Why do people change so much?
It is almost painful in a way. You don't know who they are anymore, you lose that connection that you once had. That's why I guess it's so important to keep in touch with someone often, even if it's just a letter once in a while, because then you know he's around, you feel like you still know them. Otherwise when you meet them you feel like you've met an entirely new person, not the person you once knew.
I think part of it is that you change yourself, without realizing it.
~Ameer
Sunday, May 13, 2007
We went to get our passports today and alhamdulillah, as I predicted, it was a lot easier than I expected. Of course, there were a few interesting moments, such as when the taxi driver dropped us off in some totally different place, but alhamdullillah it could have been a lot harder. The Markaz Al-Diwan guide helped a lot as we kind of knew what to expect in terms of the whole process. First you have to fill out the application, then buy stamps for it, and then finally submit the entire application along with a photo, and photocopies of the visa and front page of the passport. We were a little tense when the lady who was reviewing our application got up and went to talk with her supervisor. We knew there might be problems because of us having two passports, the new and the old, but everything turned out alright. We even managed to get a three month visa instead of just a one month.
We realized what a blessing to know at least some Arabic when we saw this lady from America trying to get her three-month visa. The officer was trying to help her, but he hardly knew any English and she didn't know any Arabic. That tension...you could cut through it with a knife.
~Ameer
We realized what a blessing to know at least some Arabic when we saw this lady from America trying to get her three-month visa. The officer was trying to help her, but he hardly knew any English and she didn't know any Arabic. That tension...you could cut through it with a knife.
~Ameer
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Here We Go...
The moment we've all been waiting for...the most enjoyable part of being in Egypt...we will finally see the true reasons behind the greatness of Egypt!
We're going to get our visas renewed, insha'allah.
According to our Al-Diwan guide, it's all part of our "Egyptian experience". Oh boy. We need two get two passport-sized photographs, our old passport and visa, money, and a lot of patience. Insha'allah I'm trying to make it seem a lot more arduous than it probably will be because that way when I actually go insha'allah it won't seem as difficult.
Today the two Muhammads who work at Markaz Al-Diwan were cleaning out one of the rooms on the fourth floor. The room was previously being used for storage but now since summer is coming with its accompanying wave of new students the teachers need to use it for a classroom. There was tons of stuff inside it. Both of the poor Muhammads were complaining that every two months they have to move all the stuff right back into it. I had a good laugh with my teacher.
When they were moving all the stuff I also found an excellent little pamphlet written by Ustadh Islam Aly on learning Arabic. It clears up so many misconceptions that foreign students have when learning Arabic, and actually addresses language in general. For example, it talked about the fact that some students always care an English-Arabic dictionary around and try to learn as many complicated words as possible. They believe that a good understanding of a language entails knowing lots of words no one else knows. But eloquence, as Zachariah bhai always reminds us, is using the right words in the right place, no more, no less.
I met one student who was leaving Egypt and I asked him, "How do you feel about your progress in Arabic? Do you feel that it's been worth it?"
He said, " Yeah, I'm really happy with my progress. If I stayed any longer, all I would do is simply be memorizing new words. I can do that anytime with a dictionary in my own country."
I thought about that comment a lot and realized that it was wrong. The most important thing is to learn the correct context to use the word, especially in Arabic. In Arabic you have to worry about a lot of different things when you learn a word: does it need an object or is it lazim (certain verbs are "stand-alone"; for example, "I went," doesn't require an object)? What place does it occupy in the mushtaqqat? And most of all, customarily how do we use this word?
Another important thing I learned from the book is that learning from old and important books is not always a good way to learn Arabic. I always personally use to think that the best thing to do is study a book like Ihya Ulum al-Din or something like that and after that your Arabic would be tip-top. But as Ustadh Aly points out, language is about communication. It's important that we remember that Arabic is a living language. Some people think, "Well, I only want to understand the Qur'an; why would I need to learn to speak in Arabic?" Until you've lived in an Arabic country you don't really a get a full taste for the language. There were some articles from students who had learnt Arabic at Markaz Al-Diwan included in the book and one student gave the example of the word nazar. In Urdu the word nazar literally means, "sight". But contextually it also means evil eye, jealousy and a host of other things. The Qur'an is the same way. The more we live with the people of the language, the more potent our understanding becomes.
I can already forsee people saying, "Well, the Arabs today are a lot different than from before. Arabs don't even speak fus'ha anymore!" But I still contend that if your only contact with Arabic is in a book, your understanding will serious lack fruitfulness.
(Yeah, I am an expert now. I've spent my two months and now I can be crowned as Sheikh Toad-ud-Din. :D)
Everyone keep praying for us. Our visit to the greatest Egyptian monument, the Mujamma, awaits.
~Ameer
We're going to get our visas renewed, insha'allah.
According to our Al-Diwan guide, it's all part of our "Egyptian experience". Oh boy. We need two get two passport-sized photographs, our old passport and visa, money, and a lot of patience. Insha'allah I'm trying to make it seem a lot more arduous than it probably will be because that way when I actually go insha'allah it won't seem as difficult.
Today the two Muhammads who work at Markaz Al-Diwan were cleaning out one of the rooms on the fourth floor. The room was previously being used for storage but now since summer is coming with its accompanying wave of new students the teachers need to use it for a classroom. There was tons of stuff inside it. Both of the poor Muhammads were complaining that every two months they have to move all the stuff right back into it. I had a good laugh with my teacher.
When they were moving all the stuff I also found an excellent little pamphlet written by Ustadh Islam Aly on learning Arabic. It clears up so many misconceptions that foreign students have when learning Arabic, and actually addresses language in general. For example, it talked about the fact that some students always care an English-Arabic dictionary around and try to learn as many complicated words as possible. They believe that a good understanding of a language entails knowing lots of words no one else knows. But eloquence, as Zachariah bhai always reminds us, is using the right words in the right place, no more, no less.
I met one student who was leaving Egypt and I asked him, "How do you feel about your progress in Arabic? Do you feel that it's been worth it?"
He said, " Yeah, I'm really happy with my progress. If I stayed any longer, all I would do is simply be memorizing new words. I can do that anytime with a dictionary in my own country."
I thought about that comment a lot and realized that it was wrong. The most important thing is to learn the correct context to use the word, especially in Arabic. In Arabic you have to worry about a lot of different things when you learn a word: does it need an object or is it lazim (certain verbs are "stand-alone"; for example, "I went," doesn't require an object)? What place does it occupy in the mushtaqqat? And most of all, customarily how do we use this word?
Another important thing I learned from the book is that learning from old and important books is not always a good way to learn Arabic. I always personally use to think that the best thing to do is study a book like Ihya Ulum al-Din or something like that and after that your Arabic would be tip-top. But as Ustadh Aly points out, language is about communication. It's important that we remember that Arabic is a living language. Some people think, "Well, I only want to understand the Qur'an; why would I need to learn to speak in Arabic?" Until you've lived in an Arabic country you don't really a get a full taste for the language. There were some articles from students who had learnt Arabic at Markaz Al-Diwan included in the book and one student gave the example of the word nazar. In Urdu the word nazar literally means, "sight". But contextually it also means evil eye, jealousy and a host of other things. The Qur'an is the same way. The more we live with the people of the language, the more potent our understanding becomes.
I can already forsee people saying, "Well, the Arabs today are a lot different than from before. Arabs don't even speak fus'ha anymore!" But I still contend that if your only contact with Arabic is in a book, your understanding will serious lack fruitfulness.
(Yeah, I am an expert now. I've spent my two months and now I can be crowned as Sheikh Toad-ud-Din. :D)
Everyone keep praying for us. Our visit to the greatest Egyptian monument, the Mujamma, awaits.
~Ameer
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
The Ascetic on the Fourth Floor
I really admire my teacher. The more I learn from him, the more I appreciate him. He's not so unreachable as to be impossible to talk to, but at the same time he has a strong sense of dignity that is appreciable by everyone who meets him.
These days our classes are mostly us talking about all sorts of random topics, such as the state of the Markaz-ul-Islam fire escape, Fidel Castro, and soccer.
To all the soccer fans out there, recently Al-Ahly, the biggest Egyptian soccer team, had a match with Barcelona. Al-Ahly actually is not a bad club, considering they beat Real Madrid back in 2001 or something like that. And no, Real Madrid wasn't fielding their second-string, at least I don't consider Zidane and Roberto Carlos to be second-string. But to the disappointment of the Egyptians, Barcelona whipped Al-Ahly 4-0. It would have been okay if the game had actually had some intensity to it, but Barcelona fielded all their substitutes and debutantes in the first half. A 16 year old scored and someone else headed in a ball while being completely unmarked. By the second-half when Ronaldinho and co. appeared Al-Ahly was so demoralized they were unable to stage any kind of comeback. Eto'o scored two goals in revenge of Cameroon's loss to Egypt in the African Nations Cup. Of course my teacher had to draw this all back to the decadent state of Egypt i.e. Egyptians lie to themselves, they have no idea what they are actually like.
"There is no life with despair, and no despair with life."
-Mustafa Kamel, the great 19th century Egyptian revolutionary
~Ameer
p.s. I know that was kind of random, so forgive me.
These days our classes are mostly us talking about all sorts of random topics, such as the state of the Markaz-ul-Islam fire escape, Fidel Castro, and soccer.
To all the soccer fans out there, recently Al-Ahly, the biggest Egyptian soccer team, had a match with Barcelona. Al-Ahly actually is not a bad club, considering they beat Real Madrid back in 2001 or something like that. And no, Real Madrid wasn't fielding their second-string, at least I don't consider Zidane and Roberto Carlos to be second-string. But to the disappointment of the Egyptians, Barcelona whipped Al-Ahly 4-0. It would have been okay if the game had actually had some intensity to it, but Barcelona fielded all their substitutes and debutantes in the first half. A 16 year old scored and someone else headed in a ball while being completely unmarked. By the second-half when Ronaldinho and co. appeared Al-Ahly was so demoralized they were unable to stage any kind of comeback. Eto'o scored two goals in revenge of Cameroon's loss to Egypt in the African Nations Cup. Of course my teacher had to draw this all back to the decadent state of Egypt i.e. Egyptians lie to themselves, they have no idea what they are actually like.
"There is no life with despair, and no despair with life."
-Mustafa Kamel, the great 19th century Egyptian revolutionary
~Ameer
p.s. I know that was kind of random, so forgive me.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Footsteps
Alhamdulillah we are doing fine. I know we haven't written on the blog for a while, but we've just been a little busy recently. Things don't slow down much, I guess, they just keep going. You keep waiting for the time in your life when you won't busy, but it never comes. Like Imam Siraj Wahaj says, "We'll have plenty of time to rest when we're dead."
Maybe. Depending where we are.
Speaking of death, my lesson today in the Muhaddathah book was about funerals in Egypts and the Arab world and the customs and traditions surrounding it. It's basically the same anywhere in the world; we visit the family of the deceased and try to comfort them, and we pray for the deceased. These days when we do lessons in this book it's not so much the lesson that's interesting but the conversations that we have about different topics related to the lesson are extremely fruitful, especially in this level. We've talked about stuff related to history, tourism, marriage (that was very fruitful *smiles bashfully*) university, and finally, death.
Death.
Like my teacher was saying, some people think that talking about death is really morbid or depressing. It is, if you don't believe in a life after death. There's nothing you can do about it, see, unless you know that it's the thing that separates us from our ultimate end.
My teacher was telling me that last week his friend's brother died, and he went to his funeral. Apparently in Egypt it is a custom in some villages that everyone pray in a particular masjid that was built over the body of a pious sheikh. This, of course, is abhorrent to my teacher, who always errs on the side of caution, and besides, this is getting close to shirk anyways. So to get on with the story, this particular young friend of my teacher is extremely pious; when he believes something, he does it. So he announced on the microphone (in the village, things are announced by microphone; nice, eh?) that everyone should pray in a particular masjid, but not in the one where the sheikh was buried. So everyone did as he said, no problem.
Next day, in the Jum'a khutbah, the khateeb vehemently attacked the boy's decision and said he had acted without any knowledge. Oh by the way, in Egypt, generally people come to the deceased person's house for three days after the funeral. Some people also have the custom (also faulty in the view of my teacher) to read Qur'an with the intention of sending the rewards to the deceased. My teacher says that that's not from the Sunnah; the Sunnah is to pray for the deceased. Anyways, the point is that that everyone went again to the young boy's house, and everyone was abuzz with the recent criticism of the sheikh. Everyone was wondering, "Will this guy relent and follow the customs, or keep it up?" The boy got up, and spoke into the microphone again.
"The Prophet (PBUH) ordered us to make dua for the deceased person, because now he is answering for his actions. So make dua for my brother."
And the boy began to cry.
A hush fell over the crowd. My teacher said that everyone suddenly began making dua for the deceased. Probably the way I told it was mumbly-jumbly, but when we were talking about it in class both of us had tears in our eyes. I remembered my grandmother, Allah have mercy on her. That's the reality. It's the last journey, our last step...
The only thing that remains is Allah's face...
~Ameer
Maybe. Depending where we are.
Speaking of death, my lesson today in the Muhaddathah book was about funerals in Egypts and the Arab world and the customs and traditions surrounding it. It's basically the same anywhere in the world; we visit the family of the deceased and try to comfort them, and we pray for the deceased. These days when we do lessons in this book it's not so much the lesson that's interesting but the conversations that we have about different topics related to the lesson are extremely fruitful, especially in this level. We've talked about stuff related to history, tourism, marriage (that was very fruitful *smiles bashfully*) university, and finally, death.
Death.
Like my teacher was saying, some people think that talking about death is really morbid or depressing. It is, if you don't believe in a life after death. There's nothing you can do about it, see, unless you know that it's the thing that separates us from our ultimate end.
My teacher was telling me that last week his friend's brother died, and he went to his funeral. Apparently in Egypt it is a custom in some villages that everyone pray in a particular masjid that was built over the body of a pious sheikh. This, of course, is abhorrent to my teacher, who always errs on the side of caution, and besides, this is getting close to shirk anyways. So to get on with the story, this particular young friend of my teacher is extremely pious; when he believes something, he does it. So he announced on the microphone (in the village, things are announced by microphone; nice, eh?) that everyone should pray in a particular masjid, but not in the one where the sheikh was buried. So everyone did as he said, no problem.
Next day, in the Jum'a khutbah, the khateeb vehemently attacked the boy's decision and said he had acted without any knowledge. Oh by the way, in Egypt, generally people come to the deceased person's house for three days after the funeral. Some people also have the custom (also faulty in the view of my teacher) to read Qur'an with the intention of sending the rewards to the deceased. My teacher says that that's not from the Sunnah; the Sunnah is to pray for the deceased. Anyways, the point is that that everyone went again to the young boy's house, and everyone was abuzz with the recent criticism of the sheikh. Everyone was wondering, "Will this guy relent and follow the customs, or keep it up?" The boy got up, and spoke into the microphone again.
"The Prophet (PBUH) ordered us to make dua for the deceased person, because now he is answering for his actions. So make dua for my brother."
And the boy began to cry.
A hush fell over the crowd. My teacher said that everyone suddenly began making dua for the deceased. Probably the way I told it was mumbly-jumbly, but when we were talking about it in class both of us had tears in our eyes. I remembered my grandmother, Allah have mercy on her. That's the reality. It's the last journey, our last step...
The only thing that remains is Allah's face...
~Ameer
Friday, May 4, 2007
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Cairo Courses
"And now with some favorite recipes from our Master of Disaster, Gracie Heavy Hand," or so the script from my favorite Canadian radio show goes, The Dead Dog Cafe (now Dead Dog in the City). Alright, bismillah, let's get cracking on the food that makes people's mouth's water in Egypt!
1. Koshari.
It's scary, looks like a combination between cookie/cream ice cream, chickpeas, and little black pebbles, and is highly under rated. It's like the perfect food, where a whole bunch of things looking not so good turn out to be amazing.
Verdict: Mouth watering.
2. Tomatoes
Okay, to the people who started reading this blog at the beginning, you'll know that we won the Best Customer Award there and everything, but after a while, it just started to go down in our rankings. Probably eating Chicken Foukasha sandwitches isn't the most well rounded meal anyways.
3. Ustadh Ibrahim's Chicken Supreme
This one is from Ameer's teacher, Ustadh Ibrahim, trying to convince, or perhaps dissuade, Ameer from cooking at home. I guess it's up to the reader to discern his true intentions.
1. Buy a chicken.
2. Cut the chicken.
3. Put the chicken in a pot full of water.
4. Boil the chicken.
5. Test whether it is cooked or not with a fork. If red stuff comes out, not good.
6. Add salt.
7. Serve.
8. Eat.
While the first 7 steps seem very simple and easy, I somehow doubt the last one is.
Alrighty,
Wasalam,
Mustafa.
1. Koshari.
It's scary, looks like a combination between cookie/cream ice cream, chickpeas, and little black pebbles, and is highly under rated. It's like the perfect food, where a whole bunch of things looking not so good turn out to be amazing.
Verdict: Mouth watering.
2. Tomatoes
Okay, to the people who started reading this blog at the beginning, you'll know that we won the Best Customer Award there and everything, but after a while, it just started to go down in our rankings. Probably eating Chicken Foukasha sandwitches isn't the most well rounded meal anyways.
3. Ustadh Ibrahim's Chicken Supreme
This one is from Ameer's teacher, Ustadh Ibrahim, trying to convince, or perhaps dissuade, Ameer from cooking at home. I guess it's up to the reader to discern his true intentions.
1. Buy a chicken.
2. Cut the chicken.
3. Put the chicken in a pot full of water.
4. Boil the chicken.
5. Test whether it is cooked or not with a fork. If red stuff comes out, not good.
6. Add salt.
7. Serve.
8. Eat.
While the first 7 steps seem very simple and easy, I somehow doubt the last one is.
Alrighty,
Wasalam,
Mustafa.
The American Dream
Judge: Cleaner owes me $65 million for pants
2 years of litigation x 1 pair of trousers = headaches for family business
2 years of litigation x 1 pair of trousers = headaches for family business
WASHINGTON - The Chungs, immigrants from South Korea, realized their American dream when they opened their dry-cleaning business seven years ago in the nation's capital.
For the past two years, however, they've been dealing with the nightmare of litigation: a $65 million lawsuit over a pair of missing pants.
Jin Nam Chung, Ki Chung and their son, Soo Chung, are so disheartened that they're considering moving back to Seoul, said their attorney, Chris Manning, who spoke on their behalf.
For the past two years, however, they've been dealing with the nightmare of litigation: a $65 million lawsuit over a pair of missing pants.
Jin Nam Chung, Ki Chung and their son, Soo Chung, are so disheartened that they're considering moving back to Seoul, said their attorney, Chris Manning, who spoke on their behalf.
"They're out a lot of money, but more importantly, incredibly disenchanted with the system," Manning said. "This has destroyed their lives."
The lawsuit was filed by a District of Columbia administrative hearings judge, Roy Pearson, who has been representing himself in the case.
Pearson said he could not comment on the case.
According to court documents, the problem began in May 2005 when Pearson became a judge and brought several suits for alteration to Custom Cleaners in Northeast Washington, a place he patronized regularly despite previous disagreements with the Chungs. A pair of pants from one suit was not ready when he requested it two days later, and was deemed to be missing.
Pearson asked the cleaners for the full price of the suit: more than $1,000.
Pearson asked the cleaners for the full price of the suit: more than $1,000.
But a week later, the Chungs said the pants had been found and refused to pay. That's when Pearson decided to sue.
Manning said the cleaners made three settlement offers to Pearson. First they offered $3,000, then $4,600, then $12,000. But Pearson wasn't satisfied and expanded his calculations beyond one pair of pants.
Because Pearson no longer wanted to use his neighborhood dry cleaner, part of his lawsuit calls for $15,000 — the price to rent a car every weekend for 10 years to go to another business.
"He's somehow purporting that he has a constitutional right to a dry cleaner within four blocks of his apartment," Manning said.
But the bulk of the $65 million comes from Pearson's strict interpretation of D.C.'s consumer protection law, which fines violators $1,500 per violation, per day. According to court papers, Pearson added up 12 violations over 1,200 days, and then multiplied that by three defendants.
Much of Pearson's case rests on two signs that Custom Cleaners once had on its walls: "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service."
Based on Pearson's dissatisfaction and the delay in getting back the pants, he claims the signs amount to fraud.
Pearson has appointed himself to represent all customers affected by such signs, though D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz, who will hear the June 11 trial, has said that this is a case about one plaintiff, and one pair of pants.
Sherman Joyce, president of the American Tort Association, has written a letter to the group of men who will decide this week whether to renew Pearson's 10-year appointment. Joyce is asking them to reconsider...
To the Chungs and their attorney, one of the most frustrating aspects of the case is their claim that Pearson's gray pants were found a week after Pearson dropped them off in 2005. They've been hanging in Manning's office for more than a year.
Pearson claims in court documents that his pants had blue and red pinstripes.
"They match his inseam measurements. The ticket on the pants match his receipt," Manning said.
Pearson claims in court documents that his pants had blue and red pinstripes.
"They match his inseam measurements. The ticket on the pants match his receipt," Manning said.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Something Less Than Spiritual
Manchester United to Win Premiership and Champions League!
Abu, I am also supporting your favourite player to score...Cristiano Ronaldo. He has seriously improved this season.
Abu, I am also supporting your favourite player to score...Cristiano Ronaldo. He has seriously improved this season.
Sea
The world pours around me, blinding me with its lights and motion and sheer brilliant movement. I sat on my balcony this morning, reading Qur'an, and could see the thousands of sand-coloured apartment buildings stretching away into the distance as the sun beat down its rays, sending warning of summer. It seemed I was still in a desert, only a desert full of people and cars and buildings. The only consolation was the occasional kite (not toy-kite, hawk kite) soaring above, flying far above the ordinary and normal.
Before that I was drowning in another kind of sea, a black and white kind. Various ministers, prime ministers, presidents and other species of the jam'a ghair aqil stared up at me with their fake smiles as I slammed my gaze against the articles, hoping somehow to find a way through. I did manage to read one article..."Laughter, the Magic Cure". A little ironic, I would think.
I didn't have class today because someone in my teacher's family died. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. Mustafa was overjoyed because I now longer had any excuses left...the bathroom was awaiting in all its beauty. I am also going to try to get some clothespins before all our clothes flutter freely in the wind. insha'allah.
If we could see the end results of things, we would act a lot differently.
We would pull the hair out of the drain every day.
~Ameer
p.s. Okay that was disgusting even I admit it, but the small things are the ones that are by far the most important.
Before that I was drowning in another kind of sea, a black and white kind. Various ministers, prime ministers, presidents and other species of the jam'a ghair aqil stared up at me with their fake smiles as I slammed my gaze against the articles, hoping somehow to find a way through. I did manage to read one article..."Laughter, the Magic Cure". A little ironic, I would think.
I didn't have class today because someone in my teacher's family died. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. Mustafa was overjoyed because I now longer had any excuses left...the bathroom was awaiting in all its beauty. I am also going to try to get some clothespins before all our clothes flutter freely in the wind. insha'allah.
If we could see the end results of things, we would act a lot differently.
We would pull the hair out of the drain every day.
~Ameer
p.s. Okay that was disgusting even I admit it, but the small things are the ones that are by far the most important.
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