Bid'ah?

There is no authentic hadith reported about the 15th night of Sha`ban. The hadiths reported about that night are classified by some scholars as hasan (a hadith which has one reporter in the chain of narrators whose identity is not well known, yet he is not accused of committing great mistakes or lying). Some other scholars have refused these hadiths, calling them unauthentic.
The hadiths considered as hasan are to the effect that it is recommendable to supplicate Almighty Allah during this night and ask Him for forgiveness. But there is no specific supplication reported to be said in this night. Hence, the supplications that some print and distribute among people in some Muslim countries as being recommendable on this night is not correct and has no basis in Shari`ah.

In his response to your question, Sheikh `Atiyyah Saqr, former head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, states:

There are three points to be discussed in handling the question in hand: The first point has to do with whether the 15th night of Sha`ban has a special significance; the second concentrates on whether the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) celebrated this night; the third tackles whether there are special acts to celebrate this night or special supplications to invoke Almighty Allah with.
First, there are some hadiths indicating that the 15th night of Sha`ban is significant. Some scholars classified some of these hadiths as authentic. On the other hand, some other scholars considered them as da`if (weak), yet they hold that these hadiths may be acted upon by him who seeks to get closer to Almighty Allah with additional acts of worship.
Of these hadiths is one that is reported by Imam Ahmad and At-Tabarani to the effect that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Almighty Allah descends to the lowest Heaven on the 15th night of Sha`ban and forgives such number of people that is more than the number of the hairs of the sheep of Banu Kalb (a tribe that has a great number of sheep).” But At-Tirmidhi said that Imam Al-Bukhari classified this hadith as weak.
It was also reported on this subject that `A’ishah, Mother of the Believers, said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) offered the night vigil Prayer some night, and while he was praying, he prostrated so long that I thought he had passed away, but he lifted his head and finished the Prayer. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “O `A’ishah (or O Humaira [as he would call her]), have you thought that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not give you your right?” I said, “No, by Allah, Allah’s Messenger. But when you stayed prostrating so long, I thought you had passed away.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then said, “Do you know what night this is?” I said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “This is the 15th night of Sha`ban. Almighty Allah turns towards His servants on the 15th of Sha`ban and forgives those who ask for His forgiveness, grants mercy to those who ask for it, and delays (punishing or bringing to account) the evil people.”
This hadith was reported by Al-Baihaqi on the authority of Al-`Ala’ ibn Al-Harith, one of the successors (At-Tabi`un), which means that this hadith is mursal (reported by a successor immediately on the authenticity of Mother of the Believers or the Prophet himself without having a Companion in between in the chain of reporters). Al-Baihaqi said this is a good mursal hadith.
Ibn Majah also reported with a weak chain of reporters on the authority of `Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “When the 15th night of Sha`ban comes, observe night vigil Prayer during it and fast the following day, for Almighty Allah descends after sunset on that night to the lowest Heaven and says, ‘Is there anyone who seeks My forgiveness and I forgive him (or her)? Is there anyone who is in need to ask Me and I provide for his (or her) needs. Is there anyone who is in pain and seeks My help and I help him (or her)? Is there…? Is there…?’ until the time of dawn.”
Based on these hadiths and others, it may be said that the 15th night of Sha`ban has a special significance. In fact, there is no religious text that stands against this, especially that the merit of the month of Sha`ban as a whole is established.
Usamah ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with both of them) was reported to have said that he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “I have not seen you observe additional fast during any month [other than Ramadan] as you do in Sha`ban?” He (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, “This is a month that people usually forget about between Rajab and Ramadan, and it is a month in which people’s deeds are presented to Allah, so I like that my deeds are presented while I am fasting.” (An-Nasa’i)
The second point to be dealt with is whether he (peace and blessings be upon him) celebrated this night. In this regard, it was established that the way he (peace and blessings be upon him) celebrated this month was by fasting during it.
As to whether the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) observed night vigil Prayer on this night, he (peace and blessings be upon him) would regularly observe night vigil Prayers during nights, and observing night vigil Prayer on this night is like doing so during the other nights.
Hence, observing night vigil Prayer on the 15th of Sha`ban may be recommended, as supported by the hadiths reported above, especially the one in which he (peace and blessings be upon him) advised his Companions to observe night vigil Prayer on it and the one reported by `A’ishah to the effect that he (peace and blessings be upon him) observed night vigil Prayer on it. Though these hadiths are weak, they are dependable in seeking to get close to Almighty Allah with additional acts of worship.
This indicates that he (peace and blessings be upon him) celebrated that night in this way individually, not in congregation with his Companions. Neither he (peace and blessings be upon him) nor his Companions (may Allah be pleased with all of them) would offer celebrations on this night as people do nowadays.
The celebrations seen nowadays on this night began in the era of the followers of the righteous predecessors. According to Al-Mawahib Al-Ladduniyyah, vol. 2, by Al-Qastalani, the successors in the Levant, such as Khalid ibn Mi`dan and Makhul would observe further additional acts of worship on the 15th night of Sha`ban, and, hence, people followed them in assuming special significance to this night. It was even said that those followers would follow Israelite reports concerning the merit of this night.
When this was circulated in the Muslim world, controversy aroused concerning the correctness of such a deed. The majority of scholars in Makkah and Madinah then, including `Ata’, Ibn Abi Mulkyah, the followers of Malik, and others, disapproved of such a deed, considering it an innovation in religion.
Al-Qastalani then said that there were two different views among the scholars of the Levant regarding how to celebrate this night. The first opinion says that it is recommendable that people congregate in mosques to offer night vigil Prayer as a way of celebrating it. Khalid ibn Mi`dan, Luqman ibn `Amir, and others would dress in their best clothes, wear kohl and perfume, and offer night vigil Prayer on this night. Ishaq ibn Rahawiyah was reported by Harb Al-Karamani to have approved of this opinion saying that observing night vigil Prayer in congregations in mosques on this night is not an innovation.
The second view is to the effect that it is reprehensible that people congregate in mosques especially on this night to offer night vigil Prayer and supplicate in groups, but it is not reprehensible that one offers night vigil Prayer on this night individually. This opinion was held by Al-Awza`i, the Imam of the scholars of the Levant.
Al-Qastalani also tackled in Al-Mawahib Al-Ludaniyah the opinions of Imam Ahmad on the issue. According to him, there is no specific view reported to have been held by Imam Ahmad with regard to celebrating the 15th night of Sha`ban. His opinions in this regard are concluded from the views attributed to him concerning observing night vigil Prayers on the nights of the two `Eids. He had two points of views in this regard. He was reported to have said that observing night vigil Prayers on the nights of the two `Eids is not recommendable, for neither the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) nor his Companions would do so. However, he was also reported to have considered observing night vigil Prayers on these nights as recommendable, for `Abdur-Rahman ibn Zaid ibn Al-Aswad, a successor, would do so. These views may apply also to the case of the 15th night of Sha`ban.
To sum up what Al-Qastalani said on the issue, scholars have differed concerning observing night vigil Prayer on the 15th night of Sha`ban in congregations in mosques: some are for and some are against. Hence, I see that since the issue is controversial, one may follow one of these opinions without showing extreme opposition against the other view.
However, some contemporary scholars see that the reason for celebrating the 15th night of Sha`ban is mainly to commemorate the change of the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Makkah, not any other reason. But the date of this change is not certain to be Sha`ban 15; the exact date of this event is also controversial among scholars. Anyway, commemorating events also has the legal rulings pertaining to it. I see that there is nothing wrong in commemorating this special event so long as there is nothing wrong committed in this regard and it is done for Almighty Allah’s sake.
The third point to be discussed here has to do with whether there are special supplications to be offered on this night and whether it is lawful to observe the night vigil Prayer then with the intention of concentrating on asking Almighty Allah to prolong one’s life and enrich one.
Offering optional Prayer with the intention of doing so as a means of getting closer to Almighty Allah is wholeheartedly recommendable. Furthermore, it is an act of sunnah to offer supererogatory Prayers in the time between Maghrib and `Isha’ Prayers and after the `Isha’ Prayer. But offering an optional Prayer so that Almighty Allah may prolong one’s life and enrich one has no basis in Shari`ah.
An-Nawawi said in his book Al-Majmu`: Ar-Ragha’ib Prayer, i.e., a 12-rak`ah Prayer between Maghrib and `Isha’ Prayers said to be recommendable in the first Friday of Rajab, and the 100-rak`ah Prayer said to be recommendable on the 15th night of Sha`ban are innovations in religion. Their being mentioned in eminent books like Qut Al-Qulubby Abu Talib Al-Makki and Ihya’ `Ulum Ad-Din by Imam Al-Ghazali should not make people believe that they are really recommendable acts of sunnah. Besides, the hadith mentioning these Prayers is not an authentic one, and the eminent scholars who thought that these Prayers are recommendable are wrong in their judgment in this respect.
Moreover, Sheikh Abu Muhammad Abdur-Rahman ibn Isma`il Al-Maqdisi wrote a great book specially to refute these two hadiths (Al-Azhar Magazine, vol. 2, p. 515).
Concerning offering special supplications on this night, there is also no authentic hadith reported in this respect. What is reported in this regard is `A’ishah’s saying: “I heard him—the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—saying: ‘O Allah! I seek refuge in Your pardon against Your punishment, I seek refuge in Your pleasure against Your displeasure, and I seek refuge in You against You (Your wrath). Whatever great praises I attribute to You, they cannot stand comparison with the praises You, Almighty, has attributed to Yourself’” (Al-Bayhaqi on the authority of Al-`Ala’ ibn Al-Harith).
The supplication circulated nowadays as recommendable to be offered on this night is: “O Allah, Who has favors unto His servants and no one is to have favor unto Him! O Allah, the Owner of majesty and honor. O Allah, the Owner of wealth and enrichment. There is no god but You, the Supporter of the refugees, the Helper of those who appeal for help, and Granter of security for panic-stricken. O Allah, if You had destined in the Preserved Tablet that I be unhappy, or deprived, or expelled, or poor, I beg Your Pardon, O Allah, to remove with Your grace my unhappiness or deprivation, or expulsion, or poverty.”
There are some other words that have been reported to be included in this supplication. These are “O my Lord! By Your greatest turning towards Your servants on the 15th night of Sha`ban, in which every wise command is decided and made clear, grant me such-and-such ...” This addition is made by Sheikh Ma’ Al-`Aynayn Ash-Shanqiti in his book Na`t Al-Bedayat.
This supplication was not reported to have been said by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). It was, rather, reported to have been said by `Umar ibn Al-Khattab and `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud (may Allah be pleased with both of them). `Umar was one of the rightly–guided caliphs whose tradition the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered Muslims to hold fast to. Besides, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered Muslims in another hadith to follow in the footsteps of `Umar ibn Al-Khattab and Abu Bakr As-Siddiq. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also ordered Muslims to follow the guidance of his Companions in general.
But we are not certain that this supplication was really said by `Umar and Ibn Mas`ud and that it was received with no opposition on part of the other Companions. We are also not certain of the authenticity of what Ibn `Umar and Ibn Mas`ud were reported to have said about the significance of this supplication, namely, “To any servant who offered this supplication Allah granted what he wanted.” (Ibn Abi Shaybah and Ibn Abi Ad-Dunyah)
Anyway, whatever supplication one offers, it should not contradict the beliefs and rulings we are ordered to abide by.
There are two points in this supplication discussed by scholars in detail. The first is regarding one’s asking Almighty Allah to remove one’s bad fortunes from the Preserved Tablet (a record that contains Almighty Allah’s established knowledge about His creation).
Explaining this part of the supplication, scholars said that what is written in the Preserved Tablet is what Almighty Allah has destined for His servants. This includes what is conditional on a certain supplication a servant offers or an act he accomplishes, and includes also what is not conditional, i.e., the decided-upon destinies. Hence, supplications and good deeds benefit one as far as the conditional destinies are concerned, while their effectiveness with regard to the unconditional destinies is manifested only in lessening the burden one may bear in this respect, as said in the supplication “O Allah! I do not ask You to change what You have already destined for me, but I beseech You to lessen its burden on me.” It was also reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Supplications have positive effects on what has already taken place and what has not yet.”
The Companions asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “For what should we work now, for that which has already been destined or that which is yet to come?” He (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, “For that which has already been destined.” The Companions said, “Why should we work then?” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Carry on doing (good) deeds, for everybody will find it easy to do such deeds as will lead him to his destined place for which he has been created.”
In another version of this hadith, the Companions asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “Shall we not depend upon what has been written for us and give up deeds?” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “He who is destined to be among the happy (in the Hereafter) will find it easy to do the deeds characteristic of such people, while he who is destined to be among the miserable ones will find it easy to do the deeds characteristic of such people. So carry on doing (good) deeds, for everybody will find it easy to do such deeds as will lead him to his destined place for which he has been created.” Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) recited Almighty Allah’s words: (As for him who giveth and is dutiful (toward Allah) and believeth in goodness, surely We will ease his way unto the state of ease. But as for him who hoardeth and deemeth himself independent,‏ and disbelieveth in goodness, surely We will ease his way unto adversity. His riches will not save him when he perisheth) (Al-Layl 92: 5-10).
However, according to Al-Alusi and Al-Fakhr Ar-Razi, some scholars did not approve of this explanation of the possibility of removing something from the Preserved Tablet. They say that this may be done in the records that angels write concerning people’s deeds, not in the Preserved Tablet.
The second point discussed by scholars with regard to this supplication is concerning saying that the 15th night of Sha`ban is the night on which every wise command is decided and made clear, quoting this from a Qur’anic verse. This is not right. According to `Ikrimah, he who says so cannot be right at any rate, for the verse referred to here states clearly that the Qur’an was revealed in this night. It is established that the Qur’an was revealed in the Night of Qadr and this night is in the month of Ramadan, not Sha`ban.
There is also a da`if hadith to the effect that the time of death prescribed for one may be postponed from Sha`ban to another Sha`ban to the extent that one might marry and have a child, while his name had been among the dead in the Preserved Tablet (Al-Mawahib Al-Laduaniyyah, vol. 2, p. 260). Though this hadith is da`if, some scholars tried to reconcile between its meaning and the other religious texts that seem to contradict it, saying that what takes place in Sha`ban is copying what is in the Preserved Tablet into the records that angels write, [and therein may occur the change].
But I believe that there is no need for one to resort to such controversial supplications, as there are many other supplications from the Qur’an and the authentic hadiths that one may offer sincerely in one’s prayers.


http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503549106

In Sickness and in Health

Symptoms of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar)
weakness, hunger, sweating, heart palpitations, tremor or shakiness, fainting, dizziness, nausea, headache, disturbed vision, mental confusion

Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue
Fatigue, lethargy
Lack of energy in the mornings, and also in the afternoon between 3 and 5 pm
Often feel tired between 9 and 10 pm, but resist going to bed
Lightheadedness (including dizziness and fainting) when rising from a sitting or laying-down position
Lowered blood pressure and blood sugar
Difficulty concentrating or remembering (brain fog)
Consistently feeling unwell or difficulty recovering from infections
Craving either salty or sugary foods to keep going
Unexplained hair loss
Nausea
Mild depression
Sleep difficulties
Unexplained pain in the upper back or neck
Increased symptoms of PMS for women – periods are heavy and then stop (or almost stop) on the 4th day, only to start flow again on the 5th or 6th day
Tendency to gain weight and inability to lose it – especially around the waist

I have all these symptoms and knew it couldn't just be low iron levels. I upped my dosage of iron tablets & the fatigue remained. I don't gain weight regardless of how much and what I eat ( I can live on biscuits & cakes) and so I did wonder at the weight gain around my waist.

In the past week or so, I started experiencing a tightness in my chest & felt like I couldn't breathe. On Sat morn, I was in the car while my mum went into a store for ten minutes. I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe, tried taking deep breaths to o avail, and had a hyperventilation episode. It lasted for a good few minutes, and so I don't think it's an anxiety attack as the doctor says it is. Besides, I wasn't worried about anything.

But the episodes in the week (albeit minor) were resultant of my thoughts travelling in a certain direction. It happened again a few minutes ago. I'm shocked thinking about something can affect my health. And apparently it's this stressful worry (I wouldn't have thought it stressful but our subconscious reveals more than the conscious) that's led to adrenal fatigue. Although it's other stress as well-which again, I'm not aware of.

So yesterday I went to a health centre, (I'm not a fan of allopathic treatment-no comment SG:-p) & saw a homeopath. She did this screening test thing which identfies all the areas of the body & identifies the problems. It picked up I've been having a niggly pain in my right arm, that I don't drink water (2-3 glasses/week), and the low iron levels, low sugar, adrenal fatigue. And, that I have a slightly overactive thyroid (which I thought would cancel out the fatigue but it's not that overactive)

So there you have it-my medical files:-) I now have to take the most awful tasting capsules for the adrenal fatigue, and I know I have to change my diet for hypoglycaemia, and inshallah, I'll feel way better soon. This permanent state of exhaustion and weak mental power doesn't suit bubbly, otherwise intelligent Bibi haha

Strangely coincidentally, last year at this exact same time I fell sick. I'm used to fainting spells, but that time my entire body went numb, my fingers went stiff and it was a horrific feeling. For the first time in my life, I prayed salaah using a chair & had to stay a full week in bed. I didn't have the energy to move about.

I'm 26 and I certainly shouldn't be having these health problems. I've always been quite healthy alhamdulillah besides for the dizzy spells. But young women are increasingly finding themselves faced with these symptoms. Nobody understands us when we say we're permanently exhausted or feel dizzy or whatever(On Sat morn after the first hour of the show -6-9am -I told my senior producer I couldn't go on alone (luckily a trainee presenter was there and we co-presented the rest. I sounded fine but did't feel fine) as I felt like I was going to collapse. He looked like he didn't believe me & later admitted it after I told him about hyperventilation episode, where I almost blacked out but my mum got to car in time)

So if you experience any of these symptoms, have yourself checked out

I Jump off Buildings for Fun

If you live in Jo'burg & haven't heard of the newly launched adventure centre at Orlando Towers, make sure you do. It launched its swing jump last Sat-I had to try it.

The towers are 100m high and one just steps off the platform (the ooking down part is exaggerated-it was fine) Getting my footing right before stepping off was what I felt slightly nervous about. The freefall is a leetle scary I admit-skydiving was easy peasy!

Here's some pics of my sis Mo'azza & co-presenter Modupi

Reviving the Islamic Spirit

Up, down, prostration with conviction yet lacking
Words of prayer uttered without feeling their power

My soul has taken a bashing
My Islamic spirit needs to be revived

The hijab & values it projects remains
But somehow the noor (light) is gone

Nafs is riding rampant over simplicity
Eroding contentment

Uncertainty pricks at surety
Conspiring to rupture purity

My soul has taken a bashing
My Islamic spirit needs to be revived

I was meant to be at the MSA National Camp in Durban from Sun-Tue, but unfortunately, something came up at work and I couldn't make it. The Cape Town MSA conference is coming up in August & Inshallah I very much hope to be there.

I need to be there...

Their website had a link to a speech by Amr Khaled, the Egyptian Islamic televangelist who hosts a show on Iqra. Subhanallah-it gave clarity to my enshrouded thoughts, and my spirit feels refreshed.

It's a long speech, here's the full link http://www.msacape.org/learning/integration.pdf

But here's a taste...

The main problem concerning Muslims in the west is that they could be divided into two
sections: the first section, is those Muslims who know their religion well but have been so
confined within themselves (introverted) and they refuse in everyway to deal or interact with
the western society. Why do they act that way? Because they see the western society as a
society full of mistakes, sins, and vices. So they see such and such a problem in the western
society and choose not to deal with it in any way. Instead, they get confined within themselves
and they refuse to open up to this society.
As for the second type: what do they say? They say, “Nothing is better than this civilization.
Forget about your country, man. They are all backward and under-developed. I am here in this
society. I adore them, anything they do is right, and anything coming from my country is
absolutely wrong, not just that, I also want to copy them in every detail”. So we see some of
our children from the second generation with their hair cut the same way as they do. They
imitate the way they same walk. The way they think. This is briefly the second type.
They also come in another form. The form that has already dissolved within the western
society. So the first type is introvert and the second type is somehow dissolved. Maybe not
dissolved as far as their conviction is concerned, but dissolved with regard to their strictly
material life. When you look at them you find that they are very vulnerable. They have no
straight idea about religion and worshiping Allah. What to do during Ramadan? How to come
close to Allah? All this is gone. Materialism has gotten the best of him. It has manipulated their
lives and they find themselves spinning endlessly in this wheel until the day they pass away.
There is only one other form of this last type. This is the form of people that have been
controlled by the sensuality and sexual instincts that mark the western society, particularly the
youth.
Very few in between all those belong to a third type; they neither like the first type nor the
second type. I have come today to talk about this third type.
I have come today to say, according to the minimal and humble information that I have about
the west, to say that both types are mistaken. So I will start with the first type that has been
introverted within themselves saying that they don't want to deal with this society, they hate it
and let them all rue in hell. I will start by addressing them and asking, “Gentlemen, is this what
Islam requests of you? Is this the true Islam? Are we asked to be introverted or are we asked to
integrate in a positive way, in a way that wouldn't dissolve our identity?” This is the option that
I have come now to talk to you about. There is a third pattern called: mingle or integrate in a
positive way without dissolving.

I have just come from Austria now. While I was there I met a young Muslim who lives there and
holds a highly ranked position. This Muslim volunteered to become a fireman. So when he went
to the Fire department they asked him about his religion and learned that he's a Muslim. So
they replied, “This is the first time we see a Muslim interested in coming here”. So he
answered, “I am volunteering”. But unfortunately, because the image they have about us is that
we are introverted, they replied sarcastically, “Do you think that we will extinguish only the
houses of the Muslims?” Do you get the essence behind these words? So he replied, “Of
course, I know you're not. I am here for the whole country.” Only six months after that incident
this person became the most appreciated and respected fireman in the whole department. He
says, “They look at me now with an extremely unusual amount of respect, all those who knew
me started respecting Islam”.


Our souls could die if
they are starved. The same way your stomach hungers for food, the soul also hungers for Allah.
If you stay a whole week without food you will die. The same applies to the soul, the body
(because it comes from earth) doesn't hold on for long. But the soul (as it is divine) is tougher
and holds on for a while, maybe 20 years, but it will eventually die. So I want you to balance
things. Balance. You come home at 6 in the evening suffering from long hours at work, so at
least give yourself 20 minutes of Qur'an. Twenty minutes to revive your soul. Feed it, have
mercy on it. Your wife keeps chatting over the phone for 2 hours non-stop. Why don't you give
yourself 15 minutes of Dhikr? You keep watching TV with your wife to freshen yourself after the
hectic hours of work. No problem as long as you're watching something permitted (Halal). But
instead of watching TV for 2 straight hours why don't you make it one hour and a half? And
then the rest of that time pray, even if it is only 2 rakaa's. You and your wife, let the angels fill
your home instead of filling it with shayateen, you go every year to enjoy the summer vacation,
why don't you put some money aside for Umrah? You take a summer vacation every year. Why
don't you renew your soul, one year? I am just asking you to balance between the requirements
of the body and the requirements of the soul.
For that reason there's a Surah in the Qur'an that warns those who have lived for their bodies
and forgotten their souls, we all know it by heart, and I have never seen any warning in eight
consecutive verses except in this particular Surah. It is for those who have lived for their bodies
and forgotten their souls. In Surat Al-Takathur (The piling Up) Allah says what can be translated
as, “The mutual rivalry (for piling up of worldly things and bodily pleasures) diverted you (1),
Until you visited the graves (i.e. till you died. He who has lived for his body only shall end in the
grave) (2), Nay! You shall come to know! (3), Again nay! You shall come to know! (you shall
come to know your end. this is a very strong threat for you all) (4), Nay! If you knew with a sure
knowledge (the end result of piling up, you would not have been occupied yourselves in worldly
things) (5), Verily, You shall see the blazing Fire (Hell)! (6), And again, you shall see it with
certainty of sight! (7), Then on that Day you shall be asked about the delights (delights of the
body)! (8). (TMQ, Al-Takathur:1-8).

Sex on Stilettos

I need you guys to nag me please. i've been meaing to blog on a good few issues for ages (& thanks waseem-you're too kind, but I don't think my posts are all that intelligent)

And I will. Nag me if I don't.

But for now, here's an interesting read...Found it on www.iafrica.com

Article By: Lucy Hunt
Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:01
Falling in love with someone, and I firmly believe this, can be blamed on science. My Time magazine subscription couldn't have come at a better time. For in it was a detailed and more importantly scientific explanation as to why we feel like a tray full of merde after we seperate from someone. It's a relatively simple hormonal formula, only made imperfect by the hormone itself. Genius!

The article also bears testament to my caution with pursuing a long-term relationship with someone. Some of you might even find this sensible, even if I do fanny around on the apocalypsal border of sex-without-strings.

When your heart has been chiselled in half, the heart-rendering, painful succumbtion to hell, can mostly be blamed on a hormone called oxytocin.

When we feel good — and this can take on several parallels — that feeling after exercise, a promotion at work... we start secreting oxytocin. These activities make us feel terribly satisfied with ourselves.

Happy hormones...

Day to day, we have tolerant levels of oxytocin in our systems, and hence, we can generally describe ourselves as happy individuals.

When we start falling in love with someone, the sluice gates open, and oxytocin is only but being dumped into our systems by the plateful. It just keeps coming, and hence the 'walking on air', 'thinking about that person all day long' feeling. We're on a high, and frankly, we become drug addicts.

As lovely as oxytocin is, it doesn't come without its basic evolutionary flaws. Trust me. Everything's good until you don't get a fix.

Firstly, our bodies start becoming tolerant to the hormone, which means after 18 months, the effects wears off, and you wonder whether you're actually still in love. Try as you may to hold onto this feeling, you're going to lose.

The second flaw is more maleficent, because it's going to screw you over. If the object that has been systematically feeding you oxytocin suddenly disappears/breaks up with/cheats on you, you're going to feel it bad. It's going to hurt like a bed of nails... except with just one nail. In your business end.

For example. You find someone, you fall in love, you write his name on you doodle pad without even thinking, things are just grand — you're shagging like you're in first year, he's taking you out for dinners. Hell, he's even writing you poetry. You have 'a song,' you've introduced him to your eccentric parents, and you smooch in public areas. The more you touch each other — because physical affection just exacerbates the problem (sex especially) — you become more and more hooked on the feeling. Then say, after a few months, she happens to dump your sorry ass.

And you're going to be sorry.

Going cold turkey

Unluckily oxytocin only associates itself with the thing that has given it to you. This is where it all goes wrong. It explains why rebounds can never replace what you're looking for. In the same vein, it also partially explains why we have rebounds in the first place. We're desperately trying to feel 'normal' again. You can try to find another dealer, but sadly your body has latched onto only that person, which is why straight after a break-up, you feel like Pete Doherty after five days of no crack.

You're not getting your daily fix, your dealer has left the building. Suddenly, you have negative doses, and you're literally going cold turkey. That crushing feeling, the not being able to eat or sleep, the tears, the pining? Blame it all on creation. Once your body acclimatises again (two or so months, because the oxytocin has started to level out normally), you come out feeling more objective about the situation.

To make matters worse, during the la-la phase of 'love', your body is also churning out great big dollops of dopamine. Another feel-good hormone. When your dealer starts handing the drug to his company secretary, you'll feel the sudden lack of both 'high as a kite' products. Harsh.

Another drawback (yes, there's more) is that women, having oestrogen in their systems, and men having testosterone, brings in some cataclysmic side affects. Girl meets boy at a bar. Girl has three cocktails, a shooter and then a double whisky on the rocks. Boy has a beer, then a glass of water, a three-course meal, and then maybe another beer. That's exactly the affect oxytocin has on men and women.

Girls hang from the ceiling, because they, frankly, can't help it. Oestrogen mixes with oxytocin to unwittingly create an internal bodily combustion of lust. It's the most unfair evolutionary make-up I have heard of, followed closely by male domination in the workplace.

Testosterone actually waters down the effects of oxytocin, so yes, 'tis true: men don't become attached as quickly or even as intensely, as women do. Back to the caveman hunter/gatherer scenario. It's an injustice that simply can't be helped, and thus, the oxytocin diet is a dangerous one. Even if it does feel like you want to scream his name in joy from the rooftops.

Of course, there are always exceptions. The fella that just can't get over his philandering ex-girlfriend, or the dude who hoists a boom box above his shoulders to play Bryan Adams' 'Please Forgive Me' over her lawn. Pitiful, and unlikely, but not to say it hasn't happened before.

The only course of action one can take is just to be acutely aware of these basic, carnal developments. You may be feeling the lust, and it might be good, but just be aware that often it is drug driven. Which is partly to blame for why it hurts so much when it disappears overnight. And on the flipside, it feels so good when after those trial 18 months, it's still going strong. If you've made it passed that time frame, you can rest assured that your relationship is more than just oxytocin. I'm just saying...

PS: Guys, what's your thoughts on stilettos?

PPS: Yes, i know this wasn't a 'good Muslim girl; post :-)

PPPS: I came across this too on muslimquest.blogspot.com.


A Man's Torture

What is up with women this summer? Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the doctors this year ordered all women to get an extra dose of Vitamin D.

And it's torture. I'm usually good at lowering my gaze. But often there is so much nudity around me, that it's like walking through a beehive. I'm bound to get stung.

Even lowering the gaze doesn't work sometimes, thanks to ads painted on sidewalks. I started looking up to the sky instead, but even then there's billboards.

And even when it's safe to look forward, I hear high heels hitting the ground. May whoever made the first high heels burn in hell!

And even when there is no sound to be heard. I can smell the perfume. Why do you women do all of this?!

Ads are horrible. Sex here. Sex there. Sex everywhere! Just leave me alone will you?

"Just don't look at them", you say! Everyone is leaving you alone! No one's forcing you to look!

Thanks for the advice, but this is stupid. This is like putting a cocaine addict in a world filled with cocaine. Or a fasting person in an open buffet.

And the thing is I have no choice over this addiction. God put it in me. Without it, we'd be extinct!

But the addiction itself isn't that bad. Bachelor life is actually quite good. If only women didn't dress so provocatively and I was free of these pesky ads!

It's just sometimes there's these episodes, triggered by provocative female behavior, where everything in my mind comes crashing down. The focus becomes women. And I don't feel like doing anything except think about and pursue women.

And putting the pieces back together to a normal mental state is like swimming up a gushing river.

Wallahi sometimes I wish I was a kid again.
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Let's have the conversation..

Rainbow Quilt

I've always found the scent of tea brewing to be one of the most evocative aromas. A good cup of tea cannot be over-estimated. It's a heady luxury of simplicity. It's a magical means of transportation to my inner world, a realm of rainbow dreams.

And just as I use tea to infuse me with relaxation, perhaps it is also responsible for infusing me with lethargy.

Yes, I know, every time I blog after a hiatus, I have some excuse or the other. But tis true.

Recently, I've been really enjoying life. Do you ever feel that life is like slow-paddling along in a gently meandering river. Enjoyable but nothing exciting...That's how I would describe my life & while I crave excitement now & then, lately I've become increasingly cognisant of how happy I am, Alhamdulillah.

This blog post is a quilt of rainbows infused with pink. It drizzled & stormed, but the sun shines.

While his rainbow has no pink, congratulations to Hamish for having his book 'The Rainbow Has No Pink' selected as a Citizen's new author finalist. Please vote for him at www.30degreessouth.co.za

His rainbow will one day shine brightly. For now it is dimmed by the occupation of his country. Mabrook to Khalid, author of www.secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com on graduating as an engineer mashallah.

His rainbow is a riot of colour. Congrats to my mate & personal nag Jake, who is nearing completion of his book.

Do they still believe in rainbows? After being violently displaced in attacks which could have been prevented had the government acted sooner, do nationals from other countries living in South Africa have hope for this country, this land?

Do the residents of middle-class suburbs protesting against camps for the displaced being erected near them not think one day they too could be walking under black clouds? Do their rainbows have no pink?

The skies of Gaza are putrid with noxious fumes of lies and inhumanity. But despite the darkness, a faint rainbow of tiny proportions gleams forth from the heart of every Gazan.

His rainbow gleams gold for some, but others see it for the tarnished copper it is. As a black man, Barack Obama's Democratic nomination victory is to be applauded, but his values are hollow.
An excerpt of a speech: "We know that the establishment of Israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle, and decades of patient work. But 60 years later, we know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as President I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security.

Not when there are still voices that deny the Holocaust. Not when there are terrorist groups and political leaders committed to Israel's destruction. Not when there are maps across the Middle East that don't even acknowledge Israel's existence, and government-funded textbooks filled with hatred toward Jews. Not when there are rockets raining down on Sderot, and Israeli children have to take a deep breath and summon uncommon courage every time they board a bus or walk to school."

Yeah, take a moment to gag.

Leaders gather for the World Economic Forum to discuss ways to improve the lives of the indigent, while the controlling stakeholders in the forum wilfully destroy the rainbows of children.

The production of food for use in biofuels is subsidised, and millions starve. At the UN food summit, governments argue over geopolitics and trade barriers, and fail to reach an agreement to combat hunger affecting a billion people worldwide. Their stomachs are bloated with capitalist wealth, let the stomachs of the poor bloat with kwashiorkor. They see not the rainbow, they lust after the gold.

Dare I continue? Dare I rain tears on these rainbows of pain? But what of the rainbows of joy?

When is National Science Week a success or a failure?

I've been asked to blog this on behalf of a friend and editor. She's pretty tizzed off at the behaviour of a certain scientist, and wanted this to be known without people knowing she wrote it.

When is National Science Week a success or a failure?

How about when the scientist participating in National Science Week (May 10 to 17 2008) refuses to speak to the media. In fact, she refuses to tell the media that she refuses to speak to the media, so the media spends days - no, weeks - phoning and leaving messages.

Maybe Zinhle Buthelezi's being funded by MTN, which must have made a pretty penny off all the phone calls sent to the physicist at her 083 cellphone and her landline at the national iThemba particle physics accelerator in the Western Cape.

Buthelezi was happy to host a brunch with a handful of science teachers from the Khayelitsha and Blue Downs regions of the Western Cape on the first day of National Science Week. Fabulous. She was happy to speak to visitors to iThemba, which manufactures highly specialised radioactive medicines and treats people with head and throat cancers on site with its nuclear capabilities. Great. But aside from the first phone call - on the Monday when Eskom had taken iThemba offline for the entire day for some kind of maintenance, and she said she would phone back - she resolutely ignored phone calls from media in print, internet, radio and television for nearly two weeks. What gives?

She didn't even have the guts to tell Hazel Makuzeni - the hardworking producer of the women's programme Otherwise on SAfm radio - that she would not join the lineup of talented women scientists organised for one day during National Science Week.

So SAfm had Tsungai Jongwe, a microbiologist, Lynthia Paul, a molecular biologist, and Fikiswa Majola, a chemical engineer - but no physicists. Could someone please explain how exactly physicists will persuade anyone to do the maths and science needed to become a physicist if they've never heard a physicist on radio or seen a physicist on tv or read about a physicist in the newspaper? Is this the Black Hole approach to physics promotion? Rumour has it that she claims she had a bad experience on radio. Well, hey - there were people lined up to coach you in radio, Dr Buthelezi, and you didn't take advantage of it. And if you thought radio was bad, maybe speak to Tsungai, Lynthia and Fikiswa, or Busi Maqubela of the MTN Sciencentre, who appeared on SAfm's Saturday night current affairs programme, or Dr Gillian Arendse, who spoke with Dr Lynthia Paul on the morning current affairs programme Monitor on Radio Sonder Grense - because they had a good time and don't seem to have suffered from any dangerous misquoting. Maybe - just maybe - the fault lies not with radio, but with yourself, Dr Buthelezi? Assuming that all radio is the same is a bit like assuming that all science is the same. Or all scientists. Welcome to diversity.

Zinhle is on the SAASTA website (South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement) as a role model - http://www.saasta.ac.za/women/buthelezi.shtml Huh. Role model for what - an ostrich? No, that's not fair - ostriches don't really stick their heads in the sand, they just duck their heads down to swallow pebbles to help grind down the food in their stomachs.

In contrast, Nonhlanhla Mokoena, who is doing her master's degree in physics and works at Koeberg power plant, spoke at SciFest Africa in Grahamstown in April this year and was interviewed and photographed extensively, including a print story used in every corner of the country and generating literally hundreds of thousands of rands if you were to buy that kind of space as an advert. Now that's more like it. And because she spoke to the media, Nonhlanhla has been able to motivate people who were on the verge of dropping out. Not Zinhle, no.

She also ignored Christina Scott, Africa news editor of the Science and Development Network website.

So, hey, we're just dumb journalists. Explain to us how someone educated in the public system, using public funds, and doing publicly funded research at a publicly funded institution gets to be such a prima donna that they feel they have the right to treat the public like morons. Because it's not just about the media people is it - although it is embarassing to consider how she wasted the time of other hardworking professionals - it's about closing off avenues to communicate science to the broader South African public. Including the taxpayer.

I'm told there were fewer than ten teachers at the iThemba brunch, while at best, Ukhozi radio can reach 9 million people. So is this about being a control freak? Or a deliberate attempt to damage the amount of publicity given to a once-a-year event like National Science Week? I'd ask her - but she wouldn't return my phone call, would she?

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Have you ever avoided calls/emails from the media? Have you ever felt the media misrepresented you? But that's the beauty of radio-what one says is what the listener hears. it's not like print where one's words can be distorted.

No to Carrots

Clicks stocks Yes to Carrots-a beauty product range. Cosmo or Glamour or some such magazine had given it a good review, & so I thought I'd buy something. On reading the box at home, I saw it was made in Israel.

On the day I returned it I was with a friend. The salesperson asked, "What's your reason for returning it?" "Ethical reasons", I replied. "It's made in Israel." "Why is that a problem?" he then enquired. Flummoxed, I tried to figure out if he was aware of the situation & could not be bothered or if he was clueless. My friend & i then explained. "It's an occupying country...far worse than apartheid in SA...guilty of human rights abuses...stole the land.." The cashier listened with interest too. And in the book he wrote down my reason. As we left he said, "I'm so glad I got this opportunity to speak to you. I really enjoyed our conversation, and I'll take note of what I've learned."

So here's an idea. If you can, but a Yes to Carrots product, then return it, citing the reason 'it's made in Israel.'

Walking through Rosebank Mall that day, I noticed a good few people wearing the kefiyeh (Palestinian scarves) which are in fashion. Last year, on a day I was wearing it, one of my sisters, who had just returned from London, mentioned it's in fashion there. I didn't know that. A short while later, I flew to Durban. The passenger sitting next to me was wearing a kefiyeh. Curious, I asked him if he was wearing it to make a ploitical statement or because it was in fashion. Sadly, it was the latter.

A potent symbol has been cheapened by the fickle whims of fashion. But we can use it to raise awareness if we ask people why they're wearing it, & proceed to explain the plight of Palestine.



As Palestine mourns another lost year, as it marks 60 years of the nakba, let us wear our kefiyehs always with pride & solidarity.

Rev Wright is so right

Jeremiah Wright Delivers the Knockout Punch
by Mike Whitney, CounterPunch

Reverend Jeremiah Wright appeared on PBS Bill Moyers Journal on Friday night and delivered a knockout punch to the bully-boys in the corporate media. It was an impressive performance that left the political assassins over at FOX News choking on their sausage-rolls. Wright showed that he is neither a fanatic nor an " America hater"; just an extremely well-read and principled man with an unshakable commitment to justice. Wright has also paid his dues; he's an ex-Marine who served in Vietnam when most of his critics were either hiding behind their student deferments or languishing in the "Champagne Unit" of the Texas National Guard. He's earned the right to say whatever he chooses.



Rev. Jeremiah Wright:



"And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of India n descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains. The government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton fields, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into position of hopelessness and helplessness. The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law, and then wants us to sing God bless America ? No, no, no. Not God bless America ; God damn America !



Right on. No one disputes Wright's summary of US history. His comments have simply been taken out of context to beat up on Barak Obama; everyone knows that. Just like everyone knows that the media has been retooled to destroy political enemies, which means anyone who poses a challenge to America 's unelected corporate oligarchy. That's why it is so frustrating to hear people say, "The media is not doing its job."



That's just plain wrong; the media IS doing its job. It's cheerleading the country to war, it is diverting attention from the main political and economic issues of the day, and it is destroying its political enemies. That's what it's paid to do. Its foolish to think the media should perform differently because of the PR nonsense about a "free press". The media gets its marching orders from its corporate managers; that's who issues the paychecks on Fridays. It's their agenda that counts, not ours. The political assassination of Barak Obama just happens to be on the top of their list this week. That's why the media is zeroing in on Rev. Wright; he is the sacrificial lamb.



What the media is trying to do by singling out Wright is to make it look like blacks are outside of the mainstream and hostile to white American society. It's all pretty straightforward. They're trying to create the impression that blacks conceal a deep sense of grievance which expresses itself in rage. This generates feelings of fear among whites which, of course, is all part of the strategy. The message is simple; "blacks are angry, blacks are dangerous" and, oh by the way, Obama is black.



Is it fair to say that that is essentially a racist message?



What's so clever about the attack on Wright is that it was set up in a way to make it look like the Reverenda man whose entire career has been devoted to social justiceis a racist. That took a bit of maneuvering. In fact, the media, and their friends at the right-wing think tanks, had to dig through 15 years of Wright's sermons to find just the right snippets they needed to destroy Obama. Now that's determination! The attacks on Wright bear all the earmarks of a well-engineered Karl Rove-type operation. Nothing has been left to chance. All the mud-slinging and poisonous innuendo has been arranged with the greatest attention to detail and with real professionalism. These guys are pros. They know what it takes to ruin people and they are good at it.



They decided the best way to go-after Obama was by using his "blackness" against him. It took considerable skill to invoke the "race card" without being discovered. The tables were turned in a way that made it look like Wright and his parishioners were the racists and whites were merely blameless bystanders. That's the real genius of the Wright smear-campaign.



For more than 5 months Obama had been able to run on a campaign on issues and experience, but the attacks on Wright have changed all of that. Now the public sees Obama as a black man; at least that's the intention. Race has become one of the dominant issues on the campaign-trail and Obama routinely fends off charges that blacks foster a hidden resentment towards whites because of the way they have been mistreated. Obama is no longer just a man running for office; now he's a black man. That's how swift-boating works. Like they say in the Godfather; "It's not personal; it's just business". The business of personal destruction.



Fortunately, Bill Moyers, one of the giants of journalism, decided to give Wright a chance to acquit himself before the public. Wright took the opportunity and made the most of it.



Rev. Wright: "God is the giver of life. Let me tell you what that means. That means we have no right to take a life whether as a gang-banger living the thug life, or as a President lying about leading a nation into war. We have no right to take a life! Whether through the immorality of a slave trade, or the immorality of refusing HIV/AIDS money to countries or agencies who do not tow your political line! We have no right to take a life!"



Wright showed that the doctrine he preaches, Black Liberation Theology, is neither discriminatory nor racist as the media has suggested. Rather, it integrates the teachings of Jesus Christ with the real-time struggle for social justice and equality. Compassion is not possible if one does not have a grasp of one's own culture and identity. That's why Wright tries to reconnect his congregation to their roots, so they can be proud of who they are and have more productive lives.



Rev. Wright:



"You know, you come into the average church on a Sunday morning and you think you've stepped from the real world into a fantasy world. And what do I mean by that?" He said pick up the church bulletin. You leave a world, Vietnam , or today you leave a world, Iraq , over 4,000 dead, American boys and girls, 100,000, 200,000 depending on which count, Iraqi dead. Afghanistan , Darfur, rapes in the Congo , Katrina, Lower Ninth Ward, that's the world you leave. And you come in; you pick up your church bulletin. It says, there is a ladies tea on second Sunday. He said, "How come the faith preached in our churches does not relate to the world in which our church members leave at the benediction?"



This is the essence of Black Liberation Theology; how to make sense of the world we live in so the word of Christ can be applied in practice. Wright thinks that faith should be a transforming experience that changes behavior and shapes lives, not just a few hours of prayer every week at Sunday services. Does that make it "a race-based theology? (as Moyers asks)



Rev. Wright: "No, it is not. It is embracing Christianity without giving up Africanity. ...We're not givin' up who we are as black people to become somebody else...No mas. Nada mas. We're gonna be ourselves. We're gonna be our culture. We're gonna be our history. And we're gonna embrace it and not say one is superior to the other. Because we are different. And different does not mean deficient. We talk about God of diversity? God has diverse culture and we're proud of who we are and that's not a race-based theology."



Wright has also been skewered in the media for suggesting there may be a connection between American foreign policy and the attacks of 9-11. The media considers any analysis that doesn't square with Bush's crackpot "they hate our freedoms" theory to be either anti-American or outright heresy. In his most famous sermon, Wright elaborates on the "blowback" theme as well as the so-called war on terror:



"We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arawak, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism! We took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism! We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenagers and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard-working fathers. We bombed Gadafi's home and killed his child. "Blessed are they who bash your children's head against a rock!" We bombed Iraq . We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to payback for the attack on our embassy. Killed hundreds of hard-working people; mothers and fathers who left home to go that day, not knowing that they would never get back home. We bombed Hiroshima ! We bombed Nagasaki , and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye! Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children after school, civilians - not soldiers - people just trying to make it day by day. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and Black South Africa ns, and now we are indignant? Because the stuff we have done overseas has now been brought back into our own front yards! America 's chickens are coming home to roost! Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred and terrorism begets terrorism."



America has blood on its hands. America , as Martin Luther King said, "is the greatest perpetrator of violence in the world today." So what else is new?



What's new, is the media is using every soapbox in the country to preach uber-nationalism and vilify America 's critics as unpatriotic. Their "Love it or leave it" gibberish is being used to tar a presidential candidate who hasn't sufficiently prostrated himself before his corporate overlords to make them feel that he can be trusted to carry out their directives. That is what's really happening. Obama is just unpredictable enough to make the parasite class nervous that he might do something crazy, like serve the public interest. That would be a real disaster. It'd be better to install the appalling Ms. Clinton than take a chance on the "populist" Obama. That's why the wrath of the media has descended on Obama like a Texas hailstorm; they're afraid he doesn't understand who really runs things in America .



Wright means nothing to the media or to the men behind the curtain. If he didn't provide an avenue for denigrating Obama, he'd be treated with the same indifference as the thousands of other blacks who were herded at gunpoint into the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina. It's Obama's scalp they want; that's the real prize. This is a turf war; the big-wigs are defending their fiefdom from interlopers. They're even rolling out the heavy artillery expecting a full-blown conflagration. The election season is shaping up to be a real donnybrook. Better buckle up. Obama has entered the crosshairs of America 's criminal oligarchy and things are bound to get nasty.



Mike Whitney lives in Washington tate. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com

What if?

I've had an 'epiphany' of sorts-actually more like a moment of flash omigoshness.
I'm not one for paranoia, but it suddenly hit me that in twenty years or so, we could very well be telling our children about the technology we once had access to. They could possibly be living a far more 'backward' life.
With the world's oil resources running out, this progressive retrogression isn't that hard to imagine.

I'll dispense with the detailed thoughts but welcome your views.

Aikhona

Ruga-pronounced Khuga
Cele-ntele (tutting/clicking sound)
Macwangabisa-tutting/clicking sound
Maqhubu-click on the q
Ixopo-said with a click on the x

Nguni(Sotho,Xhosa,Tswana & others) names are difficult to pronounce. Especially if, like me, you can't roll your tongue (one of the recessive genes-I can't wink or whistle either) which is vital for the click.

I try, I do. I read the scripts prior to going on air, and underline the names I know I'll have difficulty pronouncing. I ask my colleagues to tell me the correct pronunciation, and I practise. But I sometimes get them wrong-especially the clicking ones. And, I present a current affairs show, and many times, stories are handed to me on air. There is no time to then check the names.
My senior producer gets annoyed on occasion. ''You have to get the names right'', he'll say. And last week, "Bibi-get yourself a Xhosa dictionary & learn how to pronounce the names" But even when the others say I got it right, he'll say I got it wrong.

Any person in media knows getting names correct is paramount. It's easy for print journalists-just spell it right. One of the requirements for newsreaders is pronouncing names correctly. I can understand people getting upset if their names are massacred on air-but pronouncing Ixopo as Ikopo and Xhosa as Koza doesn't seem all that bad an option to me. Or is this unacceptable? Am I the one who's being unreasonable?

The irritation, and motivation, behind this post is this-I'm one of the most PC people I know,so don't misunderstand me here-while a big hoo-ha is made about mispronouncing African names, it's fine to get Arab & Indian names (& others) wrong.

Take my name. Bibi-Aisha. Simple, right? Haibo! People can't even say Bibi correctly! And Aisha is (mis)pronounced Ayeesha. I prefer pronouncing my name as it should be in Arabic, with the 'ain. But I certainly don't expect others to do so. So why can't exceptions be made with difficult arabic names. And it's interesting to note, that Zulu speakers, (the Zulu language doesn't have the click sound) get it wrong too.

Al-Ahly played Platinum Stars last weekend-I only heard one sports presenter pronouncing Ahly correctly. On tonight's news, an attorney, Haroon Laher, had his name mispronounced so badly, I wouldn't have known the name if it didn't appear on screen. Many more examples spring to mind-most noticeably in news from the Middle East. Hai suga wena.

South Africa has eleven national languages. We're a uniquely beautiful diverse country. Surely, the correct pronunciation to names should apply to all race and ethnic groups-and reasonable compromises should be made where applicable.

Nothing to LOL About

I have a cousin who's 17. Seeing her facebook status messages or anything else she writes is painful. Shorthand is fine, but when one misspells even when using shorthand it's a problem. Using LOL in person (*ahem* to a certain blogger who does this:-p) is scary
...................................................................................

Nothing to LOL about

Anick Jesdanun | New York, United States



24 April 2008 05:50

It's nothing to LOL about: despite best efforts to keep school writing assignments formal, two-thirds of teens in the United States admit in a survey that emoticons and other informal styles have crept in.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project, in a study released on Thursday, also found that teens who keep blogs or use social-networking sites such as Facebook or News Corporation's MySpace have a greater tendency to slip nonstandard elements into assignments.

The results may give parents, teachers and others a big :( -- a frown to the rest of us -- though the study's authors see hope.

"It's a teachable moment," said Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at Pew. "If you find that in a child's or student's writing, that's an opportunity to address the differences between formal and informal writing. They learn to make the distinction ... just as they learn not to use slang terms in formal writing."

Half of the teens surveyed say they sometimes fail to use proper capitalisation and punctuation in assignments, while 38% have carried over the shortcuts typical in instant messaging or email messages, such as "LOL" for "laughing out loud". A quarter of teens have used :) and other emoticons.

Overall, 64% have used at least one of the informal elements in school.

Teens who consider electronic communications with friends as "writing" are more likely to carry the informal elements into school assignments than those who distinguish between the two.

The study was co-sponsored by the National Commission on Writing at the College Board, a nonprofit group that administers placement tests.

The chairperson of the commission's advisory board, Richard Sterling, said the rules could possibly change completely within a generation or two: perhaps the start of sentences would no longer need
capitalisation, the way the use of commas has decreased over the past few decades. "Language changes," he said.

Defying conventional wisdom, the study also found that the generation born digital is shunning computer use for most assignments.

About two-thirds of teens say they typically do their school writing by hand. And for personal writing outside school, longhand is even more popular -- the preferred form for nearly three-quarters of teens.

That could be because the majority of writing is short -- school assignments are on average a paragraph to a page in length, Lenhart said.

Among other findings:

Teens who keep blogs are more likely to engage in personal writing. They also tend to believe that writing will prove crucial to their eventual success in life.

Parents are more likely than teens to believe that internet-based writing such as email and instant messaging affects writing overall, though both groups are split on whether the electronic communications help or hurt. Nonetheless, 73% of teens and 40% of parents believe internet writing makes no difference either way.

The telephone-based survey of 700 US residents ages 12 to 17 and their parents was conducted from September 19 to November 16 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points. -- Sapa-AP

Marhaba

The same blog post has been writing itself in my head for at least a month now. But my hands are not getting around to type it.

They're bloggerblocked.

I'm pleased to welcome a new blogger to the club http://magicalprincessdiaries.blogspot.com/

Marhaba!

Echoes of Time

Time stretches seductively, enticing me with the pleasures it can hold if I move against inertia to fill it; but it also smothers me with its infinity

Singing & Dancing the Workplace Do's

Networking: one of the most important tools for any person wanting to succeed in his/her career

Last night I attended the Siemens Science & Technology awards. The awards honour all African journalists. Egyptians won in most of the categories, with the overall winner in all categories being a young Egyptian woman, for her story on transportation in Egypt. High accolade indeed. (What bemused me though were the Arab women from various countries, but particularly the one from Saudi (wearing low-cut top-not that I care what people wear but have to mention it for point of interest)who ignored my 'salaam' & greeted with 'hi' & 'bye'. I asked for their contact details, but my request was blithely ignored)

I was invited by Christina Scott- who was invited as a speaker-the Africa editor of the London-based prestigious Scidev.net & all round amazing woman whom I met at the Highway Africa Media Conference in Grahamstown last year.

I took my sister Fatima with. When we arrived, cocktails were being served on the terrace & we just stood around. And wondered how the heck do people pitch up alone at these functions & mingle. Now this is what is taught at business networking workshops, & I think I should attend one. But I also think that because I knew I had my sister with me as a crutch, I didn't make the effort. If I was alone, I would have been forced to. After the ceremonies though, I finally got a chance to speak to Christina who duly introduced me to all the people in the industry. But most had left, so I missed being introduced to the Minister for Science & Technology (I loved his speech-& wanted to chat to him)

A few weeks ago, I participated in a British Council Science in Media discussion. Christina nominated me to stand in for her. I'm in a wonderful position to merge my two interests-science which I studied & journalism which was a calling as a career-& carve a niche as a science reporter.

So point of all this waffling is : How often do you attend functions where networking is key? How do you deal with it?

And (specially for you SG) Do you think science & technology is adequately represented in media? And what type of stories would you want to see more of?

I Believe I Can Fly

A calm, beautiful end of summer day saw me soar both in body and spirit this past Sunday. It buried old fears forever, and birthed new hopes. It allowed me to fly...


Saturday night passed restlessly, partly due to excitement & partly due to my sharing my sister's bed, since my room was being painted. Sunday morning saw me jump out of bed like a monkey going for a banana.
Ever since I met MJ in November 2003, and hearing him say he skydived, I've wanted to do it. I simply hadn't thought of it previously, or at least not in a tangible way. On Sunday, I finally did.

As a child, I was afraid of heights. Just standing next to the railings of the second floor of the school building was enough to make me feel dizzy. My aunt's in-laws have a beach house and we often spent holidays there. The house had an outdoor spiral staircase which led to a huge balcony at roof level. While my siblings and the other kids would run along the peak of the roof, jumping on to the flat-roofed outdoor buildings, I'd stay put on the balcony. Gradually I mustered courage to crawl along the roof. And then without being aware of it, my fear of heights disappeared.

But besides for heights, I was a bit of a scaredycat when it came to climbing trees, in water and in general. I tasted the acidic bitterness of real fear at six when I was thrown into a pool (wearing a tube) because my uncle believed that's the best way to teach a person to swim. At the age of nine, the embarrassment of being teased by my sister and friend (we were at her house for a brief holiday)who threatened to tell everybody I don't know how to swim forced me to teach myself. I sure surprised my mum when I returned and dived into a pool.

All that was ages ago-before I was ten. But yet, every time I do something which would have poisoned me gutless as a kid, I feel a sense of pride. I'm not the beebs who was bullied by my siblings, who literally clung to my mother's apron strings.

...............

The drive to Witbank took an hour and a half. There's nothing more sleep-inducing than the smooth lull of the car hitting the open tar. Leaving at 6:30am further inspired shut-eye.

Got there, was given a briefing and tour, sat around and then geared up. I was wearing a red scarf & the instructor got me a red, black & white jumpsuit. Have to match:-) He asked if my sneakers (slip-on with strap across front) were on tight, as he thought they might fall off. I assured him they won't. Famous last words...

Then the cameraman started videoing without me being aware-I was so silly I didn't play up for the camera. My acting skills deserted me:-( I'm shy like that..
Ok, ok, I'll cut to the chase. The Cessna is tiny-the five of us were cramped in. I was jumping first so was next to the door, strapped to my instructor behind me. Getting the door closed was a major mission. The drone and rumble of the engine soothed me into contemplation. I thought I'd start feeling butterflies as we reached altitude, but nothing. Then it was time..As the door opened, and I pulled my leg p to allow the cameraman to jump, I was waiting for the adrenalin to set in and get my heart racing. But nada. Sitting on the edge of the plane at 10 000ft, ready to slide out only had me thinking, "Bismillah. Let's do this!"

The feeling is indescribable. As contradictory as it sounds, it's far more than what it is yet far less than what one feels. When you first jump, it's just the wind hitting you. We spun around (because I didn't straighten my legs haha) I was just concentrating on keeping my head back & eyes open as instructed. Came face to face with cameraman, did thumbs up, screamed 'whoo hoo' & away he went. And then...I felt my left sneaker slip. But we weren't into freefall yet & I couldn't pull it up, and away it flew. Vernon managed to capture it on camera, and on the dvd, it almost appears like it's in slow motion.
Then you spread your arms & it feels like flying somewhat. Then into freefall, where you just float. Then coming lower, it's like you're sitting in an invisible chair, suspended in mid-air. And then the landing. Knees up, land on butt. We had an ultra smooth landing. Over too soon. Because I'm small built & light in weight, I had a longer freefall than the lady who jumped after me because she was much heavier.

After I landed, one of the students doing a static line jump (at 3000ft-parachate attached to line attached to plane) had an accident. His chute malfunctioned, but although the trainer radioed & told him to cut the cord, he didn't follow instructions & landed in another field. Everybody thought he'd be severely hurt as he didn't pull the reserve handle in time but amazingly, he was ok.

I just wanted to go back up. Want to do static line jump next, but preferably I'd like to do the full course and become an instructor Inshallah.

Photos and video pending...Watch this space

PS:I've always said the only thing I won't do is white-water rafting, but now I'm thinking 'Why not?'

How sad

Do you like the new template? The beauty of white...If I knew all my links and widgets would get deleted when uploading this template, I wouldn't have. Now I need to decide on a new template so I can add links & widgets again. I love white but it's losing its charm as a template

This Day in History

1991 Hundreds of Iraqi civilians were killed when a pair of laser-guided U.S. bombs destroyed an underground facility in Baghdad identified by U.S. officials as a military installation, but which Iraqi officials said was a bomb shelter.

And the killing continues...will Iraqis ever experience democracy, & a normal, safe life...?

Value for Money?

Saw this on iafrica.com

Very cheap, awfully nasty
Kabous le Roux
Wed, 06 Feb 2008

You get what you pay for, most would agree. Then why is it near damn impossible to argue that our electricity is too cheap?

The government claims it did not provide Eish!kom with the funds it requested for new power plants because it intended for private energy providers to increasingly take over from our ill-fated electricity supplier. Well, you know what the road to hell is paved with.

The government’s plan did not come to fruition and will remain a pipedream, because no prospective electricity providers would be willing to supply power at our inappropriate, bargain basement prices. We still have the