many of you know people who are on the rihla in madina. fareena alam of
q-news has put together a
blog so that we can share in their blessed journey. the pictures are amazing and the entries by various people are heart-warming. reading about the rawdah brings tears to me eyes, helps me re-align focus, and see the trivial for what it really is. (also i recommend her entry about hearing about the london bombings)
if you would like to learn more about the rihla program, visit
deen-intensive.
i really shouldn't be posting- if i have a spare second i should be studying. but alas i am a slacker. just a few things in my head (well besides the bar)...
1. i got my digital camera and it is great. i have been taking lots of pics during wedding season. (the zoom range is amazing and it takes good video to boot)
2. speaking of weddings, in june and july alone i am invited to like 20 weddings. i actually have attended some event (usually more than one) every weekend. non-desi friends just don't understand this. i can't even enjoy the shaadis because i keep thinking about failing the bar.
3. thomas friedman strikes again. he wrote this
horrible op-ed in the nyt that made my skin crawl. i have a lot of thoughts on the article, but don't have time to share, read prof.
juan cole's analysis of it (scroll down a little- it's worth reading), he says it better than i could anyway. (by the way mr. friedman, if i tatoo a fatwa onto my forehead that i hate obl- will this make you happy?)
4. my
sister is in turkey- everytime i hear from her she is eating mishmish, or kabobs- or going to a yogurt festival!- or hanging out on the bosphorus! ooh poor baby- you get no sympathy from me, just bring me back gifts!
5. my dad is leaving for moscow on business- the russians keep pushing back the trip, because their aerospace industry is horrid. but still i am sure going to moscow is more exciting than trusts or corporation law. after that my parents leave on vacation for indonesia, singapore, and malaysia.
6. the point of the last two statements was to inspire pity and sympathy in the hearts of my readers for me- who is stuck in columbus, ohio- while everyone else prances across the globe. prances literally.
7. in honor of the great people of london, i suggest you listen to
cornershop- my favorite song is
brimful of asha (it is actually on the radio at the moment). what a great song- what other song can combine lyrics such as "everybody needs a bosom for a pillow" and "Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshka, solid state radio..." genius!
8. is it bad that i can't wait for the
new harry potter book (half blood prince) to come out? i have promised that i will not come within 100 ft of the book till after the bar exam. (man am i loser)
9. again a plug for
frontline. a while back they did a piece on the
terrorist threat in europe, seems fitting now. you can watch it online in its entirety. but take it with a grain of salt- it is one of the more inflammatory pieces that i have seen them do. also, bothering to me is the repeated playing of the quran behind translations of horrible conversations between terrorists. surely in the minds of people who don't speak arabic- wouldn't the subtitles be the translation of what they are hearing- well not on frontline. also other random bothersome things- such as everytime they mention extremism, a picture of a covered woman pops up. as no woman who chooses to cover could possible not be extreme. but there is some important info- i think the alienation, poverty, and educational state which the french imam discusses are of particular import.
10. where was i during college, obviously not following the millions of
internet phenomena such as "
all your base are belong to us" or "
pusher/shover robots- terrible secret of space". but there are tons of crazy videos and such things out there. my
brother (who by far surpassed me in nerdom) introduced me to some of these. i realized there is a whole nutty world out there in crazy internet world, and i don't think i want to go there.
last note: please remember me on the 26th,27th,and 28th of this month. i will be sitting through the hell that is the ohio bar exam. send prayers, good luck, happy thoughts, positive karma, crib sheets- whatever you can muster- i will need it!
