Cheap as Chips

Salaams People,

I'm in Alexandria at the moment and having a very nice relaxing time here..haven't really done much which is exactly what i wanted to do..!

Visited the quite famous Alexandria Library/Museum (which cost a whopping $355m to build...) and Fort Qaitbay and thats it. Spent most of today on the beach..weather was fantastic - not hot, but warm with a nice breeze and the very few people that were on the beach were all fully clothed which was good. Unfortunately i didn't realise how warm it was so i've ended up with red belt between my elbow and where my T-shirt finished and two red patches on my face...looks quite funny...

Anyway i wanted to say something good about Egypt (finally...) which has hit home here as i've been perusing some of the shops...things are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cheap in Egypt...! (believe me, i'm not being excessive in my use of "o"s here)

For example i got a fantastic en-suite room with awesome sea facing views for how much...? guess..?? SEVEN british pounds!! and thats with breakfast included..

Some other examples(mainly food indicating my interests):

Rice, curry, drink: 70p
Half a chicken, rice, salad: 1 pound
Buffet all you can eat: 1 pound fifty
Decent pair of jeans: 5 pounds
Fake Adidas Trainers (look real): 8 pounds
20 minute taxi ride: (supposed to be 40p)
Train Journey from Cairo to Alex (300km - train same quality as the UK): 2 pounds

Its ridiculously cheap here-dare i say it, i think most things are cheaper than Bangladesh..YES! cheaper than Bangladesh...!! And the thing is, the british pound is continuing to get stronger (i'm an economist-sorry). Untill recently it was 1UK pound = 10Egyptian pounds but now its nearlly equal to eleven...so basically if you want a nice holiday and to buy lots of cheap but very good quality items, but you're on a budget, Egypt is the place.


Anyway off to a small place called Mersa Matrouh tomorrow for two days (heard it's quite nice, we'll see). Will put some Alex pictures up soon inshaAllah

Salaam

I think he's settled for this one...

-

Salaam,

Ok, this is Damn scary.

There's a Chechan/Russian guy (i can tell) next to me speaking via MSN to some guy and looking/describing various GUNS (pistols to be precise) he's looking at on a GUN website...the Egyptian security services are going to be paying someone a visit i think...

Salaam

Museum Day

Salaam,

Today was quite a busy/tiring day as I had lots of little things to do as well as visiting the three main museums in Cairo

I've ended up with quite a few books, much more than the Miserly 20kg I'm allowed to fly with, so I've arranged with our Salafi brothers at Dar Us-Salaam to ship them to the UK at 2pounds fifty per kilo which actually isn't that bad since the books are considerably cheaper in Cairo than in London

Re museums, first I went to the main archeological museum where they keep all the main ancient Egyptian finds including the famous mask of Tutankhamen. I wasn't overly thrilled at going again as I visited the museum two years ago when I was here last, but thought I would anyway as it was on the way to the other museums plus it only cost 2 pounds to get it in. Two years ago they allowed photography in the museum, but they've banned this now so unfortunately no photo's for you guys.

Next it was across the Nile to Zamalek and to the Islamic Ceramics Museum. The pieces inside were all very nice but the thing which stood out most for me was the building itself. It was a 19thC converted villa I think which had a gorgeous interior and flooring. Most of the rooms had beautiful iznik tilings on the walls upto about waist height and then above this including the ceiling it was all covered with very intricate carvings of floral designs and calligraphy. This was in addition to the very serene and delicate marble flooring throughout. The whole thing just looked Amazing. But again, photography was not allowed.

Downstairs and outside in the garden they also had some "modern" art pieces (yes, twisted bits of metal, paintings which look like they were done by a 5yr old etc etc), but it was all interesting none the less.

With my interest in "modern" art aroused, I headed across Zamalek to the National Modern Art Museum to see some pieces done by the best Arab artists. This time the building itself was pretty new, but inside it had very classic middle-features and was pretty extensive and broad in terms of the pieces it had. The Museum was set in the middle of a large complex which also hosted the National Opera Theatre so I went across and checked that out too.

So yes, it's been quite a tiring day. Anyway the plan for tomorrow is a lot more relaxed inshaAllah. Firstly I need to go to Dar Us-Salaam and drop my books off. Then I was just planning on going to Islamic Cairo and staying in the main mosques for most of the day. Might also re-visit Azhar park in the evening or take a felucca trip on the Nile, don't know yet.

Anyway, hope all of you are well, and those of you who are doing/about to do exams are coping OK,

Salaam

Tableeghi saying number 37

Raising children is like looking after a plant (My Version)


"If you have a plant which starts to grow all weird and stuff (don't know the gardening terminology so this will have to do) with the branches going everywhere, what will a good gardener do? They'll put a straight stick into the soil and tie the branches etc to this stick in order to ensure that the plant grows up straight. If this is left for too long and this process attempted after too long a time, what will happen..? The branches will have been set in their way and will have become too strong, so any attempt to tie them now to the central stick and rein them in will lead them to snap and break.


Looking after children is the same. If at a young age you let them go all crazy and say "Oh, they're only kids, they'll learn when they're older" and then when they get older, you try and rein them in by telling them what to do, what not to do, what will the kids' response be..? Further rebellion.

Like with the branches which were left too late and then snapped when an attempt was made to make them "straight" again, similarly the children will "snap" when trying to curb their behaviour. So the key is to get in their early when they're in their formative years and help them grow into upright Muslims, rather then wait and risk leaving it too late."

I think I've massacred the above due to the way I've written it, but I think you get what I'm trying to say...

Salaam

The Big Debate

(Ouch, that's gotta hurt..., the red
bits are there to keep all this
legit...)

Salaams,

There is a debate which is sweeping through the middle-east and much of the subcontinent. It is breaking up families, people are refusing to speak to others and many an argument is taking place discussing this issue, the issue which is...


Is Wrestling real or fake...????


No, I kid you not. Whilst I was in Bangladesh and I used to go to random cafe's and shops in the bazaars with my cousins, I noticed that alongside the standard news, soccer and other sports, WWF Wrestling (as it was known back in my day) was an Extremely popular programme with the locals, getting them cheering and jeering away for their favourate guys, and drooling over the ladies.

This too seems to be the case in Egypt. Quite often you see groups of 20 to 30 kids, teenagers as well as grown men, transfixed on the TV set in the cafe's watching oiled up grown men "fight" each other. Considering quite a few of these guys might be...batting for the other side...I guess we shouldn't be too surprised by this. Also recently though they've introduced female wrestling which basically consists of ex models (usually of an adult nature) wearing skimpy clothes "fight" each other.

Back in the day I myself aged around 10 (note this age), used to watch WWF wrestling, back in its heydey when The Hulk Hogan was in his prime,The Ultimate Warrior was kicking butt and The Undertaker was Awesome (as opposed to the camp Biker he is now - a warning to any ladies, these links contain semi-naked men...) but now from what I've seen, it seems to have gone very Soap Opera like, with all these "background" stories telling you about who is doing what, who is sleeping with whos wife etc and it just seems to have sold itself and become too commercial. Very unfortunate.

Anyway with this current level of high interest, at some point someone must have suggested that the "fighting" isn't actually real and since then this debate has been raging. During my time in Bangladesh and Egypt, unfortunately I've often been put on the spot a few times and asked if the wrestling is real. And unfortunately I have had to oblige to the truth and tell them all that it is actually FAKE (yes!! It's NOT REAL...I swear, the look on some of these guys' faces when I told them this...some of them seemed like they were about to cry!)

I thought all the above was quite funny to be honest..that's the power of TV I guess.

Anyway regarding me, Thursday was a sad day as it signaled the end of my Arabic studies. It's been along and hard five months, but alhamdulillah I've got through it (and who knows? I might have actually learnt a thing or too). So the last few day I've just been relaxing in Cairo. I was supposed to go to Sharm-el-Sheikh today but after much thought I decided not to go. Everyone I talked to seemed to warn me about it saying it was basically like going to the beach in a western country but the final straw was the possibility of having to put up with topless bathers when I thought maybe it's not for me..So instead I'm going to go to Alexandria on Tuesday and spend a few days there and then maybe go onto Siwa.

The seven month road seems to be coming to an abrupt end as I will be back in the UK in the middle of June...but I think I have definitely got the traveling bug and somehow I don't think this will be my last extended trip.

Anyway remember me in your dua's and I'll see some of you soon inshaAllah

Salaam

Cairo Tower Pictures

You can run...

Salaam,

Why does this happen to me....?? Arrrgrgrgrrhjrgrhrhrgrh

So, what happened; I had my end of term exam yesterday (went OK) and then rushed off to Zamalek to book my plane ticket for Morocco (it ended up being VERY expensive). After having done this I thought I would visit the Cairo Tower as the views from the top are supposed to be amazing and the structure is the tallest in Egypt (170 meters-ish, equivalent to 60 floors). So I get to the top and then start walking around, and I realise everyone is staring at me "Oh no, I haven't got food in beard have I...??" I think to myself (A bro in Amman had a major bout of this - you know who you are!!).

So I just look back at them in a "what are You lookin at?" way...but as I continue walking, it dawns on me; everyone on the platform is with someone else - someone else of the opposite gender...

So it seems that I had busted in to one of the prime scenes in Cairo where couples like to hook up and exercise their lips...and so I figured that everyone was looking at me a) cos I had a beard and was wearing a hat and thaub so what on earth was I doing there..?? or b) they were thinking I Too was dodgy and had gone there to hook up with My girlfriend...

The horror when I first realised where I had ended up...but I had just paid 60 Egyptian pounds to get to the top so I wasn't going to let them scare me off....or so I thought. After a quick few minutes and taking quite a few pics I quickly left. It was Reaaally bad what was going on there...I suppose the people there thought it was a pretty "private" place so they decided to take advantage of this privacy...and of course all the girls were wearing scarves.

Then to add insult to injury, on the way back I had to walk across one of the bridges over the Nile and then along the corniche before catching my bus. Both sides of the bridge and the corniche was jam packed with couples...I REALLY want to wish they're all married..I DO... (I later found out that the four or so bridges over the Nile in this area are know as, surprise, surprise "Lovers Bridge" )

It was Another VERY depressing day. Not being discriminatory or anything but the hadith which states that no bigger trial has been left for men than women...and also whenever i'm unfortunate enough to see these things I think that 50% of Egypts population is under 25 and with most of them doing things like this what on earth does the future hold for Egypt. It seems to have become soo widespread that most people do it publicly i.e. sin publicly and there's no embarrassment or shame in it - its become a fact of Egyptian life that most teenagers and up ahve boy/girlfriends. I try to look for the silver lining in the clouds...but I can't really see one for Egypt. And where are the leaders of Egypt...??? They're more interested in the set-up of the constitution, "democratic" reform and who will succeed Mubarak etc rather than doing something about the corruption of their children. People out their praying for Egypt, forget it, it's a lost cause, start using your energies for countries with Some hope left (I humbly suggest Bangladesh..)

R.I.P Islamic Egypt

Anyway...wasn't feeling too good so didn't go into Qortoba today, but guess what? Only three days of school left...!! (i dont know if i'm sad or happy at this) and then the Arabic experience is over. Things are pretty quite these days too as my flatmate and most of the bros i stay with have gone to Aswan for a week, so i'm all alone, roaming the streets of Cairo. Do dua.

Pics coming soon inshaAllah.

Salaam

Black Muslims

Salaam,

Black muslims is the topic of the day, so boys and girls take out your pen and paper and start writing...

The reason I write about this subject, or this subject has been forced upon me, is that my current flat-mate is a black revert from the US; most of the brothers he hangs out with are African-American brothers and so i've been spending a lot of time with these guys over the last few weeks and thought it would be an interesting topic

In the UK, in Burnley, I knew zero black muslims, at Cambridge I think I knew of one or two but didn't really know them, yet globally I think at least 20% of the Muslim population would be considered "black" but I, and I think a lot of muslims in the UK have had very little contact with them

One thing I always prided myself on is Islams stance on racism; I think Islam is the only major world religion which makes the unity of man, despite nationality, tribe (take note Arabs) and colour a Very central role in its teachings. Yet it's shocking to see how much racism and tribalism exists in the Ummah today, and this has been brought to a front by what some of these guys have been saying.

Basically every conversation we have ends up on this topic; about how (in the US anyway) black muslims are treated as "inferior" by the rest of the Muslims, and how this has led to a lot tension in mixed areas. A major factor in the states is the class differences which exist; in the US most of the Asian muslims are white collar workers whereas the black muslims are more concentrated in manual labour, and because of this there's a big difference in outlook, behaviour, interests etc making it difficult for them to get along.

But the US aside, even in "Muslim" countries racism is rife with darker skinned people always seen as inferior. I think the history of this (in Asia anyway) is that the poor people were forced to work out in the field all day and so got dark whereas the rich people didn't. But the unequal treatment and the stereotypes which go with this are as un-Islamic as you can get

One of the brothers (the one who sorts out Egyptian wives if you want one..Abdul Hakim (AH)), has lived in Egypt for six years and was saying how that on Egyptian TV it's always the dark skinned people who are the servants, the criminals, the low life people and the light skinned people are always the stars. My flat mate was also saying that he saw an Arabic textbook where the three times it had black people in it, one was a beggar, the other was a cleaner and the third was robbing a car...!

Islams stance on this is as clear can be - there's soo many hadiths and verses in the quran emphasizing how everyone is equal except in terms of belief. AH (who also happens to be a Al-Azhar student) was saying how all the scholars are agreed upon the fact that Adam (alayhis salaam) was "coloured" and the word "Adam" itself means "derived from black". Also the fact that the Prophet made Bilal (RAW) the first muazzin in Islam clearly shows his stance on this issue.

I think most people reading this will be saying "yes yes yes I know all this...I aint no racist" but I think you are. Most people are. Due to the constant biased news, films, TV shows we watch ALL of us have or are at at least partially tainted with this problem - we all prefer our own kind and usually within our own kind the lighter the better. Its sad that this situation is present but I think it is.

I think this is something which can't be solved overnight but I think the global problem anyway Is improving - its becoming "cool" to be black, or tanned skinned anyway, as more and more famous people are African-Americans and coloured people are being portrayed in amore positive manner in the media. I remember well how a white middle-class friend of mine from university one said he wished he was black...! (he listened to a lot of rap/hip-hop music...). So who knows, the days of "Fair and Lovely" being an Asian/Arab bestseller may soon be over...

Salaam

The Jews run the world i tell ya...!!

Salaam,

Found a very interesting site...obviously some of the stuff here is dodge, but the other stuff not so...

e.g. - Wikipedia owned and ran by Jews and so has Jewish leanings wrt articles on Palestine
- The guy who originally published cartoons of the Prophet (SAW) has jewish roots and a few weeks ago visited Daniel Pipes (this guy is baaaaaad - HATES muslims) in the US
- Hows the jews in New York got the play on Rachel Corrie (the girl ran over by a bulldozer in Palestine) banned

and so on...

Salaam,
Ps, since the Jews run the world, and i've just said this, my blog will prob get closed down..so bye..!

Cairo...???

Salaam,

Yes, believe it or not, the pictures below are from Cairo, from the Al-Azhar park to be specific, set up a few years ago by a $45m donation from our Ismaeli brethren...

Anyway, it was a beautiful park will all the standard things you would find in the west - over priced restaurant and cafe, lots of couples playing with each other and little kids falling into the water.

A World away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city and a fantastic addition to Cairo - well done Ismaelis, well done!

Afterwards i went to Khan Al-khalili to do some more shopping and the usual again - lots of scantily clad women, lots of pervy guys checking the scantily clad women out, more kids falling over.

There's something about predictability i like.

A funny incident though - on one of the side streets whilst waiting for a bus, there was a girl nearby wearing ridiculously low cut jeans with her underwear sticking out..anyway this old woman goes over to her, and in a nice pleasant way asks her if she could kindly pull her jeans up and not show her underwear in public at which the girl, obviously embarrassed at this old woman telling her off, obliged. I thought it was hilarious (the telling off, not the underwear sticking out) and gave the old woman a big smile and thumbs up which i think she appreciated


Salaam

Me

Salaam,

Yeah, yeah, i know the first pose is somewhat gay, but the guide guy made me do it...i think this is his standard photo pose that he makes all the tourists with him do..(and then charge bakhsheesh for...this bakhsheesh thing, i swear it's the biggest con EVER)

Picture of me and the camel will come shortly inshaAllah

Salaam

More Egyptian "Justice" Handed Out...

Pictures from the BBC

Good Egyptians...!!!

Salaams,

SubhanaAllah, its stories like the below that still gives one hope...

I was reading in the newspaper yesterday (English newspaper...my Arabic aint that good yet..) about a guy (Ahmed i think) who works for the Waqf Department (where all the Sadaqa money is collected and distributed) and how he had received a bribe offer for 7 million Egyptian pounds (700,000 English pounds) to falsify some documents so some guys could steal 480 acres of land which had been donated, but he refused the bribe.

The above in of itself is a great thing, but what makes Ahmeds refusal even more praiseworthy is that he is on a salary of 200 Egyptian pounds a month (20quid)...even though he's a graduate in Law and works in the civil service he gets this absolutely derisory figure (even the street cleaners get more i'm told) but yet he still refused to take the bribe which was equivalent to his next 3000 years worth of salaries...!!!!!! On top of this he has a wife and two kids but he still flatly refused..

When asked why he refused to take the bribe, he simply stated it would be against his religion.

SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah,, SubhanAllah...!!!

If the crooks were willing to give a bribe of 7m, one has to imagine what the land was worth...and the governments response...? a one off 1000 pound bonus...

May Allah give us all the strength and resolve to fight off the temptations of Shaytaan, in whatever form they come

Salaam

Last Few Days

Salaam,

As my final weeks and then final days in Egypt come towards me with frightening speed, i'm trying my best to make the most of my time here. Alhamduilillah the last few days have been pretty busy as I have got out and about in Cairo.

Thursday; I met up with a bro who went to Cam but has been living here for three years for a dose of the Shadili way. I met up with the bro and some other Shadili members in the Very leafy suburb of Ma'adi, home to most of the western workers in Cairo. The guidebook said that if you squinted your eyes you could imagine that you were in L.A, and it was true (not having been to L.A though...) - BMW's, Mercedes' and western shops galore...very bizarre Anyway, I went there to take part in the Latifiya that the Shadilis do (I think i mentioned this before..) and then we listened to the dars Sh Nuh had given a few days earlier in Amman. Alhamdulilla it was really really nice meeting up with these bros (most were from the UK or US) and listening to the talk, as it provided a Much needed dose of spiritualism that I had been lacking here so far in Cairo.

Friday; I went again to Masjid Sultan Hassan for Jum'ah and then the rest of the day I spent around the Khan-al-Khalili area (the main market in Cairo) doing some shopping. Usually whenever I go anywhere, I always end up having to rush shopping which I Hate, so I thought with Egypt I would try and get some of it done now. I also went to the Masjid of Imam Hussein a.k.a Sufi Mosque a.k.a Shirk mosque...(they do some Very funny stuff here...Supposedly the head of Imam Hussein is here so you get a lot of over excited Shia's coming and also you get a lot of people rubbing their faces, bowing etc etc in front of the burial location). I was supposed to go to Azhar Park after my brief stay here, but I ended up chatting to a guy in the mosque for quite a while and then it was time for Maghrib so couldn't go. He did inform me though that from today onwards for a week it is the Moulid of Imam Hussein where even More funny business will go on with the "Yawm ul Kabeer" (The Big Day) being next Friday..so obviously i'm gonna go down and check it out...

Saturday; Along with some fellow students, I went to the pyramids and did an hour or so of horse riding and the same with a camel. Alhamdulillah I really enjoyed the horse riding, especially so as I was feeling a lot more confident this time round (three years ago, after five mins, my backside was on the floor with the horse I was supposed to be riding looking over me...). As anyone who has ridden an animal wil tell you, your backside gets incredibly sore afterwards, and this too was the case here. But this time round we ended up riding the horse at a very fast pace, and alhamdulilla it was an Amazing experience...when you ride slowly or just trot, constantly your jumping up and down on the horse and end up with a sore bum, but when you go fast the horse gets into a rhythm and it feels like your floating on air, and your backside stays firmly on the horse...subhanAllah, Amazing. The camel ride too was very comfortable. I had always been wary of riding one as they just look so big and scary, but I tried it out and it was Very nice...the business class of the animal kingdom I think.


And then with Sunday it was back to the books, rushing my homework the night before, learning my vocab on the way to Qortoba and back to normality...


Salaam











Aint she pretty..? The camel I rode

BBC Mix-Up

Salaam,

This is absolutely hilarious...the look on the guys face...!! Read the article and then view the clip...

That man is a legend..!!

Big up to the Fugster for finding this..

Salaam

Salafis

Salaam,

To go in line with this one about Sufis, i give you the below;

You're becoming a Salafi when:

1) Your thaub ends closer to your knees than to your ankles
2) Your facial expression always looks like someone swore at your mother
3) You mention the word "Bid'ah" several times in Any conversation
4) When praying you look like Tutankhamun (you know-with the hands approaching the neck..)
5) You says me making this list is a Bid'ah...



I didn't really know much about them before Cairo, but from meeting some of these guys, and mainly through my flatmate who's had a few run-ins with them, it seems that they have quite a few significant differences with the "mainstream" muslim beliefs. The main two i've picked up on is regarding Madhabs and Attributes of Allah.

Basically they say following a madhab is being a "blind-follower", some of them say its wrong to do this, some go as far as to say its haraam. But the thing is, their reasoning makes no sense what so ever. I can see what they mean in that following say the Hanafi madhab is saying to yourself that your going to adhere to most of the rules in this madhab, and so restricting what you can do. But the alternative to this, is to research everything yourself and then you yourself decide what to do. So who would you trust on any Islamic issue...? The Imams of these madahibs and the THOUSANDS of scholars who have followed them who dedicted their lives to Islam, or would you follow yourself and the conclusion you come to....???

For example you have a nose bleed, does this break your wudu...? The hanafi madhab says yes, if the blood flows, this breaks your wudu. If you take the Salafi view though, you yourself have to research and find out what the ruling are and then you decide if your wudu has broken or not - you cant just "trust" the scholars of the past as this would be blind following...but surely you'd "blindly" follow one of the most eminent scholars Islam has produced than doubly or many-fold "blindly" follow yourself..!!!

The Salafis say that pretty much for every single ruling you need to find out yourself what you should be doing and shouldn't follow these scholars. I mean who has the time, the arabic qulifications, the resources etc etc etc do this...? And to do it to level which they think is more "secure" than these eminent scholars...?? And the thing is even if you follow a madhab, your not restricted to follow its rulings for Everything. In principle, for any single complete act, your allowed to follow another school...so following a madhab isn't even "blindly" following a single school of thought as they say to begin with...!!

The other contentious thing say is regarding the attributes of Allah. In many places in the Qur'an and ahadith things like the "hands" of Allah and the "face" of Allah and other body parts are mentioned. I never knew this, but Salafis actually take this literally...i.e. Allah has hands, a face etc etc...

I did an aqueeda course in Jordan with a brilliant scholar and one of the main things he emphasised was that whatever you think Allah is like, he is different from that because our minds cannot comprehend Him. And on top of this regarding quranic verses, he said whenever you have verse which could be unliteral, you compare it to a literal verse and see if it makes sense, if it doesn't then the unliteral verse means something else i.e. the literal verse is the benchmark against which you compare all the other verses. So here, the obvious literal verse is where Allah mentions he does not resemble any of his creation, so how can the Salafis take the "hand" verses and say it is literal when it would contradict another verse which is more likely to be literal...!! Again there reasoning seems to make no sense whatsoever...

The most alarming thing i have learnt about Salafis though is that they're EVERYWHERE...!! Go on the internet to an islamic website, read an islamic book etc etc...most likely its Salafi produced (classic give away - they use double vowels e.g. Islaam or emaan). I found out the other day that Dar-us-Salam, one of the leading islamic publishers in the world, is Salafi. This was confirmed when the other day i went to one of their shops and picked up a book called "Should i follow a madhab?" and basically it said "No, the people who follow madhabs are stupid and deviant and not following the quran and sunna, so dont follow a madhab"...!! They actually claim that people who follow madhabs are going Contrary to the Quran and Sunnah...!!

More (oh yes, there's more)...:

• They actually question the validity of the ahadith from Bukhari, Muslim etc...! In most Salafi books, when a hadith is mentioned, at the footnote it will say "As mentioned in Bukhari and confirmed Sahih by Al-Bani"...!!! As in the fact that it's in Bukhari isn't enough...but oh yes, Al-bani has confirmed it so yes, its sound...Whhhhaaaaaaat???? Especially since Al-Bani never actually studied with any big scholars but "taught himself"...

• They say Malikis are wrong in praying with their hands down as Imam Malik only did this as his hands were broken (there's no evidence for this...)

• They seem to love to call people "deviant" ; go on any salfi website and you'll have a section on different groups in Islam and how their all deviant and how Salafis are the only one's who are correct....

• They also have this weird "three" tawheed thing... (i always thought tawheed referred to the Oneness of Allah..)

Anyway, i''l leave my anti-salafi tirade there...i suppose the above is just somethings to incite you to research your stuff into Salafis, as the Worse thing that could happen is for you to meet Salafi and not be in the know bout what their on about...you've been warned...remember you can run, but you can't hide, a Salafi will be coming near you soon...

Salaam

Ps, As always, allah a'lam with everything

Cairo Protest Photos

Photos from the BBC

Escapism

Salaam,

Over the weekend, equipped with my guidebook, i thought i would venture out into "Islamic Cairo" (not surprising if you read the post below regarding what goes on in the area I live in...) and alhamdulillah it proved to be a breath of fresh air and almost like traveling back in time...


For Jum'ah my flatmate and i prayed in Masjid Sultan Hassan, a 600 year old mosque where the Mufti of Egypt is the khateeb. This was a classic open-courtyard mosque with a beautiful central area for making wudhu and a very intricate Mihrab. After this, we visited Masjid Rifa'i which is opposite and got to see a Rifa'i hadra taking place (Rifa'i is a sufi tariqa and this mosque is named after the founder of this tariqa - I took some footage of the hadra...so inshaAllah i'll put it up later). These two mosques are literally next to each other and the sheer height of them is breath taking, especially considering how long ago they were built.

Following this, we walked for five minutes and went to the famous citadel, which I think was started by and was living quarters for Salah ad-Din. Here we visited the various sights including the Muhammad Ali mosque, named after Muhammad Ali Pasha , the gentleman who revitalised the fortunes of Egypt in the 19th Century. As the citadel is located on one of the hills which makes up Cairo there were Amazing views of Cairo from here, including the previously mentioned mosques as well as being able to just about see the pyramids in the background.

Not yet tired, we then ventured to Masjid Ibn Tulun, which is supposed to be the largest mosque in Egypt (by area covered anyway). Alhamdulillah this was a beautiful mosque (which these days is pretty much empty and devoid of activity..) but standing in the middle of the courtyard, you could just imagine it packed with worshippers and students thirsty for Islam...


And then finally, tired and worn out since we had been walking walking all day, we returned to Nasr city, and back to the neon lights, the music blasting out, the skimpy clothes and to the secular "modernism" of Egypt in the 21st century...

Salaam

Masjid Ibn Tulun

Masjid Sultan Hassan (left) & Masjid Rifa'i (right)

Muhammad Ali Mosque

Dirty DIIIIRTY Egyptians... (except Rami et al) part II

Salaam,

My visa was about to expire so I needed to go into central Cairo to extend this for another few months...I wanted to hide, it was that bad. Opposite the building was a big park which I have now officially called "Fitna Park" - basically lots of young'uns doing naughty things (yes, yes, I thought to myself, i'm sure they're all married, even though the average age of marriage here is 30+ for the guy...)

Then I went to eat in KFC whilst I waited to pick my passport. Sat in front of me was a family visiting Cairo (I think they were Russian). So anyway, im eating away, and in walks this guy, goes over to the family and starts shaking everyones hands, so I thought he must be their guide or something. Then he goes to shakes the mothers hand and then tries to kiss it and says something like "love me.." at which she grabs her hand back off him, then he leans over and tries to kiss the daughter at which she pulls her face back, and then he puts his hand out and tries to touch her...frontal area..and then he just walks out as if nothing happened.


Yes, I was VERY shocked at what had just happened. And the scarier thing was that this was in broad daylight, other people saw it, but NOTHING was said or done. OK, this might be an extreme example which I was unfortunate enough to witness but what the heck is going on...??!

Then there's the porn which is sold in broad daylight...yes...in central Cairo you get loads of these "newstands" where you have a guy sitting on the pavement with lots of bits and pieces, amongst them pornographic videos and magazines..

Then theirs the "Female Market"...their's an area called Mansour which is supposed to be the red-light district of Cairo and you get a lot of north African women literally being "sold" to men from the Gulf...(AH, the guy I know who's lived here for six years, went into more details but i'll save you from all that)


All this was toooo much for me take in..its all very depressing, very shocking, very saddening...but you really get an understanding of why the Muslims are in the mess their in when you come and visit some of these "Muslim" countries..

I really didn't wish to disclose much of the above but its getting absolutely ridiculous and wanted some of the readers to get a Real view of what the Middle-East is like. A lot of you might be thinking, like how I used to think, that it's too difficult to be a Muslim in the UK and that you want to emigrate to a "Muslim" country and life will all be rosy...think again. To be honest, bar Saudi Arabia (and we know what goes on there..) I don't think there is a country where this is possible. Plus, the Middle-East is developing/becoming western at an alarming rate so God knows how it'll be like in a few years. A brother was telling me about this guy he knew who had emigrated from the US with his family to settle in Egypt, but after four months went back as he said he feared more for his level of emaan and welfare of his kids in Egypt than in the US.

To be honest I feel the same. Obviously in the UK, US its worse in an absolute sense as you have pubs, clubs etc but I feel this affects me less as I always think to myself "they're kuffar, they know no better". Whereas in Egypt, Jordan, you cant say this as all the alcohol is being made by Muslims, sold by Muslims and then being drunk by Muslims, all the prostitutes and their users are all Muslim, and so on for the drugs, the fornication etc which makes me feel muuuch worse and thus has a bigger affect on my emaan.

I actually did think my time in Amman had helped wrt to emaan and so on as the area I lived in was very nice (due to it being full of western students) but any gain made I feel is quickly evaporating here in Cairo. This is why I was seriously thinking of coming back to the UK early (its THAT bad) but I've decided that im going to stick it out for another month inshaAllah.

I have been VERY one sided in the above - there's lots of good things about Egypt like...im sure there are, but anyway obviously problems in Cairo are much worse than the rest of the country. Last time I was here I visited Aswan and Luxor which were amazing and other coastal towns are supposed to be much more conservative. But the acuteness of the problem in Cairo is Very worrying and I think foretells a gloomy future for Egypt.

Remember me and the Egyptians in your duas as we desperately need them...

Salaam

Dirty DIIIIIRTY Egyptians...(Except Rami et al) I

Salaam,

I had wanted to call this entry "Being Young in the Middle-East" (very interesting/depressing read..) to go in line with this feature from the BBC website which i read a looong time ago but which stuck in my mind, but I have ultimately gone for the more crude and to the point title...

When I read the BBC piece, I was pretty shocked at some of the stuff and thought that a lot of it must be skewed and sensationalist journalism just so they can get a good story in. But to be honest with you, from my experiences in Jordan, and now much more with in Egypt, I fear things like the supposed 50% of Egyptians having pre-marital sex is probably correct...

I've seen many a thing which I wish I hadn't seen in Jordan and Egypt as its given me a very bad view of these countries. From the report, the man things it says is that since upto 40% of Arabs are under 25, and with most of these countries leaders being more interested in holding onto power than looking after their people, all these youngsters are...going out of control...

With the high satellite, internet and general media outlets available, this generation of Arabs is being bombarded by all the filth and debauchery we witness in the west, and are sucked in by all its promises leading them to take on board all the negative characteristics of western youth; be it in terms of the clothes (or lack of) they wear, the music they listen to, inter sex relationships and general foul mouthedness


I had heard of the stereotype (don't know where form) that Arab men are supposed to be..pervy..but MY GOD some of the things iv seen here...Basically in the area I live there's two streets of shops and all that the guys do is sit outside the shops and wait for girls to walk past, at which they all start whistling, hooting and making animal noises at the girls...this gets much worse if you get to the main shopping roads where if a bunch of guys are going past in a car, they'll slow their car down, start shouting stuff through the window, flash their lights etc...also if the guys see a girl who really takes their fancy, they'll start following her making lewds comments and even try and grab them by the hand...(yes I saw this once). All this, in broad day light.

Then there's MSN. Technology has brought us sooo many advantages e.g. my being able to write this, but it seems like the Muslims just use it for doing haraam things; there's several net cafes on any street with shops, and whichever one you enter, you will find it full with guys chatting on msn to foreign women (eventually trying to marry them and get a foreign passport as my Egyptian flatmate has told me)

Then theirs the homosexuality problem (for men and women i've read) which I touched upon in a previous entry. Obviously being a Muslim country and all its all undercover, but it supposed to be very widespread as most of they guys cant afford to get married before their 30 and they need an outlet for their urges...


So far iv just picked on the guys...now lets be fair...:

Clothes that girls wear is a big issue wherever you have Muslims, and apparently its a big topic here too. But...there's no words to describe it...or the lack of it. Its important here I think to differentiate between "hijab"; wearing modest clothing overall and "scarf"; wearing a piece of cloth on your head. "Scarf" observance has, im told, gone up many fold over the past few years, but the rest of the clothes which are worn, again im told, has worsened dramatically in the last few years. Literally if you walk out onto any street now, you would think your in the west - its very VEEEERRRYYY bad..VERY bad...its almost like the girls try and compensate for the fact their wearing a scarf by wearing even less on the rest of the body. Yes, yes, how do I know about this? Believe me one look is one too many. You come to Egypt and see for yourself...

Also with respect to the whistling etc, the girls don't really help to be honest (no I'm not blaming them) - they can more than easily walk on the other side of the road away from the attention of the guys, but do they? No. Instead they decide to walk in the middle of the road a few feet away from where all the guys congregate...and with respect to MSN usage iv heard its as bad with the girls as it is with the boys...


Then Yesterday happened. OK, this is getting long, so the old "lets split the entry up so it doesn't look so long" trick...

Salaam

Urban Ninja

Salaam,

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever mate, i can do ALL that and Much more, i just don't show off like you...(this is sooo cool)

Salaam

Guess who's back...?

Salaams everyone,

Well its Me and im back. I guess i needed time time off to concentrate on work and other things...but unfortunately it wasn't too fruitful so i thought i'd come back and annoy you guys.

Not much has happened in the 10 days or so off - just been studying as much as i can (which after all is the reason im here...) , and now having realised i only have a month of studies left, am trying to cram in even more. I've been mainly doing grammar and had a mid-term test a few days ago which i think went quite well. Also im doing a hadith book which is quite good as you learn your Arabic from it but also learn a hadith in the process (my teachers making me learn them by heart...i'm sure i'll thank him for this someday..) I've been doing a few hours of tajweed per week but inshaAllah will try and increase this and also just make sure i do my homework and learn all my vocab properly from now on.

Also went down to central Cairo the other day for the first time to get my visa renewed...the trip was an eye-opening experience (details will be coming up...) and FINALLY managed to get my hands on a guidebook. Have been wanting one for ages as without it i didn't know how to do anything or where anything was, so now inshaAllah can do some day trips and also plan my Egypt tour for the start of June.

Anyway, i'll leave it at that. InshaAllah more will be coming soon...

Salaam