...

I actually can't wait until Wednesday when I will have time to myself to do some further exploration of the city. So far all it's really been is the Eifel Tower and Champs de something or another. Haha. It's basically a really big, open field in between Eifel Tower and yet another historic building that once served as a military training camp for "poor gentlemen." And I also got to hit up the Grand Mosque for some good ol' taraweeh action.

The masjid is fairly big and really nice. It has an open central courtyard with the arches you would expect to see in a masjid. Once inside, you feel as though you're in a compound of sorts. -- protected from the haramness of the duniya! The masjid is dominated by Arabs and then by Algerians. I saw a handful of desis representing, too. Prior to taraweeh, the local imam began with a speech of some sort (in Arabic). What I liked about it was that every few minutes or so, he'd quickly say, Salawat Rasool, which prompted everyone in the masjid to say "Salallahu Alaihi wa salam." Nothing wrong with hitting up some "baraqa points." While giving his talk, an elderly black man with a white beard started to walk up and down the isles, spraying each person with a light fragrance of sorts on their head. To my surprise, no one really did anything to stop him. If someone didn't want it, they'd put their hands up, but the brother would still spray their hands instead of the head. That really distracted me because I have never seen it before. But then I thought, Hey, there's nothing wrong with smelling good in front of Allah! We need to institute a similar custom in the US. Specifically against uncles who find it compulsory to belch in the middle of taraweeh! At least spraying that fragance will diffuse some of that obtrusive odor!! I mean, I really don't need to know what uncles had for iftari. And let's get some of these uncles to change their clothes! They smell like they take fricken curry showers!

But, I digress...

I left taraweeh unfortunately early because I had not eaten my iftari at that point and plus it was getting late and I was not sure if I could easily find a taxi to get back to the hotel (which was about a 10 min drive away).

And so that brings me to today. Nothing eventful. I woke up for sahoor and had room service hook me up with some fantastic croissants and French baguette. Then the meeting was business as usual. Then I slept. Prayed. Ate at a restaurant called Suffren. And now blogged.

Will keep you udpated...

Ramadhan Mubarak & Blog Note

AA

Wishing you all a beneficial and prosperous Ramadan inshaAllah. Please remember me & my family in your duas. May Allah make this a source of gaining closeness to Him. Allah huma salay Allah Muhammad. Ameen.

Well, as you know, there's always a yearly controversey as to when Ramadan will start and which opinion to follow. In a mashaAllah brilliant article, Shaykh Amin addresses this issue from a pragmatic, logical, and very insightful Islamic viewpoint. His brief exploration of an unity is very worthwhile to read.

I strongly urge you to read it. You can find it on the Darul Qasim website at http://www.darulqasim.org/pdf/MoonSighting.pdf

Again, a very Happy Ramadan to all of you.

---
BLOG NOTE: I'm going to try to keep my blog postings during this month to a minimum as I really want to take full advantage of the precious time we have. Also, I leave tomorrow inshaAllah for Paris and London and am definitely looking forward to the opportunity inshaAllah. It'll be my first time in Paris and most definitely my first Ramadan in Paris and London. Well, I will try to at least give you guys blog updates on the latest and greatest happenings across the pond...

Cheers / Au revoir / Salaam

The Middle East's Richest People

AA

I'm speechless. Just watch! Thanks to my bro Ali for sending the link!





Pleasant Dreams, Kids!

A Man's Drive...

Hi

What drives a man? What makes him push to achieve new heights? What makes a man so focused and determined? The answer to this is simple -- a good challenge and his desire to succeed. No true man wants to lead a bum's life. Rather, a man needs to fulfil some sort of purpose or meaning in his life, irrespective of what that purpose may uniquely be. You see, a real man has goals and a "big picture" in mind. Accordingly, there is little that will come between such a man and his goal. On one extreme he will kill, lie, and/or cheat to reach his goal. On the other, he may be a text book man that plays strictly by the rules, but works hard within the framework he's provided to realize his eventual goal.

Out of this simple principle of determination, you have a lot of philosophies people adopt: Mind over matter. Where there is a will, there is a way. Just do it. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Etc. Not to exclude women from these not-so-gender-specific-anymore phrases, you must agree that mainstream society's depiction of these phrases are typically illustrated with men. Right or wrong, it just works out that way.

Given this rather impressive compulsion in man, we must ask ourselves: What, then, can actually derail a man from such powerful convictions? If a man is so goal-oriented, what could possibly serve as an impasse? In short, what is a man's downfall? The answer, I've always thought, is also rather simple -- women.

If you don't believe me, then perhaps you will be thankfully reassured that there is an actual study out there that was designed to prove this. The study -- conducted in what is sure to be a purely scientific environment -- discovered that "sexual cues" are distracting. Mind blogging, eh?

Indeed, an attractive woman can come into the picture and royally muck things up for a guy. He becomes suddenly distracted and (at least temporarily) loses sight of that big picture he once had. If you still don't believe me (i.e. if you're pretty stupid about things), then read this article from BBC that discusses the study that proved this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4921690.stm

Consider this from the article:
"Dr Siegfried DeWitte, one of the researchers who worked on the study, said: 'We like to think we are all rational beings, but our research suggests ... that people with high testosterone levels are very vulnerable to sexual cues.
'If there are no cues around, they behave normally.'
'But if they see sexual images they become impulsive.'"

Yeah right?! You're telling me that, clinically speaking, if a hot girl walks by a guy he is going to get distracted by it and become, dare we say, "impulsive"? I'm dumbfounded. This is entirely shocking.

So BBC, you're telling me that these guys wasted who knows how much money conducting who knows how stupid of a study to show that Girl = Distraction for Man?

Thank goodness for the scientific method. We'd be clueless and lost without it. Anyway, sorry for the banter here, but you can tell that I found it to be too funny to have actually read that there was a study conducted on the obvious.

(Note: Similar tests on women have been inconclusive so far. Go figure.)

Cheers

Revelation in Sin City

AA

As you know, I recently crashed in lovely Las Vegas, Nevada enjoying The Strip, the nice hotel resort, the weather (well, at least in the evenings when it wasn't about 100 degrees), and of course my meetings.

The Strip is totally amazing. Totally unreal. Totally haram. Totally extravagant. Totally fun.

And totally religious. Oh yes, religious...

I was dropped off by an Ethiopian cab driver named Z after the second night. Accordingy to Z there there are 10,000 Ethiopians living in Sin City. Z kindly shared this bit of demography with me after I told him that my previous cab driver was also Ethiopian. As you know, Ehtiopia is mostly a Christian dominated country, but there is a Muslim minority there, too, so I thought I would try my luck and ask Z if he was Muslim, too. I think he almost took it personally, based on how quickly he replied back saying no. Like most Ethiopians, Z is also Christian.

In return, Z asked me where I was from. I thought to myself that saying "Chicago" was probably not what he had in mind. If Z was a fob from the subcontinent, however, I would've definitely told him Chicago just to annoy him, but instead I told him that I'm Pakistani in origin. This apparently intrigued my friendly little cab driver and thus ensued numerous questions about Pakistan and Islam. Accordingly my role as a clinical project manager from Chicago here in Vegas for business suddenly turned to Ambassador of Muslim and Pakistani Relations to Ethiopia and Z (AMPREZ for short, please). Carries a hint of authority, doesn't it?

Z started telling me about how people from Pakistan come over to Ethiopia to spread the message of Islam. He then asked me if Pakistan is 100% Muslim. I told him that for the most part it is, but there are other religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians. So he asked if they lived freely to which I said yes (so far as I know, anyway!). The conversation then shifted towards Islam's perspective on Jesus (as) and partly on the Prophet (sw). I told him how we venerate Isa/Jesus (as) as a prophet and how we also believe that he will inshaAllah come back. Z was receptive to everything I told him and was totally unoffensive. Before dropping me off, he gave me a bit of advice. He requested that I pray. And that in my prayer, I ask Jesus (as) to reveal himself to me and to then ask him once this happens to ask Isa (as) who he is. Z was convinced that the outcome of this dream would lead me to some sort of revelation to perhaps embrace Christianity.

In turn, I requested that he prays to God and asks him about Prophet Muhammad (sw). To my surprise, Z and his mother apparently already did this. Z told me how his entire family and his mother were all Muslim, but because of a dream his mom had, she converted to Christianity. How interesting, huh? Usually, you would hear it the other way around. That via a dream, someone is led to the most beautiful way of life (Islam). But I guess this little encounter is proof positive that Allah guides whomsoever He pleases. So on that, I ask for His refuge, guidance, and protection for myself and Muslims all over. Allah huma salay Allah Muhammad. Ameen.


Well, the rest of Vegas, as I've been telling people about it, was pretty much like a fantasy world. Looking back, it felt as though I was in another universe. I mean, on that level, it's extremely impressive. Of course, it's hard -- if not, impossible -- to avoid the evil side of Vegas. Huge advertisements of strip clubs run rampant. While walking anywhere down The Strip, you are bound to run into Lations who unflaggingly throw cards of naked women at you. A friend of mine jokingly asked, Did you lower your gaze? I told him that even if I did, looking at the ground was no help. All those cards and magazines of nude women were everywhere. Running into a prostitute is not that uncommon either. Nor is seeing the bulging, drunk eyes of men looking at the prostitute. I only (I use that word here loosely) saw this happen once. (Thank God my mom wasn't with me...)

I guess Vegas can really be what you make of it. Totally haram or totally fun. I don't gamble, drink, go to clubs, or strip clubs, so you would think I'd totally be S-O-L. But, Vegas still has its amazing hotels -- The Venetian, Bellagio, Wynn, etc. -- and the elaborate shows and displays they set for pure, unbridled entertainment.

So the first night I was semi-forced to tag along with a doctor's son. We both took the shuttle together from the hotel to The Strip and he asked me if I was going to meet up with anyone. I don't know why I just didn't lie, but I told him "No" so we both ventured the streets together. It actually wasn't as bad as I'm playing it out to be. He was cool. His dad was one of the PI's (primary investigator -- i.e., doctor) participating in the clinical trial, so he brought his son with him. They were from Canada and he was in his final year of college. Ironically, neither of us ever asked each other our names. Odd, huh? So with my new buddy, we walked down towards Stratosphere then walked back to the main attractions like Treasure Island, The Mirage, and The Venetian. I was lucky though that the guy's main desire was not to go out drinking or to the strip clubs. In fact, he never mentioned it, which surprised me. Well, I shouldn't say it surprised me...it was probably more so a result of my mom's fervent duas to Allah pleading, Please keep my son away from girls out there and keep him safe!!...

On the second night, I was really close to going with someone else again -- this time a client. I really wasn't in the mood to entertain, so I told him to check out one of the shows Treasure Island does outside of the hotel (the one with the boats where you see beautiful, half-naked women dancing). Fortunately, he wasn't opposed to it and I was able to go on my merry way. It actually wouldn't have been that bad to have chilled out with the guy, because earlier that day during lunch we both talked how we don't drink or gamble out or personal preference and religious upbringing. Regardless, I couldn't make my Google Videos with this guy as easily, so I was bent on venturing by myself.

And now some pics...





So would I do it again? Absolutely! But hopefully next time I'd have some friends with me.

Cheers

Bears Week 2: WIN

Moose has been reborn with Rex at the helm...

Hey

We, mashaAllah, rocked Detroit 34-7.

From the Bears' website: "One of quarterback Rex Grossman's primary goals this season was to lift the passing game onto equal footing with the Bears' top-10 defense and running game. The 2003 first-round draft pick more than accomplished that objective in Sunday's home opener, completing 20 of 27 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns to propel the Bears to a 34-7 victory over the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field."

Bring on the Vikings...

My Jeans

Hi

The past couple weeks for me have not been the same. On an emotional and physical level. You see, my older brother, Umar, took my favorite pair of jeans from me. Really, I can't tell you what this does to me when I can't wear them. No disrespect to my other jeans -- they still clothe me -- but they just cannot provide that same level of comfort as my favorite pair do. We have a lot of history. Years of it, actually. And that's irrespective of the fact that it's not a fancy shmancy elite name brand. It's none other than Mossimo. And I love it.

So when Umar somehow accidentally took it with him to Milwaukee, I was confused (Umar is approximately 1/2 my size). Do I drive up there to get them back? Or should I wait a week for when he gets back? Against my better judgment, I decided to wait a week. But as soon as he stepped into the house last weekend, I of course ask him the whereabouts of my jeans. And of course Umar tells me that he forgot them. So I had to suffer another week without them. I came really, really close to wearing khakis or even look business professional at work for once. Thankfully, however, I stopped myself from such agony and went with the back-up jeans. One is a standard Lee jeans, the other DKNY (which is steadily gaining on my Lee jeans as my second favorite pair).

So, anyway, knowing that Umar was going to come home today, I left him about five voicemail messages last night and early this morning reminding him to bring my jeans. And much to my joy, Umar brought them (as this blog entry is undoubtedly a testament to).

I immediately stripped down and wore my jeans. The feeling was sensational.

Umar was confused by it all. "Dude," he started, "you act like I brought you your favorite woman or something." To which I replied, "You did one step better, my brother."

To better understand my love affair with my jeans, let's take a look at the pros and cons of both to help illustrate my point:

Your favorite pair of jeans:
Pros
- Wear them when you want or take them off when you want.
- Comfortable. Better than your pj's, in fact.
- Never speak back to you.
- Altruistic. Always there for you. They don't care if you rip them, don't wash them, etc. You never have to spend money on it.
- Never get tired of seeing them.
- Still enjoyable even when old and unkept.

Cons
- After many, many years of abuse, they eventually fall part. But is that really their fault?

Your woman:
Pros
- Hot/fun
- Comfortable. Better than your pj's, in fact.

Cons
- $$$$$$
- $$$$$$
- Cannot spend time with her when you want or get away from her when you want.
- They talk a lot. "How was your day?" she'll ask. Just before you say "Fine," she'll say, "Well, OMG! You know Stacy at work, right? Well she said.........[10 min later]....and I'm like, 'I'm so qualified for this project, Mr. Smith'......[30 min later].....and then the idiot cut me off in the middle lane.....blah blah blah"
- Unenjoyable when old and unkept.

Haha. I know I just forever screwed my chances of ever having a girl. Oh well, at least I got my jeans...

Later

Big Pimpin in Vegas

hi

I'm back from Vegas, baby.

And that fuzzy picture is just a taste of the fuzzy week I've had out there. I mean, with all the women and drinking...it's hard to keep everything in focus.

Alright, just kidding. Kinda, though. I mean, Vegas does have a lot of women out there. And I'm sure plenty of people out there drink. But in all seriousness, my first trip to Vegas was both busy and fun. As always, blog postings to come...

Cheers

Fantasy 2006

I'm the one with the hands sticking out.

AA

Okay, first, let's get our minds out of the gutter, people. I'm not dedicating a posting to my or your explicit fantasies for 2006. While it may make for some fascinating conversation, I'll save it for another time (or just avoid it all together, actually)...

Instead, I'm talking about the only thing that matters, at least right now. Fantasy Football.

This year, me and my puthr AJ did it real big. We had a Fantasy Football Draft Party at AJ's apt. The set-up for the event was spot-on. Bags of chips, salsa dip, diet pepsi for us aging, old men, and Giordanos deep dish pizza. All courtesy of none other than AJ, mashaAllah.

You have to realize that the way we arranged for this league to get organized was very corporate and highly professional. Just take a look at the key personnel involved in the league:

Ahmed (AJ). Hydro (his one and only fault). Sayyid/Banu Hashm. Senior auditor. The League Commissioner and Shaykh. DePaul educated; DMC [DePaul Muslim Crew] member. En route for CPA and possibly law school thereafter. Chevrolet Malibu owner. Future pimped-out condo owner. Married. No kids. No pets.

---

[Does "wife" fall under the "pet" category? Just asking!]

Imran. Punjabi. Pakistani. Rajpoothi. Clinical Project Manager. Semi-co-commissioner and League Marketing Director. DePaul (DMC member), but still finishing in the ghetto -- CSU. Toyota Corolla owner. Travelling to Vegas and Paris for work soon. Single. Travelling to Vegas and Paris for work soon. Single. Trave... Get the hint, people?

---

[Oh, and part-time model.]

Badie. Arab. Palestine & Syria. Global Operations Director for a Major Media Conglommerate. DePaul educated; DMC member. BMW M3 owner. Single. Community leader.

---

[How amazing did that just sound, mA?]

Alaa (Aladdin). Arab. Palestine. Global Operations Director for Meadowbrook Homes. DePaul educated; DMC member. Porsche owner. Not so single anymore.

---

[Unknown about the kids, though. ;) ]

Affan. Punjabi. Pakistani. Arain. High-Powered Attorney at one of the Big 5 (or is it Big 3?) law firms. Northwestern educated. U of C Law trained. Hotness Factor = off the charts. My hero. Married. 2 kids.

---

[According to Taha, I'll somehow end up marrying into your family.]

Ahmad (Ziddy). Arab. Palestine. Have no clue what type of trouble he's up to these days. Maybe if he called me at least once or twice a year. DePaul educated; DMC member. Single.

---

[We had to meet our Arab quota, so he had to play...just kiddin!]

Eyad. Arab. Palestine. All around nice guy. Guidance Financial. Fellow Bears fan and Rex Grossman appreciator. DePaul educated; DMC member. Single.

---

[Seriously, one of the nicest guys out there.]

Ahmed (Hassan/AH/Prince). Kashmiri (not his fault). Pakistani. Doctor. Blah, blah, blah. How many times do you wanna hear about this kid? Seriously?!

---

[It's not a blog about him, alright?!]

Ahmed (A-Moose). Arab. Palestine. Comedian (not by profession). Kelloggs/Keebler. DePaul educated; DMC member. Has the greatest older brother of all time (next to my bros, that is). Wish he knew how to use a phone and be my friend though.

---

[He thinks he can hoop. So what if he nearly beat me and Taha single-handedly?]

Tariq. Hydro. Recently engaged. IT industry and at Accenture (imagine that). Recently engaged. My Bolingbrook homie. Fellow Bears fan and Rex Grossman appreciator. Recently engaged. My former work-out buddy. Recently engaged. DePaul educated; DMC member. Acura TL owner. Pet birds (they're mean). And former hick from Tennessee.

---

[Note: he tries to deny being engaged if you talk to him, so I had to reiterate it for his benefit. :) ]

Erik. Puerto Rican. Ecuadorian. One of my original homies. DePaul educated. Honorary Muslim (I taught him to say, "La illaha..."). Baller sales guy at Cingular on his way to mgmnt. Hooks me up with free stuff from there. Pontiac GTO owner.

---

[My original partner in crime and "significant other" at DePaul.]

Omar. Hydro. In IT, of course. Moved from my hood and is now up north in Minnesota!! WTF? Sadly will be forced to watch Vikings games. I feel the pain, bro. Cousin of AJ. Single.

---

[Dude, just when we were getting basketball and soccer down, you leave me?!]

Taha. Punjabi. Pakistani. Rajpoothi (supposedly, anyway). Not really a player in this league. He just crushes a lot. Okay, seriously...He's not a player in the league, but Hassan didn't want to exclude him from the night. Me? I could've cared less. Afterall, it was Taha that stopped me from eating another slice of pizza and having more chips and pepsi because he kept warning me, "Dude, ISNA is in 3 days." WTF did that mean, Taha? Jerk. I thought we were blood, homie.

---

[Him and Hassan's team together are called STL T&A. So much for not getting into fantasies...]

Okay, so those are all the players. The picks themselves were, overall, relatively balanced. Some people obviously came up with a couple better picks here and there. I ended up with an amazing RB squad. LT, Julius Jones, and Willie Parker. My receivers are okay. My QB is Bledsoe (in my other league I have this guy named Petyon F-ing Manning). I think Bledsoe is a huge pick, actually. He get to throw it to TO and Glenn, so I'm hoping for big things from him -- just as long as he can keep the INTs down!

Anyway, the night was definitely successful and everyone applauded the idea of having a fantasy draft party instead of making your picks at home by yourself. In person, you get to trash talk and hang out with the fellas. And there's nothing like that. Even when you're made fun of. For example, every time I stepped away from the living room to check something on the computer, everyone made fun of me yelling, Imran, stop updating your blog! or He's giving his blog readers a play-by-play breakdown of the draft picks. Punks, man. I have a buncha punks as my friends, people.

Well, as you know, one of the best ways to summarize a fun night is via pictures. So here you go:

[left to right] AJ, Taha, Ahmed, Imran [not sure what type of expression I have there], Badie, Aladdin, Affan, Eyad, and Tariq [in the orange]. A couple of the other guys couldn't make it.

The Ahmed's of my life. By the way, nice shot of your foot, AJ.

Taha is really happy (in an overtly gay way) to be in the picture as Hassan and I -- for some reason -- flash random gang signs. Well, Hassan's "gang" sign is more like, "Metallica Rocks!! White power!" Or something like that, anyway.

Aladdin in all his wondrous glory. Just look at him. And Allah Alone Gives Success.

Those are real. As this picture illustrates, his bulging biceps are in fact real. Go ahead, touch it for yourself.

One more time, ladies and gentlemen: I give you the Ahmed's and Me. (Who needs Taha, huh?) ;)

And that's all folks. We'll see how the season unfolds. You'll definitely know whether you want to or not! But, yes, you are right. It would be safe to assume that I'll win it all.

Salaam!

Great Music

Hi

Support this Muslim guy from Oklahoma (never relazied we Muslim folk represented down there). His style is country. Yep, I said country (actually, I never realized we represented country music either), but the voice is seriously very amazing, mashaAllah. I first saw him perform at ISNA last weekend and was compelled to buy his CD (Generous Peace) right then and there. Despite his country background, his message and music is in fact universal and he definitely has the ability and talent to go mainstream inshaAllah. His name is Kareem Salama. His website is www.kareemsalama.com. He's very cool, too. Support yo' peeps, folks!

Changing the beat...

And I know the videos below aren't new songs or anything, but they're fricken tight and you should watch and listen to it, okay (just like Kareem Salama's stuff)? Thanks.

The Killers; Somebody Told Me


The Roots; The Seed



Ya'll come back now!