Mind Soup

I woke up this morning with a flood of news about Osama Bin Laden's death on facebook, twitter, google reader, buzz and so forth. With all the celebrations and the worldwide debate (he's even trending on twitter), something smells very fishy, and its not coming from the sea. So U.S. troops kill Bin Laden, and throw him into the sea within 24 hours of his death. You would think that after ten years of searching for the "most wanted terrorist on earth," the body would be kept for more than one day. TIME newspaper ignorantly attributes this action to Islamic tradition, and that the troops directly threw the body into the sea because the did not want to offend the Islamic beliefs of burial. I quote: The reason is bound up within Islamic practice and tradition. And that practice calls for the body of the deceased to be buried within 24 hours, according to a U.S. official, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters. [..] ...

MIND SOUP : For weeks now, a minute church by the name of "Dove World Outreach Center" in Gainesville, Florida, has been advertising for an event it calls "International Burn a Qur'an Day". Pastor Terry Jones is insisting to hold this "event" on September the 11th "to honor those killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington." He says the burning of the Qur'an will "send a message to violent Islamic extremists like al-Qaida, which carried out the attacks against the United States." The second day of Eid el-Fitr falls this year on the same day. As many world leaders and institutions, including the Vatican, US President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and  others , have denounced this act, this pastor is insisting on carrying out this event. This is as much facts as I am willing to give about this issue. Below in ten points is my opinionated response. First of all, as a Muslim, I don...

* In 1974 with 36.1% of oil from foreign sources, President Richard Nixon said, “At the end of this decade, in the year 1980, the United States will not be dependent on any other country for the energy we need.” * In 1975 with 36.1% of oil from foreign sources, President Gerald Ford said, “We must reduce oil imports by one million barrels per day by the end of this year and by two million barrels per day by the end of 1977.” * In 1979 with 40.5% of oil from foreign sources, President Jimmy Carter said, “Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 – never.” * In 1981 with 43.6% of oil from foreign sources, President Ronald Reagan said, “While conservation is worthy in itself, the best answer is to try to make us independent of outside sources to the greatest extent possible for our energy.” * In 1992 with 47.2% of oil from foreign sources, President George Bush said, “When our administration developed our national energy strategy, three...

Smoking using a nargile is very popular in Arab culture Syria has become the first Arab state to implement a ban on smoking in public places, such as restaurants and cafes. The decree also outlaws smoking in educational institutions, health centres, sports halls, cinemas and theatres and on public transport. Workers must not smoke during meetings and businesses need to provide well-ventilated areas for smokers. The restrictions include the nargile, or hubble-bubble pipe, which is popular among locals and tourists. The decree was signed last November by President Bashar al-Assad, a qualified medical doctor. According to the official news agency SANA, fines for violating the ban range from 500 to 100,000 Syrian pounds (US$11 to $2,169). Businesses hit The BBC's Lina Sinjab in Damascus says the ban has upset many in a country heavily addicted to nicotine. In one of the city's traditional cafes, Cafe Rawda, on the first day of the new rules, the inside area was deserted but t...

Translation: This American is a donkey. He doesn't read Arabic.   -- Your brother Abu Jahar

Also a while back, I wrote this article in AUB's student newspaper (Outlook) about Obama receiving the Noble Peace Prize. You can read it below. Surrounding a lot of controversy, American President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace during a ceremony on Thursday December 7, 2009 in Norway. The fact acknowledges the paradox of receiving this award as the U.S. is embroiled in two wars, while maintaining that instruments of war have a role in preserving peace. In his acceptance speech, Obama told Nobel Committee members and guests in Oslo that achieving peace must begin with the recognition that the use of force is sometimes morally justified. "Make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida's leaders to lay down their arms." Obama also used the Nobel platform to exhort allies to help eradicate terrorist extremism in Afghanistan. "I understand why ...

I am free. But my country is still a prisoner of war. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it, and about the hero and the heroic act, and the symbol and the symbolic act. But, simply, I answer: what compelled me to act is the injustice that befell my people, and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by putting it under its boot. Over recent years, more than a million martyrs have fallen by the bullets of the occupation and Iraq is now filled with more than five million orphans, a million widows and hundreds of thousands of maimed. Many millions are homeless inside and outside the country. We used to be a nation in which the Arab would share with the Turkman and the Kurd and the Assyrian and the Sabean and the Yazid his daily bread. And the Shia would pray with the Sunni in one line. And the Muslim would celebrate with the Christian the birthday of Christ. This despite the fact that we shared hunger under sanctions for more than a...

Ramadan 2009 around the world - Photo Gallery On August 21st, hundreds of millions of Muslims started fasting for a month. They started to abstain from eating or drinking from dawn to dusk. They stand for hours in prayers each night to remember their Lord and express their gratitude to Him, seek His forgiveness and aspire to come closer to Him.On September 20th, the month of Ramadan ended welcoming Eid el Fitr. Vendors selling food for breaking fast wait for their customers during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Jakarta August 31, 2009. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. (Reuters, Enny Nuraheni) A Muslim man rests inside a mosque as he wait for iftar (breaking fast) in Dhaka August 29, 2009. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. (Re...