Ramadhaan 1430 Mubaarak!

بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم رمضان 1430 مبارك الحد لله, it’s Ramadhaan once again!  Granted, I’m a bit late, but I posted elsewhere in a more timely fashion, so I guess I have some kind of an excuse.  ِAnyway, while this is definitely a month most noted for the abstention of Muslims from food & drink,…

Blogging with Arabic text

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحد لله, I am trying more-and-more these days to practice writing Arabic with actual Arabic letters rather than using cumbersome transliterations.  This is partially due to my father’s abhorrence of transliterating Arabic, lest the skill to actually write Arabic in Arabic be lost.  I agree with him, and besides, it’s a…

Shaykh Abdullah ibn Jibreen has passed away

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raajiʿoon.  Verily we are from Allaah, and verily unto Him we shall return.  Shaykh Abdullah ibn Jibreen has passed away.  Muslim Matters has some additional coverage, including some kind words by Shaykh Abu ʿAmmaar Yasir Qadhi, who had the occasion to meet the shaykh several times. Whenever…

Marwa Sherbini: The Hijab Martyr

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem Assalaamu ʿalaykum wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakaatuh Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raajiʿoon.  Our sister, Marwa Sherbini, was murdered in Germany as a consequence of wearing her hijaab, a style of dress fulfilling the commandment of Allaah for women to cover themselves appropriately when outside of their homes.  Muslim Matters has a story…

It’s a boy!

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem Alḥamdulillāh, on Monday, the 19th of Rabīʿ ulʾawwa, 1430 (16th of March, 2009) at 5:38 PM Malaysia local time, Allāh blessed us with a 2.3 kg (~5 lb.) blessing we named ʿAbdurraḥmān (عبد الرحمن), which, in Arabic, means “slave of the Most Merciful”, which is one of the beautiful names of Allāh…

Unfinished Projects

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem I have the bad habit of starting things and not completing them.  This is bad for numerous reasons, just a few of which I’ll list shortly.  I will warn you now that as this post is meant to help me organize my thoughts, it will list-heavy, as I do find lists and…

60 Minutes segment on apartheid in Israel

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/23/60minutes/main4749723.shtml#ccmm Watch at the link above for a bold & frank look at the living conditions of the Palestinians under apartheid in Israel, specifically in the West Bank.  Interesting to note is that the story only mentioned the West Bank.  Keep in mind when viewing their situation that Gaza is far, far worse off due…

Arundhati Roy: Mumbai was not India’s 9/11

Arundhati Roy, in an article for the Guardian out of the United Kingdom, has written a deep, insightful, and thought-provoking article analyzing the circumstances and the context surrounding the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai.  For a non-Indian like me, most of what she writes is very fresh & new, revealing currents in the Subcontinental social…

Close Encounters of the Blurred Kind

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem While riding (on a scooter) to a nearby masjid with one of my brothers-in-law, I felt something flew straight into my eye despite the fact that I was wearing my glasses at the time.  I was unable to flush it out while on the bike, and I thought that, like most eye…

Message Mastery by Belal Khan

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem Alhamdulillaah, my good friend Belal Khan of Leechon Films fame has started (a while back, actually) a program called Message Mastery.  You should get the full explanation from the website, but the basic gist of it is that it is a training seminar focused on developing masterful messages through the medium of…

Texas Dawah Convention 2007 Audio Project – overview

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem Introduction Alhamdulillaah, a few months back, I successfully wrapped-up the audio recording & production project for the Texas Dawah Convention 2007. This was clearly one of the most ambitious projects in which I’ve been involved in my life, especially given the degree of responsibility I was given and the amount of work…

Family blog

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem Last week my wife & I have decided to start our own family blog to track family’s Islamic development.  As a result, I will most-likely be posting my personal- and family-related musings over there rather than here, allowing HidayahTech to remain more tech-oriented.  That doesn’t mean there will be a complete dearth…

Floating Masjid of Kuala Terengganu

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem One of the beautiful sites in the city of Kuala Terengganu, the hometown of my wife, is the Floating Masjid, pictured below: We prayed `asr here a few days back, and naturally, having my camera with me, I snapped a few pictures. Click on the image above to go to the gallery…

Discontinuing with DiscoverULife for now

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem Well, my wife & I have decided, both mutually and with the guidance of istikhaarah, that we’re going to discontinue our participation with DiscoverULife for the time being. We both stayed in for exactly one month, which was always intended to be an evaluation period. As it turns out, given our current…

Benefits & Lessons We Learn from the Lives of the Prophets

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem One of the requirements for the exam for the last AlMaghrib Institute seminar, Rays of Faith, held here in Columbus, was to write a one-page essay on the topic, “Write one page about the benefits and lessons that we learn from the lives of the Prophets OR chose one Messenger and write…

Getting serious with DiscoverU

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem When Muhammad Alshareef started his DiscoverU program, I honestly was not very interested.  In fact, in one of his early marketing e-mails, I informed him of my dislike for the manner he was approaching, because it was so much like other self-help or marketing programs.  It was, more-or-less, off my radar for…

Texas Dawah Convention 2006

Alhamdulillaah, I’ve really been enjoying my stay down here in Houston for the Texas Dawah Convention (TDC). Without a doubt, the lectures, workshops, and other programs are all very beneficial, but what I continue to value the most is the new relationships that I am able to forge as well as taking back the fond…

Server bandwidth usage comparison – Ramadhaan case

Alhamdulillaah (all praise is due to Allaah) for the arrival of yet another Ramadhaan! Amongst the points people look forward to in Ramadhaan are the abstaining from our physical desires during the daytime, the togetherness with family & friends, the greater boost in faith manifested in extra worship, and surges in bandwidth usage…