03.19.07
Posted in Personal at 12:25 am by Abbas
Basic layout/design complete! InshaAllah the new address to the blog is: http://www.whatheblog.com. Please update your links, because I will not be updating this anymore. I keep this as is, but please continue to visit the new blog. It is still under development stages, so any suggestions, etc would be perfect:).
Edit: Moved back here 
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03.15.07
Posted in Personal at 10:34 am by Abbas
I will be revamping the entire blog in the upcoming weeks. I will use a different blogging system. There will also be many new features. For example broader categories catered towards a bigger audience and possibly a different url or domain. So stay tuned…
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03.06.07
Posted in Personal at 4:24 pm by Abbas
I get at least 5 of these types of email a day (for work)… it can get annoying
Hi all,
Does anyone have one or two extra mice that are CD45.1 positive (also
known as Ly5.1 positive). Our order from JAX is only coming at the
end of the month.
Thanks
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03.04.07
Posted in Personal, Current Events at 3:51 pm by Abbas
As the moon moved through the stages of the eclipse, George Lovely took this series of images from which he created a montage. (source: BBC)
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03.02.07
Posted in Personal at 4:37 pm by Abbas
I apologize for the delay. I am really swamped with work and life, so please bear with me.
We all strapped up in our gear. I had my double-layered kufi, and the others had thier own stuff. We were too excited to think logically and we were extremely late. The sun was going to set, so we chose the trail that was closest and we got our water, food, clothing, etc all ready and we made our ways to the Canyon.
Sam: lets get some Mules!
Me: Let me see.
Me and Bernstein go to see the prices and the guy told us it’ll cost us at least 300 dollars and he was explaining how people book year in advance!
Worker: You’re all young.. you don’t need mules!
Anyway, we got to the trails and we started to head down. There was ice on the trails so we went really slow. We said hi to every hiker that passed us (their were many). One hiker said “Shalom” to Bernstein, and Bernstein replied saying, “Salaam.” Kemp and Sam thought they were cool and zoomed ahead of us, so they could reach the river. Us being the more experiencd in the group.. 
.. knew it would be impossible to make it down to the river (12 miles, downhill) before sunset, because it was already getting dark. Hence, we took our time. Bernsteing was taking a million pictures as we made our way down, by the way (all pics are from him fyi). We saw a guy taking baby steps, who looked like he was going to die and pass out.
Me: Are you okay? Do you want some water?
Guy: No I am fine.
We continued and chuckled at him.
Me: Haha.. look at him. He was dying..
Berstein: Yea.
Me: I’m going here.. it seems like a short cut.
Albert: Yeeahh.
Bernstein: I’m coming too. Help me.
The shortcut turned out to be an obstacle in our way more than anything. And our bag packs made it ten times harder, because we had weave in and out of cactus and rocks, but it was fun.
Anyway we continued down and we made it to this hut, rest stop (not restroom), where Kemp and Sam were waiting for us.
Me: Man, I died and came back! I am dying.. I wish I was in better shape.
Bernstein started to yell some religious chants and Kemp and Albert started to make monkey noises, because the echo was awesome, even though we were just 3 miles down. It was dark and we couldn’t see so we decided to camp underneath this hut, which may have belonged to the Navajo Indian tribe!
We started to unpack and get our sleepig bags ready.
Bernstein: Can you recite adhan, please!
Kemp: Yeea.. we want to hear echo! Please!
Me: No. That’s dumb.
Kemp: Come on.
After five minutes I did my adhan. Bernstein recorded it, even though it was dark. The echo was nice. We had cans of beans, spinach, and tuna that we ate. We also had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (the bread was crushed, but we were so hungry we did not care). We prayed, ate, etc. We shared our Jinn stories and looked at the stars, which were beautiful. We saw everything, including the big dipper.
As we were falling asleep.
Berstein: I need to use the bathroom guys.. where should I go?
Albert: Go there.. *points outside at bushes*.. and take this flashlight.
Bernstein: Can you come with me?
Kemp: I’ll take him. (note, that Kemp startled Bernstein four different times by saying “boo” or acting like a mountain lion).
Me: Sam.. you take him, he might have heart attack with Kemp.
Sam: Fiiine.
Bernstein: I cant find my shoes.. oh well lemmie just wear these..
Sam: Mann those are mine! Don’t piss on ‘em!
Me: He’s not five!
He goes and takes care of his business. And we all try to fall asleep now. We try to fall asleep and then suddenly we see a pair of flashlights approaching us.
Sam: There are people there..
Albert: What do you think they want. They are speaking Spanish.
Sam: They just closed their lights .
Albert: I think they are the Navajo tribe.
Me: They prolly thought I was asking for help when I was doing adhan.
Sam: Albert, I think they going to attack, why would they close lights.
Albert: Go on the look out.
Bernstein: Get your axe out right now, Albert.
Albert: No.
Bernstein: You have an axe and people are goin to jump us and you’re not taking it out! (he was almost crying).
Kemp: Why you scared? Don’t be scared. You fight if they come.
Kemp hands me his knife, just in case. Sam gets his too. Anyway, we eventually fall asleep and we didn’t hear from them (we prolly scared them ourselves, because we kept on flashing our light on and off). However, I did not sleep, because I couldn’t lay on my side, because of the dumb sleeping bag from Walmart. We had hand warmers, that kept us very warm. I heard cans moving near our hut, which made me believe there was something out there (like a rat, snake, or mountain lion). The hadith of how Sayyids can’t die from snake bite came to mind, but luckily nothing happened (its prolly fake btw).
We get up for Fajr and we start to head down. We hide our bag packs somewhere and we hurry up down. We encounter deer and a lot of squirrels. We also see dirty underwear and a sock on the trails (you can figure out what that person did with the other sock). We become exhausted but we make it down to the River. It was an adventure. We had to cross creeks and stuff. The river is orange (from the mud and soil), but its streaming and it looks awesome, because the creek leads into it.
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02.21.07
Posted in Personal at 3:41 pm by Abbas
I wrote a letter in response to Parvez Ahmed’s ( board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group) and I received a generic response and I replied again. Here are the set of emails (in order).
A Naqvi
To: pahmed@cair.com
Brother Ahmed
Salaamun ‘akaykum wa rahmatullah,
I first want to commend you for your efforts in trying to bridge the gap and cracks amongst the Muslims, and applaud CAIR for advocating and promoting social justice and peace in the United States.
However, your recent article entitled Politics, Not Faith, Behind Shia-Sunni Divide in Iraq, though may be written with good intentions is offensive to me as a Shi’a Muslim American. I think you over-simplified the issue and situation and have tried to ignore the whole problem altogether. Successorship in regards to the Shi’i is very important and is in fact an article of faith (Imamate) and concluding its soley “political” is very inapproproate and unneccessary. And also the historical “facts” you elude to in your article is contested by other historians.
Your statement
“The historical context was always political and, despite severe disagreements in the past, the conflict never assumed the characteristics it displays today in Iraq: viciousness, indiscriminate killing, and complete disregard for human life.”
is incorrect and undermines a great deal history. Historically, the Shi’a minority have been facing systematic discrimination and persecution from the time of the Ummayads till now.
I hope that my comments do not discourage you from your noble work, but encourage you to have increased dialogue with the Shi’a minonrity, so that as Muslim Americans we become united and stronger in order to initiate change and promote justice for all.
Your Brother,
Abbas Naqvi
Parvez Ahmed
To: A Naqvi
Salaam-
Thank you writing to me.
Shias and Sunnis do have variant readings and interpretations of history. Despite this, Shia and Sunni communities have often united on advancing the major principles of Islam - i.e. monotheism (tawhid), peace, justice, social welfare etc. Even if they do not unite the least each side can do is not demonize the other side and commit violence against each other. It is very disturbing to see what is going on in Iraq everyday.
I do understand and empathize with your views. I am trying to find ways to having an open and constructive dialogue on this matter.
Parvez
Salaams,
If that is the case, which is by the way is not, because there is a consensus amongst the historians and it is fact that the Shi’a minority on numerous occasions have been persecuted and humiliated, in the future please do not make it seem like the only “interpretation,” like it was in your article. Again, I commend you for your efforts to build ties and unity, but in the future please be a bit more cautious, considerate and appreciative.
-Abbas
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Posted in Personal at 11:28 am by Abbas
The Canyon trip was indeed an adventure. I am inshaAllah going to blog on it. I don’t have time to blog all of it, so I’ll divide it into parts I guess. For the sake of confidentiality I will use fake names (Sam, Albert, Kemp, Abbas, Bernstein). This is not a novel or a story book, so please don’t lecture me on grammar and proper structure (I don’t care- I am just typing it up). Here is part 1.
———————————————————————————————————-
We left San Diego right after Fajr time on friday (6am) heading towards Pheonex, so we can meet up with some of our Arizona (SMSA) friends and attend the Al Mahdi program (Dr. Liyakat Takim lectured). Kemp did most of the driving, and I did most of the sleeping - I was very tired, because I barely had any sleep the night before. We talked about all sorts of things (fireworks - they are illegal in Cali, gun-laws in Arizona, Jinns, bears, etc). I didn’t really know much about Pheonex; the only thing I knew was the Suns.
We finally made it and we wanted to look for a cheap motels.
Kemp: I know a ghetto motel.. let me take this exit.
Me: Where is it..
Kemp: Right here.
We look for really cheap motels. We see three of them that are around 40. Then we see one that is 35.00 per night.
Albert: Man, we are going to get STDs in these motels. I am not staying in them.
The pool fence was rusted, the curtains were ripped and the cars parked outside were totalled, so we decided it was not worth it. We started to get hungry, so we went to some halal Arab restaurant to eat. We filled our stomachs and Kemp found a nice little hotel through a friend (since he knew the area). We showered, slept and headed to the masjid. It was in the middle of a residential area but it was pretty roomy and there were a good amount of people from different ethnicities (arab, irani, indopak).
We met up with some friends from Tuscon and Pheonex, some of whom I have never met face to face, but have a relationship through blogging, internet, or business.
We pick up Bernstein and we head out the next morning. Instead of leaving at 6am, we leave at 10, 10:30am (that was a big mistake.. you’ll see why soon). We stop at Walmart and we get 10 or so cans of beans, spinach, and tuna. We get gloves, 0 degree sleeping bags. I wanted the snake bite kit.
Sam: Your a Sayyid.. I thought you couldn’t get killed by snake bite. You can use your sayyid powers!
Me: Just in case…
Anyway, we get our stuff and we hit the road and we get there in a few hours. We stop at some hickish restaurant, while they were having an NRA meeting. We get into the Grand Canyon and we change into our clothes and we prepare ourselves down the hike. We chose the ~24 miles (total - up and down) trail. We were all excited and ready to go.
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02.20.07
Posted in Current Events, Essay at 8:07 pm by Abbas
I recently interviewed Dr. Shahid Alam, the author of “Challenging the New Orientalism.” Here is an excerpt:
Q: After being featured on “Jihad Watch,” being blacklisted by David Horowitz and being accused of being “un-American” by Bill O’Reilly, what was your motivation for publishing the book knowing that you may be putting your academic career at risk?
A: My motivation is the same that I had in writing the essays. I wanted to bring some history and objectivity into the public discourse on relations between the West (including Israel) and the Islamicate world. That was a difficult goal. My essays were carried only on some left-leaning and Islamic websites in the US. I am hoping that publishing them in a book may help to bring my arguments a bit into the mainstream.
My essays have received some adverse attention – even hostile attention. But I have survived, with a few scars. And I am ready for a few more if this helps to advance a better understanding of the world we live in.
Visit Hot Coals for full interview - click here.
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02.15.07
Posted in Personal at 12:29 am by Abbas
Will be going to Pheonex for the masjid program there, inshaAllah on friday and then camping and hiking the Grand Canyon (18 or so miles - don’t ask how I will survive). Hence, I will not be updating ’till I reurn (Monday, inshaAllah).
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02.12.07
Posted in Personal at 1:14 am by Abbas
The great Muslim divide has has taken shape in the United States. There was an article (http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/us/04muslim.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26eiQ3D5059Q26enQ3D783e875fdbbd422fQ26exQ3D1171256400Q26partnerQ3DAOLQ26pagewantedQ3Dprint&OP=62eb560fQ2FD9ApDQ3CQ24Q2Az5Q24Q24ByDyZZQ2BDZyDZQ25DQ7CzDZQ25tQ7Cz4ltQ26JBt4) written by Neil MacFarquhar on the NY Times entitled Iraq’s Shadow Widens Sunni-Shiite Split in U.S., where he talks about the tension and discrimination primarily against the Shi’a Muslims. To a certain extend it is true. And to a degree its i true; I can speak for myself and others who face bigotry and intolerance from other Muslims from local masjids and organizations.
Nevertheless, the article has caused a reaction from the acclaimed Sunnipath.com website, an online Sunni academy. The director of the academy went as far as blogging about the article and publicy responded to it (http://blog.sunnipath.com/?p=13).
However, at the end of the day, I think it comes back to the individual. Yes, it’s very important for our establishments to recognize each other compassionately as brothers and sisters in Islam, but our institutions are essentially controlled by our communities and societies, so it ultimately goes hand in hand. We need to recognize the importance of tolerance and compassion as individuals and as established institutions. A very pleasing and satisfying response I read from a Sunni scholar on how to deal with each other was from Shaykh Faraz Rabbani of the Sunni Path Academy and I hope we all follow his advice.
I pray that this finds you well, and in the best of health and spirits. May Allah grant you all good and success in this life and the next.
Yes, there is absolutely nothing wrong with working with other Muslims whom one may have some differences with towards shared goals. Rather, this would be very much in the spirit of the sunna of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
At the same time, one must understand that the basis of unity and respect is accepting the reality that there are longstanding differences of opinion that cannot be ignored. Thus, “forced unity” where we try to somehow negate the existence of differences simply exacerbates old wounds. Rather, the way forward is to acknowledge that we differ; and to “work around” the differences rather than denying them.
And Allah alone gives success.
It goes in line to my article I wrote on Islamic Unity (http://thenlightenment.whatheblog.com/2006/05/17/islamic-unity-a-commandment-from-god/). We must also keep in mind, upholding Islamic Unity is not a preference, but an obligation.
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02.05.07
Posted in Personal at 3:32 pm by Abbas
InshaAllah, I will return in due-time with regular updates.
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01.21.07
Posted in Personal, Current Events at 6:03 pm by Abbas
The revolution of Husain (pbuh) was an Islamic movement spearheaded by one of the great leaders of Islam. The principles and laws of Islam demanded that Husain (pbuh) act to warn the Ummah of the evil situation which it was in, and to stand in the way of the deviating ruler. As Husain (pbuh) himself remarked when he left Madina for the last time,
“I am not rising (against Yazid) as an insolent or an arrogant person, or a mischief-monger or tyrant. I have risen (against Yazid) as I seek to reform the Ummah of my grandfather. I wish to bid the good and forbid the evil.”
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01.16.07
Posted in Personal at 5:17 pm by Abbas
a fractal is “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced/size copy of the whole”
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01.12.07
Posted in Personal at 11:14 am by Abbas
Something really annoying is when I inform people of what I do (DNA analysis), and what field I work in (bioinformatics/biotechnology/bioengineering) and the first question they ask is, “Can you clone me?” or “So did you clone any people?” It was funny at first, but now its annoying, no offense. For your information we have better things to do than clone you! And you don’t only clone people, you can clone almost anything for anything. On a side note, there is a project, where they are asking for people that have at least a college education and professional degree to volunteer to get cloned.
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01.11.07
Posted in Personal at 7:54 pm by Abbas
I want the new Mac laptop so bad! The new MacBooks are amazing, I have the old one, I converted two years ago and I will never go back. Trust me. I read about the MacBook at least once every three days. Here are some specs:
* 3.3-inch glossy display
* 1.83GHz or 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* Up to 2GB memory
* Up to 200GB hard drive
* Apple Remote with Front Row
* Built-in iSight camera
My birthday is coming in March.. hint hint , I would love you forever.
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