Selamat Hari Raya

Salam Aidil Fitri diucapkan kepada semua member2 SAS69ers... berhati2 bila memandu ke kampung masing2 and marilah kita menyambut 1 syawal ni dengan serba sederhana sebab aid fitr ni bukannya satu pesta tapi ibadat yang dimulakan dengan mandi sunat pagi raya, disunatkan juga untuk berhias dan seterusnya bertakbir dan berjemaah solat aidil fitri di masjid dan kemudian saling maaf bermaafan antara ahli keluarga, saudara-mara dan sahabat-handai. Dan bertakbirlah dengan nada yang tegas dan gembira sebab 1 syawal ialah hari untuk kita menyambut hari kemenangan dan bukannya mendayu2 dan disambut dengan kesedihan walaupun kehilangan orang yg tersayang. Dan jangan terlupa untuk membayar zakart fitrah. Aku ingin meminta maaf kalau ada terkasar bahasa atau terasa sebab sarcasm dari artikel2 yang aku posted. SELAMAT HARI RAYA, MAAF ZAHIR BATIN...

Islam Boleh!!

dalam banyak2 lagu raya, lagu oleh Ahmad Jais ni ialah favourite aku

Source: YouTube

Activists Talk Love, Not War, With Iranian President

Activists from the radical anti-war group CodePink met with the president of Iran in New York on Wednesday, pitching a “peace park” and investment in a bicycle maker as ways to patch relations between the U.S. and the Islamic republic.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in New York to address the U.N. General Assembly, met with CodePink co-founders Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin and about 150 peace activists at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

During the two-hour meeting, members of CodePink presented the Iranian president with a petition signed by 50 American mayors calling for diplomacy, not war, in dealing with Iran. CodePink wants to take the mayors who signed the petition to Iran to create “sister cities.”

“We’re modeling diplomacy,” Evans said of her meeting with Ahmadinejad.

The group proposed letting artists create a “peace park” in Tehran and suggested making grassroots investments in an Iranian business that makes green and sustainable products like bicycles.

Investing in businesses in Iran violates U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Ahmadinejad told the group that he wants a million Americans to come to Iran, but members of CodePink have had trouble getting visas to visit the country — including Benjamin, who is Jewish.

“I’m sure it’s because she’s a radical activist,” Evans said.

At the meeting, Ahmadinejad said that he would make sure Benjamin could get a visa to visit Iran.

Benjamin has offered public support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and has spoken out against U.S. sanctions against Cuba. She is also the co-founder of Global Exchange, a group that organizes tours of Venezuelan neighborhoods and Chavez-supporting media outlets.

Evans has given a total $4,600 to the Obama campaign and $1,000 to former Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich.

Reports in the media have called her a bundler — or someone who uses networking to maximize campaign fundraising — for Obama’s campaign. Evans told FOXNews.com that she has never raised money for Obama, but her husband, Max Palevsky, has been a longtime major fundraiser for the campaign and has supported Obama since he was an Illinois state senator. Palevsky has also given money to the campaigns of Kucinich and to Sen. Christopher Dodd.

Evans said she knows Obama and sees him at public events.

“Every time I see Obama I give him a hard time on his stance on the war,” she said. “There’s no such thing as a good war. I wouldn’t say I’m a supporter. I’m definitely a thorn in his side keeping him on the right path about war.”

Ahmadinejad told the group his dream is that Iran makes friends with the West. He said that if America really didn’t want Iran developing nuclear weapons, the U.S. would have already disarmed Israel.

“He’s really about peace and human rights and respecting justice,” Evans said.

Source: By Jennifer Lawinski / Fox News

Dalam Kenangan : Super Mokh

Source: YouTube

Young and Arab in Land of Mosques and Bars

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — In his old life in Cairo, Rami Galal knew his place and his fate: to become a maintenance man in a hotel, just like his father. But here, in glittering, manic Dubai, he is confronting the unsettling freedom to make his own choices.

Here Mr. Galal, 24, drinks beer almost every night and considers a young Russian prostitute his girlfriend. But he also makes it to work every morning, not something he could say when he lived back in Egypt. Everything is up to him, everything: what meals he eats, whether he goes to the mosque or a bar, who his friends are.

“I was more religious in Egypt,” Mr. Galal said, taking a drag from yet another of his ever-burning Marlboros. “It is moving too fast here. In Egypt there is more time, they have more control over you. It’s hard here. I hope to stop drinking beer; I know it’s wrong. In Egypt, people keep you in check. Here, no one keeps you in check.” Read more...

Source: The NewYork Times - Middle East

Ramadan fast means hard times for Muslim smokers

RAMALLAH, West Bank — It's the fasting month of Ramadan, and fear of God keeps taxi driver Abdel Karim Romaneh from reaching for the pack of cigarettes next to his gearshift during the day, despite his pounding head and frazzled nerves.

But once the sun sets and the call of "Allahu Akbar" from Ramallah's mosques ends the daytime ban on food, drink and cigarettes, Romaneh indulges in his favorite vice.

"I don't want to quit smoking," said Romaneh, 42, who lights one Gauloise Light with another, inhaling deeply in between sips from a glass of thick Arabic coffee. "Smoking is a joy."

Like Romaneh in this West Bank Palestinian city, millions of Muslim smokers get on a nicotine roller coaster during Ramadan, which ends this year in late September. But health campaigners are increasingly trying to get them to quit altogether, using Ramadan as a springboard for anti-smoking drives.

A London mosque runs a "Stop smoking for Ramadan, stop smoking for life" appeal on its website, and a Saudi volunteer network is trying to bring that message to 10 million Arab Internet users. Read more

Source : USA Today - Religion- By Karin Laub and Dalia Nammari, Associated Press Writers

Qur'anic Garden

QUR’ANIC GARDEN: Qatar Foundation chairperson HH Sheikha Mozah Nasser al-Misnad planting a Sidra sapling at the site of the Qur’anic Botanical Garden yesterday evening.

The 24-hectare garden, located at the Education City, comprises all the plant species mentioned in the Holy Qur’an and in the Sunnah. It will be a focal point for students and researchers in different disciplines.

Source : Gulf News

Migraine linked to blood clots

WASHINGTON - PEOPLE with migraines may also be more likely to develop blood clots in their veins, according to a study published in Tuesday's issue of US journal Neurology.

In the condition called venous thrombosis, blood clots form in a vein, which can limit blood flow and cause swelling and pain. Those clots can then dislodge from the vein and travel to the heart and the lungs, which can be fatal, China's Xinhua news agency reports.

For the study, 574 people in Italy age 55 and up were interviewed to determine whether they had a history of migraine, or migraine at the time of the evaluation and their medical records were reviewed for cases of venous thrombosis.

The arteries in their necks and thighs were scanned with ultrasounds to check for hardening of the arteries.

Of the participants, 111 people had migraine. A total of 21 people with migraine also had one or more instances of venous thrombosis, or 19 per cent. In comparison, 35 people without migraine had the condition, or 8 per cent.

Researchers do not know why migraine and venous thrombosis are linked. One theory is that the blood of people with migraine may be more prone to clotting.

The study also found that people with migraine are not more likely to have hardening or narrowing of the arteries, which is contrary to a current theory.

'The thinking has been that because people with migraine are more likely to have strokes and other cardiovascular problems, that they would also have more severe and early atherosclerosis,' said the study's author Dr Stefan Kiechl of Innsbruck Medical University in Austria.

This study is the first to use high-resolution ultrasound to examine this theory, and it provides solid evidence to refute it, Dr Kiechl said.

Source : Straits Times