[Documentary] The Cove

An eye-opening documentary that brought me to tears. You wouldn't have thought such cruelty existed before watching this;

Merciless annual killing of dophins that happens not far away from us, just over at Japan in Taiji. Local fishermen claimed that they do it for the sake of eating Dolphin meat but when the producers got more into it, trying to confirm their claims, they were proven wrong. Certain meats were sold with a whale's label, which was later tested to be Dolphin's (containing large amount of Mercury). Actually, the government used to provide dolphin meat to the nearby school's students during lunch time. A lot have been diagnosed with Mercury poisoning.

To know that this documantary did make some difference in this evil practice and made people aware of what's happening within the borders of their own country is amazing. Not to forget being chosen as the Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Help to spread the word by getting to know more about it HERE.

Dilemma

You know that feeling when you feel like writing but you just don't know what to write about exactly? (Noticed how I used the word 'feeling' and 'write' twice and now thrice?) I'm not talking about updating this blog or about my column. It's just that I used to write a lot before; poems, thoughts, stories, book reviews, etc but I've gave up on that now and I hate myself for it.When I really think about it, I realize that I've adored writing only because it helped me take my mind off things; kept me busy and occupied as long as I have fingers moving and there are words on the paper. With having days off for the past 2 weeks, not only have I been careless but I've spent most my days and nights in front of the TV screen. I've watched movies, shows, and a lot of news channels that had to do with Egypt's revolution.

There's just too much going on in the world and I hate how we're not giving them any support. You'd see some of us Arabs blaming those young people who gave up on everything and sacrificed their lives in order to have a dignified living when others out there call this destruction and causing chaos and disruption. I'm not one to get into politics but to see all these protesters holding on for more than 2 weeks is truly magnificent and utterly inspiring for all of us here. It's more than mere pleas of help; it has a lot to do with claiming ones' rights and speaking up their mind no matter how dangerous it is.

The past weeks have never been easy on the Egyptians in Tahrir square; they've fought mobs, thugs, tear gases, bullets, hunger, discomfort amongst other things. All of this to let their voices heard to those who have forgotten how to listen and might never will. Such heartless people exist everywhere but it didn't stop the protesters from doing what they believe to be life-changing to live decently and in peace once again.

Last night's interview with the detained (Head of Marketing at Google in the Middle East and Africa) Wael Ghonim gave a new meaning to the revolution. He was arrested by the Egyptian military for 12 days and have been blindfolded for that amount of time. Ghonim was released only last night and this was his interview with Mona, a show presenter on Dream TV 2; Part 1, 2, 3 and the emotional, tensed final part of the interview here if you've missed it:

Misunderstood Hijab Concept

I've spent ages trying to find another version of this video that actually lets you hear what they're talking about instead I only found that. It's basically an episode of Jessica Simpson's: Price of Beauty show featuring in Morocco.

There are certain things I'd like to point out;

(1) When asked about why women cover up, one of the Moroccan girls answered ''To preserve ourselves for our husbands". I'm sorry but that's about the ridiculous-est thing I've ever heard. Where's the religious part of this? Wearing hijab or covering up have never been a cultural thing, I beg to differ, it has everything to do with Islam. If the question in hand was ''Who are you allowed to uncover in front?'' then your husband might be the right answer. Islam honours women by giving her a value; instead of being judged on the amount of skin she shows or what designer's brand she's wearing, she should be judged by her actions and the way she carries herself in society. 

(2) The girl 'Laila' in the video was a jerk, a totally ignorant woman that shouldn't have been there to present her 'idea'. She was the liberal type-of-person and blamed Jessica for showing a big part of her legs when she was wearing a low-cut top . Laila thought Jess was offending the culture when she was a good damn example of that. 

I have nothing against Moroccans but I just think that the situations mentioned above only gives a bad idea of what our Islamic and Arabian culture is all about. 

/End of blog post. Just had to let that out. Good night.

Few Thoughts

(1) A lot of things happened with me at the past week. Two of my family members, both mothers, passed away on the same day. It confused me and I had to get things straight before getting back to cyberspace. I learned not to take anything for granted, especially our own parents.

(2) The true blessing is having the chance to do the Taraweeh prayers daily in Ramadhan at a mosque.

(3) Khawater is becoming interesting by the day. Yesterday's episode hit an all time favourite after introducing a straight-forward point.



Hearing the British lady and the Jewish man standing up for what's right, regrardless of their nationalities or religions spoke loud and clear to me. To all of us. When humanity is being ripped apart, there's no excuse not to stick with the truth.

(4) خطوة | A Step blog is created by 3 intelligent Omanis and 2 Palestinians. Follow them to take a step forward to Palestine's history.

"In 1895, Herzl started his fake dream: "The state of Israel penetrates the Red Sea through the gate of Jordan" A dream to have their own state. And his dream became true by a single book, protocols & global summits. He united the Jews from east to west to build the evil state on the Palestinian lands, tooling away farms, hourse and family members of Palestinian’s Jews, Christians & Muslims. So would we ever start making our own dream?"

(5) Eid is approaching by each passing minute. Even though I'd miss Ramadhan greatly, I'd love to enjoy the happy vibe Eid spreads around amongst people of different ages.

Healing ~ Sami Yusuf

An ad in MBC (I guess) featured this nasheed by Sami Yusuf in Arabic that I absolutely loved and thought to share it;

قلب بين يدي قلب و بيد الله كل قلب

عين ترعى عينا، وعين الله ترعى

كلمة طيبة صدقة

تبسمك لأخيك صدقه

كل معروف صدقة

اللهم اشف شفاءً لا يغادر سقماً

Here's the English version of it.


Enjoy!

Couple Of Advices

(1) Praying Taraweeh have never felt more beautiful than having to do it at the mosque almost every single day. Take this from me and don't waste this rare opportunity.

(2) Mosque is a place for praying, reading Quran and not for women to bring their babies along. Coming to the mosque is important but you can leave your kids back at home or at your family's, let the others worship Allah in a quiet atmosphere. Of course, I'm talking about 1-4 years old who would not only speak loudly, but keep running around causing havoc for one whole hour.

(3) If an act of kindness was presented to you, please welcome it with a warm heart. Even if it were simple things like someone is trying to open up the door for you, and most importantly, take the time to thank them.

(4) Set every hour after every prayer to at least read a single chapter of Quran, that way, you would finish reciting the Quran by the end of Ramadhan.

(5) TV is a total waste of time, especially in Ramadhan with what the Khaleeji shows, etc. Watch some good & beneficial shows like Khawatir and the like; you'd learn a lot in a mere of 20 minutes.

[Movie] The Notebook (2004)

It’s been 6 years since this movie was out but I only recently searched for its DVD version in my cousin’s piles of movies. It started out nicely and then, it was full of kissing scenes and I stopped right there. Today, while flipping the channels, Dubai One said it was ‘Next’ and I knew I had to watch.

An old man starts reading a story written on a notebook to a woman in her late years who’s suffering from amnesia...

He tells a story about two young lovers at the age of 17... And the way Noah approaches Ally on their first meeting at the carnival shows the great bond that erupted as soon as their eyes met. Also, Ally’s way of acting so hard-to-get means they’ll end up together eventually.

Then, the relationship goes on a more serious and faster progress with what spending almost every second of the day together. One day, Noah takes Ally to his dream house and farm and gets carried away in talking about his future plans, meanwhile, Ally’s conservative parents call out the police to look for her and things change from there onwards.

Seeing as how Noah was a poor man and Ally comes from a rich and educated family, her mother presses in this idea on the same night, saying that he’s not the right man for her daughter and she shouldn’t be seeing him again. Noah, in the next room, hears this and walks out of the house, with important things to think about.

Ally follows him and a huge fight was the cause of their separation. Before Ally knew it, the next day itself, her family wants to leave home.

Throughout an entire year, Noah keeps writing and sending letters to Ally without getting a single response. After 365 days, Noah decides to stop writing and join in the army. Ally, on the other hand, have gotten into med school and nurses army men when she meets Lon, the guy she agrees to marry.

Noah comes back, and with the help of his father, he buys the house he always wanted to have and starts to build it all over again, giving it the modern and renewed look with the addition of the white balcony he promised Ally to make.

While Ally prepares for her wedding, she sees the paper featuring Noah building his house from scratch and goes back to him and realizes that she can’t run away again and makes a decision…

The old man then stops reading the story and memories come back to the sick woman at the hospital and know that Noah and Ally will live together and that she was, all along, Ally and her doctor was Noah, trying to help her regain her lost memories. It's actually amazing how after all these years, Noah still is at Ally's side.

An incredible story line that simply shows the miracles love can make if only it was as powerful as Noah and Ally’s.

Note: Noah’s character can’t get any dreamier than it already is, that much I can assure you.

May's Around The Corner

You know how every time you log on Blogger to find out who blogged and who didn’t? And on every noon, you find a new post by kitten? You wonder how bored this girl is to post regularly yet here she is to tell you the truth.

I’ve missed blogging, and on weekends, I steal few minutes that can reach up to hours in order to write up my thoughts and schedule their appearance on this particular blog. What’s a better idea to revive your blog than this one?

Anyways, tomorrow’s post might be the last one as these final days of April are all about getting ready for IGCSE exams which start on May 11th.

For now, listen to this heartbreaking song that was featured in My Sister’s Keeper (You can watch it on OSN Cinema 2 throughout this week).

♫ Something in your eyes, makes me wanna lose myself ♫

One Religion?

While watching Saturday’s episode of Dare to Ask on Peace TV, presented by Dr.Zakir Naik, one of the audience asked a similar question to this,

Why isn’t there a one religion? Clearly, Islam is the religion we’re all supposed to follow, so as to stop the conflicts and confusions, why hasn’t there been one religion delivered by the different messengers of God?

His answer revolved around the same point, which was none other than (as far as I understood): God sent the messengers –Peace Be Upon Them- to spread out the exact same message of believing in one God, or in other words, proving His existence.

Anyone else has a better explanation? Since the one I got is incomplete.