Petition for Muslim Holidays in America: A wasted effort or an educational opportunity?

There is a sudden interest in getting Muslim holidays declared by the White House. Here is why I think it is a distraction and a waste of time and effort.

Google’s Android has become the worlds most profitable Mobile OS. But it could eventually be dumped.

There have been some historic headlines in the past few days within the technology industry:

First is that Samsung became the first company to beat Apple in smartphone profits thanks to its Android based devices. Second is that Microsoft and Apple are now making more profit from Android sales than the owner of the Android OS: Google. Finally Google may dump Android due its low profits.

Margaret Thatcher: Love her or hate her.

Britain’s Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher died today. Tributes and obituaries brings to mind the political world in the 80’s. The decade that witnessed the strongest British American relations ever. It is also being said that Reagan Thatcher relationship were the closest than any other heads of states of these countries. A darling of conservatives in both US and UK, Thatcher was hated by the left. She was mainly despised for breaking up the strong left and labor unions in Britain.

Unmosqued: A rebel without a cause.

Recently someone posted a trailer of a yet to be produced movie Unmosqued. It is supposedly meant to start a dialogue among the American Muslim community about the issues in the Mosques. Unfortunately it does the exact opposite: http://www.unmosquedthemovie.com/

The movie trailer is over dramatized and over generalized. Experiences are clearly anecdotal and don’t support facts (refer to 2011 Mosque survey). None of the speakers are out of the NY/NJ area which has a HUGELY different Muslim culture than other parts of the country. To me it appears like an expression of someone’s personal rant rather than a picture of a national situation.

Human Greatness and the Muslim Defeatists: Half a Lesson learned

Past few days we have seen so much written on Steve Jobs including my previous post. Unfortunately the many Muslim discussions on him revolve on just a single theme: he died a non Muslim with no faith and hence he will end up in hell leaving all his fortune behind including the work he did. Based on this it is deduced that it is important for us Muslims to remember that death is inevitable and we need to prepare for it with “good” deeds. These “good” deeds are going back to the sources of Islam: the Quran and the way of the Prophet (peace be up on him).

Steve Jobs – Why will we really miss him.

By Waqas Syed

(Oct 6, 2011) – My flight back home to Southern California from New York had just landed and as everyone were busy calling their friends and family to tell them they landed, I came across the sad news that Apple Inc. announced the death of Steve Jobs, our generation’s greatest technological visionary, just a few minutes ago. Thanks to my iPhone.

Hijab: America vs Europe

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-04-08-muslim-school-bullying_N.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3708444.stm

CNN: Is America Islamophobic?

Slumdog Millionaire: A review like no other.

It is tough for a movie to successfully entertain, educate and inform the viewers of genuine social issues while winning awards. Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, this year’s winner of the Best Movie Oscar Award, does all of this beautifully. But we need to learn the right lessons. Maybe I am reading too much into the movie but then the specific changes made by Boyle to the original story in the book and the criticism by the Hindu extremists leads one to think if that is really the case. Here are the 10 questions asked to Jamal, the hero of the movie. Each question symbolizes the issues Indians face on a daily basis. Correct answers are in bold.

Need an Another Deedat

July 1st, 2009 is the 91st birthday of the Late Ahmed Hussain Deedat the charismatic Islamic activist, Bible student and speaker.

His combative debate style could be attributed to the circumstances that brought him to this line of work in the first place: attempts by young trainee Christian missionaries to convert him during his childhood. He used these Christian missionaries to practice and learn techniques of debating the Bible. He also perfected his skills which were to give him his worldwide debating popularity later on.