Dec 3, 2004 · 2 minute read · Comments
random
changing topics from the previous umm… interesting comments to the previous post, here was something i wrote up. i was gonna record it too but then i didn’t feel like it. but yeah. peace outs.
a few years ago in senior year
i had a confusion and a bit of fear
where should i go to university
would it be emory umich or GT
not sure and having no real clue
i chose GT as the thing to do
and as a cs major i began my school
thinking coding is fun and cool
and at tech i was to soon meet
people among the truly elite
friends whom i can’t equate
to anyone i’ve met till this date
and there i got my first real feel
of desi culture and the whole fob ordeal
saw all these dudes come up to me and say,
yaar, for shadi, doctor is the way
so i thought the solution would be
to persue a degree in biology
and take the mcats when time comes
and go to emory with my chums
but after ochem, out of my brain
the ideas went out the drain
and even at the cost of a biwi
there’d be no bio degree for me
and i got involved in MSA
and was invited to meetings of PSA
and all i got from all that stuff
is great friends and that’s enough
and while i could rap all day
i am running out of things to say
so peace out to all of you
especially those in my GT crew
Nov 29, 2004 · 1 minute read · Comments
random
peaces. came back from the trip yesterday (sunday nite around 9ish). the traffic coming back was insane for part of the way (130 miles in 4 hours…). but al7amdulillah we made it back in ~14 hours.
the sky was really beautiful. i was driving around the close of 3asr and entrance of maghrib time, and man it was beautiful. it was like there were all these shades of blue that were coming together in some places. in other places, you could see what looked like a rainbow, but it was just because of how the different colors merged in layers and stuff. too bad i left my camera here though.
i saw the incredibles with my siblings on thanksgiving, it was a nice movie, i liked it (and so did they).
i guess that’s about all. i did a tiny bit of code after work today, played some kingdom hearts too.
the only bad thing though is that i broke down and bought WoW (the normal one, not the collector’s one). haha, OK is gonna kill me, and he has good reason to do so too… but i will insha’Allah not play too much. as a matter of fact, i haven’t even opened it yet.
anyhow, time for bed, peace outs.
Nov 22, 2004 · 1 minute read · Comments
technology
xdesktopwaves (http://xdesktopwaves.sourceforge.net) is really nice – totally incredible. it overlays your root background and as you move your mouse or windows, they act like boats moving through water and make ripples on the desktop. really neat!
been playing through kingdom hearts… about 6 hours through it… while i had my doubts at first, i think its pretty good so far… i also ordered a copy of xenosaga off amazon.com - it was on sale and free shipping… plus i had a gift card from my little brother for eid (thanks rami!) so i ended up charging like $0.76 to my credit card for the game… it’ll be pretty funny if that’s all i buy on the card this month and i have to write a check to the credit card company for $0.76…
Oct 28, 2004 · 1 minute read · Comments
technology
this is really neat: google sets.
try putting in these words in the first and second box to see google’s piousity:
“fajr” in box 1, “zuhr” in box 2.
“shahada” in box 1, “salat” in box 2.
“ramadan” in box 1, “shawwal” in box 2.
i am sure there are more but… feel free to post them in the comments. dang, that’s awesome :)
Oct 26, 2004 · 1 minute read · Comments
islam
good morning,
sign this petition.
i read the book’s review on amazon just to be sure before signing the petition, and all i can say is that i am aghast that such a person can be so blasphemous and say these kind of things. what an ignorant person…
i was going to continue on with this post explaining why the above sentence is true, but i think i can write a long essay defending points about this, and now’s not the time…
anyhow, back to work, that’s all for now.
Oct 24, 2004 · 6 minute read · Comments
random
greets, peace, etc. today, i decided to upload the nasheeds i have produced over time to this webpage. they’re all in the new “audio studio” section on the webpage. and yes, they’re not great nor listenable-toable, but they’re there to induce (slight) laughter. there are still some other things i want to upload to this page, but it’s a matter of time…
it was sooooooo cold today! [i learned that my camera does some cool stuff today when i looked at the book to find out how to get the camera to automatically take this picture after 10 seconds… i want to take some pictures!].
oh yeah, the other day at the masjid… sighs (as one could tell from my previous post, i really prefer the environment of the masajid in atlanta…) – but the other day (friday), i ran into two awkward situations (i got a whole list of these by now hehe).
so they changed the time of 3isha from 8:15 till 8:00 (desi standard time) – and i had forgotten, and i remembered around 8:05 and so i left late for the masjid. when i got there, it looked as though they hadn’t prayed, so i asked someone if they had prayed yet, and i was told that the imam hadn’t come yet. so i went up and sat down in the front row. the brother next to me, one of the first people mansoor and i met when we got there, tells me to lead the salat (3isha) because its getting late. so i lead 3isha, and when i had finished, the imam had come back, so he lead tarawee7 as normal.
so after the 20th rak3ah, the imam said, “salat ul witr” (as usual), and was faced towards the qibla, so i glanced at my watch to see what time it was (itching to go home hehe), and suddenly he turns around and looks at me and says, “can i lead witr?” – and i am like huh!? (and at the same time feeling really embarrassed, thinking to myself, “is he asking me this because he saw me looking at my watch and thinks i am being disrespectful by checking the time?”) – and he said, “can i pray witr, because you lead 3isha,” and so i said, “please, please do.” (and i was very puzzled at that).
so after finishing tarawee7, a lot of the times i just tend to leave right after witr. but due to that situation, i decided that i would stay for the short talk after witr to avoid further awkward situations. so as soon as witr was being completed, before i could even say my second salams, the guy next to me, a really old uncle, touched my hand. i was like, “huh? maybe an accident?” - so anyway, after witr, i sat for the short talk.
and the talk ended, and i was ready to go home. but when i came to leave, the uncle touched my hand again. and i shook hands with him and the other people and began to walk towards the exit, and he followed me, and asked me, “did the imam read only one rak3ah at any point during the tarwee7?” – and i am like, “yeah, at the very last rak3ah he did.” – and he started going off on this whole spiel about how in pakistan, all the scholars agree that a person must read at least 3 ayahs per rak3ah for the salat to be deemed valid; and how he experienced people reading less in other masajid and his conversations with them and so on. and all this time i am thinking, “why is he telling me this?”
so anyway, not knowing what to say, i say, “jazakAllah khair” and continue walking towards the door, get my shoes and put them on. and as i am about to leave, the uncle starts to talk to me again and says, “you know, if you know quran, you have more right to be leading than him [the imam] because you have (and he touches my “beard”) this.” and other people start coming towards where we are; and i was taken by shock and had no chance to reply, and he says, “i’ll talk to you about this later.” – and he leaves.
two very awkward situations… so on saturday, to resolve the first situation, i went to the imam after salat and i apologized to him for having lead 3isha (thinking that maybe he got offended or something) - but apparently he wasn’t upset, he said, “no its a good thing that you listened to them and lead 3isha, because when the salat time comes we should pray at its time.”
as for the second situation, i didn’t see the old uncle on saturday, and on sunday (today), i saw him but avoided him at all costs. dang, people want to use me to overthrow the current imam.
not to mention that the statement he made is untrue – because 1. the current imam’s memorization is multiple folds better than mine, (and there is NO exaggeration in this statement whatsoever, i am a fake hehe); 2. he has a lot more knowledge than me; 3. he is older than me; and 4. i feel that he is very sincere, to the extent that although he studied deen, he then persued a degree in computer science so that he supports his family from a “non-deen” occupation so that his deen work is totally for the sake of Allah.
so yeah; the current imam is masha’Allah a very sincere and very nice guy – not to mention his memorization is insanely strong masha’Allah, and the fact that his one way drive to work is ~3 hours (!); and yet he still manages to take time out to lead tarawee7 masha’Allah (whereas during normal non-ramadan times, he would stay at a hotel throughout the week and just come home on the weekends). so sub7anAllah, that takes insane dedication.
but what can i tell you, there are always those people who will complain about a small thing that they see that a person has done that is wrong in their eyes, rather than look at the great amount of effort which a person may exert in the sake of Allah… sub7anAllah.
that’s my rant of the day. i got nothing more to say for now. peace out.