Energy efficiency | The elusive negawatt | Economist.com

If energy conservation both saves money and is good for the planet, why don’t people do more of it?

5-Year Anniversary Celebration: Free Downloads

Why You Should Kick the “Versus” Habit - Stepcase Lifehack

In our time-starved, action-obsessed approach to work and life, we easily drop into the habit of seeing every choice or decision in terms of simple opposites: good versus bad, right versus wrong, success versus failure, winners versus losers. Every choice must be one or the other, with no options in between. Macho management thinking is full of such false dichotomies.

Above all, of course, the question to ask is, “What can I do that is most likely to be most pleasing to Allah, given the situation.”

The questions not asked - Yaser M. Haddara

Ustadh Yaser writes:

A couple of weeks ago I was blessed with the opportunity to be a speaker along with Shaykh Talal Ahdab, one of the teachers that has had a great influence on me al-hamdulillah… In the Q&A the first question was about people that reject hadeeth, or that consider that only Bukhari and Muslim should be taken as authoritative, or other arguments. I started out with my attempt at an answer - I basically said the usual surface-level stuff about the science of hadeeth and its rigor, as well as the clear arguments in the Quran about the sunnah. You might call it a simple, direct answer.

Then Shaykh Talal took the mic. The question and both our answers are in this 15 minute audio clip. I suggest you listen to the question then skip ahead to sheikh Talal’s answer at 7:19. There are a couple of spots where he stops to gather his thoughts and decide whether more needs to be said before continuing. If you’ll take my advice you’ll hear this answer through to the end. I would say that his answer revolved around “the questions not asked.” I think if you really understand what he said it would affect your entire outlook on life as a Muslim in the West.

Strained Connections in ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ : NPR

Jhumpa Lahiri won a Pulitzer Prize for her first effort, the short story collection Interpreter of Maladies. Her second work, the best-selling novel The Namesake, was adapted into a Hollywood movie directed by Mira Nair.

For her third book, Unaccustomed Earth,
Lahiri has returned to the short story form. Once again, she expertly
plumbs the Bengali-American experience, following immigrants and their
offspring while traversing borders and expectations. Upon publication,
the book debuted at the top of The New York Times best-seller list.

After 60 Years, Arabs in Israel Are Outsiders - New York Times

On Thursday, which is Independence Day, thousands will gather in their former villages to protest what they have come to call the “nakba,” or catastrophe, meaning Israel’s birth. For most Israelis, Jewish identity is central to the nation, the reason they are proud to live here, the link they feel with history. But Israeli Arabs, including the most successfully integrated ones, say a new identity must be found for the country’s long-term survival.

“I am not a Jew,” protested Eman Kassem-Sliman, an Arab radio journalist with impeccable Hebrew, whose children attend a predominantly Jewish school in Jerusalem. “How can I belong to a Jewish state? If they define this as a Jewish state, they deny that I am here.”

The clash between the cherished heritage of the majority and the hopes of the minority is more than friction. Even more today than in the huge half-century festivities a decade ago, the left and the right increasingly see Israeli Arabs as one of the central challenges for Israel’s future — one intractably bound to the search for an overall settlement between Jews and Arabs. Jews fear ultimately losing the demographic battle to Arabs, both in Israel and in the larger territory it controls.[Read more…]

Spring Colors in Hunza Valley : ALL THINGS PAKISTAN

Wednesdays 7 – 9 p.m.
Shalimar Community Center -3024 Cedarglen Gate
(Dundas just East of Erindale Station Rd. Mississauga)

Topics:
(1) Understanding the Call to the Believers in the Clear Qur’an
Commentary on the 89 verses in the Qur’an where Allah addresses the believers with “O you who believe!” based on classical sources, and Shaykh Ahmad Jami’s “Call to the Believers.” These verses contain some of the central guidance and principles of Islam

(2) Understanding the Prophetic Example: Imam Nawawi’s Gardens of the Righteous (Riyad al-Salihin) Explained
Commentary on one of the greatest and most important hadith works, in which Imam Nawawi gives the Prophetic hadiths that outline that way to become one of the righteous

All welcome.
Monthly fees: $25 (Individuals); $40 (Family)
(No one will be turned away due to lack of funds)

For details & directions email: rabbanihalaqa@gmail.com

Directions: Go North on Cedarglen Gate from Dundas. Take immediate left. Drive to end of lane. You’ll end up in an open-air parking lot. The Shalimar Community Center is straight ahead. Cedarglen Gate is West of Mavis, just East of Erindale Station Rd.

View Larger Map

Keyboards: Why You Should Clean Your Keyboard–Right This Minute

A new UK study shows that keyboards swabbed from an ordinary London office had more harmful bacteria than—you know what’s coming—a toilet seat. Yeeks! The accompanying survey showed that most users clean their keyboard infrequently (if at all), and clean their mouse even less often. Here’s what you do: shut down your PC, unplug your keyboard and mouse, shake out any dust, lint and other crap, and wipe ‘em down with disinfectant alcohol wipes. Right this very minute. For a more thorough cleaning which involves disassembly and compressed air, see this step by step guide. Or if there’s just one or two rogue crumbs you’d like to fish out from between the G and H keys, use a piece of Scotch tape. Photo by basibanget.

Keyboards harbour harmful bacteria [Which? Computing via Ars Technica]

This is a useful handout reference on common Islamic expressions and their meanings, in pdf form:

Islamic Manners & Expressions - Handout (pdf)

Source: www.IslamEasy.org

Habib Ali al-Jifri - The Prophet of Love

Papa Bongo’s 40 years in power | World news | The Guardian: “Record-breaking rule thanks to oil cash but cronysim and corruption taint future”

Al Habib Ali Web Site - English Section

The prophet is the ladder of ascent towards the worshipping of Allah

Part One:


Part Two:

Muslims in America: Whither and Where

Shaykh Yasir gives a poignant call to balance in claiming pre-Columbus Muslim presence in North America.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Good times return to Oil City

Car-obsessed America may be hurting from record petrol prices, but one group of backwoodsmen have never had it so good.

On the hillsides above Oil City, where the petroleum business was born, small independent producers who could barely survive a few years ago, are rediscovering the meaning of “black gold”.

Lexington | Wright’s wrongs | Economist.com: “AFTER he became notorious as the man who urged God to damn America, Jeremiah Wright claims he wrestled with two impulses. The first was to heed the proverb: ‘It is better to be quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.’ The second was to ‘come across the room’ and fight back. Mr Wright’s decision to come across the room with his mouth wide open is proving a disaster for all concerned.”

The kosher food fight | Comment is free

Video: Israel finds itself in the middle of a tussle between its religious and secular communities - over bread

U.S. has Mandela on terrorist list - USATODAY.com

Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation “embarrassing,” and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

The requirement applies to former South African leader Mandela and other members of South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC), the once-banned anti-Apartheid organization. In the 1970s and ’80s, the ANC was officially designated a terrorist group by the country’s ruling white minority. Other countries, including the United States, followed suit.

American Thinker Blog: Press Club Organizer of Wright Event a Clinton Supporter

Hmm….

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and spirits.

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Actions are by their intentions.” Legally, “Matters are by their motives.” [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah]

Anything that is mentioned out of sincere and reasonable concern is not backbiting. [ Khadimi/Birgivi, al-Bariqa al-Mahmudiyya Sharh al-Tariqa al-Muhammadiyya ]

However, given that such concern is merely an exception from the general impermissibility of mentioning another negatively, this concern must be expressed only to the extent of the need or benefit itself. This is because two legal principles apply: (1) Necessity dictates exceptions; however (2) exceptions are limited to the extent of necessity. [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah]

Thus, anything mentioned out of concern, but beyond the extent of need or benefit, would still be considered backbiting.

In the examples you refer to, therefore, it would be fine to mention about a colleague not fulfilling their working rights (if there is need/benefit in doing so rather than encouraging them directly); however, one wouldn’t be allowed to speak ill about them or to mention other negative things about them. The same thing applies to children when discussing their affairs with their teachers (or, for teachers, with their parents).

And Allah alone gives success.

Faraz Rabbani

Din seeking the Deen: Quotes from Drops of Wisdom

Recently, I browsed through Drops of Wisdom, a collection of wonderful inspiring quotes (definitely worth a visit). Here is a few we liked among many others:

____________________________

Its about You, Your Lord and the Grave – nothing else matters. [Shaykh Nuh Keller]

_____________________________

Sometimes in order to help He makes us cry
Happy the eye that sheds tears for His sake
Fortunate the heart that burns for His sake
Laughter always follow tears
Blessed are those who understand
Life blossoms wherever water flows

Where tears are shed divine mercy is shown
- Rumi

_____________________

al-Imâm
ash-Shâfi’î said to one of his students: “Do not speak
about things that do not concern you, for indeed, every time that you
speak a word, it takes control of you and you do not have control of
it!”

What is the Future of State Capitalism? - HBS Working Knowledge

Whether we think we are part of a free market or not, are we really living in an era of state capitalism? What are we to make of estimates that state-owned sovereign funds, led by Abu Dhabi and fueled mostly by oil revenues and trade surpluses, now total more than the value of the world’s hedge funds and will grow by six times over just in the next seven years? Or that states like China and Russia now own the world’s largest corporations? Or that, according to an estimate by the American Enterprise Institute, economies of countries with authoritarian regimes have grown faster over the past ten years than economies of the most politically free countries?

TheStar.com | Global Voices | Toxic e-waste pouring into Third World

Have you ever wondered what became of your VHS player? How about that old computer with the black and green monitor, or your first cellphone that was the size of a loaf of bread?

A Nod to Europe: Ankara Amends Controversial ‘Turkishness’ Law - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Turkey’s parliament has accepted the government’s reform of a law used in recent years to persecute writers and political dissidents. The law against “insulting Turkishness” is now a law against “insulting the Turkish nation.” Whether it will help Turkey join the EU is an open question.

Just as a person is in relation to you a father
and in relation to another either son or brother –
So the names of God in their number have relations:
He is from the viewpoint of the infidel the Tyrant (qaher);
from our viewpoint, the Merciful.
Divan e-Kebir, tr. Annemarie Schimmel

With us, the name of everything is its outward appearance;
with the Creator, the name of each thing is its inward reality.
In the eye of Moses, the name of his rod was “staff”;
in the eye of the Creator, its name was “dragon.”
In brief, that which we are in the end
is our real name with God.

Mathnawi I:1239-40, 1244