The Sea

"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Brethren of the Devil

Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon him, said, "In the last days there will be learned men who teach abstinence in the world but will not be abstinent themselves, who will teach men to take delight in the next world but will not take delight in it themselves, and who will warn men against coming before rulers but will not refrain themselves. They will draw near to the rich and keep far from the poor; they will be pleasant to great men but will shrink from humble men. Those are the brethren of the devils and the enemies of the Merciful."

Muslim tradition of Jesus' sayings

Remembrance

"Worship God. Leave all else.

Worship demands singleness of purpose and concentration of the whole mind onGod. As long as the heart is divided in its loyalty, and the full attention is not given to God—until the remembrance of His holy name is constant—the blessedness and bliss of true God-realisation does not come.

Our sojourn on earth is as uncertain as a dewdrop on a rose petal.

Therefore, worship God. Leave all else."

Shri Dadaji Maharaj

How Islamic this Hindu advice sounds to me.

Surrendering

Why is Islam terrifying? Because to embrace Islam you have to give up so much. You have to surrender your pride.

You have to bend down on your knees before God.

Many people say that when they attempt to pray, it is the physical prostration they find difficult. They can't do it.

The heart is the seat of the intellect. Only recently has mankind begun to think otherwise. Was my heart not sealed, only sleeping, before I embraced Islam? I certainly experienced the fear of Islam common to people of the West. What caused God's grace to fall upon me?

This is the question that mystifies me and humbles me.

War, Lies and Videotape

Here's an interesting article from The Guardian's archives. It's about the "Osama bin Laden confession tape", allegedly found in an empty house in Agfhanistan in 2001.

US urged to detail origin of tape

Steven Morris
Saturday December 15, 2001
The Guardian

There was growing doubt in the Muslim world about the authenticity of the film while special effects experts said computer technology made it possible to fake such a video...

Sean Broughton, director of the London-based production company Smoke and Mirrors and one of Britain's leading experts on visual effects, said it would be relatively easy for a skilled professional to fake a video of Bin Laden.

The first step would be to transfer images shot on videotape on to film tape. Distortion or "noise" and graininess would be removed. A "morphing package" would then be used to manipulate the image on a computer screen.

Using such a package it is possible to alter the subject's mouth and expressions to fit in with whatever soundtrack is desired. The final step is to put the "noise" and graininess back on and transfer the doctored images on to videotape.

In a recent advert that Smoke and Mirrors made for a US insurance company, the technique was used to place Bill Clinton's head on an actor's body for comic effect.

Mr Broughton said that while it would be relatively easy to fake a Bin Laden video, to fool the top experts was much more difficult. "There are perhaps 20 people in America who would be good enough to fool everybody. To find someone that good and make sure they kept quiet would probably be pretty difficult."

Bob Crabtree, editor of the magazine Computer Video, said it was impossible to judge whether the video was a fake without more details of its source. "The US seems simply to have asked the world to trust them that it is genuine."

Mr Bush said it was "preposterous for anybody to think this tape was doctored".

The Osama Tape

Investigate.

Think.

Master Race

Found this gem at http://destabilize.blogspot.com/

Divide and Rule

Read this article on the insidious attempts of the White House and Downing Street to split the Muslims and subvert our religion:

God Save the Deen

"A 2003 report by RAND entitled Civil Democratic Islam categorises Muslims into four categories: fundamentalists, traditionalists, modernists and secularists. Its recommendations include

• financially supporting and promoting the modernists and their viewpoints
• supporting the traditionalists against the fundamentalists
• promoting Sufism
• challenging the fundamentalists’ interpretation of Islam, revealing their links to jihad groups, demonstrating their inability to rule, portraying them as terrorists and encouraging journalists to dig up dirt on them
• encouraging division among the fundamentalists
• selectively supporting the secularists and discouraging the secularist alliance with anti-US forces on such grounds as nationalism and leftist ideology

A joint Home Office and Foreign Office document from 2004, Young Muslims and Extremism, indicated that a similar strategy was at play in Britain. Codenamed ‘Operation Contest’, the document speaks of measures through which government endorsements could be used to promote certain elements within the Muslim community such as supporting 'moderate' Islamic media outlets, promoting Muslim organisations, individuals and forums that are seen as government friendly, and encouraging 'moderate' Muslims to challenge the 'extremists'..."

What a concept – secular Islam! As if there'd be anything left if you took the religion out of Islam.

May this article serve as a warning to us all. Divide and conquer is one of the oldest tricks in history.

Brothers and sisters,

EID MUBARAK!