Ain't got no money...

Does anyone watch that show Platinum Weddings? Its on the WEtv channel. I think that stands for wedding. Idk. But anyways, this show portrays the ridiculous amount of money that some brides and grooms spend on their elaborate and very chic weddings. These people are obviously rolling in dough, that's why they can afford to spend LARGE amounts of money on every single detail of their weddings, right down to the amount of money spent on their dogs' jewelry. Yup. Their dogs.

One couple (the groom was a professional football player. And the bride is a marketing specialist) spent $2 million dollars alone on the bride's wedding jewelry. It was all diamonds. A bracelet. Earrings. And a necklace. The diamond bracelet by itself was 100 carats. CRAZY!




She doesn't have the jewelry on for the actual wedding. But she had it on for the reception.

But they are a very cute couple, arent they?

I know these people have a lot of money because of their jobs and careers. But I wonder if they have any debt after it all. Or if they have any regrets of how they spent all that money after it's all done.

Come on, everyone has debt. Credit card bills. Loans from undergrad. Loans from Grad school. Loans from medical school. Loans for weddings. Mortgages. Loans for loans.

Show me a person who doesnt have debt.

Alhamdullilah for my job and the money that I earn from it, but I know I'm scrambling. I have a a couple of loans from undergrad that I'm not paying as fast as I should. (But that's my own problem) And I know that if I go to grad school, I'll be taking on some more loans. And when I decide to buy a house, I wont be able to buy it without getting a mortgage. And I feel like everyone I know has some sort of financial issue. And it seems like it's the norm.

(CC and I and what we spend/save our money for)

But in all seriousness, I just wonder about all these people who do have all this money, and where it goes, and how they spend it. And it kinda frustrates the heck out of me when I see people (like the people on Platinum Weddings show and any celebrity) spending it so carelessly. I know, during your wedding day, you may want to have it a particular way and it's a very special occasion. But is it really worth spending $2 million dollars on? Can't you spend that money on building your marriage instead or your future kids' tuition or a house? Or charity and giving it to the needy? Spend that money on a more worthy cause?

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) says that, "There is no envy except in two: a person whom God has given wealth and he spends it in the right way, and a person whom Allah has given wisdom (i.e. religious knowledge) and he gives his decisions accordingly and teaches it to the others."

Question for you, ask yourself: what is the right way?

And are we spending it in the right way?

Just my $0.0299999998

It always interests me to find Muslims that describe themselves as "liberal" or "conservative" or identify with one political party or another... or classify themselves by the accepted political and economic dispositions.


Some corporatist white fat guy in a suit, or neo-feminazi chick (I made that up but think of the evil psychologist, Dr. Faxx from Robocop 2) came up with new phrases like, "moderate muslim" and "secular Muslim", "civil democratic blah blah" and I see people buy right into it. 'Separation syndrome' or something, if you will.

It ought to be noted though, that Islam is a complete religion that lays out guidelines for every aspect of life, including the socio-economic-political realm. As God in the Qur'an said to His beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and to us: "This day I have completed your religion for you, fulfilled My favor upon you, and have chosen for your way of life, Islam." (5:3). Today we have a distorted picture of it all, thinking that "islamic governments" are just characterized by oppressing and punishing women and hindering technological advancement (ironically it is the civilized West that keeps bombing countries back to the stone age, but that's another story). It is widely ignored and forgotten that once upon a time, an Islamic Empire existed, once a meritocratic government that created prosperity and destroyed the gap between the rich and poor through mandatory charity (a time existed when you couldn't find a single poor person in North Africa), used taxes for public services alone(!), and led the world in advancement. This empire came to a gradual decline through outside and inner corruption (root cause: greed <--worth clicking), until the empire fell and was divided into the borders we see today, upon the close of World War I. Well, despite the misrepresentations of Islam-based governance and economics, I make it known that this is where I lie;

• Political views: Muslim
• Economic ideology: Muslim

This in turn gives me the belief that ALL of today's economic and political problems can be solved by restoring moral legitimacy in our systems.

Anyway, I really just wanted to share an excerpt about economics in Islam (you know, just in case you thought "islamists" were a bunch of commies or somethin'):

In Islam the market is to be free and permitted to respond to the natural laws of supply and demand. Thus, when the prices became high in the Prophet's time and people asked him to fix prices for them, he replied, God is the One Who fixes prices, Who withholds, Who gives lavishly, and Who provides, and I hope that when I meet Him none of you will have a claim against me for any injustice with regard to blood or property. (Reported by Ahmad, Abu Daoud, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, al-Dari and Abu Y'ala.)

With these words the Prophet of Islam (peace be on him) declared that unnecessary interference in the freedom of individuals is injustice. If, however, any artificial forces, such as hoarding and manipulation of prices by certain merchants, interfere in the free market, public interest takes precedence over the freedom of such individuals. In such a situation price control becomes permissible to protect society from greedy opportunists, for the above hadith [prophetic tradition/narrative] does not mean that price control is prohibited regardless of the circumstances.

If price control compels people to sell their goods at a price which is not acceptable to them or denies them the reasonable profit permitted by God, it is haram [prohibited/unlawful]. If, on the other hand, price control establishes equity among people, for example, by forcing sellers to accept a price equal to that commanded by other comparable commodities, it is allowed—and necessary.

The hadith cited above relates to the first type of situation. Accordingly, if merchants are selling a commodity in the customary fashion without any wrong-doing on their part and the price subsequently rises due to the scarcity of the commodity or due to an increase in population (indicating the operation of the law of supply and demand), this circumstance is from God, in which case to force them to sell the commodity at a fixed price would be unjust compulsion.

In relation to the second type of situation, should the dealers in a commodity refuse to sell it, despite the fact that people are in need of it, unless they secure a price higher than its known value, they must be compelled to sell it at a price equal to the price of an equivalent commodity. Price control here is in conformity with the standard of justice demanded by God. (Refer to Risalat al-hisbah by Ibn Taimiyyah, as well as to Al-turuq al-hikmiyyah by Ibn al-Qayyim, p. 214 ff.)

Source:
"The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam" - Yusuf Al-Qaradawi ( <- I don't agree with the entire book's/author's message on other issues, but the excerpted part will do.. although the author conveniently ignores the issue below... hm)

It should also be noted that in addition to establishing free trade, Islam prohibits all forms of usury (what we call "interest"). Today's global economy is an interest-based economy. This is a widely accepted, and widely ignored problem that burdens society. In Islam, usury is seen as a false way of multiplying wealth at the expense of the poor who often can't pay it back. Eliminating interest from the system shortens the disparity between the rich and poor- this gap is continuously increasing in today's interest-based world. Such a measure also reduces distortion in the projected prosperity of a country (*ahem* e.g. America)-- leading to increased unemployment, debt, false inflation, and recession. Eliminating interest would also put the legitimacy back into the value of money as "a medium of exchange for real goods and services, [which, through interest] becomes increasingly usurped by the rising significance as means of accumulation of might. This [power] is not subject to any 'falling marginal utility'; the might over the compound interest mechanism can be built up without expense beyond every limit" (quote from http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~roehrigw/probst/english/aberrations.html).

Central to Islamic economics is the effort to limit the illusion that money is 'power' (whereas money is merely a means for trading things of use), through prohibition of interest, hoarding, and stressing the moral obligations of human beings to avoid debts and dishonesty.
In fact, the longest verse in the Qur'an (2:282) concerns transactions and debts!

The Qur'an on interest (a few of many references)*:

And eat up not one another's property unjustly (stealing, robbing, deceiving, etc.), nor give bribery to the rulers (judges before presenting your cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part of the property of others sinfully (2:188).

"O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah [God], even though it be against yourselves, or your parents or [family], be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not your own lusts, lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort your witness or refuse to give it, verily, God is ever well acquainted with what you do." (4:135)

And this must constantly be reflected on:

"Whatever you pay as interest so that it may increase the wealth of people does NOT increase in the sight of GOD. As for the charity that you give, seeking with it God's good pleasure, that is multiplied manifold."(Qur'an 30:39)


Today I see this situation loud and clear, and I provoke you towards charity as a wise investment. I also wish to provoke the Muslim readers to scale in as "Muslim" on the so-called economic compass. Or at least, I hope this turned out to be some good food for thought! Just imagine... Imagine no possessions/ I wonder if you can/ No need for greed or hunger/ a brotherhood of man./ Imagine all the people/ sharing all the world. /You may say that I'm a dreamer... lol

Thanks, whoever made it this far!




*Another striking verse is 2:278

speaking of bailouts.. when will we talk about the ROOT to all problems?

Taken from Friday Nasiha ("advice") by Young Muslims canada.

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The origin of all problems is greedy desire (shuhh). The Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings upon him) explains this in the following sahih hadith:

"Beware of shuhh (greedy desire), for verily it destroyed those who came before you. It ordered them to be miserly and they were miserly, it ordered them to commit oppression and they oppressed, and it ordered them to cut family ties and they cut family ties."

Shuhh, which is the greedy desire of the self, causes miserliness by withholding objects of desire which have been acquired, and causes oppression by the taking of the property of others, and causes breaking of family ties, and it causes envy - which is to hate others possessing what one does not have, and wishing for its destruction. Envy itself entails miserliness and oppression, since envy is miserliness with that which one has been given, and oppression by wishing for others to lose the good which they have acquired.

Compiled From:
"Enjoining Right and Forbidding Wrong" - Ibn Taimiya

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(and the entry cannot be complete without) Qur'an values:

"If the Truth were to follow their whims and desires, the heavens and the earth and everyone in them would have been brought to ruin."

-Qur'an, 23:71

Soap bars shaped like "O's"

So there's this movie called Obsession everyone' s talking about. Silly zionist propaganda to instill fear in the hearts of Americans!!111 People are just ig'nant man.

But that's not what this is about. It's that my friend told me the DVD cover has "Obsession" written with a crescent moon and star to make the "O" and an AK-47 on the "N". how badass is that?? Since my name starts with O, I am officially photoshopping My name to look like that. That's just how I feel right now. Do guns empower me? No, but I see their potential. Just saying. I think instead of an AK-47 I'll have a 9mm. Because I'm just a tarantino-style Gangsta at heart. I'm like Jackie Brown. Or Mr. White. Or Zoey in Death Proof. I love Death Proof. I can't believe people don't consider it the greatest movie of all time.

Sometimes I feel like, I can never talk about violence. Muslim girls don't do that. I shouldn't see destruction and say "SWEET DUDE!" or "what a beautiful spiral of life." I can't joke about suicide without being reported to the FBI. I can't say things like "I came here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. And I'm allll out of bubble-gum," and other such popular 80s phrases. I'll get stared at, or be an object of amusement. Sometimes I have to stop and think before I talk about my childhood aspirations of becoming a neurosurgeon, so that I could turn people into powerful bionic-cyborg-androids (Yes i am aware of the redundancy). I guess I don't mind. In this society - in this "state of fear" - I am always dancing on a fine line. Like an ant on the lines of a spider web. I'm sorry I'm not trendy enough to say that "Islam means peace" and "jihad is more about inner struggle." Of course, that's all true (explanation not provided here, sorry). But I feel like we are constantly making ourselves more and more powerless. Everyone's talking about politics these days. Everyone is saying that: we will vote between two puppets, and this will somehow empower us. I like this puppet because he has a cool hat. I like the puppet on the right because he has shiny buttons.

Why must we sugarcoat the situation of people that are victimized or attacked? Ignore the rape, the torture, the murder, the slaughter, the genocide, but dear, why are you Arabs so angry? Embrace the message of Jesus while cluster bombs rain on your hospitals and weddings!! I don't understand why you must be so full of rage... let's work together for peace, while we send you to a cage to be raped 20 times a day without due trial, and re-allocate your homes. But yes, WE are peaceful. Yes, WE cannot be "radical". We cannot be "extremist." We must learn to be more reasonable, more civilized, and peace-loving, to appease the "liberators" as they rape us. Let's admit to our alleged crimes and say that Islam does not stand for this hate and "terrorism". Let's have interfaith dialogue with the people trying to divide us and categorize us and name us without any authority, and say we did our part. Let's ignore the duty of a human being to fight back. A man's instinctive nature to defend his family, his beliefs, and his land. Let's downplay that and let's talk about how moderate and civilised we are. How privileged we are.


It becomes easier to numb any pain in our joints or limbs. Sleep at night with no bad dreams.


I have had many lovely discussions these past couple weeks about getting involved in these affairs, about politics, about history.

What's growing however, is deeper. bigger than politics. Bigger than economics. Bigger than historical patterns.
Have I become "superstitious"? Or cynical as they say? Suffice it to say, it has become easier and easier to predict world events. It has been so since I was 10 years old. But its becoming more and more intuitive and less about reading books and such. I hate to be the one at the end saying "I told you so." I am not cynical. I want to be wrong. Two years ago I predicted what would happen in Pakistan. When your hopeful barack obama becomes leader, I will be there to expect the war fully escalated into my country and elsewhere, intensified and worsened.

Sometimes I wonder if despite all my efforts towards scientific discovery and medicine, is it inevitable for me to be thrown into the dynamics of Pakistan, and to a broader sense, the "muslim world"? In fact, will science itself lead me to political uprising? To complete my father's work in our country, as it is deeply infiltrated by people with vile agendas? Is all my thinking, all my insomnia, ultimately to turn me into the strategies that my mind concocts?

But really, is any of that important? When reality is that politics is overshadowed by deeper forces. We must all know this deep down. It is silly to talk about politics and war, and refuse to acknowledge these forces.. A very ancient war with very dark forces surrounding all of us. Wars about definitions and contexts and beliefs... "politics" is a dumb way to describe it. and here i digress

What's deeper is the thought of tapping into a collective psyche. The hope of common sense. It comes in cycles I suppose, just like the cycles of growth and recession in the economy. Maybe 'common sense' is a shorter peak though, a variance approaching zero if you will. Perhaps we can map this out with variables including revolutions, coups, rise of movements. With enough statistical analysis, can we predict the next wave of collective awakening...?

Have I wasted so much time trying to come up with a political model? Is the answer just in physics all along?

Actually O, the answer is in 99 beautiful names (102 to account the hidden), 114 wonderful meals, 9 excellent volumes, and countless revivals....


Perhaps by recognizing these, my opponents may recognise physical battle (self-defense to be exact), charity, invocation and sincerity as the only viable references towards "change" as they love to call it. and not the deceptive dividing mechanisms of our propaganda queens... Of course there is something deeper that is missing. A matter of the heart. A level of intimacy, believe it or not.



[These thoughts took their own life and control, like robots with artificial intelligence breaking free of humankind; none of this was intended when i sat down to write. and I'm actually a very colourful and happy individual. just ask my friends ;)]