The art of the toilet in Japan - BBC NEWS

Duncan Bartlett discovers how, when it comes to lavatories, Japan is a step ahead of the rest of the world. No country takes toilets quite so seriously as Japan….

Seeking Factories Beyond China?

China Losing Luster with U.S. Manufacturers - BusinessWeek

A new survey finds rising worries about product quality and intellectual-property theft. More U.S. companies are looking to Mexico and their own backyard

Mumbai under attack - The Big Picture - Boston.com

In the Name of Allah, the Benevolent, the Merciful

Our prayers go to the victims, their families, and the justifiably troubled & fearful people of Mumbai in particular and India in general. We ask Allah to envelop them and us in His Infinite Mercy, to spread peace and harmony in the lands, and to take hatred, anger, intolerance, and the ugliness that leads to such actions from the hearts of people. We ask Allah to make the light of His Beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his “most beautiful example” of mercy, gentleness, beauty, and excellence manifest in our ways, and that we all uphold the basic human value of upholding virtuous conduct in our dealings with others–whether they do good to us or whether they wrong us. And God alone gives success.

Faraz Rabbani

The Big Picture (Boston.com)
Late Wednesday night, Mumbai, India found itself the target of a ferocious terrorist attack, and the situation remains unresolved even now, three days later. According to reports, upwards of 60 young men entered Mumbai in small inflatable boats on Wednesday night, carrying bags filled with weapons and ammunition, and spread out to nine locations to begin their attacks. Lobbing grenades and firing their weapons, they entered hotels, a railway station and several other buildings, killing scores and wounding even more. As of this moment, the identity of the attackers has yet to be definitively determined, though there are reports indicating some of the gunmen were Pakistani - at least nine of them have been killed, nine more arrested. As of this writing, there were a reported 151 people killed from 11 different countries - though nearly 100 were Indian. More than 300 injuries have also been reported - those numbers may yet rise as several hostage situations still exist in the city. (35 photos total)

Talib al Habib- Knowledge is light - YouTube

Imam Zaid Shakir’s response to Front Page Magazine’s personal attack

IslamCrunch » Blog Archive » Imam Zaid Shakir’s response to Front Page Magazine’s personal attack

“Although I do not expect propaganda organs like Front Page Magazine or Muslims Against the Sharia to be interested in the truth, I would expect that you would do a minimum amount of fact-checking. Contrary to what you print in your story “Horowitz Speech on Radical Islam Has Repercussions at Northwestern”, I was not a co-founder of Masjid Al-Islam in Oakland, California, nor have I ever been affiliated with that mosque. I was a co-founder of Masjid Al-Islam in New Haven, Connecticut. Our mosque was founded to serve, in the words of our motto as “a moral voice in the community.” The mosque has been and continues to be a source of spiritual guidance and social and economic services for a largely poor and an underserved inner-city community. A correction on your part, while not anticipated, would be appreciated.” - Imam Zaid Shakir

 

This statement is in response to Horowitz Speech on Radical Islam Has Repercussions at Northwestern published by FrontPage Magazine and and reposted by Muslims Against Sharia (where we originally found the story and shared it with our beloved Imam)

IslamCrunch says:

We humbly request all students and friends of
Imam Zaid to link to this announcement (on your blogs, websites, social
networks, etc.) to spread the word about this issue.

Barack Obama’s BlackBerry | Subject: Guantánamo | The Economist

The next president has been told that, for security reasons, he will have to give up his beloved mobile device. We’ve intercepted his last e-mails: here’s the first…

How The Brain Rewires Itself - TIME

How The Brain Rewires Itself - TIME

It was a fairly modest experiment, as these things go, with volunteers trooping into the lab at Harvard Medical School to learn and practice a little five-finger piano exercise. Neuroscientist Alvaro Pascual-Leone instructed the members of one group to play as fluidly as they could, trying to keep to the metronome’s 60 beats per minute. Every day for five days, the volunteers practiced for two hours. Then they took a test. Read on…

The new Mac buying guide | Macworld

“Which Mac should you buy? Here’s our expert advice.”

Abdullah bin Hamid Ali: A Return to Purity In Creed - MP3 of Radio Interview

RADIO INTERVIEW WURD 900 AM Philadelphia, PA (mp3)

More at Lamppost Productions

We Found the Real W.M.D. - NYTimes

Op-Ed Columnist - We Found the W.M.D. - NYTimes.com

This is the real “Code Red.” As one banker remarked to me: “We finally
found the W.M.D.” They were buried in our own backyard — subprime
mortgages and all the derivatives attached to them….

Chocolate: Growers Going Beyond Mere Cultivation to Production

When Chocolate Is a Way of Life

The Quichua people of Ecuador are no longer simply cultivators of cacao, transforming their role into manufacturers and owners, by forming their own cooperative known as Kallari. “Chocolate making has always been less common in cacao producing countries than it has been in Europe, where the technology to create chocolate bars was developed and where such a luxury could be more easily afforded,” writes Jill Santopietro for the New York Times. The growers in the Amazon rain forest once sold their cacao beans for 20 cents per pound, but knew they could do better, after talking with volunteers from NGOs who were otherwise promoting biodiversity. The tribe’s quest caught the attention of major chocolate manufacturers, and with the help of Stephen McDonnell, founder of Applegate Farms organic food company, the group established the Kallari Chocolate Company, while also mastering techniques of cultivation, fermentation of the beans, production and marketing. The Quichuas now sell Kallari bars to a grocery chain in the US, which retail at up to $5.99 per 2.5 ounces. Combining knowledge from the tribe with chocolate-making techniques of the north has raised quality of life for the Quichuas and promotes sustainability for their part of the rain forest. - YaleGlobal

GTD Islamically: Today’s Work, Tomorrow’s Work

Shaykh Yusuf Sacha related to me, during a visit to Amman, Jordan, from one of his teachers that he used to respond to each day’s correspondence the very same day, saying, “If I don’t do today’s work today, then when will I do tomorrow’s work?”

Turkish: Ya Muhammad - Abdurrahman Onul - Video

(I don’t think the images are related to the song.)

Riba and Mortgages: 21 Commonly Asked Questions Regarding Islamic Finance & Banking by Atif Khan, Islamica Magazine

Read:

Part One

Part Two

Save Money: Cutting Down Your Grocery Bills…

How to Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half | Zen Habits

… some great frugal tips that I’ve learned to help save money at the market.

Read more

Review: Google Mobile App, revisited | iPhone Central | Macworld

Review: Google Mobile App, revisited | iPhone Central | Macworld: “The first version of Google Mobile App () was strong on searches, but weak when it came to Google’s peripheral applications. Not that Google’s search supremacy was ever in doubt, but with the recent introduction of voice search, the updated Google Mobile App is a quantum leap beyond its predecessor. The secondary Google products are still poorly implemented here, but you will be too absorbed with the voice search too care.”

Bullay Shah, the Charlatan, and Knowledge of the Lost Lotas

From Salikah’s Blog: A Student’s Digest:

During the lifetime of the wali Allah, Baba Bullay Shah, there was a charlatan who claimed knowledge of the unseen. People visited the man in regards to their affairs, and would honour him with money and gifts for his “wisdom”. When Baba heard of him, he had his suspicions and so went to meet him.

Read more

Lesson: Proper Manners for Seekers of Knowledge - SeekersGuidance Free Download

As Salamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatuLlah.

We’ve just uploaded a 1/2 hour lesson for Seekers of Knowledge to the SeekersGuidance homepage. You can listen to it online, or right-click –> here <– and download it to your desktop.

The following are our featured courses for Seekers of Knowledge,
i.e. those who are dedicated to deepening their knowledge and
understanding of Islam, and are seeking to study the Islamic sciences
in a systematic, relevant manner. Registration is open - don’t miss out!

Read more

Yunus Emre: Ask those who know

Yunus Emre: Ask those who know

Ask those who know,
what’s this soul within the flesh?
Reality’s own power.
What blood fills these veins?

Thought is an errand boy,
fear a mine of worries.
These sighs are love’s clothing.
Who is the Khan on the throne?

Give thanks for His unity.
He created when nothing existed.
And since we are actually nothing,
what are all of Solomon’s riches?

Ask Yunus and Taptuk
what the world means to them.
The world won’t last.
What are You? What am I?

SeekersDigest Name: What Happened with “Revolution Magazine” ?

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

A bunch of people have asked me about why I changed my blog’s name.

I didn’t. I changed the template. It went live by mistake. The title of the blog reflected the name of the template we were using (Revolution Magazine).

It took a few days to change that. I’m no revolutionary. Change takes time.

And Allah alone gives success.

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