April 5 2004

Islamic Veil Prohibited While Working In Germany, We’re Finally Civilized Inside Out!

So once again among all critical problems in the world, the Islamic veil (Hijab) seems to be the most dangerous, most uncivilized and most unwelcome “problem” to the European countries. So instead of solving environmental problems, or try find a way to rescue the hundreds of people killed on daily basis all over the world, and instead of putting all those efforts in finding cures for illnesses, Some find it the easiest and fastest to interfere with people’s wills and decisions. They find it more effective to steal their rights of choice in the name of “civilization”.
So France took the first step towards “democracy”, “freedom”, “justice”, “civilization” and “human rights protection” and prohibited wearing Hijab. And to follow its “successful” and “impressive” steps, Germany has finally prohibited “only” teachers from wearing Hijab in Baden-Württemberg for a start. BUT this prohibition did not include wearing neither Christian nor Jewish religious symbols, why? For very simple silly reasons: 1. “Hijab is a very obvious symbol!!” Well I guess a golden 1 meter long cross necklace isn’t that obvious, nor is the star of David printed on school bags and sweaters. And well, I think that’s right, a nun should have the right to teach, but a Muslim woman wearing Hijab shouldn’t, because Hijab is always THE MOST OBVIOUS!
2. “Hijab points out that women aren’t equal to men in Islam!!” And this is according to a protestant priest!! I guess this priest has no idea about Islam nor its rules. Because Islam is the religion that freed women from slavery and gave them back their rights. Islam is the religion that shows all people are equal and important.
And this very same priest along with a catholic one have raised a claim to “warn” the German government from editing the prohibition into: “not allowing Christian or Jewish symbols to be worn”. They want to stress the importance of spreading out this decision concerning Islam only without touching other religions.

Actually hearing news like this will make all Muslims even more proud for being Muslims, because it seems that Islam is the only religion that believes in the rights of other religions and gives them the freedom to practice their religious rights. And it has just occurred to me that there is a misunderstanding regarding Hijab. Non-Muslims think that Hijab is a sign of being conservative, or extremist or very strict, which isn’t true. Being a general religion that applies to all people of all kinds and level and regardless of their sex, Islam has nothing as sacrificing a part of society to offer servants for God. Because Muslims believe that there should be no one between the person and God, each have their rights to be the closest to God and to be able to pray for God and ask for his help without the interference of any one. And if the ones banning Hijab care to waste their precious time and spend few minutes on learning about Hijab, its reasons and its benefits, then they wont be doing this to Muslim women. They’ll know that Hijab is so far from being a conservative act. And just because Christians don’t all wear the nun clothes, that doesn’t mean that similar veils mean the ones wearing them are nothing but religiously-strict women.
Therefore it’s the most uncivilized, unfair and intolerant act ever to prohibit women from practicing their rights, because this -and not Hijab- is the symbol of discrimination and stealing the equality of women to men.

A very interesting post I’ve read concerning the issue of Hijab and the difficulties Muslim women face because of it is Crying Wolf/ Jalan-Jalan there is also this German website women in Germany have created to discuss their opinion and defend their right of wearing Hijab. The site is mein Kopftuch

Category: Media, International, Religion, Women | LEAVE A COMMENT
April 2 2004

Orphan’s Day

So many people love the Dream TV satellite channel. It offers special programs and has one of the most successful advertising facilities.
Today, April 2nd, Egypt celebrates the “Orphan’s Day”, and Dream TV decided to celebrate the occasion with all children who have no families and no parents by gathering the kids and other people including some celebrities in Dream Land.
I think this is a very human touch that will make so many children know they’re remembered and thought of.
If you’re in Egypt, why don’t you go participate in this social activity and add more smiles on the faces of those lonely children!
If you’ve never heard of Dream TV for one reason or the other you can read about an interview made with Dr. Hala Sarhan about Dream TV and its concept.

Category: Arab Societies, Media, International | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 31 2004

Star Academy on LBC & WorldBest

Of course I don’t need to get into introductions since this Star Academy Show have had so much attention and success in the Arab World similar to its success in the European world.
Everybody talks about it, people are stuck in their homes just to watch the participants’ every day life, websites have dedicated themselves to cover its latest updates, and, and, and…
Actually, I’m not against having good programs, even if they were an imitation of someone else’s idea as long as they try to make it match people’s tastes and respect their traditions. In short, sometimes programs of a certain kind are considered extremely open to eastern countries, just like many programs are considered rather conservative to western ones.
So it’s not wrong to choose a program that was a great success, but it’s smart to modify it with one’s own touches, to give it a creative more suitable spirit than just having it as a copy.
Anyway, the Arabic Star Academy of Lebanon has gathered thousands of audience, and succeeded in getting both their attention and support. Whereas some other people thought it was
unsuitable in terms of religion or politics . According to some religion people, Star Academy doesn’t match religious morals, in the sense of having people of both sexes put together all the time, and exposing their everyday life which should be kept private. On the other hand, they consider it a cheap imitation and request modifying some certain aspects. Some went as far as boycotting the whole program, which I find so tough. I mean I do understand what they’re trying to say, but life isn’t only black or white, there should be some flexibility. And instead of stopping some show that has got the youth’s attention, we could work on it to make it even more successful in our own terms.
Now to politicians, some believe that such a program keeps the youth away from getting involved in their own countries’ political concerns. They believe the program draws their attention far away from some core problems and true concerns that will never be solved without their participation and their attention. I agree with them on one point, that this generation is way out off track when it comes to belonging to their homelands and trying to play a role in solving their own problems. But this isn’t only the fault of the so many fun-shows on TV, it’s the fault of the society itself that doesn’t raise them on a strong base of political knowledge and doesn’t encourage them to try to be useful members of society.
How would youth express themselves freely when they know they’ll be put in prison if they said something “against” the policies applies in their countries?
Therefore, before blaming it all on Star Academy or any other program, let’s clean up the infrastructure of our brains and organize our societies as a whole. In this way, not only Star Academy, but even 10 similar programs wont stand in the way of people being involved in building a healthy society.
Yesterday, we watched WorldBest. Unfortunately we missed some of it, specially the part of the Lebanese Bruno performing. But well, at least we watched the results. The French Elodie was the one who won, she truly deserved it. She has a beautiful voice, sings right and is elegant as well. Of course, others who didn’t win shouldn’t be sad, because they reached advanced levels. Not to forget that not all were singing in their mother language, and this plays a very big role. The confidence of someone singing in a foreign language, even if they’re fluent, is less than those who are singing in their own languages.
I really wished Bruno will get higher positions, but never mind, he participated and represented Arabs over there and this is wonderful by itself. I liked the voice of the Chilean Monica, and the Argentinean Emanuel, they were really good. But I was shocked with the Russian 17 year old Julia. I mean in the review of her songs and all, she had a great voice, but unfortunately she chose Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”, which doesn’t match her beautiful voice, and although she sang with feeling, and she did it right, but still the layers were unfair to her strong voice.
Anyway, I wish all participants the best of luck, and hope they’ll be all happy for those who win.
For the details of WorldBest in French Click Here , for Comments on it in English ClickHere

Category: Entertainment, Media, International | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 29 2004

For And Against The Total Smoking Ban

After considering smoking in buses, public offices and buildings in the Irish Republic illegal, Mr. Micheál Martin, Irish Health Minister, proposed a prohibition on smoking in work places, pubs, and restaurants in January 2004. After months of arguing, the Republic’s government has finally decided to apply this total ban starting from today, March 29th 2004, prohibiting smoking in ALL public places.
Of course this ban has divided people into two groups, one is for the ban believing that it guarantees a healthy environment for the non-smokers and helps the smokers lower their health risks caused by smoking. Whereas the other group is strongly against the ban. This last group is not limited to smokers only, but also pub owners, tobacco industry responsible and some “democratic” non-smokers who believe that such a total ban is unfair and takes away people’s rights of choosing and taking their own decisions, and that they’re more into keeping the division of public places into smoking and non-smoking areas.
Actually, I personally support the ban, because I believe it will really help non-smokers limit their smoking average, decrease their expenses as well as health problems, and prevent passive smoking dangers. I mean when a couple of people decide to go out, one is a smoker and the other is not, then they’ll most probably sit in the smoking area, opening the way to passive smoking. On the other hand, sometimes I feel the non-smoking areas could easily turn into a smoking area, because cigarettes spread their smoke so easily, specially that most of the non-smoking areas are not properly separated, they’re open to the smoking areas in most cases.
So I’m one of the people who are for the ban and respect the courage of the Irish government in this issue.
But that doesn’t mean that I don’t feel sorry for the smokers. It isn’t an easy step to take at all. In fact it might cause some chaos and higher anger-levels among the people in the first year of application, but well, it will be for their own good.
To feel what smokers would feel as the consequence of such a ban, and since I’m a non-smoker, I try to imagine how would it be like if for one reason or the other governments start banning drinking coffee in public! Lol, that would be a disaster, I’m literally a coffee addict, and I’ll be suffering if they threw such a ban! And it’s just coffee, I mean coffee addiction is not as hard as smoking addiction, or at least that’s what I think.
Anyway, I do admire such a brave step, and I do support the ban, I even wish they’d do the same in the Arab countries… oops, that would be one hell of a brave decision. And I wish smokers the best of luck and hope they’ll all quit smoking one day, specially my two brothers 🙂
What about you, are you for or against the ban? If you’re for it, go ahead and support it .
Well, speaking of coffee, I should do something about that, it’s not only that I drink more than 5 mugs of sugared coffee a day, no, I even went as far as getting the ones around me addicted.
And because of the strong smell of coffee all day long, my boss who never drank coffee got used to drinking at least a cup of coffee a day, bad bad me 😛 But well, my husband is trying to help set me free of this addiction, and decided to buy only decaffeinated coffee, which isn’t that bad actually, and I hope it’ll help me get over my coffee addiction 🙂

Category: General, Media, International | 1 Comment on For And Against The Total Smoking Ban
March 26 2004

No Comment…

After speeches of morals, human rights, and the need of following legal steps of interrogation and trials: “The United States VETOED a U.N. Security Council resolution Thursday condemning Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin”.

Category: Media, International, Palestine | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 24 2004

Researchers Discuss The Miracle Of Qur’an In Dubai

Around 170 researchers and scientists, Muslim and non-Muslim from so many Arab and non-Arab countries are participating in the 7th Arab Conference for the Scientific Miracle of Qur’an and the Sunnah (The way of life prescribed as normative in Islam, based on the teachings and practices of Muhammad and on exegesis of the Qur’an), which takes place in Dubai. The opening was on the 22nd of this month and will continue till the 25th.

Qur’an is considered a miracle because it mentioned so many scientific facts which apply to all fields of life in all times. Yes, that’s true, besides the linguistic miracle that Qur’an is known for, as it has a unique style, so many synonyms, opposites, punctuation marks and a one of kind language application and use that no human could ever be able to come up with no matter how great and advanced they were. So besides the language, Qur’an explains biology, geology, anatomy, astronomy, archeology, the secrets of oceans and water life, psychology, law, governing systems, medicine, trade, and contracts. It also gives interpretations, mentions predictions, discusses the different forms of life, the reasons for being created, human relationships, ethics, morals, family planning, the environment, human rights, women’s importance and rights, equality, freedom, other religions, spending, work, sexual relationships, marriage, sexual preferences, adopting, hygiene, looks, prayers, war, peace, sports, emotions, and so many other issues.

Islam is known as a religion that encourages research and supports thinking. But unfortunately, the main focus of researchers was only on language and life systems for the last few years, without giving much importance to applied sciences and related fields. So this time, the conference urged researchers to study the references of applied sciences that were mentioned in Qur’an as well as in Sunnah. And as a result for this emphasis on the importance of applied sciences, this year’s conference discussed researches from Egypt, England, USA, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other countries. The researches were mainly about geology, astrology, human anatomy and biology, contradicting with the Darwin Theory of Evolution. Some researches also discussed cloning and stated that it can never be an equal to the normal creation of God, because it only reproduces some organisms of identical cells, yet fails to transfer feelings and emotions.

What really gets the attention of scientists in studying Qur’an and Sunnah is the fact that they give explanations and descriptions of anything a person could think of, which I find truly fascinating.
Anyway, I guess such a conference helps in clearing the verses of Qur’an to a wide range of people from different social and educational levels to provide humanity with answers to so many questions and clear up a lot of the universe’s mysteries. And most important of all, it helps apply many useful methods in order to preserve a healthy life and cure a lot of mental and physical illnesses.
And well, it’s always thrilling to hear of Arabs offering such researches of great importance, and even greater is to know that non-Arabs are sharing them this very important event.
Unfortunately details about the conference are only available in Arabic

Category: Arab Societies, Media, International, Religion | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 22 2004

Sheikh Yassin

Israeli officials said Yassin was a “terrorist” who deserved death…
“Sheikh Yassin was a dangerous, extremist Islamic ideologist. I believe that he was a threat not only to Israel, but to the entire region.” Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner continued:”I believe the Middle East without Sheikh Yassin, in the long run, will be a better place to live”…
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the “war on terror is not over.”…

All I can say is that looking only at one side, assuming that someone is dangerous, regardless of who they are, their religion, their age, their policies, and their principals, gives us the right to kill that someone to “protect” ourselves and to “relief” our societies from their “terrorism”. It’s legal, it’s explainable and so easy to be done, as long as you’re not Palestinian, or Muslim, coz if you were one of these, then the whole scenario changes, it’ll be more like:regardless of your suffering, your torturing, your pain, your loss, your destruction and your age; standing up for yourself, trying to save what’s left for you, trying to rescue your people, or even thinking of having a one night sleep in peace is considered terrorism… you wont need to actually kill, or shoot, a little stone you’d throw is enough for you to be accused of murdering hundreds of innocent people, and a scream to call out for justice will be misunderstood as a threat, and a tear falling from your eye will be interpreted as an alarm for revenge…
May Sheikh Yassin’s soul rest in peace, and now, thanks to our “saviors”, we can finally “enjoy” our “better Middle East”…
You can find more details about Sheikh Yassin’s murder here in English and Arabic and German

Category: Arab Societies, Media, International, Palestine | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 12 2004

The California Supreme Court Halts Same-Sex Marriages In San Francisco

So yesterday the court issued an interim stay directing officials to stop allowing same-sex marriage. This temporary stay will presumably be in force until May or June, when oral arguments in the case will be presented.
Of course gay couples aren’t happy with the court’s order. The ones who were able to “make it” before the halt considered themselves lucky and were happy for their achievement, yet sorry for those who couldn’t make it. On the other hand, the ones who missed the “chance” were really pissed off since they were planning for their “romantic” weddings for so long and have already spent fortunes.
Gays and lesbians cried and were full of anger as a reaction to the halt.
What I find “remarkable” though is that ever since Mayor Gavin Newsom permitted gay marriage in February, more than 3,400 gay couples got married. 3,400 calculating only gay couples who want to get married that is. More Details
Actually I still don’t get it. Gay people believe they have the right to choose marriage as a happy ending for their love stories. They forget that love was never selfish. It was never only about two people, it was never about taking from society to fulfill personal interests, and it will never be a bed relationship. Love is a precious gift God has given us to add more beauty to this life by realizing its norms, maintaining its natural balance and being aware of what pushes civilizations forwards and what holds them back. If we love then we learn to give asking for nothing in return but the well-being of who we love. And who we love can never be one, because one is a part of a whole.
If love is to build a healthy society and help solve its already existing problems, then it shall never find a way better than marriage to give it stability and protect its union.
But well, I guess a healthy society is the one in which one can no longer see anything wrong even if it was against logic, morals, religion, nature, law, rules and awareness. On the other hand gay marriage wont add to the worlds problems, it might add some difficulty in explaining what’s right and what’s not. It might delete the word “appropriate”, cross out “traditions” and cancel “manners” but who cares, those are signs of fear and uncivilized thinking anyway, right!
Why don’t we look at the bright side! Same-sex marriage will only add to the world’s suspense. Men will be living their lives confused whether to marry women, or go for men. And women will be living their lives guessing if they should consider their great feelings towards their colleagues as friendship so they should become best friends, or is it maybe love and attraction, so they should become “wives”!! Isn’t this wonderful? Thinking of it, same-sex marriage is hell of a fun indeed. And you know what, why don’t courts start considering “improving” the term marriage from the “union of two people” into the “union of two and above people”, this way we’ll make sure all those who are in love will get married. I mean what if a person is bisexual doesn’t they have the right to marry the ones they love?! That’s not fair. This should be considered, we’re talking about human rights here 😉

Category: General, Media, International | LEAVE A COMMENT
February 20 2004

2004 Canadian International Auto Show

This extremely amazing show started out on the 13th of this month, offering people a great chance to view a huge number of wonderful cars. So if you’re an admirer of cars’ beauty then it’s the best opportunity. If you’re lucky enough to be in Canada then you still have a chance to go enjoy a variety of amazing machines, as the show will go on till the 22nd. And if you’re not in Canada then don’t be upset, you can enjoy the show Here . Photo galleries, videos, tickets, show map and much more are available.

Category: Cool Stuff, General, Media, International | LEAVE A COMMENT
January 22 2004

Why Should You Vote For Subzero Blue?

As you all know we are in the finals for the “BLOGGIE 2004 AWARD” ……
A great competition from Bloggies 2004, which I find so encouraging and so challenging. I congratulate them on this idea that got us all full of suspense and made us anxious to know the results, which will be announced in March.
As you know MMM of Subzero Blue succeeded in reaching the finals. And no matter who wins, the fact that he reached that far is alone enough for all of us to be both proud and happy.
But deep inside I wish he’d be the winner, because his blog is really great. Other than the beautiful design of the, its wonderful colors and its absolutely amazing name, you can enjoy reading about all topics, from entertainment, to education, to technologies to personal experiences, to watching unique pictures and much much more.
I consider myself a big fan of his, other than the fact that he was the reason for my blog to be born. He encouraged me to post and I owe him big time for that.
Well, I’ve realized this little thing right now, it’s the fact that Subzero Blue is a blog that doesn’t need anyone encouraging people to vote for, it’s really good and interesting. And I’m sure that all those who appreciate it just like me, and all those who admire creativity and good writing as much as I do have already voted for him. If for any reason, one of Subzero Blue’s fans still didn’t vote, then it’s never too late 😉
If you’re new in the world of blogs, then take a look at Subzero Blue and I guarantee your satisfaction.
Good luck to all the finalists, and keep in mind that you had the honor of getting that far even if you didn’t win.
And for all of you who didn’t pass, just like me here:), never mind, you can make it up next year. And lucky me, I got really sick for so long that my blog has been paused for many weeks, leaving me no chance to compete with really good and fresh blogs which post new things on daily basis. Oh, yes, well my blog doesn’t have a photolog either, hmmm, no pics, not that up to date, no wonder I didn’t pass 😛 but come on, I still got nominated, didn’t I. And I still have the chance to win next year; yes, yes, I am willing to challenge myself and be number 1, so watch out fellow bloggers,
AquaCool is on the way ;).

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