My name is Amir Khan and I am a Muslim.

My name is Amir Khan and I am a Muslim.

Ok don't panic. I am not a terrorist and I am not Al qaeda. I hate al Qaeda as much as you are.

I have been following this so called "ground zero" mosque debate in the USA, the proposed Islamic center to be built 2 blocks away from Ground Zero the site of the World Trade Centers.

61 percent of Americans in a recent TIME poll said they opposed plans to build the mosque. I won't be surprised to expect that percentage to grow as more US politicians in the likes of the Mama Grizzly from Alaska take to the nearest media platform and vent her shall I say "intelligible" thoughts.

To most Americans, they must have thought that all perpetrators of terrorist acts nowadays are Muslims. the Fort Hood massacre, the shoe bomber and the Times Square attacker all were Muslims, as were dozens of others captured. Some of you may say that this is a fair conclusion. But does it necessarily mean that all Muslims are terrorists? Newt Gingrich the Republican, seemed to suggest this. He, on Fox News said "Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust museum in Washington," ..He is implying (like his Nazi example) that no muslim should even think of building anything near ground zero. But hang on a sec, were'nt 911 committed by Al Qaeda? Okay, I get it, this guy is actually suggesting that every Muslim is al Qaeda.

Okay, now I get everything. Everything that is Islam should be feared including my name. Now you should panic!

Sent from my iPad

Can you swim while fasting for a school requirement?.

Can you swim while fasting for a school requirement?.

There is much discussion at the school where my kids go to if the muslim children should be allowed to swim during the fasting month as swimming is a compulsory part of the school activities. Some muslim parents including my own missus were obviously worried that their children taking up such activity during this holy month could invalidate their fasting and said they should be excused. for one I see no reason why they should stop. I remember when I was a kid back in the kampung days, my brothers and I would take a dip in the little river near a house during the fasting month. We were never told that cooling oneself in the water was 'haram' or prohibited. So, I scoured the internet trying to find the answer and I found one reliable website at http://www.islamqa.com. The site aims to provide intelligent, authoritative responses to any question about Islam, whether it be from a Muslim or a non-Muslim, and to help solve general and personal social problems. The responses are composed by Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid, a well known Islamic lecturer and author from Saudi Arabia.

Here is the excerpt:

Praise be to Allaah.
The ruling on swimming when fasting depends on the following:

Firstly:

If the swimmer thinks it most likely that no water will enter his stomach through the mouth or nose, and he is a good swimmer and can guarantee that his fast will not be broken, then in that case there is nothing wrong with him swimming. The ruling is the same as that on doing ghusl when fasting. The scholars have stated that that is permissible even if it is just for the purpose of cooling down.

Al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: "Chapter on doing ghusl when fasting. Ibn 'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) wetted his garment and put it on when fasting."

Al-Sha'bi entered the hammam (bath) when fasting. And al-Hasan said: There is nothing wrong with the fasting person rinsing his mouth and cooling himself off … and Anas said: I have a tub which I keep immersing myself in when I am fasting.

Abu Bakr al-Athram narrated with his isnaad that Ibn 'Abbaas entered the hammam when he was fasting, he and some of his companions, during the month of Ramadaan. Al-Mughni, 3/18

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah (10/281):

It is permissible to swim during the day in Ramadaan, but the swimmer should take care to avoid letting water enter his stomach. End quote.

Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

There is nothing wrong with the fasting person swimming, and he may swim as he wants, and immerse himself in the water, but he must be careful to avoid letting water enter his stomach, as much as he can. This swimming will energize the fasting person and help him to fast, and whatever gives a person energy to carry out Allaah's commands should not be disallowed, for it is something that makes it easy for people to carry out His commands. Allaah says in the verses on fasting (interpretation of the meaning):

"Allaah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (He wants that you) must complete the same number (of days), and that you must magnify Allaah [i.e. to say Takbeer (Allaahu Akbar: Allaah is the Most Great)] for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him"

[al-Baqarah 2:185]

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "This religion is easy, and whoever overburdens himself in religious matter will not be able to continue in that way." And Allaah knows best. End quote.

He also said:

There is nothing wrong with a fasting person diving into water or swimming in it, because that is not among the things that break the fast. The basic principle is that things are permissible unless there is evidence to show that they are makrooh or haraam. There is no evidence that swimming is makrooh or haraam, rather some of the scholars regarded it as makrooh lest anything enter the swimmer's throat without him realizing it. End quote.

Fataawa Ibn 'Uthaymeen, 19/284, 285

Secondly:

If he thinks it most likely that water will enter his stomach because of swimming, then it is not permissible for him to do this, and it is haraam for him to go swimming during the day in Ramadaan. The evidence for that is the report narrated from Laqeet ibn Sabirah (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: I said: O Messenger of Allaah, tell me about wudoo'. He said: "Do wudoo' well, make the water go between your fingers and toes, and go to extremes in rinsing the nose, unless you are fasting." Narrated by Abu Dawood (142) and al-Tirmidhi (788), who said it is hasan saheeh. Classed as saheeh by Ibn Hajar and al-Albaani.

Imam Ahmad said that a fasting person may immerse himself in water if he does not fear that it will get into his ears.

Al-Hasan and al-Sha'bi regarded it as makrooh to immerse oneself in water, lest water get into the ears. al-Mughni (3/18).

Al-Adhra'i (one of the Shaafa'i fuqaha') said:

If he knows that water usually enters his stomach when he immerses himself in water, and he cannot avoid it, it is haraam for him to immerse himself. End quote. Haashiyat al-Bujayrami (2/74).

The question now is: if he goes to extremes in rinsing his nose – and similarly if he immerses himself in water and swims during the day in Ramadaan – and water reaches his stomach without him intending it to, whether he thought it most likely that water would not enter his stomach or not – is he regarded as having broken the fast?

The scholars differed concerning that.

The first view is that of the majority of Hanafi, Maaliki and Shaafa'i scholars, which is that his fast is invalidated.

The second view is that it is not invalidated. This is the view of some of the Taabi'een, and is the view of the Hanbalis, and was the view favoured by Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him). Al-Sharh al-Mumti' (6/407).

See: al-Majmoo' (6/338); al-Mughni (3/18).

You must also be careful to avoid showing the 'awrah when swimming. Do not swim in a place where people uncover their 'awrahs, and do not take lightly the issue of looking at the 'awrahs of others.

See also the answer to questions no. 23464 and 38907.

Sent from my iPad

Part 1: a mark of a mature society is how..

1. It treats everyone equally in the eyes of the law and not just simply to treat 'everyone equally' (mind you, 'equally' is a Marxist principle that is long dead, that's why most of us travel economy but some of the lucky ones first class but if you are given the same opportunity to work hard and prove yourself, you should have the same opportunity like everyone else to travel first class)
2. It gives everyone access to equal opportunity and not simply to be spoon fed (for instance if you study hard in school and achieve a very good result, you should get the same opportunity like everyone else to qualify for a government scholarship)
3. It uses Subsidy only to assist the extremes of poverty (and not to allow a well to do man build a grand house on government land scheme so much so a much more deserving person is left on the wait list for years)
4. It makes it into law that Conscience is never a crime for as long as we don't incite hatred against any person or race or religion (as Allah Almighty has given us a brain to think)
5. It upholds the very principle that Its ok to agree to disagree
6. It treats The most vulnerable member of the society with dignity and respect (whether you only have one limb, one eye, you must have a place in society)
7. It treats those Who run the red light equally no matter who you are
8. There are more people working in the private sector than in the civil service
9. It has stopped asking for everything for free
10. we park our cars at weddings far away from the newly wed's house and allow those who come late to park nearer

Sent from my iPad

Where are our universities?

TOP UNIVERSITY ASIA
UNIVERSITY
COUNTRY
WORLD RANK
 SIZE  VISIBILITY RICH FILES SCHOLAR
               
1 University of Tokyo 51 98 56 85 24
2 University of Hong Kong 78 35 130 108 59
3 Kyoto University 83 134 106 158 9
4 Chinese University of Hong Kong 112 99 239 95 19
5 National University of Singapore 124 164 182 96 62
6 National Taiwan University *** 139 140 121 101 734
7 Hebrew University of Jerusalem 152 215 152 91 541
8 King Saud University 164 161 203 171 183
9 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals 178 149 218 189 164
10 Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology 200 66 452 153 92
11 Keio University 208 434 92 469 419
12 Tel Aviv University 220 304 295 65 453
13 Nagoya University 237 395 236 370 90
14 Technion Israel Institute of Technology 241 367 321 69 506
15 Osaka University 253 510 216 277 214
16 Hong Kong University of Science & Technology 256 278 474 93 188
17 University of Tsukuba 258 458 281 467 44
18 Tohoku University 262 446 262 430 84
19 Peking University 271 511 195 532 130
20 King Abdulaziz University 291 305 355 344 299
21 Seoul National University 298 465 323 356 176
22 National Chiao Tung University *** 309 333 334 186 734
23 Kasetsart University 310 486 254 434 332
24 Tsinghua University China 317 599 301 605 77
25 Weizmann Institute of Science 335 451 237 326 978
26 City University of Hong Kong 336 354 483 329 216
27 National Taiwan Normal University 354 468 288 378 782
28 Hong Kong Polytechnic University 357 261 469 316 545
29 Tokyo Institute of Technology 359 598 316 539 307
30 National Tsing Hua University Taiwan *** 361 245 522 194 734
31 Kobe University 379 408 403 601 228
32 Chulalongkorn University 388 488 424 470 290
33 Prince of Songkla University 392 351 346 684 503
34 Kyushu University 395 634 366 598 289
35 National Cheng Kung University *** 413 400 453 344 734
36 National Chengchi University 430 433 460 555 446
37 National Sun Yat-Sen University *** 437 410 505 355 734
38 United Nations University 447 548 355 762 473
39 Nanyang Technological University 468 543 526 673 318
40 Hiroshima University 469 597 399 647 673
41 Zhejiang University 471 566 728 604 91
42 Ben Gurion University of the Negev 472 531 816 123 803


Source http://www.webometrics.info/top100_continent.asp?cont=asia

Bidding farewell to very good friends

How to avoid car thefts the Economist's way

To anybody about to purchase a new car, take a gander at a new list from The Economist that charts the most stolen cars in America.

According to data compiled by the Highway Data Loss Institute, car thieves have a type, preferring large-sized American made models.  Hardly eco-friendly, especially considering vehicles least likely to be stolen are foreign made, small, and fuel-efficient.

What model tops the list? The (hardly humble) Cadillac Escalade, followed closely thereafter by the Ford F-250 and the Infinity G37. On the other end of the spectrum, the Volvo S80 and the Saturn VUE are some of the least stolen vehicles. (Toyota's ever-popular Prius charts in the top 10.)

So what's the takeaway? Buying small (and keeping green) may not be the sexiest pick, but it's good for the planet and even better for your peace of mind. (via The Economist)

Too big to fail

In Brunei, every once and awhile we do get to hear shops or restaurants shutting down due to the lack of business. Although I do feel sorry for the owners who probably have mountain of debts to settle and a number of employees retrenched, who by most account would be made up of foreign workers, I do not think however it is a matter of public concern as we do know for every shop or restaurant that shuts down, there will always be another one or two that will open their doors for business. The truth of the matter is that its pure economics of demand and supply. If there is more supply than demand in a market then competition to attract customers especially in a country with a very small population will become very stiff. Obviously the stiffer the competition, the more cut throat the market becomes and it will be something of a survival of the fittest. The fittest in this case would be the ones whose owners have good business acumen, good strategies and good financial cashflow and those who understand the market and the business they are in. As in any business, risks of failures will always be there.

If however such restaurant venture failed, should the govervment get involved and used the public funds to, for use of the common term, provide a bailout package? The answer that we would say would probably be a no since it does not make any sense on why should public funds be used to save a private venture turned bad. But what if the business entity is one that employed thousands of our own people and by its going bust would affect almost the entire population of the country? The term "too big to fail" is now a common term used for huge conglomerates in the USA which during the financial crisis faced the prospect of going bust but if they did would have affected millions of people. Jobs and millions of dollars worth of pensions, insurance plans and savings funds were simply wiped out because these companies somehow did not anticipate some investments they made took a very hard beating.

Now let me come back to the ealier example of the restaurant. Say it undertook the grandest expansion plan and every one of us put our money into it as an investment because the manager of the restaurant was a MBA graduate out of the Ivy League who was able to sweet talk us to part with our savings. And imagine if that same MBA graduate was one whose pay package and bonusses were pegged with the number of restaurants and revenues he could open and generate in a given year. He knew he was only an employee and not the owner of the restaurant so he bore no risk apart from the possibility that he might get fired if his maverick venture turned out to be a bad decision. But what if this clever chap also borrowed money from banks on behalf of the company and knew that since most of our money were tied in the restaurant, any moment the company went into financial trouble, it would have affected the most of us. What also if this clever chap prepared himself early, that should he be fired he had himself covered with a generous severance package? The Government would have a recipe of a financial conundrum of having to rescue one company to save a nation from facing a huge financial and possibly a social and political problem and left no choice but come to the rescue by using public funds. That was not just it but here is the thing. there is, again for use of another term that we hear often these days, "a moral hazard", a situation where Governments would have no choice but bail out big companies that took huge financial risks because the CEOs or the COOs "smart" enough to understand that these companies would never be let go bust under the hammer because they were just "too big to fail". The "moral hazard" in this case would be that the MBA chaps of all these companies will go on and continue to take extreme investment risks knowing full well that the government would bail the companies out should something bad to happen as they are just "too big to fail".

Thankfully we didnt face this situation partly I think because our financial system is not as complex as those in Wall Street and our people have not been exposed to complex investment instruments that nobody could understand except those MBA smart alexes. But this is not to say this could not happen here. Of late, we have had encounters with dubious pyramid schemes where hundreds of people were duped into investment schemes offering huge financial returns that were too good to be true. Of course with pyramid schemes, if you were the earlier punters, you would probably be getting huge "returns" from your so called "investment". But lets not forget, these "returns" were actually principal monies from the later members who opted into the scheme. Such scheme would appear to work well for as long as new members kept coming in but like any deck of cards forming a pyramid there will always be a limit on how high this pyramid can grow itself without crumbling down. The very moment new members became hard to come by, the scheme would start to crumble especially when the existing members started to demand their so called "investment" back and if you happened to be at the bottom of the pyramid, you can be sure to kiss your money goodbye.

I am happy to learn that our Government is taking serious actions against these schemes which are very clearly unsustainable business model which are actually illegal in most countries. During His Majesty's recent Birthday celebration, he made the announcement of the formation of the Monetary Authority of Brunei which will come into effect next year. If my hunch is correct, this new outfit will closely follow the set up of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. If this is so, it will be our de facto central bank and a financial regulatory authority at the same time.

Ps I'm starting my 2 1/2 weeks leave as of today. I hope I will be able to post some nice pics of the places that we will visit in the coming days. Ciao :-)

Sent from my iPad