Hey friends,
I will be taking a break from blogging for this week.
I am also fasting this week, and I don’t think I should be blogging while I am fasting.
Take care you all!
Mansur
Suffering in Life
Hi friends,
I don’t know about you, but I suffer a lot in life. To those few people who know who I really am can understand my situation. Some days in my life, I feel so tired, mentally that is. When I am tired mentally, my body is tired, and because of that I feel physically weak. Every time I ask someone why people suffer, they tell me that Life is a Test, and suffering is a part of that. Fair enough, but can I please get some answers from anywhere about why I go through crap in life?
Funnily enough, this weekend, my friends and I were discussing about suffering, and how some people suffer for what they believe in so strongly. These could be people who are persecuted for their faith, to people who dedicate their lives to causes, like Greenpeace, and endure harassment and suffering because of it. While talking about suffering in life, we all came to the conclusion that people will suffer in this life. No one lives a life free from suffering, yet each one of us has a level of suffering to the extent that we can endure. God will not make us suffer beyond what we can bear.
A girl in our group came up with some reasons, as she had done a paper on the same topic, and I thought her ideas were very real and true. Her focus was primarily on suffering as people living in faith. She said that one reason why people suffer in life is that the world will talk against you and your beliefs. Muslims are persecuted for their beliefs in places like Chechnya. Christians are persecuted in places like China and Saudi Arabia. Buddhists suffer for their beliefs. When you abide by a faith, whatever one it is, the world will oppose it and you will suffer on account of your faith. The three monotheistic faiths already tell their followers that the world will oppose them for what they believe in.
Another example she had mentioned was that suffering is a form of worship. When you suffer, you are in a way worshipping God, because this would mean that you are actually being obedient to God, causing people to oppose you. If you were not suffering for God, that would mean you are following the ways of the world.
A third reason she mentioned was that when you suffer, God uses that suffering to work something for the better. It is important to look at the bigger picture and realize that our suffering may be a part in God’s bigger plan for this world.
While I haven’t gone into details about all this, I think suffering is indeed a part of life. I suffer a lot; a lot of it is internal suffering. I may look very fine on the surface, and many people may think I have a carefree and easy-going life, but they will never realize the daily struggles I have to face.
Some days I consider it a joy to suffer, others days I am torn apart and literally have to fall down on my knees to ask for mercy and grace.
Mansur
Snopes
Hey friends,
One of my favorite sites online is Snopes. There are a bunch of people who work at Snopes, and they analyze and check out the facts for a lot of rumors that fly around. It’s very informative, and a great place to check out the reality behind some of the more absurd rumors. Quite interesting.
Mansur
Grendizer!
Hey friends,
My elder brother Sal and I were chatting on MSN tonight, and he had me laughing out so loud, I literally had to control myself from laughing. Thank God he had to leave to pick his daughter up, otherwise I would have gone to the bathroom. Sal hasn’t made me laugh this much before, but tonight he just topped it off! I think what he and I talked about brought back a lot of memories from Jeddah! We so wished we could go back and live in those innocent days.
What’s the reason? Grendizer!! (I am laughing out loud even now as I type this!)
As kids growing up in Jeddah, we would be transfixed with arabic cartoons, namely Grendizer. Other’s included Majed, the footballer, and Simba the Lion. There is another which I can’t place right now, but when two of our friends would be over at our house, all four of us would choose a cartoon character and pretend to be that one. We would grab a packet of milk, and be glued in front of the tv. These cartoons made our day!
Back to Grendizer. I don’t know what it is that made Grendizer so special to us. Sal thinks that the music is awesome– must’ve brought back memories. I mean, this site has the whole breakdown of Grendizer episodes, the characters, the music and so on. There is one very highly dedicated person out there who seems to have devoted his life to Grendizer.
It’s unbelievable. Sal has asked me to tell all my Jeddah friends to check it out, and relive your childhood. Excuse me while I go away laughing away at the rest of the site.
Mansur
My Guitar and Me!- UPDATED
Hey friends,
I finally started to learn to play the guitar. When I was in school, I had learnt how to play the flute, and I quite didn’t like it, and I cannot remember why I had to play it. I wish I had learnt how to play the guitar.
In 2003, a friend had gifted me a guitar. It’s the Yamaha Acoustic C-40, and I absolutely love it. For a while I practiced on it, and then left it aside as other things cropped up. Last week, I took it out again, and now I am back to learning my chords. Playing a guitar is no easy task, and my respect for those who play decent music on the guitar has gone up. I went to see Jason Carter (an expatriate guitarist) in concert in Dubai several years ago, and he played his guitar in the most amazing way. He played flamenco and Spanish music mostly. The strumming is not an easy thing to do. Switching between chords is not easy. As with everything, practice makes perfect.
So next time you are in Dubai, make sure to ask me and I shall play one song for you on the guitar as part of my part to entertain you. Lol! 
Mansur
—
To clarify those people who would outright say that guitar is illegal in Islam, I wish to share this online fatwa, taken from Islam Online, which basically states that:
“In his response to the question you posed, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
“Many of the scholars of Islam, both ancient and modern, consider all forms of musical instruments except duff (tambourines) as forbidden; but, there are other scholars, who consider music and musical instruments as forbidden only if and when they are used for themes or messages that are declared as forbidden or undesirable. Based on the second view, as long as you stay clear off undesirable themes, and messages, then what you are doing can be considered as permissible. ***You must, however, remember that this permission is conditional on the fact that you are resorting to music as an occasional outlet only; for there is no doubt whatsoever that if your indulgence in music in any way interferes with your performance of your worship or other obligatory duties, then it shall be considered as strictly forbidden.*** [My viewpoint too, considering I play my guitar as an outlet, and hardly 30 mins a day. I don't have dancing, I don't sing-- it's just music]
So, use it only as an occasional outlet. The Prophet, peace be upon him, has permitted us to have occasional outlets in order to help us recuperate and refresh ourselves. Resorting to such occasional outlets may in fact be beneficial for our enhanced productivity/creativity. May Allah help us to maintain proper balance in our life, avoiding all forms of extremes, Amen.”
It has become clear from the above Fatwa that playing guitar, as a musical instrument, is not categorically Haram as long as the aforementioned guidelines are observed. Playing guitar as an occasional outlet does not run counter to Islamic teachings as long as one does not neglect religious observances.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503545726
