Trials

A gem is not polished without friction,nor a man perfected without trials.Chinese proverb

To hell with being topical: The Qana Massacre II

There are times when certain injustices trump the need for adherence to topical matters. This is a blog that helps point those in the direction of Iraqi voices, sure. I haven't written or participated in this blog for some time for a number of reasons. I've had trouble blogging about the situation in Iraq for a long time now. What else could I possibly add? After hearing first-hand about some of the tragedy taking place on a daily scale, I feel I am irrelevant. I didn't go through that...
And sure, there's the argument that many Qanas take place in Iraq. Believe me, I hear it. But this brutal attack on women and children deserves mention everywhere and anywhere. 37 children were killed in an instant. This insanity has to stop. American weapons that were given to Israel to defend itself are being used to kill babies in Lebanon. Plainly, this is how most of the Arab world sees the situation now. And whether you like it or not, this is pretty much an indisputable fact.

I wish for peace and grace to prevail. But when such images are the realities of Israeli brutality, saying there's a 48 hour cease-fire just doesn't cut it. This will happen again. And when it does, I'm afraid of the consequences.

Here's the video of the Qana massacre. I warn you that it has very graphic images.

So I'm not overly indulgant, I must say that the Iraqi blogosphere gets more and more interesting. I appreciate the scores of new voices, which add vivid color to a exceedingly dim image otherwise portrayed in the media. I am humbled by your sharing. And I salut all of you.

Changing Sins to Virtue

Moulana Rumi (r.a.) states that Allah has kept the ability to sin as well as the ability to do good within man. He gives an example that when the sun shines on cow dung that lies in the forest, it becomes dry. Then the baker places it in the oven where it becomes completely red and makes the oven red. The baker is now able to bake roti (bread). The dung became dry and pure, then it became red in

Imam Abu Hanifa

Imam Abu Hanifa was born in Kufa, Iraq in the year 80A.H. He was the son of a Persian merchant and his full name is Nu'man bin Thabit ibn Zauti (more famously known in Islamic History as 'Imam Abu Hanifa' and 'Imam A'zam').His father - Thabit - was privileged to meet Hazrat Ali (R.A.) who had at the time, made Kufa his capital. Kufa, at the time of the imam, was one the most important learning

Lucky Me

You may be wondering what I did for World Cup action after Italy knocked Germany out of the World Cup. At the time, I was wondering what I was going to do myself.

Fortunately, luck was on my side as France made it into the finals. Why was this lucky? Because my German friends, Uwe and Sabine, are rather well acquainted with Theo, who is an American that until recently was working at the English language newspaper The Yemen Observer.

You see, Theo knows one of the French gendarmes and as it turns out, the French ambassador had set up a pavilion for the French citizens and invited guests to watch the match at his house. Now Uwe, Sabine, Theo, and I are neither French citizens nor were we invited guests but I guess it pays to know people as once we arrived at the ambassador's house, Theo called the gendarme on his cell phone and he came and escorted us inside.

I was especially excited as there was no doubt in my mind that I would finally be able to score some red wine. I mean hey, C'mon, this is the French ambassador's house I'm talking about. But no, either the French ambassador isn't a big wine fan or he just couldn't get any. There was gin and whiskey aplenty, but that was poor consolation as I really had my heart set on some red wine.

Speaking of the France and the World Cup, the Yemeni children seem to think it's extremely amusing to call me Zidane when I walk in the streets now. I concede the fact that he and I share the same haircut, but that's where the resemblance ends as I'm much better looking than him. If you're not familiar with who Zidane is, just type his name into your favorite search engine.

A few days before the World Cup final I attended an exhibit for a Yemeni artist at the German Cultural Center (where Uwe works). I was very impressed and ended up buying one of the paintings. Now I just hope I can get it home in one piece. I thought it would be better than dropping several hundred bucks on a jambiya that I'd never wear once I returned to the states; although, I've bought a jambiya too, just not an expensive one. The nice thing about Yemeni jambiyas is that the untrained eye can't tell the difference between an old, expensive jambiya with a lot of history behind it and a brand new jambiya made to look old.

Carrying the bier quickly

Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet (pbuh) said,"Carry the bier quickly. If the dead person was righteous, it is good you are advancing him to. If he was other than that, then it is an evil your are removing from your necks." [Agreed upon]Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported that the Prophet (pbuh) said,"When a body is laid out and the men carry it on their shoulders, if it was righteous, it says, '

Polysemy vs. homonymy: some Algerian Arabic examples

I'm recently back from Algeria (hence the blog gap), so I thought I'd post some more meditations on Algerian Arabic...

Q: Which of the following words from Algerian Arabic are cases of polysemy (different meanings with a shared conceptual core) and which of homonymy (different meanings coincidentally identical in phonetic shape)?

`ṛuṣa عروصة - bride; daughter-in-law
ħjəṛ حجر - stone; lap
bakuṛ باكور - early-ripening figs; young bonito fish

A: `ṛuṣa, from Classical Arabic `aruusah عروسة, is a case of polysemy; a new bride traditionally goes to live in her husband's family house together with her new parents-in-law, so the extension is natural.

ħjəṛ is a case of homonymy: "stone" comes from Classical ħajar حجر, and "lap" from Classical ħijr حجر. Though it would be amusing to try and find a common conceptual core, I can't see any plausible one.

bakuṛ is etymologically a case of polysemy: both derive from Classical baakuur باكور, "coming early, early; premature; precocious" (Wehr). But synchronically, given the two independent restrictions of its meaning - it isn't used to mean first fruits in general, or young fish in general - I can only take it to be a case of homonymy.

IraqI RockeR

Darkest greetting for you My name is Mohammed T. Abbas and I'm from Iraq, you will find in this blog the things I like and the things I do, its just about ma life, hope you'll enjoy it, and I don't think that you will.

Update - not a new blog but a rename of madshadows.blogspot.com.

In the court of Allah

Proprietor of Nauratan Jewellers, narrates that once I visited Hazrat Arif-billah Dr Abdul Hayy Arifi ra. I was in hurry, time was running short. I requested for a brief nasiha (advise).Hazrat ‘Arifi ra told me to always remember the fact that, in the judicial system of this world if you plead guilty you are held responsible and punished. Sometimes fined or even jailed.Whereas, in the court of

Haq Islam

Assaalam Alaykum,I would like to just bring to your attention the new site xMuslimahx and I have launched called Haq Islam. Others will also be getting involved in developing the site further insha'Allah, but we have layed down the foundations to begin with. Without saying too much here, you will find on Haq Islam links to authentic Islamic sites, audio, articles and much more insha'Allah.I

Virtues of Visiting the Sick

It is a Sunnah of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to visit the sick. We should always visit those who are sick because it helps us to reflect and take heed, as those who are ill are close to Allah Ta'ala. We have only to consider that the sick person has no one to call but Allah, nothing to reflect on but Allah, and his condition reminds us of the blessing of health.Hadrat Abu Moosa (R.A.)

Devotion to Allah

A policeman is in the force for 25 years in which no complaints have been filed against him. He arduously carries out his duties until he reaches the status of a sergeant, and in a few years time he will be retiring only to receive a healthy pension. However, one day at a certain police function he arrives without uniform, upon which he is reminded to wear it. After a few hours he is again seen

Iraqi Signor

The objective of this blog is to provide an alternative view; one that doesn't conform to the political, religious and media-orientated mainstream opinion. Also, through this humble arena, I aim to take the first step towards journalistic stardom via the world's widest gate: blogspot.com

Read more at iraqi-signor.blogspot.com

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Beer, Bacon, and the World Cup

Last night was about as good as it gets here in Yemen I believe. One of the German students, Sabina, suggested that we watch the Germany-Argentina quarter-final match at the German Embassy, so yesterday evening I headed off with Sabina, Uwe, and Jenny to the German Embassy.

It promised to be a night to remember and we weren't disappointed. Not only did Germany defeat Argentina to make it into the semi-finals of the World Cup (I'm a big fan of Juergen Klinsmann and the German national team), the German Embassy was providing free beer/white wine along with pizza and some other snacks! It was like I had died and gone to heaven.

I didn't think life could get any better than that until Uwe asked if I wanted to continue the party at the British Club. Now, English Tom had invited me to the British club several times before he left but I always declined as I felt too busy each time he had asked. If I had only known I would have accepted every time. Although the beer at the British club wasn't as good as the beer at the German Embassy, they did have one thing the German Embassy did not; that thing being a BACON, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich.

Mmmmnnn.... bacon. It was good. No, it was very good. Even after eating the pizza at the German Embassy I ate two BLTs at the British club. Couple this with going to Al-Fanous(sp?) and discovering that they actually served steak capped off a rather pleasant week. Let's face it... Yemen is a dangerous and uncertain place. A few days of beer and pizza are about as good as it gets.