death, refresh and transition

Death is so much more important than....yknow, the others; marriage and birth, especially when it happens to other people. We know what to do and demostrate greater than normal collectivity.

In the mosque[recent experience], the collective intelligence figures out that for a janaza there is no need for'prostration space' so there can me more rows. also vehicle convoys seem to stay together more than at , weddings. The act of grave filling then oozes interpersonal kindness and cooperation. Though maybe this reflects the people connected to the individual, rather than the kind of event. hmmm.

www.refresh360.com <-- for a glimse of a talented creative IT company in Bangladesh, they do 3d animation amongst other things like gaming.


Laid my hands on a rather special book recently. It was the 2nd edition of 'Islam in Transition - Muslim Perspectives' edited by Donogue and Esposito, 2007, Oxford Uni press.

This volumes brings an incredibley ecletic yet vital set of muslim discourses from the 19th century to the present day. Its like 'Later.....with Jools Holland' crossed with an 'Ummahvision song contest'.

I hope muslims, especially young ahistoric ones benefit from reading this kind of work, with around 60 individual contributions there is something worthwhile to learn for every disposition.

It does lack what id call 'geographical extent', but most books written after certain fetishised events tend to have a middle eastern focus.

How to say it all without saying anything at all

sometimes i hear words and sentences coming out of peoples mouths and marvel at the pointlessness of these utterances.

its normally from transient types of sources like politicians or journalists, for whom truth was never really a virtue. if the person is on the telly i can switch off and do something else, or verbally abuse the space in fornt of me.

but what about in real life? wait for them to finish and then get out of there? slap em?

The Conservative party in the uk is going through a couple of cosmetic changes these days. Our Local Council elections are taking place in a few days. So, there's a cheesy party political broadcast with David Cameron doing his best to sell 'blue' as 'green'.... so contrived and paid for it makes me cringe. Not that these elections are at all interesting anyway.

Unless I look at the areas where the respect party stand a chance and there is actually some contestation, The Ganjes and the Pindes. Incompetant Labour councillers from Tower Hamlets are in for a rough ride. Theres a new crop of motivated people standing for the new party (as well as a bunch of SWP folks). its good for these areas, where doorstep concenrns are often the dangerous ambience of the local environment. I met some candidates who were locally known , embedded and credible. iA they will do the job well!

Whats even greater is that a few more people are being brave enough to stand as independants, in tower hamlets at least.

In bangladesh, Tata have resubmitted their industrial proposal to the Bdesh Board of Investment. The Indian corporate giant has upped its offer and included newgoodies like a 10% GOVERNMENT STAKE. who knows about these things? not i.

I reckon that a lot of govt work in desh might get done in the run up to the general election in early 2007. The opposition is looking to embarrass the government, while the goevernment is looking to show how good it is. No this isnt a virtue of democracy, its not even an upshot of the temporary leadership change system. its only a fraction of a fraction of whats needed.

Positives of this past 5 year period

1. The institution of RAB seems to have made the streets safer.
2. They caught the criminals who kept bombing places.
3. I think Muslims, and organised Muslims have learn a lot, diversified, won a lot of arguments and enabled a little more virtue.
4. the remarkable benefits of the natural gas have begun to really help matters.
5. The govt sometimes shows a few testicles to the NGO-donor nexus.
   

Negatives

1. Nepotism and missappropriateion of dosh in the first family seems to worry most people i talk to, its expected though, which is really sad. Especially Given that General Zia was especially good at keeping his family away from his offices and had self control in this department.
2. Some ministers have really let the side down (corruption, bullshiting, oncompetance).
3. Opposition and similarly aligned media and political actors have bad mouthed desh a great deal in EU and US. its sad because all of our honour is affected this cheap tactic.
   

I love the system of Waqf
Egypt
Indonesia
Bangladesh
Hamdard Waqf in Bangladesh
Islamic Relief's Waqf Programmes

may you become stronger, deeper, wider and greater. May you countinue to translate virtue into public good on the long term.

Stumble over Turkey and a Vendetta

several months since last blog so i'll make this one as meaningless and petty as possible

a pal pointed me too this rather interesting addon for the Firefor webrowser today, a tool to find quality kooky bits of the web. some might call is a Web 2.0 kinda beast see here


went to Istanbul a little while back, great place, great stuff going on. a pal wanted to skipp the country for a little while, id been to istanbul before and wouldnt leave an opportunity to go there again. needless to say, this trip didnt really have to much to do with the words economy and efficiency, but hey thats a perk of no longer being a student of the poor kind.

found this book on Cultural J, published by Istanbul University, 'Islam in Public - Turkey, Iran and Europe' ed Nilufer Gole and Ludwig Ammann (2006). Interesting interview with Nilufer Gole here.

here are a few tales of how ummahtic the place is,

- got smuggled into the istanbul uni by a libertarian type student, interesting tour beautiful campus with pretty stylish students

- folks at a waqf(religious endowment) in the Sultan Ahmet kept showering me and my pal with Said Nursi books (one was in bangla!), beautiful qurans, tea and love generally....

- spent a while at IRCICA, a historical research centre that forcusses on Islamic civilisation and is set in a flipin OTTOMAN PALACE!

- the azan for fajr (daybreak prayer) pulls you from bed into the mosque very special time in the old centre of the city.

-iskander kebab

was quite proud of turkey, good luck to them Allah make it easy.


folks, please go and see..

V for Vendetta..think FightClub and 1984 and Brave New World and Divine Intervention.

watch out for Stephen Fry, plenty of uses of the word 'bollox' and a few arresting fireworks



comic book entiusiasts - 'this was nothing like the comic...sorry 'graphic novel', this was meant to be about thatcher;s britain'

neo-con apologists - ' bin laden would love this, scum scum, glorifies terrorism, parp, gurgle chortle, vomit'

me - ' cor blimey that was empowering, what amazing.......timing'

Difference, Fiqhx, Election and the cult of celebrity

oooh Imam Zaid Shakir lecturing in london for Q news next week, on the ettiquettes of difference and how difference is strengthening. or as one bhaiya would say .... the importance of ikhtilaugh. geddit!??! i guess not....


ooo new work, 'fiqhx' to indicate active problem solving at the fundamental theorlogical level for practical benefit. we were discussing hajj and its many dimensions, physical, engineering, human, historical, interactive ummahtic event....... ijtihad is a bit loaded see.


now for more worldy affairs of power and the struggle for justice.. mwah hahahahah



'Democracy' is great right? there was some inspiring news last week, news that flipped-the-script and made some hopeful space for us to dream and act in.

Duas for all who seek justice and dignity, for Allah to make things easy for them and confound their enemies plots. Duas that the intangible signals of this inspire confidence, excellence and sobriety in His servants oppressed and nonoppressed throughout the world.

Duas that the 'development' 'aid' bribe game being played by the white powers is lost by those very powers and their client 'dogooders' find useful jobs in other sectors. That the Friends of Palestine stand by it and aren't turned coconut by threats. That unity and coalition are clung to by those infused with Red and Green wherever they might be.

Duas that poncy noncommitted liberals who think of themselves as really quite 'indie' but can't stomach challenging power are discreditted.


Comment on Galloway in Celebrity Big Brother?
My pal cam here and told me off for not having an entry since nuron...... YOU HAPPY NOW!

Ol George is most able to speak for himself as his statements following his eviction make clear. I dont fancy myslef as a sycophant, so i wont, but im inclined to see strange things thorugh this episode in UK public imagination

It has been funny to analyse the various shades and positions of Galloway hate going round,

• A sudden 'fake concern' for consitutents using the really thick 'crossrail vote' argument, the whole Early Day Motion thing, the clumsy moves in Tower Hamlets to maximise political profit. New Labour are really quite awful, but its ok for them to pick shitty arguments that dont measure up to much, because the public is compliant (uncritical when it counts)and will believe them.
  
• Not very well cloaked insults at 'the people who elected him' from the general public
  
• Press interviews on 'brick lane' (most corrupt bit of tower hamlets life, but pleasant multi culti candy on ocassion) intended to incite moral outrage my showing cat pictures with no explanation and filming the least informed responce.
  
• Surprise and righteous indignation that politicians take risks and promote themselves in the same breath as their causes,
• Belief that a single MP party had best spend their time in the House of Commons,
• The attitude of the corporate media, who really have it in for the chap, was selective decontextualising and rude (about all the guests)

The whole episode was rather instructive as to the pitiful state of the British public's mind and my own vulnerability to be distracted from my bluddy upgrade report. What ever happened to manners and decency? Ok, it's not exactly the most wholesome audience (8 million+! ) but from the programmes, message boards and whatever they really didnt come across in a 'good' way. Apparently 'they' were the judges, it was 'their' entertainment, they had the power and how was it used......bitching, snide remarks, very base thinking about people's intention, ...apparently thats ok if you are a consumer, free speech and all.

This series attracted a bigger audience because of Galloway, who also reached a bigger audience (though maybe not in the manner first imagined). Endemol, the company behind it must be laughing all the way to the bank. They had the majority of the control over the atmosphere and presentation of the characters in the house as well as the public chatter. Even though they were the hegemon, there were some unintended occurences, ie in the beginning George organised the whole group to subvert the cardbox box dwelling 'task'....

I like people to take risks, change doesnt come from going through the motions and processes already distracting the people, it comes by stirring up the system to make truth and contradiction clearer to people and interfering with the 'noise'.

A new day, a new Word - Nuron

Nuron (for normal people)
alt spelling,
Nooron (salafi spelling)



Huh?
Think noor(light-arabic)-photon(idealised light wave/particle)-neuron(brain signal carrier)

Definition
Unit of inspiriation, an element of enlightenment.
Experts are unable to pin down the exact nature of these entities, mighty shame that.
They don't however expect that they are physical, and everyone agrees that they originate from the Almighty's Infinite Mercy.
Unfortunately, this has not stopped some rather sad and misguided people from arguing that Nurons are just social constructs, or prevented the construction of intellectually wastefull particle accelerators and education systems.

Common questions that Muslims ask can be explained by Nuron theory. Nobody can yet tell if its any good.

Q - Why am i so thick?
A - You havent been in reception of any Nurons. Could be a problem with the local geography or your antenna.

Q - Why is Muslim civilisation not having a good time?
A - Generally, we live in ignocracies ( Hussein Alattas, 1974) and hate eachother too much, this inhibits Nuron transmission and exploitation. Personally, we can be quite arrogant and closed minded and too certain about things of which we have no experience.

Q - My Aunty Josie, she's gone bompletely bonkers, babbling on like a woman possessed about a crafty new knitting pattern that undermines the fundamental laws of Physics.
A - She got hit by a Nuron.


See Related
Uloomination
Cultural J
Imanate
Ummatosphere

another cataclysm.

another cataclysm.

all my love and prayers to the dead, living and the bereaved of the recent Earthquake in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. Allah make it easy on you

May the decision makers who decide whats will happen now be rational, just and far sighted.

May those with resources come forward to provide for the further impoverished.

May lessons be learnt, implemented and passed down through generations.

the disaster mangement industry is in full swing; with foreign governments using foreign aid as political capital, 'Relief and development' unaccountable organisations reminding us of their jolly, uncoordinated existence and the press seedily reminding us of 'overpopulation', 'the remoteness and danger of live in the dangerous east' and 'the scale of the human cost'.

i asked someone that i felt a little uncertain about what to contribute, my friend cut through the crap and answered me 'well poetry won't help'

muslim hands are a great bunch, not swayed by the mainstream disaster/development getup regime, who actually started most of their educationally focussed work in Pakistan anyway. I beleive that is those with ancestral links to a place that know what it needs and money to these f0lks wont lie unspent, or be politically used.

300 bombs went of in Bangladesh

Yesterday morning hundreds of little bomblets went off in Desh outside governments offices and court houses. Subhanallah so few people lost life. Innalilallaa.... I feel equally if not more mourne ful for the number of people who die, are impoverished, are deprived everyday because of the incapacity of us bangladeshis and our institutions to translate the best teachings and understandings of the world and deen to create a nourishing, enabling, cooperative and contented Bangladesh.

Responsibility for the explosions, which dont appear to have been designed for wanton death and destruction has been apparently claimed by some banned 'islamic' organisation. I wanted to jot down some thoughts and throw them in the air, for they mean more than most of the politically exploitative analysis being vomited out from the usual outlets. We live in times when any and every muslim culture or traditional organisation is open game for uninformed and manufactured condemnation.

This is particularly the case in Desh, where the nonislamic (if not counterislamic) press have the editorial policy of framing extremist narratives to such an extent that we cannot trust their reporting.

The biggest coalition of violent criminals since the emergence of the country as Bangladesh does not have a spiritual-religious identity, if anything its from the left (which isnt fair in the left anyway). Everyone knows this, newspapers, businesses and indeed the government, everyone who has to negotiate that power complex by looking the other way or by paying a bribe. Many things, facts and truths are not expressed in the Bangladeshi media, which is free....free to follow its particular narrow political and business interest.

We have our collection of earnest Islamic minded activists too, who since 71 have borne the brunt of oppression from Areligious extremists. The Elder generation, seasoned in the freedom from the brits-and-their-quislings-struggle have mostly passed on now. This wouldnt be so sad if long and medium range history was better understood by people in positions of influence in Desh. In the vacuum of enlightenment (he said pretentiously), of a sociospiiritual ideology we have to cope with a very confused and self mutliating vibe traveling through society.

Some of the amusing hardcore bros i spoke with on my recent research visit, seemed a jealous of/ impatient with/antagonistic to Jamaat e Islami (the most organised sociopolitical Ummahtic organisation in the country). Apparently in the past 4 years, as a minor part of a coalistion goverment in a global context of creative capitalist tryanny and violence in the name of security, Jamaat are a failure because they havent been able to change Desh into a bona fide Islamic state.......whatever that might be.

It suprises me that such a feelings might have translated into an attack on government. Such an attack advances the Opposition's thesis of "Come on Invade me, Im becoming 'Talibanised'', it also mocks the RAB security services and harms the social memory of Islamic activism in the Country. I think Islamic leaders in Desh will not fall orthemselves apologising for what they didnt do (like the brit orgs in the UK), but should take stock and work harder and smarter for justice and properity.



feeling like writing somethings about the uprising of Indians of 1857 CE . a film about it has already bee released.

have been reading about Tipu Sultan and his father HAidar Alis resistance against foreign invastion.

have been dodging this report.

tittle tattle

i habhe a keyboard problem, a dodjy 'bhee' key...

few more days in desh then return to london, where all is not particularly jolly. real shame, what a bunch of arseholes! hard to beliebhe as well. many of the places attacked were host to muslim concentrated communities and placees i know and remeber well, aldgate, edgeware road.....

People here are really pleasantly concerned for the enironment facing muslims in britain. Really enlibhening to here and partake in alternatibhe theory building/analysis of whats going on. problem s, that i keep habhing to repeat, is that it doesnt really matter what really happened, we habhe to adapt to the official picture linking people and causes, as there isnt exactly an alternatibhe, credible crime inbhestigation network on the case, and the muslim communites are quite ulnerable in a number of ways at this time. maybe im too cynical?

the presses and national goebhrnments and bhested interest groups are all constructing a self serbhing narratibhs at the moment its hard to get any insght throught the print and electronic media.......which is why im now looking at blogs.....and decided to make this post.... i had a little misplaced faith in the police (doh!) until a trigger happy copper filled a brazilian electricians head full of bullets (7 in the head one in the shoulder, point blank?!?!). how many other instances of abuse habhe gone unreported? its impossible to tell from here.

Clearly institutions are in a learning phase and all young muslim looking men are suspects. its hard for me to sympathise too much with the police and intelligence and political establishments. such ridiculous pressure originates in the worldbhiew, policy and actibhities of gobhernment abroad. skirting obher this truth is beating about the bush, and they are beating around the bush. Muslim Community organisations habhe issue plenty of condemnations and are patiently dialogueing with dumbo journalists and the worried public. they werent built for ummahtic policing though,....and i guess we'll see a lot more 'state sponsored muslim leadership/control initiatibhes'. im just taking into the air, i habhe no specific answers...especially without my trusty 'bhee' key! spefific anxieties

-getting blown up by one of these things
-my neighbours and friends fearing muslims.
-these crimes being used as a pretext to further 'justify' unjust actions upon the weak by the strong.
-being physically set upon by angry indigenous folk
-getting battered by police
-information about me, or those that i lobhe circulating, distorting, transferring and being misused by state authorities.
-the longerterm impressions that Islam and Muslim will now habhe on the brit social memory
-the distraction and diffusion of muslim effort bythe fetishisation of the terrorism lark.
its the people i worry about pawns in the process, far more interesting, but most bhulnerable.

at the end of the day london is much safer than dhaka or most other cities.


Patience

"Surely with eery hardship there is ease; with ebhery hardship there is surely ease."
Ayah 5-6, Surah 94, Quran

work has more or less gone well. real warm cooperation, adbhice, wisdom reciebhed from research people here. the research trip to field went well, did a bunch of practice interbhiews, messed around with maps, and local memories of displacement.....felt right a right per documenting misery, but those who had the patience with me (ebheryone) were really forthcoming. inshAllah i hae completed eerything i set out to do, ebhen if i wish to habhe gone on some more trips around the country.


Family has been don like, will miss being surrounded and inundated with phonecalls (confounded mobiles!) desiring my location, purpose, company and state of filledness of stomach and internal food processing equipment.

oooo dindins. (i hope that a picture has been posted, sunset from a boat)

In Bangladesh all systems are go

ok, in Desh now for field visit been here nearly 3 weeks , got 5 in front of me ....lots of infrastructural improvements....pleasant suprises around every corner. ooh how its good to be out somewhere hopeful...

Now the real purpose here is research, have been to a couple of institutions and spoken with wise old pios dons. Am finding loads of previous work on the erosion matter, from a number of angles.....am drowing in it!!!<> I hope i can produce something worthwhile, fully baked and novel.....

worry is...that you can deposit solutions to problems and challenges till the cows come home (for qurbani 3id) but until the will (and the tanks and the helicopters and RAB for that matter) is behind the effort its just gas.

Apparently the Sirajganj/Tangail area is reknonwed for hand loomed clothes...sarees et al, of great quality.... for about half an hour i thought that would be a great industry for river eroded folks to get into. however its a bit lineage encultured and limited market wise...... maybe this 'fair trade' thing might be workable

Ummahtic conciousness is here in droves, expressed itself in lots of ways, though not always the most sophisticated mediums. Am really thankful to have got here at this time.

A minister was forced to resign a few days ago because of some dodgy Phat 4x4 car bribe accepted from soem dodgy Canadiam gas company called Niko. I hope they get a good spanking.....on the matter of corporate spankings......the Govt slapped a 1200 tax on mibile phone SIM cards. The 4 big companies, who have been robbing bagladeshis blind for years with the most expensive callcharges and quirks went nuts. I hope the Govt has the nuts to keep a firm line, no matter how much the companies blackmail them with 'ooh its enabling development look at us we are solving peverty' or 'we'll take our investment elsewhere' rubbish. chekc www.newagebd.com for more details as the plot thickens.


ooo newspaper make me crazy here, theres a deep willful of the deen, its social dimentions and the cutting edge of contemporary islamic thought in the prominent english papers here. its partly explained by the mentality of a large section of the intelligensia here. they have their reasons . perhaps the media isnt really as important as it makes out. the real medium is people and their relations and communication. folks here are really savvy.


I would post pictures, but have forgotten how, besides bandwidth is low here...they call this broadband!!!


Going to the Ganj tomorrow, thats why im posting this now, Salaams to all<2>

Welcome to Bethnal Green and Bow, where the spirit of resistance lives on...

thought i would deposit some contents of my head relating to the events of the past few days.

Tower Hamlets deshis and lefties pulled it together to pull off a startling win in the Bethnal Green and Bow elections. George Galloway unseated the loyal prowar newlabour candidate, he was respectful in victory and praised her work for the community.

This was happy news to me for a few reasons, it was a triumphant display of functional unity between social forces of bangla, islamic and lefty flavour....it inspired the local people who got actively involved who now walk with an extra spring in their step....it was a good development for those who imagine and want to work out a way out from global and local injustice.....its a maturing opportunity for the 'Stop the War/End the Occupation group'....it is an inspiriation for justice movements worldwide from bangladesh to baghdad....it is scaring the hell out of corrupt council leaders in the area

Well wishers of east london should be pleased that creative politics is not dead.

This situation reminds me of the Sylhet refurendum held in british occupied assam ( part of india) when the muslims of sylhet (reduced in stature through purposeful colonial and quisling land and educational policies) chose to link their futures to the muslim peoples of india upon partition. The two nation idea hadn't garnered mass support before this time...this was significant watershed....and the rest followed suit....well thats my take on it. I cant get this stupid grin off my face!

The Respect Coalition polled well in birmingham(3 000 short!), 2 seats in newham and canning town (20%+)...next years council elections should see more triumphs, so long as this hard fought constituency serves its people well and promotes and contextualises the adab-ful vibe. Many people i have spoken to have only heard of Respect just now (duh!) after they won something...so i guess it takes time for positive experiences to emerge in the local social memory.

The establishment's revulsion at this free expression of public will was noted.
1 ex-labour mp tony bank's statement that bangladeshis/muslims are latently rascist

2 BBC newsman Paxman's hilarously loony 'do you feel proud to have displaced one of the only black women MPs'
entertaining clash though

3 blairite sellout mp david lammy's 'he's an exploitative carpet bagger' and 'those poor helpless and hapless people of the east end' statement


Labour corruption and skull duggery through the postal vote issue have also been noted, as have armchair political commentators annoyance/ignorance/prejudice of this community on the ground.

May local society be further emboldened and inspired to achieve its highest state! I think one of the keys is a cultural adaptation (or 'J'). politicians arent really the solvers of all our problems, their job is to create an enabling environment.

We have a 'bhaiya - apa' (older brother -sister) set of relationships that we maintain in deshi extended family networks. I think they become uneven and get truncated on migration to a new country (the uk) we can see this as parents can often get a bit desperate and lame in efforts to marry of their children.

Mentoring is ...... good, but reestablishing the caring-slightly-elder relationship, though overlapping of ...'aador networks' is much more promising in my experience. Why should i have to go to an outside agency to promte to them that i am not a paedophile so that i can help my own kids? Lets not wait for anyone, dignity, justice and freedom are not handed out on silver platters, they need to be taken...

but brother, sister , comrade....can you spare the time......?

Anyhow, now the people of bethnal green and bow have an MP who will represent their views in parliament. I hope many more constituencies disengage from the politics of hegemonic parties.

Something a little more nourishing for the soul to round this up. I found the web pages of Said Nursi's teachings , a reknowned Islamic thinker who was born into the late period of the Osmanli Caliphate and who died in a time of present day Turkey. His Risale-i-Noor Collection is illuminating. Remember the authors situation and read his biography on the web pages to better realise the spiritual audience and political strife of his time.

I asked a wise old turk (not aligned to his followers) in istanbul about this(Nursi's) personality, he rated him as a write and a thinker, but in retrospect wished he had not entered politics (for which he and others suffered).

There is a similar theme of value running throughout Islamic history, whereas the brit/european history i was taught at school is always about kings and queens and battles, islamic historical thinking tends to be about the scholars.

In the Late Shayk Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi's 'Saviours of the Islamic Spirit' most of the individuals (apart from Salahuddin Ayubi..who freed al quds from the crusaders) were people of learning.