UmQusai's Thoughts ..
Friday, October 26, 2007
Majlis Al Shura - Oman Consultative Council
Tomorow is our Shura (Consultitive) Sixth Round Election Day. Evey Omani and Omania above the age of 21 is allowed to vote for anyone in the willaya (state) they are reigistered in. You need to register yourself a voter few months back in the willaya you belong to first. Every willaya is going to have one representative except for few (who have more than 30,000 residents exp. Mudhaibi, Suwaiq..etc).
I beleive its the duty of every Omani to vote for anyone who they see fit. I understand many dont beleive in the council and question what do they actually do beside questioning minsters and government official in thier yearly public meeting. I have a strong beleive that although it might not have lots of authority today, but a step ahead is a step towards the right direction. Its enough that people are putting a little bit more thoughts on who they are going to vote for and why are they going to vote for them. People are starting to give a little bit importance of what the representative is going to do. Although, sometimes I dont agree on thier demands since most of thier demands are related to thier own benefits (a road for the certain willaya, a hospital, ..etc).
I believe we should put the Shura Representative in the big picture. What is he going to do for Oman? He should be a Representative from the Wilaya but to benefit Oman as a whole. He should be able to present concerns that come from every Omani not only the people form the Wilaya he belongs to.
It will take time till we reach that understanding. People are starting to question today why are they restricted to the willaya they are registered in. Today I was having this discussion with my cousin. I believe it should stay that way in the time being, because the person is representing the willaya currently and its not fair for the people in that willaya if anyone is allowed to vote for anyone. When the day comes, and the Representative is representing the whole country not only his willaya people.
Any way, tomorrow is the election day. I hope every Omani takes this seriously and consider voting. It means allowing you to contribute in the bigger picture, it might be a small contribution today .. but slowly I believe it will get bigger and bigger.
Labels: عمان, وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
10:59 PM ::
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Monday, October 22, 2007
فتاوي غريبة
إستلمت المقالة في بريدي الإليكتروني ، أتفق كثيراً مع الكاتبة .. لم يعد الناس يلجأون إلى العقل الذي وهبهم الله بل يعتمدون على المشايخ والعلماء ، نعم هم أكثر علماً ولكن في أمورنا الدنيوية البسيطة .. يجب أن تصرف بالمنطق خاصة إن كان لا يوجد دليل واضح لحرمة الموضوع، أذكر أني كنت أستمع لأحد أشرطة الفتاوي و كان أكثر السائلين يطرحون أسئلتهم بطريقة تحتم على الشيخ الفتوى بحرمة الموضوع ، لأن طرح السؤال كان بطريقة تبين مساويء الموضوع وتخفي محاسنه!!ـ
على العموم إيكم بالمقال :ـ
27/03/2007 بقلم: ليلى العثمان
ذات يوم كنت أستمع إلى أحد المشايخ وهو يرد على أسئلة المستمعين بالبث المباشر، فجاءه هذا السؤال الغريب من أحد المستمعين: أحضرت خروفا إلى بيتي لأذبحه في عيد الأضحى لكن الخروف أكل جزءا من جريدة أجنبية فهل لحمه حلال أم حرام؟ استفزتني سخافة السؤال، فهل وصل الجهل بالناس إلى أن يسألوا مثل تلك الأسئلة؟ وهل صار السؤال عن الحلال والحرام يقلق البشر إلى الدرجة التي يحاسبون فيها البهائم على ما تأكله؟ تحفزت لأسمع رأي الشيخ وفتواه، وتوقعت أن يقول له: يا أخي إن البهيمة تأكل أي شيء تجده، فلا تدقق بالأمر واتكل على الله واذبح خروفك. لكن الإجابة جاءت أغرب من السؤال ذاته فقد رد عليه الشيخ قائلا: يا أخي المسلم عليك أن تتأكد من أن الجريدة التي أكلها الخروف ليس بها ما يمس بالذات الإلهية أو يسيء إلى ديننا الحنيف وبعدها توكل على الله وكل خروفك. بصراحة أرعبني رد الشيخ فأمسكت بالهاتف لأتصل به وأعترض على فتواه الغريبة التي تزيد من تعقيد الناس وتكليفهم فوق طاقتهم، لكن الخط الذي ظل مشغولا حرمني متعة المشاركة وبقيت مستفزة حتى نهاية البرنامج وأنا أفكر بهذا السائل المسكين الذي سيلتزم بالفتوى، فتخيلته وهو يفتح بطن الخروف ويستخرج الجريدة المعجونة في معدته ثم يلملم أوصالها ويقرأها ليتأكد أن لا شيء في الجريدة يمس بالله وبالدين. وهنا انخرطت في الضحك وأنا أشفق على الرجل!! أليس شر البلية ما يضحك؟.. لقد ابتلانا الله بمشايخ يعسرون بالفتاوى ولا ييسرون، ومع الأسف أنهم يلقون آذانا صاغية من بعض الناس إما لشدة جهلهم بأمور الدين السمح الصحيح، أو بسبب براءتهم- خاصة الشباب- الذين يتبعون الدعاة المتشددين، فتصيبهم الوساوس إلى درجة أنهم لا يتصرفون بشأن من شؤون حياتهم إلا بعد الرجوع إلى فتاوى هؤلاء. إن بعض تلك الفتاوى أحدثت شروخا عميقة بين أفراد الأسرة الواحدة، تصوروا أن شابا سأل أحد الدعاة المتشددين عن الطريقة التي يتعامل بها مع والده الذي لا يصلي ولا يصوم ويشرب الخمرة، فقال له: أبوك -كافر- وإذا قتلته تدخل الجنة!!! ماذا نقول في هذا التحريض على العقوق بالوالدين؟ وأين هذه الفتوى البشعة من قول الله تعالى 'ولا تقل لهما أف ولا تنهرهما'؟ إننا لا نملك أمام هذا الوضع الغريب إلا أن نقول: اللهم احمنا من شر بعض الفتاوى وأصحابها - قولوا آمين
Labels: إسلاميات, وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
11:38 AM ::
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Sunday, October 21, 2007
أنا صح
يقول الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم (في ما معناه) أن كل ابن أدم خطاء وخير الخطاءون التوابون .. يعني ذلك أن الخطأ والحياد عن الصواب أمر وارد جداً .. وطبعاً على الإنسان دائماً تقويم نفسه وسؤالها عن كيفية التوبة عن تلك الأخطاء. ليس هذا موضوعي اليوم .. ما "يحرق أعصابي" هو إصرار بعض "الملتزمين"1 على الحكم على من أخطا و إقصائهم في زاوية "المذنبين" و تحريم التعامل معهم (طبعاً أبالغ هنا .. بس لا زم إضافة ملح وفلفل)ـ
المشكلة أنهم ينسون أن الشيطان يجري في الإنسان مجرى الدم ، وأنه يمكن لأي إنسان مهما وصلت درجة التزامه الوقوع في زلة ، إذا علينا مساندة من نراه أخطأ بدل أن نقصيه، علينا أن نقربه ونوضح له خطأه أو أقل شيء ندعو له بالهداية. ـ
أعتقد أن مشكلة الملتزمين في مجتمعنا أنهم يخلقون لأنفسهم مجتمع مغلق، يحببون فيه من يشاطرهم الرأي ويرفضون عنه من يخالفهم، مع أن الأصل هو محاولة تقريب البعيد وتحبيبه إلى الطريق الصواب.ـ
عموما .. هذه أفكار راودتني بعد حادثة "فورت" دمي!!ـ
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ـ1ـ لا أميل إلى تصنيف الناس بين ملتزم وغير ملتزم ولكن يحتم علينا المجتمع أن نأخذ بهذا التصيف
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This post is about people who have “Holier than thou” attitude. Those who think, since they are a little bit more religious (though I hate to use that term) they can judge others. I think if they put more effort into accepting the people who do mistakes and those who are not in the right path, it might be easier to guide and advice them instead of shunning them and putting them in a corner where they away from them.
I wrote this post after an incident of a person judging another.
Labels: إسلاميات, وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
12:51 PM ::
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Thursday, September 20, 2007
Employees Yesterday Vs Employees Today!!
Whenever I sit around a group of friends, those who work always have something to complain about their workplace, their organizations or their bosses. Basicly, no one is happy and everyone is looking forward to changing their organization and looking for another job. In addition, the amount of voluntary resignations in quite high every where.
If I look back at my parents generations, it was never that way. You would find that most employees stayed in their organizations for decades. The numbers, 20 years, 25 years and even 30 years is common.
What is the reason behind this? is it that availability of better paying jobs and more challenging ones? in the past most organizations used to be owned by government so the pay was quite equal within them, or at least not very different. Is it that our generation is not patient enough to stay in one organization and once we are faced with the first challenge we think of changing the workplace instead of working on it?
Is this healthy? to some extent from the country's economy side I think it is. The competition to attract the best employees means better pays which means a higher living standered. But from the private sector's perspective, the operating cost gets higher because they will have to pay higher to have good employees.
I guess its part of the country's development and we should look it positively.Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
1:03 AM ::
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Thursday, August 30, 2007
المذاهب: أي منها في الجنة؟!!ـ
كلما قرأت كتاباً عن أي من المذاهب يذكر هذا الحديث عن الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول:ـ"ستتفرق أمتي إلى ثلاث وسبعين فرقة كلها في النار إلا واحدة" ـ ، والمضحك المبكي أن كل المذاهب تعتقد أنها الفرقة الناجية!ـ
لا أعرف وضع الحديث وقوته ولكني سأسلم أنه حديث صحيح، فهل هذا يعني أن جماعة كبيرة من المسلمين تدخل النار لمجرد أنها تتبع المذهب الخطأ؟
هل يعقل أن يعاقب أناس إجتهدوا ليؤسسوا هذه المذاهب وإن كانت إجتهادتهم خاطئة؟ ألم يقول رسول الله فيما معناه أن المجتهد إن أصاب فله أجران وإن أخطأ فله أجر؟ ألا يعني هذا أن جميع المذاهب بإختلافاتها إن كانت تعكس أساسيات الإسلام فهي فرقة ناجية؟
أسئلة كثير ة ما زالت تدور في ذهني وأنا أقرأ كتاب "من حقي أن أكون شيعية" لإمراءة سودانية تشيعت .. لا أمانع أ، يغير الإنسان فكره وأن يتبع مذهباً أخر إيماناً به ولكن ما أمانع أن يعتبر هذا التغيير هداية وأن ما يتبعه الأخرون ضلالة!ـ ..
لم أنتهي من قراءة الكتاب بعد .. ولكن هذه الأفكار إستفزتني لأكتب عنها .. وقد تكون لي عودة مع الكتاب مرة أخرى
Labels: إسلاميات, وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
1:12 PM ::
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Thursday, May 17, 2007
المعاملات الإسلامية : البنوك الإسلامية (1)ـ
مؤخراً قرأت أكثر من موضوع طرحته أخواتي المدونات وبالأخص (قطوية وأمنة) عن موضوع القروض الإسلامية أو البنوك الإسلامية، وبما أن الموضوع هذا يهمني كثيرا فقررت أن أشاركهن الكتابة عنه.
لا أدعي أني عالمة بالاقتصاد الإسلامي ومداخله ومخارجه ولكني أعرف القليل عنه كوني درست مادة الإقتصاد الإسلامي خلال دراستي الجامعية. ستكون هذه المدونة محاولة للتعريف بالحلال والحرام في التعاملات البنكية وبمحاولة في تحليل الفرق بين القروض الربوية والأخرى المباحة.
بسم الله أبدأ وأريد التذكير بأني لست فقيهة ولا عالمة اقتصاد إنما هذا مجرد تلخيص ما استوعبته مما درست وقرأت.
لماذا نسميها "بنوك إسلامية"
أنا لا أتفق مع هذا المسمى وقد يخالفني البعض في هذا، ما يقلقني في هذا المسمى أن البنوك الإسلامية تعطي لنفسها مصداقية أو تسويق دون أي جهد يذكر ولا أظن أن ذلك ينصف البنوك الأخرى. ما نريد هي معاملات تتم بطريقة إسلامية وتتبع قواعد الشريعة الإسلامية في أي مؤسسة كانت. يختلف البعض في هذا المبدأ من منطلق أن المال الحلال يختلط مع المال الحرام فلا يمكن أن نتعامل مع هذه البنوك ولكنني أرى أنه من نظرة المتعامل (المقترض) إن كانت معاملة القرض لا يتخللها ربا فهذا يكفيه ليعتبره من القروض المباحة خاصة وأن الحصول على هذه الأنواع من القروض ليست بالأمر السهل .
تعاملات إسلامية
كثير من البنوك الإسلامية تعطي قروضاً إسلامية ، يعترض البعض عليها كون الفائدة التي تجنيها أكبر بكثير من فوائد البنوك التجارية وهذا وارد جداً لأنه للأسف المنبع الذي شجع هذا البنوك على تقديم القروض ليس المساهمة في خدمة المجتمع ولكن الفائدة التجارية، ولكن الإسلام كما أنه دين يعنى برقي حال المجتمع فهو دين يسمح بالتجارة ويشجعها كوسيلة شرعية لكسب العيش ، لذا لا يمكننا انتقاد البنوك الإسلامية لرغبتها في المكسب.
ما هو القرض الحلال إذاً؟ و ما الفرق الأساسي بين القرض الحرام والقرض الحلال؟ هذا سؤال يمر ببال كل من يريد الابتعاد عن القروض الربوية. بكل بساطة كلمة "ربا" تعني الزيادة وهذا يعني أن أي زيادة في قيمة القرض الأصلي تعتبر ربا.
فلنأخذ مثالا على ذلك:
تريد شراء سيارة ب 1000 ريال ، في عقد البنك سيقال لك أن عليك دفع نسبة 5% من القرض شهرياً ، وهذا يعني أنك إذا دفعت القرض في 12 شهر كان المبلغ 1600 ريال ، وإذا كانت لديك ظروف معينة واضطررت إلى دفعها في 14 شهر أصبح القرض 1700 وهذا يستمر القرض بالنمو كلما تأخرت في دفعه.
أما بالنسبة للقروض الحلال فالمثال كالآتي:
أردت شراء سيارة بقيمة 1000 ، يكون القرض الإسلامي أنه سيشتري عنك السيارة ويبيعها 1800 وستدفع القرض في 12 شهر. مررت بظروف معينة منعتك من دفع القرض في 12 شهر وتخلفت عن الدفع لمدة شهر واحد (طبعاً بعد موافقة البنك وما شابهه) سيظل القرض 1800 ريال ولن يزيد.
لاحظ أن القرض في الحالة الثانية أكبر من القرض في الحالة الأولى ، هل هذا استغلال؟ قد نقول نعم أم لا وهذا يعتمد في صف من تقف ، موقف المواطن البسيط الذي بالكاد يتحمل قوت يومه أم موقف المستثمر الذي بقول لك أن السيارة التي يبيعها اليوم سعرها غير السعر إن باعها لك بعد عام و هناك كثير من الأسباب التي قد يعطيك التاجر ليفسر لماذا يبيع السيارة بسعر أعلى و كما يقولون التجارة شطارة ، ولكن هل هذا القرض حرام؟ من ناحية إسلامية شرعية ، ومن ناحية إتباع أسس المعاملات الإسلامية على حد علمي هو قرض لا غبار عليه ما دام اتفاق البيع والشراء تم بموافقة الطرفين.
(للموضوع بقية ... )
Will be translated ..
Labels: إسلاميات, وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
10:52 AM ::
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Thursday, April 19, 2007
Religion or no Relgion?
After Oprah's Interview with Bill O'Rially, being the curious me I started searching him on You Tube. I then came across another interesting Tv presenter called Bill Maher. As much as I differ 180 degrees in Bill Maher opinions but its really interesting to hear the other side.
Maher is against any kind of organized religions. He believes in a God but not a god that is represented in the Bible, the Old Testament or The Quran. To him, people who believe in religions have neurological disorder because we are brainwashed to believe this way since young.
Anyway, what I am trying to discuss here is if we did not have religions do you think our set of morals would be the same? Do you think we wouldn't "create" our religions?
I think Humans need religions to act morally. They need a book of rules to tell them what we are allowed to do and what we aren't.. even when we have them, we still have people who don't follow them so imagine not having them!!
Hell and Heaven are another "motivation" to act well. Believing that in the long run we will get what we want, and we will be treated according to what we did helps us to live a happier life. Of course its not an easy path since its not a tangible one, but I guess it does play a role.
I don't know, but I feel the world is safer with people believing in religion rather than having people who don't believe in anything at all!Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
11:56 PM ::
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Friday, March 30, 2007
علمتني الحياة- something I wrote recently
أحب بين الفينة والأخرى أن أفكر فيما تعلمت من الأيام .. لأنني إنن فكرت فيها ثم دونتها أدركها أكثر وأتعلم منها وأستطيع الإستفادة من دروسها أكثر:ـ
ـ أحيانا يجب علينا الإبتعاد عن م تسعدنا صحبتهم لأننا حينها ندرك أن صحبتنا لا تسعدهم
ـ تبقى كرامة المرء عزيزة عليه ومن المهم أن يفخر بها .. ولكن عليه أن يدرك بالضبط أن لا يخلط بينها وبين الكبر
ـ مهما كثر الأحباب والأصحاب حولنا , تبقى تلك اللحظات التي لا يمكن أن نشاركها مع أحد لأنه لا يوجد من يفهمها غيرنا .. لأنها عبارة عن مشاعر لا يمكن ترجمتها للغة الكلام
ـ أكثر ما نكون مجردين من أقنعتنا الإجتماعية هي عندما نكون بصحبة من نحب ونثق بهم
ـ مثل ما نعامِل سوف نعامَل ، وإن كان هناك من عاملنا بسوء فيجب علينا محاسبة أنفسنا فهناك إحتمال أن نكون السبب في ذلك
Everynow and a while, I like to think of what I learnt in life, because when I think about it and write it I remmber it more and learn from it more:
- Sometimes we need to be away from people we care about for us to realise they dont care
- Self dignity is very important to any person and should maintain it, however he/she should always realise the difference between it and bring a proud person
- No matter how many friends we have, sometimes we need to keep things to ourselves because no one would understand the feelings we have .. they are simply untranslatable to language form.
-The most when we are ourselves and we remove all the masks we have is when we are around who we love and trust.
-Like we treat, we get treated. When someone treats us bad we have to think throughly about it because maybe we drove them to treat us that way!
Labels: خواطر فتاة تعشق الحزن, وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
9:19 PM ::
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Thursday, February 22, 2007
من أجل إعلام مستقل
كانت مدونتي حاضرة بالنيابة عني في هذه الحلقة الدراسية .. وكانت الأخت الغالية عبير المعمري هي من أعدت الورقة عن مدونتي ومدونة أختي سما .. ولمعرفة المزيد من التفاصيل عليكم بزيارة مدونة أختي سما
omansky.blogspot.com
This post is dedicated to the session that took place in Sultan Qaboos University and my blog was present there. You can read Sama's blog for more information.
Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
1:16 PM ::
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Thursday, July 27, 2006
Bloggers Day against aggression in ME
كلنا مع لبنان وفلسطين ضد إسرائيل والمحتلين
We are with Lebanon and Palestine against Israel and occupiers
Nous sommes avec tous le Liban et la Palestine contre l’Israel et les occupants
Alle wir sind mit dem Libanon und Palästina gegen Israel und Besatzer
Somos todos con Líbano y Palestina contra Israel e inquilinos
我们都是同黎巴嫩和巴勒斯坦对以色列占领者
私達はイスラエル共和国および占有者に対してレバノンおよびパレスチナとのすべてである
Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
10:31 AM ::
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Saturday, July 15, 2006
May Allah give them Victory
(Allah Akbbar, Allah is the greatest)
I made a promise to myself some time back not to talk about politics because its just so disgusting. You never can make up whats true and whats just a lie especially with the media thats existed today. But my Muslim and Arabic blood has been really boiling since yesterday. I cant watch tv and not react. Its just wrong what Israel is doing.
The logic they have, HezbAllah took two soldiers so we would take the whole of lebenon ? Is it just crazy or I dont understand the current logic anymore?
or its that any Israeli Zinoist blood is much more important than any Arab Blood? they could die, the world doesnt need them .. but oh god forbid, an Israli cant be killed .. the world should go upside down!!
Because I dont understand this logic, and because I realise that the time to use logic and diplomatic has gone. and because its enough how much we have bowed our heads down and they continue to kill and destory, I give my full support to HezboAllah. I just pray they know what they are doing and they would show Israel a lesson it wont forget. May Allah give them victory... Ameen!Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
9:04 AM ::
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Friday, May 26, 2006
Thoughts from Memories of an Arabian Princess!
I have been reading a book recenetly called (Memories of an Arabian Princess). Its the story of Sayida Salma bint Said (later Known as Emily Ruete) Daughter of the Sultan who ruled both Oman and Zanzibar. Its a really interesting book, and gives you a good view on the history back then. What I like about the book is that she comparies every now and then between East and west (which she refers as North and South) .. Its intresting that she lived both lives yet at the end of her life she longed back to her origion and wanted to go back.
Few of the thoughts that I found intresting are:
In terms of Education, she says that there is a big gap between what was taught in the west and what was taught in the east. In the West, they used to focus on teaching people geography, physics, chemistry ..etc and a little attention was given to the spiritual side. However, she says she was hurt more by people of knowledge than ignorant people and she never understod how a person who is education can use this education negatively
I think I agree with the writer to some extent, being educated doesnt always means that you are being a better a person. Being spiritually educated and beleiving that there is always consequences of all actions you do is what makes you a better person.
She is surprised how can educated women in the west be slaves to fashion and its changes mood when they have alot to do in thier lives. She would beleive it if it was for the women back in the east would do that since they dont have much to do, but to see it in the west was puzzling her.
Well what I can say is that women are always women! being the center of attention is something we all seek too. Ofcourse we differ in the degree and the method we do it but we all want to be pretty and well dressed up :)
Here is a piucture of her:
Sayida Salma in Zanzibar
To read more about her, check what Arabian Prince wrote!
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Posted by Arabian Princess ::
12:56 AM ::
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Friday, January 27, 2006
Salut to Saudi Arabia
I was really empressed with Saudi's Reaction to the Cartoon in Denemark about Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him). I am not aginst freedom of speach, but I dont think that you should use that freedom to offend and hurt other people's feelings. If they chose to cartoon about the 9/11 bombers, terrorists or anything else thats thier choice, but cartooning about Prophet Mohammed thats a line that they should never cross.
I've got several messages to boycott Denish goods. Fourtountly, I never use them but at the same time I am torn between wether this boycott is the right decision or not. Logicly speaking, those companies did not interfere in this case. But at the same time, this could push the danish government to take action aginst the newspaper!
However, I support the Saudi's reaction to it. They used dimplomatic ways to tell the government that what that newspaper did cannot tolerated by muslims.
Its such a shame, muslims never targetted Denemark I dont understand why they are trying to move the still waters!!Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
10:45 PM ::
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Thursday, January 26, 2006
We lost a Jewel
Sadly, on Monday afternoon we lost my dearest Aunt. She submitted her soul to Allah after a year's struggle with cancer. Her death didn't affect one family, it affected the whole town. She was called "um al fuqra - the poor people's mother".
When I received a message from mom, telling me to rush to hospital, I didn't imagine it to happen. I was rushing but I was sure I will see her. I didn't realize that death could be faster then me until I received another message from my cousin telling me she passed away. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the hospital yet. When I reached there, and saw the shock & sadness in they eyes of my uncles is when I realized it really happened. I entered her room and she was covered, I felt I should wake her up from her sleep, I should do something because she is not really dead .. but it was Allah's wish to take her life on that afternoon.
She lived an amazing life alhamdulilah, filled with good deeds. She was separated from her mother at the age of 8 to live in her father's town, married off to an old man at the age of 12 and bearing a number of children where non lived but one boy.
Being in Oman in its early years of development, she refused to stay as an uneducated women. She started taking evening classes and stopped at grade 10. I still remmber clearly when few years back she was trying to read an English story book. I was really amazed how my aunt could really read English even if it wasn't fluent!
She always insisted to take part in developing women in Ibra. She was the first President of Ibra Women association and it was one of the most active associations in Oman. I don't know of any woman or girl who didn't call her by "Khalti - Aunt".
There is no poor family in Ibra who didn't benefit from her continuous search for people to donate money.
Like I said, she wouldn't be missed by her family but the whole town .. she was the mother of everyone there.
Things I would really miss from her:
- Her empty messages, she doesn't know how to use the phone well so she would mistakenly send me empty messages since my name is on the top of her phone list.
- Hearing about the town's stories. She would be the only one who would give us the town's news since she lives there. It was always interesting since she will add her funny comments to the story.
-Her scolding when we do something she doesn't approve of.
If I tried listing everything I would miss I wouldn't end this post .. I just want to say that she would live in the soul of everyone until Inshallah we meen in the Paradise. Ameen.
اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لَهُا وارْحَمْهُا وعافِهِا واعفُ عنْهُا وأكرمْ نُزُلها ، ووسِّع مُدْخلَهُا ، واغسلهُا بالمَاءِ والثَّلْجِ والبَرَدِ ونَقِّهِا من الخطَايا كَمَا نَقَّيْتَ الثَّوبَ الأَبيضَ من الدَّنَسِ ، وأَبْدلهُا داراً خيراً من دارهِا ، وأهلاً خيراً من أهلها وزوجاً خيراً من زوجهِا وأَدْخِلْهُا الجَنَّةَ وأعِذْها من عَذَاب القَبْر
Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
5:57 PM ::
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Friday, January 20, 2006
أبيات عابرة
تمر السنين الطوال وأبقى أنا .. وابقى أناجي نفس الحنين
سأمت الزوايا سأمت الدُنا ..سأمت أعزف وتري الحزين
أينام الورى نوم الهناء .. وأسهر أنا و همي الكمين؟
Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
9:54 PM ::
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Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Malls?!
My cousin just came back from Brunei, and being a Brunian at heart, I asked him and his wife if they enjoyed and not surprisingly they said they didnt. "it has nothing, no malls" my cousin's wife answered.
It got me thinking how malls became a necesseity to make a place an attraction to tourists. I guess its the fact that a mall has everything to have a good day out : Shopping, entertainment & food.
But this idea wasnt here few years, I remmber clearly when Al-Araimi opened, and we were thinking .. wow this is going to be one big shopping center. Now, Al-Araimi seems small compared to city center and Bahja and I think the reason its built is completly different. Being a shoping center is so different than a mall.
What I am trying to say is, Mall became something we enjoy going to even if our intention is not shopping. It became an attraction. Now, we think of a country by the number of malls it has!!
"I hope I am making sense, I am just bored and thought of making a new post" :)Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
5:14 PM ::
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Tuesday, January 03, 2006
An enemy to my memories!!
Today, was such a stressful day. My dearest Aunt was told that Cancer has started taking control of her body. Since I heard the news, and my hands are shaking with worry .. I cant picture her weak for long, and not being part of our life like she used to be.
I started feeling as if Cancer is an enemy that is fighting every memory I have of her. Memory of her continuous worry of what I will be wearing for Eid in Ibra. Memories of me calling her asking her to make a special dress for my friend, me talking to her about the old days in Oman and making her paint for me the life back then. She is the strongest link to my tradition. She engraved in my heart the love of my little town.
I am trying to be strong infront of her, acting as everything is fine .. but knowing her, she wouldn't let it happen. She likes to know everything about her condition even if she doesn't understand it! I hate to see her suffering from emotional pain in addition to the physical pain she is bearing now.
I wish there is something that I can do to fight this strong cunning enemy. Just months back, the doctors were saying that she is responding well to chemo. But cancer wouldn't let this happen, it started to spread secretly in her body. Now I have the faith that Allah will bring her what's best, but us being weak humans we cant just accept that close people to our heart are suffering.
May Allah cure her .. Amen
أذهب البأس رب الناس أشف أنت الشافي .. لا شفاء إلا شفائك .. شفاء لا يغادر سقماً
Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
10:21 PM ::
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Tuesday, December 13, 2005
هلال شوال
ينتشر حالياً خبر حول هلال شوال بالرسائل القصيرة وكيف أن علينا أن نصوم يوم واحد تعويضا .. حيث تبين (حسب الرسائل) أن الذين بلغوا برؤية الهلال لم يكونوا متأكدين من ذلك. لا تخلوا جلسة إلا ويناقش هذا الموضوع فيها .ـ
لكني ما زلت أشكك في صحة هذا الكلام .. فكيف أن يكون أكثر من شخص (وهم بلغوا برؤية الهلال) في وهم؟ وكيف وإن كانوا كذلك فهل فعلاً علينا تحمل خطأهم؟ أليس عليهم تحمل وزر هذا الخطأ. أعرف أن المسألة مسألة يوم واحد ولا ضير في صيامه للإحتياط (وذلك ما سأفعل) ولكني أناقش المبدأ .. كيف لنا أن نتأكد أن شهر ذي الحجة ستكون فيه رؤية الهلال صحيحة؟ وكيف لنا أن نتأكد أ، نفس القصة لن تتكرر السنة القادمة؟
في نظري أن على لجنة رؤية الهلال وضع كل هذه الإعتبارات أمامها .. فسوف تنقص مصداقيتها إن لم
تتبع أي خطوات لتفادي الخطأ .. أعانهم الله على مسئوليتهم
My Dear english readers, sorry for writing a post in arabic and I promise soon an english post would be there :)
Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
11:21 PM ::
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Sunday, November 13, 2005
Social Change ..
One of the subjects that really was intresting in collage was Sociology .. the lecturer we had made me visuale sociology and never considered it as boring subject as some others did "funny is that in the foundation course we had a different lecturer and I hated sociology then and never wanted to take it again".
Since then, I started trying to understand society and try to build some theories around my own .. which brings me to my post today .. Social Change.
Yesterday, my friend told me she passed through Ibra on her visit to Sur. She was woundering why some families are so attached to thier villages (or blad how we call it). If you see it from a vision or a person who lived in muscat, those villages are boring small villages that have no entertainment at all.
Well what happens here is, the head of the family (father, uncle, .. etc) lived all his childhood in the village. When Oman started to develop, most jobs were located to muscat. So, in order to earn a living, he moved to must with his village in heart. Therefore, he never consider Muscat as "home" even if he has a house and his family is setteled there. Every weekend or at least once a month he will go back to his village. You go ask one of these guys from which part of Oman he is and the first answer would be his village name and he would only mention muscat if he was asked where he currently live.
His children on the other hand, lived all thier lives in muscat and thier consider it thier home. They are attached to thier village as a place where they originated from (and a place where thier father consider it home) but at heart .. Muscat, where they lived is considered home.
When the story above happens to alot of Omani household, I find it intresting to see how the father and the son have different loyalities. It just gives me a glimps of how change happened rapidly in Oman and the affect is very visible now.
Another issue that I consider a major change change is Women's education. although this story doesnt happen to everyone but I saw it clear in some families. You would see the mother being illetrate, and a house wife .. she lived her childhood beleiving that its "3aib - bad" for a woman to go to school let alont work. Now, after 30 years of development, you would see the same mother scolding her girl for not being serious in her school work .. and praying for her other girl to get accepted in such and so interview. It amazes me how mind sets managed to change fast, and how mentalities started accepting things they would consider taboo as children.
with all the above, there are areas that take a long time to change and wouldnt change fast. lets take an example: Tribilisim. as much as they started accepting social change, they still didnt accept to change thier minds and attitude about tribilisim. What makes it differnet? I dont know. But I guess its one thing that is deeply rooted in the arab genes. Although I beleive its changing, as there are things that are more accepted today then they were yesterday .. but still the process is slow.
Isnt it intresting to live on the years of development? to see the changes before your own eyes :)Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
10:03 PM ::
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Thursday, November 10, 2005
Its all about "Ibra"
I always wonder why Ibra has a special place in my heart .. The moment someone mentions Ibra my heart beats faster and I feel the love of the land over flow in my heart ..
I never lived there, we just went there occasionally .. and the only reason that would make us (me, my siblings and cousins) get excited is that we exercise a certain freedom to go out of the house without my parents worrying about us.
Anyway, Ibra is an average town in the sultanate. It has the basic facilities other towns in Oman have but ofcourse its not comparable to Muscat. Its located in the Sharqia (East) Region of Oman.
If you ask me what are the attractive places to visit in Ibra, I wouldn't know. When we go there, we would mostly spend our time with family. Sitting out with my uncles and aunts having Mshakek (BBQ) is what we do when we go there.
However, few months back we went to visit one important land marks in Ibra. Its mosque that has two "Qibla" (direction where we head to pray). The reason is, Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him, was first ordered by Allah to head towards Quds in Jerusalem while praying. Then, he was ordered to head to Mecca. I think this mosque is a proof that Ibra embraced Islam during the life of prophet Mohammed, since the mosque has direction to the two Qiblas. Its a very small and old mosque, I had some pictures taken by my sisters camera .. She didn't send me the pics yet but I promise I would post them once I get them.
Another thing that's unique to Ibra is Suq Al Arba3 (ensued Market). Its a market run by the women of Ibra every wenesday. They sell traditional Omani clothes, other materials and different things that women use. Sadly, I've never been to the Suq but its definitely something I always hear about. When I ask my aunt to make me my Omani clothes (that I usually wear when I go to Ibra and during Eid) she always mentions the Suq and what it has.
Wearing our national costume which consists of a dress that goes until the knee and a trouses that has special embroidery at the end, is something I always do when I go to Ibra. When we were young, my mom used to force us to wear it and we used to hate it. Now, I thank my mom million times for doing that .. if each mother didn't do that to their kid, we would lose the valuable Omani clothes. you would only see them in museums.
Ibra is facing a great danger now, few water resources. Rain falls are not as much they used to be before, and that is affecting the farms and crops there.
So, this is ibra how I see it .. Below are some pictures to help you visualize what I talked about:
Ibra-3laya main road & Al-Yahmadi 
Ibra without water
Ibra clothes 
Labels: وأنا لي رأي
Posted by Arabian Princess ::
4:42 PM ::
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Tomorow is our Shura (Consultitive) Sixth Round Election Day. Evey Omani and Omania above the age of 21 is allowed to vote for anyone in the willaya (state) they are reigistered in. You need to register yourself a voter few months back in the willaya you belong to first. Every willaya is going to have one representative except for few (who have more than 30,000 residents exp. Mudhaibi, Suwaiq..etc).
(Allah Akbbar, Allah is the greatest)