Positivity of Islam- 6

There are many areas of our life that we need to reflect upon and work on, and change:
Social or fun
Home
Spiritual/ religion
Personal development
Recreational activities and hobbies
Partner/lover (deep connections and positive relationaships)
Family
Health
Career/business
Financial

we may need to focus on some of these sides as changing few of these areas will have a ripple effect of the others.
We need to be desciplined enough so we don't lose sight of the important parts of our lives
We need to mix with the right type of poeple
We need to think of influential thoughts; thoughts that will change our lives and the lives of many others
We need to be self mentored as well as mentors for others.
We need to take action and grab our life from the balls.

All these areas are discussed in Quran and more, the wierd thing though that all of them are discussed in a very positive way apart from friends, as we are asked to watch out from bad influences of some friends.

Quran also talks about having pets as friends, the cave group had their dog with them in the cave, and he was used as a symbol of protection to scare people away from the cave.

Have you tried to sleep in the airport

My son was driving me to the airport and was trying to make conversation, I havent in my life felt so sleepy, so was yawning and yawning as if I had never gone to sleep in my whole life. I couldnt understand what he was saying excepts for snippets of the conversation for giving him money to do his visa work and for who is going to be the new PRO for the company, and that he should be the one. Anyway, we reached the airport, feeling sleepy as. I pulled a trolly, shoved the luggage on to it, and pushed it towards the check in counter. The woman took longer than usual this time, but still I yawned in her face, then went to the passport clearance, and yawned again in the officer's face, and while x raying my bag, I didnt know whether I had taken my metalic stuff off, then when the gate beeped I remembered them, so went back to put them in the tray, again they sent me back to remove my Ipad and laptop.  Don't know why I brought both of them when the trip is only 4 days.  Sometimes I do stupid things like this, and never think of a reason.

When I entered the lounge I asked the hostess this question: if I fall asleep, will anyone wake me up when they call for the flight? she of course said no, and that if I want to sleep, I must put my alarm on? how about that??? not sure if you know me well mate, the alarm wakes everyone up except me. So no point, and I must think of another way to relieve my sleepiness.

First, you should ask me why I take late night flights, when I know very well that I am not an owl, I cannot sleep late, and also cannot wake up early, shouldn't avoid both flights. However I say this to myself so often that sometimes I really feel that I have Alzheimer. I keep on booking flights in awkward times as I want to have full benefit of my day. For example, I will reach London at 7 in the morning, that means, I had benefited of my full day in Dubai, and will see a full day in London; however if I took an afternoon flight for example, I will lose the day completely. 

Second, I thought of having a strong cup of coffee, just noticed that the coffee in the lounge is not that great! it didn't taste as nice as the ones I had before

Third, I thought of writing this blog, just to drag myself out of my sleepiness and into a world of words that mean nothing. While doing this, I replied to my emails, tweeted a bit, and checked some education websites. Which means that when I try to save a day, a lot of hours are actually saved but most of them were spent towards work.

One day I will take a real holiday, and leave my phone, laptop, Ipad and every method of communication at home. The Holiday will bejust for reflection, eating and sightseeing see this for example http://www.gillesvidal.com/blogpano/paris.htm

Good night everyone. sleep tight

having said all of this, i did something positive today, i visited a friend,

Breakup of Friendship and how we deal with it

One day I had a gathering of friends from a neighboring city, I had prepared Rice, Grilled fish, Kebabs, stew, an Arabic sweet that I had learnt from another friend.  I also made special Turkish tea and was anticipating a great night with lovely discussions and lots of useful information.  The group were late in arriving as they lost their way. Well of course people will lose their way in Dubai as each day sees a new interchange, or a new road or a new colony of houses that springs about without us noticing them.  Us who live in the area are almost used to it, and never actually complain, we like to be part of the hourly change in Dubai, we feel it is the reason most of those that live in Dubai have a mind that has lots of boxes and lots of ideas. I once went to one of the northern emirates for a meeting, and after work I wondered around it for an hour; then I was invited to speak in one of the colleges again about two years later, I was startled as it was exactly the same. In actual fact it was as if the time stopped since my visit!! I wonder how people like it? Oh well, I went to Iraq after about 33 years and it was the same, but older and more damaged of course. Even how people dress was the same as that of 33 years ago.

Anyway, I could feel a little bit of tension going on in my friends' faces, didnt want to say anything, and suddenly one of them was asking me to provide direction to a person on the other side of the line, I did and then asked her why is she leaving so hastily, she said she had work, I accompanied her to hte door, but my heart was full of questions, and didnt want to say anything to her as it may not be appropriate; if I was invited to another place I will not have work come in between. As soon as she left, I asked the other group: Why did she leave? I opened a can of worms. 

Apparently there was a scuffle in the car about which way to turn, normal? of course, everyone has an opinion when it comes to the best way or the shortest way or the easiest way. My daughter and I always quarrel in the car, I will not mention what happens when I drive and my husband lead, or when my son drives and I try to give direction.  Everyone in the car is a passive passenger, but for my friends it was not normal, it was a stiff fight. during the gathering I could see that they are not looking eye to eye, it was as if they had hit each other with hammers and sticks.  Traffic fights I call them, or road maps debates! I bet you all have a story to share about road map debates, you see it in movies and you hear it from friends, relatives, family. one day my own son and daughter had a road map debate while they were each in their own car! oh well, that story is sore in my mind as both of them didnt talk for like a year or so. 

Why? is this people's nature? is that why we do not like to discuss religion or politics? or money for example? I am having the latter debate now with my sister, who thinks that we could have sold our flat for more in 2008 and thinks that she actually brough a buyer!!  that mysterious buyer will haunt us for ever, why? because we will never get that high price again, those days are gone, and property prices behave naturally now. I wonder what happens in closed doors of parliaments and government departments? do they also fight about what fiscal rules they are going to introduce?

I think having another opinion is good, we must have another opinion, it is healthy to have another opinion, and it is health to debate your opinion and prove that it is more valid, but why fight and be upset about it?  We can have two or three valid opinions, as each one will be correct if all factors do not change.  Life itself cannot stand still, and you will be sick of food if you have the same food everyday.  Even the birds, they migrate in order to eat different types of food (or insects in their case).

Human beings are a different breed I guess, Even God had to cancel some verses of the Quran because another situation had cropt up, which means that somebody had a fight over what was said before so a new verse came by.

Please guys, we are in an age where a lot of more important stuff are happening, road debates are not as important, and they are best to be taken with a pinch of salt, and be forgotten as soon as we leave the vehicle;  If I can do that, so can you.

To my friend who had the incident, call your friend and have a great cup of coffee, just remember, next time you come to my house for scones, cream, honey, and other morning goodies nicely prepared for you, please come in different cars, and give each of them a map. I like to see your real bright and pretty face, not the one that became upset because of that incident.

Positivity of Islam- 5

Let me spill the beans, I admit that it, I  really really want to be rich, I want to roll in a room full of money, gold, silver, Gem stones and diamonds. I want to have a parking space for 8 lovely cars, and I want to have a huge house with an indoor swimming pool, my own cinema place, and my own cafe.  Well, don't ask me why I want these things, I have no idea, I just feel that having these things will help me be a better person, I will have a lot to give, and I will not feel bad when I buy something as I can give an equivalent amount to those that may need it. I will not have to think if I need that dollar to pay for something else, or think of the useless term I learnt in college "opportunity lost". I hated that term then, and I hate it now, as every time I want to buy something I think first if there is something else that I may need to use that money for.  Of course I have no idea what will happen if I just went ahead and bought that thing? will I stay without electricity for example? or will I have to not use my car as I don't have money to pay for petrol?  Opportunity cost! please delete this term from your memory, and if your accounting teacher tries to explain it, tell him or her that this term is to be used for losers and not for bright students like you.

Why did I mention this thing about me? its because of King Solomon.  Prior to becoming a prophet, he was thinking that the only way he will gain the respect of his people is by owning a fortune that no one had before him and no one will have after him.  He was a faithful one, so he prayed to God that he should be the richest man on earth, and maybe in the skies.  The fortune that King Solomon received from God is so magnificent to the extent that he had angels and spirits working for him:

12. And for Solomon the wind—its outward journey was one month, and its return journey was one month. And We made a spring of tar flow for him. And there were sprites that worked under him, by the leave of his Lord. But whoever of them swerved from Our command, We make him taste of the punishment of the Inferno. 

13. They made for him whatever he wished: sanctuaries, statues, bowls like pools, and heavy cauldrons. “O House of David, work with appreciation,” but a few of My servants are appreciative.

King Soloman was able to talk to the birds, ask the spirits to bring the throne of Balqis, and these spritis had varyaing powers, one of them says that he can bring the throne befor the kings leaves his position, the other more knowledgable spirit says that he can bring the throne before he closes his eyes, and when Queen Balqis landed in the palace she lefted her skirt thinking that she was walking on water.  The floor of the palace was built from glass. 

King Solomon was able to talk to the wind, to the birds and to all the creatures.  One day he was speeding on his horse with his soldiers, and he smiled when he heard the ant telling her herd that they should move out quickly before the king's horses smash them to bits.  Of course he will smile, wouldn't you smile if you hear an ant talking to you?

What do you conclude from this article? That God provides to those that ask without a boundary,  as boundaries are created by human beings! they imagined that boundaries exist, and respected them without a question.  Boundaries are our humanly creations, as the boundaries mentioned by god are only those that relate to mischievous behaviors that are done by humans, like killing, stealing, lying, and other things that we are capable of doing but at the same time we shouldn't.

I have seen many people talk about how little their fortune is and these same people place obstacles in their own ways, even if there were no real obstacles in their way.  I have also seen that people expect the worse in every step and never dream of the best. Many of the verses in Quran talk about the limitless fortune, the limitless ink that God had created, the limitless mercy if we need it.  God also created all the great stuff on earth for us to feat our eyes on, all we need is to believe and to pray that we get these things.  If you are ever in trouble all you need is to pray so your troubles fade away, if you are in hunger then all you need is to wish that you are not hungry.  

Faith creates a better person inside us, a person that can get what he or she wants such as a nice home, happiness, great children, a fantastic job or a buzzing business, good health, ability to travel whenever one feels like it, ability to study and achieve higher degrees, ability to face any problem and the ability to solve these problems.  Most importantly is the ability to love and respect.  Love is the one thing that will enable us to live this life to the fullest.  

King Solomon was a positive person, thus we need to be positive and think that the best things can happen to us too.  We are living in a time that is filled with material thinking, and this thinking can guide us to negativity; we work night and day for jobs that pay us pity amounts of money, that is not enough to pay for our needs and wants and doesn't make our life easy and moreover doesn't make it simple. People had forgotten that there is a spiritual side of our life that if we feed it well we will be able to overcome all our negativity and probably make us change our course to a more positive way of thinking. 

When God created Earth and the rest of the galaxies, God also provided to every creature its livelihood. All the creatures needed to do is to look for it.  Livelihood shouldn't be interpreted as food and drink only, its life and whats in between. The ability to study is a gift, having children is a gift, the ability to get married is a gift, the ability to continue with the marriage is also a gift or part of the livelihood provided by God.  

We can have a whole chapter about the fortunes of this life, and we can back this chapter up with verses from Quran, however I will stop right here and leave you to think about what I am trying to lead you to.  

Please do not be fooled, positivity is the secret, be positive, and think positive, once you reach this level your life will fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle.

 
 

Positivity of Islam- 4

Dr Jassim Almutawaa said that every time I saw a person who is sad or unhappy I suggest reading Joseph's article, and whatever the reason for the sadness, whether it was a family problem, financial loss, a lasting disease, or a death of a dear person, this article works miracles

He says that he had advised a person to read it and two days later he returned saying that he didn't expect that the article of Joseph would actually help me sort my troubles out. when Dr Almutawaa said that the reason he ask people to read it is because the article landed on prophet Mohammed in the year of sorrow, when his uncle and wife both died, and both were the main supporters in helping to spread the flair of Islam.  And whenever our prophet read that article he would feel great and it helped reduce his pains and rejection. 

The article of Joseph describes all the problems that Prophet Joseph had faced and was able to raise high from his troubles.  Prophet Joseph faced economical, political, upbringing, women, propaganda problems. Also he had many bitter feelings, including feelings of oppression, how to deal with injustice, and feelings of betrayal.  He was treated unjustly by his brothers who felt jealous of how their father loved him more, how he was sold for a cheap price, of how he was sent to prison even though he wasn't the one who chased the wife of the pharaohs, then he was left to rot in prison for a long time until the dream interpretation saved him. The article also shows that by having faith and perseverance one can overturn his luck to make it what one wish it to be.This is a link to the article, hope you will like it as much as I do http://www.clearquran.com/quran-chapter-012.html

The article reminds me of a sentence a speaker in a conference once mentioned and I wrote it down as I knew that I will use it one day "When you can clearly see where it is that you want to go, you can change your direction, and get the extra efforts it needs to get there"  

It is like buying that powerful car that can take you from A to B in less time than normal, especially if time is the thing you are looking for. 

Positivity of Islam- 3

The way I see it (from a non religious, but respecting and faithful mind) any one can provide his/her own perspective on religions; this perspective is developed from reading, researching or from just having dialogue with other people about certain aspects in life.  One doesn't need to be a philosopher to discuss and dialogue religion, because its the only subject that any one can dabble in and have an opinion on.  for this reason there was a saying "don't discuss religion or politics amongst friends", one can actually lose friends because of religion.  I guess this is what is happening to us the Muslims.  Those that are vocal, and become terrorists have heard snippets about Islam, that are put into another contexts to mean that we can kill others, or kill our selves, of course if you study the religion as a whole these two acts are forbidden, as one can only fight if there was an attack, we are peaceful and will remain peaceful.


Also we the eastern people have a different way of believing in a religion if compared to the west. We do not have those years of oppresion that happened with the church and those years of people working just to give their money to so called "christian" organisations, who at that time were disguising themselves with Christianity in order to profit from people's hard work.  Of course this is happening to us too, many people have stopped being Muslims or hindus or any of the religions in the east just because those that are considered masters in the reliegion have been corrupt or have misused the religion in order to receive personal gains.  I think that interpretations of concepts is very important, like any science concept, if its not interpreted properly it can be misused.  For example, one day a dentist was doing an advert on TV, she was saying that its better to have a spoon of sugar than an apple, as an apple has more sugar!  if a child had heard this respectful dentist talking on TV, the teeth of that child will be under his or her pillow waiting for tooth fairy to take them and place money in their place.

I believe that most religions are built around helping humanity to live in harmony, respect, love and above all, hard work. If anyone thought of a religion otherwise then he or she must think twice before uttering the word religion in his/her sayings.  I read the whole Quran and its interpretation, it talks about life in general, education, food, marriage, divorce, breastfeeding, child rearing, inheritance laws, stories of historical nature, dreams and dream interpretations, love, passion, sex, how to do sex, insects, animals, reptiles, the horescope, the stars and galaxies, time, distances to various galaxies, diseases and how to treat them, politics, I must not forget, how to deal with yourself if you are delivering a baby on your own? that for me is a book of life, and I read it whenever I am stressed and want answers. Each part of the book complements or elaborate on the other part.

Be positive, be optimistic, reject the classic negative thinking, love people, respect people and do what is right, protect public properties, do not lie, do not steal, do not rob people of their hard earned cash, do not sell people defected goods, do not reduce the size of the kilo or pound, sell with exact measurement, smile, do not differentiate in color, race, nationality and so on.  Let me tell you though, the main differentiation that is stressed upon in the book is the one between the learners and the ignorant.

I wish to God that I will not be classified as ignorant.

Positivity of Islam- 2

When it comes to eating, I will eat an elephant (metaphorically speaking of course), however I will ensure that its slaughtered in the Halal way, just trying to be funny here if you see what I mean.  No, seriously, when it comes to eating, we will try any cuisine, and we have been going to various countries and we love their cuisine; the Italian and Creek cuisine are well known for us the Arabs, and with the advent of franchises we saw pizza joints cropping up every where, of course this is great, as we don't have to go to Italy to have Pizza or pasta.  I also love Spanish food, and I think I am the only one in the gulf who loves British food! Fish and chips and cake and custard are my favorite, I will have them any time. Islam encourages us to travel and get to know people; there are a number of articles in Quran that talk about travels and of course the famous trip of the summer and the winter for Quraish. Obviously when one travels one has to eat as well, especially in those days that people traveled on Camels, carrying food is not something that is safe, so buying staples from the countries en route is a must.  I don't think that when we eat a pie for example we will think that this pie is going to change us from Muslims to non-Muslims? or will make us speak the language of that country in a fluent way.  I don't know how to speak Italian, but judging from the article below, I should be so fluent in Italian (because of the thousands Pizzas I had and the tens of thousands of espresso, cappuccinos, cafe grande and what not of the Italian stuff). The article below is another example of Islamophobia that we collectively have to work against:

How can the "Empire" ever expect to last with leaders like this one...

http://dailycurrant.com/2012/09/28/bachmann-we-ban-falafel-school-lunches/

Bachmann: ‘We Must Ban Falafel’ in School Lunches

Sep. 28, 2012

Minnesota CongresswomanMichelle Bachmann courted controversy today by claiming that falafel and other "jihadi foods" should be banned from school lunches in the United States.

In an interview with local television station KSTP in Minneapolis, Bachmann explained that after visiting a local elementary school she was shocked to find that falafel - a fried vegetable patty popular in the Arab world - was being served as a option on the vegetarian menu.

Ostensibly in the studio to discuss her close race for reelection against Democratic challenger Jim Graves, Bachmann instead used the time to appeal for a nationwide movement against Arab cuisine.

Startled by the parochial nature of her statements, KSTP anchor Chris Johnson felt obliged to challenge her reasoning:

"I have to ask Ms. Bachmann, why is that a problem? I mean some children like the taste of falafel, what's wrong with that?"

"Chris, falafel is a gateway food," responded Bachmann, "It starts with falafel, then the kids move on to shawarma. After a while they say 'hey this tastes good, I wonder what else comes from Arabia?' "

"Before you know it our children are listening to Muslim music, reading the Koran, and plotting attacks against the homeland."

"We need to stop these terror cakes now, before they infiltrate any further."

God Hates Chick Peas

Bachmann stopped short of advocating a ban on all Arab food, saying that "responsible adults can probably use Arab food safely in moderation."

However, she made clear that she was frightened by the pace at which the cuisine has permeated the U.S.:

"I have a friend in Texas who has to homeschool her children because her local public school forces students to eat hummus. Its everywhere now. This is really scary stuff."

Bachmann then intimated that the widespread use of Arab foods in American schools could be the sign of a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top:

"I have no proof that President Obama is forcing our children to eat Arab and Middle Eastern food. But it would certainly fit the pattern."

Bachmann has a history of controversial statements regarding Islam and the role of Muslims in America.

She says her first priority upon returning to congress will be to introduce a bill protecting America's children from the dangers of Muslim cooking:

"We must ban falafel and other jihadi foods in schools before its too late."

What really eats into me though? why are we the Muslims are even thinking of going to USA? or to the west? and do we think that we will ever be able to change their minds? do we have to prove that we are normal human beings that love each other, get married, have children, write books, teach in schools, work in banks, read books in the park, watch movies, wish to be noble prize winners and so on and so forth of what any western person will also think of doing during his/her life time. 

We must start realizing that generalizing arguments is not helpful to anyone and its not conducive to international relationships, we all should stick together and teach and learn from each other if we want to have a world full of justice.