good reads
did a lot of catching up today, here's a list of stuff you need to read,
i. orcinus talks about hate crimes, the motivation of terrorists and one thing that bush has done right. good long posts that make a lot of sense
ii. zack, over at procrastination talks about arranged and love marriages and makes a few excellent observations
iii. kynn bartlett, at shock examines the phenomenon of the american terrorist, the hacker of the al jazeera website during the iraq war and the blatantly racial occurence on the ucsd campus recently.
posted by ubaid - Saturday, June 14, 2003 at 12:22 AM - 0 comments - post anonymously

no water? let them drink coke!
an article in today's times of india talks about how villagers around a coke plant in maharashtra accuse the cola giant of leaving the area parched and of having reduced the water table level there. coca cola refutes the allegations saying the area's historically suffered a water crisis and they were not responsible for the current situation. the complete article is here.
posted by ubaid - Friday, June 06, 2003 at 12:25 AM - 0 comments - post anonymously

that evil word again
a may 27 article on the front page of the ny times spoke of how christian evangelists are seeking to convert muslims to their versions of christianity. deriding islam, in reverend(?) willam graham' words, as an evil religion, the missionaries point out passages in the koran which allegedly incite muslims to go and kill all infidels. it is difficult as a muslim to explain to these ignorants that the passages they so authoritatively cite are, for one quoted out of context, and, that muslims are not homicidal maniacs with the quran in one hand and a grenade in another. as i've mentioned before(*), a major percentage of the muslim world does not even understand arabic, let alone comprehend the layers of meaning and wisdom the quran is comprises.
in any case the evangelists seem to be wasting their time, for i have heard of a lot of people converting to islam but of none to have converted from islam to any of the judaistic religions, never mind other polytheistic systems. islam may have its share of apostates but there don't seem to be too many who move to another belief system, why is this so? is islam so complete or perfect? are the other judaistic religions so lacking in lustre that they are unable to lure even a tiny percentage of the two billion muslims apparently suffering under this wicked religion?
i believe the reason lies in the fact that islam requires every muslim to accept and respect all the judaistic and bibilical prophets, from adam to jesus. if an evangelist comes to me and asks me to accept christ as my savior my reply will be that i already do accept jesus as the prophet before the last, Mohammed. Izaz Haque, in response to the ny times article says this in a letter to the editor,

For a Muslim to "embrace Jesus" is in itself a fallacy; Muslims already embrace Jesus as a prophet. Why, then, would a Muslim turn to another faith, especially Christianity, to complete his religious experience?

exactly the sentiment any muslim will express.

* in the "discussing the crisis" essays, they are in the archives
posted by ubaid - Monday, June 02, 2003 at 12:59 PM - 0 comments - post anonymously

big brother
from today's nytimes,

Foreigners detained as part of the investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States were held too long without being charged and subjected to "unduly harsh" conditions of confinement, a Justice Department audit showed Monday.


Some detainees were locked up almost continuously, were moved around in handcuffs and leg irons, subjected to abuse and had their cell lights kept on day and night.


"Even in the chaotic aftermath of the September 11 attacks, we believe the FBI should have taken more care to distinguish between aliens who it actually suspected of having a connection to terrorism from those aliens who, while possibly guilty of violating federal immigration law, had no connection to terrorism," Fine said.

the entire article.
posted by ubaid - at 12:51 PM - 0 comments - post anonymously