My World and More ..

Why Would You Drop the Charges?

2012-01-23T21:21:00.001+03:00

I am reading about the lady who was abused by her drunk husband who hit her using a screwdriver .

The article -in Arabic- here , but i guess the pictures that show what happened to her was more than enough to understand the abuse that this lady has been in and I am sure for a long time cuz such thing don't happen overnight.

This incident has happened more than a month ago and lately the newspapers were all about how she agreed to drop the charges for a divorce and a big sum of money .

It's always surprise me why would a woman who was this much abused to let it go..

let me tell why I didn't..

We have been abused gradually in our house, first by our father against us all. Then our eldest brother against us all, then the brothers against the sisters. The abused ones always turn abusers at the end.

Right now we are in a stage of emotion abuse and it's the worst.

Anyway, when our younger brother grow into this big strong man and care less about people knowing he drinks and turn into a violent man all hell broke loss.

I guess if you are a reader to this blog, you would know the whole story..

But when we reached the hitting and kicking point, it all came to me.Don't know why. The last time the hit was more violent ,he grabbed me by the hair from my room and started to hit me hard especially on my back. Eventually, he stopped and ordered me to go to my room.But then we all ran out. That day and after a very long silence I asked my eldest brother to take me to the hospital and to call the police "let's press charges against him " and the marks on my body was a blessing for the first time.

We went to the police ,then to the hospital for a report, the doctor asked why does the police need a report and we explained because we wanted to press charges and when he knew that it would be against my brother his immediate question was "why did he hit you ?". then he changed the report a bit and asked us not to do it, he felt really sorry for him, you can see it all over his face.

That same day, before my brother hit me, he hit my mother but nothing was shown on her body, so she couldn't press charges. it was all on my shoulders. We went to the police and press the charges, he was caught and everyone was happy. We went home and in the morning another hell broke loss..

After some sleeping everyone changed their mind and words started to fly all over me.

drop the charges, poor he, he is not aware, we will let him leave the house, we are going to get a restraining order against him....etc.

I felt it too, cuz it's OK to be a victim but to put your predator in prison is not good, right? !!

Like the rest, I was a chicken so I asked my mother what does she want, shall I do it or what ?. up until that time everyone knows how my mother favored her sons and loves them above all but that moment she begged me not to. Later on, I knew how scared she was mostly for the safety of my sister and I, with him drinking and his drunk friends coming to the home all the time, she knew something bad will happen one day.

When we refused to let it go and continue with the case, we were left all alone literally. We would go to the court without any one, and the worst thing is when everyone, literally everyone blames my mother for the way she raised her kids and how bad they are, and an eyebrow would be left wondering "why would he hit me and not my sister", you know that indicating that I must of have deserve it.

I used to love my father a lot, a lot..but that time he said "what have your brother done to you to put him in prison, only for beating you?" . my father was standing helpless when my brother was beating you !!

from that day my whole emotion changed towards him completely.

After almost 6 months, my brother was sentenced to 6 years and to be moved away from the city when released , the officers and the judge asked me if I want any money from him and I said no, I only wanted him out of our lives.

only a few months after that and he was released . If you read the article about the lady above you know that they were right when they told her to let it go cuz he would be released in a few months.

The problem is that my brother left with a vengeance and a believe that we-my mother and I- put him in prison on false accusations. He came home and when I tried to leave he grab me by the arms so hard, I had to be taken to the hospital the next morning but since i didn't treat it , my arms are in constant pain to this day along with my back.

That day, I managed to run away from home and went to the police. Remember, he shouldn't be around us or in the home !!. two men helped me get there but the police refused to help, they said that as long as his father lives there then he can stay even if the house isn't in his father name. Speaking about father, when I runaway , my father was the one kept telling him to go check on me cuz I might go and bring the police.

Anyway, the police won't help, So I had to call my older brother who was in Riyadh back then and he calls home and threatened him but he won't listen, so it was up to me going from place to place to find some sane police officer who would give me his number so my older brother can call him from Riyadh. At the same time, my mother left the house and meet me at my aunt's house where everyone was explaining how silly we were and what's wrong with him coming back, he is a family after all !!. Eventually a policeman give me his number to give to my brother, my brother explained the situation and that the house is in his name and that my brother is not welcome. a unit went to the house but he ran before their arrival, making sure to break a few things on his way out. We returned back very late at night with glimpses of hate from those around us.

He never came back until we allow him to during my father's burial. He still want to come back and every time he is very close to getting out of prison he would call and say the same thing "I want to come back", but the same answer is always ready "noway, not while you are still the same" .

The problem is always with everyone around you, with the same way our society thinks that blood never becomes water. The guilt they make you feel. No one from our extended family agrees to help my brother when they can because he is a drunken man but it's OK if we endured it all.

Guilt will always consume you in such situations.

To this day, seeing how he keeps going in and out of prison

- he is the same one I talked about in the post "The Death Penalty"-

I keep thinking "why didn't I dropped the charges ? So what if I get disabled one day on his hand ? What if he killed me or my mother, aren't we all going to die one day ? .Is not it unfair to let a young man life pass by because he happened to beat the hell out of you every time he is drunk -and he is always drunk- ? What if you were abused all the time, you are not going to be the first or the last ?

Guilt can kill you..

If I knew then what I know now, I would of have dropped the charges and be done with life, it's easier this way.

Somalia

2012-01-22T02:32:00.001+03:00

Don't forget about them, the problem is still out there, please help

Slow response to East Africa famine 'cost 'lives'

Thousands of needless deaths occurred from famine in East Africa last year because the international community failed to heed early warnings, say two leading British aid organisations.

The US government says 29,000 children under five years old died between May and July 2011

Oxfam and Save the Children say it took more than six months for aid agencies to act on warnings of imminent famine.

Between 50,000 and 100,000 people have died in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

The agencies say governments, donors, the United Nations and NGOs need to learn from the mistakes.

In a report titled A Dangerous Delay, the agencies say a culture of risk aversion stalled a large-scale aid effort.

They say part of the problem was that the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia were unwilling to admit the scale of the disaster, but also that aid agency staff felt they had seen the problem many times before.

"Many donors wanted proof of a humanitarian catastrophe before acting to prevent one," the report says.

"Sophisticated early warning systems first forecast a likely emergency as early as August 2010, but the full-scale response was not launched until July 2011."

By that time it says "malnutrition rates in parts of East Africa had gone far beyond the emergency threshold and there was high profile media coverage of the crisis".

'Grotesque situation'

At one stage during the East African famine the UN estimated that 10 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees went to camps in search of food, especially those from parts of Somalia where government forces have been fighting Islamist al-Shabab militants.

The report calls on all parties to take crisis warnings more seriously.

"All members of the international system must improve their ability to prevent the worst effects of hunger crises before they happen," it says.

"The scale of death and suffering, and the financial cost, could have been reduced if early warning systems had triggered an earlier, more substantial response.

"In particular, national governments must fulfil their responsibilities to people caught up in crises and demonstrate leadership."

The agencies are urging governments to endorse the Charter to End Extreme Hunger, launched in September.

Kenya and Norway have signed up to it and the UK has expressed support.

"Britain has led the world in tackling food insecurity in East Africa in the last year and we continue to urge others to prioritise this critical issue," the UK's International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell told the BBC.

In the report, Oxfam and Save the Children looked at their own role in the crisis as well as that of other agencies.

"We all bear responsibility for this dangerous delay," said Oxfam's Chief Executive Barbara Stocking.

"It is shocking that the poorest people are still bearing the brunt of a failure to respond swiftly and decisively."

Save the Children's Chief Executive, Justin Forsyth, said clear warnings had been ignored.

"We can no longer allow this grotesque situation to continue; where the world knows an emergency is coming but ignores it until confronted with TV pictures of desperately malnourished children," he said.

Source : BBC News

*****

Somali famine 'will kill tens of thousands'

The UN in Somalia says tens of thousands of people will have died of starvation by the time the famine in the Horn of Africa ends.

Many Somalis have fled across the border into Ethiopia to seek aid

The food crisis was declared in Somalia six months ago and levels of need are expected to remain high until July or August.

UN aid chief in Somalia, Mark Bowden, told the BBC malnutrition rates there were the highest in the world.

He said a quarter of a million Somalis were still suffering from the famine.

"We know that tens of thousands of people will have died over the last year," Mr Bowden, said, describing the rates of malnutrition as "amazingly high".

"Children will have suffered the most, malnutrition rates in Somalia were the highest in the world, and I think the highest recorded... up to 50% of the child population suffered from severe or acute malnutrition."

'Very high mortality'

Mr Bowden said malnutrition rates have begun to drop but the crisis was likely to continue for the next six or seven months.

"Fortunately they've started to come down across the board, but that does mean that there will have been a very high mortality," he said.

Somalia has not had a functioning central government for more than 20 years and has been wracked by fighting between militias.

Although $1.3bn (£84mn) worth of aid has been poured into the country, the BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut, says the scale of the suffering is immense.

Last year, tens of thousands of Somalis fled rural areas - many over the borders to Ethiopia and Kenya - in search of food. The UN estimates that a total of 1.5 million people have been displaced by the crisis.

The UN is calling for additional funds to replenish flocks of sheep, goats and camels so that people can re-build their lives.

Aid agencies have warned in recent months that conflict was jeopardising the aid effort, with Kenyan troops crossing into the country to fight al-Shabab - al-Qaeda-linked militants it blames for a spate of kidnappings.

Al-Shabab, which controls much of central and southern Somalia and has banned many Western aid agencies from its territory, has denied the allegations.

Source: BBC News

Helping Hand For Syrian Families

2012-01-20T22:01:00.000+03:00

Stacey @ The Life of Me has written this post about helping the Syrian Families

Helping Hand For Syrian Families

This post is a little different and I'm asking for help for those who can give it. As a result of the instability going on in Syria right now many families are struggling financially. Businesses in Syria that catered to tourists and depended on them for a living are not making a living. Everyone in every occupation is worried about finances and feeding their family in the long run. The worse cases are those people with children who were unemployed before this mess happened, helping hands from other Syrians are harder to find as people worry about feeding their own children. Electricity is being cut anywhere from 1-3 hours a day in the city and for up to 6 hours in the suburbs, not only is this a huge inconvenience, it also forces shops and businesses to close down that don't have generators, which is about 99% of them. These businesses miss out on possible sales and still have to come up with money to take care of themselves and pay the rent for their store.

Read the Whole Post : The Life of Me

Stacy has also posted two links to the organization Islamic Relief Canada and Maher Zain to donate to the Syrian Families.

Please visit her blog and donate , people are in need, please do. And thanks in advance :)

Liebster Blog Award

2012-01-19T22:36:00.000+03:00

First of all, Liebster means "dearest" in German. (Source)

I was giving this award by the beautiful Becky, and in picking me among five ladies she says

(is such a wonderful, optimistic and encouraging person. An avid reader who writes wonderful posts on the topic of religion, politics and human rights issues. )

dear, you won't believe how these beautiful words came at the time I mostly need them, thank you so much for the words and your award :)

accepting the award, I have to choose up to 5 of my favorite and dearest bloggers who are with less than 200 followers and inform them of it .

here are the rules ( stolen from Becky's) :)

Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog. "done"

Link back to the blogger who awarded you. "done"

Pick (up to) 5 other blogs who fit within the award parameters (less than 200 followers). "done"

Inform them that you have chosen them by leaving a comment on their blog." on my way "

Post the award on your blog (you can take it from this post). "will be done in a minute"

now here are my favorite blogs with -surprisingly- less than 200 followers. Surprise cuz they are intelligent woman with amazing style of writing and very few people who knew about them !!.

Here they are in no particular order and for no particular reason they are all Saudi or in Saudi Arabia :-

*Hning @hning's Asia : I won't talk about hning or Alia-her real name- in here, I will talk about what happen to

me while reading her. Every post is a master piece in writing and while I read, I honestly don't know what exactly is happening to my brain and feelings. I don't think Alia is looking to enlighten people or think of it as her job but what she does is no less than that. And she can do them with beautiful words and short posts:)

*Nessreen/Diana @ The Secret Life of Bees, Knees : To be able to post for 350 days straight shows great will and that's what this young woman has. Last Ramadan when I came from Mecca pretty depressed her site was the one i haven logged on and reading her -most times- less than two paragraphs, she managed to show me a way, to make me feel great. To be able to live in this country when you have a chance to be out and still surviving is great :)

*White Freedom @ My White Freedom : Age taught me to be careful of what I say about my country, make me look behind me when I write something negative, but "Freedom" is indeed one who is not afriad. She care less when it's about "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth", she really represent the young Saudi ladies who are frustrating with the lack of jobs and politics.

*Dania @Above and Byond : You really won't believe me if I say that I have never comment on this lady's blog and I am sure she knows nothing about me or my existing, I am actually wondering how to tell her about this award !!. But here's what I know, she is brilliant with words and from what I read so far in her blog, I think she is on her way to achieve things I know she deserves and should get. The blog is very personal but you can not read her without wondering about your life and be happy about every good step she is taking and worried about the heartbreaks.

Off to tell the ladies :)

The Death Penalty

2012-01-15T18:41:00.000+03:00

Last week, i had the worst nightmare, I still remember it vividly despite being famous for not remembering any dreams.

My younger brother who is in and out of prison all the time and who is in prison right now has been sentenced to three years last week, he was so relive to get the news as he was expecting the death penalty this time, not because he has killed anyone but because he has done multiply crimes through the years attacking people and that is considered to be punishable by death in the sharia law applied in Saudi Arabia based on this verse in the Quran .

{33} إِنَّمَا جَزَاءُ الَّذِينَ يُحَارِبُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا أَنْ يُقَتَّلُوا أَوْ يُصَلَّبُوا أَوْ تُقَطَّعَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُمْ مِنْ خِلَافٍ أَوْ يُنْفَوْا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ ذَلِكَ لَهُمْ خِزْيٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;"

He would be in the category of those "strive with might and main for mischief through the land"

That day I got the worst nightmare that I could remember in my whole life, and like all my nightmares it happened in my grandfather building where we used to live.
There, the authority brought my brother in front of the house and the moment they took him out of the car they started killing him by the sword in front of my eyes, I couldn't stop screaming and yelling to my mom that they did it and for the first time I saw how helpless he was -and he is never but an aggressive young man-. I woke up shaking like never before. And till this day I can not forget the dream and the pain I felt in it and when I woke up.

I have talked many times here about my relationship with my brothers especially the younger one but this post is actually not about him. It's actually about death penalty in general.

In the previous years, I became more and more a huge believer of all peaceful movements and approaches towards all things happening in our life including "the Death penalty".I am at least 90 % against it right now and for its halt everywhere in the world. "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind" as Gandhi said and that violence has solved nothing.

To ask for the death penalty for a criminal won't bring those innocent ones back. And yes those killers are victims themselves, victim of the injustice they have been through their whole life. we are born innocent and pure, none of us born evil or good, it's what nurture and nature do to us that turn us to who we are.
How can we bring back the justice to someone who has been killed and tortured by killing those responsible for it whether we kill them by sword-my country's favorite way- or by hanging or guns. !!
In my country millions of dollars are collected all the time to save someone from the death penalty because the dead victim's family say the will forgive him if "such amount of time is paid" and that amount of time is always by millions. How can a million or ten bring you the peace of mind and heart after losing your loved ones .
Nothing brings that peace but forgiveness .

From a religious point of view-and you probably know by now that i don't follow the steps of religion all the way-doesn't the Quran ask us to be forgiven and insist on that all the way ?

And from a mean person point of view, locking someone for life or twenty years is a greater way to make them suffer than killing them.

What surprises me in me is despite my believe in everything peaceful, I still gloat when someone evil is killed by the hero in movies and always look for excuses for the evil guy to be killed so innocent people would live happily.

But seriously how can people's lives be saved if bad guys are not killed such as the Syrian president right now ? "Wondering"

Be Yourself

2012-01-13T17:42:00.000+03:00

“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”

~Thich Nhat Hanh

"Do you ever wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you? …I always wonder about that. If people could see me the way I see myself—if they could live in my memories—would anyone, anyone, love me?"

~John Green

ABC’s of Insecurity

2012-01-12T19:03:00.001+03:00

Thank you anonymous :)

ABC’s of Insecurity

We humans are insecure creatures. To pretend otherwise is foolish. And yet that is exactly what we do. Everyday. We pretend that we have it all together. We wake up and get dressed and go outside and smile. What lingers behind those well-practiced smiles? The ABC’s of insecurity.

Anxiety. About everything. Including being anxious. “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”Soren Kierkegaard

Boredom. Admit it: if you weren’t a bit bored, you wouldn’t be reading this now.“Boredom: the desire for desires.” Tolstoy

Control. The one thing none of us has. “If everything seems under your control, you’re just not going fast enough.” Mario Andretti

Doubt. We make decisions. And then we doubt them. “I doubt, therefore I think. I think therefore I am.” Descartes

Expectations. Great Ones. Good book and story of our lives. “High expectations are the key to everything.” Sam Walton.

Fear. Of terrorism. Failure. Disease. Death. Infidelity. Mediocrity. Of being fat. “Always do what you are afraid to do.” Emerson

Grief. Over losing a parent. Or a spouse. Or a child. Or a friend. Or a pet. Or a job. Or ourselves. “Given a choice between grief an nothing, I’d choose grief.” Faulkner

Health. Vaginal or C-section? To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Breast or bottle? Implants or let ‘em hang? “It is health that is real wealth, not pieces of gold and silver.”Gandhi

Indecision. About everything. I can’t even decide what things to mention. “Indecision may or may not be my problem.” Jimmy Buffett

Jealousy. Your husband is spending too much time with that pretty coworker. Your baby just loves your nanny. “To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self.” Joan Didion

Knowledge. I don’t care where you went to college, how big your salary is, how smart you are. About the most important things in life, we are all ignorant. “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” Confucius

Loneliness. How is it that we can’t find five minutes for ourselves and yet we still have moments where we feel utterly alone? “Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.” Henry Rollins.

Mortality. We grow up. And children are born. And parents die. And we can’t help but contemplate our own exit. “If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it is to die over and over again.” Abraham Lincoln

Negativity. Another thing I’m positive we all experience. “All negativity is an illusion created by the limited mind to protect and defend itself.” Ambika Wauters

Obligation. To our family. To our friends. To our society. To our favorite Idol contestant. To ourselves. “Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Pessimism. I have been experimenting with a new drug: optimism. I don’t think it is working very well. “A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” Harry Truman

Questions. The one thing each of us has in abundance. “Judge a person by their questions, rather than their answers.” Voltaire

Regrets. Tell me you have no regrets and I will call you a liar. “For the majority of us, the past is a regret, the future an experiment.” Mark Twain

Self. The biggest, baddest roadblock of them all. “Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.” Henry Van Dyke

Time. No, there aren’t enough hours in the day, but there are twenty-four. Make the most of them and stop bitching. “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” Harvey MacKay

Uncertainty. Certainty is a myth, a silly old fairy tale we want desperately to believe.“Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.” John Allen Paulos

Voice. We tell our tots to “use their words,” but how often do we insist on using ours?“There is a voice inside of you/ that whispers all day long,/”I feel that this is right for me,/I know that this is wrong.”/No teacher, preacher, parent friend/or wise man can decide/What’s right for you — Just listen to/the voice that speaks inside.” Shel Silverstein

Worry. All of us worry. Period. “Worrying is like a rocking chair — it gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” Erma Bombeck

Xanax. I have absolutely nothing against prescription drugs. Plenty of people I know swear by ‘em. “At what point should I try Xanax?” Aidan Donnelley Rowley

Youth. Some of us don’t have much interest in growing up. For example, those of us who are thirty and, let’s say, don’t have a driver’s license. So what if we want to stay kids even when we have kids? So what if we want to pretend that we are still in college and yet are open to the idea of Botox? “You’re never too old to become younger.” Mae West

Zoloft. Let me repeat for the record: I have nothing against prescription drugs. Again, plenty of people I know swear by ‘em. Rumor has it it helps with insecurities A-Y. “Is Zoloft better than Xanax? If so, where can I get me some?” Aidan Donnelley Rowley

Source

A God Who Hates- Part 3

2012-01-10T21:45:00.000+03:00

If this book keeps teaching me anything at all, it is that "no matter what i will read in the future about any race, religion or ethnicity i should not take it for granted and look for other sources about the same topic" . Seriously, I don't blame anyone who would read this book about Islam and -mostly- Muslims and believe the worst about them.

Back to my thoughts about this book. First of all, I honestly respect a book that respects me and my intelligence even if it's 100% against what I believe, cuz I want to learn, I want to know other perspectives to any idea, and this book fails to do so.Some might say "it's because it's against your religion", but if you know me well, you would know that I have no problem with ideas against me, my country, my religion or any and everything I believe. But you need to be smart, honest and treat me with respect to at least gain my respect and admiration for your efforts !!!

Now to the thoughts:-

1-Chapter 8 of the book is the comic of the book, I couldn't stop smiling and my eyes goes O-O all the time

This chapter is about her appearances on Aljazeera TV and why did they invite her, but the idea she keeps pointing out with different phrases is " Never in Islam has a woman vied with a man's ability to raid and shout, Never in Islam has a woman silenced a man's clamor with her calmness or overcome his shouts by her ability to talk and convince" P112.

"time seemed too short and too precious for me to waste even a second of it, and I shouted at him" be quiet ! it's my turn!". I uttered this sentence without realizing that it would open a new chapter in Arab and Muslim history. Never in the history of Islam has a woman clearly and forcefully asked a Muslims man to be quiet because it was her turn to speak". P.113

Is she serious ? . Sometimes they say that one word can make you lose it all and this whole chapter made her lose it all in my eyes, but still I will keep reading it to the end.

2-In the same chapter she talked about " Many children who have lost their mothers or fathers in these societies end up as victims for whom no just solution can be found. The father's new wife in these societies neither regards nor treats her husband's children from another wife as if they were her own. Her belief in her faith, which bans adoption, prevents her, both consciously and unconsciously, from treating them warmly; new husbands behave similarly towards the children of their wife's first marriage".

Again,Is she serious? what is this? a scary fairy tale? which planet was she living in before going to American to fight Muslims? .Yes adoption is not allowed in Islam but where does it say that you can not treat your step-children any less than yours because it's your duty?

I honestly know now why she keeps insisting that Muslims won't like her book, Cuz it's the worst scary fairy tale, full of I-don't-know-where-she-got-these-stories-from stuff.

3-what's with these experiments she keeps saying happened, where are the sources? the names of the people who conduct them ? .

And she wants Dr. Phil McGraw to work on ways of ridding us of our ogres!! seriously!!

4-All the ideas of rulers and how people must obey them have been in huge debates since the beginning of Islam and everyone knows how leaders use and twist words of holy books to gain more powers, it happen in all religions.

5-Defending Saddam over and over and trying to make him looks like the victim of his Muslim society when everyone knows how did Saddam rule and that his Baath party is not even remotely an Islamic political party. She kept saying that she doesn't know anything about politics, then she should of have stick to that and shut up, cuz the videos I saw of her encouraging the west to treat the Muslim world the same way they dealt with Japan is pretty cruel even for a woman who hates Islam and Muslims and yet define her self as a Muslim because she can not leave it for one vague reason or another when it's very clear that the moment she leave Islam, she won't even be regarded an expert in the field of attacking Muslims and encouraging their killing by nuke them and making her rich.

How is she even better than those monsters she keeps talking about in the book when the solution is "atom bomb", no wonder that Saddam is a victim of his Muslim society in her eyes.

5-" they only criticizing me because they are jealous" !!. Are we kids. Is that how a woman who keeps pretending to change "history" think !!

6-how would she know what people think, she keeps saying that people thought, aren't thought supposed to be secret , did they share their thoughts with her, she even knows the thoughts of someone who lived centuries ago...I need facts not thoughts !!

I know for a fact that the way women and children are treated in the Muslim world is way beyond bad and let me just state that in my country -Saudi Arabia -they are trying to justify this by saying it's the way a woman or a child should be treated in Islam but knowing more about the religion and the cultures and traditions you would notice-if you are fair- a big difference between the two.

I am not defending anyone or any religion. I only state things I see and live, and I have criticise the way women and children treatment in my country before, but to go against the people of any religion or country is not going to make them change in a second or year or a century, it's only going to bring more hostility to you and more attachment to the way of their living.

You can not change someone's life by ridiculing them and calling them barbaric and that "it's my way or the highway" .

I don't know if there will be a part four of my thoughts on this book, will see if any new thing rises up in the coming chapter.. I guess a Jodi Picoult's novel should be next "sigh"

More about Wafa Sultan

A God Who Hates. Part 2

2012-01-09T06:00:00.003+03:00

reached page 107 and still with the same insults without any logical proves. Even babies should be taught that you can not keep saying bad things about someone without a prove or the simple question "How do you know this ? Have you seen him/her do that? ".

The book is continuing with the ideas of the evil Muslims even in America. There, they are doing bad things in the supermarkets and wishing evil thoughts against America despite the fact that this country has helped them and gave them home. All the Muslims she met there were evil and all Americans were angels !!

I kept noticing through these pages that she was talking about things happened in her own country, things I know for a fact that we don't do here in Saudi Arabia and never did, so Is it simply a problems with the society not the religion that this society believes in ?. But on another hand, how come almost all Muslims societies are brand "hostile, evil and very backward", if it's not because the religion they believe in or .... ?
The support of terrorism, the censorship on books, idea and thoughts..etc. in that Syria was not because of religion but the ruling party of Syria which is still govern and kill its people not in the name of a religion at all!!

"one day I went to pick Farah up from school at the end of the day and found her in the schoolyard with her teacher sitting next to her, helping her tie her shoelaces. As i stood watching them from some distance away, the sight of the two of them together revived old memories, bitter once, still lodged deep in my mind. I remembered my head teacher when I was Farah's age. He came up to me at break time and asked me to leave school and deliver package of bread he had bought to his home for him. Fearful, I stammered out naively: "but we've got dictation now" I had barely finished the sentence before he slapped me in the face as hard as could. Remembering that sting of that cruel slap, i went to mrs. Anderson to thank her for her kindness and she said " I saw her running toward the gate with her shoelaces undone and i was afraid she'd trip over them". Mrs. Anderson hugged Farah and said, patting her on the shoulder," be a good girl, now. I'll see you tomorrow". I watched Farah's face in the rear view mirror as she sat in the back seat.Her eyes were darting glances all around her, and i thought to my self: how I envy you, little one. Why did fate not give me a teacher like Mrs. Anderson when i was a girl-not to tie my shoelaces, but to bandage my wounds? " P.100

I wounder what she thinks when reading about sexual relationship between teachers and their younger students-boys and girls-in the American society !! Oh, right. not all teachers are like those irresponsible ones !! then why the generalization about the whole Islamic community.

What about the Christians in the Muslims society who are as conservative, do they fall in the same category of evilness.

This book is not for the Muslims readers to enlighten them about their barbaric societies and religion, after all they don't deserve the rescue since they are all this evil.

And I am still reading...

A God Who Hates

2012-01-08T16:28:00.002+03:00

By Wafa Sultan..

So far I am in page 60 and I don't know if the course of this book will change or not..

It's a non-fiction book about this lady-Wafa Sultan- who was a Muslim-don't know if she is going to change her religion or quit Islam in the coming pages- who is -in simple words- in a fight with Islam and Muslims.

It's good to read something beyond your beliefs from time to time but too much negativity is a curse. I couldn't stop comparing what she is writing to what Deepak Chopra wrote in his book "Muhammad" !! . The message of peace will always win my heart.

From the beginning the author writes about how she is against Islam, but during these 60 pages she is more against Muslims and no wonder since she starts and keeps repeating :
"Most Muslims, if not all of them, will condemn me to death when they read this book, they may not even read it. The title alone will push them to condemn me. That's how things are with them. They don't read, or, if they do, they don't take in what they read. They are much more interested in disagreement in rapprochement and they are-first and foremost-supremely interested in inducing fear in others with whom they disagree" P1.
How can you expect people to believe you as a fair person or author when you start your book with such words , and the book is full of them . So unless the book is not for Muslims - and I doubt it's- then she is making a wrong first step.

The book is a bit old "2009" and is praised by people like "Daniel Pipes and the president of the Rand institution" .
Is this a biography ? It's not clear yet but it's more about the author's life in Syria then Muslims anywhere else.

I understand her frustration about the position of women in Muslim countries and there is no excuse for that and I understand how someone would think of the whole religion as corrupted and bad due to that but to redeem all its followers to be such evil and horrible people is something crazy to me. so rule number one: generalization is a grave and evil, whether you are talking about religions, races or even believing that all horror movies are gross :)

Reading the book, I couldn't stop asking myself, why would someone hate something so much to be blind to any good thing in it ? do we have to be harmed by it to hate it so much ? or ... ? <<< I honestly looking for more questions about that.

Finally, fighting ideas is OK with me, cuz you either being logical about it and destroy it or can not and it will grow even stronger. But fighting people, a whole bunch of them is completely wrong.

This book is testing my patience of reading an insult after another towards me since I am a Muslim, but I will keep reading :)

God Who Watch Over Me

2012-01-06T14:12:00.000+03:00

I love God and I think that He is the only one to count on. But I also loved it when people keep their relationship with Him to themselves, I don't have to know every time that you are this "big" religious person.

Does it have to do with growing up in a very religious country, so religious that it completely choking you every second of the day ? That it inclined in you that if you don't mention God once between each two words you utter then you are not Muslim- religious- enough !!

I guess starting this post with "I love God.." is kinda of a shield to protect myself from any attack. But seriously I love Him and I think that my God is different from anyone's else and is not the same as I have been -and still- taught about Him.

I also found out that I hate this talk about -you and God- in all religions, not only Islam so I kept watching myself getting panicked each time the word God mentioned while reading this amazing book ( Watch Over Me) , I honestly don't know why I bought this book, was it a recommendation ? or simply I liked what it says at the back cover? .
I don't regret buying it or even reading it-I am almost over-. The author, the characters, and the introduction of the book keeps reminding you that it's actually a Christian book, but guess what ? it turns out that it's not any different from reading any Islamic book !!, though I hate labeling books according to their religions. It's a great one, I am enjoying every bit of it and falling in love with the characters, but a bit of religion in it and it would be a masterpiece to me.

2011 Lessons !!

2012-01-05T09:22:00.001+03:00

This post is part of this project.

So let me summarize the lessons I learnt the hard and easy way in 2011

1- Care less about negative people, or people in general. I mean in the sense of "who care what they think" and
"Wafa, zip your lips.." .

2- People are really funny, really. (in a sarcastic way )

3-To not try harder for anyone, just be myself...

4-Second chances do exist.. about a month and a half ago, I was invited back with 100 and more teachers for the interview -the second part- for applying to be a vice-principle. Earlier we were told that they have already chosen about 30 -makes you feel like it's been cooked before- so someone might have been complaining on the right ear and they decided to give more a second chance.

5-What you see -with your eyes, heart and soul- doesn't mean it's what everyone else's see or hear. and that always make my eyes goes O-O

6-Those who are in need of you still deserve the fight you are willing to take for them.

7-needing someone doesn't mean you have to love them but you should respect them at least so your conscience won't nag you too much.

8-No one is as strong as they believe and look.

9-Praising is the tool the devil use to make dictators.

10-Dictators can be thrown out of power -the easy or toughest way-

11-The hands of God do make miracles.

A New Project to Start the Year

2012-01-04T03:12:00.000+03:00

Isn't enjoying our life the purpose and number one goal to everyone !!to be happy and to fulfill our dreams !!
At least that's how I feel..

But we can not be happy unless we learn our lessons and try to avoid the missteps we had before or we will be tripping all over our mistakes again... And they say that we can not learn from other's mistakes, we have to make them ourselves to learn..but how about the lessons..bad or good... can we learn from them ??. We should try cuz we only have one life and sometimes we can not go back and redo our mistakes..

So here is the project..with Salma and Marie.. keep reading and participate :)

Everyday, everywhere, women (like you and I) are defining who we are and who we want to be.

We do it out of necessity, new learning experiences, and isolation.

We seek adventure, enlightenment and solace. We TRY to find purpose - a balance

We do it because we love, fear, strive to educate ourselves, and seek guidance.

We do it because we are told to do it - asked to do it- or simply enjoy doing it.

We start from the beginning, from the middle, and back again.

We heal, kneel and pray to our God;

We crawl, or run to the finish line- never looking back.

Through this defining and redefining we discard baggage we didn't even know we had.

Through searching and discovering, we find a calm in the midst of chaos, and may even find a love that is deeper than we ever knew.

Once in a while we learn some very important lessons...and guess what, every once in a while we live to tell about it.

What about you what lessons do you have to pass on to other women?

Blog Notes: Between January 1st and 20th we ask that you share what you learned in 2011...or in the past years..
1. In a post, share some of the lessons you learned in 2011 (or) in the past years. Your post can be a poem, story, list, photo journal, etc.

2. Title your post: 2011 Reflections

3. Come back here and link your blog post on the Mr. Linky (between the 1st & the 20th). While you're here why not visit the other bloggers and share a kind comment.

4. Last but not least...pass it on.Thanks in advance for taking part in our little project. We can't wait to see what you've learned.

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First Decision in 2012 (Blog Related)

2012-01-01T20:29:00.003+03:00

Since I starting to rekindle my passion towards reading all over again last year, I decided to open a new blog by the name "Wafa is reading" and thought that I will fill it with reviews about books I am reading, and since I am a very slow reader, I only managed 10 reviews though I finsihed much more books in that time and discovered that I am not good at reviewing at all :(

The rest of the blog was article and reviews about books which I enjoyed, but then the whole blog became cut and paste..

so since I am not good at reviewing books at all, I decided -first decision in 2012- is to delete that blog "Wafa is reading" and move the 10 posts I wrote as a -bad- review here. In the near future will give details about the books I read in here.

Sorry for those who followed the blog and I disappointed them :(

ضحك مجروح لـ بلال فضل

2011-12-31T20:21:00.000+03:00

محبي المسلسلات المصرية ربما سمعوا بأسم بلال فضل من قبل فهو كاتب مسلسل "اهل كايرو" المسلسل الذي احدث ضجه كبيرة

قبل عامين بفكرته و طريقة تصويره

كان يقدم برنامج على قناه دريم بعنوان "عصائر الكتب" , برنامج جميل جدا

و مازال ابداعه مستمر في هذا الكتاب الساخر "جدا" , كتاب لاتسطيع الا ان تضحك من قلبك ألماً على واقع معاش في مصر و في كل الدول العربية و الدول التي تعاني من الظلم و الاستبداد

الكتاب عبارة عن مقالات مكتوبة بلغة عاميه ساخرة جدا و جميلة

انصح الجميع بقراته

نسخة مجانيه من الكتاب متوفرة

و لتحميل نسخة الكترونيه
هنا

UmmOmar said...

أنا بصراحه عرفته بعد ما عمل الدكتور باسم يوسف معاه مقابله ف برنامج " البرنامج" وإكتشفت إنه كل كتاباته ك أفلام أنا حاضريتها وحابيتها كمان

مش ملاقيه لينك النسخه :((

November 3, 2011 11:09 AM

Wafa' said...

uUmmOmar,

اولا اهلا و سهلا بعودتك , نور النت :)

هو رائع ككاتب و محاور , طبعا انا قصدت انه النسخة المجانيه متوفرة من عندي لكن بعد تعليقك قررت ابحث ولقيت نسخة الكترونية . اضفتها الان
:)

November 3, 2011 7:49 PM

كتاب مالوش أسم لـ أحمد العسيلي

2011-12-31T20:20:00.000+03:00

كاتب جميل يكتب عن امور الحياة المختلفة بطريقة مختلفة,

تتعجب عندما تقرأ منطقه و تفكر لماذا لم افكر بنفس الطريقة ؟ .

اجمل مافي كتابته بالاضافه الى لغتها العاميه هو جرعة التفائل الجميلة في النهاية

و عندها ستكتشف ان الدنيا ليست ببشعتها التى تعرفها

نسخة مجانيه من متوفرة من الكتاب

The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho

2011-12-31T20:19:00.001+03:00

When I started reading for Paulo Coelho, I started with " Veronica Decides to Die" and it was the most amazing journey with a book, then came another masterpiece with "The Pilgrimage". Through the years, I continued reading for Paulo but to be honest not all of his books were as good.
Until I decided to read the novel that made him this popular author "The alchemist". Now I know that if I read this one first, I would of have missed the rest of his wonders.

The Alchemist was a pure boring novel, I don't know if it's him or the translator, but there is nothing entertaining in it or inspiring.

What I enjoyed most and sadly was a very short period was when the boy was a shepherd. his thoughts, the way he deals and describes people were joyful to read but then the novel goes badly that I couldn't complete it.

A free copy from the novel is available in Arabic and English (from me).

The author himself gave a link to download this novel (only the Arabic one) if you can not find the novel in bookstores here

Becky said...

I LOVE you Wafa', this is exactly how I felt about The Alchemist! I was so so disappointed when I finally read it, I couldn't believe it's what made him famous!

I do agree that not all of his books are equally good, but I have enjoyed most of them. Which other books have you read?

My favourites are: Veronica Decides to Die, The Pilgrimage, The Zahir, The Devil and Miss Prym and Brida I think.

November 7, 2011 12:52 PM

Aseel said...

the first novel i read of Paulo Coelho was Veronica Decides to die too!!

I think translation caused a lot of damage to the novel Alchemist. The english translation is better than the Arabic one..

I guess it is a good novel at a certain age.. my favorite quote is: "what happens once may never happens again. But what happens twice will surely happen for a third time" so true!

have you read the Zahir?

November 7, 2011 5:54 PM

Wafa' said...

Becky,

exactly, but maybe the world was in need for something and that novel came in time, dunno !!

I have read lots of them, I think I am only three books short. Brida is a favorite one too in my list.

And right now, I am reading "Aleph" and I am enjoying it so far.. hope it wont disappoint me later on.

November 7, 2011 9:40 PM

Becky said...

I just bought Aleph recently as well - a signed edition! Haven't started reading it yet, but am looking forward to it.

November 7, 2011 9:42 PM

Wafa' said...

Aseel,

"Veronica decides to die" was an amazing one. And I agree completely the translation could ruin it all, I tried to read "War and peace" in Arabic and couldn't make it to a few pages !!

I haven't read " The Zahir" yet, but it's on my list for sure. Right now, I am reading his latest book " Aleph" seems interesting so far.

November 7, 2011 9:43 PM

Wafa' said...

Becky,

I was so much waiting for it and bought on my birthday. I just started two chapters and sounds good so far :)

November 7, 2011 10:48 PM

Becky said...

I'm glad to hear that, because I wasn't too impressed with The Winner Stands Alone.

November 7, 2011 10:49 PM

Wafa' said...

Becky,

I have this one. Let's see what will i feel about it when it's time comes :)

November 8, 2011 12:24 AM

Aseel said...

nice! I wanna hear your opinion about Aleph! keep us posted Wafa :)

November 8, 2011 3:43 PM

Anonymous said...

Hi Wafa - all,
I think, everyone has his way with Paulo books ... For some, it touch directly and boldly the "critical point" on reader live at the moment, for others it's just a story.
For me though, "fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself" from 11 minutes make huge impact on me ... In additional to many other quotes and ideas from Paulo.

Thanks

November 8, 2011 11:06 PM

Wafa' said...

Aseel,

It's a turning page book to me, and will post about it very soon inshAllah :)

November 9, 2011 8:08 AM

Wafa' said...

Anon,

I never thought of that but after reading your thoughts, I found myself thinking what's my way with Paulo books, and ironically I found lots of that in his new book.

I haven't read 11 minutes yet,but now is much more interesting to read it next.

Thank you so much for sharing your thought with us :)

November 9, 2011 8:12 AM

Anonymous said...

Thanks Wafa. one more thing to add, Paulo is progressively evolving ... I think based his age and expertise. so its good to consider the order when reading Paulo books .... and Yes sometimes his books become so "cheesy"!

I would also recommend any one with good English language capability to read Henry Miller books (Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn). Really exceptional writer and one of the main Paulo influencer. Personally I tried to read Miller book Tropic of Capricorn but it language is too sophisticated to me that I need to spend long time looking up the words in the dictionary.
It should be easy for you Ms Wafa ;)

Take care!

November 9, 2011 9:11 PM

Wafa' said...

Anon,

he is indeed evolving.. You can till the different by each book. It's hugely shown in his latest one.

Thank you for the recommendation, I am searching for them already and hopefully will be able to read them soon. Hope its language will be easy for me, cuz i hate using dictionaries :)

November 10, 2011 6:21 AM

Aleph By Paulo Coelho

2011-12-31T20:19:00.000+03:00

It's a long journey that you will take with the writer on his long trip through the trans-Siberian train. One of the most amazing trips. Whether you believe in " incarceration" or "other lives"- topics the writer have discussed in some of his books -or not the book is still for you, for everyone.

The book's name is Aleph which has many explanation in the book, some are important and the rest aren't that much..Here is one of the not-that-important explanation of it, I don't want to ruin the real meaning behind it.

Aleph... " It's in the Apocalypse as well, where the lamb is defined as the beginning and the end, as the thing that is beyond time. It's also the first letter of the alphabet in Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic" p104

There are lots of people in this novel, but the main ones are Paulo, Hilal- the twenty one year old girl- and Yao, the old man who crawls inside your heart slowly but surely. And of course, J. he is here only in the first few pages, but his influence is very important.

You can not be think of yourself and your journey reading this one.

Here are some excerpts from the book :

" words are tears that have been written down. tears are words that needed to be shed. without them, joy losses all its brilliance and sadness has no end. " p.35

"I've never felt awkward about asking . I've known lots of people who care about others and are extremely generous when it comes to giving and who feel real pleasure when someone asks them for advice or help. And that's fine, it's a good thing to help your neighbor. On the other hand, I know very few people capable of receiving even when the gift is given with love and generosity. It's as if the act of receiving made them feel inferior. as if depending on someone else was undignified. They think is someone is giving us something, that's because we're incapable of getting it for ourselves. Or else, the person giving me this now will one day ask for back with interest. Or, even worse, i don't deserve to be treated well " p.90 This part generate a complete post :)

"controlling your aggression in order not to harm the other is the path of peace "

It's one of the best books out there right now and one of the best for Paulo's. He is improving for sure. Read it whenever you have a chance.

A free copy is available (by me)

Deema said...

beautiful words.. very touching.. i loved the one about the tear<3

November 17, 2011 10:54 AM

Wafa' said...

Deema,

the whole book is just amazing and very touching.

I loved the ones about how words are tears, too :)

November 17, 2011 11:12 AM

مهزلة العقل البشري لعلي الوردي

2011-12-31T20:18:00.000+03:00

قرأت عن الدكتور علي الوردي و عن كتبه و اهميتها للتوعية و تمنيت ان احصل عليها و اخيرا قرأت كتابه

" مهزلة العقل البشري"

و كما كل الامنيات حين تأتي بعد انتظار و تكون مخيبة للآمال توقعت ان يكون هذا الكتاب لكن تفاجأت بجماله و روعته

أقل مايقال عن هذا الكتاب انه يساعد على تنميه عقلك البشري و الذي سوف يتضح بسرعة عدم تطوره و نضجه بالرغم مما مر بالانسان في العصور المحتلفة

الكتاب من 300 صفحة و 12 فصلا كالتالي

1- طبيعة المدينه

2-منطق المتعصبين

3-علي بن أبي طالب

4- عيب المدينه الفاضله

5- انواع التنازع و اسبابه

6- القوقعة البشرية

7- التنازع او التعاون

8-مهزلة العقل البشري

9-ماهي السفسطة

10- الديمقرايطة في الاسلام

11- علي و عمر

12- التاريخ و التدافع الاجتماعي

لاانصح بقرأة الكتاب كأول مؤلفات الكتاب.. فبعض النقاط تحتاج لمعرفة عن احدى الكتب السابقه للوردي او عن حياته

ما تعجبت منه هو فعلا عدم تطور العقل البشري و ان مانشهده حاليا في عالمنا العربي و في العالم اجمع هو ماشهدوه اباؤنا من قبل و ماحدث في قرون سابقه

للكتاب عنوان فرعي كالتالي

"محاولة جديدة في نقد المنطق القديم لاتخلو من سفسطة"

و لاتتساءل ماهي السفسطة فهناك فصل كامل في الكتاب عنها

و يهدي الكاتب كتابه كالتالي

اهداء و حذر

اهدي هذا الكتاب الى القرأ الذين يفهمون مايقرأون. اما اولئك الذين يقرأون في الكتاب ماهو مسطور في ادمغتهم فالعياذ بالله منهم. اني اخشى ان يفعلوا بهذا الكتاب مافعلوا باخيه" وعاظ السلاطين" من قبل. اذا اقتطفوا منه فقرات معينه و فسروها حسب اهوائهم ثم ساروا بها في الاسواق صارخين.. لقد آن لهم ان يعلموا ان زمان الصراخ قد ولى, و حل محله زمان التروي و البحث الدقيق

كتابه وعاظ السلاطين سيكون التالي على قائمة الكتب التي سأقرؤها للدكتور علي الوردي

وجدت هذه النسخة الالكترونية للكتاب لمن اراد تحميلها

مهزلة العقل البشري

نيسان said...

حبيبتي
يسعد صباحك يا رب
اذا في جائزه في العالم العربي تعطى لحب ودعم وتشجيع القراءه فأنتِ اول وحده لازم تحصلي عليها:) ...بالرغم من اني لا احب قراءة كتب التنميه البشريه او بالاحرى اجد معظمها تدور حول نفس المضمون والفكره الا انني تحمست كتير لهذا الكتاب...سأحمله واقرأه في اقرب وقت ان شاء الله
الله يجزيكِ الخير

December 4, 2011 8:32 AM

Wafa' said...

نيسان ,

احلى مساء لك ياقمر

انا كمان مالي في اي كتب غير الروايات.. هي عشقي الاول بس بعد مجموعة من الكتاب اللي قراتها اخيرا فعلا غيرت تفكيري.. و هادا الكتاب واحد منهم.. ان شاءالله يعجبك يارب و تستفيدي منه

و ربي يخليكي و يسعدك على دعواتك و كلامك الحلو يارب
:)

December 4, 2011 8:49 PM

Anonymous said...

شكرًا وفاء ... من اجمل محتويات الكتاب:

“إن من الصعب على الإنسان أو المستحيل أحياناً، أن ينظر في الأمور بحرية تامة. وقد يتراءى لبعض المغفلين بأنهم أحرار في تفكيرهم وسبب ذلك أن الإطار الفكري قيد لاشعوري موضوع على عقولهم من حيث لا يحسون به. فهو بهذا الاعتبار كالضغط الجوي الذي نتحمل ثقله الهائل على أجسامنا دون أن نحس به. وقد نحس به بعض الإحساس إذا تحولنا إلى مكان آخر يتغير فيه مقدار الضغط. عندئذٍ نشعر بأنّنا كنّا واهمين. كذلك هو العقل البشري فهو لا يحس بوطأة الاطار الموضوع عليه إلّا إذا انتقل إلى مجتمع جديد، ولاحظ هنالك أفكاراً ومفاهيم مغايرة لمألوفاته السابقة.”

December 7, 2011 11:10 PM

Wafa' said...

Anon,

هذا الكتاب اشعرني باني لازلت مقيدة بقيود خفية مهما ادعيت باني حرة و تفكيري حر و لست بتابعه.. اعتقد اننا نحتاج للكثير من الوقت و الجهد لنكون فعلا احرار بتفكيرنا

و العفو :)

December 8, 2011 3:17 PM

حيرة مسلمة لالفة يوسف

2011-12-31T20:17:00.000+03:00

من اجمل ماكتبته المؤلف موجود في نهاية الكتاب حين قالت

أننا نرفع صوتنا عاليا لتؤكد ان القرآن وحدة هو الصالح لكل زمان و مكان اما قراءاته البشرية فنسبيه متصله بانتماءات اصحابها و اطرهم التاريخية و عقدهم النفسية. اننا نرفع صوتنا عاليا لنقول ان الطبري او الرازي او ابن عاشور - ولعلنا نضيف لشبابنا عمرو خالد او يوسف القرضاوي- لايمتكلون فراءة مثالية نهائية للقرآن و انما هم يمثلون ذواتهم المحدودة النسبية مثلما نمثل ذواتنا المحدود النسبية . و هذه النسبية البشرية هي التي تجعل باب الاجتهاد مفتوحا دائما و هي التي تجعل كل قراءة للقرآن مغامرة دائمة شوقا الى المعنى الحقيقي الذي لايعلمه الا الله تعالى

قد يقول قائل ان الكتاب مكتوب بروح نسوية و لهذا تعتبر افكاره مخالفة للمألوف. ..و لكن...!!

و المؤلفة هي الدكتورة ألفة يوسف من تونس. و ينقسم الكتاب الى 3 محاور اساسيه هي

الحيرة في الميراث

الحيرة في الزواج

الحيرة في المثلية

بالاضافة الى بعض المحاور الفرعية في كل فصل من هذه الفصول الثلاثة

الكتاب هو حيرة و تساؤل عن اسباب اتفاق بعض المفسرون السابقون لما نعتبره احكام نهائية اليوم بخصوص المحاور الثلاثة بالرغم من اعتراضها مع نصوص القرآن بتفضيل تفسير معين عن آخر اعتمادا على تفسير معين للغة او كلمة معينه احيانا

هي لاترفض و لكن تتساءل بكثرة "لماذا؟", لماذا تم اخذ هذا المعنى و تجاهل المعنى الآخر

الكتاب شيق جدا لكنه صغير الحجم -بالرغم من عدد صفحاته التى تقارب الـ250 صفحة- لثلاثة محاور مهمة تحتاج لنقاش اطول و اكثف

Anonymous said...

Great review & really interesting book ... Is the book available in Saudi Arabia?

Thanks Wafa

November 23, 2011 9:14 PM

Wafa' said...

Anon,

It's a very interesting book indeed.

I got the book from a friend, so I don't know if it's available in Saudi Arabia. What I know for sure is that it isn't available in Jarir or Al-Obeikan when i was looking for it..

And you are welcome :)

A Review: Muhammad By Deepak Chopra

2011-12-31T20:16:00.000+03:00

What a book !!

If you are a Muslims who thinks that talking about prophet in any way that's not sacred then this book is not for you.

It is a novel, a fiction which is what the author explains at the beginning of the book with an apology if he offended Muslim in the process.

The author-Deepak Chopra- dedicated each of the 19 chapter to a known figures from the time of the prophet and before.

The chapters are:

1-Abdul Muttalib "The slave"

2-Bashira, The Hermit

3-Halima, The Wet nurse

4-Waraqah, The Believer

5-Barakah, The African Slave

6-Kattab, The Elder

7-A Wandering Mendicant

8-Khadijah, The Prophet's Wife

9-Jafar, A Son of Abu Talib

10-Ruqayah, Muhammad's Third Daughter

11-Abu Bar, Merchant of Mecca

12-Zayd, The Adopted Son

13-Ali, The First Convert.

14-A Jewish Scribe

15-Fatimah, Muhammad's youngest Daughter

Susanne said...

This sounds like a good way for me to learn more about people who lived at the time of your prophet. And I see my library has a copy so I'll have to check it out one day especially since it comes highly recommended. Thanks!

September 28, 2011 2:36 AM

Linux and Life said...

There are very few Muslim people in my country (VIetnam) and I havent met anyone in real life. Through TVs and the media, I thought you guys must be really extremistic and fanatic, not insightful and full of love like you.

Thank you a lot for this post, knowing you and your blog has changed my thought a lot.

September 28, 2011 5:17 AM

Wafa' said...

Susanne,

it's . I don't know if you have read any thing similar but this is my first time. It will give you a unique and beautiful look about their lives.
We can exchange notes after you read it :D

And you are welcome :)

September 28, 2011 7:56 PM

Wafa' said...

Linux,

I am so glad that I have been able to change even the bit of misinformation you have about Muslims.
Sadly, it goes both ways with almost all religions. So we need to look beyond that image the media like to portrait about Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and atheist too so we all can thrive and have a great place to live in.

Thank you a lot for your kind words :)

September 28, 2011 8:02 PM

Becky said...

This books look great! 5-6 years ago I read a biography about the Prophet as well.

October 3, 2011 12:14 AM

Wafa' said...

Becky,

one of the best books i have read recently :)

October 3, 2011 1:07 AM

The Help

2011-12-31T20:15:00.000+03:00

What can I say about this book? .Amazing, shocking and plain beautiful.

When I started the book, I was a bit bored and confused, the first chapter was by the voice of one of the "help", and it was so real but the written language was difficult for someone who hasn't been around people who talk like that, but that's one of the things that made the book so real.

The book is about -mainly- three woman, the ones the chapters will be named after them. Two helps who are black and the white girl who is observing, witnessing and deciding to do something about it plus her struggle in life. The events took place in Jackson, Mississippi, USA in the 60's where it was so normal for black people to have their own hospitals, stores and alleys. And the same for white folks. Because it was segregation time.

Flipping through the chapters of the book, I kept wondering about women who works in Saudi houses as "maids", how do they feel? do we know them ? their fears and dreams? or is it just easier to have this big wall between us pretending it's for "their own good".
Two weeks ago i was visiting my uncle's wife at the hospital, we were all sitting on the chairs while the maid was standing. After sometime and when I noticed, I asked her to come take my seat, but my uncle hush me quickly, quietly and with a stern. "No, it's OK. she can stand".I didn't do a thing about it.

We don't have a maid in our house, so I honestly don't know almost nothing about them personally, but the hardship a lot suffer is awful. Still, I know what most people think about them. Those who wont stay at the same place with them, those who will let them take care of their kids but wont eat their cooking, those who got disgusted by the look of them. And like the book, they are always in the kitchen.
Oh, I drifted from the book, it's just it was a lot personal to me.

A few weeks ago, I read an article in it the writer refused to watch the movie based on the book cuz it's glamorizing the white lady and as if the black people were waiting for her to come save them, the writer of the article was black so in away I was scared of skipping something I might not understand. But now finishing the book, I actually don't see nothing about that. I guess all three women were heroes, all three women needed each other to grow and be stronger. Without the help of "the help" the white woman couldn't be who she is at the end of the book.

As usual I cried a lot and laughed even more. My favorite character will always be "Aibileen". And my heart breaks every time I read about "Miss Celia". I am waiting to see movie, but I know that even it's not as good as the book, it will held a special place in my heart.

I hope that one day, someone will write something as good about the helps in Saudi Arabia.

A free copy is available

Interesting links :

why i will not see the help

'The Help' 2011? Domestic Worker Abuse Widespread

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help Elbows Accepted Historical Narrative of The South Aside

Deema said...

I have seen the first few minutes of the movie, it's very nice and I liked the message behind it. There's a quite few ppl in the world today who are still racist.

September 18, 2011 1:30 AM

Susanne said...

Sounds good! I've been told that I must read it so I plan to when it's available at my library. (It's checked out now.)

I really enjoyed that you personalized it by telling about your own culture. Who knows maybe YOU will write the book from your country one day. :D

September 18, 2011 2:43 AM

Wafa' said...

Deema,

I am so eager to see the movie especially with such success and high ratings on imbd.com .

I guess there are lots of people in our modern world who are racists. not only about black/white races but different ethnicity too.

September 18, 2011 4:49 PM

Wafa' said...

Susanne,

I guess people are so much interested to read the book everywhere.

I honestly wish that someone would write about maids in Saudi Arabia, it would a tougher jobs since almost all are not Saudi, but me writing it !! no way, I am not a good storyteller :)

September 18, 2011 4:53 PM

Becky said...

I'm really looking forward to reading this book, thanks for the review!

September 24, 2011 1:20 AM

Wafa' said...

Becky,

I hope you will like it when you read it, it's worth it.

And you are welcome :)

Taxi

2011-12-31T20:14:00.001+03:00

It's been a few years since the rise of novels written in the spoken dialect of the a country.

Most times it's tough to read such books but since most of these books are written in the Egyptian dialect they are easier to read because almost everyone knows and understands the Egyptian dialect.

This book is one of them, and it worth the trouble.

The book is called "Taxi" and it chronicle the experiences of taxi drivers in Cairo.

The author didn't go to his business by taxi for the sake of the book, it was the other way around.

He needs to go to different places using a taxi ,which is normal in a big city ,and from there he got his stories, he either ask a question which will result in a beautiful monologue from the driver or the driver will just start speaking. You know the need to speak to a stranger sometimes, don't you?

Some stories are so sad that will make you cry, some will make you laugh out loud and some will get you angry.

One of the best books I have read recently.

The author Khaled Al Khamissi

The book has been translated to English

you can get the English copy from Amazon

and the Arabic one from neelwafura

P.S: a free copy is available by me :)

Haitham هيثم Al-Sheeshany الشيشاني said...

I didn`t like it!

August 26, 2011 11:14 PM

Wafa' said...

Haitham,

lesh lesh ?? it's good one :(

yalla you are forgiving this time only :)

I Want to Get married انا عايزة اتجوز

2011-12-31T20:14:00.000+03:00

Nope that's not me, that's the name of the book.

It's an Arabic book which is translated into different languages including Italian, German and English.

Girls first toys are always dolls which they pretend to be their moms, feed them and change them. Then the dream gets bigger and they want to marry their fathers. Acting all grown ups, playing with their mothers' make ups and dresses.

with all that, the dream of being a mom and a wife grows inside every little girl. Rarely do you meet a young girl who doesn't want to get married. Some believe that this is their only job in the world, anything else will come after that. But on what cost...

That's what Ghada AbduAal the author writes about in this book.

Ghada

The book started as a blog in which Ghada describes in a very funny way and in the most beautiful Egyptian accent her struggle with the society, different kind of suitors and her mother attempts to win her the good husband.

Last year, the book has been adapted into a TV series which was a huge success.

Amazing book, i couldn't stop laughing.

But don't let all the laughter takes you away from what Ghada trying to chronicle about the struggle of millions of girls to get married and have a good family.

It's a small book with 176 pages.

from Amazon

P.S: Excuse the poor review, it's my first, but i will improve, i promise :)

P.P.S: a free copy is available by me.

Aseel said...

Good choice!عايزة أتجوز was one of the first blogs I followed two years ago. Once you start you cant stop.

August 15, 2011 10:32 PM

Haitham هيثم Al-Sheeshany الشيشاني said...

كتاب نسائي!
typical

looooooooooooooool

I havnt read it and never will! oppps :p

August 16, 2011 12:27 AM

Wafa' said...

Aseel,

unbelievably beautiful blog and book, she is talented.

August 16, 2011 2:17 AM

Wafa' said...

Haitham,

actually a different kind of women book. ok, don't read it, buy it for your wife to laugh a bit :P

August 16, 2011 2:18 AM

Susanne said...

Sounds like a good book! I like that you are sharing about them here. :)

August 16, 2011 2:50 PM

Wafa' said...

Susanne,

it's a very good one and funny too.
Wouldn't know how it's going to be portrayed in English tho !!

August 21, 2011 10:59 AM

Becky said...

I've read about this book! Hopefully I'll get a chance to read it someday.

August 21, 2011 5:29 PM

Wafa' said...

Becky,

it's a very funny book to read. And I would probably read it if i found it in another language, i want to see if it would be still the same funny book.

August 23, 2011 11:27 AM

التاريخ الآسيوي للسعودية

2011-12-27T21:38:00.003+03:00

يوماً ما، سيظهر مخرج إندونيسي عظيم، ربما تترشح أفلامه للأوسكار أو للسعفة الذهبية. ستظهر كاتبة سريلانكية فذة، أو روائية فلبينية ستحصل على جائزة البوكر الحقيقية. وستكون محاور إبداعات هؤلاء عن حياتنا نحن في السعودية.

هؤلاء وسواهم كثر، ستكون “الحالة السعودية” هي وقود تجربتهم الفنيّة. وسيخوضونها من باب استكشاف الذات، لأنهم يعتبرون أنفسهم جزءاً أكيداً من هذه الحالة. إنهم سيسردون خبرات حياتهم معنا، داخل بيوتنا وبين مفاصل أسَرنا.. بل كأجزاء راسخة من أُسرنا. ولن يفعلوا ذلك لأنهم “مُغرضون” أو مدفوعون من قوى خارجية شريرة، ولا لأنهم تعلموا منا أن الأدب والفن فضائحيان. لكنهم سيقلّبون الدفاتر وينبشون الذكريات ليوثقوا تواريخهم هم الخاصة.. المتقاطعة بفجاجة وكاريكاتورية مع تاريخنا نحن الخصوصي. وفي سبيل ذلك فسيغوصون في تفاصيل المستور الذي نجتهد لنخبئه وراء الأسوار العالية وحواجز الزنك ليقدموا قراءات واقعية لنا قد لا نجرؤ نحن على مقاربتها. وهذا ليس تهديداً.. إنه مجرد توقّع بدهي مبني على فهم التاريخ، ومبني على مبادئ علم الإحصاء كذلك.

كم مليون آسيوي وآسيوية جاءوا لهذه البلد خَدماً وسائقين؟ لننس الممرضات وعمال الإنشاءات وفنييّ المكيفات حالياً. لنركز على بيوتنا. كم مليون فلبينية وإندونيسية عشن تحت أسقفنا وأكلن من طعامنا؟ غسلن ملابسنا الداخلية وراقبن بصمت كأزهار الحائط دقائق حياتنا؟ كم هندياً وسريلانكياً وُلد ببلادنا؟ درس في مدارسنا؟ وعَرَفنا جيداً جداً.. أكثر مما نجرؤ على التصوّر. كم مليون؟ أفنستكثر بعد ذلك كله أن تظهر منهم حفنة مبدعين لتستفيد من هذه الحالة الرهيبة؟

لا يعرف التاريخ قصة مماثلة لقصة الآسيويين في السعودية والخليج. ولا حتى الهجرات الكبرى إلى الأميركيتين لا تشبهها.. شتّان بين الهجرة والاستقدام، بين الاندماج والعيش على الهامش. حين نفكّر في حالنا مع العمالة المنزلية بعمق واسترسال فإننا لا نملك إلا أن نستحضر روما القديمة. ليس لأننا شِدنا حضارة تضاهي حضارتها.. لكن لأننا قلّدناها في استعباد ملايين البشر، في تحويلهم إلى خدم وفي الاعتيال عليهم تماماً حدّ العجز. ومفردة “استعباد” لا يجدر أن تكون صادمة ولا هي من قبيل المبالغة. نحن نبيع ونشتري البشر.. وفق القوانين والأنظمة طبعاً. ومن لا يعجبه هذا الكلام فليُلق نظرة سريعة على إعلاناتنا المبوبة وعلى أحاديث مجالسنا: فلان عنده فلبينية سيتنازل عنها مقابل مبلغ كذا.. وعلانة مستعدة أن “تبيع” سائقها الإندونيسي مقابل أفضل عرض. هذا واقعنا.

بطبيعة الحال، فإن وزارة العمل تبذل جهوداً مضنية لتقنين المسألة.. وكذلك الداخلية والخارجية وهيئات حقوق الإنسان إلى آخر قافلة الأجهزة الحكومية التي تسعى لتنظيم ظاهرة مأساوية في أصلها. هل توجد في العالم مجتمعات مثلنا، لا يستقيم حلها ولا يسعها أن تمضي في طريق الرفاه بدون أن تستقدم.. أن تستورد بلغة أكثر واقعية.. أفراداً جديدة لأسرها كل بضع سنوات؟ قلة هي الأُسر التي تلقي بالاً لاحتياجات هؤلاء الإنسانية أو تعدهم أعضاء بها. هذا هو الواقع شئنا أم أبينا. نستقدم الخدم ثم نتخلص منهم كالأثاث القديم.. تنتهي عقودهم فنعيدهم لبلدانهم مصحوبين بالشكر أو باللعنات، لنستجلب غيرهم. دائرة مفيدة لكل الأطراف كما تنص قواعد الاقتصاد. لكن ماذا عن تتمة القصة؟

ما هي القيمة السعودية التي تم تصديرها عبر أجيال وأجيال من الخدم والسائقين والطباخين والبـ “بيبي سيترز” عبر أكثر من ثلاثة عقود هي عمر تجربة الاستقدام؟ قلنا أننا سنركّز على العمالة المنزلية لأنها الأقرب والأشد التصاقاً بنا.. لأنها الأقدر على حفظ صورتنا الحقيقية ونقلها عبر قنوات التاريخ لو سنحت لها الفرصة أو استدعت الحاجة. خلال الصيف الماضي اهتم المشهد الثقافي الأميركي بفيلم اسمه The Help، مبني على رواية بنفس العنوان تتحدث عن حالة مشابهة: حالة المواطنات الأميركيات السودوات اللواتي اشتغلن خدماً في منازل البيض في ذروة العنصرية التي عاشتها أميركا خلال الستينات. النقد الذي يحمله الفيلم لتلك الفترة مؤلم.. لأنه يستحضر كثيراً من واقعنا نحن. الأميركيون البيض تعاملوا مع الملونين على أساس أنهم دون البشر.. رفضوا أن يشاركوهم المراحيض في البيوت لأن “السود موبؤون”. لكن الحقيقة أن هؤلاء السود قد ربّوا أجيالاً كاملة من البيض. ربّوهم واهتموا بهم وشاركوهم لحظات نجاحاتهم الأولى أكثر من أمهاتهم! وحين دار التاريخ دورته والتفت لتلك الحقبة فإنه كان في نقده لاذعاً ومؤلماً. يتذكر الأميركيون تلك الأيام مقتنعين بأنهم تجاوزوها. وأنهم تحضروا وصاروا أكثر إنسانية. هكذا يظنون.. ومن حقنا أن نختلف معهم. لكننا قبل ذلك يجب أن ننظر في مرآتنا ونتأمل في حالنا نحن. كيف نحن مع مليون فلبيني، مليون إندونيسية، ومليون بنغالي وسريلانكي يقيمون بيينا؟ ماذا سيذكر التاريخ عن حضارتنا التي أوغلت في استجلاب البشر على نحو لم تعرفه إلا إمبراطوريات اليونان وروما القديمة؟ ما هي مفردات إمبراطورياتنا نحن؟ ما هو إرثنا الحضاري الذي ستجسده يوماً مخرجة فلبينية في فيلم يشبه The Help؟ أو

روائي إندونيسي في رواية مدويّة ستصدر بعد عشرين سنة عن جده الذي عمل سائقاً في بلاد النفط والرمال؟

اشرف فقيه

52 Books in One Year

2011-12-26T22:35:00.000+03:00

The challenge was to finish 52 books in one year and I pledged to that challenge cuz I missed reading regularly a lot..sadly, I was not able to finish 52 books but amazingly I managed to finish 30 books..

and since the new year is in 4 days, I am still going to take the same pledge and hopefully I will finish more than 52 books. So some arrangements need to be done to give this amazing hobby a time to fill my life.
btw, the free books are still there, only one of them was requested. Seems like I will remove the page pretty soon :(

These are the books I read 52 books in 2011

اليهودي الحالي لـعلى المقري

اصلاح التعليم في السعودية لـ احمد العيسى

Handle With Care- Jodi Picoult

4-

حرية الفكر و الاعتقاد في الاسلام لـجمال البنا

5-

الجنسية لـ معتز قطينه

6-

Salem Falls- Jodi Picoult

7-

ظل الافعى ليسوف زيدان

8-

زائية الوجد لـ عبد عون الروضان

9-

أيها النقصان من رآك , نساء تحت العرش لـ سالمة الموشي

10-

The orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder.

11-

الضيوف (عشرون عاما في سجون الحسن الثاني ) لـرؤوف اوفقير

12-

أنا نجود- ابنه العاشرة و مطلقة لـ نجود علي بالاشتراك مع دلفين مينوي

13-

عائد الى حيفا غسان كنفاني

14-

تاكسي خالد الخميسي

15-

الهويات القاتله أمين معلوف

16-

المرأة و القطةلـ ليلى العثمان

17-

غذاء سريع للروح لـباربرا بيرجر

18-

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

19-

by the river piedra, i sat down and wept by Paulo Coelho

20-

ضحك مجروح لبلال فضل

21-

The alchemist By Paulo Coelho

22-

كتاب مالوش اسملـ احمد العسيلي

23-

بعض تفاصيل معلمه سعوديةلـ ضياء

24-

Aleph by Paulo Coelho

25-

حيرة مسلمة لالفة يوسف

26-

قصص الانبياءلابن كثير

27-

مهزلة العقل البشري لعلي الوردي

28-

لايوجد مصور في عنيزة لـخالد البسام

29-

عيال الله مع محمد الطالبي

30-

الارهابي20 لعبدالله ثابت

Urgent Appeal: 10-year-old girl in need of life-saving brain surgery

2011-12-23T00:38:00.002+03:00

Please help if you can or at least spread the word...She must be helped before January 19

Please help us to save the life of 10-year-old Samar Maree from Ramallah. In early December, she was discovered with a tumor in her brain through a visiting mission led by pediatric neurosurgeon, Prof. Lorenzo Genitori at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Ramallah. Unfortunately, the tumor could not be operated on in Palestine, so we are asking your kind help to donate so we can send her urgently to the Meyer Pediatric Hospital in Florence, Italy, where Dr. Genitori will operate on her in an effort to save her life. In 2010, Dr. Genitori performed a similar surgery at his hospital for 4-year-old Ola Abu Jamous, who was also found to have a brain tumor through a PCRF mission. In November 2010, she had surgery and radiation therapy and is now fully recovered. The costs to send Samar with her aunt to Italy for life-saving care is roughly 16,000 Euros, so we’re asking for your kind and generous support this holiday season to help us save her life by donating any amount that you can, and spreading the word of this appeal. Your donation will go towards the costs of the her surgery, airfare, and travel expenses for Samar and her aunt. Please make a contribution today and help us save Samar’s life.

10-Year-Old Girl In Need Of Life Saving Brain Surgery

12 and Judgment

2011-12-22T23:55:00.000+03:00

12 is a 2007 Russian movie, one of the best I have seen recently. It's 2hours and 30 minutes and I didn't pass a second of it ,believe me I can not handle such long movies, but this one is different and it touches so many emotions inside me.

The movie is about "12 jurors must decide the fate of a Chechen teenager charged with murdering his stepfather"Source
Now the case seems so simple and they are ready to agree that the boy is guilty and move on with their lives, until one of them decides that the boy might not be guilty and all hell broke loss!!

This is what the movie trigger most inside of me:How easy for us to judge others based on their looks, language, ethnicity, religion or simply for being different than us in anyway or form? . Did we ever thought for a second that we might be doing the stupidest judgments while running to do OUR business !!.

one of the great discussion-and the movie is all but great ones-goes on like this:

-See that pipe?

- What's that...

- No, do you see it? How many years?

- 40.

- How many more to come?

- 40.

-Another40.

-And? What? What?

-Everything's like that. Everything.We come. We see. We judge.We drink. We talk in circles.That's all we do...And everything's like that.

and that's exactly how we live our life, we judge or we let go cuz it's all circles...we blame and we hate and it's all circles...we claim we are the best and that we are not judging, it's just because "it's their faults" and it's all circles..

The worst juror was a taxi driver who was a pure racist-and they were all bad in a way-, he is the one who believe that the boy is a killer simply because he is a Chechen !!

how many times have we blamed someone for something even in the depth of our hearts just because they are different? .

yesterday, I read some interviews with gay Muslims and the comments were horrible,the fact that someone would have the strength to call someone else "non-Muslim", just because they are different is pure absurdity. Are we that perfect to have the guts to point fingers !!

In my country where sunni and shi3a are still against each other, the sunni are still calling the shi3a "non-believers" cuz we have the doors to heaven and hell !!!. In my country,also, some would wonder in astonishment how dare a non-Saudi marry a Saudi or even dream of that !!

Think for a second if we have the jury system and a gay or shi3a or someone who comes from an Asian country was accused of murdering someone and the evidence were ridicules- like the one in the movie- how many of us would rushed to agree and say "guilty" just because they are "different" ?. Don't rush to say I won't cuz deep down we are all racists with different prejudices and we would simply believe that the other is different since they are not like us so they can do horrible things.

If you think that all the above is pure stupidity and is interested to learn more about the movie, here is another link..

Best Of 2011

2011-12-21T20:55:00.000+03:00

The Top 10 Photographs of 2011

Ten Weirdest Life-forms of 2011: Editors' Picks

Best Space Pictures of 2011: Editors' Picks

Best News Pictures of 2011: Your Picks From Nat Geo News

Photo of the Day: Best of 2011

The 10 Best TV Commercials of 2011

2011 Pictures of the Year

3 of our favorite photo books of 2011

TIME Picks the Most Surprising Photos of 2011

Captured: 2011 Best Photos of the Year, Part 1 of 3

Captured: 2011 Best Photos of the Year, Part 2 of 3

The Best Photos From Space 2011

Reader's Choice: Favorite Space Story of 2011

Top 14 Solar System Pictures of 2011

People Who mattered

FP's Favorite Reads of 2011

The 14 Biggest Lies of 2011

The Worst Predictions for 2011

The weirdest stories of 2011

10 Memorable Paintings From 2011

10 top book headlines of 2011

Flickr 2011: The Year in Photos

Photos of the Year 2011 by Reuters

Review of 2011: books

Feeling Right Now..

2011-12-20T21:30:00.002+03:00

I am so mad at those who hurt me that I wish something very bad would happen to me so they will feel guilty for the rest of their lives,which won't happen, I know, cuz people never care.

And later on I would regret the feelings and won't learn a thing from any experience and the circle will keep going on and on...

I hate being this whining woman but that's what I am best at :(

"Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die"

Buddha

Homeless Around The World

2011-12-15T20:35:00.001+03:00

You can not help these but you can help -in anyway possible- those around you or in your city. Please Do.

Boston conducted its 32nd census of the city’s homeless population earlier this week. A report to the United Nations in 2005 stated there were an estimated 100 million homeless people in the world, and an additional 1.6 billion living without adequate housing. Here are some images of homelessness across the globe, collected from wire images this year. -- Lloyd Young

John Filliger who has been homeless for the past five years, lies wrapped in bedding on Washington Street in the heart of the Downtown Crossing area of Boston Dec. 12. Filliger, who was offered a bed in a shelter for the evening, stayed on the street for the night and was counted in the annual homeless census. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

A homeless man keeps himself warm near a bonfire on the pavement in New Delhi, India, Dec. 13. According to a news agency, India's Supreme Court has directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelters to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under the open sky this winter. Though India is famous for its brutally hot summers, temperatures fall sharply for a few weeks in Dec. and Jan. Poor people, particularly those living on the streets, are the worst hit. (Mustafa Quraishi/Associated Press)

Beverly McKinney, 63, sleeps in her wheelchair at St. Martin de Porres Church in Yorba Linda, Ca., because a knee injury prevents her from sleeping on the floor, she said. Her possessions include two blankets, food, spare clothes and her husband's ashes. She has been homeless since his death in Aug. (Mindy Schauer/Associated Press/Orange County Regsiter)

Wiley James Hickman peeks over the school bus seat on his way to school at Libby Booth Elemantery in Reno, Nev. By Washoe County School District's definition, Wiley is a Child in Transition, or homeless. (Andy Barron/Associated Press/The Reno Gazette-Journal)

Homeless Egyptian children play near electoral campaign posters in Giza, southwest of Cairo on Dec. 13 ahead of the second phase of voting in parliamentary elections. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)

A homeless man warms his foot by the flames of a fire in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

A homeless man sleeps on the pavement early in the morning during Spain's General Elections on Nov. 20 in Barcelona. Spaniards are going to the polls today to vote for Spain's new Prime Minister and 208 directly elected seats in the Senate, the Spanish Parliament's upper house. (David Ramos/Getty Images)

Shoppers pass a homeless woman on Fifth Avenue on "Black Friday" Nov. 25 in New York City. Marking the start of the holiday shopping season, "Black Friday" is one of American retailers' busiest days of the year. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

Residents sift through the ruins of their houses after a fire in Makati city, Metro Manila. Fire razed at least 900 shanty houses leaving more than 2,000 families homeless, police said. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)

Pakistanis walk past a homeless woman resting on a railway bridge in Rawalpindi on Nov.13. A United Nations report on global poverty, has pointed to higher poverty levels in India rather than Pakistan and India, the world's second fastest growing economy, has been ranked as poorer than in Pakistan. (Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images)

A homeless man eats outside the Hospital San Juan de Dios in Guatemala City Nov. 29. According to the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction more than 1,400 homeless people have sought refuge in 13 shelters around the country due to low temperatures. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

A homeless man waits to get food donations beside a street in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. The Labor Department said the economy managed to break away from three months of 9.1 percent unemployment in October, but that jobs are being generated at a pace that offers little succor to the 14 million Americans looking for work. US officials have launched an independent review process in which individuals can challenge foreclosures carried out by 14 major lenders in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Independent consultants would assess if borrowers lost out financially "through errors, misrepresentations or other deficiencies in foreclosure practices," the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

A homeless man sleeps in a park as birds look for food in Colombo, Sri Lanka Nov. 24. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated Press)

Shoppers walk past a homeless man begging along a pavement n in Sydney Dec. 8. Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 5.3 percent in Nov., data showed on Dec. 8, with the number of people at work falling as businesses cut costs. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)

A homeless man begs for money during the launch of the Christmas celebrations and the illumination of Athens central Syntagma square Dec. 9. There will be no central Christmas tree in Athens this year, and the city estimated the cost of the 2011 Christmas celebrations at 200,000 euros (267,400 US dollars), roughly 10 percent of the previous year's spendings for the season. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

Homeless people sit inside a shelter named The Crypt (Die Gruft) in Vienna Dec. 1. The Crypt is a facility cared by Caritas and solicits for donations from the public during the cold winter season. (Lisi Niesner/Reuters)

A homeless man sits on the stairs in front of the BNP Paribas Bank at la Defense business district, near Paris Nov. 10. The European Union warned that the 17 country eurozone could slip back into recession next year as the debt crisis spins out of control. The EU's economic watchdog, the European Commission, predicted that the eurozone will grow only a paltry 0.5 percent in 2012 way down from its earlier forecast of 1.8 percent growth. EU unemployment will be stuck at 9.5 percent for the foreseeable future. (Michel Euler/Associated Press)

An Armenian family from Georgia waits in the emergency room of the Angers University Hospital in Angers, western France Nov. 9. The family was sent to the hospital by members of SAMU Social, a social humanitarian emergency service to assist the homeless. Asylum seekers from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and eastern Europe are demanding the right to remain in France. The city of Angers asked for greater provision of humanitarian aid to cope with the large number of asylum seekers. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

A homeless man stands in the sunny part of a central Athens alley to get warm Dec. 9. Debt-crippled Greece is heading for a fourth year of recession among high unemployment. The country's statistical authority said Friday that the economy shrunk 5 percent on the year in the third quarter, compared to 7.4 percent on the year in the April-June period. (Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press)

A homeless man sleeps outside a bank in Athens Nov. 25. Since the debt crisis erupted in late 2009, tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs or businesses and many others struggle on in employment where they haven't seen a paycheck in months. The number of homeless has shot up by about a quarter over the past two years to reach an estimated 20,000, social workers say. (Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press)

Children from a local skate club distribute food to the homeless along a street in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. The Labor Department said the economy managed to break away from three months of 9.1 percent unemployment in October, but that jobs are being generated at a pace that offers little succor to the 14 million Americans looking for work. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

A woman sits on a mattress in a municipal shelter in Guatemala City Nov. 29. According to Guatemala's National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction more than 1,400 homeless people have sought refuge in 13 shelters around the country due to low temperatures. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

Two men play cards Nov. 23 in a house that was destroyed by the earthquake in the Fort Nationale neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. An ambitious reconstruction panel, co-chaired former US President Bill Clinton, was created 3 months after the Jan. 2010 earhtquake to coordinate the efforts to rebuild Haiti after the quake destroyed much of the capital and surrounding area, throwing more than a million homeless into huge, squalid resettlement camps. Almost two years after an earthquake devastated Haiti, less than half the $4.6 billion in pledged aid has been distributed and political squabbling is threatening to bringing a coordinated reconstruction efforts to an abrupt halt. (Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press)

Angelic Davis, holds, her three-month-old son Richard Williams IV at a homeless shelter in Dallas Dec. 12. The recession and unemployment have created a man made disaster that has caused a steady increase in the number of homeless children in Texas. (Lm Otero/Associated Press)

Homeless people sleep in an open ground area near the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India Dec. 13. According to a news agency, India's Supreme Court has directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelters to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under the open sky this winter. (ustafa Quraishi/Associated Press)

A homeless man covers himself with a plastic banner to shield himself from the cold near Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India. (Mustafa Quraishi/Associated Press)

A homeless man, with a sign that reads in Spanish "Tigres champion" hanging from his neck and a cap with the words Merry Christmas begs for money in Monterrey, Mexico Dec. 12. Tigres won Mexico's Apertura 2011 soccer championship after defeating Santos Laguna 3-1 at home on Dec 11. (Daniel Jayo/Associated Press)

Jackie Millet, 60, who is homeless, poses for a photo at the Occupy Eugene site Dec. 7 in Eugene, Ore. "For the homeless we need a place to be. We don't need to be criminalized," Millet said. (Kevin Clark/Associated Press/The Register-Guard)

A homeless woman and her child sleep on a bench in a park in Manila's Chinatown Dec. 13. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)

Homeless women look on during the baptism of former homeless alcoholic Sergei Ratov in Stavropol, Russia. The Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit is a group of around 70 reformed alcoholics and drug users who have built a rehabilitation centre outside Stavropol, with the support of the Orthodox church. (Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

Clients line up at St. Martin de Porres Church in Yorba Linda, Ca. The church takes in about 150 homeless people bused from Fullerton and Santa Ana, offering them a hot meal, new socks and backpacks and a warm place to sleep for the evening. (Mindy Schauer/Orange County Register, via Associated Press

Source : The Big Picture

Google Ads

2011-12-14T22:41:00.004+03:00

I am giving google ads a chance in my blog :)

So if you see any ads or images that might be not appropriate, please forgive me and know that I wont be able to do anything about it unless I choose the ads myself...

just ignore it..

but if you can help and click on the ads, then I would be grateful.

btw, I do click on ads I find in other blogs even if I don't need them :)

Thoughts On " I Am Better Than..."

2011-12-13T19:00:00.000+03:00

where does idea "i am better than ....." come from?

is it society ? religion ? culture ? high self-esteem ? low self-esteem ? hate? ignorance?

is it even a good approach towards something? can it help someone be or do the thing they can not do?

what about the idea "they are not better than you in ..,you just need to work hard/focus/study..etc"

Do we need to be a better version of ourselves by comparing our life, effort, struggle to others !!

Quotes

2011-12-13T17:51:00.000+03:00

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” -William James

"The only thing complaining does is to convince other people you are not in control and that you let less than positive circumstances control your mood and outlook".

— Author Unknown

"Don’t look back on happiness, or dream of it in the future. You are only sure of today; do not let yourself be cheated out of it".-

There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty; but learn to be happy alone.

Saul Bellow; Ravelstein

"The more contact we have with one another and the more we come to understand each other’s values, the greater will be our mutual respect." -Dalai Lama

You won’t do it at the right time. You’ll be late. You’ll be early. You’ll get re-routed. You’ll get delayed. You’ll change your mind. You’ll change your heart. It’s not going to turn out the way you thought it would.

-Kate Moller

Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. Make all your friends feel there is something special in them. Look at the sunny side of everything. Think only the best, be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give everyone a smile. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. Be too big for worry and too noble for anger.

-Norman Vincent Peale

“There is only one sin. and that is theft… when you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth.”

-Khaled Hosseini

ان السلاطين في عهودهم الغابرة، يستخدمون نوعين من الجلاوزة ”جلاوزة السيف“ و”جلاوزة القلم “. وكانوا يبذلون من الاموال في رعاية جلاوزة القلم مثلما يبذلون في رعاية ”جلاوزة السيف“. فهم يبنون الثكنات والقلاع ومرابط الخيل في نفس الوقت الذي يبنون فيه المساجد والمدارس ورباطات الدراويش…

—علي الوردي

إن الاخلاق ماهي الا نتيجة من نتائج الظروف الاجتماعية، فالغربيون لم تتحسن اخلاقهم، الا بعد ان تحسنت ظروفهم الحضارية والاقتصادية. من الظلم ان نطلب من الكادح الذي يعيش في حالة عوز وفقر وكوخ حقير، ان يكون مهذبا او نظيفا او حاذقا. انه مضطر الى ان يكذب وان يداجي وان يسرق لكي يداري معاشه العسير.. يريد الوعاظ من الفقراء ان يكونوا أولي اخلاق فاضلة، ولعلهم يقصدون بذلك تغطية ما يقوم به سادتهم من ظلم، فهم يضعون امام الناس هدفا مستحيلا لكي يلقوا عليهم الحجة فيما يعانون من ظلم وبؤس، ثم يقولون لهم”لقد جرت اخلاقكم عليكم البلاء“.

—علي الوردي - وعاظ السلاطين

“أنت لا تمثل السعودية”

2011-12-13T16:12:00.000+03:00

“أنت لا تمثل السعودية”