A Break from the Break: Traffic vs Hooters

The Grand Mufti, Ahmed Abdul Aziz al Haddad has issued a fatwa that driving harsh is haram. Alright, I get it. Those who care least about their or others lives on the roads would start driving responsibly because of a FATWA?? Weird. Lets give our mufti something to ponder about so that he can issue more responsible fatwas. Easy, let him try to issue a fatwa banning the opening of hooters in Dubai.
Seriously many elders over here are talking of the possibility of this as a direct result of the way thing are going.


PS: To those who mailed me, I apologize for replying late. I really dont get much free time these days.

Long, Long Break

I'm planning a long break from blogging. Im too busy these days and Inshallah Ill be back.
Happy Blogging Everyone :-)

From Oman with Love Terror: The Devil of Rustaq

Rumors travel fast, but never did they travel as fast as these days. A couple of days back I heard from one of my Omani relatives the true story of a voice scaring the hell out the people of a small village in the Omani state of Rustaq. Today I did a Google search and I was amazed. This is the one single topic that is most discussed in Omani and gulf forums. And attached with the discussions is a mobile recorded file of the voice.
With each person passing the story, a few bits are added. Thats quite normal here and thats how a single line turns to an article spanning pages. The same is the case with this story.
The voice was first heard around the 10th of February. The loud voice could be heard all around the village. Sometimes it was the the voice of someone being tortured, sometimes it was an evil laugh and at other times it was someone crying. Add to this the barking of dogs. Its could be heard any time between 9 and 9.30pm and some say it was heard till midnight. Apparently the source of the voice couldn't be traced. The kids were too scared to sleep and a hundred explanations have come up. These include the death a few days prior of someone who practiced black magic and was now being tortured by the devils. Others say that someone who died asked his children not to open a certain room, not forty days after his death. And the children opened it before the forty days passed and the voice is coming out of that room. Yet some others say its the voice of a dead man from his grave. Whatever the explanation, none is being widely accepted.
Crowds of curious Omanis are visiting this village in Rustaq but about a week ago this voice stopped being heard. That pretty much is the story. If you want to read the forums, this link might help. Else you can try Google.
I was in Rustaq a few years back and I don't have any idea why I didn't like the place very much. The hot spring bath was good, but I haven't yet taken a dip in Jabal Hafeet, so taking a bath over there was completely ruled out. And I always made sure that I reached Muscat before Maghrib. The same case with Nizwa and I ruled out Bahla.
And in case you are interested, here (format:3gp, size:1.4mb) is a link where you can download the voice. On hearing the voices, responses varied from 'I couldn't sleep last night, its too scary' to 'I love the voice, I will download it to my player'.

TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF (that in case the rumors are true).

Shia-Sunni Conflict: Blame the 'Great Satan'

I was surprised watching Yousuf Qaradhawi and Hashemi Rafshanjani debate on al Jazeera last Wednesday. The only thing both could agree on was the blame and as usual it fell on the 'Great Satan' America and its master child Israel. Its has become quite normal these days to blame Israel for any spouse quarrel or kid fights. I really hate Zionists and love to be called an anti-Semite, but then please don't blame them for this issue because they are totally innocent.
Al Jazeera tried its best to project the program as a 'message of unity to the ummah' - but the spirit of debate was quite visible. Rafsanjani is a shrewd politician and as usual he used his spin game to avoid answering the tougher questions. Qaradhawi was at some moments losing control of his emotions. Rafsanjani did indirectly blame the Sunni for the likes of Zarqawi and Qardhawi blamed all Shia for insulting the Prophets companions. So did the 'message of unity to the ummah' succeed? I don't think so.
Most of the Sunni didn't know that some of the Shia insult a few of the most respected of the Prophets companions among the Sunni - and this issue was highlighted on the media in Sunni-Shia debates after the Iraq war. This gives rise to another issue - a few Sunni now don't recognize Shia as Muslims and then as a result some of the Shia don't recognize the Sunni as Muslims. Just like a chain reaction.
Whats required? Clear fatwas (these are abundant when not needed but not seen when absolutely necessary) from respected religious groups setting conflicts right. Otherwise the whole region is doomed. Now is the time for saner elements to gain control.

Gulf News + Fox News = Feb 14 #$@#%

This one line of the Gulf News article is worth millions:

Gulf News contacted Fox News last night for further details but got no response.

What were they thinking? Something must have happened that made GN think they have attained a revered position in the US press - equivalent to the likes of Haaretz or the Jerusalem Post.


On a different topic, yesterday's morning fog in Al Ain was just awesome. The view of the ghaf trees blanketed in fog in the wadis reminded me of one of the last scenes of the movie 'the Exorcism of Emily Rose' - the scene in which the girl walks limp in fog choosing to live. I'm always late so I cant take any crappy mobile pics.
I will be back to blog inshallah soon.

Umm Khammas in Jail.

Via [Emarat Al Youm]

Blogs To Share: Angry Arab

Asa'ad Abu Khalil is one of my favorite bloggers. Though he is an atheist and Im a firm believer, I really like the way he uses light humor to criticize both Al Qaeda and the Iraq 'liberation' and everything else around. A few days back he wrote about a shoe battle at a Fatah meeting (Yes I know what you are thinking. Israeli bulldozers are at Al Aqsa's walls and these guys are having shoe battles, shame on them. Oh and again shame on us too. We cant protect our religious sites other than ramble of how good we are!!). Back to angry Arab. He explains the wisdom of New York Times' reporters. Read it here:

To throw the shoe, or not to throw the shoe: a cultural dilemma. Don't you love it when Western reporters explain to their readers differences between their culture and Arab culture? I don't know about you, but I really love it. Here is from the New York Times: "During the argument, heated words were exchanged and shoes were thrown, a severe insult in the Arab world." So throwing a shoe at somebody is a "severe insult in the Arab world" but not anywhere else? How exotic. Tell me more, o culture experts of the New York Times. So today, I wanted to test this theory. So I got out of my house with a bag of shoes: I started throwing them, shoe by shoe, at my neighbor, aiming at the face. My neighbor laughed, and could only say nice things to me as a good neighbor. He then explained: you see, o Arab neighbor, in our American culture, throwing a shoe at somebody is not an insult at all. In fact, it is taken as a sign of affection. I returned back to my house, having learned about American culture, what I knew not before. Thanks to you, New York Times (and your intelligent and culturally informed reporters).

Always funny.

A Great Idea: Terror Free Oil

A group better known for placing its logos on youtube videos that were critical of the Middle East has finally started a gas station. I hope your little pump works and we can all breathe peacefully. No more bombing of countries (read: oil rich) to liberate them.
HYPOCRITES.