Waking Life

Blogger iPhone app

2012-01-18T23:39:00.001-05:00

First post from the iPhone app. A good way to share on-the-go. Who knows ... maybe this'll get me back to blogging.

Google+

2011-11-15T09:31:00.003-05:00

Ok, I will be first person to admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Google+ when it came out. But despite all criticism thrown at it, it seems to have come out of that early phase and is slowly and steadily increasing its user base. With the addition of Google Pages, business of all size and popular websites are creating their pages on it. Looks like Google+ is here to stay. But how long before companies start touting their Google addresses publicly, in advertisements, in theaters, on TV? Google still has a long way to before it catches up with Facebook, but do we even know if its gaining on it? For example, how many of you have dumped Facebook in favor of Google+ yet? Not many I bet. The only reason I've seen people *really* switch is because they can't stand Facebook, and it's ok. Having 1000+ friends and gradually becoming overly-social can take its toll. But those users are a minority.

What Google+ is great at, admittedly, is gathering new followers. People add me almost daily over there. How many of them are spam bots, I'm not sure though. I love Google as a platform. I love Gmail, I use it all the time. Google Calendar is what drives my iPhone. Google Reader, Images, Videos, Scholar, you name it I use it. But what innovation will Google bring via Google+ that Facebook won't replicate soon, and present it to its much larger user base? But I bet Google has a great plan for it going forward. We'll just have to wait and watch.

Are you the remembering type?

2011-09-29T13:17:00.009-04:00

I don't know why people are so forgetful, or maybe it is me that tends to remember things or people more than most. I'm talking about regular stuff - like running into people randomly or remembering people you met through a mutual friend. I tend to remember this stuff pretty well, but I often find that the other person has absolutely no clue who I am in some situations, and some don't even recognize me at all! Surprisingly for me, I've found not a lot of people are of this nature. Or maybe they're too preoccupied with other stuff, but come on seriously you can't remember a guy you met couple of days ago?! People should eat more almonds I say. That's what I used to do ..... especially in exam season ;)

So, are you the remembering type?

The never-ending search for a domain

2011-06-23T10:52:00.002-04:00

Hi y'all!

Its been a while since I've updated this blog, and I do apologize for that. Things have been changing rapidly in my life, which has sort of prevented me from venting my anger and frustration about everything that has come to pass lately. And by that, I do mean all things Pakistan. But we'll come to that in other post. Right now, I'm hoping to move the blog to my own domain soon. Unfortunately, I have one of those common names that aren't available at all. For instance:

Raza.com

RazaAbbas.com

RazaSyed.com

are all taken. This severely restricts my options, and frankly I have no choice but to go for a simple prefix/suffix with my name. Something along the lines of:

AllRaza.com

RazaGeek.com

RazaNow.com

They're all available btw. The trouble is I like 'em one day, and not like 'em at all another day. Help me decide people!

On reading the Quran

2011-02-10T15:10:00.007-05:00

A friend had shared this link on twitter, and I just had to post it here. It is a TED talk given by Lesley Hazleton, author of the book 'The Shia-Sunni split in Islam' which I previously reviewed here. Such an objective and outside view of Islam is refreshing, and shows how much Islam is really misunderstood!

Hiatus

2010-11-19T01:15:00.001-05:00

Wow, it has been so so long since I last posted on this blog. I apologize and I will get back to posting very soon ... trust me I will. There is so much to talk about. Can't wait to let it all out.

Why you should recycle

2010-07-27T14:42:00.003-04:00

Something useful I spotted in one of my campus shuttles the other day:

Recycling aluminum requires 95% less energy then extracting it from the ore.

If 1 ton of aluminum is recycled, it would power an American home for 15 months!

I guess it could potentially power a Pakistani home for double that duration, seeing how much power is wasted here.

If only we could somehow build up a healthy energy conservation infrastructure, so that so much energy which is normally wasted would be saved and more importantly, it'd go towards catering for the exponential growth in demand that we face nowadays. There is a way out of every crisis. All it needs is a proper and sincere effort!

Firefly

2010-07-10T14:05:00.000-04:00

You gotta check out this awesome sci-fi series. Set in the future (obviously), it is based on the simple premise that we, as humans, may evolve and develop better technology over time but that doesn't necessarily mean than we will also evolve to become better human beings. So basically, in the future as well, we are plagued with the same problems that haunt us today - moral turpitude, poverty, greed, corruption et al. This is different from other sci-fi universes, most notably Star Trek, where humans have evolved to the point that Earth is akin to paradise; there is no poverty on Earth and humans no longer engage in currency-based economics. Both universes, although in stark contrast to each other, represent how the respective show's creators think about the future. And As a sci-fi fan, both are equally intriguing I must admit. If I were to pose this a hypothetical question to you, which future do you see most likely as the future for human race?

If you like sci-fi, and haven't seen this show yet, then drop whatever you're doing and go watch it! It was created by Joss Whedon (who also happens to be the creator of Dark Angel (Jessica Alba). But unfortunately, the show got cancelled after its first season and it was only when there strong uproar over it from the fans, and on the back strong DVD sales that Whedon n co. did a follow-up movie called Serenity, which btw was just as good. The main character in the series and the movie, Malcolm Reynolds, is played by Nathan Fillion. Nathan also has another great TV series on air these days called Castle, where he plays a mystery novel writer that helps solve murder mysteries with a cop played by the beautiful Stana Katic. Check out both shows. You are sure to like them!

Going back to Pakistan

2010-07-05T23:00:00.001-04:00

This post has also been published on The Express Tribune's blog section here.

If you're a Pakistani student studying abroad (US, UK, Europe, Canada, Australia wherever) pursuing whatever degree, people automatically assume you're staying there for good. And by people here I'm referring to our fellow countrymen. When you meet them at a gathering or a get-together, such topics are often the subject of discussion. Telling them that you have plans of returning home will earn you looks of utter bewilderment, as if you've said something embarrassing. You come go back to Pakistan to visit family and friends, and everyone invariably asks you how you are doing abroad, so you tell them you're getting by OK ... which is almost always followed by something along the lines of `Good! Get a job / green card, and do not come back`.

I know things are bad, but this utter hopelessness is not going to do us any good. If we abandon our own country, when it needs us the most, what right to we have to call ourselves proud Pakistanis when we couldn't even bother to spend the prime of our lives living in it and working for its betterment? My mind tells me it's a foolish obsession that makes no sense, given the instability prevalent over there, but then my heart says: `No matter what the outcome. At least I would have done the right thing`.

The battle between my heart and my mind rages on.

Football, the ultimate unifier

2010-06-23T22:11:00.003-04:00

There's hardly any other sport on the face of this planet that's likely to draw out people of a more varied nation, race or color other than Football (or Soccer as it's known over here stateside). It is simply amazing how you don't need to even speak the same language in order to understand one another on a football field. I have been going to play Football on weekends with a bunch of guys from every corner of the world. It is absolutely fantastic to see the amount of diversity there. We have people from USA, Nigeria, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Mexico, India, Pakistan (me :P) and god knows how many more countries. If there is an ultimate unifier, it has to be football!

And what better showcase for football than the ongoing World Cup in South Africa. The game is getting some good press here in the US, perhaps as big as it has ever gotten, which is great. Normally people here are far too obsessed with their own sports, but thanks to coverage from ESPN and ABC, people are excited about the World Cup to some extent. This surge in popularity is also helped by the fact that the US football team is putting up a decent showing at the World Cup. They won a nail-biting encounter against Algeria today to press to the Second Round along with England in Group C. Good luck to them, and for the neutrals, the real World Cup starts with the knock out rounds on Saturday. May the best team win!

Hypocrisy galore!

2010-06-10T11:24:00.000-04:00

The hypocrisy of this world really does my head in sometimes. So, by now you must have heard of the fresh wave of sanctions that have been imposed on Iran by the United Nations, and that too, unanimously (12-2). I am not a proponent of Ahmadinejad's politics, and certainly not of his provocative stances, what pisses me off, however, is how Israel manages to break every other International law or UN resolution in the book, and still walks away scott free! They pull off sh*t that nobody else in the world can ever think of pulling off (without seriously getting sanctioned or diplomatically isolated), and yet they get a sweet $3 billion per year paycheck from their great ally, the US.

The US (and other Western powers) are ever so vocal about imposing sanctions on a country trying to obtain nuclear weapons technology indigenously (they're not stealing or doing anything illegal you know), and yet a country with a substantial nuclear arsenal, that commits atrocities one after the other, is not even chided once in the strictest terms by the so-called civilized western powers?!

Hypocrisy galore!

Mera Karachi

2010-06-10T07:47:00.000-04:00

I know things haven't exactly been very rosy in Karachi of late, but I was out and about yesterday, and couldn't help but notice how drastically travel times across the city have been reduced. OK ok, it may have been a working day and I may not have been out at a rush hour (it was 4PMish), but kudos to the city government for doing a great job of planning and maintaining the infrastructure in the city. Also, it was nice to see almost NO rain water on the major roads, which is so unlike Karachi. And thanks to the signal-free corridors, I was able to get from North Karachi to Malir Cantt in a mere 25 minutes, imagine that! I'm sure travel times are much lesser for people who live in more central parts of the city. Anyhoo, just wanted to say it felt great. Kudos to the government, for once, and to Mustafa Kamal of course. Well done!

Is it all worth it?

2010-05-29T23:23:00.002-04:00

I am not trying to rattle any cages with this blog post. Or perhaps it is a sign of my weakening faith, but I've found myself asking some real basic questions over the last couple of days, most notably: Is it all worth it? I mean religion. Did God create one of the most beautiful things in the verse so that so many people could one day abuse it and kill their fellow beings in their attempts to be closer to Him? They say terrorists have no religion, I say every religion has its terrorists - people who are so blinded by their faith and devotion to God that they forget the most basic principle there is: the sanctity of a human life. Is religion just a tool to kill other people in a society with such alarming levels of poverty and illiteracy? Or alternatively, if there were no religion, would people still kill like they do today?

We all believe in leading good lives and going to jannah (paradise), but I ask: at what cost? Is it not a collective responsibility of a religion and a society based on one to condemn injustices and speak up against them. Do you really want your paradise so bad that you're willing to stay stilent on every injustice and act of barbarism you see around you? What good is paradise then? I keep referring to paradise, because frankly we're obsessed with it. We're far too obsessed with being "good" Muslims individually that we've forgotten perhaps the most basic Islamic principle there is: Husn-e-Ikhlaq. Someone asked the Prophet (PBUH) to define Islam in two words, and thats what he said: "Husn-e-Ikhlaq". Islam is nothing but husn-e-ikhlaq, in every aspect of life, individual and collective. That is all, and alas! how badly we have failed at it.

The attacks on Ahemdis two days ago are nothing new in the context of our history, they are another persecuted minority in Pakistan. What has truly been sickening has been people's reaction. How can so many people be devoid of humanity? How can you condone the killing of an innocent human being? Is everything that we practice somehow more important than whether another person lives or dies (regardless of their beliefs)? Time to put things in perspective and root out the proponents of this venom who seem to think all this is OK, all in the name of God and paradise.

If we must ban something, it should be these poison-spewing madrassahs and maulvis spreading such hatred and blatant disregard for human lives. Facebook may have partaken in blasphemy but there's plenty of it going on in our cities and society. How about cleaning our own house first?

So much for a 'New Beginning'

2010-05-16T10:40:00.000-04:00

It has been almost a year since Barack Obama delivered his address to the Muslim World in Cairo, which he ambitiously entitled "A New Beginning". While he was very forthcoming in his desire to bring peace and stability to the world - especially the Middle East - he did admit that "years of mistrust" will simply not go away overnight. Well, to be perfectly honest, they're not going anywhere judging by his actions in office so far. The events of the last couple of weeks have obviously been worrying for the Pakistani in me. While it saddens me to see all fingers are pointed at Pakistan right now, and some for just reasons too, what I would like to know is why nobody tends to bring up the fact that the alleged perpetrator of this attempted bombing belongs to the same area in Pakistan that is continuously being bombarded by American drones for the past 2 years! Now, I'm all for taking out the Taliban by any means necessary, but when your degree of collateral and is so god-damn high (something along the lines of 2.5% success rate against militants), then at least do not pretend to be surprised when someone decides to fight back (using whatever wrong methods they adopt). The fact that a supposed moderate guy like Faisal Shahzad could turn against America is itself extremely worrying. Instead of painting the guy in all sorts of evil, why not go through his life and try to determine what drove him to the brink. Thoughts?

And don't even get me started on Israel. Simply put, America's unconditional support for the Zionist regime is the number ONE reason why everyone dislikes America (to put it mildly). And somewhat surprising (at least to me) is the sheer number of Americans I've met who share that opinion, but at the same time admit that no politician in America can ever get elected to a public office of significance unless they pander to the pro-Israeli lobby. Such is the sad reality. The new right-wing Israeli government has refused to heed to any objections by the international community over their construction on occupied Palestinian land. After backing this belligerent regime, does Mr. Obama still expects the Palestinians to "give up violence", and sit down for peace negotiations?

I do not know what the future holds for us. The world is certainly not getting any safer. On one hand, we have these religious nutbags willing to go to great lengths to cause harm to anything belonging to the West, and on the other hand, we have these powerful countries committing mass injustices (backing Israel, Going into Iraq et al) thereby providing these nutbags just what they need to get more recruits. And so goes the cycle. God help us. Do you see anything changing?

Movies Galore

2010-05-16T00:06:00.003-04:00

I know its been a while since spring break was over (heck, the entire semester is over now!), but I got to watch so many movies that I thought I should share my thoughts on some of them with you. So here they are, in no particular order:

Iron Man 2 - Saw this the day it premiered. A pretty decent film, although I was expecting a little bit more from it, but Robert Downey Jr. saves the day for me. Worth watching definitely.

Avatar - finally saw it. Visually spectacular movie, no doubt about that. Good story too. Whether it has racist undertones or not is subjective but overall the movie was good. Didn't deserve best picture though.

Shutter Island - creepily good. Was half-expecting this one to suck (because of di Caprio), but turned out to be pleasantly surprised. You should definitely watch this one. I forgot who recommended this movie to me, but thanks to whoever that was, since I wasn't planning on seeing it.

The Blind Side - Amazing story, and a great feel-good movie. A must watch!

Gangs of New York - A not-so-recent film, but I'd heard good things about it. It was a pretty good movie (even though di Caprio is in it). Having visited New York, you appreciate its diversity even more when you know its history. The movie is rated, so watch out.

Date Night - Disappointed. Not half-as-funny as I thought it would be (given Tina Fey and Steve Carrel were in it). Not worth going to theater for IMO.

The Fourth Kind - Has Milla Jovovich in it, ahem. But seriously, it takes the Paranormal Activity mockumentary thing a little too far. Good movie though.

Paris

2010-04-21T17:15:00.006-04:00

Bonjour! Greetings my blog readers (if there's still any left). I have been on a hiatus, and I do apologize for that. It doesn't take much to update a blog but I have no shame in admitting that I've been a bit lazy and putting this off far too long. So on the eve of my return from Paris is as good a time as any I suppose, to finally update this thing (I wrote this post at the airport). So my first step in the world of research in the form of a research publication at a conference in Paris finally happened, and I got to meet some great people in the Software Engineering community. Hopefully, the next time they run into me (in another part of the world), they would remember me. Needless to say, the conference was an extremely rewarding experience, but enough about that. What better way to set your first foot in Europe than to visit Paris hanh? First of all, what an amazing city! So so rich in history, and elegance. Also, it is super-old, according to one record as old as 500 BC! Just as you marvel at the amazing skylines of some of the American cities like Chicago and New York the first time you visit them, you marvel at the astonishing architecture and history of the buildings in Paris. From King Henry to King Louis to Napolean, the city has loads of history and an extremely rich cultural heritage.

The only downside is perhaps that the French people speak little or no English. But the similarity between English and French helps sometimes as both languages share common words. For example, you can figure out street names with ease, although you might get the pronunciation wrong. I managed to survive on Bonjour/Bonsoir (Good morning/evening), Parlez-vouz anglais? (Do you speak English?), Je ne parle par Francais (I don't understand French), not to mention Merci (Thank you). I was somewhat surprised to see so much in Paris. First of all, there were lots of Muslims and plenty of restaurants serving halal food (awesome!), but generally speaking, it seems there has been a lot of migration here from other French-speaking countries (from Africa mostly). I liked that I did not stand out in the crowd like I do in the US (just saying).

Paris also has an excellent transportation system. The underground metro network is quite extensive, and there are stations everywhere in Paris, and I mean everywhere! I think someone there told me that the maximum distance you can walk in Paris without a metro station is half a mile, which is ridiculous considering the size of Paris. Buses are also very frequent and go everywhere. The metro system was a piece of cake to figure out, and I was really impressed with the number of people that use the metro (thousands!) and the frequency with which those trains run.

Paris attracts the most tourists of any city in the world (estimated at 1 million per year!). Going to some of the famous sightseeing spots like the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and Arc de Triomphe; I saw a sea of people. Amazing! No wonder Parisians are known to be a little rude, they have to contend with hundreds and thousands of tourists throughout the year and most of them do not speak French! Speaking of touristy places, I was surprised to find so many desis in Paris, mostly around these touristy places where they're selling miniature versions of famous Parisian landmarks. I certainly wasn't expecting that. Who knew I'd be haggling with an Indian vendor in Urdu in Paris, and asking him for cool spots to go to, and the closest desi restaraunts - a pleasant surprise indeed.

Lastly, and frankly expectedly, Paris is an expensive city. Despite the euro being stronger than the dollar (1EUR~1.35USD), the prices of the same food items is the same or, in most cases, even more. A large pizza at Pizza Hut costs 16 euros (although they did have a nice deal going on). Gas (petrol) is pretty expensive too (1.4euros per litre). In the US (at least in NC), it is 2.7 per gallon (where 1 gallon = 3.78 litre). So if you ever end up going to Paris, and plan on doing some shopping, be prepared to spend exorbitant sums of money :). Overall, it was quite an experience for me. Europe is pretty different from the US. In some ways, it has a "desi" touch to that and life is somewhat slower than in the states. I really liked that. If you ever e an opportunity to go to Paris, by all means do go ... it'll be a memorable experience for sure!

The Pictures (from top to bottom): Me at Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe (built by Napolean to commemorate his military victories), and finally the Louvre (home of the Mona Lisa among other famous artworks)

US Travel Woes NOT!

2010-02-01T01:31:00.009-05:00

Life's been busy as heck of late. Work, homework, and more work. To those of you who were waiting to hear from me after my last ranting of sorts, sorry to disappoint you friends (for not updating and posting updates sooner). What the heck may I be talking about? The trip of course. It went fine! There was nothing different. No strip-searches, no rubber hand glove thingies greeting me as I landed in the US. You are, however, subject to extra-screening at your city of departure towards the US. That is the only change from before. I guess it was too soon for them to have put the new measures in place.

Not much going on otherwise. School, work and xbox form the bulk of my activities these days. Its been so cold of late that I haven't been able to go out and play football on weekends. I kinda miss that. Running around and working out works wonders for you. And with snow falling this weekend (which I don't mind btw), the cold spell is set to continue for a while. It is winter, after all.

Hey Obama, WTF?!

2010-01-07T07:52:00.004-05:00

I thought we were on the same team in your so-called "War on Terror". And yet starting from Jan 4th, you've imposed these new security measures that make thousands of travelers of "countries of interest" to pass through additional security checks. Besides, isn't that what the bad guys wanted all along? That is, to cause mass hysteria and for you to get more paranoid and make travel for hundreds and thousands of perfectly peaceful daily travelers an effing nightmare?

So one Nigerian manages to evade all security checkpoints, and fails in detonating explosives under cover of his blanket roughly 20 minutes before landing that now we are denied access to our hand-luggage in the last 60 minutes of flight as well as from using blankets or anything of that sort during that time. How exactly does that make any one of us safer? Could a supposedly dangerous person not do whatever they're attempting to do before that?! And how will patting people multiple times detect the kind of explosives that Nigerian gentleman was carrying? Tell me Mr. Obama?

From what I remember from your speech in Cairo, you were seeking a "new beginning" between the USA and the Muslim World. Is this action part of that "new beginning" you spoke of Mr. President? How is this a step towards earning "mutual respect" of the Muslims around the world when you've basically lumped them all into one big group of people who are a security risk to the USA. You talked of bridging the gaps and ending years of mistrust, yet your actions today defy what you said that day in Cairo. I shudder to think how this administration will react if, God forbid, something bad does take place on US soil?

Having said that, I will get to experience these new security measures first hand as I'll be boarding a US-bound flight from Karachi tonight. It promises to be an eventful journey, and I am fearing the worst as there's no end to the paranoia demonstrated by Obama n co. WTF!

Ashura tragedy in Karachi

2009-12-30T07:37:00.008-05:00

I have been trying to come to terms with what tragedy has transpired in my dear city two days ago. I mentioned in my previous post about how the violent Kharjiites of old remind me of the Taliban of today, having the same misguided principles of La Hukma La Illah, willing to go to great lengths to impose their way of thinking on others, and not hesitating for a second to take innocent lives. As I write this, reports are coming in that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have claimed responsibility for the heinous attack. May God curse them all, and hasten their removal from our country at the hands of our troops. Amen!

It was interesting to see how quickly CNN branded these attacks as having been carried out by Sunni extremits. True, we've witnessed a lot of violence against us in the past courtesy of Sipah e Sahaba and the like, but the fact that they were so quick to label the perpetrators of this crime reekes of something else. BBC were not far behind either, claiming that sectarian strife is extremely high in Karachi since the attack. Clearly, they haven't been looking around the same city I have. Nothing could be further from the truth and let me state it very clearly: There is no shia-sunni split in Karachi right now.

And to all those people questioning the very reason for taking out such processions in times of such distress: My friends, you clearly have no idea how resilient we can be and have clearly not read up on the history of the tragedy of Karbala. We, the azadars, have persevered over the ages in the face of the most violent oppressors. There was a time when going to Karbala or taking out a procession meant certain death, yet people still did it. That spirit will never change. And as proof you shall see the remainder of the processions this year and for years to come in Karachi and across Pakistan. There is no greater honor than to die in the cause of Hussain (A.S).

As I was entering the Ashura procession that day, and being frisked by security I remember thinking about how easy it would be for a suicide bomber to claim 40-50 lives just by detonating right there at the entrance where everyone was being frisked as it was jam-packed at the time. Sadly, this fear is nothing to new for us Shias in Pakistan as several of our masajids and imambargahs have been the target of such attacks in the past, but that does not mean we will stop going to masajids or imambargahs as events that have been inside compounds didn't discourage these animals attacking us.

I also feel bad for the hundreds of scouts and security personnel who were working hard to ensure everything was smooth in and around Nishtar Park, and later in the procession. I would like to pay special tribute to the brave Ranger (Abdul Razzaq) and scout who reportedly stopped the bomber from entering the main procession, eventually saving many lives. A lot of people owe their lives to those guys.

The mood in the city since the attack has been expectedly somber, and there is great anger at the losses suffered by the traders at the hands of miscreants. The need of the hour is action, and swift one at that. It is too soon for us to forget incidents like May 12th, December 27ththat now we have to live with this one as well. We need to ensure that this does not happen again. And the only way that can be done is to capture the people behind it in the short-term, and in the long-term develop a disaster management system that actually works. Also, law-enforcement agencies must cope with such situations right there and then. I would even propose firing warning shots or, as a last resort, shooting people setting public property on fire on such a large scale. This must not be allowed to happen at all.

Lastly, I'd like to pray for the souls martyred in the attack, and the swift recovery of those that were injured. Peace.

Related Links:

Ammar Faheem - Karbala-e-Karachi

Ammar Yasir - Are you ready to surrender your life to Terrorism?

Book Review: After the Prophet

2009-12-23T09:38:00.007-05:00

After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
(available on Amazon)

I was told about this book by my brother, who had heard the author (Lesley Hazleton) being interviewed over the radio for this book. The title naturally seemed intriguing, and after listening to the interview myself, I decided to buy the book because the author seemed extremely well-informed and had obviously done her research on the early history of Islam. You can listen to the entire hour-long interview yourself on the radio station's web site here.

So I bought the book so I could read it during this trip home, and I just finished reading it yesterday. I think it makes for excellent reading for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The British author does an excellent job in my opinion of presenting the historical facts of Islam's early history in an objective manner. Too often when we Muslims look at that history, we glorify and exaggerate a lot of the characters and portray a larger-than-life image of the people of the time when, in fact, they were normal people with normal problems. The same goes for the society and the power struggle that ensued once Islam had started making its presence felt in Arabia as as real as anything we see today.

The author presents the facts from the point-of-view of the central characters that helped shape Islam's early history. Starting with Muhammad (PBUH), Ali, Ayesha, Omar, Abu Bakar, Usman, Muaviya, and Marwan (to name the major ones). Shes does a good job of conveying the story of a religion that was plunged into crisis following the Prophet's demise, and had the potential to self-destruct as a succession crisis materialized between the people. As she aplty put it, no one denied the Prophet's actions, but debated what they actually meant (for one reason or another). The schisms that were eventually led to the tragic events at Karbala only 50 years after the Prophet's demise, a shameful stain on the religion of peace. These schisms still exist today, and to say anything else would be naive. Another observation I couldn't help but make was the sparkling similarity between the Kharjiites and the Taliban of today. I had not read about the particular act of violence done by Kharjiites that is described in is, and suffice it to say it was sheer barbarism on their part (something we associate with the Taliban today).

For the historical facts presented, the author relies heavily on hadith accounts from the renowned historian Al-Tabari. I have personally always been a critic of the glorified version of our history that is taught to us in schools and colleges. That history paints everything in a positive light, from Islam's early period to Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphs to Muhammad bin Qasim. How conveniently they forget to mention how these dynasties came to power, and how they left no stone unturned in asserting their rule through violence and tyranny. The sooner we are at peace with our shortcomings, and accept the history for what t is, the sooner we can ensure that none of it is repeated.

As one commentator on Amazon said, the book should be required reading for all journalists covering the Middle East or for anyone remotely interested in knowing more about Islam. So, whether you're a Muslim or not, I would highly recommend getting your hands on this book.

Related Links:

The book on Amazon

The author's interview on KUOW

The book's website - aftertheprophet.com

Seattle Times Article on the book

Home, no place like it

2009-12-23T09:05:00.003-05:00

I realize I haven't updated the blog in almost 2 months. It's been that kind of a semester. Anyhoo, I arrived back home last week for spending the semester break here. Needless to say, it's been awesome as always. Despite the extremely long journey and a hefty ticket price you have to pay, in the end it is always worth it.

Some of the best things about coming back home to Pakistan for me are:

Meeting friends and family (of course!)
Those endless meetups, get-togethers with family members, school friends, college friends, online friends, co-workers, ex-coworkers, visiting your school and college, meeting your old teachers etc. etc. The list is endless.

The Food
Oh boy, there is no comparison when it comes to food. Absolutely awesome. Considering I'm
something of a forced vegetarian abroad, Pakistan is akin to heaven for the meat-lover in me.

The Premier League
I don't get to watch my favorite football (soccer) league in the US :(, and it's only when I'm back here that I get to see it. I miss the excitement of it, and even though the Toon are not in it this season, football is, well, the best sport in the world by far.

The Religious Spirit
Be it Ramadan, Muharram or Eid. There is a certain religious fervor that is associated with each occassion that one gets used to if you've grown up in Pakistan. And you get to miss that dearly abroad. Especially, the sweet voice of the AZAAN. It is surreal.

Having said that, things are not so rosy on the political and geopolitical front. I will write more on these topics soon, but for now all I can say is that the only way we can assure our salvation is by being strong, steadfast, and willing to stand up for what is right (especially in the wake of all the wrongs that have been done against us in the past) and not budge to threats by anyone. Nuff said.

On Windows 7 and loving it!

2009-10-23T01:14:00.006-04:00

As I mentioned in one of my posts earlier, I recently upgraded to Windows 7 Professional. Unlike the installation of Windows Vista which warned me that several of my software are not going to be compatible with it (most importantly, my anti-virus at that time), Windows 7 did not come up with anything of that sort. By setting device installation settings to Automatic, Windows 7 was able to locate the drivers for all plug-n-play devices (my camera, wireless mouse and most importantly, my legacy HP deskjet 3653 printer). It was a pain to get that same printer to work on Vista and I had to install drivers manually for the wireless mouse and keyboard.

As far as UI is concerned, the look-and-feel of the OS is pretty much like Vista except for the taskbar where you can now "pin down" your most frequently used programs. And by hovering the mouse over any open programs that are pinned to the taskbar, you can see a live thumbnail of the window courtesy of a functionality called AeroPeek. Another cool feature connected to the taskbar are Jump Lists, which allow you to access commonly-used features in a program by right-clicking on its icon in the taskbar. They are essentially a replacement of context menus for the taskbar and make your life a lot easier. For example, I can right-click on Windows Live Messenger on the taskbar and change my status. You can drag-and-drop other items on a program's jump list depending on what you access the most.

Besides being noticeably faster (in terms of general use, booting, shutting down and hibernating), one of the things I'm really glad they got rid of are those annoying UAC pop-ups that popped up every second asking your permission to run one thing or the other. Windows 7 also conserves more battery power for your laptop. It dims the display after 2mins of idle time. If you specifically increase the brightness of your display when running on battery, Windows 7 remembers that every time you disconnect the power chord (Vista didn't).

In other changes, Calculator, WordPad and Paint get complete makeovers. WordPad and Paint get those cool ribbon bars from Office 2007, and WordPad has the added functionality of opening .docx files now, so no need to install Office 2007 compatibility packs for opening Word documents anymore. Several more usability features have been added in Windows 7 that allow you to snap windows to size instantly or clear the desktop of all windows by a quick back and forth motion by grabbing the top of a window. See these awesome ads for a demo of these features and more.

There's an automatic desktop wallpaper changer built-in allowing you to set your chosen desktop backgrounds at specified time intervals (default is 30 minutes). You can also finally change the background of your logon screen. Last but certainly not the least are libraries for arranging documents, pictures, videos etc. No longer are you restricted to put all your stuff in specific folders on the C drive. Libraries are the aggregation of your chosen files from all across the storage media in use. Gone is the hassle of remembering file and folder locations since you can access them at anytime through the libraries. The libraries also appear on Open/Save dialogs of all programs which makes file-management a piece of cake!

Ok thats all I could think of for now. In short, Windows 7 refines a lot of the things we saw in Vista while improving on its basic functionality. Boot times, resuming from hibernation etc. are noticeably quicker and everything works just fine. There's no reason NOT to like it. I'm certainly loving it!

Paranormal Activity

2009-10-20T22:15:00.003-04:00

There's a lot of talk going on these days about this new scary movie in theaters, called Paranormal Activity. I had heard about it from a friend last month and saw the trailer (also embedded below), and found it quite intriguing. The movie then was playing only in select theaters and the closest place from my home was a good 40-50 mins away and the only show was at midnight. I didn't really wanna go see it because frankly I thought it wouldn't be worth the trip. Fortunately, on my recent trip to Seattle to visit family and friends, I was able to finally see this movie and absolutely loved it!

Ok first off, I know the movie has a lot of mixes reviews and people don't think it's THAT scary blah blah. But I really really liked it despite all of its obvious flaws (whether it was the acting, the handheld camera or whatever) . The reason I like it so much is the creepiness factor, which can scare the shit out of you (to put it mildly). And another strong reason why I was able to connect with the movie instantly was the fact that I have experienced some paranormal activity before and firmly believe that this sort of stuff exists (although, not to the extent depicted in the movie). Some of my friends (who thought the movie was terrible) say none of this is possible, that ghosts etc. do not exist and that it is human psychology to justify seemingly unexplainable phenomenon as paranormal. Also, they deny it on the basis of science for e.g., nothing can cast a shadow without being visible etc. etc. You get the point. My argument is simple: Science does not explain everything, and it never will. There are things (and forces) at work in this world which are beyond our control and there can be instances when we come across such phenomenon when we somehow interact or come across those forces, although admittedly it is very rare.

Also from a religious standpoint, we KNOW that there are other forms of life on this planet. Be they be the Djin, ghosts, or some other evil entity, it is believed that they exist. Since the connection to religion is inevitable, this gives agnostic people another reason to deny the existence of these things citing that there is no proof, scientific or otherwise (sightings etc.).

Oh well, it is a long debate and I'd rather not talk about this stuff too much. Here is the trailer for this movie. If you haven't seen this movie, I suggest you go see it asap! Oh, and good luck sleeping after that! :)

In memory of Salman Mehmood

2009-10-20T01:56:00.004-04:00

Salman Mehmood (@skdev) - a fellow blogger from Karachi - passed away yesterday after battling the deadly meningitis for many days. He was also a thalassemia patient from birth and had been fighting the disease all his life. I did not know him in person, like most of my blogger buddies, but us bloggers (especially Pakistani bloggers) are a close-knit bunch and we get along pretty well. He was one of the people I interacted most with on Twitter, and to now think that he's no longer there is shocking. I do not have any words to console his sister (@blessedAyesha, also a fellow blogger) other than to say that I haven't seen anyone be so brave in the face of such tragedy. Her constant updates on twitter let us all know how Salman had been doing for the past couple of days. And lord knows, we all tried, and prayed as much as we could but what has been written has been written, for the best.

May Allah (SWT) bless Salman and give his family the courage to bear this unimaginable loss. Frankly, I have no idea how I would have held up in the face of such tragedy. May God give us all courage to face the loss of our loved ones, which is another harsh reality of life that every single one of us has to face up to one day. Rest in peace my friend. God bless you.

Related Links:

A Prayer for Salman - by Aly

Salman will always live in our hearts - by Alzeee

Salman Namah - his blog

Updates

2009-10-18T20:40:00.004-04:00

Updates have been long overdue on the blog, and plenty has gone on since my last post. I was busy with studies and research stuff and did not update the blog much, but here's hoping I can write more from now on (time permitting of course). First and foremost, I managed to complete and submit my very first research paper to a conference in France next year. I'll hear back from them in December whether the paper got in or not (fingers crossed for that!)

I also had a quick little trip to Seattle during Fall break. As always, it was very nice. Did some hiking (see picture on right, I was there where that arrow points!). I only wished there were some hiking trails close to where I live as they can be perfect way to lose weight. Oh well.

It's that time of the semester when assignments and projects creep up on you. You get midterms out of the way, and concentrate on your projects going into the final 5 weeks of the semester, and it gets real busy at the end. A good motivator for me is going to be my trip home this December. Yep, I'm going back to see friends and family AGAIN in December. Can't wait.

My book reading is going well. I finished the best-selling novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini on my flight to and from Seattle. I can see why the novel is so popular as it captures the trials and tribulations of man and a country lost in conflict. His personal story, from Afghanistan to USA, is narrated extremely well by the author. I'm definitely going to go on and read his other best-selling novel A Thousand Splendid Suns soon. Right now, after much pondering, I have decided to give one of the trek novels a chance hoping that they won't ruin the storylines and endings I have ingrained in me from the tv series (DS9 in this case).

In other news, I now regularly play football (soccer) on weekends to have at least some sort of physical activity during the week. Last weekend I also upgraded to Windows 7 RTM, which is available to us students for free courtesy of MSDNAA. Needless to say, I'm loving it so far. I'll definitely be doing detailed posts on these topics soon. All in all, life is good and time is flying by like never before.