ramadaan kariem

cute manga!

All from deviantart

Islam in China

“Seek knowledge even as far as China.” – Saying of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

Islam was first brought to China by an envoy sent by Uthman, the third Caliph in 651, less than twenty years after the death of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) . The envoy was led by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. Emperor Gazong, the Tang emperor who received the envoy then ordered the construction of the Memorial mosque in Canton, the first mosque in the country. It was during the Tang Dynasty that China had its golden day of cosmopolitan culture which helped the introduction of Islam. The first major Muslim settlements in China consisted of Arab and Persian merchants. (wiki)

Can you find the baby? ;)

The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who is was a french author, journalist and pilot wrote The Little Prince in 1943, one year before his death.

The Little Prince appears to be a simple childrens tale, some would say that it is actually a profound and deeply moving tale, written in riddles and laced with philosopy and poetic metaphor.

Here's a piece from my favorite paragraph from the book:

"I had thus learned a second fact of great importance: this was that the planet the little prince came from was scarcely any larger than a house! But that did not really surprise me much. I knew very well that in addition to the great planets, such as the Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, to which we have given names, there are also hundreds of others, some of which are so small that one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope.

When an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name, but only a number. He might call it, for example, "Asteroid 325."

I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as B-612. This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That was by a Turkish astronomer, in 1909.

On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress, in a great demonstration. But he was in Turkish costume, and so nobody would believe what he said. Grown-ups are like that...

Fortunately, however, for the reputation of Asteroid B-612, a Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects, under pain of death, should change to European costume. So in 1920 the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again, dressed with impressive style and elegance. And this time everybody accepted his report. "

Killer Coke

Support the campaign to stop Coca Cola's illegal activities

http://www.corporatecampaign.org/killer-coke/crimes.htm

inspirational quote

When I was a young man
I wanted to change the world
I found that it was difficult to change the world
so I tried to change my nation

When I found I couldn't change the nation
I began to focus on my town
I couldn't change the town and as an older man
I tried to change my family

Now, as an old man,
I realize the only thing I can change is myself,
and suddenly I realized that
if long ago I had changed myself,
I could have made an impact on my family.

My family and I could have made an impact on our town
Their impact could have changed the nation and
I could indeed have changed the world.

Manga time: Afuganisu-tan, by Timaking

In the 26-part sociopolitical manga series, Middle Eastern countries are represented by female characters with personality traits resemblant of each location.

“We meet needy Pakisu-tan, sleepy-eyed Turkmenis-tan and of course Afuganisu-tan - represented as a clumsy little girl who is trying ever so hard to stand up for herself in a very tough neighborhood. Agufanisu-tan has to deal with bullying from these older, stronger neighbours. Meriken is one of the more aggressive characters that enters the plot.

Manga is very popular, and it is one of the most powerfull mediums in Japan. Timaking used moe anthropomorphisms to explain the several sociopolitical issues.

“Moe anthropomorphism is a form of anthropomorphism where moe qualities are given to non-human beings, objects, concepts, or phenomena. In addition to moe features, moe anthropomorphisms are also characterized by their accessories, which serve to emphasize their original forms before anthropomorphosis.” (wikipedia)

female warriors in islam

Khawla bint al Azwar reminds me little of Mulan ;)

The Arab Historian, Al Waqidi, tells us in his book “The conquering of Al Sham (greater Syria)” that: “In a battle that took place in Beit Lahia near Ajnadin, Khalid watched a knight, in black attire, with a big green shawl wrapped around his waist and covering his bust. That knight broke through the Roman ranks as an arrow. Khalid and the others followed him and joined battle, while the leader was wandering about the identity of the unknown knight.”

Rafe’ Bin Omeirah Al Taei was one of the fighters. He described how that knight scattered the enemy ranks, disappeared in their midst, reappeared after a while with blood dripping from his spear. He swerved again and repeated the deed fearlessly, several times. All the Moslem army was worried about him and praying for his safety. Rafe’ and others thought that he was Khalid, who won great fame for his bravery and genius military plans. But suddenly Khalid appeared with a number of knights. Rafe’ asked the leader: “ Who is that knight? By God, he has no regard for his safety!”

Khalid answered that he didn’t know the man, though he greatly admired his courage. He called on the arm to attack as one man and to make sure that they protect our hero(ine). They were fascinated as they watched the knight appear with a number of Roman knights chasing him. Then he would turn around and kill the nearest before resuming his attacks.

The Romans eventually lost the battle and fled, leaving many dead and wounded in the battlefield. Khalid looked for the knight till he found him. By then he was covered in blood. He praised his bravery and asked him to remove his veil. But the knight did not answer, and tried to break away. The soldiers wouldn’t let him do that. And everyone asked him to reveal his identity.

When the knight found that there was no way to avoid that, he replied in a feminine voice: “My prince, I did not answer because I am shy. You are a great leader, and I am only a woman whose heart is burning.”

“Who are you?” Khalis insisted.

“I am Khawla Bint Al Azwar. I was with the women accompanying the army, and when I learnt that the enemy captured my brother, I did what I did.”

Khalid ordered his army to chase the fleeing Roman Army, with Khawla leading the attack, looking in all directions for her brother, but in vain. By noontime, the victory was decisive. Most of the Roman soldiers were killed.

Knowing that the prisoners had to be somewhere, Khalid sent Khawla with a number of knights to find them. After a hot chase, they managed to catch up with a Roman detachment that was taking the prisoners to their headquarters. Another fight took place, the Roman guards were all killed and the prisoners saved.

In another battle in Ajnadin, Khawla’s spear broke, and her mare was killed, and she found herself a prisoner. But she was astonished to find that the Romans attacked the women camp and captured several of them. Their leader gave the prisoners to his commanders, and order Khawla to be moved into his tent. She was furious, and decided that to die is more honourable than living in disgrace. She stood among the other women, and called them to fight for their freedom and honour or die. The others were enthusiastic to her plan. They took the tents’ poles and pegs and attacked the Roman guards, keeping a formation of a tight circle, as she told them.

Khawla led the attack, killed the first guard with her pole, with the other women following her. According to Al Waqidi, they managed to kill 30 Roman knights, while Khawla was encouraging them with her verses, which in fact cause the blood to boil.

The Roman Leader was infuriated by what happened, and led a detachment of his knights against the women, though he tried first to tempt them with many promises. He told Khawla that he planned to marry her and make her the first lady of Damascus. But she answered him calmly and with great contempt: “I wouldn’t even accept you to be a shepherd of my camels! How do you expect me to degrade myself and live with you? I swear that I’ll be the one to cut off your head for your insolence.”

http://www.alshindagah.com/mayjun2003/woman.html

An other victim of Israel (by Carlos Latuff)

Latuff's comment on deviant art:

On March 13th, 2009, Tristan Anderson, from Oakland, California was critically wounded in the village of Ni'lin after Israeli forces shot him in the head with a high-powered tear-gas canister. Tristan is a dedicated activist and reporter who has long been committed to social and environmental justice in the U.S. and abroad in places such as Oaxaca, Iraq, and Palestine.

Copyleft artwork on behalf of Rachel Corrie, Brian Avery, Tom Hurndall, Tristan Anderson and all the peace activists wounded or killed by Israeli Occupation Forces while defending the Palestinians.

Iraq 6 years later (by Carlos Latuff)

Dust is my bed, embracing me, and is my cover
The sands are around me, engulfing me from all directions
And the tomb recounts [ the story of ] the darkness of my calamity
And the light has destined that my pleasure is in meeting [Allaah]

Where is the kindness of kin? They relinquished fidelity
Where are the scores of friends? They dispensed with my brotherhood
Where is the bliss of money? I left it behind
And where is the glory of fame and compliments?
That’s my end; dust is my bed

The beloved bade farewell to his love, and cried my elegy
The tears flow dried out, after crying
The vast universe shrank, narrowing my space
The tomb to my corpse became both my land and my sky
That’s my end; dust is my bed

Fear overwhelms my estrangement and sadness is my ailment
Hoping for steadfastness, which is – I swear – my remedy
Sincerely supplicating to the Lord; You are my hope
Hoping- O Allaah – for a paradise, in which my bliss shall be attained

1] In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
[2] Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;
[3] Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
[4] Master of the Day of Judgment.
[5] Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek,
[6] Show us the straight way,
[7] The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray

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