Interesting Finds, Part VIII

Great song from Montreal based artist, Sikh Knowledge! It's nice to see artistic and cultural developments from the Canadian South Asian community!



This was just shocking to me. Absolutely disrespectful and narcissistic in the extreme...

This is what I would like to ask you, Ms. Gilmour- who on earth made you an authority on Islam, and the history, meaning and purpose of the hijab? Perhaps speaking to some of the hundreds of millions of women around the world who voluntarily wear the hijab would be a great place to start. I mean if you genuinely wish to understand the concept of hijab in Islam, why rely on perspectives that are rejected by mainstream Muslims? Man, when will this cultural imperialism end?! Major inconsistencies in this worldview. It wreaks of colonialism.

Interesting Finds, Part VII

Nowhere is it more important to protect and guarantee freedom of speech, than on university campuses! Students and professors should have academic freedom and should not worry about being censored. Unfortunately, when it comes to certain subjects, there have been some worrying trends with censorship.

It was best said by Philosopher John Stuart Mill,  
"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." 

He further shared that, "the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error."  

To be clear, I would not consider myself a free speech absolutist, as I view some extreme/obscene hate speech as unlawful expression in diverse societies. Having an opinion is one thing, encouraging discrimination and directing hateful speech at large groups of people is quite another. I don't believe this thesis falls into this latter category, however.

1432 AH: New Year, New Hope

Happy Islamic New Year everyone!

Another year has come and gone. May this upcoming year bring us all great health, increased faith, happiness, ease of hardship, inspiration and success. May this also be a year where justice prevails everywhere!

Just a little background on the Islamic calendar.

There are 12 lunar months- the beginning and endings of which are determined by the sighting of the crescent moon. The months include, Muharram, Safar, Rabbi al-Awwal, Rabbi al-Thani, Jumada al- Awwal, Jumada al-Thani, Rajab, Sha'ban, Ramadan (the month of fasting), Shawwal, Dhul Qi'dah, Dhul Hijjah. The Islamic calendar is numbered from the year that the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and his followers emigrated from the city of Mecca to the city of Yathrib (Medinah), to settle the first Muslim community. This was known as the Hijrah, hence the AH representing the years After Hijrah.

While I am not a believer in setting firm 'new year' resolutions, I believe there is always room to look to the future for self-improvement. There's no harm writing them down, either :-) And now, some verses from the Qur'an to express the focus of my new year's resolutions...

MAC Warehouse Sale & Haul- December 2010

I had the privilege of attending the MAC Warehouse Sale this past weekend, with a good friend of mine. I feel very lucky to have attended the sale not once but twice this past year! I went to this trip a lot more prepared than I did the first one....but this meant I had larger expectations about what I wanted, and as a result, spent a bit more money than I had budgeted for. I figure since I'm not a big spender, the amount I overspent was still worth it! Or at least this is how I'm justifying the expense...

My friend and I headed over to Markham Fairgrounds on Friday, around 3 p.m- which proved to be the BEST time! Last year, when I had gone to the sale it was on a Sunday during the last two hours before the end of the sale- and it was A LOT busier then, believe it or not!

What you'll see in this haul post represents about half of the items I actually purchased at the sale. The other half includes items I purchased for my sister. I might do another post on those items in the near future. We shall see.

BullSwiss.

I recently came across an article on the BBC about prisons in Switzerland and the high proportion of non-Swiss citizens in them. Be sure to read the article link below for some context. Here are my thoughts...

Assuming that because "more than 60% of prison inmates do not have Swiss nationality", that non-Swiss citizens are more inclined towards criminality, is a perspective I think to be way off base! Surely, it is a better indicator of discrimination in the justice system that has led to the over-representation of coloured persons, and in this case, non-citizens in prisons.

What is even more absurd about the referendum (that asked Swiss citizens whether non-Swiss individuals who committed crimes should be deported to their country of origin) is that children of immigrants do not automatically qualify to become citizens! This means that individuals who were born and raised in Switzerland and who have only ever known and called Switzerland home, could and will be deported to countries that they have absolutely no connection with- the birthplaces of their parents!