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. [..] ...

Pastor Jones during his press conference CNN :  A Florida pastor Thursday called off his controversial plan to burn copies of the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. The Rev. Terry Jones of the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center, standing with a Florida Muslim leader, also said the imam who planned a mosque and Islamic center near ground zero in New York has agreed to move it to another location. But the imam who appeared with him said that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf in New York agreed to speak with Jones about possibly moving the center. A spokesman from Soho Properties told CNN producer Vivienne Foley that "the Muslim community center called Park51 in lower Manhattan is not being moved." Jones, meanwhile, said he will travel to New York on Saturday to meet with Rauf. The pastor appeared at an afternoon press conference with Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, who said he will make the t...

نشرت صحيفة عرب تايمز الاماراتية باللغة الانجليزية اول امس الاول ان السعودية والإمارات والبحرين رفضت قبول ترشيح باكستان سفيرا لها وكان السبب الذي لم تفهمه الدبلوماسية الباكستانية هو اسم العائلة للسفير الذي يعني في العربية ما يستقبح ذكره ، وهو العضو الذكري ولعبت الظنون بها لاتهام امريكا بالضغط على السعودية ودول الخليج . التفاصيل : تحدثت مصادر دبلوماسية إماراتية مطلعة لعرب تايمز عن ان التوتر القائم حاليا بين الباكستان ودول مجلس التعاون الخليجي لا يمكن اعتباره امتدادا للتوتر القائم بين الباكستان والولايات المتحدة وانما يعود سبب التوتر العربي الباكستاني الى رفض دول مجلس التعاون قبول أوراق اعتماد ( اكبر زب ) كسفير باكستاني جديد لعدة دول في مجلس التعاون دون ابداء الاسباب ... وكانت الحكومة الباكستانية قد قررت تعيين ( اكبر زب ) سفيرا في الامارات ولكن طلبها قوبل بالرفض .. فحاولت تعيينه في البحرين فرفض طلبها ولما بعثت تستمزج السعودية في احتمال تعيينه سفيرا لها في السعودية جاء الرفض السعودي مثل الاماراتي والبحريني غير مبررا ولم يوضح الأسباب مما دفع الحكومة الباكستانية الى الاعتقاد ان هناك ...

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...

Pakistani Sunni Muslims devotees return back to their homes on a packed train after attending annual religious congregation in Multan, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)